Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human Papillomavirus 16 Load and E2/E6 Ratio in HPV16-Positive Women: Biomarkers for Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia ≥2 in a Liquid-Based Cytology Setting?

This retrospective case-control study assessed human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16) viral load and E2/E6 ratio as risk markers for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) ≥2 lesions in HPV16-positive women in a routine liquid-based cytology setting. Triplex quantitative PCR for HPV16 E6, E2, and β-globin was done to determine the HPV16 load and the E2/E6 ratio, as a surrogate marker for integration, for women with a negative histologic endpoint (200 controls: 83 normal histology and 117 CIN1) and women with a ≥CIN2 endpoint (180 cases: 41 CIN2, 122 CIN3, and 17 invasive carcinoma). Our analysis showed a significantly higher HPV16 load in the case group, which was completely attributable to the high viral load of samples with invasive carcinoma as histologic endpoint. There was no significant difference in viral load between the other histologic groups. The E2/E6 ratio proved to be lower for the cases. However, the E2/E6 ratio indicated the presence of HPV integration in a considerable amount of control samples (44.3%), which suggests that HPV integration occurs early in the development of cancer and undermines the clinical value of viral integration. Overall, the intrinsic heterogeneous nature of the cervical cytology samples caused a substantial overlap of the HPV16 load and the E2/E6 ratio between controls and cases, which precludes the determination of cutoff values for risk prediction and hampers the clinical applicability in a cervical screening setting. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(11):2992–9)
Lithium Chloride Induces TNFα in Mouse Macrophages Via MEK–ERK‐Dependent Pathway

Lithium (Li) is one of the currently prescribed drugs for bipolar disorders (BPDs) and has many neuro‐regulatory and immune‐modulating properties. Because many neuro‐pathological diseases including BPDs have been associated with some level of inflammation, Li's effect on inflammation may have some crucial consequences. Even though Li has been shown to have pro‐ and anti‐inflammatory activities in different cell models, mechanisms involved in these effects are not well understood. Moreover, Li's effect on inflammation in the presence of activators of Toll‐like receptors (TLRs), especially TLR‐2 (that activates MyD88‐dependent pathway) and TLR‐3 (that activates TRIF‐dependent pathway) is not known. Here we tested the role of Li in the presence and absence of TLR2, and TLR3 on MAPK and NFκB pathways and the consequent production of tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNFα) in Raw264.7 macrophages. Our results indicate that Li enhances TNFα production both in the absence and presence of TLR stimulation. Interestingly, Li differentially modulates MAPK and NFκB pathways in the absence and presence of TLR2/3 ligands. Our results further indicate that the effect of Li on TNFα occurs at the post‐transcriptional level. Together, these studies demonstrate that Li induces TNFα production in macrophages and that it modulates signaling at different levels depending on the presence or absence of TLR2/3 stimulation. J. Cell. Biochem. 115: 71–80, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Effects of Reflective Thinking on Middle School Students’ Academic Achievement and Perceptions of Related Instructional Practices: A Mixed Methods Study

The Effects of Reflective Thinking on Middle School Students’ Academic Achievement and Perceptions of Related Instructional Practices: A Mixed Methods Study by David W. Denton Seattle Pacific University Chairperson: Arthur K. Ellis The problem investigated in this study was whether instructional practices, which characterize reflective thinking, aided in the alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment at the classroom level. Participants included 259 seventh grade students, 126 female and 133 male, from 10 intact social studies classrooms. The investigator used an explanatory mixed methods design, which included a quantitative and qualitative phase. The first phase involved testing the effects of an intervention, administered for 23 days, on students’ academic achievement according to a content-specific test. In addition, this phase involved a questionnaire used to assess student perceptions of the intervention. Results of the content-specific test and student questionnaire were contrasted between four treatment, four comparison, and two control classrooms. In the second phase, 12 students participated in interviews using standardized open-ended interview procedures. Overall results showed nonsignificant differences between treatment and comparison classrooms. However, analysis of the content-specific posttest and students’ perceptions of teacher feedback showed a significant correlation at the . 008 level, r(254) = . 29, p < . 001. Likewise, interview participants emphasized teacher feedback as an aid to learning and deemphasized lesson objectives as reflective writing prompts.
Absorptive Capacity and Productivity Spillovers from FDI: A Threshold Regression Analysis

This paper explores whether the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on productivity growth is dependent on absorptive capacity using recently developed threshold regression techniques. In manufacturing sectors where technology-exploiting multinationals are prevalent, the results point to the presence of nonlinear threshold effects: the productivity benefit from FDI increases with absorptive capacity until some threshold level beyond which it becomes less pronounced. But there is also a minimum absorptive capacity threshold level below which productivity spillovers from FDI are negligible or even negative. On the contrary, no evidence of productivity spillovers is found in sectors where FDI appears to be motivated by technology-sourcing considerations.
Determinate Growth and Modularity in a Gorgonian Octocoral

Growth rates of branches of colonies of the gorgonian Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae were monitored for 2 years on a reef at San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Images of 261 colonies were made at 6-month intervals and colony and branch growth analyzed. Branch growth rates differed between colonies and between the time intervals in which the measurements were made. Colonies developed a plumelike morphology through a pattern of branch origination and determinate growth in which branch growth rates were greatest at the time the branch originated and branches seldom grew beyond a length of 8 cm. A small number of branches had greater growth rates, did not stop growing, and were sites for the origination of subsequent “generations” of branches. The rate of branch origination decreased with each generation of branching, and branch growth rates were lower on larger colonies, leading to determinate colony growth. Although colonial invertebrates like P. elisabethae grow through the addition of polyps, branches behave as modules with determinate growth. Colony form and size is generated by the iterative addition of branches.
Extremely high interleukin-6 blood levels and outcome in the critically ill are associated with tumor necrosis factor– and interleukin-1–related gene polymorphisms*

Objective:To determine the allelic frequencies of interleukin (IL)-6–, IL-1–, and tumor necrosis factor-&agr; (TNF)–related gene polymorphisms in critically ill patients with extremely high IL-6 blood level and to examine the genetic effects on their clinical courses. Design:Population-based association study. Setting:A general intensive care unit in a university teaching hospital. Patients:A total of 150 consecutive critically ill patients recruited at admission to the intensive care unit, regardless of diagnosis, and 150 healthy volunteers. Measurements and Main Results:IL-6 blood levels were measured daily with chemiluminescence immunoassay. The IL-6 peak levels were significantly correlated with simultaneously measured TNF (r = .659, p < .0001) and IL-1&bgr; levels (r = .518, p < .0001), respectively. Single nucleotide polymorphism at position -174 and -596 sites of the IL-6 (IL6-174*G/C and IL6-596*G/A), -308 site of the TNF (TNF-308*G/A), and -511 site of the IL-1&bgr; (IL1B-511*C/T) were identified with real-time polymerase chain reaction assay using specific fluorescence-labeled probe. Within the IL-1 receptor antagonist intron 2, a various number of tandem repeat polymorphisms (IL1RN*1–5) were identified after polymerase chain reaction with gel electrophoresis. Allelic frequencies of patients with IL-6 peak levels of ≥10,000 pg/mL (group A) were compared with those of patients with IL-6 peak levels of <10,000 pg/mL (group B). Neither IL6-174*C nor IL6-596*A were recognized in all the subjects; however, group A showed a higher frequency of TNF-308*A (p = .054), IL1B-511*T (p = .013), and non-IL1RN*1 (p = .008) allele compared with group B. TNF-308*A, IL1RN*2 or IL1RN*3 allele carriers of group A showed sustained high IL-6 levels, despite countermeasures against hypercytokinemia, and their survival rate was lower than that of the noncarriers of those high-risk alleles (p = .025). Conclusions:TNF-308*A, IL1RN*2, and IL1RN*3 alleles were associated with the prevalence of the extremely high IL-6 blood level in the critically ill, their uncontrollable blood IL-6 kinetics, and outcome.
Active Learning in Motor Control

In this dissertation we consider how the performance of a learning control system can be improved with an efficient exploration strategy. We apply principled approaches from active learning to realise task-specific exploration with the LWPR on-line learning scheme. Our algorithm is based on the confidence in the model predictions and directs exploration to areas of high uncertainty. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first clear strategy for active learning in low-level motor control scenarios. Using two simulations, we show that learning the inverse dynamics of a movement system can benefit from an active data selection strategy. Both simulations – a Newtonian particle and a compliant two-joint robot arm – also provide an intuitive real-time visualisation of the LWPR confidence bounds and the explored space. The suggested algorithm is shown to be superior to simpler exploration schemes such as random flailing of the robot arm.
On the impossibility of dimension reduction in l1

The Johnson--Lindenstrauss lemma shows that any <i>n</i> points in Euclidean space (i.e., ℝ<sup><i>n</i></sup> with distances measured under the ℓ<inf>2</inf> norm) may be mapped down to <i>O</i>((log <i>n</i>)/ε<sup>2</sup>) dimensions such that no pairwise distance is distorted by more than a (1 + ε) factor. Determining whether such dimension reduction is possible in ℓ<inf>1</inf> has been an intriguing open question. We show strong lower bounds for general dimension reduction in ℓ<inf>1</inf>. We give an explicit family of <i>n</i> points in ℓ<inf>1</inf> such that any embedding with constant distortion <i>D</i> requires <i>n</i><sup>Ω(1/<i>D</i><sup>2</sup>)</sup> dimensions. This proves that there is no analog of the Johnson--Lindenstrauss lemma for ℓ<inf>1</inf>; in fact, embedding with any constant distortion requires <i>n</i><sup>Ω(1)</sup> dimensions. Further, embedding the points into ℓ<inf>1</inf> with (1+ε) distortion requires <i>n</i><sup>½−<i>O</i>(ε log(1/ε))</sup> dimensions. Our proof establishes this lower bound for shortest path metrics of series-parallel graphs. We make extensive use of linear programming and duality in devising our bounds. We expect that the tools and techniques we develop will be useful for future investigations of embeddings into ℓ<inf>1</inf>.
Investigation of the Motivation Level of Teachers Working at State Schools in Relation to Some Variables.

In order to give the best and accurate orientation to teachers working in school organizations, it seems to be necessary to determine their motivation level. Thus, the purpose of the current study is to determine the motivation level of teachers working in state elementary and secondary schools. Moreover, the study also looks at the relationships between motivation level of teachers and type of the school, the number students in the class, length of service and job satisfaction. The universe of the present study conducted according to descriptive survey model consists of 1310 teachers working in 76 elementary and secondary schools in Mentese district of the city of Mugla and the sampling is comprised of 398 teachers randomly selected from among the universe. The data collection instrument of the study has two parts, personal information form and teacher motivation scale. In order to determine the factors motivating teachers, “Teacher Motivation Scale” was developed on the basis of “Workers’ Job Satisfaction Evaluation Scale” developed by Gulten Incir (1990), a literature review and expert opinions The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.834. The findings of the study revealed that the motivation level of the teachers working at state schools is high in general. It was also found that the teachers’ motivation levels do not vary significantly depending on type of the school, the number of students in the class and length of service but vary significantly according to job satisfaction
A Protective Cabinet for Handling Infective Material in the Laboratory

A number of recent papers have drawn attention to the risks of inhaling infected material during various ordinary laboratory manipulations (see, for example, Reitman and Wedum, 1956), and Reid (1957) has produced suggestive evidence from United Kingdom laboratories that, so far as tuberculosis is concerned, the risk of contracting disease in this way may be a real one. Tomlinson's (1957) demonstration of the production of infected clouds during the opening of screw-capped bottles, which are widely used for cultures of tubercle bacilli, indicates that not all the risks can be avoided even by the most careful bench technique. Realization of the risks has led many laboratories to install cabinets, usually ventilated in some way, to protect the worker; there does not, however, appear to be much published experimental work on the effectiveness of various designs of cabinet. This paper reports some bacteriological tests on a cabinet designed for use in the Public Health Laboratory Service.
Section Ii-exercise Physiology & Sports Medicine Effect of Kinesio Tape Application on Calf Pain and Ankle Range of Motion in Duathletes

Authors submitted their contribution of the article to the editorial board. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the kinesio tape immediately after its application and after a duathlon competition on calf pain and the ankle range of motion in duathletes. A sample of 28 duathletes (age 29.11 ± 10.35 years; body height 172.57 ± 6.17 cm; body mass 66.63 ± 9.01 kg; body mass index 22.29 ± 2.00 kg/m 2) were recruited from the competitors in a duathlon sprint. The Numerical Pain Rating Scale and ankle dorsiflexion range of motion measures were obtained at baseline, immediately after taping and 10 to 15 minutes after ending the duathlon competition. The kinesio tape was applied on the calf of duathletes 20 to 90 minutes before the competition, only on one of their legs (experimental leg) with the other leg acting as a control (control leg) in a randomized order. According to the between-group comparison, no differences were found immediately after the application of the kinesio tape and after the competition in the ankle range of motion and calf pain. However, a significant difference from baseline to immediately after taping was found in the ankle range of motion in the experimental leg. Applying the kinesio tape on the calf seems to immediately increase ankle dorsiflexion range of motion, but not after a duathlon competition. Applying the kinesio tape on the calf does not reduce muscle pain immediately or after a duathlon competition, but it appears to control an increase in pain.
SecSyslog: an approach to secure logging based on covert channels

Today log traces are widely used to identify and prevent violations of corporate information systems. The most recent logging trend is to manage most level 3 ISO/OSI traffic via pcap-compatible output. But use of syslog is still very widespread, as are the security issues it entails, especially in its 'pure' version. This paper outlines the basic syslog problems as foreseen in the RFCs, examines the 'secure' alternatives to the protocol (and relative implementations) and proposes a transmission approach based on covert channels which, applied on the LINUX platform, might answer some of the intrinsic reliability problems which undermine its effectiveness as a digital forensic tool.
Wnt signalling regulates myogenic differentiation in the developing avian wing

The limb musculature arises by delamination of premyogenic cells from the lateral dermomyotome. Initially the cells express Pax3 but, upon entering the limb bud, they switch on the expression of MyoD and Myf5 and undergo terminal differentiation into slow or fast fibres, which have distinct contractile properties that determine how a muscle will function. In the chick, the premyogenic cells express the Wnt antagonist Sfrp2, which is downregulated as the cells differentiate, suggesting that Wnts might regulate myogenic differentiation. Here, we have investigated the role of Wnt signalling during myogenic differentiation in the developing chick wing bud by gain- and loss-of-function studies in vitro and in vivo. We show that Wnt signalling changes the number of fast and/or slow fibres. For example, in vivo, Wnt11 decreases and increases the number of slow and fast fibres, respectively, whereas overexpression of Wnt5a or a dominant-negative Wnt11 protein have the opposite effect. The latter shows that endogenous Wnt11 signalling determines the number of fast and slow myocytes. The distinct effects of Wnt5a and Wnt11 are consistent with their different expression patterns, which correlate with the ultimate distribution of slow and fast fibres in the wing. Overexpression of activated calmodulin kinase II mimics the effect of Wnt5a, suggesting that it uses this pathway. Finally, we show that overexpression of the Wnt antagonist Sfrp2 and ΔLef1 reduces the number of myocytes. In Sfrp2-infected limbs, the number of Pax3 expressing cells was increased, suggesting that Sfrp2 blocks myogenic differentiation. Therefore, Wnt signalling modulates both the number of terminally differentiated myogenic cells and the intricate slow/fast patterning of the limb musculature.
Psychometric Properties of the Korean Version of the “Patient Activation Measure 13” (PAM13-K) in Patients With Osteoarthritis

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Patient Activation Measure 13 (PAM13) using Rasch analysis. The sample consisted of 270 Korean patients with osteoarthritis. The PAM13 was translated into Korean using a standardized forward–backward translation approach. In this study, the Cronbach’s α coefficient was . 88, the average interitem correlation was . 34, and the average item–rest correlation was . 55. The difficulty ranking of the item in this study differed from that in the original version. We did not need to collapse response categories. A total of 57.5% of the variance was explained by the residuals, indicating unidimensionality. The results suggest that the PAM13-K is a reliable and valid measure of activation. Further research is needed to validate item responsiveness and intervention effects.
MINING AGRICULTURE DATESET WITH BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

The wide availability of huge amounts of data has generated an urgent need for the research of data mining. Background knowledge can make the mining more effective. As the analysis of agriculture dataset is usually a complex work, more domain knowledge is to be utilized. Two approaches for mining agriculture dataset with domain knowledge is proposed. One utilizes the life cycle of borer to intelligently filter out the data that will hamper the mining process. Another finds classification-based outliers, by detecting the change of the classification result, based upon the links between attributes and error model. Both of them are successful.
A Clustering of Immune-mediated Polyradiculoneuropathy among Swine Abattoir Workers Exposed to Aerosolized Porcine Brains, Indiana, United States

Abstract In November 2007 a novel neuropathy, immune-mediated polyradiculoneuropathy (IP), was identified among workers at a Minnesota swine abattoir where a unique compressed air technique was used to remove porcine brains. An epidemiologic investigation at another abattoir in Indiana that also uses this process was launched to evaluate workers self-reporting neurologic illness compatible with IP. A nested case-control study was performed to identify cases and risk factors. Six confirmed, one probable, and three possible IP cases were detected. IP cases were 28–52 years old, of Latino origin, and 62.5% female. Onset dates ranged from April 2005–December 2007; 60% were hospitalized. IP cases at this plant were similar in clinical presentation and exposure risks to those detected in Minnesota. Swine abattoirs using similar brain extraction methods should discontinue this process.
The complete mitochondrial genome of the Symphysodon aequifasciatus (Pellegrin, 1904)

Abstract In this study, the complete mitogenome sequence of the Symphysodon aequifasciatus has been sequenced by next-generation sequencing method. The mitogenome consists of 16 545 bp, including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs and 2 ribosomal RNAs genes. The overall base composition of the fish is 28.8% for A, 30.1% for C, 15.0% for G, and 26.1% for T, suggesting a 99% identity to S. discus Heckel and a 98% identity to S. haraldi. It provides essential and important DNA molecular data for further phylogeography and evolutionary analysis for Symphysodon phylogeny.
Spatial and temporal patterns of phenotypic variation in a Neotropical frog

Aim Studies of the spatial and temporal patterns of phenotypic diversity help to elucidate the fine‐scale evolutionary and ecological mechanisms underlying geographical differentiation. The red‐eyed tree frog, Agalychnis callidryas, is a widespread Neotropical frog that exhibits a broad range of polymorphism of coloration and flank‐stripe pattern. The goal of this study was two‐fold: first, to investigate the stability of polymorphisms over a 38‐year period; and second, to evaluate biogeographical hypotheses of diversification between lower Central American populations through quantification of phenotypic diversity on a fine geographical scale.
Human robot interactions using speech synthesis and recognition with lip synchronization

The most common way for human interaction to understand each other is through communication with each other, so as in the human robot interaction. The ability to talk is one of the most important technologies in the field of intelligent robotics. When it comes to talk there are two basic type of signal transmitted by people: Auditory and Visual. Speech synthesis and speech recognition are crucial abilities for auditory signal. Likewise, lip synchronization is the key technique for visual signal. The mimic lip synchronization could contribute to the improvement of human robot interaction. In this paper, we design a lip synchronization system for our humanoid robot using Microsoft Speech API (SAPI). With totally thirty degrees of freedom (twelve for mouth) we build sixteen lip shapes to perform all the visemes. With proposed system the precise and mimic lip synchronization can let the users to have favorable impression, and gains the closeness to the people. Finally the whole system is implemented at our humanoid robot head to demonstrate the success of the system proposed herein.