Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Short ReportY-STR polymorphisms among five Chinese minorities, Mosuo, Mongolian, Naxi, Pumi and Tibetan, in Yunnan Province, PR China

Two hundred and thirty samples from five minority populations resident in Yunnan Province, PR China (the Mosuo, Mongolian, Naxi, Pumi and Tibetan communities) were analysed at eight polymorphic Y chromosome short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) loci. A total of 59 alleles were identified, with the largest number (n = 44) in the matriarchal Mosuo community. Two or three Y alleles were specific to each population. One hundred and thirty-five haplotypes were constructed, with 45 haplotypes in Tibetans, 34 in the Mosuo, 29 in Mongolians, 26 in the Pumi and 17 in the Naxi. The Tibetan and Mosuo peoples were closest in the neighbour-joining tree, whereas the Mongolians differed from the other four populations, reflecting their origins and present-day geographical location in Yunnan.
Compartment syndrome associated with expansile antebrachial tumors in two dogs.

CASE DESCRIPTION A 10-year-old spayed female Jack Russell Terrier and a 7-year-old neutered male mixed-breed dog were evaluated because of acute, progressive, unilateral forelimb lameness associated with signs of pain and turgid antebrachial swelling. CLINICAL FINDINGS For either dog, there were no salient pathological or diagnostic imaging abnormalities. A diagnosis of compartment syndrome was confirmed on the basis of high caudal antebrachial compartmental pressure in the affected forelimb. TREATMENT AND OUTCOME Both dogs underwent surgical exploration of the affected forelimb. In each case, an intramuscular tumor (mast cell tumor in the Jack Russell Terrier and suspected sarcoma in the mixed-breed dog) was detected and presumed to be the cause of the high compartmental pressure. At 6 months following tumor excision, the dog with the mast cell tumor did not have any clinical signs of disease. The dog with a suspected sarcoma underwent tumor excision and forelimb amputation at the proximal portion of the humerus followed by chemotherapy; the dog was euthanized approximately 1 year following treatment because of pulmonary metastasis. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Compartment syndrome is a serious but rarely reported condition in dogs and is typically ascribed to intracompartmental hemorrhage. These 2 cases illustrate the potential for expansile intramuscular antebrachial tumors to cause compartment syndrome in dogs.
Privatization and government preference in a Bertrand model

We will consider a mixed Bertrand duopoly model (that means, two firms decide simultaneously their prices for a substitutable good) to study the relationship between the privatization of a state-owned public firm and government preferences for tax revenue. In the model, we assume that the government imposes a specific tax rate on the quantity produced by each firm. Furthermore, the public firm aims to maximize social welfare, whereas the governmentâĂŹs objective function is a weighted sum between social welfare and tax revenue. Of course, the private firm aims to maximize its own profit. We also present comparative static results. keywords: Modeling, Optimization, Industrial Organization, Game Theory.
Macroeconomic Nowcasting and Forecasting with Big Data

Data, data, data . Economists know their importance well, especially when it comes to monitoring macroeconomic conditions -- the basis for making informed economic and policy decisions. Handling large and complex data sets was a challenge that macroeconomists engaged in real-time analysis faced long before "big data" became pervasive in other disciplines. We review how methods for tracking economic conditions using big data have evolved over time and explain how econometric techniques have advanced to mimic and automate best practices of forecasters on trading desks, at central banks, and in other market-monitoring roles. We present in detail the methodology underlying the New York Fed Staff Nowcast, which employs these innovative techniques to produce early estimates of GDP growth, synthesizing a wide range of macroeconomic data as they become available.
Conditional Targeting of the DNA Repair Enzyme hOGG1 into Mitochondria*

Oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been suggested to be a key factor in the etiologies of many diseases and in the normal process of aging. Although the presence of a repair system to remove this damage has been demonstrated, the mechanisms involved in this repair have not been well defined. In an effort to better understand the physiological role of recombinant 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase/apurinic lyase (OGG1) in mtDNA repair, we constructed an expression vector containing the gene for OGG1 downstream of the mitochondrial localization sequence from manganese-superoxide dismutase. This gene construct was placed under the control of a tetracycline-regulated promoter. Transfected cells that conditionally expressed OGG1 in the absence of the tetracycline analogue doxycycline and targeted this recombinant protein to mitochondria were generated. Western blots of mitochondrial extracts from vector- and OGG1-transfected clones with and without doxycycline revealed that removal of doxycycline for 4 days caused an approximate 8-fold increase in the amount of OGG1 protein in mitochondria. Enzyme activity assays and DNA repair studies showed that the doxycycline-dependent recombinant OGG1 is functional. Functional studies revealed that cells containing recombinant OGG1 were more proficient at repairing oxidative damage in their mtDNA, and this increased repair led to increased cellular survival following oxidative stress.
Strategies in multilevel policy implementation: moving beyond the limited focus on compliance

ABSTRACT Policy implementation in the European Union is most prominently analysed taking compliance as a conceptual starting point. However, compliance has an inherent top–down and state-centred bias. To overcome this limitation, a conceptual framework that links dimensions based on top–down/bottom–up implementation and vertical/horizontal multilevel governance is proposed. The thus derived four ideal-types of implementation in multilevel settings – centralization, agencification, convergence and networking – are complemented by functional expectations about policy-makers’ strategic choices over these types. A screening of existing research completes the contribution. The results show that the suggested conceptualization offers indeed a comprehensive framework to describe the implementation strategies to propose avenues for future explanatory studies on strategic choices over implementation types.
Microscopic studies of the influence of technological conditions on technical parameters of photopolymer flexographic plates

The quality of printing plates is one of the important factors influencing the accuracy of flexographic printed copies. The essential technological parameters determining the quality of flexographic plates comprise the dot gain, resolution, and profile of the printing elements. In this work, these parameters were studied using stereoscopic microscopy. These studies enabled us to determine the effect of technological parameters of photochemical preparation of flexographic plates on their resolution, tone transfer characteristics, and the profile of printing elements. It has been found that the quality of flexographic plates depends on the time of the preliminary and the main exposure of the photopolymer plates, the time of solvent washout, and the washout brushes height. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Probing nanoplasmonic waveguides and couplers with optical antennas

Plasmonic gap waveguides combine subwavelength light confinement with the possibility to guide and manipulate light on the nanoscale. This concept for nano-optics and optical circuitry requires transferring light from the far field into the nanoworld via optical antennas, to guide it in highly confined waveguides and to distribute it via directional couplers. Here we experimentally demonstrate that all these elements can work together. In particular, we experimentally demonstrate the operation of subwavelength nanoplasmonic couplers. To this end we fabricated respective structures using a focused ion beam (FIB) machine (Fig. 1 a) and evaluated their optical properties at the communication wavelength λ = 1.5 µm.
CUDA Accelerated Real-time Digital Image Stabilization in a Video Stream

The most important step for successful video processing in computer vision is its stabilization. Often, it is required to process high resolution video in a real-time. In this paper, a new method for a real-time digital image stabilization in a video stream is presented. This method preserves the intended camera motion and exploits computing power of GPGPU by utilizing CUDA programing interface. In order to reduce required computation power, local search windows are used for the correspondence search of consecutive video frames. These windows are further processed using Local Binary Patterns, which enables fast correlation using bitwise XOR. The experiments on video sequences from both car-mounted and hand-held camera have demonstrated the effectiveness of this method. The speed of stabilization designates this method for video preprocessing in real-time applications.
Cholesterol accumulation and liver cell death in mice with Niemann‐Pick type C disease

Niemann‐Pick type C (NPC) disease develops as a result of mutations in the NPC1 gene that encodes a protein involved in the net movement of unesterified cholesterol from the late endosomal/lysosomal compartment to the metabolically active pool of sterol in the cytosol of virtually every cell in the body. Although early publications emphasized the neurodegeneration occurring in children with this mutation, more recent clinical information suggests that serious liver disease also is an important part of this syndrome. These studies, therefore, were undertaken to characterize the liver dysfunction seen in mice with this same mutation. The NPC mouse develops significant hepatomegaly that reaches 8% of body weight at 5 to 6 weeks of age. This increase in liver size is associated with a linear increase in cholesterol content and with accumulation of amorphous cellular inclusions in both hepatocytes and macrophages. During the few weeks after birth, significant elevation of the plasma alkaline phosphatase level occurs, as also is seen in the human infant with this disease. At 4 to 5 weeks of age, plasma aminotransferase levels also rise abruptly. Histologically, at this time there is apoptosis, but no excess deposition of collagen or glycogen. mRNA expression is elevated for caspase 1, caspase 6, and several enzymes associated with sterol biosynthesis and bile acid formation. In conclusion, the NPC mouse has liver disease similar to that seen in the NPC infant and represents a relevant model for exploring the molecular events occurring in this form of liver disease. (HEPATOLOGY 2005;42:886–893.)
Forecasting and trading high frequency volatility on large indices

The present paper analyses the forecastability and tradability of volatility on the large S&P500 index and the liquid SPY ETF, VIX index and VXX ETN. Even though there is already a huge array of literature on forecasting high frequency volatility, most publications only evaluate the forecast in terms of statistical errors. In practice, this kind of analysis is only a minor indication of the actual economic significance of the forecast that has been developed. For this reason, in our approach, we also include a test of our forecast through trading an appropriate volatility derivative. As a method we use parametric and artificial intelligence models. We also combine these models in order to achieve a hybrid forecast. We report that the results of all three model types are of similar quality. However, we observe that artificial intelligence models are able to achieve these results with a shorter input time frame and the errors are uniformly lower comparing with the parametric one. Similarly, the chosen models do not appear to differ much while the analysis of trading efficiency is performed. Finally, we notice that Sharpe ratios tend to improve for longer forecast horizons.
Is the Location of the Tumor Another Prognostic Factor for Patients With Colon Cancer?

Purpose In this study, we investigated both the characteristics of right colon cancer (RTCC) in comparison with those of left colon cancer (LTCC) and the impact of the location of the colon cancer on the prognosis. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the cases of 974 patients with nonmetastatic colon cancer who had undergone surgery with a curative intent from January 2001 to December 2011. RTCC was defined as a tumor located proximal to the splenic flexure. The characteristics of RTCC cancer were investigated by using descriptive analyses, and their impacts on the prognosis were assessed by using a Cox multivariate regression. Results Compared to LTCC, RTCC showed a female-dominant feature, and an undifferentiated pathology was more frequently observed. The number of lymph nodes retrieved from patients with RTCC was significantly higher than that retrieved from patients with LTCC. During 75 months of follow-up, peritoneal recurrence was more common in patients with RTCC than it was in patients with LTCC, and among the patients with stage III colon cancer, the disease-free and the overall survival rates were significantly worse in patients with RTCC. After adjustments with the other prognostic factors associated with colon cancer had been made, a tumor located at the right colon was found to be independently associated with poor prognosis. Conclusion RTCC showed unique clinicopathologic features and was associated with a poorer prognosis.
Automatic control of an orthogonal-type robot with a force sensor and a small force input device

In this paper, an automatic control system with a force sensor and a small force input device is presented for an orthogonal-type robot. The automatic control system is composed of a force feedback loop, a position feedback loop and a position feedforward loop. The force feedback loop controls the resultant force consisting of tool contact force and kinetic friction forces. The stability criterion of the force control system is briefly discussed. In addition, the position feedback loop controls the position in only pick feed direction. The position feedforward loop guides the tool tip along a desired trajectory called cutter location data (CL data), in which the feed rate is suitably generated by a fuzzy reasoning according to each model's curvature. Furthermore, a fine stick-slip motion control strategy is added to improve the lapping efficiency. The fine stick-slip motion is orthogonally generated to the direction of tool movement. Finally, a force input device is designed to enable an operator to manually regulate the desired feed rate or the desired polishing force. The force input device allows the robot to realize cooperative motion between the automatic control and the manual control reflecting operator's skill. The effectiveness of robot's performance is examined through experiments.
Employer-Provided Support Services and Job Dissatisfaction in Canadian Registered Nurses

Background:Previous research indicates that nurses' job dissatisfaction relates to their work organization and environment; rarely has the contribution of employer-provided support services been examined while controlling for the influence of other factors. Objective:The objective of this study was to examine job dissatisfaction among Canadian registered nurses in relation to employer-provided programs for child care and fitness or recreation. Methods:Data are from 2,993 respondents to the 2005 National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses, weighted to represent Canada's 91,600 registered nurses in full-time, permanent positions who deliver direct care in hospitals or long-term care facilities. Multivariate modeling was used to examine job dissatisfaction in relation to employer-provided support programs, controlling for personal characteristics and variables reflecting work organization and the work environment. Results:Employer-provided child care assistance programs were available to 16% of nurses, and fitness or recreation programs were available to 38%. An estimated 13% of nurses were dissatisfied with their jobs. Even when controlling for personal characteristics, overtime, shift work, shift length, weekly hours, overload, staffing inadequacy, autonomy, nurse-physician relations, and coworker respect, inverse associations with job dissatisfaction emerged for employer-supported child care (odds ratio = 0.49, 95% confidence interval = 0.27-0.88) and fitness programs (odds ratio = 0.65, 95% confidence interval = 0.42-0.99). Discussion:This study provides new information suggesting that employer-provided support programs are protective against nurses' job dissatisfaction. This is a key finding in view of nursing shortages and the importance of job satisfaction to retention.
Track-Clustering Error Evaluation for Track-Based Multi-camera Tracking System Employing Human Re-identification

In this study, we present a set of new evaluation measures for the track-based multi-camera tracking (T-MCT) task leveraging the clustering measurements. We demonstrate that the proposed evaluation measures provide notable advantages over previous ones. Moreover, a distributed and online T-MCT framework is proposed, where re-identification (Re-id) is embedded in T-MCT, to confirm the validity of the proposed evaluation measures. Experimental results reveal that with the proposed evaluation measures, the performance of T-MCT can be accurately measured, which is highly correlated to the performance of Re-id. Furthermore, it is also noted that our T-MCT framework achieves competitive score on the DukeMTMC dataset when compared to the previous work that used global optimization algorithms. Both the evaluation measures and the inter-camera tracking framework are proven to be the stepping stone for multi-camera tracking.
Dissenting public or engaged citizens? Predictors of general and contentious online political expression in China

Online political engagement in China has been explained as both conventional and contentious forms of political participation. Depending on the explanations, potentially contradicting factors are assumed to promote online political engagement. To resolve this contradiction, this research distinguished general and contentious online political expression. The analyses of two datasets showed that general online political expression positively related to variables associated with conventional participation, such as personal resources, political interest, efficacy, and satisfaction with personal and China’s general economic situations. On the other hand, expression regarding contentious food safety issues was mainly explained by factors related to contentious participation such as support for alternative political ideas (i.e. freedom of expression and giving more voice to citizens) and the perception of injustice. In both datasets, political expression was positively associated with social media use for news. The results from the two studies suggest that different factors may be at work in explaining general and contentious political expression. The potential of the two different types of political expression for political change in China is discussed.
Do data in the literature indicate that glycaemic variability is a clinical problem? Glycaemic variability and vascular complications of diabetes

In recent years glycaemic variability (GV) has emerged as a determinant of vascular complications of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. In type 1 diabetes analysis of data of GV show conflicting results on both micro‐ and macro‐vascular complications. In non‐diabetic subjects blood glucose after loading is a stronger predictor of cardiovascular complications than fasting glucose. In type 2 diabetes both coefficient of variation of fasting blood glucose and postprandial blood glucose predict cardiovascular events. Also, long term variability of HbA1c has been associated predominantly with diabetic nephropathy, less frequently with retinopathy. Intervention trials to evaluate the effect of postprandial glucose have been conducted only in prediabetes or in type 2 diabetes and the data are not conclusive. In vitro and in vivo data have shown the mechanisms that are at the basis of the adverse cardiovascular effects of GV, mainly associated with oxidative stress; the atherogenic action of postprandial glucose also involves insulin sensitivity, postprandial increase in serum lipids and glycaemic index of food. Thus, correction of GV emerges as a target to be pursued in clinical practice in order to safely reduce mean blood glucose (and thus glycated haemoglobin) and for its direct effects on vascular complications of diabetes.
SP600125, an anthrapyrazolone inhibitor of Jun N-terminal kinase

Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is a stress-activated protein kinase that can be induced by inflammatory cytokines, bacterial endotoxin, osmotic shock, UV radiation, and hypoxia. We report the identification of an anthrapyrazolone series with significant inhibition of JNK1, -2, and -3 (Ki = 0.19 μM). SP600125 is a reversible ATP-competitive inhibitor with >20-fold selectivity vs. a range of kinases and enzymes tested. In cells, SP600125 dose dependently inhibited the phosphorylation of c-Jun, the expression of inflammatory genes COX-2, IL-2, IFN-γ, TNF-α, and prevented the activation and differentiation of primary human CD4 cell cultures. In animal studies, SP600125 blocked (bacterial) lipopolysaccharide-induced expression of tumor necrosis factor-α and inhibited anti-CD3-induced apoptosis of CD4+ CD8+ thymocytes. Our study supports targeting JNK as an important strategy in inflammatory disease, apoptotic cell death, and cancer.
Effects of a Randomized Reading Intervention Study Aimed at 9-Year-Olds: A 5-Year Follow-up.

The present paper reports on a 5-year follow-up of a randomized reading intervention in grade 3 in Sweden. An intervention group (n = 57) received daily training for 12 weeks in phoneme/grapheme mapping, reading comprehension and reading speed, whereas a control group (n = 55) participated in ordinary classroom activities. The main aim was to investigate if there were remaining effects of the intervention on reading-related skills. Previous analyses showed that the intervention group performed significantly better than the control group on spelling, reading speed, reading comprehension and phoneme awareness at the immediate post-test with sustained effects 1 year later. Results from the 5-year follow-up show that the only significant difference between the intervention (n = 47) and the control group (n = 37) was on word decoding. There was also a significant interaction effect of group assignment and initial word decoding, in the way that the lowest-performing students benefitted the most from the intervention. Another aim was to examine if the children identified in a screening (n = 2212) as poor readers in grade 2 still performed worse than typical readers. The analyses showed that the typically developing students (n = 66) outperformed the students identified as poor readers in grade 2 on working memory, spelling, reading comprehension and word decoding. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.