Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What should the optimal blood pressure goal be in patients with diabetes mellitus or chronic kidney disease?

In the absence of randomized control data, the seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure recommended that patients with diabetes mellitus or with chronic kidney disease should have their blood pressure reduced to less than 130/80 mm Hg [1]. In the absence of randomized control data, the American Diabetes Association recommended that patients with diabetes mellitus and hypertension should have their blood pressure reduced to less than 130/80 mm Hg [2]. In the absence of randomized control data, the National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative guidelines recommended that patients with chronic kidney disease and hypertension should have their blood pressure reduced to less than 130/80 mm Hg [3]. In the absence of randomized control data, the American Heart Association 2007 guidelines recommended that patients with diabetes mellitus or with chronic kidney disease and hypertension should have their blood pressure reduced to less than 130/80 mm Hg [4]. The 2009 European Society of Hypertension guidelines stated that reducing the blood pressure to less than 130/80 mm Hg in patients with diabetes mellitus or chronic kidney disease and hypertension is unsupported by prospective trial data, and that the systolic blood pressure should be reduced to less than 140 mm Hg in these patients [5]. The American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association 2011 expert consensus document on hypertension in the elderly recommended that the blood pressure should be reduced to less than 140/90 mm Hg in adults younger than 80 years with diabetes mellitus or chronic kidney disease [6]. On the basis of data from the Hypertension in the Very Elderly trial [7], these guidelines recommended that the systolic blood pressure should be reduced to 140 mm Hg to 145 mm Hg if tolerated in adults aged 80 years and older [6]. I concur with these guidelines [5, 6, 8-13]. The following studies discuss the reasons for my recommendations. The Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy-Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (PROVE IT-TIMI) 22 trial enrolled 4,162 patients with an acute coronary syndrome (17% with diabetes mellitus and 9% with chronic kidney disease) [14]. At 24-month follow-up, the lowest cardiovascular events rates occurred with a systolic blood pressure between 130 mm Hg to 140 mm Hg and a diastolic blood pressure between 80 mm Hg to 90 mm Hg with a nadir of 136/85 mm Hg [14]. Corresponding author: Wilbert S. Aronow MD Cardiology Division New York Medical College Macy Pavilion, Room 138 Valhalla, NY 10595, USA Phone: (914) 493-5311 Fax: (914) 235-6274 E-mail: wsaronow@aol.com Editorial
Cyclin B synthesis and rapamycin‐sensitive regulation of protein synthesis during starfish oocyte meiotic divisions

Translation of cyclin mRNAs represents an important event for proper meiotic maturation and post‐fertilization mitoses in many species. Translational control of cyclin B mRNA has been described to be achieved through two separate but related mechanisms: translational repression and polyadenylation. In this paper, we evaluated the contribution of global translational regulation by the cap‐dependent translation repressor 4E‐BP (eukaryotic initiation factor 4E‐binding protein) on the cyclin B protein synthesis during meiotic maturation of the starfish oocytes. We used the immunosupressant drug rapamycin, a strong inhibitor of cap‐dependent translation, to check for the involvement of this protein synthesis during this physiological process. Rapamycin was found to prevent dissociation of 4E‐BP from the initiation factor eIF4E and to suppress correlatively a burst of global protein synthesis occurring at the G2/M transition. The drug had no effect on first meiotic division but defects in meiotic spindle formation prevented second polar body emission, demonstrating that a rapamycin‐sensitive pathway is involved in this mechanism. While rapamycin affected the global protein synthesis, the drug did not alter neither the specific translation of cyclin B mRNA nor the expression of the Mos protein. The expression of these two proteins was correlated with the phosphorylation and the dissociation of the cytoplasmic polyadenylation element‐binding protein from eIF4E. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 75: 1617–1626, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
User behaviour analysis and prediction based on device logs User behaviour analysis and prediction based on device logs

Nowadays, with the increasing usage of IoT (Internet of Things) devices in daily lives, the data collected from those connected devices can help understanding user behaviours and delivering better services to individual users. In this thesis, we explored the device log data collected from connected air puriﬁer devices to analyze usage behavior patterns. Further, we integrated the device log data with external data set to invesitage the impact of external factors on the user behavior. We studied diﬀerent user behaviour patterns from two aspects. The ﬁrst one only focuses on the ON/OFF state of the device and four daily usage patterns based on the power state are discovered. Then those patterns are utilized in the prediction model as extra features to improve the performance of prediction. The second one splits power state ON as two operating modes AUTO and OVERRIDE, and the focus is put on the three operating modes: AUTO/OVERRIDE/OFF. Then three metrics are proposed to evaluate user behaviours from diﬀerent aspects: aggregated operating mode ratio, histogram and distribution of operating mode ratio. Then we study potential factors that may have impact on user behaviours. These analyses produce more insights about how people use their devices and know how these factors aﬀect user behaviours. Then two prediction models predicting power state and operating modes separately are established using those factors in analysis part as features with two purposes. The ﬁrst one is to validate the observations in analysis part by comparing prediction performance with and without those factors. Results show that improvement of prediction performance caused by those factors are signiﬁcant. The second one is to facilitate the further goals like operating mode automatization by evaluating the prediction model. Results show that the ﬁnal two predictors taking analysed factors as features perform pretty well with average weighted F1 score 0.990 and 0.977 separately. Finally main ﬁndings of this thesis are generalized as well as limitations and possible future jobs. This thesis shows the feasibility of using IoT device logs to analyse user behaviours and the possibility to supply better services to users based on the understanding of user behaviours.
Human Papillomavirus vaccination acceptability among female university students in South Africa.

BACKGROUND The objectives of this present study were to assess the awareness of cervical cancer and its risk factors among female undergraduates in South Africa, and to determine the their level of acceptability of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. MATERIALS AND METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2013 among 440 full time undergraduate female students. RESULTS Of those students who never had sex (n=163), 96 (58.9%) had ever heard of cervical cancer and only 12 students (12.5%) knew that HPV causes cervical cancer. More than a third (35.4%) of the students correctly said that sexual intercourse before age of 18 years is a risk factor for cervical cancer and 55.2% of the students knew about the Pap smear test which is used for screening cervical cancer. The majority (77.3%) were willing to accept HPV vaccination. Results revealed that students who knew about the Pap smear test, and were aware that having multiple sex partners, sexual intercourse before the age of 18 years, smoking and having contracted any STDs are risk factors for cervical cancer were more likely to accept HPV vaccination compared to other groups. CONCLUSIONS The general knowledge of South African female university students about cervical cancer is not sufficient but they have positive attitudes toward getting vaccinated with the HPV vaccine.
Angler satisfaction in South Dakota

Many industries use satisfaction measures to evaluate performance. The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks identified satisfaction as one of their performance measures for evaluating fishing in South Dakota. In fisheries management, the perspectives’ of license buyers are valuable to determine if management activities are providing the benefits anticipated by biologists. Surveys of South Dakota anglers are conducted to better understand licensees in order to promote satisfying angling experiences. Internet surveys were distributed to all license buyers providing email addresses in 2011 and 2012. Angler satisfaction was analyzed by angler type (demographics and fishing characteristics) to further clarify performance measures. Most anglers (> 70%) were satisfied with their angling experiences. Nonresidents expressed higher levels of satisfaction with fishing in South Dakota in 2011 and 2012 than residents. Anglers’ rating of fishing quality was more strongly correlated with satisfaction than their reported number of fish harvested, which suggests that strategies to influence angler perceptions and expectations can also be employed to influence satisfaction (in addition to techniques influencing fish populations). This research further integrates sociological data into South Dakota fisheries management processes.
A new Early Permian reptile and its significance in early diapsid evolution

The initial stages of evolution of Diapsida (the large clade that includes not only snakes, lizards, crocodiles and birds, but also dinosaurs and numerous other extinct taxa) is clouded by an exceedingly poor Palaeozoic fossil record. Previous studies had indicated a 38 Myr gap between the first appearance of the oldest diapsid clade (Araeoscelidia), ca 304 million years ago (Ma), and that of its sister group in the Middle Permian (ca 266 Ma). Two new reptile skulls from the Richards Spur locality, Lower Permian of Oklahoma, represent a new diapsid reptile: Orovenator mayorum n. gen. et sp. A phylogenetic analysis identifies O. mayorum as the oldest and most basal member of the araeoscelidian sister group. As Richards Spur has recently been dated to 289 Ma, the new diapsid neatly spans the above gap by appearing 15 Myr after the origin of Diapsida. The presence of O. mayorum at Richards Spur, which records a diverse upland fauna, suggests that initial stages in the evolution of non-araeoscelidian diapsids may have been tied to upland environments. This hypothesis is consonant with the overall scant record for non-araeoscelidian diapsids during the Permian Period, when the well-known terrestrial vertebrate communities are preserved almost exclusively in lowland deltaic, flood plain and lacustrine sedimentary rocks.
Fragments as Islands: a Synthesis of Faunal Responses to Habitat Patchiness

Abstract: Scientific interest in the impact of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity is increasing, but our understanding of fragmentation is clouded by a lack of appreciation for fundamental similarities and differences across studies representing a wide range of taxa and landscape types. In an effort to synthesize data describing ecological responses of animals to fragmentation across two classes of independent variables (taxonomic group and landscape), we sampled 148 studies of five major faunal groups from the primary literature and analyzed data on 13 variables extracted from those studies. We focused our analyses on three classes of dependent variables (effects of area and isolation on species richness, z values, and nestedness and species composition). Area ranged over more orders of magnitude than isolation and tended to explain more variation in species richness than isolation. There were few matrix or taxon effects on the patterns we investigated, although we did find that sky islands tended to manifest isolation effects on both species richness and nestedness more frequently than other patch types. Sky islands may offer insight into the future of habitat patches fragmented by contemporary habitat loss, and because they show a stronger effect of isolation than other patch types, we suggest that isolation will play an increasing role in the biology of habitat fragments. We use multiple lines of evidence to suggest that our understanding of the role of isolation on community assembly in fragmented landscapes is inadequate. Finally, our observation that consistent taxonomic differences in community patterns were minimal suggests that conservation actions intended to mitigate the negative effects of extinction may have far‐reaching effects across taxonomic groups.
Pancreatic Polypeptide-Fold Peptide Receptors and Angiotensin II–Induced Renal Vasoconstriction

The Gi pathway augments renal vasoconstriction induced by angiotensin II in spontaneously hypertensive but not normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats. Because the Gi-coupled pancreatic polypeptide (PP)-fold peptide receptors Y1 and Y2 are expressed in kidneys and are activated by endogenous PP-fold peptides, we tested the hypothesis that these receptors regulate angiotensin II-induced renal vasoconstriction in kidneys from hypertensive but not normotensive rats. A selective Y1-receptor agonist [(Leu31,Pro34)-neuropeptide Y; 6 to 10 nmol/L] greatly potentiated angiotensin II–induced changes in perfusion pressure in isolated, perfused kidneys from hypertensive but not normotensive rats. A selective Y2-receptor agonist (peptide YY3-36; 6 nM) only slightly potentiated angiotensin II–induced renal vasoconstriction and only in kidneys from hypertensive rats. Neither the Y1-receptor nor the Y2-receptor agonist increased basal perfusion pressure. BIBP3226 (1 &mgr;mol/L, highly selective Y1-receptor antagonist) and BIIE0246 (1 &mgr;mol/L, highly selective Y2-receptor antagonist) completely abolished potentiation by (Leu31,Pro34)-neuropeptide Y and peptide YY3-36, respectively. Y1-receptor and Y2-receptor mRNA and protein levels were expressed in renal microvessels and whole kidneys, but the abundance was similar in kidneys from hypertensive and normotensive rats. Both Y1-receptor–induced and Y2-receptor–induced potentiation of angiotensin II–mediated renal vasoconstriction was completely abolished by pretreatment with pertussis toxin (30 &mgr;g/kg IV, blocks Gi proteins). These data indicate that, in kidneys from genetically hypertensive but not normotensive rats, Y1-receptor activation markedly enhances angiotensin II–mediated renal vasoconstriction by a mechanism involving Gi. Although Y2 receptors can also potentiate angiotensin II–mediated renal vasoconstriction via Gi, the effect is modest compared with Y1 receptors. These findings may have important implications for the etiology of genetic hypertension.
Pyramidal Neurons Are Not Generalizable Building Blocks of Cortical Networks

A key challenge in cortical neuroscience is to gain a comprehensive understanding of how pyramidal neuron heterogeneity across different areas and species underlies the functional specialization of individual neurons, networks, and areas. Comparative studies have been important in this endeavor, providing data relevant to the question of which of the many inherent properties of individual pyramidal neurons are necessary and sufficient for species-specific network and areal function. In this mini review, the importance of pyramidal neuron structural properties for signaling are outlined, followed by a summary of our recent work comparing the structural features of mouse (C57/BL6 strain) and rhesus monkey layer 3 (L3) pyramidal neurons in primary visual and frontal association cortices and their implications for neuronal and areal function. Based on these and other published data, L3 pyramidal neurons plausibly might be considered broadly “generalizable” from one area to another in the mouse neocortex due to their many similarities, but major differences in the properties of these neurons in diverse areas in the rhesus monkey neocortex rules this out in the primate. Further, fundamental differences in the dendritic topology of mouse and rhesus monkey pyramidal neurons highlight the implausibility of straightforward scaling and/or extrapolation from mouse to primate neurons and cortical networks.
Signal Detection and Target Gene Induction by the CpxRA Two-Component System

ABSTRACT The Cpx pathway is a two-component signal transduction system that senses a variety of envelope stresses, including misfolded proteins, and responds by upregulating periplasmic folding and trafficking factors. CpxA resides in the inner membrane and has both kinase and phosphatase activities. CpxR, the response regulator, mediates a response by activating transcription of stress-combative genes. Signal transduction is subject to feedback inhibition via regulon member CpxP and autoamplification. Recently, it was shown that the Cpx pathway is also upregulated when cells adhere to hydrophobic surfaces and that this response is dependent on the outer membrane lipoprotein NlpE. Here we show that while NlpE is required for induction of the Cpx pathway by adhesion, induction by envelope stress and during growth is NlpE independent. We show that while all of the envelope stresses tested induce the Cpx pathway in a manner that is dependent on the periplasmic domain of CpxA, induction during growth is independent of CpxA. Therefore, we propose that the Cpx pathway can sense inducing cues that enter the signaling pathway at three distinct points. Although CpxP is not required for induction of the Cpx pathway, we show that its activity as a negative regulator of CpxA is inactivated by envelope stress. Moreover, the cpxP promoter is more inducible than any other regulon member tested. Consistent with these results, we suggest that CpxP performs a second function, most likely that of a chaperone. Finally, we show that two Cpx-regulated genes are differentially upregulated in response to different envelope stresses, suggesting the existence of three stress-responsive systems.
SOFIA: An automated security oracle for black-box testing of SQL-injection vulnerabilities

Security testing is a pivotal activity in engineering secure software. It consists of two phases: generating attack inputs to test the system, and assessing whether test executions expose any vulnerabilities. The latter phase is known as the security oracle problem. In this work, we present SOFIA, a Security Oracle for SQL-Injection Vulnerabilities. SOFIA is programming-language and source-code independent, and can be used with various attack generation tools. Moreover, because it does not rely on known attacks for learning, SOFIA is meant to also detect types of SQLi attacks that might be unknown at learning time. The oracle challenge is recast as a one-class classification problem where we learn to characterise legitimate SQL statements to accurately distinguish them from SQLi attack statements. We have carried out an experimental validation on six applications, among which two are large and widely-used. SOFIA was used to detect real SQLi vulnerabilities with inputs generated by three attack generation tools. The obtained results show that SOFIA is computationally fast and achieves a recall rate of 100% (i.e., missing no attacks) with a low false positive rate (0.6%).
Perceptions of emotions in expressive storytelling

Whereas experimental studies on emotional speech often control for neutral semantics, speech in naturalistic speech corpora is characterized by contextual cues and non-neutral semantic content. Moreover, the target emotion of an utterance is generally unknown and must be inferred by the listener. Within the context of having child-directed expressive text-to-speech synthesis as goal, we describe a perceptual study based on an expressive spoken corpus of children’s stories with unknown emotional targets, and report on interannotator agreement in a forced-choice discrimination task. Moreover, a threshold of high agreement was used to establish subsets of confident exemplar utterances for emotional classes, comprising 35% of the initial corpus. The exemplars were clustered based on the differences from the default mean neutral for 11 global acoustic features, yielding clusters cutting across emotion boundaries, some of which reflected arousal levels, with the neutral exemplars showing particularly complex distributions. Moreover, the mean features for four emotional exemplar categories were contrasted against the default, finding both expected and contradictory tendencies, compared to previous reports. The results indicate that semantic and prosodic cues collaborate to express and reinforce emotional contents, while emotional sequencing seems likely to be another factor which contributes to emotional perception in this domain.
Diffusive Uptake Rates of Volatile Organic Compounds on Standard ATD Tubes for Environmental and Workplace Applications

Passive sampling for airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has gained popularity; however, diffusive uptake rates (URs) have been experimentally determined for only a small subset of VOCs. This study aims to develop empirical models that can interpolate effective URs (UReff) for a wide range of VOCs. The modelling was based on the standard automated thermal desorption (ATD) tubes packed with Tenax TA and targeted the sampling efficiency (α), defined as the ratio between the ideal UR (URideal) and UReff. Available experimentally determined URs were compiled from literature. Method detection limits were determined on a thermal desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS) system. The 8-h UReff can be modeled with retention volumes or boiling points (BPs) and the biases were within ±20%. The α for 7-day UReff can be estimated by the model: α = 0.3626 Ln(BP) − 1.2324. The 8-h and 7-day UReff values were then compiled for 75 VOCs commonly encountered in the environmental and occupational settings. The TD analytical method showed high precision, linearity and sensitivity, suitable for measuring indoor and outdoor VOCs. The approach and data presented here are anticipated to ease passive monitoring of VOCs for the general users.
Early Chandra X-Ray Observations of η Carinae

Subarcsecond-resolution Chandra observations of η Carinae reveal a 40′′ × 70′′ ring or partial shell of X-ray emission surrounding an unresolved bright central source. The spectrum of the central source is strongly absorbed and can be fitted with a high-temperature thermal continuum and emission lines. The surrounding shell is well outside the optical/infrared bipolar nebula and is coincident with the outer shell of η Car. The X-ray spectrum of the shell is much softer than that of the central source. The X-ray shell is irregular and only correlates well with optical features in which a bright X-ray knot coincides with a bright feature of the outer shell. Implications for the binary model of the central source are discussed.