Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acanthosis Nigricans and Diabetes Risk Factors: Prevalence in Young Persons Seen in Southwestern US Primary Care Practices

PURPOSE Evidence shows acanthosis nigricans is often associated with hyperinsulinemia and may indicate increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this study was to determine the association of acanthosis nigricans with type 2 diabetes risk factors and disease in young persons. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study in the Research in Outpatient Settings Network, a practice-based research network in southwestern US communities. Participating clinicians (N = 96) collected data on children and young adults aged 7 to 39 years seen during a 2-week sampling period. The main outcomes were the prevalence of acanthosis nigricans, type 2 diabetes risk factors (ethnicity, family history of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, overweight/obesity), type 2 diabetes, and the relationships among these. RESULTS Among 1,133 patients sampled, risk factors for type 2 diabetes were common: 69% had a family history of the disease; 3% of children (aged 7 to 19 years) and 12% of adults had hypertension; 43% of children and 73% of adults were overweight or obese; and 80% were members of ethnic minorities. Acanthosis nigricans was found in 17% of children and 21% of adults. Among children and adults alike, the more type 2 diabetes risk factors that were present, the higher the prevalence of acanthosis nigricans (P <.001). The prevalence ratio for type 2 diabetes in patients with acanthosis nigricans was 1.97 (95% confidence interval, 1.18–3.27; P = .01) after controlling for age, body mass index, and the number of type 2 diabetes risk factors. Clinicians reported that the identification of acanthosis nigricans frequently led to discussions about lifestyle modification for decreasing the risk of type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS Patients with acanthosis nigricans are likely to have multiple risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Acanthosis nigricans may be an independent risk factor for this disease. Detection of acanthosis nigricans may help clinicians more rapidly identify high-risk individuals for diabetes counseling.
Ambient Air Pollution-related Mortality in Dairy Cattle: Does It Corroborate Human Findings?

Background: Despite insights for humans, short-term associations of air pollution with mortality to our knowledge have never been studied in animals. We investigated the association between ambient air pollution and risk of mortality in dairy cows and assessed effect modification by season. Methods: We collected ozone (O3), particulate matter (PM10), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations at the municipality level for 87,108 dairy cow deaths in Belgium from 2006 to 2009. We combined a case-crossover design with time-varying distributed lag models. Results: We found acute and delayed associations between air pollution and dairy cattle mortality during the warm season. The increase in mortality for a 10 &mgr;g/m3 increase in 2-day (lag 0–1) O3 was 1.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.3%, 2.1%), and the corresponding estimates for a 10 &mgr;g/m3 increase in same-day (lag 0) PM10 and NO2 were 1.6% (95% CI = 0.0%, 3.1%) and 9.2% (95% CI = 6.3%, 12%), respectively. Compared with the acute increases, the cumulative 26-day (lag 0–25) estimates were considerably larger for O3 (3.0%; 95% CI = 0.2%, 6.0%) and PM10 (3.2%; 95% CI = −0.6%, 7.2%), but not for NO2 (1.4%; 95% CI = −4.9%, 8.2%). In the cold season, we only observed increased mortality risks associated with same-day (lag 0) exposure to NO2 (1.4%; 95% CI = −0.1%, 3.1%) and with 26-day (lag 0–25) exposure to O3 (4.6%; 95% CI = 2.2%, 7.0%). Conclusions: Our study adds to the epidemiologic findings in humans and reinforces the evidence on the plausibility of causal effects. Furthermore, our results indicate that air pollution associations go beyond short-term mortality displacement. (See video abstract at http://links.lww.com/EDE/B105.)
Catheter‐related right atrial thrombus in sickle cell disease

Catheter‐related right atrial thrombus (CRAT) can occur in patients with sickle cell disease, particularly if additional risk factors for thrombosis are present. Cardiac MRI may differentiate thrombi from other types of atrial masses. Treatment should include anticoagulation and the timing of catheter removal should balance the potential risk of embolization.
Analysis of breathy, modal and pressed phonation based on low frequency spectral density

Breathy phonation has a high open quotient compared to modal phonation which results in greater inﬂuence of the subglottal cavity on the estimated short-time spectrum. This is reﬂected as an increase in spectral density at frequencies below the ﬁrst resonance of the vocal tract around the glottal formant. On the contrary, pressed phonation has lesser inﬂuence of the subglottal cavity, and hence has a relatively lesser spectral density at low frequencies. In this paper, the use of low frequency spectral density (LFSD) as a feature for analysis and classiﬁcation of breathy, modal and pressed phonation types is investigated.
Combined joint source-channel coding and channel estimation for image transmissions over wireless channels

Joint source and channel coding (JSCC), multicarrier modulation (MCM) and diversity are some key techniques for multimedia transmission over wireless channels. We investigate a joint source channel matching (JSCM) scheme for progressive image transmission in the MCM system using multiple antennas. The focus of this work is on the effect of the practical channel estimation schemes on the JSCM algorithm. This is different from other research on JSCC assuming perfectly known channel information. We propose a model-based channel estimation scheme and use it.
Degradation of the Met tyrosine kinase receptor by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway

The Met tyrosine kinase receptor is a widely expressed molecule which mediates pleiotropic cellular responses following activation by its ligand, hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF). In this communication we demonstrate that significant Met degradation is induced by HGF/SF and that this degradation can be blocked by lactacystin, an inhibitor of proteasome activity. We also show that Met is rapidly polyubiquitinated in response to ligand and that polyubiquitinated Met molecules, which are normally unstable, are stabilized by lactacystin. Both HGF/SF-induced degradation and polyubiquitination of Met were shown to be dependent on the receptor possessing intact tyrosine kinase activity. Finally, we found that a normally highly labile 55-kDa fragment of the Met receptor is stabilized by lactacystin and demonstrate that it represents a cell-associated remnant that is generated following the ligand-independent proteolytic cleavage of the Met receptor in its extracellular domain. This truncated Met molecule encompasses the kinase domain of the receptor and is itself tyrosine phosphorylated. We conclude that the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway plays a significant role in the degradation of the Met tyrosine kinase receptor as directed by ligand-dependent and -independent signals. We propose that this proteolytic pathway may be important for averting cellular transformation by desensitizing Met signaling following ligand stimulation and by eliminating potentially oncogenic fragments generated via extracellular cleavage of the Met receptor.
Detection of positions and recognition of brand logos visible on images captured using mobile devices

Up till now there does not exist an easy, mobile mechanism that allows to easily capture, recognize and count defined, multiple objects that are visible in surroundings of the user. For this purpose, feature detectors (such as SIFT, SURF or BRISK) are utilized to create a database of products box images and extracted keypoints are stored. Existing algorithms based on keypoints analysis do not allow to identify multiple identical logos, due to the fact that a homography calculated on found keypoints can span two or more objects and the result then can be skewed. In this paper a solution to this problem will be shown, that by using a sliding window that joins multiple found keypoints into individual objects, it is possible to correctly detect multiple identical objects. In this paper preliminary results of a mobile framework that allows recognition and counting of visible products in surroundings of the user will be presented.
The Effect of Glycerol Ingestion on Performance During Simulated Multisport Activity

Glycerol-induced hyperhydration has been applied to endurance sport with limited success as a performance enhancement strategy. Hypohydration can impair performance in endurance events such as multisport competitions, therefore hyperhydration strategies that sustain total body water could potentially prevent or attenuate dehydration-mediated decreases in performance. In theory, improved hydration status induced by glycerol prior to exercise will decrease heart rate, rectal temperature, and dehydration and increase sweat rate compared to water hyperhydration, which should confer a competitive advantage and, thus, better performances (Goulet, Robergs, Labrecque, Royer, & Dionne, 2006; Lyons, Riedesel, Meuli, & Chick, 1990; Robergs & Griffen, 1998). Glycerol has been used as a hyperhydrating agent, because it has been shown to be rapidly absorbed and osmotically active; therefore, the fluid intake with glycerol is distributed throughout the body. Glycerol increases blood osmolality when accompanied by large volumes of water (1,500–2,000 ml, or 26 ml/kg body weight) and provides an osmotic drive that augments retention of large quantities of water otherwise eliminated by the kidneys (Wingo et. al., 2004; Robergs & Griffen, 1998). Hyperhydration with glycerol increases fluid retention compared to water alone, thus shown to be performance enhancing in hot conditions in which high fluid losses are likely. However, glycerol-induced hyperhydration studies limited to hot conditions may not be applicable to multisport events held in ambient temperatures. Glycerol hyperhydration was tested on athletes competing in Olympic distance triathlon and showed a significant difference in total time between warm and hot days (Coutts, Reaburn, Mummery, & Holmes, 2002). On the hot day, overall performance times were 5.7% faster in the glycerol group compared with the placebo group, and there was a significant improvement (11%) in the 10-km run performance (p < .05). Montner et al. (1996) investigated pre-exercise glycerol hyperhydration on cycling endurance time and established that the mean exercise time was 21% longer after glycerol ingestion (93.8 ± 13.7 min) than after a placebo solution (77.4 ± 8.7 min; p = .049). Therefore, the current literature suggested that glycerol would be most beneficial when applied to ultraendurance events in hot and humid conditions. Despite the wide range of research on glycerol, the performance benefit at this stage is limited to those competing in long distance events at moderate to high intensity in hot, humid conditions (Inder, Swanney, Donald, Prickett, & Hellemans, 1998; Miller et al., 1983). It is not clear whether these results are applicable to long events held in cool, ambient temperatures. The aim of this study was to determine whether glycerol hyperhydration would improve performance in a long, simulated multisport time-trial (kayak, cycle, and run) under cool, ambient temperatures more so than hyperhydration with water alone. The Effect of Glycerol Ingestion on Performance During Simulated Multisport Activity
Short-term multinodal load forecasting in distribution systems using general regression neural networks

Multinodal load forecasting deals with the loads of several interest nodes in an electrical network system, which is also known as bus load forecasting. To perform this demand, it is necessary a technique that is precise, trustable and has a short-time processing. This paper proposes two methodologies based on general regression neural networks for short-term multinodal load forecasting. The first individually forecast the local loads and the second forecast the global load and individually forecast the load participation factors to estimate the local loads. To design the forecasters it wasn't necessary the previous study of the local loads. Tests were made using a New Zealand distribution subsystem and the results obtained are compatible with the ones founded in the specialized literature.
Probes for narcotic receptor mediated phenomena. 18. Epimeric 6 alpha- and 6 beta-iodo-3,14-dihydroxy-17-(cyclopropylmethyl)-4,5 alpha-epoxymorphinans as potential ligands for opioid receptor single photon emission computed tomography: synthesis, evaluation, and radiochemistry of [125I]-6 beta-iodo-

The epimeric 6 beta- and 6 alpha-iodo-3,14-dihydroxy-17-(cyclopropylmethyl)-4,5 alpha-epoxymorphinans (1, ioxy) and (2, epioxy), respectively, were each synthesized in five steps starting with naltrexone. The configuration of the 6-iodo group of 1 was unequivocally determined to be beta-based on single crystal X-ray analysis of its precursor 3-acetoxy-6 beta-iodo-14-hydroxy-17-(cyclopropylmethyl)-4,5 alpha-epoxymorphinan (10). Both 1 and 2 as well as their corresponding 3-O-acetates 10 and 11 were found to readily cross the blood-brain barrier and completely reverse the analgesic effects of a 10 mg/kg intraperitoneal dose of morphine sulfate as determined by the paw withdrawal latency test. Compounds 1 and 2 were found to bind with high affinity to mu, delta, and kappa receptors in vitro. In general, 1 and 2 exhibited higher affinity for mu and kappa receptors than naltrexone while the 6 beta-iodo epimer 1 (ioxy) was more potent than its epimer 2. In a comparison of the 6 beta-halogen substituent on binding affinity across opioid receptor subtypes, it was generally found that I greater than Br greater than F. On the basis of the results of in vitro and in vivo testing, 1 was selected as a target for radioiodination and evaluation as a potential single photon emission computed tomography imaging agent for opioid receptors. Carrier-free [125I]-1 was synthesized in near quantitative yield by the sequence of reaction of excess 3-acetoxy-6 alpha-[[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]oxy]-14-hydroxy-17- (cyclopropylmethyl)-4,5 alpha-epoxymorphinan (8) with anhydrous Na125I in dry acetonitrile for 90 min at 76 degrees C followed by deacetylation of the product with 1:1 aqueous ammonia/acetonitrile at 25 degrees C. The potential of [125I]-1 as an in vivo imaging agent for opioid receptors is evaluated and discussed.
ABYSS: An Architecture for Software Protection

ABYSS (a basic Yorktown security system) is an architecture for protecting the execution of application software. It supports a uniform security service across the range of computing systems. The use of ABYSS in solving the software protection problem, especially in the lower end of the market, is discussed. Both current and planned software distribution channels are supportable by the architecture, and the system is nearly transparent to legitimate users. A novel use-once authorization mechanism, called a token, is introduced as a solution to the problem of providing authorizations without direct communication. Software vendors may use the system to obtain technical enforcement of virtually any terms and conditions of the sale of their software, including such things as rental software. Software may be transferred between systems, and backed up to guard against loss in case of failure. The problem of protecting software on these systems is discussed, and guidelines to its solution are offered. >
The effect of task type and topic familiarity on information search behaviors

The paper describes results from a task-driven experiment on Web users' search behaviors. Subjects' search behavior and search experience in three types of search tasks (Fact Finding, Hierarchical Information Gathering, and Parallel Information Gathering) are compared. Our results indicate that both task type and familiarity can influence search behaviors (completion time and number of queries), but do not influence habitual behaviors, like the search entrance. In addition, users often gained new knowledge after searching.
Polarization-dependent coupling in twin-core photonic crystal fibers

The polarization dependence of light coupling in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with sixfold symmetric dual cores and highly birefringent dual cores are numerically investigated. The characteristics of PCF-based couplers, such as coupling length, extinction ratio and form birefringence, are examined as functions of the air-hole size and pitch. The silica bridges between air holes take an important role in the energy transfer across the two cores. We believe that the mechanism of light coupling in PCF-based couplers is different from that of conventional waveguide couplers. The polarization dependent coupling can be reduced by adjusting the air holes around the cores of PCFs. On the other hand, the polarization dependent coupling can be enhanced by introducing high birefringence in the two cores.
Travel time prediction for float car system based on time series

Recently, the Float Car technology is playing a more and more important role in real-time traffic service systems because it can collect real-time traffic information with low cost, high coverage and high efficiency. Meanwhile, the ability to accurately predict travel times in transportation networks is becoming a critical component for many Intelligent Transportation Systems. This paper focuses on the research of travel time prediction method based on Float Car Data. To gain the inherent characteristic of traffic information, a mechanism of dynamically extracting traffic periodic trends through the statistical analysis of historical data is present. On the basis of it, a series of improvements based on time series are proposed to predict the travel time information. The Float Car Data in Beijing are used as experiment data to verify the methods.
Automatic generation of façade textures from terrestrial thermal infrared image sequences.

This paper discusses the automatic texturing of building facades from thermal infrared image sequences. A fully automatic method is presented to refine GPS based positions using a relative orientation of the image sequence and preknowledge of a given building model in a bundle adjustment process. The resulting refined orientation parameters are used to project the infrared images of the sequence onto the building facade. The resulting partial textures are combined to get complete facade textures in the thermal infrared domain. The quality of the presented method is evaluated using RGB textures as ground truth and stochastic parameters from the adjustment process.
Sentiment Analysis of Product Reviews Using LDA Method based on Customer Text Content

This paper proposes a new approach to aspect-based sentiment analysis. The goal of our algorithm is to obtain a summary of the most positive and the most negative aspects of a specific product, given a collection of free-text customer reviews. Our approach starts by matching handcrafted dependency paths in individual sentences to find opinions expressed towards candidate aspects. Then, it clusters together different mentions of the same aspect by using a Word Net-based similarity measure. Finally, it computes a sentiment score for each aspect, which represents the overall emerging opinion of a group of customers towards a specific aspect of the product. Our approach does not require any seed word or domain-specific knowledge, as it only employs an off the-shelf sentiment lexicon. We discuss encouraging preliminary results in detecting and rating aspects from online reviews of books. We investigate the efficacy of topic model based approaches to two multi-aspect sentiment analysis tasks multi aspect sentence labeling and multi-aspect rating prediction
Western European best practice in primary healthcare

Political and economic dimensions of health systems shape the governance and organization of service delivery in general and of primary healthcare (PHC) services in Europe in particular. It is clear that the position of PHC and general practice is stronger in some countries than in others. The strength of a country’s PHC depends on the balance of health policy power of different actors, mainly governments, insurers and professionals (1). In this paper, we will review the role of different actors and their interactions in countries of the European Union (EU) where general practice is strong. The reasons why PHC has a key role in the organization of national health services will also be explored.
Exploring the potential of context-sensitive CADe in screening mammography.

PURPOSE Conventional computer-assisted detection (CADe) systems in screening mammography provide the same decision support to all users. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of a context-sensitive CADe system which provides decision support guided by each user's focus of attention during visual search and reporting patterns for a specific case. METHODS An observer study for the detection of malignant masses in screening mammograms was conducted in which six radiologists evaluated 20 mammograms while wearing an eye-tracking device. Eye-position data and diagnostic decisions were collected for each radiologist and case they reviewed. These cases were subsequently analyzed with an in-house knowledge-based CADe system using two different modes: Conventional mode with a globally fixed decision threshold and context-sensitive mode with a location-variable decision threshold based on the radiologists' eye dwelling data and reporting information. RESULTS The CADe system operating in conventional mode had 85.7% per-image malignant mass sensitivity at 3.15 false positives per image (FPsI). The same system operating in context-sensitive mode provided personalized decision support at 85.7%-100% sensitivity and 0.35-0.40 FPsI to all six radiologists. Furthermore, context-sensitive CADe system could improve the radiologists' sensitivity and reduce their performance gap more effectively than conventional CADe. CONCLUSIONS Context-sensitive CADe support shows promise in delineating and reducing the radiologists' perceptual and cognitive errors in the diagnostic interpretation of screening mammograms more effectively than conventional CADe.