Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Skin-To-Skin Contact on Preterm Infant Skin Barrier Function and Hospital-Acquired Infection

Background The preterm infants' skin is structurally and functionally immature at birth because of immature stratum corneum barrier function, leading to problems with fluid loses, thermoregulation, and infection. Two parameters of barrier function can be non-invasively assessed: Stratum Corneum Hydration (SCH) and Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL). Skin-to-Skin Care (SSC) is the proposed independent variable that might affect barrier function by decreasing TEWL and increasing SCH, thereby improving stratum corneum barrier function and consequently decreasing the rate of infection. No study of SSC's effects on TEWL and SCH of preterm infants could be found. The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of 5 daily Skin-to-Skin Contact sessions on infant skin hydration (SCH), transepidermal evaporated water loss (TEWL), and on SCH when TEWL was controlled, and on the presence of hospital acquired infection. Methods A one-group pretest-test-posttest design with 10 preterm infants (28 - 30 wks GA < 32 wks postmenstrual age, and no infection at entry). Test = 90 minutes of SSC; pre-test and post-test = 30 minutes each of prone positioning in an incubator. SCH and TEWL were taken on Days 1 and 5 at the beginning, middle and end of each period using Multi-Probe Adaptor. A 3 X 3 X 2 Repeated Measures Mixed Models Design, including a covariate, was used to analyze level of Skin Hydration. Specifically, the model tested comparisons in SCH made across repetitions, time, and days, as well as all possible interactions while controlling for TEWL. Descriptive statistics described the number of positive blood cultures during hospitalization and the presence of infections four weeks post-discharge. Results Significant differences in skin hydration were found across TIME (Pre-SSC, SSC, Post-SSC) (F = 21.86; p < 0.001). One infant had a positive blood culture during hospitalization; no infants had signs of infection by 4 weeks post-discharge. Conclusions The study has begun fulfilling the recommendation that SSC be tested as a strategy to improve skin hydration, but reveals that evaporative loss may be higher during SSC than during incubator care, and that the higher transepidermal evaporated water loss values may not necessarily be detrimental because few infections occurred even in its presence. A definitive randomized controlled trial is recommended. Keywords Skin-to-skin contact; Skin hydration; Transepidermal water loss; Infection; Preterm
Recognition from GSM digital speech

This paper addresses the problem of speech recognition in the GSM environment. In this context, new sources of distortion, such as transmission errors or speech coding itself, significantly degrade the performance of speech recognizers. While conventional approaches deal with these types of distortion after decoding speech, we propose to recognize from the digital speech representation of GSM. In particular, our work focuses on the 13 kbit/s RPE-LTP GSM standard speech coder. In order to test our recognizer we have compared it to a conventional recognizer in several simulated situations, which allow us to gain insight into more practical ones. Specifically, besides recognizing from clean digital speech and evaluating the influence of speech coding distortion, the proposed recognizer is faced with speech degraded by random errors, burst errors and frame substitutions. The results are very encouraging: the worse the transmission conditions are, the more recognizing from digital speech outperforms the conventional approach.
Uncoupling global and fine-tuning replication timing determinants for mouse pericentric heterochromatin

Mouse chromocenters are clusters of late-replicating pericentric heterochromatin containing HP1 bound to trimethylated lysine 9 of histone H3 (Me3K9H3). Using a cell-free system to initiate replication within G1-phase nuclei, we demonstrate that chromocenters acquire the property of late replication coincident with their reorganization after mitosis and the establishment of a global replication timing program. HP1 dissociated during mitosis but rebound before the establishment of late replication, and removing HP1 from chromocenters by competition with Me3K9H3 peptides did not result in early replication, demonstrating that this interaction is neither necessary nor sufficient for late replication. However, in cells lacking the Suv39h1,2 methyltransferases responsible for K9H3 trimethylation and HP1 binding at chromocenters, replication of chromocenter DNA was advanced by 10–15% of the length of S phase. Reintroduction of Suv39h1 activity restored the later replication time. We conclude that Suv39 activity is required for the fine-tuning of pericentric heterochromatin replication relative to other late-replicating domains, whereas separate factors establish a global replication timing program during early G1 phase.
Issues associated with knowledge sharing initiatives in government agencies in Malaysia

Government agencies are mainly known as knowledge intensive organizations. In order to exploit effective knowledge sharing, they have to develop practical knowledge sharing implementation approaches. Nevertheless, strong demand and expectation from citizens for efficient service delivery, coupled with global challenges in the knowledge based economy have fuelled the need for government agencies to consider effective implementation of knowledge sharing as a strategy to improve service delivery. Effective knowledge sharing initiatives have the potential to benefit government agencies in view of their role. This paper aims to identify the core issues in knowledge sharing initiatives that government agencies face in delivering effective policies, particularly in their role and influence in the construction industry. Based on a critical review of literature on knowledge sharing in government agencies, dysfunctional bureaucracies, training, utilisation of information technology and adaptation to culture were identified as key issues. It is recommended that a balanced approach and support to these issues and challenges in implementing knowledge sharing initiatives are duly considered together with attention given to effective leadership, strategic alignments, capability and capacity building among teams.
The effect of insulin treatment and of islet transplantation on the resistance artery function in the STZ‐induced diabetic rat

1 This study was designed to investigate the influence of insulin treatment and islet transplantation on the smooth muscle contractility and endothelium‐dependent and independent relaxation of resistance arteries in the chemically induced streptozotocin (STZ) diabetic rat after 6–8 weeks, and 12–14 weeks of diabetes, compared to non‐diabetic age‐matched controls. 2 The morphology, and contractile responses to high potassium physiological salt solution (KPSS), KPSS containing 10−5 m noradrenaline (NAK), and concentration‐response curves to noradrenaline (NA) of mesenteric resistance arteries were recorded, along with the endothelium‐dependent relaxation responses to acetylcholine (ACh) and bradykinin (BK), and endothelium‐independent relaxation to sodium nitroprusside (SNP). Concentration‐response curves were then repeated in the presence of a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, NG‐nitro‐L‐arginine (L‐NOARG). 3 Insulin‐treated diabetic rats in the 12 week study demonstrated enhanced vascular contractility to KPSS, NAK and NA, compared to age‐matched non‐diabetic controls. 4 Incubation with L‐NOARG resulted in both a significant increase in maximum contractile response, and sensitivity (pD2) to NA in the untreated diabetic group (6 weeks). A significant shift in sensitivity was also seen in the insulin‐treated diabetic group. In the 12 week study, incubation with L‐NOARG resulted in an increased maximum contractile response and sensitivity to NA in the insulin‐treated diabetics. An increase in sensitivity was also observed in the untreated diabetic group. 5 Endothelium‐dependent relaxation to ACh was significantly augmented in the untreated diabetics (6‐weeks), compared to the control group. In the 12‐week study, relaxation to both ACh and BK was not significantly different in any of the experimental groups when compared to the sham‐operated non‐diabetic controls. 6 Incubation with L‐NOARG resulted in a significant attenuation of the maximum relaxation response to ACh and BK in all of the experimental groups, in the 6‐ and the 12‐week study. 7 There was no significant difference in the maximum relaxation response or sensitivity to sodium nitroprusside between the diabetic groups and their age‐matched controls in either the 6‐week or the 12‐week study. 8 The results of this study suggest an enhanced release of nitric oxide in the early stages of diabetes, which is more evident in the untreated diabetic rats than the insulin treated, and appears to normalize as the duration of diabetes progresses. This study also shows that the alteration in vascular reactivity of the resistance arteries can be restored to within normal limits by the transplantation of islets of Langerhans, and that islet transplantation is an effective strategy in the correction of the metabolic abnormalities associated with insulin‐dependent diabetes.
Evaluation of the South Pacific Convergence Zone in IPCC AR4 Climate Model Simulations of the Twentieth Century

Abstract Understanding how the South Pacific convergence zone (SPCZ) may change in the future requires the use of global coupled atmosphere–ocean models. It is therefore important to evaluate the ability of such models to realistically simulate the SPCZ. The simulation of the SPCZ in 24 coupled model simulations of the twentieth century is examined. The models and simulations are those used for the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The seasonal climatology and interannual variability of the SPCZ is evaluated using observed and model precipitation. Twenty models simulate a distinct SPCZ, while four models merge intertropical convergence zone and SPCZ precipitation. The majority of models simulate an SPCZ with an overly zonal orientation, rather than extending in a diagonal band into the southeast Pacific as observed. Two-thirds of models capture the observed meridional displacement of the SPCZ during El Nino and La Nina events. The four models that use .
Development and application of the Imperial College Obesity Strategy Assessment Framework for analysing local obesity strategies

Background Obesity is a major public health issue because of its increasing prevalence and impact on health. The management of overweight and obesity has been a government priority for many years. However, overweight and obesity management at a local level has often been ineffective. Although there is a need to examine obesity strategies and policies for local populations, there is currently no readily available framework for evaluating local obesity strategies. We therefore developed a framework, the Imperial College Obesity Strategy Assessment Framework (IC-OSAF), for examining the content of local obesity strategies. Methods We adapted two previous policy analysis frameworks (Bardach’s Eightfold Path Framework and Collins’ Health Policy Analysis Framework) and used these with information from national guidelines to develop an obesity strategy analysis framework. We then piloted this framework using the obesity strategy for one London primary care trust (PCT). Results The framework was applied successfully and helped identify limitations and omissions in the PCT obesity management strategy. Conclusions The IC-OSAF is a practical, easy-to-use tool for the analysis of local obesity management strategies. The framework can help identify gaps and limitations in strategies to help reduce variations in obesity management between PCTs.
Building an AS-topology model that captures route diversity

An understanding of the topological structure of the Internet is needed for quite a number of networking tasks, e. g. , making decisions about peering relationships, choice of upstream providers, inter-domain traffic engineering. One essential component of these tasks is the ability to predict routes in the Internet. However, the Internet is composed of a large number of independent autonomous systems (ASes) resulting in complex interactions, and until now no model of the Internet has succeeded in producing predictions of acceptable accuracy.We demonstrate that there are two limitations of prior models: (i) they have all assumed that an Autonomous System (AS) is an atomic structure - it is not, and (ii) models have tended to oversimplify the relationships between ASes. Our approach uses multiple quasi-routers to capture route diversity within the ASes, and is deliberately agnostic regarding the types of relationships between ASes. The resulting model ensures that its routing is consistent with the observed routes. Exploiting a large number of observation points, we show that our model provides accurate predictions for unobserved routes, a first step towards developing structural mod-els of the Internet that enable real applications.
Understanding burn severity sensing in Arctic tundra: exploring vegetation indices, suboptimal assessment timing and the impact of increasing pixel size

Little is known about how satellite imagery can be used to describe burn severity in tundra landscapes. The Anaktuvuk River Fire (ARF) in 2007 burned over 1000 km2 of tundra on the North Slope of Alaska, creating a mosaic of small (1 m2) to large (>100 m2) patches that differed in burn severity. The ARF scar provided us with an ideal landscape to determine if a single-date spectral vegetation index can be used once vegetation recovery began and to independently determine how pixel size influences burn severity assessment. We determine and explore the sensitivity of several commonly used vegetation indices to variation in burn severity across the ARF scar and the influence of pixel size on the assessment and classification of tundra burn severity. We conducted field surveys of spectral reflectance at the peak of the first growing season post-fire (extended assessment period) at 18 field sites that ranged from high to low burn severity. In comparing single-date indices, we found that the two-band enhanced vegetation index (EVI2) was highly correlated with normalized burn ratio (NBR) and better distinguished among three burn severity classes than both the NBR and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). We also show clear evidence that shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectivity does not vary as a function of burn severity. By comparing a Quickbird scene (2.4 m pixels) to simulated 30 and 250 m pixel scenes, we are able to confirm that while the moderate spatial resolution of the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor (30 m) is sufficient for mapping tundra burn severity, the coarser resolution of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor (250 m) is not well matched to the fine scale of spatial heterogeneity in the ARF burn scar.
Induction therapy with adalimumab plus methotrexate for 24 weeks followed by methotrexate monotherapy up to week 48 versus methotrexate therapy alone for DMARD-naïve patients with early rheumatoid arthritis: HIT HARD, an investigator-initiated study

Objective To investigate the long-term effects of induction therapy with adalimumab (ADA) plus methotrexate (MTX) in comparison with placebo (PBO) plus MTX in DMARD-naïve patients with active early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods Patients with active early RA (disease duration of ≤12 months) were randomly assigned to receive 40 mg ADA subcutaneously every other week (eow) plus MTX 15 mg/week subcutaneously or PBO plus MTX subcutaneously at 15 mg/week over 24 weeks. Thereafter, all patients received MTX monotherapy up to week 48. The primary outcome was the Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28) at week 48. Secondary outcomes included proportions of patients in remission (DAS28<2.6), ACR responses, Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score and radiographic progression. Results 87 patients were assigned to ADA/MTX and 85 patients to PBO/MTX. At baseline, DAS28 was 6.2±0.8 in the ADA/MTX and 6.3±0.9 in the PBO/MTX groups. At week 24, treatment with ADA/MTX compared with PBO/MTX resulted in a greater reduction in DAS28 (3.0±1.2 vs 3.6±1.4; p=0.009) and other secondary outcomes such as DAS28 remission rate (47.9% vs 29.5%; p=0.021) and HAQ (0.49±0.6 vs 0.72±0.6; p=0.0014). At week 48, the difference in clinical outcomes between groups was not statistically significant (DAS28: 3.2±1.4 vs 3.4±1.6; p=0.41). Radiographic progression at week 48 was significantly greater in patients administered PBO/MTX (Sharp/van der Heijde score: ADA/MTX 2.6 vs PBO/MTX 6.4; p=0.03, Ratingen score: 1.7 vs 4.2; p=0.01). Conclusions A greater reduction in radiographic progression after initial combination therapy with ADA and MTX was seen at week 48, even after discontinuation of ADA treatment at week 24. This sustained effect was not found at the primary endpoint (DAS28 reduction).
An invertible frequency eigendomain transformation for masking-based subspace speech enhancement

Masking properties have been widely exploited in speech enhancement techniques, especially those implemented in the spectral domain. The incorporation of auditory masking in a subspace technique invariably requires a transformation linking the frequency and eigendomains. In this letter, an invertible transformation between the frequency and eigendomains is derived. The proposed transformation is verified through a conventional masking-based subspace speech-enhancement method. Simulation results show that our proposed transformation for speech enhancement outperforms the conventional transformation in terms of segmental signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ), and listening tests.
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions a Mechanistic Model of Global Soil Nitric Oxide Emissions: Implementation and Space Based-constraints

This discussion paper is/has been under review for the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP). Please refer to the corresponding final paper in ACP if available. Abstract Soil emissions have been identified as a major source (∼15 %) of global nitrogen oxide (NO x) emissions. Parameterizations of soil NO x emissions (S NO x) for use in the current generation of chemical transport models were designed to capture mean seasonal behaviour. These parameterizations do not, however, respond quantitatively to the me-5 teorological triggers that result in pulsed S NO x as are widely observed. Here we present a new mechanistic parameterization of S NO x implemented into a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). The parameterization represents available nitrogen (N) in soils using biome specific emission factors, online wet-and dry-deposition of N as well as fertilizer and manure N derived from a spatially explicit dataset distributed using sea-10 sonality derived from data obtained by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer. Moreover, it represents the functional form of emissions derived from point measurements and ecosystem scale experiments including pulsing following soil wetting by rain or irrigation, and emissions that are a smooth function of soil moisture. This param-eterization yields global above-soil S NO x of 10.7 Tg N yr −1 , including 1.8 Tg N yr −1 from 15 fertilizer N input (0.68 % of applied N) and 0.5 Tg N yr −1 from atmospheric N deposition. Over the United States Great Plains, S NO x are predicted to comprise 15–40 % of the tropospheric NO 2 column and increase column variability by a factor of 2–4 during the summer months due to chemical fertilizer application and warm temperatures. S NO x enhancements of 50–80 % of the simulated NO 2 column are predicted over the African 20 Sahel during the monsoon onset (April–June). In this region the day-today variability of column NO 2 is increased by a factor of 5 due to pulsed-N emissions. We evaluate the model by comparison to observations of the NO 2 column from the OMI instrument. We find the model is able to reproduce observations of pulsed-N induced interannual variability over the US Great Plains. We also show that the OMI mean (median) NO 2 on 25 the overpass following first rainfall over the Sahel is 49 % (23 %) higher than in the five days preceding. The measured NO 2 on the day after rainfall is …
The Unfolded Protein Response Supports Plant Development and Defense as well as Responses to Abiotic Stress

The unfolded protein response (UPR) is a stress response conserved in eukaryotic organisms and activated by the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Adverse environmental conditions disrupt protein folding in the ER and trigger the UPR. Recently, it was found that the UPR can be elicited in the course of plant development and defense. During vegetative plant development, the UPR is involved in normal root growth and development, the effect of which can be largely attributed to the influence of the UPR on plant hormone biology. The UPR also functions in plant reproductive development by protecting male gametophyte development from heat stress. In terms of defense, the UPR has been implicated in virus and microbial defense. Viral defense represents a double edge sword in that various virus infections activate the UPR, however, in a number of cases, the UPR actually supports viral infections. The UPR also plays a role in plant immunity to bacterial infections, again through the action of plant hormones in regulating basal immunity responses.
Dependencies between ontology design parameters

Development and use of ontologies is increasing, but hampered by new challenges, such as determining which ontologies to reuse and which language to use. Ontology development methodologies provide scenarios, but they do not address the dependencies between the permutations at the different stages in the development process. To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this endeavour, we group inputs into parameters and examine the dependencies between them. The parameters considered are: nine main purpose(s) of the ontology, reuse of the three main types of ontologies, eight different ways for bottom-up ontology development, eight ontology languages, and four types of reasoning services. All dependencies between these parameters have been assessed and useful combinations are motivated. The dependencies are due to, primarily, computational challenges and types of subject domain of the ontologies. This analysis is assessed against a set of ontologies and a survey among ontology developers, whose results concur with the theoretical assessment.