Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Prevalence and Heterogeneity of Beta Thalassemia Mutations in The Western Maharashtra Population: A Hospital Based Study

Abstract The present study was undertaken with the objective to study molecular heterogeneity of β thalassemia, to correlate the phenotype with the genotype in β thalassemia cases, and to know the incidence of different β thalassemia mutations in western Mahrashtra population, from the cases referred to the Genetic Clinic, B.J. Medical College, Pune. Total of 114 subjects were studied. These included 85 (74.6%) known β thalassemia carriers, 25 (21.9%) cases of β thalassemia major and 4 (3.5%) cases of sickle thalassemia. Total of 58 (50.9%) males and 56 (49%) females were studied. Amongst the total 114 cases studied 102 (89.5%) showed presence of IVS 1-5 mutation, while 12 (10.5%) cases showed presence of cd 41/42 mutation. Amongst the population studied the types of β thalassemia prevalent are β+ thalassemia, β0 thalassemia, β+β0 thalassemia, Sβ+ thalassemia Sβ0 thalassemia. Amongst these β+ thalassemia is the most prevalent type. Frequency of blood transfusion (B.T.) was different in thalassemia patients with different beta globin genotypes. Hematological findings showed that presence of cd 41/42 mutation in homozygous state produces more severe phenotype than that of IVS 1-5 mutation. IVS 1-5 mutation in combination with sickle mutation produces less severe phenotype than that of cd 41/42 mutation with sickle mutation. The comparative incidence of IVS 1-5 mutation in W.M. population is higher than that reported for Maharashtra and T.N. Incidence of cd 41/42 mutation is similar to that found in Tamil Nadu and North-West Pakistan and higher than that reported for Maharashtra. The communities, which showed higher incidence of cd 41/42 mutation, are Muslim and Navbudha. An exclusive occurrence of IVS 1 5 (G-C) and cd 41/42 mutations in Western Maharashtra population will help us to prevent beta thalassemia by prenatal diagnosis.
Location is Everything Balancing Innovation , Convenience , and Privacy in Location-based Technologies Submitted

Location-based technologies (LBTs) — services, devices, and appplications that provide functionality and content tailored by knowledge of your current location — are becoming popular with consumers and are expected to be a major growth area in the mobile device market. While offering great convenience, LBTs are implemented significantly differently from previous technologies providing similar features, and these differences pose new privacy risks to users of LBTs. This paper shows that users of new LBTs expose themselves to privacy risks that are difficult to understand and manage, due to the nature and current implementation of most LBTs. We begin by identifying and discussing the essential differences between LBTs and previous technology efforts to gain an understanding of how LBTs differ from previous technologies, and the privacy implications of these differences. We proceed to explore how these issues manifest themselves in implemented LBT systems commonly available today, including the Apple iPhone, the T-Mobile G1, and the Skyhook Wireless geolocation system. Finally, with an understanding of some of the theoretical and real pitfalls in LBTs, we propose measures to improve user privacy. These measures include new law to provide accountability for data collection and use, policy approaches to ensure users understand their privacy risks and have real choice in managing these risks, and technical methods to deal with some particulary concerning problems we uncovered. LBTs are not a novel fad — they do provide valuable functionality, especially for users of mobile devices. As such, we cannot simply expect users to reject LBTs because they cannot determine if a particular LBT is compatibile with their personal privacy values. In order to promote continued innovation in this market, improvements in law, policy, and technology are required to allow users to enjoy the convenience of LBTs while also maintaining a real expectation of privacy when using these technologies.
SIFT Feature Matching Algorithm with Local Shape Context

Given two or more images of a scene, the ability to match corresponding points between these images is an important component of many computer vision tasks. SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) is one of the most effective local feature of scale, rotation and illumination invariant, which is widely used in the field of image matching. While there will be a lot mismatches when an image has multiple similar regions. In this paper, an improved SIFT feature matching algorithm with local shape context is put forward. The feature vectors are computed by dominant orientation assignment to each feature point based on elliptical neighboring region and with local shape context, and then the feature vectors are matched by using Euclidean distance and the chi square distance. The experiment indicates that the improved algorithm can reduce mismatch probability and acquire good performance on affine invariance, improves matching results greatly.
The relationship between dieting and levels of perceived psychological stress in United Arab Emirates residents

Arab Journal of Nutrition and Exercise, Vol. 2, No. 1 Published on 29th April, 2017 Abstract Aim: The primary aim of this cross-sectional research study was to investigate the potential differences in perceived psychological stress level in those dieting compared to those not undertaking a diet. The secondary objective was to assess if stress levels in those dieting were correlated with the duration of the diet. Methods: We administered the previously validated Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to 60 United Arab Emirates residents. Participants were also asked demographic questions concerning age and gender and were requested to indicate if they were currently undertaking a diet to achieve weight loss. Participants who were actively on a diet were also asked about the duration of the diet (days). Results: A total of 60 participants were recruited to the study, of which 71.7% were female. The majority (71.7%) of the sample were 18-25 years old and 58.3% indicated that they were undertaking a diet at the time of data acquisition. The median total score on the PSS was 19 (14 – 22). There was a significant difference in PSS total score between those on a diet and those not (p=0.021). A positive correlation was found between number of days on a diet and perceived stress level (r=0.147) but this was not statistically significant (p=0.406). Conclusions: Dieting behaviour was associated with higher levels of perceived psychological stress compared to those not undertaking a diet. Engaging in dieting behaviour is commonly driven by body dissatisfaction and may be linked to heightened stress due to social pressures or other factors. Keywords: diet; stress; body dissatisfaction; body image; perceived stress
Doddifoenus wallacei , a new giant parasitoid wasp of the subfamily Leptofoeninae (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae), with a description of its mesosomal skeletal anatomy and a molecular characterization

A third species of Doddifoenus Boucek (Pteromalidae: Leptofoeninae), is described from Laos and Thailand. Doddifoenus wallacei sp. n. is the first species of the genus occurring west of Wallace’s Line, and with a body length of up to 4.2 cm it is among the longest known of any chalcidoid wasp. A differential key and distribution map for the world species of Doddifoenus are given. A detailed description of the mesosoma, including external and internal features, and molecular data (D2-D5 fragments of the 28S gene) are provided to facilitate future phylogenetic analyses. The phylogenetic placement of Leptofoeninae is briefly discussed, especially with respect to the pteromalid subfamilies Pteromalinae and Cleonyminae.
Protective ant-plant interactions as model systems in ecological and evolutionary research.

▪ Abstract Protective ant-plant interactions, important in both temperate and tropical communities, are increasingly used to study a wide range of phenomena of general interest. As antiherbivore defenses “worn on the outside,” they pose fewer barriers to experimentation than do direct (e.g., chemical) plant defenses. This makes them tractable models to study resource allocation to defense and mechanisms regulating it. As multi-trophic level interactions varying in species specificity and impact on fitness of participants, ant-plant-herbivore associations figure prominently in studies of food-web structure and functioning. As horizontally transmitted mutualisms that are vulnerable to parasites and “cheaters,” ant-plant symbioses are studied to probe the evolutionary dynamics of interspecies interactions. These symbioses, products of coevolution between plants and insect societies, offer rich material for studying ant social evolution in novel contexts, in settings where colony limits, resource supply, and .
A Bootstrap Likelihood Approach to Bayesian Computation

There is an increasing amount of literature focused on Bayesian computational methods to address problems with intractable likelihood. One approach is a set of algorithms known as Approximate Bayesian Computational (ABC) methods. One of the problems with these algorithms is that their performance depends on the appropriate choice of summary statistics, distance measure and tolerance level. To circumvent this problem, an alternative method based on the empirical likelihood has been introduced. This method can be easily implemented when a set of constraints, related to the moments of the distribution, is specified. However, the choice of the constraints is sometimes challenging. To overcome this difficulty, we propose an alternative method based on a bootstrap likelihood approach. The method is easy to implement and in some cases is actually faster than the other approaches considered. We illustrate the performance of our algorithm with examples from population genetics, time series and stochastic differential equations. We also test the method on a real dataset.
Quercetin Delivery into Cancer Cells with Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Carbon nanotube s are made up of carbon atoms arranged in a series of condensed benzene rings and wrapped into a tubular form. They represent a new allotrope of carbon invented from fullerene family, which can be described as rolled up graphite sheets held together by van der Waals bonds. These materials due to some qualities such as high specific surface area, unique electrical and electronical properties are used in many applications as catalyst base, polymers mechanical strengthening, composites, electronical devices production and drug delivery. Especially, they are able to cross through cell wall and inter to cell nucleus. This work speculates on methods of design, synthesis, and quercetin delivery as an antioxidant agent that its anticancer function has been reported, by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) into cancer cells and their detection method. In fact, we introduce the concept of "functionalization partitioning" of SWCNTs, i.e., imparting various chemical species, such as poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG), quercetin with different functionalities into the surface of the SWCNTs. And we will discuss how binding of molecules to SWCNTs and their release can be controlled by varying the pH.
Electrical Connection of Enzyme Redox Centers to Electrodes

Abstract : Electrically insulating proteins can be made redox-conducting through incorporation of a high density of electron relaying redox centers. Electrons diffuse in the resulting redox conductors by self-exchange between identical and electron transfer between different relaying centers. When the self-exchange rate of the relays and their density are high, the flux of electrons through a 1 micrometer thick film of a 3-dimensional macromolecular network can match or exceed the rate of supply of electrons to or from the ensemble of enzyme molecules covalently bound to it. The network now molecularly wires the enzyme molecules to the electrode and the current measures the turnover of the wired enzyme molecules. When the enzyme turnover is substrate-flux, i.e. concentration limited, the current increases with the concentration of the substrate.
Suspended Sediment Forecast of Khlong Bang Yai , Phuket Apichat Heednacram

Abstract—This paper studies the accumulation of sediments in Bang Yai Canal, Phuket. The increase in sediment level decreases the water storage capacity of the canal which leads to shallow flooding problem. The study clustered the sediment into 3 levels using k-means algorithm, and then utilized an Artificial Neural Network to forecast the level of the sediment for the next three years using multilayer perceptron as a predictor. An efficient schedule for dredging the sediment in Bang Yai Canal can be constructed from the results of the study. Suspended sediments in tons per day from January 01, 2007 until December 31, 2011 were used as an input to our experiment. The result shows that the deposit of suspended sediments is peaked in October and is low in January of every year for the past five years. The level of sediments also increases every year for the next three years. We recommend that the municipality may alleviate the problem by dredging the sediments prior October, so that the canal drainage capacity is maintained.
The effects of cocoa supplementation , c on oxidative stress markers of brain an

The effects of treadmill cocoa supplementation was used to appraise ra The level of oxidative str concentration increased bonyl derivates did not c species (ROS) were well mulation of free radica (BDNFs) was evaluated ments. These data did no tration of ROS, BDNF or and brain function.
Effective equilibrium states in the colored-noise model for active matter I. Pairwise forces in the Fox and unified colored noise approximations

The equations of motion of active systems can be modeled in terms of Ornstein–Uhlenbeck processes (OUPs) with appropriate correlators. For further theoretical studies, these should be approximated to yield a Markovian picture for the dynamics and a simplified steady-state condition. We perform a comparative study of the unified colored noise approximation (UCNA) and the approximation scheme by Fox recently employed within this context. We review the approximations necessary to define effective interaction potentials in the low-density limit and study the conditions for which these represent the behavior observed in two-body simulations for the OUPs model and active Brownian particles. The demonstrated limitations of the theory for potentials with a negative slope or curvature can be qualitatively corrected by a new empirical modification. In general, we find that in the presence of translational white noise the Fox approach is more accurate. Finally, we examine an alternative way to define a force-balance condition in the limit of small activity.
The Evolutionary Ecology of Nest Construction: Insight from Recent Fish Studies

Nests are built by a wide variety of animals as functional receptacles for developing eggs and offspring, and they play a critical role in the reproductive biology of many species. Traditionally, research on the ecology and evolution of nest building and construction behaviour has focused primarily on birds, and avian studies have dominated the literature. However, as researchers working on non-bird models have realised the importance of nest construction in evolutionary ecology, the number of studies published on the nesting behaviour of non-bird taxa has increased. An analysis of the literature reveals that fish have become major models for studying many aspects of nest building behaviour, but whereas studies of fish nest building behaviour frequently cite classical and contemporary bird studies, the findings of recent fish nesting research appears to be slower to be recognised by bird biologists. Further analysis reveals that this citation bias may arise because of the tendency of nest building studies to be published in taxon-specific, often local journals, and this may be especially the case for bird-focused studies. In this review, I summarise the recent literature on fish nesting behaviour, focusing on aspects that should be of mutual interest to fish and bird biologists. I hope that the review may be used by bird biologists to identify complementary and insightful nest-building research in fish, and that researchers with interests in the nest-building behaviour of animals across the taxonomic spectrum might use the review to focus on questions of mutual and general importance and interest.
Does language-as-used fit a self-paced reading paradigm ? ( The answer may well depend on how you model the data . )

We report on a self-paced reading experiment that was run to ascertain whether the effect of differential tense, aspect and mood (henceforth TAM) marking on verbs would affect processing. TAM properties were identified as the strongest predictors for the choice between 6 near synonyms meaning TRY in Russian on the basis of regression models fit to manually annotated corpus data (Divjak 2010, Divjak & Arppe 2013). We will discuss how we used a Generalized Linear Mixed Model to account for the fact that we deviated from the traditional set-up for self-paced reading in two ways: we used an imbalanced design and ran the task with actually attested sentences rather than artificially created ones. These deviations were motivated by the need to accommodate the natural restrictions on TAM combinations and to respect the lack of a strict word order, which are both typical for Russian. We will also describe how we used a Generalized Additive Model to handle the non-linearities that we encountered in the reading times data. 1 Author contributions: DD and AA conceived and designed the self-paced reading experiment; DD ran the experiment; DD, AA and HB analyzed the data with comments from Petar Milin; DD wrote the paper using comments and suggestions from AA and HB. The PsychoPy script for self-paced reading was written by Lily FitzGibbon; participants were recruited and scheduled by Daria Satyukova. The experiment received ethical approval from the University of Sheffield, School of Languages & Cultures. The financial support of the Prokhorov Foundation and the logistic support of the Saint Petersburg branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences are gratefully acknowledged.
J ul 2 01 8 Conditional channel simulation

In this work we design a specific simulation tool for quantum channels which is based on the use of a control system. This allows us to simulate an average quantum channel which is expressed in terms of an ensemble of channels, even when these channel-components are not jointly teleportation-covariant. This design is also extended to asymptotic simulations, continuous ensembles, and memory channels. As an application, we derive relative-entropy-of-entanglement upper bounds for private communication over various channels, from the amplitude damping channel to non-Gaussian mixtures of bosonic lossy channels. Among other results, we also establish the two-way quantum and private capacity of the so-called “dephrasure” channel.
Common Occurrence of Explosive Hydrogen Burning in Type II Supernovae

We report Mo isotopic data for 16 15N-rich presolar SiC grains of type AB (14N/15N < solar, AB1) and their correlated Sr and Ba isotope ratios when available. Of the 16 AB1 grains, 8 show s-process Mo isotopic compositions, together with s-process Ba and/or Sr isotopic compositions. We found that a higher percentage of AB1 grains show anomalous isotopic compositions than that of AB2 grains (14N/15N > solar), thus providing further support to the division of the two AB subgroups recently proposed by Liu et al., who showed that AB1 grains most likely originated from Type II supernovae (SNe) with explosive H burning. Comparison of the Sr, Mo, and Ba isotopic compositions of the AB1 grains with SN model predictions indicates that the s-process isotopic compositions of AB1 grains resulted from neutron-capture processes occurring during the progenitor massive stars’ pre-SN evolution rather than from an explosive neutron-capture process. In addition, the observations of (1) explosive H burning occurring in the C-rich regions of the progenitor SNe of X grains as suggested by the isotopic compositions of X grains, and (2) explosive H burning occurring both at the bottom of the He/C zone and at the top of the He/N zone as suggested by model simulations, imply that explosive H burning is a common phenomenon in outer SN zones.
Design , synthesis , and biological evaluation of novel EF 24 and EF 31 analogs as potential i κ B kinase β inhibitors for the treatment of pancreatic cancer

and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php). Drug Design, Development and Therapy 2017:11 1439–1451 Drug Design, Development and Therapy Dovepress
Dream reliving and meditation as a way to enhance reflectiveness and constructive engagement in dreams

Lucid dreaming has been defined as the experience of becoming aware that is one is dreaming during a dream, as evidenced by the statement, “I am dreaming,” or “This is a dream” in the context of the dream report. This categorical treatment stands in contrast to observations and empirical findings that reflectiveness, volition, and other aspects of waking mentation are present in lucid and non-lucid dreams alike, and may have distinct functions in accelerating psychological integration, dream ego responsiveness, and personality development within the dream state. This study tested the impact of middle-of-the-night meditation and dream reliving on lucidity, as well as non-lucid levels of dreamer development––Reflectiveness and Constructive Engagement––as described originally by Rossi (1972). Using one instrument designed to measure levels of Reflectiveness and Constructive engagement, and another instrument designed to measure levels pre-lucidity and lucidity, we investigated whether this middle-of-the night tandem treatment would result in significant increases in post-treatment measures. Despite several validity problems, some significant results were found. We discuss the implications for using this tandem intervention for promoting positive outcomes in dreaming, as well as for the specific attenuation of distressing dreams.
Attitude generalization : Similarity , valence , and extremity q

Attitude generalization was explored as a function of object similarity and attitude valence and extremity. Participants in a computer game formed attitudes toward positive and negative, mild or extreme stimuli. How well these attitudes generalized to similar, novel stimuli was then examined. Visual similarity to game targets affected categorization of novel stimuli, such that greater resemblance resulted in more similar classification. However, generalization varied by valence and extremity. Negative attitudes generalized more than positive attitudes, requiring less resemblance for a novel target to be classified as negative. This pattern was more obvious with extreme attitudes than mild attitudes. That is, extreme attitudes were more influential and given more weight than mild attitudes. Also, specific conditions were identified under which positive attitudes proved more influential than negative attitudes. 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.