Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel Hepatitis B Virus Subgenotype in the Southern Yunnan Province of China

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is highly prevalent in China. To identify the genotypes of HBV in the southern Yunnan Province of China, full-length HBV genomes were extracted from 1 Dai and 4 Hani HBV carriers and linked with the pMD T-18 vector. For each patient, 3–10 clones were sequenced directly and a consensus sequence was created. Genotypic and serotypic analysis revealed 4 HBV/B (2 B2 with adw2 and 2 new subgenotypes with ayw1) and 1 HBV/C (C1 with adrq+) genotypes. The divergences of the entire genome sequences of the new subgenotype were 0–0.9% and 2.99–6.48% between other known HBV/B. Divergences in other coding regions revealed that it was more similar to B3 and B4 in the precore/core gene (2.02 and 2.09%, respectively), and similar to B3 and B5 in the preS1/S2/S gene (2.24 and 2.78%, respectively). Phylogenetic trees using the precore/core and X genes both revealed a new clad separating from the major trunk of genotype B with a 99% bootstrap value. These results show that the 2 consensus isolates are a mosaic of B3–B5, which we designated to subgenotype B6. Considering the geographical distances, the relationship between B6 and other HBV/B subgenotypes (B3–B5) and HBV evolution needs to be further studied.
β -[18F]Fluoro Azomycin Arabinoside (β -[18F]FAZA): Synthesis, Radiofluorination and Preliminary PET Imaging of Murine A431 Tumors.

BACKGROUND 1-α-D-(5-Deoxy-5-[18F]fluoroarabinofuranosyl)-2-nitroimidazole([18F] FAZA) is a PET radiotracer that demonstrates excellent potential in imaging regional hypoxia, and is clinically used in diagnosing a wide range of solid tumors in cancer patients. [18F]FAZA, however, is radiofluorinated in only moderate recovered radiochemical yield (rRCY, ~12%). It is postulated that the relative stability of the C1' β-anomeric bond at C5' will make 1-β-D-(5-fluoro-5-deoxyarabinofuranosyl)-2-nitroimidazole (β-FAZA), the β-conformer of FAZA, an attractive candidate for clinical hypoxia imaging. OBJECTIVES The principle goals were to synthesize β-FAZA and β-Ac2TsAZA, the radiofluorination precursor, to establish the radiofluorination chemistry leading to β-[18F]FAZA, and to investigate the biodistribution of β-[18F]FAZA in an animal tumor-bearing model using PET imaging. METHODS The appropriately-protected furanose sugar was coupled with 2-nitroimidazole to afford 1-β-D-(2,3-di-O-acetylarabinofuranosyl)-2-nitroimidazole (β-Ac2AZA). Fluorination of β-Ac2AZA with DAST, followed by alkaline hydrolysis, afforded β-FAZA (21%). The radiolabeling synthon, 1-β-D-(5-O-toluenesulfonyl-2,3-di-O-acetylarabinofuranosyl)-2-nitroimidazole (β-Ac2TsAZA), on radiofluorination using the 18F/K222 complex under various reaction conditions, followed by base-catalyzed deacetylation, afforded β-[18F]FAZA. β-[18F]FAZA was radiochemically stable for at least 8 h when stored in aqueous ethanol (8%) at 22 °C. A preliminary PET imaging-based biodistribution study of β-[18F]FAZA was performed in A431 tumor-bearing nude mice. RESULTS β-FAZA and β-Ac2TsAZA were synthesized in satisfactory yield. Radiochemistry of [18F]FAZA was established. PET images showed strong uptake in hypoxic regions of the tumor. CONCLUSION The synthesis of β-FAZA and β-[18F]FAZA are reported. Radiofluorination of β-Ac2TsAZA and the deprotection of β-Ac2[18F]FAZA were facile, but led to a more complex mixture of radiofluorinated by-products than observed with the corresponding precursor of α-[18F]FAZA. PET images were indicative of hypoxia-selective accumulation of β-[18F]FAZA in tumor.
Numerical and Experimental Investigation on Eccentric Loading Behavior of RC Columns Strengthened with SCC Filled Square Steel Tubes

Self-compacting Concrete Filled Square steel Tubes (SCFST) is used to strengthen square RC columns. In order to investigate the eccentric loading behavior of the strengthened columns, a generic fiber element model is proposed. The ultimate strengths and the complete load-deflection response at the mid-height of the strengthened columns are predicted by the model in the aid of computational procedure. To verify the accuracy of the computational results, related experiments have been performed. The obtained experimental results were then compared with the computational results. After finding close agreement between them, the effects of extensive experimental parameters on the behavior of strengthened columns are investigated, including tube wall thickness, concrete compressive strength and initial eccentricity. Furthermore, a simple design formula based on the verified model is proposed to calculate the ultimate strength of eccentrically compressed strengthened columns. The calculation results agree well with the experimental results.
Applying measures of discriminatory accuracy to revisit traditional risk factors for being small for gestational age in Sweden: a national cross-sectional study

Objectives Small for gestational age (SGA) is considered as an indicator of intrauterine growth restriction, and multiple maternal and newborn characteristics have been identified as risk factors for SGA. This knowledge is mainly based on measures of average association (ie, OR) that quantify differences in average risk between exposed and unexposed groups. Nevertheless, average associations do not assess the discriminatory accuracy of the risk factors (ie, its ability to discriminate the babies who will develop SGA from those that will not). Therefore, applying measures of discriminatory accuracy rather than measures of association only, our study revisits known risk factors of SGA and discusses their role from a public health perspective. Design Cross-sectional study. We measured maternal (ie, smoking, hypertension, age, marital status, education) and delivery (ie, sex, gestational age, birth order) characteristics and performed logistic regression models to estimate both ORs and measures of discriminatory accuracy, like the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AU-ROC) and the net reclassification improvement. Setting Data were obtained from the Swedish Medical Birth Registry. Participants Our sample included 731 989 babies born during 1987–1993. Results We replicated the expected associations. For instance, smoking (OR=2.57), having had a previous SGA baby (OR=5.48) and hypertension (OR=4.02) were strongly associated with SGA. However, they show a very small discriminatory accuracy (AU-ROC≈0.5). The discriminatory accuracy increased, but remained unsatisfactorily low (AU-ROC=0.6), when including all variables studied in the same model. Conclusions Traditional risk factors for SGA alone or in combination have a low accuracy for discriminating babies with SGA from those without SGA. A proper understanding of these findings is of fundamental relevance to address future research and to design policymaking recommendations in a more informed way.
A CTION-DEPENDENT C ONTROL V ARIATES FOR P OL-ICY O PTIMIZATION VIA S TEIN ’ S I DENTITY

Policy gradient methods have achieved remarkable successes in solving challenging reinforcement learning problems. However, it still often suffers from the large variance issue on policy gradient estimation, which leads to poor sample efficiency during training. In this work, we propose a control variate method to effectively reduce variance for policy gradient methods. Motivated by the Stein’s identity, our method extends the previous control variate methods used in REINFORCE and advantage actor-critic by introducing more general action-dependent baseline functions. Empirical studies show that our method significantly improves the sample efficiency of the state-of-the-art policy gradient approaches.
Color appearance of skin tissues and blood vessels: in-vitro and in-vivo experiments

The bluish appearance of veins in the skin tissue was experimentally investigated by in vivo and in vitro measurements. The color of skin surface including veins inside was evaluated by spectrophotometry and color analysis in the CIEXYZ and CIELAB colorimetric systems. The bluish appearance was successfully interpreted by the dominant wavelength and the color difference. Results for in vitro experiments showed that the degree of bluish appearance depends on the depth and diameter of blood vessels.
Service Loading Analysis of Wind Turbine Gearbox Rolling Bearings Based on X-Ray Diffraction Residual Stress Measurements

Rolling bearings in wind turbine gearboxes occasionally fail prematurely by so-called white etching cracks. The appearance of the damage indicates brittle spontaneous tensile stress induced surface cracking followed by corrosion fatigue driven crack growth. An X-ray diffraction based residual stress analysis reveals vibrations in service as the root cause. The occurrence of high local friction coefficients in the rolling contact is described by a tribological model. Depth profiles of the equivalent shear and normal stresses are compared with residual stress patterns and a relevant fracture strength, respectively. White etching crack failures are reproduced on a rolling contact fatigue test rig under increased mixed friction. Causative vibration loading is evident from residual stress measurements. Cold working compressive residual stresses are an effective countermeasure.
New Protocol of Aggressive Packet Combining Scheme: An Extension to Throughput Comparison

Aggressive Packet Combining (APC) scheme is well established for receiving correct packet in high error prone wireless link. In APC three copies of a packet are transmitted and receiver does bit wise majority decision to get the correct copy. The main research challenge in APC is that if two or more copies of the packet become erroneous at the particular bit location then majority logic fails to correct the error and also as three copies of packet are sent at a time, throughput degradation takes place at higher error rate channel. In this paper we propose a new method of correction in APC which will address the limitation which occurs in conventional APC. General Terms Throughput comparison
Control of serine integrase recombination directionality by fusion with the directionality factor

Abstract Bacteriophage serine integrases are extensively used in biotechnology and synthetic biology for assembly and rearrangement of DNA sequences. Serine integrases promote recombination between two different DNA sites, attP and attB, to form recombinant attL and attR sites. The ‘reverse’ reaction requires another phage-encoded protein called the recombination directionality factor (RDF) in addition to integrase; RDF activates attL × attR recombination and inhibits attP × attB recombination. We show here that serine integrases can be fused to their cognate RDFs to create single proteins that catalyse efficient attL × attR recombination in vivo and in vitro, whereas attP × attB recombination efficiency is reduced. We provide evidence that activation of attL × attR recombination involves intra-subunit contacts between the integrase and RDF moieties of the fusion protein. Minor changes in the length and sequence of the integrase–RDF linker peptide did not affect fusion protein recombination activity. The efficiency and single-protein convenience of integrase–RDF fusion proteins make them potentially very advantageous for biotechnology/synthetic biology applications. Here, we demonstrate efficient gene cassette replacement in a synthetic metabolic pathway gene array as a proof of principle.
Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Nonspecific Chronic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Study Design. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Objective. To evaluate the totality of evidence in relation to the effectiveness of acupuncture for nonspecific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP). Summary of Background Data. Acupuncture has become a popular alternative for treating clinical symptoms of NSCLBP. A number of RCTs have examined the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of NSCLBP. Methods. A systematic literature search was completed without date or language restrictions up to May 2012. Studies included in the review were RCTs that examined all forms of acupuncture that adhered to the Traditional Acupuncture Theory for treating NSCLBP. Outcome measures included impairment, activity limitation, and participation restriction. The methodological quality of the studies was examined using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results. Thirty-two studies were included in the systematic review, of which 25 studies presented relevant data for the meta-analysis. Acupuncture had a clinically meaningful reduction in levels of self-reported pain (mean difference =−16.76 [95% confidence interval, −33.33 to −0.19], P = 0.05, I2 = 90%) when compared with sham, and improved function (standard mean difference =−0.94 [95% confidence interval, −1.41 to −0.47], P < 0.00, I2 = 78%) when compared with no treatment immediately postintervention. Levels of function also clinically improved when acupuncture in addition to usual care, or electroacupuncture was compared with usual care alone. When acupuncture was compared with medications (NSAIDs, muscle relaxants, and analgesics) and usual care, there were statistically significant differences between the control and the intervention groups but these differences were too small to be of any clinical significance. There was no evidence in support of acupuncture over transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. Conclusion. This systematic review demonstrates that acupuncture may have a favorable effect on self-reported pain and functional limitations on NSCLBP. However, the results should be interpreted in the context of the limitations identified, particularly in relation to the heterogeneity in the study characteristics and the low methodological quality in many of the included studies. Level of Evidence: 1
Body mass index and breast cancer risk in Japan: a pooled analysis of eight population-based cohort studies.

BACKGROUND A positive association between body mass index (BMI) and breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women has been reported, and a weak inverse association has been suggested among premenopausal women from studies in the Western population. The effects of BMI on breast cancer have remained unclear among the Asian population, especially in premenopausal women. METHODS We assessed the associations between BMI and breast cancer incidence by a pooled analysis from eight representative large-scale cohort studies in Japan. Cancer incidence was mainly confirmed through regional population-based cancer registries and/or through active patient notification from major local hospitals. Breast cancer was defined as code C50 according to ICD10. Pooled estimates of the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence interval (CIs) for breast cancer were calculated using random-effects models. RESULTS Analytic subjects were 183 940 women, 1783 of whom had breast cancer during 2 194 211 person-years of follow-up. A positive association between BMI and the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer was observed (trend P<0.001). The HRs for premenopausal breast cancer were 1.05 (95% CI 0.56-1.99), 1.07 (95% CI 0.76-1.52), 0.91 (95% CI 0.64-1.30), 1.15 (95% CI 0.76-1.73), 1.45 (95% CI 0.71-2.94), and 2.25 (95% CI 1.10-4.60), respectively, in BMIs of <19, 19 to <21, 21 to <23, 25 to <27, 27 to <30, and ≥30 kg/m2. These results were not substantially altered after excluding the patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer in the first 2 years of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS The increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer among women with higher BMIs was confirmed in Japanese. A borderline-significant positive association between BMI and premenopausal breast cancer was observed, suggesting that body mass in Asian women might have opposite effects on breast cancer compared with Western women.
The codevelopment of coastal fisheries monitoring methods to support local

Small-scale fisheries across the globe provide critical food security, livelihoods, and human well-being, but are threatened by a combination of local and global stressors, including overexploitation, pollution, and climate change. Participatory approaches to management, especially those that incorporate local communities and customary knowledge can provide meaningful biological information that supports sustainable fisheries management and builds local adaptive capacity to changing ocean conditions. Through a collaboration between fishers, scientists, NGOs, and regulating agencies, we developed a low-cost, low-tech method to assess the seasonal spawning peaks, lunar spawning cycles, and size at maturity (L50) for key targeted reef fish, combining traditional knowledge and practice with modern scientific approaches, including gonadosomatic index (GSI) and histology. Two years of community-based monitoring resulted in data from 57 species and 15 families of reef and nearshore fishes (n = 2595), with detailed information for 10 species at 4 locations across the Hawaiian Islands. Comparisons between community-collected GSI data and scientifically (histologically) assessed spawning cycles and size at reproductive maturity produced similar results suggesting that these approaches can be applied in data-poor fisheries to assess spawning seasons and size at maturity (L50), both of which are critical needs for effective fisheries management. Semistructured surveys revealed a large body of local knowledge on spawning times and harvest practices based on allowing spawning to occur before harvesting and protecting small and large size classes, but little evidence that fishers understand temporal patterns of spawning. This suggests that monitoring methods that fill key gaps such as this and are congruent with these local knowledge systems and customary harvest practices may be key for local stewardship and adaptive management.
Price flexibility and output stability : the case for flexible exchange rates

This paper uses descriptive statistics and regression analyses to esamine the relationship between exchange rate variability and output volatility in developed countries based on 1961 to 1984 data. The results indicate that a flexible exchange rate system is associated with less, not more, dispersion in output growth across industrialized countries despite a more turbulent global environment. Also, countries which have more exchange rate volatility experience less output volatility. The relationship appears not to be spurious. The results are consistent with the idea that an increase in price flexibility does not destabilize output.
High frequency jet ventilation for motion management during ablation procedures, a narrative review

High frequency jet ventilation (HFJV) is a method of ventilation that has gained renewed interest over the recent years as it can reduce organ movement to near static conditions, thus enhancing surgical precision in minimal invasive procedures, for example, ablation procedures for atrial fibrillation and solid organ tumours. The aim of this review was to create a summary of the current evidence concerning the clinical use of HFJV for ablative procedures.
Adaptive Partitioning for Large-Scale Dynamic Graphs

In the last years, large-scale graph processing has gained increasing attention, with most recent systems placing particular emphasis on latency. One possible technique to improve runtime performance in a distributed graph processing system is to reduce network communication. The most notable way to achieve this goal is to partition the graph by minimizing the number of edges that connect vertices assigned to different machines, while keeping the load balanced. However, real-world graphs are highly dynamic, with vertices and edges being constantly added and removed. Carefully updating the partitioning of the graph to reflect these changes is necessary to avoid the introduction of an extensive number of cut edges, which would gradually worsen computation performance. In this paper we show that performance degradation in dynamic graph processing systems can be avoided by adapting continuously the graph partitions as the graph changes. We present a novel highly scalable adaptive partitioning strategy, and show a number of refinements that make it work under the constraints of a large-scale distributed system. The partitioning strategy is based on iterative vertex migrations, relying only on local information. We have implemented the technique in a graph processing system, and we show through three real-world scenarios how adapting graph partitioning reduces execution time by over 50% when compared to commonly used hash-partitioning.
A Durable Flame Retardant Finish for Cotton Based On Thpc and Urea

Sodium phosphate salts catalyzed the reaction of THPC with urea. Cotton textiles treated with a solution containing 26.6% THPC, 8.4% urea, 4% dibasic sodium phosphate and sufficient NaOH to adjust the pH to 6, dried 85°C and cured at 160°C for 1 to 2 minutes passed the DOC FF 3-71 flame test after 50 laundry cycles. The samples retained 90 and 65-70% of their breaking and tearing strength respectively without the use of softeners
Various Models and Related MCMC Stuff

is equivalent to probit, logit, and related models. However, the formulation that assumes latent variable Zi is allowing Gibbs sampling scheme (eg., Chib and Albert 1993) and Johnson and Albert (1999)). Successive sampling from full conditionals, (i) [β|Z, Y ] and (ii) [Z|β, Y ]. Assume thatF is normal distribution and that the above model is probit. Then the distribution forβ givenZ is simply the multivariate normal distribution from the least square theory,
A new perspective on PTSD symptoms after traumatic vs stressful life events and the role of gender

ABSTRACT Background: There is an ongoing debate about the validity of the A1 criterion of PTSD. Whereas the DSM-5 has opted for a more stringent A1 criterion, the ICD-11 will leave it out as a key criterion. Objective: Here we investigated whether formal DSM-IV-TR traumatic (A1) and stressful (non-A1) events differ with regard to PTSD symptom profiles, and whether there is a gender difference in this respect. Method: This was examined in a large, mostly clinical sample from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (n = 1433). Participants described their most bothersome (index) event and were assigned to either an A1 or non-A1 event group according to this index event. Results: Remarkably, in men PTSD symptoms were even more severe after non-A1 than A1 events, whereas in women symptoms were equally severe after non-A1 and A1 events. Moreover, while women showed significantly higher PTSD symptoms after A1 events than men (29.9 versus 15.4% met PTSD criteria), there was no gender difference after non-A1 events (women: 28.2%; men: 31.3%). Furthermore, anxiety and perceived impact were higher in women than men, which was associated with PTSD symptom severity. Conclusion: In sum, while women showed similar levels of PTSD symptoms after both event types, men reported even higher levels of PTSD symptoms after non-A1 than A1 events. These findings shed a new light on the role of gender in PTSD symptomatology and the clinical usefulness of the A1 criterion.