Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Bivariate Whole Genome Linkage Study Identified Genomic Regions Influencing Both BMD and Bone Structure

Areal BMD (aBMD) and areal bone size (ABS) are biologically correlated traits and are each important determinants of bone strength and risk of fractures. Studies showed that aBMD and ABS are genetically correlated, indicating that they may share some common genetic factors, which, however, are largely unknown. To study the genetic factors influencing both aBMD and ABS, bivariate whole genome linkage analyses were conducted for aBMD‐ABS at the femoral neck (FN), lumbar spine (LS), and ultradistal (UD)‐forearm in a large sample of 451 white pedigrees made up of 4498 individuals. We detected significant linkage on chromosome Xq27 (LOD = 4.89) for LS aBMD‐ABS. In addition, we detected suggestive linkages at 20q11 (LOD = 3.65) and Xp11 (LOD = 2.96) for FN aBMD‐ABS; at 12p11 (LOD = 3.39) and 17q21 (LOD = 2.94) for LS aBMD‐ABS; and at 5q23 (LOD = 3.54), 7p15 (LOD = 3.45), Xq27 (LOD = 2.93), and 12p11 (LOD = 2.92) for UD‐forearm aBMD‐ABS. Subsequent discrimination analyses indicated that quantitative trait loci (QTLs) at 12p11 and 17q21 may have pleiotropic effects on aBMD and ABS. This study identified several genomic regions that may contain QTLs important for both aBMD and ABS. Further endeavors are necessary to follow these regions to eventually pinpoint the genetic variants affecting bone strength and risk of fractures.
Transient helicity in intrinsically disordered Axin-1 studied by NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations

Many natural proteins are, as a whole or in part, intrinsically disordered. Frequently, such intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) undergo a transition to a defined and often helical conformation upon binding to partner molecules. The intrinsic propensity of an IDR sequence to fold into a helical conformation already in the absence of a binding partner can have a decisive influence on the binding process and affinity. Using a combination of NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations we have investigated the tendency of regions of Axin-1, an intrinsically disordered scaffolding protein of the WNT signaling pathway, to form helices in segments interacting with binding partners. Secondary chemical shifts from NMR measurements show an increased helical population in these regions. Systematic application of MD advanced sampling approaches on peptide segments of Axin-1 reproduces the experimentally observed tendency and allows insights into the distribution of segment conformations and free energies of helix formation. The results, however, were found to dependent on the force field water model. Recent water models specifically designed for IDRs significantly reduce the predicted helical content and do not improve the agreement with experiment.
Incremental learning algorithm of least squares support vector machines based on Renyi entropy

This paper introduces Renyi entropy and incremental learning algorithm into the financial distress prediction of enterprises and advances an incremental learning algorithm on least squares support vector machine based on Renyi entropy. By analysis and comparison of LS-SVM incremental learning algorithm based on Renyi entropy,traditional LS-SVM algorithm and standard SVM algorithm,LS-SVM incremental learning algorithm based on the Renyi entropy are evidently superior to the traditional LS-SVM algorithm and the standard SVM in terms of the number of training samples and computing time. This confirms the effectiveness and superiority of the introduction of Renyi entropy into the field of financial distress prediction.
Detecting Malware Based on DNS Graph Mining

Malware remains a major threat to nowadays Internet. In this paper, we propose a DNS graph mining-based malware detection approach. A DNS graph is composed of DNS nodes, which represent server IPs, client IPs, and queried domain names in the process of DNS resolution. After the graph construction, we next transform the problem of malware detection to the graph mining task of inferring graph nodes' reputation scores using the belief propagation algorithm. The nodes with lower reputation scores are inferred as those infected by malwares with higher probability. For demonstration, we evaluate the proposed malware detection approach with real-world dataset. Our real-world dataset is collected from campus DNS servers for three months and we built a DNS graph consisting of 19,340,820 vertices and 24,277,564 edges. On the graph, we achieve a true positive rate 80.63% with a false positive rate 0.023%. With a false positive of 1.20%, the true positive rate was improved to 95.66%. We detected 88,592 hosts infected by malware or C&C servers, accounting for the percentage of 5.47% among all hosts. Meanwhile, 117,971 domains are considered to be related to malicious activities, accounting for 1.5% among all domains. The results indicate that our method is efficient and effective in detecting malwares.
Neural and Statistical Methods for Leveraging Meta-information in Machine Translation

In this paper, we discuss different methods which use meta information and richer context that may accompany source language input to improve machine translation quality. We focus on category information of input text as meta information, but the proposed methods can be extended to all textual and non-textual meta information that might be available for the input text or automatically predicted using the text content. The main novelty of this work is to use state-of-the-art neural network methods to tackle this problem within a statistical machine translation (SMT) framework. We observe translation quality improvements up to 3% in terms of BLEU score in some text categories.
Adjustments of lipid pathways in plant adaptation to temperature stress

Modulation of membrane lipid composition under varying environmental conditions is an important part of plant stress adaptation. Most notably, proportional changes of lipid composition in response to temperature changes are a major cellular response to requirements of membrane fluidity adjustment. In higher plants, synthesis of glycerolipids is accomplished by 2 major pathways, the prokaryotic and eukaryotic pathway, located in the chloroplast and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), respectively. Recently, we systematically investigated the re-adjustments of glycerolipid pathways under temperature stress at the metabolite and transcript levels using 3 plant species with distinct lipid profiles. The relative contributions of 2 pathways and lipid channeling from the ER and chloroplast were both observed in plants under temperature stress. Potential factors controlling the lipid flux were identified through transcriptome analysis.
Resonant electric arcs in DC microgrids with low system impedance in the VLF-band

Various fault scenarios have been analyzed by running a number of differently combined 380 VDC microgrid tests. These tests represented a common grid topology with low system impedance at grid resonance points within the single- or lower double-digit kHz range. At serial arc faults, self-excited resonant modes of the arc plasma column have been observed. They lead to an increased arc column stability compared to non-resonant arcs with colored noise behavior. These characteristics require a special focus on pattern recognition methods for arc fault sensors along with extended suitability tests for mechanical and hybrid switchgear concerning the altered stability of switching arcs. The use of small-signal models for system components such as source and load converters as well as for arcs with regard to large-signal DC operating points and converter control modes is helpful in order to describe the reaction of the system in the event of a malfunction. This is essential for the development of suitable protective components and algorithms.
Estimating stroke volume from oxygen pulse during exercise

This investigation aimed at verifying whether it was possible to reliably assess stroke volume (SV) during exercise from oxygen pulse (OP) and from a model of arterio-venous oxygen difference (a-vO2D) estimation. The model was tested in 15 amateur male cyclists performing an exercise test on a cycle-ergometer consisting of a linear increase of workload up to exhaustion. Starting from the analysis of previous published data, we constructed a model of a-vO2D estimation (a-vO2Dest) which predicted that the a-vO2D at rest was 30% of the total arterial O2 content (CaO2) and that it increased linearly during exercise reaching a value of 80% of CaO2 at the peak workload (Wmax) of cycle exercise. Then, the SV was calculated by applying the following equation, SV = OP/a-vO2Dest, where the OP was assessed as the oxygen uptake/heart rate. Data calculated by our model were compared with those obtained by impedance cardiography. The main result was that the limits of agreement between the SV assessed by impedance cardiography and the SV estimated were between 22.4 and −27.9 ml (+18.8 and −24% in terms of per cent difference between the two SV measures). It was concluded that our model for estimating SV during effort may be reasonably applicable, at least in a healthy population.
Utilizing both Radarsat-2 And TerraSAR-X polarimetrie data for crop growth stages estimation

This paper uses RADARSAT-2 quad Polarimetrie Synthetic Aperture Radar and TerraSAR-X dual polarimetrie SAR data to estimate agriculture crop growth stages. Ten RADARSAT-2 Fine Quad Wide beam modes data and 13 sets of Stripmap TerraSAR-X data with duel HH and VV polarizations were used in this study. Polarimetrie features such as differential reflectivity bands ratio, entropy, anisotropy, alpha angle, lambda, scattering diversity and polarization index were extracted and evaluated for wheat and canola crop types. The results from both RADARSAT-2 and TerraSAR-X data were compared; they demonstrated clear correlations between crop growth stages obtained from the ground truth data and polarimetric parameters. A stepwise regression feature selection technique was employed for determine the most suitable parameters for different crop types by utilizing both RADARSAT-2 and TerraSAR-X data. By integrating of the selected polarimetrie parameters from both Radarsat-2 and TerraSAR-X data, the more aeeurate estimate of the erop growth stages was aehieved and validated using erop growth stage ground truth data. The estimation of erop growth stages was performed on the elassified erop image subsets aequired at different dates. The results indieates that the mean square errors of the estimated erop growth stages are redueed using integrated/combined polarimetrie parameters from both RADARSAT-2 and TerraSAR-X data, as opposed to using a single sensor.
Validation of the Advanced Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar Simulator with Polar55C real observations

A preliminary validation of the Advanced Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar Simulator (APDWRS) with real data is described in this paper. The APDWRS is used to reproduce an observation of a severe storm event which took place on the 15th of October 2012 over the Tyrrenian coast. One PPI scan performed by the dual polarization C-band Polar 55C weather radar at 17:30 UTC is simulated using APDWRS with meteorological data from the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model as input. The validity of the simulation is then compared both in the spatial domain and statistically observing the differences in the relationships between observables in real and simulated case.
Biochemical characterisation of the clamp/clamp loader proteins from the euryarchaeon Archaeoglobus fulgidus.

Replicative polymerases of eukaryotes, prokaryotes and archaea obtain processivity using ring-shaped DNA sliding clamps that are loaded onto DNA by clamp loaders [replication factor C (RFC) in eukaryotes]. In this study, we cloned the two genes for the subunits of the RFC homologue of the euryarchaeon Archaeoglobus fulgidus. The proteins were expressed and purified from Escherichia coli both individually and as a complex. The afRFC subunits form a heteropentameric complex consisting of one copy of the large subunit and four copies of the small subunits. To analyse the functionality of afRFC, we also expressed the A.fulgidus PCNA homologue and a type B polymerase (PolB1) in E.coli. In primer extension assays, afRFC stimulated the processivity of afPolB1 in afPCNA-dependent reactions. Although the afRFC complex showed significant DNA-dependent ATPase activity, which could be further stimulated by afPCNA, neither of the isolated afRFC subunits showed this activity. However, both the large and small afRFC subunits showed interaction with afPCNA. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ATP binding, but not hydrolysis, is needed to stimulate interactions of the afRFC complex with afPCNA and DNA.
Mental Stress of Long Duration: EMG Activity, Perceived Tension, Fatigue, and Pain Development in Pain‐Free Subjects

The study examined the relationship between pain development in the shoulder, neck, and facial regions and the EMG activity of underlying muscles, during prolonged exposure to a mental stressor. The subjective perception of tension and fatigue was recorded. Thirty‐six subjects were exposed to a two‐choice reaction‐time test for 1 hour. Electromyographic (EMG) recordings were performed bilaterally over the frontalis, temporalis, splenius, and trapezius muscles. Pain and perceived tension were scored on a visual analog scale, and fatigue on a Borg scale. Pain development was most pronounced in the shoulder and neck region. There was a weak tendency of those reporting pain in the shoulder region to generate higher EMG activity in the trapezius relative to those with no shoulder pain at the end of the test. No such relationship was observed for the other muscles. Perceived tension during the test was weakly related to pain and strongly related to fatigue at the end of the test, but not to EMG level. It is concluded that the mean level of the EMG response is of little consequence for pain development during stressful conditions. It is argued that other physiological responses such as prolonged activity in low‐threshold motor units, whereby the surface EMG response can serve as a marker, can be important for shoulder pain originating in the trapezius muscle.
Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor-α Regulates Lipid Homeostasis, but Is Not Associated with Obesity

Considerable controversy exists in determining the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPARα) in obesity. Two purebred congenic strains of PPARα-null mice were developed to study the role of this receptor in modulating lipid transport and storage. Weight gain and average body weight in wild-type and PPARα-null mice on either an Sv/129 or a C57BL/6N background were not markedly different between genotypes from 3 to 9 months of age. However, gonadal adipose stores were significantly greater in both strains of male and female PPARα-null mice. Hepatic accumulation of lipids was greater in both strains and sexes of PPARα-null mice compared with wild-type controls. Administration of the peroxisome proliferator WY-14643 caused hepatomegaly, alterations in mRNAs encoding proteins that regulate lipid metabolism, and reduced serum triglycerides in a PPARα-dependent mechanism. Constitutive differences in serum cholesterol and triglycerides in PPARα-null mice were found between genetic backgrounds. Results from this work establish that PPARα is a critical modulator of lipid homeostasis in two congenic mouse lines. This study demonstrates that disruption of the murine gene encoding PPARα results in significant alterations in constitutive serum, hepatic, and adipose tissue lipid metabolism. However, an overt, obese phenotype in either of the two congenic strains was not observed. In contrast to earlier published work, this study establishes that PPARα is not associated with obesity in mice.
Separative Surface Potential Activation Beamformer for Localizing Reentrant Excitation of Atrial Fibrillation

We introduce a novel beamforming method named separative surface potential activity beamformer (sSPAB) for MCG source localization. By using this method, we can visualize an activity map of the action potential (AMAP) on the myocardial surface corresponding to a time-specific waveform of measured magnetic fields with an MCG. The method is especially feasible for localization of a rhythmic activity and we used this method for studies of atrial fibrillation (AF). Included in the study were four patients with chronic AF. The obtained f-waves show periodic oscillatory behaviors. By using the sSPAB, we separate the f-wave from the other activations and localize the position of a reentry circuit corresponding to the f-wave. By separating the f-wave time-by-time and visualizing the AMAP for each time-separated waveform, we were able to infer the propagation trace of the AF. After the MCG map-guided minimal AF surgery, the patients' AF rhythm converted Sinus successfully. With follow-ups, their sinus rhythm is well preserved.
Light chain deposition disease with renal involvement: clinical characteristics and prognostic factors.

BACKGROUND Light chain deposition disease (LCDD) is characterized by the tissue deposition of monotypical immunoglobulin light chains (LCs). The aim of this study was to investigate its clinical characteristics and prognostic factors. METHODS Multicenter study of LCDD with renal and patient survival analyses. RESULTS Sixty-three cases were studied (age: 58 +/- 14.2; males: 63.5%; kappa/lambda deposition: 68/32%; underlying disorders: multiple myeloma [MM] 65%, lymphoproliferative disorders 3%, idiopathic 32%). Ninety-six percent presented with renal insufficiency (acute, 52%; chronic, 44%), and 84% with proteinuria >1 g/d. During the follow-up, 36 patients reached uremia (incidence rate: 23.7/100 patient-years) and 37 died (17.5/100 patient-years). The factors independently associated with a worse renal prognosis were age (relative risk [RR], 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.009 to 1.086) and serum creatinine at presentation (RR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.5). Those independently associated with a worse patient survival were age (RR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.1), MM (RR, 2.75; 95% CI, 1.22 to 6.2), and extrarenal LC deposition (RR, 2.24; 95% CI, 1.15 to 4.35). While kappa-LC deposition was more frequently associated with nodular sclerosing glomerulopathy, histological parameters were not predictors of renal/patient prognosis. The survival of the uremic patients undergoing dialysis was similar to that of patients not reaching uremia. CONCLUSION LCDD is characterized by renal insufficiency with proteinuria and has a severe prognosis. Apart from age, the prognostic factors identified were degree of renal insufficiency at presentation affecting the renal prognosis, underlying hematologic disorder and extrarenal LC deposition affecting the patient prognosis. Dialysis is worth performing in uremic LCDD patients.
Effect of Wilting on Carbohydrates during Incubation of Excised Bean Leaves in the Dark.

Excised bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) leaves were used to compare the changes in various carbohydrates during dark incubation in a wilted and turgid condition. After a rapid (less than 1 hour) wilt, leaves were incubated at a constant water content (75% of original fresh weight). The starch content of the wilted leaves decreased faster than it did in the turgid leaves. This accelerated starch loss was accompanied by an increase in free (alcohol-soluble) sugars, while no similar increase was observed in the turgid leaves. The increase in free sugars in the wilted leaves during accelerated starch loss was sufficient to account for the decreased starch content in wilted leaves compared to turgid leaves. Thus, total carbohydrate decreased at the same rate in both wilted and turgid leaves during dark incubation.The free sugar which accumulated in the wilted leaves was mainly sucrose. There was no increase in sucrose content of turgid leaves during incubation, although there was a rapid loss of starch. Glucose and fructose also increased during incubation, but there was no difference between the wilted and turgid leaves. These results suggest that wilting of detached leaves caused a conversion of starch to sucrose in the dark.
Input–Output Decoupling Control by Measurement Feedback in Four-Wheel-Steering Vehicles

The well-known single-track linearized model for four-wheel-steering vehicle dynamics is used to design a second-order dynamic decoupling controller. Yaw rate and lateral speed are the outputs to be decoupled, while the rear steering angle and an additive steering angle with respect to the driver command are the control inputs. It is shown that the lateral speed dynamics and the yaw rate dynamics can be decoupled by feeding back longitudinal speed, yaw rate, and lateral acceleration measurements, while the effect of sensor disturbances on yaw rate is attenuated. Lateral speed measurements or observers are not required. The yaw rate controlled dynamics are independent from lateral speed and are described by a third-order input-output model, depending on the driver steering wheel command and sensor disturbances; the lateral speed dynamics are autonomous and tend exponentially to zero with a vehicle-dependent time constant while the lateral acceleration tends to be proportional to the yaw rate. The nonlinear analysis on a single-track model shows the suppression of the unstable equilibrium points of the uncontrolled system, the generation of new stable equilibrium points as the critical driver step input increases, and the enlargement of the stability regions. Simulations of typical maneuvers and disturbances on a nonlinear third-order single-track model and on a higher order model provided by CarSim show robustness with respect to unmodeled dynamics, vehicle parameter uncertainty, and sensor disturbances; moreover, significant dynamic decoupling, larger bandwidth, overshoot suppression, and improved maneuverability even at high speed are confirmed.
Characterization of the rad14‐2 Mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Implications for the Recognition of UV Photoproducts by the Rad14 Protein

The RAD14 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required for the incision step of the nucleotide excision repair process. The Rad14 protein can bind zinc, possesses a potential zinc finger DNA binding domain and has been shown to bind specifically to damaged DNA. Differences in UV sensitivity exist between a rad14 deletion strain and a putative rad14 point mutant, the point mutant being more resistant to UV than the deletion strain. Here, we confirm that the rad14 deletion strain repairs neither UV‐induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) nor endonuclease III‐sensitive damage sites, whereas the point mutant cannot repair the former but can repair the latter. From this it can be inferred that the point mutant produces an altered protein product allowing recognition of endonuclease III sensitive sites but not CPDs. To investigate this, the rad14 mutant allele was sequenced. It contained two GC‐AT transition mutations when compared to the wild‐type RAD14 gene sequence. When the rad14 point mutant sequence is translated, alterations within the putative zinc finger binding domain are observed, with one of the cysteine residues of the zinc binding motif being replaced by tyrosine. This suggests that alterations within the zinc finger binding domain of the Rad14 protein cause changes to the damage recognition properties of the protein. The use of the Rad14 protein from the point mutant should assist in experiments investigating the in vitro binding properties of the Rad14 protein to different types of DNA damage. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.