Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Testing Population-Specific Quantitative Trait Associations for Clinical Outcome Relevance in a Biorepository Linked to Electronic Health Records: LPA and Myocardial Infarction in African Americans

Previous candidate gene and genome-wide association studies have identified common genetic variants in LPA associated with the quantitative trait Lp(a), an emerging risk factor for cardiovascular disease. These associations are population-specific and many have not yet been tested for association with the clinical outcome of interest. To fill this gap in knowledge, we accessed the epidemiologic Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES III) and BioVU, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center biorepository linked to de-identified electronic health records (EHRs), including billing codes (ICD-9-CM) and clinical notes, to test population-specific Lp(a)-associated variants for an association with myocardial infarction (MI) among African Americans. We performed electronic phenotyping among African Americans in BioVU≥40 years of age using billing codes. At total of 93 cases and 522 controls were identified in NHANES III and 265 cases and 363 controls were identified in BioVU. We tested five known Lp(a)-associated genetic variants (rs1367211, rs41271028, rs6907156, rs10945682, and rs1652507) in both NHANES III and BioVU for association with myocardial infarction. We also tested LPA rs3798220 (I4399M), previously associated with increased levels of Lp(a), MI, and coronary artery disease in European Americans, in BioVU. After meta-analysis, tests of association using logistic regression assuming an additive genetic model revealed no significant associations (p<0.05) for any of the five LPA variants previously associated with Lp(a) levels in African Americans. Also, I4399M rs3798220 was not associated with MI in African Americans (odds ratio = 0.51; 95% confidence interval: 0.16 - 1.65; p=0.26) despite strong, replicated associations with MI and coronary artery disease in European American genome-wide association studies. These data highlight the challenges in translating quantitative trait associations to clinical outcomes in diverse populations using large epidemiologic and clinic-based collections as envisioned for the Precision Medicine Initiative.
COMPARATIVE AND ONTOGENIC BIOCHEMISTRY AND IMMUNOLOGY Receptor of Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 in Tissues of the Mollusc Anodonta cygnea

To identify insulin-like receptors in the mollusc Anodonta cygnea, specific binding of 125Iinsulin and 125I-IGF-1 by WGA-purified glycoprotein fractions of foot muscles and neural ganglia is studied. The binding sites for IGF-1 are detected for the first time in invertebrates, both in the muscles, and in the neural tissue of the mollusc. The level of 125I-IGF-1 binding in the muscle tissue was equal to 2.8 ± 0.1, in the neural tissue, to 4.0 ± 0.2% per 5 μg of protein. The equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd ) was equal to 4.8 ± 0.3 and 4.3 ± 0.2 nM, respectively. The relative affinity of the binding sites to insulin did not exceed 1% of their affinity to IGF-1. Binding of 125I-insulin in the muscle tissue was not detected; the level of labeled insulin binding in the neural tissue was equal to 0.5% per 5 μg of protein. In the sarcolemmal fraction of the mollusc foot, IGF-1 and, to a lesser degree, insulin at a dose of 100 nM initiated phosphorylation of tyrosine in a protein with mol. mass of 70 kDa. The minor band of the phosphorylation was also detected in the zone of protein of 80 kDa. The conclusion is made about the existence in molluscan tissues of high-conserved receptors-tyrosine kinases identical by functional parameters to the mammalian receptor of IGF-1. From this, it is suggested that the peptides close by structure to vertebrate IGF-1 may be involved in physiological processes in A. cygnea. The problem of the nature of the insulin-binding sites in the molluscan neural tissue is discussed.
A Structural Model of Educational Attainment in Canada

In this paper, we develop and estimate a structural, dynamic model of schooling decisions using data extracted from the Canadian Youth in Transition Survey (YITS). The model incorporates forward-looking behavior and expectations about future benefits from investing in education. The results suggest that the effect of an increase in parental income on educational attainment is modest. For example, a 25 percent increase in parental income is predicted to increase post-secondary education (PSE) attendance by one percent only. However, our results indicate that financial resources, other than parental income, play a role in PSE enrollment. In particular, our model predicts that an increase in PSE tuition fees by $2,500 per grade level (for grade 13 and above) will reduce attendance in these grades by almost 9 percentage points for males and by 6.5 percentage points for females. We also simulate the impacts of changes in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reading scores. Specifically, an increase of test scores with one standard deviation (which is comparable to the difference in average score for high school drop-outs and those with some PSE) increases PSE attendance by 10.2 percentage points for males and by 6.6 percentage points for females. At the same time, high school dropout rates are predicted to fall by 3.2 percentage points for males and by 2.8 percentage points for females. We also take advantage of the dynamics of the model and explore how a 25 percent increase in future wages for PSE students will affect current schooling decisions. This leads to an increase in PSE attendance by 2.2 percentage points for males and by 3.1 percentage points for females.
Femoral anteversion in healthy children. Application of a new method using ultrasound.

Femoral anteversion (torsion) was measured in 219 healthy children aged 1-15 years (boys 128, girls 91). The hips and knees were examined using a standard static-image B-mode compound scanner. The torsion in each femur was calculated. The findings show: (1) A significant negative correlation between femoral anteversion and age (r = -0.43), with only 8-22% being accounted for by age (r2 value). (2) A significant correlation between anteversion of the two femora (r = 0.77). (3) No sex difference for femoral anteversion and its asymmetry. (4) Marked degrees of femoral anteversion asymmetry (more than 10 degrees) show a pattern suggesting a relation to age, side and possibly sex. (5) Abnormal femoral anteversion asymmetry in 12 children, there being an excess of children with orthopaedic symptoms and signs in the group with femoral anteversion outside 2 S.D. (6) A relation between anteversion asymmetry and foot length/tibial length ratio. (7) No relation of femoral anteversion to social class, order in family, parental age at birth of child, birth weight and presentation. (8) A significant correlation of femoral anteversion between siblings (r = 0.66).
The Swedish Birth Defects Registry: Ascertainment and incidence of spina bifida and cleft lip/palate

Objectives. To assess the ascertainment of spina bifida and cleft lip/palate (CLP) in newborns and in fetuses from terminated pregnancies (ToPs) in the Swedish Birth Defects Registry (BDR) and to estimate the true incidences of these two anomalies. Design. Retrospective register study. Setting. Center for Epidemiology at the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, and Uppsala University Hospital. Population. Newborns and fetuses from ToPs with spina bifida (1999–2004) and CLP (1999–2002) in Sweden. Methods. Data from four registries/sources were used to estimate ascertainment in BDR and incidences of spina bifida and CLP. Main outcome measure: Ascertainment, under‐ascertainment, and true incidence. Results. For newborns, under‐ascertainment of spina bifida and CLP were 6 and 13%, respectively, in BDR after record linkage with the Medical Birth Registry. Ascertainment of cleft palate increased when accompanied by cleft lip. The under‐ascertainment of spina bifida in ToPs after 18 gestational weeks was 27%. Ascertainment of CLP in all ToPs and of spina bifida in ToPs before the 18th gestational week could not be estimated. The majority (109/155, 70%) of ToPs with spina bifida occurred before the 18th week. The estimated incidence of spina bifida per 10,000 births was 6.1 (2.4 newborns and 3.7 ToPs) and of CLP 20.1 (18.9 newborns and 1.2 ToPs). Conclusion. The ascertainments are relatively high for newborns in BDR, but lower or unknown for ToPs, which has an impact on the surveillance of spina bifida in view of the high proportion of ToPs.
Crystal Structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Diaminopimelate Decarboxylase, an Essential Enzyme in Bacterial Lysine Biosynthesis*

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis lysAgene encodes the enzyme meso-diaminopimelate decarboxylase (DAPDC), a pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme. The enzyme catalyzes the final step in the lysine biosynthetic pathway converting meso-diaminopimelic acid (DAP) tol-lysine. The lysA gene of M. tuberculosis H37Rv has been established as essential for bacterial survival in immunocompromised mice, demonstrating thatde novo biosynthesis of lysine is essential for in vivo viability. Drugs targeted against DAPDC could be efficient anti-tuberculosis drugs, and the three-dimensional structure of DAPDC from M. tuberculosis complexed with reaction product lysine and the ternary complex with PLP and lysine in the active site has been determined. The first structure of a DAPDC confirms its classification as a fold type III PLP-dependent enzyme. The structure shows a stable 2-fold dimer in head-to-tail arrangement of a triose-phosphate isomerase (TIM) barrel-like α/β domain and a C-terminal β sheet domain, similar to the ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) fold family. PLP is covalently bound via an internal aldimine, and residues from both domains and both subunits contribute to the binding pocket. Comparison of the structure with eukaryotic ODCs, in particular with a di-fluoromethyl ornithine (DMFO)-bound ODC fromTrypanosoma bruceii, indicates that corresponding DAP-analogues might be potential inhibitors for mycobacterial DAPDCs.
Modeling Wind Wave Evolution from Deep to Shallow Water

Abstract : Ocean waves are an important aspect of upper ocean dynamics, in particular on shallow continental shelves and in coastal areas. The long-term objective of this work is to advance modeling capability in such coastal areas by improving model representations of effects associated with nonlinearity, medium variations, and dissipation. The specific objectives of the present work are 1) to develop and implement an efficient and scalable approximation for the nonlinear quadruplet source term, 2) to develop a generalized nonlinear source term that is accurate in water of arbitrary depth, 3) to develop improved nonlinear closure approximation for triad nonlinear interactions in shallow water, 4) to develop and implement a new stochastic model for coherent wave interference induced by varying depth and currents, and 5) improve representations of dissipation by wave breaking and wave-bottom interactions in shoaling waves.
Teaching the Surgical Craft: Surgery Residents Perception of the Operating Theater Educational Environment in a Tertiary Institution in Nigeria

Background: The transformation of a surgical trainee into a surgeon is strongly influenced by the quality of teaching in the operating theater. This study investigates the perceptions of residents about the educational environment of the operating theater and identifies variables that may improve the operating theater education of our trainees. Materials and Methods: Residents in the department of surgery anonymously evaluated teaching in the operating room using the operating theater education environment measure. The residents evaluated 33 variables that might have an impact on their surgical skills within the operating theater. The variables were grouped into four subscales; teaching and training, learning opportunities, operating theater atmosphere and workload/supervision/support. Differences between male and female residents and junior and senior registrars were assessed using Mann-Whitney test. Statistical analysis was completed with the statistics package for the social sciences version 17. Results: A total of 33 residents were participated in this study. Twenty nine (88%) males and 4 (12%) females. 30 (90%) were junior registrars. The mean total score was 67.5%. Operating theater atmosphere subscale had the highest score of 79.2% while workload/supervision/support subscale had the least score of 48.3%. There were significant differences between male and female resident′s perception of workload/supervision/support P < 0.05; however, there was no significant differences in junior registrar versus senior registrar′s perception of the education environment in all the subscales P > 0.05. Conclusion: This study has shown a satisfactory teaching environment based on the existing local realities of means, resources and tools and highlighted the need for improvement in workload/supervision/support in our institution. An acceptable learning environment in the operating theatre will produce surgeons that are technically competent to bridge the gap in the enormous unmet need for surgical care in Nigeria.
The Priorities of Socio-Economic and Financial Development of the North Caucasus Federal District in the Current Geopolitical Situation

The aim of the research is to establish the priorities of the socio-economic and financial development of the North Caucasus macro-region within the boundaries of the federal district in the current geopolitical situation. The results of the research show in details the priorities of socio-economic and financial development of the North Caucasus Federal District in terms of import substitution and finance rationalization under the current financial crisis and international sanctions against the Russian Federation. It is a well-known fact that more than 30 nations declared this territory the area of their strategic interests. The Caucasus became the subject of so-called “pipe wars”; it also became “a buffer zone” in the distribution of the Islamic state model. We have a new strategy of working with migrants in the Islamic regions of Russia (Gabdrafikov et al., 2015). Previously, the Caucasus region has been the outcome for migrants, but today it has become to develop new models for the socio-economic attractiveness of the region (Karepova et al., 2015). Statistical, monographic, sociological methods as well as logical modelling have been used in the research. Keywords: sanctions, strategy, cluster, import substitution JEL Classifications: F51; L12
Objective increment based hybrid GA for no-wait flowshops

No-wait flowshops with flowtime minimization are typical NP-complete combinatorial optimization problems, widely existing in practical manufacturing systems. Different from traditional methods by which objective of a new schedule being completely computed objective increment methods are presented in this paper by which the objective of an offspring being obtained just by objective increments and computational time can be considerably reduced. HGAI (hybrid GA based on objective increment) is proposed by integrating genetic algorithm with a local search method. A heuristic is constructed to generate an individual of initial population and a crossover operator is introduced for mating process. HGAI is compared with two best so far algorithms for the considered problem on 110 benchmark instances. Computational results show that HGAI outperforms the existing two in effectiveness with a little more computation time.
Multistepped Drill Design for Single-Stage Implant Site Preparation: Experimental Study in Type 2 Bone.

PURPOSE To evaluate an experimental multistepped drill for single-stage implant site preparation by means of real-time analysis of thermal variations during and postdrilling, and by implant stability evaluation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Temperature and time were recorded in real time by paired microprobe thermocouples during simulated osteotomy in type 2 bone similes at the cortical and cancellous zones. Three different drilling groups with a new multistepped drill design were compared: Control (2-mm diameter pilot drill + 3.3-mm three-stepped drill + 4.1-mm three-stepped drill); Test A (3.3-mm three-stepped drill); and Test B (4.1-mm three-stepped drill). Implants were inserted, and implant stability was evaluated with the Perio Test Value (PTV). Two-way anova was used to test the independent effects of osteotomy and implant diameter on temperature and stability. RESULTS All the drills induced thermal changes without significant differences between groups (p > .05). Drilling in cortical bone produced significant increase of the temperatures in a range of 1.8 ± 0.9°C compared with drilling in cancellous bone (p < .05). ΔT temperatures were significantly higher for test groups in cortical and cancellous bone (p < .05); ΔT10 for all groups showed a reduction of the temperature in a range of 1.7 ± 0.3°C without significant differences between groups (p > .05); the mean time to accomplish drilling was significantly longer in the control group (p < .05); test groups took 10 ± 0.3 seconds less to reach the required drilling depth. PTV values were higher in test groups compared with controls (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS The multistepped drills used for single-stage implant site preparation Increase temperature as in comparison with a conventional incremental protocol; Induce the temperature increment in cortical bone compared with the cancellous bone; Reduce drilling time when a multistepped drill is used alone; and Increase implant stability twofold compared with a conventional incremental protocol.
Positive and Negative Population Growth and Long-Run Trade Patterns: A Non-Scale Growth Model

This paper builds a two-country, two-sector, non-scale growth model and investigates the relationship between trade patterns and the growth rate of per capita real consumption. We consider negative population growth as well as positive population growth. We show that, as long as the population growth rates of the two countries are different, if the country that accumulates capital stock has negative population growth, no trade patterns are sustainable in the long run. This is true irrespective of the population growth rate of the other country. Moreover, we show that, if the country that accumulates capital stock has positive population growth, two trade patterns are sustainable in the long run. In this case, either each country's per capita growth is determined by the population growth of the capital-accumulating country or the population growth of both countries, depending on which of the two trade patterns is realized.
Strong spin-lattice coupling in multiferroic HoMnO 3: Thermal expansion anomalies and pressure effect

Evidence for a strong spin-lattice coupling in multiferroic HoMnO_3 is derived from thermal expansion measurements along a- and c-axis. The magnetoelastic effect results in sizable anomalies of the thermal expansivities at the antiferromagnetic (T_N) and the spin rotation (T_{SR}) transition temperatures as well as in a negative c-axis expansivity below room temperature. The coupling between magnetic orders and dielectric properties below T_N is explained by the lattice strain induced by the magnetoelastic effect. At T_{SR} various physical quantities show discontinuities that are thermodynamically consistent with a first order phase transition.
Enhancement of Antioxidants and Nutritional Quality of Tomato Inoculated with Agriculturally Importance Microorganisms (AIMs) Fortified Vermicompost

The effect of biofortified vermicompost was studied on growth parameter and nutritional quality of tomato. Microorganisms used for fortification were Trichoderma harzianum, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis. Vermicompost was prepared by using temple waste and cow dung and earthworm Eisenia fetida was used in vermicomposting. The experimental findings showed significant variation in growth parameter and amount of antioxidants in treatments. The growth parameter such as root length, shoot length and dry weight was recorded after treatments. Maximum growth of plants was found in Vermicompost + T. harzianum treatment. Biochemical constituents of leaves such as total soluble protein, phenol, ascorbic acid and carotenoids were also recorded enhanced in treatments. Lycopene content in fruit was also increased in biofortified vermicomposts. Nutritional and antioxidants were recorded highest in vermicompost + P. fluorescens treatment.
Masochistic and Sadistic Ego States

Abstract A theory describing the development of alternating, dissociated, victim/masochistic and perpetrator/sadistic ego states in persons who grew up with abusive primary caretakers will be proposed and a paradigm for treatment will be derived from the theory. Alternating ego states can be observed throughout the spectrum of dissociative disorders, from Borderline Personality to Dissociative Identity Disorder. Dependence on an abusive caretaker creates a series of relational dilemmas for the child. To maintain attachment, abuse must be dissociated, but to protect the self from abuse, need for attachment must be disavowed. Disorganized attachment may result. Incompatible internal working models, using parallel masochistic and sadistic defensive strategies, may be developed and elaborated into ego states. Masochistic and sadistic defenses are ultimately maladaptive, because they require dissociation of need for either self-protection or attachment. Each defensive attempt at resolving a relational dilemma leads to another impasse, a change in defensive strategy, and perhaps a shift in ego state. When alternating ego states are understood as evolving from defensive schemas developed to negotiate the dilemmas of attachment to an abuser, the following therapeutic techniques can be derived: (1) identifying adaptive needs and maladaptive defenses, (2) interpreting ego state switches as attempts to resolve relational dilemmas, (3) gradually bridging dissociation between states, (4) using transference and countertransference to understand relational patterns, and (5) cultivating more adaptive interpersonal skills within the therapeutic relationship.
Student Values and Preferences: What Do They Tell Us about Programme Selection?

Allied health professionals are thought to acquire their orientation through professional socialization and education, but it is likely that they share similar values before being admitted to any educational programme. The results of a study involving occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech pathology / audiology students (N=276) support this contention. The Life Roles Inventory, Vocational Preference Inventory and a student information sheet were the Instruments employed. Using discriminant analysis, the results demonstrate that although respondents endorse the same values, the level of that endorsement differs significantly between the three student groups. Similarly, the same Holland Code was generated for each group, but again the level of endorsement for the six primary scales varies in each case. The more allied health educators know about the values and preferences their students endorse, and how they seek to implement them, the better prepared educators should be to recruit, place, teach and counsel them.