Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does leukoaraiosis predict morbidity and mortality?

Objective: To determine whether leukoaraiosis predicts morbidity and mortality. Background: Gait disturbance and leukoaraiosis both are common in the elderly. Gait disturbance predicts mortality. Leukoaraiosis may be a unifying factor to both gait disturbance and mortality. Methods: We followed 221 patients prospectively evaluated for severity of neurologic deficits by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) stroke scale and for leukoaraiosis in seven brain regions by CT, graded as absent (n = 119, 54%), mild (in at least one of seven brain regions; n = 54, 24%), or severe (present in all seven brain regions; n = 48, 22%). Pneumonia (n = 27, 12%), falls resulting in fracture requiring hospitalization (n = 7, 3%), and death (n = 38, 17%) were end points. Results: Severe leukoaraiosis predicted death (Cox hazard ratio [HR] = 2.91; 95% CI = 1.5 − 5.6), pneumonia (HR = 5.1; 95% CI = 2.4 − 10.9), death from pneumonia (HR = 8.3; 95% CI = 1.5 − 46), and falls (HR = 6.8; 95% CI = 1.5 − 30). Severe leukoaraiosis predicted a combined end point of death, pneumonia, and falls (HR = 3.5; 95% CI = 2 − 6). Other predictors were NIH stroke scale score, age, smoking, diabetes, gait score, and referral diagnosis of either dementia or Parkinsonism. Severe leukoaraiosis remained a predictor after adjustment for these other factors (HR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.2 − 3.9), but was borderline after adjusting for gait (HR = 1.96; 95% CI = 0.97 − 3.94; p = 0.061). The combination of severe leukoaraiosis and gait disturbance had the highest risk (HR = 4.4; 95% CI = 2.4 − 7.9). Conclusion: Severe leukoaraiosis predicts morbidity and mortality independently of preexisting neurologic deficits. The combination of leukoaraiosis and gait disturbance carries a poor prognosis.
Gaining from Scientific Knowledge: The Role of Knowledge Accumulation and Knowledge Combination

This paper investigates the effect of scientific knowledge on the performance of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. While sourcing knowledge from scientific community is a common strategy of open innovation, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies show particularly strong dependence on scientific knowledge than companies in other industries. In such strong science-linkage regime, the relation between science linkage and firm financial performance is more complex than what is generally assumed. From the perspective of absorptive capacity, we argue that knowledge accumulation and knowledge combination preference both affect a firm’s ability to gain higher commercial benefits from scientific knowledge. We use patent citation data to empirically test our hypotheses. The results indicate that science linkage alone has positive effect on firm performance. The positive effect will be increased when firms have knowledge combination preference on more self-citation and longer technology cycle time. How.
Homogenization of Periodic Structured Materials With Chiral Properties

This paper presents a new and efficient method to compute the quasi-static homogenized constitutive parameters of biperiodic chiral artificial material. In this method, the studied domain is reduced to an elementary cell with pseudo-periodic conditions on the lateral sides and the local electromagnetic properties are computed by using the finite-element method. This chiral media is decomposed into two equivalent isotropic media and each one is treated separately. Indeed, the homogenized constitutive parameters of each isotropic media are expressed as a function of the macroscopic electromagnetic properties which are obtained by averaging the local electromagnetic properties. The homogenized constitutive parameters of the initial chiral material are expressed using the two equivalent isotropic materials. The validation of the numerical results is presented in the case of the lattices with 3-D inclusions. In addition, the obtained results are compared to existing results in literature. Finally, the incidence wave angle impact on the homogenized parameters is studied.
Euro Area Membership and the Probability of a Sudden Stop: An Empirical Assessment

Using quarterly data from 1995 until 2014, we investigate whether Euro Area (EA) membership influences the probability of a European Union Member State going through an episode of sudden stop or through an episode of bonanza, after controlling for a number of push and pull factors. Overall, our results do not support the claim that EA membership constituted a weakness during the recent financial crisis. On the contrary, we find that EA membership decreases the probability of a sudden stop, all else equal. We find no evidence that being part of the EA has a direct effect on the probability of bonanza. When allowing for interaction effects, our results suggest that EA membership might have mitigated the risk perception arising from higher government debt in the case of bonanzas.
Experimental performance analysis of IEEE802.11a/b operating at 2.4 and 5.3 GHz

Recently as demands for the high speed broadband wireless Internet and home networking increase using wireless LAN technology at 2.4/5.3 GHz, indoor radio propagation analysis is important. For experimental analysis we made IEEE802.11a system. Results from the propagation characteristic experiments, conducted in a real indoor environment at 2.4/5.3 GHz, are presented. We describe a simple statistical model for evaluating the path loss. It consists of detailed characterization of path loss model and delay spread of indoor wireless LAN signal having a nominal center frequency of 2.4/5.3 GHz. For analyzing between the performance of the wireless LAN and indoor radio channel characterization, we investigate the throughput characteristics using wireless LAN experiment system (IEEE802.11a/b) at 2.4/5.3 GHz.
Comparisons of Achievement, Effort, and Self-Perceptions Among Students With Learning Disabilities and Their Peers From Different Achievement Groups

This study compared the social—emotional implications of academic achievement for students with and without learning disabilities (LD) and identified predictors of effort investment. Students with LD showed lower levels of achievement, effort investment, academic self-efficacy, sense of coherence, positive mood, and hope, and higher levels of loneliness and negative mood. When compared to peers without LD (n = 447) at four different academic achievement levels, students with LD showed higher achievement than the low-average group, but their social—emotional profiles were similar to the low and low-average groups. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that achievement, academic self-efficacy, negative mood, and hope predicted effort investment for students with LD. These results demonstrated the importance of hope in understanding the functioning of students with LD.
Increased eIF2α Phosphorylation Attenuates Replication of Herpes Simplex Virus 2 vhs Mutants in Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts and Correlates with Reduced Accumulation of the PKR Antagonist ICP34.5

ABSTRACT Herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) strains containing mutations in the virion host shutoff (vhs) protein are attenuated for replication compared with wild-type virus in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). However, HSV-2 vhs mutants replicate to near wild-type levels in the absence of the RNA-activated protein kinase (PKR). PKR is one of several kinases that phosphorylates the eukaryotic initiation factor 2α (eIF2α) to inhibit translation initiation, and we previously found that more of the phosphorylated form of eIF2α accumulates in MEFs infected with HSV-2 vhs mutants than with wild-type virus. Here, we show that this increase in phosphorylated eIF2α is primarily PKR dependent. Using MEFs expressing nonphosphorylatable eIF2α, we demonstrate that phosphorylated eIF2α is the primary cause of attenuated replication of HSV-2 vhs mutants and that attenuation correlates with decreased accumulation of viral proteins. Normally, HSV antagonizes eIF2α phosphorylation through the action of ICP34.5, which redirects protein phosphatase 1α (PP1α) to dephosphorylate eIF2α during infection. We show that ICP34.5 does not accumulate efficiently in MEFs infected with HSV-2 vhs mutant viruses, suggesting that the accumulation of phosphorylated eIF2α and the attenuated phenotype of HSV-2 vhs mutants in MEFs result from a deficiency in ICP34.5.
Regressing an Optimal Variable to Scale Glomerular Filtration Rate: More Variations in Glomerular Filtration Rate Are Explained

Background To compare glomerular filtration rate (GFR) among individuals, GFR is usually scaled to body surface area (BSA) based on the ratio method, which has been debated for its accuracy in recent years. Reference to the BSA as a normalization standard is the most common method currently in use but has limitations. This study was designed to a better variable to scale GFR. Methods We measured 99mTc- diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid plasma clearance (uncorrected GFR, uGFR) for 322 healthy adults who were enrolled according to the SENIEUR protocol. The individuals were randomly grouped into A and B for regressing and validating the optimal variable, respectively. Nonlinear regression was performed against uGFR, and the selected independent variables were body weight, height, age, and sex. Results Among several tested models, the regression coefficients of weight-age formula (W-A) were in narrower 95% confidence interval (CI). The coefficient of determination of the regression line between W-A and uGFR, as an indicator to explain the percentage of variations of GFR, was higher than that of other variables in both groups. The coefficient of determination of the regression line between W-A and uGFR was 0.571, which was higher than that of BSA (0.203) or TBW (0.241). Conclusion The index variable, based on both body weight and age, has a better statistical relationship to uGFR and is a better variable to scale GFR in adults.
Lambda placMu: a transposable derivative of bacteriophage lambda for creating lacZ protein fusions in a single step

We isolated a plaque-forming derivative of phage lambda, lambda placMu1 , that contains sequences from bacteriophage Mu enabling it to integrate into the Escherichia coli chromosome by means of the Mu transposition system. The Mu DNA carried by this phage includes both attachment sites as well as the cI, ner (cII), and A genes. Lambda placMu1 also contains the lacZ gene, deleted for its transcription and translation initiation signals, and the lacY gene of E. coli, positioned next to the terminal 117 base pairs from the S end of Mu. Because this terminal Mu sequence is an open reading frame fused in frame to lacZ, the phage can create lacZ protein fusions in a single step when it integrates into a target gene in the proper orientation and reading frame. To demonstrate the use of this phage, we isolated lacZ fusions to the malB locus. These showed the phenotypes and regulation expected for malB fusions and could be used to isolate specialized transducing phages carrying the entire gene fusion as well as an adjacent gene (malE). They were found to be genetically stable and rarely (less than 10(-7] gave rise to secondary Lac+ insertions. We also isolated insertions into high-copy-number plasmids. The physical structure of these phage-plasmid hybrids was that expected from a Mu-dependent insertion event, with the lambda placMu prophage flanked by the Mu attachment sites. Lac+ insertions into a cloned recA gene were found at numerous positions and produced hybrid proteins whose sizes were correlated with the position of the fusions in recA.
Adherence to Commonly Prescribed, Home-Based Strength Training Exercises for the Lower Extremity Can Be Objectively Monitored Using the Bandcizer

Abstract Rathleff, MS, Thorborg, K, Rode, LA, McGirr, KA, Sørensen, AS, Bøgild, A, and Bandholm, T. Adherence to commonly prescribed, home-based strength training exercises for the lower extremity can be objectively monitored using the Bandcizer. J Strength Cond Res 29(3): 627–636, 2015—The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of automatically stored exercise data from the elastic band sensor compared with those of a gold-standard stretch sensor during exercises commonly used for rehabilitation of the hip and knee. The design was a concurrent validity study. Participants performed 3 sets of 10 repetitions of 6 exercises with both sensors attached to the same elastic exercise band. These were knee extension, knee flexion, hip abduction and adduction, hip flexion, and hip external rotation. Agreement between methods was calculated for date, time of day, repetitions, total and single repetition, and contraction phase–specific time under tension (TUT). Files from the elastic band sensor contained identical dates, time of day, and number of repetitions for each exercise set compared with those for the gold standard. Total TUT and total single repetition TUT were highly correlated with the stretch sensor (r = 0.83–0.96) but lower for contraction phase–specific TUTs (r = 0.45–0.94). There were systematic differences between the methods ranging from 0.0 to 2.2 seconds (0.0–6.3%) for total TUT and total single repetition TUT, and between 0.0 and 3.3 seconds (0.0–33.3%) for contraction phase–specific TUTs. The elastic band sensor is a valid measure of date, time of day, number of repetitions and sets, total TUT, and total single repetition TUT during commonly used home-based strength training exercises. However, the elastic band sensor seems unable to validly measure TUT for specific contraction phases.
My Own Private Public Library

The present paper analyzes the emergence of Bulgarian digital libraries with pirated literature as a form of compensation for the failure of both the state and the market to provide easy access to electronic books in Bulgarian. These grass-roots digital libraries can be understood best through an analysis of the dichotomies between formal and informal economy, law and ethics, commercial and non-commercial interest, bricolage and engineering. Sharing of books online in Bulgaria has its historical precedent in the sharing of cultural objects during socialism and is part of the larger logic of informal economy as a form of independence from/resistance to the state. While many of the books in these electronic libraries are uploaded in infringement of copyright, the creators and users of the sites defend them on the basis of what is ethically right and claim that they contribute to the spread of knowledge. The paper emphasizes the rhetorical force of the word ‘library’ which is being appropriated by both commercial and non-commercial actors. Without underestimating the value provided by many of the grass-roots digital libraries discussed, the analysis leads to the question whether the bottom-up collaborative strategy for digitizing books is the optimal one in terms of the variety of titles offered and the overall coherence of digital archives. In short, should sharing replace more traditional state policies in the field of culture?
Association between serum resistin concentration and hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives Recent studies have suggested the involvement of adipokines in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension. In this study, we evaluated the significance of serum resistin levels in hypertensive patients using a meta-analysis approach. Materials and Methods Relevant articles were retrieved by searching the following databases: PubMed, Embase, Ovid Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge. The retrieved studies were subjected to a thorough screening procedure to identify case-control studies that contained the required data. Data were extracted from each study and analyzed by Stata software and Review Manager software. In total, 14 case-control studies, containing 718 hypertensive patients and 645 normotensive controls, were included in this study. The major result of the meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant association between serum resistin concentration and hypertension (SMD = 0.85, 95% CI: [0.15, 1.54]), and the association was more obvious in Asian and Hispanic populations, diabetic population and studies with larger size cohorts. Publication bias was a low probability event for overall comparisons. Conclusions Based on our results, we conclude that serum resistin level in hypertensive patients is higher than normotensive controls, indicating resistin might be a risk factor for hypertension.
Mycobacterial Phylogenomics: An Enhanced Method for Gene Turnover Analysis Reveals Uneven Levels of Gene Gain and Loss among Species and Gene Families

Species of the genus Mycobacterium differ in several features, from geographic ranges, and degree of pathogenicity, to ecological and host preferences. The recent availability of several fully sequenced genomes for a number of these species enabled the comparative study of the genetic determinants of this wide lifestyle diversity. Here, we applied two complementary phylogenetic-based approaches using information from 19 Mycobacterium genomes to obtain a more comprehensive view of the evolution of this genus. First, we inferred the phylogenetic relationships using two new approaches, one based on a Mycobacterium-specific amino acid substitution matrix and the other on a gene content dissimilarity matrix. Then, we utilized our recently developed gain-and-death stochastic models to study gene turnover dynamics in this genus in a maximum-likelihood framework. We uncovered a scenario that differs markedly from traditional 16S rRNA data and improves upon recent phylogenomic approaches. We also found that the rates of gene gain and death are high and unevenly distributed both across species and across gene families, further supporting the utility of the new models of rate heterogeneity applied in a phylogenetic context. Finally, the functional annotation of the most expanded or contracted gene families revealed that the transposable elements and the fatty acid metabolism-related gene families are the most important drivers of gene content evolution in Mycobacterium.
Parallel wavelet transform based wideband Direction-Of-Arrival (DOA) on multicore/GPU

In most of the signal processing applications, main interest is to obtain an accurate estimation of the Direction-Of-Arrival (DOA) of a received signal. Computation of Direction-Of-Arrival (DOA) based on Wavelet transform and other techniques are available in the literature. This work is an improved work of our previously parallel implementation of DOA. In this work, Parallel Haar Wavelet Transform (PHWT) is proposed for use in wideband DOA algorithm. This algorithm has been parallelized and implemented on Intel Nehalem Quad Core processor and NVidia GeForce GTX 260 GPU. The algorithm uses data level and instruction level parallelism for faster execution. The parallel algorithm is developed in C# using . Net framework 4.0 for Multi-Core. It uses combination of C and CUDA for its implementation on GPU. This brings the significant performance on a consumer level PC without any extra cost.
Degenerative Joint Disease in Female Ballet Dancers

The relationship between long-term ballet dancing and eventual arthrosis of the hip, ankle, subtalar, and first metatarsophalangeal joint was examined in 19 former professional female dancers, aged 50 to 70 years. The dancers were compared with pair-matched controls. All 38 women underwent medical history taking, clinical ex amination, and roentgenography of the joints studied. The roentgenographs were independently judged by two investigators and grouped according to a modified classification of Hermodsson. We found a statistically significant increase in roentgenologic arthrosis of the ankle, subtalar, and first metatarsophalangeal joints in the ballet group compared with the control group. There was no significant difference regarding degenerative changes of the hip joint. However, subjects in the dance group who had evidence of degenerative changes on roentgenographs had no clinical complaints. There was a statistically significant increase in hallux valgus de formity in the ballet group (P < 0.05). The dancers also showed a statistically significant increase in flexion, ex ternal rotation, and abduction of the hip joint, dorsal flex ion of the first metatarsophalangeal joint, and inversion and eversion of subtalar joint. But the control group had statistically significant increased plantar flexion of the first metatarsophalangeal joint. The most important cause of the statistically significant increase of arthrosis of the ankle and first metatarsophalangeal joints must be explained by repetitive microtrauma.
Optical trapping using double negative index fishnet metamaterial

We calculate the optical force exerted on the nanoparticle close proximity to the surface of fishnet metamaterials penetrating through metal/dielectric/metal films when irradiated at near infrared wavelength. These forces show the resonant frequencies similar to the magnetic resonant frequencies in the double negative index fishnet metamaterial. We also present that the optical force can be enhanced by optimizing the geometry of the fishnet to provide a stronger magnetic resonant dipole. In contrast to the other plasmonic nanostructure always obtaining trapping force using electrical resonant dipole, our presented structure utilizes the magnetic resonance to provide a gradient force, which is suitable for the optical trapping of the nanoscale particles at illumination intensities of just 1mW/μm2, the optical force is sufficient to overcome the Earth's gravitational pull.
Kainate Receptors Mediate Synaptic Input to Transient and Sustained OFF Visual Pathways in Primate Retina

Visual signals are segregated into parallel pathways at the first synapse in the retina between cones and bipolar cells. Within the OFF pathways of mammals, the selective expression of AMPA or kainate-type glutamate receptors in the dendrites of different OFF-bipolar cell types is thought to contribute to formation of distinct temporal channels. AMPA receptors, with rapid recovery from desensitization, are proposed to transmit high temporal frequency signals, whereas kainate receptors (KARs) are presumed to encode lower temporal frequencies. Here we studied the glutamate receptors expressed by OFF-bipolar cells in slice preparations of macaque monkey retina, where the low (midget/parvocellular) and high-frequency (parasol/magnocellular) temporal channels are well characterized. We found that all OFF-bipolar types receive input primarily through KARs and that KAR antagonists block light-evoked input to both OFF-midget and OFF-parasol ganglion cells. KAR subunits were differentially expressed in OFF-bipolar types; the diffuse bipolar (DB) cells, DB2 and DB3b, expressed GluK1 and showed transient responses to glutamate and the KAR agonist, ATPA. In contrast, flat midget bipolar, DB1, and DB3a cells lacked GluK1 and showed relatively sustained responses. Finally, we found that the KAR accessory protein, Neto1, is expressed at the base of cone pedicles but is not colocalized with the GluK1 subunit. In summary, the results indicate that transient signaling in the OFF pathway of macaques is not dependent on AMPA receptors and that heterogeneity of KARs and accessory proteins may contribute to the formation of parallel temporal channels.