Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome in reproductive-aged women with type 2 diabetes

Background. Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The present study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of PCOS in type 2 diabetic patients. Methods. Type 2 diabetic women (n = 157) of reproductive age were selected by a convenience sampling method. PCOS was confirmed using the clinical diagnosis criteria proposed in 1990 by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Conference of PCOS. The diabetic patients were divided into two groups according to the presence of PCOS. Baseline demographic characteristics were obtained by questionnaire, and body weight, height, waist circumference, blood pressure and some biochemical indices were measured in both groups. Results. The prevalence of PCOS was high (8.3%, 95% confidence interval 4.5–13.4%) in these type 2 diabetic women. The onset of diabetes occurred at a lower age in the PCOS group, who also displayed significantly greater waist circumference and body mass index (p<0.05). No difference in lipid profile, glycosylated hemoglobin or blood pressure was observed between the two groups. Conclusions. PCOS is highly prevalent in type 2 diabetic patients. Hence, focusing the treatment on insulin sensitizers in these patients should improve both the metabolic and non-metabolic complications of PCOS.
Concept Tree Based Information Retrieval Model

This paper proposes a novel concept-based query expansion technique named Markov concept tree model (MCTM), discovering term relationship through the concept tree deduced by term markov network. We address two important issues for query expansion: the selection and the weighting of expansion search terms. In contrast to earlier methods, queries are expanded by adding those terms that are most similar to the concept of the query, rather than selecting terms that are similar to a signal query terms. Utilizing Markov network which is constructed according to the co-occurrence information of the terms in collection, it generate concept tree for each original query term, remove the redundant and irrelevant nodes in concept tree, then adjust the weight of original query and the weight of expansion term based on a pruning algorithm. We use this model for query expansion and evaluate the effectiveness of the model by examining the accuracy and robustness of the expansion methods, Compared with the baseline model, the experiments on standard dataset reveal that this method can achieve a better query quality
Maternal BMI and preterm birth: A systematic review of the literature with meta-analysis

Objectives. To examine the association between high prepregnancy maternal body mass index (BMI) and the risk of preterm birth (PTB). Methods. A systematic review of the literature. We included cohorts and case-control studies published since 1968 that examined the association between BMI and PTB of all types, spontaneous (s), elective and with ruptured membranes (PPROM) in three gestational age categories: general (<37 weeks), moderate (32–36 weeks) and very (<32 weeks) PTB. Results. 20,401 citations were screened and 39 studies (1,788,633 women) were included. Preobese (BMI, 25–29.9) and obese I (BMI, 30–34.9) women have a reduced risk for sPTB: AOR = 0.85 (95% CI: 0.80–0.92) and 0.83 (95% CI: 0.75–0.92), respectively. Their risk for moderate PTB was 1.20 (95% CI: 1.04–1.38) and 1.60 (95% CI: 1.32–1.94), respectively. Obese II women (BMI, 35–40) have an increased risk for PTB in general (AOR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.12–1.57) moderate (AOR = 2.43, 95% CI: 1.46–4.05) and very PTB (AOR = 1.96, 95% CI: 1.66–2.31). Obese III women (BMI > 40) have an even higher risk for very PTB (AOR = 2.27, 95%CI: 1.76–2.94). High BMI does not modify the risk for PPROM and increases the risk for elective PTB. Conclusions. High maternal BMI may have different effects on different types of PTB.
High-resolution breast tomography at high energy: a feasibility study of phase contrast imaging on a whole breast

Previous studies on phase contrast imaging (PCI) mammography have demonstrated an enhancement of breast morphology and cancerous tissue visualization compared to conventional imaging. We show here the first results of the PCI analyser-based imaging (ABI) in computed tomography (CT) mode on whole and large (>12 cm) tumour-bearing breast tissues. We demonstrate in this work the capability of the technique of working at high x-ray energies and producing high-contrast images of large and complex specimens. One entire breast of an 80-year-old woman with invasive ductal cancer was imaged using ABI-CT with monochromatic 70 keV x-rays and an area detector of 92×92 µm2 pixel size. Sagittal slices were reconstructed from the acquired data, and compared to corresponding histological sections. Comparison with conventional absorption-based CT was also performed. Five blinded radiologists quantitatively evaluated the visual aspects of the ABI-CT images with respect to sharpness, soft tissue contrast, tissue boundaries and the discrimination of different structures/tissues. ABI-CT excellently depicted the entire 3D architecture of the breast volume by providing high-resolution and high-contrast images of the normal and cancerous breast tissues. These results are an important step in the evolution of PCI-CT towards its clinical implementation.
View-Independent Human Action Recognition Based on a Stereo Camera

Vision-based human action recognition provides an advanced interface, and research in the field of human action recognition has been actively carried out. However, an environment from dynamic viewpoint, where we can be in any position, any direction, etc., must be considered in our living 3D space. In order to overcome the viewpoint dependency, we propose a Volume Motion Template(VMT) and Projected Motion Template (PMT). The proposed VMT method is an extension of the Motion History Image (MHI) method to 3D space. The PMT is generated by projecting the VMT into a 2D plane that is orthogonal to an optimal virtual viewpoint where the optimal virtual viewpoint is a viewpoint from which an action can be described in greatest detail, in 2D space. From the proposed method, any actions taken from different viewpoints can be recognized independent of the viewpoints. The experimental results demonstrate the accuracies and effectiveness of the proposed VMT method for view-independent human action recognition.
An overview of peak-to-average power ratio reduction techniques for multicarrier transmission

High peak-to-average power ratio of the transmit signal is a major drawback of multicarrier transmission such as OFDM or DMT. This article describes some of the important PAPR reduction techniques for multicarrier transmission including amplitude clipping and filtering, coding, partial transmit sequence, selected mapping, interleaving, tone reservation, tone injection, and active constellation extension. Also, we make some remarks on the criteria for PAPR reduction technique selection and briefly address the problem of PAPR reduction in OFDMA and MIMO-OFDM.
A multiple‐organic‐pollutant simulation/optimization model of industrial and municipal wastewater loading to a riverine environment

A simulation/optimization model is developed to demonstrate the need for inclusion of interactive pollutant effects in multiple‐pollutant wastewater management, by comparing single‐ and multiple‐pollutant least cost approaches that maintain downstream ambient quality levels. The model chooses biological oxygen demand (BOD), N, and P abatement levels for point sources that minimize the combined wastewater treatment costs of the pollutants in order to achieve chosen ambient quality standards. Nonlinear pollutant interactions result in a nonlinear Jacobian matrix of marginal water quality impacts, creating a nonlinear constraint set. The Jacobian is iteratively updated by the simulation model using iterative solutions from the optimization model. The open modeling framework allows other types of programming problems to be solved as well, such as mixed integer and mixed integer nonlinear problems. Single‐ and multiple‐pollutant management approaches are applied to a case study of the Nitra River Basin in Slovakia. The regrets resulting from implementing BOD‐only or fixed Jacobian solutions are shown, and the robustness of the solution procedure is demonstrated by varying the initial pollution abatement levels.
Hyperactivity in a Group of Epileptic (and some Non‐Epileptic) Brain‐Damaged Children A Behavioural Study, with Some Implications for Education

The behaviour of 16 brain‐damaged children was studied in a “free field”, an environment in which the child was free to behave as he wished, but whose physical limits were fixed. Half of the children had been diagnosed as showing a classical hyperkinetic syndrome. The aim of the study was to examine the way in which the two groups explored an environment which was made systematically more complex. Their behaviour was compared with that of a group of normal children of similar age. The environments ranged from an empty room to a social situation.
Building a brain atlas based on gabor texture features

Brain atlas has become a primary means of computer aided neurological diagnosis. It relies on registering intra/inter-subject brain scans on a common frame of reference, on which statistical variability model is built. This diffeomorphic map of anatomically plausible correspondence could in turn be used for monitoring and identifying progress and manifestation of the disease, respectively. It is accepted that dense image registration is very accurate but computationally expensive. This paper thus presents a feature based image registration by using orientation invariant Gabor responses of texture. The reported results herein demonstrate that it is both anatomically accurate and robust.
Experimental Infection of Rhesus with Simian Virus 40 (SV40)∗

Summary Nonimmune rhesus were readily infected by administration of SV40 by intranasal (i.n.), subcutaneous (s.c.), or intragastric (i.g.) route. Viremia, demonstrable in animals of all three groups, occurred earlier and with higher titers in the s.c. group. Neutralizing and viral CF antibodies appeared in all inoculated rhesus and T antibodies in 14 of 16. Viruria was detected in three of six of the s.c. group, most commonly in the third week after inoculation. Virus neutralizing activity occurred in the urine at or after 9 weeks postinoculation and was not confined to previously viruric animals. Virus was isolated from kidney of one rhesus from biopsy cultures performed 29–31 weeks after inoculation. Three rhesus fetuses which were given SV40 intracerebrally and subcutaneously at about 90 days of gestation had, at or soon after birth, high titers of antibodies and no tumors. In the single surviving infant, antibody titers did not fall in the first 11 weeks of life.
Characterization of a Neuraminidase-Deficient Influenza A Virus as a Potential Gene Delivery Vector and a Live Vaccine

ABSTRACT We recently identified a packaging signal in the neuraminidase (NA) viral RNA (vRNA) segment of an influenza A virus, allowing us to produce a mutant virus [GFP(NA)-Flu] that lacks most of the NA open reading frame but contains instead the gene encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP). To exploit the expanding knowledge of vRNA packaging signals to establish influenza virus vectors for the expression of foreign genes, we studied the replicative properties of this virus in cell culture and mice. Compared to wild-type virus, GFP(NA)-Flu was highly attenuated in normal cultured cells but was able to grow to a titer of >106 PFU/ml in a mutant cell line expressing reduced levels of sialic acid on the cell surface. GFP expression from this virus was stable even after five passages in the latter cells. In intranasally infected mice, GFP was detected in the epithelial cells of nasal mucosa, bronchioles, and alveoli for up to 4 days postinfection. We attribute the attenuated growth of GFP(NA)-Flu to virion aggregation at the surface of bronchiolar epithelia. In studies to test the potential of this mutant as a live attenuated influenza vaccine, all mice vaccinated with ≥105 PFU of GFP(NA)-Flu survived when challenged with lethal doses of the parent virus. These results suggest that influenza virus could be a useful vector for expressing foreign genes and that a sialidase-deficient virus may offer an alternative to the live influenza vaccines recently approved for human use.
Time Series Classification Based on Spectral Analysis

For time series data with obvious periodicity (e.g., electric motor systems and cardiac monitor) or vague periodicity (e.g., earthquake and explosion, speech, and stock data), frequency-based techniques using the spectral analysis can usually capture the features of the series. By this approach, we are able not only to reduce the data dimensions into frequency domain but also utilize these frequencies by general classification methods such as linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and k-nearest-neighbor (KNN) to classify the time series. This is a combination of two classical approaches. However, there is a difficulty in using LDA and KNN in frequency domain due to excessive dimensions of data. We overcome the obstacle by using Singular Value Decomposition to select essential frequencies. Two data sets are used to illustrate our approach. The classification error rates of our simple approach are comparable to those of several more complicated methods.
IQ imbalance compensation for OFDM based wireless LANs

This paper proposes an efficient estimation and compensation scheme of IQ imbalance for OFDM-based WLAN systems in the presence of symbol timing error. Since the conventional scheme assumes perfect time synchronization, the criterion of the scheme used to derive the estimation of IQ imbalance is inadequate in the presence of the symbol timing error and the system performance is seriously degraded. New criterion and compensation scheme considering the effect of symbol timing error are proposed. With the proposed scheme, the IQ imbalance can be almost perfectly eliminated in the presence of symbol timing error. The bit error rate performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated by the simulation. In case of 54 Mbps transmission mode in IEEE 802.11a system, the proposed scheme achieves a SNR gain of 4.3dB at . The proposed compensation algorithm of IQ imbalance is implemented using Verilog HDL and verified. The proposed IQ imbalance compensator is composed of 74K logic gates and 6K bits memory from the synthesis result using 0.18um CMOS technology.
Rheumatism in dockers and civil servants. A comparison of heavy manual and sedentary workers.

The Industrial Survey Unit of the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council since 1961 has undertaken broad surveys of the prevalence and social and economic effects of rheumatic complaints among workers in several industries and occupations. Previous communications have given the results of surveys of men working in a coal mine (Anderson, Duthie, and Moody, 1962) and a naval dockyard (Anderson and Duthie, 1963), an electronic engineering factory (Partridge, Anderson, McCarthy, and Duthie, 1965), and a group of iron foundries (Partridge, Anderson, McCarthy, and Duthie, 1968). To obtain information on as wide a range of occupations and working environments as possible, two further groups of men have been studied. They are (a) civil servants in a government department and (b) dockers in a civilian commercial dock. Men in these two occupations have been considered together for a number of reasons: the working environment of the two groups was in sharp contrast, there was a great difference in the physical effort demanded by the occupation, and both groups of men were essentially stable working populations with few transient workers, most of the men having been employed either as civil servant or as docker for most of their working lives.
Theoretical description of transdermal transport of hydrophilic permeants: application to low-frequency sonophoresis.

Application of ultrasound enhances transdermal transport of drugs (sonophoresis). The enhancement may result from enhanced diffusion due to ultrasound-induced skin alteration and/or from forced convection. To understand the relative roles played by these two mechanisms in low-frequency sonophoresis (LFS, 20 kHz), a theory describing the transdermal transport of hydrophilic permeants in both the absence and the presence of ultrasound was developed using fundamental equations of membrane transport, hindered-transport theory, and electrochemistry principles. With mannitol as the model permeant, the role of convection in LFS was evaluated experimentally with two commonly used in vitro skin models- human cadaver heat-stripped skin (HSS) and pig full-thickness skin (FTS). Our results suggest that convection plays an important role during LFS of HSS, whereas its effect is negligible when FTS is utilized. The theory developed was utilized to characterize the transport pathways of hydrophilic permeants during both passive diffusion and LFS with mannitol and sucrose as two probe molecules. Our results show that the porous pathway theory can adequately describe the transdermal transport of hydrophilic permeants in both the presence and the absence of ultrasound. Ultrasound alters the skin porous pathways by two mechanisms: (1) enlarging the skin effective pore radii, or (2) creating more pores and/or making the pores less tortuous. During passive diffusion, both HSS and FTS exhibit the same skin effective pore radii (r = 28 +/- 13 A). In contrast, during LFS, r within HSS is greatly enlarged (r > 125 A), whereas r within FTS does not change significantly (23 +/- 10 A). The observed different roles of convection during LFS across HSS and FTS can be attributed to the different degrees of structural alteration that these two types of skin undergo during LFS.
Biological Responses to Chemokine Superfamily Members

A detailed summary of all the chemokine subfamily members including alternative names, receptor‐ligand pairs, receptor cellular distribution, and leukocyte responsiveness is presented here along with assays to measure the biological activities of chemokines on each of the major leukocyte subsets (i.e., microchemotaxis chambers, fluorescence‐based assays, use of nitrocellulose filters and membranes coated with extracellular matrix proteins, cellular adhesion assays, mobilization of intracellular free calcium, actin polymerization, degranulation assays, and the use of chemokine receptor‐specific antibodies in flow cytometric analysis and radiolabeled chemokine binding assays).
Relation of Psychological Vulnerability Factors to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptomatology in Bone Marrow Transplant Recipients

Objective Prior research suggests that the diagnosis and treatment of cancer can result in the development of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Based on Lazarus and Folkman’s model of stress, the current study examined whether trauma appraisals, coping, social support, and social constraint were associated with the severity of PTSD symptoms in cancer patients who had undergone bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Methods Participants were 23 males and 79 females treated with BMT an average of 20 months previously (range = 3–62 months). Past and current psychiatric diagnoses were assessed through a structured clinical interview. PTSD symptomatology and other psychological variables were assessed using standardized self-report measures. Results Results indicated that 5% of participants met diagnostic criteria for current PTSD. Participants reported an average of three to four symptoms of PTSD (range = 0–16). Univariate analyses confirmed predictions that increased PTSD symptomatology would be associated with more negative appraisals of the BMT experience, greater use of avoidance-based coping strategies, lower levels of social support, and greater social constraint (p < .05). Regression analyses indicated that each of these variables accounted for significant (p < .05) variability in PTSD symptomatology above and beyond relevant demographic and medical variables. Conclusions Results of the present study confirm and extend prior research regarding the prevalence of PTSD and PTSD symptoms among patients treated for cancer. In addition, the study identified a set of theoretically derived psychological characteristics that seem to place patients at risk for greater PTSD symptomatology after BMT.
Biomechanical causes of trapeziometacarpal arthroplasty failure

Abstract Trapeziometacarpal joint prosthesis revision has been widely reported, mainly due to loosening of the trapezium cup. Our hypothesis is that current prostheses do not sufficiently respect the kinematics of this joint. CT scan acquisitions enabled us to determine the position of the first metacarpal relative to the trapezium in three different characteristic postures, in subjects in different stages of arthrosis. A CAD model of a current prosthesis was inserted into the numerical 3D model of the joint under the different postures. In the numerical model, we observe penetration of the cup by the head of the prosthesis. This virtual penetration could, in vivo, amount to overstressing the prosthetic elements, which would lead to loosening of the cup or of the metacarpal stem and luxation of the prosthesis.
Nonlinear Dynamics of Neuronal Excitability, Oscillations, and Coincidence Detection

We review some widely studied models and firing dynamics for neuronal systems, both at the single cell and network level, and dynamical systems techniques to study them. In particular, we focus on two topics in mathematical neuroscience that have attracted the attention of mathematicians for decades: single‐cell excitability and bursting. We review the mathematical framework for three types of excitability and onset of repetitive firing behavior in single‐neuron models and their relation with Hodgkin's classification in 1948 of repetitive firing properties. We discuss the mathematical dissection of bursting oscillations using fast/slow analysis and demonstrate the approach using single‐cell and mean‐field network models. Finally, we illustrate the properties of Type III excitability in which case repetitive firing for constant or slow inputs is absent. Rather, firing is in response only to rapid enough changes in the stimulus. Our case study involves neuronal computations for sound localization for which neurons in the auditory brain stem perform extraordinarily precise coincidence detection with submillisecond temporal resolution. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
p140Sra-1 (Specifically Rac1-associated Protein) Is a Novel Specific Target for Rac1 Small GTPase*

Rac1 small GTPase plays pivotal roles in various cell functions such as cell morphology, cell polarity, and cell proliferation. We have previously identified IQGAP1 from bovine brain cytosol as a target for Rac1 by an affinity purification method. By using the same method, we purified a specifically Rac1-associated protein with a molecular mass of about 140 kDa (p140) from bovine brain cytosol. This protein interacted with guanosine 5′-(3-O-thio)triphosphate (GTPγS)·glutathioneS-transferase (GST)-Rac1 but not with the GDP·GST-Rac1, GTPγS·GST-Cdc42, or GTPγS·GST-RhoA. The amino acid sequences of this protein revealed that p140 is identified as a product of KIAA0068 gene. We denoted this protein as Sra-1 (SpecificallyRac1-associated protein). Recombinant Sra-1 interacted with GTPγS·GST-Rac1 and weakly with GDP·Rac1 but not with GST-Cdc42 or GST-RhoA. The N-terminal domain of Sra-1 (1–407 amino acids) was responsible for the interaction with Rac1. Myc-tagged Sra-1 and the deletion mutant capable of interacting with Rac1, but not the mutants unable to bind Rac1, were colocalized with dominant active Rac1Val-12 and cortical actin filament at the Rac1Val-12-induced membrane ruffling area in KB cells. Sra-1 was cosedimented with filamentous actin (F-actin), indicating that Sra-1 directly interacts with F-actin. These results suggest that Sra-1 is a novel and specific target for Rac1.