Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Iron status in Danes 1994. II: Prevalence of iron deficiency and iron overload in 1319 Danish women aged 40-70 years. Influence of blood donation, alcohol intake and iron supplementation.

Iron status, i.e. serum ferritin and haemoglobin (Hb) levels, was assessed in a population survey in 1994 (Dan-Monica 10) comprising 1319 Caucasian Danish women in age cohorts of 40, 50, 60 and 70 years. In the entire series, ferritin levels increased significantly from 40 years to 60 years of age. The prevalence of small iron stores (ferritin 16-32 microg/l), depleted iron stores (ferritin < 16 microg/l) and of iron deficiency anaemia (ferritin < 13 microg/l and Hb < 121 g/l) decreased steadily with age. Blood donors (n = 109) had lower ferritin levels than non-donors (P<0.0001). Ferritin levels in donors were inversely correlated with the cumulated number of lifetime phlebotomies (r(s) = -0.25, P<0.01). Ferritin levels in non-donors (n = 1208) were low in 40-year-old women (median 40 microg/l) and increased to a median of 95 microg/l in 60- and 70-year-old women (P<0.0001). In non-donors 40 years of age, the prevalence of small iron stores was 40.4%, the prevalence of depleted iron stores 10.8% and the prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia 2.16%. The prevalence of iron overload (ferritin >300 microg/l) was 1.54%. Ferritin levels in 60- and 70-year-old non-donors were correlated with the body mass index (r(s) =0.11, P=0.01). Ferritin levels in 50- to 60-year-old non-donors were correlated with alcohol intake (r(s)=0.23, P<0.0001). In the entire series, 37.5% of non-donors took supplemental ferrous iron (median 14 mg iron per day). Iron supplements had a significant positive influence on iron status in 40-year-old premenopausal non-donors but no effect in postmenopausal women or in donors. Non-donors (n = 170) treated with acetylsalicylic acid had lower ferritin levels (median 55 microg/l) than non-treated (n = 1038; median 75 microg/l) (P<0.0001). Compared with the Dan-Monica 1 iron status survey in 1984, the prevalence of iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia was unchanged, whereas the prevalence of iron overload displayed a slight increase. The 1987 abolition of the mandatory iron fortification of flour apparently had no negative effect on iron status.
Exploring Representativeness and Informativeness for Active Learning

How can we find a general way to choose the most suitable samples for training a classifier? Even with very limited prior information? Active learning, which can be regarded as an iterative optimization procedure, plays a key role to construct a refined training set to improve the classification performance in a variety of applications, such as text analysis, image recognition, social network modeling, etc. Although combining representativeness and informativeness of samples has been proven promising for active sampling, state-of-the-art methods perform well under certain data structures. Then can we find a way to fuse the two active sampling criteria without any assumption on data? This paper proposes a general active learning framework that effectively fuses the two criteria. Inspired by a two-sample discrepancy problem, triple measures are elaborately designed to guarantee that the query samples not only possess the representativeness of the unlabeled data but also reveal the diversity of the labeled data. Any appropriate similarity measure can be employed to construct the triple measures. Meanwhile, an uncertain measure is leveraged to generate the informativeness criterion, which can be carried out in different ways. Rooted in this framework, a practical active learning algorithm is proposed, which exploits a radial basis function together with the estimated probabilities to construct the triple measures and a modified best-versus-second-best strategy to construct the uncertain measure, respectively. Experimental results on benchmark datasets demonstrate that our algorithm consistently achieves superior performance over the state-of-the-art active learning algorithms.
Spatiotemporal expression of Wnt3a during striated muscle complex development in rat embryos with ethylenethiourea-induced anorectal malformations

Numerous patients with anorectal malformations (ARMs) continue to experience fecal incontinence and constipation following surgical procedures. One of the most important factors that influences defecation is the striated muscle complex (SMC). Wnt signaling regulates the expression of myogenic regulatory factors, which serve an important role in muscle development. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the expression pattern of Wnt3a protein (by immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis) and mRNA [by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR)] in the SMC of ARM model rats that were exposed to ethylenethiourea. Immunostaining revealed that the expression of Wnt3a exhibits space- and time-dependent changes in the developing SMC of ARM model rat embryos. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that on embryonic day 17 (E17), Wnt3a-positive cells were observed in the SMC in normal embryos, and expression levels gradually increased as the rat embryos developed. Similar changes in Wnt3a protein expression were detected in ARM model rat embryos; however, the expression of Wnt3a was significantly reduced compared with the normal rat embryos. Western blotting and RT-qPCR also revealed lower expression levels of Wnt3a protein and mRNA, respectively, in the SMC of ARMs model rat embryos compared with normal rat embryos. These data revealed that the expression of Wnt3a in ARM embryos was notably reduced, indicating a potential role for Wnt3a in the maldevelopment of the SMC in patients with ARMs.
Anthropometric, physiological and maturational characteristics in selected elite and non-elite male adolescent basketball players

Abstract We investigated the anthropometric, physiological and maturation characteristics of young players (13–14 years old) associated with being successful in basketball. Body parameters were measured (stature, total body mass, skinfolds and lengths) and physiological capacities were assessed by endurance, sprint (20 m), jump and dribbling tests. Chronological age (CA) was recorded and maturity estimated using predicted age at peak height velocity (APHV). Anthropometric analysis indicated that elite players were taller, heavier and had a higher percentage of muscle. Further, physiological testing showed that these elite players perform better in jump, endurance, speed and agility tests (especially in the agility and ball tests). In addition, these skills are correlated with point average during the regular season. More basketball players born in the first semester of the year are selected and there is a predominance of early-maturing boys among those selected for the elite team. Those who are more mature have advantages in anthropometric characteristics and physiological test results. In conclusion, around puberty, physical and physiological parameters associated with maturity and CA are important in determining the success of basketball players. These findings should be taken into account by trainers and coaches, to avoid artificial bias in their selection choices.
Tissue material properties and computational modelling of the human tibiofemoral joint: a critical review

Understanding how structural and functional alterations of individual tissues impact on whole-joint function is challenging, particularly in humans where direct invasive experimentation is difficult. Finite element (FE) computational models produce quantitative predictions of the mechanical and physiological behaviour of multiple tissues simultaneously, thereby providing a means to study changes that occur through healthy ageing and disease such as osteoarthritis (OA). As a result, significant research investment has been placed in developing such models of the human knee. Previous work has highlighted that model predictions are highly sensitive to the various inputs used to build them, particularly the mathematical definition of material properties of biological tissues. The goal of this systematic review is two-fold. First, we provide a comprehensive summation and evaluation of existing linear elastic material property data for human tibiofemoral joint tissues, tabulating numerical values as a reference resource for future studies. Second, we review efforts to model tibiofemoral joint mechanical behaviour through FE modelling with particular focus on how studies have sourced tissue material properties. The last decade has seen a renaissance in material testing fuelled by development of a variety of new engineering techniques that allow the mechanical behaviour of both soft and hard tissues to be characterised at a spectrum of scales from nano- to bulk tissue level. As a result, there now exists an extremely broad range of published values for human tibiofemoral joint tissues. However, our systematic review highlights gaps and ambiguities that mean quantitative understanding of how tissue material properties alter with age and OA is limited. It is therefore currently challenging to construct FE models of the knee that are truly representative of a specific age or disease-state. Consequently, recent tibiofemoral joint FE models have been highly generic in terms of material properties even relying on non-human data from multiple species. We highlight this by critically evaluating current ability to quantitatively compare and model (1) young and old and (2) healthy and OA human tibiofemoral joints. We suggest that future research into both healthy and diseased knee function will benefit greatly from a subject- or cohort-specific approach in which FE models are constructed using material properties, medical imagery and loading data from cohorts with consistent demographics and/or disease states.
Comparative Proteome Analysis of Silkworm in Its Susceptibility and Resistance Responses to Bombyx mori Densonucleosis Virus

Bombyx mori densonucleosis virus (BmDNV) is one of the most disastrous viruses in cocoon production. Silkworm resistance to BmDNV has been examined previously using a number of traditional biochemical and molecular techniques. In this study, a near isogenic line, BC6, was constructed to eliminate the difference in inherited background, which has 99.9% identity with the susceptible strain but carries a resistant gene. We utilized a proteomic approach involving two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry to examine changes in the midgut proteins from the susceptible and resistant silkworm larvae infected with BmDNV. The protein profiles were compared and 9 differentially expressed proteins were identified by mass spectrometry. In the resistant strains, the heat-shock 70-kDa protein cognate, cytochrome P450, vacuolar ATP synthase subunit B, arginine kinase, vacuolar ATP synthase subunit D and glutathione S-transferase sigma were strongly upregulated and α-tubulin was downregulated. Our results imply that these upregulated genes and the downregulated genes might be involved in B. mori immune responses against BmDNV-Z infection.
Building efficient multi-core clusters for high performance computing

Multi-core technology produces a new scenario for communicating processes in an MPI cluster environment and consequently the involved trade-offs need to be uncovered. This motivation guided our research and lead to a new approach for setting up more efficient clusters built with commodities. Thus, alternatively to the utilization of non-commodity interconnects such as Myrinet and Infiniband, we present a proposal based on leaving cores idle relatively to application processing in order to build economically more accessible clusters of commodities with higher performance. Execution of fine-grained IS algorithm from NAS parallel benchmark revealed a speedup of up to 25%. Interestingly, a cluster set up according to the proposal was able to outperform a single multi-core SMP host in which all processes communicate inside the host. Therefore, empirical results indicate that our proposal has been successful for medium and fine-grained algorithms.
A 3.1 mW Continuous-Time ΔΣ Modulator With 5-Bit Successive Approximation Quantizer for WCDMA

In this paper, we present a multibit continuous-time delta-sigma modulator based on a 5-bit successive approximation quantizer. The use of successive approximation, instead of flash, is driven by the desire to reduce the quantizer power and area. The quantizer delay is effectively compensated to ensure system stability. The modulator is implemented in a 130 nm CMOS technology and achieves 62 dB of dynamic range over 1.92 MHz while consuming 3.1 mW from a 1.2 V supply.
Territorial Restrictions and Consumer Welfare in a Mixed Oligopoly: The Japanese Gas Supply Market (in Japanese)

This study empirically examines the welfare effects of territorial restrictions on town gas services in Japan by modeling the choice of gas service made by a set of households. The Japanese gas market includes two major types of gas services: the liquefied petroleum (LP) gas service and the town gas service. Although LP gas prices and LP gas service areas are not regulated, town gas prices and town gas service areas are heavily regulated by the government. Particularly, territorial restrictions on town gas services essentially prohibit providers of town gas from expanding their service area. Logically, the government should readjust town gas service areas frequently in response to demand. However, town gas service areas have not been readjusted. Territorial restrictions on town gas service areas could cause a loss in consumer welfare. Using data on the Japanese gas market for the period from 1998 to 2005, and deploying a two-stage procedure, this study analyzes whether territorial restrictions on Japanese town gas services cause a loss in consumer welfare. First, a demand model, assumed to have a nested logit structure, is estimated. The estimation reveals that the characteristics of gas services play a significant role in demand substitution between town gas and LP gas. Second, using the estimated demand parameters, a simulation exercise is conducted; the outcome indicates that an expansion of town gas services to areas without town gas pipelines has allowed some households to switch from LP gas to town gas. In the static Cournot competition among LP gas suppliers, this switch results in an intensification of competition among these suppliers, leading to a decrease in LP gas prices (5.8%) and a consequent improvement in consumer welfare (13.8%). These results suggest that the government should facilitate an expansion of town gas services to areas without town gas pipelines. JEL Classification: L43, L95
Information technology capacities assessment tool in hospitals: Instrument development and validation

Objectives: This research integrates existing literature on information technology (IT) in hospitals, and proposes and validates a comprehensive IT capacities assessment tool in these settings. Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted on Medline until September 2006 to identify studies that used specific IT measures in hospitals. The results were mapped and used as a basis for the development of the proposed instrument, which was tested through a survey of Canadian healthcare organizations (N = 221). Results: A total of seventeen studies provided indicators of clinical and administrative IT capacities in hospitals. Based on the mapping of these indicators, a comprehensive IT capacities assessment instrument was developed including thirty-four items exploring computerized processes, thirteen items assessing contemporary technologies, and eleven items investigating internal and external information sharing. A time frame was inserted in the tool to reflect “plans for” versus “current” implementation of IT; in the latter, the extent of current use of computerized processes and technologies was measured on a (1–7) scale. Overall, the survey yielded a total of 106 responses (52.2 percent response rate), and the results demonstrated a good level of reliability and validity of the instrument. Conclusions: This study unifies existing work in this area, and presents the psychometric properties of an IT capacities assessment tool in hospitals. By developing scores for capturing IT capacities in hospitals, it is possible to further address important research questions related to the determinants and impacts of IT sophistication in these settings.
Multi-Objective Optimization of a Transverse Flux Machine With Claw-Pole and Flux-Concentrating Structure

This paper describes a new method aiming at the multi-objective optimization of a transverse flux machine with a claw-pole and flux-concentrating structure (CPTFM). Considering the 3-D main magnetic flux in the CPTFM, the time-consuming 3-D finite-element method (FEM) should be used to accurately analyze the performance of the machine. In order to reduce the calculation time for the optimization of the complex CPTFM, the Taguchi method is first applied to evaluate the importance of all the design parameters in the consideration of the predefined five objectives. Subsequently, a mathematical model is developed to replace the 3-D FEM, so that the objectives depending on the selected four critical parameters can be analytically calculated. With its help, the four parameters are further optimized with the multi-objective particle swarm optimization method and nondominated sorting genetic algorithm 2. Finally, the optimal design of the CPTFM is selected from all the searched Pareto solutions with the help of fuzzy logic. It can be concluded that the developed method is effective and efficient, which can make an appropriate compromise between the calculation time and the improvement of the machine performance.
The Yeast Anaerobic Response Element AR1b Regulates Aerobic Antifungal Drug-dependent Sterol Gene Expression*

Background: Saccharomyces cerevisiae sterol gene expression is regulated by a consensus sterol-response promoter element (SRE/AR1c). Results: The anaerobic AR1b promoter element regulates global antifungal-dependent sterol gene expression. Conclusion: Yeast sterol gene expression is regulated by multiple SRE-like elements. Significance: Understanding sterol gene expression will yield valuable information concerning antifungal drug resistance. Saccharomyces cerevisiae ergosterol biosynthesis, like cholesterol biosynthesis in mammals, is regulated at the transcriptional level by a sterol feedback mechanism. Yeast studies defined a 7-bp consensus sterol-response element (SRE) common to genes involved in sterol biosynthesis and two transcription factors, Upc2 and Ecm22, which direct transcription of sterol biosynthetic genes. The 7-bp consensus SRE is identical to the anaerobic response element, AR1c. Data indicate that Upc2 and Ecm22 function through binding to this SRE site. We now show that it is two novel anaerobic AR1b elements in the UPC2 promoter that direct global ERG gene expression in response to a block in de novo ergosterol biosynthesis, brought about by antifungal drug treatment. The AR1b elements are absolutely required for auto-induction of UPC2 gene expression and protein and require Upc2 and Ecm22 for function. We further demonstrate the direct binding of recombinant expressed S. cerevisiae ScUpc2 and pathogenic Candida albicans CaUpc2 and Candida glabrata CgUpc2 to AR1b and SRE/AR1c elements. Recombinant endogenous promoter studies show that the UPC2 anaerobic AR1b elements act in trans to regulate ergosterol gene expression. Our results indicate that Upc2 must occupy UPC2 AR1b elements in order for ERG gene expression induction to take place. Thus, the two UPC2-AR1b elements drive expression of all ERG genes necessary for maintaining normal antifungal susceptibility, as wild type cells lacking these elements have increased susceptibility to azole antifungal drugs. Therefore, targeting these specific sites for antifungal therapy represents a novel approach to treat systemic fungal infections.
Age and the Human Cochlear Traveling Wave Delay

Objective: Cochlear physiologic changes that occur with aging also may affect the mechanics and filtering properties of the cochlea. In studying aging effects, it is also necessary to consider the effects of hearing threshold losses because thresholds generally increase with age, and threshold losses also affect the filtering properties of the cochlea. A distortion product emission(DPE)‐based measurement of human cochlear traveling wave delays allows an indirect assessment of the mechanics of the traveling wave and how it might change with age. Design: The cochlear traveling wave delay has been derived from DPE phase measurements using an f1 sweep paradigm (Kimberley, Brown, & Eggermont, 1993). In the present study, traveling wave delay was estimated from DPE phase measurements taken from the left ears of 91 subjects (22 to 78 yr) with auditory thresholds ranging from normal hearing (≤25 dB SPL, ANSI 1969) to mild cochlear hearing damage. No one under the age of 65 had hearing losses exceeding 40 dB SPL to 8 kHz. Pure‐tone thresholds were determined at eight frequencies through a 4‐interval, forced‐choice, adaptive‐level psychophysical test. DPE phase and amplitude measurements were made at these eight frequencies using CUBeDIS‐related software (AT&T Bell Labs). Round‐trip traveling wave estimates were calculated from the DPE phase measurements for each of the eight f2 frequencies (places). Results: Traveling wave delays estimated using DPE phase were not significantly affected by mild hearing losses. Traveling wave delay, however, does increase slightly with age. Optimal f2/f1 ratio and associated DPE amplitude also were tested for age or threshold effects. The optimal f2/f1 ratio remained unaffected by age or hearing loss but decreased with increasing frequency. The maximum DPE amplitude decreased with both advancing age and increasing pure‐tone threshold, so it was impossible to isolate the contribution of each individual factor. Conclusions: Mild hearing losses do not affect the round‐trip traveling wave delay. There is a slight age dependence, however. This may suggest that there are age‐related but threshold‐independent factors that may alter such properties as basilar membrane stiffness or cochlear fluid composition. The relationship between maximum DPE amplitude and threshold, at the frequencies tested, is a better predictor of hearing thresholds than the DPE amplitude as obtained from a fixed ratio DPE amplitude measurement.
Do socioeconomic factors shape weight and obesity trajectories over the transition from midlife to old age? Results from the French GAZEL cohort study.

BACKGROUND Obesity is a contemporary epidemic that does not affect all age groups and sections of society equally. OBJECTIVE The objective was to examine socioeconomic differences in trajectories of body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2)) and obesity between the ages of 45 and 65 y. DESIGN A total of 13,297 men and 4532 women from the French GAZEL (Gaz de France Electricité de France) cohort study reported their height in 1990 and their weight annually over the subsequent 18 y. Changes in BMI and obesity between ages 45 and 49 y, 50 and 54 y, 55 and 59 y, and 60 and 65 y as a function of education and occupational position (at age 35 y) were modeled by using linear mixed models and generalized estimating equations. RESULTS BMI and obesity rates increased between the ages of 45 and 65 y. In men, BMI was higher in unskilled workers than in managers at age 45 y; this difference in BMI increased from 0.82 (95% CI: 0.66, 0.99) at 45 y to 1.06 (95% CI: 0.85, 1.27) at 65 y. Men with a primary school education compared with those with a high school degree at age 45 y had a 0.75 (95% CI: 0.51, 1.00) higher BMI, and this difference increased to 1.32 (95% CI: 1.03,1.62) at age 65 y. Obesity rates were 3.35% and 7.68% at age 45 y and 9.52% and 18.10% at age 65 y in managers and unskilled workers, respectively; the difference in obesity increased by 4.25% (95% CI: 1.87, 6.52). A similar trend was observed in women. CONCLUSIONS Weight continues to increase in the transition between midlife and old age; this increase is greater in lower socioeconomic groups.