Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Statistical and Biological Gene-Lifestyle Interactions of MC4R and FTO with Diet and Physical Activity on Obesity: New Effects on Alcohol Consumption

Background Fat mass and obesity (FTO) and melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) and are relevant genes associated with obesity. This could be through food intake, but results are contradictory. Modulation by diet or other lifestyle factors is also not well understood. Objective To investigate whether MC4R and FTO associations with body-weight are modulated by diet and physical activity (PA), and to study their association with alcohol and food intake. Methods Adherence to Mediterranean diet (AdMedDiet) and physical activity (PA) were assessed by validated questionnaires in 7,052 high cardiovascular risk subjects. MC4R rs17782313 and FTO rs9939609 were determined. Independent and joint associations (aggregate genetic score) as well as statistical and biological gene-lifestyle interactions were analyzed. Results FTO rs9939609 was associated with higher body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and obesity (P<0.05 for all). A similar, but not significant trend was found for MC4R rs17782313. Their additive effects (aggregate score) were significant and we observed a 7% per-allele increase of being obese (OR = 1.07; 95%CI 1.01–1.13). We found relevant statistical interactions (P<0.05) with PA. So, in active individuals, the associations with higher BMI, WC or obesity were not detected. A biological (non-statistical) interaction between AdMedDiet and rs9939609 and the aggregate score was found. Greater AdMedDiet in individuals carrying 4 or 3-risk alleles counterbalanced their genetic predisposition, exhibiting similar BMI (P = 0.502) than individuals with no risk alleles and lower AdMedDiet. They also had lower BMI (P = 0.021) than their counterparts with low AdMedDiet. We did not find any consistent association with energy or macronutrients, but found a novel association between these polymorphisms and lower alcohol consumption in variant-allele carriers (B+/−SE: −0.57+/−0.16 g/d per-score-allele; P = 0.001). Conclusion Statistical and biological interactions with PA and diet modulate the effects of FTO and MC4R polymorphisms on obesity. The novel association with alcohol consumption seems independent of their effects on BMI.
Laterality in Somatization

Objective To identify whether there is a lateralized pattern in somatic symptoms related to emotional disturbances. Method: Sixty-one patients with depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and somatization disorders were examined for the lateralized distribution of somatic symptoms in the body and its relationship to the severity of anxiety and depression. Results: The chief somatic symptoms presented significantly more on the left side than on the right side of the body. Headache and other forms of pain, especially, occurred more on the left side. There was no significant difference between left-sided and right-sided groups in demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status, education level, diagnosis, and duration of illness. The scores on Hamilton's anxiety scale or Hamilton's depression scale were higher in the left-sided group than the right-sided group, although the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusions: These results suggest that the right hemisphere of the brain is more involved than the left with somatization symptom formation related to emotional disturbances.
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS Working Paper UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Technology , power and the political economy of inequality

Technology can affect the distribution of income directly via its influence on both the bargaining power of different parties and the marginal product of different factors of production. This paper focuses mainly on the first route. The role of power is transparent in the case of medieval choke points but modern network technologies have similar features. There is also substantial evidence ‐‐ from truckers and retail clerks to CEOs ‐‐ that power affects the determination of wages. But power relations inevitably have institutional dimensions; regulatory frameworks influence industry structures and the market power of large companies as well as the parameters that determine the earnings of different groups of workers. The institutional framework is arrived at through complex social and political processes; technology, however, may exert some influence on the course of those processes.
University of Huddersfield Repository The Archaeological and Genetic Foundations of the European Population during the Late Glacial: Implications for ‘Agricultural Thinking’

This article presents the initial results from the S2AGES data base of calibrated radiocarbon estimates from western Europe in the period 25,000–10,000 years ago. Our aim is to present a population history of this sub-continental region by providing a chrono-logically-secure framework for the interpretation of data from genetics and archaeology. In particular, we deﬁne ﬁve population events in this period, using dates-as-data, and examine the implications for the archaeology of Late Glacial colonization. We contrast this detailed regional approach to the larger project which we call the cognitive origins synthesis that includes historical linguistics in the reconstruction of population history. We conclude that only archaeology can currently provide the framework for population history and the evaluation of genetic data. Finally, if progress is to be made in the new interdisciplinary ﬁeld of population history then both disciplines need to refrain from inappropriate agricultural thinking that fosters distorting models of European prehistory, and they should also pay less, if any, attention to historical linguistics.
Fundamental Limitations on the Variance of Estimated Parametric Models

In this technical note fundamental integral limitations are derived on the variance of estimated parametric models, for both open and closed loop identification. As an application of these results we show that, for multisine inputs, a well known asymptotic (in model order) variance expression provides upper bounds on the actual variance of the estimated models for finite model orders. The fundamental limitations established here give rise to a dasiawater-bedpsila effect, which is illustrated in an example.
Toward a Quantitative Estimate of Future Heat Wave Mortality under Global Climate Change

Background Climate change is anticipated to affect human health by changing the distribution of known risk factors. Heat waves have had debilitating effects on human mortality, and global climate models predict an increase in the frequency and severity of heat waves. The extent to which climate change will harm human health through changes in the distribution of heat waves and the sources of uncertainty in estimating these effects have not been studied extensively. Objectives We estimated the future excess mortality attributable to heat waves under global climate change for a major U.S. city. Methods We used a database comprising daily data from 1987 through 2005 on mortality from all nonaccidental causes, ambient levels of particulate matter and ozone, temperature, and dew point temperature for the city of Chicago, Illinois. We estimated the associations between heat waves and mortality in Chicago using Poisson regression models. Results Under three different climate change scenarios for 2081–2100 and in the absence of adaptation, the city of Chicago could experience between 166 and 2,217 excess deaths per year attributable to heat waves, based on estimates from seven global climate models. We noted considerable variability in the projections of annual heat wave mortality; the largest source of variation was the choice of climate model. Conclusions The impact of future heat waves on human health will likely be profound, and significant gains can be expected by lowering future carbon dioxide emissions.
Varieties of Capitalism and Institutional Complementarities in the Political Economy: An Empirical Analysis

This article provides a statistical analysis of core contentions of the ‘varieties of capitalism’ perspective on comparative capitalism. The authors construct indices to assess whether patterns of co-ordination in the OECD economies conform to the predictions of the theory and compare the correspondence of institutions across subspheres of the political economy. They test whether institutional complementarities occur across these subspheres by estimating the impact of complementarities in labour relations and corporate governance on growth rates. To assess the durability of varieties of capitalism, they report on the extent of institutional change in the 1980s and 1990s. Powerful interaction effects across institutions in the subspheres of the political economy must be considered if assessments of the economic impact of institutional reform in any one sphere are to be accurate.
Energy-efficiency MBMS Single Frequency Networks with User Cooperation

Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) has been introduced in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). To support Enhanced MBMS (EMBMS) in long Term Evolution (LTE), MBMS over a Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) is proposed to satisfy the high-speed data flow of multimedia service and improve the performance of users in the edge of MBSFN area. However, the proposed adaption is not ideal in situation where the Inter Site Distance (ISD) is quite large. In order to solve the problem, MBSFN model is established in this paper firstly. Next, the User Cooperation method is proposed which adopts positioning technology, the strategy of transmission radius selection and related technology to accomplish cooperation from the users who receive signals successfully to the users who lose signals because of the low SINR. Meanwhile, to decrease energy consumption in line with Green Communications, this paper also proposes Energy-efficiency MBSFN which not only saves the power of system, but also achieves higher performance compared with conventional MBSFN, by reducing the number of evolved Node B (eNB) which transmits MBMS signals and adopting the User Cooperation. Finally, the feasibility and superiority of the new MBSFN is verified by simulation.
Large-scale chromosome fluctuations are driven by chromatin folding organization at small scales

Characterizing the link between small-scale chromatin structure and large-scale chromosome conformation is a prerequisite for understanding transcription. Yet, it remains poorly characterized. We present a simple biophysical model, where chromosomes are described in terms of folding of a chromatin sequence with alternating blocks of fibers with different thickness. We demonstrate that chromosomes undergo prominent conformational changes when the two fibers form separate domains. Conversely, when small stretches of the thinner fiber are randomly distributed, they act as impurities and conformational changes can be observed only at small length and time scales. Our results bring a limit to the possibility of detecting variations in the behavior of chromosomes due to chromatin modifications, and suggest that the debate whether chromosomes expand upon transcription, which is fueled by conflicting experimental observations, can be reconciled by examining how transcribed loci are distributed. Finally, to validate our conclusions, we compare our results to experimental FISH data.
Qualitative Analysis of User-based and Item-based Prediction Algorithms for Recommendation Systems

Recommendation systems employ prediction algorithms to provide users with items that match their interests. In this paper, we describe and assess several prediction algorithms, some of which are novel in that they combine user-based and item-based similarity measures derived from either explicit or implicit ratings. We compare both statistical and decision-support accuracy metrics of the algorithms against different levels of data sparsity and different operational thresholds. The first metric evaluates the accuracy in terms of average absolute deviation, while the second evaluates how effectively predictions help a user select high-quality items. Our experimental results indicate better performance of item-based predictions derived from explicit ratings in relation to both metrics. Finally, we present theoretical extensions of our work that permit to achieve incremental update of similarity measures and to identify virtual, self-organized, online communities.
Hepatitis C infection in patients with primary hypogammaglobulinemia after treatment with contaminated immune globulin.

BACKGROUND In Scandinavia many patients with primary hypogammaglobulinemia contracted non-A, non-B hepatitis after intravenous treatment with an immune globulin product that was later found to contain a non-A, non-B hepatitis virus. METHODS We studied the prevalence and clinical course of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in a group of 55 Norwegian patients with primary hypogammaglobulinemia and investigated its association with the use of contaminated immune globulin. We used the polymerase chain reaction to detect HCV RNA and performed HCV genotyping. We also analyzed the responses to treatment with interferon. RESULTS Of 20 patients who received the contaminated immune globulin, 17 were seropositive for HCV RNA: In addition, 1 of 35 patients not exposed to the contaminated immune globulin was HCV RNA--positive. HCV genotype V was found in all 12 patients for whom genotyping was performed, but 8 patients also had genotype II or III, or both. All HCV RNA--positive patients had abnormal results on biochemical liver tests. All liver-biopsy specimens (from 15 patients) were abnormal, with portal inflammation, bile-duct damage, and focal necrosis. In six patients there was cirrhosis. Two patients died of liver failure. In 4 of the 10 patients treated with interferon there were complete, though transient, biochemical responses, but the follow-up biopsy specimens showed evidence of histologic progression. The poorest responses to interferon were among the patients with multiple HCV genotypes. All but one patient remained positive for HCV RNA: CONCLUSIONS In patients with primary hypogammaglobulinemia there was a high rate of HCV infection after treatment with contaminated immune globulin. In these immunocompromised patients HCV infection has a severe and rapidly progressive course, and responses to interferon are poor.
ARCHITECTURE OF A CONTEXT-BASED INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

We present a new context-based information retrieval (IR) system where users could indicate the context in which they are seeking information. We use a novel way of representing context based on the type of information. The context defined in this manner is most intuitive to the user and originates from their information need in a problem-solving situation. This paper presents context categories for documents in computing and information technology domain and offers a new methodology for assigning context to documents in a collection. This methodology showed promising results and the inter-assigner consistency quite comparable to the results reported in literature. This new context-based information retrieval system overcomes major limitations of the keyword based IR systems currently in use and provides improved performance.
Een onderzoek naar allochtone en autochtone jongeren en politici in de televisiedemocratie

This thesis is a study on how ethnic minority and native young people in the Netherlands give meaning to television appearances by politicians on the basis of qualitative research. The study aimed to gain insight in how young people from different cultural backgrounds give meaning to television appearances of politicians from different cultural backgrounds and what factors play a role. If politicians and political parties want to increase the involvement of young people and want to have more impact on the current generation, it is important to know how this generation, which is characterized by its cultural diversity, talks and thinks about them. This study showed that both immigrant and native young people give meaning to television appearances of politicians based on what they generally think about politics and politicians. There is a clear difference in how immigrant and native people give meaning to these television appearances. Immigrant youth give meaning based on their own experiences where their origins, culture and believe play a role. They think that a negative image of them in Dutch society has arisen. They believe that due to politics and the media, fear is being spread among the native Dutch people about them. They feel neglected and therefore they often have negative experiences based on their origin, culture or believe. Because minority youth are feeling deprived and angry at the politicians and the media, they are also more negative about politics and politicians than native youth. Native young people give meaning to particular television appearances of politicians based on what they hear, read or see in the media and especially on television. Because they do not give meaning to politicians based on negative personal experiences in contrast to minority youth, they are also less negative about politics and television appearances by politicians. The emphasis is less because there is still a negative perception. According to native young people politicians promise things in advance that they already know they cannot fulfill. According to them politics today is all and only about winning votes and politicians do not care about what is good for citizens anymore.
Genome-wide association studies and gene – environment interactions

Purpose of review Much progress in our understanding of the genetic profile of many ophthalmic diseases has been made over the last decade. Identification of novel gene associations allows insight into the mechanisms of disease and potentially enables the identification of individuals at increased risk, as well as facilitating the development of new treatments. We highlight key recent discoveries using the genome-wide association study design.
Seroprevalence of Pertussis in The Gambia

Background: Bordetella pertussis can cause severe respiratory disease and death in children. In recent years, large outbreaks have occurred in high-income countries; however, little is known about pertussis incidence in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: We evaluated antibody responses to pertussis toxin (Ptx) from individuals aged between 2 and 90 years in rural Gambia. IgG-Ptx was measured using luminex xMAP technology. IgG-Ptx geometric mean concentrations (GMC) and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated. The proportion seropositive (>20 EU/mL or ≥62.5 EU/mL) and GMCs were compared by age, sex, ethnic group, vaccination status, birth order and number of siblings per household using logistic and linear regression. Results: 76.3% had anti-Ptx levels <20 EU/mL, 17.5% had concentrations between 20 and 62.5 EU/mL, 4.4% had concentrations between 62.5 and 125 EU/mL and 1.8% had concentrations ≥125 EU/mL. The overall Ptx antibody GMC was 6.4 EU/mL (95% confidence interval: 5.8–6.9). Higher antibody concentrations were observed in older populations with evidence for an increase in infection risk with increasing age (1.9% yearly increase, 95% confidence interval: 1.3–2.5). No child under 6 years of age had GMC above 62.5 EU/mL but 29.5% had concentrations between 20 and 62.5 EU/mL. Conclusions: These data provide evidence that B. pertussis is being transmitted within this population despite high vaccination coverage. Re-infection may occur implying that immunity from childhood vaccination may not be lifelong. In the absence of data on actual clinical cases of pertussis, seroprevalence studies remain valuable tools to assess the transmission dynamics of B. pertussis.
Efficient Sparse Matrix Factorization for Circuit Simulation on Vector Supercomputers

This paper describes an efficient approach to sparse matrix factorization on vector supercomputers. The approach is suitable for application domains like circuit simulation that require the repeated direct solution of unsymmetric sparse linear systems of equations with identical zero-nonzero structure. An Overlap-Scatter data structure is used to represent the sparse matrix, enabling the use of multiple operand access modes to achieve higher performance than earlier proposed approaches. The superior performance of the new solver is demonstrated using a number of matrices derived from circuit simulation runs.
Comparison of traditional versus mobile app self-monitoring of physical activity and dietary intake among overweight adults participating in an mHealth weight loss program

OBJECTIVE Self-monitoring of physical activity (PA) and diet are key components of behavioral weight loss programs. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between diet (mobile app, website, or paper journal) and PA (mobile app vs no mobile app) self-monitoring and dietary and PA behaviors. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study is a post hoc analysis of a 6-month randomized weight loss trial among 96 overweight men and women (body mass index (BMI) 25-45 kg/m(2)) conducted from 2010 to 2011. Participants in both randomized groups were collapsed and categorized by their chosen self-monitoring method for diet and PA. All participants received a behavioral weight loss intervention delivered via podcast and were encouraged to self-monitor dietary intake and PA. RESULTS Adjusting for randomized group and demographics, PA app users self-monitored exercise more frequently over the 6-month study (2.6±0.5 days/week) and reported greater intentional PA (196.4±45.9 kcal/day) than non-app users (1.2±0.5 days/week PA self-monitoring, p<0.01; 100.9±45.1 kcal/day intentional PA, p=0.02). PA app users also had a significantly lower BMI at 6 months (31.5±0.5 kg/m(2)) than non-users (32.5±0.5 kg/m(2); p=0.02). Frequency of self-monitoring did not differ by diet self-monitoring method (p=0.63); however, app users consumed less energy (1437±188 kcal/day) than paper journal users (2049±175 kcal/day; p=0.01) at 6 months. BMI did not differ among the three diet monitoring methods (p=0.20). CONCLUSIONS These findings point to potential benefits of mobile monitoring methods during behavioral weight loss trials. Future studies should examine ways to predict which self-monitoring method works best for an individual to increase adherence.
2D Atomic Crystals: A Promising Solution for Next‐Generation Data Storage

With the rapid development of the information age, more and more new technologies such as big data and cloud computing are beginning to emerge. As a result, the demand for high data‐storage density is becoming more and more urgent. In the past 10 years, data‐storage density has been greatly improved by reducing the size of memory cells. However, as semiconductor technology nodes have shrunk, a number of problems have appeared in metal–oxide–semiconductor field‐effect transistor (MOSFET)‐based memory cells, such as gate‐induced drain leakage, drain‐induced barrier lowering, and reliability issues. Fortunately, due to their atomic thickness, high mobility, and sustainable miniaturization properties, 2D atomic crystals (2D materials) are considered the most promising substitute for silicon to solve those issues. This review investigates the use of 2D materials in nonvolatile and volatile memories, including MOSFET‐based memory, magnetic random‐access memory, resistive random‐access memory, dynamic random‐access memory, semi‐floating‐gate memory, and other novel memories.