Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inflammation and pruritus in haemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Pruritus is a common symptom among patients on haemodialysis (HD). We studied 68 HD patients to assess the role of iron deficiency, anaemia, inflammation and other common serum and dialysis parameters in pruritus. METHODS The patients were questioned about the occurrence of pruritus at home, quantified according to frequency ('never', 'occasionally' and 'every day') and intensity ('absent', 'moderate' and 'severe'). The blood and serum variables considered were: haemoglobin, haematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration, hypochromic red blood cells (RBC), hyperchromic RBC, microcytic RBC, macrocytic RBC, reticulocytes, iron, ferritin, transferrin, transferrin saturation, C-reactive protein (CRP), urea, creatinine, calcium, phosphorus, albumin, total protein and glucose. We also analysed Kt/V, age and time on HD treatment. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the frequency or intensity of their pruritus, and we analysed and compared the variables between the 3 groups. RESULTS Half (50%) of the patients reported never having pruritus, 32.4% occasionally and 17.6% every day. Pruritus was moderate in 41.2% of them and severe in 8.8%. None of the parameters considered revealed any statistically relevant differences between the three pruritus frequency groups, except for mean serum transferrin level (mg/dl) ('never'=268+/-64 vs 'occasionally'=244+/-40 vs 'every day'=217+/-56, P<0.05). As for the intensity of the symptom, mean serum transferrin (268+/-64 vs 247+/-39 vs 174+/-31, P<0.001) and median ferritin levels (mg/dl) (83 (11-420) vs 98 (11-1121) vs 293 (111-471), P<0.05) showed statistically significant differences between the 3 groups, as did albumin levels (g/dl) (4.3+/-0.4 vs 4.2+/-0.4 vs 3.7+/-0.4, P<0.05). Median CRP values (mg/dl) tended to be higher in patients with more frequent (0.4 (0.3-5.5) vs 0.7 (0.3-11.4) vs 0.9 (0.3-13.5)) and more severe pruritus (0.4 (0.3-5.5) vs 0.7 (0.3-4.0) vs 2.1 (0.3-13.5)), but those differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS Iron deficiency and anaemia seem to play no part in HD-related pruritus, whereas lower serum transferrin and albumin levels and higher ferritin values are consistent with the possible role of inflammation in the development and severity of pruritus.
Targeted Next Generation Sequencing Identifies Novel Mutations in RP1 as a Relatively Common Cause of Autosomal Recessive Rod-Cone Dystrophy

We report ophthalmic and genetic findings in families with autosomal recessive rod-cone dystrophy (arRCD) and RP1 mutations. Detailed ophthalmic examination was performed in 242 sporadic and arRCD subjects. Genomic DNA was investigated using our customized next generation sequencing panel targeting up to 123 genes implicated in inherited retinal disorders. Stringent filtering coupled with Sanger sequencing and followed by cosegregation analysis was performed to confirm biallelism and the implication of the most likely disease causing variants. Sequencing identified 9 RP1 mutations in 7 index cases. Eight of the mutations were novel, and all cosegregated with severe arRCD phenotype, found associated with additional macular changes. Among the identified mutations, 4 belong to a region, previously associated with arRCD, and 5 others in a region previously associated with adRCD. Our prevalence studies showed that RP1 mutations account for up to 2.5% of arRCD. These results point out for the necessity of sequencing RP1 when genetically investigating sporadic and arRCD. It further highlights the interest of unbiased sequencing technique, which allows investigating the implication of the same gene in different modes of inheritance. Finally, it reports that different regions of RP1 can also lead to arRCD.
Socially induced sex change regulates forebrain isotocin in Lythrypnus dalli

The neurohypophyseal peptides are evolutionarily conserved and their expression can be socially modulated. Our question was what effect will socially induced sex change have on forebrain isotocin, an oxytocin homologue? We removed males from social groups to induce dominant females to change sex and become males in Lythrypnus dalli. Fish in the late stages of sex change had fewer forebrain isotocin-immunoreactive (-ir) cells than early stage and unchanged females. When groups were consolidated into unequivocal males (control males and sex-changed new males) and unequivocal females (fish prior to courtship as a male), females had significantly more isotocin-ir cells than control males and recently sex-changed fish. This is the first study demonstrating the social regulation of forebrain isotocin.
Efficiency of Magnetized Thin Accretion Disks in the Kerr Metric

The efficiency of thin disk accretion onto black holes depends on the inner boundary condition, specifically the torque applied to the disk at the last stable orbit. This is usually assumed to vanish. I estimate the torque on a magnetized disk using a steady magnetohydrodynamic inflow model originally developed by Takahashi et al. I find that the efficiency ϵ can depart significantly from the classical thin disk value. In some cases ϵ > 1, i.e., energy is extracted from the black hole.
A Colour Iris Recognition System Employing Multiple Classifier Techniques

The randomness of iris texture has allowed researchers to develop biometric systems with almost flawless accuracies. However, a common drawback of the majority of existing iris recognition systems is the constrained environment in which the user is enroled and recognized. The iris recognition systems typically require a high quality iris image captured under near infrared illumination. A desirable property of an iris recognition system is to be able to operate on colour images, whilst maintaining a high accuracy. In the present work we propose an iris recognition methodology which is designed to cope with noisy colour iris images. There are two main contributions of this paper: first, we adapt standard iris features proposed in literature for near infrared images by applying a feature selection method on features extracted from various colour channels; second, we introduce a Multiple Classifier System architecture to enhance the recognition accuracy of the biometric system. With a feature size of only 360 real valued components, the proposed iris recognition system performs with a high accuracy on UBIRISv1 dataset, in both identification and verfication scenarios.
Force-Field Prediction of Materials Properties in Metal-Organic Frameworks

In this work, MOF bulk properties are evaluated and compared using several force fields on several well-studied MOFs, including IRMOF-1 (MOF-5), IRMOF-10, HKUST-1, and UiO-66. It is found that, surprisingly, UFF and DREIDING provide good values for the bulk modulus and linear thermal expansion coefficients for these materials, excluding those that they are not parametrized for. Force fields developed specifically for MOFs including UFF4MOF, BTW-FF, and the DWES force field are also found to provide accurate values for these materials’ properties. While we find that each force field offers a moderately good picture of these properties, noticeable deviations can be observed when looking at properties sensitive to framework vibrational modes. This observation is more pronounced upon the introduction of framework charges.
Origin and Molecular Specification of Striatal Interneurons

The striatum, the largest component of the basal ganglia, contains projection neurons and interneurons. Whereas there is considerable agreement that the lateral ganglionic eminence (LGE) is the origin of striatal projection neurons, less is known about the origin of striatal interneurons. Using focal injections of retrovirus into the ventral telencephalon in vitro, we demonstrate that most striatal interneurons tangentially migrate from the medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) or the adjacent preoptic/anterior entopeduncular areas (POa/AEP) and express the NKX2.1 homeodomain protein. Although the majority of striatal interneurons (cholinergic, calretinin+, and parvalbumin+) maintain the expression of NKX2.1 into adulthood, most of the interneurons expressing somatostatin (SOM), neuropeptide Y (NPY), and neural nitric oxide synthase (NOS) appear to downregulate the expression of NKX2.1 as they exit the neuroepithelium. Analysis of striatal development in mice lacking Nkx2.1 suggests that this gene is required for the specification of nearly all striatal interneurons. Similar analysis of mice lacking the Mash1basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) or both the Dlx1 andDlx2 homeodomain transcription factors demonstrates that these genes are required for the differentiation of striatal interneurons. Mash1 mutants primarily have a reduction in early-born striatal interneurons, whereas Dlx1/2mutants primarily have reduced numbers of late-born striatal interneurons. We also present evidence implicating theLhx6 and Lhx7 LIM-homeobox genes in the development of distinct interneuron subtypes. Finally, we hypothesize that, within the MGE, radially migrating cells generally become projection neurons, whereas tangentially migrating cells mainly form interneurons of the striatum and cerebral cortex.
Antiviral Protein APOBEC3G Localizes to Ribonucleoprotein Complexes Found in P Bodies and Stress Granules

ABSTRACT Members of the APOBEC (apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide 1-like) family of cytidine deaminases inhibit host cell genome invasion by exogenous retroviruses and endogenous retrotransposons. Because these enzymes can edit DNA or RNA and potentially mutate cellular targets, their activities are presumably regulated; for instance, APOBEC3G (A3G) recruitment into high-molecular-weight ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes has been shown to suppress its enzymatic activity. We used tandem affinity purification together with mass spectrometry (MS) to identify protein components within A3G-containing RNPs. We report that numerous cellular RNA-binding proteins with diverse roles in RNA function, metabolism, and fate determination are present in A3G RNPs but that most interactions with A3G are mediated via binding to shared RNAs. Confocal microscopy demonstrated that substantial quantities of A3G localize to cytoplasmic microdomains that are known as P bodies and stress granules (SGs) and are established sites of RNA storage and metabolism. Indeed, subjecting cells to stress induces the rapid redistribution of A3G and a number of P-body proteins to SGs. Among these proteins are Argonaute 1 (Ago1) and Argonaute 2 (Ago2), factors that are important for RNA silencing and whose interactions with A3G are resistant to RNase treatment. Together, these findings reveal that A3G associates with RNPs that are found throughout the cytosol as well as in discrete microdomains. We also speculate that the interplay between A3G, RNA-silencing pathways, and cellular sites of RNA metabolism may contribute to A3G's role as an inhibitor of retroelement mobility and as a possible regulator of cellular RNA function.
Early microvascular changes in the preterm neonate: a comparative study of the human and guinea pig

Dysfunction of the transition from fetal to neonatal circulatory systems may be a major contributor to poor outcome following preterm birth. Evidence exists in the human for both a period of low flow between 5 and 11 h and a later period of increased flow, suggesting a hypoperfusion–reperfusion cycle over the first 24 h following birth. Little is known about the regulation of peripheral blood flow during this time. The aim of this study was to conduct a comparative study between the human and guinea pig to characterize peripheral microvascular behavior during circulatory transition. Very preterm (≤28 weeks GA), preterm (29–36 weeks GA), and term (≥37 weeks GA) human neonates underwent laser Doppler analysis of skin microvascular blood flow at 6 and 24 h from birth. Guinea pig neonates were delivered prematurely (62 day GA) or at term (68–71 day GA) and laser Doppler analysis of skin microvascular blood flow was assessed every 2 h from birth. In human preterm neonates, there is a period of high microvascular flow at 24 h after birth. No period of low flow was observed at 6 h. In preterm animals, microvascular flow increased after birth, reaching a peak at 10 h postnatal age. Blood flow then steadily decreased, returning to delivery levels by 24 h. Preterm birth was associated with higher baseline microvascular flow throughout the study period in both human and guinea pig neonates. The findings do not support a hypoperfusion–reperfusion cycle in the microcirculation during circulatory transition. The guinea pig model of preterm birth will allow further investigation of the mechanisms underlying microvascular function and dysfunction during the initial extrauterine period.
Evaluating Allocations of Freedom

This paper develops a formal approach to evaluating freedom in interactive settings based on the literatures on preference for flexibility and measurement of diversity. The approach posits that freedom has an instrumental component -- grounded in preferences -- and an intrinsic component. The philosophical justification and implications of the approach are considered. In particular, I discuss the nature of the required value judgments. Potential conflicts between freedom and efficiency are explored. On a technical level, the paper extends the notion of a diversity measure (Nehring and Puppe 2002) to menus of lotteries, which is what is needed to evaluate freedom when many agents seek flexibility simultaneously.
The genetics of autism spectrum disorders and related neuropsychiatric disorders in childhood.

OBJECTIVE Autism spectrum disorders are considered to be among the most heritable mental disorders, a notion based on surprisingly sparse data from small clinical studies. Population-based studies of the heritability of other neuropsychiatric disorders and comorbidities among them have also been sparse. The authors sought to address both of these issues. METHOD Parents of all Swedish 9- and 12-year-old twin pairs born between 1992 and 2000 (N=10,895) were interviewed regarding autism spectrum disorders and associated conditions (response rate, 80%). Concordance rates and structural equation modeling were used for evaluating causes for familial aggregation and overlap between conditions. RESULTS Monozygotic twins had higher concordance rates than dizygotic twins for autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental coordination disorder, and tic disorder. Genetic effects accounted for 80% (95% CI=29-91) of the variation in liability for autism spectrum disorders, 79% (95% CI=61-88) for ADHD, 70% (95% CI=35-83) for developmental coordination disorder, and 56% (95% CI=37-68) for tic disorder. Among monozygotic co-twins of children with autism spectrum disorders, the probability of having a diagnosis of ADHD was 44%, compared with 15% for dizygotic co-twins. Differences in cross-disorder effects between monozygotic and dizygotic twins were observed for most other comorbidities, and substantial proportions of the genetic variance for autism spectrum disorders was shared with each of the other disorders. CONCLUSIONS Different neuropsychiatric disorders seem to have a common genetic etiology, suggesting caution in the use of diagnostic entities and proband status in efforts to uncover genes predisposing to autism spectrum disorders.
Collaborative Topic Regression with Multiple Graphs Factorization for Recommendation in Social Media

With a large amount of complex network data available from multiple data sources, how to effectively combine these available data with existing auxiliary information such as item content into the same recommendation framework for more accurately modeling user preference is an interesting and significant research topic for various recommender systems. In this paper, we propose a novel hierarchical Bayesian model to integrate multiple social network structures and content information for item recommendation. The key idea is to formulate a joint optimization framework to learn latent user and item representations, with simultaneously learned social factors and latent topic variables. The main challenge is how to exploit the shared information among multiple social graphs in a probabilistic framework. To tackle this challenge, we incorporate multiple graphs probabilistic factorization with two alternatively designed combination strategies into collaborative topic regression (CTR). Experimental results on real dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
The Critical Social Ecology of Student Success in Higher Education: A Transformative Mixed Methods Study of Undergraduates' Experiences and Outcomes at the City University of New York (CUNY)

The Critical Social Ecology of Student Success in Higher Education: A Transformative Mixed Methods Study of Undergraduates’ Experiences and Outcomes at the City University of New York (CUNY) by Leigh McCallen Advisor: Helen L. Johnson Ensuring success in higher education among historically underserved students is integral to social equity and mobility in the United States today. Scholars have called for research examining the complexity of factors determining educational pathways of students encountering circumstances that hinder progress toward a college degree in the context of broad-access public four-year universities and two-year community colleges, institutions most affected by declining federal and state support for higher education. The current research proposed a multidisciplinary applied model of underserved college student success to examine factors constraining and promoting the educational outcomes and social opportunities of undergraduate low-income, first in family to attend college, and students of color at the City University of New York (CUNY). This model guided the design and implementation of a transformative mixed methods study focused on centering student perspectives and elevating issues of social justice. A crosssectional survey was administered at three four-year colleges and three community colleges of CUNY (N=635), while individual interviews with first in family students at the focal senior colleges (N=10) and focus group discussions with students at the community colleges (N=47) were conducted concurrently. Findings indicated the structural realignment of public higher education exerts a negative influence on the trajectories of underserved students, particularly the current conditions of college teaching and learning. Implications of this research for broadaccess public higher education institutions will be discussed.
Female American goldfinches use carotenoid-based bill coloration to signal status

Interest in female ornamentation has burgeoned recently, and evidence suggests that carotenoid-based female coloration may function as a mate-choice signal. However, the possibility that females may signal status with coloration has been all but ignored. Bill coloration of female American goldfinches (Spinus tristis) changes seasonally, from dull gray in winter to bright orange in the breeding season. We conducted a series of aviary experiments in the breeding season to examine the signaling role of female bill color during both intra- and intersexual contests as well as during male mate choice. We tested for status signaling by examining whether caged females and males avoided feeding adjacent to female taxidermic models as a function of the model's bill color, which was experimentally augmented or dulled. We tested for a mate signaling function by giving captive males a choice between 2 live females with experimentally altered bill colors. Females avoided feeding near model females with colorful bills, but males showed neither avoidance of nor preference for females with more colorful bills. These results indicate that the female's carotenoid-based bill coloration signals status during competitive interactions and suggest that female bill color does not function as a mate-choice signal. This represents the first experimental evidence that a carotenoid-based coloration of females functions to mediate contest competition over food. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.
Correlates of social and emotional loneliness in older people: evidence from an English community study

Objectives: Loneliness is an important influence on quality of life in old age and has been conceptualised as consisting of two dimensions, social and emotional. This article describes analyses that sought to produce models of social and emotional loneliness in older people, using demographic, psychological and health, and social variables.Method: Older people (aged 65+, n = 1255) from the Barnsley metropolitan area of the United Kingdom were recruited randomly from within a stratified sampling frame and received a questionnaire-based interview (response rate: 68.1%). The questionnaire contained items and scales on demographic, psychological and health, and social characteristics, and a validated measure of loneliness that assesses both social and emotional loneliness.Results: Of the respondents, 7.7% were found to be severely or very severely lonely, while another 38.3% were moderately lonely. Social and emotional loneliness shared 19.36% variance. Being male, being widowed, low well-being, low self-esteem, low-income comfort, low contact with family, low contact with friends, low activity, low perceived community integration, and receipt of community care were significant predictors of social loneliness (R = 0.50, R2 = 0.25, F(18, 979) = 18.17, p < 0.001). Being widowed, low well-being, low self-esteem, high activity restriction, low-income comfort, and non-receipt of informal care were significant predictors of emotional loneliness (R = 0.55, R2 = 0.30, F (18, 973) = 23.00, p < 0.001). Conclusion: This study provides further empirical support for the conceptual separation of emotional and social loneliness. Consequently, policy on loneliness in older people should be directed to developing a range of divergent intervention strategies if both emotional and social loneliness are to be reduced.
Sequential order selection for real time signal processing

In this paper, we address the problem of order selection in signal processing applications for the general case where the observations can have correlations in time and require sequential processing. We consider the finite normal mixtures (FNM) model as an example for which correct order selection is very important. We derive penalized partial likelihood as the information theoretic criterion for order selection for the general case where observations can have correlations. We propose a sequential order selection procedure and investigate its properties and give a number of examples in channel equalization showing the effectiveness of the approach.