Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Threshold Effects of Vitamin D Status on Bone Health in Chinese Adolescents With Low Calcium Intake.

CONTEXT There is no consensus on the definition of vitamin D deficiency for bone health based on serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) levels. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to determine whether thresholds exist for associations between 25OHD levels and bone outcomes and if low 25OHD levels have adverse effects on bone health. DESIGN This is a cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS This study included secondary school students in Beijing, China, aged 12-15 years. MEASURES We measured serum 25OHD; bone mineral density (BMD) of total body, hip, and lumbar spine (LS); serum PTH; bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP); and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRAP5b) in 222 healthy adolescents (111 girls, 111 boys). RESULTS The prevalence of low 25OHD was 61% (<30 nmol/liter) and 97% (<50 nmol/liter) (mean 25OHD, 30 nmol/liter). Dietary calcium intake was low (294 and 307 mg/d for boys and girls, respectively). In girls, break-points for 25OHD (nmol/liter) were: total body BMD 20 (95% confidence interval [CI], 14-27), hip BMD 25 (17-34), LS BMD 22 (14-30), TRAP5b 37 (22-52), and PTH 31 (23-38). In boys, break-points were: total body BMD 39 (24-55), TRAP5b 33 (20-45), and PTH 35 (27-43); no break-points were identified for hip and LS BMD. No break-points were identified for BAP in either gender. Below these break-points, higher 25OHD is associated with increased total body BMD, reduced PTH, and TRAP5b, whereas above these break-points, no such relationship exists. CONCLUSIONS Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency is common in healthy Chinese adolescents. Attaining serum 25OHD levels of more than 20-37 nmol/liter in girls and 33-39 nmol/liter in boys had positive influences on BMD and bone remodelling markers. However, estimates may be affected by low calcium intake and low serum 25OHD levels, with 97% of adolescents having levels below 50 nmol/liter.
Presence of Tetracycline Resistance Determinants and Susceptibility to Tigecycline and Minocycline

ABSTRACT No relation between the presence of tetracycline resistance determinants tet(A) to tet(E) and the MICs of tigecycline was observed for Enterobacteriaceae, although tetracycline-susceptible isolates were more susceptible overall to tigecycline, whereas the presence of tet(M) in Staphylococcus aureus was associated with higher MICs of minocycline.
Patterns of use of antithrombotic therapy and quality of anticoagulation among patients with non‐valvular atrial fibrillation in clinical practice

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of thromboprophylaxis rates and the quality of anticoagulation control among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) using a large, geographically diverse database of electronic medical records. The study population consisted of 13,709 AF patients treated in US outpatient physician practices. Approximately two‐thirds were prescribed warfarin alone or in combination with another drug. Older patients, males, and those with congestive heart failure (CHF) or prior stroke were more likely to receive antithrombotic therapy. Among 6454 patients treated with warfarin who had at least two valid prothrombin time/international normalised ratio test results, approximately half of study days were spent in target range. Female sex, CHF and residence in the Northeast were associated with more time out of range. Our study confirms that, in routine medical practice, warfarin is not prescribed for substantial numbers of eligible patients, and anticoagulation control with warfarin is suboptimal for many of those at risk for thromboembolism.
The Changing Sediment Load of the Mekong River

Abstract The sediment loads of many of the world's major rivers have changed significantly in recent years due to land-use change, reservoir construction, and other human impacts on their drainage basins. For many rivers, the loads have decreased, whereas for others, they have increased. Such changes can have important implications for both the natural functioning of the system as well as for human exploitation of the river system. This paper considers the evidence for recent changes in the sediment load of the Mekong River. The available data have a number of limitations in terms of both sampling frequency and the period of coverage, but they have been processed to provide a basis for considering the changes in the sediment load of the river over the period extending from the early 1960s to 2002. Although there is evidence of increasing loads at some measuring stations, the overall trends show little evidence of major changes, and the system provides evidence of buffering through storage. As of 2002, the construction of major dams on the headwaters in China appears to have had little impact on the sediment load, although as further larger dams are commissioned, the sediment load of the Mekong can be expected to decrease.
Dynamic service innovation capability, radical service innovation and open business models

While researchers agree that dynamic capabilities offer firms the skills and abilities to deploy and utilise various resources, the relationship between dynamic service innovation capability and radical service innovation remains unclear. With the influence of an open business model, the relationship becomes more complicated. The results analyses of data provided by 209 senior managers from their respective firms, indicates that dynamic service innovation capability has an inverted U-shaped relationship with radical service innovation. In addition, a substantially more open business model strengthens the positive effects of dynamic service innovation capability on radical service innovation.
Neural correlates of attention to emotional facial expressions in dysphoria

The present study investigated whether dysphoric individuals have a difficulty in disengaging attention from negative stimuli and/or reduced attention to positive information. Sad, neutral and happy facial stimuli were presented in an attention-shifting task to 18 dysphoric and 18 control participants. Reaction times to neutral shapes (squares and diamonds) and the event-related potentials to emotional faces were recorded. Dysphoric individuals did not show impaired attentional disengagement from sad faces or facilitated disengagement from happy faces. Right occipital lateralisation of P100 was absent in dysphoric individuals, possibly indicating reduced attention-related sensory facilitation for faces. Frontal P200 was largest for sad faces among dysphoric individuals, whereas controls showed larger amplitude to both sad and happy as compared with neutral expressions, suggesting that dysphoric individuals deployed early attention to sad, but not happy, expressions. Importantly, the results were obtained controlling for the participants' trait anxiety. We conclude that at least under some circumstances the presence of depressive symptoms can modulate early, automatic stages of emotional processing.
Atomic scale understanding of linear and perpendicular junction of molecular lines on Si(100)-H surface

Fabrication of both linear and perpendicular junctions of one-dimensional molecular assembly (molecular line) on Si(100)-(2 × 1)-H surface and it's fine structure have been investigated using scanning tunneling microscope (STM) at 300 K. The end-molecule of a styrene line appears brighter than other molecules of the line in STM image after forming a perpendicularly connected allylmercaptan line. The observed changes in image height of the end-molecule after junction formation is ascribed to the shifting of frontier energy states of the junction molecule by interaction with nearby allylmercaptan molecules. Unlike perpendicular junction, the molecule at linear junction consisting of benzophenone and 4,4'-dichlorobenzophenone lines do not show significant change compared to the bulk molecules. The alignments of the styrene molecules in a doubled molecular line are discussed.
What Terrorists Really Want

What do terrorists want? No question is more fundamental for devising an effective counterterrorism strategy. The international community cannot expect to make terrorism unproatable and thus scarce without knowing the incentive structure of its practitioners. 1 The strategic model—the dominant paradigm in terrorism studies—posits that terrorists are rational actors who attack civilians for political ends. According to this view, terrorists are political utility maximizers; people use terrorism when the expected political gains minus the expected costs outweigh the net expected beneats of alternative forms of protest. 2 The strategic model has widespread currency in the policy community; extant counterterrorism strategies are designed to defeat terrorism by reducing its political utility. The most common strategies are to mitigate terrorism by decreasing its political beneats via a strict no concessions policy; decreasing its prospective political beneats via appeasement; or decreasing its political beneats relative to nonviolence via democracy promotion. Are any of these counterterrorism strategies likely to work? Can terrorism be neutralized by withholding political concessions, granting political conces
Recombinogenic Properties of Pyrococcus furiosus Strain COM1 Enable Rapid Selection of Targeted Mutants

ABSTRACT We recently reported the isolation of a mutant of Pyrococcus furiosus, COM1, that is naturally and efficiently competent for DNA uptake. While we do not know the exact nature of this mutation, the combined transformation and recombination frequencies of this strain allow marker replacement by direct selection using linear DNA. In testing the limits of its recombination efficiency, we discovered that marker replacement was possible with as few as 40 nucleotides of flanking homology to the target region. We utilized this ability to design a strategy for selection of constructed deletions using PCR products with subsequent excision, or “pop-out,” of the selected marker. We used this method to construct a “markerless” deletion of the trpAB locus in the GLW101 (COM1 ΔpyrF) background to generate a strain (JFW02) that is a tight tryptophan auxotroph, providing a genetic background with two auxotrophic markers for further strain construction. The utility of trpAB as a selectable marker was demonstrated using prototrophic selection of plasmids and genomic DNA containing the wild-type trpAB alleles. A deletion of radB was also constructed that, surprisingly, had no obvious effect on either recombination or transformation, suggesting that its gene product is not involved in the COM1 phenotype. Attempts to construct a radA deletion mutation were unsuccessful, suggesting that this may be an essential gene. The ease and speed of this procedure will facilitate the construction of strains with multiple genetic changes and allow the construction of mutants with deletions of virtually any nonessential gene.
Thermodynamics and stability of a β‐sheet complex: Molecular dynamics simulations on simplified off‐lattice protein models

We have performed discontinuous molecular dynamics simulations of the thermodynamics and stability of a tetrameric β‐sheet complex that contains four identical four‐stranded antiparallel β‐sheet peptides. The potential used in the simulation is a hybrid Go‐type potential characterized by the bias gap parameter g, an artificial measure of the preference of a model protein for its native state, and the intermolecular contact parameter η, which measures the ratio of intermolecular to intramolecular native attractions. Despite the simplicity of the model, a complex set of thermodynamic transitions for the β‐sheet complex is revealed that shows there are three distinct oligomer (partially ordered, ordered, and highly ordered β‐sheet complex) states and four noninteracting monomers phases. The thermodynamic properties of the three oligomer states strongly depend on both the size of the intermolecular contact parameter η and the temperature. The partially ordered β‐sheet complex is made up of four ordered globules and is observed at intermediate to large η at high temperatures. The ordered β‐sheet complex contains four native β‐sheets and is located at small to intermediate η at low temperatures in the phase diagram. The highly ordered β‐sheet complex has fully‐stiff β‐sheet strands, the same as the global energy minimum structure, and is observed for all η at low temperatures.
Cardiac performance and quality of life in patients who have undergone the Fontan procedure with and without prior superior cavopulmonary connection

Abstract Background A superior cavopulmonary connection is commonly performed before the Fontan procedure in patients with a functionally univentricular heart. Data are limited regarding associations between a prior superior cavopulmonary connection and functional and ventricular performance late after the Fontan procedure. Methods We compared characteristics of those with and without prior superior cavopulmonary connection among 546 subjects enrolled in the Pediatric Heart Network Fontan Cross-Sectional Study. We further compared different superior cavopulmonary connection techniques: bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis (n equals 229), bilateral bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis (n equals 39), and hemi-Fontan (n equals 114). Results A prior superior cavopulmonary connection was performed in 408 subjects (75%); the proportion differed by year of Fontan surgery and centre (p-value less than 0.0001 for each). The average age at Fontan was similar, 3.5 years in those with superior cavopulmonary connection versus 3.2 years in those without (p-value equals 0.4). The type of superior cavopulmonary connection varied by site (p-value less than 0.001) and was related to the type of Fontan procedure. Exercise performance, echocardiographic variables, and predominant rhythm did not differ by superior cavopulmonary connection status or among superior cavopulmonary connection types. Using a test of interaction, findings did not vary according to an underlying diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Conclusions After controlling for subject and era factors, most long-term outcomes in subjects with a prior superior cavopulmonary connection did not differ substantially from those without this procedure. The type of superior cavopulmonary connection varied significantly by centre, but late outcomes were similar.
Inhalation Injury: Research Progress and Needs

Smoke inhalation continues to be a major source of morbidity and mortality in burn patients despite recent advances in critical care and wound management. Approximately 10% to 20% of patients admitted to burn centers have inhalation injury, and the incidence increases with burn size. Inhalation injury, in conjunction with age and burn size, is an important determinant of survival, prolonged ventilator dependence, hospital stay, and death in burn patients. However, determining the extent of pulmonary injury and standardizing optimal therapy continue to be elusive. Mortality in combined burn/smoke inhalation injury remains high due to progressive pulmonary and cardiac dysfunction. Treatment modalities used in inhalation injury range from specialized modes of ventilation to the use of nitric oxide. Research into the pathophysiology of inhalation injury has been productive, but there continue to be significant gaps in our understanding of inhalation injury. Although “inhalation injury” contributes to increasing mortality after burn injury, a universally accepted clinical definition and/or diagnostic criteria for inhalation injury is lacking. For practical purposes inhalation injury has been divided into different phases: 1) injury caused at the site of the fire as the result of noxious gases, 2) upper airway heat injury, and 3) lower airway chemical injury. Each aspect of inhalation injury has a different pathophysiology, treatment, and long-term implications. Laboratory and clinical advances have been made in each aspect of inhalation injury despite the current challenges. The goal of this paper is to discuss the major advances in our knowledge of inhalation injury, outline the areas requiring further study, determine the priorities for future inhalation injury research (as discussed in the break-out sessions), and discuss the resources that will be needed to accomplish those goals.
Asperger Syndrome in Neurologic Perspective

Asperger syndrome is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by disability in social cues and communication, fine and gross motor dyspraxia, restricted areas of perceptual integration, speech and language peculiarities, unusual prosody, and restricted areas of interest, in the presence of otherwise normal intelligence. The syndrome was first systematically described by Asperger, 1 year after the description of &dquo;infantile autism&dquo; by Kanner.2 Asperger syndrome is relatively new to the English-speaking world since the systematic English account by Wing3 and has received considerable recent attention.4,5 The individual with Asperger syndrome has symptoms similar to high functioning autism, but empirical study shows differentiation of Asperger syndrome from high functioning autism. 5,6 Asperger syndrome has been studied by brain imaging and is reported to show frontal opercular and perisylvian hypoplasia in the right, left, or both hemispheres in individual patients. ’ Individuals with Asperger syndrome also have a high incidence of chromosomal disorders, epilepsy, neurocutaneous disorders, and pre-, peri-, or postnatal insult, but the etiologies of Asperger syndrome may be multiple . 8,9
Improving iSCSI Memory Cache Hit through Prefetching to a Striped Disk

We propose a prefetching mechanism at the iSCSI initiator to improve the memory cache hit rate and attain better bandwidth utilization. By monitoring the scheduler run queue, the iSCSI initiator is able to move pages to the iSCSI initiator memory cache from the iSCSI target before a page fault occurs. To increase the effectiveness of prefetching, a small striped disk is used to keep more copies of the pages brought in from the iSCSI target. A prefetch analyzer analyzes both page fault and prefetch information which is later used by the iSCSI prefetcher to make better intelligent prefetching decisions. Our algorithm shows a 15% increase in sequential file reads and little or no performance improvement in random accesses.
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES OF THE ESSENTIAL OILS OF SATUREJA THYMBRA L. AND THYMBRA SPICATA L. AND THEIR MAIN COMPONENTS

This work covers the chemical composition and antimicrobial activities of the essential oils isolated from Sa- tureja thymbra and Thymbra spicata analyzed using gC/MS. The main components of S. thymbra oil were thymol (33.8 %), γ-terpinene (30.8 %) and p-cymene (11.8 %). The main components in T. spicata oil were carvacrol (74.5 %) and γ-terpinene (11.2 %). The oils and their main components, thymol and carvacrol, were assayed by applying the microdilu- tion method for antibacterial and antifungal activity against food poisoning, plant, animal and human pathogenic micro- organisms. The oil of T. spicata and carvacrol showed the highest antimicrobial activity.
Improved interpretation of digitized mammography with wavelet processing: a localization response operating characteristic study.

OBJECTIVE Our objective was the implementation and evaluation of a novel enhancement technique for improved interpretation of high-resolution digitized mammograms from computer monitors. MATERIALS AND METHODS A wavelet algorithm was designed to attenuate the image spectral characteristics responsible for the long-range image correlation that often interferes with digital display. The algorithm was evaluated with a localization response operating characteristic (LROC) experiment with 500 negative, benign, and cancer cases with masses and calcification clusters. Three observers reviewed the original and wavelet-enhanced images on a 5-Mpixel monitor using a custom-made workstation user interface. RESULTS Performance indexes were estimated for four different case combinations, each observer, and each interpretation mode. Wavelet enhancement improved the performance of all observers in all case combinations. Detection accuracy ranged from 0.678 to 0.827 for the unprocessed original data and 0.709-0.871 for the enhanced cases. Localization accuracy ranged from 0.547 to 0.785 for the original images and 0.568-0.847 for the enhanced cases, yielding increases of 5-15%. The difference between enhanced and original performances was statistically significant at the 0.10 level and in a few combinations at the 0.05 level. CONCLUSION Soft-copy digitized mammography could replace standard film mammography under appropriate display parameters and conditions. The optimization of the soft-copy quality is expected to require more advanced processing techniques than standard gray-scale adjustments. Wavelet-based algorithms, such as the one proposed here, offer better soft-copy quality than the originals and a better starting point for additional manual gray-scale adjustments or automated postprocessing.
Event-related brain potentials in a stimulus-discrimination learning paradigm.

Event-related brain potentials were recorded from human subjects performing a stimulus-discrimination learning task. Brain activity was averaged separately for different stimulus attributes, either relevant or irrelevant for the discrimination, and for different stages of learning. Learning-specific amplitude changes occurred in two positive peaks of the ERP (P160 and P330): a) the amplitudes of both components decreased continuously over blocks; b) with increasing practice the amplitudes to irrelevant attributes became significantly smaller than those to relevant attributes; and c) the point at which the amplitudes to relevant and irrelevant attributes diverged was earlier for P330 and later for P160. The different trends of the amplitudes of the two peaks suggest that they reflect functionally distinct processes of attentional set. Peak latencies and other amplitude measures of the ERP (baseline shift, N100, slow wave) showed no learning-specific, but systematic long- and short-term habituation/facilitation effects.
Monte Carlo study of a two‐compartment exchange model of diffusion

Multisite exchange models have been applied frequently to quantify measurements of transverse relaxation and diffusion in living tissues. Although the simplicity of such models is attractive, the precise relationship of the model parameters to tissue properties may be difficult to ascertain. Here, we investigate numerically a two‐compartment exchange (Kärger) model as applied to diffusion in a system of randomly packed identical parallel cylinders with permeable walls, representing cells with permeable membranes, that may serve particularly as a model for axons in the white matter of the brain. By performing Monte Carlo simulations of restricted diffusion, we show that the Kärger model may provide a reasonable coarse‐grained description of the diffusion‐weighted signal in the long time limit, as long as the cell membranes are sufficiently impermeable, i.e. whenever the residence time in a cell is much longer than the time it takes to diffuse across it. For larger permeabilities, the exchange time obtained from fitting to the Kärger model overestimates the actual exchange time, leading to an underestimated value of cell membrane permeability. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.