Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dyadic Effects of Depressive Symptoms on Medical Morbidity in Middle-Aged and Older Couples

Objective: Depressive symptoms in middle and later life are associated with an increased risk of greater medical morbidity (i.e., number of chronic health conditions). Yet little is known about mutual influences that may occur within married couples. This study examined the effects of wives’ and husbands’ depressive symptoms on their own and their partner’s number of chronic health conditions over an 8-year period. It was also determined whether these effects varied by gender. Method: The U.S. sample included 992 heterosexual couples (M = 63.58 years at baseline) drawn from 5 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (2006–2014). Dyadic growth curve models were estimated to evaluate the effects of own and partner baseline depressive symptoms on medical morbidity across time. Models controlled for baseline marital duration and negative marital quality along with age, education, minority status, health-related self-efficacy, body mass index, disability status, alcohol use, smoking, and moderate and vigorous physical activity. Results: Husbands’ higher baseline depressive symptoms were significantly linked to their own higher number of chronic conditions. When wives had higher depressive symptoms at baseline, husbands showed significantly greater increases in their number of chronic conditions over time. Own and partner depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with baseline levels or changes in wives’ number of chronic conditions. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that depressive symptoms within middle-aged and older couples may have long-term associations with medical morbidity. Findings underscore the value of considering the implications of depressive symptoms for chronic health conditions among individuals and couples.
Increased Numb protein expression predicts poor clinical outcomes in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients

ABSTRACT Numb is a protein whose asymmetric segregation during cell division determines cell fate and has numerous functions relevant to multiple fields of study, including developmental neurobiology and cancer biology. Little is known about the role of Numb in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), the predominant histological esophageal carcinoma in Asian populations. In this study, we focused on the expression and biologic functions of Numb in the context of ESCC. From analysis of tissue microarrays with 212 patients, it was found that Numb was significantly upregulated in ESCC tissues compared with corresponding non-cancerous tissues. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis suggests that higher expression of Numb was significantly associated with a high tumor recurrence (p = 0.015) and poor overall post-surgical survival (p = 0.016). Using multiple Cox regression, the expression of Numb was determined to be an independent predictor of poor prognosis. When siRNA was used to knockdown Numb in ESCC cell lines, there was a consistent increase in caspase-3 dependent apoptosis and inhibition of cellular proliferation, as well as downregulation of expression of the cancer stem cell markers Oct-4, SOX-2 and Nanog. In addition, downregulated Numb expression was not significantly associated with the migration of ESCC cells. These results indicate that Numb acts as an oncoprotein and has potential as a novel prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in ESCC patients.
Bachelor Thesis Cognitive Science Investigating Probabilistic Preconditioning on Artiﬁcial Neural Networks

In Deep Learning, many diﬀerent optimization algorithms are used. Second-order methods use curvature information to take good optimization steps, but are computationally very intensive. First-order methods only have access to the gradient and are susceptible to ill-conditioned problems, whose loss landscape curves much more strongly in one direction than in others. The performance of ﬁrst-order methods can be improved by preconditioning the problem, which transforms the loss landscape to curve more equally in all directions. In this thesis, I present and investigate an implementation of the probabilistic preconditioning algorithm proposed in [Roos and Hennig, 2019] using the optimizer benchmarking framework DeepOBS, as proposed in [Schneider et al., 2019]. I present evidence that suggests the algorithm does in fact improve the learning speed of Stochastic Gradient Descent. However, it does not out-perform other adaptive methods like Momentum and comes with additional computational overhead.
Surface Gradient Approach for Occlusion Detection Based on Triangulated Irregular Network for True Orthophoto Generation

Aerial images of urban areas have been used as base information for a diversity of applications. Considering the great quantity of tall buildings in these areas, it is important to have a method to automatically generate a product called true orthophoto mosaic, which represents all objects above the ground (buildings, bridges, etc.) in their true location. However, to create a true orthophoto, it is necessary to consider the occlusions caused by the surface height variation and to compensate for the lack of information using adjacent aerial images. The automatic occlusion detection is the bottleneck during the true orthophoto mosaic generation. The main aim of this paper is to introduce a new approach for occlusion detection – the surface-gradient-based method (SGBM) applied to a triangulated irregular network (TIN) representation. The originality of the SGBM is the occlusion detection principle, which is based on the concept of surface gradient behavior analysis over a TIN surface. The current methods interpolate a point cloud into a gridded digital surface model, which can introduce artifacts to the representation. The SGBM represents the surface as a TIN-based solid by taking into account the Delaunay constraint in the original point cloud, avoiding the interpolation step. The occlusions are then compensated using specific cost functions and refined via color blending. Experiments were performed and the results were assessed by using quality indicators (completeness), the consistency of orthoimage mosaic, and the time of processing. Experimental results demonstrated the feasibility of the SGBM for occlusion detection in the true orthophoto generation.
Dietary Associations with a Breast Cancer Risk Biomarker Depend on Menopause Status

ABSTRACT We investigated how timing influences the role of diet in breast cancer risk with a cross-sectional study of pre-malignant change in breast tissue. Women with an elevated risk of developing breast cancer (33 premenopausal and 32 postmenopausal) completed the National Cancer Institute's food frequency questionnaire and underwent random periareolar fine-needle aspiration for evaluation of cytologic atypia, an established risk biomarker. Fatty acid composition of breast adipose was measured in 32 (49%) subjects. We found that premenopausal and postmenopausal women had similar diets, but the associations between atypia and intake of total n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and soy differed by menopause status (both P interaction < 0.001). Total n-3 PUFA intake was inversely associated with atypia among premenopausal women (P < 0.0001), but not among postmenopausal women (P = 0.91); associations were similar for soy (P = 0.0003 and P = 0.48, respectively). This pattern of dietary interaction with menopause was mirrored in tissue fatty acids (P interaction < 0.05), wherein 1) higher levels of linolelaidic acid (an industrially-produced trans fat) and 2) lower levels of docosahexaenoic acid (the predominant long-chain n-3 PUFA) in breast adipose were associated with atypia in premenopausal (both P < 0.05) but not postmenopausal women (both P > 0.37). Dietary associations with breast cancer risk are stronger prior to menopause.
32 Doses of Bortezomib for Desensitization Is Not Well Tolerated and Is Associated With Only Modest Reductions in Anti-HLA Antibody

Background We previously showed that bortezomib (BTZ) partially depletes plasma cells, yet has limited efficacy for desensitization in kidney transplant candidates when up to 16 doses is given. Methods This study aimed to determine the safety and efficacy of 32 doses of BTZ (1.3 mg/m2 of body surface area) in 10 highly sensitized kidney transplant candidates with alloantibodies against their intended living donor. Results Dose reduction was needed in 2 patients and 2 others completely discontinued therapy for adverse events. Anti-HLA antibodies mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) values were stable prior to BTZ (P = 0.96) but decreased after therapy (mean decrease of 1916 [SE, 425] MFI, P < 0.01). No patient developed a negative crossmatch against their original intended donor, and the calculated panel-reactive antibodies based on MFI of 2000, 4000, and 8000 was unchanged in all patients. Conclusions These data suggest that 32 doses of BTZ monotherapy was not well tolerated and resulted in only a modest reduction in anti-HLA antibodies.
SMS spam detection and comparison of various machine learning algorithms

Past few years have seen increase in the number of spam emails and messages. Legal, economic and technical measures can be used to tackle spam sms's nowadays. A key role is being played by Bayesian filters in stopping this problem. In this paper, we analyzed and studied the relative strengths of various machine learning algorithms in order to detect spam messages which are sent on mobile devices. We have acquired the data from on open public dataset and prepared two datasets for our testing and validation purposes. Accuracy in detecting spam messages was the first priority in ranking these algorithms. Our results clearly demonstrate that different machine learning algorithms under different features tend to perform differently in classifying spam messages.
Sex Differences in Estrogen Receptor Gene Polymorphism and Its Association with Lupus Nephritis in Chinese

Background/Aims: Lupus nephritis (LN) is a clinical heterogeneous autoimmune disease and genetic factors contribute to the development of LN. One of the most striking characteristics in LN is the high prevalence among childbearing women, as well as that its clinical manifestation differs in women and men, suggesting the role of sex hormones in its pathogenesis. Methods: ThePvuII and XbaI restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of estrogen receptor (ER) gene were analyzed in 245 biopsy-proven LN patients (58 males and 187 females) and 172 normal controls (101 males and 71 females) by PCR-RFLP. The clinical and pathological features of 49 male and 152 female LN patients with different genotypes were analyzed. Results: It was found that genotype PpXx, ppxx and Ppxx were three major genotypes of ER gene in both of lupus patients and control groups. The distribution of ER gene polymorphism was quite different in lupus patients of different genders. The frequency of the PpXx genotype in male LN patients was significantly higher than both the gender matched normal controls (p < 0.05) and the female LN patients (p < 0.05), while no difference was shown in the frequency of PpXx genotype between female LN patients and gender matched controls. Interestingly, skin rashes and arthritis were found more common in the patients with PpXx genotype. The frequency of hematological abnormalities and hypertension were higher in patients with ppxx genotype (p < 0.05), while capillary thrombi and glomerular sclerosis were more frequently complicated in the patients with ppxx genotype. In addition, the renal vasculitis and interstitial injury were more frequent in those with Ppxx genotype (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The distribution of ER gene polymorphism in LN patients is distinct with different gender. The PpXxgenotype of ER gene may be associated with the susceptibility of SLE in male. ER gene polymorphism is probably one of the genetic factors contributing to the development of clinical heterogeneity and sexually dimorphic manifestations of LN.
Modeling and Analysis of a Digitally Controlled Grid-Connected Large-Scale Centralized PV System

Multi-inverter systems have been widely used for grid-connected large-scale centralized photovoltaic (LSCPV) plants. However, the problem of how time delays affect the stability of digitally controlled grid-connected LSCPV plants with multi-inverter systems has not been investigated sufficiently. This paper models a grid-connected LSCPV system as a cascade system and conducts a systematic study of the relationship between the time delay and the stability of a grid-connected LSCPV system. The analysis intuitively reveals the influence of the time delay on the stability of the grid-connected LSCPV system. The impact of the time delay on the stability range of the number of grid-connected inverters in LSCPV plants is discussed for the first time, and the stability range for a specific time delay is obtained from the root locus. In addition, considering the damping performance is negatively affected by the time delay, an improved capacitor-current-feedback active damping method is proposed to reduce the effects of the delay on the damping region and the robustness against variations in the grid impedance. Simulations and experimental results are presented to validate the theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed delay compensation method.
Polysilicon piezoresistive MEMS pressure sensor: Study of analytical solutions for diaphragm and design & simulation

Pressure measurement is a key part of many commercial and industrial systems. Piezoresistive pressure sensors are simpler to integrate with electronics, they are inherently shielded from RF noise and their response is more linear while compared to capacitive pressure sensors. And piezoresistive devices have always dominated the pressure sensor market. The analyticals that are typically used to model the diaphragm of the pressure sensor have been analysed by many researchers. To optimize the pressure sensor for parameters like linearity and sensitivity, the Finite Element Method (FEM) is incorporated. The selection of appropriate parameters of piezoresistors such as the shape and the position of the piezoresistor on the pressure sensor diaphragm, thickness of diaphragm are important. This study shows the scope of using analytical solutions and design techniques for a piezoresistive pressure sensor.
A fuzzy based Lagrangian twin parametric-margin support vector machine (FLTPMSVM)

In the spirit of twin parametric-margin support vector machine (TPMSVM) and support vector machine based on fuzzy membership values (FSVM), a new method termed as fuzzy based Lagrangian twin parametric-margin support vector machine (FLTPMSVM) is proposed in this paper to reduce the effect of the outliers. In FLTPMSVM, we assign the weights to each data samples on the basis of fuzzy membership values to reduce the effect of outliers. Also, we consider the square of the 2-norm of slack variables to make the objective function strongly convex and find the solution of the proposed FLTPMSVM by solving simple linearly convergent iterative schemes instead of solving a pair of quadratic programming problems as in case of SVM, TWSVM, FTSVM and TPMSVM. No need of external toolbox is required for FLTPMSVM. The numerical experiments are performed on artificial as well as well known real-world datasets which show that our proposed FLTPMSVM is having better generalization performance and less training cost in comparison to support vector machine, twin support vector machine, fuzzy twin support vector machine and twin parametric-margin support vector machine.
The light microscopy and ultrastructural characteristics of Myxobolus naffari (Myxosporea, Myxobolidae) infecting the Nile carp Labeo niloticus (Cyprinidae) and its histological impact

During a survey of myxosporean parasites infecting freshwater fishes from the River Nile at Giza Governorates, Egypt between March and September 2016, nine out of 30 specimens of the Nile carp Labeo niloticus (Cyprinidae) were found to be naturally infected with Myxobolus naffari (Myxobolidae). Small macroscopic plasmodia appeared embedded in the host gill tissue accompanied with fusion of the gill epithelia, and atrophy was observed at the site of infection. The host reaction was manifested by the encapsulation of the plasmodia with a thick layer of connective tissue. The plasmodia appeared as white, elongated rods between gill filaments with an intensity ranging from three to eight cysts/fish. The average dimensions of plasmodia were 1.2–2.0 (1.8 ± 0.2) mm long × 0.4–0.7 (0.6 ± 0.2) mm wide. The spores were oval, reaching 9.56–11.2 (10.2 ± 0.2) μm long and 6.5–7.7 (7.0 ± 0.4) μm wide with two equal-sized polar capsules regularly arranged at the anterior pole of each spore. They were 4.51–5.5 (5.1 ± 0.4) μm in length and 1.5–2.0 (1.7 ± 0.2) μm in width. Histological, semi-thin sections were taken through parasite plasmodia and transmission electron microscopic examination of ultrathin sections was performed to describe the developmental stages of the recorded parasite within the host fish.
Titanium and Glass-Ionomer Cement as Ossicular Replacement Materials: Biocompatibility Results after Implantation in the Rabbit

The middle ear poses unique challenges when finding suitable materials for ossicular reconstruction, primarily because of its link to the external environment via the eustachian tube, which leads to a greater potential for exposure to infectious agents. In this animal study, the biocompatibilities of titanium and glass-ionomer cement were assessed in the middle ear of the rabbit after being implanted as total ossicular replacement prostheses (TORPs) or as free pins. Animals were sacrified after 28, 84, 168, 336, or 504 days or 2 years, and a cutting saw technique was used to prepare slides for light microscopy. Slides were examined for mucosal coverage and any sign of foreign body reaction. Both materials showed good acceptance in the middle ear. After 28 days, the TORPs were covered by middle ear mucosa. As expected, it took a longer time (up to 504 days) to cover the free implants. An interesting finding was the growth of new bone on both the surface of the titanium implants and the glass-ionomer prostheses. The results of this animal study indicate that both titanium and glass-ionomer cement are favorable materials for ossicular replacement prostheses.
Chapter 7 Viscoelastic Properties of Cardiovascular Tissues

The aims of this chapter are to review the current state of knowledge regarding the viscoelastic behavior of cardiovascular tissues. We begin with a brief, general discus‐ sion of measurement and modeling of cardiovascular tissue viscoelasticity. We then review known viscoelastic behavior of arteries, veins, capillaries, blood components, the heart, and lymphatics. For each tissue type, we highlight tissue-specific measure‐ ment methods, the cellular and extracellular components responsible for tissue viscoelasticity, and the clinical implications of energy loss due to viscoelasticity. We conclude with a summary and suggestions for future research.
Impacts of Federally Funded State Obesity Programs on Adult Obesity Prevalence in the United States, 1998-2010

Objectives: From 2000 to 2010, the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded 37 state health departments to address the obesity epidemic in their states through various interventions. The objective of this study was to investigate the overall impacts of CDC-DNPAO statewide intervention programs on adult obesity prevalence in the United States. Methods: We used a set of an individual-level, interrupted time-series regression and a quasi-experimental analysis to evaluate the overall effect of CDC-DNPAO intervention programs before (1998-1999) and after (2010) their implementation by using data from CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Results: States that implemented the CDC-DNPAO program had a 2.4% to 3.8% reduction in the odds of obesity during 2000-2010 compared with states without the program. The effect of the CDC-DNPAO program varied by length of program implementation. A quasi-experimental analysis found that states with longer program implementation did not necessarily have lower odds of obesity than states with shorter program implementation. Conclusions: Statewide obesity interventions can contribute to reduced odds of obesity in the United States. Future research should evaluate the CDC-DNPAO programs in relation to their goals, objectives, and other environmental obesity risk factors to inform future interventions.
System simulation of low power FMCW-based X-band weather radar

This paper presents the simulation system of low power X-band weather radar based on frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) signal. The system uses a chirp baseband signal which 10–60MHz up-chirp signal and 60–10MHz down-chirp signal which is generated using Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) of AD9850 with 125MHz clock rate. The baseband signal is up-converted at X-band using a mixer with 9.035GHz Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) to be transmitted at frequency of 9GHz. The system uses a bandpass filter (BPF) made of lumped elements to eliminate spurious signals produced by the DDS at the transmitter, and a lowpass filer (LPF) at the receiver. The system also uses a microstrip BPF of Square Loop Resonator (SLR)type as RF filter for X-band frequency. The results show that the system has 10–60MHz bandwidth for baseband signal with 10MHz cut-off frequency for LPF, while RF filter has the bandwidth response of 49MHz at the center frequency of 9.0015GHz.
Continuous Cardiac Autonomic and Hemodynamic Responses to Isometric Exercise

Purpose Elevated arterial blood pressure (BP) is associated with autonomic dysfunction and impaired hemodynamic control mechanisms. Isometric exercise (IE) training has been demonstrated effective at reducing BP; however, the continuous cardiovascular responses during IE are underinvestigated. We hypothesized that reflex autonomic cardiovascular control is an important mediator in reducing BP. To test our hypothesis, we investigated continuous cardiac autonomic modulation and baroreceptor reflex sensitivity (BRS) in response to IE. Methods Twenty-five prehypertensive participants performed a single IE wall squat training session. Total power spectral density (PSD) of HR variability (HRV) and associated low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) power spectral components were recorded in absolute (ms2) and normalized units (nu) before, during, and after an IE session. HR was recorded via electrocardiography and BRS via the sequence method. Continuous BP was recorded via the vascular unloading technique and stroke volume via impedance cardiography. Total peripheral resistance was calculated according to Ohm's law. Results During IE, there were significant reductions in HRV (P < 0.05) and BRS (P < 0.05) and significant increases in HR (P < 0.001), systolic, diastolic, and mean BP (all P < 0.001). In recovery from IE, HRV (P < 0.001), HFnu (P < 0.001), and BRS (P < 0.001) significantly increased with a significant decrease in LFnu (P < 0.001) and LF:HF ratio (P < 0.001), indicative of predominant parasympathetic over sympathetic activity. This autonomic response was associated with a significant reduction in systolic (23.2 ± 18.1 mm Hg, P < 0.001), diastolic (18.7 ± 16.9 mm Hg, P < 0.001), and mean (15.8 ± 15.5 mm Hg, P < 0.001) BP, below baseline and a significant reduction in total peripheral resistance (P < 0.001). Conclusions A single IE session is associated with improved cardiac autonomic modulation and hemodynamic cardiovascular control in prehypertensive males. These acute responses may be mechanistically linked to the chronic reductions in resting BP reported after IE training interventions.