Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lipoprotein lipase and hormone-sensitive lipase activity and mRNA in rat adipose tissue during pregnancy.

To investigate the factors controlling maternal depot fat accumulation during early pregnancy and net decrease during late pregnancy, the activity and mRNA expression of adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) were related to several other lipid metabolic parameters. Virgin control rats, pregnant rats (at days 12, 15, 19, and 21), and lactating rats (at days 5 and 10 postpartum) were studied. In adipose lumbar tissue of late pregnant rats, LPL activity decreased to about one-third that of the virgin control animals, with < 10% of initial LPL mRNA expressed as determined by Northern blots. HSL activity increased maximally 1.5-fold with a fourfold increase of HSL expression at days 12-15 of pregnancy and decreased to control levels after parturition. The HSL-to-LPL mRNA and activity ratios were enhanced from days 15 and 19 of pregnancy, respectively, and remained so even during lactation, mainly because of the marked lowering of the LPL values. This enhancement coincided with increments in plasma free fatty acids and glycerol levels indicating an increased depot fat breakdown. These results give no indication of an involvement of LPL and HSL gene expression changes in the accumulation of maternal depot during early pregnancy. In contrast, such changes could be responsible for the net breakdown of this fat depot during late gestation. Thus, during this physiological state, long-term (e.g., transcriptional) regulation of LPL and HSL gene expression could be an important mechanism for the control of adipose tissue mass breakdown during late gestation.
The minimum wage, bargaining power, and the top income share

Abstract Much of the argument in support of the minimum wage is its ability to lift workers out of poverty. But the minimum wage also has the potential to influence the relative bargaining power between (non-union) workers and firms and historically this was one of its main purposes. In this paper, we review how the minimum wage can improve workers’ bargaining position. We use a state-level panel data set that exploits differences in the minimum wage at the state level to show that higher minimum wages, along with unionization rates and higher top marginal tax rates, are successful in reducing overall income inequality, mainly by reducing the share of income going to the top 1% of the income distribution.
Associations of pre-trauma attributes and trauma exposure with screening positive for PTSD: analysis of a community-based study of 2085 young adults

Background. While pre-trauma personality and mental health measures are risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such information is usually obtained following the trauma and can be influenced by post-trauma distress. We used data collected from a community-based survey of young adults before and after a major natural disaster to examine the extent to which participants' traumatic experiences, demographic and pre-trauma risk factors were associated with their screening positive for PTSD when re-interviewed. Method. A representative selection of 2085 young adults from the Australian Capital Territory and environs, interviewed in 1999 as part of a longitudinal community-based survey, were re-interviewed 3–18 months after a major bushfire had occurred in the region. When re-interviewed, they were asked about their experiences of trauma threat, uncontrollable and controllable traumatic experiences and their reaction to the fire. They were also screened for symptoms of fire-related PTSD experienced in the week prior to interview. Results. Four-fifths of participants were exposed to the trauma with around 50% reporting having experienced uncontrollable traumatic events. Reporting PTSD symptoms was associated with being female, having less education, poorer mental health and higher levels of neuroticism prior to the trauma. Particular fire experiences, including being evacuated and feeling very distressed during the disaster, were more strongly associated with PTSD symptoms compared with pre-trauma measures. Conclusions. While demographic and pre-trauma mental health increased the likelihood of reporting PTSD symptoms, exposure to trauma threat and reaction to the trauma made greater contributions in explaining such symptoms as a result of this disaster.
Recurrence risks for trisomies 13, 18, and 21

The objective was to establish whether the risk of trisomies 13, 18, and 21 (Patau, Edwards, and Down syndrome, respectively) in a subsequent pregnancy is raised for women who have had a previous pregnancy with trisomy 13, 18, or 21. Birth defect register data were used to investigate this issue. Pregnancy data from three Australian population‐based birth defect registers contained 5,906 women with a previous trisomy 13, 18, or 21 pregnancy in whom there were 3,713 subsequent pregnancies, 75 of which were trisomic. Relative risk of subsequent trisomy at 15 weeks gestation was estimated by comparing the observed number of subsequent trisomies with the expected number of subsequent trisomies based on maternal age‐related risk. There was evidence of increased risk of the same trisomy subsequent to a previous pregnancy with trisomy 13 or 18 (RR = 3.8 (1.5, 7.9)), the increase in risk being greater for women aged under 35 at the previous trisomic pregnancy (RR = 7.8 (2.1, 20.2)). There was also evidence of increased risk of trisomy 21 subsequent to previous trisomy 21 (RR = 2.2 (1.6, 2.9)), again higher in women under 35 at previous affected pregnancy (RR = 3.5 (2.1, 5.5)). There was a suggestion that the risk of a different trisomy subsequent to trisomy 21 may also be increased (RR = 1.4 (0.7, 2.5)). In conclusion, women who have had a previous trisomic pregnancy, particularly those under 35 years of age at the time, appear to be at an increased risk of future pregnancies being trisomic. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Impact of Early Tracheostomy in Neurotrauma Patients: A Retrospective Study

Background: Although majority of neurotrauma patients require long term ventilatory support but the timing of tracheostomy in such patients is controversial. Method: This retrospective study was conducted at a Tertiary Care Hospital, Pune, India. Patients >18 years of age, who underwent percutaneous tracheostomy (PCT) from June 2010 to November 2014 at neurotrauma unit (NTU) of hospital, were included. Patients were divided in two groups according to the timing of tracheostomy, early tracheostomy (ET) group (≤5 days; N=100) and late tracheostomy (LT) group (>5 days; N=64). The nonparametric Mann-Whitney test, and Chi-square tests were used to compare these groups. Result: There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of age, sex, APACHE II and GCS Score. Patients in the ET group had a significantly shorter stay in the NTU compared to patients in the LT group (mean, 18 vs. 21.2 days, p=0.005), fewer mechanical ventilation days (mean, 8.1 vs. 11.7 days, P=0.000) and shorter length of stay in hospital (mean, 28.8 vs. 34.37 days, P=0.019). There was no difference between ET and LT groups in post PCT ventilator free days (mean, 8.2 vs. 9.4 days; P=0.094). Mortality rates in ET vs. LT groups were also comparable (35% vs. 29.7%; P=0.480). Conclusion: Results suggest that ET in neurotrauma patients might be associated with shorter length of stay in NTU and hospital, and shorter duration of mechanical ventilation however there was no mortality difference.
The Labor Market for Politicians

The so-called revolving door between employment in government and industry is especially relevant to the U.S. Congress because ex-legislators are notorious for taking jobs as lobbyists. There are two prominent explanations for why they do so: Lobbying either matches the talents of former legislators due to their specialized congressional training or it represents customary ex-post payments for ex-ante legislative assistance to special interests. This article explores the former dynamic, focusing on how specialized training impacts occupational outcomes of legislators and finds strong evidence to support the notion that former legislators become lobbyists due to unique human capital. This finding somewhat qualifies the notion that possible ex-post payments are a main driver for the postelective employment choices of ex-legislators.
On mobility generated signaling in cognitive radio network clusters

The rapid migration towards wireless connectivity means that the radio spectrum must be efficiently utilized to conserve capacity and to avoid overcrowding, particularly in densely populated areas. Towards this goal, cognitive radio technology is a key concept. The basic idea is to allow unlicensed users access to licensed spectrum, under the condition that the interference perceived by the licensed users is minimal. A novel architecture designed and developed at the application layer has been suggested by researchers at Blekinge Institute of Technology for the management of cognitive radio networks. Emphasizing on signaling facilities in this architecture and common control channel dimensioning aspects, the paper reports on simulation results regarding node mobility for a particular network model. To reduce the energy consumption of mobile devices, innovative signaling strategies are a very important topic to consider in novel mobile system architectures.
Faculty use of research based instructional strategies

Over the last 20 years, significant investments (individual, institutional, state, and federal) have been made to improve engineering education. Multiple Research Based Instructional Strategies (RBIS) have been developed and shown to improve student learning. In order to assess engineering faculty members' awareness and use of these strategies, a survey was developed and distributed through chemical and electrical engineering professional societies targeting academic staff teaching core required courses. Just over 200 electrical and chemical engineering faculty in the US completed the survey. Results show that faculty members most commonly learn about RBIS from colleagues (18%). 98.6% of faculty report knowledge about one or more of the 12 RBIS asked about in the survey. 82.1% of faculty report use of one or more of these RBIS. The most common reason given for non-use was the fear that these strategies would take up too much class time.
Trends in Hours Worked and the Role of Technology in the Business Cycle: Theory and International Evidence

The present paper revisits a common property of many dynamic macroeconomic models, namely, the stationarity of hours worked. First, I argue that, contrary to what is often believed, there are many reasons why hours could be nonstationary in those models, while preserving the balanced growth property. Second, and perhaps most important, I show that the postwar evidence for most industrialized economies is clearly at odds with the assumption of stationary hours per capita. Third, I examine the implications of that evidence for the role of technology as a source of cyclical ‡uctuations in GDPand hours for the G7 countries.
A Hybrid Grouping Genetic Algorithm for citywide ubiquitous WiFi access deployment

In this paper we describe the application of a Hybrid Grouping Genetic Algorithm (HGGA) to the recent challenge of deploying metropolitan wireless networks, exploiting existing broadband infrastructure, by openingWiFi-enabled customers' DSL routers to third parties, or WiFi network Design Problem or WiFiDP. The application of a HGGA to this problem aims to produce the layout of a cost effective network deployment plan, considering real life aspects such as budget and DSL router characteristics (coverage, DSL capacity at a specific location, unit price, etc.) The total cost of deployment (i.e. the cost of opening all selected DSL routers for public use) should not exceed the allocated budget. The hybrid groping genetic algorithm proposed includes a specific encoding to tackle the WiFiDP, in which the group part also includes the type of router to be installed. Moreover, a repairing and local search procedures are included in the algorithm to obtain better performance and always finding feasible solutions. The performance and effectiveness of the proposed HGGA is evaluated using two randomly generated WiFiDP instances (considering 1000 and 2000 users) that were used to perform several experiments. From theses datasets, we compare the results of the proposed HGGA with that of a greedy optimization algorithm previously proposed to solve the WiFiDP challenge.
Hyaluronic acid for post sinus surgery care: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background: Wound healing after endoscopic sinus surgery may result in adhesion formation. Hyaluronic acid may prevent synechiae development. A systematic review was performed to evaluate the current evidence on the clinical efficacy of hyaluronic acid applied to the nasal cavity after sinus surgery. Methods: Studies using hyaluronic acid as an adjunct treatment following endoscopic sinus surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis were identified. The primary outcome was adhesion formation rates. A meta-analysis was performed on adhesion event frequency. Secondary outcome measures included other endoscopic findings and patient-reported outcomes. Results: Thirteen studies (501 patients) met the selection criteria. A meta-analysis of adhesion formation frequency on endoscopy demonstrated a lower risk ratio in the hyaluronic acid intervention group (42 out of 283 cases) compared to the control group (81 out of 282) of 0.52 (95 per cent confidence interval = 0.37–0.72). Hyaluronic acid use was not associated with any significant adverse events. Conclusion: Hyaluronic acid appears to be clinically safe and well tolerated, and may be useful in the early stages after sinus surgery to limit adhesion rate. Further research, including larger randomised controlled trials, is required to evaluate patient- and clinician-reported outcomes of hyaluronic acid post sinus surgery.
Single‐cell analysis of p16INK4a and p21WAF1 expression suggests distinct mechanisms of senescence in normal human and Li‐Fraumeni Syndrome fibroblasts

Herein we used single‐cell observation methods to gain insight into the roles of p16INK4A and p21WAF1 (hereafter p16 and p21) in replicative senescence and ionizing radiation‐induced accelerated senescence in human [normal, ataxia telangiectasia (AT) and Li‐Fraumeni syndrome (LFS)] fibroblast strains. Cultures of all strains entered a state of replicative senescence at late passages, as evident from inhibition of growth, acquisition of flattened and enlarged cell morphology, and positive staining for senescence‐associated β‐galactosidase. In addition, proliferating early‐passage cultures of these strains exhibited accelerated senescence in response to ionizing radiation. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed the heterogeneous expression of p16 in normal and AT fibroblast strains, with the majority of the cells exhibiting undetectable levels of p16 irrespective of in vitro culture age. Importantly, replicative senescence as well as accelerated senescence triggered by ionizing radiation were accompanied by sustained nuclear accumulation of p21, but did not correlate with p16 expression in p53‐proficient (normal and AT) fibroblasts. In p53‐deficient (LFS) fibroblasts, on the other hand, replicative senescence and ionizing radiation‐triggered accelerated senescence strongly correlated with expression of p16 but not of p21. Furthermore, senescence in LFS fibroblasts was associated with genomic instability encompassing polyploidy. Our findings are compatible with a model in which p16 serves as a backup regulator of senescence, triggering this response preferentially in the absence of wild‐type p53 activity. The possibility that one of the tumor‐suppressor functions of p16 may be associated with genomic instability, preventing the emergence of malignant progeny from polyploid giant cells, is also supported by these results. J. Cell. Physiol. 223: 57–67, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
VirtCo: joint coflow scheduling and virtual machine placement in cloud data centers

: Cloud data centers, such as Amazon EC2, host myriad big data applications using Virtual Machines (VMs). As these applications are communication-intensive, optimizing network transfer between VMs is critical to the performance of these applications and network utilization of data centers. Previous studies have addressed this issue by scheduling network ﬂows with coﬂow semantics or optimizing VM placement with trafﬁc considerations. However, coﬂow scheduling and VM placement have been conducted orthogonally. In fact, these two mechanisms are mutually dependent, and optimizing these two complementary degrees of freedom independently turns out to be suboptimal. In this paper, we present VirtCO , a practical framework that jointly schedules coﬂows and places VMs ahead of VM launch to optimize the overall performance of data center applications. We model the joint coﬂow scheduling and VM placement optimization problem, and propose effective heuristics for solving it. We further implement VirtCO with OpenStack and deploy it in a testbed environment. Extensive evaluation of real-world traces shows that compared with state-of-the-art solutions, VirtCO greatly reduces the average coﬂow completion time by up to 36.5%. This new framework is also compatible with and readily deployable within existing data center architectures.
Effects of Alfentanil on the Ventilatory Response to Sustained Hypoxia

Background The ventilatory response to acute hypoxia is biphasic, with an initial rapid increase followed by a slower decline. In humans, there is evidence that the magnitude of the decline in ventilation is proportional to the size of the initial increase. This study was done to define the role of exogenous opioids in the ventilatory decline seen with prolonged hypoxia. Methods Ten healthy persons were exposed to isocapnic hypoxia for 25 min, followed by 5 min of isocapnic normoxia and 5 min of isocapnic hypoxia. These conditions were repeated during a computer-controlled alfentanil infusion. Results Serum alfentanil levels were constant among the volunteers (38 +/- 12 ng/ml). Alfentanil decreased both the initial and second acute hypoxic responses (from 1.27 +/- 0.73 to 0.99 +/- 0.39 l [middle dot] min-1 [middle dot] %-1, P < 0.05; and from 0.99 +/- 0.70 to 0.41 +/- 0.29 l [middle dot] min-1 [middle dot] %-1, P < 0.05, respectively). The magnitude of the decrease in ventilation during the 25 min of hypoxia was not changed (10 +/- 3.3 l/min for control; 12.3 +/- 7.5 l/min for alfentanil). Conclusions Alfentanil reduced the acute ventilatory response to hypoxia. The absolute value of hypoxic ventilatory decline was not increased, but a measure of residual hypoxic ventilatory decline (the ratio of ventilation between the second and first steps into hypoxia) was decreased, which supports the hypothesis that opioids potentiate centrally mediated ventilatory decline.
Competition and Price Stickiness: Evidence from the French Retail Gasoline Market

Using daily price quotes from about 8,000 French gas stations, this paper empirically analyses whether the level of competition determines the degree of price stickiness on the retail gasoline market. The degree of price rigidity is measured by the frequency of price changes, while the distance to the nearest station and the number of gas stations within a given radius are considered as proxies for local competition. The results confirm that local competition is an important determinant of the price-setting behavior of gas stations. Indeed, considering Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and spatial regression models, we find that the degree of price rigidity is positively related to the distance to the nearest station, and negatively related to the concentration of firms in a given geographical area. This result can be notably explained by the fact that gas stations facing a high competitive pressure are more likely to adjust their prices more quickly and more frequently in response to crude oil price decreases than stations enjoying market power.
Disturbed anabolic hormonal patterns in burned patients: the relation to glucagon

OBJECTIVE Complex changes in the anabolic regulators of metabolism occur after major injury. We have studied the time course for IGF‐I and IGFBP‐1 after burn injury and their relations to circulating levels of other anabolic and catabolic hormones. The hormonal patterns during the onset of sepsis were also investigated.
Significant control of Zika infection in macaques depends on the elapsing time after dengue exposure

Prior exposure to a single serotype of dengue virus (DENV) predisposes individuals to severe disease upon secondary heterologous DENV infection. Here we show that the length of time between DENV/Zika (ZIKV) infections has a qualitative impact on controlling ZIKV replication. We identified limited but significant differences in the magnitude of the early humoral immune response associated with a period of twelve months but not three months of DENV convalescence. However, their role limiting ZIKV replication is not conclusive. There was no evidence of in vivo antibody-dependent amplification of ZIKV by DENV immunity in any group. We are also showing that the significant differences among groups may be linked to a pre-existing polyfunctional CD4+ T cells response (increased IFN-g and Cd107a before ZIKV infection) and to an early and continuous expansion of the CD4+ effector memory cells early on after ZIKV infection. Those significant differences were associated with a period of 12 months after DENV infection that were not observed in a span of 3-months. These results suggest that there is a window of optimal cross-protection between ZIKV and DENV with significant consequences. These results have pivotal implications while interpreting ZIKV pathogenesis in flavivirus-experimented populations, diagnostic results interpretation and vaccine designs among others. Author Summary Since its introduction in the Americas region ZIKV virus has been associated to severe birth defects. One of the questions that remains open is the role of previous dengue or any other flavivirus immunity in the pathogenesis of ZIKV and more important, if the time elapse between DENV and ZIKV play a role enhancing ZIKV pathogenesis as it is the case for subsequent DENV infections. On this work, using NHP as a model we compared the effect of a period of 12 months vs. a period of 3 months of DENV immunity in the outcome of ZIKV infection. We found that previous DENV infection, at any of the tested period of time do not induce ZIKV enhancement. More relevant are showing that when the two infection occurs at least one year apart the preexisting DENV immunity is better at controlling ZIKV replication and that the role of the neutralizing antibodies is very limited. On the contrary our results suggest that early after ZIKV infection the cellular immune response, may plays a predominant role. Our findings have critical relevance to understand the dynamic interaction between these two flavivirus, their pathogenies, diagnosis and vaccine design.