Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anti-Anisakis IgE Seroprevalence in the Healthy Croatian Coastal Population and Associated Risk Factors

Background The main objective of the study was to determine the degree of sensitization to Anisakis spp. antigens in healthy coastal population of Dalmatia given the high thermally unprocessed fish intake rate present in this area, suggested as a significant risk factor for anisakiasis. We performed a monocenter, cross-sectional pilot study stratified by geographic area of residence, conducted at the County secondary healthcare provider Medicine-biochemical Laboratory in Split (Croatia), from November 2010 till December 2011, on 500 unpaid volunteer subjects undergoing routine blood analysis and belonging to the south coast of the Adriatic Sea. Methodology/Principal Findings We studied the IgE seroprevalence to Anisakis spp. Ani s l and Ani s 7 allergens by indirect ELISA in healthy subjects, which were selected at random in the region of Dalmatia (Southern Croatia), among islands, coastal urban and inland rural populations. In order to detect possible cross-reactivity to other human helminthes, serum samples were tested also for the presence of IgG antibodies to Ascaris lumbricoides and Toxocara canis. The overall and coastal Anisakis seroprevalences for the sampled population were 2% and 2.5%, respectively. The logistic univariate regression analysis confirmed that regarding anti-Anisakis IgE seroprevalence, raw fish intake, daily fish intake, homemade origin of fish dish and occupational contact (professional, artisanal or hobby contact with fishery or fish industry) were risk factors associated to Anisakis spp. sensitization, but neither of the variables was exclusive for a particular seropositive population. Also, a significant difference was observed between seropositive and seronegative subjects that had stated allergy or symptoms associated with allergy (atopic dermatitis, asthma or rhinitis) in their previous history. Conclusions/Significance Being the first in Croatia, our study underlines the necessity of incorporating Anisakis spp. allergens in routine hypersensitivity testing of coastal population.
Gorilla class I major histocompatibility complex alleles: comparison to human and chimpanzee class I

14 gorilla class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) alleles have been isolated, sequenced, and compared to their counterparts in humans and chimpanzees. Gorilla homologues of HLA-A, -B, and -C were readily identified, and four Gogo-A, four Gogo-B, and five Gogo-C alleles were defined. In addition, an unusual Gogo class I gene with features in common with HLA-A and its related pseudogene, HLA-H, is described. None of the gorilla alleles is identical or even closely related to known class I alleles and each encodes a unique antigen recognition site. However, the majority of polymorphic substitutions and sequence motifs of gorilla class I alleles are shared with the human or chimpanzee systems. In particular, elements shared with HLA-A2 and HLA-B27 are found in Gogo-A and -B alleles. Diversity at the Gogo-B locus is less than at the Gogo-A locus, a trend the opposite of that seen for HLA-A and -B. The Gogo-C locus also appears to have limited polymorphism compared to Gogo-A. Two basic Gogo-C motifs were found and they segregate with distinctive sets of HLA-C alleles. HLA-A allels are divided into five families derived from two ancient lineages. All chimpanzee A alleles derived from one of these lineages and all gorilla alleles derive from the other. Unlike chimpanzee Patr-A alleles, the Gogo-A alleles do not clearly partition with one of the HLA-A families but have similarities with two. Overall, gorilla class I diversity appears from this sampling to show more distinctions from class I HLA than found for chimpanzee class I.
A rigorous and computationally efficient analysis of microstrip for use as an electro-optic modulator

Much interest has been shown in the literature concerning the direct modulation of an optical signal by a microwave signal using a microstriplike structure with a diffused optical waveguide. Due to the particular geometry of the modulator, the usual rigorous methods of analysis, such as the spectral-domain method (SDM), encounter problems, and less efficient methods have had to be used. It is shown that by using an asymptotic form of the Green's function in the standard SDM, an accurate, efficient, and rigorous full-wave analysis can readily be undertaken. A closed-form first-order solution to the field patterns is also derived. >
Random Beamforming Over Quasi-Static and Fading Channels: A Deterministic Equivalent Approach

In this work, we study the performance of random isometric precoders over quasi-static and correlated fading channels. We derive deterministic approximations of the mutual information and the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at the output of the minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) receiver and provide simple provably converging fixed-point algorithms for their computation. Although these approximations are only proven exact in the asymptotic regime with infinitely many antennas at the transmitters and receivers, simulations suggest that they closely match the performance of small-dimensional systems. We exemplarily apply our results to the performance analysis of multi-cellular communication systems, multiple-input multiple-output multiple-access channels (MIMO-MAC), and MIMO interference channels. The mathematical analysis is based on the Stieltjes transform method. This enables the derivation of deterministic equivalents of functionals of large-dimensional random matrices. In contrast to previous works, our analysis does not rely on arguments from free probability theory which enables the consideration of random matrix models for which asymptotic freeness does not hold. Thus, the results of this work are also a novel contribution to the field of random matrix theory and applicable to a wide spectrum of practical systems.
BorderGuard: detecting cold potatoes from peers

Internet Service Providers often establish contractual "peering" agreements, where they agree to forward traffic to each other's customers at no cost. <i>Consistent route advertisement at all peering points</i> is a common provision in these agreements, because it gives an AS the flexibility to select egress points for the traffic (e.g., performing "hot potato" routing). Verifying "consistent export" is challenging because route advertisements are exchanged at multiple peering points and may be modified by routing policies. In this paper, we propose two algorithms to detect inconsistent routes using routing and configuration data from an AS's border routers. The first algorithm requires access to all eBGP routes advertised by a peer. Because this data is often unavailable, we propose another algorithm that detects inconsistencies using readily available data. We have applied our algorithms to the routes advertised by the peers of AT&T's commercial IP backbone. Although a peer may intentionally send inconsistent advertisements to prevent its neighbor from performing hot-potato routing, we also discuss several configuration scenarios where a peer may <i>inadvertently</i> advertise inconsistent routes, despite having consistent export policies. Finally, we explain how simple modifications to the routers could make detection of inconsistent advertisements much easier than it is today.
The role of socio-communicative rearing environments in the development of social and physical cognition in apes.

The cultural intelligence hypothesis (CIH) claims that humans' advanced cognition is a direct result of human culture and that children are uniquely specialized to absorb and utilize this cultural experience (Tomasello, 2000). Comparative data demonstrating that 2.5-year-old human children outperform apes on measures of social cognition but not on measures of physical cognition support this claim (Herrmann et al., 2007). However, the previous study failed to control for rearing when comparing these two species. Specifically, the human children were raised in a human culture whereas the apes were raised in standard sanctuary settings. To further explore the CIH, here we compared the performance on multiple measures of social and physical cognition in a group of standard reared apes raised in conditions typical of zoo and biomedical laboratory settings to that of apes reared in an enculturated socio-communicatively rich environment. Overall, the enculturated apes significantly outperformed their standard reared counterparts on the cognitive tasks and this was particularly true for measures of communication. Furthermore, the performance of the enculturated apes was very similar to previously reported data from 2.5-year-old children. We conclude that apes who are reared in a human-like socio-communicatively rich environment develop superior communicative abilities compared to apes reared in standard laboratory settings, which supports some assumptions of the cultural intelligence hypothesis.
Design and implementation of an inertial navigation system for pedestrians based on a low-cost MEMS IMU

Inertial navigation systems for pedestrians are infrastructure-less and can achieve sub-meter accuracy in the short/medium period. However, when low-cost inertial measurement units (IMU) are employed for their implementation, they suffer from a slowly growing drift between the true pedestrian position and the corresponding estimated position. In this paper we illustrate a novel solution to mitigate such a drift by: a) using only accelerometer and gyroscope measurements (no magnetometers required); b) including the sensor error model parameters in the state vector of an extended Kalman filter; c) adopting a novel soft heuristic for foot stance detection and for zero-velocity updates. Experimental results evidence that our inertial-only navigation system can achieve similar or better performance with respect to pedestrian dead-reckoning systems presented in related studies, although the adopted IMU is less accurate than more expensive counterparts.
Jail Diversion and Recidivism: A Case Study of a Municipal Court Diversion Program

Municipal Courts in the United States have jurisdiction over cases involving municipal ordinance violations such as loitering, trespassing, public drunkenness, and vandalism. When an individual violates a city ordinance, the typical punishment is a fine, even if the defendant is indigent. Failure to pay the fine on time results in a warrant and possible jail time. This study examined whether individuals who successfully completed a court diversion program for indigent defendants were less likely to reoffend than their counterparts who failed to complete the diversion program. Findings showed clients who successfully completed the diversion program were less likely to commit future city violations and state offenses. The results suggest court diversion programs might offer a promising alternative to jail for some indigent defendants and aid with lowering recidivism at least within the first few years of their initial offense.
Thalamic Neuronal Activity in Dopamine-Depleted Primates: Evidence for a Loss of Functional Segregation within Basal Ganglia Circuits

Different analyses of neuronal activity in primate models of Parkinson's disease (PD) have resulted in two different views on the effects of dopamine depletion. The first is based on the higher firing rate and bursty firing pattern, and assumes that dopamine depletion results in a hyperactivity of basal ganglia (BG) output structures. The second is based on the less-specific responses to passive joint manipulation and the excessive correlations between neuronal discharges, and assumes that dopamine depletion results in a loss of functional segregation in cortico-BG circuits. The aim of the present study was to test out the predictions of these two different views on thalamic neuronal activity. Three male vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) were progressively intoxicated with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). Neuronal activities were characterized using standard analyses (firing rates and patterns, receptive fields, and cross-correlations) and compared between the normal, asymptomatic (before the stabilization of motor symptoms), and parkinsonian (with persistent akinesia and rigidity) stages of MPTP intoxication. The pallidonigral thalamus (receiving projections from the BG) was characterized in both the asymptomatic and parkinsonian states by (1) an unchanged firing rate and pattern and (2) a proliferation of nonspecific neurons and correlated pairs. In contrast, the cerebellar thalamus (receiving projections from the cerebellum), was characterized by no change (asymptomatic state) or minor changes (symptomatic state). Thus the major dysfunction after dopamine depletion appeared to be the loss of functional segregation within cortico-BG circuits, which could also be at the heart of parkinsonian pathophysiology.
Altered expression of isoniazid-regulated genes in drug-treated dormant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

OBJECTIVES Despite having potent activity against actively replicating Mycobacterium tuberculosis, isoniazid has very limited activity against dormant bacilli. In order to investigate the lack of bactericidal activity of this drug under conditions leading to mycobacterial dormancy, we studied the transcriptional pattern of M. tuberculosis in different physiological states following exposure to isoniazid. METHODS Global gene expression analysis was used to study M. tuberculosis treated with isoniazid in dormancy models of nutrient depletion and progressive hypoxia in vitro, as well as in an in vivo hollow fibre model of dormancy. Mycobacterial expression of the drug's putative transcriptional signature was investigated by RT-PCR in each dormancy model, and during the early and chronic phases of infection in the mouse aerosol model. Transcriptional responses were correlated with the bactericidal activity of isoniazid in the respective models. RESULTS A small group of genes directly relevant to the mechanism of action of isoniazid was confirmed to constitute a transcriptional signature of the drug, as differential regulation of these genes was abrogated in an isoniazid-resistant, katG-deficient M. tuberculosis strain following isoniazid exposure. Isoniazid-induced expression of this transcriptional signature was abolished in dormant bacilli which had acquired phenotypic tolerance to isoniazid, regardless of the specific conditions responsible for the induction of the dormancy phenotype. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed that expression of isoniazid-regulated genes (IRGs) is dramatically altered under conditions of nutrient depletion and progressive hypoxia in vitro. Although these IRGs are highly induced following drug exposure early in infection in the mouse hollow fibre and aerosol models, correlating with potent bactericidal activity of the drug, their expression levels are markedly diminished during late-stage infection in these two models, coinciding with the greatly reduced bactericidal activity of isoniazid against these organisms. CONCLUSIONS The reduced susceptibility of bacilli to the bactericidal drug isoniazid, as well as lack of expression of IRGs upon exposure to the drug, may be defining features of M. tuberculosis dormancy.
Effect of Noise on Time-frequency Analysis of Vibrocardiographic Signals

Recordings of biological signals such as vibrocardiography often contain contaminating noise. Noise sources may include respiratory, gastrointestinal, and muscles movement, or environmental noise. Depending on individual physiology and sensor location, the vibrocardiographic (VCG) signals may be obscured by these noises in the time-frequency plane, which may interfere with automated characterization of VCG. In this study, polynomial chirplet transform (PCT) and smoothed pseudo Wigner-Ville distribution (SPWVD) were used to estimate the instantaneous frequency (IF) of two simulated VCG signals. One simulated signal contained a time-varying IF while the other had a fixed IF. The error in estimating IF was then calculated for signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) from −10 to 10 dB. Analysis was repeated 100 times at each level of noise using randomized sets of white noise. Error analysis showed that the range of errors in estimating IF was wider when SNR decreased. Results also showed that PCT tended to outperform SPWVD at high SNR. For example, PCT was more accurate at SNR > 3 dB for a simulated VCG signal with constant frequency components, at SNR>−10 dB for a simulated VCG signal with time-varying frequency, and at SNR > 0 for an actual VCG.
Racial Cues and Racial Identity

Previous research suggests racial identity and racial cues, such as the extent to which an event is blatantly or ambiguously race-related, individually shape African American (AA) individuals’ experiences with racial discrimination (RD). However, scant attention has been paid to the interactive or transactional influences of these factors. The present study examined the direct effects of racial cues and the interactive effects of racial cues and racial identity—specifically, the extent to which AAs believe others view AAs negatively—on 78 AAs’ interpretations of and affective responses to lab-based RD. Findings revealed a direct effect of racial cues on participants’ perceptions of the event as being race-relevant and on participants’ affect. Moreover, racial identity moderated the associations between racial cues and participants’ perceptions and affective responses. These findings suggest that AAs’ experiences with RD are not homogeneous and that the interplay or transaction between racial cues and racial identity is vital in such experiences.
Sharp Sufficient Conditions on Exact Sparsity Pattern Recovery

Consider the $n$-dimensional vector $y=X\be+\e$, where $\be \in \R^p$ has only $k$ nonzero entries and $\e \in \R^n$ is a Gaussian noise. This can be viewed as a linear system with sparsity constraints, corrupted by noise. We find a non-asymptotic upper bound on the probability that the optimal decoder for $\beta$ declares a wrong sparsity pattern, given any generic perturbation matrix $X$. In the case when $X$ is randomly drawn from a Gaussian ensemble, we obtain asymptotically sharp sufficient conditions for exact recovery, which agree with the known necessary conditions previously established.
Deformations of asymptotically cylindrical G2-manifolds

Abstract We prove that for a 7-dimensional manifold M with cylindrical ends the moduli space of exponentially asymptotically cylindrical torsion-free G2-structures is a smooth manifold (if non-empty), and study some of its local properties. We also show that the holonomy of the induced metric of an exponentially asymptotically cylindrical G2-manifold is exactly G2 if and only if the fundamental group π1(M) is finite and neither M nor any double cover of M is homeomorphic to a cylinder.
Singular Fermi Surfaces II. The Two-Dimensional Case

We consider many-fermion systems with singular Fermi surfaces, which contain Van Hove points where the gradient of the band function k ↦ e(k) vanishes. In a previous paper, we have treated the case of spatial dimension d ≥ 3. In this paper, we focus on the more singular case d = 2 and establish properties of the fermionic self-energy to all orders in perturbation theory. We show that there is an asymmetry between the spatial and frequency derivatives of the self-energy. The derivative with respect to the Matsubara frequency diverges at the Van Hove points, but, surprisingly, the self-energy is C1 in the spatial momentum to all orders in perturbation theory, provided the Fermi surface is curved away from the Van Hove points. In a prototypical example, the second spatial derivative behaves similarly to the first frequency derivative. We discuss the physical significance of these findings.
Health and Quality of Life

Background: A substantial burden associated with MI has been reported. Thus, how survivors experience their quality of life (QOL) is now being given increasing attention. However, few studies have involved women and a comparison with the general population. The aims of this study were to determine the QOL of female MI survivors, to investigate whether their QOL differed from that of the general population, and to evaluate the clinical significance of the findings. Methods: Two cross-sectional surveys were performed; on female MI survivors and the general Norwegian population. The MI survey included women aged 62–80 years, three months to five years after their MI. One hundred and forty-five women responded, yielding a response rate of 60%. A subset of women in the same age range (n = 156) was drawn from a study of 1893 randomly selected Norwegian citizens. QOL was measured in both groups with the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument Abbreviated (WHOQOL-BREF). Results: The majority (54%) of the female MI survivors presented with ST-elevation in their ECG, 31% received thrombolysis, and 38% had reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. Female MI survivors reported significantly lower satisfaction with general health (p = 0.020) and overall QOL (p = 0.017) than women from the general population. This was also the case for the physical and environmental QOL domains (p < 0.001), but not for the psychological and social relationship domains. Estimated effect sizes between the two groups of participants ranged from 0.1 to -0.6. Conclusion: The burden of MI significantly affects the physical health of elderly women. Still, female MI survivors fare as well as the general female population on psychosocial QOL domains. Action should be taken not only to support women's physical needs but also to reinforce their strengths in order to maintain optimal QOL. Published: 30 October 2007 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2007, 5:58 doi:10.1186/1477-7525-5-58 Received: 16 May 2007 Accepted: 30 October 2007 This article is available from: http://www.hqlo. com/content/5/1/58 © 2007 Norekvål et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Accountability Online: Understanding the Web-Based Accountability Practices of Nonprofit Organizations

Nonprofit organizations are increasingly using Internet-based technologies to address accountability. This article presents a set of conceptual, theoretical, and empirical innovations to help understand this phenomenon. First, this article presents a conceptual framework that delineates two key dimensions of Web-based accountability practices: disclosure and dialogue. It then posits a four-factor explanatory model of online accountability incorporating organizational strategy, capacity, governance, and environment. Last, it tests the model through a content analysis of 117 U.S. community foundation Web sites combined with survey and financial data. The descriptive statistics show that the Web site has been more effectively used to provide financial and performance disclosures than to provide dialogic mechanisms for stakeholder input and interactive engagement. Our multivariate analyses, in turn, highlight capacity- and governance-related variables, especially asset size and board performance, as the most significant factors associated with the adoption of Web-based accountability practices.