Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) using bipolar foot electrodes in the assessment of body composition in Type 2 diabetes mellitus

The use of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) for determining human body composition is widely accepted as a safe, rapid, and reliable technique. Although this technique has been validated in normal and obese individuals, only limited studies have been done in special populations. The use of BIA for the measurement of body composition in Type 2 (non‐insulin dependent) diabetic patients would be of particular interest for both clinical and investigative studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of a new bipedal BIA device for the measurement of body composition in a population of individuals with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The body composition of 48 male and 48 female Type 2 subjects was measured by BIA and dual energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA). The percentage body fat determined by BIA was significantly correlated with % body fat determined by DXA (r = 0.89, p < 0.0001). Agreement analysis showed that BIA consistently overestimated % fat in female diabetic subjects by approximately 5 % and underestimated % fat in male diabetic subjects by approximately 10 % of the predicted value obtained with DXA. These differences were statistically significant but probably of minor clinical relvance. We conclude that BIA measurement by TBF 105 is a useful and reliable technique for measuring body composition in subjects with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Systemic Administration of Ghrelin Induces Fos and Egr‐1 Proteins in the Hypothalamic Arcuate Nucleus of Fasted and Fed Rats

Ghrelin, a recently identified endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue (GHS) receptor, induces growth hormone (GH) secretion following systemic administration. We sought to determine whether systemic administration of ghrelin activates cells in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus by examining the distribution of cells expressing Fos and Egr‐1 proteins. In normally fed rats, both ghrelin and GHRP‐6 (a synthetic GHS) significantly increased the number of cells expressing Fos and Egr‐1 in the arcuate nucleus. The effects of ghrelin and GHRP‐6 to induce Fos or Egr‐1 protein expression was significantly greater in fasted than in fed rats. Thus, we show that (i) ghrelin is a centrally active peptide; (ii) it acts in a similar manner to synthetic GHS; and (iii) its central actions are increased in fasting, presumably reflecting physiological changes that accompany altered food intake and/or nutritional state.
The Expression of Endothelin‐1 and Its Binding Sites in Mouse Skin Increased after Ultraviolet B Irradiation or Local Injection of Tumor Necrosis Factor α

Endothelin (ET)‐1 is a 21‐amino acid peptide which has vasoconstrictor and growth regulatory activity. Recently, cultured keratinocytes have been reported to express ET‐1 and its receptor when irradiated by ultraviolet (UV) B. In order to further understand the role of ET‐1 in vivo during UVB‐induced inflammation, we examined the localization, intensity and time course of the expression levels of ET‐1 and its binding sites in UVB‐exposed BALB/c mouse skin. Frozen and paraffin sections prepared from mouse skin 48 h after treatment with UVB irradiation (0.36 or 0.72 J/cm2) or after injection with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α (1.0 μg) or interleukin (IL)‐1α (0.05 μg) were incubated with monoclonal anti‐ET‐1 IgG and then visualized by peroxidase staining. In normal skin, faint ET‐1 immunoreactivity was observed in the epidermis, pilosebaceous structures and blood vessels. Upon exposure to UVB irradiation or administration of TNF‐α injection or IL‐1α injection, such immunoreactivity was found to be significantly enhanced. Subsequently, the frozen sections were incubated with 125I ET‐1 for 30 min, and visualized by autoradiographic technique. In normal skin, ET‐1 weakly bound to the skin, while UVB irradiation and TNF‐α injection significantly enhanced ET‐1 binding in the epidermis, pilosebaceous structures and blood vessels. Time course experiments (1, 2, 4 and 7 days) indicated that ET‐1 immunoreactivity and ET‐1 binding peaked 1 or 2 days after UVB irradiation or TNF‐α injection. These results suggest that the up‐regulated expression of ET‐1 and its binding sites in the epidermis and pilosebaceous structures may act as an autocrine/paracrine factor during UVB‐induced inflammation.
Scalable Techniques for Clustering the Web

Clustering is one of the most crucial techniques for dealing with the massive amount of information present on the web. Clustering can either be performed once offline, independent of search queries, or performed online on the results of search queries. Our offline approach aims to efficiently cluster similar pages on the web, using the technique of Locality-Sensitive Hashing (LSH), in which web pages are hashed in such a way that similar pages have a much higher probability of collision than dissimilar pages. Our preliminary experiments on the Stanford WebBase have shown that the hash-based scheme can be scaled to millions of urls.
Outlier Detection in High Dimension Data Based On Multimodality And Neighbourhood Size Using KNN Method

Outlier detection in high-dimensional data presents various challenges resulting from the “curse of dimensionality. ” A prevailing view is that distance concentration, i.e., the tendency of distances in high-dimensional data to become indiscernible, hinders the detection of outliers by making distance-based methods label all points as almost equally good outliers. In this paper, we provide evidence supporting the opinion that such a view is too simple, by demonstrating that distance-based methods can produce more contrasting outlier scores in high-dimensional settings. Furthermore, we show that high dimensionality can have a different impact, by reexamining the notion of reverse nearest neighbors in the unsupervised outlier-detection context. Namely, it was recently observed that the distribution of points’ reverse-neighbor counts becomes skewed in high dimensions, resulting in the phenomenon known as hubness. We provide insight into how some points (antihubs) appear very infrequently in k-NN lists of other points, and explain the connection between antihubs, outliers, and existing unsupervised outlier-detection methods. By evaluating the classic k-NN method, the angle-based technique designed for high-dimensional data, the density-based local outlier factor and influenced outlierness methods, and antihub-based methods on various synthetic and real-world data sets, we offer novel insight into the usefulness of reverse neighbor counts in unsupervised outlier detection.
An after-school dance and lifestyle education program reduces risk factors for heart disease and diabetes in elementary school children

Abstract Background: Forty-three percent of New York City’s (NYC) school-age children are overweight or obese, placing them at risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Objective: The objective of this study was to determine if an intensive after-school dance and lifestyle education program would reduce risk factors for heart disease, T2DM, and improve lifestyle choices. Subjects: Subject include 64 fourth- and fifth-grade students at an elementary school in NYC. Methods: Students received freestyle dance and lifestyle classes for 16 weeks and were evaluated for changes in body composition, endurance, biochemical measurements, and lifestyle choices. Results: Significant improvements in BMI percentiles were found among children in the overweight and obese categories as well as in endurance and biochemical measurements that reflect heart disease and diabetes risk. Improvement was also reported in lifestyle choices. Conclusion: An intensive after-school dance and lifestyle education program can reduce risk factors for heart disease and T2DM and improve lifestyle choices among elementary school children.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF GENE CONVERSION TO CROSSING OVER IN NEUROSPORA.

The production of infrequent wild-type progeny in crosses between strains carrying apparently allelic mutants of similar phenotype has been termed gene con version. Mitchell' demonstrated in a cross between two pyridoxine mutants that conversion differed from crossing over in two ways: (1) the convertants did not have the expected array of closely linked markers; (2) the event was non-reciprocal; the ascus in which a pdx+ spore pair occurred did not contain a pyridoxine double mutant spore pair. In spite of these differences, gene conversion and crossing over were correlated. The frequency of crossing over between the markers embracing the pyridoxine locus was only about 5 per cent in the general population, while 14 of the 32 pdx+ convertants had such crossing over. Mitchell suggested that gene conversion and crossing over were separate events and that they were correlated because both were favored by the same local conditions, as perhaps, especially close pairing of the homologous chromosomes. A hypothesis whereby a single event results in both gene conversion and crossing over was formulated by Freese,2 and this scheme was designed to account for the apparent differences between the two types of recombination reported by Mitchell. Freese states that gene conversion is observed for segregating genes at the site of the event which may result in crossing over for the surrounding markers. It is proposed that the recombination event is not a single exchange, but a switching of the replicating strands back and forth between the two templates, two or three or more times in a short interval. An odd number of switches results in crossing over with regard to the surrounding markers, while an even number of switches does not. If conversion resulted from the same event as crossing over, it might be expected to have an effect associated with crossing over: interference with crossing over in neighboring regions. An experiment has been performed to study the relationship of gene conversion to crossing over in a separate but nearby chromosome region. The single event hypothesis would predict interference in all the convertants, even those with no recombination for the markers embracing the conversion locus. The separate events hypothesis would predict no interference in this group. Materials and Methods. -Strains lys+ cys-t ylo+ ad cot a and lys cys-c ylo ad+ cot A were crossed on two sets of plates for which the procedures were identical except that they were allowed to mature at 250 in one case and at 180 in the other. The experiment was designed in this way in order to observe how the frequencies of gene conversion and of crossing over varied at the two temperatures. Lys (lysine-requiring mutant DS6-85), cys-t and cys-c (cysteine mutants 80702 and 48401), yio (yellow conidia, Y30539y), and ad (adenine mutant 3254) are all in the left arm of linkage group VI, and the order of the loci is lys.cys . ylo.ad. centromere.3 Cys-t and cys-c are functionally allelic in that they do not complement each other in heterocaryons; however, crosses between them yield 2-3 cys+ asco-
Workload control release mechanisms: from practice back to theory building

Much Workload Control research has focussed on the order release stage but failed to address practical considerations that impact practical application. Order release mechanisms have been developed through simulations that neglect job size variation effects while empirical evidence suggests groups of small/large jobs are often found in practice. When job sizes vary, it is difficult to release all jobs effectively—small jobs favour a short period between releases and a tight workload bounding while large jobs require a longer period between releases and a slacker workload bounding. This paper represents a return from a case study setting to theory building. Through simulation, the impact of job sizes on overall performance is explored using all three aggregate load approaches. Options tested include: using distinct load capacities for small/large jobs and prioritising based on job size or routing length. Results suggest the best solution is assigning priority based on routing length; this improved performance, especially for large jobs, and allowed a short release period to be applied, as favoured by small jobs. These ideas have also been applied to a second practical problem: how to handle rush orders. Again, prioritisation, given to rush orders, leads to the best overall shop performance.
Application of a saturation control method to the transient stabilization of power systems

In normal operation, modern power systems can supply high quality electricity. However, in the case of accident in the grid or load variation, the power system may become unstable. Excitation control is usually used to attenuate the effect of grid accidents. However, the exciter may move unexpectedly at times because of its saturation characteristic. In this paper, we propose a new feedback law based on a theory of saturation control developed by the authors to stabilize power systems under an accident. The proposed method is verified through simulations.
Simulating Solar Power Plant Variability: A Review of Current Methods

It is important to be able to accurately simulate the variability of solar PV power plants for grid integration studies. We aim to inform integration studies of the ease of implementation and application-specific accuracy of current PV power plant output simulation methods. This report reviews methods for producing simulated highresolution (sub-hour or even sub-minute) PV power plant output profiles for variability studies and describes their implementation. Two steps are involved in the simulations: estimation of average irradiance over the footprint of a PV plant and conversion of average irradiance to plant power output. Six models are described for simulating plant-average irradiance based on inputs of ground-measured irradiance, satellite-derived irradiance, or proxy plant measurements. The steps for converting plant-average irradiance to plant power output are detailed to understand the contributions to plant variability. A forthcoming report will quantify the accuracy of each method using application-specific validation metrics.
Detection threshold of single SPIO‐labeled cells with FIESTA

MRI of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO)‐labeled cells has become a valuable tool for studying the in vivo trafficking of transplanted cells. Cellular detection with MRI is generally considered to be orders of magnitude less sensitive than other techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission‐computed tomography (SPECT), or optical fluorescence microscopy. However, an analytic description of the detection threshold for single SPIO‐labeled cells and the parameters that govern detection has not been adequately provided. In the present work, the detection threshold for single SPIO‐labeled cells and the effect of resolution and SNR were studied for a balanced steady‐state free precession (SSFP) sequence (3D‐FIESTA). Based on the results from both theoretical and experimental analyses, an expression that predicts the minimum detectable mass of SPIO (mc) required to detect a single cell against a uniform signal background was derived: mc = 5v/(Kfsl · SNR), where v is the voxel volume, SNR is the image signal‐to‐noise ratio, and Kfsl is an empirical constant measured to be 6.2 ± 0.5 × 10−5 μl/pgFe. Using this expression, it was shown that the sensitivity of MRI is not very different from that of PET, requiring femtomole quantities of SPIO iron for detection under typical micro‐imaging conditions (100 μm isotropic resolution, SNR = 60). The results of this work will aid in the design of cellular imaging experiments by defining the lower limit of SPIO labeling required for single cell detection at any given resolution and SNR. Magn Reson Med 53:312–320, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
D90A‐SOD1 mediated amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A single founder for all cases with evidence for a Cis‐acting disease modifier in the recessive haplotype

More than 100 different heterozygous mutations in copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1) have been found in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neurodegenerative disease. Uniquely, D90A‐SOD1 has been identified in recessive, dominant and apparently sporadic pedigrees. The phenotype of homozygotes is stereotyped with an extended survival, whereas that of affected heterozygotes varies. The frequency of D90A‐SOD1 is 50 times higher in Scandinavia (2.5%) than elsewhere, though ALS prevalence is not raised there. Our earlier study indicated separate founders for recessive and dominant/sporadic ALS and we proposed a disease‐modifying factor linked to the recessive mutation. Here we have doubled our sample set and employed novel markers to characterise the mutation's origin and localise any modifying factor. Linkage disequilibrium analysis indicates that D90A homozygotes and heterozygotes share a rare haplotype and are all descended from a single ancient founder (alpha 0.974) c.895 generations ago. Homozygotes arose subsequently only c.63 generations ago (alpha 0.878). Recombination has reduced the region shared by recessive kindreds to 97‐265 kb around SOD1, excluding all neighbouring genes. We propose that a cis‐acting regulatory polymorphism has arisen close to D90A‐SOD1 in the recessive founder, which decreases ALS susceptibility in heterozygotes and slows disease progression. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Structural properties of trimers and tetramers of ribonuclease A

Ribonuclease A aggregates (dimers, trimers, tetramers, pentamers) can be obtained by lyophilization from 40% acetic acid solutions. Each aggregate forms two conformational isomers distinguishable by different basic net charge. The crystal structure of the two dimers has recently been determined; the structure of the higher oligomers is unknown. The results of the study of the two trimeric and tetrameric conformers can be summarized as follows: (1) RNase A trimers and tetramers form by a 3D domain‐swapping mechanism. N‐terminal and C‐terminal types of domain swapping could coexist; (2) the secondary structures of the trimeric and tetrameric conformers do not show significant differences if compared with the secondary structure of monomeric RNase A or its two dimers; (3) a different exposure of tyrosine residues indicates that in the aggregates they have different microenvironments; (4) the two trimeric and tetrameric conformers show different susceptibility to digestion by subtilisin; (5) dimers, trimers, and tetramers of RNase A show unwinding activity on double‐helical poly(dA‐dT) • poly(dA‐dT), that increases as a function of the size of the oligomers; (6) the less basic conformers are more stable than the more basic ones, and a low concentration in solution of trimers and tetramers favors their stability, which is definitely increased by the interaction of the aggregates with poly(dA‐dT) • poly(dA‐dT); (7) the products of thermal dissociation of the two trimers indicate that their structures could be remarkably different. The dissociation products of the two tetramers allow the proposal of two models for their putative structures.
Ethyl acetate as a substitute for diethyl ether in the formalin-ether sedimentation technique

Ethyl acetate appears to be a satisfactory subsitute solvent for diethyl ether in the Formalin-ether sedimentation technique. In comparative studies, concentration of organisms with ethyl acetate was equal to or greater than that with diethyl ether. No distortion or alteration of morphology was observed with eigher solvent, and preparations were comparable in appearance and ease of examination. In addition, ethyl acetate is less flammable and less hazardous to use than diethyl ether.
Temporal artery biopsy in a dermatologic surgery practice.

BACKGROUND A positive temporal artery biopsy (TAB) is essential to the diagnosis of temporal arteritis. Both this relatively common disease and its prolonged treatment with corticosteroids are associated with serious sequelae. Therefore, accurate and timely diagnosis is critical. The dermatologic surgery literature lacks a description of this straightforward surgical technique, as TABs are most often performed by ophthalmologists. OBJECTIVE As a service to our rheumatology department we began performing TABs on a same-day on-call basis in July 1996. METHODS We have performed 45 TABs in a 22-month period using a simple, safe, time-efficient technique. We review the surgical anatomy and danger zone of the temporal region and potential complications. We describe the biopsy technique which aims at safely obtaining a greater than 2 cm segment of a peripheral branch of the superficial temporal artery (STA), identified preoperatively by doppler ultrasonography. RESULTS The procedure was performed on the day requested in all cases. Intraoperative time ranged from 20 to 40 minutes. TAB established the diagnosis of temporal arteritis in 8 of 44 biopsies (18%) and in 7 of 35 patients (20%), including 1 of 9 patients in whom we performed bilateral TAB. One patient was diagnosed with small-vessel polyarteritis nodosa by TAB. The mean formalin-fixed length of the arterial specimen was 2.2 cm. The length did not vary between positive and negative specimens. There were no complications and the cosmetic results were excellent. CONCLUSION TAB is a quick, safe, straightforward, and gratifying office procedure which dermatologic surgeons are very qualified to perform.
An attitude determination method for satellite by the use of image data of a phase of a heavenly body

This paper shows a rapid attitude determination method for satellite using the shape of the heavenly body which goes through phases. At first the image of heavenly body is binarized and the image centroid is derived from the image. The translational displacements are obtained by comparing the image centroid of the reference image with that of the obtained image, i.e. attitude angles for two axes are determined. Next, the images are represented in polar coordinates and the feature points are represented by two peaks. The rotational displacement is obtained from these peak points, i.e. attitude angle of remaining one axis is determined. This method enables the attitude to be obtained more rapidly than the conventional image processing, e.g. image correlation method. The parameter dependences of the accuracy of the attitude determination by the proposed method are studied by numerical analysis. In addition, the effectiveness of the method is evaluated by the simulating the operation of the satellite with the proposed attitude determination system.