Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Highly Differentiated ZW Sex Microchromosomes in the Australian Varanus Species Evolved through Rapid Amplification of Repetitive Sequences

Transitions between sex determination systems have occurred in many lineages of squamates and it follows that novel sex chromosomes will also have arisen multiple times. The formation of sex chromosomes may be reinforced by inhibition of recombination and the accumulation of repetitive DNA sequences. The karyotypes of monitor lizards are known to be highly conserved yet the sex chromosomes in this family have not been fully investigated. Here, we compare male and female karyotypes of three Australian monitor lizards, Varanus acanthurus, V. gouldii and V. rosenbergi, from two different clades. V. acanthurus belongs to the acanthurus clade and the other two belong to the gouldii clade. We applied C-banding and comparative genomic hybridization to reveal that these species have ZZ/ZW sex micro-chromosomes in which the W chromosome is highly differentiated from the Z chromosome. In combination with previous reports, all six Varanus species in which sex chromosomes have been identified have ZZ/ZW sex chromosomes, spanning several clades on the varanid phylogeny, making it likely that the ZZ/ZW sex chromosome is ancestral for this family. However, repetitive sequences of these ZW chromosome pairs differed among species. In particular, an (AAT)n microsatellite repeat motif mapped by fluorescence in situ hybridization on part of W chromosome in V. acanthurus only, whereas a (CGG)n motif mapped onto the W chromosomes of V. gouldii and V. rosenbergi. Furthermore, the W chromosome probe for V. acanthurus produced hybridization signals only on the centromeric regions of W chromosomes of the other two species. These results suggest that the W chromosome sequences were not conserved between gouldii and acanthurus clades and that these repetitive sequences have been amplified rapidly and independently on the W chromosome of the two clades after their divergence.
A cluster of two human cases of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) transmitted by unpasteurised goat milk and cheese in Germany, May 2016

In May 2016, two cases of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) were confirmed by serology (positive IgM and IgG antibodies against TBE virus (TBEV) in serum), with a possible link to raw milk and cheese from a goat farm in a region in Baden-Württemberg, Germany not previously known as TBE-endemic. The outbreak investigation identified 32 consumers of goat dairy products (29 consumers, one farm employee, two owners) of whom none had IgM antibodies against TBEV 3–8 weeks after consumption. Of the 27 notified TBE cases in the State, none reported consumption of raw goat milk or cheese from the suspected farm. Five of 22 cheese samples from 18 different batches were RT-qPCR-positive for TBEV -genome, and two of the five samples were confirmed by virus isolation, indicating viability of TBEV in the cheese. Nine of the 45 goats had neutralising TBEV antibodies, two of them with a high titre indicating recent infection. One of 412 Ixodes ricinus was RT-qPCR-positive, and sequencing of the E gene from nucleic acid extracted from the tick confirmed TBEV. Phylogenetic analyses of tick and cheese isolates showed 100% amino acid homology in the E gene and a close relation to TBEV strains from Switzerland and Austria.
Rituximab pharmacokinetics in children and adolescents with de novo intermediate and advanced mature B‐cell lymphoma/leukaemia: a Children's Oncology Group report

The ANHL01P1 trial was undertaken to determine pharmacokinetics and safety following the addition of rituximab to French‐American‐British/Lymphome Malins de Burkitt (FAB/LMB96) chemotherapy in 41 children and adolescents with Stage III/IV mature B‐cell lymphoma/leukaemia. Patients received rituximab (375 mg/m2) days −2 and 0 of two induction cycles and day 0 of two consolidation cycles. Highest peak levels were achieved following the second dose of each induction cycle [299 ± 19 and 384 ± 25 μg/ml (Group‐B); 245 ± 31 and 321 ± 32 μg/ml (Group‐C)] with sustained troughs and t½ of 26–29 d. Rituximab can be safely added to FAB chemotherapy with high early rituximab peak/trough levels and a long t½.
Sonographic assessment of swallowing in irradiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients

Ultrasonography is an emerging clinical tool to study the dysfunction of swallowing muscles. This was the first sonographic study to assess the relationship between suprahyoid muscle contraction, hyoid bone displacement, and penetration‐aspiration status (PAS) during swallowing in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients treated with radiotherapy (RT). The study also aimed to establish reliability data for the sonographic technique described.
Dialogue Learning with Human Teaching and Feedback in End-to-End Trainable Task-Oriented Dialogue Systems

In this work, we present a hybrid learning method for training task-oriented dialogue systems through online user interactions. Popular methods for learning task-oriented dialogues include applying reinforcement learning with user feedback on supervised pre-training models. Efficiency of such learning method may suffer from the mismatch of dialogue state distribution between offline training and online interactive learning stages. To address this challenge, we propose a hybrid imitation and reinforcement learning method, with which a dialogue agent can effectively learn from its interaction with users by learning from human teaching and feedback. We design a neural network based task-oriented dialogue agent that can be optimized end-to-end with the proposed learning method. Experimental results show that our end-to-end dialogue agent can learn effectively from the mistake it makes via imitation learning from user teaching. Applying reinforcement learning with user feedback after the imitation learning stage further improves the agent’s capability in successfully completing a task.
Change in emotional self‐concept following socio‐cognitive training relates to structural plasticity of the prefrontal cortex

Self‐referential processing is a key component of the emotional self‐concept. Previous studies have shown that emotional self‐referential processing is related to structure and function of cortical midline areas such as medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and that it can be altered on a behavioral level by specific mental training practices. However, it remains unknown how behavioral training‐related change in emotional self‐concept content relates to structural plasticity.
Habitat utilization and its relationship to growth and reproduction of the eastern long-necked turtle, Chelodina longicollis (Testudinata: Chelidae), from Australia

Chelodina longicollis occupies a wide range of ephemeral and permanent waters in the Jervis Bay Territory of coastal New South Wales. As ephemeral waters dry up during periods of low rainfall, which may span several years, the turtles retreat to the refuge of two permanent dune lakes. High population densities in these lakes coupled with low productivity lead to a sharp decline in growth, and reproduction ceases almost entirely. Differences between the lakes in the growth rates and body conditions of turtles coincide with differences in food availability. When rainfall increases, the turtles disperse once more to the ephemeral swamps where they grow faster and are in better condition; and reproductive output is considerably greater than in the permanent water. The propensity of the species for overland migration following rain is explained by the advantages of colonizing highly productive ephemeral waters, reinforced by the severe disadvantages of remaining in the permanent water of overcrowded drought refuges.
Delta pointers: buffer overflow checks without the checks

Despite decades of research, buffer overflows still rank among the most dangerous vulnerabilities in unsafe languages such as C and C++. Compared to other memory corruption vulnerabilities, buffer overflows are both common and typically easy to exploit. Yet, they have proven so challenging to detect in real-world programs that existing solutions either yield very poor performance, or introduce incompatibilities with the C/C++ language standard. We present Delta Pointers, a new solution for buffer overflow detection based on efficient pointer tagging. By carefully altering the pointer representation, without violating language specifications, Delta Pointers use existing hardware features to detect both contiguous and non-contiguous overflows on dereferences, without a single check incurring extra branch or memory access operations. By focusing on buffer overflows rather than other vulnerabilities (e.g., underflows), Delta Pointers offer a unique checkless design to provide high performance while still maintaining compatibility. We show that Delta Pointers are effective in detecting arbitrary buffer overflows and, at 35% overhead on SPEC, offer much better performance than competing solutions.
A random matrix approach to VARMA processes

We apply random matrix theory to derive the spectral density of large sample covariance matrices generated by multivariate VMA(q), VAR(q) and VARMA(q1, q2) processes. In particular, we consider a limit where the number of random variables N and the number of consecutive time measurements T are large but the ratio N/T is fixed. In this regime, the underlying random matrices are asymptotically equivalent to free random variables (FRV). We apply the FRV calculus to calculate the eigenvalue density of the sample covariance for several VARMA-type processes. We explicitly solve the VARMA(1, 1) case and demonstrate perfect agreement between the analytical result and the spectra obtained by Monte Carlo simulations. The proposed method is purely algebraic and can be easily generalized to q1>1 and q2>1.
Parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism in octogenarians and nonagenarians: a plea for early surgical referral.

BACKGROUND Surgical referral of elderly patients with PHPT is often deferred because of the perceived risks of general anesthesia, increased age, and comorbidities and also because many of the symptoms of PHPT are difficult to distinguish from the aging process. HYPOTHESIS Parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) in elderly patients is beneficial and safe. DESIGN Retrospective study of patients with PHPT who were 80 years and older. SETTING Tertiary academic referral medical center. PATIENTS Fifty-four consecutive patients (43 women and 11 men) with a mean age of 83.6 years who underwent parathyroidectomy for PHPT. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Delay in surgical referral; improvement in symptoms and normalization of serum calcium and parathyroid hormone levels; and perioperative morbidity and mortality. RESULTS Twelve (22%) of 54 patients had a mean delay of 5 years (range, 1.2-10.0 years) before surgical referral for a known diagnosis of PHPT. No patient had asymptomatic PHPT. There was no significant difference in the preoperative mean serum calcium level and symptoms of PHPT resulting from delay in surgical referral. Parathyroidectomy resulted in significant improvement of PHPT-associated symptoms of fatigue, weight loss, nocturia, bone pain, constipation, and major depression (P<.05). All patients had normal serum calcium and parathyroid hormone levels postoperatively. The average length of hospitalization was 1.9 days. There were 3 complications (9%): 1 urinary tract infection, 1 bladder perforation, and 3 transient hypocalcemia. There was no perioperative mortality. CONCLUSIONS Parathyroidectomy in elderly patients is safe, curative, and beneficial. Surgical referral for parathyroidectomy should be considered in elderly patients with PHPT.
Association between Reported Elder Abuse and Rates of Admission to Skilled Nursing Facilities: Findings from a Longitudinal Population-Based Cohort Study

Background: Elder abuse is common and is a frank violation of an older adult's fundamental rights to be safe and free of violence. Our prior study indicates elder abuse is independently associated with mortality. This study aims to quantify the relationship between overall elder abuse and specific subtypes of elder abuse and rate of admission to skilled nursing facilities (SNF). Methods: A prospective population-based study conducted in Chicago of community-dwelling older adults who participated in the Chicago Health and Aging Project (CHAP). Of the 6,674 participants in the CHAP study, 106 participants were reported to the social services agency for elder abuse. The primary predictor was elder abuse reported to the social services agency. The outcome of interest was the annual rate of admission to SNF obtained from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Poisson regression models were used to assess these longitudinal relationships. Results: The average annual rate of SNF for those without elder abuse was 0.14 (0.58) and for those with elder abuse was 0.66 (1.63). After adjusting for sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables, medical comorbidities, cognitive and physical function, and psychosocial wellbeing, older adults who have been abused had higher rates of SNF admission (RR 4.60 (2.85-7.42)). Psychological abuse (RR 2.31 (1.17-4.56)), physical abuse (RR 2.36 (1.19-4.66)), financial exploitation (RR 2.81 (1.53-5.17)) and caregiver neglect (RR 4.73 (3.03-7.40)) were associated with increased rates of admission to SNF, after considering the same confounders. Elder abuse is associated with a higher rate of SNF stay longer than 30 days (RR 6.27 (3.68-10.69)). Conclusion: Elder abuse was associated with increased rates of admission to SNF in this community population. Specific subtypes of elder abuse had a differential association with an increased rate of admission to SNF.
Morphological and genetic correlates in the left–right asymmetric scale-eating cichlid fish of Lake Tanganyika

1Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany 2International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Organismal Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany 3School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia 4Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study, Harvard University, 9 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Prevalence and predictors of PTSD among a college sample

ABSTRACT Objective:This study examined the prevalence and correlates of probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in freshman entering college and prospective associations of probable PTSD with additional outcomes. Participants: 2,310 students with data collected from Fall 2014 through Spring 2015. Methods: Incoming freshman completed a survey assessing for relevant variables at the beginning of fall semester and during the spring semester. Results: Seventy percent of the sample endorsed experiencing at least one potentially traumatic event (PTE). 34.4% of PTE exposed individuals met criteria for probable PTSD. Female sex, higher depressive and anxiety symptoms, and interpersonal PTE count were positively associated with PTSD symptoms. Higher PTSD symptoms were associated with higher anxiety and depressive symptoms, and new-onset interpersonal PTE. Conclusions: Identification of factors contributing to risk for PTSD is essential to inform prevention and intervention efforts. Intervention efforts should be targeted to students experiencing PTSD symptoms as they enter college.
Ultra-low-cost broad-band near-infrared silicon photodetectors based on hot electrons

ULTRA-LOW-COST BROAD-BAND NEAR-INFRARED SILICON PHOTODETECTORS BASED ON HOT ELECTRONS Mohammad Amin Nazirzadeh M.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Advisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Ali Kemal Okyay January, 2015 Silicon is at the heart of all of the end-user digital devices such as smart phones, laptops, and wearable technologies. It is the holy grail for the largescale production of semiconductor devices since start of the semiconductor era due to its relatively good electrical, mechanical and chemical properties. Silicon’s mediocre optical properties also make it an acceptable material for energy harvesting and ultraviolet photodetection applications. But its relatively large bandgap (1.12 eV ) makes it infrared blind. So Silicon photodetectors fail to detect infrared light using traditional techniques. Hence, an all-Silicon solution is of interest for low-cost civil applications like telecommunication and imaging. Silicon based Schottky junction is a promising candidate for infrared photodetection. Internal photoemission is the main mechanism of photodetection in the Schottky junctions. Incident photons elevate the kinetic energy of the electrons in the metal so that the energetic electrons can jump over the Schottky barrier or tunnel through it. Carefully designed metal contact of the Schottky junction can, at the same time, give rise to hot electron generation through plasmon resonances. Here we introduce ultra-low-cost broad-band near-infrared Silicon photodetectors with a study over types of metal and nanostructures and fabrication techniques. The devices exhibit photoresponsivity as high as 2 mA/W and 600 μA/W at 1300 nm and 1550 nm wavelengths, and can see beyond 2000 nm wavelengths. Their dark current density is as low as 50 pA/μm. Simplicity and scalability of fabrication in this type of structures make them the most cost effective infrared detectors due to lack of expensive fabrication steps such as sub-micron lithography and high temperature epitaxial growth techniques.
PAPER Special Section on Data Engineering and Information Management Detecting Anomalous Reviewers and Estimating Summaries from Early Reviews Considering Heterogeneity

Early reviews, posted on online review sites shortly after products enter the market, are useful for estimating long-term evaluations of those products and making decisions. However, such reviews can be influenced easily by anomalous reviewers, including malicious and fraudulent reviewers, because the number of early reviews is usually small. It is therefore challenging to detect anomalous reviewers from early reviews and estimate long-term evaluations by reducing their influences. We find that two characteristics of heterogeneity on actual review sites such as Amazon.com cause difficulty in detecting anomalous reviewers from early reviews. We propose ideas for consideration of heterogeneity, and a methodology for computing reviewers’ degree of anomaly and estimating longterm evaluations simultaneously. Our experimental evaluations with actual reviews from Amazon.com revealed that our proposed method achieves the best performance in 19 of 20 tests compared to state-of-the-art methodologies. key words: early reviews, heterogeneity, data mining, bipartite graph
Spinocerebellar Ataxia 27: A Review and Characterization of an Evolving Phenotype

Background Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) is an uncommon form of progressive cerebellar ataxia with multiple genetic causes and marked variability in phenotypic expression even across patients with identical genetic abnormalities. SCA27 is a recently identified SCA caused by mutations in the Fibroblast Growth Factor 14 gene, with a phenotypic expression that is only beginning to be fully appreciated. We report here a case of a 70-year-old male who presented with slowly worsening tremor and gait instability that began in his early adulthood along with additional features of parkinsonism on examination. Work-up revealed a novel pathogenic mutation in the Fibroblast Growth Factor 14 gene, and symptoms improved with amantadine and levodopa. We also provide a review of the literature in order to better characterize the phenotypic expression of this uncommon condition. Methods Case report and review of the literature. Results Review of the literature revealed a total of 32 previously reported clinical cases of SCA27. Including our case, we found that early-onset tremor (12.1 ± 10.5 years) was present in 95.8%, while gait ataxia tended to present later in life (23.7 ± 16.7 years) and was accompanied by limb ataxia, dysarthria, and nystagmus. Other features of SCA27 that may distinguish it from other SCAs include the potential for episodic ataxia, accompanying psychiatric symptoms, and cognitive impairment. Discussion Testing for SCA27 should be considered in individuals with ataxia who report tremor as an initial or early symptom, as well as those with additional findings of episodic ataxia, neuropsychiatric symptoms, or parkinsonism.
Comparison of the matching circuits for the 65-nm CMOS translation lookaside buffers

This work presents the analysis of power consumptions of the translation lookaside buffer (TLB) registers with two types of matching circuits. One of the registers is based on the upset-hardened STG DICE cells and matching circuit with combinational logic. It is shown, that power consumption of the register with combinational logic in search operation strongly depends on input data of TLB. Minimum and maximum values of power consumption differs by more than 70 times. The other register is based on the matching circuit with match line and the same upset-hardened elements of matching. In search operation, matching circuit with match line has only two transistors, which are sensitive to single nuclear particle impact. Parameters of power consumption for registers with different matching circuits were simulated. Analysis showed, that average power consumptions of matching circuit with match line and matching circuit with combinational logic are practically the same, but maximum power consumption of matching circuit with match line is 45% lower.
A Comparative Study of Carvedilol Versus Metoprolol Initiation and 1-Year Mortality Among Individuals Receiving Maintenance Hemodialysis.

BACKGROUND Carvedilol and metoprolol are the β-blockers most commonly prescribed to US hemodialysis patients, accounting for ∼80% of β-blocker prescriptions. Despite well-established pharmacologic and pharmacokinetic differences between the 2 medications, little is known about their relative safety and efficacy in the hemodialysis population. STUDY DESIGN A retrospective cohort study using a new-user design. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS Medicare-enrolled hemodialysis patients treated at a large US dialysis organization who initiated carvedilol or metoprolol therapy from January 1, 2007, through December 30, 2012. PREDICTOR Carvedilol versus metoprolol initiation. OUTCOMES All-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and intradialytic hypotension (systolic blood pressure decrease ≥ 20mmHg during hemodialysis plus intradialytic saline solution administration) during a 1-year follow-up period. MEASUREMENTS Survival models were used to estimate HRs and 95% CIs in mortality analyses. Poisson regression was used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% CIs in intradialytic hypotension analyses. Inverse probability of treatment weighting was used to adjust for several demographic, clinical, laboratory, and dialysis treatment covariates in all analyses. RESULTS 27,064 individuals receiving maintenance hemodialysis were included: 9,558 (35.3%) carvedilol initiators and 17,506 (64.7%) metoprolol initiators. Carvedilol (vs metoprolol) initiation was associated with greater all-cause (adjusted HR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.02-1.16) and cardiovascular mortality (adjusted HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.08-1.29). In subgroup analyses, similar associations were observed among patients with hypertension, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, and a recent myocardial infarction, the main cardiovascular indications for β-blocker therapy. During follow-up, carvedilol (vs metoprolol) initiators had a higher rate of intradialytic hypotension (adjusted IRR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.09-1.11). LIMITATIONS Residual confounding may exist. CONCLUSIONS Relative to metoprolol initiation, carvedilol initiation was associated with higher 1-year all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. One potential mechanism for these findings may be the increased occurrence of intradialytic hypotension after carvedilol (vs metoprolol) initiation.