Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two New Loci for Body-Weight Regulation Identified in a Joint Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Early-Onset Extreme Obesity in French and German Study Groups

Meta-analyses of population-based genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in adults have recently led to the detection of new genetic loci for obesity. Here we aimed to discover additional obesity loci in extremely obese children and adolescents. We also investigated if these results generalize by estimating the effects of these obesity loci in adults and in population-based samples including both children and adults. We jointly analysed two GWAS of 2,258 individuals and followed-up the best, according to lowest p-values, 44 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) from 21 genomic regions in 3,141 individuals. After this DISCOVERY step, we explored if the findings derived from the extremely obese children and adolescents (10 SNPs from 5 genomic regions) generalized to (i) the population level and (ii) to adults by genotyping another 31,182 individuals (GENERALIZATION step). Apart from previously identified FTO, MC4R, and TMEM18, we detected two new loci for obesity: one in SDCCAG8 (serologically defined colon cancer antigen 8 gene; p = 1.85×10−8 in the DISCOVERY step) and one between TNKS (tankyrase, TRF1-interacting ankyrin-related ADP-ribose polymerase gene) and MSRA (methionine sulfoxide reductase A gene; p = 4.84×10−7), the latter finding being limited to children and adolescents as demonstrated in the GENERALIZATION step. The odds ratios for early-onset obesity were estimated at ∼1.10 per risk allele for both loci. Interestingly, the TNKS/MSRA locus has recently been found to be associated with adult waist circumference. In summary, we have completed a meta-analysis of two GWAS which both focus on extremely obese children and adolescents and replicated our findings in a large followed-up data set. We observed that genetic variants in or near FTO, MC4R, TMEM18, SDCCAG8, and TNKS/MSRA were robustly associated with early-onset obesity. We conclude that the currently known major common variants related to obesity overlap to a substantial degree between children and adults.
Infrequent Mutations of the hOGG1 Gene, That Is Involved in the Excision of 8‐Hydroxyguanine in Damaged DNA, in Human Gastric Cancer

DNA glycosylase, encoded by the hOGG1 gene, repairs 8‐hydroxyguanine (oh8Gua), which is an oxidatively damaged mutagenic base. To clarify whether the DNA repair activity of hOGG1 protein is involved in gastric carcinogenesis, we examined 9 gastric cancer cell lines and 35 primary gastric cancers for mutations and genetic polymorphisms of the hOGG1 gene by polymerase chain reaction‐single strand conformation polymorphism analysis. A G‐to‐A transition was detected in a gastric cancer cell line, MKN1. This nucleotide change caused the conversion of the amino acid from Arg to His at codon 154, which is located in a domain highly conserved among human, mouse, and yeast OGG1 proteins. No mutation was detected in primary gastric cancers. We compared the distribution of the polymorphic alleles associated with enzymatic activity (hOGG1‐Ser326 vs. hOGG1‐Cys326) between 35 gastric cancer patients and 42 healthy individuals. Although the frequency of the Cys326 allele, associated with low enzymatic activity, in gastric cancer patients was a little higher than that in healthy individuals, the difference did not reach statistical significance. These results suggest that low hOGG1 activity due to mutations and genetic polymorphisms is involved in the development of only a small subset of gastric cancers.
Targeting Cell Signaling and Apoptotic Pathways by Dietary Agents: Role in the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States and around the world. Most modern drug-targeted therapies, besides being enormously expensive, are associated with serious side effects and morbidity. Still, the search continues for an ideal treatment that has minimal side effects and is cost-effective. Indeed, the design and development of chemopreventive agents that act on specific and/or multiple molecular and cellular targets is gaining support as a rational approach to prevent and treat cancer. We present evidence on numerous dietary agents identified from fruits and vegetables that act on multiple signal transduction and apoptotic cascades in various tumor cells and animal models. Some of the most interesting and well documented are turmeric (curcumin), resveratrol, silymarin, EGCG, and genistein. This review will provide an insight on the cellular and molecular mechanism(s) by which dietary agents modulate multiple signaling and apoptotic pathways in tumor cells and elucidate the role of these agents in both prevention and treatment of cancer.
Effect of dietary calcium level and source on mineral utilisation by piglets fed diets containing exogenous phytase

Calcium and phosphorus are essential minerals, closely linked in digestive processes and metabolism. With widespread use of low P diets containing exogenous phytase, the optimal dietary Ca level was verified. The 40-day study evaluated the effects of Ca level (4, 7 and 10 g/kg diet) and Ca source (Ca from CaCO3 and from Lithothamnium calcareum) on mineral utilisation in 72 piglets (7.9 ± 1.0 kg BW) fed an exogenous phytase containing diet with 2.9 g digestible P/kg. Measured parameters were growth performance, stomach mineral solubility, bone breaking strength and urinary, serum and bone mineral concentration. The apparent total tract digestibility of minerals was also assessed in the two diets with 7 g Ca/kg, using 12 additional pigs. Regardless of Ca source, increasing dietary Ca impaired feed conversion ratio, increased urinary pH, increased serum and urinary Ca, decreased serum and urinary P, decreased serum Mg and increased urinary Mg, increased serum AP activity, decreased bone Mg increased bone Zn. Bone breaking strength was improved with 7 compared to 4 g Ca/kg. Compared to CaCO3 , Ca from Lithothamnium calcareum increased serum Mg and with, 10 g Ca/kg, it limited body weight gain. The dose response of Ca in a diet with 2.9 g digestible P/kg and including exogenous phytase indicated that: (i) a low dietary Ca was beneficial for piglet growth, but was limiting the metabolic use of P; (ii) a high dietary Ca level impaired P utilisation; (iii) the optimal P utilisation and bone breaking strength was obtained with a dietary Ca-to-digestible P ratio of 2.1 to 2.4:1; (iv). Increasing dietary Ca reduced Mg utilisation, but not Zn status, when fed at adequate level. Finally, Ca from Lithothamnium calcareum had similar effects on Ca and P metabolism as CaCO3 , but impaired growth when fed at the highest inclusion level.
METACOGNITION IN READING: EFL LEARNERS' METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS OF READING STRATEGY USE

The study investigated English as a foreign language learners? metacognitive awareness of reading strategy use. The participants were 12 Taiwanese college students who were required to read aloud and think aloud the eight designated texts. The collected data came from the pre-and post-questionnaires and an interview on metacognition in EFL reading as well as participants? think-aloud protocols. The findings showed that more perceived strategies were reported in the post-questionnaire, specific ways about how the think-aloud procedure enhanced metacognition were stated in the interview, and more reading strategies were actually used in the think-aloud tasks, suggesting that the participants benefited from the process of thinking aloud while reading in English specifically in terms of an increase in their metacognitive ability about reading. Pedagogical implications for developing metacognitive ability necessary for strategic reading were also discussed.
Physician Beliefs and Patient Preferences: A New Look at Regional Variation in Health Care Spending

There is considerable controversy about the causes of regional variations in health care expenditures. Using vignettes from patient and physician surveys linked to fee-for-service Medicare expenditures, this study asks whether patient demand-side factors or physician supply-side factors explain these variations. The results indicate that patient demand is relatively unimportant in explaining variations. Physician organizational factors matter, but the most important factor is physician beliefs about treatment. In Medicare, we estimate that 35 percent of spending for end-of-life care and 12 percent of spending for heart attack patients (and for all enrollees) is associated with physician beliefs unsupported by clinical evidence. (JEL D83, H75, I11, I18).
Access to health care in America.

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Domain-Specific Model Checking for Cyber-Physical Systems

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) require model checking to guarantee the functional correctness of software models, providing counterexamples in case of violations. Domain-specific model checking (DSMC) allows to apply model checking to specific application domains. DSMC hides the complexity of using a model checker by translating from a domain-specific modeling language (DSML) to the model checker’s input language, and by translating counterexamples back to the domain-specific level. Implementing DSMC is challenging for CPS due to the large differences between DSMLs and the input language of a model checker. In this paper, we present a successful application of DSMC to MECHATRONICUML, a DSML for the software design of CPS, using the model checker UPPAAL. As a key benefit, our approach is able to translate counterexamples back to the domain-specific level even in case of large differences between DSML and the model checker’s input language. We show the correctness of our approach using a case study from the area of car-2-car communication.
Juvenile Delinquency in Ghana: A Qualitative Study of the Lived Experiences of Young Offenders in Accra

In this study, I explored the perceived circumstances which make adolescents become involved in juvenile delinquency. The meanings which they make out of their delinquent behaviours were also of great interest. Using a semi-structured interview guide, the lived experiences of six (6) young offenders were collected. Following a Narrative Analysis of the young offenders lived experiences, six (6) main themes emerged as the circumstances which made them become involved in delinquency: religiosity and morality, deviant peer association, substance use and delinquency, the functioning of the nuclear family, Inadequate extended family support, apathy in schooling and lastly labeling by neighbours. As a meaning making platform, the participants saw their delinquent behaviours as a means to an end. Another construed meaning of delinquency in this study was that, proceeds from ill gotten gains amounted to ‘bitter’ money. The training process through which the young offenders who premeditated their acts went through was observed to be an apprenticeship model where each trainee (young offender) had a ‘big-man’ (a master) and a mentor (trainer). These finding were interspersed with relevant theories and literatures for a thorough discussion, with their implications for intervention and future research clearly emphasized.
Dynamic wake modeling and state estimation for improved model-based receding horizon control of wind farms

Power tracking is an emerging application for wind farm control designs that allows farms to participate in a wider range of grid services, such as secondary frequency regulation. Control designs that enable large wind farms to follow a time-varying power trajectory are complicated by aerodynamic interactions that make it impossible to decouple upstream wind turbine control actions from downstream power production. This coupling is particularly important in applications where the reference trajectory is changing faster than, or at a similar rate as, the propagation of turbine wakes through the farm. In this work we overcome these difficulties by using a dynamic wake model that accounts for wake expansion, advection, and multi-wake interactions within a model-based receding horizon controller for coordinated control of a large multi-turbine wind farm. An ensemble Kalman filter is employed for state estimation and error correction at the turbine level. We implement the controller in high-fidelity numerical simulations of a wind farm with 84 turbines and then test the controlled farm's ability to track a power reference signal. The results demonstrate the ability of the control algorithm to track two types of power reference signals used by a US independent system operator.
A file structure supporting traversal recursion

Traversal recursion is a class of recursive queries where the evaluation of the query involves traversal of a graph or a tree. This limited type of recursion arises in many applications. In this report we investigate a simple file structure that efficiently supports traversal recursion over large, acyclic graphs. The nodes of the graph are sorted in topological order and stored in a B-tree. Hence, traversal of the graph can be done in a single scan. Nodes and edges can also be inserted, deleted, and modified efficiently.
When pain memories are lost: a pilot study of semantic knowledge of pain in dementia.

OBJECTIVE It has been documented that pain in people with dementia is often under-reported and poorly detected. The reasons for this are not clearly defined. This project aimed to explore semantic concepts of pain in people with dementia and whether this is associated with clinical pain report. DESIGN Cohort study with nested cross-sectional analysis. SETTING Acute general hospital medical wards for older people. SUBJECTS People with dementia (N = 26) and control participants (N = 13). METHODS Two subtests of semantic memory for pain: (1) Identifying painful situations from a standardized range of pictures; (2) Describing the concept of pain. Participants also indicated whether they were in pain or not, were observed for pain (PAINAD scale) and completed the Wong-Baker FACES scale to indicate pain severity. RESULTS Compared with the control group, people with dementia were less able to identify painful situations and used fewer categories to define their concept of pain. In turn, the performance on these two measures was related to the reported presence and, albeit less strongly, to the reported severity of pain, indicating that a reduction in semantic memory for pain is associated with a decline in reported pain. CONCLUSIONS This study is the first to show that semantic memory for pain is diminished in dementia patients. When using clinical pain tools, clinicians should consider these effects which may bias clinical pain ratings when they evaluate and manage pain in these patients. This might improve the recognition and management of pain in people with dementia.
Self-Employment and Intergenerational Transfers

Abstract: The determinants of entrepreneurship (in the sense of being self-employed in crafts, commerce, or the liberal professions) are examined using exceptional data on intergenerational transfers of wealth, education, and family background. The respective importance of the level of assets, which relaxes liquidity constraints, and of an entrepreneurial environment are examined, the policy implications being quite different. The probability of becoming self-employed is 1.5 times higher for a son of a self-employed individual than for a son of a wage worker. There is evidence of liquidity constraints. However, they seem less binding for sons of entrepreneurs than for sons of wage workers. Furthermore, human capital does not play the same role. So the family environment is important even when no monetary transfers are involved. Nevertheless, whatever the family background, parents help entrepreneurs to have access to credit by providing collateral, indirectly relaxing the constraints.
Design and development of a light weight embodied robotic hand activated with only one actuator

At the present time, the robotics hand research field is searching for those robots that could imitate the human hand, both in shape and in skill. As another option, some manipulator are developed, even though they do not imitate the human hand, they try to fulfil certain specific tasks with the biggest precision and skill. Some keys to make the robotic hands integrable in any manipulator are: built them lighter, a minimum amount of actuators and a simple sensorial system to simplify its control. The present work will describe the design of the RL1 Hand developed in the Robotic's Lab at the Carlos III University of Madrid. This robotic hand has 3 articulated fingers, which adapt themselves to the object which is being held. The fingers movement and auctioning are made through one direct current motor. The control is done through simple commands and can be sent from any computer, as a string of characters. To prove its ability the RL1 Hand was mounted in a robotic arm, ASIBOT Robot. This arm was developed to help disabled people or people with special needs. The RL1 Hand, its mechanisms, its electronic control and its actuator weight 250gr and they are embodied in the ASIBOT Robot.
Understanding Perceived Enjoyment in Mobile Game Context

Earlier mobile game studies have largely focused on the pre-adoption phase while ignoring the post-adoption behaviors. Additionally, while intrinsic factors are often considered important in affecting game play, little research has attempted to understand their antecedents. To fill these gaps we examine the role of perceived enjoyment as a driver of mobile game's continued use, and the antecedents of perceived enjoyment. We adopt design aesthetics, perceived ease of use, variety, novelty, perceived interactivity, and perceived challenge and measure their impact on perceived enjoyment, and its effect on continuance intention. The model is tested against 207 actual users of various mobile games. Structural equation modelling (SEM) is employed for data analysis. The findings lend support to the role of design aesthetic, perceived ease of use and novelty. Our study holds implications for IS post-adoption literature.
EFFECTS OF QURAN LISTENING AND MUSIC ON ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM BRAIN WAVES

The cerebral cortex contains huge numbers of neurons. Activity of these neurons is to some extent synchronized in regular firing rhythms ('brain waves'). Many researchers have investigated the effect of various events to the EEG signals such as meditation and classical music. EEG signals from subjects at rest, as well as in different cognitive states; listening to Quran recitation and listening to low and hard music are measured and analyzed. Statistical analysis using graph pad prism software was performed in order to test the validity of obtained data. The analysis results from this study show that listening to Quran recitation can generate alpha wave and can help a person to be in a relax condition as compared with resting and listening to slow and hard rock music.
Providing Architectural Languages and Tools Interoperability through Model Transformation Technologies

Many architectural languages have been proposed in the last 15 years, each one with the chief aim of becoming the ideal language for specifying software architectures. What is evident nowadays, instead, is that architectural languages are defined by stakeholder concerns. Capturing all such concerns within a single, narrowly focused notation is impossible. At the same time, it is also impractical to define and use a "universal" notation, such as UML. As a result, many domain-specific notations for architectural modeling have been proposed, each one focusing on a specific application domain, analysis type, or modeling environment. As a drawback, a proliferation of languages exists, each one with its own specific notation, tools, and domain specificity. No effective interoperability is possible to date. Therefore, if a software architect has to model a concern not supported by his own language/tool, he has to manually transform (and, eventually, keep aligned) the available architectural specification into the required language/tool. This paper presents DUALLy, an automated framework that allows architectural languages and tools interoperability. Given a number of architectural languages and tools, they can all interoperate thanks to automated model transformation techniques. DUALLy is implemented as an Eclipse plugin. Putting it in practice, we apply the DUALLy approach to the Darwin/FSP ADL and to a UML2.0 profile for software architectures. By making use of an industrial complex system, we transform a UML software architecture specification in Darwin/FSP, make some verifications by using LTSA, and reflect changes required by the verifications back to the UML specification.
NLRP3 inflammasome in retinal ganglion cell loss in optic neuropathy

In neurodegenerative diseases, neuroinflammatory responses are often activated in resident immune cells in the central nervous system (CNS) (Schroder and Tschopp, 2010). Optic neuropathy refers to dysfunction and degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and their axons, which is often induced by optic nerve injury or glaucomatous insult. Studies, including ours, suggested that the optic nerve insult activated the NLRP3 inflammasome (NOD-like receptors, abbreviated as NLRs, Pyrin domain containing 3, also known as NALP3) in retinal microglial cells (Chi et al., 2014; Puyang et al., 2016). We have applied non-invasive high-resolution imaging to track RGC survival in vivo and demonstrated that knocking out NLRP3 gene delayed RGC loss following the optic nerve crush injury (Puyang et al., 2016). In this article, we discussed the role of NLRP3 inflammasome in RGC death in eye diseases.
Rejection of a harmonic and transient disturbance in a single-link flexible robot provided with piezoelectric actuators

In many applications, the use of slender and light flexible structures has increased due to the requirement of more efficient structures. The main objective of this work is to suppress vibration at the free end of a single-link rotational robot subjected to a harmonic disturbance located near to the tip of the link The control architecture is made up of two independent control loops; the first loop is employed to control the position of the hub and the second loop is used to attenuate the vibration of the arm. The position control of the hub is achieved through a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller with feedforward gains. The active vibration control (AVC) is achieved implementing a linear parameter varying (LPV) gain-scheduling observer-based state-feedback controller. A pair of piezoelectric patches is used as actuator. The link is considered as a cantilevered beam, and its model is obtained using black box system identification techniques. The AVC loop is considered to be affected by one harmonic disturbance generated by a DC motor and one transient disturbance induced by inertial force from the movement of the rotational joint at the measure point. The arm is subjected to different joint trajectories and to different variations of the frequency of the harmonic disturbance. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the observer-based state-feedback controller for the rejection of unwanted vibration and its capability of increasing the damping of the structure.