Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of the Determinants of Food Expenditure Patterns among Urban Households in Nigeria: Evidence from Lagos State.

Emerging body of knowledge suggest the need for food expenditure studies in the urban areas. This study identified the determinants of food expenditure among urban households in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. Respondents (household heads) were selected randomly and data gathered by means of structured questionnaire. Data analysis was accomplished using descriptive statistics and regression model. Results of the study showed that 60% of the household income was expended on food which is considered high, suggesting low income and possible high cost of food in the study area. When combined with existing large members (>5) in most households (66%), existence of food insecurity and vulnerability to poverty in the study area was implied. Regression analysis showed that 65.5% of the variation in household expenditure on food in the study area was accounted for by the explanatory variables. Household income, tribe, household size and the composition of the household had a significant effect on food expenditure. The authors, therefore, recommended a policy option for general food price subsidy and particularly to address urban food prices which would improve spatial pricing efficiency.
SPG3A is the most frequent cause of hereditary spastic paraplegia with onset before age 10 years

Seven families with six different SPG3A mutations were identified among 106 with autosomal dominant hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP). Two mutations were novel (T162P, C375R). SPG3A was twice as frequent as SPG4 in patients with onset before age 10 years (31.8%). Later onset was not observed. The phenotype was pure HSP, but disease duration was longer than in non-SPG3A/SPG4 patients, leading ultimately to greater handicap.
Reproducibility and Minimal Detectable Change of Three-Dimensional Kinematic Analysis of Reaching Tasks in People With Hemiparesis After Stroke

Background and Purpose: Three-dimensional kinematic analysis of reaching has emerged as an evaluative measure of upper-extremity motor performance in people after stroke. However, the psychometric properties supporting the use of kinematic data for evaluating longitudinal change in motor performance have not been established. The objective of this study was to determine, in a test-retest reliability manner, the reproducibility and minimal detectable change for reaching kinematics in people after stroke. Subjects and Methods: Fourteen participants with hemiparesis after stroke performed forward reaching tasks on 2 occasions 37.3 (SD=9.8) days apart. At each session, participants performed 4 forward reaching tasks produced by the combination of 2 target heights (low and high [109 and 153 cm from the floor, respectively]) and 2 instructed movement speeds (self-selected and as fast as possible). Two analytical methods were used to calculate kinematic parameters. Results: Relative reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient) ranged from . 04 to . 99, and absolute reliability (standard error of measurement) ranged from 2.7% to 76.8%, depending on the kinematic variable, the demands of the motor task (target height and movement speed), and the analytical method. Bland-Altman analysis, a statistical method used to assess the repeatability of a method, revealed few systematic errors between sessions. The minimal detectable change ranged from 7.4% to 98.9%. Discussion and Conclusion: Depending on the demands of the motor task and the analytical method, most kinematic outcome measures (such as peak hand velocity, endpoint error, reach extent, maximum shoulder flexion range of motion, and minimum elbow extension range of motion) are reliable measures of motor performance in people after stroke. However, because of the magnitude of within-subject measurement error, some variables (such as peak hand velocity, time to peak hand velocity, and movement time) must change considerably (>50%) to indicate a real change in individual participants. The results of our reliability analysis, which are based on our cohort of participants with hemiparesis after stroke and our specific paradigm, may not be generalizable to different subpopulations of people with hemiparesis after stroke or to the myriad movement tasks and kinematic variables used for the assessment of reaching performance in people after stroke.
Design of A, B, and C Pulse Forming Networks Using the VINPFN Application

A set of MATLAB scripts are presented for transient modeling of voltage-fed pulse-forming networks (PFNs). The VINPFN program has been written to design and simulate PFNs connected to loads that can be described as resistive or inductive. The application allows for free variation of network parameters and includes some simple optimization routines. The implementation of Guillemin voltage-fed Type A, B, and C PFN network models are described and the calculated waveform from a Type B PFN is compared to experimental data. The VINPFN program has been employed to investigate PFN generator designs for pulsed-power applications at the Max-Planck VINETA facility. The scripts are available online.
Hybrid Protein between Ribosomal Protein S16 and RimM of Escherichia coli Retains the Ribosome Maturation Function of Both Proteins

ABSTRACT The RimM protein in Escherichia coli is associated with free 30S ribosomal subunits but not with 70S ribosomes and is important for efficient maturation of the 30S subunits. A mutant lacking RimM shows a sevenfold-reduced growth rate and a reduced translational efficiency. Here we show that a double alanine-for-tyrosine substitution in RimM prevents it from associating with the 30S subunits and reduces the growth rate of E. coli approximately threefold. Several faster-growing derivatives of the rimM amino acid substitution mutant were found that contain suppressor mutations which increased the amount of the RimM protein by two different mechanisms. Most of the suppressor mutations destabilized a secondary structure in the rimMmRNA, which previously was shown to decrease the synthesis of RimM by preventing the access of the ribosomes to the translation initiation region on the rimM mRNA. Three other independently isolated suppressor mutations created a fusion betweenrpsP, encoding the ribosomal protein S16, andrimM on the chromosome as a result of mutations in therpsP stop codon preceding rimM. A severalfold-higher amount of the produced hybrid S16-RimM protein in the suppressor strains than of the native-sized RimM in the original substitution mutant seems to explain the suppression. The S16-RimM protein but not any native-size ribosomal protein S16 was found both in free 30S ribosomal subunits and in translationally active 70S ribosomes of the suppressor strains. This suggests that the hybrid protein can substitute for S16, which is an essential protein probably because of its role in ribosome assembly. Thus, the S16-RimM hybrid protein seems capable of carrying out the important functions that native S16 and RimM have in ribosome biogenesis.
Functional Measurement of Hepatitis C Virus Core-Specific CD8+ T-Cell Responses in the Livers or Peripheral Blood of Patients by Using Autologous Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells as Targets or Stimulators

ABSTRACT As is widely recognized, CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) play a crucial role in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, both in pathogenesis of liver injury and in clearing the virus. CTL studies with HCV-infected patients have been difficult because of the relatively low frequency of CTL precursors in the peripheral blood and because the targeted epitopes vary depending on the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types of the individuals. This study attempts to overcome these problems by assessing the feasibility of using autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) expressing viral antigens as stimulators or targets in order to monitor the CTL responses. Primary PBMCs were transduced using a retroviral vector pseudotyped with a vesicular stomatitis virus G glycoprotein expressing the HCV core gene. Additionally, the vector-transduced PBMCs were used as targets of CTL assays to measure the HCV core-specific CTL activities from the liver-infiltrating lymphocytes of six different HLA-type patients with chronic HCV infection. The core-expressing PBMCs also served as stimulators, allowing us to measure core-specific CD8+T-cell responses by intracellular gamma interferon staining of the peripheral blood of hepatitis C patients who had received treatment with alpha interferon plus ribavirin. This approach provides an efficient means of measuring antigen-specific CTL responses without HLA constraints.
Improving Patient Care Through Health‐Promotion Outreach

Patient receipt of recommended preventive and chronic disease care is suboptimal, partly because of poorly organized clinical information and time-limited and sporadic appointments with medical care providers. To overcome these problems, we describe the features of a novel health-promotion outreach system based on electronic data queries, active patient-centered outreach, and minimizing patient barriers to adherence. We describe advantages of this system over traditional preventive care delivery systems and chronic disease management programs, and explain how it complements and helps to promote the type of clinical practice change contemplated by the chronic care model.
Pancreatic Endocrine Tumors and GIST - Clinical Markers, Epidemiology and Treatment

Expression of the neuroendocrine marker synaptic vesicle protein 2 (SV2) has been reported in a few cases of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). The goal of the present study was to assess the relevance of this finding and identify a possible hormone production in these tumors. We chose to study the orexigen ghrelin and its receptor, since these patients are seldom cachexic, even in advanced disease stages. We investigated ghrelin expression by means of immunohistochemistry on frozen or paraffin-embedded sections from 22 GISTs from a well-characterized patient material. Expression of the growth hormone secretagogue receptor, the ghrelin receptor, was investigated in a subset of lesions. In six tumors, mRNA levels of ghrelin, the ghrelin receptor, and SV2 were analyzed by real-time quantitative PCR. Totally 17 out of 22 tumors showed immunoreactivity for ghrelin. Five out of ten tumors were immunoreactive for the ghrelin receptor, and all of these co-expressed ghrelin. All tumors expressed ghrelin, ghrelin receptor, and SV2 mRNA. GISTs frequently express SV2, ghrelin, and its receptor, indicating the presence of autocrine/paracrine loops.
Nucleic Acids Research Nucleotide sequences of 5S rRNAs from four jellyfLshes

The nucleotide sequences of 5S rRNAs from four jellyfishes, Spirocodon saltatrix, Nemopsis dofZeini, AureZia aurita and Chrysaora quinquecirrha have been determined. The sequences are highly similar to each other. A fairly high similarity was also found between these jellyfishes and a sea anemone, AnthopZeura japonica. INTRODUCTION The Coelenterata, the phylum for the acceptance of jellyfishes and sea anemones, has been considered from anatomical evidence as a link of diblastic and triblastic animals. This phylum has been usually divided into three classes: the Hydrozoa containing primitive jellyfishes, the Scyphozoa containing more advanced jellyfishes, and the Anthozoa containing sea anemones. To deduce the phylogenic position of this phylum and to examine the validity of the above mentioned intraphylum classification, the 5S rRNA sequences from two hydrozoan jellyfishes and two schyphozoan jellyfishes have been determined and compared with those from a sea anemone and other eukaryotes as described previously (1). MATERIALS AND METHODS Two hydrozoan jellyfishes (Spirocodon saZtatrix and Nemopsis dofZeini) and two scyphozoan jellyfishes (AureZia aurita and Chrysaora quinquecirrha) used in this study were collected at an area of the Seto Inland Sea near the Usimado Marine Laboratory, Okayama University. The 5S rRNAs were directly isolated from ovaries by the phenol method followed by gel electrophoresis as previously described (2). The sequence was analysed by the chemical method of Peattie (3) or the enzymatic method of Donis-Keller (4) and Delihas et al. (5) using 3' or 5'-end labeled 5S rRNAs. The 3'and 5'-terminal bases were determined by the TLC plate analysis (2). © I R L Press Limited, Oxford, England. 7405 0305-1048/82/1 022-7405S 2.00/0 Nucleic Acids Research
DATA STORAGE WITH DATASET DETECTION USING FUZZY K-MEANS CLUSTERING

-Several anonymization techniques, such as generalization and bucketization, have been designed for privacy preserving micro data publishing. Recent work has shown that generalization loses considerable amount of information, especially for high dimensional data. Bucketization, on the other hand, does not prevent membership disclosure and does not apply for data that do not have a clear separation between quasi-identifying attributes and sensitive attributes. In this paper, we present a novel technique called slicing, which partitions the data both horizontally and vertically. We show that slicing preserves better data utility than generalization and can be used for membership disclosure protection. Another important advantage of slicing is that it can handle high-dimensional data. We show how slicing can be used for attribute disclosure protection and develop an efficient algorithm for computing the sliced data that obey the ‘-diversity requirement. Our workload experiments confirm that slicing preserves better utility than generalization and is more effective than bucketization in workloads involving the sensitive attribute. Our experiments also demonstrate that slicing can be used to prevent membership disclosure.
A frame-based decision pooling method for video classification

This paper proposes an ingenious and fast method to classify videos into fixed broad classes, which would assist searching and indexing using semantic keywords. The model extracts constituent frames from videos and maps low-level features extracted these frames to high-level semantics. We use color, structure and texture features extracted from a standard image database to train an SVM classifier, to classify videos to five different classes, viz. Mountains, Forests, Buildings, Deserts, and Seas with reasonable accuracy. The model is expected to be quite fast with an optimized implementation as the methods used for feature extraction are not computationally complex and have fast algorithms available.
Analysing recommendation of colleges for students using data mining techniques

We proposed a system to provide a recommendation system which will generate the user interested colleges list. This will be done by asking few questions related to the college like-college infrastructure, campus life, placement, sports and cultural activities. Information seeker will give ratings to the questions according to his interest rate. The list of college will be stored in the dataset for calculating the accuracy and precision of the system. Also the students will be giving feedback to the system for their performance.
PIEZOELECTRIC TRANSFORMER BASED CONTINUOUS- CONDUCTION-MODE VOLTAGE SOURCE CHARGE-PUMP POWER FACTOR CORRECTION ELECTRONIC BALLAST *

This paper presents the piezoelectric transformer (PT) based continuous-conduction-mode (CCM) voltage source (VS) charge-pump (CP) power factor correction (PFC) electronic ballast. By replacing L-C resonant tank and transformer in the conventional CCM VS CP-PFC electronic ballast with PT, the cost and volume can be reduced. The experimental results show that the electronic ballast using PT achieve high power factor and the switches can be operated under zero-voltageswitching condition.
Recovery of norfloxacin in feces after administration of a single oral dose to human volunteers

Twelve healthy volunteers received single 400-mg oral doses of norfloxacin. During the ensuing 48 h, from 8.3 to 53.3% (mean, 28%) of this dose was recovered in the feces. Peak drug concentrations in fecal specimens ranged from 207 to 2,716 micrograms/g.
Endocrine Disruptors: A Critical Review of In Vitro and In Vivo Testing Strategies for Assessing Their Toxic Hazard to Humans

Currently, there is much concern that a wide range of both synthetic and naturally occurring environmental chemicals can act as endocrine disruptors (EDs), and can adversely affect humans and wildlife. Many in vivo and in vitro tests have been proposed for screening EDs, and several regulatory agencies, including the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have recommended tier-testing schemes. Unfortunately, most of the proposed toxicity tests have substantial problems, including non-specificity and lack of reproducibility. There is also uncertainty concerning their relevance for generating useful hazard data for risk assessment purposes, in view of the diversity of the possible ED mechanisms of action (for example, receptor binding, steroidogenesis and modulation of the homeostatic processes which regulate endogenous responses to hormones). Moreover, most of the suggested test methods have yet to be validated according to internationally accepted criteria, although the OECD and the US EPA have defined tests for validation, and an interlaboratory “prevalidation” exercise has been initiated by the OECD. All this is compounded by the lack of information regarding human exposure levels to EDs, and a lack of direct evidence for a causal link between exposure and the development of adverse human health effects. In addition, the regulatory testing of EDs has important negative implications for animal welfare, as some of the proposed in vivo tests require large group sizes of animals and stressful procedures. From a detailed analysis of the available published literature, it is concluded that it is impossible to assess the relative values of currently available in vitro and in vivo toxicity tests for EDs, or to recommend any test or test battery. Any plans for the widespread testing of EDs are therefore premature and might be unnecessary, at least for detecting possible human effects. Several recommendations are made for rectifying this unsatisfactory situation, including the postponement of screening programmes pending: a) more information on human exposure; b) further details of the mechanisms of action of EDs; and c) the development of improved tests, followed by their proper scientific validation.
Evidence for heritable predisposition to epigenetic silencing of MLH1

Epigenetic silencing of MLH1 is the most common cause of defective DNA mismatch repair in endometrial and colorectal cancers. We hypothesized that variation in the MLH1 gene might contribute to the risk for MLH1 methylation and epigenetic silencing. We undertook a case‐control study to test for the association between MLH1 variants and abnormal MLH1 methylation. Eight MLH1 SNPs were typed in the normal DNA from women with endometrial carcinoma. For these studies, the cases were women whose cancers exhibited MLH1 methylation (N = 98) and the controls were women whose cancers had no MLH1 methylation (N = 219). One MLH1 SNP, rs1800734, located in the MLH1 CpG island at −93 from the translation start site, was significantly associated with MLH1 methylation as were age at diagnosis and patient body mass index. In validation experiments, a similar‐sized cohort of colorectal carcinoma patients (N = 387) showed a similar degree of association with the −93 SNP; a smaller cohort of endometrial carcinomas (N = 181) showed no association. Combining all 3 cohorts showed an odds ratio of 1.61 (95% CI: 1.20–2.16) for the AA or AG vs. GG genotype at the −93 SNP. Identification of risk alleles for MLH1 methylation could shed light on mechanisms of epigenetic silencing and may ultimately lead to new approaches to the prevention or treatment of malignancies associated with MLH1 inactivation. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Friction Force Measurements and Modeling in Hard Disk Drives

Friction in a head disk interface (HDI) is investigated considering the surface energy of the lubricant and the type of carbon overcoat (COC). Perfluoropolyether Z-Tetraol lubricant with A20H additive is applied on two types of COC (type-A and type-B) with lubricant thicknesses in the range of 11-19 A. The polar and dispersive components of the surface energy are measured from contact angle experiments. For each case, friction is measured using actual hard disk drives, and they are compared with the measured surface energy values of the disk samples. As the lubricant thickness increases, both the surface energy and friction decrease. Comparing friction and surface energy values for the two types of COC disks, type-A disks are found to exhibit lower surface energy and higher friction at all lubricant thicknesses. This is attributed to the effects of surface roughness, surface energy of the COC film, and lubricant interactions.
Nanobiomaterial applications in orthopedics

Advancements in nanobiotechnology are revolutionizing our capability to understand biological intricacies and resolve biological and medical problems by developing subtle biomimetic techniques. Nanocomposites and nanostructured materials are believed to play a pivotal role in orthopedic research since bone itself is a typical example of a nanocomposite. This article reviews current strategies using nanobiomaterials to improve current orthopedic materials and examines their applications in bone tissue engineering. Preliminary investigations support the potential of nanobiomaterials in orthopedic applications; however, significant advancements are necessary to achieve clinical use. Overall, current trends in nanobiotechnology foreshadow a bright future through the use of nanobiomaterials in the orthopedic domain. © 2006 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 25:11–22, 2007
Rapid Single-Flux-Quantum Circuits Fabricated Using  $\hbox{20}\hbox{-}\hbox{kA}/\hbox{cm}^{2}$  $\hbox{Nb}/\hbox{AlO}_{x}/\hbox{Nb}$ Process

We designed and fabricated rapid single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) circuits using a new 20-kA/cm2 process based on conventional Nb/AlOx/Nb Josephson junction (JJ) technology. Circular JJs were fabricated to improve their uniformity. They had sufficiently low spread of the critical currents for large-scale RSFQ circuits. We selected the circuit design parameters carefully, including the bias voltage and McCumber-Stewart parameter, balancing the energy consumption, switching speeds, margins, and integration density. We demonstrated several logic gates and shift registers at a clock frequency of 154 GHz with the designed bias voltage of 2.5 mV, and demonstrated energy-efficient shift registers using the low-voltage RSFQ (LV-RSFQ) technique at 83 GHz.
Toward the Formulation of Sociodental Indicators

The bases for the construction of sociodental indicators is discussed in the paper, considering several available indexes of oral health status (dental caries, periodontal disease, malocclusion, oral hygiene, and other oral conditions) as well as measures of quality of services. Very little research exists relating any of the above measures to social indicators such as personal life-style or cultural and ecological factors. Such expansion would enable dental indicators to be useful for purposes of policy decisions. Combining any dental indicators or set of indicators with a potential global social health index is discussed in terms of potential problems obscuring dentistry's cost to society. Dentistry, in addition, is offered as a system in microcosm-one which can be useful for purposes of polishing methodology for the social health indicator movement.
Hyperstability of a class of linear functional equations

The aim of this note is to offer hyperstability results for linear functional equations of the form f(s) + f(t) = 1 n n ∑ i=1 f(sφi(t)) (s, t ∈ S), where S is a semigroup and where φ1, . , φn : S → S are pairwise distinct automorphisms of S such that the set {φ1, . , φn} is a group equipped with the composition as the group operation. The main results state that if f satisfies a stability inequality related to the above equation then it is also a solution of this equation.