Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Arsenic association with circulating oxidized low-density lipoprotein in a Native American community

ABSTRACT More than 500 abandoned uranium (U) mines within the Navajo Nation contribute U, arsenic (As) and other metals to groundwater, soil and potentially air through airborne transport. The adverse cardiovascular health effects attributed to cumulative exposure to these metals remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to examine whether environmental exposure to these metals may promote or exacerbate the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in this Native American population. The correlation of cardiovascular biomarkers (oxidized LDL (oxLDL) and C-reactive protein (CRP)) from a Navajo cohort (n = 252) with mean annual As and U intakes from water and urine metals was estimated using linear regression. Proof-of-concept assays were performed to investigate whether As and U directly oxidize human LDL. Mean annual As intake from water was positively and significantly associated with oxLDL, but not CRP in this study population, while U intake estimates were negatively associated with oxLDL. In an acellular system, As, but not U, directly oxidized the apolipoprotein B-100 component of purified human LDL. Neither metal promoted lipid peroxidation of the LDL particle. Both the population and lab results are consistent with the hypothesis that As promotes oxidation of LDL, a crucial step in vascular inflammation and chronic vascular disease. Conversely, for outcomes related to U, negative associations were observed between U intake and oxLDL, and U only minimally altered human LDL in direct exposure experiments. Only urine U was correlated with CRP, whereas no other metals in water or urine were apparently reliable predictors of this inflammatory marker.
Patient Related Outcome Measures Dovepress Public and Private Health Care Utilization Differences between Socioeconomic Strata in Jamaica

Objective: To assess trends in the use of private and public health care services among Jamaicans over a 15-year period (1991–2007). Design and methods: Statistics on the use of health care services were taken from the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (JSLC) for the 15-year period 1993 to 2007. Use of hospital services were represented in income quintiles and compared for private and public facilities. The difference in percentage use between public and private was compared by quintiles over the period and the variability in those differentials assessed. Results: This study highlights the increasing use of private services by increasing wealth, exaggerated for the wealthiest quintile. There is a widening of the differences in utilization between public and private centers as income level increases (P , 0.001). Conclusions: Internal and external economic conditions influence the use of private and public health care services in Jamaica. Although the relative increase in the cost (to the user) of public health care is more than that for private health care, the actual cost to use the public health care system is still significantly cheaper than using the private system. Lower income health care users tend to take the lesser cost option.
Fault injection method for safety and controllability evaluation of automated driving

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and automated vehicle applications based on embedded sensors have become a reality today. As road vehicles increase its autonomy and the driver shares his role in the control loop, novel challenges on their dependability assessment arise. One key issue is that the notion of controllability becomes more complex when validating the robustness of the automated vehicle in the presence of faults. This paper presents a simulation-based fault injection approach aimed at finding acceptable controllability properties for the model-based design of control systems. We focus on determining the best fault models inserting exceptional conditions to accelerate the identification of specific areas for testing. In our work we performed fault injection method to find the most appropriate safety concepts, controllability properties and fault handling strategies at early design phases of lateral control functions based on the error in the Differential GPS signal.
Nipah Virus Infection

ABSTRACT Nipah virus, a paramyxovirus related to Hendra virus, first emerged in Malaysia in 1998. Clinical presentation ranges from asymptomatic infection to fatal encephalitis. Malaysia has had no more cases since 1999, but outbreaks continue to occur in Bangladesh and India. In the Malaysia-Singapore outbreak, transmission occurred primarily through contact with pigs, whereas in Bangladesh and India, it is associated with ingestion of contaminated date palm sap and human-to-human transmission. Bats are the main reservoir for this virus, which can cause disease in humans and animals. There are currently no effective therapeutics, and supportive care and prevention are the mainstays of management.
Mirror-Image Equivalence and Interhemispheric Mirror-Image Reversal

Mirror-image confusions are common, especially in children and in some cases of neurological impairment. They can be a special impediment in activities such as reading and writing directional scripts, where mirror-image patterns (such as b and d) must be distinguished. Treating mirror images as equivalent, though, can also be adaptive in the natural world, which carries no systematic left-right bias and where the same object or event can appear in opposite viewpoints. Mirror-image equivalence and confusion are natural consequences of a bilaterally symmetrical brain. In the course of learning, mirror-image equivalence may be established through a process of symmetrization, achieved through homotopic interhemispheric exchange in the formation of memory circuits. Such circuits would not distinguish between mirror images. Learning to discriminate mirror-image discriminations may depend either on existing brain asymmetries, or on extensive learning overriding the symmetrization process. The balance between mirror-image equivalence and mirror-image discrimination may nevertheless be precarious, with spontaneous confusions or reversals, such as mirror writing, sometimes appearing naturally or as a manifestation of conditions like dyslexia.
Fast Computation and Applications of Genome Mappability

We present a fast mapping-based algorithm to compute the mappability of each region of a reference genome up to a specified number of mismatches. Knowing the mappability of a genome is crucial for the interpretation of massively parallel sequencing experiments. We investigate the properties of the mappability of eukaryotic DNA/RNA both as a whole and at the level of the gene family, providing for various organisms tracks which allow the mappability information to be visually explored. In addition, we show that mappability varies greatly between species and gene classes. Finally, we suggest several practical applications where mappability can be used to refine the analysis of high-throughput sequencing data (SNP calling, gene expression quantification and paired-end experiments). This work highlights mappability as an important concept which deserves to be taken into full account, in particular when massively parallel sequencing technologies are employed. The GEM mappability program belongs to the GEM (GEnome Multitool) suite of programs, which can be freely downloaded for any use from its website (http://gemlibrary.sourceforge.net).
Enhancing Optical Burst Switching Networks Throughput at Low & High Traffic Loads

This paper presents a new burst-scheduling algorithm for variable size burst in optical burst switching (OBS) networks, which will improve the quality of service (QoS). This is done for burst control to avoid burst overlapping in the egress router of OBS network. The impact of the burst size ,fiber delay lines (FDL), inter-arrival time, burst loss rate (BLR), and minimum time gap required between two successive bursts (d) on throughput are studied.
Defective Base Excision Repair of Oxidative DNA Damage in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Promotes Atherosclerosis

Background: Atherosclerotic plaques demonstrate extensive accumulation of oxidative DNA damage, predominantly as 8-oxoguanine (8oxoG) lesions. 8oxoG is repaired by base excision repair enzymes; however, the mechanisms regulating 8oxoG accumulation in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and its effects on their function and in atherosclerosis are unknown. Methods: We studied levels of 8oxoG and its regulatory enzymes in human atherosclerosis, the mechanisms regulating 8oxoG repair and the base excision repair enzyme 8oxoG DNA glycosylase I (OGG1) in VSMCs in vitro, and the effects of reducing 8oxoG in VSMCs in atherosclerosis in ApoE−/− mice. Results: Human plaque VSMCs showed defective nuclear 8oxoG repair, associated with reduced acetylation of OGG1. OGG1 was a key regulatory enzyme of 8oxoG repair in VSMCs, and its acetylation was crucial to its repair function through regulation of protein stability and expression. p300 and sirtuin 1 were identified as the OGG1 acetyltransferase and deacetylase regulators, respectively, and both proteins interacted with OGG1 and regulated OGG1 acetylation at endogenous levels. However, p300 levels were decreased in human plaque VSMCs and in response to oxidative stress, suggesting that reactive oxygen species–induced regulation of OGG1 acetylation could be caused by reactive oxygen species–induced decrease in p300 expression. We generated mice that express VSMC-restricted OGG1 or an acetylation defective version (SM22&agr;-OGG1 and SM22&agr;-OGG1K-R mice) and crossed them with ApoE−/− mice. We also studied ApoE−/− mice deficient in OGG1 (OGG1−/−). OGG1−/− mice showed increased 8oxoG in vivo and increased atherosclerosis, whereas mice expressing VSMC-specific OGG1 but not the acetylation mutant OGG1K-R showed markedly reduced intracellular 8oxoG and reduced atherosclerosis. VSMC OGG1 reduced telomere 8oxoG accumulation, DNA strand breaks, cell death and senescence after oxidant stress, and activation of proinflammatory pathways. Conclusions: We identify defective 8oxoG base excision repair in human atherosclerotic plaque VSMCs, OGG1 as a major 8oxoG repair enzyme in VSMCs, and p300/sirtuin 1 as major regulators of OGG1 through acetylation/deacetylation. Reducing oxidative damage by rescuing OGG1 activity reduces plaque development, indicating the detrimental effects of 8oxoG on VSMC function.
An exploratory study on the knowledge management process, tools, and technologies in the context of small restaurant businesses in Thailand

In Thailand, entrepreneurs can easily open a restaurant, although they often lack the necessary business management knowledge and experience, resulting in failure. As a consequence of the current situation and existing problems, restaurant business entrepreneurs require appropriate and specific knowledge management (KM). There are many existing research studies on KM, but these are not appropriate in the context of small restaurant business entrepreneurs. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are 1) to describe the current situation of the KM process in general; and 2) to study the current KM tools and technologies available to small restaurant entrepreneurs in Thailand. This study uses the qualitative approach by conducting in-depth interviews with nine small business entrepreneurs well-diversified by demographics in terms of age, and number of years' experience in the restaurant business. The researchers have chosen content analysis to analyse the interview transcripts. The results from the exploratory study indicate some interesting findings as evidenced by four main KM processes. The results also show that entrepreneurs of small restaurants lack the appropriate KM tools and technologies for each KM activity. Moreover, the appropriate use of offline and online KM tools can be essential for facilitating KM.
Relation between dieting and weight change among preadolescents and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE To assess whether dieting to control weight was associated with weight change among children and adolescents. METHODS A prospective study was conducted of 8203 girls and 6769 boys who were 9 to 14 years of age in 1996, were in an ongoing cohort study, and completed at least 2 annual questionnaires between 1996 and 1999. Dieting to control weight, binge eating, and dietary intake were assessed annually from 1996 through 1998 with instruments designed specifically for children and adolescents. The outcome measure was age- and sex-specific z score of body mass index (BMI). RESULTS In 1996, 25.0% of the girls and 13.8% of the boys were infrequent dieters and 4.5% of the girls and 2.2% of the boys were frequent dieters. Among the girls, the percentage of dieters increased over the following 2 years. Binge eating was more common among the girls, but in both sexes, it was associated with dieting to control weight (girls: infrequent dieters, odds ratio [OR]: 5.10; frequent dieters, OR: 12.4; boys: infrequent dieters, OR: 3.49; frequent dieters, OR: 7.30). During 3 years of follow-up, dieters gained more weight than nondieters. Among the girls, frequency of dieting was positively associated with increases in age- and sex-specific z scores of BMI (beta = 0.05 and beta = 0.04 for frequent and infrequent dieters vs nondieters). Among the boys, both frequent and infrequent dieters gained 0.07 z scores of BMI more than nondieters. In addition, boys who engaged in binge eating gained significantly more weight than nondieters. CONCLUSIONS Although medically supervised weight control may be beneficial for overweight youths, our data suggest that for many adolescents, dieting to control weight is not only ineffective, it may actually promote weight gain.
Change in Driving Performance following Arthroscopic Shoulder Surgery

Abstract The current study aimed to measure perioperative changes in driving performance following arthroscopic shoulder surgery using a validated driving simulator. 21 patients who underwent arthroscopic surgery for rotator cuff or labral pathology were tested on a driving simulator preoperatively, and 6 and 12 weeks postoperatively. An additional 21 subjects were tested to establish driving data in a control cohort. The number of collisions, centerline crossings, and off-road excursions were recorded for each trial. VAS and SPADI scores were obtained at each visit. The mean number of collisions in the study group significantly increased from 2.05 preoperatively to 3.75 at 6 weeks (p<0.001), and significantly decreased to 1.95 at 12 weeks (p<0.001). Centerline crossings and off-road excursions did not significantly change from preoperative through 12 weeks, although centerline crossings were statistically different from the controls at each time point (p<0.001). Surgery on the dominant driving arm resulted in greater collisions at 6 weeks than surgery on the non-dominant driving arm (p<0.001). Preliminary data shows that driving performance is impaired for at least 6 weeks postoperatively, with a return to normal driving by 12 weeks. Driving is more profoundly affected in conditions that require avoiding a collision and when the dominant driving arm is involved.
A Linear Relaxation Technique for the Position Analysis of Multiloop Linkages

This paper presents a new method to isolate all configurations that a multiloop linkage can adopt. The problem is tackled by means of formulation and resolution techniques that fit particularly well together. The adopted formulation yields a system of simple equations (only containing linear, bilinear, and quadratic monomials, and trivial trigonometric terms for the helical pair only) whose structure is later exploited by a branch-and-prune method based on linear relaxations. The method is general, as it can be applied to linkages with single or multiple loops with arbitrary topology, involving lower pairs of any kind, and complete, as all possible solutions get accurately bounded, irrespective of whether the linkage is rigid or mobile.
Developmental dysgraphia: An overview and framework for research

ABSTRACT Developmental deficits in the acquisition of writing skills (developmental dysgraphias) are common and have significant consequences, yet these deficits have received relatively little attention from researchers. We offer a framework for studying developmental dysgraphias (including both spelling and handwriting deficits), arguing that research should be grounded in theories describing normal cognitive writing mechanisms and the acquisition of these mechanisms. We survey the current state of knowledge concerning developmental dysgraphia, discussing potential proximal and distal causes. One conclusion emerging from this discussion is that developmental writing deficits are diverse in their manifestations and causes. We suggest an agenda for research on developmental dysgraphia, and suggest that pursuing this agenda may contribute not only to a better understanding of developmental writing impairment, but also to a better understanding of normal writing mechanisms and their acquisition. Finally, we provide a brief introduction to the subsequent articles in this special issue on developmental dysgraphia.
Latent Geometry Inspired Graph Dissimilarities Enhance Affinity Propagation Community Detection in Complex Networks

Affinity propagation is one of the most effective unsupervised pattern recognition algorithms for data clustering in high-dimensional feature space. However, the numerous attempts to test its performance for community detection in complex networks have been attaining results very far from the state of the art methods such as Infomap and Louvain. Yet, all these studies agreed that the crucial problem is to convert the unweighted network topology in a 'smart-enough' node dissimilarity matrix that is able to properly address the message passing procedure behind affinity propagation clustering. Here we introduce a conceptual innovation and we discuss how to leverage network latent geometry notions in order to design dissimilarity matrices for affinity propagation community detection. Our results demonstrate that the latent geometry inspired dissimilarity measures we design bring affinity propagation to equal or outperform current state of the art methods for community detection. These findings are solidly proven considering both synthetic 'realistic' networks (with known ground-truth communities) and real networks (with community metadata), even when the data structure is corrupted by noise artificially induced by missing or spurious connectivity.
Antiaging Action of Retinol: From Molecular to Clinical

The antiaging efficacy of retinol (ROL) has been explored mainly clinically in photoprotected skin sites and for high doses of ROL (0.4–1.6%). The objective of the study was to demonstrate the antiaging action of a low and tolerable dose of ROL (0.1%) ex vivo by measuring the expression of cellular retinoic-acid-binding protein II (CRABP2) and heparin-binding epidermal growth factor (HBEGF) by a histological evaluation of the epidermis and in vivo by assessing major aging signs and performing three-dimensional profilometry and digital imaging during a 9-month double-blind placebo-controlled study involving 48 volunteers. Finally, epidermal cell proliferation was evaluated using tryptophan fluorescence spectroscopy. Our results demonstrate that 0.1% ROL induced CRABP2 and HBEGF gene expression and increased keratinocyte proliferation and epidermal thickness. In human volunteers, topical application of a ROL-containing product improved all major aging signs assessed in our study (wrinkles under the eyes, fine lines and tone evenness). Moreover, tryptophan fluorescence increased in the active-agent-treated group and not in the placebo-treated group, indicating that cell proliferation was accelerated in vivo. These data demonstrate that a product containing a low dose (0.1%) of ROL promotes keratinocyte proliferation ex vivo and in vivo, induces epidermal thickening ex vivo and alleviates skin aging signs, without any significant adverse reaction.
Drugs that target dynamic microtubules: A new molecular perspective

Microtubules have long been considered an ideal target for anticancer drugs because of the essential role they play in mitosis, forming the dynamic spindle apparatus. As such, there is a wide variety of compounds currently in clinical use and in development that act as antimitotic agents by altering microtubule dynamics. Although these diverse molecules are known to affect microtubule dynamics upon binding to one of the three established drug domains (taxane, vinca alkaloid, or colchicine site), the exact mechanism by which each drug works is still an area of intense speculation and research. In this study, we review the effects of microtubule‐binding chemotherapeutic agents from a new perspective, considering how their mode of binding induces conformational changes and alters biological function relative to the molecular vectors of microtubule assembly or disassembly. These “biological vectors” can thus be used as a spatiotemporal context to describe molecular mechanisms by which microtubule‐targeting drugs work. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Med Res Rev, 31, No. 3, 443‐481, 2011
Dietary intake of carbohydrates and risk of type 2 diabetes: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer-Norfolk study

In the present study, we investigated the association between dietary intake of carbohydrates and the risk of type 2 diabetes. Incident cases of diabetes (n 749) were identified and compared with a randomly selected subcohort of 3496 participants aged 40–79 years. For dietary assessment, we used 7 d food diaries administered at baseline. We carried out modified Cox proportional hazards regression analyses and compared results obtained from the different methods of adjustment for total energy intake. Dietary intakes of total carbohydrates, starch, sucrose, lactose or maltose were not significantly related to diabetes risk after adjustment for confounders. However, in the residual method for energy adjustment, intakes of fructose and glucose were inversely related to diabetes risk. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) of diabetes comparing the extreme quintiles of intake were 0·79 (95 % CI 0·59, 1·07; P for trend = 0·03) for glucose and 0·62 (95 % CI 0·46, 0·83; P for trend = 0·01) for fructose. In the nutrient density method, only fructose was inversely related to diabetes risk (HR 0·65, 95 % CI 0·48, 0·88). The replacement of 5 % energy intake from SFA with an isoenergetic amount of fructose was associated with a 30 % lower diabetes risk (HR 0·69, 95 % CI 0·50, 0·96). Results of the standard and energy partition methods were similar to those of the residual method. These prospective findings suggest that the intakes of starch and sucrose are not associated, but that those of fructose and glucose are inversely associated with diabetes risk. Whether the inverse associations with fructose and glucose reflect the effect of substitution of these carbohydrate subtypes with other nutrients (i.e. SFA), their net higher intake or other nutrients associated with their intake remains to be established through further investigation.