Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Childhood cancer and nuclear power plants in Switzerland: a census-based cohort study

Background Previous studies on childhood cancer and nuclear power plants (NPPs) produced conflicting results. We used a cohort approach to examine whether residence near NPPs was associated with leukaemia or any childhood cancer in Switzerland. Methods We computed person-years at risk for children aged 0–15 years born in Switzerland from 1985 to 2009, based on the Swiss censuses 1990 and 2000 and identified cancer cases from the Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry. We geo-coded place of residence at birth and calculated incidence rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) comparing the risk of cancer in children born <5 km, 5–10 km and 10–15 km from the nearest NPP with children born >15 km away, using Poisson regression models. Results We included 2925 children diagnosed with cancer during 21 117 524 person-years of follow-up; 953 (32.6%) had leukaemia. Eight and 12 children diagnosed with leukaemia at ages 0–4 and 0–15 years, and 18 and 31 children diagnosed with any cancer were born <5 km from a NPP. Compared with children born >15 km away, the IRRs (95% CI) for leukaemia in 0–4 and 0–15 year olds were 1.20 (0.60–2.41) and 1.05 (0.60–1.86), respectively. For any cancer, corresponding IRRs were 0.97 (0.61–1.54) and 0.89 (0.63–1.27). There was no evidence of a dose–response relationship with distance (P > 0.30). Results were similar for residence at diagnosis and at birth, and when adjusted for potential confounders. Results from sensitivity analyses were consistent with main results. Conclusions This nationwide cohort study found little evidence of an association between residence near NPPs and the risk of leukaemia or any childhood cancer.
Diversified Top-k Graph Pattern Matching

Graph pattern matching has been widely used in e.g., social data analysis. A number of matching algorithms have been developed that, given a graph pattern Q and a graph G, compute the set M(Q,G) of matches of Q in G. However, these algorithms often return an excessive number of matches, and are expensive on large real-life social graphs. Moreover, in practice many social queries are to find matches of a specific pattern node, rather than the entire M(Q,G). This paper studies top-k graph pattern matching. (1) We revise graph pattern matching defined in terms of simulation, by supporting a designated output node uo. Given G and Q, it is to find those nodes in M(Q,G) that match uo, instead of the large set M(Q,G). (2) We study two classes of functions for ranking the matches: relevance functions δr() based on, e.g., social impact, and distance functions δd() to cover diverse elements. (3) We develop two algorithms for computing top-k matches of uo based on δr(), with the early termination property, i.e., they find top-k matches without computing the entire M(Q,G). (4) We also study diversified top-k matching, a bi-criteria optimization problem based on both δr() and δd(). We show that its decision problem is NP-complete. Nonetheless, we provide an approximation algorithm with performance guarantees and a heuristic one with the early termination property. (5) Using real-life and synthetic data, we experimentally verify that our (diversified) top-k matching algorithms are effective, and outperform traditional matching algorithms in efficiency.
Assessment of the aerial behaviors of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781), in coastal areas in Northeastern Brazil

The aim of this study was to analyze the aerial behaviors of humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) in Northeastern Brazil. From July to October 2013, 113 groups, totaling 272 individuals (x = 2.41; ± 1.52), were observed, including possible double counts. Groups consisting of more than three individuals showed a significantly higher level of aerial behaviors (χ² = 0.03) and a more varied aerial behavioral repertoire (χ² = 0.00) compared to smaller groups. No significant differences in aerial behaviors were found in relation to month (χ² = 0.74), the presence of calves in groups (χ² = 0.14) or depth (χ² = 0.54). Long-term studies can provide valuable information about sociality in humpback whales since their communication system is not limited to sound and can differ according to the environment.
Identification of a Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus genetic locus, hit, associated with the host-independent phenotype

Bdellovibrios invade and grow within the periplasmic space of suitable gram-negative bacteria. Wild-type bdellovibrios are obligately dependent on host cells for growth, but spontaneous host-independent (H-I) mutants that grow axenically on standard rich culture media can be isolated. Such mutants generally retain the ability to grow intraperiplasmically, although the plaques that they produce on lawns of host cells are smaller and more turbid than those produced by wild-type bdellovibrios. Here, we identify the first genetic locus associated with the H-I phenotype: hit (host interaction). We show that three individual H-I mutants suffered mutations at the hit locus and that recombination of wild-type hit sequences into the genomes of the H-I mutants greatly enhanced their plaquing ability. DNA sequence analysis localized the hit mutation in each of the H-I mutants to a 135-bp region of the genome. Mutations at hit may not fully account for the H-I phenotype, however, as recombination of wild-type hit sequences into the genomes of the H-I mutants had little effect on the axenic-growth phenotype of the mutants. Possible explanations for this result and potential roles for the hit locus are discussed.
AVIAN CHOLERA IN WATERFOWL: THE ROLE OF LESSER SNOW AND ROSS'S GEESE AS DISEASE CARRIERS IN THE PLAYA LAKES REGION

We collected samples from apparently healthy geese in the Playa Lakes Region (USA) during the winters of 2000–01 and 2001–02 to determine whether carriers of Pasteurella multocida, the bacterium that causes avian cholera, were present in wild populations. With the use of methods developed in laboratory challenge trials (Samuel et al., 2003a) and a serotype-specific polymerase chain reaction method for identification of P. multocida serotype 1, we found that a small proportion of 322 wild birds (<5%) were carriers of pathogenic P. multocida. On the basis of serology, an additional group of these birds (<10%) were survivors of recent avian cholera infection. Our results confirm the hypothesis that wild waterfowl are carriers of avian cholera and add support for the hypothesis that wild birds are a reservoir for this disease. In concert with other research, this work indicates that enzootic infection with avian cholera occurs in lesser snow goose (Chen caerulescens caerulescens) populations throughout their annual cycle. Although fewer Ross's geese (Chen rossii) were sampled, we also found these birds were carriers of P. multocida. Even in the absence of disease outbreaks, serologic evidence indicates that chronic disease transmission and recent infection are apparently occurring year-round in these highly gregarious birds and that a small portion of these populations are potential carriers with active infection.
Childhood trauma and psychosis: a case-control and case-sibling comparison across different levels of genetic liability, psychopathology, and type of trauma.

OBJECTIVE The associations of two types of childhood trauma (abuse and neglect) with psychosis symptom domains were investigated in subjects with psychotic illness, high psychosis vulnerability, and average psychosis vulnerability. METHOD Childhood trauma was assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Symptoms were assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale in the patients (N=272) and with the Structured Interview for Schizotypy-Revised in the patients' siblings (N=258), and healthy comparison subjects (N=227). RESULTS Childhood trauma was associated with psychotic disorder in a dose-response fashion in the comparison of patients and healthy subjects (adjusted odds ratio=4.53, 95% CI=2.79-7.35). The comparison of siblings and healthy subjects suggested that siblings shared a degree of trauma with the patients (adjusted odds ratio=1.61, 95% CI=0.95-2.61), but the patient-sibling comparison indicated much greater exposure in patients than in siblings (adjusted odds ratio=2.60, 95% CI=1.78-3.78). Childhood abuse but not neglect was associated with positive but not negative symptoms in a dose-response fashion in all three groups. There was no evidence for moderation by sex. CONCLUSIONS Discordance in psychotic illness across related individuals can be traced to differential exposure to trauma. The association between trauma and psychosis is apparent across different levels of illness and vulnerability to psychotic disorder, suggesting true association rather than reporting bias, reverse causality, or passive gene-environment correlation. Positive psychotic symptoms in vulnerable individuals may arise as a consequence of the level and frequency of exposure to abuse rather than neglect, suggesting symptom-specific and exposure-specific underlying mechanisms.
On the Nature of Velocity Fields in High-z Galaxies

We analyze the gas kinematics of damped Lyα systems (DLAs) hosting high-z gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and those toward quasars (QSO-DLAs), focusing on three statistics: (1) Δv90, the velocity interval encompassing 90% of the integrated optical depth, and (2) W1526 and (3) W1548, the rest equivalent widths of the Si II 1526 and C IV 1548 transitions, respectively. The Δv90 distributions of the GRB-DLAs and QSO-DLAs are similar; each has median Δv90 ≈ 80 km s−1 and a significant tail, extending to several hundred km s−1. This suggests comparable galaxy masses for the parent populations of GRB-DLAs and QSO-DLAs, and we infer that the average dark matter halo mass of GRB galaxies is ≲1012 M☉. The unique configuration of GRB-DLA sight lines and the presence (and absence) of fine-structure absorption together give special insight into the nature of high-z protogalactic velocity fields. The data support a scenario in which the Δv90 statistic reflects dynamics in the interstellar medium (ISM) and W1526 traces motions outside the ISM (e.g., halo gas and galactic-scale winds). The W1526 statistic and gas metallicity [M/H] are tightly correlated, especially for the QSO-DLAs: [M/H] = a + blog(W1526/1Å) with a = −0.92 ± 0.05 and b = 1.41 ± 0.10. We argue that the W1526 statistic primarily tracks dynamical motions in the halos of high-z galaxies and interpret this correlation as a mass-metallicity relation with very similar slope to the trend observed in local, low-metallicity galaxies. Finally, the GRB-DLAs exhibit systematically larger W1526 values (>0.5 Å) than the QSO-DLAs (⟨W1528⟩ ≈ 0.5 Å), which may suggest that galactic-scale outflows contribute to the largest observed velocity fields.
Effectiveness of pharmaceutical care in an intensive care unit from China. A pre- and post-intervention study.

OBJECTIVE To describe the development and implementation of pharmaceutical care services in an in-patient setting, and to examine the effectiveness of pharmacist interventions. METHODS A single-center, 2-phase (pre-/post-intervention phase) design was performed in an intensive care unit (ICU) of a university-affiliated hospital. Patients in the post-intervention phase (March 2011 to June 2011) received pharmaceutical care from a clinical pharmacist, while patients in the pre-intervention phase (December 2010 to March 2011) received routine medical care. The pre- and post-intervention phases were then compared to evaluate the outcomes of pharmacist interventions. RESULTS During the 3-month study period, the clinical pharmacist made 232 interventions for 416 admitted patients; of these, 202 (87.1%) were accepted by physicians or nurses, and dosage adjustment (n=83, [35.8%]) was the type of intervention implemented most often. In the group that received the participation of pharmacists, medication errors per patient decreased from 1.68 to 0.46 (p<0.001); medication errors, of incorrect dose or dosing interval, were markedly improved (decreased from 0.87 to 0.14; p<0.001), the drug cost per patient-day decreased from $347.43 to $307.36 (p=0.095), and the length of ICU stay did not change significantly (6.14 days versus 5.93 days; p=0.14). CONCLUSION The presence of the pharmacist in the ICU resulted in significant reduction of medication errors and had potential drug-cost-saving effects, but did not have an influence on decreasing the length of ICU stay.
The IIR NIST SRE 2008 and 2010 summed channel speaker recognition systems

This paper reports the IIR speaker recognition system for the summed channel evaluation tasks in the NIST SRE 2008 and 2010. The system includes three main modules: voice activity detection, speaker diarization and speaker recognition. The front-end process employs a voice activity detection algorithm for effective speech frame selection. The speaker diarization system that was developed for 2007 and 2009 NIST RT Evaluations is adopted for summed channel speech segmentation. A hybrid purifying and clustering algorithm is developed to segregate the summed channel speech by speakers. The GMM-SVM speaker recognition system is adopted to evaluate the performance with both MFCC and LPCC features. The system achieves an overall EER of 3.46% in the 1conv-summed task and 1.87% in the 8conv-summed task, respectively, where only all English trials are involved.
Clustering in WSN Based on Minimum Spanning Tree Using Divide and Conquer Approach

— Due to heavy energy constraints in WSNs clustering is an efficient way to manage the energy in sensors. There are many methods already proposed in the area of clustering and research is still going on to make clustering more energy efficient. In our paper we are proposing a minimum spanning tree based clustering using divide and conquer approach. The MST based clustering was first proposed in 1970’s for large databases. Here we are taking divide and conquer approach and implementing it for wireless sensor networks with the constraints attached to the sensor networks. This Divide and conquer approach is implemented in a way that we don’t have to construct the whole MST before clustering but we just find the edge which will be the part of the MST to a corresponding graph and divide the graph in clusters there itself if that edge from the graph can be removed judging on certain constraints and hence saving lot of computation .
CTex—An Adaptive Unsupervised Segmentation Algorithm Based on Color-Texture Coherence

This paper presents the development of an unsupervised image segmentation framework (referred to as CTex) that is based on the adaptive inclusion of color and texture in the process of data partition. An important contribution of this work consists of a new formulation for the extraction of color features that evaluates the input image in a multispace color representation. To achieve this, we have used the opponent characteristics of the RGB and YIQ color spaces where the key component was the inclusion of the self organizing map (SOM) network in the computation of the dominant colors and estimation of the optimal number of clusters in the image. The texture features are computed using a multichannel texture decomposition scheme based on Gabor filtering. The major contribution of this work resides in the adaptive integration of the color and texture features in a compound mathematical descriptor with the aim of identifying the homogenous regions in the image. This integration is performed by a novel adaptive clustering algorithm that enforces the spatial continuity during the data assignment process. A comprehensive qualitative and quantitative performance evaluation has been carried out and the experimental results indicate that the proposed technique is accurate in capturing the color and texture characteristics when applied to complex natural images.
Forest Vertical Structure Estimation using Coherence Tomography

In this paper we introduce a new algorithm for radar estimation of the vertical structure of vegetated land surfaces. The algorithm is based on a low frequency 3-D image reconstruction using polarization coherence tomography or PCT. We first summarize the technique, present a new method for selecting the optimum interferometric baseline and then apply it to airborne P and X-Band data from the DLR E-SAR system. We conclude by assessing the potential of the technique for providing improved global and regional forestry products using space-borne radar remote sensing.
DOES VIVIPARITY EVOLVE IN COLD CLIMATE REPTILES BECAUSE PREGNANT FEMALES MAINTAIN STABLE (NOT HIGH) BODY TEMPERATURES?

Abstract Viviparity (live bearing) has evolved from egg laying (oviparity) in many lineages of lizards and snakes, apparently in response to occupancy of cold climates. Explanations for this pattern have focused on the idea that behaviorally thermoregulating (sun-basking) pregnant female reptiles can maintain higher incubation temperatures for their embryos than would be available in nests under the soil surface. This is certainly true at very high elevations, where only viviparous species occur. However, comparisons of nest and lizard temperatures at sites close to the upper elevational limit for oviparous reptiles (presumably, the selective environment where the transition from oviparity to viviparity actually occurs) suggest that reproductive mode has less effect on mean incubation temperatures than on the diel distribution of those temperatures. Nests of the oviparous scincid lizard Bassiana duperreyi showed smooth diel cycles of heating and cooling. In contrast, body temperatures of the viviparous scincid Eulamprus heatwolei rose abruptly in the morning, were high and stable during daylight hours, and fell abruptly at night. Laboratory incubation experiments mimicking these patterns showed that developmental rates of eggs and phenotypic traits of hatchling B. duperreyi were sensitive to this type of thermal variance as well as to mean temperature. Hence, diel distributions as well as mean incubation temperatures may have played an important role in the selective forces for viviparity. More generally, variances as well as mean values of abiotic factors may constitute significant selective forces on life-history evolution.
Parallelization of Littlewood-Richardson Coefficients Computation and its Integration into the BonjourGrid Meta-Desktop Grid Middleware

The aim of this paper is to show how to parallelize a compute intensive application in mathematics (Group Theory) for an institutional Desktop Grid platform coordinated by a meta-grid middleware named BonjourGrid. The paper is twofold: first of all, it shows how to parallelize a sequential program for a multicore CPU which participates in the computation and second it demonstrates the effort for launching multiple instances of the solutions for the mathematical problem with the BonjourGrid middleware. BonjourGrid is a fully decentralized Desktop Grid middleware. The main results of the paper are: a) an efficient multi-threaded version of a sequential program to compute Littlewood- Richardson coefficients, namely the Multi-LR program and b) a proof of concept, centered around the user needs, for the BonjourGrid middleware dedicated to coordinate multiple instances of programsfor Desktop Grids and with the help of Multi-LR. In this paper, the scientific work consists in starting from a model for the solution of a compute intensive problem in mathematics, to incorporate the concrete model into a middleware and running it on commodity PCs platform managed by an innovative meta Desktop Grid middleware.
Recommendations for adjunctive basic skin care in patients with psoriasis

BackgroundPsoriasis is a multifactorial disease involving both genetic predisposition and external triggers, resulting in epidermal and immune dysfunctions. Regardless of the severity of the disease, patients require additional basic topical treatment with emollients. Basic skin care products are well known for their role in moisture retention and symptom control in psoriasis, yet patients underuse them. Dry skin and cutaneous inflammation are associated with an impaired epidermal barrier function. This breakdown of the skin barrier causes the release of proinflammatory mediators that exaggerate inflammation.Objectivesto provide recommendations for the use of emollients (including ceramides, urea, keratolytic agents, zinc salts, niacinamide), thermal water and skin care products in psoriasis.MethodsA review of the current literature from 2000 to 2012 using Medline and Ovid was performed by a working group of five European Dermatologists with clinical and research experience in psoriasis.ResultsEither alone or used adjunctively, basic topical therapy can restore and protect skin barrier function, increase remission times between flare-ups and enhance the effects of pharmaceutical therapy.ConclusionWe provide physicians with a tool to assist them in implementing basic skin care in an integrated disease management approach.
Accurate frequency estimation in power systems by DSP

A method of integrating zero-crossing for accurate estimation of the actual power-line frequency is considered. It is based on integration of samples of power-line voltage and on interpolation of the integrated value near its zero-crossing. The main advantage of this method as compared to conventional zero-crossing technique is a significant increase in resolution and a decrease of round-off errors of A/D-converter. Due to its simplicity, rapidity and efficiency, this method can be used as a basis for prediction of the actual power-line frequency and for other DSP-applications. Theoretical and experimental data concerning proposed method are described and discussed.
Immunosuppressive treatment inhibits the development of amebic liver abscesses in hamsters.

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to determine if the inflammation and/or immunosuppression induced by Entamoeba histolytica may contribute to amebic invasion. MATERIAL/METHODS Dexamethasone was administered three days before and three days after inoculation of hamsters with E. histolytica. Seven days alter inoculation the animals were sacrificed and the sizes of their amebic liver abscesses were determined. The number of neutrophils, macrophages, T and B cells in the peritoneum as well as the production of nitric oxide and the susceptibility to Listeria monocytogenes infection was also determined. RESULTS Dexamethasone treatment significantly reduced the number of T lymphocytes in thymus and spleen. The number of neutrophils, macrophages and T lymphocytes in the peritoneal exudate was also reduced as well as the production of nitric oxide and the microbicidal activity against Listeria monocytogenes. However, in the animals treated with a high dose of dexamethasone the size of the liver abscesses was significantly smaller than in the untreated animals. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that macrophage and T cell-mediated immunity is not relevant as a protective mechanism because tissue invasion by E. histolytica was reduced in immunosuppresed animals. On the contrary, the inflammatory process may contribute to the invasion and liver damage.