Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
I'll (Not) be Watching You: Does Job Search Monitoring Intensity Affect Unemployment?

Because welfare reforms tend to couple together changes to job search monitoring and changes to job search assistance, few existing evaluations have been able to isolate the effects of job search monitoring intensity on the level of unemployment. Those few studies that do manage to separately identify changes to monitoring intensity draw mixed conclusions about its impact. This paper exploits an interesting natural experiment – or more precisely a series of natural experiments – to examine the effects of job search monitoring in isolation on unemployment. The natural experiments arise because of the area-by-area roll out of a new policy regime of enhanced job search assistance and job search monitoring called ‘Jobs and Benefits’ in Northern Ireland. Crucially, in the run up to introducing the new regime, each local benefit office has undergone an often lengthy period of refurbishment or rebuilding during which job search monitoring, but not search assistance, has been withdrawn. These periods of ‘excused signing’ allow us, therefore, to identify the impact of job search monitoring on unemployment separately from that of job search assistance. The results suggest that removal of monitoring suppresses outflows from unemployment leading to an increase in the number of registered unemployed, i.e. that monitoring ‘matters’ in isolation from job search assistance.
High performance teleoperation using switching robust control

The inherent transparency-stability trade-off in bilateral teleoperation poses a challenge to design controllers that find a proper balance between both requirements. Furthermore, when the environment of the teleoperation system varies within a wide range, a single controller might not be sufficient to achieve both stability and transparency. Therefore, we propose the synthesis of a switching robust controller that increases the environment stiffness range for which both stability and transparency is achieved. During the design we take into account the fact that environment estimators will have limited accuracy due to noise and uncertainty. Additionally, we use a parametric model of the human operator based on measurements of an operator's hand. We show the applicability of the approach by experiments on a 1-DOF teleoperated system interacting with a virtual spring.
A Self-Sensing Microgripper Module With Wide Handling Ranges

A compliant two-fingered microgripper is designed, fabricated, and demonstrated. To mimic human finger actuation, the proposed finger is distributively actuated by a shape memory alloy (SMA) wire. An SMA-actuated finger model is presented to predict SMA strain and finger motion given its contraction force. Based on this model, the finger shape and SMA wire dimension are optimally designed. The gripper is shown to have a wide handling range, high mechanical advantage, and sufficient out-of-plane stiffness; thus, it can accommodate objects of various sizes and weights. To control its motion, the SMA contraction force is estimated by using the proposed force to electrical resistance model. Gained from the simple driving electronics and self-sensing of SMA, the fabricated gripper can be made compact and lightweight. Finally, a self-powered gripper module is attached to a robot arm to perform several illustrative manipulations.
Pemetrexed disodium in ovarian cancer treatment

Introduction: Current therapies for recurrent ovarian cancer (OC) yield relatively modest improvements in survival. Many drugs are available but recently a renewed interest is addressed on antimetabolite drugs. Pemetrexed (PEM) is a multitargeted antifolate cytotoxic agent mainly used in lung cancer. Areas covered: This review summarizes the available evidence on the use of PEM in the treatment of OC. This article consists of material obtained via Medline, PubMed and EMBASE literature searches, up to November 2011. Currently available published data on mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy of PEM in the treatment of recurrent OC are described. Expert opinion: Eight trials evaluated the use of PEM in OC patients. Studies using PEM in combination with carboplatin in platinum-sensitive OC suggested that the response rate is similar to other combination therapies. However, based on the absence of randomized trials comparing this doublet with currently used combination treatments, it is difficult to draw conclusions on the efficacy of PEM regimens in these patients. In platinum-resistant OC patients, two studies suggested that PEM alone might have equivalent activity to other single-agent treatment. Further pharmacogenomic and clinical data are warranted to better define the role of PEM in the treatment of recurrent OC.
Associations between age, cohort, and urbanization with SBP and DBP in China: a population-based study across 18 years

Objective: Little is known about whether large-scale environmental changes, such as those seen with urbanization, are differentially associated with SBP versus DBP, and whether those changes vary by birth cohort. Methods: We used data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, a population-based cohort study of Chinese adults (n = 18 754 aged 18–70 years), seen a maximum of seven times from 1991 to 2009. We used hierarchical multivariable linear models to simultaneously estimate SBP and DBP as correlated outcomes over time, accounting for their physiologic, time-varying correlation. Main exposure variables were urbanicity, age, and birth cohort. Over 18 years of modernization, median SBP and DBP increased by 10 and 7 mmHg, respectively. Results: Our hierarchical model results suggest greater temporal increases in SBP and particularly DBP at lower versus higher urbanicity. At the same chronological age, for a 10-year difference in birth cohort (i.e. born in 1980s versus 1970s), the adjusted mean DBP was approximately 3 mmHg higher for the later birth cohort (P < 0.001). Pulse pressure (calculated as model-predicted SBP minus DBP) was also higher at low versus high urbanicity. Conclusions: These results suggest increased susceptibility of DBP (and thus peripheral vascular resistance) to environmental change, particularly in younger Chinese adults. Because DBP more strongly predicts cardiovascular disease risk in younger adulthood, hypertension-related health burden in China may increase over time.
High-Sensitivity Fabry-Pérot Temperature Sensor Based on Liquid Crystal Doped With Nanoparticles

The response of a Fabry-Pérot interferometer filled with a nematic liquid crystal doped with silver nanoparticles is theoretically studied as a temperature sensor. It has been observed that the high dependence of the extraordinary refractive index of a liquid crystal along with the influence of the plasmonic resonances of nanoparticles produce useful phenomena for temperature sensing. Accordingly, we theoretically demonstrated the optical response of this device as a function of the temperature and the nanoparticles radius. The application of different technologies as optical sources was investigated through a simulation program. The latter enabled us to estimate the sensitivity and predict interesting parameters of the device, such as optimum wavelength ranges, for the optical sources or optimum sizes of the nanoparticles. Maximum sensitivities of 24·10-2 dB/°C are obtained.
From old to new nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors: changes in body fat composition, metabolic parameters and mitochondrial toxicity after the switch from thymidine analogs to tenofovir or abacavir

Introduction: Thymidine analogs zidovudine (AZT) and stavudine (d4T) have been widely used because of their antiviral activity against HIV, but at the expense of high toxicity, mainly related to mitochondrial damage. Many studies have been performed replacing AZT or d4T with newer nucleoside analogs reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) with less toxicity, such as tenofovir (TDF) or abacavir (ABC), maintaining virological efficacy. Areas covered: Relevant literature was identified using a PubMed search of articles published up to June 2010. Search terms included: ‘thymidine analogs’, ‘stavudine’, ‘zidovudine’, ‘d4T’, ‘AZT’, ‘ZDV’, ‘treatment switch’. Original articles in which d4T or AZT had been replaced by TDF or ABC as switch strategies (with undetectable viral load) were reviewed where information about body fat distribution, mitochondrial functionality and/or plasma lipid parameters were available. Relevant references from these articles were also considered. Only studies performed in adult patients (18 years or older) are included. The readers will gain a better understanding of the toxicity caused by thymidine analogs, the treatment alternatives and the benefits observed after treatment switch to newer NRTIs. Expert opinion: Thymidine analogs AZT and d4T yield considerable toxicity and proactive switch to newer NRTIs such as TDF or ABC is necessary in order to avoid or partially reverse such side effects.
Risk factors in lacunar syndromes: a case‐control study

ABSTRACT— The association between some hypothetical risk factors (previous TIA, hypertension, ECG ischemic abnormalities, diabetes, cigarette smoking, atrial fibrillation, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, high hematocrit) and lacunar syndromes has been evaluated by a matched sample case‐control study involving 108 consecutive, incident cases with lacunar syndrome and 216 hospital control subjects, matched for sex and age. A significant increase of Relative Risk (RR) has been shown for: 1. Previous history of TIA; 2. Hypertension; 3. Smoking; 4. Diabetes. No relevance was shown for: 1. Atrial fibrillation; 2. Hypercholesterolemia; 3. Hypertriglyceridemia; 4. High hematocrit. The analysis of the triplets of subjects (1 case + 2 controls) without hypertension showed a significant RR increase for: 1. Previous history of TIA; 2. Ischemic cardiac abnormalities; 3. Atrial fibrillation. Such findings support the hypothesis that, in a minority of cases with lacunar syndrome, the pathogenetic mechanism could be different from occlusion of penetrating arteries in hypertensive patients.
Large-scale assessment of polyglutamine repeat expansions in Parkinson disease

Objectives: We aim to clarify the pathogenic role of intermediate size repeat expansions of SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, and SCA17 as risk factors for idiopathic Parkinson disease (PD). Methods: We invited researchers from the Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson's Disease Consortium to participate in the study. There were 12,346 cases and 8,164 controls genotyped, for a total of 4 repeats within the SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, and SCA17 genes. Fixed- and random-effects models were used to estimate the summary risk estimates for the genes. We investigated between-study heterogeneity and heterogeneity between different ethnic populations. Results: We did not observe any definite pathogenic repeat expansions for SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, and SCA17 genes in patients with idiopathic PD from Caucasian and Asian populations. Furthermore, overall analysis did not reveal any significant association between intermediate repeats and PD. The effect estimates (odds ratio) ranged from 0.93 to 1.01 in the overall cohort for the SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, and SCA17 loci. Conclusions: Our study did not support a major role for definite pathogenic repeat expansions in SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, and SCA17 genes for idiopathic PD. Thus, results of this large study do not support diagnostic screening of SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, and SCA17 gene repeats in the common idiopathic form of PD. Likewise, this largest multicentered study performed to date excludes the role of intermediate repeats of these genes as a risk factor for PD.
Prosocial peer affiliation suppresses genetic influences on non-aggressive antisocial behaviors during childhood

Background Available research has suggested that affiliation with prosocial peers reduces child and adolescent antisocial behavior. However, the etiologic mechanisms driving this association remain unclear. The current study sought to evaluate whether this association takes the form of a gene–environment interaction (G × E) in which prosocial peer affiliation acts to reduce the consequences of genetic risk for non-aggressive antisocial behavior during childhood. Method Our sample consisted of 500 twin pairs aged 6–10 years from the Michigan State University Twin Registry (MSUTR). Results The results robustly support moderation by prosocial peer affiliation. Genetic influences on non-aggressive antisocial behavior were observed to be several times larger in those with lower levels of prosocial peer affiliation than in those with higher levels of prosocial peer affiliation. This pattern of results persisted even after controlling for gene–environment correlations and deviant peer affiliation, and when restricting our analyses to those twins who shared all or nearly all of their friends. Conclusions Such findings not only suggest that prosocial peer affiliation moderates genetic influences on non-aggressive antisocial behaviors during childhood but also provide support for the theoretical notion that protective environmental experiences may exert their influence by promoting resilience to genetic risk.
Efficient construction of the spatial room impulse response

An important component of the modeling of sound propagation for virtual reality (VR) is the spatialization of the room impulse response (RIR) for directional listeners. This involves convolution of the listener's head-related transfer function (HRTF) with the RIR to generate a spatial room impulse response (SRIR) which can be used to auralize the sound entering the listener's ear canals. Previous approaches tend to evaluate the HRTF for each sound propagation path, though this is too slow for interactive VR latency requirements. We present a new technique for computation of the SRIR that performs the convolution with the HRTF in the spherical harmonic (SH) domain for RIR partitions of a fixed length. The main contribution is a novel perceptually-driven metric that adaptively determines the lowest SH order required for each partition to result in no perceptible error in the SRIR. By using lower SH order for some partitions, our technique saves a significant amount of computation and is almost an order of magnitude faster than the previous approach. We compared the subjective impact of this new method to the previous one and observe a strong scene-dependent preference for our technique. As a result, our method is the first that can compute high-quality spatial sound for the entire impulse response fast enough to meet the audio latency requirements of interactive virtual reality applications.
A type III effector protease NleC from enteropathogenic Escherichia coli targets NF-κB for degradation

Many bacterial pathogens utilize a type III secretion system (T3SS) to inject virulence effector proteins into host cells during infection. Previously, we found that enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) uses the type III effector, NleE, to block the inflammatory response by inhibiting IκB degradation and nuclear translocation of the p65 subunit of NF‐κB. Here we screened further effectors with unknown function for their capacity to prevent p65 nuclear translocation. We observed that ectopic expression of GFP–NleC in HeLa cells led to the degradation of p65. Delivery of NleC by the T3SS of EPEC also induced degradation of p65 in infected cells as well as other NF‐κB components, c‐Rel and p50. Recombinant His6‐NleC induced p65 and p50 cleavage in HeLa cell lysates and mutation of a consensus zinc metalloprotease motif, HEIIH, abrogated NleC proteolytic activity. NleC inhibited IL‐8 production during prolonged EPEC infection of HeLa cells in a protease activity‐dependent manner. A double nleE/nleC mutant was further impaired for its ability to inhibit IL‐8 secretion than either a single nleE or a single nleC mutant. We conclude that NleC is a type III effector protease that degrades NF‐κB thereby contributing the arsenal of bacterial effectors that inhibit innate immune activation.
Yugoslav Women in Politics

According to its normative principles, the delegate system ensures the working people's direct presence in the assemblies (communal, provincial, republican, and federal), as well as a functional linkage of short- and long-term interests of individual sections of society and of society as a whole. This lends special interest to women's participation in the delegate system. This article examines the findings of research conducted in Slovenia, particularly concerning the special social status according to women active in the delegate system, the nature of their participation, as well as their attitudes to active political participation. Now that Yugoslavia is undergoing a crisis, pressure is brought to bear on women to yield their places on the labor market to men and—although the principle of sex equality is given much prominence in the country's life—to concentrate on traditional women's roles.
Endovascular stenting of mid-aortic syndrome due to Takayasu arteritis

Abstract Introduction–patients: Takayasu arteritis may involve various parts of the aorta and its major branches. It leads to occlusive or aneurysmal disease of the vessel. It can be treated either with surgery or percutaneous intervention. We report a successful endovascular treatment of stenosis of the descending thoracic and abdominal aorta in a 19-year-old female. Methods–results–conclusions: Self-expandable nitinol stent was deployed and adequate opening of the aorta was obtained in this patient. Long-term durability of endovascular approach is a matter of debate. We also reviewed the sufficiency of endovascular treatment versus surgery.
Protection of Escherichia coli cells against extreme turgor by activation of MscS and MscL mechanosensitive channels: identification of genes required for MscS activity

Mechanosensitive channels are ubiquitous amongst bacterial cells and have been proposed to have major roles in the adaptation to osmotic stress, in particular in the management of transitions from high to low osmolarity environments. Electrophysiological measurements have identified multiple channels in Escherichia coli cells. One gene, mscL, encoding a large conductance channel has previously been described, but null mutants were without well‐defined phenotypes. Here, we report the characterization of a new gene family required for MscS function, YggB and KefA, which has enabled a rigorous test of the role of the channels. The channel determined by KefA does not appear to have a major role in managing the transition from high to low osmolarity. In contrast, analysis of mutants of E.coli lacking YggB and MscL shows that mechanosensitive channels are designed to open at a pressure change just below that which would cause cell disruption leading to death.
BLAST++ : A Tool for BLASTing Queries in Batches

BLAST is the standard tool that molecular biologists use to search for sequence similarity in genomic (and protein) databases. It employs a brute force approach of comparing a query sequence against every database sequence - for each pair of the sequences to be matched, BLAST searches for short fixed-length word pairs (seeds) in the sequences and then extends them to higher-scoring regions. To search multiple queries, the basic approach is to run BLAST on each of the queries one at a time. This is clearly inefficient and fails to exploit common subsequences that the collection of queries may share. In this paper, we propose a new genome search tool, BLAST++, that allows multiple, say K, queries to be searched against a database concurrently. The design of BLAST++ is based on our observation that the seed searching step of BLAST is a bottleneck that consumes more than 80% of the total response time! BLAST++ essentially treats a collection of queries as a single virtual query so that the seed searching step needs to be performed only once for common subsequences. We implemented BLAST++ as an extension of the NCBI BLAST, and evaluated its performance. Our study shows that the results obtained by BLAST++ are identical to that obtained by executing BLAST on each of the K queries, but the single-process version of BLAST++ completes the processing in a much shorter time, about only 25% of the original single-process version of NCBI BLAST.
Determinants of trends in condom use in the United States, 1988-1995.

CONTEXT Although overall condom use has increased substantially over the past decade, information is needed on whether dual method use has also become more common. In addition, there is little information on which characteristics of women influence condom use and dual method use, and on whether these characteristics have changed over time. METHODS Data from the 1988 and 1995 National Surveys of Family Growth are examined to evaluate trends in condom use--either use alone or use with another highly effective method (dual method use). Logistic and multinomial regression analyses are presented to analyze the influence of women's characteristics on condom use. RESULTS Current condom use rose significantly between 1988 and 1995, from 13% to 19% of all women who had had sex in the past three months. Dual method use increased from 1% in 1988 to 3% in 1995, still a very low level. In both years, current condom use was higher among women younger than 20 (32-34% in 1995) than among those aged 30 or older (less than 20% in 1995). Likewise, current condom use was most common among never-married women who were not cohabiting in both 1988 (20%) and in 1995 (34%). Multivariate analyses showed that women in the early stage of a relationship (six months or less in duration) were much more likely than those in a long-standing relationship (five years or more in length) to use the condom (odds ratio, 1.5). In both 1988 and 1995, younger women and better educated women were more likely to be currently using the condom than were older or less-educated women. For example, in 1995, women younger than 18 were 1.8 times as likely as 40-44-year-olds to be using condoms, and college graduates were 1.5 times as likely as high school graduates to do so. Further, women who were not in a union and either had never been married or were formerly married were more likely to be current condom users in 1995 than were married women (odds ratios, 1.5-1.9). Poor women were less likely than higher income women to be condom users in 1995 (odds ratios, 0.7-0.8), but poverty had made little difference in 1988. Groups likely to be dual method users were those also likely to be at greater risk of sexually transmitted disease: women in a union of less than six months duration (2.8), women younger than 20 (4.6-6.8), unmarried women (2.8-7.5) and women with two or more partners in the past three months (1.7). CONCLUSIONS While the increase in condom use, especially among unmarried and adolescent women, is encouraging, condom use overall is substantially less than that needed to protect women and men against sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV). Moreover, steps need to be taken to understand why levels of dual method use are low and how they may be increased.