Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autophagosome maturation is impaired in Fabry disease

Fabry disease is a lysosomal storage disorder (LSD) caused by a deficiency in α-galactosidase A. The disease is characterized by severe major organ involvement, but the pathologic mechanisms responsible have not been elucidated. Disruptions of autophagic processes have been reported for other LSDs, but have not yet been investigated in Fabry disease. Renal biopsies were obtained from 5 adult male Fabry disease patients before and after 3 years of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with agalsidase alfa. Vacuole accumulation was seen in renal biopsies from all patients compared with control biopsies. Decreases in the number of vacuoles were seen after 3 years of ERT primarily in renal endothelial cells and mesangial cells. Measurement of the levels of LC3, a specific autophagy marker, in cultured cells from Fabry patients revealed increased basal levels compared to cells from non-Fabry subjects and a larger increase in response to starvation than seen in non-Fabry cells. Starvation in the presence of protease inhibitors did not result in a significant increase in LC3 in Fabry cells, whereas a further increase in LC3 was observed in non-Fabry cells, an observation that is consistent with impaired autophagic flux in Fabry disease. Overexpression of LC3 mRNA in Fabry fibroblasts compared to control cells is consistent with an upregulation of autophagy. Furthermore, LC3 and p62/SQSTM1 (that binds to LC3) staining in renal tissues and in cultured fibroblasts from Fabry patients supports impairment of autophagic flux. These findings suggest that Fabry disease is linked to a deregulation of autophagy.
Iron Deficiency in the Weanling: a Nutritional Problem on the Way to Resolution

ABSTRACT. The rapidly growing weanling becomes vulnerable to iron deficiency when neonatal iron stores have been consumed after the first few months following birth. Whether the infant will progress from the harmless condition of depleted iron stores to the physiological handicaps associated with iron deficiency depends on the selection of foods during the period of weaning. Consumption of fresh cow's milk and of unfortified cow's milk formulas and cereal products predispose to iron deficiency. Breast feeding, iron‐ and ascorbic acid‐fortified cow's milk formulas and cereals, and the use of ascorbic acid‐rich foods and meat decrease the likelihood of iron deficiency. Recent changes in infant feeding practices in the United States have been associated with a marked decline in iron deficiency anemia. A challenge for the future will be to extend this success, particularly to developing countries.
What Do We Really Know About First-Person-Shooter Games? An Event-Related, High-Resolution Content Analysis

Multiple studies have been addressing effects of playing violent video games. However, most such studies neglect users' individual experiences. In fact, each player's gameplaying choices creates his or her own specific game content. Within this study we analyzed the individually generated content of a typical first-person-shooter game with high temporal resolution and associated them with physiological response measures (heart rate, skin conductance) collected during the game play. Thirteen experienced game players played the multiplayer first-person-shooter game “Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror” for 50 minutes on average. Playing phases and events in between were analyzed on both an intraplayer and interplayer level. Results indicate varying gaming experiences in the users and distinct arousal levels over time and for different game events.
INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF POSTNATAL GROWTH OF LOW BIRTHWEIGHT INFANTS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DEVELOPING AND AFFLUENT COUNTRIES

Hofvander Y. (International Child Health Unit, Department of Paediatrics, University of Uppsala, Sweden). International comparisons of postnatal growth of low birth‐weight infants with special reference to differences between developing and affluent countries. Acta Paediatr Scand, Suppl. 296:14, 1982. A large majority of low birthweight infants are born in developing countries where however, only few follow‐up studies have been made. However, there are clear indications that in general the AGA infants catch‐up better than the SGA of the same weight. A particularly poor catch‐up growth is shown by full‐term SGA indicating that if a fetal growth retardations is diagnosed, delivery should be induced prematurely. Social and environmental factors are important for the optimal growth postnatally and particularly so if the environmental conditions are adverse.
Adaptive linear rank tests for eQTL studies

Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) studies are performed to identify single‐nucleotide polymorphisms that modify average expression values of genes, proteins, or metabolites, depending on the genotype. As expression values are often not normally distributed, statistical methods for eQTL studies should be valid and powerful in these situations. Adaptive tests are promising alternatives to standard approaches, such as the analysis of variance or the Kruskal–Wallis test. In a two‐stage procedure, skewness and tail length of the distributions are estimated and used to select one of several linear rank tests. In this study, we compare two adaptive tests that were proposed in the literature using extensive Monte Carlo simulations of a wide range of different symmetric and skewed distributions. We derive a new adaptive test that combines the advantages of both literature‐based approaches. The new test does not require the user to specify a distribution. It is slightly less powerful than the locally most powerful rank test for the correct distribution and at least as powerful as the maximin efficiency robust rank test. We illustrate the application of all tests using two examples from different eQTL studies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Inefficiency in the German Mechanical Engineering Sector 949 Discussion Papers

This paper aims to examine the relative efficiency of German engineering firms using a sample of roughly 23,000 observations between 1995 and 2004. As these firms had been successful in the examination period in terms of outputand export-growth, it is expected that a majority of firms is operating quite efficiently and that the density of efficiency scores is skewed to the left. Moreover, as the German engineering industry is dominated by medium sized firms, the question arises whether these firms are the most efficient ones. Finally an increasing efficiency gap between size classes over time is important since that would be a signal for a structural problem within the industry. The analysis using recently developed DEA methods like bootstrapping or outlier detection contradicts the two first expectations. The firms proved to operate quite inefficiently with an overall mean of 0.69, and efficiency differs significantly with firm size whereas medium sized firms being on average the least efficient ones. When looking at changes in efficiency over time, we find a decreasing efficiency gap between size classes. JEL Codes: C14, L60
Frailty, disability and old age: A re-appraisal

Frailty has become a topic of increasing interest in health care. No longer treated as a catch-all term for agedness, decline and disablement it has acquired a more precise definition, applied to those individuals whose ‘aged’ state is seen to put them at risk of adverse outcomes. This transformation is we argue the outcome of a more general differentiation of terms that were previously used to categorize the weak and marginal within society. Old age re-labelled as ‘later life’ has become re-articulated as a successful life stage relatively free from impairment. Disability has been re-positioned and its links with impairment attenuated while chronic illness has acquired a new narrative of its own. This has left frailty behind, redolent still with all the old negative attributes of marginality, but now more than ever evacuated of any remaining elements of ‘status’ or ‘agency’. Frailty is defined less by the identities of those who are deemed frail than by what frailty seems to augur in its direction of travel — a journey towards unspecified adverse outcomes. This re-positioning, we suggest, helps lay the foundation of a social imaginary of ‘the fourth age’ as the new location of old age.
Clinical Biochemistry and Hematology of the Elusive Sun‐Tailed Monkey (Cercopithecus solatus) in Gabon: Inaugural Data From the Only Semifree Ranging Colony in the World

Clinical blood biochemistry and hematology are valuable tools to evaluate health and welfare in many animal species. In order to document the general biology of one of the most poorly known nonhuman primate species, and contribute to its conservation, the clinical blood biochemistry and hematology of the sun‐tailed monkey (Cercopithecus solatus Harrisson) was investigated in its range of endemicity in Gabon. Data derived from 26 years of clinical monitoring of the only semicaptive colony of this species in the world, housed at CIRMF (Franceville, Gabon), were analyzed in order to establish reference values of age–sex classes. Consistent with previous reports in other primate species, age and sex significantly affected a number of biochemical and hematological parameters in C. solatus. Hematological analyses demonstrated significant differences in red blood cells, hemoglobin (HB), and hematocrit (HT), with males showing significantly greater values than females. In contrast, neutrophil counts were greater in females. An ontogenetic effect was detected for HB, HT, eosinophil, and monocyte counts, while lymphocytes significantly decreased with age. Biochemical analyses also showed significant differences, with females displaying greater cholesterol and alanine aminotransferase levels. Increase in levels of blood urea and aspartate aminotransferase coupled with decrease in albumin in old individuals suggested declining kidney, liver, and muscle functions with age. Interspecific comparisons were conducted and the effects of the unique semifree‐ranging setting on the validity and value of the results presented are discussed. The reference values established will be useful in further ecological, parasitological, and virological studies of the sun‐tailed monkey.
Cooperative coevolution with dependency identification grouping for large scale global optimization

Large scale optimization is a very challenging task in optimization area. The variable interaction in non-separable problems is a primary source of performance loss, especially for large scale problems. Cooperative Coevolution framework is a popular approach to deal with large scale optimization. It is based on a divide-and-conquer manner. This paper proposes a novel algorithm called DISCC to tackle large-scale optimization problems. It adopts a function-based grouping decomposition strategy called Dependency Identification Grouping to distinguish the interactive variables in the decision space. The grouping strategy aims to find the most suitable arrangement for the variables in order to minimize the limitation that occurs when they are grouped into different groups. The experimental results show this new algorithm is more effective than the existing Cooperative-Coevolution-based algorithms.
Antiplatelet Activity of Green Tea Catechins Is Mediated by Inhibition of Cytoplasmic Calcium Increase

We have previously reported that green tea catechins (GTC) display a potent antithrombotic activity, which might be due to antiplatelet rather than anticoagulation effects. In the current study, we investigated the antiplatelet mechanism of GTC. We tested the effects of GTC on the aggregation of human platelets and on the binding of fluorescein isothiocyanate–conjugated fibrinogen to human platelet glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa. GTC inhibited the collagen-, thrombin-, adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-, and calcium ionophore A23187–induced aggregation of washed human platelets, with 50% inhibitory concentration values of 0.64, 0.52, 0.63, and 0.45 mg/ml, respectively. GTC significantly inhibited fibrinogen binding to human platelet surface GPIIb/IIIa complex but failed to inhibit binding to purified GPIIb/IIIa complex. These results indicate that the antiplatelet activity of GTC may be due to inhibition of an intracellular pathway preceding GPIIb/IIIa complex exposure. We also investigated the effects of GTC on intracellular calcium levels, which are critical in determining the activation status of platelets and on induction of platelet aggregation by thapsigargin, which is a selective inhibitor of the Ca 2+ -ATPase pump. Pretreatment of human platelets with GTC significantly inhibited the rise in intracellular Ca 2+ concentration induced by thrombin treatment, and GTC significantly inhibited the thapsigargin-induced platelet aggregation. We also examined the effect of GTC on the second messenger, inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP 3 ). GTC significantly inhibited the phosphoinositide breakdown induced by thrombin. Taken together, these observations suggest that the antiplatelet activity of GTC is be mediated by inhibition of cytoplasmic calcium increase, which leads to the inhibition of fibrinogen-GPIIb/IIIa binding via the activation of Ca 2+ -ATPase and inhibition of IP 3 formation.
Design studies and effect of various rotor pole number of field excitation flux switching motor for hybrid electric vehicle applications

A new structure of field excitation flux switching motor (FEFSM) as an alternative candidate of non-Permanent Magnet (PM) machine for HEV drives is presented in this paper. Design principles and initial performances of the proposed motor at various rotor pole numbers with 12 stator slots are demonstrated. Initially, the coil arrangement tests are examined to validate the operating principle of the motor and to certify the zero rotor position. Furthermore, the profile of flux linkage, induced voltage, cogging torque, torque and power characteristics are observed based on 2D-finite element analysis (FEA). The results obtained show that the appropriate combination of stator slotrotor pole configurations are 12S-10P and 12S-14P which initially provide lowest cogging torque, highest power and torque with sinusoidal back-emf waveforms. Therefore, by further design modification and optimization it is expected that the low cost motor will successfully achieved the target performances.
Is it time to Switch to word embedding and recurrent neural networks for spoken language understanding?

Recently, word embedding representations have been investigated for slot filling in Spoken Language Understanding, along with the use of Neural Networks as classifiers. Neural Networks , especially Recurrent Neural Networks, that are specifically adapted to sequence labeling problems, have been applied successfully on the popular ATIS database. In this work, we make a comparison of this kind of models with the previously state-of-the-art Conditional Random Fields (CRF) classifier on a more challenging SLU database. We show that, despite efficient word representations used within these Neural Networks, their ability to process sequences is still significantly lower than for CRF, while also having a drawback of higher computational costs, and that the ability of CRF to model output label dependencies is crucial for SLU.
ÖZEL İLKÖĞRETİM OKULLARINDA İKİNCİ YABANCI DİL ÖGRETİMİ

Bu calismanin amaci; ilkogretim duzeyinde ulkemizde surdurulmekteolan ikinci yabanci dil ogretimi hakkinda genel bir durum saptamasiyapmaktir. Bu amaca yonelik olarak ozel ilkogretim okullarinda biryabanci dili daha onceden ogrenmeye baslamis ve halen bu ogrenimedevam eden ogrenciler icin ilkogretimin belli bir asamasindan itibarenuygulanmaya baslanan ikinci yabanci dil ogretiminin ana ilkeleri,amaclari, hedefleri ve uygulama esaslari arastirilmistir.Ankara ilinde ikinci yabanci dil ogretimi yapan ozel ilkogretimokullariyla sinirli olan calismada oncelikle genel ogrenme ve ogretmekuramlarindan bahsedilmis, bu kuramlarin yabanci dil ogretimineyaptigi etkiler uzerinde durulmus, yabanci dil ogretiminde kullanilanyontem ve yaklasimlar aciklanarak dil ogretiminde yontem secimininonemi vurgulanmistir. Ayrica yabanci dil derslerinde uygulanan ogretimtekniklerinden soz edilmis, cocuklarda yabanci dil ogretiminingerceklesme asamalari incelenmis ve ikinci yabanci dil ogretimetkinliklerinin cercevesi cizilmeye calisilmistir.Arastirmanin amacina yonelik olarak gelistirilen anketle; soz konusuilkogretim okullarinda ikinci yabanci dil derslerini yurutmekle gorevliogretmenlerin tutum ve gorusleri belirlenmeye calisilmistir.Ozel ilkogretim okullarinda, genellikle lisans duzeyinde egitimesahip, ogretmenlik deneyimi az, sik isyeri degistirmek zorunda kalanikinci yabanci dil ogretmenlerinin gorev yaptigi belirlenmistir. Sozkonusu ogretiminin “Ortak Avrupa Dil Ogretim Cerceve Plani” esasalinarak, genellikle haftada 2 ders saati sureyle, basta “IletisimselYaklasim” ve “Tum Fiziksel Tepki Yontemi” olmak uzere birinci yabancidil ogretiminde kullanilanlarla benzerlik gosteren yabanci dil ogretimyontem, yaklasim, teknik ve etkinlikleri kullanilarak yurutuldugusaptanmistir.
Response to “The importance of controlling genetic variation – remarks on ‘Appropriate rearing density in domesticated zebrafish to avoid masculinization: links with the stress response’”

We appreciate the comment by Delomas and Dabrowski to the [Ribas et al. (2017a)][1] paper and want to mention that we were very much aware of the possible effect of genetic differences in the sex ratio response to increasing rearing density from the beginning. This is why, in each one of the four
Ki-67 and bromodeoxyuridine labeling of human choroidal melanoma cells.

Understanding tumor growth patterns has implications for prognosis as well as for response and susceptibility to treatment. The antibody Ki-67 was used as a marker of cycling cells and bromodeoxyuridine (BrdUrd) was used as a marker of proliferating cells to characterize the cycling and proliferative rates of cells from human choroidal melanoma. The BrdUrd labeling indices varied from 0-1.1% and the Ki-67 labeling indices ranged from 0-3.0. 3%. Linear regression modeling showed good correlation defined by the equation: Ki-67 index = 0.237 + 1.63 x BrdUrd labeling index with r = 0.919. Correlations between these indices and clinical and histologic parameters were not significant.
A family study of DSM-III-R schizoaffective disorder, depressive type, compared with schizophrenia and psychotic and nonpsychotic major depression.

OBJECTIVE To assess the validity of DSM-III-R schizoaffective disorder, the authors explored the morbid risks for schizophrenia and major affective disorders in the first-degree relatives of patients with schizoaffective disorder and relevant other diagnoses. METHOD In addition to patients with DSM-III-R schizoaffective disorder, depressive type (N = 21), the probands included patients with mood-incongruent psychotic depression (N = 22), mood-congruent psychotic depression (N = 19), nonpsychotic depression (N = 27), or schizophrenia (N = 28) and normal subjects (N = 18). The patients were consecutively recruited from the outpatient facilities of a university psychiatry department; the normal subjects were students and nurses. All probands were directly interviewed, with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia--Lifetime Version (SADS-L), by a psychiatrist blind to information about relatives. Consenting relatives were directly interviewed, with the SADS-L, by two psychiatrists blind to the probands' diagnoses. The direct interview was supplemented--or replaced, when an interview was not possible (24%)--by family history data from all available sources. Morbid risks in relatives were calculated according to the Weinberg method. RESULTS The relatives of the schizoaffective patients had almost the same risk for schizophrenia as the relatives of the schizophrenic patients. In the relatives of the patients mood-incongruent psychotic depression, the morbid risk for major affective disorders was about one-half that of the relatives of the patients with mood-congruent psychotic depression and one-third that of the relatives of the patients with nonpsychotic depression, but these differences did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that DSM-III-R schizoaffective disorder is close to schizophrenia and largely corresponds to mainly schizophrenic schizoaffective disorder in the Research Diagnostic Criteria, whereas DSM-III-R mood-incongruent psychotic depression is probably quite heterogeneous and should be studied further.
Pharmacological Criteria for Ventricular Assist Device Insertion Following Postcardiotomy Shock: Experience with the Abiomed BVS System

Aim:Thetraditional approach to postcardiotomy shock includes inotropic support followed by the application of an intra‐aortic balloon pump (IABP). Consideration toward insertion of a ventricular assist device (VAD) becomes necessary when these maneuvers fail to restore hemodynamic stability. The definition of maximal inotropic support, however, is lacking such that a standard formula for VAD insertion remains problematic. The purpose of this paper is to define the pharmacological thresholds for VAD implantation in the setting of postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock. Methods: The medical records of all adult open‐heart operations performed at Hahnemann University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, from 1 July 1996 through 1 July 1999 were reviewed. Specific data were collected on the hernodynamics and inotrope levels upon separation from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The hospital course was reviewed with attention toward documenting hospital mortality. Cardiogenic shock was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) < 100 mmHg, mean pulmonary artery blood pressure (mPAP) > 25 mmHg, central venous pressure (CVP) > 15 mmHg, and cardiac index (CI) < 2.0 L/min/per m2. lnotrope dosages were defined as low, moderate, and high according to assigned values. * A formula for VAD insertion was established if cardiogenic shock parameters were present in the setting of two or more high dose inotropes. Early VAD insertion was defined as implantation within three hours of the first attempt to wean from CPB. The VAD recipients were divided into two groups. Group A were VADs placed in conjunction with the formula. Group B was VADs placed in violation (excess) of the formula. The results of these two groups were compared.
Comparison of Rotavirus A and Rotavirus D Segment 1 Using Apriori Algorithm, Decision Tree, and Support Vector Machine (SVM)

Rotaviruses are the viruses that commonly cause gastroenteritis especially among infants and young children worldwide. Symptoms of rotavirus infection include diarrhea, fever, vomiting and dehydration. There are eight species of this virus: A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. Among them, Rotavirus A is the most common species that cause more than 90% of rotavirus infections in humans whereas Rotavirus D is exclusively found in birds. We harbored suspicion on the factor that causes the difference in infection organisms of two viruses and attempted to compare and contrast segment 1 of Rotavirus A and D for deeper understanding of the specific difference in infection. In this study, we sought for any difference in genome and amino acid sequences between two viruses by applying three kinds of algorithms: Apriori algorithm, Decision Tree, and Support Vector Machine(SVM). Based on the results derived from these algorithms, we concluded that the functional difference in infection originates from the significant distribution of amino acids. Discovery of this relationship between frequencies of amino acids and differences in two viruses and especially characteristics of avian viral infections will contribute to the enhancement of the understanding rotavirus itself, and moreover, development of relevant vaccination for relevant forms of mutation.