Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The CODATwins Project: The Cohort Description of Collaborative Project of Development of Anthropometrical Measures in Twins to Study Macro-Environmental Variation in Genetic and Environmental Effects on Anthropometric Traits

For over 100 years, the genetics of human anthropometric traits has attracted scientific interest. In particular, height and body mass index (BMI, calculated as kg/m2) have been under intensive genetic research. However, it is still largely unknown whether and how heritability estimates vary between human populations. Opportunities to address this question have increased recently because of the establishment of many new twin cohorts and the increasing accumulation of data in established twin cohorts. We started a new research project to analyze systematically (1) the variation of heritability estimates of height, BMI and their trajectories over the life course between birth cohorts, ethnicities and countries, and (2) to study the effects of birth-related factors, education and smoking on these anthropometric traits and whether these effects vary between twin cohorts. We identified 67 twin projects, including both monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins, using various sources. We asked for individual level data on height and weight including repeated measurements, birth related traits, background variables, education and smoking. By the end of 2014, 48 projects participated. Together, we have 893,458 height and weight measures (52% females) from 434,723 twin individuals, including 201,192 complete twin pairs (40% monozygotic, 40% same-sex dizygotic and 20% opposite-sex dizygotic) representing 22 countries. This project demonstrates that large-scale international twin studies are feasible and can promote the use of existing data for novel research purposes.
Pseudomonas sacroiliac osteomyelitis: diagnosis by gallium citrate Ga 67 scan.

Osteomyelitis of the sacroiliac joint is an uncommon pediatric infection. Technetium Tc 99m medronate scanning has been advocated as a sensitive diagnostic test. We present a case of Pseudomonas putrefaciens sacroiliac osteomyelitis that was not demonstrable using this technique but was detected by a gallium citrate Ga 67 scan. Report of a Case . —A 17-year-old Greek girl with thalassemia major had been receiving nightly subcutaneous deferoxamine mesylate infusions. Since splenectomy at the age of 10, she had taken daily prophylactic penicillin G potassium. She was admitted to the hospital with a two-day history of fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, and pain in the lower part of the back. Results of a physical examination were normal, as was a complete blood cell count. Results of urinalysis were normal and a chest roentgenogram showed no infiltrates. Blood cultures were obtained. She became afebrile by the next morning and because a nonproductive cough had
The Association Between Commonly Investigated User Factors and Various Types of eHealth Use for Self-Care of Type 2 Diabetes: Case of First-Generation Immigrants From Pakistan in the Oslo Area, Norway

Background Sociodemographic and health-related factors are often investigated for their association with the active use of electronic health (eHealth). The importance of such factors has been found to vary, depending on the purpose or means of eHealth and the target user groups. Pakistanis are one of the biggest immigrant groups in the Oslo area, Norway. Due to an especially high risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) among this population, knowledge about their use of eHealth for T2D self-management and prevention (self-care) will be valuable for both understanding this vulnerable group and for developing effective eHealth services. Objective The aim of this study was to examine how commonly were the nine types of eHealth for T2D self-care being used among our target group, the first-generation Pakistani immigrants living in the Oslo area. The nine types of eHealth use are divided into three broad categories based on their purpose: information seeking, communication, and active self-care. We also aimed to investigate how sociodemographic factors, as well as self-assessment of health status and digital skills are associated with the use of eHealth in this group. Methods A survey was carried out in the form of individual structured interviews from September 2015 to January 2016 (N=176). For this study, dichotomous data about whether or not an informant had used each of the nine types of eHealth in the last 12 months and the total number of positive answers were used as dependent variables in a regression analysis. The independent variables were age, gender, total years of education, digital skills (represented by frequency of asking for help when using information and communication technology [ICT]), and self-assessment of health status. Principal component analyses were applied to make categories of independent variables to avoid multicollinearity. Results Principal component analysis yielded three components: knowledge, comprising total years of education and digital skills; health, comprising age and self-assessment of health status; and gender, as being a female. With the exception of closed conversation with a few specific acquaintances about self-care of T2D (negatively associated, P=.02) and the use of ICT for relevant information-seeking by using search engines (not associated, P=.18), the knowledge component was positively associated with all the other dependent variables. The health component was negatively associated with the use of ICT for closed conversation with a few specific acquaintances about self-care of T2D (P=.01) but not associated with the other dependent variables. Gender component showed no association with any of the dependent variables. Conclusions In our sample, knowledge, as a composite measure of education and digital skills, was found to be the main factor associated with eHealth use regarding T2D self-care. Enhancing digital skills would encourage and support more active use of eHealth for T2D self-care.
Postoperative complications and visual outcomes of phacoemulsification in 103 dogs (179 eyes): 2006-2008.

OBJECTIVE To describe the postoperative complications and visual outcome after phacoemulsification in dogs and identify risk factors for complications. ANIMALS STUDIED One hundred and three dogs (179 eyes) that had phacoemulsification with or without intraocular lens (IOL) placement including foldable acrylic IOLs between March 2006 and March 2008 at Purdue University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. PROCEDURE Medical records were reviewed and occurrence and dates of postoperative complications were tabulated. Visual status at the final recheck during the study period was recorded. Additional information including signalment, diabetes mellitus status, operative complications and factors, presence of prior lens induced uveitis, preoperative retinopexy, and cataract stage was collected. RESULTS The majority of eyes were functionally visual (148 eyes, 82.7%) at the end of the study period. Blindness was seen in 18 eyes (10.0%) with reduced vision in 13 eyes (7.3%) at the final recheck. Postoperative ocular hypertension (22.9%), corneal lipid opacity (19.0%), uveitis (16.2%), intraocular hemorrhage (12.3%), retinal detachment (8.4%), and glaucoma (6.7%) were the most common postoperative complications seen in eyes. The odds of blindness were significantly greater (OR = 290.44) in the eyes of Boston terriers compared with mixed breed dogs and with each year of increasing age (OR = 2.00). CONCLUSION The prognosis for vision after phacoemulsification with injectable IOL placement is good. Boston terriers were at much higher risk for certain complications.
Preparation of polypyrrole-embedded electrospun poly(lactic acid) nanofibrous scaffolds for nerve tissue engineering

Polypyrrole (PPy) is a biocompatible polymer with good conductivity. Studies combining PPy with electrospinning have been reported; however, the associated decrease in PPy conductivity has not yet been resolved. We embedded PPy into poly(lactic acid) (PLA) nanofibers via electrospinning and fabricated a PLA/PPy nanofibrous scaffold containing 15% PPy with sustained conductivity and aligned topography. There was good biocompatibility between the scaffold and human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells as well as Schwann cells. Additionally, the direction of cell elongation on the scaffold was parallel to the direction of fibers. Our findings suggest that the aligned PLA/PPy nanofibrous scaffold is a promising biomaterial for peripheral nerve regeneration.
A small sample model selection criterion based on Kullback's symmetric divergence

The Kullback information criterion (KIC) is a recently developed tool for statistical model selection (Cavanaugh, J.E., Statistics and Probability Letters, vol.42, p.333-43, 1999). KIC serves as an asymptotically unbiased estimator of a variant of the Kullback symmetric divergence, known also as J-divergence. A bias correction of the Kullback symmetric information criterion is derived for linear models. The correction is of particular use when the sample size is small or when the number of fitted parameters is of a moderate to large fraction of the sample size. For linear regression models, the corrected method, called KICc, is an exactly unbiased estimator of a variant of the Kullback symmetric divergence between the true unknown model and the candidate fitted model. Furthermore, KICc is found to provide better model order choice than any other asymptotically efficient methods when applied to autoregressive time series models.
Behind the Veil of Ignorance : Risk Aversion or Inequality Aversion ?

The trade-off between aggregate wealth and individual wealth inequality is a societal conundrum. At the individual level, a common framework to assess this trade-off is by the ranking of alternative societal wealth distributions in which one does not know their own position in the distribution but rather that she will equally likely assume any position in the distribution. When she chooses a distribution from a set of possible distributions, her pure preference with respect to the aggregate wealth inequity trade off is confounded by her aversion to risk her selection generates over the marginal distribution of her own wealth. We introduce a new experimental procedure to control for this risk aversion. Individuals are presented a series of paired choice tasks: one is the consumer problem of choosing a portfolio of Arrow-Debreu contigent claim assets over two equally likely states, one good and one bad, and the other is choosing the wealth profile of a two-person economy in which they are equally likely to be the rich or poor individual. ”Income” and ”prices” are the same within a paired set of tasks, thus the sets of marginal distribution over one’s own wealth is the same for both tasks. We find roughly equal numbers of experiment subjects allocate more to the poor state than the bad state revealing inequity aversion, equal allocations in the two tasks revealing social indifference, and allocating less to the poor state than the good state revealing inefficeincy aversion. Revealed preference analysis indicates that most subjects choices are consistent with the maximization of non homothetic quasi-concave utility functions for each setting. Further revealed preference analysis reveals clusters of individuals who indifference curve are more/less concave in the risk setting versus the distribution one.
Distribution of Human Papillomavirus Genotypes in Archival Cervical Lesions in Eastern Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, China

Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main etiologic factor for cervical cancer (CC). To investigate the prevalence of HPV types in archival CC and its precursors collected form Tongliao area, which is located in the east of Inner Mongolian autonomous region, China, and compare the genotype distribution of HPV in cervical lesions between Han Chinese and Mongolian. Methods: The infections of HPV in a total of 175 cases of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples, including 71 low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL), 27 high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL), and 77 CC were detected by the combination of consensus primers nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and type-specific primers nested PCR. Results: Overall, HPV prevalence was 93.5% in CC, 92.6% in HSIL, and 63.4% in LSIL. Human papillomavirus 16 was the most predominant HPV type in all cervical lesions, detected in 83.1% of CC, 77.8% of HSIL, and 33.8% of LSIL. Human papillomavirus 45 was the second most predominant HPV type in CC (16.9%) and HSIL (11.1%). Human papillomavirus 33 was the second most predominant HPV type in LSIL (8.5%). Human papillomavirus 18, equal with HPV 45, was the second most common type in Mongolian CC (15.6%), whereas in Han Chinese specimens, no HPV 18 was found. Conclusions: The prevalence of HPV 45 in CC and HSIL in Tongliao area were relatively higher than other regions of China. Comparing the distribution of HPV types in Han Chinese and Mongolian, the prevalence of HPV 18 in CC from Mongolian was significantly higher than that in Han Chinese.
Testing for antibodies to equine arteritis virus

In a previous issue of The Veterinary Record , we described a method allowing the reduction of serum cytotoxicity in the diagnosis of equine viral arteritis using a virus neutralisation (VN) test ([Legrand and others 2007][1]). This protocol was achieved on preformed RK13 monolayer cells from which
The role of antisense RNA in gene regulation.

PERSPECTIVES AND SUMMARY . 569 PROKARYOTIC ANTISENSE REGULATORY SYSTEMS 570 Plasmid Replication 570 TnlO Transposition . 574 Bacterial and Phage Gene Expression 576 Artificial Antisense RNA (micRNA) 579 mic Immune System 582 ANTISENSE RNA IN EUKARYOTIC SySTEMS 584 Antisense Genes 584 Microinjection of Antisense RNA 588 Possible Existence of Antisense RNA in Eukaryotic Cells 590 PROSPECTS 592
Metabolism of an Alkyl Polyamine Analog by a Polyamine Oxidase from the Microsporidian Encephalitozoon cuniculi

ABSTRACT Encephalitozoon cuniculi is a microsporidium responsible for systemic illness in mammals. In the course of developing leads to new therapy for microsporidiosis, we found that a bis(phenylbenzyl)3-7-3 analog of spermine, 1,15-bis{N-[o-(phenyl)benzylamino}-4,12-diazapentadecane (BW-1), was a substrate for an E. cuniculi amine oxidase activity. The primary natural substrate for this oxidase activity was N′-acetylspermine, but BW-1 had activity comparable to that of the substrate. As the sole substrate, BW-1 gave linear reaction rates over 15 min and Km of 2 μM. In the presence of N′-acetylspermine, BW-1 acted as a competitive inhibitor of oxidase activity and may be a subversive substrate, resulting in increased peroxide production. By use of 13C-labeled BW-1 as a substrate and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis, two products were determined to be oxidative metabolites, a hydrated aldehyde or dicarboxylate and 2(phenyl)benzylamine. These products were detected after exposure of 13C-labeled BW-1 to E. cuniculi preemergent spore preparations and to uninfected host cells. In previous studies, BW-1 was curative in a rodent model of infection with E. cuniculi. The results in this study demonstrate competitive inhibition of oxidase activity by BW-1 and support further studies of this oxidase activity by the parasite and host.
The serum levels of sE‐selectin are increased in patients with bullous pemphigoid or pemphigus vulgaris. Correlation with the number of skin lesions and recovery after corsticosteroid therapy

Soluble E(sE)‐selectin represents the soluble isoform of cellular E‐selectin, an adhesion molecule synthesized only by endothelia cells. As a consequences. It may be considered a marker of endothelial activity. The aim of this study was therefor to evaluate the serum levels of sE‐selectin in nine patients affected with pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and in 15 patients with bullous pemphigoid(BP). Higher amounts of sE‐selectin, median 40.3 ng/mL, range 30–109.6 were found in the patients when compared with 20 healthy individuals, median 28.5ng/mL. range 6.4–48: P<0.01, matched for sex and age. These levels were also significantly correlated with the number of detectable lesions (r= 0.63, P<0.001) when the patient data were considered at the time of the first observation. Thirteen subjects were followed over time for a maximum of 3 months (from three to seven observations). During therapy, the number of lesions and the serum sE‐selectin values decreased concomitantly. Differently from sEselectin, the serum soluble intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (sICAM‐1) values were not significantly differenent in the patients form the controls and showed no correlation with the serum sE‐selectin concentrations or with the number of lesions. The data presented point to the possible use of sEselecti determinations as a non‐specific follow‐up marker, suitable to gauge disease intensity over time and emphasize that endothelial activation is present in BP as well as in PV. Correspondence: Franco Ameglio, MD, Istituto S, Gallicano, Via S. Gallicano 25/A. 00153 Roma. Italy.
Type and timing of protein feeding to optimize anabolism

&NA; The synchronization of variations in anabolic capability with amino acid supply partly explains the effects of the type and timing of protein feeding. This effect is modulated by the amount of amino acids required to increase whole‐body proteins and by the signaling properties of some amino acids to stimulate protein synthesis. Indeed, the anabolic effect of amino acids is determined by their interaction with other anabolic factors (other nutrients or physiological factors, whose efficiency is mainly related to their effect on protein degradation). It is clear that benefits can be obtained from adapted protein feeding patterns. Purpose of review The delivery rate of amino acids to an organism significantly affects protein anabolism. The rate can be controlled by the type and the timing of feeding. Our aim was to bring new insights to the way they may act. Recent findings During young and adult ages, when food supply is liberal, subjects can adapt to various modes of protein feeding. However, during food restriction, protein anabolism is favored when the delivery of amino acids is evenly distributed over the day, either with frequent meals, or through the use of slowly absorbed proteins like casein. In contrast, during aging, quickly absorbed protein sources become more efficient. During recovery after exercise, the timing of protein feeding after the end of exercise may or may not influence its anabolic effect, depending on the subject's age and the type of exercise.
Investigation of the mobile granular layer in bedload transport by laminar shearing flows

Abstract The mobile layer of a granular bed composed of spherical particles is experimentally investigated in a laminar rectangular channel flow. Both particle and fluid velocity profiles are obtained using particle image velocimetry for different index-matched combinations of particles and fluid and for a wide range of fluid flow rates above incipient motion. A full three-dimensional investigation of the flow field inside the mobile layer is also provided. These experimental observations are compared to the predictions of a two-phase continuum model having a frictional rheology to describe particle–particle interactions. Different rheological constitutive laws having increasing degrees of sophistication are tested and discussed.
Nature-inspired multi-objective optimisation and transparent knowledge discovery via hierarchical fuzzy modelling

Knowledge discovery is one of the most important human activities, which helps people recognise and understand some of the intricacies associated with the ancient and modern worlds. With the rapid development in the human capabilities to both generate and collect data, the discovery of knowledge from data has become a practical and popular research topic. In this thesis, knowledge discovery from data is conducted from the following two overarching viewpoints: first, developing prediction models using the data that represent input-output relationships; second, based on these developed prediction models, finding the optimal designs (solutions) from a set of predefined objectives. The theoretical aspects behind the previous two research facets are described and the associated experimental studies are carried out. A particular focus of this thesis is on a cooperative fuzzy modelling framework, which integrates transparent (interpretable) fuzzy systems with robust evolutionary computing based algorithms involving several techniques, such as data clustering, data mining, and multi-objective optimisation. Evolutionary optimisation algorithms are also developed on the basis of nature and social inspired ideas. Optimisation forms an essential part of the modelling framework and is employed in the direct optimal design problems as well. The proposed cooperative fuzzy modelling methodology and the devised evolutionary optimisation algorithms are then applied to knowledge discovery in terms of systems modelling and control (static optimisation via reverse-engineering), using simulation platforms as well as real industrial data. The experimental results show that the proposed modelling framework and optimisation algorithms outperform some of the other salient techniques; the proposed approaches can successfully work within the context of the high-dimensional industrial applications, including modelling and optimal design problems.
DCT-based general structure for linear-phase paraunitary filterbanks

In this paper, we present a general structure for linear phase paraunitary filterbanks (LPPUFB) via both time-domain pre-processing and frequency-domain post-processing of the discrete cosine transform (DCT). The proposed structure not only covers existing frameworks with either pre-processing or post-processing of the DCT but enables the design of DCT-based LPPUFB with both partial-block overlapping and variable-length filters as well. Some high-performance and low-complexity transforms can be obtained by fine-tuning the structure parameters. Furthermore, a DCT-oriented initialization method is developed to improve the convergence and to simplify,the parameterization in the filterbank optimization process. The application in image compression is demonstrated.
Application of the poly-N-acetyl glucosamine-derived rapid deployment hemostat trauma dressing in severe/lethal Swine hemorrhage trauma models.

BACKGROUND The Rapid Deployment Hemostat (RDH) Bandage was developed for the rapid control of bleeding caused by trauma. METHODS An extremity wound involving skin, muscle, bone, and femoral arterial injury and a 1-cm vertical incision in the abdominal aorta in swine were studied to compare the RDH Bandage, a fibrin sealant dressing and gauze to restore hemostasis. The total blood loss was determined and the survival of animals was measured. RESULTS In the extremity injury model, the RDH Bandage reduced blood loss by 63% compared with the gauze control. In the aorta arterial incision model, the RDH Bandage required a significantly lower compression time to control bleeding compared with gauze and TachoComb. The RDH Bandage was able to stop bleeding from this injury in 100% of the tests. CONCLUSION The RDH Bandage was superior to a commercially available fibrin bandage in controlling hemorrhage, decreasing blood loss, and increasing survival.