Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atypical fracture with long-term bisphosphonate therapy is associated with altered cortical composition and reduced fracture resistance

Significance Since the first reports of atypical femoral fractures (AFFs), a clinical phenomenon in which patients experience catastrophic brittle fractures of the femoral shaft with minimal trauma, the risk associated with bisphosphonates, the most widely prescribed pharmaceuticals for osteoporosis, has become increasingly well-established. However, the underlying cause of AFFs and their causal relationship to bisphosphonates is unknown. Here we examine bone tissue from women with AFFs and show that long-term bisphosphonate treatment degrades the fracture-resistance toughening mechanisms that are inherent to healthy bone. Our work resolves the apparent paradox of AFFs as a side effect of the most common osteoporosis treatment by clarifying the differing effects of bisphosphonates on bone tissue structure and mechanical properties across multiple length scales. Bisphosphonates are the most widely prescribed pharmacologic treatment for osteoporosis and reduce fracture risk in postmenopausal women by up to 50%. However, in the past decade these drugs have been associated with atypical femoral fractures (AFFs), rare fractures with a transverse, brittle morphology. The unusual fracture morphology suggests that bisphosphonate treatment may impair toughening mechanisms in cortical bone. The objective of this study was to compare the compositional and mechanical properties of bone biopsies from bisphosphonate-treated patients with AFFs to those from patients with typical osteoporotic fractures with and without bisphosphonate treatment. Biopsies of proximal femoral cortical bone adjacent to the fracture site were obtained from postmenopausal women during fracture repair surgery (fracture groups, n = 33) or total hip arthroplasty (nonfracture groups, n = 17). Patients were allocated to five groups based on fracture morphology and history of bisphosphonate treatment [+BIS Atypical: n = 12, BIS duration: 8.2 (3.0) y; +BIS Typical: n = 10, 7.7 (5.0) y; +BIS Nonfx: n = 5, 6.4 (3.5) y; −BIS Typical: n = 11; −BIS Nonfx: n = 12]. Vibrational spectroscopy and nanoindentation showed that tissue from bisphosphonate-treated women with atypical fractures was harder and more mineralized than that from bisphosphonate-treated women with typical osteoporotic fractures. In addition, fracture mechanics measurements showed that tissue from patients treated with bisphosphonates had deficits in fracture toughness, with lower crack-initiation toughness and less crack deflection at osteonal boundaries than that of bisphosphonate-naïve patients. Together, these results suggest a deficit in intrinsic and extrinsic toughening mechanisms, which contribute to AFFs in patients treated with long-term bisphosphonates.
A Reliable Robust Fully Ad Hoc Data Dissemination Mechanism for Vehicular Networks

Many applications in vehicular networks need the data to be disseminated from a source vehicle to a large number of vehicles in the network. Although many solutions to this problem have been previously proposed by the research community, some challenges and failure scenarios have still remained unsolved particularly when the forwarding vehicle is located at the intersections and it wants to disseminate the data to all the intersecting road segments. In this paper, we first evaluate some of the previously proposed directional mode (along the straight roads) data dissemination mechanisms and then integrate the one with the best performance with our novel reliable robust intersection mode data dissemination mechanism in order to come up with a united mechanism for disseminating data both along the straight roads and at intersections. The effectiveness of our proposed mechanism is also verified by performance evaluations.
Influence of Basalt, Hydrated Lime, and Fly-Ash Fillers on Aging Behavior of Asphalt Mastic Using Essential and Plastic Work of Fracture

The present study was undertaken to investigate the influence of Basalt (B), Hydrated Lime (HL), and Fly-Ash (FA) fillers on aging behavior based on the fracture properties of asphalt mastic. The asphalt mastic samples were prepared in the laboratory using an AC-30 asphalt binder with various combinations of B-HL and B-FA fillers by maintaining a constant filler-binder ratio of 0.8:1 (by mass ratio and 22.5 % by volume). The HL and FA contents were selected as 0 %, 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, and 20 % by the weight of the asphalt binder, and the content of B filler was adjusted accordingly. Correspondingly, three types of asphalt mastic samples, namely, unaged, short-term aged, and long-term aged were prepared in the present study to understand the effects of oxidative aging. Fracture properties of asphalt mastic samples were evaluated at an intermediate temperature using a Double Edge Notched Tension test. The analysis of fracture behavior includes the load-displacement curve pattern, Total Work of Fracture (TWF), Essential Work of Fracture (EWF), Plastic Work of Fracture (PWF), and Critical Tip Opening Displacement (CTOD) values. The results showed that nature, surface texture, mineralogy, and interaction ability of HL and FA fillers strongly influence the aging and fracture resistance of the asphalt mastic. The load-displacement curve pattern, TWF, and PWF values signify a clear indication of an increase in ductile behavior with the incorporation of HL or FA fillers. Similarly, the EWF and CTOD values showed that the inclusion of HL or FA fillers in the asphalt mastic enhanced the aging and fracture resistance behavior. The inclusion of the HL filler has a predominant impact in comparison to the FA filler in the enhancement of both the aging and fracture resistance of asphalt mastic.
No association between the APOE gene and autism

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by stereotypic and repetitive behavior and interests, together with social and communicative deficiencies. The results of several genomic screens suggest the presence of an autism susceptibility locus on chromosome 19p13.2‐q13.4. The apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene on chromosome 19 encodes for a protein, apoE, whose different isoforms (E2, E3, E4) influence neuronal growth. APOE participates in lipid transport and metabolism, repair, growth, and maintenance of axons and myelin during neuronal development. The APOE protein competes with the Reelin protein for VLDL/APOER2 receptor binding. Several studies have reported evidence for an association between autism and the Reelin gene. Based on these data we tested for association between APOE and autism using family‐based association methods in a data set of 322 autism families. Three promoter, one intronic, and one 3′ UTR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the APOE gene (−491a/t, −427c/t, −219g/t, 113c/g, and 5361c/t) as well as the APOE functional polymorphism (E2, E3, E4) were examined and failed to reveal significant evidence that autism is associated with APOE. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Adaptive Scheduling of Parallel Jobs on Functionally Heterogeneous Resources

A parallel program usually incurs operations on multiple processing resources, interleaving computations, I/Os, and communications, where each task can only be executed on a processor of a matching category. Many parallel systems also embed special-purpose processors like vector units, floating-point co-processors, and various I/O processors. Presently, there is no provably good scheduling algorithm that ensures efficient use of multiple resources with functional heterogeneity. This paper presents K-RAD, an algorithm that adoptively schedules parallel jobs on multiple processing resources without requiring prior information about the jobs, such as their release times and parallelism profiles. Let K denote the number of categories of heterogenous resources and Pmax denote the maximum number of processors among all categories. We show that, for any set of jobs with arbitrary release times, K-RAD is (K + 1 - 1/Pmax)- competitive with respect to the makespan. This competitive ratio is provably the best possible for any non-clairvoyant deterministic algorithms for K-resource scheduling. We also show that K-RAD is (4K + 1 - 4K/(|J| + 1))- competitive with respect to the mean response time for any batched job set J. For the special case of K = 1, i.e., scheduling on homogeneous resources, the best existing mean response time bound for online non-clairvoyant algorithm is 2 + radic(3) ap 3.73 proved by Edmonds et al. in STOC'97. We show that K-RAD is 3-competitive with respect to the mean response time when K = 1, which offers the best competitive ratio to date.
Quality-based approach to locking multimedia objects

It is critical for applications to obtain enough quality of service (QoS) from multimedia objects. Not only states but also QoS of objects are changed if methods are performed on the objects. The objects are required to be consistent in the presence of multiple transactions issuing requests to the objects. We discuss new types of equivalent and conflicting relations among methods with respect to QoS. We introduce novel types of locking modes, to synchronize concurrent accesses to objects based on the conflicting relations. We also discuss how to convert the lock modes.
Word-Sequence Kernels

We address the problem of categorising documents using kernel-based methods such as Support Vector Machines. Since the work of Joachims (1998), there is ample experimental evidence that SVM using the standard word frequencies as features yield state-of-the-art performance on a number of benchmark problems. Recently, Lodhi et al. (2002) proposed the use of string kernels, a novel way of computing document similarity based of matching non-consecutive subsequences of characters. In this article, we propose the use of this technique with sequences of words rather than characters. This approach has several advantages, in particular it is more efficient computationally and it ties in closely with standard linguistic pre-processing techniques. We present some extensions to sequence kernels dealing with symbol-dependent and match-dependent decay factors, and present empirical evaluations of these extensions on the Reuters-21578 datasets.
Molecular epidemiology of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in India

Shiga toxin or verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC or VTEC) is recognized as an important food-borne pathogen, responsible for sporadic cases to serious outbreaks worldwide. The morbidity and mortality associated with several recent outbreaks due to STEC have highlighted the threat this organism poses to public health. Since its discovery in 1982, the organism has been the focus of extensive research on its epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, etc. Though the most important virulent attribute of the STEC is verotoxin or Shiga toxin, other virulence factors like intimin and enterohaemolysin have also been found to contribute to the human or animal disease. The organism may cause serious human complications like bloody diarrhoea, haemolytic uraemic syndrome, haemorrhagic colitis and thrombocytopaenic perpura. Domestic animals, especially cattle and sheep, are the main reservoirs and sources of infection. Contaminated meat and meat products, dairy products, vegetables, drinking water and swimming pools have been recognized as main vehicles of spread of infection to humans. Recently, air-borne dispersion (contaminated buildings) has also been incriminated as another route of spread of this infection to humans. There have been many advances in rapid diagnosis of this infection using the current molecular biology, immunological and cytotoxic methods. The present review describes the various virulence attributes, vehicles and routes of spread of infection and recent advances in diagnosis of this infection. Besides, the research work carried out in India on the subject is also summarized.
Modulation of Conotoxin Structure and Function Is Achieved through a Multienzyme Complex in the Venom Glands of Cone Snails*

Background: Conotoxins can be utilized to investigate enzyme-assisted folding of disulfide-rich peptides. Results: Various ER-resident cone snail enzymes act in concert to accelerate the oxidative folding of conotoxins and modulate their conformation by reconfiguring disulfide connectivities. Conclusion: The folding of conotoxins is a tightly regulated multienzyme-assisted process. Significance: Modulation of the conformation of conotoxins increases their molecular and functional diversity. The oxidative folding of large polypeptides has been investigated in detail; however, comparatively little is known about the enzyme-assisted folding of small, disulfide-containing peptide substrates. To investigate the concerted effect of multiple enzymes on the folding of small disulfide-rich peptides, we sequenced and expressed protein-disulfide isomerase (PDI), peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase, and immunoglobulin-binding protein (BiP) from Conus venom glands. Conus PDI was shown to catalyze the oxidation and reduction of disulfide bonds in two conotoxins, α-GI and α-ImI. Oxidative folding rates were further increased in the presence of Conus PPI with the maximum effect observed in the presence of both enzymes. In contrast, Conus BiP was only observed to assist folding in the presence of microsomes, suggesting that additional co-factors were involved. The identification of a complex between BiP, PDI, and nascent conotoxins further suggests that the folding and assembly of conotoxins is a highly regulated multienzyme-assisted process. Unexpectedly, all three enzymes contributed to the folding of the ribbon isomer of α-ImI. Here, we identify this alternative disulfide-linked species in the venom of Conus imperialis, providing the first evidence for the existence of a “non-native” peptide isomer in the venom of cone snails. Thus, ER-resident enzymes act in concert to accelerate the oxidative folding of conotoxins and modulate their conformation and function by reconfiguring disulfide connectivities. This study has evaluated the role of a number of ER-resident enzymes in the folding of conotoxins, providing novel insights into the enzyme-guided assembly of these small, disulfide-rich peptides.
Effect of Conscious Sedation vs General Anesthesia on Early Neurological Improvement Among Patients With Ischemic Stroke Undergoing Endovascular Thrombectomy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance Optimal management of sedation and airway during thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke is controversial due to lack of evidence from randomized trials. Objective To assess whether conscious sedation is superior to general anesthesia for early neurological improvement among patients receiving stroke thrombectomy. Design, Setting, and Participants SIESTA (Sedation vs Intubation for Endovascular Stroke Treatment), a single-center, randomized, parallel-group, open-label treatment trial with blinded outcome evaluation conducted at Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany (April 2014-February 2016) included 150 patients with acute ischemic stroke in the anterior circulation, higher National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score (>10), and isolated/combined occlusion at any level of the internal carotid or middle cerebral artery. Intervention Patients were randomly assigned to an intubated general anesthesia group (n = 73) or a nonintubated conscious sedation group (n = 77) during stroke thrombectomy. Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcome was early neurological improvement on the NIHSS after 24 hours (0-42 [none to most severe neurological deficits; a 4-point difference considered clinically relevant]). Secondary outcomes were functional outcome by modified Rankin Scale (mRS) after 3 months (0-6 [symptom free to dead]), mortality, and peri-interventional parameters of feasibility and safety. Results Among 150 patients (60 women [40%]; mean age, 71.5 years; median NIHSS score, 17), primary outcome was not significantly different between the general anesthesia group (mean NIHSS score, 16.8 at admission vs 13.6 after 24 hours; difference, -3.2 points [95% CI, -5.6 to -0.8]) vs the conscious sedation group (mean NIHSS score, 17.2 at admission vs 13.6 after 24 hour; difference, -3.6 points [95% CI, -5.5 to -1.7]); mean difference between groups, -0.4 (95% CI, -3.4 to 2.7; P = .82). Of 47 prespecified secondary outcomes analyzed, 41 showed no significant differences. In the general anesthesia vs the conscious sedation group, substantial patient movement was less frequent (0% vs 9.1%; difference, 9.1%; P = .008), but postinterventional complications were more frequent for hypothermia (32.9% vs 9.1%; P < .001), delayed extubation (49.3% vs 6.5%; P < .001), and pneumonia (13.7% vs 3.9%; P = .03). More patients were functionally independent (unadjusted mRS score, 0 to 2 after 3 months [37.0% in the general anesthesia group vs 18.2% in the conscious sedation group P = .01]). There were no differences in mortality at 3 months (24.7% in both groups). Conclusions and Relevance Among patients with acute ischemic stroke in the anterior circulation undergoing thrombectomy, conscious sedation vs general anesthesia did not result in greater improvement in neurological status at 24 hours. The study findings do not support an advantage for the use of conscious sedation. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02126085.
[Television news].

The interview subject and topic should be newsworthy, timely and interesting. The guest should be talking about an upcoming event, an issue of interest to students, a new program or policy, or perhaps a professor’s newsworthy research or expertise. Or it could be a profile-type interview about a CofC professor, a student leader, or a staff person. Human interest stories are good tooa student overcoming obstacles, or with a unique skill, hobby or job.
Is T1ρ Mapping an Alternative to Delayed Gadolinium-enhanced MR Imaging of Cartilage in the Assessment of Sulphated Glycosaminoglycan Content in Human Osteoarthritic Knees? An in Vivo Validation Study.

PURPOSE To determine if T1ρ mapping can be used as an alternative to delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC) in the quantification of cartilage biochemical composition in vivo in human knees with osteoarthritis. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was approved by the institutional review board. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. Twelve patients with knee osteoarthritis underwent dGEMRIC and T1ρ mapping at 3.0 T before undergoing total knee replacement. Outcomes of dGEMRIC and T1ρ mapping were calculated in six cartilage regions of interest. Femoral and tibial cartilages were harvested during total knee replacement. Cartilage sulphated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) and collagen content were assessed with dimethylmethylene blue and hydroxyproline assays, respectively. A four-dimensional multivariate mixed-effects model was used to simultaneously assess the correlation between outcomes of dGEMRIC and T1ρ mapping and the sGAG and collagen content of the articular cartilage. RESULTS T1 relaxation times at dGEMRIC showed strong correlation with cartilage sGAG content (r = 0.73; 95% credibility interval [CI] = 0.60, 0.83) and weak correlation with cartilage collagen content (r = 0.40; 95% CI: 0.18, 0.58). T1ρ relaxation times did not correlate with cartilage sGAG content (r = 0.04; 95% CI: -0.21, 0.28) or collagen content (r = -0.05; 95% CI = -0.31, 0.20). CONCLUSION dGEMRIC can help accurately measure cartilage sGAG content in vivo in patients with knee osteoarthritis, whereas T1ρ mapping does not appear suitable for this purpose. Although the technique is not completely sGAG specific and requires a contrast agent, dGEMRIC is a validated and robust method for quantifying cartilage sGAG content in human osteoarthritis subjects in clinical research.
Additive manufacturing-enabled shape transformations via FFF 4D printing

Fused-filament-fabrication (FFF) is a commonly used and commercially successful additive-manufacturing method for thermoplastics. Depending on the FFF process parameters, the internal-strains along print direction, thermal-gradient across layers, and anisotropy introduced during layer-by-layer build-up can significantly affect the macroscopic properties, dimensional stability, and structural performance of the final part. Conversely, these factors can be optimized to result in unique, controllable thermally actuated shape-transformations. This work aims at quantifying and understanding the underlying mechanisms that drive the thermally actuated shape-transformation in three commonly used thermoplastics fabricated by the FFF method namely, poly-lactic-acid (PLA), high-impact-polystyrene (HIPS), and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS). Initially, the release of internal-strains is analyzed for unidirectionally printed samples experimentally and computationally, employing a thermoviscoelastic-viscoplastic constitutive model. Subsequently, two basic initial (as-printed) configurations, namely, a beam and a circular-disc are chosen to study the 1D to 2D and 2D to 3D shape-transformations, respectively. The effect of process parameters such as the printing speed, print path, and infill density on the shape transformation behavior is investigated systematically. Finally, the results are applied to demonstrate shape-transformations for application in morphing-structures and/or as an alternative, simplified process in fabricating curved-components.
Genetic analyses of chromosome 12 loci in Crohn's disease

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, both of which are multifactorial diseases involving the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. A region on chromosome 12 centred around the marker locus D12S83 has previously been associated with IBD predisposition. The aim of the study was to investigate this genetic region in an independent panel of European families affected by Crohn's disease. METHODS A sample of 95 families with two or more affected relatives and 75 simplex nuclear families were genotyped for 19 microsatellite loci located on chromosome 12. A search for linkage and linkage disequilibrium was performed using non-parametric two point and multipoint analyses with the Analyze and Genehunter packages. RESULTS No evidence of linkage or linkage disequilibrium was observed for any of the marker loci, including D12S83 (p=0.35 for the two point linkage test). Multipoint linkage analysis also failed to reveal positive linkage on chromosome 12. Power calculations allowed us to reject the hypothesis that the genetic region of chromosome 12 centred on D12S83 contains a susceptibility locus with a relative risk (λs) equal to or greater than 2.0 in these families. CONCLUSION Failure to detect linkage or linkage disequilibrium in these families suggests that the chromosome 12 locus previously reported to be associated with genetic predisposition to IBD does not play a role in all European family samples. This observation is compatible with heterogeneity in the genetic basis of susceptibility to the disease and/or exposure to various environmental factors among Caucasian families.