Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maternal urinary phthalates and phenols and male genital anomalies.

REFERENCES 1. Alberg AJ, Ford JG, Samet JM. Epidemiology of lung cancer: ACCP evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (2nd edition). Chest. 2007; 132:29S–55S. 2. Ruano-Ravina A, Figueiras A, Barros-Dios JM. Noxious exposures in leisure time and risk of lung cancer: a neglected exposure. Epidemiology. 2002;13:235–236. 3. Sharpe CR, Siemiatycki J, Parent ME. Activities and exposures during leisure and prostate cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2001;10:855–860. 4. Colt JS, Hartge P, Davis S, Cerhan JR, Cozen W, Severson RK. Hobbies with solvent exposure and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Cancer Causes Control. 2007;18:385–390. 5. Barcenas CH, Delclos GL, El-Zein R, Tortolero-Luna G, Whitehead LW, Spitz MR. Wood dust exposure and the association with lung cancer risk. Am J Ind Med. 2005;47:349–357. 6. Lynge E, Anttila A, Hemminki K. Organic solvents and cancer. Cancer Causes Control. 1997;8:406–419. 7. Straif K, Benbrahim-Tallaa L, Baan R, et al. WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer Monograph Working Group. A review of human carcinogens-part C: metals, arsenic, dusts, and fibres. Lancet Oncol. 2009;10:453– 454. 8. Guha N, Merletti F, Steenland NK, Altieri A, Cogliano V, Straif K. Lung cancer risk in painters: a meta-analysis. Environ Health Perspect. 2010;118:303–312.
Voltage-Driven On–Off Transition and Tradeoff With Program and Erase Current in Programmable Metallization Cell (PMC) Memory

The transition from the on (low-resistance) to the off (high-resistance) state is studied for programmable metallization cell nonvolatile memories. The stability of the on state under stress voltage and the erase operation were characterized as a function of the initial resistance in the timescale from 100 mus to 100 s. The data suggest that the on-off transition is limited by voltage-driven ion hopping and that filaments with larger size, and hence lower resistance, are more stable. Finally, results are discussed with the aid of an analytical model for erase, which is also used to address the tradeoff between on-state stability and program/erase currents.
Wall-collision broadening of Gas absorption lines in nanoporous materials

The main broadening mechanisms of absorption lines in free gas are known to be the pressure-and-Doppler broadening. However, with gas trapped within nanoporous materials, wall-collision broadening may become non-negligible. We present and discuss experimental data which show the effect of wall-collision broadening and its applications.
Social competence and behavioral problems of pediatric survivors of burns.

Sixty children (35 boys, 25 girls) with burns were surveyed at least 1 year after burn injury to assess the behavior problems and difficulties with competency that they were having. The Child Behavior Checklist, the Youth Self Report, and the Teacher Report Form developed by Achenbach were administered to obtain standardized measures of behavior and competence. The mean values for these scales were in the normal range for each age and sex. However, the Child Behavior Checklist revealed a statistically significant (p < 0.05) increase in problems and decrease in competency for most age groups and both sexes when compared with the reference population. In contrast, the Teacher Report Form and the Youth Self Report revealed very few differences from the reference population. The burn size (15% to 20% total body surface area, 35% to 50% total body surface area, and > 70% total body surface area) did not account for any of the group differences. Further studies involving detailed clinical interviews and other standardized measures are needed to understand the discrepancies between the Child Behavior Checklist and the other scales.
Physician Knowledge, Perceptions of Barriers, and Patient Colorectal Cancer Screening Practices

Physician recommendation is a major determinant of colorectal cancer screening. The purpose of this study was to examine physician attitudes and self-reported colorectal cancer patient screening. In a physician survey, perceived patient barriers included preparation for the tests and patient dislike of the blood stool test. Physician semistructured interviews revealed that perception of patient barriers included cost, time off from work, and transportation. Most physicians reported low knowledge of insurance coverage for screening, and self-reported screening rates among physicians themselves were not optimal. Evidence-based interventions to increase physician recommendations for screening, such as reminder and tracking systems, may be of value. Interventions that target physician knowledge of insurance coverage and encourage physicians to adopt screening themselves could also be considered. (Am J Med Qual 2009;24:116-122)
Benchmarking and Performance studies of MapReduce / Hadoop Framework on Blue Waters Supercomputer

MapReduce is an emerging and widely used programming model for large-scale data parallel applications that require to process large amount of raw data. There are several implementations of MapReduce framework, among which Apache Hadoop is the most commonly used and open source implementaion. These frameworks are rarely deployed on supercomputers as massive as Blue Waters. We want to evaluate how such massive HPC resource can help solving large-scale data analytics, datamining problems using MapReduce / Hadoop framework. In this paper we present our studies and detailed performance analysis of MapReduce / Hadoop framework on Blue Waters Supercomputer. We have used standard popular MapReduce benchmark suite that represents wide range of MapReduce applications with various computation and data densities. Also, we are planning to use Intel HiBench Haddop Benchamrk Suite in future. We identify few factors that significantly affect the performance of MapReduce / Hadoop and shed light on few alternatives that can improve the overall performance of MapReduce techniques on the system. The results we have obtained strengthen our belief in possibility of using massive specialized superrcomputers to tackle big data problems. We demonstrate the initial performance of the MapReduce / Hadoop framework with encoraging results and we are confident that the massive traditional High Perfromance Computaing resource can be useful in tackling the big-data research challneges and in solving large-scale data analytics, data-mining problems.
Energy-efficient Database Machines

Database workloads severely underutilize their micro-architectural resources. This results in inefficient use of the chip's limited power budget. While ARM's server-grade processor is a promising energy-efficient alternative, it nevertheless wastes significant portion of the power-budget when running a database workload. In this paper, we systematically explore the ways of improving energy efficiency when running database workloads. We start by describing software-only and hardware-only optimizations, and then discuss two hardware/software co-design approaches. We finally propose combining a diverse set of hardware/software co-designed systems into a heterogeneous, energy-efficient database machine.
SIMPLE TESTS FOR SIGNIFICANT BACTERIURIA.

The emphasis in recent years on "significant bacteriuria"1has led to the recognition that urine cultures and colony counts are the best laboratory procedures available to the clinician in ascertaining the pressure of urinary tract infections. Kass1and others have shown significant urinary infection is present if two consecutive urine specimens, appropriately collected, contain more than 100,000 colonies per milliliter of bacteria. Further, when bacterial counts are between 10,000 and 100,000 colonies per milliliter, additional specimens should be tested since they often are found to have more than 100,000 colonies per milliliter.1,3The Gram-stained preparation of a drop of fresh, unspun urine sediment and a microscopic examination of a drop of fresh, well-mixed urine have been also advocated as excellent, simple procedures for the detection of infected urine. Kass2has claimed an 80% correlation between the presence of bacteria on the Gram stain and colony counts
10518 Genomic Deletions and Rough Morphology in M . avium

Previously, a gene cluster, termed ser2, which encodes for the synthesis of the specific oligosaccharide of the glycopeptidolipid antigen of Mycobacterium avium serovar 2 strain TMC 724, was defined. DNA probes from this cloned sera gene cluster have now been used to clone and characterize the ser2 region from a strain of M. avium which produces rough and smooth colony forms and to identify the genetic differences between these morphotypes. Interstrain differences were seen to exist between the sera gene cluster of M. avium strains TMC 724 and 2151. In addition, two distinct rough (Rg) genotypes of strain 2151 were defined by this analysis. The first of these, present in the M. avium Rg-0 and Rg-1 variants, was attributed to a deletion of approximately 28 kilobases from smooth variants, including the entire sera gene cluster. This particular deletion is thought to be mediated by recombination between repetitive sequences that flank both sides of the 28-kilobase excised region. The second genotype, seen in M. avium Rg-3 and Rg-4 variants, results from the deletion of an undefined amount of DNA from the right of the sera gene cluster. Reported separately (Belisle, J. T., McNeil, M. R., Chatterjee, D., Inamine, J. M., and Brennan, P. J. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 10510-10516) are the results of biochemical analyses of the glycopeptidolipid/lipopeptide population of the Rg genotypes which revealed that Rg-0 and Rg-1 possess lipopeptides devoid of all of the sugars of the glycopeptidolipids and are obviously biosynthetic precursors of the glycopeptidolipids. These studies help formulate a definition of the physiological effects of glycolipid expression, the biosynthetic and genetic mechanisms involved in their formation, and toward an understanding of the role of M. avium as a serious opportunistic pathogen.
In vitro evaluation of the haemopoietic defect of CD34+ cells from patients with acute myeloid leukaemia in first remission

Haemopoietic cells from patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in first complete remission (CR1) show in vitro a haemopoietic defect and a decreased expansion potential. To better characterize this haemopoietic defect, CR1 AML and normal CD34+ cells were analysed for immunophenotype, viability, cell cycle and progenitor content before and during expansion culture in stroma‐conditioned medium supplemented with cytokines. The production of haemopoiesis inhibitor by patient cells and the influence of high concentrations of stem cell factor (SCF) and Flt3‐ligand (FL) on cell survival and ex vivo expansion potential were also studied. Before expansion, patient CD34+ cells showed viability and cell‐cycle phase distribution similar to normal but lower percentages of CD34+DR− or CD34+CD38− cells and lower progenitor content. After 48 h of culture ±30% of patient cells had died regardless of the cytokine combination used, whereas only 15% of normal cells died. After 7 d of culture, viability and cell cycle analyses showed comparable data for normal and patient samples. Co‐culture of patient and normal cells did not show any evidence for haemopoiesis inhibitor production by patient cells. Even at high cytokine concentrations, a low progenitor expansion and a decrease in CD34+ cell numbers was observed for patient samples in contrast to normal samples. In conclusion, CR1 AML CD34+ cells showed excessive early cell mortality. No evidence for cell‐cycle arrest or haemopoiesis inhibitor production was shown. SCF and FL used at high concentrations did not correct the patient cell expansion defect.
Successful ultrasound‐guided laser treatment of fetal hydrops caused by pulmonary sequestration

Microcystic or solid‐looking fetal lung lesions associated with hydrops are associated with a high mortality rate. The most common of these lesions are microcystic congenital cystic adenomatoid malformations and pulmonary sequestrations (PS). Performing open fetal surgery by hysterotomy and lobectomy has, until now, been the only therapeutic option available following diagnosis of these lesions in the second trimester. Here we describe a new minimally invasive technique for the treatment of PS in the second trimester. Laser coagulation of the feeding systemic artery of the sequestration was performed under ultrasound guidance. The blood flow to the lung tumor was successfully arrested and hydrops reversed. The child was born at term and, at the time of writing, was alive and well at 2 years of age.
A K-band switched-line phase shifter using novel low-voltage low-loss RF-MEMS switch

A low-voltage low-loss K-band 3-bit MEMS switched-line phase shifter is presented in this work. The phase shifter is constructed by novel shunt capacitive RF-MEMS switches and coplanar waveguide lines on a high-resistivity silicon substrate. A low-voltage RF-MEMS switch (pull-in voltage = 3.04V) is employed and exhibits good RF characteristics by using T-match technique where its insertion loss and isolation is −0.1291dB and −28.75dB, respectively at frequency of 20GHz. The 3-bit MEMS phase shifter is assembled by three single-bit units (namely, 45°-bit, 90°-bit and 180°-bit) of switched-line structures; the average phase error and average insertion loss is 0.2445° and −2.447dB, respectively, at 20GHz; its return loss is better than 10dB at a wideband frequency range of up to 20GHz. The whole design area is 6mm∗4mm.
Neoclassical theory of rotation and electric field in high collisionality plasmas with steep gradients

The equation describing the radial transport of toroidal momentum in a collisional subsonic plasma with steep gradients has been obtained via a systematic expansion of the two-fluid equations. The diffusion rate is classical; the poloidal rotation, driven by the temperature gradient, generates, in turn, a toroidal flow gradient, also in Ohmic discharges. Moreover, important modifications of the parallel momentum equation are found to arise if Λ1≡(νi/Ωi)(q2R2/rLT) is ⩾O(1/3); the poloidal rotation velocity is then no longer unique but obeys a cubic equation which may allow for bifurcated equilibria under certain conditions. The toroidal velocities predicted for Ohmic discharges compare well with those measured in PLT [Princeton Large Torus; S. Suckewer et al., Nucl. Fusion 21, 1301 (1981)]; the relevance of the extended equation providing the poloidal rotation velocity to selected experimental edge plasmas is discussed.
Primary osseous tumours of the elbow: 60 years of registry experience

Background We present the largest series of surgically treated primary bone tumours of the elbow in the English literature (75 cases). We sought to identify characteristics specific to these lesions and recommend an investigatory protocol. Methods The national registry and case notes were reviewed between 1954-2014. Tumours were classified according to Enneking's spectrum. Results There were no benign latent cases in this series as these were managed locally. All patients presented with persistent rest pain, with or without swelling. The distal humerus, in contrast to the proximal radius and ulna, was responsible for the majority and the more aggressive cases. Misdiagnosis was evident in 13% of cases; most of which were attributed to simple bone cysts. All patients that were referred required surgical intervention to either establish the diagnosis or for treatment. Benign tumours had a 19% recurrence rate, with giant cell tumour the most aggressive. Malignant tumours carried 39% local recurrence rate and a 5-year mortality of 61%. Conclusions The suspicion of a tumour should be raised in the patient with unremitting, unexplained, non-mechanical bony elbow pain. These echo the NICE recommendations and we recommend prompt specialist referral. With high rates of local recurrence, we recommend close postoperative monitoring.
Measurement of paint and coating thickness on metallic plates using smart near field microwave sensor

A smart microwave sensor for non-destructive thickness measurement of paint and dielectric coating of metallic plates is presented. The sensor is based on low cost microstrip transmission line with a Complementary Split-Ring Resonator (CSRR) in the ground plan. The CSRR sensor experiences a frequency shift proportional to the thickness of a dielectric layer backed with metallic plate as described. Ideally, one would like the frequency shift to be related directly to a thickness reading (usually in mm or um). An artificial intelligent regression model was developed to automate the post processing of the measurements and achieve actual thickness data. This work presents simulation, measurements, and data post-processing of CSRR sensor operating on metallic plate with different coating thicknesses. The post-processing was performed using Support Victor Regression (SVR) algorithm on the transmission coefficients.
Psychometric Properties of the Italian Version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) A Cross-Cultural Analysis

Work engagement may be defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related psychological state characterized by the dimensions of vigor, dedication, and absorption. In this study, the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) were investigated by using two samples of Italian (n = 668) and Dutch (n = 2213) white-collar employees. In addition to reliability analyses, we also conducted a series of multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses of the UWES-9. The validity of the UWES-9 was investigated by studying its correlations with the Job-Related Affective Well-Being Scale (JAWS) and with a measure of work performance. Results showed that a three-factor solution of the UWES-9 is invariant across the Italian and Dutch samples, with data supporting factor variance and covariance invariance in addition to metric invariance. Internal consistencies of the vigor, dedication, and absorption scales are good. The UWES-9 and its subscales show significant correlations in.
Option Pricing Using Neural Networks

The first attempt was made by Hutchinson, Lo and Poggio (1994) who used three different network architectures: Radial Basis Functions (RBF), Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP), Projection Pursuit Regression (PPR) to fit both Monte-Carlo simulated Brownian underlier and Black-Scholes option data, as well as S&P500 futures and options thereof. They used a minimalistic approach in their input selection, and limited the network inputs to time to maturity (T-t) and moneyness (ratio of underlying price to strike price, S/X) only, assuming interest rate and volatility to be constant. We also note that they used financial knowledge in this construction, namely the “homogeneity property” of the option pricing formula (Merton 1990), which justifies the use of the moneyness rather than the underlying price and strike price separately. Another important question this paper raises is that of measuring performance of the network. While the out-of-sample error, R is a reasonable measure, they also examine the discrete delta-hedging performance of the neural network methods, which is of greater practical relevance. The result of these empirical tests is that these non-linear neural networks are able to recover the BS formula with remarkable accuracy, and even outperform BS in some cases in the discrete delta-hedging of simulated data. On the actual S&P500 data, the results are even more promising: all three of the neural network methods studied outperform the BS model both in terms of R as well as delta-hedging performance, especially for longer term and out-ofthe money options. The authors note that increasing the number of inputs, investigating the network architecture, re-examining the performance measures and establishing statistical significance of results are directions of further research. We examine the work done in each of these directions.
A Multi-Level GA Search with Application to the Resource-Constrained Re-Entrant Flow Shop Scheduling Problem

Re-entrant scheduling is an important search problem with many constraints in the flow shop. In the literature, a number of approaches have been investigated from exact methods to meta-heuristics. This paper presents a genetic algorithm that encodes the problem as multi-level chromosomes to reflect the dependent relationship of the re-entrant possibility and resource consumption. The novel encoding way conserves the intact information of the data and fastens the convergence to the near optimal solutions. To test the effectiveness of the method, it has been applied to the resource-constrained re-entrant flow shop scheduling problem. Computational results show that the proposed GA performs better than the simulated annealing algorithm in the measure of the makespan Keywords—Resource-constrained, re-entrant, genetic algorithm (GA), multi-level encoding
Oxidative Stress Status UNRAVELING PEROXYNITRITE FORMATION IN BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

Peroxynitrite promotes oxidative damage and is implicated in the pathophysiology of various diseases that involve accelerated rates of nitric oxide and superoxide formation. The unambiguous detection of peroxynitrite in biological systems is, however, difficult due to the combination of a short biological half-life, limited diffusion, multiple target molecule reactions, and participation of alternative oxidation/nitration pathways. In this review, we provide the conceptual framework and a comprehensive analysis of the current experimental strategies that can serve to unequivocally define the existence and quantitation of peroxynitrite in biological systems of different levels of organization and complexity. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. Keywords—Nitric oxide, Superoxide, Peroxynitrite, Hydroxyl radical, Nitrogen dioxide, 3-nitrotyrosine, Free radicals,
A Circularized Sodium-Calcium Exchanger Exon 2 Transcript*

Previous reports of Na/Ca exchanger gene 1 (NCX1) expression have revealed a major RNA transcript of 7 kilobase pairs (kb), minor transcripts of ∼13 and ∼4 kb, and a relatively abundant 1.8-kb RNA band. In the present report we demonstrate that the 1.8-kb message, which has a tissue and subcellular distribution matching that of full-length NCX1 but is not polyadenylated, corresponds to a perfectly circularized exon 2 species. The circular transcript contained the normal NCX1 start codon, a new stop codon introduced as a consequence of circularization, and encoded a protein corresponding to the NH2-terminal portion of NCX1, terminating just after amino acid 600 in the cytoplasmic loop. A linear version of the circular transcript was prepared and transfected into HEK-293 cells. A protein, matching the predicted size of ∼70 kDa, was expressed, and the transfected cells possessed Na/Ca exchange activity. Although in native tissue we could not detect a protein corresponding exactly to that predicted from the circular transcript, a prominent band of slightly shorter size, possibly representing further proteolytic processing of circular transcript protein, was observed in membranes from LLC-MK2 cells and rat kidney.