Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Major Proteins of Bovine Seminal Plasma Bind to the Low-Density Lipoprotein Fraction of Hen's Egg Yolk1

Abstract Over the past 60 years, egg yolk (EY) has been routinely used in both liquid semen extenders and those used to cryopreserve sperm. However, the mechanism by which EY protects sperm during liquid storage or from freezing damage is unknown. Bovine seminal plasma contains a family of proteins designated BSP-A1/-A2, BSP-A3, and BSP-30-kDa (collectively called BSP proteins). These proteins are secretory products of seminal vesicles that are acquired by sperm at ejaculation, modifying the sperm membrane by inducing cholesterol efflux. Because cholesterol efflux is time and concentration dependent, continuous exposure to seminal plasma (SP) that contains BSP proteins may be detrimental to the sperm membrane, which may adversely affect the ability of sperm to be preserved. In this article, we show that the BSP proteins bind to the low-density fraction (LDF), a lipoprotein component of the EY extender. The binding is rapid, specific, saturable, and stable even after freeze-thawing of semen. Furthermore, LDF has a very high capacity for BSP protein binding. The binding of BSP proteins to LDF may prevent their detrimental effect on sperm membrane, and this may be crucial for sperm storage. Thus, we propose that the sequestration of BSP proteins of SP by LDF may represent the major mechanism of sperm protection by EY.
Social-aware stateless forwarding in pocket switched networks

In this paper we describe SANE, the first forwarding mechanism that combines the advantages of both social-aware and stateless approaches in pocket switched network routing. SANE is based on the observation“that we validate on real-world traces”that individuals with similar interests tend to meet more often. In our approach, individuals (network members) are characterized by their interest profile, a compact representation of their interests. Through extensive experiments, we show the superiority of social-aware, stateless forwarding over existing stateful, social-aware and stateless, social-oblivious forwarding. An important byproduct of our interest-based approach is that it easily enables innovative routing primitives, such as interest-casting. An interest-casting protocol is also described, and extensively evaluated through experiments based on both real-world and synthetic mobility traces.
Personality correlates of self-employed small business owners' success.

OBJECTIVE Drawing on prior occupational choice research on entrepreneurs and self-employed business owners, we examined personality predictors of their occupational business success and work satisfaction. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURES: A sample of 147 small business owners completed a web-based assessment of 14 work-related personality traits--adaptability, autonomy, competitiveness, dependability, emotional resilience, goal-setting, optimism, persistence, risk tolerance, self-promotion, networking, and tolerance for financial insecurity, work-based locus of control, and work drive--and three self-reported indices of business success--revenue growth, profit growth, and income growth--as well as multiple facets of individual satisfaction. Criterion variables included composite business success and overall satisfaction. RESULTS Ten traits correlated with business success. The top four personality predictors of success--goal-setting, social networking, emotional resilience, and work drive--together accounted for 16% of the variance. Similarly, 12 of 14 personality traits were positively related to overall satisfaction. The top three personality predictors of satisfaction--optimism, work-based locus of control, and work drive--accounted for 29% of the variability in satisfaction. An expectancy analysis revealed that the percent of participants who reported at least a 20% increase in sales and profits the preceding year was 26% versus 54% for individual scoring in the lower and upper third of a personality composite measure. CONCLUSIONS Results carry implications for future research, and have direct, practical applications for prospective and current entrepreneurs and self-employed owners of small businesses.
Ground metric learning

Optimal transport distances have been used for more than a decade in machine learning to compare histograms of features. They have one parameter: the ground metric, which can be any metric between the features themselves. As is the case for all parameterized distances, optimal transport distances can only prove useful in practice when this parameter is carefully chosen. To date, the only option available to practitioners to set the ground metric parameter was to rely on a priori knowledge of the features, which limited considerably the scope of application of optimal transport distances. We propose to lift this limitation and consider instead algorithms that can learn the ground metric using only a training set of labeled histograms. We call this approach ground metric learning. We formulate the problem of learning the ground metric as the minimization of the difference of two convex polyhedral functions over a convex set of metric matrices. We follow the presentation of our algorithms with promising experimental results which show that this approach is useful both for retrieval and binary/multiclass classification tasks.
Association of usual sleep duration with hypertension: the Sleep Heart Health Study.

STUDY OBJECTIVES Limited experimental data suggest that sleep restriction acutely elevates blood pressure; however, little is known about the relationship between usual sleep duration and hypertension. This study assesses the relationship between usual sleep duration and hypertension in a community-based cohort. DESIGN Cross-sectional observational study. SETTING The Sleep Heart Health Study, a community-based prospective study of the cardiovascular consequences of sleep-disordered breathing. PARTICIPANTS Two thousand eight hundred thirteen men and 3097 women, aged 40 to 100 years. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Usual weekday and weekend sleep durations were obtained by questionnaire, and their weighted average were categorized as less than 6, 6 to less than 7, 7 to less than 8, 8 to less than 9, and 9 or more hours per night. Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or greater, a diastolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or greater, or use of medication to treat hypertension. The relationship between sleep duration and hypertension was examined using categorical logistic regression with adjustment for age, sex, race, apnea-hypopnea index, and body mass index. Compared to subjects sleeping 7 to less than 8 hours per night, those sleeping less than 6 and between 6 and 7 hours per night had adjusted odds ratios for hypertension of 1.66 (95% confidence interval 1.35-2.04) and 1.19 (1.02-1.39), respectively, whereas those sleeping between 8 and 9 and 9 or more hours per night had adjusted odds ratios for hypertension of 1.19 (1.04-1.37) and 1.30 (1.04-1.62), respectively (p < .0001 for association of sleep duration with hypertension). These associations persisted when analyses were further adjusted for caffeine and alcohol consumption, current smoking, insomnia symptoms, depression symptoms, sleep efficiency, and prevalent diabetes mellitus or cardiovascular disease. CONCLUSIONS Usual sleep duration above or below the median of 7 to less than 8 hours per night is associated with an increased prevalence of hypertension, particularly at the extreme of less than 6 hours per night.
Bilateral Cyclic Constraint and Adaptive Regularization for Learning a Monocular Depth Prior Technical Report # 180004 May 18 , 2018

Current methods to infer (hypothesize) depth of a scene from a single image require costly per-pixel ground-truth. We propose an unsupervised method that exploits abundant stereo imagery. Although we train a network with stereo pairs, we only require a single image at test time to hypothesize disparity or depth. We propose a novel objective function that exploits the bilateral cyclic relationship between the left and right disparities and we introduce an adaptive regularization scheme that allows the network to handle both the co-visible and occluded regions in a stereo pair. This process ultimately produces a prior for the 3-dimensional structure of the scene as viewed in a single image. Our method outperforms state-of-the-art unsupervised monocular depth estimation methods on the KITTI benchmarks. We also demonstrate its generalizability on Make3d with models trained on KITTI.
Degree-degree correlations in directed networks with heavy-tailed degrees

In network theory, Pearson's correlation coefficients are most commonly used to measure the degree assortativity of a network. We investigate the behavior of these coefficients in the setting of directed networks with heavy-tailed degree sequences. We prove that for graphs where the in- and out-degree sequences satisfy a power law, Pearson's correlation coefficients converge to a non-negative number in the infinite network size limit. We propose alternative measures for degree-degree correlations in directed networks based on Spearman's rho and Kendall's tau. Using examples and calculations on the Wikipedia graphs for nine dfferent languages, we show why these rank correlation measures are more suited for measuring degree assortativity in directed graphs with heavy-tailed degrees.
Does Using a Laparoscopic Approach to Cholecystectomy Decrease the Risk of Surgical Site Infection?

ObjectiveTo assess the impact of laparoscopy on surgical site infections (SSIs) following cholecystectomy in a large population of patients Summary Background DataPrevious investigations have demonstrated that laparoscopic cholecystectomy is associated with a shorter postoperative stay and fewer overall complications. Less is known about the impact of laparoscopy on the risk for SSIs. MethodsEpidemiologic analysis was performed on data collected during a 7-year period (1992–1999) by participating hospitals in the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) System in the United States. ResultsFor 54,504 inpatient cholecystectomy procedures reported, use of the laparoscopic technique increased from 59% in 1992 to 79% in 1999. The overall rate of SSI was significantly lower for laparoscopic cholecystectomy than for open cholecystectomy. Overall, infecting organisms were similar for both approaches. Even after controlling for other significant factors, the risk for SSI was lower in patients undergoing the laparoscopic technique than the open technique. ConclusionsLaparoscopic cholecystectomy is associated with a lower risk for SSI than open cholecystectomy, even after adjusting for other risk factors. For interhospital comparisons, SSI rates following cholecystectomy should be stratified by the type of technique.
A retrospective study of 61 cases of spontaneous canine epistaxis (1998 to 2001).

OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence and identify possible clinicopathologic indicators of the diseases associated with canine epistaxis. METHODS The medical records of 61 dogs with epistaxis were reviewed. RESULTS Systemic diseases, diagnosed in fifty-six dogs, included canine leishmaniasis in twenty-three dogs, canine monocytic ehrlichiosis in twenty-two, concurrent canine leishmaniasis and canine monocytic ehrlichiosis in six, rodenticide toxicity in two and primary immune-mediated thrombocytopenia, suspected oestrogen toxicity and systemic arterial hypertension in one dog each. Intranasal diseases were documented in the remaining five dogs, including transmissible venereal tumour in three dogs, and nasal adenocarcinoma and nasal aspergillosis in one dog each. Mucosal pallor and a generalised bleeding tendency were significantly more common among dogs with canine monocytic ehrlichiosis compared with those with canine leishmaniasis, whereas the opposite was true for peripheral lymphadenomegaly. Also, dogs with canine monocytic ehrlichiosis presented with pancytopenia more frequently compared with those with canine leishmaniasis; in the latter dogs, the median values of haematocrit, leucocyte and platelet counts and serum total protein concentrations were higher. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Canine leishmaniasis and canine monocytic ehrlichiosis are the leading causes of canine epistaxis in Greece. Mucosal pallor, bleeding tendency and pancytopenia are more likely to be indicative of canine monocytic ehrlichiosis, as opposed to peripheral lymphadenomegaly and hyperproteinaemia in canine leishmaniasis.
Expression of receptor tyrosine kinases epidermal growth factor receptor and HER‐2/neu in synovial sarcoma

Synovial sarcomas are high‐grade soft tissue neoplasms often characterized by a biphasic spindle and epithelioid cell morphology. The majority of synovial sarcomas harbor a specific chromosomal translocation in which the proximal portion of the SYT gene at chromosome 18q11 is fused to the distal portion of one of several duplicated SSX genes (most notably SSX1 and SSX2) at chromosome Xp11. SYT/SSX1 translocations are seen in nearly three times as many synovial sarcomas as SYT/SSX2 translocations. Although the SYT/SSX2 fusion is usually associated with the monophasic disease pattern, the SYT/SSX1 fusion is present in tumors with biphasic or monophasic patterns. The SYT/SSX1 fusion gene is associated with more aggressive tumor growth and poor outcome. Despite advances in the therapy of local disease, distant metastasis remains the predominant cause of death. Accordingly, there is a need for alternate therapies, such as those recently developed against the receptor tyrosine kinases, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and HER‐2/neu.
Quantization of the Graviton Field, Characterization of the Physical Subspace and Unitarity in Causal Quantum Gravity

In this paper we lay the foundations of causal quantum gravity (CQG), i.e. of a quantum theory of self-interacting symmetric massless rank-2 tensor gauge fields, the gravitons, on flat space-time, in the framework of causal perturbation theory. The causal inductive construction of the S-matrix for quantum gravity leads to a very satisfactory treatment of the ultraviolet problem. Here we concentrate on some main fundamental issues that concern the quantization of the gravitational interactions: the quantization of the free graviton field, the role of the fermionic ghost vector fields in preserving perturbative gauge invariance, the construction of the Fock space for the graviton and the consequent characterization of the subspace for the physical graviton states. This last point is necessary, together with perturbative gauge invariance, in order to prove unitary of the S-matrix restricted to the physical subspace.
Electronic Reprint Synchrotron Radiation Evidence for the Formation of Disulfide Radicals in Protein Crystals upon X-ray Irradiation Radiation Damage Workshop Evidence for the Formation of Disul®de Radicals in Protein Crystals upon X-ray Irradiation²

Author(s) of this paper may load this reprint on their own web site provided that this cover page is retained. Republication of this article or its storage in electronic databases or the like is not permitted without prior permission in writing from the IUCr. Irradiation of proteins with intense X-ray radiation produced by third-generation synchrotron sources generates speci®c structural and chemical alterations, including breakage of disul®de bonds and decarboxylation. In this paper, disul®de bond lengths in irradiated crystals of the enzyme Torpedo californica acetylcholinesterase are examined based on quantum simulations and on experimental data published previously. The experimental data suggest that one disul®de bond elongates by $0.7 A Ê upon X-ray irradiation as seen in a series of nine data sets collected on a single crystal. Simulation of the same bond suggests elongation by a similar value if a disul®de-radical anion is formed by trapping an electron. The absorption spectrum of a crystal irradiated under similar conditions shows a peak at $400 nm, which in aqueous solution has been attributed to disul®de radicals. The results suggest that the formation of disul®de radicals in protein crystals owing to X-ray irradiation can be observed experimentally, both by structural means and by absorption spectroscopy.
Prognostic Value of Right Ventricular Ejection Fraction Assessed by Transthoracic 3D Echocardiography

Background— Cardiac magnetic resonance is the gold standard for the evaluation of right ventricular (RV) volumes, but it is impractical to perform in every patient. Although reference values of RV volumes and RV ejection fraction by 3D transthoracic echocardiography (3DTTE) have been established, their prognostic values have not been elucidated yet. We hypothesized that RV ejection fraction measured by 3DTTE (3DRVEF) predicts future cardiovascular events. Methods and Results— In protocol 1, we determined the accuracy of RV volumes and RV ejection fraction measurements by 3DTTE against cardiac magnetic resonance in 60 subjects. In protocol 2, 3DRVEF was measured in 446 patients with various cardiovascular diseases. Study subjects were followed up to record cardiac death and major adverse cardiovascular events. In protocol 1, 3DTTE-determined RV end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, and RV ejection fraction had good correlations to those by cardiac magnetic resonance (r=0.74–0.90). In protocol 2, 38 cardiac deaths and 88 major adverse cardiovascular events occurred during a median follow-up of 4.1 years. Univariable Cox proportional analysis revealed that 3DRVEF was associated with both cardiac death (P<0.0001) and major adverse cardiovascular event (P<0.0001). 3DRVEF remained as an independent predictor for cardiac death (P<0.0001) and major adverse cardiovascular event (P<0.0001) even in a stepwise multivariable Cox proportional hazard analysis. Classification and regression-tree analysis demonstrated that 3DRVEF played an important role for risk stratification. Conclusions— 3DTTE-determined RV ejection fraction was independently associated with cardiac outcomes in patients with diverse backgrounds. 3DRVEF offered incremental value over clinical risk factors and the other echocardiographic parameters including left ventricular systolic and diastolic function for predicting future adverse outcome.
Against morality : a critical realist examination of a history of Western sexual normativity : an appeal for emancipation and explanation through emergentist social science

A model of reality derived from critical realism and historical sociology provides a sufficient account of Christian sexual morality and shows that powerful human agents are responsible for the normative regulation of non-procreative forms of sexual activity in the West. If we are to understand the sui generis powers of human agents, sociology must engage with a model of reality which adequately conceptualises an entwining synchronic and diachronic realm. It is only here, in a connexion of the theoretical and empirical, that an essential grasp of social phenomena at depth can be reached and a true appreciation of hegemony and resistance can be rendered explicit for the purposes of emancipatory social science. ‘Emancipation through explanation; explanation through emergence’ (Bhaskar, 2009, p.103); this model of reality shows that Christian sexual codes are based on an untenable moral positioning which confuses biological sequence with a social construction. Human dignity is not derived from procreative sex; social scientific inquiry shows that these moral truths are based on unsound normative avowals. Through a history of ‘norm circles’ (Elder-Vass, 2010, p.115), it is reasoned that the historical preservation of (hetero)sexuality is tantamount to the protection of Christian ecclesiastical norms. Morality should not be rendered on a biological sequence of occurrences and it is irresponsible to base human sexual codes on testimony that can be retroduced as a product of irrational human collectivities. There is nothing divine about the persecution on the basis of difference; it is the emergent consequence of a hegemonic history of ideas. This project traces that history and those groups whose normative proclamations break with prejudice and intolerance. Therefore, the power of political action must not be misjudged. If nothing else, it is where the sui generis powers of human agency are most lucid: a causal force which yields, in its own way, the argument that all forms of sexuality are moral.
Timetable Synchronization of Mass Rapid Transit System Using Multiobjective Evolutionary Approach

Users of mass rapid transit are often required to make transfers between different train lines to reach their destinations. Timetable synchronization minimizes delays during such transfers. This paper formulates a novel measure for timetable synchronization by means of a total passenger dissatisfaction index (TPDI); and the impact of such synchronization on the original unsynchronized timetable is accounted using a total deviation index (TDV) that assigns penalties when deviations from the original timetable are incurred. Pareto fronts displaying the relationship between TPDI and TDV are generated using the state-of-the-art nondominated sorting genetic algorithm 2 (NSGA 2). To further improve NSGA 2, three schemes-the use of a variant of the NSGA2 with differential evolution, a process we termed "seeding," and finally a hybrid combination with local search techniques like heuristic hill climbing, tabu search, and simulated annealing - are proposed. Simulation results demonstrate that the "seeded" NSGA2-DE combined with the hill climbing heuristic produce the best results for the application. Solutions from the Pareto fronts are chosen for implementation to describe the different operating regions. A discussion section details the advantages and drawbacks of the proposed schemes.
The simultaneous low state spectral energy distribution of 1ES 2344+514 from radio to very high energies

Context. BL Lacertae objects are variable at all energy bands on time scales down to minutes. To construct and interpret their spectral energy distribution (SED), simultaneous broad-band observations are mandatory. Up to now, the number of objects studied during such campaigns is very limited and biased towards high flux states. Aims. We present the results of a dedicated multi-wavelength study of the high-frequency peaked BL Lacertae (HBL) object and known TeV emitter 1ES 2344+514 by means of a pre-organised campaign. Methods. The observations were conducted during simultaneous visibility windows of MAGIC and AGILE in late 2008. The measurements were complemented by Mets hovi, RATAN-600, KVA+Tuorla, Swift and VLBA pointings. Additional coverage was provided by the ongoing long-term F-GAMMA and MOJAVE programs, the OVRO 40-m and CrAO telescopes as well as the Fermi satellite. The obtained SEDs are modelled using a one-zone as well as a self-consistent two-zone synchrotron self-Compton model. Results. 1ES 2344+514 was found at very low flux states in both X-rays and very high energy gamma rays. Variability was detected in the low frequency radio and X-ray bands only, where for the latter a small flare was observed. The X-ray flare was possibly caused by shock acceleration characterised by similar cooling and acceleration time scales. MOJAVE VLBA monitoring reveals a static jet whose components are stable over time scales of eleven years, contrary to previous findings. There appears to be no significant correlation between the 15 GHz and R-band monitoring light curves. The observations presented here constitute the first multi-wavelength campaign on 1ES 2344+514 from radio to VHE energies and one of the few simultaneous SEDs during low activity states. The quasi-simultaneous Fermi-LAT data poses some challenges for SED modelling, but in general the SEDs are described well by both applied models. The resulting parameters are typical for TeV emitting HBLs. Consequently it remains unclear whether a so-called quiescent state was found in this campaign.