Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Dietary Fructose:Vitamin C Intake Ratio Is Associated with Hyperuricemia in African-American Adults.

Background A high fructose intake has been shown to be associated with increased serum urate concentration, whereas ascorbate (vitamin C) may lower serum urate by competing with urate for renal reabsorption. Objective We assessed the combined association, as the fructose:vitamin C intake ratio, and the separate associations of dietary fructose and vitamin C intakes on prevalent hyperuricemia. Methods We conducted cross-sectional analyses of dietary intakes of fructose and vitamin C and serum urate concentrations among Jackson Heart Study participants, a cohort of African Americans in Jackson, Mississippi, aged 21-91 y. In the analytic sample (n = 4576), multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the separate associations of dietary intakes of fructose and vitamin C and the fructose:vitamin C intake ratio with prevalent hyperuricemia (serum urate ≥7 mg/dL), after adjusting for age, sex, smoking, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, estimated glomerular filtration rate, diuretic medication use, vitamin C supplement use, total energy intake, alcohol consumption, and dietary intake of animal protein. Analyses for individual dietary factors (vitamin C, fructose) were adjusted for the other dietary factor. Results In the fully adjusted model, there were 17% greater odds of hyperuricemia associated with a doubling of the fructose:vitamin C intake ratio (OR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.08, 1.28), 20% greater odds associated with a doubling of fructose intake (OR: 1.20; 95% CI: 1.08, 1.34), and 13% lower odds associated with a doubling of vitamin C intake (OR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.78, 0.97). Dietary fructose and the fructose:vitamin C intake ratio were more strongly associated with hyperuricemia among men than women (P-interaction ≤ 0.04). Conclusion Dietary intakes of fructose and vitamin C are associated with prevalent hyperuricemia in a community-based population of African Americans.
An Expression for the Strain Energy of Laminated Composite Thin Shells

An expression for the complementary strain energy of a linear elastic laminated composite thin-walled structure is presented which describes the energy in terms of midplane properties and subsequently stress and moment resultants rather than local stress and strain values. This expression is particularly useful for the analysis of statically indeterminate structures and energy storage devices such as springs.
MODIS solar diffuser degradation at short-wave infrared band wavelengths

The MODIS instruments aboard the Terra and Aqua spacecraft have 20 reflective solar bands (RSB) with wavelengths spanning 412 nm to 2130 nm. The primary on-board calibration source for the RSB is a sunlit solar diffuser (SD), with its degradation tracked by a SD stability monitor (SDSM). The SDSM measurements show that the decrease in SD reflectance over time has a strong wavelength dependence, with longer wavelengths showing less degradation. The SDSM has 9 detectors to track the SD degradation at wavelengths from 412 nm to 936 nm, but is not designed to track the degradation at short-wave infrared (SWIR) wavelengths. In recent years, the SDSM has measured non-negligible degradation in the SD reflectance at 936 nm for both Terra (>;2%) and Aqua (>0.5%) MODIS. In addition, comparison of SD calibration results to earth view targets suggests that smaller but non-negligible SD degradation also exists at the SWIR band wavelengths. In this paper, we review the current status of the MODIS SD degradation as measured by the SDSM. We present efforts to extend the SD degradation measurements to the SWIR band wavelengths (1240 nm to 2130 nm) by fitting a wavelength-dependent model to the SDSM results from the visible and NIR wavelength detectors. The predicted degradation results are used to correct the MODIS SWIR band degradation, and comparisons are made with trends from pseudo-invariant earth targets. Results are presented for both Terra and Aqua MODIS.
Changing Faces of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Treatment Effects by Cluster Designation in the Icelandic Sleep Apnea Cohort

Study Objectives Distinct clinical phenotypes of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have been identified: Disturbed Sleep, Minimally Symptomatic, and Sleepy. Determining whether these phenotypes respond differently to standard treatment helps us to create a foundation for personalized therapies. We compared responses to positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy in these clinical OSA phenotypes. Methods The study sample included 706 patients from the Icelandic Sleep Apnea Cohort with moderate-to-severe OSA who were prescribed PAP. Linear and logistic mixed models were used to compare 2-year changes in demographics, comorbid diseases, and sleep-related health issues within and across OSA clinical phenotypes. Relationships between changes in symptoms and PAP adherence were also examined. Results Overall, effect sizes were moderate to large when comparing sleepiness, insomnia-related, and apneic symptom changes in the Sleepy group with changes in other two groups, especially those in the Minimally Symptomatic group. Within the Disturbed Sleep group, PAP users and nonusers demonstrated similar changes in insomnia-related symptoms. The Minimally Symptomatic group remained relatively asymptomatic, but reported significant decreases in daytime sleepiness and physical fatigue; PAP users generally had larger improvements. The Sleepy group had reductions in nearly all measured symptoms, including large reductions in drowsy driving; almost all of these improvements were greater among PAP users than nonusers. Conclusions OSA treatment response patterns differed by initial clinical phenotype and PAP adherence. Individuals with insomnia-related symptoms may require additional targeted therapy for these complaints. These findings underscore the need for a personalized approach to management that recognizes patients with a range of OSA presentations.
Comparison of diaphragmatic mobility between COPD patients with and without thoracic hyperkyphosis: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT Objective: To compare diaphragmatic mobility, lung function, and respiratory muscle strength between COPD patients with and without thoracic hyperkyphosis; to determine the relationship of thoracic kyphosis angle with diaphragmatic mobility, lung function, and respiratory muscle strength in COPD patients; and to compare diaphragmatic mobility and thoracic kyphosis between male and female patients with COPD. Methods: Participants underwent anthropometry, spirometry, thoracic kyphosis measurement, and evaluation of diaphragmatic mobility. Results: A total of 34 patients with COPD participated in the study. Diaphragmatic mobility was significantly lower in the group of COPD patients with thoracic hyperkyphosis than in that of those without it (p = 0.002). There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups of COPD patients regarding lung function or respiratory muscle strength variables. There was a significant negative correlation between thoracic kyphosis angle and diaphragmatic mobility (r = −0.47; p = 0.005). In the sample as a whole, there were statistically significant differences between males and females regarding body weight (p = 0.011), height (p < 0.001), and thoracic kyphosis angle (p = 0.036); however, there were no significant differences in diaphragmatic mobility between males and females (p = 0.210). Conclusions: Diaphragmatic mobility is lower in COPD patients with thoracic hyperkyphosis than in those without it. There is a negative correlation between thoracic kyphosis angle and diaphragmatic mobility. In comparison with male patients with COPD, female patients with COPD have a significantly increased thoracic kyphosis angle.
Anomaly in the Chain Length Dependence of n-Alkane Diffusion in ZIF-4 Metal-Organic Frameworks

Molecular diffusion is commonly found to slow down with increasing molecular size. Deviations from this pattern occur in some host materials with pore sizes approaching the diameters of the guest molecules. A variety of theoretical models have been suggested to explain deviations from this pattern, but robust experimental data are scarcely available. Here, we present such data, obtained by monitoring the chain length dependence of the uptake of n-alkanes in the zeolitic imidazolate framework ZIF-4. A monotonic decrease in diffusivity from ethane to n-butane was observed, followed by an increase for n-pentane, and another decrease for n-hexane. This observation was confirmed by uptake measurements with n-butane/n-pentane mixtures, which yield faster uptake of n-pentane. Further evidence is provided by the observation of overshooting effects, i.e., by transient n-pentane concentrations exceeding the (eventually attained) equilibrium value. Accompanying grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations reveal, for the larger n-alkanes, significant differences between the adsorbed and gas phase molecular configurations, indicating strong confinement effects within ZIF-4, which, with increasing chain length, may be expected to give rise to configurational shifts facilitating molecular propagation at particular chain lengths.
Scripta Towards industrial applications of graphene electrodes

Since the first isolation of graphene in 2004 by mechanical exfoliation from graphite, many people have tried to synthesize large-scale graphene using various chemical methods. In particular, there has been a great number of advances in the synthesis of graphene using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on metal substrates such as Ni and Cu. Recently, a method to synthesize ultra-large-scale (∼30 inch) graphene films using roll-to-roll transfer and chemical doping processes was developed that shows excellent electrical and physical properties suitable for practical applications on a large scale. Considering the outstanding scalability/processibility of roll-to-roll and CVD methods as well as the extraordinary flexibility/conductivity of graphene films, we expect that transparent graphene electrodes can replace indium tin oxide in the near future. PACS number: 81.15. Gh (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)
Semi-supervised Clustering in Attributed Heterogeneous Information Networks

A heterogeneous information network (HIN) is one whose nodes model objects of different types and whose links model objects' relationships. In many applications, such as social networks and RDF-based knowledge bases, information can be modeled as HINs. To enrich its information content, objects (as represented by nodes) in an HIN are typically associated with additional attributes. We call such an HIN an Attributed HIN or AHIN. We study the problem of clustering objects in an AHIN, taking into account objects' similarities with respect to both object attribute values and their structural connectedness in the network. We show how supervision signal, expressed in the form of a must-link set and a cannot-link set, can be leveraged to improve clustering results. We put forward the SCHAIN algorithm to solve the clustering problem. We conduct extensive experiments comparing SCHAIN with other state-of-the-art clustering algorithms and show that SCHAIN outperforms the others in clustering quality.
Object tracking based on an extended Kalman filter in high dynamic driving situations

Intelligent vehicles measure their local environment utilizing surround sensors. Algorithms use this information for driver assistance or vehicle control applications. Insufficient reliability and accuracy of measurements can lead to fatal consequences for occupants as well as other road users. Therefore, sensors must provide correct object information in all driving situations and conditions. This paper focuses on radar sensor object tracking performance in high dynamic driving situations (e.g. skid events). A study of radar sensor accuracy in these situations is presented to emphasize the problem. A non-linear vehicle motion model was modified and used to estimate parameters of the horizontal vehicle motion during the skid event. An extended Kalman filter was designed to track a static target object using pre-processed automotive radar signals. The filter was tested and validated under realistic conditions using a test vehicle equipped with state-of-the-art automotive sensors, which was forced to skid during an object tracking task. Finally, the enhanced observer tracking performance in contrast to the standard radar sensor output is presented and discussed.
The association between soya consumption and serum thyroid-stimulating hormone concentrations in the Adventist Health Study-2

Abstract Objective Consumers may choose soya foods as healthful alternatives to animal products, but concern has arisen that eating large amounts of soya may adversely affect thyroid function. The present study aimed to examine the association between soya food consumption and serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentrations in North American churchgoers belonging to the Seventh-day Adventist denomination that encourages vegetarianism. Design Participants completed six repeated 24 h dietary recalls within a 6-month period. Soya protein and soya isoflavone intakes were estimated, and their relationships to TSH concentrations measured at the end of 6 months were calculated using logistic regression analyses. Setting Calibration sub-study of the Adventist Health Study-2. Subjects Women (n 548) and men (n 295) who were not taking thyroid medications. Results In men, age and urinary iodine concentrations were associated with high serum TSH concentrations (>5 mIU/l), while among women White ethnicity was associated with high TSH. In multivariate models adjusted for age, ethnicity and urinary iodine, soya isoflavone and protein intakes were not associated with high TSH in men. In women higher soya isoflavone consumption was associated with higher TSH, with an adjusted odds ratio (highest v. lowest quintile) of 4·17 (95 % CI 1·73, 10·06). Likewise, women with high consumption of soya protein (midpoint of highest quintile, 11 g/d) v. low consumption (midpoint of lowest quintile, 0 g/d) carried increased odds of high TSH (OR=2·69; 95 % CI 1·34, 5·30). Conclusions In women high consumption of soya was associated with elevated TSH concentrations. No associations between soya intake and TSH were found in men.
Smart detection of atrial fibrillation†

Aims Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice, and its paroxysmal nature makes its detection challenging. In this trial, we evaluated a novel App for its accuracy to differentiate between patients in AF and patients in sinus rhythm (SR) using the plethysmographic sensor of an iPhone 4S and the integrated LED only. Methods and results For signal acquisition, we used an iPhone 4S, positioned with the camera lens and LED light on the index fingertip. A 5 min video file was recorded with the pulse wave extracted from the green light spectrum of the signal. RR intervals were automatically identified. For discrimination between AF and SR, we tested three different statistical methods. Normalized root mean square of successive difference of RR intervals (nRMSSD), Shannon entropy (ShE), and SD1/SD2 index extracted from a Poincaré plot. Eighty patients were included in the study (40 patients in AF and 40 patients in SR at the time of examination). For discrimination between AF and SR, ShE yielded the highest sensitivity and specificity with 85 and 95%, respectively. Applying a tachogram filter resulted in an improved sensitivity of 87.5%, when combining ShE and nRMSSD, while specificity remained stable at 95%. A combination of SD1/SD2 index and nRMSSD led to further improvement and resulted in a sensitivity and specificity of 95%. Conclusion The algorithm tested reliably discriminated between SR and AF based on pulse wave signals from a smartphone camera only. Implementation of this algorithm into a smartwatch is the next logical step.
Fluorescent-based Lateral Flow Point of Care Detection of Cervical Cancer Biomarkers in Serum

Point-of-care (POC) diagnostics tools provide lowcost methods of disease detection in low resource settings. Our current platform detects antibodies in serum to recombinant protein biomarkers on glass substrate. Most commercial POC tests utilize nitrocellulose lateral flow format with colorimetric detection. Nitrocellulose enables fluid handling, serum filtration, better protein immobilization, rapid detection time, and affordability. Colorimetry limits sensitivity and provides only qualitative results. We aim to use fluorescent-based detection on a nitrocellulose lateral flow format to achieve higher sensitivity and semi-quantitative results to detect cervical cancer biomarkers. As a model, an EBNA-1 assay is used to evaluate nitrocellulose as a substrate for multi-step fluorescent-based detection of antibodies in serum.
Hsp70 Inhibits the Nucleation and Elongation of Tau and Sequesters Tau Aggregates with High Affinity

As a key player of the protein quality control network of the cell, the molecular chaperone Hsp70 inhibits the aggregation of the amyloid protein tau. To date, the mechanism of this inhibition and the tau species targeted by Hsp70 remain unknown. This is partly due to the inherent difficulty of studying amyloid aggregates because of their heterogeneous and transient nature. Here, we used ensemble and single-molecule fluorescence measurements to dissect how Hsp70 counteracts the self-assembly process of the K18 ΔK280 tau variant. We found that Hsp70 blocks the early stages of tau aggregation by suppressing the formation of tau nuclei. Additionally, Hsp70 sequesters oligomers and mature tau fibrils with nanomolar affinity into a protective complex, efficiently neutralizing their ability to damage membranes and seed further tau aggregation. Our results provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms by which the chaperone Hsp70 counteracts the formation, propagation, and toxicity of tau aggregates.
Analyzing the Impact of Gender on the Automation of Feedback for Public Speaking

This paper explores gender differences in the evaluation of male and female speakers' affective features in public speaking. We analyzed 260 two-minute behavioral videos (200 of females and 60 of males), collected from an online public speaking practice tool. We adopted a linear regression model that utilized facial and prosodic features, including facial action units (AU), word count, pitch, and volume, to automatically assess speaker performance. The model was evaluated against ratings from 2 expert speakers from Toastmasters, an international public speaking club, on speaker performance. Our feature analysis suggests that certain combinations of features are correlated with higher ratings only in males, such as the combined increase of speech rate and vocal pitch variation. Moreover, our clustering analysis suggests that exhibiting certain negative emotions correlates with higher ratings for males but not for females, illustrating the impact of gender in generating effective feedback on public speaking.
Combination of carbon ion beam and gemcitabine causes irreparable DNA damage and death of radioresistant pancreatic cancer stem-like cells in vitro and in vivo

We try to elucidate whether a carbon ion beam alone or in combination with gemcitabine has advantages over X-ray in targeting putative pancreatic cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) in vitro and in vivo. Colony, spheroid formation and tumorigenicity assays confirmed that CD44+/ESA+ cells sorted from PANC1 and PK45 cells have more CSC properties than CD44−/ESA− cells. The number of colonies and spheroids formed from CSCs after carbon ion beam irradiation was significantly reduced compared to after X-ray irradiation, and they were extremely highly suppressed when carbon ion beam combined with gemcitabine. The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) values for the carbon ion beam relative to X-ray at the D10 levels for CSCs were 2.23-2.66. Expressions of multiple cell death-related genes were remarkably highly induced, and large numbers of γH2AX foci in CSCs were formed after carbon ion beam combined with gemcitabine. The highly expressed CSC markers were significantly inhibited after 30 Gy of carbon ion beam and almost lost after 25 Gy carbon ion beam combined with 50 mg/kg gemcitabine. In conclusion, a carbon ion beam combined with gemcitabine has superior potential to kill pancreatic CSCs via irreparable clustered DSB compared to a carbon ion alone or X-rays combined with gemcitabine.
MG63 Osteoblast-Like Cells Exhibit Different Behavior when Grown on Electrospun Collagen Matrix versus Electrospun Gelatin Matrix

Electrospinning is a simple and efficient method of fabricating a non-woven polymeric nanofiber matrix. However, using fluorinated alcohols as a solvent for the electrospinning of proteins often results in protein denaturation. TEM and circular dichroism analysis indicated a massive loss of triple-helical collagen from an electrospun collagen (EC) matrix, and the random coils were similar to those found in gelatin. Nevertheless, from mechanical testing we found the Young's modulus and ultimate tensile stresses of EC matrices were significantly higher than electrospun gelatin (EG) matrices because matrix stiffness can affect many cell behaviors such as cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. We hypothesize that the difference of matrix stiffness between EC and EG will affect intracellular signaling through the mechano-transducers Rho kinase (ROCK) and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and subsequently regulates the osteogenic phenotype of MG63 osteoblast-like cells. From the results, we found there was no significant difference between the EC and EG matrices with respect to either cell attachment or proliferation rate. However, the gene expression levels of OPN, type I collagen, ALP, and OCN were significantly higher in MG63 osteoblast-like cells grown on the EC than in those grown on the EG. In addition, the phosphorylation levels of Y397-FAK, ERK1/2, BSP, and OPN proteins, as well as ALP activity, were also higher on the EC than on the EG. We further inhibited ROCK activation with Y27632 during differentiation to investigate its effects on matrix-mediated osteogenic differentiation. Results showed the extent of mineralization was decreased with inhibition after induction. Moreover, there is no significant difference between EC and EG. From the results of the protein levels of phosphorylated Y397-FAK, ERK1/2, BSP and OPN, ALP activity and mineral deposition, we speculate that the mechanism that influences the osteogenic differentiation of MG63 osteoblast-like cells on EC and EG is matrix stiffness and via ROCK-FAK-ERK1/2.
An Enhanced Privacy-Aware Authentication Scheme for Distributed Mobile Cloud Computing Services

With the fast growth of mobile services, Mobile Cloud Computing(MCC) has gained a great deal of attention from researchers in the academic and industrial field. User authentication and privacy are significant issues in MCC environment. Recently, Tsai and Lo proposed a privacy-aware authentication scheme for distributed MCC services, which claimed to support mutual authentication and user anonymity. However, Irshad et.al. pointed out this scheme cannot achieve desired security goals and improved it. Unfortunately, this paper shall show that security features of Irshad et.al.’s scheme are achieved at the price of multiple time-consuming operations, such as three bilinear pairing operations, one map-to-point hash function operation, etc. Besides, it still suffers from two minor design flaws, including incapability of achieving three-factor security and no user revocation and re-registration. To address these issues, an enhanced and provably secure authentication scheme for distributed MCC services will be designed in this work. The proposed scheme can meet all desirable security requirements and is able to resist against various kinds of attacks. Moreover, compared with previously proposed schemes, the proposed scheme provides more security features while achieving lower computation and communication costs.