Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cloning of the hsp70 (dnaK) genes from Rhizobium meliloti and Pseudomonas cepacia: phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial origin based on a highly conserved protein sequence

The genes for hsp70 (or dnaK) have been cloned and sequenced from Rhizobium meliloti and Pseudomonas cepacia, two bacterial species belonging to the alpha- and beta-subdivisions of gram-negative proteobacteria, respectively. On the basis of global alignment of HSP70 proteins, several sequence signatures have been identified that are distinctive of mitochondrial homologs and gram-negative proteobacteria on the one hand and the chloroplasts and cyanobacteria on the other. Detailed phylogenetic analyses of HSP70 sequences from various eubacteria and eukaryotic organellar and cytosolic homologs support the inference regarding the origin of mitochondria from a member of the alpha-proteobacteria and of chloroplasts from cyanobacteria. The analysis presented here also suggests a monophyletic origin of the mitochondrial homologs.
Pneumonia Due to Mycoplasma in Gnotobiotic Mice I. Pathogenicity of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Mycoplasma salivarium, and Mycoplasma pulmonis for the Lungs of Conventional and Gnotobiotic Mice

Lutsky, Irving I. (Marquette University School of Medicine, Milwaukee, Wis.), and Avrum B. Organick. Pneumonia due to mycoplasma in gnotobiotic mice. I. Pathogenicity of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Mycoplasma salivarium, and Mycoplasma pulmonis for the lungs of conventional and gnotobiotic mice. J. Bacteriol. 92:1154–1163. 1966. —Two species of mycoplasma of human origin, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and M. salivarium, were tested for their ability to produce respiratory disease in the Ha/ICR mouse when inoculated by the intranasal route. The mouse pathogen M. pulmonis was studied as a positive control. Conventional and gnotobiotic Ha/ICR mice were employed, the latter to provide a system free from indigenous mycoplasma and bacteria. Pneumonia from which mycoplasma were isolated was produced in all groups of the conventional Ha/ICR mice, including those inoculated with sterile broth. Only M. pulmonis produced disease when inoculated intranasally into the gnotobiotic mice, and the gross and microscopic lesions resembled those described in conventional mice. The gnotobiotic mouse provided a tool to study the pathogenicity of different mycoplasma species, and indicated marked differences in host specificity that could not be clearly seen when conventional mice were used.
SapoFitness: A mobile health application for dietary evaluation

Health problems related to diet, including obesity and cancer, are important concerns in the current society. The main treatment for obesity includes dieting and frequent physical activity. Diet programs keep and cause weight loss over short, medium, or long term. However, to maintain balanced body energy, a frequent physical exercise is required. This paper presents SapoFitness, a mobile health application for a dietary evaluation and the implementation of challenges, alerts, and constantly motivates the user to use the system and keep the diet plan. SapoFitness is customized to its user keeping a daily record of his/her food intake and daily exercise. The main goal of this application is to offer a motivation tool for weight reduction and increase physical activity. SapoFitness includes the ability to share personal achievements with social networks, a very intuitive human-device interaction and control weight, applying not only to control obesity but also to malnutrition problems. The application offers a continuous alert system activity, sending alerts/messages concerning the user diet program taking into account also his/her physical activity. SapoFitness is a challenged mobile application that delivers the action to the user, motivating for a healthier life style.
ShakeIn: Secure User Authentication of Smartphones with Single-Handed Shakes

Smartphones have been widely used with a vast array of sensitive and private information stored on these devices. To secure such information from being leaked, user authentication schemes are necessary. Current password/pattern-based user authentication schemes are vulnerable to shoulder surfing attacks and smudge attacks. In contrast, stroke/gait-based schemes are secure but inconvenient for users to input. In this paper, we propose ShakeIn, a handy user authentication scheme for secure unlocking of a smartphone by simply shaking the phone. With embedded motion sensors, ShakeIn can effectively capture the unique and reliable biometrical features of users about how they shake. In this way, even if an attacker sees a user shaking his/her phone, the attacker can hardly reproduce the same behavior. Furthermore, by allowing users to customize the way they shake the phone, ShakeIn endows users with the maximum operation flexibility. We implement ShakeIn and conduct both intensive trace-driven simulations and real experiments on 20 volunteers with about 530,555 shaking samples collected over multiple months. The results show that ShakeIn achieves an average equal error rate of 1.2 percent with a small number of shakes using only 35 training samples even in the presence of shoulder-surfing attacks.
Adjusted Scaling of FDG Positron Emission Tomography Images for Statistical Evaluation in Patients With Suspected Alzheimer's Disease

Background and Purpose. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) gained increasing acceptance for the voxel‐based statistical evaluation of brain positron emission tomography (PET) with the glucose analog 2‐[18F]‐fluoro‐2‐deoxy‐d‐glucose (FDG) in patients with suspected Alzheimer's disease (AD). To increase the sensitivity for detection of local changes, individual differences of total brain FDG uptake are usually compensated for by proportional scaling. However, in cases of extensive hypometabolic areas, proportional scaling overestimates scaled uptake. This may cause significant underestimation of the extent of hypometabolic areas by the statistical test. Methods. To detect this problem, the authors tested for hyper metabolism. In patients with no visual evidence of true focal hypermetabolism, significant clusters of hypermetabolism in the presence of extended hypometabolism were interpreted as false‐positive findings, indicating relevant overestimation of scaled uptake. In this case, scaled uptake was reduced step by step until there were no more significant clusters of hypermetabolism. Results. In 22 consecutive patients with suspected AD, proportional scaling resulted in relevant overestimation of scaled uptake in 9 patients. Scaled uptake had to be reduced by 11.1%± 5.3% in these cases to eliminate the artifacts. Adjusted scaling resulted in extension of existing and appearance of new clusters of hypometabolism. Total volume of the additional voxels with significant hypometabolism depended linearly on the extent of the additional scaling and was 202 ± 118 mL on average. Conclusions. Adjusted scaling helps to identify characteristic metabolic patterns in patients with suspected AD. It is expected to increase specificity of FDGPET in this group of patients.
Subband Extraction Strategies in Ship Detection With the Subaperture Cross-Correlation Magnitude

The subaperture cross-correlation magnitude (SCM) has previously been proposed as a statistic that improves the contrast between small ship targets and the surrounding sea in synthetic-aperture-radar images. This preprocessing technique utilizes the fast decorrelation of open-water surface ripples on the scale of the SAR wavelength relative to coherent targets such as a ship. However, optimization of the bandwidth splitting in the subband extraction has not received any attention. The aim of this letter is twofold: 1) to describe the technical details of the algorithm, including modifications that are necessary to allow overlapping subapertures; and 2) to study the effect of splitting the bandwidth into two azimuth subapertures with respect to varying bandwidths and subaperture overlap. The impact on the SCM is investigated in terms of measures of speckle reduction and target-to-clutter contrast. Experiments are performed on real single-look complex SAR data containing repeated acquisitions of a vessel in open sea. The results indicate that the subband extraction strategy has a clear impact on performance.
Maternal smoking: an increasing unique risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome in Sweden

Aim: To assess the change of risk factors that are specific to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) after the initialization of a campaign to reduce the risk (RTR) of SIDS compared to non‐SIDS postneonatal deaths. Methods: Data were extracted from the Swedish Medical Birth Registry, 1982‐1991 and 1993‐1998. 1105 infants died from SIDS during the postneonatal period, 2115 postneonatal deaths were from other causes and 11050 live birth controls were selected. Risk factors previously identified to be related to SIDS were defined as high parity, prematurity, young maternal age, low Apgar score, birth during the night, single motherhood, multiple births, maternal smoking, male gender, short length standard deviation score (SDS) and small weight‐to‐length SDS. Results: Non‐SIDS deaths were more significantly related to a low 5‐min Apgar score, smaller weight‐to‐length SDS, and/or short length SDS values; while SIDS deaths were more closely related to mothers with higher parity or multiple births, mothers who smoked during pregnancy and single‐parent (mother) families. Maternal smoking was even more prominent among SIDS deaths in the post‐campaign period. The adjusted odds ratios, compared with non‐SIDS deaths, increased from 1.84 (95% CI: 1.48, 2.28) in the pre‐campaign period to 4.11 (95% CI: 2.72, 6.21) in the post‐campaign period.
Gadd45a protects against UV irradiation-induced skin tumors, and promotes apoptosis and stress signaling via MAPK and p53.

Skin cancer is the most frequent form of malignancy in the world, and UV radiation is the primary environmental carcinogen responsible for its development. Herein we demonstrate that Gadd45a is a critical factor protecting the epidermis against UV radiation-induced tumorigenesis by promoting damaged keratinocytes to undergo apoptosis and/or cell cycle arrest, two crucial events that prevent the expansion of mutant or deregulated cells. Whereas Gadd45a has been implicated in cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and DNA repair, to determine the physiological function of endogenous Gadd45a after genotoxic stress, the skin of Gadd45a-null mice was targeted with UV radiation. We report that Gadd45a induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by maintaining p38 and c-JNK MAPK activation in keratinocytes. The absence of Gadd45a results in loss of sustained p38/JNK MAPK activity beyond 15-30 min after UV radiation that leads to inadequate p53 activation and loss of normal activation of G(1) and G(2) checkpoints. Moreover, loss of Gadd45a dramatically reduces UV-induced apoptotic keratinocytes, "sunburn cells. " Consequently, Gadd45a-null mice are more prone to tumors relative to wild-type mice. Therefore, we conclude that Gadd45a, like p53, is a key component protecting skin against UV-induced tumors.
Randomised prostate cancer screening trial: 20 year follow-up

Objective To assess whether screening for prostate cancer reduces prostate cancer specific mortality. Design Population based randomised controlled trial. Setting Department of Urology, Norrköping, and the South-East Region Prostate Cancer Register. Participants All men aged 50-69 in the city of Norrköping, Sweden, identified in 1987 in the National Population Register (n=9026). Intervention From the study population, 1494 men were randomly allocated to be screened by including every sixth man from a list of dates of birth. These men were invited to be screened every third year from 1987 to 1996. On the first two occasions screening was done by digital rectal examination only. From 1993, this was combined with prostate specific antigen testing, with 4 µg/L as cut off. On the fourth occasion (1996), only men aged 69 or under at the time of the investigation were invited. Main outcome measures Data on tumour stage, grade, and treatment from the South East Region Prostate Cancer Register. Prostate cancer specific mortality up to 31 December 2008. Results In the four screenings from 1987 to 1996 attendance was 1161/1492 (78%), 957/1363 (70%), 895/1210 (74%), and 446/606 (74%), respectively. There were 85 cases (5.7%) of prostate cancer diagnosed in the screened group and 292 (3.9%) in the control group. The risk ratio for death from prostate cancer in the screening group was 1.16 (95% confidence interval 0.78 to 1.73). In a Cox proportional hazard analysis comparing prostate cancer specific survival in the control group with that in the screened group, the hazard ratio for death from prostate cancer was 1.23 (0.94 to 1.62; P=0.13). After adjustment for age at start of the study, the hazard ratio was 1.58 (1.06 to 2.36; P=0.024). Conclusions After 20 years of follow-up the rate of death from prostate cancer did not differ significantly between men in the screening group and those in the control group. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN06342431.
Current and planned research on agriculture for improved nutrition: A mapping and a gap analysis

Despite the clear potential for agricultural change to improve nutrition in low and middle income countries (LMIC), the evidence base for this relationship is poor. Recent systematic reviews of studies which have evaluated agricultural interventions for improved nutrition reveal little strong evidence of impact and a need for more and better designed research. The study aimed to assist the development of a more coherent framework for research in this area to ultimately improve the overall quality of research on agriculture for improved nutrition. A conceptual framework linking agriculture, food, and nutrition was developed by an expert panel making use of existing concepts for interactions between agriculture and health. It was used to define the domain of research on agriculture for improved nutrition, to establish inclusion criteria for research to be considered, and to characterise that research in a comparative way, relative to the different impact pathways. Mapping of current and planned research projects using snowballing and following specified inclusion and exclusion criteria was conducted from information obtained from the informants themselves and/or from project websites. A gap analysis was conducted to identify more poorly researched areas. The study characterized 151 research projects, most of which are part of broader research programmes. A significant majority concern Sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on nutritional impacts on women and children. Current research is of a range of types, with the majority (58%; n=88) involving research on some form of active intervention into agriculture and the rest (n=63) involving research on existing datasets and 3 systematic reviews. The gap analysis on 100 of the projects with sufficient information identified eight clear research gaps: Full pathway of change especially not value chain; Indirect effect of changes in agriculture on nutrition; Effects of agricultural policy on nutrition; Governance, policy processes and political economy for development of agriculture-for-nutrition policies and programmes; Development of methodologies and appropriate metrics; Consumers as a broader target group especially rural workers and non-rural populations; Rural and urban poor at risk from nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases and Cost-effectiveness. Most projects did not consider the value chain and few measure nutritional status. Very few projects considered indirect effects acting through economic outcomes. There is limited research underway on the development of new methodologies and metrics to measure effects along the different impact pathways, or to evaluate cost effectiveness of interventions.
Is There a Gender Difference in Strength of Sex Drive? Theoretical Views, Conceptual Distinctions, and a Review of Relevant Evidence

The sex drive refers to the strength of sexual motivation. Across many different studies and measures, men have been shown to have more frequent and more intense sexual desires than women, as reflected in spontaneous thoughts about sex, frequency and variety of sexual fantasies, desired frequency of intercourse, desired number of partners, masturbation, liking for various sexual practices, willingness to forego sex, initiating versus refusing sex, making sacrifices for sex, and other measures. No contrary findings (indicating stronger sexual motivation among women) were found. Hence we conclude that the male sex drive is stronger than the female sex drive. The gender difference in sex drive should not be generalized to other constructs such as sexual or orgasmic capacity, enjoyment of sex, or extrinsically motivated sex.
Creative performance under pressure

Creativity is the cornerstone of organizational success in today’s economy. At the same time, employees face considerable work pressure, which might undermine their creativity. This article integrates theoretical perspectives from the stress and creativity literatures to develop a new model that conceptualizes the effects of work pressure on creative performance. Our model proposes a double-mediated process by which pressure triggers challenge and threat appraisals, which, in turn, influence creativity by shaping employees’ cognitive flexibility and/or persistence. Further, we theorize that available resources and employee commitment are important moderators. We illustrate our model with the potential effects of leadership on the association between pressure and creativity. Implications for further empirical and theoretical research are discussed.
Are We Experts?: Perspectives of Korean Teachers on their Careers in Infant and Toddler Care

THE PRESENT STUDY INVESTIGATES how Korean infant/toddler teachers define their role in centre-based childcare settings and how their attitudes and perspectives influence their professional identities and relationships with parents. The study utilised the interpretive science paradigm and individual interviews for data collection, and the qualitative data analysis method explored the experiences of 19 infant/toddler teachers. Participants defined their role as ‘teacher as mother’ and placed more emphasis on nurturing than educating despite their acknowledgement of the importance of the educational aspects of centre-based care. The consensus among infant/toddler teachers that it is best for mothers to care for children at home derives from 1) teachers' consideration of infants/toddlers' developmental characteristics, and 2) the limitations of centre-based programs to fulfill the developmental needs of infants and toddlers. This perspective affects their sense of professionalism and job satisfaction and can lower the quality of overall infant and toddler care.
Efficient Management of Integrated Services Using A Path Information Base

The current network architecture is based predominantly on stand-alone routers. It is becoming overtaxed with the introduction of integrated services. This observation has led us to propose a Server and Agent based Active network Management (SAAM) architecture that scales well with integrated services [14]. SAAM relieves individual routers from most routing and network management tasks. Instead, it employs a small number of dedicated servers to perform these tasks on behalf of the routers. In particular, these servers maintain a path information base (PIB) with which network functions, such as QoS routing and re-routing of real-time flows, can be efficiently implemented. In this paper, we focus on the design of an efficient and flexible PIB. We will not only present our design rational and the specification of a concrete PIB building algorithm, but will also describe some important observations concerning PIBs that we have obtained by examining the statistics of sample PIBs built from three example network configurations. These observations include: (1) a single regional PIB supporting a network in the range of 20-30 routers can be maintained on a PC workstation, and (2) a PIB can provide efficient support for any QoS routing algorithm.
Neurophysiological study in an Italian family with autosomal dominant late-onset leukodystrophy.

Evoked potentials (EPs) and nerve conduction velocities (NCV) were evaluated in 8 affected and 10 asymptomatic members of a new Italian family with an adult-onset autosomal dominant leukodystrophy of uncertain nosography. NCV studies did not show anomalies. Various EPs abnormalities were found in all the symptomatic patients (increase of interpeak latency and/or loss of cortical responses), according with a myelin disorder. Among the asymptomatic subjects 3/10 (30%) showed similar anomalies at auditory brainstem EPs (increase of I-III/I-V/III-V interval). Two of these patients had normal brain MRI. This datum require further confirms (very low penetrance of the disease? ), but it remarks the importance of a functional study of SNC in order to obtain elements not usually given from clinical and neuroradiological study.
A Bottom-Up Term Extraction Approach for Web-Based Translation in Chinese-English IR Systems

The extraction of Multiword Lexical Units (MLUs) in lexica is important to language related methods such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine translation. As one word in one language may be translated into an MLU in another language, the extraction of MLUs plays an important role in Cross-Language Information Retrieval (CLIR), especially in finding the translation for words that are not in a dictionary. Web mining has been used for translating the query terms that are missing from dictionaries. MLU extraction is one of the key parts in search engine based translation. The MLU extraction result will finally affect the transition quality. Most statistical approaches to MLU extraction rely on large statistical information from huge corpora. In the case of search engine based translation, those approaches do not perform well because the size of corpus returned from a search engine is usually small. In this paper, we present a new string measurement and new Chinese MLU extraction process that works well on small corpora.
Using a Bayesian Model to Combine LDA Features with Crowdsourced Responses

Abstract : This paper describes a crowdsourcing system that integrates machine learning techniques with human classifiers, showing how to apply a Bayesian approach to classifier combination to the challenge of crowdsourcing document topic labels. First, we use a number of NLP techniques to extract informative document features. We then screen and select workers using Amazon Mechanical Turk to label selected documents. We then apply Independent Bayesian Classifier Combination (IBCC) to classify the complete set of documents in a semi-supervised manner, taking into account the unreliability of crowd-sourced labels. More documents are then selected intelligently for labeling by the crowd. We demonstrate superior results using IBCC compared to a two-stage classifier and strong performance with only 16% documents labelled by the crowd.