Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of neonatal IgE level: parity, maternal age, birth season and perinatal essential fatty acid status in infants of atopic mothers

Objective: The hygiene hypothesis suggests that the protective ‘siblings effect’ against atopic diseases such as atopic dermatitis, allergic asthma and hay fever is a result of recurrent infections during early childhood. A recent study and review have indicated that this protective effect may already arise in utero. Lower n‐3 essential fatty acid (EFA) status is associated with increased parity, and EFA status has also been related to atopy. The present study confirms the negative association between parity and neonatal immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels and further unravel the role of perinatal EFA status.
The efficacy of adjunctive N-acetylcysteine in major depressive disorder: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, conferring considerable individual, family, and community burden. To date, treatments for MDD have been derived from the monoamine hypothesis, and there is a paucity of emerging antidepressants, especially with novel mechanisms of action and treatment targets. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a redox-active glutathione precursor that decreases inflammatory cytokines, modulates glutamate, promotes neurogenesis, and decreases apoptosis, all of which contribute to the neurobiology of depression. METHOD Participants with a current episode of MDD diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR criteria (N = 252) were treated with NAC or placebo in addition to treatment as usual for 12 weeks and were followed to 16 weeks. Data were collected between 2007 and 2011. RESULTS The omnibus interaction between group and visit for the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), the primary outcome measure, was not significant (F₁,₅₂₀.₉ = 1.98, P = .067), and the groups did not separate at week 12 (t₃₆₀.₃ = -1.12, P = .265). However, at week 12, the scores on the Longitudinal Interval Follow-Up Evaluation-Range of Impaired Functioning Tool (LIFE-RIFT) differed from placebo (P = .03). Among participants with a MADRS score ≥ 25, NAC separated from placebo at weeks 6, 8, 12, and 16 (P < .05). Additionally, the rate of change between baseline and week 16 was significant (t₂₂₁.₀₃ = -2.11, P = .036). NAC treatment was superior to placebo at week 16 for secondary readouts of function and clinical impression. Remission and response were greater in the NAC group at week 16, but not at week 12. The NAC group had a greater rate of gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal adverse events. CONCLUSIONS Being negative at the week 12 end point, and with some positive secondary signals, the study provides only limited support for the role of NAC as a novel adjunctive therapy for MDD. These data implicate the pathways influenced by NAC in depression pathogenesis, principally oxidative and inflammatory stress and glutamate, although definitive confirmation remains necessary. TRIAL REGISTRATION www.anzctr. org.au Identifier: ACTRN12607000134426.
Associations of Depression With C-Reactive Protein, IL-1, and IL-6: A Meta-Analysis

Objective: To assess the magnitude and direction of associations of depression with C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-1, and IL-6 in community and clinical samples. Methods: Systematic review of articles published between January 1967 and January 2008 in the PubMed and PsycINFO electronic databases was performed. Effect sizes were calculated as stat d and meta-analyzed, using random-effects models. Results: Each inflammatory marker was positively associated with depression; CRP, d = 0.15 (95% CI = 0.10, 0.21), p < . 001; IL-6, d = 0.25 (95% CI = 0.18, 0.31), p < . 001; IL-1, d = 0.35 (95% CI = 0.03, 0.67), p = . 03; IL-1ra, d = 0.25 (95% CI = 0.04, 0.46), p = . 02. Associations were strongest in clinically depressed patient samples—but were also significant in community-based samples—and when clinical interviews were used. Studies adjusting for body mass index (BMI) had smaller associations, albeit significant. Relationships were inconsistent with respect to age, medication, and sex. Depression was related to CRP and IL-6 among patients with cardiac disease or cancer. Conclusions: Depression and CRP, IL-1, and IL-6 are positively associated in clinical and community samples and BMI is implicated as a mediating/moderating factor. Continuity in clinic- and community-based samples suggests there is a dose-response relationship between depression and these inflammatory markers, lending strength to the contention that the cardiac (or cancer) risk conferred by depression is not exclusive to patient populations. Available evidence is consistent with three causal pathways: depression to inflammation, inflammation to depression, and bidirectional relationships. ANS = autonomic nervous system; BDI = Beck Depression Inventory; BMI = body mass index; CAD = coronary artery disease; CES-D = Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale; CI = confidence interval; CNS = central nervous system; CRH = corticotrophin-releasing hormone; CRP = C-reactive protein; DSM = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; HPA = hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal; IL = interleukin; IL-1ra = interleukin-1 receptor antagonist; LPS = lipopolysaccharide; MI = myocardial infarction; OTC = over-the-counter; PBMC = Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells; PHQ-9 = Depression Module of the Patient Health Questionnaire; SE = Standard Error.
Development of own-race biases

This review examines the emergence and development of perceptual and social biases towards own-race individuals. We first discuss evidence regarding the early emergence of an own-race bias in facial preferences and face recognition abilities demonstrated by infants with an abundance of visual experience with own-race individuals, but little to no experience with other-race individuals. We then consider perceptual categorization of face race, visual scanning, and differential processing of own- and other-race faces in relation to recognition of face identity. Finally, we review evidence regarding own-race preferences for social partners and own-race biases in social evaluations that emerge during early childhood. Implications of the existing evidence for understanding the role of experience in perceptual development and the emergence of racial preferences and stereotypes are discussed.
Toward millions of file system IOPS on low-cost, commodity hardware

We describe a storage system that removes I/O bottlenecks to achieve more than one million IOPS based on a user-space file abstraction for arrays of commodity SSDs. The file abstraction refactors I/O scheduling and placement for extreme parallelism and non-uniform memory and I/O. The system includes a set-associative, parallel page cache in the user space. We redesign page caching to eliminate CPU overhead and lock-contention in non-uniform memory architecture machines. We evaluate our design on a 32 core NUMA machine with four, eight-core processors. Experiments show that our design delivers 1.23 million 512-byte read IOPS. The page cache realizes the scalable IOPS of Linux asynchronous I/O (AIO) and increases user-perceived I/O performance linearly with cache hit rates. The parallel, set-associative cache matches the cache hit rates of the global Linux page cache under real workloads.
spaP gene of Streptococcus mutans in dental plaque and its relationship with early childhood caries.

AIM Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus are the main pathogens associated with the development of dental caries in humans. Recently, the real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR-TR) has been used for fast and exact quantification of these bacteria species. This molecular biology method has made the detection of these bacteria in saliva and dental plaque possible; additionally, it aids the development of illness risk prediction. The purpose of this prospective, analytic, transversal, observational and unicenter study was to quantify the spaP gene of the Streptococcus mutans and its correlation with caries in a group of children using isolated DNA from plaque samples processed through qPCR-TR, using specific oligonucleotides for this gene detection. MATERIALS AND METHODS The cariogenic potential of Streptococcus mutans in the dental plaque was analysed in a group of patients aged 12 to 46 months. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed. The Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to establish the correlation between caries (dmft) index (decayed/missing/filled primary teeth), spaP gene and age group. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare MSB cultivation technique and qPCR-TR. RESULTS In the molecular trials, a close association between caries prevalence in childhood and the presence and high proportion of the spaP gene of S. mutans was found. The average caries prevalence was 3.71, and it increased as age range increased. The highest caries prevalence was observed in female patients and in the oldest age range studied (40 46 months) which contrasts with the 12-18 months age that had a caries (dmft) index of zero. The amplification using as initiator the gene spaP of the nucleic acids extracted from the S. mutans resulted positive in 91.3% of the cases. Every child with caries was positive for the spaP and only 8.75% were negative, this group included children without caries. CONCLUSION In conclusion, there was a correlation with infant caries prevalence and S. mutans.
Alignment of Requirements Specification and Testing: A Systematic Mapping Study

Requirements should specify expectations on a software system and testing should ensure these expectations are met. Thus, to enable high product quality and efficient development it is crucial that requirements and testing activities and information are aligned. A lot of research has been done in the respective fields Requirements Engineering and Testing but there is a lack of summaries of the current state of the art on how to link the two. This study presents a systematic mapping of the alignment of specification and testing of functional or nonfunctional requirements in order to identify useful approaches and needs for future research. In particular we focus on results relevant for nonfunctional requirements but since only a few studies was found on alignment in total we also cover the ones on functional requirements. The map summarizes the 35 relevant papers found and discuss them within six major sub categories with model-based testing and traceability being the ones with most prior results.
Four-Week Consumption of Malaysian Honey Reduces Excess Weight Gain and Improves Obesity-Related Parameters in High Fat Diet Induced Obese Rats

Many studies revealed the potential of honey consumption in controlling obesity. However, no study has been conducted using Malaysian honey. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of two local Malaysian honey types: Gelam and Acacia honey in reducing excess weight gain and other parameters related to obesity. The quality of both honey types was determined through physicochemical analysis and contents of phenolic and flavonoid. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were induced to become obese using high fat diet (HFD) prior to introduction with/without honey or orlistat for four weeks. Significant reductions in excess weight gain and adiposity index were observed in rats fed with Gelam honey compared to HFD rats. Moreover, levels of plasma glucose, triglycerides, and cholesterol, plasma leptin and resistin, liver enzymes, renal function test, and relative organ weight in Gelam and Acacia honey treated groups were reduced significantly when compared to rats fed with HFD only. Similar results were also displayed in rats treated with orlistat, but with hepatotoxicity effects. In conclusion, consumption of honey can be used to control obesity by regulating lipid metabolism and appears to be more effective than orlistat.
Diagnostische Fähigkeiten von Mathematiklehrkräften und ihre Auswirkungen auf die Leistungen ihrer Schülerinnen und Schüler

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht diagnostische Fahigkeiten von Mathematiklehrkraften der Sekundarstufe sowie die Zusammenhange zwischen diagnostischen Fahigkeiten, Unterrichtsqualitat und den Leistungen der Schulerinnen und Schuler. Die Stichprobe von 155 Mathematiklehrkraften und deren Klassen mit insgesamt 3483 Schulerinnen und Schulern, die zu zwei Messzeitpunkten (am Ende der 9. und 10. Jahrgangsstufe) untersucht wurden, entstammt dem Projekt COACTIV. Diagnostische Fahigkeiten wurden anhand des aufgabenbezogenen Urteilsfehlers und der diagnostischen Sensitivitat (Rangkomponente) untersucht. Unterrichtsqualitat wurde durch das kognitive Aktivierungspotenzial der gestellten Klassenarbeitsaufgaben erhoben. Es zeigte sich, dass Lehrkrafte die Losungshaufigkeit spezifischer Aufgaben in der eigenen Klasse oftmals uberschatzen, der Median der Rangkomponente liegt bei r=0.32. Eine hohere Fahigkeit, das Schwierigkeitsniveau einzelner Aufgaben einzuschatzen, geht auch mit einem hoheren kognitiven Aktivierungspotenzial der Aufgaben einher. Beide Indikatoren diagnostischer Fahigkeiten stehen - bei Kontrolle relevanter Eingangsvoraussetzungen der Schuler (Mathematik- und Leseleistung im Vorjahr, allgemeine kognitive Fahigkeiten etc.) - in signifikantem Zusammenhang mit den Leistungen der Klassen.
The Effect of Boundary Conditions on the Behaviour of Pointed Masonry Barrel Vaults: Late Gothic Cases in Scotland

Barrel vaults provide effective fire-proof roofing in historic churches, castles, cloisters or halls that look for simple and utilitarian aesthetics, as long as they are strongly connected to sturdy lateral walls and transverse gables, conditions that limit their possibilities for spatial expression. A study of the effect of these conditions was carried out on the pointed vaults of a characteristic group of 15 century Scottish churches. Following earlier measured surveys that showed remarkable geometric integrity, 1/15-scale models of a representative form were made in reinforced plaster that could delay the cracks propagation enough to be monitored. Only the shell was considered, leaving the effect of ribs or diaphragms that hold the heavy flagstone roof for further study. The model was subject to symmetric and asymmetric horizontal spread, which simulated the insufficient containment of not very stiff walls, but included the effect of gable end walls. Cracks formed invariably at an early stage (3% of the span spread), propagating more rapidly and causing early failure at a symmetrical spread (15% of span), while the asymmetrical spread produced diagonal crack patterns across the vault at 33% of the span. Gables provided more stiff areas but eventually caused local detachment at the spread point, at only 5% of the span, with cracks propagating to the back wall and at a higher rate when a less stiff gable was included(13% of span). The results validated an FE model that provided further insight to the performance of the type at displacement and settlement, as exemplified in the case of Bothwell church in Scotland.
Positive Association of Maternal G Protein β3 Subunit 825T Allele with Reduced Head Circumference at Birth

G protein β3 subunit C825T polymorphism, which has previously been studied in association with common disorders in adults such as hypertension and obesity, has been focused upon recently for a possible important role in fetal metabolism. Japanese are characterized by having equal allele frequencies for this polymorphism. In this study, we determined the maternal and infantile genotypes in 342 pairs of normal healthy mothers and their infants, and compared the genotype frequencies with various infantile somatoscopic characteristics converted into SD units according to sex, parity and gestational weeks. We observed an association of the maternal (but not infantile) G protein β3 subunit 825T allele with reduced head circumference but not with reduced birth weight of the neonate. No association was observed between G protein β3 subunit C825T polymorphism and various maternal somatoscopic characteristics. Although detailed mechanism of this association requires further research, our results suggest that expression of the β3 subunit 825T allele in the mother may exert influence on fetal metabolic environment, perhaps through changes in the maternal uterine environment, or on maternal metabolism.
Modeling hemodynamics after flow diverter with a porous medium

In this work, we propose a novel approach for modeling hemodynamics after flow diverter (FD) stent in cerebral aneurysms. One image-based aneurysm model was used. The stented portion at the parent artery was modeled as a porous medium. Cell size, porous medium thickness and FD porosity were evaluated. Velocity magnitude and wall shear stress (WSS) inside the aneurysm were reduced after FD placement. Bigger cells compared to the stent strut diameter can be used. Thicker porous medium (which is equivalent of inserting multiple FDs) induces lower intra-aneurysmal velocity and WSS. Lower FD porosities produce higher reductions of intra-aneurysmal velocities, which diminish the contrast concentration inside the aneurysm and increase its residence time. Device design and multiple FD placements can be evaluated without remeshing the fluid domain.
Performance analysis of parallel redundant WLAN

The application of the “Parallel Redundancy Protocol” (PRP) according to IEC 62439-3 with two diverse redundant wireless channels achieves an improved overall wireless communication channel. Performance parameter like jitter and reliability increase significantly compared to the single wireless channels. In this work, a series of measurements on a redundant setup with two parallel WLANs according to IEEE 802.11n in diverse configuration settings is conducted and the results presented. A Markov model for the parallel redundant system is developed and the analytical results compared against the measurements.
Sexual and Reproductive Health Behaviors of Asian Pacific Islander Community College Students

Analyzed were the sexual and reproductive health behaviors of Asian Pacific Islander (API) California community college students who took the National College Health Assessment (NCHA) survey. This was done to identify characteristics related to sexual behavior and choice of birth control and examine the association between condom use and history of HIV testing. A total of 769 API heterosexual, male and female students between ages 18–24 were included in the analysis. Chi-square analyses were conducted to determine whether there was an association between condom use and history of HIV testing. API students reported few sexual partners (41% with no partner, and 49% with 1 or 2 partners), and preferred condoms (53.0%) for birth control over hormonal methods (29.3%). One-fifth of API students have used emergency contraception, and 21.7% have had an HIV test. API students had more conservative sexual practices and lower HIV testing practices than community college students in general. More culturally tailored education is needed on contraceptive options and to increase HIV testing behaviors among APIs.
A Uni(cid:12)ed Bias-Variance Decomposition

The bias-variance decomposition is a very useful and widely-used tool for understanding machine-learning algorithms. It was originally developed for squared loss. In recent years, several authors have proposed decompositions for zero-one loss, but each has signi(cid:12)cant shortcomings. In particular, all of these decompositions have only an intuitive relationship to the original squared-loss one. In this article, we de(cid:12)ne bias and variance for an arbitrary loss function, and show that the resulting decomposition specializes to the standard one for the squared-loss case, and to a close relative of Kong and Dietterich’s (1995) one for the zero-one case. The same decomposition also applies to variable misclassi(cid:12)cation costs. We show a number of interesting consequences of the uni(cid:12)ed de(cid:12)nition. For example, Schapire et al.’s (1997) notion of \margin" can be expressed as a function of the zero-one bias and variance, making it possible to formally relate a classi(cid:12)er ensemble’s generalization error to the base learner’s bias and variance on training examples. We have applied the proposed decomposition to decision tree learning, nearest-neighbor learning and boosting on a large suite of benchmark datasets, and made several signi(cid:12)cant observations.
Real-Time Detection and Recognition of Road Traffic Signs

This paper proposes a novel system for the automatic detection and recognition of traffic signs. The proposed system detects candidate regions as maximally stable extremal regions (MSERs), which offers robustness to variations in lighting conditions. Recognition is based on a cascade of support vector machine (SVM) classifiers that were trained using histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) features. The training data are generated from synthetic template images that are freely available from an online database; thus, real footage road signs are not required as training data. The proposed system is accurate at high vehicle speeds, operates under a range of weather conditions, runs at an average speed of 20 frames per second, and recognizes all classes of ideogram-based (nontext) traffic symbols from an online road sign database. Comprehensive comparative results to illustrate the performance of the system are presented.
Differences in the Antigens of Helicobacter pylori Strains Influence on the Innate Immune Response in the In Vitro Experiments

The immune response to Helicobacter pylori importantly determines the pathogenesis of infection as well as the success of antibiotic eradication of the bacteria. Strains of H. pylori were gathered from 14 patients who failed to eradicate H. pylori infection with antibiotics—therapy resistant strains (TRS)—or from patients who were able to eradicate H. pylori infection—therapy susceptible strains (TSS). The THP-1 cells were stimulated with H. pylori antigens. Cathepsin X expression on THP-1 cells and concentration of cytokines in the supernatant of THP-1 cells were measured with a flow cytometer. TSS H. pylori antigens increased the proportion of cathepsin X positive cells compared to TRS H. pylori antigens. TSS H. pylori antigens induced higher secretion of IL-12 and IL-6 compared to TRS H. pylori antigens (P < 0.001; 0.02). Polymyxin B, a lipid A inhibitor, lowered the secretion of IL-12 and IL-6 in TRS and TSS. We demonstrated a H. pylori strain-dependent cathepsin X and cytokine expression that can be associated with H. pylori resistance to eradication due to lack of effective immune response. Differences in lipid A of H. pylori might have an influence on the insufficient immune response, especially on phagocytosis.