Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maternal smoking during pregnancy and scholastic achievement in childhood: evidence from the LIFECOURSE cohort study

Abstract Background Research on the impact of maternal smoking during pregnancy (MSDP) on scholastic achievement in the offspring has shown conflicting findings. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of MSDP on scholastic achievement in a birth cohort of children in 4th, 7th and 10th grades. Methods We analysed data from the LIFECOURSE study, a cohort study of risk and protective factors in all children born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in the year 2000 (N = 1151, girls = 49.3%). Retrospective registry data for 2014–2015 were merged with prospective survey data that were collected in April 2016. Data on MSDP were assessed during regular antenatal visits at the end of the first trimester. Standardized academic achievement scores were obtained from official school transcripts. Data were analysed using OLS regressions that were entered in three hierarchical blocks. Results Children of mothers who smoked tobacco during the first trimester consistently revealed between 5% and 7% lower scores on standardized academic achievement in 4th, 7th and 10th grade (∼6–8 points on a normally distributed 120 point scale) than those of mothers who had not smoked tobacco during this period (P < 0.05). These findings held after controlling for several factors associated with the time of birth (e.g. birth weight, maternal age at birth, birth order, parental cohabitation and household income), as well as the year of scholastic assessment (parental cohabitation, household income and parental education). Conclusions Maternal smoking during pregnancy was negatively related to scholastic achievement in the offspring during 4th, 7th and 10th grade.
Muscle phosphocreatine repletion following single and repeated short sprint efforts

Phosphocreatine (PCr) repletion following either single (1x6 s, n=7) or repeated (5x6 s, departing every 30 s, n=8) maximal short sprint cycling efforts was measured in separate groups of trained subjects. Muscle biopsies (vastus lateralis) were taken pre‐exercise before warming up, and then at 10 s, 30 s and 3 min post‐exercise. After the 1 × 6 s sprint PCr concentration was respectively, 55% (10 s; P<0.01), 69% (30 s; P<0.01) and 90% (3 min; NS) of the pre‐exercise value (mean±SD) (81.1±7.4 mmol · kg−1 DM), whereas after the 5 × 6 s sprints, PCr concentration was, respectively, 27% (10 s; P<0.01), 45% (30 s; P<0.01) and 84% (3 min; P<0.01) of the pre‐exercise value (77.1±4.9 mmol · kg−1 DM). PCr concentration was correlated with muscle lactate at 30 s (r=−0.82; P<0.05) and 3 min of recovery (r=−0.94; P<0.01) for the 1 × 6 s sprint, but not for the 5 × 6 s sprints. The extent of PCr repletion was significantly greater after the 5 × 6 s sprints than the 1 × 6 s sprint between both 10 s and 30 s and 30 s and 3 min, despite lower PCr levels at 10 s, 30 s and 3 min following the 5 × 6 s sprints. Full repletion of PCr is likely to take longer after repeated sprints than single short sprints because of a greater degree of PCr depletion, such that replenishment must commence from lower PCr levels rather than because of slower rates of repletion.
In vivo MR Measurement of Refractive Index, Relative Water Content and T2 Relaxation time of Various Brain lesions With Clinical Application to Discriminate Brain Lesions

PURPOSE: Refractive index (RI) is unique in discriminating various tissues. It is dependent on water and solid components such as protein and phospholipid of brain tissue resembling hydrogel. Our purpose was to determine RI of normal and pathological tissues of brain from the MR T2 relaxation time (T2 value) to determine relative water and solid contents of a tissue and discriminate various pathological lesions by the help of RI in T2 weighted MR images.METHODS: In a 0.3 Tesla permanent and 3 Tesla superconductor magnets T2 maps were created along with T2 shades to get T2 value of various brain tissue homogenates prepared from biopsy samples of known RI using multi-echo datasets by a read out train. T2 value of CSF, gray/white matter and various pathological lesions were determined.From the relationship of RI and T2, a RI map of brain and RI shade were produced. Computer generated RI and color coded map of T2 weighted images of various lesions were created. RESULTS: Analyzing various RI of pathological lesions it was noted that, RI of malignant lesions were more than 1.421 whereas RI of benign lesions were less than 1.395CONCLUSION: RI and color coded map may discriminate between benign and malignant lesions of brain.
2018-00421-[ Campagne CORDIS-CRI Paris ] : Distributed coordination algorithms in dynamic networks

Contexte et atouts du poste The Delys group (previously Regal) <http://team.inria. fr/regal/> is a joint team of Inria and Sorborne Universty whose research topics cover the whole spectrum of distributed systems and multicore systems. Our research topics span the whole spectrum between theoretical aspects of distributed systems, such as possibility and impossibility results, consensus or fault detectors, to the design and implementation of highly efficient algorithms and systems, such as an extreme-scale geo-replicated database minimising synchronisation. We publish in the best venues across the spectrum, such as PODC, DISC, SSS, OPODIS, JPDC, OSDI, EuroSys, Middleware, SRDS, DSN, IPDPS, EDCC, OSR, Systor, ASPLOS, POPL, etc.
Indoor Exposure Associated Risk For Eczema InEarly Childhood

In the development of allergic disorders other factors besides a genetic disposition seem to play a role. Exposure to risk factors such as indoor air pollution is becoming increasingly interesting, especially during early childhood. Within an epidemiological study involving 2536 children the effect of indoor exposure on allergic symptoms and physician-confirmed eczema has been investigated. The exposure situation has been characterised on hand of the redecoration activities before birth and in the first years of life. Highly exposed children showed a significant effect on allergic disorders. The lifetime prevalences without any vs. of all three redecoration activities (painting, floor covering and new furniture) were for allergic symptoms 9.3 vs. 17.2% and for eczema 11.5 vs. 20.4%. Adjusted for confounders, the redecoration associated burden led to odds ratios of 1.8 (95%CI: 1.3-2.6) for allergic symptoms and 1.9 (95%CI: 1.4-2.7) for eczema. Exposure emissions due to redecoration activities seem to be associated with the risk of eczema and allergic symptoms. Thus, prevention of allergic disorders should include the avoidance of such activities around birth and in the first year of life.
Learn or Earn? - Intelligent Task Recommendation for Competitive Crowdsourced Software Development

Background: Competitive crowdsourced development encourages online software developers to register for tasks offered on the crowdsourcing platform and implement them in a competitive mode. As a large number of tasks are uploaded daily, the scenery of competition is changing continuously. Without appropriate decision support, online developers often make task decisions in an ad hoc and intuitive manner. Aims: To provide dynamic decision support for crowd developers to select the task that fit best to their personal learning versus earning objectives, taking into account the actual competitiveness situation. Method: We propose a recommendation system called EX (“EX-Square”) that combines both explorative (“learn”) and exploitative (“earn”) search for tasks, based on a systematic analysis of workers preference patterns, technologies hotness, and the projection of winning chances. The implemented prototype allows dynamic recommendations that reflect task updates and competition dynamics at any given time. Results: Based on evaluation from 4007 tasks monitored over a period of 2 years, we show that EX can explore and adjust task recommendations corresponding to context changes, and individual learning preferences of workers. A survey was also conducted with 14 actual crowd workers, showing that intelligent decision support from EX is considered useful and valuable. Conclusions: With support from EX, workers benefit from the tool from getting customized recommendations, and the platform provider gets a higher chance to better cover the breadth of technology needs in case recommendations are taken.
Intervening to enhance cortisol regulation among children at risk for neglect: Results of a randomized clinical trial

Abstract The hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis is particularly sensitive to conditions of maltreatment. In particular, neglected children have shown a flatter slope with lower wake-up values relative to nonneglected children. An intervention, the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up (ABC), was developed to enhance biological and behavioral regulation in young children at risk for neglect. The effectiveness of the intervention was assessed in a randomized clinical trial for children with involvement with Child Protective Services. Following the intervention, children receiving the ABC intervention (n = 49) showed more typical cortisol production, with higher wake-up cortisol values and a steeper diurnal slope, than children receiving the control intervention (n = 51). These results suggest that the ABC intervention is effective in enhancing biological regulation.
Changing nutrient stoichiometry affects phytoplankton production, DOP accumulation and dinitrogen fixation: A mesocosm experiment in the eastern tropical North Atlantic

Abstract. Ocean deoxygenation due to climate change may alter redox-sensitive nutrient cycles in the marine environment. The productive eastern tropical North Atlantic (ETNA) upwelling region may be particularly affected when the relatively moderate oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) deoxygenates further and microbially driven nitrogen (N) loss processes are promoted. Consequently, water masses with a low nitrogen to phosphorus (N : P) ratio could reach the euphotic layer, possibly influencing primary production in those waters. Previous mesocosm studies in the oligotrophic Atlantic Ocean identified nitrate availability as a control of primary production, while a possible co-limitation of nitrate and phosphate could not be ruled out. To better understand the impact of changing N : P ratios on primary production and N2 fixation in the ETNA surface ocean, we conducted land-based mesocosm experiments with natural plankton communities and applied a broad range of N : P ratios (2.67–48). Silicic acid was supplied at 15 µmol L−1 in all mesocosms. We monitored nutrient drawdown, biomass accumulation and nitrogen fixation in response to variable nutrient stoichiometry. Our results confirmed nitrate to be the key factor determining primary production. We found that excess phosphate was channeled through particulate organic matter (POP) into the dissolved organic matter (DOP) pool. In mesocosms with low inorganic phosphate availability, DOP was utilized while N2 fixation increased, suggesting a link between those two processes. Interestingly this observation was most pronounced in mesocosms where nitrate was still available, indicating that bioavailable N does not necessarily suppress N2 fixation. We observed a shift from a mixed cyanobacteria–proteobacteria dominated active diazotrophic community towards a diatom-diazotrophic association of the Richelia-Rhizosolenia symbiosis. We hypothesize that a potential change in nutrient stoichiometry in the ETNA might lead to a general shift within the diazotrophic community, potentially influencing primary productivity and carbon export.
Immediate Neighborhood Temperature Adaptive Routing for Dynamically Throttled 3-D Networks-on-Chip

In this brief, we present the immediate neighborhood temperature (INT) routing algorithm, which balances thermal profiles across dynamically throttled 3-D networks-on-chip by adaptively routing interconnect traffic based on runtime temperature monitoring. INT avoids the overheads of system-wide temperature monitoring by relying on the heat transfer characteristics of 3-D integrated circuits that enable temperature information from routers in the immediate neighborhood to guide adaptive routing decisions. Experimental results indicate that INT yields balanced thermal profiles with up to 25% lower gradients than competing schemes and shortens communication latency by decreasing average network congestion by up to 50%, with negligible overheads.
Draft Genome Sequences of Two Novel Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica Strains Isolated from Low-Moisture Foods with Applications in Food Safety Research

ABSTRACT The genomes of two strains of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Cubana and serovar Muenchen, isolated from dry hazelnuts and chia seeds, respectively, were sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq platform, assembled de novo using the overlap-layout-consensus method, and aligned to their respective most identical sequence genome scaffolds using MUMMER and BLAST searches.
Shadow-Box : The Practical and Omnipotent Sandbox

We propose a security monitoring framework for operating systems, Shadow-box, exploiting state-of-the-art virtualization technologies. Shadow-box is primarily composed of a lightweight hypervisor and a security monitor. As being loaded on an operating system, the lightweight hypervisor prepares a guest machine and project the operating system upon the guest. The hypervisor partially shadows the guest kernel for the purpose of security investigation and recovery, and runs the security monitor to supervise accesses and sanity of the guest. We manipulate address translations from the guest to the physical memory in order to exclude unauthorized accesses to the host and the hypervisor spaces. In that way, Shadow-box can properly introspect the guest operating system and mediate all accesses, even when the operating system is compromised. The Shadow-box could be used for various security enforcements, such as malware filtering, information flow control, auditing, etc. We exemplify the security monitor by implementing an integrity protector for an operating system kernel, and show how it effectively neutralizes rootkits and malicious root accesses of malware in Linux and Android. Performance evaluation results are presented as well. Shadow-box provides stronger protections with less overhead than existing hypervisor-based security solutions. Moreover, all the protections are applied to an existing system on-the-fly. The hypervisor does not have to be installed antecedently.
Coenzyme Q10 enhances dermal elastin expression, inhibits IL‐1α production and melanin synthesis in vitro

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a well‐known antioxidant and has been used in many skincare products for anti‐ageing purpose. However, the molecular mechanisms of CoQ10 function in skin cells are not fully understood. In this paper, we compared the effects of CoQ10 on primary human dermal fibroblasts from three individuals, including adult. We demonstrated that CoQ10 treatment promoted proliferation of fibroblasts, increased type IV collagen expression and reduced UVR‐induced matrix metalloproteinases‐1 (MMP‐1) level in embryonic and adult cells. In addition, CoQ10 treatment increased elastin gene expression in cultured fibroblasts and significantly decreased UVR‐induced IL‐1α production in HaCat cells. Taken together, CoQ10 presented anti‐ageing benefits against intrinsic ageing as well as photo damage. Interestingly, CoQ10 was able to inhibit tyrosinase activity, resulting in reduced melanin content in B16 cells. Thus, CoQ10 may have potential depigmentation effects for skincare.
Vitamin D therapy in canine atopic dermatitis

Allergic diseases are caused by an exaggerated and often deleterious response of the immune system to specific antigens.1 Canine atopic dermatitis is a genetically predisposed, inflammatory and pruritic allergic skin disease, which causes clinical signs associated with an immunoglobin E(IgE)-mediated response towards environmental allergens. The disease may have a strong impact on the quality of life of both diseased dogs and their owners.2 The first clinical signs of canine atopic dermatitis usually begin at between six months and three years of age. Pruritus is usually the first sign noticed by the dog owners, accompanied by erythema and papules on body sites with a predilection for the disease. Trauma through scratching and biting with excoriations and alopecia follow, and recurrent skin or ear infections with lichenification and hyperpigmentation are common. Rhinitis or conjunctivitis may accompany skin inflammation, especially in response to seasonal changes. Common sites for lesions on the body are the face, concave ear pinnae and ear canals, the ventral trunk and medial and flexural aspects of extremities and paws.3 Practitioners should make a diagnosis of canine atopic dermatitis using the dog’s disease history, clinical signs and by ruling out other possible conditions that can mimic the disease. The most common diseases that have similar clinical signs to canine atopic dermatitis include parasitic skin diseases (especially scabies) and infectious skin diseases ( Staphylococcus - and Malassezia -provoked skin inflammation). Allergy tests should be used after the diagnosis has been made. Testing is performed only to detect the allergens to be avoided or included in allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT),3 which is the practice of administering gradually increasing quantities of an allergen extract to an allergic subject to improve the clinical signs associated …
Association Assessment among Risk Factors and Breast Cancer in a Low Income Country: Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND In the low incoming country Bangladesh, breast cancer is second most common neoplasm and is increasing at an alarming rate among females. Lack of awareness and illiteracy are contributory factors for late presentation and therefore mortality. PURPOSE To examine associations of different factors with breast cancer mortality and to raise awareness among the women of society in Bangladesh. MATERIALS AND METHODS This descriptive case-control study was conducted on 160 participants from April 2011 till July 2014. Through a valid questionnaire covering personal and family history, data were collected by face to face interview. For analyzing correlations among factors with breast cancer data, binary logistic regression, Pearson's χ2- value, odd ratios and p-value tests were conducted with SPSS version 20. RESULTS The mean age of the patients was 43.0 (SD= ± 11.12). In ascending order the leading significant factors were hormone therapy (p<0.0000, OR=4.897), abortion (p<0.0001, OR=3.452), early start menarche (p<0.0002, OR=3.500), family history (p<0.0022, OR=3.235), and late menopause (p<0.0093, OR=3.674) with both χ2 test and logistic regression analyses. Non-significant factors were cancer experience, fatty food habits, marital status and taking alcohol. CONCLUSIONS Regarding the investigation of this study, significant and insignificant factor's correlation visualization with breast cancer will be helpful to increase awareness among Bangladeshi women as well as all over the world.
Sentiment analysis and visualization of Chinese tourism blogs and reviews

Reviews of tourist areas are based on the author's experience; hence, when other users travel to a tourist area, they may experience it differently. Over the years, many papers analyzing tourism reviews have been published. However, there are not many papers that analyze tourism blog data and present a summary of their content. One aspect of blog content is the large quantity of data, making it difficult for users to understand the blog content in a short amount of time. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a system to analyze blogs and review data written by users based on their tourism experiences, summarize their content, and visualize the information that the blog authors intended to convey according to various tourism properties. The results of our experiments confirmed that the system proposed in this paper can reduce the time spent by an average of 91.6%.
Epicardial adipose tissue and atrial fibrillation: pathophysiological mechanisms, clinical implications, and potential therapies

Abstract Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in clinical practice and is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) serves as a biologically active organ with important endocrine and inflammatory function. Review An accumulating body of evidence suggests that EAT is associated with the initiation, perpetuation, and recurrence of AF, but the precise role of EAT in AF pathogenesis is not completely elucidated. Pathophysiological mechanisms involve adipocyte infiltration, profibrotic and pro-inflammatory paracrine effects, oxidative stress, neural mechanisms, and genetic factors. Conclusions: Notably, EAT accumulation seems to be associated with stroke and adverse cardiovascular outcomes in AF. Weight loss, specific medications and ablation of ganglionated plexi (GP) seem to be potential therapies in this setting.
Monitoring and measuring wireless network performance in the presence of middleboxes

Monitoring and measurement of wireless networks play an important role for a number of reasons. In current networking scenarios, middleboxes (NAT, firewall, PEP, PCMS, …) are more and more common. In this paper we present preliminary results of our ongoing work on the monitoring and measurement of the performance of real operational wireless networks in the presence of middleboxes. We analyze the 3G network of two of the major operators in Europe and the satellite network of one of the major European providers of satellite connectivity. Our results show how middleboxes can deeply change the results of an experiment: in the presence of such devices, the performance parameters of interest can obtain completely different values when measured with different tools and methodologies. To cope with these issues, we propose an approach composed of both active and passive techniques, considering several layers in a combined fashion, using different traffic profiles, and looking at both side of the considered middleboxes.
The value of 64-detector row computed tomography for the exclusion of pulmonary embolism

Summary Recently, a diagnostic strategy using a clinical decision rule, D-dimer testing and spiral computed tomography (CT) was found to be effective in the evaluation of patients with clinically suspected pulmonary embolism (PE). However, the rate of venous thromboembolic complications in the three-month follow-up of patients with negative CT was still substantial and included fatal events. It was the objective to evaluate the safety of withholding anticoagulants after a normal 64-detector row CT (64-DCT) scan from a cohort of patients with suspected PE. A total of 545 consecutive patients with clinically suspected first episode of PE and either likely pre-test probability of PE (using the simplified Wells score) or unlikely pre-test probability in combination with a positive D-dimer underwent a 64-DCT. 64-DCT scanning was inconclusive in nine patients (1.6%), confirmed the presence of PE in 169 (31%), and ruled out the diagnosis in the remaining 367. During the three-month follow-up of the 367 patients one developed symptomatic distal deep-vein thrombosis (0.27%; 95%CI, 0.0 to 1.51%) and none developed PE (0 %; 95%CI, 0 to 1.0%). We conclude that 64-DCT scanning has the potential to safely exclude the presence of PE virtually in all patients presenting with clinical suspicion of this clinical disorder.