Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exaggerated Plasma Fibrin Formation (D-Dimer) in Elderly Alzheimer Caregivers as Compared to Noncaregiving Controls

Background: The chronic stress of providing care for a spouse suffering from Alzheimer’s disease has been associated with an increased risk for coronary artery disease and overall mortality. Procoagulant changes are kindled by mental stress, and they are prospectively associated with atherothrombotic events. Objective: To examine whether dementia caregivers would show greater coagulation activity and less fibrinolytic capacity than noncaregiving controls. Methods: Subjects were 48 (30 female and 18 male) elderly (mean age ± SD, 72 ± 9 years) community-dwelling spousal Alzheimer caregivers and 20 noncaregiving age- and gender-matched controls. Plasma levels of thrombin-antithrombin III, fibrin D-dimer, von Willebrand factor, tissue-type plasminogen activator, and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 were measured. Results: D-dimer, a marker of fibrin formation and degradation, was significantly higher in caregivers than in controls (688 ± 575 vs. 406 ± 157 ng/ml, p = 0.021). Plasma levels of the four other hemostasis variables were not significantly different between the two groups. Controlling for the classic cardiovascular risk factors body mass index, hypertension status, smoking status, hypercholesterolemia, type II diabetes, and medication potentially affecting hemostasis did not change results. Conclusion: The findings suggest that Alzheimer caregivers have an increased fibrin turnover as compared to noncaregiving controls independent of common confounders of hemostasis. Such an elevated clotting diathesis might contribute to increased cardiovascular risk and overall mortality with dementia caregiving strain.
Rapid deletion of rearranged T cell antigen receptor (TCR) Vα-Jα segment by secondary rearrangement in the thymus: Role of continuous rearrangement of TCR α chain gene and positive selection in the T cell repertoire formation

A rearranged T cell receptor (TCR) Vα and Jα gene from a cytochrome c-specific T cell hybridoma was introduced into the genomic Jα region. The introduced TCR α chain gene is expressed in a majority of CD3 positive and CD4 CD8 double-negative immature thymocytes. However, only a few percent of the double-positive and single-positive thymocytes express this TCR α chain. This decrease is caused by a rearrangement of TCR α chain locus, which deletes the introduced TCR gene. Analysis of the mice carrying the introduced TCR α chain and the transgenic TCR β chain from the original cytochrome c-specific T cell hybridoma revealed that positive selection efficiently rescues double-positive thymocytes from the loss of the introduced TCR α chain gene. In the mice with negatively selecting conditions, T cells expressing the introduced TCR αβ chains were deleted at the double-positive stage. However, a large number of thymocytes escape negative selection by using an endogenous TCR α chain created by secondary rearrangement maintaining normal thymocyte development. These results suggest that secondary rearrangements of the TCR α chain gene play an important role in the formation of the T cell repertoire.
Cognitive Complaints Correlate With Depression Rather Than Concurrent Objective Cognitive Impairment in the Successful Aging Evaluation Baseline Sample

Objective: Whether subjective cognitive complaints are suggestive of depression or concurrent cognitive impairment in older adults without dementia remains unclear. The current study examined this question in a large (N = 1000), randomly selected, community-based sample of adults aged 51 to 99 years without a formal diagnosis of dementia (Successful AGing Evaluation [SAGE] study). Methods: The modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m) measured objective cognitive function, the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) measured subjective cognitive complaints, and the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) measured depression. Spearman ρ correlations and linear regression models were conducted to examine the relationship among variables in the baseline SAGE sample. Results: There was a weak association between TICS-m and CFQ scores (ρ = −.12); however, a moderate to large association was observed for CFQ and PHQ-9 (ρ = .44). Scores on the CFQ were not associated with TICS-m scores (β = −.03, P = .42) after controlling for PHQ-9 and variables of interest, such as age, gender, ethnicity, and physical functioning, while PHQ-9 was significantly associated with CFQ scores (β = .46, P < .001) after controlling for variables of interest. Conclusions: Subjective cognitive complaints are more likely related to symptoms of depression rather than concurrent cognitive impairment in a large cross-section of community-dwelling adults without a formal diagnosis of dementia.
Are Natural Images of Bounded Variation?

The bounded variation assumption is the starting point of many methods in image analysis and processing. However, one common drawback of these methods is their inability to handle textures and small structures properly. Here we precisely show why natural images are incompletely represented by BV functions. Through an experimental study of the distribution of bilevels of natural images, we show that their total variation blows up to infinity with the increasing of resolution. To reach these conclusions, we compute bounds on the total variation, and we model convolution and sampling under quite general assumptions.
A preliminary investigation of motor evoked potential abnormalities following sport-related concussion

Background: Assessment of concussion is primarily based on self-reported symptoms, neurological examination and neuropsychological testing. The neurophysiologic sequelae and the integrity of the corticomotor pathways could be obtained by evaluating motor evoked potentials (MEPs). Objectives: To compare MEPs obtained through transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in acutely concussed and non-concussed collegiate athletes. Methods: Eighteen collegiate athletes (12 males, six females, aged 20.4 ± 1.3 years) including nine subjects with acute concussion (≤24 hours) matched to nine control subjects. TMS was applied over the motor cortex and MEP responses were recorded from the contralateral upper extremity. MEP thresholds (%), latencies (milliseconds per metre) and amplitudes were assessed. Central motor conduction time (CMCT) was calculated from MEP, M response and F wave latencies. Testing was performed on days 1, 3, 5 and 10 post-concussion. Results: Ulnar MEP amplitudes were significantly different between post-concussion days 3 and 5 (F3,48 = 3.13, p = 0.041) with smaller amplitudes recorded on day 3 (0.28 ± 0.10 ms m−1). Median MEP latencies were significantly longer (F3,48 = 4.53, p = 0.023) 10 days post-concussion (27.1 ± 1.4 ms m−1) compared to day 1 (25.7 ± 1.5 ms m−1). No significant differences for motor thresholds or CMCTs were observed (p > 0.05). Conclusion: MEP abnormalities among acutely concussed collegiate athletes provide direct electrophysiologic evidence for the immediate effects of concussion.
Comparative analysis of the promoter structure and genomic organization of the human and mouse ABCA 7 gene encoding a novel ABCA transporter

ABC Fax + 41 61 306 12 34 E-mail karger@karger.ch www.karger. com © 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel 0301–0171/01/0924–0264$17.50/0 Accessible online at: www.karger. com/journals/ccg Abstract. We report here the genomic and transcriptional characterization in mouse and man of a novel transporter of the ABCA subclass, named ABCA7. As it is the case for other ABCA genes, the predicted protein encoded by ABCA7 is a full symmetric transporter, highly conserved across species. The ABCA7 gene maps to human chromosome 19 and to the homologous region at band B4-C1 on mouse chromosome 10. The preferential expression of ABCA7 in the spleen, thymus, and fetal liver is consistent with the finding, in both human and mouse promoter, of sites targeted by lymphomyeloid-specific transcription factors. This suggests that ABCA7 may play a pivotal role in the developmental specification of hematopoietic cell lineages.
Power requirement for accessing the H-mode in ITER

The input power requirements for accessing H-mode at low density and maintaining it during the density ramp in ITER is addressed by statistical means applied to the international H-mode threshold power database. Following the recent addition of new data, the improvement of existing data and the improvement of selection criteria, a revised scaling law that describes the threshold power required to obtain an L-mode to H-mode transition is presented. Predictions for ITER give a threshold power of ~52MW in a deuterium plasma at a line average density ne = 0.5×10 20 m -3 . At the nominal ITER H-mode density, ne = 1.0×10 20 m -3 , the threshold power required is ~86MW. Detailed analysis of data from individual devices suggests that the density dependence of the threshold power might increase with the plasma size and the magnetic field. On the other hand, the density at which the threshold power is minimal is found to decrease with the plasma size and increase with magnetic field. The influence of these effects on the accessibility of the H-mode regime in ITER plasmas is discussed. Analyses of the confinement database show that, in present day devices, H-modes are generally maintained with powers exceeding the threshold power by a factor larger than 1.5, and that, on the other hand, good confinement can be obtained close to the threshold power although rarely demonstrated.
Analysis of slip flow considering surface topology and accommodation factor

This paper proposes flow factor for arbitrary Knudsen number considering accommodation factor. Numerical analyses of rarefied gas are conducted by using proposed slip model. An analysis model is a slider of HDD, which is one of the typical cases of rarefied gas regime. The slider surface is measured by a confocal laser microscope. And then we confirm the effect of surface roughness in rarefied gas regime.
Violence and Women's Psychological Distress After Birth: An Exploratory Study in Italy

Our aim in conducting this study was to analyze the relationships between violence and maternal psychological distress 8 months after a birth, taking into account other important psychosocial factors, known to be associated both with violence and with new mothers’ mental health. A total of 352 women responded to a questionnaire after the birth at a maternity hospital in northern Italy, and 292 also participated in a telephone interview 8 months later. We evaluated psychological distress with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and partner and family violence with a 28-item scale. Eight months postpartum, 5% of women showed high psychological distress; 10% were currently experiencing violence from the partner or another family member. After adjustment for covariates, the odds ratio for depressive symptoms was 13.74 for women experiencing violence. We believe that these results provide support for the important role of violence in postpartum maternal psychological distress.
Modelling as a tool for analysing the temperature‐dependent future of the Colorado potato beetle in Europe

A warmer climate may increase the risk of attacks by insect pests on agricultural crops, and questions on how to adapt management practice have created a need for impact models. Phenological models driven by climate data can be used for assessing the potential distribution and voltinism of different insect species, but the quality of the simulations is influenced by a range of uncertainties. In this study, we model the temperature‐dependent activity and development of the Colorado potato beetle, and analyse the influence of uncertainty associated with parameterization of temperature and day length response. We found that the developmental threshold has a major impact on the simulated number of generations per year. Little is known about local adaptations and individual variations, but the use of an upper and a lower developmental threshold gave an indication on the potential variation. The day length conditions triggering diapause are known only for a few populations. We used gridded observed temperature data to estimate local adaptations, hypothesizing that cold autumns can leave a footprint in the population genetics by low survival of individuals not reaching the adult stage before winter. Our study indicated that the potential selection pressure caused by climate conditions varies between European regions. Provided that there is enough genetic variation, a local adaption at the northern distribution limit would reduce the number of unsuccessful initiations and thereby increase the potential for spreading to areas currently not infested. The simulations of the impact model were highly sensitive to biases in climate model data, i.e. systematic deviations in comparison with observed weather, highlightening the need of improved performance of regional climate models. Even a moderate temperature increase could change the voltinism of Leptinotarsa decemlineata in Europe, but knowledge on agricultural practice and strategies for countermeasures is needed to evaluate changes in risk of attacks.
C-VQA: A Compositional Split of the Visual Question Answering (VQA) v1.0 Dataset

Visual Question Answering (VQA) has received a lot of attention over the past couple of years. A number of deep learning models have been proposed for this task. However, it has been shown that these models are heavily driven by superficial correlations in the training data and lack compositionality -- the ability to answer questions about unseen compositions of seen concepts. This compositionality is desirable and central to intelligence. In this paper, we propose a new setting for Visual Question Answering where the test question-answer pairs are compositionally novel compared to training question-answer pairs. To facilitate developing models under this setting, we present a new compositional split of the VQA v1.0 dataset, which we call Compositional VQA (C-VQA). We analyze the distribution of questions and answers in the C-VQA splits. Finally, we evaluate several existing VQA models under this new setting and show that the performances of these models degrade by a significant amount compared to the original VQA setting.
Splenosis after splenectomy and spleen tissue autoimplantation: Late followup study

Aim: In children suffering from severe hepatosplenic schistosomiasis, the surgical protocol includes splenectomy and autoimplantation of spleen morsels in the major omentum, which has the potential of reducing the overwhelming postsplenectomy infection (OPSI). The purpose of the study was to evaluate the remaining splenosis, with the mean postoperative followup of 12.1 ± 5.6 years; to compare the efficacy of the 2 evaluation tools. Materials and Methods: Nineteen patients underwent, when they were children, portal decompression and autoimplantation of spleen. After a mean age of 23.4 ± 5.3 years, they were investigated regarding the number of infections and OPSI. They had undergone hepatosplenic scintigraphy with labeled colloidal SnTc99m and abdominal ultrasound. It was considered efficient splenosis when the patients presented with 5 or more spleen nodules. The evaluation was performed by 3 observers. Results: None of the patients had increased infection rate or developed OPSI. Sixteen (84.2%) presented efficient splenosis. Conclusions: The remaining postoperative splenosis was considered efficient in the majority of patients in the long-term followup; and nuclear medicine was considered the gold standard for splenosis evaluation.
Extrasolar Planet Transits Observed at Kitt Peak National Observatory

We obtained J-, H-, and JH-band photometry of known extrasolar planet transiting systems at the 2.1 m Kitt Peak National Observatory Telescope using the FLAMINGOS infrared camera between 2008 October and 2011 October. From the derived light curves we have extracted the midtransit times, transit depths and transit durations for these events. The precise midtransit times obtained help improve the orbital periods and also constrain transit-time variations of the systems. For most cases the published system parameters successfully accounted for our observed light curves, but in some instances we derive improved planetary radii and orbital periods. We complemented our 2.1 m infrared observations using CCD z′-band and B-band photometry (plus two Hα filter observations) obtained with the Kitt Peak Visitor Center Telescope, and with four H-band transits observed in 2007 October with the NSO’s 1.6 m McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope. The principal highlights of our results are (1) Our ensemble of J-band planetary radii agree with optical radii, with the best-fit relation being (Rp/R∗)J = 0.0017 + 0.979(Rp/R∗)vis. (2) We observe starspot crossings during the transit of WASP-11/HAT-P-10. (3) We detect starspot crossings by HAT-P-11b (Kepler-3b), thus confirming that the magnetic evolution of the stellar active regions can be monitored even after the Kepler mission has ended. (4) We confirm a grazing transit for HAT-P-27/WASP-40. In total, we present 57 individual transits of 32 known exoplanet systems.
Third instar nymphs of Rhodnius prolixus exposed to alpha-cyanopyrethroids: from hyperactivity to death.

The hyperactivity, incoordination, recovery, and mortality produced by four alpha-cyanopyrethroids usually used for Chagas disease vector control (beta-cypermethrin, beta-cyfluthrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, and deltamethrin) were evaluated on third instar nymphs of Rhodnius prolixus. All pyrethroids modified the locomotor activity of the nymphs, which increased linearly as a function of the log of insecticide concentration. lambda-Cyhalothrin showed the lowest values of Effective Concentration 50%, Lethal Concentration 50%, Effective Time 50%, and Lethal Time 50% when insecticides were applied by contact with treated filter papers. Recovery from incoordination was observed after topical application of the insecticides. The recovery was inhibited by the simultaneous application of piperonyl butoxide, suggesting that biotransformation by mixed-function microsomal oxidases is involved in the process of recovery.
High Performance Network-on-Chips (NoCs) Design: Performance Modeling, Routing Algorithm and Architecture Optimization

With technology scaling down, hundreds and thousands processing elements (PEs) can be integrated on a single chip. Network-on-chip (NoC) has been proposed as an efficient solution to handle this distinctive challenge. In this thesis, we have explored the high performance NoC design for MPSoC and CMP structures from the performance modeling in the offline design phase to the routing algorithm and NoC architecture optimization. More specifically, we first deal with the issue of how to estimate an NoC design fast and accurately in the synthesis inner loop. For this purpose, we propose a machine learning based latency regression model to evaluate the NoC designs with respect to different configurations. Then, for high performance NoC designs, we tackle one of the most important problems, i.e., the routing algorithms design. For avoiding temperature hotspots, a thermal-aware routing algorithm is proposed to achieve an even temperature profile for application-specific Network-on-chips (NoCs). For improving the reliability, a routing algorithm to achieve maximum performance under fault is proposed. Finally, in the architecture level, we propose two new NoC structures using bi-directional links for the performance optimization. In particular, we propose a flit-level speedup scheme to enhance the network-on-chip(NoC) performance utilizing bidirectional channels. We also propose a flexible NoC architecture which takes advantage of a dynamic distributed routing algorithm and improves the NoC communication performance with moderate energy overhead. From the simulation results on both synthetic traffic and real workload traces, significant performance improvement in terms of latency and throughput can be achieved.
Regulation of Exopolysaccharide Production by ProE, a Cyclic-Di-GMP Phosphodiesterase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1

The ubiquitous second messenger c-di-GMP is involved in regulation of multiple biological functions including the important extracellular matrix exopolysaccharides (EPS). But how c-di-GMP metabolic proteins influence EPS and their enzymatic properties are not fully understood. Here we showed that deletion of proE, which encodes a protein with GGDEF-EAL hybrid domains, significantly increased the transcriptional expression of the genes encoding EPS production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 and changed the bacterial colony morphology. Our data showed that ProE is a very active phosphodiesterase (PDE), with a high enzyme activity in degradation of c-di-GMP. Interestingly, the optimal activity of ProE was found in the presence of Co2+, unlike other PDEs that commonly rely on Mg2+ or Mn2+ for best performance. Furthermore, we identified three widely conserved novel residues that are critical for the function of ProE through site-directed mutagenesis. Subsequent study showed that ProE, together with other three key PDEs, i.e., RbdA, BifA, and DipA regulate the EPS production in P. aeruginosa PAO1. Moreover, by using the GFP-fusion approach, we observed that these four EPS associated-PDEs showed a polar localization pattern in general. Taken together, our data unveil the molecular mechanisms of ProE in regulation of EPS production, and provide a new insight on its enzymatic properties in degradation of c-di-GMP.
The effect of cosmetic vehicles on the penetration of N-nitrosodiethanolamine through excised human skin.

Cosmetic products are frequently applied to the skin by a large number of people, but some contain compounds that are potentially toxic, if absorption through the skin is sufficient. The percutaneous absorption of N-nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA), an impurity in many cosmetic products, has been evaluated in diffusion cells using excised human skin. The nitrosamine was applied to the skin in vehicles with different solubility properties. The permeability constants for water (5.5 X 10(-6) cm hr-1) and propylene glycol (3.2 X 10(-6) cm hr-1) were small and similar. In isopropyl myristate, the permeability constant increased approximately 250-fold to 1.1 X 10(-3) cm hr-1. The NDELA membrane:vehicle partition coefficients were determined using trypsin-treated stratum corneum as the membrane. These coefficients were 1.8 and 1.0, respectively, for water and propylene glycol and 230 for isopropyl myristate. The permeability of NDELA through skin is apparently increased greatly when applied from sufficiently lipoidal formulations; this is primarily due to the favorable partition coefficients for NDELA from such formulations. The amount of NDELA penetrating the skin from 3 types of cosmetic products was calculated based on their different conditions of use. Products applied over large areas of the body that remain on the skin for long periods of time (i.e., sun tanning lotion) will result in the greatest absorption of NDELA if all other factors are equal.