Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of Genetic Variants Influencing Lipid Levels with Coronary Artery Disease in Japanese Individuals

Background/Objective In Japanese populations, we performed a replication study of genetic loci previously identified in European-descent populations as being associated with lipid levels and risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods We genotyped 48 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 22 candidate loci that had previously been identified by genome-wide association (GWA) meta-analyses for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and/or triglycerides in Europeans. We selected 22 loci with 2 parallel tracks from 95 reported loci: 16 significant loci (p<1×10−30 in Europeans) and 6 other loci including those with suggestive evidence of lipid associations in 1292 GWA-scanned Japanese samples. Genotyping was done in 4990 general population samples, and 1347 CAD cases and 1337 controls. For 9 SNPs, we further examined CAD associations in an additional panel of 3052 CAD cases and 6335 controls. Principal Findings Significant lipid associations (one-tailed p<0.05) were replicated for 18 of 22 loci in Japanese samples, with significant inter-ethnic heterogeneity at 4 loci–APOB, APOE-C1, CETP, and APOA5–and allelic heterogeneity. The strongest association was detected at APOE rs7412 for LDL-C (p = 1.3×10−41), CETP rs3764261 for HDL-C (p = 5.2×10−24), and APOA5 rs662799 for triglycerides (p = 5.8×10−54). CAD association was replicated and/or verified for 4 loci: SORT1 rs611917 (p = 1.7×10−8), APOA5 rs662799 (p = 0.0014), LDLR rs1433099 (p = 2.1×10−7), and APOE rs7412 (p = 6.1×10−13). Conclusions Our results confirm that most of the tested lipid loci are associated with lipid traits in the Japanese, further indicating that in genetic susceptibility to lipid levels and CAD, the related metabolic pathways are largely common across the populations, while causal variants at individual loci can be population-specific.
Cover, Copy, and Compare: The Analysis of a Self-Managed Intervention to Increase Spelling Accuracy Across Task and Time

Cover, copy, and compare (CCC) is a self-managed academic intervention that can be adapted across many subjects and skill domains. The purpose of this study was to evaluate CCC as a class-wide spelling intervention to increase spelling accuracy on written exams, and to determine whether results would generalize across task and maintain over time for a group of second grade participants (N = 45). Spelling performance was assessed using a multiple-baseline across subjects design. Results demonstrated differential effects on spelling accuracy as well as differential acceptability of procedures by participating students. Students in the first quartile of spelling performance demonstrated increases in accuracy and were more likely to select CCC when given a choice of study strategies than students in the second, third, and fourth quartiles. Follow-up data demonstrated mixed effects, and generalization data revealed higher percentages of words being spelled consistently across tasks. Acceptability of the CCC procedures was documented for teachers through positive responses on a questionnaire.
Zika virus infection and Guillain-Barré syndrome: a review focused on clinical and electrophysiological subtypes

In 2016, we have seen a rapid emergence of Zika virus-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) since its first description in a French-Polynesian patient in 2014. Current evidence estimates the incidence of GBS at 24 cases per 100 000 persons infected by Zika virus. This will result in a sharp rise in the number of GBS cases worldwide with the anticipated global spread of Zika virus. A better understanding of the pathogenesis of Zika-associated GBS is crucial to prepare us for the current epidemic. In this review, we evaluate the existing literature on GBS in association with Zika and other flavivirus to better define its clinical subtypes and electrophysiological characteristics, demonstrating a demyelinating subtype of GBS in most cases. We also recommend measures that will help reduce the gaps in knowledge that currently exist.
Understanding Educator Attitudes Toward the Implementation of Inclusive Education

This paper presents the findings of an empirical study to investigate the attitudes of regular education teachers toward the implementation of inclusive education. The cited study was part of a two-pronged research inquiry which investigated teachers attitudes toward, and their concerns about inclusive education. This discourse was based on semi-structured interviews, conducted with mainstream teachers in state schools in Victoria, Australia. The results imply that Victorian teachers are in the main positively inclined towards the philosophy of inclusive education, perceiving the process as beneficial to all participants within the inclusive setting. However, they remain cautious about the inclusion of students with more severe disabilities.
The German Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a screening instrument that addresses positive and negative behavioral attributes of children and adolescents. Although this questionnaire has been used in Germany to gather information from parents and teachers of preschoolers, few studies exist that verify the validity of the German SDQ for this age. In the present study, teacher ratings were collected for 282 children aged 36 to 60 months (boys = 156; girls = 126). Likewise, teacher ratings were collected with another German checklist for behavior problems and behavior disorders at preschool age (Verhaltensbeurteilungsbogen fur Vorschulkinder, VBV 3–6). Moreover, children’s developmental status was assessed. Evaluation included correlation analysis as well as canonical correlation analysis to assess the multivariate relationship between the set of SDQ variables and the set of VBV variables. Discriminant analyses were used to clarify which SDQ variables are useful to differentiate between children wi.
Personality and social networks in organizations: A review and future directions

Summary Recent research linking individuals' personality characteristics to their social networks has brought a new understanding of how individual patterns of behavior affect networks in organizations. This review summarizes the major advancements in the three areas of social network research relevant to organizational behavior: (a) brokerage and structural holes; (b) network centrality and network size; and (c) strength of ties. This review also provides an agenda outlining three key opportunities for future research. These opportunities involve personality and social network change, bidirectional and dyadic processes, and the potential effect of network position on personality expression. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Investigating the Relationship Between Dialogue Structure and Tutoring Effectiveness: A Hidden Markov Modeling Approach

Identifying effective tutorial dialogue strategies is a key issue for intelligent tutoring systems research. Human-human tutoring offers a valuable model tbr identifying effective tutorial strategies, but extracting them is a challenge because of the richness of human dialogue. This article addresses that challenge through a machine learning approach that 1) learns tutorial modes from a corpus of human tutoring, and 2) identifies the statistical relationships between student outcomes and the learned modes. The modeling approach utilizes hidden Markov models (HMMs) to capture the unobservable stochastic structure that is thought to influence the observations, in this case dialogue acts and task actions, that are generated by task-oriented tutorial dialogue. We refer to this unobservable layer as the hidden dialogue state, and interpret it as representing the tutor and students' collaborative intentions. We have applied HMMs to a corpus of annotated task-oriented tutorial dialogue to learn one model for each of two effective human tutors. Significant correlations emerged between the automatically extracted tutoring modes and student learning outcomes. Broadly, the results suggest that HMMs can learn meaningful hidden tutorial dialogue structure. More specifically, the findings point to specific mechanisms within task-oriented tutorial dialogue that are associated with increased student learning. This work has direct applications in authoring data-driven tutorial dialogue system behavior and in investigating the effectiveness of human tutoring.
The fine structure of chloroplasts and pyrenoids in some marine dinoflagellates.

The chloroplasts of some members of the Dinophyceae are bounded by an envelope consisting of three membranes and having a mean thickness of 230 A°. Within the chloroplast are arranged, in a more or less parallel manner, many lamellae normally composed of three apposed thylakoids, although the number of thylakoids often varies and may reach 30 in a single stack. By study of disintegrated chloroplasts it was found that the thylakoids are circular in shape with a diameter of 0.15-3.6 µ and a mean thickness of 240 A°;. Ribosomes, lipid droplets and DNA areas are present in the chloroplast stroma. No connexions were seen between the chloroplasts and any other organelles, nor did the chloroplasts contain girdle lamellae. Stalked pyrenoids, which are found in some dinoflagellates, are shown to arise from the inner face of the chloroplasts, to contain a finely granular material and to be frequently surrounded by an electron-transparent area. These findings are discussed in relation to the fine structure of the chloroplasts and pyrenoids of other algal classes.
Gut mycobiota and adenomas

Fungal microbiota (mycobiota) is potentially involved in the intestinal illness. The characterization of the mycobiota in patients with adenomas is essential for understanding the etiology of the pre-cancerous lesion since the mycobiota is potentially associated with the presents of adenomas. The recovery of the mycobiome may also help to identify the potential biomarkers which may closely relate to different stages of adenoma.
Language abilities of internationally adopted children from China during the early school years: Evidence for early age effects?

ABSTRACT We assessed the language, cognitive, and socioemotional abilities of 27 internationally adopted children from China, adopted by French-speaking parents, 12 of whom had been assessed previously by Gauthier and Genesee. The children were on average 7 years, 10 months old and were matched to nonadopted monolingual French-speaking children on age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Although there were no significant differences between the groups with respect to socioemotional and cognitive development, the adoptees scored significantly lower than the controls on measures of receptive grammar, expressive vocabulary, word definitions, and sentence recall, findings that were similar to those reported by Gauthier and Genesee. Analyses of correlations between the adopted children's language test results and their age at adoption, length of exposure to the adoption language, health, and other developmental problems revealed relatively few significant associations. In contrast, analyses of the relationship between their language test scores and their performance on the recalling sentences subtest suggest a link between performance on these two tests. We speculate on the role that performance on sentence recall might play in mediating differences in language outcomes between the two groups of children.
Rare Earth Extraction from Phosphogypsum by Aspergillus niger Culture Broth

The extraction of rare earth elements (REEs) from phosphogypsum (PG) is of great significance for the effective utilization of rare earth resources and enhancing the resource value of PG waste residues. This study used Aspergillus niger (A. niger) fungal culture filtrate as a leaching agent to investigate the behavior of extracting REEs from PG through direct and indirect contact methods. According to the ICP-MS results, direct leaching at a temperature of 30 °C, shaking speed of 150 rpm, and a solid–liquid ratio of 2:1, achieved an extraction rate of 74% for REEs, with the main elements being yttrium (Y), lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), and neodymium (Nd). Under the same conditions, the extraction rate of REEs from phosphogypsum using an A. niger culture filtrate was 63.3% higher than that using the simulated organic acid-mixed solution prepared with the main organic acid components in the A. niger leachate. Moreover, the morphological changes observed in A. niger before and after leaching further suggest the direct involvement of A. niger’s metabolic process in the extraction of REEs. When compared to using organic acids, A. niger culture filtrate exhibits higher leaching efficiency for extracting REEs from PG. Additionally, using A. niger culture filtrate is a more environmentally friendly method with the potential for industrial-scale applications than using inorganic acids for the leaching of REEs from PG.
Oncogenic Ras Promotes Butyrate-induced Apoptosis through Inhibition of Gelsolin Expression*

Activation of Ras promotes oncogenesis by altering a multiple of cellular processes, such as cell cycle progression, differentiation, and apoptosis. Oncogenic Ras can either promote or inhibit apoptosis, depending on the cell type and the nature of the apoptotic stimuli. The response of normal and transformed colonic epithelial cells to the short chain fatty acid butyrate, a physiological regulator of epithelial cell maturation, is also divergent: normal epithelial cells proliferate, and transformed cells undergo apoptosis in response to butyrate. To investigate the role of k-ras mutations in butyrate-induced apoptosis, we utilized HCT116 cells, which harbor an oncogenic k-ras mutation and two isogenic clones with targeted inactivation of the mutant k-ras allele, Hkh2, and Hke-3. We demonstrated that the targeted deletion of the mutant k-ras allele is sufficient to protect epithelial cells from butyrate-induced apoptosis. Consistent with this, we showed that apigenin, a dietary flavonoid that has been shown to inhibit Ras signaling and to reverse transformation of cancer cell lines, prevented butyrate-induced apoptosis in HCT116 cells. To investigate the mechanism whereby activated k-ras sensitizes colonic cells to butyrate, we performed a genome-wide analysis of Ras target genes in the isogenic cell lines HCT116, Hkh2, and Hke-3. The gene exhibiting the greatest down-regulation by the activating k-ras mutation was gelsolin, an actin-binding protein whose expression is frequently reduced or absent in colorectal cancer cell lines and primary tumors. We demonstrated that silencing of gelsolin expression by small interfering RNA sensitized cells to butyrate-induced apoptosis through amplification of the activation of caspase-9 and caspase-7. These data therefore demonstrate that gelsolin protects cells from butyrate-induced apoptosis and suggest that Ras promotes apoptosis, at least in part, through its ability to down-regulate the expression of gelsolin.
Do We Know What the Early Visual System Does?

We can claim that we know what the visual system does once we can predict neural responses to arbitrary stimuli, including those seen in nature. In the early visual system, models based on one or more linear receptive fields hold promise to achieve this goal as long as the models include nonlinear mechanisms that control responsiveness, based on stimulus context and history, and take into account the nonlinearity of spike generation. These linear and nonlinear mechanisms might be the only essential determinants of the response, or alternatively, there may be additional fundamental determinants yet to be identified. Research is progressing with the goals of defining a single “standard model” for each stage of the visual pathway and testing the predictive power of these models on the responses to movies of natural scenes. These predictive models represent, at a given stage of the visual pathway, a compact description of visual computation. They would be an invaluable guide for understanding the underlying biophysical and anatomical mechanisms and relating neural responses to visual perception.
The α-Cell Conundrum: ATP-Sensitive K+ Channels and Glucose Sensing

The α-cell of the pancreatic islet modulates glucose homeostasis by secreting glucagon that acts primarily by driving hepatic glucose production. Glucose sensing of the α-cell becomes defective in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, resulting in hyperglucagonemia that likely contributes to hyperglycemia (1). Thus, it is important to elucidate the signals that trigger glucagon secretion and the transduction of these signals within the α-cell. Glucagon secretion has been linked to several triggers: the α-cell detecting a fall in circulating glucose levels directly, a paracrine response to signal(s) from the islet β-cell (e.g., insulin, γ-aminobutyric acid [GABA], or Zn2+ ions) or the islet δ-cell (somatostatin), or a response to neural signals (2–8). In all likelihood, an interaction of several signals regulates glucagon secretion in vivo. There is good reason to believe that glucagon release, like insulin release, is influenced by physiological α-cell electrical activity and Ca2+ influx and fundamentally resembles the excitation-secretion coupling seen in many secretory cell types (9). Stimulus-induced α-cell electrical activity results from depolarization-induced opening of voltage-gated Ca2+ and K+ channels (2,9–11). The depolarization first activates the low voltage–activated T-type Ca2+ channels, which have been implicated in action potential initiation (10). Activation of K+ channels then shapes the α-cell action potential upstroke. The resulting depolarization activates high voltage–activated Ca2+ channels including the N-type and L-type Ca2+ channels, which coordinate Ca2+-induced glucagon release (11). Action potential repolarization then follows with the activation of voltage-gated potassium (N) channels (12). Hypoglycemic conditions can promote glucagon secretion by stimulating α-cell electrical activity and Ca2+ entry. …
A modular NFA architecture for regular expression matching

We propose a non-deterministic finite automata (NFA) based architecture for regexp scanners on FPGA, called CES: the Character Class with Constraint Repetition (CCR) based regExp Scanner. CES is designed to realize a new MIN-MAX counting algorithm, which can solve both the character class ambiguity problem and the overlapped matching problem. CES also supports non-regular Perl grammars such as zero-width pattern and back-reference. We propose a CCR-syntax tree and its parsing scheme to map a Perl or POSIX regexp rule to a CES topology. The interconnection patterns, and operational parameters of CCR modules (CCRM), which are the building blocks of CES, can be easily configured by regular memory writes when regexp rules change, without re-synthesis of low-level logic. For implementation, character classes of CCRs are stored in Block RAMs. The MIN-MAX algorithm uses two counters MIN and MAX to resolve the character class ambiguity problem. Two checkpoint counters are employed to implement overlapped matching detection. CES topologies optimized for different types of rules can run in different Partial Reconfigurable Regions (PRR), and can be swapped on the fly by a PRR controller. We developed a tool chain to automate the CES implementation to a Virtex 5 LX110T device. This device can host up to 3000 CCRMs, and run at an estimated throughput of 1.996 Gbps in simulation, and 863 Mbps between a PC and the Virtex 5 board in real tests. The Snort and SpamAssassin rule sets can be parsed and mapped in milliseconds. Once a base CES architecture is synthesized, the physical reconfiguration of a CES on the Virtex 5 LX110T chip can be done in less than a second.
A review of transfusion risks and optimal management of perioperative bleeding with cardiac surgery

A pproximately 10 to 14 million red blood cell (RBC) units and 1.5 million platelet (PLT) transfusions (approx. 85%, single-donor plateletpheresis products; the remainder, pools of six whole-blood-donor PLT concentrates) are administered in the United States each year. Transfusion-related adverse (20% of transfusions) and serious adverse (0.5%) events were estimated by Walker in the 1980s. More recently, serious adverse events have been estimated to occur in 0.1 percent of RBCs and 0.04 percent of PLT transfusions. With early estimates, transfusion-associated adverse events were thought to lead to a short-term (i.e., not including disease transmission–related deaths) mortality of 1 to 1.2 per 100,000 patients, or approximately 35 transfusion-related deaths per year in the United States. With more recent estimates, long-term or total mortality (i.e., including disease transmission–related deaths) is probably higher due to unrecognized or unreported transfusion-related deaths. Perioperative signs and symptoms (e.g., fever, hypotension, tachycardia, hypoxemia, microvascular bleeding, hemoglobinuria, low urine output) can accompany any of several serious transfusion-related complications such as acute hemolytic transfusion reactions (HTRs), bacterial contamination, anaphylaxis, transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI), or other events (e.g. hyperkalemia, fluid overload, air embolus). Current risks associated with blood and blood component transfusion can be characterized as immune-mediated versus non–immunemediated, hemolytic versus nonhemolytic, or acute versus delayed transfusion reactions, as well as bloodborne disease transmission. Another approach would involve subdividing transfusion risks into those that are the leading causes of mortality versus those that are uncommon causes of transfusion-related mortality.
Effect of cyclophosphamide on the thymus and the bursa of Fabricius in chickens.

The effect of cyclophosphamide (Cy) on the thymus and the bursa of Fabricius III chickens, aged one day to 7 weeks, was examined morphologically. Chickens, which were daily injected i. m. with 6 mg Cy 1, 2, or 3 times from the hatching day, were compared with saline control chickens. The relative weights of both the thymus and the bursa decreased abruptly just after the injection of Cy. The weight of the thymus had an involutional bottom at the age of 4-5 days, and thereafter recovered to the normal level at age 3 weeks, while that of the bursa never returned to the control level until age 7 weeks. The histological changes in the thymus appeared to be greater in the cortex than in the medulla. A degeneration of lymphocytes, an increase of macro phages, hypertrophy of the reticular cells, and a disappearance of mitotic cells were observed in the cortex during early involution. Recovery began as soon as the large lymphocytes appeared in the cortex, and the histological structures of the thymuses in the Cy-treated birds recovered completely at age 3 weeks. The effect of Cy in the bursa was similar to that in the thymus, but these changes were seen earlier than they were in the thymus. Restoration of the lymphoid follicles was observed from 5 to 10 days of age mainly in the groups treated with a smaller quantity of Cy. In the chickens treated with 18 mg Cy, however, only a few restorative follicles were found.