Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Subjective memory complaints in primary care patients and death from all causes: A four-year follow-up

Abstract Objective. To investigate the prognostic value of subjective memory complaints for all-cause mortality in order to determine whether elderly persons with subjective memory complaints may be regarded as a group of vulnerable patients who need close follow-up. Design. Prospective cohort study. Setting. Primary care units in the central district of Copenhagen, Denmark. Subjects. 758 community-dwellers aged 65 years and older consulting their general practitioner in October and November 2002. Main outcome measures. Information on subjective memory complaints, socio-demographics, and health-related quality of life were collected at the enrolment primary care consultation. Dates of death from all causes occurring during the four-year follow-up were retrieved from the national databases. Cox proportional hazard regression models on time to death (censored after four years) were used to examine the influence of subjective memory complaints on all-cause mortality. Results. 88 patients died during the four-year follow-up. The association between subjective memory complaints and mortality had a statistically not significant hazard ratio (HR) of 0.91, adjusting for known confounders. Statistically significant predictors for mortality were Age (HR = 1.43 for 75–84 years and HR = 3.39 for 85 + years), Sex (HR = 0.51 for women), Mobility (HR = 2.39 for some problems), Self-care (HR = 2.34 for some problems) and Comorbidity (HR = 2.06, 3.19 and 5.89 for a Charlson comorbidity index of 1, 2, or ≥ 3 respectively). Conclusion. In an elderly population presenting for primary care the presence of subjective memory complaints was not significantly associated with an increase in all-cause mortality.
Ancillary Services Through Demand Scheduling and Control of Commercial Buildings

Prior work showed building Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems can provide ancillary services to the power grid without sacrificing occupant comfort if the reference power variation is of high frequency (seconds to a few minutes). This paper addresses the question of how to do that when the reference power variation is of lower frequency, e.g., periods of a few minutes to an hour. The proposed control system to do so uses a two-layer architecture. An optimizer schedules the baseline cooling and heating power of a building based on load forecasts. A lower level controller is then used to track the scheduled baseline plus ancillary service reference signal. The schedule is periodically updated based on indoor measurements to ensure quality of service in spite of load forecasting error. The algorithm is tested in simulation. Results show that ancillary services in the frequency range of f ∈ [1/(1 hour), 1/(10 minutes)] can be extracted from commercial building HVAC systems while still maintaining a comfortable indoor climate.
Interpreting map usage patterns using geovisual analytics and spatio-temporal clustering

Extracting meaningful information from the growing quantity of spatial data is a challenge. The issues are particularly evident with spatio-temporal data describing movement. Such data typically corresponds to movement of humans, animals and machines in the physical environment. This article considers a special form of movement data generated through human–computer interactions with online web maps. As a user interacts with a web map using a mouse as a pointing tool, invisible trajectories are generated. By examining the spatial features on the map where the mouse cursor visits, a user's interests and experience can be detected. To analyse this valuable information, we have developed a geovisual analysis tool which provides a rich insight into such user behaviour. The focus of this paper is on a clustering technique which we apply to mouse trajectories to group trajectories with similar behavioural properties. Our experiments reveal that it is possible to identify experienced and novice users of web mapping environments using an incremental clustering approach. The results can be used to provide personalised map interfaces to users and provide appropriate interventions for completing spatial tasks.
Circulating levels of matrix metalloproteinases MMP-3 and MMP-1, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1), and MMP-1/TIMP-1 complex in rheumatic disease. Correlation with clinical activity of rheumatoid arthritis versus other surrogate markers.

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether plasma levels of matrix metalloproteinases 3 (MMP-3, stromelysin), MMP-1 (collagenase), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1), and MMP1/TIMP-1 complex (MT complex) are specifically elevated in erosive joint diseases compared to nonerosive rheumatic diseases, and to assess how these markers reflect the clinical activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to circulating cytokines and markers of connective tissue turnover as well as established variables [C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and rheumatoid factor titer]. METHODS Plasma levels of MMP-3, MMP-1, TIMP- 1, and MT complex were determined by ELISA. One hundred fifteen patients with RA, 20 with osteoarthritis (OA), 28 with psoriasis arthritis (PsA), 24 with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), 3 groups with systemic autoimmune diseases, and 30 healthy controls were analyzed. In patients with RA routine laboratory variables, circulating inflammatory cytokines [interleukin 1 (IL-1), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and IL-6], collagen degradation products, and markers of bone formation were determined in parallel and were correlated to 4 variables of clinical activity. RESULTS MMP-3 levels were markedly elevated in RA compared to controls and OA, but also in all other groups, including 26 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). MMP-1 levels were significantly elevated in RA, but also in OA, PsA, SLE, and mixed connective tissue disease. In contrast, MT complex was elevated in RA only. TIMP-1 was not different from controls. CRP levels, MMP-3, and ESR correlated best with clinical activity of RA. In contrast, there was no correlation of IL-1 and TNF-alpha and only a weak correlation of IL-6 with clinical measures. Among variables of connective tissue turnover, only pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline crosslinks were weakly correlated with disease activity. CONCLUSION Elevated MMP-3 and MMP-1 levels are not specific for RA or for erosive joint diseases in general. In contrast, elevated MT complex levels were observed in patients with RA. However, the correlation of MT-1 with clinical data was weaker than that of MMP-3. Elevated MMP-3 levels reflected disease activity of RA better than cytokine levels or markers of connective tissue turnover. However, MMP-3 levels do not exceed the association of CRP with clinical activity.
INFLUENCE OF SOIL ORGANIC MATTER ON THE LEACHING OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN SOIL

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the main classes of contaminants in the terrestrial environment. Aside from total organic carbon, the ratio among the different organic matter fractions [dissolved organic matter, fulvic acid (FA), humic acid (HA) and humin] can also affect the mobility of these hydrocarbons in soils. In this study the effect of the whole organic carbon pool has been compared with that of HA and FA on the translocation of four PAHs (biphenyl, fluorene, phenanthrene and pyrene) in soil columns. Oxidized and untreated soil columns with and without HA or FA, were prepared, spilled with hydrocarbons and leached with a 0.01 M CaCl2 solution. The influence of HA and FA on PAH translocation was investigated through determinations of the PAH contents and total organic carbon (TOC) in the layers of the columns. All molecules were moved vertically by the percolating solutions, their concentrations decreasing with depths. The non-oxidized soil tended to retain more PAHs (96%) than the oxidized one (60%), confirming that organic matter plays an important role in controlling PAH leaching. The whole organic matter pool reduced the translocation of pollutants downward the profile. The addition of HA enhanced this behaviour, by increasing the PAH retention in the top layers (7.55 mg and 4.00 mg in the top two layers, respectively) while FA increased their mobility (only 2.30 and 2.90 mg of PAHs were found in the top layers) and favoured leaching. In fact, in the presence of HA alone, the higher amounts of PAHs retained at the surface and the good correlation (r2=0.936) between TOC and hydrocarbon distribution can be attributed to a parallel distribution of PAHs and HA, while in the presence of FA, the higher mobility of PAHs can be attributed to the high mobility of the humic material, as expected by its extensive hydrophilic characteristics.
Reconstitution of the ethanol oxidase respiratory chain in membranes of quinoprotein alcohol dehydrogenase-deficient Gluconobacter suboxydans subsp. alpha strains

The ethanol oxidase respiratory chain of Gluconobacter suboxydan was characterized by using G. suboxydans subsp. alpha, a variant species of G. suboxydans incapable of oxidizing ethanol. The membranes of G. suboxydans subsp. alpha exhibited neither alcohol dehydrogenase, ethanol oxidase, nor glucose-ferricyanide oxidoreductase activity. Furthermore, the respiratory chain of the organism exhibited an extremely diminished amount of cytochrome c and an increased sensitivity of the respiratory activity for cyanide or azide when compared with G. suboxydans. The first-subunit quinohemoprotein and the second-subunit cytochrome c of alcohol dehydrogenase complex in the membranes of G. suboxydans subsp. alpha were shown to be reduced and deficient, respectively, by using heme-staining and immunoblotting methods. Ethanol oxidase activity, lacking in G. suboxydans subsp. alpha, was entirely restored by reconstituting alcohol dehydrogenase purified from G. suboxydans to the membranes of G. suboxydans subsp. alpha; this also led to restoration of the cyanide or azide insensitivity and the glucose-ferricyanide oxidoreductase activity in the respiratory chain without affecting other respiratory activities such as glucose and sorbitol oxidases. Ethanol oxidase activity was also reconstituted with only the second-subunit cytochrome c of the enzyme complex. The results indicate that the second-subunit cytochrome c of the alcohol dehydrogenase complex is essential in ethanol oxidase respiratory chain and may be involved in the cyanide- or azide-insensitive respiratory chain bypass of G. suboxydans.
Insensitivity of archaebacterial ribosomes to protein synthesis inhibitors. Evolutionary implications.

The effect on Sulfolobus solfataricus (an extremely thermoacidophilic archaebacterium) of selected inhibitors affecting reactions of the polypeptide elongation cycle has been tested by using poly(U) and poly(UG) directed cell‐free systems. The results reveal a unique pattern of antibiotic sensitivity of Sulfolobus ribosomes with an inhibitory effect observed for only three of 60 compounds tested. Through comparison with suitable eubacterial and eukaryotic cell‐free systems the insensitivity of Sulfolobus ribosomes to most inhibitors of protein synthesis appears to reflect a phylogenetic distinction of ribosome structure, rather than the high temperature conditions of the Sulfolobus assay system. In this respect ribosomes of thermoacidophilic archaebacteria differ not only from their eubacterial and eukaryotic counterparts, but also from ribosomes of archaebacteria belonging to the methanogenic‐halophilic branch of the ‘third’ kingdom. The evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed.
The histological examination of mummified material.

Tissue from Egyptian mummy material is extremely brittle; hence it was handled in perforated glass tubes during processing. The first (softening) fluid consisted of 96% ethyl alcohol, 30 vol; 1% aqueous formalin, 50 vol; 5% aqueous Na2CO3, 20 vol. It was used in a fluid to tissue volume ratio of 100:1 and allowed to act overnight. A special dehydrating sequence: 80% alcohol, 3-6 hr; 8% phenol in 96% alcohol, and absolute alcohol followed by 3 changes of amyl acetate, 6-18 hr each; 3 changes of 1 % celloidin in methyl benzoate, 24 hr each; then through benzene and embedding in paraffin completed the special technic. This allowed regular sectioning and staining to be done successfully.
Executive Functions: Performance-Based Measures and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) in Adolescents with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Performance-based measures and ratings of executive functions were examined in a sample of adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and comparison controls. Performance-based measures of executive function included inhibition, working memory, set shifting, and planning, and ratings of these same executive functions were completed by parents and teachers. Adolescents with ADHD demonstrated lower executive function performance than controls and displayed elevated ratings on the executive function ratings by parents and teachers. Significant associations were obtained between the performance-based measures and the parent and teacher ratings, but each measure was not uniquely associated with its respective scale on the rating scales. When performance-based measures and ratings were examined as predictors of ADHD status, the parent and teacher ratings entered as significant predictors of ADHD status. Further commonality analyses indicated that performance-based measures accounted for little unique variance in predicting ADHD status and also displayed little overlap with the behavioral ratings. These findings highlight the diagnostic utility of behavioral ratings of executive function in predicting ADHD status; however, behavioral ratings should not be assumed to be a proxy for performance on measures of executive function in clinical practice.
The Making of Hawks and Doves : Inflation Experiences and Voting on the FOMC ∗

We show that personal lifetime experiences of inflation significantly affect the hawkish or dovish leanings of central bankers. We link experience-based inflation expectations to the desired level of nominal interest rates using a forward-looking formulation of the Taylor rule. Using data of the FOMC voting history from March 1951 to January 2014, we estimate that a one standard-deviation increase in experience-based forecasts increases the unconditional probability of a hawkish dissent by about one third, and decreases the unconditional probability of a dovish dissent also by about one third. FOMC members also use significantly a more hawkish tone in their speeches if they have experienced high inflation in their lives so far. Aggregating over all FOMC members present at a meeting, we establish a significantly positive relationship between their average inflation experience and the Fed Funds Rate target decided at the meeting. Finally, inflation experiences have a strong direct impact on FOMC members’ inflation forecasts as reported in their semiannual Monetary Policy Reports to Congress, suggesting that experiences affect beliefs. Our findings imply that even professionals are affected by their lifetime experiences of macroeconomic outcomes and shed new light on the importance of FOMC appointments. ∗We thank Ricordo Reis, David Robinson, Christima Romer, David Romer, and workshop participants at the Bank of Finland, London School of Economics, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Stockholm School of Economics, University of Bonn, University of Michigan Economics Department and Law School as well as the NBER SI Monetary Economics meeting, Research in Behavioral Finance Conference 2016, and Annual Research Conference of the European Central Bank for helpful comments. Jonas Sobott, Marius Guenzel, Jeff Zeidel, and Albert Lee provided excellent research assistance. †Department of Economics and Haas School of Business, University of California, 501 Evans Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3880, ulrike@econ.berkeley. edu ‡Stephen M. Ross School of Business and Department of Economics, University of Michigan, 701 Tappan St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, e-mail: stenagel@umich.edu §Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, 701 Tappan St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, e-mail: zachyan@umich.edu I think these three players are all products of their experience. Yellen received her Ph.D in 1971. Fischer in 1969. Both experienced the Great Inflation first hand. Brainard earned her Ph.D in 1989. Her professional experience is dominated by the Great Moderation. – Tim Duy’s Fed Watch, Oct. 12, 2015
Distribution of the Mosaic StructuredmurM Genes among Natural Populations ofStreptococcus pneumoniae

ABSTRACT The presence and sequence variation of the murM gene were studied in a large collection (814 strains) of genetically diverseStreptococcus pneumoniae isolates, which included 27 different serogroups and both penicillin-resistant (423 isolates, 67 pulsed-field gel electrophoretic [PFGE] types) and intermediately penicillin-resistant (165 isolates, 66 PFGE types) and penicillin-susceptible (226 isolates, 135 PFGE types) strains. Diversity of the murM sequences was tested by hybridization with mainly two kinds of probes: one derived from the amplification of the nucleotide sequence between nucleotides 201 and 624 in the penicillin-susceptible laboratory strain R36A (murMA probe) and a second probe that amplified the comparable, highly divergent sequence in the penicillin-resistant strain Pen6 (murMBprobe). The great majority of the strains (761 of 814), including both penicillin-susceptible and penicillin-resistant isolates, reacted exclusively with the murMA probe. A smaller group of penicillin-resistant strains (48 of 814 isolates) reacted only with themurMB DNA probe, and an additional 5 isolates reacted with both probes. High-pressure liquid chromatography analysis of the peptidoglycan of strains hybridizing with murMB showed that they invariably contained an increased proportion of branched peptides. Complete sequencing of murM from a group of penicillin-resistant isolates allowed the identification of a number of different murMB alleles that differed in the length and exact position of the divergent (Pen6 type) sequences within the particular murM. The close similarity of these divergent sequences in the various murM alleles suggests a possible common heterologous origin.
Trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole in clinical cholera: comparison with tetracycline.

Twenty-two adult cholera patients were treated with a combination of trimethoprim (80 mg) and sulfamethoxazole (400 mg) (TMP-SMZ) every 6 hr in addition to iv and oral hydration. Twenty-three children were treated in similar fashion with one-half this dose of the drug combination. Results were compared with those in 51 patients treated concomitantly with tetracycline. Stool volume, duration of diarrhea, and duration of excretion of vibrio were slightly greater in the patients treated with TMP-SMZ, although differences from those treated with tetracycline were neither constant nor significant. No clinical or bacteriologic relapses were seen. Sensitivity studies by tube dilution showed similar MICs of the TMP-SMZ and tetracycline for Vibrio cholerae. These results, considered with other published data, indicate that the TMP-SMZ is a practical alternative to tetracycline in the treatment of cholera.
Clinical, Pathologic, and Molecular Features of Early-onset Colorectal Carcinoma

The incidence of colorectal carcinoma has increased among patients <40 years of age for unclear reasons. In this study, we describe the clinical, pathologic, and molecular features of colorectal carcinomas that developed in young patients. We compiled a study group of 24 patients <40 years of age with colorectal carcinoma, and 45 patients ≥40 years of age served as controls. Cases were evaluated for clinical risk factors of malignancy and pathologic features predictive of outcome. The tumors were immunohistochemically stained for O6-methylguanine methyltransferase, MLH-1, MSH-2, MSH-6, β-catenin, chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4, epidermal growth factor receptor, TP53, p16, survivin, and α-methylacyl-CoA racemase; assessed for microsatellite instability and mutations in β-catenin, APC, EGFR, PIK3CA, KRAS, and BRAF; evaluated for micro-RNA expression (miR-21, miR-20a, miR-183, miR-192, miR-145, miR-106a, miR-181b, and miR-203); and examined for evidence of human papillomavirus infection. One study patient each had ulcerative colitis and hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer. Ninety-two percent of tumors from young patients occurred in the distal colon (P=0.006), particularly the rectum (58%, P=0.02), and 75% were stage III or IV. Tumors from young patients showed more frequent lymphovascular (81%, P=0.03) and/or venous (48%, P=0.003) invasion, an infiltrative growth pattern (81%, P=0.03), and α-methylacyl-CoA racemase expression (83%, P=0.02) compared with controls. Carcinomas in this group showed significantly increased expression of miR-21, miR-20a, miR-145, miR-181b, and miR-203 (P≤0.005 for all comparisons with controls). These results indicate that early-onset carcinomas commonly show pathologic features associated with aggressive behavior. Posttranslational regulation of mRNA and subsequent protein expression may be particularly important to the development of colorectal carcinomas in young patients.
Effects of Genetically Engineered Microorganisms on Nitrogen Transformations and Nitrogen-Transforming Microbial Populations in Soil

The principal concern about releasing genetically engineered microorganisms (GEMs) into the environment is their potential adverse effects on the environment, whether caused directly or indirectly by the GEMs. The effects of five GEMs on ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification in soil were studied. With the possible exception of a strain of Enterobacter cloacae carrying a plasmid, no consistent statistically or ecologically significant differences in effects on these processes or on the population dynamics of the microorganisms responsible for the processes were observed between soils inoculated with the GEMs or their homologous plasmidless hosts and those that were not inoculated. Increasing the concentration of montmorillonite in the soil enhanced the rate of nitrification, regardless of the inoculum, indicating that the perfusion technique used was sensitive enough to detect changes in nitrification rates when they occurred.
Wireless MIMO switching: network‐coded MMSE relaying and user group selection

A wireless relay that forms a one‐to‐one mapping from the inputs (uplinks) to the outputs (downlinks) is called a multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) switch. The MIMO switch carries out precode‐and‐forward, where all users send their signals in the uplink, and then, the MIMO switch precodes the received vector signal for broadcasting in the downlink. Ideally, each user employs a receive filter to recover its desired signal from one other user with no or little interference from other users. We first propose a joint design of the precoder and the receive filters to achieve the minimum‐mean‐ square‐error (MMSE), where network coding technique is incorporated, assuming that full channel state information is available at the relay. When the number of relay antennas is smaller than the number of source users, that is, the users that need to transmit signals, we investigate user group selection algorithms for the proposed MMSE relaying schemes. Our results indicate that the proposed MMSE relaying scheme outperforms the existing zero‐forcing/MMSE schemes. In addition, the results validate the efficiency of the proposed user group selection algorithms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.