Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Promoting physical activity for children: an audit among Italian family paediatricians.

BACKGROUND This survey aimed to investigate the perception of Italian Paediatricians regarding the promotion of physical activity. METHODS From January to May 2015, a survey was conducted among family paediatricians working in Puglia, interviewed by a standardised questionnaire, that investigated demographic information, participation in sporting activity by the paediatrician, opinion on obesity and the promotion of physical activity, and attitude towards enquiring about the physical activity of patients with and without chronic diseases. RESULTS We collected 200 questionnaires (35.7% of target population). 51.5% of enrolled paediatricians stated that they were participating in sporting activities at the time of the survey. The average opinion regarding the relevance of the obesity was 9±1.4/10 and about the promotion of physical activity 9.6±. 8. All enrolled paediatricians asked for their patients' physical activity and encouraged inactive children to begin an appropriate activity. Paediatricians who took part in sport had a high probability of encouraging physical activity, in particular among patients affected by chronic diseases. CONCLUSIONS Family Paediatricians declared a good attitude regarding the promotion of physical activity for their patients according to national and international recommendations. The main concern emerging from our results is the risk of an "inappropriate interdiction" of physical activity in children affected by chronic diseases, in particular physicians that have never participated in a sport.
Dynamic SUMOylation Is Linked to the Activity Cycles of Androgen Receptor in the Cell Nucleus

ABSTRACT Despite of the progress in the molecular etiology of prostate cancer, the androgen receptor (AR) remains the major druggable target for the advanced disease. In addition to hormonal ligands, AR activity is regulated by posttranslational modifications. Here, we show that androgen induces SUMO-2 and SUMO-3 (SUMO-2/3) modification (SUMOylation) of the endogenous AR in prostate cancer cells, which is also reflected in the chromatin-bound receptor. Although only a small percentage of AR is SUMOylated at the steady state, AR SUMOylation sites have an impact on the receptor's stability, intranuclear mobility, and chromatin interactions and on expression of its target genes. Interestingly, short-term proteotoxic and cell stress, such as hyperthermia, that detaches the AR from the chromatin triggers accumulation of the SUMO-2/3-modified AR pool which concentrates into the nuclear matrix compartment. Alleviation of the stress allows rapid reversal of the SUMO-2/3 modifications and the AR to return to the chromatin. In sum, these results suggest that the androgen-induced SUMOylation is linked to the activity cycles of the holo-AR in the nucleus and chromatin binding, whereas the stress-induced SUMO-2/3 modifications sustain the solubility of the AR and protect it from proteotoxic insults in the nucleus.
Molecular architecture underlying fluid absorption by the developing inner ear

Mutations of SLC26A4 are a common cause of hearing loss associated with enlargement of the endolymphatic sac (EES). Slc26a4 expression in the developing mouse endolymphatic sac is required for acquisition of normal inner ear structure and function. Here, we show that the mouse endolymphatic sac absorbs fluid in an SLC26A4-dependent fashion. Fluid absorption was sensitive to ouabain and gadolinium but insensitive to benzamil, bafilomycin and S3226. Single-cell RNA-seq analysis of pre- and postnatal endolymphatic sacs demonstrates two types of differentiated cells. Early ribosome-rich cells (RRCs) have a transcriptomic signature suggesting expression and secretion of extracellular proteins, while mature RRCs express genes implicated in innate immunity. The transcriptomic signature of mitochondria-rich cells (MRCs) indicates that they mediate vectorial ion transport. We propose a molecular mechanism for resorption of NaCl by MRCs during development, and conclude that disruption of this mechanism is the root cause of hearing loss associated with EES.
Exposed! A Survey of Attacks on Private Data

Privacy-preserving statistical data analysis addresses the general question of protecting privacy when publicly releasing information about a sensitive dataset. A privacy attack takes seemingly innocuous released information and uses it to discern the private details of individuals, thus demonstrating that such information compromises privacy. For example, re-identification attacks have shown that it is easy to link supposedly de-identified records to the identity of the individual concerned. This survey focuses on attacking aggregate data, such as statistics about how many individuals have a certain disease, genetic trait, or combination thereof. We consider two types of attacks: reconstruction attacks, which approximately determine a sensitive feature of all the individuals covered by the dataset, and tracing attacks, which determine whether or not a target individual's data are included in the dataset. We also discuss techniques from the differential privacy literature for releasing approximate aggregate statistics while provably thwarting any privacy attack.
La sélection du cocotier Cocos nucifera L.. Etude théorique et pratique. Optimisation des stratégies d'amélioration génétique

Le schema de selection du cocotier mis au point a l'Institut de Recherches pour les Huiles et Oleagineux repose sur la constitution d'une collection regroupant de nombreux ecotypes, puis la detection et l'amelioration des meilleures combinaisons hybrides entre ecotypes. Nous avons realise une synthese dont le but est de definir comment poursuivre au mieux l'amelioration du cocotier. Apres un bilan des travaux de selection dans le monde, nous avons analyse les donnees recentes sur la variabilite de l'espece et sur les essais genetiques realises en Cote d'Ivoire. Cette approche a permis de definir trois lignes directrices : privilegier la collecte et l'evaluation d'un grand nombre d'introductions, favoriser les recombinaisons genetiques entre ecotypes et enfin anticiper sur la mise au point de la multiplication vegetative in vitro qui devrait permettre, a terme, la diffusion de clones. La methode preconisee comprend deux axes de selection : amelioration des hybrides Nain x Grand d'une part, et Grand x Grand d'autre part. Elle repose sur l'emploi de testeurs evolutifs, choisis de facon a recuperer l'essentiel du progres genetique realise lors des precedents cycles de selection. Ces testeurs sont initialement constitue d'hybrides simples entre les meilleurs ecotypes ; la selection portera donc sur des hybrides complexes (trois ecotypes parentaux ou plus). Les tests d'hybrides Grand x Grand serviront aussi de phase de recombinaison genetique entre ecotypes Grands, ce qui permettra une considerable economie de temps et de moyens. Le risque principal de notre methode reside dans l'existence d'une forte variabilite a l'interieur des descendances testees. Cependant, ce risque concerne essentiellement les hybrides Grand x Grand. D'autre part, des que la selection portera sur des individus ce risque sera attenue. Enfin la variabilite intra-descendance permettra une selection clonale efficace des que la methode de multiplication vegetative in vivo sera au point. La methode de selection proposee apparait particulierement adaptee au demarrage d'un nouveau programme d'amelioration. Elle devrait satisfaire les selectionneurs qui, soucieux d'exploiter rapidement la variabilite des ecotypes de leur pays, veulent cependant tirer parti de l'important proges genetique realise en quarante ans de recherches a la station Marc Delorme.
Identification in the presence of feedback-A discovery of new capacity formulas

A study is made of the identification problem in the presence of a noiseless feedback channel, and the second-order capacity C/sub f/ (resp. C/sub F/) for deterministic (resp. randomized) encoding strategies is determined. Several important phenomena are encountered. (1) Although feedback does not increase the transmission capacity of a discrete memoryless channel (DMC), it does increase the (second-order) identification capacity; (2) noise increases C/sub f/; (3) the structure of the new capacity formulas is simpler than C.E. Shannon's (1948) familiar formula. This has the effect that proofs of converses become easier than in the authors' previous work. >
Prosthetic Joint Infection Caused by Mycobacterium alvei in an Elderly Patient

ABSTRACT We report the first case of prosthetic joint infection caused by Mycobacterium alvei, which was identified by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism and verified by analysis of nucleotide sequences of its amplified 16S ribosomal DNA. The pathogen was susceptible to linezolid, amikacin, ciprofloxacin, tigecycline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. The clinical implications are discussed.
A critique of the BBC's Middle East News Production Strategy

ABSTRACT The article focuses on the British Broadcasting Corp.'s (BBC) production strategy and its impact on the BBC's news output in the coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It reviews Critical Discourse Analysis literature concerning the use of a news outlet's final output in unraveling the social and discursive world of reporters. It examines interviews, internal style guides, secondary data and textual material with a particular focus on the role played by the BBC College of Journalism in transforming news progressively until it reaches its final shape. It suggests that the social reality of the BBC's coverage practices concerning the Israeli/Palestinian struggle result from the actions of specific social actors.
Assays for Determination of Protein Concentration

Biochemical analysis of proteins relies on accurate quantification of protein concentration. Detailed in this appendix are some commonly used methods for protein analysis, e.g., Lowry, Bradford, bicinchoninic acid (BCA), UV spectroscopic, and 3‐(4‐carboxybenzoyl)quinoline‐2‐carboxaldehyde (CBQCA) assays. The primary focus of this report is assay selection, emphasizing sample and buffer compatibility. The fundamentals of generating protein assay standard curves and of data processing are considered, as are high‐throughput adaptations of the more commonly used protein assays. Also included is a rapid, inexpensive, and reliable BCA assay of total protein in SDS‐PAGE sample buffer that is used for equal loading of SDS‐PAGE gels. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
A comprehensive simulation model of the performance of photochromic films in absorbance-modulation-optical-lithography

Optical lithography is the most prevalent method of fabricating micro-and nano-scale structures in the semiconductor industry due to the fact that patterning using photons is fast, accurate and provides high throughput. However, the resolution of this technique is inherently limited by the physical phenomenon of diffraction. Absorbance-Modulation-Optical Lithography (AMOL), a recently developed technique has been successfully demonstrated to be able to circumvent this diffraction limit. AMOL employs a dual-wavelength exposure system in conjunction with spectrally selective reversible photo-transitions in thin films of photochromic molecules to achieve patterning of features with sizes beyond the far-field diffraction limit. We have developed a finite-element-method based full-electromagnetic-wave solution model that simulates the photo-chemical processes that occur within the thin film of the photochromic molecules under illumination by the exposure and confining wavelengths in AMOL. This model allows us .
Interframe difference quadtree edge-based side-match finite-state classified vector quantization for image sequence coding

Very low bit rate image sequence coding is very important for video transmission and storage applications. The fundamental goal of image sequence coding is to remove spatial redundancy and only update the moving parts in an image sequence so that the total information bits required for storage or transmission can be greatly reduced. In our proposed approach, each frame within an image sequence will be separated into moving and stationary blocks. Only the moving blocks need to be transmitted to the decoder, so that the total number of bits and computing time are greatly reduced. The moving blocks will be encoded by edge-based side-match finite-state classified vector quantization (EBSMCVQ). Moreover, a quadtree can be also used to represent the moving and edge information for each frame. In order to reduce the number of bits for the quadtree, we propose a new difference quadtree technique that only transmits the different parts between the previous frame's quadtree and the current frame's quadtree. In the proposed interframe difference quadtree EBSMCVQ image sequence coding scheme, the average bit rate of each frame is reduced to 0.0393 b/pixel and the PSNR is still up to 35.40 dB for image sequence Claire.
Computed tomography perfusion and computed tomography angiography for prediction of clinical outcomes in ischemic stroke patients after thrombolysis

Cerebral blood perfusion and cerebrovascular lesions are important factors that can affect the therapeutic efficacy of thrombolysis. At present, the majority of studies focus on assessing the accuracy of lesion location using imaging methods before treatment, with less attention to predictions of outcomes after thrombolysis. Thus, in the present study, we assessed the efficacy of combined computed tomography (CT) perfusion and CT angiography in predicting clinical outcomes after thrombolysis in ischemic stroke patients. The study included 52 patients who received both CT perfusion and CT angiography. Patients were grouped based on the following criteria to compare clinical outcomes: (1) thrombolytic and non-thrombolytic patients, (2) thrombolytic patients with CT angiography showing the presence or absence of a vascular stenosis, (3) thrombolytic patients with CT perfusion showing the presence or absence of hemodynamic mismatch, and (4) different CT angiography and CT perfusion results. Short-term outcome was assessed by the 24-hour National Institution of Health Stroke Scale score change. Long-term outcome was assessed by the 3-month modified Rankin Scale score. Of 52 ischemic stroke patients, 29 were treated with thrombolysis and exhibited improved short-term outcomes compared with those without thrombolysis treatment (23 patients). Patients with both vascular stenosis and blood flow mismatch (13 patients) exhibited the best short-term outcome, while there was no correlation of long-term outcome with CT angiography or CT perfusion findings. These data suggest that combined CT perfusion and CT angiography are useful for predicting short-term outcome, but not long-term outcome, after thrombolysis.
Bacterial Quorum Sensing and Metabolic Incentives to Cooperate

Cheat Control In quorum-sensing induction, a Pseudomonas aeruginosa population growing on a single carbon source, such as casein, will reach a density where the levels of signaling molecules they collectively secrete triggers the cells to synthesize and secrete proteases to digest the casein. However, it is metabolically costly to secrete proteases, and the system is prone to mutant “cheats. ” These cheats do not respond to quorum sensing and do not go to the cost of synthesizing protease, but they do profit from the breakdown products that allow all the cells—cheats and cooperators alike—to grow. Dandekar et al. (p. 264) found that quorum signaling–insensitive P. aeruginosa cheats could not synthesize nucleotide hydrolase and were thus unable to grow if casein was replaced by adenosine. This allowed cooperators to outgrow the cheats, leading to a stable equilibrium between cheats and cooperators. This principle of regulation may be applicable to other bacterial quorum-sensing systems and might be exploited in the development of drugs that disrupt bacterial cooperation. Cooperating groups of bacteria resist infiltration by noncooperating cheats by co-regulating shared and individual products. The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses a cell-cell communication system termed “quorum sensing” to control production of public goods, extracellular products that can be used by any community member. Not all individuals respond to quorum-sensing signals and synthesize public goods. Such social cheaters enjoy the benefits of the products secreted by cooperators. There are some P. aeruginosa cellular enzymes controlled by quorum sensing, and we show that quorum sensing–controlled expression of such private goods can put a metabolic constraint on social cheating and prevent a tragedy of the commons. Metabolic constraint of social cheating provides an explanation for private-goods regulation by a cooperative system and has general implications for population biology, infection control, and stabilization of quorum-sensing circuits in synthetic biology.
The study of long-term electricity load forecasting based on improved grey prediction model

This paper first introduces modeling theory of GM (1,1) grey equidimensional filling vacancies, and establishes GM (1,1) grey forecasting model of equidimensional filling vacancies by using power demand load of Shan Dong Province from 2004 to 2011, then forecasts power load demand of Shan Dong Province in 2012 and 2013 for two years. When compared with the actual electricity load, that grey forecasting model of equidimensional idling vacancies has high accuracy in long-term power load forecasting.
Designing And Building Parallel Programs: Concepts And Tools For Parallel Software Engineering

In Designing and Building Parallel Program, Ian Foster attempts “to provide a practitioner’s guide for students, programmers, engineers, and scientists who wish to design and build efficient and cost-effective programs for parallel and distributed computer systems. ” He views parallel programming as an “engineering discipline. ” T o reinforce that view, he has divided the book into three parts: Concepts, Tools, and Resources.
Overcomplete Dictionary Learning for Nonnegative Sparse Representation with an ℓ_p-Norm Constraint Based on Majorize-Minimization

This paper is for addressing the nonnegative sparse representation problem, i.e. to represent a nonnegative matrix as an over complete nonnegative dictionary times a nonnegative coefficient matrix. Many data in the real world can be represented sparsely by combinations of typical features. Moreover, large family of nonnegative data, such as image pixels, word frequency, power spectrum etc., are in great demand for engineering problems. Nonnegative Sparse Representation (NSR) is attractive to nonnegative data analysis. In this study, Overcomplete dictionary learning for NSR with an ℓ_p-norm (0 < p <1) is proposed and the ℓ_p-norm is expected for leading a sparser solution than ℓ_1-norm. An ℓ_p-norm is non-convex, then ℓ_p-norm was approximated by weighted ℓ_1-norm for convex optimization. We performed experiments about recovering accuracies of dictionary and coefficients. The recovering ratio is evaluated for various sparse levels of coefficients. The average of recovery ratios by proposed method for each sparse level were higher compared with an unweighted ℓ_1-norm. It improved +15.37% at most. We have shown that the proposed method also has advantages in recovering sparseness, ℓ_2 relative error and support distance of coefficients etc.
Clinical experience using adjunctive gabapentin in treatment-resistant bipolar mixed states.

OBJECTIVE Open studies and case observations have suggested that gabapentin may be effective in the treatment of bipolar disorder. However, the adjunctive use of the drug in bipolar mixed states has not been specifically addressed before. METHODS Twenty-one patients with bipolar I mixed episodes as defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Revised) (DSM-III-R), who were admitted to the outpatient department at the Psychiatry Clinic of the University of Pisa, were treated adjunctively with gabapentin for a period of eight weeks. All patients had been resistant to therapeutic levels of standard mood stabilizers, and had a mean clinical global impression (CGI) of 5.2+/-0.8 when entering the study. Gabapentin treatment was started at 300 mg/day and increased up to 2000 mg/day. Patients were evaluated using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and CGI. Patients with final CGI scores of 1 or 2 were regarded as responders. RESULTS Only one patient had to interrupt the drug treatment, due to irritability and ataxia. Negative interactions between gabapentin and concomitant psychotropic medications were not observed. The condition deteriorated in only one patient (final CGI = 5). Ten patients were regarded as responders: four showed marked improvement (CGI = 1), and six had moderate improvement (CGI = 2). The mean dose of gabapentin at week 8 was 1130 mg (range 600-2000 mg). The mean final CGI score for all patients (responders and nonresponders combined) was 3.7+/-1.1 (the mean change in CGI was significant, t=6.1, P<0001). The reduction in the mania score was minimal and statistically insignificant. However, the mean HRSD score showed a statistically significant reduction from 18.2 to 10.6 (t=5.73, P<0.0001), irrespective of the baseline severity of the mania. All but one of the responders maintained these therapeutic improvements over 4-12 months, in most cases requiring less concomitant antidepressant and neuroleptic medications. CONCLUSIONS These results show that gabapentin appears to be potentially useful in the adjunctive treatment of drug-resistant bipolar mixed states, and that it was particularly effective in relation to depressive symptomatology.
Set1/COMPASS and Mediator are repurposed to promote epigenetic transcriptional memory

In yeast and humans, previous experiences can lead to epigenetic transcriptional memory: repressed genes that exhibit mitotically heritable changes in chromatin structure and promoter recruitment of poised RNA polymerase II preinitiation complex (RNAPII PIC), which enhances future reactivation. Here, we show that INO1 memory in yeast is initiated by binding of the Sfl1 transcription factor to the cis-acting Memory Recruitment Sequence, targeting INO1 to the nuclear periphery. Memory requires a remodeled form of the Set1/COMPASS methyltransferase lacking Spp1, which dimethylates histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4me2). H3K4me2 recruits the SET3C complex, which plays an essential role in maintaining this mark. Finally, while active INO1 is associated with Cdk8- Mediator, during memory, Cdk8+ Mediator recruits poised RNAPII PIC lacking the Kin28 CTD kinase. Aspects of this mechanism are generalizable to yeast and conserved in human cells. Thus, COMPASS and Mediator are repurposed to promote epigenetic transcriptional poising by a highly conserved mechanism. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.16691. 001