Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cortisol levels during the menopausal transition and early postmenopause: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study

Objective:Cortisol levels rise among some women during the late stage of the menopausal transition (MT), but we know little about changes in cortisol levels in relation to menopause-related factors (MT stage, urinary estrone glucuronide [E1G], testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone [FSH]), stress-related factors (epinephrine, norepinephrine, and perceived stress), symptoms (hot flashes, mood, memory, and sleep), social factors (income adequacy, role burden, social support, employment, parenting, and history of sexual abuse), and health-related factors (depressed mood, perceived health, physical appraisal, body mass index, and smoking). The aim of the study was to examine the influence of menopause-related factors, stress-related factors, symptoms, social factors, and health-related factors on cortisol levels during the MT. Methods:Participants were a subset of Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study who provided data during the late reproductive, early and late MT stages, or early postmenopause and who were not using hormone therapy or corticosteroids (N = 132 women, up to 5,218 observations). Data provided included menstrual calendars for staging the MT, annual health reports, health diaries, and overnight urine specimens (assayed for cortisol, catecholamines, E1G, and FSH) between 1990 and 2005 were included. Perceived stress, symptoms, and health behaviors were assessed in a health diary. Health-related and social factors were assessed in an annual health update. Multilevel modeling was used to test the effects of menopause-related and other factors on overnight cortisol levels. Results:When tested with age as a measure of time, menopause-related covariates, including E1G, FSH, and testosterone, were associated with significant increases in overnight cortisol levels (P < 0.0001). Likewise, epinephrine and norepinephrine were each associated significantly with overnight cortisol levels (P < 0.0001). In multivariate analyses, E1G, FSH, and testosterone constituted the best set of predictors. Conclusions:Overnight cortisol levels during the MT were associated with E1G, testosterone, and FSH levels. In addition, they were significantly and positively associated with epinephrine and norepinephrine. MT stage, symptoms, and social, stress-related, and health-related factors had little relationship to overnight cortisol levels when other biological indicators were considered.
The Potash Market and Its Future Prospects

The purpose of the paper was to assess the main historical drivers of potash demand, to generate estimates of demand elasticities and to produce forecasts of potash consumption during the coming decade. The paper has used a comprehensive econometric model to estimate shortrun and long run price, income and cross elasticities. The world potash demand is found to be price inelastic in the short-run and even in the long run. Also, income, cross price elasticity and cross yield elasticity were found to be inelastic in the short and long run. Our modeling predicts that potash consumption for fertilizers will increase from 28.2 million tonnes in 2012 to around 37.8 million tonnes in 2022, which implies that the annual relative growth rate of potash consumption is expected to increase by 2.9%. As long as demand increases our prediction is that real potash prices will also increase, ceteris paribus. Delays in commissioning new production capacity are likely the main reason for price increases. Yet additional planned capacities that could potentially take place in the next decade still have the potential to limit the upside for potash prices.
Visualization of the electrical tomographic data distributions based on the self organization map neural tool

Electrical tomography (ET) techniques have greatly been developed for visualizing the distributions of materials in an industrial process, since they offer certain advantages over other tomography modalities, such as low cost, rapid response, no radiation and being non-intrusive. But so far the natural imaging mechanism remains unknown to some extent so that many existing ET algorithms suffer from the uncertainty or fuzziness problems. In this paper the electrical tomographic data are mapped into a vector space, and thus the cluster structures hidden in the electrical tomographic data are recovered based on self organization map tool. Two groups of experiments are performed to validate our proposed methods. These experiments show that the high-resolution ET images must have a clear cluster structure, while the low-resolution images corresponds to fuzzy and vague data distributions.
Revised Relativistic Hydrodynamical Model for Neutron-Star Binaries

We report on numerical results from a revised hydrodynamic simulation of binary neutron-star orbits near merger. We find that the correction recently identified by Flanagan significantly reduces but does not eliminate the neutron-star compression effect. Although results of the revised simulations show that the compression is reduced for a given total orbital angular momentum, the inner most stable circular orbit moves to closer separation distances. At these closer orbits significant compression and even collapse are still possible prior to merger for a sufficiently soft EOS. We note, however, that the compression observed in the simulation is within the numerical error and also of order of the error expected from the approximation of a conformally flat spatial three metric. The reduced compression in the corrected simulation is consistent with other recent studies of rigid irrotational binaries in quasiequilibrium in which the compression effect is observed to be small. Another significant effect of this correction is that the derived binary orbital frequencies are now in closer agreement with post-Newtonian expectations. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.
Two-photon luminescence of single gold nanorods: Influence of the rods volume at a given plasmon resonance

The two-photon luminescence (TPL) of colloidal gold nanorods (GNR) was investigated at the single object level, using correlated topography and polarization resolved intensity and spectral analyses. The origin of the TPL in colloidal GNR is discussed: we show the existence of a specific volume maximizing the TPL intensity.
Clustering European Welfare Systems through a Performance Index

We construct a composite performance indicator to assess the relative performance of welfare policies in the EU countries. We show that the variability of performances cannot be explained only by the amount of resources devoted to social policies, but also by the composition of social expenditure: countries with higher shares of redistributive public expenditure obtain better results in the social sector. This result confirms the association between the type of welfare system, according to the traditional four-way classification, and the performance level. However, considering a more complete set of indicators of the structure of the welfare systems, we find that European countries cannot be grouped according to the traditional classification. Considering expenditure-side indicators and financing-side indicators together, three groups form: one comprising the UK and Iceland, one the Nordic countries and the Netherlands, one the continental (and southern) countries and Ireland.
Poor Readers but Compelled to Read: Stroop Effects in Developmental Dyslexia

We studied a group of 24 children with dyslexia in second to fifth primary school grades by using a discrete-trial computerized version of the Stroop Color-Word Test. Since the classic Stroop effect depends on the interference of reading with color naming, one would expect these children to show no interference or, at least, less interference than normal readers. Children with dyslexia showed, however, a Stroop effect larger than normal readers of the same age. This suggests that reading, although difficult and slow, is an inescapable step that precedes naming both in poor and in normal readers.
Progesterone Receptors in Carcinomas of the Upper Aerodigestive Tract

This study had three major goals: (1) to vigorously verify the presence of progesterone receptors in squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract (HN-SCC). Antiprogesterone receptor monoclonal antibodies revealed a distinct band at approximately 120 kilodaltons in samples taken from two of four patients with HN-SCC. These results illustrate that progesterone receptor in HN-SCC has the same molecular weight as progesterone receptor in normal human uterus and human breast cancer. Steroid specificity and saturability results support the evidence that it is true progesterone receptors that are measured and not other receptors or sex steroid-binding globulins; (2) to confirm the biochemical function of progesterone receptors in HN-SCC by assessing the binding of progesterone receptor to acceptor sites on chromosomes in the nucleus; and (3) to establish the clinical significance of progesterone receptor measurement. Patients with positive assays were more likely to be free of disease a mean of 6 months after resection. We used logistic regression to account for site of primary disease, grade of tumor, and stage of disease. This logistic regression was significant with a p = 0.014. Patients with a binding index greater than 2 (19 of 73 patients) were 4.34 times more likely to be free of disease than patients with negative assays.
Synchronization through Communication in a Massively Parallel Processor Array

Programming MPPAs for complex real-time embedded applications is difficult with conventional multiprogramming models, which usually treat communication and synchronization separately. Based on a programming model for massively parallel embedded computing that is reasonable and productive for software developers, we developed a scalable MPPA chip architecture that delivers tera-ops performance with very good energy efficiency in an ordinary 130-nm ASIC. This MPPA's architecture is based on the structural object programming model, which composes strictly encapsulated processing and memory objects in a structure of self-synchronizing channels. Small RISC CPUs and memories execute the objects.
Visual event‐related potential in mild dementia of the Alzheimer's type

Abstract Visual event‐related potentials (ERP) and behavioral measures were recorded during a geometrical‐figure discrimination task to examine sensory processing in 10 patients with mild dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) and 10 age‐matched controls. No difference existed between the groups in P1, N1, and P2 potentials, which reflects the early stage of sensory processing, as well as in NA potential, which reflects pattern recognition. The patients showed reduced amplitude of P3 potential, retarded reaction time, and increased behavioral errors compared to controls. These findings suggest that the patients with mild DAT were intact in early sensory processing including pattern recognition but were selectively compromised in higher‐level processing, including integration of information and memory matching, which may influence behavioral deviation.
The sensory brand of the destination. Case study: Transylvania

Destinations can be considered a predominantly experiential tourism product in the context of sensory marketing, which would be the best instrument for creating, communicating and delivering the experiential values of the tourism product, and for developing the sensory brand of a destination. Given that, generally speaking, the geographic area of a destination is difficult to market (because of the multitude of component entities that must have the same vision, although competing at the same time), the unitary character of a destination is reinforced in the identity of the sensory brand, regarded as a collection of sensory experiences, i.e. a collection of contact points between the tourist and the destination. This study identifies the sensory experiences of tourists in the microdestination Transylvania, thus being a starting point in the development of the sensory brand of the destination.
Critical Roles of Bacterioferritins in Iron Storage and Proliferation of Cyanobacteria1[w]

Cyanobacteria are key contributors to global photosynthetic productivity, and iron availability is essential for cyanobacterial proliferation. While iron is abundant in the earth's crust, its unique chemical properties render it a limiting factor for photoautotrophic growth. As compared to other nonphotosynthetic organisms, oxygenic photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria, algae, and green plants need large amounts of iron to maintain functional PSI complexes in their photosynthetic apparatus. Ferritins and bacterioferritins are ubiquitously present iron-storage proteins. We have found that in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (Synechocystis 6803), bacterioferritins are responsible for the storage of as much as 50% of cellular iron. Synechocystis 6803, as well as many other cyanobacterial species, have two bacterioferritins, BfrA and BfrB, in which either the heme binding or di-iron center ligating residues are absent. Purified bacterioferritin complex from Synechocystis 6803 has both BfrA and BfrB proteins. Targeted mutagenesis of each of the two bacterioferritin genes resulted in poor growth under iron-deprived conditions. Inactivation of both genes did not result in a more severe phenotype. These results support the presence of a heteromultimeric structure of Synechocystis bacterioferritin, in which one subunit ligates a di-iron center while the other accommodates heme binding. Notably, the reduced internal iron concentrations in the mutant cells resulted in a lower content of PSI. In addition, they triggered iron starvation responses even in the presence of normal levels of external iron, thus demonstrating a central role of bacterioferritins in iron homeostasis in these photosynthetic organisms.
Genome-Wide Analysis Reveals Unique Regulation of Transcription of Th2-Specific Genes by GATA3

Differentiation of naive CD4 T cells into Th2 cells is accompanied by chromatin remodeling and increased expression of a set of Th2-specific genes, including those encoding Th2 cytokines. IL-4–mediated STAT6 activation induces high levels of transcription of GATA3, a master regulator of Th2 cell differentiation, and enforced expression of GATA3 induces Th2 cytokine expression. However, it remains unclear whether the expression of other Th2-specific genes is induced directly by GATA3. A genome-wide unbiased chromatin immunoprecipitation assay coupled with massive parallel sequencing analysis revealed that GATA3 bound to 1279 genes selectively in Th2 cells, and 101 genes in both Th1 and Th2 cells. Simultaneously, we identified 26 highly Th2-specific STAT6-dependent inducible genes by DNA microarray analysis-based three-step selection processes, and among them 17 genes showed GATA3 binding. We assessed dependency on GATA3 for the transcription of these 26 Th2-specific genes, and 10 genes showed increased transcription in a GATA3-dependent manner, whereas 16 genes showed no significant responses. The transcription of the 16 GATA3-nonresponding genes was clearly increased by the introduction of an active form of STAT6, STAT6VT. Therefore, although GATA3 has been recognized as a master regulator of Th2 cell differentiation, many Th2-specific genes are not regulated by GATA3 itself, but in collaboration with STAT6.
Software Reliability: A Preliminary Handbook

The overall objective of this handbook is to provide a reference to aid the highway engineer, software developer, and project manager in software verification and validation (VV introduces the important software VV defines the special VV provides a reference to several new software VV SpecChek (Trademark), a VV Real-time computation of roundoff and other numerical errors; and Phased introduction of new software to minimize failures]; and helps the highway engineer, software developer, and project manager integrate software V&V into the development of new software and retrofit V&V into existing software. The handbook emphasizes techniques that address the special needs of highway software, and provides pointers to information on standard V&V tools and techniques of the software industry.
The Tourism System Research Categorization Framework

This analysis produced a tourism system research categorization framework comprising mutually exclusive subject areas to classify the keywords in academic journal articles. The primary research goals were to develop this framework and then assess the frequency levels of specific tourism research subject areas in the 10-year period of 2002–2011. A database of 37,918 author-selected keywords from 9,588 research articles in 31 tourism, hospitality, and leisure journals was created. Using the proposed framework, the database was divided into six main categories (destination; demand; travel; marketing; geographical areas; and generic terms) and 61 sub-categories. The destination category captured the most keywords, followed by demand and then marketing.
Comparison between different techniques of preprocessing for resting state fMRI analysis

COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES OF PREPROCESSING FOR RESTING STATE fMRI ANALYSIS by Megha Girdhar Resting state functional connectivity as the name suggests is defined as significant temporal correlation between spatially distinct regions of the brain during rest. In this thesis, fMRI resting state dataset was analyzed using different available processing techniques with the same fMRI data to study differences between the various methods. All the imaging data from each of the subjects was processed in an identical fashion. The same method was used for detecting connectivity. The number of independent components in the data was used as the base to differentiate the effect of each of these methods. Independent component analysis was performed on each step after and before converting each dataset into MNI space to see the effect of normalization. In resting state fMRI study, different algorithms of motion correction showed no significant difference in the results. Temporal filtering by rectangular filter for particular bands of frequency showed no significant difference in the data analysis. Gaussian and Hamming windows however, work well for the required purpose. In case of spatial smoothing, Unsharp and Sobel filters which emphasize on the edges resulted in an abnormally high increase in number of components which suggested low pass filters like Gaussian and Average are more suitable for fMRI preprocessing. COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES OF PREPROCESSING FOR RESTING STATE fMRI ANALYSIS
The 2012 labour reform: an initial analysis of some of its effects on the labour market

In February 2012 a reform of the Spanish labour market was approved, which modified some of the most important aspects of the institutional framework, affecting key elements, such as the degree of centralisation of the collective bargaining system and dismissal costs and procedures. Although some of these changes are structural and will require a long period to produce their full effect, it is already worth attempting to identify labour market developments that may be related to this labour reform.
Short-term physical risk factors for new episodes of low back pain. Prospective evidence from the South Manchester Back Pain Study.

STUDY DESIGN A prospective population-based cohort study performed in South Manchester, United Kingdom. OBJECTIVES To determine whether nonoccupational physical activity and indicators of physical stress on the spine predict low back pain in the short term. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA There is evidence that physical activity outside the workplace helps to protect against low back pain in the long term. However, such activity may injure or stress the spine in the short term. METHODS A baseline survey questionnaire identified 2715 adults, aged 18-75 years, with no low back pain at the time of the survey. Information on potential predictors of low back pain also was obtained. New episodes of back pain were identified during the subsequent year. RESULTS A new low back pain episode occurred in 34% of men and 37% of women. Poor general health at baseline was the strongest predictor of a new episode of pain (men: relative risk (RR) 1.5, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.8, 2.7; women: RR 2.2, 95% CI 1.2, 4.0). High weight was associated with subsequent low back pain in women (RR 1.4; 95% CI 1.0, 2.0), but neither height nor weight predicted low back pain in men. A self-rated low level of physical activity was not consistently linked with subsequent low back pain, nor were specific nonoccupational physical activities, apart from home-improvement work in men and regular sports in women. CONCLUSION Although some specific activities may be hazardous to the back, physical activity outside the workplace does not increase the short-term risk of low back pain overall. Leisure-time physical activity is not a hazard to the back, whereas poor physical health in both genders and heavier weight in women do increase the risk of new low back pain episodes in the short term.
Investment Banking and Security Speculation in the Late 1920's

The stock market boom and bust of the late 1920's has been closely associated by scholars and public alike with the great changes in American life that followed closely thereafter. Actually, the interrelationship is far from clear, and a better understanding of the capital market is needed. Historical evidence points to the absence of effective market regulation and to the violation of accepted norms of monetary policy, but the only clear-cut causal connection between levels of economic activity and the stock boom lies in the effect of security inflation on the psychological climate of the business community.
Fatal Pulmonary Transfusion Reaction to Plasma Containing Donor HLA Antibody 1

Abstract. A 55‐year‐old woman with common variable immunodeficiency and mild chronic obstructive lung disease received 3 units of plasma as immunoglobulin replacement therapy. During the administration of the final unit, her temperature rose 1°C, with no other observable symptoms. Fifteen minutes later she developed shortness of breath without nausea, vomiting, rash, or pruritus. In 30 min she lost consciousness, was breathless, and cyanotic. Resuscitative efforts failed. Autopsy failed to pinpoint a cause of death. There was no evidence of ABO or Rh incompatibility, bacterial contamination, or hemolysis. There were no neutrophil, platelet or IgA antibodies detectable in the patient or the 3 plasma donors. There were no lymphocytotoxic HLA antibodies in the patient or two of the plasma donors. The third donor had HLA‐B35 lymphocytotoxic antibodies that did not agglutinate or aggregate neutrophils. The patient's HLA type was A2, A3; B35, B40. Lymphocytotoxic crossmatches using lymphocytes of the patient were positive with plasma from the third donor but negative with the other two. An eluate prepared from post‐mortem lung parenchymal tissue was cytotoxic to 7 of 8 panel lymphocytes positive for the HLA‐B35 antigen but not with cells lacking B35. The implicated plasma donor was healthy with a history of 6 pregnancies. This case report illustrates the potential hazard of transfusion of plasma containing HLA antibodies.