Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Psychosocial correlates of continuous glucose monitoring use in youth and adults with type 1 diabetes and parents of youth.

BACKGROUND Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has been shown to improve glycemic control and reduce hypoglycemia with consistent use. Youth, however, are unlikely to use CGM consistently. We compared psychological characteristics of youth with type 1 diabetes, their parents, and adults with type 1 diabetes randomized to CGM or standard blood glucose monitoring (BGM). This study was an ancillary study, and participants completed the questionnaires at the 6-month visit of the main study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Participants enrolled at a single site of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation CGM trial completed questionnaires and provided diabetes management data. Participants were randomized to the CGM or BGM group for 6 months. RESULTS Parents in both groups reported more fear of hypoglycemia than youth in the corresponding groups. CGM youth and parents reported more negative affect around BGM than those in the BGM group. CGM youth reported more trait anxiety than BGM youth, whereas CGM adults reported less state and trait anxiety than BGM adults. CGM parent-proxy report of depression was significantly higher than that reported by BGM parents. CONCLUSIONS Youth, their parents, and adults report different psychological impacts of CGM use. In some groups and with some variables, CGM use was associated with a positive psychosocial impact, whereas in others CGM use was associated with a negative psychosocial impact. Future research should explore the psychological consequences of CGM use.
THE NESTING OF SOME VENEZUELAN BIRDS

My visit to Venezuela was supported by a grant from the Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fund of the American Museum of Natural History of New York. The farm on which my wife and I lived and worked was the property of the Venezuelan bird artist Walter Arp, who with his wife Elena gave us unforgettable hospitality. Paul Schwartz arranged for our sojourn here, helped us to get established in Venezuela, and showed us various parts of the country. To all these people and institutions, I am profoundly grateful. While I continued to watch, a second jacamar, quite similar to the first in appearance, flew up from the precipitous slope below the roadway with earth on its long bill, an almost certain indication that it was nesting. I promptly located the nest of the only pair of Pale-headed Jacamars that I have ever seen. The burrow had been dug into a bare, vertical wall of clay, at a point three feet above its base. At its mouth, the narrow tunnel was only 1% inches high and 1% inches wide. Probing it carefully with a slender vine, I found its length to be 31 inches. I wondered why the burrow of this small jacamar was so much longer than any of the numerous tunnels of species of the larger G&&z that I had examined. THE NESTLINGS AND THEIR CARE PALE-HEADED JACAMAR On the morning of 3 May, as I walked along a rough road that skirted the edge of a lightly wooded ravine, a bird new to me flew into a treetop with a butterfly in its bill. After knocking the insect against its perch until the wings floated down, it swallowed the body. This bird’s slender form and long, thin bill assured me that it was a jacamar, although it was smaller and far dulIer than any other member of this charming family that I knew. Its head, hindneck, and sides of the neck were pale grayish brown. The remaining upper parts, including the wings and tail, were dull blackish with a faint bluish and purplish gloss. The chin and throat were buffv: the foreneck and sides dark brown. enclosine a whitish triangular area on the center of ‘the breast. The base of this triangle rested upon a broad band of chestnut across the upper abdomen, The lower abdomen and under tail coverts were dull white. The bill was black, the eyes dark, and the legs and toes blackish. Through my binoculars I could detect only one hind toe, instead of the two that I expected in a
Glitch elimination and optimization of dynamic power dissipation in combinational circuits

Low power consumption has become a highly important concern for the designs. Glitches contribute to the dynamic power which itself is a major portion of the total power consumed by designs. A glitch is an undesired transition that occurs before intended value in digital circuits. A glitch occurs in CMOS circuits due to differential delay at the inputs of a gate. The paper describes a procedure to estimate and optimize dynamic power dissipation for combinational circuits due to propagation delay. First, cause of glitch and power dissipated due to presence of it is estimated. Secondly, a technique using transmission gate is employed and the glitch is eliminated. Then a comparison of the power dissipated is carried out to know the optimized power for 1. 2μm and 0. 8μm CMOS Technologies.
Targeted Deletion of the Muscular Dystrophy Gene myotilin Does Not Perturb Muscle Structure or Function in Mice

ABSTRACT Myotilin, palladin, and myopalladin form a novel small subfamily of cytoskeletal proteins that contain immunoglobulin-like domains. Myotilin is a thin filament-associated protein localized at the Z-disk of skeletal and cardiac muscle cells. The direct binding to F-actin, efficient cross-linking of actin filaments, and prevention of induced disassembly of filaments are key roles of myotilin that are thought to be involved in structural maintenance and function of the sarcomere. Missense mutations in the myotilin-encoding gene cause dominant limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 1A and spheroid body myopathy and are the molecular defect that can cause myofibrillar myopathy. Here we describe the generation and analysis of mice that lack myotilin, myo−/− mice. Surprisingly, myo−/− mice maintain normal muscle sarcomeric and sarcolemmal integrity. Also, loss of myotilin does not cause alterations in the heart or other organs of newborn or adult myo−/− mice. The mice develop normally and have a normal life span, and their muscle capacity does not significantly differ from wild-type mice even after prolonged physical stress. The results suggest that either myotilin does not participate in muscle development and basal function maintenance or other proteins serve as structural and functional compensatory molecules when myotilin is absent.
Patient Activation Mediates Health Literacy Associated with Hospital Utilization Among Whites

Background: Reducing the 30-day hospital readmission rate is a national priority, and patient activation has emerged as a modifiable target to reduce hospital readmissions. Objective: Prior studies demonstrate that low patient activation and low health literacy are each associated with higher rates of hospital utilization. The aim of this study was to use path analysis methods to assess if patient activation mediates the relationship between health literacy and hospital utilization in the 30 days after discharge. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial of patients receiving care at an urban safety net hospital. Path analyses were used to assess patient activation as a mediator of the relationship of education and health literacy with 30-day hospital utilization. The final model was stratified by race and ethnicity. Key Results: In the overall study sample, a patient activation measure (PAM) score that was one standard deviation (SD) higher was associated with 18% reduced odds of hospital utilization (odds ratio [OR] 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.73, 0.91]; p < .001). PAM mediated the relationship between education level and health literacy and hospital utilization. When stratified by race, the mediating effect of PAM was evident among Whites, but not among non-Whites. Specifically, a one SD higher PAM score was significantly associated with a 33% reduced odds of utilization among Whites (OR 0.67, 95% CI [0.57, 0.79], p < .001). With the inclusion of PAM in the model, there was no direct relationship between either health literacy or education and 30-day hospital utilization. Conclusions: Patient activation is only associated with hospital utilization among Whites. Further research is needed to assess if this selective protection is seen in other cohorts. Potential interventions to reduce hospital readmissions may need to consider other modifiable factors in racially and ethnically diverse populations. [Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2017;1(3):e128–e135. ] Plain Language Summary: In this study, among White patients, the relationship between health literacy and hospital utilization within 30 days after discharge was due to patient activation. However, for non-White patients, the relationship between health literacy and hospital utilization within 30 days after discharge was not due to patient activation.
Crystal structure of a prokaryotic aspartyl tRNA‐synthetase.

The crystal structure of Thermus thermophilus aspartyl tRNA‐synthetase (AspRS) refined at 2.5 A resolution is described. This molecular structure is a textbook illustration of the modular organization of aminoacyl‐tRNA synthetases. In addition to the three domains found in yeast AspRS, each monomer exhibits a module specific to prokaryotic enzymes, which corresponds to a helix‐turn‐helix motif in yeast AspRS, a domain implicated in the stabilization of the complex with tRNA. Its topology matches that of the histidine‐containing phosphocarrier HPr which has been linked recently to another group of proteins containing the ferredoxin fold. We propose a more extensive alignment of these folds, which involves a circular permutation of the sequences and changes the point of entry of the whole domain. The C‐terminal extension, another prokaryotic characteristic, leads to a significant increase in the network of interaction at the dimer interface. Some potential communication pathways suggest how a transfer of information between the two active sites of the homodimer might occur. Most of the residues involved belong to the class II‐specific motifs in correlation with the dimeric state of nearly all class II enzymes. The T. thermophilus enzyme exhibits some features not found in any of the six other known AspRSs from mesophilic organisms.
The Effect of Largemouth Bass Predation on Overwinter Survival of Two Size-Classes of Age-0 Bluegills

Abstract Overwinter mortality is an important force structuring year-class strength of many fishes. Conventional wisdom is that overwinter mortality is primarily caused by starvation; however, recent research has demonstrated that piscivores continue to feed during winter and may also contribute to overwinter mortality of their prey populations. We conducted experiments in ten 0.04-ha earthen ponds in central Illinois to assess the effect of predation by largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides on survival of two size-classes (20-30 and 40-65 mm total length [TL]) of age-0 bluegills Lepomis macrochirus. Bluegills (400 fish/size-class) were stocked into each pond at the end of November. Half of the ponds also received five small (90-124 mm TL) and four large (166-192 mm TL) largemouth bass. Survival to the end of the 113-d experiment was higher for large bluegills than for small bluegills in all ponds. For both bluegill size-classes, the predator-present treatment had higher mortality than the predator-free t.
A target-responsive electrochemical aptamer switch (TREAS) for reagentless detection of nanomolar ATP.

In this communication, we report a highly generalizable strategy, target-responsive electrochemical aptamer switch (TREAS) for the development of aptamer-based biosensors. In a typical TREAS design for ATP detection, the aptamer oligonucleotide dually labeled with thiol and ferrocene groups is hybridized with its complementary strand, and the thiolated duplex is self-assembled on a gold electrode. This duplex is responsive to the target ATP, which liberates the complementary strand and forms the aptamer−target complex. The electroactive ferrocene moiety, which is distal to the electrode surface in the absence of ATP, is moved to the proximal position during the binding-induced structural transition. This binding turns on the electron transfer and leads to measurable electrochemical signals for quantification of ATP. We then demonstrate that TREAS is a signal-on, reagentless sensor that can selectively detect ATP and features both generalizability and simplicity in design.
Corneal Nerve Regeneration After Collagen Cross-Linking Treatment of Keratoconus: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study.

IMPORTANCE It is unknown whether a neurotrophic deficit or pathologic nerve morphology persists in keratoconus in the long term after corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) treatment. Nerve pathology could impact long-term corneal status in patients with keratoconus. OBJECTIVE To determine whether CXL treatment of keratoconus results in normalization of subbasal nerve density and architecture up to 5 years after treatment. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Observational study of 19 patients with early-stage keratoconus indicated for a first CXL treatment with longitudinal follow-up to 5 years postoperatively (examinations were performed from 2009 to 2015; analysis was performed from February to May 2015) and 19 age-matched healthy volunteers at a primary care center and a university hospital ophthalmology department. EXPOSURE The patients with keratoconus underwent standard epithelial-off UV-A/riboflavin CXL treatment with 30-minute UV-A exposure at 3 mW/cm2 irradiance. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Central corneal subbasal nerve density and subbasal nerve architecture by use of laser-scanning in vivo confocal microscopy; subbasal nerve analysis by 2 masked observers and by use of a fully automated method; wide-field mosaics of subbasal nerve architecture by use of an automated method; and ocular surface touch sensitivity by use of contact esthesiometry. RESULTS Mean (SD) age of the 19 patients with keratoconus was 27.5 (7.1) years (range, 19-44 years), and minimal corneal thickness was 428 (36) μm (range, 372-497 μm). Compared with the mean (SD) preoperative subbasal nerve density of 21.0 (4.2) mm/mm2 in healthy corneas, the mean (SD) preoperative subbasal nerve density of 10.3 (5.6) mm/mm2 in the corneas of patients with stage 1 or 2 keratoconus was reduced 51% (mean difference, 10.7 mm/mm2 [95% CI, 6.8-14.6 mm/mm2]; P < .001). After CXL, nerves continued to regenerate for up to 5 years, but nerve density remained reduced relative to healthy corneas at final follow-up (mean reduction, 8.5 mm/mm2 [95% CI, 4.7-12.4 mm/mm2]; P < .001) despite recovery of touch sensitivity to normal levels by 6 months. Preoperatively, more frequent nerve loops, crossings, and greater crossing angles were observed in the corneas of patients with keratoconus compared with healthy corneas. Postoperatively, the frequency of nerve looping increased, crossings were more frequent, and nerve tortuosity increased. Wide-field mosaics indicated persistent disrupted orientation of the regenerating subbasal nerves 5 years after CXL. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Keratoconus is characterized by a neurotrophic deficit and altered nerve morphology that CXL treatment does not address, despite providing a positive biomechanical effect in the stroma. Given the widespread use of CXL in the management of patients with keratoconus, the progression of abnormal innervation after CXL should be recognized.
The Israeli Study of Surgical Infections (ISSI): I. Methods for Developing a Standardized Surveillance System for a Multicenter Study of Surgical Infections

Abstract The postoperative wound infection experience in 11 Israeli hospitals was investigated with two objectives: (1) to utilize the variability among hospitals for a better understanding of the determinants of these infections, and (2) to present surgeons and infection control teams with information upon which they can take action. This article summarizes the methods that were applied to maximize the uniformity of information obtained from hospitals. (1) The same kind of patients were sampled in every hospital. (2) The data collection system was standardized, and analyzed for errors. The overall error rate was small (2%) but there were potential problem areas, such as missing information on underlying diagnoses (12%). Few errors (1%) were found in the nurses' observations of the wounds. (3) All wound infections were diagnosed in a uniform manner by convening a panel of four specialists at the central Israeli Study of Surgical Infections (ISSI) office. (4) The definition of infection that was finally chosen for this multicenter study had to be broadened to include, in addition to pus, “discharge other than pus,” because of the higher reliability among panel members. This definition was also clinically valid in terms of morbidity. (5) The rate of postdischarge infections was estimated and was not found to be related to the discharge policies in the various hospitals.
Full-system RANS of the HyShot II scramjet Part 1: Numerics and non-reactive simulations

The development of computational tools that can faithfully reproduce high-Mach number flight conditions is fundamental to improving our ability to realize hypersonic vehicles, especially because physical prototyping is challenging and extremely expensive. Of special consideration in the development of hypersonic vehicles is accurate evaluation of the safety and operability margins associated with specific design solutions, given our relatively limited experience with sustained hypersonic flight. The theoretical performance advantage of scramjets over rockets in hypersonic flight has been well known since the 1950s. For this reason, significant scramjet research has been conducted in many parts of the world. Mainly, three different experimental approaches have been followed to gain experience with and insight into scramjet propulsion systems: ground testing in continuous flow facilities for Mach 7 and more realistic ballistic reentry vehicle experiments. A typical example for such a reentry vehicle is the Hyshot flight project devised by the University of Queensland (Smart et al. 2006). Postflight data analysis confirmed the presence of supersonic combustion during an approximately 3 s test window at altitudes of 35–29 km. However, because of to a radar tracking failure, the exact trajectory is not known. To obtain a more comprehensive data set, a groundbased experiment with a 1:1 model for the presumed same conditions as for the flight experiment was conducted by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in the high enthalpy shock tunnel (Gardner et al. 2004). However, to further complement the data, numerical simulations are necessary to gain insight in the physics of scramjet engines. With this objective, we developed a computational infrastructure to solve the Reynoldsaveraged Navier-Stokes equations and to validate the code with the HEG experimental data and to gain detailed information of the flow through the Hyshot II scramjet engine. This is the first of a two-part study of the HyShot II scramjet. It describes the flow solver that has been developed and then used for the simulation of the non-reactive flow through the scramjet engine for validation. Part 2 will then focus on the reactive cases.
Tunnel Divisions: Interactive Sound Mapping of Transitory Public Spaces

We present Tunnel Divisions, an interactive musical installation designed for ephemeral interaction in public spaces. Informed by concepts from cultural and media studies along with existing literature on interactive public displays, we designed the installation as an intervention meant for the monotonous parts of everyday life. Our demonstration uses low-cost sensors and musical theory to create a generative sound composition unique to the particular space and the people moving through it. By experiencing the installation, we hope to promote critical thinking about the nature and form of interaction with public spaces.
Platelet rich plasma in xeno-free stem cell culture: the impact of platelet count and processing method.

BACKGROUND Stem cell culture for regenerative medicine needs platelet rich plasma (PRP) as fetal bovine/calf serum (FBS/FCS) substitute. However, the various studies used various protocols in preparing and processing the PRP. This study aimed to compare and conclude the most effective and efficient protocol. METHODS we searched in vitro studies that used human PRP as FBS/FCS substitute to culture human cells, and compared the various available protocols to identify the easiest and effective protocols for the preparation of PRP and the release of the growth factors (GFs) to support the highest cell growth in stem cell culture. RESULTS ten studies fulfilled the selection criteria and were included in the analysis. DISCUSSION Almost all studies on bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BM-MSC) and adipose stem cell (AT-SC) showed that platelet lysate and/or activated platelet releasate were superior or at least the same as either FBS or FCS, except for one study that got different results on human AT-SC. Several studies showed that either 5% activated PRP (aPRP) or platelet lysate (PL) was sufficient to support cell growth, or even better when they were compared to 10% FBS, while higher concentrations were counterproductive. However, some studies showed that 10% aPRP or PL was needed. The difference between studies was due to the difference in either the PRP preparation from blood and in the PRP processing to release the GFs, which yield various GF concentrations. CONCLUSION In conclusion, studies are needed to reveal the optimal final platelet counts for the various PRP processing methods for various kinds of cells. The easiest PRP processing is freezing to -20°C followed by thawing, or thrombin activation using a final concentration of 100U/mL.
Expression of the Araf Proto-Oncogene in the Normal Adult and Embryonic Mouse 1

We have determined the expression pattern of the Araf proto-oncogene in the embryonic and adult mouse. Western blot analysis of protein lysates from tissues of adult mice show that p69 is ubiquitously expressed, but that levels of expression vary among different tissues. To determine the cell-specific expression pattern of A-raf, we generated transgenic mice expressing the b-galactosidase reporter gene from the A-raf promoter. We show that A-raf expression is highly specific within a given tissue, and we identify cell types expressing this gene in the adult testis, epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicle, ovary, oviduct, bladder, kidney, intestine, heart, spleen, thymus, and cerebellum. In the embryo, ubiquitous expression of the reporter gene is observed, but the highest levels of expression are specifically detected in the embryonic heart at stages 9.5–11.5 days postcoitum.