Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
No association of age-related maculopathy susceptibility protein 2/HtrA serine peptidase 1 or complement factor H polymorphisms with early age-related maculopathy in a Chinese cohort

Purpose Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of age-related maculopathy susceptibility protein 2/HtrA serine peptidase 1 (ARMS2/HTRA1) and complement factor H (CFH) have been reported to be associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of ARMS2/HTRA1 and CFH SNPs with early age-related maculopathy (ARM) in a Han Chinese cohort. Methods The cohort consisted of 315 unrelated subjects, including 158 patients with early ARM and 157 recruited controls. Early ARM was diagnosed and graded according to the Age-Related Eye Disease Study criteria. Four SNPs in ARMS2/HTRA1 and six SNPs in CFH previously reported to be associated with AMD were genotyped using TaqMan genotyping assays. Logistic regression implemented with the R statistical language was used for association analysis. Results None of the ARMS2/HTRA1 and CFH SNPs showed any significant association with early ARM (all p>0.453), with the odds ratios ranging from 0.88 to 1.17. None of the SNPs were associated with unilateral or bilateral early ARM or any grade of early ARM (all p>0.249). Conclusions The association of ARMS2/HTRA1 and CFH SNPs in early ARM was not detected in our cohort. The findings in the current study indicated that the effects of ARMS2/HTRA1 and CFH in early ARM could be much lower compared to those in AMD.
Cogmed WM Training: Reviewing the Reviews

Abstract Does Cogmed working-memory training (CWMT) work? Independent groups of reviewers have come to what appears to be starkly different conclusions to this question, causing somewhat of a debate within scientific and popular media. Here, various studies, meta-analyses, and reviews of the Cogmed research literature will be considered to provide an overview of our present understanding regarding the effects of CWMT. These will particularly be considered in light of two recent critical reviews published by Melby-Lervåg and Hulme (2013) and Shipstead, Hicks, and Engle (2012) and their arguments and conclusions assessed against current available evidence. Importantly we describe how the conclusions drawn by Melby-Lervåg and Hulme appear to contradict their own findings. In fact, the results from their meta-analysis show highly significant effects of working-memory (WM) training on improving visuospatial WM and verbal WM (both ps < .001). In addition, analyses of long-term follow-ups show that effects on visuospatial WM remain significant over time (again at p < .001). Thus, the analyses show that WM is indeed improved using WM training, and the highest effect sizes are achieved using CWMT (compared with other training programs). We also conclude that there is current evidence from several studies using different types of outcome measures that shows attention can be improved following CWMT. In a little more than a decade, there is evidence that suggests that Cogmed has a significant impact upon visual-spatial and verbal WM, and these effects generalize to improved sustained attention up to 6 months. We discuss the evidence for improvements in academic abilities and conclude that although some promising studies are pointing to benefits gained from CWMT, more controlled studies are needed before we can make strong and specific claims on this topic. In conclusion, we find that there is a consensus in showing that WM capacity and attention is improved following CWMT. Due to the importance of WM and attention in everyday functioning, this is, on its own, of great potential value.
Bacterial Colonization and Vertical Distribution of Marine Gel Particles (TEP and CSP) in the Arctic Fram Strait

Gel particles—a class of abundant transparent organic particles—have increasingly gathered attention in marine research. Field studies on the bacterial colonization of marine gels however are still scarce. So far, most studies on respective particles have focused on the upper ocean, while little is known on their occurrence in the deep sea. Here, we report on the vertical distribution of the two most common gel particle types, which are polysaccharide-containing transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) and proteinaceous Coomassie stainable particles (CSP), as well as numbers of bacteria attached to gel particles throughout the water column, from the surface ocean down to the bathypelagial (< 3,000 m). Our study was conducted in the Arctic Fram Strait during northern hemispheres' summer in 2015. Besides data on the bacterial colonization of the two gel particle types (TEP and CSP), we present bacterial densities on different gel particle size classes according to 12 different sampling depths at four sampling locations. Gel particles were frequently abundant at all sampled depths, and their concentrations decreased from the euphotic zone to the dark ocean. They were colonized by bacteria at all sampled water depths with risen importance at the deepest water layers, where fractions of bacteria attached to gel particles (%) increased within the total bacterial community. Due to the omnipresent bacterial colonization of gel particles at all sampled depths in our study, we presume that euphotic production of this type of organic matter may affect microbial species distribution within the whole water column in the Fram Strait, down to the deep sea. Our results raise the question if changes in the bacterial community composition and functioning on gel particles occur over depth, which may affect microbial respiration and remineralization rates of respective particles in different water layers.
Interaction and Functional Cooperation between the LIM Protein FHL2, CBP/p300, and β-Catenin

ABSTRACT Transcriptional activation of gene expression by Wnt signaling is driven by the association of β-catenin with TCF/LEF factors and the recruitment of transcriptional coactivators. It has been shown that the LIM protein FHL2 and the acetyltransferase CBP/p300 individually stimulate β-catenin transactivating activity and that β-catenin is acetylated by p300. Here, we report that FHL2 and CBP/p300 synergistically enhanced β-catenin/TCF-mediated transcription from Wnt-responsive promoters and that the acetyltransferase activity of CBP/p300 was involved in the cooperation. CBP/p300 interacted directly with FHL2, predominantly through the CH3 domain but not the histone acetyltransferase domain, and different regions of CBP/p300 were involved in FHL2 and β-catenin binding. We provided evidence for the formation of a ternary complex by FHL2, CBP/p300, and β-catenin and for colocalization of the three proteins in the nucleus. In murine FHL2−/− embryo fibroblasts, the transactivation activity of β-catenin/TCF was markedly reduced, and this defect could be restored by exogenous expression of FHL2. However, CBP/p300 were still able to coactivate the β-catenin/TCF complex in FHL2−/− cells, suggesting that FHL2 is dispensable for the coactivator function of CBP/p300 on β-catenin. Furthermore, we found that FHL2 significantly increased acetylation of β-catenin by p300 in vivo. Finally, we showed that FHL2, CBP/p300, and β-catenin could synergistically activate androgen receptor-mediated transcription, indicating that the synergistic coactivator function is not restricted to TCF/LEF.
Multiple kernel discriminant analysis

This paper proposes a multiple kernel construction method for kernel discriminant analysis. The constructed kernel is a linear combination of several base kernels with a constraint on their weights. By maximizing the margin maximization criterion (MMC), we present an iterative scheme for weight optimization. The experiments on several UCI real data benchmarks show that, the constructed kernel with optimized weights results in high classification accuracy, compared with multiple kernel learning under the framework of support vector machines. The experiments also show that the constructed kernel relaxes parameter selection for kernel discriminant analysis to some extent.
Relationship between alanine aminotransferase levels and type 2 diabetes mellitus in the general Chinese population

Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is a strong biomarker of liver fat accumulation and hepatic insulin sensitivity. Previous studies have demonstrated that liver enzymes are predictors for incident diabetes, but few of these studies were conducted in the general Chinese population. However, one study, in an older (≥50 years) urban cohort, did show such a relationship. The present large-scale cross-sectional study was undertaken to investigate the association between ALT concentrations and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development

Early Jazz is one of the seminal books on American jazz, ranging from the beginnings of jazz as a distinct musical style at the turn of the century to its first great flowering in the 1930s. Schuller explores the music of the great jazz soloists of the twenties--Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, and others--and the big bands and arrangers--Fletcher Henderson, Bennie Moten, and especially Duke Ellington--placing their music in the context of the other musical cultures of the twentieth century and offering analyses of many great jazz recordings. Early Jazz provides a musical tour of the early American jazz world. A classic study, it is both a splendid introduction for students and an insightful guide for scholars, musicians, and jazz aficionados.
Synergism of INS and PDR in Self-Contained Pedestrian Tracking With a Miniature Sensor Module

This paper presents a sensor-based pedestrian tracking technology that does not rely on any infrastructure. The information about human walking is monitored by a sensor module composed of accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers. The acquired information is used by an algorithm proposed in this paper to accurately compute the position of a pedestrian. Through the application of human kinetics, the algorithm integrates two traditional technologies: strap-down inertial navigation and pedestrian dead-reckoning. Based on the algorithm, this paper presents several methods to improve the accuracy of pedestrian tracking through reducing the integral drift which is the main cause of errors in inertial navigation. These methods have been carefully investigated through theoretical study, simulation and field experiment. The results indicate accurate tracking is achievable through the application of both the proposed algorithm and methods. Evidently, it is feasible to develop self-contained pedestrian tracking system using inertial/magnetic sensors, eliminating the need for complicated and normally expensive infrastructure that most existing tracking systems rely on.
Ultrasonic Assessment of Myocardial Microstructure in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Sarcomere Mutation Carriers With and Without Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

Background—The noninvasive assessment of altered myocardium in patients with genetic mutations that are associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) remains challenging. In this pilot study, we evaluated whether a novel echocardiography-based assessment of myocardial microstructure, the signal intensity coefficient (SIC), could detect tissue-level alterations in HCM sarcomere mutation carriers with and without left ventricular hypertrophy. Methods and Results—We studied 3 groups of genotyped individuals: sarcomere mutation carriers with left ventricular hypertrophy (clinical HCM; n=36), mutation carriers with normal left ventricular wall thickness (subclinical HCM; n=28), and healthy controls (n=10). We compared measurements of echocardiographic SIC with validated assessments of cardiac microstructural alteration, including cardiac magnetic resonance measures of interstitial fibrosis (extracellular volume fraction), as well as serum biomarkers (NTproBNP, hs-cTnI, and PICP). In age-, sex-, and familial relation–adjusted analyses, the SIC was quantitatively different across subjects with overt HCM, subclinical HCM, and healthy controls (P<0.001). Compared with controls, the SIC was 61% higher in overt HCM and 47% higher in subclinical HCM (P<0.001 for both). The SIC was significantly correlated with extracellular volume (r=0.72; P<0.01), with left ventricular mass and E′ velocity (r=0.45, -0.60, respectively; P<0.01 for both), and with serum NTproBNP levels (r=0.36; P<0.001). Conclusions—Our findings suggest that the SIC could serve as a noninvasive quantitative tool for assessing altered myocardial tissue characteristics in patients with genetic mutations associated with HCM. Further studies are needed to determine whether the SIC could be used to identify subclinical changes in patients at risk for HCM and to evaluate the effects of interventions.
The presence of a soluble interphotoreceptor retinol‐binding protein (IRBP) in the retinal interphotoreceptor space

A new, gentle technique has been developed for washing of the retinal interphotoreceptor space (IPS) to obtain soluble components of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Using this method, we have determined that the major soluble coustituent of monkey IPS is a 146,000 Mr glycoprotein, which binds [3H]retinol, sediments on sucrose gradients at 7S and has an Rf of 0.42 on native gel electrophoresis. Using size‐exclusion high performance liquid chromatography, the apparent molecular weight of the native protein was calculated to be 250,000 daltons. In contrast to previous studies, no 15,000‐dalton cellular retinol‐binding protein (CRBP) or 33,000‐dalton cellular retinaldehydebinding protein (CRALBP) was observed in the IPS wash, indicating that these proteins are probably not involved in retinol transport between retina and pigment epithelium (PE). In the supernatant fraction of retinal homogenates that contains soluble intracellular proteins as well as extracellular constituents, the 146,000 Mr protein was closely associated with a 93,000 Mr protein that could be separated on SDS‐gel electrophoresis; the 93,000 Mr protein was not found in the IPS wash. The 146,000 Mr interphotoreceptor retinol‐binding protein (IRBP) may function in extracellular retinol transport in the IPS.
Cloning and characterization of the gene (farA) encoding the receptor for an extracellular regulatory factor (IM-2) from Streptomyces sp. strain FRI-5

IM-2 is a butyrolactone autoregulator that controls production of blue pigment and nucleoside antibiotics in Streptomyces sp. strain FRI-5. An IM-2-specific receptor gene, farA, was cloned from strain FRI-5, and nucleotide sequencing revealed that the farA gene consists of 666 bp encoding a 221-amino-acid protein of 24.3 kDa with an NH2-terminal amino acid sequence identical to that of purified native receptor. Another gene, farX, encoding a homolog of AfsA of Streptomyces griseus, was present upstream of farA. The monocistronic nature of the farA transcript was shown by Northern blot hybridization, and the transcript level increased upon addition of IM-2. Recombinant FarA expressed in and purified from E. coli showed clear ligand specificity toward IM-2, with a dissociation constant (Kd) for [3H]IM-2-C5 of 18.2 nM. FarA showed high overall homology to BarA (virginiae butanolide receptor from S. virginiae) and ArpA (A-factor receptor from S. griseus). Sequence alignment of the three receptor proteins revealed that the NH2-terminal region containing a helix-turn-helix DNA binding motif was highly conserved. The DNA binding motif is common in procaryotic repressors of the TetR family, suggesting that all the Streptomyces autoregulator receptors may act as transcriptional repressors.
DIOGENES LAERTIUS

re-edit the entire work (see www.cx.unibe.ch/kps/forschung.html, and note now his overview in W. Hübner [ed.], Geographie und verwandte Wissenschaften [Stuttgart, 2000], pp. 195–208). Two other signiμcant new contributions are the collection edited by D. N. Parsons and P. Sims-Williams, Ptolemy: Towards a Linguistic Atlas of the Earliest Celtic Place-names of Europe (Aberystwyth, 2000), with papers by J. Gorrochategui and P.-Y. Lambert focusing on Gaul; and J. M. Headley’s appreciation (with invaluable bibliography) of the stunning intellectual impact made by the μrst printed maps drawn according to Ptolemy’s instructions, in his ‘Geography and Empire in the Late Renaissance: Botero’s Assignment, Western Universalism, and the Civilizing Process’, Renaissance Quarterly 53 (2000), 1119–55. None of the limitations, let it be stressed, takes away from the lasting value of the translation and associated explanatory material. This book at once becomes a standard work, with wide appeal, long overdue.
Ukraine: The Cost of Weak Institutions

Ukraine has the potential to be a very wealthy country. It has a well-educated workforce, some of the best agricultural land in the world, an enviable supply of hydrocarbons and minerals, and a relatively well-developed infrastructure. Despite these advantages, however, Ukraine's per capita income remains low. Using a cross-country stochastic-frontier framework, this paper argues that Ukraine's failure to tap its full potential is mainly a result of its market-unfriendly institutional base. With an inherited Soviet framework that is ill suited to the needs of a market economy, Ukraine has been slow to establish the institutions needed to use its resources efficiently. The paper provides a quantitative guide to the benefits, in terms of potential output, of further structural reform. Looking forward, the study finds that durable growth in Ukraine will depend primarily on the authorities' ability to implement their ambitious reform agenda, and thereby to help secure the basic foundations of a modern market economy.
Improved quantification of left ventricular mass based on endo-and epicardial surface detection using real-time three-dimensional echocardiography

Objective: Our goal was to develop a technique for volumetric analysis of real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) data aimed at quantification of LV mass and validate it against magnetic resonance (MR) assumed as “gold standard”. Design: RT3DE, which has recently become widely available, provides dynamic pyramidal data structures that encompass the entire heart and allows four-dimensional assessment of cardiac anatomy and function. However, analysis techniques for the quantification of left ventricular (LV) mass from RT3DE data are fundamentally two-dimensional, rely on geometric modelling and do not fully exploit the volumetric information contained in RT3DE datasets. Twenty-one patients underwent 2D echocardiography (2DE), RT3DE and cardiac MR. LV mass was measured from 2DE and MR images using conventional techniques. RT3DE data were analyzed to semi-automatically detect endocardial and epicardial LV surfaces using the level-set approach. From the detected surfaces, LV mass was computed directly in the 3D space as voxel counts. Results: RT3DE measurements were feasible in 19/21 patients and resulted in higher correlation with MR (r=0.96) than 2DE (r=0.79). RT3DE measurements also had a significantly smaller bias (-2.1g) and tighter limits of agreement (2SD:±23g) with MR than the 2DE values (bias (2SD):-34.9 (50) g). Additionally, interobserver variability of RT3DE (12.5%) was significantly lower than that of 2DE (24.1%). Conclusions: Direct 3D model-independent LV mass measurements from RT3DE images are feasible in the clinical setting and provide fast and accurate assessment of LV mass, superior to the 2D analysis techniques.
Dynamic hot-cold separation scheme on the log-structured file system for CE devices

Recently, many researchers have focused on the log-structured file system because its layout helps to enhance the performance of the consumer electronics (CE) devices that employ NAND flash storages as their main storage. In this paper, we present a novel hot-cold separation scheme that dynamically identifies the temperatures of blocks in the file system with a hint from the page cache. Our experimental results clearly show that our scheme reduces the number of copy operations by up to 6.1 times compared with the F2FS.
Farm Scale Evaluations of spring-sown genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops: a statistical assessment

Primary results from the Farm Scale Evaluations (FSEs) of spring-sown genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops were published in 2003. We provide a statistical assessment of the results for count data, addressing issues of sample size (n), efficiency, power, statistical significance, variability and model selection. Treatment effects were consistent between rare and abundant species. Coefficients of variation averaged 73% but varied widely. High variability in vegetation indicators was usually offset by large n and treatment effects, whilst invertebrate indicators often had smaller n and lower variability; overall, achieved power was broadly consistent across indicators. Inferences about treatment effects were robust to model misspecification, justifying the statistical model adopted. As expected, increases in n would improve detectability of effects whilst, for example, halving n would have resulted in a loss of significant results of about the same order. 40% of the 531 published analyses had greater than 80% power to detect a 1.5-fold effect; reducing n by one-third would most likely halve the number of analyses meeting this criterion. Overall, the data collected vindicated the initial statistical power analysis and the planned replication. The FSEs provide a valuable database of variability and estimates of power under various sample size scenarios to aid planning of more efficient future studies.
Reinforcement Learning Output Feedback NN Control Using Deterministic Learning Technique

In this brief, a novel adaptive-critic-based neural network (NN) controller is investigated for nonlinear pure-feedback systems. The controller design is based on the transformed predictor form, and the actor–critic NN control architecture includes two NNs, whereas the critic NN is used to approximate the strategic utility function, and the action NN is employed to minimize both the strategic utility function and the tracking error. A deterministic learning technique has been employed to guarantee that the partial persistent excitation condition of internal states is satisfied during tracking control to a periodic reference orbit. The uniformly ultimate boundedness of closed-loop signals is shown via Lyapunov stability analysis. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control.
A Comparison of Two Unsupervised Table Recognition Methods from Digital Scientific Articles

In digital scientific articles tables are a common form of presenting information in a structured way. However, the large variability of table layouts and the lack of structural information in digital document formats pose significant challenges for information retrieval and related tasks. In this paper we present two table recognition methods based on unsupervised learning techniques and heuristics which automatically detect both the location and the structure of tables within a article stored as PDF. For both algorithms the table region detection first identifies the bounding boxes of individual tables from a set of labelled text blocks. In the second step, two different tabular structure detection methods extract a rectangular grid of table cells from the set of words contained in these table regions. We evaluate each stage of the algorithms separately and compare performance values on two data sets from different domains. We find that the table recognition performance is in line with state-of-the-art commercial systems and generalises to the non-scientific domain.