Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elevated serum squalene and cholesterol synthesis markers in pregnant obese women with gestational diabetes mellitus1

We examined serum cholesterol synthesis and absorption markers and their association with neonatal birth weight in obese pregnancies affected by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Pregnant women at risk for GDM (BMI >30 kg/m2) were enrolled from maternity clinics in Finland. GDM was determined from the results of an oral glucose tolerance test. Serum samples were collected at six time-points, one in each trimester of pregnancy, and at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months postpartum. Analysis of serum squalene and noncholesterol sterols by gas-liquid chromatography revealed that in subjects with GDM (n = 22), the serum Δ8-cholestenol concentration and lathosterol/sitosterol ratio were higher (P < 0.05) than in the controls (n = 30) in the first trimester, reflecting increased cholesterol synthesis. Also, subjects with GDM had an increased ratio of squalene to cholesterol (100 × μmol/mmol of cholesterol) in the second (11.5 ± 0.5 vs. 9.1 ± 0.5, P < 0.01) and third (12.1 ± 0.8 vs. 10.0 ± 0.7, P < 0.05) trimester. In GDM, the second trimester maternal serum squalene concentration correlated with neonatal birth weight (r = 0.70, P < 0.001). In conclusion, in obesity, GDM associated with elevated serum markers of cholesterol synthesis. Correlation of maternal serum squalene with neonatal birth weight suggests a potential contribution of maternal cholesterol synthesis to newborn weight in GDM.
Uncertainty and liquidity in corporate bond market

ABSTRACT We examine the uncertainty–liquidity connection in the corporate bond market. Using monthly corporate bond data from 2005 to 2010, we construct proxies for parameter uncertainty by using firm-level parameters generated from a structural model of corporate debt. We find that uncertainty about firm parameters decreases trading volume but increases bid-ask spreads and price bouncing in the cross-section and across time. In addition, the panel VAR results show that parameter uncertainty has negative forecasting power for future bond liquidity, with greater uncertainty in the current month leading to lower trading volume, higher bid-ask spreads and higher price fluctuations on subsequent months. We conclude that parameter uncertainty is one of the underlying factors giving rise to the high level of illiquidity in the corporate bond market.
Security assessment of scalar costa scheme against known message attack in DCT-domain image watermarking

Security level analysis of watermarking techniques against intentional attacks receives more attention recently in watermarking theory. The most popular data hiding code using in digital watermarking is the scalar costa scheme (SCS). In this paper, SCS is implemented for digital image watermarking in Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) domain. Then, Known Message Attack (KMA) is applied on SCS in order to estimate the secret key and evaluate practically the information theoretic security level of SCS. Empirical results show that practical security level of SCS is much lower than former theoretical result. Furthermore, it can be seen that the practical security level of SCS depends on the host statistics which has contradiction with the former theoretical result.
Development and Evaluation of an Online, Multicomponent Working Memory Battery

Research has demonstrated strong connections among working memory (WM), higher-level cognition, and academic achievement. Despite the importance of WM, currently available WM tests have practical limitations and lack comprehensive coverage of multiple WM components. The Working Memory Battery (WOMBAT) includes nine subtests measuring multiple content domains and processing demands, in accordance with contemporary WM theoretical frameworks. The current study evaluated the WOMBAT factor structure and identified misfitting items using confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch modeling with scores from 125 adolescents and 177 adults (N = 302). Overall, results indicated the WOMBAT measures separate Verbal, Static Visual-Spatial, and Dynamic Visual-Spatial dimensions, and that more than 98% of items contribute to measurement of those dimensions. This provides support for the theoretical organization of WM into three distinct content domains in the WOMBAT. Misfitting items were identified using infit and outfit indices for further review to improve reliability and stability. Results also demonstrated adequate person separation and Rasch person reliability and item reliability. Test–retest reliability and internal consistency coefficients suggest adequate reliability for early-stage research, but further refinement is needed before the WOMBAT can be used for individual decision making. Implications for future test development and research on the WM construct are provided.
GENETIC STUDY: Prodynorphin gene promoter repeat associated with cocaine/alcohol codependence

There is strong evidence for a genetic contribution to individual differences in vulnerability to drug addictions. Studies have shown that the 68‐base pair repeat polymorphism in the promoter region of the human prodynorphin gene contains a putative AP‐1 binding site, and that three or four repeat copies result in greater transcriptional activation. Here, we report on a separate cohort of 302 subjects ascertained and characterized extensively by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders‐Fourth Edition and Addiction Severity Index criteria as: (1) a control group of 127 subjects with no history of alcohol or drug abuse or dependence; (3) a case group of 82 with cocaine dependence only; and (3) a case group of 93 with cocaine and alcohol codependence. The promoter region of the prodynorphin gene containing the repeat was amplified from genomic DNA by polymerase chain reaction and analyzed via gel electrophoresis. Statistical tests were performed with data stratified by the three major ethnic groups studied: African American, Caucasian and Hispanic. For analyses, genotypes were grouped into short (1,1; 1,2; 2,2), short/long (1,3; 2,3; 1,4; 2,4) and long (3,3; 3,4; 4,4) repeats. Deviation from Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium in the African American control group necessitated testing for association using grouped genotypes rather than grouped alleles. In controls, a significant difference was found in grouped genotype distribution among ethnicities. We found a point‐wise, but not experiment‐wise across‐ethnicities, significant difference in grouped genotype frequency between the cocaine/alcohol‐codependent group and the controls in African Americans, with genotypes containing longer alleles found at higher frequency in the codependent group.
Studies on the short range spreading of the male specific lethal (MSL) complex on the X chromosome in Drosophila

A series of autosomal insertions of chromosomal fragments derived from around the X linked white eye color locus have been examined for male specific lethal (MSL) complex binding using both immunostaining and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques. The results show that the transposing elements (TEs) composed of several genes in the white region (3C2-3C5) do not recruit the MSL complex when inserted into an autosome. The same result is found for the Tp(1:3)wzh insertion, a fragment of the X chromosome inserted into the third chromosome. Two other insertions, Dp(1:2)w70h (3A7-3C2-3) and Dp(1:2)51b (3C2-3D6), which extend more distally or proximally beyond the TE insertion, respectively, display a binding pattern of the MSL complex at the autosomal location. These insertions were also examined in females ectopically expressing MSL-2 and show similar binding activity. In addition, the Tp(3:1)O5 transposition strain containing an autosomal segment in the X chromosome was examined for spreading of the MSL complex. Limited spreading of the MSL complex into autosomal regions was indicated by immunostaining and FISH. This spreading was further confirmed by chromatin immunoprecipitation of the MSL complex covering the autosomal sequences.
A Social Network Contagion Theory of Risk Perception

Risk perceptions have, to a great extent, been studied exclusively as individual cognitive mechanisms in which individuals collect, process, and form perceptions as atomized units unconnected to a social system. These individual‐level theories do not, however, help explain how perception of risk may vary between communities or within a single community. One alternative approach is based on a network theory of contagion. This approach, emerging largely from organizational and community social network studies, suggests that it is the relational aspects of individuals and the resulting networks and self‐organizing systems that influence individual perceptions and build “groups or communities of like‐minded” individuals. These social units, it is argued, behave as attitude, knowledge, or behavioral structures. The study reported in this article tests one aspect of this theoretical perspective. The central hypothesis proposes the existence of risk perception networks—relational groupings of individuals who share, and perhaps create, similar risk perceptions. To test this idea, data were collected from individuals involved in a community environmental conflict over a hazardous waste site cleanup. The statistical analysis used a matrix of relational social linkages to compare with a matrix of individual risk perceptions. The analysis confirmed the hypothesis suggesting that social linkages in communities may play an important role in focusing risk perceptions.
Electric Vehicle Subsidies in the Era of Attribute-Based Regulations

Dans le cadre de la lutte contre les gaz à effets de serre, les subventions pour véhicules électriques (VE) sont une mesure politique coûteuse et inefficace. De plus, leur fonctionnement n’est pas bien compris, étant donné le nouvel environnement régulateur, mis en place au Canada et aux États-Unis, en matière de normes sur les émissions de GES et sur le rendement énergétique des véhicules à essence. Ces normes permettent en effet aux manufacturiers qui vendent plus de VE de vendre des véhicules à carburant fossile dont les émissions de CO2 sont plus élevées; la vente de plus de VE entraîne donc paradoxalement plus d’émissions de CO2. Dans cet article, l’auteur examine les arguments qui pourraient justifier les subventions pour VE, mais aucun d’eux ne peut être facilement validé. Par conséquent, les mesures traditionnelles permettant de corriger les effets externes, telles que la taxation du carbone, et qui se rapprochent d’une solution « optimale », sont à retenir.Electric vehicle (EV) subsidies are costly and ineffective policy mechanisms in the battle against greenhouse gases. Furthermore, their operation is not well understood given the new regulatory environment governing emissions standards and fuel efficiency that is common to the United States and Canada. Given these standards, the sale of more EVs permits manufacturers to sell fossil fuel vehicles with higher carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Paradoxically, more EV sales result in more CO2 emissions. I explore possible rationales for subsidies, but none is easily validated. Consequently, the case for traditional externalitycorrecting policies such as carbon taxation that approximate “first-best” solutions is compelling.
Sperm competition generates evolution of increased paternal investment in a sex role‐reversed seed beetle

When males provide females with resources at mating, they can become the limiting sex in reproduction, in extreme cases leading to the reversal of typical courtship roles. The evolution of male provisioning is thought to be driven by male reproductive competition and selection for female fecundity enhancement. We used experimental evolution under male‐ or female‐biased sex ratios and limited or unlimited food regimes to investigate the relative roles of these routes to male provisioning in a sex role‐reversed beetle, Megabruchidius tonkineus, where males provide females with nutritious ejaculates. Males evolving under male‐biased sex ratios transferred larger ejaculates than did males from female‐biased populations, demonstrating a sizeable role for reproductive competition in the evolution of male provisioning. Although larger ejaculates elevated female lifetime offspring production, we found little evidence of selection for larger ejaculates via fecundity enhancement: males evolving under resource‐limited and unlimited conditions did not differ in mean ejaculate size. Resource limitation did, however, affect the evolution of conditional ejaculate allocation. Our results suggest that the resource provisioning that underpins sex role reversal in this system is the result of male–male reproductive competition rather than of direct selection for males to enhance female fecundity.
Anomalies in liver arterial blood supply and their importance for hepatic surgery.

Liver arterial system in humans presents wide variability. Knowledge of the variability is important for operation in this region (e.g. port-catheter implantation for regional intraarterial chemotherapy in patients with liver malignancy). The purpose of this study is to determine types of variation of liver artery system and their frequency in Czech population. The research was based on the evaluation of abdominal arteriograms, arteriography findings were confirmed during operations. There were found various anatomical relationships in this area, which may be divided into five types: type I. --standard organization occurred in 75.6% of cases; type II. --presence of accessory artery (8.2%); type III. --variation of hepatic artery origin (7.4%); type IV. --the anomalous origin of gastroduodenal artery (6.9%) and type V. --combination of varieties (1.9%). The most often was the type I that occurred in three quarters of cases approximately.
ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION AMONG DIABETIC PATIENTS IN SAUDI ARABIA: A HOSPITAL-BASED PRIMARY CARE STUDY

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of erectile dysfunction in men with diabetes mellitus attending a primary care clinic in King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out on men with diabetes mellitus followed in a primary care clinic of King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 13 November 2005 to 13 June 2006. A total of 186 diabetic patients were interviewed. Data collection forms were completed by a member of the medical staff, a family medicine consultant, during the consultation of diabetic patients in the primary care clinic. Erectile dysfunction was categorized as absent erectile dysfunction (normal function), partial erectile dysfunction, and complete erectile dysfunction. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) version 11.5. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 186 men with diabetes mellitus were interviewed during the study period. The majority of diabetic patients (95%) had type 2 diabetes. Most of the patients (68.8%) were on oral hypoglycemic agents, 24.7% on insulin injection, and 6.5% on diet only. The present study showed that 11.2% of the diabetic patients were suffering from complete and severe erectile dysfunction, while 64% of the patients complained of partial erectile dysfunction which was affecting their marital relationship. The cardiovascular risk factors in the 186 diabetic patients were hypertension 34.9%, smoking 13.4%, obesity 40%, and dyslipidemia 16.6%. Conclusions: Complete (severe) and partial erectile dysfunction was quite common among adult diabetic patients in a hospital-based primary care setting in Saudi Arabia. It is important for primary care physicians to diagnose erectile dysfunction in diabetic patients, and to counsel them early, as most patients are hesitant to discuss their concern during a consultation. Further studies are recommended to evaluate the effect of other risk factors on erectile dysfunction in diabetic patients.
Lung natural killer cells in mice: phenotype and response to respiratory infection

Natural killer (NK) cells have a specialized function in peripheral organs, which is determined by the organ‐specific niches. We have attempted to explore whether lung NK cells display a particular phenotype according to their function in the unique pulmonary environment in health or during respiratory infection in mice. In healthy mice, higher frequencies of NK cells among lymphocytes were detected in the lung than in other tissues (lymph node, bone marrow, spleen, blood and liver), and lung NK cells maintained a more mature phenotype, implying that lung NK cells were critical for the pulmonary immune response. However, lung NK cells expressed higher levels of inhibitory receptors and lower levels of activating receptors, migration/adhesion‐associated molecules and co‐stimulatory molecules than splenic NK cells, implying that lung NK cells were quiescent, and the activation of lung NK cells was tightly regulated by the pulmonary environment in health. During respiratory infection, lung NK cells could be activated and express functional molecules (CD107a and interferon‐γ) to take part in the response to infection quickly. These results suggested that the unique pulmonary environment promotes the development of NK cells with a lung‐specific phenotype.
Detection of prothymosin alpha in oocytes and embryos of Bufo arenarum

Prothymosin alpha (PTA) was detected by immunocytological and biochemical methods in oocytes at different stages of oogenesis, and in early embryos of the amphibian Bufo arenarum. In all cases PTA was detected in the nucleus and was absent from the cytoplasm. This indicates that this protein could act at the level of regulating transcription. Western blots were carried out using polyclonal antibodies with extracts of embryos at different stages of development from early fertilisation up to neural tube. With this method PTA was detected in all the samples under study.
Towards Open Tracing of P2P File Sharing Systems

Since the release of Napster in 1999, peer-to-peer file-sharing has enjoyed a dramatic rise in popularity. A 2000 study by Plonka on the University of Wisconsin campus network found that file-sharing accounted for a comparable volume of traffic to web applications, while a 2002 study by Saroiu et al. on the University of Washington campus network found that file-sharing accounted for more than treble the volume of web traffic observed, thus affirming the significance of P2P in the context of Internet traffic. Empirical studies of peer-to-peer traffic are essential for supporting the design of next-generation peer-to-peer systems, informing the provisioning of network infrastructure and underpinning the policing of peer-to-peer systems. This paper surveys existing work in the field of peer-to-peer monitoring and based upon this assessment of the state-of-the-art describes the design and implementation of the Open P2P tracing system, which aims to improve the research community’s understanding of P2P file sharing systems by providing continuous and up-to-date traffic data which is anonymized and made freely accessible to all interested parties. Data from this system has been used in a variety of projects and papers, which are used to illustrate the broad range of research that can benefit from an open tracing system.
Clonal analysis of cardiac morphogenesis in the chicken embryo using a replication‐defective retrovirus. III: Polyclonal origin of adjacent ventricular myocytes

Replication‐incompetent variants of the avian spleen necrosis virus (SNV) encoding cytoplasmic or nuclear‐directed β‐galactosidase (β‐gal) have been used to trace the clonal growth of myocytes during left ventricular free‐wall formation. Tubular‐stage hearts were infected with a mixed suspension of both retroviruses and, after hatching, the progeny of marked cells in the ventricular wall were examined by X‐gal histochemistry. When a small number of virions was introduced individual blue patches contained myocytes with only one label type (cytoplasmic or nuclear). These results confirmed our previous conclusion that each cluster or patch represents a single clone (Mikawa et al., 1992, Dev. Dynamics, 193:11–23). Each of these clones formed a cone‐shaped patch which often extended through the entire thickness of the ventricular myocardium, but typically each patch was heterogeneous, containing a mixture of labeled and unlabeled cells. We then asked whether the two populations of myocytes in each patch were clonally related or generated from more than one progenitor. When hearts were infected with high titer viral suspensions many patches were observed in which cytoplasmic‐tagged myocytes were intermingled with nuclear‐tagged myocytes. Thus, the cone‐shaped myocyte patches in the ventricular wall are polyclones derived from separate progenitors in the precardiac mesoderm. This finding led us to examine the separation of clonally related ventricular myocytes in the developing hearts. Embryos were infected with retroviral suspensions at varying stages of development and the resulting colonies examined after hatching. Infections on embryonic days one or two (E1, E2) gave rise to transmural colonies, whereas infection at stages later than E3 resulted in smaller clusters which were not transmural, i.e., the patches filled only a layer of each cone. This result is most simply explained by myocyte migration until E2 but with progressively restricted myocyte movements after E3. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Up-regulation of TNF-producing T cells in the bone marrow: A key mechanism by which estrogen deficiency induces bone loss in vivo

In vivo studies have shown T cells to be central to the mechanism by which estrogen deficiency induces bone loss, but the mechanism involved remains, in part, undefined. In vitro, T cells from ovariectomized mice produce increased amounts of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), which augments receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclastogenesis. However, both the mechanism and the relevance of this phenomenon in vivo remain to be established. In this study, we found that ovariectomy increased the number of bone marrow T cell-producing TNF without altering production of TNF per T cell. Attesting to the essential contribution of TNF, ovariectomy induced rapid bone loss in wild type (wt) mice but failed to do so in TNF-deficient (TNF−/−) mice. Furthermore, ovariectomy induced bone loss, which was absent in T cell-deficient nude mice, was restored by adoptive transfer of wt T cells, but not by reconstitution with T cells from TNF−/− mice. These findings demonstrate the key causal role of T cell-produced TNF in the bone loss after estrogen withdrawal. Finally, ovariectomy caused bone loss in wt mice and in mice lacking p75 TNF receptor but failed to do so in mice lacking the p55 TNF receptor. These findings demonstrate that enhanced T cell production of TNF resulting from increased bone marrow T cell number is a key mechanism by which estrogen deficiency induces bone loss in vivo. The data also demonstrate that the bone-wasting effect of TNF in vivo is mediated by the p55 TNF receptor.
Length dependence of the saturation characteristics in 1.5- mu m multiple quantum well optical amplifiers

The dependence on amplifier length of gain and gain saturation characteristics in 1.5- mu m multiple-quantum-well optical amplifiers is reported. Gain measurements are presented for amplifiers with lengths of 200 mu m to 1 mm, and a simple model is introduced which relates gain and saturation characteristics to the amplifier length. The 1-mm-long device has superb properties, with a gain of 25.2 dB and a saturation output power of 40 mW. <<ETX>>