Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does a history of physical exposures at work affect hand-grip strength in midlife? A retrospective cohort study in Denmark.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this cohort study was to examine associations between physical exposures throughout working life and hand-grip strength (HGS) in midlife. METHODS The Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank (CAMB) provided data about employment and HGS for 3843 Danes. Individual job histories, including duration of employment in specific jobs, were assigned exposures from a job exposure matrix. Exposures were standardized to ton-years (lifting 1000 kg each day in one year), stand-years (standing/walking for six hours each day in one year) and kneel-years (kneeling for one hour each day in one year). The effects of exposure-years on HGS were analyzed as linear effects and cubic splines in multivariate regression models, adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS Mean age was 59 years among both genders and HGS was 49.19 kg [standard deviation (SD) 8.42] and 30.61 kg (SD 5.49) among men and women, respectively. Among men, exposure to kneel-years was associated with higher HGS [>0.030 kg (P=0.007) per exposure-year]. Ton- and stand-years were not associated with HGS among either men or women in linear analyses. In spline regression analyses, associations between ton- and stand-years and HGS were non-linear and primarily positive among men. Among women, the associations were non-linear and, according to ton-years, primarily negatively associated with HGS but statistically insignificant. CONCLUSION A history of physical exposures at work explained only a minor part of the variation in HGS, though exposure to kneeling throughout working life was associated with a slightly higher HGS among men. Exposure to lifting and standing/walking was not associated with HGS.
Filler Rhinoplasty

The nose is one of the most important cosmetic units of the face. Discreet variations in the nose shape lead to marked physiognomy changes. Many patients dissatisfied with the appearance of their nose seek cosmetic improvement as early as during adolescence. Similar to other facial structures, the nose is affected by the aging process. Typically, nose tip drop is observed, along with loss of subcutaneous tissue, which highlights its undulating osteocartilaginous support. Dermatologic patients are increasingly requesting procedures with minimal downtime. In our practice, several patients coming for facial rejuvenation are interested in undergoing nasal rejuvenation procedures, but they usually do not bring up the issue spontaneously because they believe it would need extensive surgical correction.
Pancreatic Mucinous Noncystic (Colloid) Carcinomas and Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Carcinomas Are Usually Microsatellite Stable

Pancreatic mucinous noncystic (colloid) carcinomas (MNCC) differ from the usual ductal adenocarcinomas in their mucin expression profile and share with many extrapancreatic mucinous carcinomas the expression of MUC2. Because mucinous carcinomas are frequently associated with mutations of the DNA mismatch repair genes, causing them to exhibit the so-called mutator phenotype, we decided to investigate whether MNCCs of the pancreas are characterized by microsatellite instability (MSI). Twelve carcinomas with a mucinous phenotype (8 mucinous noncystic carcinomas, 3 intraductal papillary-mucinous carcinomas with an invasive muconodular component, and 1 ductal adenocarcinoma with an extensive mucinous noncystic component) and 11 ductal adenocarcinomas were immunostained with monoclonal antibodies to the mismatch repair gene products hMLH1, hMSH2, and hMSH6. For MSI analysis, DNA was isolated from microdissected tissue, and five primary microsatellites (BAT 25, BAT 26, D5S346, D17S250, and D2S123) were analyzed. MSI was diagnosed in case a novel allele was found, compared with the normal tissue. The criterion for LOH was a 75% signal reduction. All carcinomas tested exhibited nuclear expression of mismatch repair gene products, except for one MNCC that also showed MSI at the molecular level. The data suggest that pancreatic carcinomas with a mucinous phenotype (MUC2+/MUC1−) do not appear to normally exhibit mutations in the mismatch repair genes and therefore differ in their carcinogenesis from those in other organs.
Proceedings of the Second ACM Conference on Wireless Network Security, WISEC 2009, Zurich, Switzerland, March 16-19, 2009

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 2nd ACM Conference on Wireless Network Security (WiSec) at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. ACM WiSec addresses all aspects of wireless network security. This includes the security of networks such as cellular, metropolitan, local area, vehicular, ad hoc, satellite, underwater, and sensor networks, as well as RFID. The first WiSec, was held in Alexandria (USA) in 2008, where the conference merged three existing workshops: ESAS (European Workshop on Security of Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks), SASN (ACM Workshop on Security in Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks), and WiSec (ACM Wireless Security Workshop). This year's conference follows the success of the first WiSec and continues to be a premier forum for wireless security research. This year's call for papers attracted 107 submissions. Papers were evaluated based on their relevance, technical quality, and novelty, using a double-blind review process. Each paper was reviewed by three reviewers and the final paper selection was done at a program committee meeting that took place over a phone conference. The program committee accepted 14 full papers and 14 short papers for presentation at the conference, yielding an acceptance rate of 13% for full papers and 26% for all accepted papers. The program also includes two invited keynotes, given by Ross Anderson and Bart Preneel.
Pharmacokinetics and plasma binding of diazepam in man, dog, rabbit, guinea pig and rat.

The pharmacokinetics and plasma binding of diazepam were compared in man, dog, rabbit, guinea pig and rat. Diazepam (D) and its major metabolite, desmethyl-diazepam, were measured in blood and plasma by a specific and sensitive gas-liquid chromatography assay with an electron capture detector. After an intravenous bolus injection plasma levels of D declined biexponentially in all species examined and the data were analyzed according to the two-compartment open model. The binding of D and desmethyldiazepam has been determined at therapeutic concentrations by equilibrium dialysis in man (96.8 and 96.6%, respectively), dog (96.0 and 95.9%), rabbit (89.9 and 94.7%), guinea pig (91.3 and 78.6%) and rat (86.3 and 90.5%). In man, the elimination half-life, T1/2(beta), increased significantly (P less than .01) with decreasing total plasma clearance (Cl). Plasma binding affected Vd and Cl, but only Cl increased significantly (P less than .05), if more free D was available. This indicates that unbound drug is rate-determining for clearance by the liver, and that D fits into the restrictive elimination class in man. In the four animal species tested, Cl was a direct linear function of the body surface area. T1/2(beta) and the rates of drug clearance were characteristic figures for each species: from 1.1 hours and 81.6 ml/min/kg in the rat to 32.9 hours and 0.35 ml/min/kg in man, whereas T1/2(alpha), the half-life of distribution, varied only approximately 3-fold (0.3-1.0 hours) in the different species. A considerably higher extraction ratio than the unbound fraction of diazepam exists in these animal species, and blood clearance exceeds liver blood flow, giving reason to assume a much higher ability of the liver to metabolize D, and a species-dependent extrahepatic metabolism. The large variations described suggest that pharmacokinetic data or plasma binding results cannot simply be extrapolated to man.
The Distance-Availability Weighted Piece Selection Method for BitTorrent: A BitTorrent Piece Selection Method for On-demand Streaming

During the last few years, BitTorrent has become a popular way of transferring large files over the Internet. However, the original out-of-order nature of the BitTorrent protocol has made it difficult to enable playback of media files which have not yet been fully transferred. In this paper we propose a new BitTorrent piece selection method to enable simultaneous playback of the transferred media file without impacting on the speed and quality of the transfer. Unlike the original rarest-first piece selection method, the distance-availability weighted method compromises between selecting rare pieces and pieces which are soon to be played back, making playback possible before the transfer is complete.
Adaptable Preprocessing Units and Neural Classification for the Segmentation of EEG Signals

Abstract In this contribution, a methodology for the simultaneous adaptation of preprocessing units (PPUs) for feature extraction and of neural classifiers that can be used for time series classification is presented. The approach is based upon an extension of the backpropagation algorithm for the correction of the preprocessing parameters. In comparison with purely neural systems, the reduced input dimensionality improves the generalization capability and reduces the numerical effort. In comparison with PPUs with fixed parameters, the success of the adaptation is less sensitive to the choice of the parameters. The efficiency of the developed method is demonstrated via the use of quadratic filters with adaptable transmission bands as preprocessing units for the segmentation of two different types of discontinuous EEG: discontinuous neonatal EEG (burst-interburst segmentation) and EEG in deep stages of sedation (burst-suppression segmentation).
The drop height determines neuromuscular adaptations and changes in jump performance in stretch‐shortening cycle training

There is an ongoing discussion about how to improve jump performance most efficiently with plyometric training. It has been proposed that drop height influences the outcome, although longitudinal studies are missing. Based on cross‐sectional drop jump studies showing height‐dependent Hoffmann (H)‐reflex activities, we hypothesized that the drop height should influence the neuromuscular activity and thus, the training result. Thirty‐three subjects participated as a control or in one of two stretch‐shortening cycle (SSC) interventions. Subjects either trained for 4 weeks doing drop jumps from 30, 50, and 75 cm drop heights (SSC1) or completed the same amount of jumps exclusively from 30 cm (SSC2). During training and testing (from 30, 50, and 75 cm), subjects were instructed to minimize the duration of ground contact and to maximize their rebound height. Rebound heights were significantly augmented after SSC1, but a trend was only observed after SSC2. In contrast, the duration of ground contact increased after SSC1 but decreased after SSC2. The performance index (rebound height/duration of ground contact) improved similarly after SSC1 (+14%) and SSC2 (+14%). Changes in performance were accompanied by neuromuscular adaptations: for SSC1, activity of the soleus increased toward take‐off (between 120 and 170 ms after touchdown), whereas SSC2‐trained subjects showed enhanced activity shortly after ground contact (20–70 ms after touch down). The present study demonstrates a strong link among drop height, neuromuscular adaptation, and performance in SSC training. As the improvement in the performance index was no different after SSC1 or SSC2, the decision whether to apply SSC1 or SSC2 should depend on the specific requirements of the sports discipline.
Effect of granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor on post‐weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome in porcine circovirus type‐2‐transfected piglets

Post‐weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) is a complex disease syndrome in swine, affecting nursery and fattening pigs. Although ongoing evidence suggests that porcine circovirus type‐2 (PCV2) is the causal agent of PMWS, the host immune system appears to have a crucial role in the PMWS pathogenesis of PCV2‐affected pigs. Owing to difficulties in producing a biologically pure form of PCV2 devoid of the other viral agents commonly present in swine tissues, we decided to use a tandem‐cloned PCV2 DNA providing highly pure grade reagent in order to monitor the virulence of PCV2 alone or with an immunostimulating co‐factor, granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF). A single intramuscular injection of tandem‐cloned PCV2 DNA into 5‐week‐old piglets produced plasmid to viral genome progeny and infectious particles as early as 8 days post‐injection in all the organs tested (the lung, the tonsil and the inguinal, mesenteric, bronchial and upper‐right axial lymph nodes). The initial plasmid load was not detected with the help of primers designed to specifically detect the acceptor plasmid, thus confirming the replication of the viral genome. Despite the presence of a high level of PCV2 genome copies in the lymphoid organs – the tonsil and the lung – and the presence of infectious particles, no detectable clinical manifestations or pathological lesions were observed in the transfected pigs over the period of observation, regardless of whether they had been co‐injected with plasmid containing GM‐CSF DNA or had received plasmid containing PCV2 DNA alone. GM‐CSF encoding DNA injection had no significant effect on viral replication or on the production of viral particles and appearance of the disease.
Flexibility and Fuzzy Case-Based Evaluation in Querying: An Illustration in an Experimental Setting

Queries to a database can be made more powerful by allowing flexibility in the specification of what has to be retrieved, and by referring to cases either for expressing the request, or for computing the answer. In this paper, we present an implemented information system (applied to a database describing houses to let), based on an approach developed in the fuzzy set and possibility theory setting. This provides a unified framework for expressing users' preferences about what they are looking for, for weighting the importance of requirements, for referring to examples that they like and/or counterexamples that they dislike, and for making case-based predictions. Thus information querying goes beyond the retrieving of items from a database, and involves associated tools which help the user to figure out the actual contents of the database.
Accurate indoor localization and tracking using mobile phone inertial sensors, WiFi and iBeacon

In this paper, we propose a robust and accurate indoor localization and tracking system using smartphone built-in inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors, WiFi received signal strength measurements and opportunistic iBeacon corrections based on particle filter. We utilize Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) approach which leverages smartphone equipped accelerometers, gyroscope and magnetometer to estimate the walking distance and direction of user. The position estimated by WiFi fingerprinting based approach is fused with PDR to reduce its drifting error. Since the number of WiFi routers is usually limited for localization in large-scale indoor environment, we employ the emerging iBeacon technology to occasionally correct the drifting error of PDR in poor WiFi coverage area. Extensive experiments have been conducted and verified the superiority of the proposed system in terms of localization accuracy and robustness.
Repression of Interferon Regulatory Factor 1 by Hepatitis C Virus Core Protein Results in Inhibition of Antiviral and Immunomodulatory Genes

ABSTRACT Hepatitis C virus (HCV) proteins are known to interfere at several levels with both innate and adaptive responses of the host. A key target in these effects is the interferon (IFN) signaling pathway. While the effects of nonstructural proteins are well established, the role of structural proteins remains controversial. We investigated the effect of HCV structural proteins on the expression of interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF-1), a secondary transcription factor of the IFN system responsible for inducing several key antiviral and immunomodulatory genes. We found substantial inhibition of IRF-1 expression in cells expressing the entire HCV replicon. Suppression of IRF-1 synthesis was mainly mediated by the core structural protein and occurred at the transcriptional level. The core protein in turn exerted a transcriptional repression of several interferon-stimulated genes, targets of IRF-1, including interleukin-15 (IL-15), IL-12, and low-molecular-mass polypeptide 2. These data recapitulate in a unifying mechanism, i.e., repression of IRF-1 expression, many previously described pathogenetic effects of HCV core protein and suggest that HCV core-induced IRF-1 repression may play a pivotal role in establishing persistent infection by dampening an effective immune response.
Game level layout generation using evolved cellular automata

ABSTRACT Design of level layouts typically involves the production of a set of levels which are different, yet display a consistent style based on the purpose of a particular level. In this paper, a new approach to the generation of unique level layouts, based on a target set of attributes, is presented. These attributes, which are learned automatically from an example layout, are used for the off-line evolution of a set of cellular automata rules. These rules can then be used for the real-time generation of level layouts that meet the target parameters. The approach is demonstrated on a set of maze-like level layouts. Results are presented to show the effect of various CA parameters and rule representation.
Adaptive output-feedback control for relative degree two systems based on closed-loop reference models

In this paper, a new adaptive output-feedback controller for multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) linear plant models with relative degree two is developed. The adaptive controller includes a baseline design based on observers and parameter adaptation based on a closed-loop reference model (CRM). The overall design guarantees robust stability and tracking performance in the presence of parametric uncertainties that are commonly seen in aircraft applications.
Characterization of hemagglutinating components on the Anaplasma marginale initial body surface and identification of possible adhesins

Interaction of Anaplasma marginale initial bodies with the bovine erythrocyte surface was examined by a direct hemagglutination assay. Purified initial bodies were shown to specifically hemagglutinate bovine erythrocytes but not erythrocytes from nonhost animal species. Hemagglutination was inhibited by treatment of purified initial bodies with trypsin, alpha-chymotrypsin, or proteinase K but not by treatment with neuraminidase or sodium periodate. Treatment of bovine erythrocytes with alpha-chymotrypsin or neuraminidase partially inhibited hemagglutination of the treated cells by initial bodies. In contrast, no inhibition occurred after treatment of erythrocytes with trypsin, phospholipases, or sodium periodate or when monosaccharides and disaccharides were used as potential competitive inhibitors. Thus, the initial body receptor is probably a surface protein, whereas the bovine receptor may comprise both protein and carbohydrate. Hemagglutination was unaffected by treatment of initial bodies with monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies raised against the A. marginale 31-kDa (MSP4) major surface polypeptide or non-A. marginale proteins or by treatment with a monoclonal antibody to the A. marginale MSP1a neutralization-sensitive epitope. In contrast, antiserum raised against whole A. marginale initial bodies or monospecific antibodies raised against purified A. marginale major surface polypeptides with molecular sizes of 105 (MSP1a), 100 (MSP1b), 61, and 36 (MSP2) kDa completely or partially inhibited hemagglutination. These data confirm the proposed surface location of the proteins susceptible to inhibition and suggest that they mediate hemagglutination of bovine erythrocytes. We propose that these surface proteins are possible adhesins.
Guard Cell Inward K+ Channel Activity inArabidopsis Involves Expression of the Twin Channel Subunits KAT1 and KAT2*

Stomatal opening, which controls gas exchanges between plants and the atmosphere, results from an increase in turgor of the two guard cells that surround the pore of the stoma. KAT1 was the only inward K+ channel shown to be expressed in Arabidopsis guard cells, where it was proposed to mediate a K+ influx that enables stomatal opening. We report that another Arabidopsis K+channel, KAT2, is expressed in guard cells. More than KAT1, KAT2 displays functional features resembling those of native inward K+ channels in guard cells. Coexpression inXenopus oocytes and two-hybrid experiments indicated that KAT1 and KAT2 can form heteromultimeric channels. The data indicate that KAT2 plays a crucial role in the stomatal opening machinery.
A survey on cross layer routing protocols for manet

OSI model is a layered reference model. It is inflexible and each layer have boundary which restricts the layers to share information between each other. It is suitable for wired network but due to inflexibility it cannot full fill the requirements of wireless network. So researcher found new Cross layer model. It is a layered architecture like OSI model but flexible, overcome the boundaries between layers. Cross-layer design refers to protocol design which exploits the dependence between protocol layers to obtain performance gains. This is unlike layering, where the protocols at the different layers are designed independently. This paper presents the requirements of cross layer routing protocols, various cross layer routing protocols proposed by various researchers and their various issues which are under active research.
Fracmemristor: Fractional-Order Memristor

This paper mainly discusses an interesting conceptual framework: the fractional-order memristor (fracmemristor). It is a challenging theoretical problem to determine what the fracmemristor interpolating characteristics between the memristor and the capacitor or inductor are, and where the positions of the fracmemristor in the Chua's axiomatic element system are. Motivated by this need, in this paper, we introduce an interesting conceptual framework of the fracmemristor, which joins the concepts underlying the fractional-order circuit element and the memristor. We use a state-of-the-art mathematical method, fractional calculus, to analyze the proposed conceptual framework. The term fracmemristor is a portmanteau of the fractional-order memristor. The term fracmemristance refers to the fractional-order impedance of a fracmemristor. First, the relationship between the fracmemristance and the fractance is discussed. Second, the fracmemristances of the purely ideal 1/2-order capacitive fracmemristor and inductive fracmemristor are studied, respectively. The third step is the proposal for the fracmemristances of the purely ideal arbitrary-order capacitive fracmemristor and inductive fracmemristor, respectively. Finally, the fracmemristor is achieved by numerical implementation, and its non-volatility property of memory and nonlinear predictive ability is analyzed in detail experimentally. The predictable characteristics of the fracmemristor are a major advantage when comparing with the classical first-order memristor.
An LMI condition for the robust stability of uncertain continuous-time linear systems

A new sufficient condition for the robust stability of continuous-time uncertain linear systems with convex bounded uncertainties is proposed in this note. The results are based on linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) formulated at the vertices of the uncertainty polytope, which provide a parameter dependent Lyapunov function that assures the stability of any matrix inside the uncertainty domain. With the aid of numerical procedures based on unidimensional search and the LMIs feasibility tests, a simple and constructive way to compute robust stability domains can be established.