Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sulfoconjugation of catecholamines, nutrition, and hypertension.

Sulfoconjugation is an important metabolic pathway determining the fate and potential cardiovascular action of ingested phenolic substances. Among the three catecholamines, dopamine (DA) is to the highest degree sulfoconjugated and has the highest affinity toward the phenolsulfotransferase (PST). The concentration of some sulfated catecholamines, particularly of DA sulfate, increases following ingestion of catecholamines or their precursors. This can be confounded with blood-derived increases in DA sulfate associated with BP peaks in some hypertensive patients. We mimicked, therefore, the latter condition by infusion of free DA into normotensive subjects. At low DA infusion rates, plasma DA sulfate exceeded free DA concentrations, and there were no changes in blood pressure and pulse rate. At higher DA infusion rates, blood pressure and pulse rate increased only while plasma free DA concentrations exceeded those of DA sulfate, indicating that free DA remains biologically active only prior to being conjugated. A similar increase in DA sulfate from alimentary sources (e.g., eating a banana) remains without cardiovascular response and is not associated with an overflow of free DA, since all the ingested DA is conjugated in the gut. We describe a patient with pheochromocytoma who experienced repeated hypertensive crises after ingestion of food containing some biogenic amines, (once also documented by NE increase), possibly due to a phenol sulfoconjugation defect (e.g., substrate inhibition of the PST or its genetic deficiency). Platelet PST-determinations may serve as a screening tool to detect subjects with sulfoconjugation defects since they probably reflect the PSt activity in the gut where ingested phenols are sulfoconjugated.
Are smokers with alcohol disorders less likely to quit?

OBJECTIVES This study examined the likelihood of smoking cessation in smokers with a prior history of alcoholism. METHODS Data came from an epidemiologic study of 1007 young adults, randomly selected from those insured in a large health maintenance organization (HMO) in southeast Michigan. Cox proportional hazards models with time-dependent covariates were used to estimate the hazards ratios of quitting in smokers with current and past alcoholism, with smokers with no history of alcoholism as a reference. Sex, race, and education were controlled. RESULTS Smokers with active alcoholism in the preceding year were 60% less likely to quit than were smokers with no history of alcoholism. In contrast, smokers whose alcoholism had remitted were at least as likely to quit as smokers with no history of alcoholism. Compared with persistent alcoholism, remission of alcoholism was associated with more than a threefold increase in the likelihood of subsequent smoking cessation. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that discontinuation of alcoholism might increase the potential for successful smoking cessation.
The 2nd International Symposium on Medical Information and Communication Technology (ismict'07) Measurement of Ecg, Respiratory Rate, Tilt and Temperature of a Patient and Wireless Zigbee Data Transmission

A wireless sensor belt, designed as a mobile monitoring device for hospital use, was built during the work reported here. This sensor belt is capable of measuring electrocardiogram (ECG), respiratory rate, tilt and skin temperature. Its analogue electronics were designed to be effective, have a low current consumption and use the most suitable components available for all couplings. For wireless data transmission, the sensor belt utilizes a separate module, attached to a base soldered to an analogue electronic PCB (Printed Circuit Board). On this module, there is an 8051 microcontroller and a ZigBee transceiver supporting the IEEE 802.15. 4 standard. Programming of the module was done in the Linux environment using the C language. The sensor belt proved capable of successfully sending wireless data. Moreover, wirelessness improved signal quality, as it reduced the noise coupling risk. This effect could be observed in the quality of both ECG and accelerometer signals. Among the greatest benefits of wirelessness is increased mobility. To sum up, the capacity to receive a large amount of measurement data from the belt and the application of new wireless data transmission based on ZigBee technology make the sensor belt a remarkable application for the needs of the wireless hospital.
Descriptive, observational study of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical arrests, use, and overdoses in Maine

Objectives The Maine Diversion Alert Program grants healthcare providers access to law enforcement data on drug charges. The objectives of this report were to analyse variations in drug charges by demographics and examine recent trends in arrests, prescriptions of controlled substances and overdoses. Design Observational. Setting Arrests, controlled prescription medication distribution and overdoses in Maine. Participants Drug arrestees (n=1272) and decedents (n=2432). Primary outcome measures Arrestees were analysed by sex and age. Substances involved in arrests were reported by schedule (I–V or non-controlled prescription) and into opioids, stimulants or other classes. Controlled substances reported to the Drug Enforcement Administration (2007–2017) were evaluated. Drug-induced deaths (2007–2017) reported to the medical examiner were examined by the substance(s) identified. Results Males were more commonly arrested for stimulants and schedule II substances. More than two-thirds of arrests involved individuals under the age of 40. Individuals age >60 were elevated for oxycodone arrests. Over three-fifths (63.38%) of arrests involved schedule II–IV substances. Opioids accounted for almost half (44.6%) of arrests followed by stimulants (32.5%) and sedatives (9.1%). Arrests involving buprenorphine exceeded those for oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, tramadol and morphine, combined. Prescriptions for hydrocodone (−56.0%) and oxycodone (−46.9%) declined while buprenorphine increased (+58.1%) between 2012 and 2017. Deaths from 2007 to 2017 tripled. Acetylfentanyl and furanylfentanyl were the most common fentanyl analogues identified. Conclusions Although the overall profile of those arrested for drug crimes in 2017 involve males, age <40 and heroin, exceptions (oxycodone for older adults) were observed. Most prescription opioids are decreasing while deaths involving opioids continue to increase in Maine.
A network coding scheduling for Multiple Description video streaming over wireless networks

Network coding (NC) can achieve the maximum information flow in a network by allowing nodes to combine received packets before retransmission. Several works have shown NC to be beneficial in wireless networks, but the delay introduced by buffering before decoding raises a problem in real-time streaming applications. Here, we propose a framework for video delivery in wireless networks that combines Expanding Window Network Coding (EWNC), Multiple Description Coding (MDC), and a novel Rate-Distortion Optimised (RDO) scheduling algorithm that optimises the order in which the video packets are included in the coding window at the current sending opportunity. Results show that our approach consistently outperforms both EWNC applied on single description coding (SDC) and EWNC applied to MDC when a trivial scheduling is used.
Oligomeric Nature of the Integral Membrane Protein Stomatin*

The 31-kDa integral membrane protein stomatin (protein 7.2b) is not only an important component of the red cell membrane but can also be found in abundance in different tissues and cell lines. The protein is thought to be anchored to the membrane by a hydrophobic domain while both N and C termini are exposed to the cytoplasm. We have previously shown in the human cell line UAC that stomatin concentrates preferentially in plasma membrane folds and protrusions. There is also evidence that stomatin is linked to the cortical actin cytoskeleton, suggesting a role in cortical morphogenesis of the cell. In this study, we demonstrate that the fundamental structure of stomatin is oligomeric. Whereas interaction of stomatin with itself was suggested by cross-linking experiments, we show by density gradient centrifugation analysis that soluble homo-oligomeric complexes of this protein are present in Triton X-100 extracts of UAC cells. We also show the existence of these oligomers by co-immunoprecipitation of the endogenous stomatin and a recombinantly expressed myc-tagged stomatin, using an anti-myc antibody. The data indicate that these complexes comprise between 9 and 12 monomers of stomatin. Two C-terminally truncated forms of stomatin do not incorporate into these oligomers, suggesting an involvement of the C terminus in the homo-oligomeric interaction.
Kirjallisuuskatsaus johtamisen rakenneanalyyttiseen paradigmaan

The structural analysts_is one of the central management paradigms of the 20th century, although there has been little study of it in Finland. T he aim of this literature review is to study how the structural analysis paradigm is presented in international literature on the private sector during the review period (1992-2006). In particular, the review will focus on the extent to which literature presents the structural analysis paradigm as techniques versus as an ideology. To summarise the results, the articles studied can be divided into five main categories. Firstly, the dynamic between different paradigms, including the structural analysis paradigm, and how the emergence and dominance of a particular paradigm was linked to the relevant societal or world economic circumstances. The second focus of interest is the content of the structural analysis paradigm, in other words, how it emerged, which theoreticians subscribed to it, and what kind of issues and problems was it expected to solve. T hirdly, the literature deals with the history of management theories in different countries. The fourth group contains articles presenting the life work of various theorists. The articles of the fifth group test one of the structural analysis paradigm theories, concepts or models, and discuss potential modern applications for them, the countertheories or criticism attracted by them and their legacy to·more recent schools of thought. As a conclusion, the review appears to confirm the observation by Barley and Kunda (1992, 379) that the structural analysis paradigm has not established itself as a consistent ideology to the same degree as, for example, scientific management or the organizational culture paradigm. Secondly, the texts contain very little discussion on the ideological component of the structural analysis paradigm, while its technical component is emphasised. A similar trend has previously been discovered in Spain, Germany and the UK. The review concludes by considering whether currently used organisational methods could be seen to fall under the structural analysiS paradigm.
Performance of Mobility Models with different Routing Protocols by using Simulation Tools for WSN: A Review

Research on the mobility models for wireless sensor networks has been an interesting area of networking. As a result, researchers over the past few years have measured the performance of mobility models by applying protocols through various simulation tools for wireless sensor networks. Wireless sensor network is a group of sensing devices which are geographically distributed that monitor the condition around it such as physical or environmental which communicates wirelessly to cooperatively pass data to the main location. The goal of the proposed work is to provide researchers with clear idea about the available mobility models for wireless sensor network performance which can be investigated on various available simulation tools with several metrics of sensor networks. Hence, we attempt to provide an overview of the current research status for wireless sensor network mobility models.
Fairness in Secure Two-Party Computation with Rational Players

A seminal result of Cleve (STOC 1986) showed that fairness, in general, is impossible to achieve in case of two-party computation if one of them is malicious. Later, Gordon et al. (STOC 2008) observed that there exist some functions for which fairness can be achieved even though one of the two parties is malicious. One of the functions considered by Gordon et al. is exactly the millionaires’ problem (Yao, FOCS 1982) or, equivalently, the ‘greater-than’ function. Interestingly, Gordon et al. (JACM, 2011) showed that any function over polynomialsize domains which does not contain an “embedded XOR” can be converted into the greater than function. In the same paper, they also demonstrated feasibility for certain functions that do contain an embedded XOR. In this paper, we revisit both the classes of two-party computation under rational players for the first time. We show that Gordon’s protocols no longer remain fair when the players are rational. Further, we design two protocols, one without embedded XOR (the greater-than function) and the other with embedded XOR, and show that with rational players, our protocols achieve fairness under suitable choice of parameters.
Imbalance aware lithography hotspot detection: a deep learning approach

Abstract. With the advancement of very large scale integrated circuits (VLSI) technology nodes, lithographic hotspots become a serious problem that affects manufacture yield. Lithography hotspot detection at the post-OPC stage is imperative to check potential circuit failures when transferring designed patterns onto silicon wafers. Although conventional lithography hotspot detection methods, such as machine learning, have gained satisfactory performance, with the extreme scaling of transistor feature size and layout patterns growing in complexity, conventional methodologies may suffer from performance degradation. For example, manual or ad hoc feature extraction in a machine learning framework may lose important information when predicting potential errors in ultra-large-scale integrated circuit masks. We present a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) that targets representative feature learning in lithography hotspot detection. We carefully analyze the impact and effectiveness of different CNN hyperparameters, through which a hotspot-detection-oriented neural network model is established. Because hotspot patterns are always in the minority in VLSI mask design, the training dataset is highly imbalanced. In this situation, a neural network is no longer reliable, because a trained model with high classification accuracy may still suffer from a high number of false negative results (missing hotspots), which is fatal in hotspot detection problems. To address the imbalance problem, we further apply hotspot upsampling and random-mirror flipping before training the network. Experimental results show that our proposed neural network model achieves comparable or better performance on the ICCAD 2012 contest benchmark compared to state-of-the-art hotspot detectors based on deep or representative machine leaning.
Representation-Aggregation Networks for Segmentation of Multi-Gigapixel Histology Images

Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models have become the state-of-the-art for most computer vision tasks with natural images. However, these are not best suited for multi-gigapixel resolution Whole Slide Images (WSIs) of histology slides due to large size of these images. Current approaches construct smaller patches from WSIs which results in the loss of contextual information. We propose to capture the spatial context using novel Representation-Aggregation Network (RAN) for segmentation purposes, wherein the first network learns patch-level representation and the second network aggregates context from a grid of neighbouring patches. We can use any CNN for representation learning, and can utilize CNN or 2D-Long Short Term Memory (2D-LSTM) for context-aggregation. Our method significantly outperformed conventional patch-based CNN approaches on segmentation of tumour in WSIs of breast cancer tissue sections.
Profile of Polyphenol Compounds of Five Muscadine Grapes Cultivated in the United States and in Newly Adapted Locations in China

Polyphenol compositions and concentrations in skins and seeds of five muscadine grapes (cv. “Noble”, “Alachua”, “Carlos”, “Fry”, and “Granny Val”) cultivated in the United States (Tallahassee-Florida, TA-FL) and South China (Nanning-Guangxi, NN-GX and Pu’er-Yunnan, PE-YN) were investigated, using ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem triple quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC Triple TOF MS/MS). Fourteen ellagitannins were newly identified in these muscadine grapes. The grapes grown in NN-GX accumulated higher levels of ellagic acid, methyl brevifolin carboxylate, and ellagic acid glucoside in skins, and penta-O-galloyl-glucose in seeds. In PE-YN, more flavonols were detected in skins, and higher contents of flavan-3-ols, ellagic acid, and methyl gallate were identified in seeds. Abundant seed gallic acid and flavonols were found among the grapes grown in TA-FL. Based on principal component analysis (PCA) of 54 evaluation parameters, various cultivars grown in different locations could be grouped together and vice versa for the same cultivar cultivated in different regions. This is the result of the interaction between genotype and environmental conditions, which apparently influences the polyphenol synthesis and accumulation.
HIV/AIDS policy agenda setting in Iran

Background: HIV/AIDS control are one of the most important goals of the health systems. The aim of this study was to determine how HIV/AIDS control was initiated among policy makers’ agenda setting in Iran. Methods: A qualitative research (semi-structured interview) was conducted using Kingdon’s framework (problem, policy and politics streams, and policy windows and policy entrepreneurs) to analysis HIV/AIDS agenda setting in Iran. Thirty-two policy makers, managers, specialists, and researchers were interviewed. Also, 30 policy documents were analyzed. Framework analysis method was used for data analysis. Results: the increase of HIV among Injecting drug users (IDUs) and Female Sex Workers (FSWs), lack of control of their high-risk behaviors, and exceeding the HIV into concentrated phase were examples of problem stream. Policy stream was evidence-based solutions that highlighted the need for changing strategies for dealing with such a problem and finding technically feasible and acceptable solutions. Iran’s participation in United Nations General Assembly special sessions on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS), the establishment of National AIDS Committee; highlighting AIDS control in Iran’s five years development program and the support of the judiciary system of harm reduction policies were examples of politics stream. Policy entrepreneurs linking these streams put the HIV/AIDS on the national agenda (policy windows) and provide their solutions. Conclusion: There were mutual interactions among these three streams and sometimes, they weakened or reinforced each other. Future studies are recommended to understand the interactions between these streams’ parts and perhaps develop further Kingdon’s framework, especially in the health sector.
Early Progressive Renal Decline Precedes the Onset of Microalbuminuria and Its Progression to Macroalbuminuria

OBJECTIVE Progressive decrease in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), or renal decline, in type 1 diabetes (T1D) is observed in patients with macroalbuminuria. However, it is unknown whether this decline begins during microalbuminuria (MA) or normoalbuminuria (NA). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study group (second Joslin Kidney Study) comprises patients with T1D and NA (n = 286) or MA (n = 248) who were followed for 4–10 years (median 8 years). Serial measurements (median 6, range 3–16) of serum creatinine and cystatin C were used jointly to estimate GFR (eGFRcr-cys) and assess its trajectories during follow-up. RESULTS Renal decline (progressive eGFRcr-cys loss of at least 3.3% per year) occurred in 10% of the NA and 35% of the MA (P < 0.001). In both groups, the strongest determinants of renal decline were baseline serum concentrations of uric acid (P < 0.001) and tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 or 2 (TNFR-1 or -2, P < 0.001). Other significant risk factors included baseline HbA1c, age/diabetes duration, and systolic blood pressure. Relative impacts of these determinants were similar in NA and MA. Renal decline was not associated with sex or baseline serum concentration of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, IP-10, MCP-1, VCAM, ICAM, Fas, or FasL. CONCLUSIONS Renal decline in T1D begins during NA and it is determined by multiple factors, similar to MA. Thus, this early decline is the primary disease process leading to impaired renal function in T1D. Changes in albumin excretion rate, such as the onset of MA or its progression to macroalbuminuria, are either caused by or develop in parallel to the early renal decline.
PV System Using DC-DC Converter In A Delta Conversion Concept

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are increasingly used to generate electrical energy from solar irradiation incident on PV modules. PV modules are connected either in series or parallel to get high output power. Each PV cell has its own Maximum Power Point (MPP). This MPP varies with illumination, temperature, radiation and partial shading. Due to partial shading, difference between output powers of various PV modules exists. This difference leads to voltage drop in PV output power. Hence system efficiency decreases. Delta Conversion concept is introduced to overcome this problem which increases the output voltage of PV by means of using DC/DC Converter. In this proposed project SEPIC converter is used as a DC-DC converter or Delta converter. Simulation is carried out using MATLAB R2009b. PV system is widely used in terrestrial and space applications. Keywords— Delta Converter, Maximum Power Point (MPP), Photovoltaic, Single ended Primary Inductor
In utero exposure to organochlorines and age at menarche.

BACKGROUND To examine the effect of in utero exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) on age at menarche in offspring, we conducted a cohort study over two generations. METHODS Female participants (and their offspring) in a Michigan angler cohort in which organochlorine levels had been determined previously were studied. Of their 213 female offspring aged 20-50 years, 151 participated in the study (71%). We retrospectively determined age at first menstrual bleeding. Based on repeated maternal serum measurements between 1973 and 1991, we extrapolated PCB and DDE serum levels at the time of pregnancy. To estimate the association between in utero PCB and DDE exposure and age at menarche, we used linear regression analyses controlling for birth date period, maternal age at delivery, birth weight, breastfeeding, education status and maternal height. RESULTS An increase in the in utero DDE exposure of 15 micro g/l reduced age at menarche by 1 year (P = 0.04). There was no association with maternal PCB exposure. When controlling for estimated body size at menarche, the DDE association was no longer significant, based on a subsample of 102 women. CONCLUSION The DDE effect on age at menarche encourages further research about in utero exposures. Prospective studies including the offspring's DDE level before menarche are of particular interest.