Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk factors across the life course and dementia in a Brazilian population: results from the Sao Paulo Ageing & Health Study (SPAH).

BACKGROUND Several mechanisms have been suggested to explain the association between adversities across life and dementia. This study aimed to investigate the association between indicators of socioeconomic disadvantages throughout the life-course and dementia among older adults in Sao Paulo, Brazil and to explore possible causal pathways. METHODS We used baseline data from the SPAH study which involved participants aged 65 years and older (n = 2005). The outcome of interest was prevalent dementia. Exposures included in the analyses were socioeconomic position (SEP) indicators in childhood (place of birth and literacy) and adulthood (occupation and income), anthropometric measurements as markers of intrauterine and childhood environment (head circumference and leg length), smoking, diabetes and hypertension. Logistic regression models were used to test the hypothesized pathways and to assess whether there was an association between cumulative adversities across the life course and prevalent dementia. RESULTS Indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage in early life were associated with increased prevalence of dementia. This association was partially mediated through adulthood SEP. Head circumference and leg length were also clearly associated with dementia but there was no evidence that this association was mediated by early life socioeconomic disadvantage. There was an association between cumulative unfavourable conditions across the life course and dementia. CONCLUSIONS Early life disadvantages seem to operate through biological mechanisms associated with passive brain reserve and opportunities in life representing active cognitive reserve. Prevention of dementia should start early in life and continue through life span as seen with many other chronic diseases.
The Herschel view of the massive star-forming region NGC 6334

Aims: Fundamental to any theory of high-mass star formation are gravity and turbulence. Their relative importance, which probably changes during cloud evolution, is not known. By investigating the spatial and density structure of the high-mass star-forming complex NGC 6334 we aim to disentangle the contributions of turbulence and gravity. Methods: We used Herschel PACS and SPIRE imaging observations from the HOBYS key programme at wavelengths of 160, 250, 350, and 500 μm to construct dust temperature and column density maps. Using probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the column density determined for the whole complex and for four distinct sub-regions (distinguished on the basis of differences in the column density, temperature, and radiation field), we characterize the density structure of the complex. We investigate the spatial structure using the Δ-variance, which probes the relative amount of structure on different size scales and traces possible energy injection mechanisms into the molecular cloud. Results: The Δ-variance analysis suggests that the significant scales of a few parsec that were found are caused by energy injection due to expanding H ii regions, which are numerous, and by the lengths of filaments seen everywhere in the complex. The column density PDFs have a lognormal shape at low densities and a clearly defined power law at high densities for all sub-regions whose slope is linked to the exponent α of an equivalent spherical density distribution. In particular with α = 2.37, the central sub-region is largly dominated by gravity, caused by individual collapsing dense cores and global collapse of a larger region. The collapse is faster than free-fall (which would lead only to α = 2) and thus requires a more dynamic scenario (external compression, flows). The column density PDFs suggest that the different sub-regions are at different evolutionary stages, especially the central sub-region, which seems to be in a more evolved stage. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.Appendix A is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda. org
3D non-rigid pattern recognition based on structural analysis

This paper presents a new retrieval approach for 3D non-rigid objects. The proposed method consists in using the Reeb graph representation as local shape descriptor. The generated Reeb graph, based on the heat diffusion properties, is segmented into Reeb charts having a controlled topology. Each Reeb chart is associated with a couple of geometrical signatures, based on the area and angle distortions. The matching procedure is carried out on each pair of Reeb charts, according to the minimum distance between the corresponding signatures. A global similarity measure quantifies the degree of correspondence between all the matched Reeb charts. Experimental results, conducted on SHREC 2011 dataset, have shown that our retrieval approach provides an overall retrieval efficiency gain compared to three state-of-the-art methods.
Liver Transplantation in India

The technological imperative The availability of the necessary medical expertise seems to be the main factor driving the transplant programme in India. If, as the authors state, there was a ‘general feeling’—one that presumably included medical professionals who were otherwise unable to establish a cadaver transplant programme—that a law to enable organ transplants was required, cadaveric organ donation should have become common after the law was enacted. Instead, 12 years after the passage of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) in 1995, which was supposed to kick-start the cadaver transplant programme, live donation continues to be the most common form of organ transplantation in India. The medical community must take some responsibility for this state of affairs. Thus, instead of a comprehensive transplant programme (including for heart, lung and other organs that can be transplanted only from cadavers), the field is dominated by a thriving renal transplantation programme and is now seeing the entrance of liver transplantation—procedures that do not depend on a cadaveric donation programme.
A Pruning-Based Disk Scheduling Algorithm for Heterogeneous I/O Workloads

In heterogeneous I/O workload environments, disk scheduling algorithms should support different QoS (Quality-of-Service) for each I/O request. For example, the algorithm should meet the deadlines of real-time requests and at the same time provide reasonable response time for best-effort requests. This paper presents a novel disk scheduling algorithm called G-SCAN (Grouping-SCAN) for handling heterogeneous I/O workloads. To find a schedule that satisfies the deadline constraints and seek time minimization simultaneously, G-SCAN maintains a series of candidate schedules and expands the schedules whenever a new request arrives. Maintaining these candidate schedules requires excessive spatial and temporal overhead, but G-SCAN reduces the overhead to a manageable level via pruning the state space using two heuristics. One is grouping that clusters adjacent best-effort requests into a single scheduling unit and the other is the branch-and-bound strategy that cuts off inefficient or impractical schedules. Experiments with various synthetic and real-world I/O workloads show that G-SCAN outperforms existing disk scheduling algorithms significantly in terms of the average response time, throughput, and QoS-guarantees for heterogeneous I/O workloads. We also show that the overhead of G-SCAN is reasonable for on-line execution.
Automatic Text Detection UsingMorphological Operations and Inpainting

Image inpainting is the process of restoring the lost or damaged regions or modifying the image contents imperceptibly. It refers to the process of filling-in missing data in a designated region of the visual input. In this paper, the technique presented is for detection and removal of text from images. The system detects text using morphological operations, connected component labelling and a set of selection criteria which helps to filter out non text regions. So, the resultant image is the image with only texts. Text Inpainting is done in two steps. The first step detects the text region automatically, without user interaction and in the second step; the text is removed from the image using exemplar based Inpainting algorithm.
Exploring the properties of dark energy using type-Ia supernovae and other datasets

We reconstruct dark energy properties from two complementary supernova datasets—the newly released Gold + HST sample and SNLS. The results obtained are consistent with the standard ΛCDM model within 2σ error bars, although the Gold + HST data favour evolving dark energy slightly more than SNLS. Using complementary data from baryon acoustic oscillations and the cosmic microwave background to constrain dark energy, we find that our results in this case are strongly dependent on the present value of the matter density Ω0m. Consequently, no firm conclusions regarding constancy or variability of dark energy density can be drawn from these data alone unless the value of Ω0m is known to an accuracy of a few per cent. However, possible variability is significantly restricted if these data are used in conjunction with supernova data.
Endosome pH measured in single cells by dual fluorescence flow cytometry: rapid acidification of insulin to pH 6

The acidification of various ligands was measured on a cell by cell basis for cell suspensions by correlated dual fluorescence flow cytometry. Mouse 3T3 cells were incubated with a mixture of fluorescein- and rhodamine-conjugated ligands, and the ratio of fluorescein and rhodamine fluorescence was used as a measure of endosome pH. The calibration of this ratio by both fluorometry and flow cytometry is described. Dual parameter histograms of average endosome pH per cell versus amount of internalization were calculated from this data, for samples in the absence and presence of chloroquine added to neutralize acidic cellular vesicles. The kinetics of acidification of insulin were measured and compared with previous results obtained with the chloroquine ratio technique. Rapid acidification of internalized ligand was observed both for insulin, which was mostly internalized via nonspecific pathways, and for alpha 2-macroglobulin, which was mainly internalized by specific receptor-mediated endocytosis. The average pH observed for internalized insulin was less than pH 6 within 10 min after addition of insulin. At 30 min, the average pH began to decrease to approximately pH 5, presumably because of fusion of endosomes with lysosomes.
Requirement of ArcA for Redox Regulation in Escherichia coli under Microaerobic but Not Anaerobic or Aerobic Conditions

ABSTRACT In Escherichia coli, the two-component regulatory ArcAB system functions as a major control system for the regulation of expression of genes encoding enzymes involved in both aerobic and anaerobic catabolic pathways. Previously, we have described the physiological response of wild-type E. coli to changes in oxygen availability through the complete range from anaerobiosis to full aerobiosis (S. Alexeeva, B. de Kort, G. Sawers, K. J. Hellingwerf, and M. J. Teixeira de Mattos, J. Bacteriol. 182:4934-4940, 2000, and S. Alexeeva, K. J. Hellingwerf, and M. J. Teixeira de Mattos, J. Bacteriol. 184:1402-1406, 2002). Here, we address the question of the contribution of the ArcAB-dependent transcriptional regulation to this response. Wild-type E. coli and a mutant lacking the ArcA regulator were grown in glucose-limited chemostat cultures at controlled levels of oxygen availability ranging from full aerobiosis to complete anaerobiosis. A flux analysis of the distribution of catabolic fluxes over parallel pathways was carried out, and the intracellular redox state (as reflected by the NADH/NAD ratio) was monitored for all steady states. Deletion of ArcA neither significantly altered the in vivo activity of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex and pyruvate formate lyase nor significantly affected catabolism under fully aerobic and fully anaerobic conditions. In contrast, profound effects of the absence of ArcA were seen under conditions of oxygen-restricted growth: increased respiration, an altered electron flux distribution over the cytochrome o- and d-terminal oxidases, and a significant change in the intracellular redox state were observed. Thus, the ArcA regulator was found to exert major control on flux distribution, and it is concluded that the ArcAB system should be considered a microaerobic redox regulator.
Viable Piglets Generated from Porcine Oocytes Matured In Vitro and Fertilized by Intracytoplasmic Sperm Head Injection

Abstract Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) of a nonmotile cell into the ooplasm for assisted fertilization is a highly specialized procedure for producing the next generation. The production of piglets by ICSI has succeeded when in vivo-matured oocytes have been used as recipients. Our objective was to generate viable piglets by using porcine oocytes matured in vitro and fertilized by ICSI after evaluating the efficacy of using donor spermatozoa in which the acrosome had been artificially removed by treatment with calcium ionophore A23187 (Ca-I). The rate of acrosomal loss in spermatozoa was increased significantly as the duration of treatment with 10 μM Ca-I was prolonged for 30–120 min (Ca-I treated; 55.6–78.6%), whereas the rate was not different as the duration of incubation without Ca-I was prolonged for 30–120 min (control; 45.3–58.4%). On the sixth day of in vitro culture after injection of the sperm head and subsequent stimulation with an electrical pulse, the rates of blastocyst formation were not significantly different between the two groups: the rates for oocytes injected with Ca-I-treated sperm heads (incubated for 120 min) and for those injected with control sperm heads were 8.6% and 4.0%, respectively. The mean cell numbers of the blastocysts were not significantly different between the two groups (25.6 and 22.7, respectively). Within 2 h after the stimulation, the injected oocytes were transferred to estrous-synchronized recipients. The three recipients that received oocytes injected with Ca-I-treated sperm heads (77–150 oocytes per recipient) were not pregnant, whereas two of the four recipients given oocytes injected with control sperm heads (55–100 oocytes per recipient) were pregnant. One of these farrowed three (a male and two female) healthy piglets. The results demonstrate clearly that in vitro-matured oocytes injected with sperm heads are developmentally competent and can produce viable piglets. They also suggest that removal of the acrosome from the spermatozoon before injection does not affect the development of the blastocyst in vitro. This might not also improve the production of piglets in vivo.
Inactivation of Calcium-Binding Protein Genes Induces 160 Hz Oscillations in the Cerebellar Cortex of Alert Mice

Oscillations in neuronal populations may either be imposed by intrinsically oscillating pacemakers neurons or emerge from specific attributes of a distributed network of connected neurons. Calretinin and calbindin are two calcium-binding proteins involved in the shaping of intraneuronal Ca2+ fluxes. However, although their physiological function has been studied extensively at the level of a single neuron, little is known about their role at the network level. Here we found that null mutations of genes encoding calretinin or calbindin induce 160 Hz local field potential oscillations in the cerebellar cortex of alert mice. These oscillations reached maximum amplitude just beneath the Purkinje cell bodies and are reinforced in the cerebellum of mice deficient in both calretinin and calbindin. Purkinje cells fired simple spikes phase locked to the oscillations and synchronized along the parallel fiber axis. The oscillations reversibly disappeared when gap junctions or either GABAA or NMDA receptors were blocked. Cutaneous stimulation of the whisker region transiently suppressed the oscillations. However, the intrinsic somatic excitability of Purkinje cells recorded in slice preparation was not significantly altered in mutant mice. Functionally, these results suggest that 160 Hz oscillation emerges from a network mechanism combining synchronization of Purkinje cell assemblies through parallel fiber excitation and the network of coupled interneurons of the molecular layer. These findings demonstrate that subtle genetically induced modifications of Ca2+ homeostasis in specific neuron types can alter the observed dynamics of the global network.
CYCLES THROUGH A GIVEN SET OF VERTICES IN REGULAR MULTIPARTITE TOURNAMENTS

A tournament is an orientation of a complete graph, and in general a multipartite or c-partite tournament is an orientation of a complete c-partite graph. In a recent article, the authors proved that a regular c-partite tournament with r ≥ 2 vertices in each partite set contains a cycle with exactly r− 1 vertices from each partite set, with exception of the case that c = 4 and r = 2. Here we will examine the existence of cycles with r−2 vertices from each partite set in regular multipartite tournaments where the r−2 vertices are chosen arbitrarily. Let D be a regular c-partite tournament and let X ⊆ V (D) be an arbitrary set with exactly 2 vertices of each partite set. For all c ≥ 4 we will determine the minimal value g(c) such that D−X is Hamiltonian for every regular multipartite tournament with r ≥ g(c). 1. Terminology and introduction In this paper all digraphs are finite without loops and multiple arcs. The vertex set and the arc set of a digraph D are denoted by V (D) and E(D), respectively. If xy is an arc of a digraph D, then we write x → y and say x dominates y, and if X and Y are two disjoint vertex sets or subdigraphs of D such that every vertex of X dominates every vertex of Y , then we say that X dominates Y , denoted by X → Y . Furthermore, X A Y denotes the fact that there is no arc leading from Y to X. For the number of arcs from X to Y we write d(X, Y ). If D is a digraph, then the out-neighborhood N D (x) = N (x) of a vertex x is the set of vertices dominated by x and the in-neighborhood N− D (x) = N −(x) is the set of vertices dominating x. Therefore, if xy ∈ E(D), then y is an outer neighbor of x and x is an inner neighbor of y. The numbers d+D(x) = d(x) = |N+(x)| and dD(x) = d−(x) = |N−(x)| are called the outdegree and the indegree of x, respectively. Furthermore, the numbers δ D = δ + = Received December 19, 2005. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification. 05C20.
Recent advances in understanding the clinical and genetic heterogeneity of Dent's disease.

Dent’s disease 1 (OMIM 300009) is an X-linkedproximal tubulopathy [1] first described in 1964 [2],with Fanconi syndrome, a consistent renal abnor-mality, and low-molecular-weight proteinuria (LMWP)being almost always present. Nephrocalcinosisand renal stone formation occur more frequentlyin Dent’s disease 1 than in other forms of Fanconisyndrome.Various features of Dent’s disease 1 predominatein different ethnic groups, and have been noted inearlier reports, resulting in several syndrome names ofphenotypically similar disorders. These were referredto as X-linked recessive hypophosphataemic rickets(XLRH), X-linked recessive nephrolithiasis (XRN)and familial idiopathic LMWP in Japanese patients(JILMWP), often referred to as Dent’s Japan disease[3,4]. All of these are now considered phenotypicvariants of one unique entity, namely Dent’s disease 1[5,6].
Investigation on Microstructures of Multipass Deposited Metal for 9Cr-1Mo Ferritic Steels

The microstructures of multipass deposited metal for 9Cr-1Mo ferritic steels were investigated. Columnar martensites and a number of film austenites retained along the lath of martensite comprised primary microstructure. -ferrite was formed and the volume fraction of -ferrite increased as the chromium equivalent (Creq) of steel composition increased. Subjected to weld heating, the primary microstructure transformed. “Weld bead heat-affected zone (WBHAZ)” was thus formed. The morphology of -ferrite changed and columnar martensite grains were broken in sub-zone I and II of WBHAZ. The size and amount of -ferrite reduced because of austenitization and growth of austenite in sub-zone III of WBHAZ. Retained austenite morphology changed from film into island-like in sub-zone IV and martensite tempered to some degree in sub-zone V of WBHAZ. The precipitation and evolution of M23C6, MX and Laves phase by means of neutron diffraction is to be conducted in the future.
Applicability and limitations of current lifetime prediction models for thermoplastics pipes under internal pressure

Engineering thermoplastics, in particular polyolefins such as special grades of poly(ethylene), are gaining importance in pipe applications such as gas and water supply systems. To ensure proper performance of such pipes over the required lifetime, polymer physics and mechanics concepts are needed to adequately account for the effects of time, temperature, and environmental conditions as well as the occurrence of pipe defects and imperfections on relevant polymer properties and pipe performance. This article provides a critical overview of the scientific background of current methodologies to describe the long-term behavior of thermoplastic pressure pipes. In particular, the merits and limitations of two different approacnes - namely, the standard extrapolation method (SEM) described in ISO/TR 9080 and the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) approach - are compared. Special attention is given to effects associated with material ageing and degradation.
Remarks on Zhang et al.'s Analysis on a Short Signature Scheme and Their Improvement

We first give an analysis on Zhang et al.’s attack on a short signature scheme so called ZCSM scheme and point out their forgery attack is not correct one. Furthermore, we present a forgery attack under the chosen message and public key attacks on ZCSM scheme, in the sense of Zhang et al.’s attack. We also analyze Zhang et al.’s improved signature scheme suggested to resist their attacks and point out the proposed scheme, in fact, does not work properly.
Synthesis of artificial antigen and studied on influence factors of ELISA for chlorothalonil residue

In this work, the chlorothalonil derivative (i.e. hapten) was synthesized. The chlorothalonil artificial antigens were prepared via the hapten conjugated with carrier proteins by activated-ester and mixed-anhydride method, respectively. The antiserum were obtained through immunizing the New Zealand white rabbits with the immune antigen, and the appropriate concentrations of coating antigen and antibody of ELISA were determined with chessboard format. Meanwhile, the influence factors of washing processes were also investigated, which evaluated by the value of OD490. The results showed that the artificial antigens of chlorothalonil were successfully synthesized, and the antiserum titer was about 1∶1.0×104. The detection limit (IC20) of ELISA was 0.0123ng/mL. The recoveries of ELISA were from 84.0% to 89.8%, Coefficient of variation ranged from 3.0% to 7.6%. And all the Cross-reactivity (CR) with chlorothalonil analogous structure compounds were less than 0.01%.
Many hard examples for resolution

For every choice of positive integers <italic>c</italic> and <italic>k</italic> such that <italic>k</italic> ≥ 3 and <italic>c</italic>2<supscrpt>-<italic>k</italic></supscrpt> ≥ 0.7, there is a positive number ε such that, with probability tending to 1 as <italic>n</italic> tends to ∞, a randomly chosen family of <italic>cn</italic> clauses of size <italic>k</italic> over <italic>n</italic> variables is unsatisfiable, but every resolution proof of its unsatisfiability must generate at least (1 + ε)<supscrpt><italic>n</italic></supscrpt> clauses.