Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Advanced Coronary and Carotid Arteriopathy in Young Adults With Childhood-Onset Chronic Renal Failure

Background—Cardiovascular mortality is excessive in young adults with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The factors contributing to ESRD-related vascular disease are incompletely understood. Young adults with childhood-onset chronic renal failure (CRF) are uniquely suited for risk factor assessment because of their long-term exposure at an age when vascular pathology in the general population is still minimal. Methods and Results—We used novel noninvasive technologies to screen for coronary and carotid artery disease in 39 patients with ESRD aged 19 to 39 years with childhood-onset CRF presently treated by dialysis or renal transplantation. Coronary artery calcification burden was assessed by CT scan with ECG gating and the intima-media thickness (IMT) of the carotid arteries by high-resolution ultrasound. Coronary artery calcifications were present in 92% of patients; calcium scores exceeded the 95th age- and sex-specific percentiles >10-fold on average. Carotid IMT was significantly increased compared with matched control subjects. Both coronary calcium scores and IMT were associated with cumulative dialysis and ESRD time and the cumulative serum calcium-phosphate product. Coronary calcium scores were strongly correlated with C-reactive protein and Chlamydia pneumoniae seropositivity, time-averaged mean serum parathyroid hormone, and plasma homocysteine. C-reactive protein and parathyroid hormone independently predicted coronary calcium accumulation. Smoking, obesity, and HbA1c were correlated with IMT in the control subjects but not in the patients. Conclusions—Young adults with childhood-onset CRF have a high prevalence of arteriopathy associated with indicators of microinflammation, hyperparathyroidism, calcium-phosphate overload, and hyperhomocysteinemia but not traditional atherogenic risk factors. These risk factors persist even after successful renal transplantation.
The Significance of Consumer’s Awareness about Organic Food Products in the United Arab Emirates

Awareness about negative externalities generated by conventional farming is gaining momentum with consumers around the world, opting for alternatively, namely organically, produced food products. Information about consumers’ awareness is an essential element for farmers and marketing agencies to successfully plan production that can capture a greater market share. This study discusses effective factors influencing consumers’ awareness about the benefits of organic food in the United Arab Emirates. Sample data and ordinary least square (OLS) regression techniques are applied to delineate factors influencing consumers’ awareness about organic food. The results from this regression analysis highlight the importance of specific socioeconomic determinants that change awareness about organic food products in United Arab Emirates (UAE) households. This study finds that awareness about organic food is influenced more effective factors such as gender, nationality, and education as well as income, occupation and age. These research findings apply to other economies and societies that have an increasing per capita spending on organic food, but also where people are highly sensitive to information provided about organic food. Therefore, these results are important to these research beneficiaries including food marketing planners, researchers, and agricultural and food policy makers.
The Influence Factors Study on Acid Corrosion Fracture Conductivity

The influence factors of acid corrosion fracture conductivity included fracture width, acid type and concentration, close pressure, reaction temperature, acid injection rate, et al. The experiment was conducted to study the change of etched fracture conductivity with different acid type and close pressure. The results show that conventional acid tend to produce uniform etched fracture, gelled acid and self-diverting acid prefer to produce non-uniform etched fracture. Besides, conventional acid contributes to improve etched fracture conductivity, gelled acid and self-diverting acid contribute to stabilize fracture conductivity.
Complex Signaling Network in Regulation of Adenosine 5′-Phosphosulfate Reductase by Salt Stress in Arabidopsis Roots1[W]

Sulfur-containing compounds play an important role in plant stress defense; however, only a little is known about the molecular mechanisms of regulation of sulfate assimilation by stress. Using known Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutants in signaling pathways, we analyzed regulation of the key enzyme of sulfate assimilation, adenosine 5′-phosphosulfate reductase (APR), by salt stress. APR activity and mRNA levels of all three APR isoforms increased 3-fold in roots after 5 h of treatment with 150 mm NaCl. The regulation of APR was not affected in mutants deficient in abscisic acid (ABA) synthesis and treatment of the plants with ABA did not affect the mRNA levels of APR isoforms, showing that APR is regulated by salt stress in an ABA-independent manner. In mutants deficient in jasmonate, salicylate, or ethylene signaling, APR mRNA levels were increased upon salt exposure similar to wild-type plants. Surprisingly, however, APR enzyme activity was not affected by salt in these plants. The same result was obtained in mutants affected in cytokinin and auxin signaling. Signaling via gibberellic acid, on the other hand, turned out to be essential for the increase in APR mRNA by salt treatment. These results demonstrate an extensive posttranscriptional regulation of plant APR and reveal that the sulfate assimilation pathway is controlled by a complex network of multiple signals on different regulatory levels.
State-Level Data Borrowing for Low-Resource Speech Recognition Based on Subspace GMMs

Large vocabulary continuous speech recognition is always a difficult task, and it is particularly so for low-resource languages. The scenario we focus on here is having only 1 hour of acoustic training data in the “target” language. This paper presents work on a data borrowing strategy combined with the recently proposed Subspace Gaussian Mixture Model (SGMM). We developed data borrowing strategies based on two approaches: one based on minimizing K-L Divergence, and one that also takes into account state occupation counts. We demonstrate improvements versus the baseline SGMM setup, which itself is better than a conventional HMM-GMM system. The SGMMs are more robustly estimated by borrowing data from the non-target language at the acousticstate level. Although we tested the approach for SGMMs, we expect the general idea of borrowing data from a non-target language to be applicable for conventional GMMs as well. Index Terms: speech recognition, low-resource language, subspace gaussian mixture model
Simultaneous Learning of Structure and Value in Relational Reinforcement Learning

We introduce an approach to model-free relational reinforcement learning in finitehorizon, undiscounted domains with a single terminal reward of success or failure. We represent the value function as a relational naive Bayes network and show that both the value (parameters) and structure of this network can be learned efficiently under a minimum description length (MDL) framework. We describe the SVRRL and FAA-SVRRL algorithms for efficiently performing simultaneous structure and value learning and apply FAA-SVRRL to the domain of Backgammon. FAA-SVRRL produces a high-performance agent in very few training games and with little computational effort, thus demonstrating the efficacy of the SVRRL approach for large relational domains.
Mind the gap: can we explain declining male reproductive health with known antiandrogens?

Several countries have experienced rises in cryptorchidisms, hypospadias and testicular germ cell cancer. The reasons for these trends are largely unknown, but Skakkebaek has proposed that these disorders form a testicular dysgenesis syndrome and can be traced to androgen insufficiency in foetal life. This suggests that antiandrogenic chemicals might contribute to risks, but few chemicals have been linked to these diseases in epidemiological studies. In animal studies with p,p ′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene, effects typical of disruptions of male sexual differentiation became apparent when the foetal levels of this androgen receptor (AR) antagonist approached values associated with responses in in vitro assays. This prompted us to analyse whether the 22 chemicals with AR antagonistic properties would produce mixture effects in an in vitro AR antagonism assay when combined at concentrations found in human serum. Other antiandrogenic modalities could not be considered. Two scenarios were investigated, one representative of average serum levels reported in European countries, the other in line with levels towards the high exposures. In both situations, the in vitro potency of the 22 selected AR antagonists was too low to produce combined AR antagonistic effects at the concentrations found in human serum, although the high exposure scenario came quite close to measurable effects. Nevertheless, our analysis exposes an explanation gap which can only be bridged by conjuring up as yet undiscovered high potency AR antagonists or, alternatively, high exposures to unknown agents of average potency.
Transmission Assessment Surveys (TAS) to Define Endpoints for Lymphatic Filariasis Mass Drug Administration: A Multicenter Evaluation

Background Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is targeted for global elimination through treatment of entire at-risk populations with repeated annual mass drug administration (MDA). Essential for program success is defining and confirming the appropriate endpoint for MDA when transmission is presumed to have reached a level low enough that it cannot be sustained even in the absence of drug intervention. Guidelines advanced by WHO call for a transmission assessment survey (TAS) to determine if MDA can be stopped within an LF evaluation unit (EU) after at least five effective rounds of annual treatment. To test the value and practicality of these guidelines, a multicenter operational research trial was undertaken in 11 countries covering various geographic and epidemiological settings. Methodology The TAS was conducted twice in each EU with TAS-1 and TAS-2 approximately 24 months apart. Lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) formed the basis of the TAS survey design but specific EU characteristics defined the survey site (school or community), eligible population (6–7 year olds or 1st–2nd graders), survey type (systematic or cluster-sampling), target sample size, and critical cutoff (a statistically powered threshold below which transmission is expected to be no longer sustainable). The primary diagnostic tools were the immunochromatographic (ICT) test for W. bancrofti EUs and the BmR1 test (Brugia Rapid or PanLF) for Brugia spp. EUs. Principal Findings/Conclusions In 10 of 11 EUs, the number of TAS-1 positive cases was below the critical cutoff, indicating that MDA could be stopped. The same results were found in the follow-up TAS-2, therefore, confirming the previous decision outcome. Sample sizes were highly sex and age-representative and closely matched the target value after factoring in estimates of non-participation. The TAS was determined to be a practical and effective evaluation tool for stopping MDA although its validity for longer-term post-MDA surveillance requires further investigation.
Recognizing Textual Entailment Using Lexical, Syntactical, and Semantic Information

paper describes our system for participating in the system validation subtask of NTCIR-11 RITE-VAL. We trained a SVM model with LibSVM using features extracted from labeled sentence pairs. Besides features based on lexical, syntactic and semantic analysis, we introduce a novel approach of extracting "concepts" from a sentence and generating features based on it. Unlabeled testing sentence pairs' features are extracted through the same process, and the SVM model that we have trained predicts their labels.
Advanced Language Recognition using Cepstra and Phonotactics: MITLL System Performance on the NIST 2005 Language Recognition Evaluation

This paper presents a description of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory submissions to the 2005 NIST Language Recognition Evaluation (LRE05). As was true in 2003, the 2005 submissions were combinations of core cepstral and phonotactic recognizers whose outputs were fused to generate final scores. For the 2005 evaluation, Lincoln Laboratory had five submissions built upon fused combinations of six core systems. Major improvements included the generation of phone streams using lattices, SVM-based language models using lattice-derived phonotactics, and binary tree language models. In addition, a development corpus was assembled that was designed to test robustness to unseen languages and sources. Language recognition trends based on NIST evaluations conducted since 1996 show a steady improvement in language recognition performance
A Concept Model about Allometric Scaling of Hierarchical Energy Flow through Plant Biosystems

Ecologists have long sought a general metabolic scaling law (e.g., the 3/4 power law), although the size-independent mass-special metabolic ratemay have been selected for over evolutionary time. Here, we outline four hierarchical energy processes along the path of energy flow. These processes are represented as the scaling exponents of mass-dependent energy flow (e.g., a 1/4-scaling rule for individuals and a 1/3-scaling rule for populations). Individuals and populations have evolved as the conduits of energy flow. Interestingly, the mass-dependent hierarchical energy flow can help explain the development of a tree population. Our theory highlights that mass-dependent hierarchical energy flow may act as a metabolic integrator and suggests an energetic explanation of the evolution of plant biosystems from the individual to the community level.
Conservative Bandits

We study a novel multi-armed bandit problem that models the challenge faced by a company wishing to explore new strategies to maximize revenue whilst simultaneously maintaining their revenue above a fixed baseline, uniformly over time. While previous work addressed the problem under the weaker requirement of maintaining the revenue constraint only at a given fixed time in the future, the design of those algorithms makes them unsuitable under the more stringent constraints. We consider both the stochastic and the adversarial settings, where we propose natural yet novel strategies and analyze the price for maintaining the constraints. Amongst other things, we prove both high probability and expectation bounds on the regret, while we also consider both the problem of maintaining the constraints with high probability or expectation. For the adversarial setting the price of maintaining the constraint appears to be higher, at least for the algorithm considered. A lower bound is given showing that the algorithm for the stochastic setting is almost optimal. Empirical results obtained in synthetic environments complement our theoretical findings.
Navigation techniques for dual-display e-book readers

Existing e-book readers do not do a good job supporting many reading tasks that people perform, as ethnographers report that when reading, people frequently read from multiple display surfaces. In this paper we present our design of a dual display e-book reader and explore how it can be used to interact with electronic documents. Our design supports embodied interactions like folding, flipping, and fanning for local/lightweight navigation. We also show how mechanisms like Space Filling Thumbnails can use the increased display space to aid global navigation. Lastly, the detachable faces in our design can facilitate inter-document operations and flexible layout of documents in the workspace. Semi-directed interviews with seven users found that dual-displays have the potential to improve the reading experience by supporting several local navigation tasks better than a single display device. Users also identified many reading tasks for which the device would be valuable. Users did not find the embodied interface particularly useful when reading in our controlled lab setting, however.
Enhancing Online Finance Education for Non-Financial Managers

Many nurse executives and managers have had to learn financial management skills, including planning, controlling, implementing, and analyzing departmental budgets, on the job. In today's healthcare environment, organizations are becoming aware of the value of hiring nurse executives who can speak the financial language and employ financial skills to operate their areas. As more and more nurses are pursuing advanced degrees online, schools of nursing face an imperative to find effective ways of helping students achieve program competencies related to finance in an online environment. Cognitive apprenticeship, as a framework for teaching and learning, facilitates rapid acquisition of knowledge of essential concepts and skills needed to meet such competencies in an online, graduate-level finance course, including the use of spreadsheet software. The application of cognitive apprenticeship provides faculty with seven strategies to facilitate higher-level thinking skills: modeling, coaching, scaffolding, fading, articulation and reflection, and exploration (promoting transfer of learning).
This is your Twitter on drugs: Any questions?

Twitter can be a rich source of information when one wants to monitor trends related to a given topic. In this paper, we look at how tweets can augment a public health program that studies emerging patterns of illicit drug use. We describe the architecture necessary to collect vast numbers of tweets over time based on a large number of search terms and the challenges that come with finding relevant information in the collected tweets. We then show several examples of early analysis we have done on this data, examining temporal and geospatial trends.
Promoting evidence-based childhood fever management through a peer education programme based on the theory of planned behaviour.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This study examined effectiveness of a theoretically based education programme in reducing inappropriate antipyretic use in fever management. BACKGROUND Paediatric nurses' inconsistent, ritualistic antipyretic use in fever management is influenced by many factors including inconsistent beliefs and parental requests. Determinants of antipyretic administration, identified by the theory of planned behaviour, were belief-based attitudes and subjective norms. DESIGN A quasi-experiment explored group effects of a peer education programme, based on the theory of planned behaviour, on factors influencing paediatric nurses' antipyretic administration. Surveys and chart audits collected data from medical wards at experimental and control hospitals one month pre and one and four months postpeer education programme. METHODS All nurses employed in targeted wards were eligible to participate in surveys and all eligible charts were audited. The peer education programme consisted of four one-hour sessions targeting evidence-based knowledge, myths and misconceptions, normative, attitudinal and control influences over and rehearsal of evidence-based fever management. All nurses in experimental hospital targeted wards were eligible to attend. Peer education and support facilitated session information reaching those unable to attend sessions. RESULTS Two-way univariate anovas explored between subject, experimental and control group and within subject factors, pre, post and latency data. Significant interactions in normative influence (p = 0.01) and intentions (p = 0.01), a significant main group effect in control influence (p = 0.01) and a significant main effect between audit data across time points (p = 0.03) highlight peer education programme effectiveness in behaviour change. Normative, control and intention changes postpeer education programme were maintained in latency data; mean temperature was not. CONCLUSION The peer education programme, based on a behaviour change theory, initiated and maintained evidence-based intentions for antipyretics use in fever management. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE The promotion of evidence-based change in organizational unit intentions and behaviour highlights the crucial role peer support and education can play in continuing educational programmes.
A Chromatin-associated Kinesin-related Protein Required for Normal Mitotic Chromosome Segregation in Drosophila

The tiovivo (tio) gene of Drosophila encodes a kinesin-related protein, KLP38B, that colocalizes with condensed chromatin during cell division. Wild-type function of the tio gene product KLP38B is required for normal chromosome segregation during mitosis. Mitotic cells in tio larval brains displayed circular mitotic figures, increased ploidy, and abnormal anaphase figures. KLP38B mRNA is maternally provided and expressed in cells about to undergo division. We propose that KLP38B, perhaps redundantly with other chromosome-associated microtubule motor proteins, contributes to interactions between chromosome arms and microtubules important for establishing bipolar attachment of chromosomes and assembly of stable bipolar spindles.
Efficacy of sulphadoxine–pyrimethamine alone or combined with amodiaquine or chloroquine for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in Ugandan children

The rapid development of falciparum resistance to sulphadoxine–pyrimethamine (SP) in East and Central Africa has raised concerns as to the efficacy of combining it with another drug. In 2002, we assessed the efficacy of SP alone and combined with amodiaquine (AQ/SP) or chloroquine (CQ/SP) in Ugandan children with uncomplicated falciparum malaria. At day 14, adequate clinical response was 100% (84/84) for AQ/SP, 93% (92/101) for CQ/SP and 91% (73/80) for SP. At day 28, parasitological failure (RI–RIII) occurred in 16% (13/80) of children treated with AQ/SP, in 48% (48/100) of those treated with CQ/SP and in 61% (48/79) of those treated with SP alone. Compared with the AQ/SP arm, the odds for parasitological failure at day 28 were five times higher (95% CI, 2–10) in the CQ/SP group and sevenfold higher (95% CI, 3–17) in that of SP alone. CQ/SP does not offer any significant added benefit over SP alone while AQ/SP is an efficacious low‐cost combination. These findings have important policy implications for Uganda and other resource‐constrained African countries faced with the problematic choice of a new first‐line antimalarial treatment in a context of high CQ resistance.
Using Expression Profiling to Understand the Effects of Chronic Cadmium Exposure on MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells

Cadmium is a metalloestrogen known to activate the estrogen receptor and promote breast cancer cell growth. Previous studies have implicated cadmium in the development of more malignant tumors; however the molecular mechanisms behind this cadmium-induced malignancy remain elusive. Using clonal cell lines derived from exposing breast cancer cells to cadmium for over 6 months (MCF-7-Cd4, -Cd6, -Cd7, -Cd8 and -Cd12), this study aims to identify gene expression signatures associated with chronic cadmium exposure. Our results demonstrate that prolonged cadmium exposure does not merely result in the deregulation of genes but actually leads to a distinctive expression profile. The genes deregulated in cadmium-exposed cells are involved in multiple biological processes (i.e. cell growth, apoptosis, etc.) and molecular functions (i.e. cadmium/metal ion binding, transcription factor activity, etc.). Hierarchical clustering demonstrates that the five clonal cadmium cell lines share a common gene expression signature of breast cancer associated genes, clearly differentiating control cells from cadmium exposed cells. The results presented in this study offer insights into the cellular and molecular impacts of cadmium on breast cancer and emphasize the importance of studying chronic cadmium exposure as one possible mechanism of promoting breast cancer progression.