Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of rural-to-urban within-country migration on cardiovascular risk factors in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Context Limited information is available of effects of rural-to-urban within-country migration on cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in low- and middle- income countries (LMIC). Objective A systematic review of studies evaluating these effects was performed with rural and/or urban control groups. Study selection Two teams of investigators searched observational studies in Medline, Web of Science and Scopus until May 2011. Studies evaluating international migration were excluded. Data extraction Three investigators extracted the information stratified by gender. Information on 17 known CV risk factors was obtained. Results Eighteen studies (n=58 536) were included. Studies were highly heterogeneous with respect to study design, migrant sampling frame, migrant urban exposure and reported CV risk factors. In migrants, commonly reported CV risk factors—systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, obesity, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein—were usually higher or more common than in the rural group and usually lower or less common than in the urban group. This gradient was usually present in both genders. Anthropometric (waist-to-hip ratio, hip/waist circumference, triceps skinfolds) and metabolic (fasting glucose/insulin, insulin resistance) risk factors usually followed the same gradient, but conclusions were weak as information was insufficient. Hypertension, high-density lipoprotein, fibrinogen and C-reactive protein did not follow any pattern. Conclusions In LMIC, most but not all, CV risk factors are higher or more common in migrants than in rural groups but lower or less common than in urban groups. Such gradients may or may not be associated with differential CV events and long-term evaluations are necessary.
ESCRT-I Protein Tsg101 Plays a Role in the Post-macropinocytic Trafficking and Infection of Endothelial Cells by Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus

Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) binding to the endothelial cell surface heparan sulfate is followed by sequential interactions with α3β1, αVβ3 and αVβ5 integrins and Ephrin A2 receptor tyrosine kinase (EphA2R). These interactions activate host cell pre-existing FAK, Src, PI3-K and RhoGTPase signaling cascades, c-Cbl mediated ubiquitination of receptors, recruitment of CIB1, p130Cas and Crk adaptor molecules, and membrane bleb formation leading to lipid raft dependent macropinocytosis of KSHV into human microvascular dermal endothelial (HMVEC-d) cells. The Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport (ESCRT) proteins, ESCRT-0, -I, -II, and–III, play a central role in clathrin-mediated internalized ubiquitinated receptor endosomal trafficking and sorting. ESCRT proteins have also been shown to play roles in viral egress. We have recently shown that ESCRT-0 component Hrs protein associates with the plasma membrane during macropinocytosis and mediates KSHV entry via ROCK1 mediated phosphorylation of NHE1 and local membrane pH change. Here, we demonstrate that the ESCRT-I complex Tsg101 protein also participates in the macropinocytosis of KSHV and plays a role in KSHV trafficking. Knockdown of Tsg101 did not affect virus entry in HMVEC-d and human umbilical vein endothelial (HUVEC) cells but significantly inhibited the KSHV genome entry into the nucleus and consequently viral gene expression in these cells. Double and triple immunofluorescence, proximity ligation immunofluorescence and co-immuoprecipitation studies revealed the association of Tsg101 with the KSHV containing macropinosomes, and increased levels of Tsg101 association/interactions with EphA2R, c-Cbl, p130Cas and Crk signal molecules, as well as with upstream and downstream ESCRT components such as Hrs (ESCRT-0), EAP45 (ESCRT-II), CHMP6 (ESCRT-III) and CHMP5 (ESCRT-III) in the KSHV infected cells. Tsg101 was also associated with early (Rab5) and late endosomal (Rab7) stages of KSHV intracellular trafficking, and CHMP5 (ESCRT-III) was also associated with Rab 5 and Rab 7. Knockdown of Tsg101 significantly inhibited the transition of virus from early to late endosomes. Collectively, our studies reveal that Tsg101 plays a role in the trafficking of macropinocytosed KSHV in the endothelial cells which is essential for the successful viral genome delivery into the nucleus, viral gene expression and infection. Thus, ESCRT molecules could serve as therapeutic targets to combat KSHV infection.
Scheduling algorithms for Web crawling

This paper presents a comparative study of strategies for Web crawling. We show that a combination of breadth-first ordering with the largest sites first is a practical alternative since it is fast, simple to implement, and able to retrieve the best ranked pages at a rate that is closer to the optimal than other alternatives. Our study was performed on a large sample of the Chilean Web which was crawled by using simulators, so that all strategies were compared under the same conditions, and actual crawls to validate our conclusions. We also explored the effects of large scale parallelism in the page retrieval task and multiple-page requests in a single connection for effective amortization of latency times.
Leveraging Post-Disaster Windows of Opportunities for Change towards Sustainability: A Framework

Disasters are catalysts for change: they are increasingly recognized as offering opportunities to direct and navigate change towards aspired outcomes, such as sustainable development goals. However, we know little about how to leverage the opportunities created by disasters to achieve sustainability objectives. Learning from existing case studies is challenging, partly because there is no framework that integrates concepts of change from both sustainability science and disaster recovery literatures. This study develops a unified analytical framework to facilitate the documentation and analysis of case studies of sustainability transitions following disasters. Our aim is to enhance the potential for theory-building, and to draw lessons that can be used to help leverage opportunities presented by disasters in the future. We apply the framework to available empirical cases and identify specific conditions, resources, social relations and constraints that affect disaster-to-sustainability transitions. Our expectation is that this framework will serve professionals and researchers in the fields of sustainable development and disaster mitigation to enhance the effectiveness of their research and applied activities.
The Erythropoietin/Erythropoietin Receptor Signaling Pathway Promotes Growth and Invasion Abilities in Human Renal Carcinoma Cells

Co-expression of erythropoietin (Epo) and erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) has been found in various non-hematopoietic cancers including hereditary and sporadic renal cell carcinomas (RCC), but the Epo/EpoR autocrine and paracrine mechanisms in tumor progression have not yet been identified. In this study, we used RNA interference method to down-regulate EpoR to investigate the function of Epo/EpoR pathway in human RCC cells. Epo and EpoR co-expressed in primary renal cancer cells and 6 human RCC cell lines. EpoR signaling was constitutionally phosphorylated in primary renal cancer cells, 786-0 and Caki-1 cells, and recombinant human Epo (rhEpo) stimulation had no significant effects on further phosphorylation of EpoR pathway, proliferation, and invasiveness of the cells. Down-regulation of EpoR expression in 786-0 cells by lentivirus-introduced siRNA resulted in inhibition of growth and invasiveness in vitro and in vivo, and promotion of cell apoptosis. In addition, rhEpo stimulation slightly antagonized the anti-tumor effect of Sunitinib on 786-0 cells. Sunitinib could induce more apoptotic cells in 786-0 cells with knockdown EpoR expression. Our results suggested that Epo/EpoR pathway was involved in cell growth, invasion, survival, and sensitivity to the multi-kinases inhibitor Sunitinib in RCC cells.
A Novel Immunity Inspired Approach for Anomaly Detection

Immune System (AIS) over the years has caught attention of researchers of various domains for complex problem solving. AIS model the procedure and methodologies of Biological Immune System (BIS) which protects the body from diverse attacks and different challenges. Scientists over the years are amazed with the appealing features of BIS that can be exploited. The most significant of them is its ability to distinguish self and non-self. This theory forms the basis of Negative Selection Algorithm (NSA) in AIS. NSA is competent for anomaly detection problems. From this perspective this research paper presents a Novel Immunity inspired approach for Anomaly Detection (NIIAD) with the feature of fine tuning. The main intention of adopting finetuning is to covering more self region and identifying non self region proficiently. Experimental results reflects high detection ratio with less false alarm and low overhead.
Path planning and control of differential and car-like robots in narrow environments

This paper presents a comprehensive solution for path planning and control of two popular types of autonomous wheeled vehicles. Differentially driven and car-like motion systems are the most widespread structures among wheeled mobile robots. The planning algorithm employs a rapidly exploring random tree based global planner (RTR), which generates paths made of straight motion and in place turning primitives. Such paths can be directly followed by a differential drive robot. Carlike robots have a minimum turning radius constraint, hence we present a local steering method (C*CS) which obtains a path consisting circular and straight movements based on the primary RTR-path, without losing the existence of the solution. Additionally, a velocity profile generation algorithm is presented, which is responsible for the distribution of the time parameter along the geometric path, taking the physical limitations of the robot into account. Finally, control algorithms for path following are given for both robot types. Simulations and real experiments show the effectiveness of these methods, even is constrained environments containing narrow corridors and passages.
Should we enhance animals?

Much bioethical discussion has been devoted to the subject of human enhancement through various technological means such as genetic modification. Although many of the same technologies could be, indeed in many cases already have been, applied to non-human animals, there has been very little consideration of the concept of “animal enhancement”, at least not in those specific terms. This paper addresses the notion of animal enhancement and the ethical issues surrounding it. A definition of animal enhancement is proposed that provides a framework within which to consider these issues; and it is argued that if human enhancement can be considered to be a moral obligation, so too can animal enhancement.
Use of Internally Controlled Real-Time Genome Amplification for Detection of Variola Virus and Other Orthopoxviruses Infecting Humans

ABSTRACT Smallpox, once a devastating disease caused by Variola virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus, was eradicated in 1980. However, the importance of variola virus infections has been stressed widely in the last few years, particularly following recent social events in the world. Today, variola virus is considered to be one of the most significant agents with potential use as a biological weapon. In this study we developed an internally controlled real-time PCR assay for rapid detection and simultaneous differentiation of variola virus from other orthopoxviruses. The assay is based on TaqMan 3′-minor groove binder (MGB) chemistry and uses generic primers, designed in highly conserved genomic regions of the crmB gene, and three TaqMan MGB probes designed to identify orthopoxviruses, variola virus, and an internal control. The results obtained suggest that the assay is rapid, sensitive, specific, and suitable for the generic detection of orthopoxviruses and the identification of variola virus and avoids false-negative results in a single reaction tube.
Active Zone Localization of Presynaptic Calcium Channels Encoded by the cacophony Locus of Drosophila

Presynaptic calcium channels play a central role in chemical synaptic transmission by providing the calcium trigger for evoked neurotransmitter release. These voltage-gated calcium channels are composed of a primary structural subunit, α1, as well as auxiliary β and α2δ subunits. Our previous genetic, molecular, and functional analysis has shown that the cacophony (cac) gene encodes a primary presynaptic calcium channel α1 subunit in Drosophila. Here we report that transgenic expression of a cac-encoded α1 subunit fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein efficiently rescues cac lethal mutations and allows in vivo analysis of calcium channel localization at active zones. The results reported here further characterize the primary role of cac-encoded calcium channels in neurotransmitter release. In addition, these studies provide a unique genetic tool for live imaging of functional presynaptic calcium channels in vivo and define a molecular marker for immunolocalization of other presynaptic proteins relative to active zones. These findings are expected to facilitate additional analysis of synaptic development and function in this important model system.
Partitioned Fixed-Priority Real-Time Scheduling Based on Dependent Task-Split on Multicore Platform

Most real-time multicore scheduling algorithms ignore intra-task relationships, which cannot meet all deadlines by placing severe restrictions upon sequential programming models. Moreover, no partitioned algorithms can have a utilization bound over 50%. In this paper, a partitioned fixed-priority real-time scheduling based on dependent tasks-split on homogeneous multi-core platform is proposed, namely BDTD/TS (B-tree Dependent Task Dispatching/Task Splitting). BDTD converts dependent tasks into a series of sequential jobs and obtains the interrelated subtasks path as well as synthetic deadlines through the B-tree task model. Then in BDTS, dependent task in idle-wait state is qualified to split and all blocked sub-tasks would preempt CPU immediately to guarantee deadlines. With regard to utilization bound analysis, the new algorithm is proved to offer superior performance guarantee 69.31%. The simulations and experimental results prove that the proposed algorithm provides high practicability and efficiency.
Performance of UTRA TDD ad hoc and IEEE 802.11b in vehicular environments

The FleetNet project aims at the development of a wireless ad hoc network for inter-vehicle communications (IVC). As a basis for the air-interface, the framework of the UMTS terrestrial radio access time division duplex (UTRA TDD) has been selected as the most promising candidate. Since UTRA TDD was developed for operation in a cellular network structure, modifications are required to enable mobile nodes to communicate in ad hoc mode without the existence of base stations. In particular, this comprises changes to physical (PHY) layer, medium access control (MAC) and radio resource management (RRM). The focus of this paper is the PHY layer of the air-interface and the resulting challenges in highly dynamic vehicular environments. The performance of the UTRA TDD ad hoc mode is assessed and compared to the IEEE 802.11b standard using link-level simulations. Results indicate that the UTRA TDD ad hoc PHY outperforms IEEE 802.11b in a typical highway scenario with very large relative velocities. In urban traffic environments with strong multipath propagation, IEEE 802.11b is not able to meet the required performance in terms of packet losses.
RNA Sequencing Identifies Dysregulation of the Human Pancreatic Islet Transcriptome by the Saturated Fatty Acid Palmitate

Pancreatic β-cell dysfunction and death are central in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Saturated fatty acids cause β-cell failure and contribute to diabetes development in genetically predisposed individuals. Here we used RNA sequencing to map transcripts expressed in five palmitate-treated human islet preparations, observing 1,325 modified genes. Palmitate induced fatty acid metabolism and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Functional studies identified novel mediators of adaptive ER stress signaling. Palmitate modified genes regulating ubiquitin and proteasome function, autophagy, and apoptosis. Inhibition of autophagic flux and lysosome function contributed to lipotoxicity. Palmitate inhibited transcription factors controlling β-cell phenotype, including PAX4 and GATA6. Fifty-nine T2D candidate genes were expressed in human islets, and 11 were modified by palmitate. Palmitate modified expression of 17 splicing factors and shifted alternative splicing of 3,525 transcripts. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis of modified transcripts and genes confirmed that top changed functions related to cell death. Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) analysis of transcription factor binding sites in palmitate-modified transcripts revealed a role for PAX4, GATA, and the ER stress response regulators XBP1 and ATF6. This human islet transcriptome study identified novel mechanisms of palmitate-induced β-cell dysfunction and death. The data point to cross talk between metabolic stress and candidate genes at the β-cell level.
Self-timed thermally-aware circuits

Thermal management is becoming increasingly important in circuit designs with high power density. Circuits that overheat beyond specified operating conditions may suffer timing failures, or become damaged for various reasons, including thermal runaway. We present a novel application of a thermally sensitive circuit to automatically regulate the performance and power consumption of asynchronous circuits, with minimal implementation overhead, and free of interruption of operation
A flexible UHF RFID tag for harsh environments

This paper presents the design and fabrication of a flexible tag for UHF RFID application in harsh environments. The proposed flexible tag has good performances when it is attached to non-metallic objects. Besides, after dipping in the water and in the chemical agents many times, the tag performances remain unmodified. Moreover, thanks to the protective layer, the tag becomes flexible and scratch resistant. Over the ETSI frequency band, the reading range is up to 3 m for objects which relative permittivity εr is less than 4.5. The overall tag size is only 64 mm × 29 mm × 4 mm.
Relationships between work environment factors and workers' well-being in the maritime industry.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to determine whether physical and psychosocial work factors are related to the levels of job satisfaction and intentions to leave in the maritime industry, and to determine whether there exist cross-cultural differences in work factors, job satisfaction and intentions to leave between European and Filipino crew members. MATERIAL AND METHODS Using a cross-sectional survey design, the variables were assessed in a sample of 541 seafarers from 2 large Norwegian shipping companies. Work factors included safety perceptions,leadership, job demands, harassment, and team cohesion. RESULTS The findings show that physical and psychosocial work factors are important correlates of both intentions to leave and job satisfaction, with safety perceptions, job demands, and team cohesion as the strongest and most consistent factors. As for cross-cultural differences, the findings show that European and Filipino respondents differ with regard to safety perceptions, laissez-faire leadership, authentic leadership,exposure to harassment, team cohesion, and intentions to leave. No differences were established with regard to overall job satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS The findings support occupational stress models which emphasise the importance of situational factors in the understanding of well-being among workers. Shipping companies should therefore always take these factors into consideration when developing and implementing interventions aimed at improving employee well-being.
Screening for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: What Combination of Symptoms Predicts Best?

Several symptom screening instruments have been developed to identify trauma survivors at risk for chronic posttraumatic stress disorder, but few of these have been thoroughly evaluated to date. In this study, a range of symptom combination scoring rules derived from the literature were applied to the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale and evaluated in 4 different samples of trauma survivors (total N = 522) regarding their power to identify people with posttraumatic stress disorder. Results were replicated in a fifth sample (N = 253). Most scoring rules showed lower diagnostic efficiencies than in the original reports. The most stable results were obtained for cutoffs on the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale total scale and a new subset of 8 items. The results underscore the need to cross-validate findings before using screening instruments for clinical applications.
High-quality specification of self-adaptive software systems

Today' software systems have to cope with changing environments while at the same time facing high non-functional requirements such as flexibility and dependability. Recently, these non-functional requirements are addressed using self-adaptivity features, that is, the system monitors its environment and adjusts its structure or behavior in reaction to changes. In classical model-driven software engineering approaches, self-adaptivity introduces additional complexity since self-adaptation features are distributed in a cross-cutting manner at various different locations in the models, resulting in a tightly interwoven model landscape that is hard to understand and maintain. A particular solution to cope with this problem is the separation of concerns (SoC) to focus on the specific concern of self-adaptivity and allow in-depth analyses. Applying SoC requires suitable development processes, languages, and techniques, e.g., for quality assurance, to be available. In this paper, we present a method for the specification of self-adaptive software systems using a UML based concern-specific modeling language called Adapt Case Modeling Language (ACML) that allows the separated and explicit specification of self-adaptivity concerns. Based on formal semantics we show how to apply quality assurance techniques to the modeled self-adaptive system, which enable the provisioning of hard guarantees concerning self-adaptivity characteristics such as adaptation rule set stability and deadlock freedom. Further, we show how the language and techniques integrate with existing software development processes.