Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genotype, development and tissue-derived variation of cell-wall properties in the lignocellulosic energy crop Miscanthus

Background and Aims Species and hybrids of the genus Miscanthus contain attributes that make them front-runners among current selections of dedicated bioenergy crops. A key trait for plant biomass conversion to biofuels and biomaterials is cell-wall quality; however, knowledge of cell-wall composition and biology in Miscanthus species is limited. This study presents data on cell-wall compositional changes as a function of development and tissue type across selected genotypes, and considers implications for the development of miscanthus as a sustainable and renewable bioenergy feedstock. Methods Cell-wall biomass was analysed for 25 genotypes, considering different developmental stages and stem vs. leaf compositional variability, by Fourier transform mid-infrared spectroscopy and lignin determination. In addition, a Clostridium phytofermentans bioassay was used to assess cell-wall digestibility and conversion to ethanol. Key Results Important cell-wall compositional differences between miscanthus stem and leaf samples were found to be predominantly associated with structural carbohydrates. Lignin content increased as plants matured and was higher in stem tissues. Although stem lignin concentration correlated inversely with ethanol production, no such correlation was observed for leaves. Leaf tissue contributed significantly to total above-ground biomass at all stages, although the extent of this contribution was genotype-dependent. Conclusions It is hypothesized that divergent carbohydrate compositions and modifications in stem and leaf tissues are major determinants for observed differences in cell-wall quality. The findings indicate that improvement of lignocellulosic feedstocks should encompass tissue-dependent variation as it affects amenability to biological conversion. For gene–trait associations relating to cell-wall quality, the data support the separate examination of leaf and stem composition, as tissue-specific traits may be masked by considering only total above-ground biomass samples, and sample variability could be mostly due to varying tissue contributions to total biomass.
A simple model for the evolution of supermassive black holes and the quasar population

An empirically motivated model is presented for accretion-dominated growth of the super massive black holes (SMBH) in galaxies, and the implications are studied for the evolution of the quasar population in the universe. We investigate the core aspects of the quasar population, including space density evolution, evolution of the characteristic luminosity, plausible minimum masses of quasars, the mass function of SMBH and their formation epoch distribution. Our model suggests that the characteristic luminosity in the quasar luminosity function arises primarily as a consequence of a characteristic mass scale above which there is a systematic separation between the black hole and the halo merging rates. At lower mass scales, black hole merging closely tracks the merging of dark haloes. When combined with a declining efficiency of black hole formation with redshift, the model can reproduce the quasar luminosity function over a wide range of redshifts. The observed space density evolution of quasars is well described by formation rates of SMBH above � 10 8 M⊙. The inferred mass density of SMBH agrees with that found independently from estimates of the SMBH mass function derived empirically from the quasar luminosity function.
Characteristics of cancer patients using homeopathy compared with those in conventional care: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND There are only few studies on cancer patients who are treated in complementary and alternative medicine clinics and comparing them with patients in conventional care. We will present the comparison of characteristics of two patient cohorts: one was treated in a homeopathic cancer care clinic and one was treated in a conventional oncology care (CC) outpatient clinic. PATIENTS AND METHODS Six-hundred and forty-seven patients were included in this cross-sectional cohort study and had to fill in questionnaires [health-related quality of life (QoL) (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General Scale), depression and anxiety (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), fatigue (Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory) and expectancies toward treatment]. Clinical data were extracted from medical records. This study presents the comparison of both cohorts. RESULTS Patients in the homeopathy cohort are younger, better educated and more often employed than patients in the CC cohort. The most pronounced differences indicate longer disease histories and different diagnostic and clinical pretreatment variables. Despite the clinical differences, QoL as well as anxiety, depression and fatigue was similar in both the groups. CONCLUSIONS Homeopathic treatment is sought by cancer patients at a different phase during the course of the disease, which has particular implications for research. However, expectancies toward the benefit of the treatment as well as QoL data are similar.
Quantitative sampling using an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer 1. Techniques of data interpretation and error analysis

Received 22 March 2002; revised 2 July 2002; accepted 5 August 2002; published 4 February 2003. [1] The aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS), manufactured by Aerodyne Research, Inc., has been shown to be capable of delivering quantitative information on the chemical composition and size of volatile and semivolatile fine airborne particulate matter with high time resolution. Analytical and software tools for interpreting the data from this instrument and generating meaningful, quantitative results have been developed and are presented here with a brief description of the instrument. These include the conversion of detected ion rates from the quadrupole mass spectrometer during the mass spectrum (MS) mode of operation to atmospheric mass concentrations of chemical species (in m gm � 3 ) by applying calibration data. It is also necessary to correct for variations in the electron multiplier performance, and a method involving the measurement of the instrument’s response to gas phase signals is also presented. The techniques for applying particle velocity calibration data and transforming signals from time of flight (TOF) mode to chemical mass distributions in terms of aerodynamic diameter (dM/dlog(Da) distributions) are also presented. It is also possible to quantify the uncertainties in both MS and TOF data by evaluating the ion counting statistics and variability of the background signal, respectively. This paper is accompanied by part 2 of this series, in which these methods are used to process and analyze AMS results on ambient aerosol from two U.K. cities at different times of the year. INDEX TERMS: 0305 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801); 0394 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Instruments and techniques; 0399 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: General or miscellaneous; KEYWORDS: aerosols, chemical composition, mass spectrometry, analysis techniques
Structured Output Prediction by Sampling

MAP Structured Output Prediction by Sampling Shankar Vembu, Thomas Gärtner, and Mario Boley Firstname.Lastname@IAIS.Fraunhofer. De Fraunhofer IAIS, Schloß Birlinghoven, 53754 Sankt Augustin, Germany We consider maximum a posteriori parameter estimation for structured output prediction with exponential family models. In this setting the main difficulty lies in the computation of the partition function and the first-order moment of the sufficient statistics. We consider the case that efficient algorithms for exact uniform sampling from the output space exist. This assumption is orthogonal to the typical assumptions made in structured output learning. It holds, in particular, for the highly relevant problem of sampling potent drugs. Under our uniform sampling assumption we show that exactly computing the partition function is intractable (Section 2) but it can be approximated efficiently (Section 3). Furthermore, we show that also the first-order moment of the sufficient statistics can be approximated (Section 4) and that we can sample according to the estimated distribution (Section 5). After a few simple application settings (Section 6), we discuss related and future work (Section 7). 1. Preliminaries and Problems We use [[n]] to denote {1, . , n}. Let X and Y be the input and the output space, respectively, where Y is parameterised by some finite alphabet Σ. For instance, Y can consist of strings, trees, or graphs over of Σ. Let {xi, yi}i∈[[m]] ⊆ X × Y be a set of observations. Our goal is to find θ as the maximum a posteriori parameters of the conditional exponential family model: p(y | x, θ) = exp(〈φ(x, y), θ〉)/Z(θ|x) , where φ(x, y) are the joint sufficient statistics of x and y, and Z(θ|x) = ∑ y∈Y exp(〈φ(x, y), θ〉) is the partition function. Imposing a normal prior on θ, this leads to minimising the following function:
A Prospective Cohort Study Investigating Associations between Hyperemesis Gravidarum and Cognitive, Behavioural and Emotional Well-Being in Pregnancy

Objectives To investigate the association between hyperemesis gravidarum and altered cognitive, behavioural and emotional well-being in pregnancy. Methods The study cohort consisted of 3423 nulliparous women recruited in the Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE) study performed in Auckland, New Zealand; Adelaide, Australia; Cork, Ireland; Manchester and London, United Kingdom between November 2004 and August 2008. Women were interviewed at 15±1 weeks' gestation and at 20±1weeks' gestation. Women with a diagnosis of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) were compared with women who did not have a diagnosis of HG. Main outcome measures included the Short form State- Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) score (range 6–24), Perceived Stress Scale score (PSS, range 0–30), Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) score (range 0–30 or categories a–c) and behavioural responses to pregnancy score (limiting/resting [range 0–20] and all-or-nothing [range 0–28]). Results During the study period 164 women suffered from HG prior to their 15 week interview. Women with HG had significantly higher mean STAI, PSS, EPDS and limiting response to pregnancy scores compared to women without HG. These differences were observed at both 15±1 and 20±1 weeks' of gestation. The magnitude of these differences was greater in women with severe HG compared to all women with HG. Women with severe HG had an increased risk of having a spontaneous preterm birth compared with women without HG (adjusted OR 2.6 [95% C.I. 1.2, 5.7]). Conclusion This is the first large prospective study on women with HG. Women with HG, particularly severe HG, are at increased risk of cognitive, behavioural and emotional dysfunction in pregnancy. Women with severe HG had a higher rate of spontaneous preterm birth compared to women without HG. Further research is required to determine whether the provision of emotional support for women with HG is beneficial.
Probabilistic forecasts of temperature: measuring the utility of the ensemble spread

The spread of ensemble weather forecasts contains information about the spread of possible future weather scenarios. But how much information does it contain, and how useful is that information in predicting the probabilities of future temperatures? One traditional answer to this question is to calculate the spread-skill correlation. We discuss the spread-skill correlation and how it interacts with some simple calibration schemes. We then point out why it is not, in fact, a useful measure for the amount of information in the ensemble spread, and discuss a number of other measures that are more useful.
Idiopathic Transverse Myelitis and Neuromyelitis Optica: Clinical Profiles, Pathophysiology and Therapeutic Choices

Transverse myelitis is a focal inflammatory disorder of the spinal cord which may arise due to different etiologies. Transverse myelitis may be idiopathic or related/secondary to other diseases including infections, connective tissue disorders and other autoimmune diseases. It may be also associated with optic neuritis (neuromyelitis optica), which may precede transverse myelitis. In this manuscript we review the pathophysiology of different types of transverse myelitis and neuromyelitis optica and discuss diagnostic criteria for idiopathic transverse myelitis and risk of development of multiple sclerosis after an episode of transverse myelitis. We also discuss treatment options including corticosteroids, immunosuppressives and monoclonal antibodies, plasma exchange and intravenous immunoglobulins.
The Interaction between the Immune System and Epigenetics in the Etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Recent studies have firmly established that the etiology of autism includes both genetic and environmental components. However, we are only just beginning to elucidate the environmental factors that might be involved in the development of autism, as well as the molecular mechanisms through which they function. Mounting epidemiological and biological evidence suggest that prenatal factors that induce a more activated immune state in the mother are involved in the development of autism. In parallel, molecular studies have highlighted the role of epigenetics in brain development as a process susceptible to environmental influences and potentially causative of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In this review, we will discuss converging evidence for a multidirectional interaction between immune system activation in the mother during pregnancy and epigenetic regulation in the brain of the fetus that may cooperate to produce an autistic phenotype. This interaction includes immune factor-induced changes in epigenetic signatures in the brain, dysregulation of epigenetic modifications specifically in genomic regions that encode immune functions, and aberrant epigenetic regulation of microglia. Overall, the interaction between immune system activation in the mother and the subsequent epigenetic dysregulation in the developing fetal brain may be a main consideration for the environmental factors that cause autism.
Proteomic Analysis of Protein Expression and Oxidative Modification in R6/2 Transgenic Mice

Huntington disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor, psychiatric, and cognitive symptoms. The genetic defect responsible for the onset of the disease, expansion of CAG repeats in exon 1 of the gene that codes for huntingtin on chromosome 4, has been unambiguously identified. On the other hand, the mechanisms by which the mutation causes the disease are not completely understood yet. However, defects in energy metabolism of affected cells may cause oxidative damage, which has been proposed as one of the underlying molecular mechanisms that participate in the etiology of the disease. In our effort to investigate the extent of oxidative damage occurring at the protein level, we used a parallel proteomic approach to identify proteins potentially involved in processes upstream or downstream of the disease-causing huntingtin in a well established HD mouse model (R6/2 transgenic mice). We have demonstrated that the expression levels of dihydrolipoamide S-succinyltransferase and aspartate aminotransferase increase consistently over the course of disease (10-week-old mice). In contrast, pyruvate dehydrogenase expression levels were found to be decreased in 10-week-old HD transgenic mice compared with young (4-week-old) mice. Our experimental approach also led to the identification of oxidatively modified proteins. Six proteins were found to be significantly oxidized in old R6/2 transgenic mice compared with either young transgenic mice or non-transgenic mice. These proteins are α-enolase, γ-enolase (neuron-specific enolase), aconitase, the voltage-dependent anion channel 1, heat shock protein 90, and creatine kinase. Because oxidative damage has proved to play an important role in the pathogenesis and the progression of Huntington disease, our results for the first time identify specific oxidatively modified proteins that potentially contribute to the pathogenesis of Huntington disease.
A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays

Paul Milgram received the B.A.Sc. degree from the University of Toronto in 1970, the M.S.E.E. degree from the Technion (Israel) in 1973 and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto in 1980. From 1980 to 1982 he was a ZWO Visiting Scientist and a NATO Postdoctoral in the Netherlands, researching automobile driving behaviour. From 1982 to 1984 he was a Senior Research Engineer in Human Engineering at the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) in Amsterdam, where his work involved the modelling of aircraft flight crew activity, advanced display concepts and control loops with human operators in space teleoperation. Since 1986 he has worked at the Industrial Engineering Department of the University of Toronto, where he is currently an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Human Factors Engineering group. He is also cross appointed to the Department of Psychology. In 1993-94 he was an invited researcher at the ATR Communication Systems Research Laboratories, in Kyoto, Japan. His research interests include display and control issues in telerobotics and virtual environments, stereoscopic video and computer graphics, cognitive engineering, and human factors issues in medicine. He is also President of Translucent Technologies, a company which produces "Plato" liquid crystal visual occlusion spectacles (of which he is the inventor), for visual and psychomotor research.
DHAT SYNDROME REVISITED

SUMMARY Fifty consequetive patients of male potency disorders were examined and classified as Dhat Syndrome, Impotence or Premature ejaculation depending on definition laid down for these. Dhat syndrome has been found predominantly in young adults. Thirty one patients (62%) complained of Dhat as a major symptom. Associated diagnosis was depression (48%) and anxiety neurosis (16%). No psychiatric disorder was noticed in 16 (32%) cases. The socio-demographic relationships are given and difficulty in handling such patients has been discussed.
Stability and Activity of Doped Transition Metal Zeolites in the Hydrothermal Processing

This study investigates the stability and activity of HZSM-5 doped with metals such as molybdenum, nickel, copper and iron in under hydrothermal conditions used for the direct liquefaction of microalgae. Catalysts have been prepared by ion exchange techniques, and MoZSM-5 was also prepared by wet incipient impregnation for comparison. Hydrothermal liquefaction is considered as a potential route to convert microalgae into a sustainable fuel. One of the drawbacks of this process is that the bio-crude produced contains significant levels of nitrogen and oxygen compounds which have an impact on the physical and chemical propriety of the fuel. Heterogeneous catalysts have been shown to improve the quality of the bio-crude by reducing nitrogen and oxygen contents. Zeolites, such as HZSM-5, are strong candidates due to their low cost compared to noble metal catalysts but their stability and activity under hydrothermal conditions is not well understood. The stability of the catalysts has been determined under hydrothermal conditions at 350 °C. Catalysts have been characterised before and after treatment using XRD, BET physisorption and STEM microscopy. Metal leaching was determined by analysis of the water phase following hydrothermal treatment. The inserted cation following ion-exchange can influence the physical properties of HZSM-5 for example molybdenum improves the crystallinity of the zeolite. In general, metal doped zeolites were relatively stable under subcritical water. Activity of the catalysts for processing lipids, protein and microalgae has been assessed. Four feedstocks were selected: sunflower oil, soya proteins, Chlorella and P. ellipsoidea. The catalysts exhibited greater activity towards converting lipids for example MoZSM-5 enhanced the formation of aromatic compounds. NiZSM-5 and CuZSM-5 were observed to be more efficient for deoxygenation.
CLIL theory and empirical reality – Two sides of the same coin?: A quantitative-longitudinal evaluation of general EFL proficiency and affective-motivational dispositions in CLIL students at German secondary schools

This article summarizes the essential theoretical and empirical findings of a large-scale doctoral dissertation study on content and language integrated learning (CLIL) streams at German secondary schools (Gymnasium) with up to three content subjects taught in English (Rumlich, 2016) . A theoretical account rooted in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), language acquisition and educational psychology provides the basis for the development of a comprehensive longitudinal model of general EFL proficiency, which incorporates cognitive, affective-motivational, and further individual variables. In a second step, the model is used to estimate the effects of CLIL on general EFL proficiency, EFL self-concept and interest over a span of two school years (Year 6 to Year 8). The statistical evaluation of the quasi-experimental data from 1,000 learners finds large initial differences prior to CLIL due to selection, preparation, and class composition effects brought about by the implementation of CLIL within streams. After two years, the analyses found no CLIL-related benefits for general EFL proficiency or interest in EFL classes and solely a minor increase in EFL self-concept that might be attributable to CLIL. The results make a strong claim for comprehensive longitudinal model-based evaluations and the inclusion of selection, preparation, and class composition effects when conducting research on CLIL programmes in similar settings. The findings also suggest that not all language competences and affective-motivational dispositions might benefit from CLIL (the way it is currently taught in Germany) to the same extent.
Sympathetic Nervous System Activity Is Associated With Obesity-Induced Subclinical Organ Damage in Young Adults

Excess weight is established as a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, particularly in young individuals. To get a better understanding of the pathophysiology underlying increased cardiovascular disease risk, we evaluated early signs of organ damage and their possible relationship to sympathetic nervous activity. Eighteen lean (body mass index <25 kg/m2) and 25 overweight or obese (body mass index >25 kg/m2) healthy university students were included in the study. We comprehensively assessed subclinical target organ damage, including the following: (1) assessment of renal function; (2) left ventricular structure and systolic and diastolic function; and (3) endothelial function. Muscle sympathetic nervous activity was assessed by microneurography. Participants with excess weight had decreased endothelial function (P<0.01), elevated creatinine clearance (P<0.05), increased left ventricular mass index (P<0.05), increased left ventricular wall thickness (P<0.01), lower systolic and diastolic function (P<0.01), and elevated muscle sympathetic nervous activity (P<0.001) compared with lean individuals. In multiple regression analysis, endothelial function was inversely related to muscle sympathetic nervous activity (R2=0.244; P<0.05), whereas creatinine clearance and left ventricular mass index were positively related to muscle sympathetic nervous activity, after adjustment for body mass index, sex, and blood pressure (R2=0.318, P<0.01 and R2=0.312, P<0.05, respectively). Excess weight in young individuals is associated with subclinical alterations in renal and endothelial function, as well as in the structure of the heart, even in the absence of hypertension. Sympathetic activity is closely associated with cardiovascular and renal alterations observed in these subjects.