Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor α/δ/γ With Obesity, and Gene–Gene Interaction, in the Chinese Han Population

Background We investigated the association of 10 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) with obesity and the additional role of gene–gene interaction. Methods Participants were recruited within the framework of the Prevention of Multiple Metabolic Disorders and MS in Jiangsu Province cohort population survey of an urban community in China. In total, 820 subjects (513 nonobese adults, 307 obese adults) were randomly selected, and no individuals were consanguineous. Ten SNPs (rs135539, rs4253778, rs1800206, rs2016520, rs9794, rs10865710, rs1805192, rs709158, rs3856806, and rs4684847) were genotyped and analyzed. Results After covariate adjustment, minor alleles of rs2016520 in PPARδ and rs10865170 in PPARγ were associated with lower BMI (P < 0.01 for all). Generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction analysis showed significant gene–gene interaction among rs2016520, rs9794, and rs10865170 in 3-dimensional models (P = 0.0010); prediction accuracy was 0.6011 and cross-validation consistency was 9/10. It also showed significant gene–gene interaction between rs2016520 and rs10865170 in all 2-dimensional models (P = 0.0010); prediction accuracy was 0.6072 and cross-validation consistency was 9/10. Conclusions rs2016520 and rs10865170 were associated with lower obesity risk. In addition, interaction was identified among rs2016520, rs9794, and rs10865170 in obesity.
Getting Away With Murder

Staged crime scenes involve an offender deliberately altering evidence to simulate events to mislead investigators. Despite likely occurring more often than reported in the literature due to success in offender deception, the exact frequency of staged crime scenes is unknown. In an attempt to bridge this gap, a legal database was searched for detected staged scenes. A total of 115 cases were examined, and this study reports on 16 staged suicides that were examined through descriptive analysis. Findings indicate the frequent involvement of firearms, hanging, or asphyxia, and that offenders are usually known to victims, although not necessarily intimately.
Spectral Methods for Mesh Processing and Analysis

Spectral methods for mesh processing and analysis rely on the eigenvalues, eigenvectors, or eigenspace projections derived from appropriately defined mesh operators to carry out desired tasks. Early works in this area can be traced back to the seminal paper by Taubin in 1995, where spectral analysis of mesh geometry based on a combinatorial Laplacian aids our understanding of the low-pass filtering approach to mesh smoothing. Over the past ten years or so, the list of applications in the area of geometry processing which utilize the eigenstructures of a variety of mesh operators in different manners have been growing steadily. Many works presented so far draw parallels from developments in fields such as graph theory, computer vision, machine learning, graph drawing, numerical linear algebra, and high-performance computing. This state-of-the-art report aims to provide a comprehensive survey on the spectral approach, focusing on its power and versatility in solving geometry processing problems and attempting to bridge the gap between relevant research in computer graphics and other fields. Necessary theoretical background will be provided and existing works will be classified according to different criteria — the operators or eigenstructures employed, application domains, or the dimensionality of the spectral embeddings used — and described in adequate length. Finally, despite much empirical success, there still remain many open questions pertaining to the spectral approach, which we will discuss in the report as well.
The cerebral vasculature as a therapeutic target for neurological disorders and the role of shear stress in vascular homeostatis and pathophysiology

Abstract It is widely accepted that vascular mechanisms are involved in the genesis of many neurological disorders. In particular, blood–brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction has been related to the severity of Alzheimer's disease, encephalopathy due to meningitis, multiple sclerosis, HIV-associated encephalopathy, epilepsy, gliomas and metastatic brain tumors. The BBB may constitute an important therapeutic target to protect neurons after CNS diseases. Both in vivo and in vitro, the functional phenotype of vascular endothelium is dynamically responsive to circulating cytokines, growth factors and puslatile blood flow (shear stress). Shear stress can play a critical role in vascular homeostasis and pathophysiology; it is a major regulator of remodeling in developed blood vessels and in blood vessels affected by atherosclerotic lesions. The physiological fluid mechanic stimulus, shear stress, could be considered to be an important 'differentiative' stimulus capable of modulating endothelial phenotype in vivo. Endothelial cells undergo cell cycle arrest after exposure to physiological levels of shear stress. As for mature endothelial cells, in which flow mediated shear stress may play a role in the induction, progression and/or prevention of atherosclerosis by changing their function, stress may play a role in endothelial cell differentiation from hemopoietic stem cells and/or from embryonic stem cells. Stem cells may be used to repair vascular damage, including loss of EC, due to a variety of diseases (e.g. myocardial neovascularization by adult bone marrow derived angioblasts). In the brain, it was proposed that neuron-producing stem cells may be used to treat Alzheimer's disease, paralysis, etc. Surprisingly, very few investigators are exploring the use of endothelial precursors to revert or prevent cerebrovascular disease. This review summarizes the most recent data related to cerebral vasculature as a therapeutic target for neurological disorders and the role of shear stress in blood–brain barrier homeostasis and pathophysiology.
Persuasion tactics implemented in multicultural markets: the significance of ethnically tailored advertisements

Pairing the Elaboration Likelihood Model with Social Categorization Theory and Social Identity Theory, an experiment examined the effect of both the persuaders? ethnicity and the strength of the targets association with their own ethnicity on being persuaded. A total of 180 participants from a single University rated their liking for a never-before-seen product after viewing a commercial with either Hispanic actors or European American actors. Although the results were non-significant, the research provided insight into the design and measurement of this topic for future studies.
Multivariable Analysis of Outcome Predictors and Adjustment of Main Outcome Results to Baseline Data Profile in Randomized Controlled Trials: Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-MOnitoring STudy (SITS-MOST)

Background and Purpose— The Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-MOnitoring STudy (SITS-MOST) unadjusted results demonstrated that intravenous alteplase is well tolerated and that the effects were comparable with those seen in randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) when used in routine clinical practice within 3 hours of ischemic stroke onset. We aimed to identify outcome predictors and adjust the outcomes of the SITS-MOST to the baseline characteristics of RCTs. Methods— The study population was SITS-MOST (n=6483) and pooled RCTs (n=464) patients treated with intravenous alteplase within 3 hours of stroke onset. Multivariable, backward stepwise regression analyses (until P≤0.10) were performed to identify the outcome predictors for SITS-MOST. Variables appearing either in the final multivariable model or differing (P<0.10) between SITS-MOST and RCTs were included in the prediction model for the adjustment of outcomes. Main outcome measures were symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage, defined as National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale deterioration ≥1 within 7 days with any hemorrhage (RCT definition), mortality, and independency as defined by modified Rankin Score of 0 to 2 at 3 months. Results— The adjusted proportion of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage for SITS-MOST was 8.5% (95% CI, 7.9 to 9.0) versus 8.6% (6.3 to 11.6) for pooled RCTs; mortality was 15.5% (14.7 to 16.2) versus 17.3% (14.1 to 21.1); and independency was 50.4% (49.6 to 51.2) versus 50.1% (44.5 to 54.7), respectively. In the multivariable analysis, older age, high blood glucose, high National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, and current infarction on imaging scans were related to poor outcome in all parameters. Systolic blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, and weight were additional predictors of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage. Current smokers had a lower rate of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage. Disability before current stroke (modified Rankin Score 2 to 5), diastolic blood pressure, antiplatelet other than aspirin, congestive heart failure, patients treated in new centers, and male sex were related to high mortality at 3 months. Conclusions— The adjusted outcomes from SITS-MOST were almost identical to those in relevant RCTs and reinforce the conclusion drawn previously in the unadjusted analysis. We identified several important outcome predictors to better identify patients suitable for thrombolysis.
Association of systolic blood pressure drop with intravenous administration of itraconazole in children with hemato-oncologic disease

Purpose Although few adverse effects have been reported for itraconazole, a widely used antifungal therapy for febrile neutropenia, we found intravenous (IV) itraconazole to be associated with serious cases of blood pressure (BP) drop. We therefore evaluated the incidence and risk factors for BP drop during IV administration of the drug. Materials and methods We reviewed the medical records of children with hemato-oncologic disease who were treated with IV itraconazole from January 2012 to December 2013. By analyzing systolic BP (SBP) measurements made from 4 hours before through to 4 hours after itraconazole administration, we evaluated the changes in SBP and the risk factors for an SBP drop, especially clinically meaningful (≥20%) drops. Results Itraconazole was administered 2,627 times to 180 patients. The SBP during the 4 hours following itraconazole administration was lower than during the 4 hours before administration (104 [53.0–160.33 mmHg] versus 105 [59.8–148.3 mmHg]; P<0.001). The decrease in SBP was associated with the application of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) (P=0.012) and the use of inotropic (P=0.005) and hypotensive drugs (P=0.021). A clinically meaningful SBP drop was seen in 5.37% (141 out of 2,627) of the administrations, and the use of inotropics (odds ratio [OR] 6.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.22–13.92; P<0.001), reducing the dose of inotropics (OR 8.08; 95% CI 1.39–46.94; P=0.02), CRRT (OR 3.10, 95% CI 1.41–6.81; P=0.005), and bacteremia (OR 2.70, 95% CI 1.32–5.51; P=0.007) were risk factors, while age was a protective factor (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.89–0.97; P<0.001). Conclusion A decrease in SBP was associated with IV administration of itraconazole. It was particularly significant in younger patients with bacteremia using inotropic agents and during application of CRRT. Careful attention to hypotension is warranted during IV administration of itraconazole in this group of patients.
Distribution of Ions and Water between Tissue Compartments in the Perfused Left Ventricle of the Rat Heart

Left ventricles from rat hearts were perfused through the coronary blood vessels for periods up to 90 minutes with solution containing radioactively labeled sulfate, sucrose, urea, glycerol, or chloride. Urea and glycerol equilibrate with all of tissue water. By contrast, 35SO4 and sucrose-14C equilibrate very rapidly with 40% of total water and slowly with an additional 20%; they are excluded from 40% of the tissue water. The two “cellular” compartments (C2, which equilibrates slowly with SO4 and sucrose, and C3, from which SO4 and sucrose are excluded) both lose water when hearts are perfused with a solution made hypertonic with NaCl. Chemical analyses for K, Na, and Cl, and measurements of the rate of equilibration of 36C1 show that C2 has low contents of Cl and Na. Experiments in which extracellular NaCl was replaced osmole for osmole by KCl according to the method of Boyle and Conway suggest that the boundaries of C2 and C3 may have different ionic permeabilities. These observations indicate that the division of mammalian heart muscle into tissue compartments is more complex than conventionally assumed, a conclusion reached by Bozler for frog heart muscle. They are inconsistent with the usual assumption that cardiac cellular water is homogeneous.
Correlations between Hypercalcemia and Endoscopic Findings in HD Patients – A Prospective Study

Rolul hipercalcemiei in apariaia hemoragiilor digestive la pacientul hemodializat cronic Hemoragiile digestive reprezinta complicaaii redutabile, potenaial cauzatoare de deces la o categorie de pacienai taraai, cu factori de risc multipli, aaea cum sunt renalii cronici aflaai in tratament de supleere a funcaiei renale prin hemodializa. La aceaeti pacienai, baza fiziopatologica a leziunilor generatoare de pierderi de sânge, pe o mucoasa afectata de uremieaei hipervolemie cvasipermanenta, este hipersecreaia de acid clorhidric produsa nu numai pe caile clasice cunoscute (gastrina, histaminaaei acetil-colina) ci aei prin acidoza metabolica interdialitica aei prin stimularea unor receptori calciu-dependenai situati aei la nivelul celulei parietale. Obiectivul studiului: ne-am propus studierea relaaiei dintre nivelul calcemiei la pacientul dializat cronic aei riscul de apariaiea hemoragiilor digestive prin leziuni ale mucoasei tubului digestiv acid-induse. Material aei metoda: studiu prospectiv, ce a cuprins un numar de 59 de pacienai cunoscuai cu boala renala cronica, hemodializaai de cel puain 6 luni, imparaiai in funcaie de manifestarile digestive in trei loturi, astfel: Lotul I – bolnavi cu hemoragie digestiva superioara evidenta; Lotul II–pacienai cu hemoragie digestiva oculta aei Lotul III – lot martor de pacienai fara pierderi de sânge la nivelul tractului digestiv. Rezultate: Valorile mari ale calcemiei s-au corelat semnificativ cu frecvenaa hemoragiilor digestive exteriorizate prin hematemeza, melena, precum aei cu frecvenaa hemoragiilor oculte. Valoarea medie a calcemiei a fost semnificativ superioara in lotul I faaa de lotul II (p=0.00006) aei faaa de cea calculata in lotul III (p=0.0000004); corelaaia dintre media calcemiilor in loturile II aei III este nesemnificativa (p=0.039). Concluzie: Efectele perturbarii severe aei de durata a metabolismului fosfo-calcic la dializaaii cronici sunt complexe, influenaând nu numai sistemul cardiovascular, ci aei sistemul digestiv, uneori cu consecinae cel puain la fel de grave.
Association of a functional IRF7 variant with systemic lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVE A previous genome-wide association study conducted in a population of European ancestry identified rs4963128, a KIAA1542 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) 23 kb telomeric to IRF7 (the gene for interferon regulatory factor 7 [IRF-7]), to be strongly associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This study was undertaken to investigate whether genetic polymorphism within IRF7 is a risk factor for the development of SLE. METHODS We genotyped one KIAA1542 SNP (rs4963128) and one IRF7 SNP (rs1131665 [Q412R]) in an Asian population (1,302 cases, 1,479 controls), to assess their association with SLE. Subsequently, rs1131665 was further genotyped in independent panels of Chinese subjects (528 cases, 527 controls), European American subjects (446 cases, 461 controls), and African American subjects (159 cases, 115 controls) by TaqMan genotyping assay, to seek confirmation of association in various ethnic groups. A luciferase reporter assay was used to assess the effect of Q412R polymorphism on the activation of IRF-7. RESULTS Consistent association of rs1131665 (Q412R) with SLE was identified in Asian, European American, and African American populations (total 2,435 cases and 2,582 controls) (P(meta) = 6.18 × 10(-6) , odds ratio 1.42 [95% confidence interval 1.22-1.65]). Expression of the IRF7 412Q risk allele resulted in a 2-fold increase in interferon-stimulated response element transcriptional activity compared with expression of IRF7 412R (P = 0.0003), suggesting that IRF7 412Q confers elevated IRF-7 activity and may therefore affect a downstream interferon pathway. CONCLUSION These findings show that the major allele of a nonsynonymous SNP, rs1131665 (412Q) in IRF7, confers elevated activation of IRF-7 and predisposes to the development of SLE in multiple ethnic groups. This result provides direct genetic evidence that IRF7 may be a risk gene for human SLE.
On the performance of space-time block codes

Space-time block codes (STBC), that have been introduced by S.M. Alamouti (IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communication, vol.16, no.8, p.1451-8, 1998) and V. (IEEE-info, vol.45, 1999), are now considered in the current 3GPP standard as one method to achieve spatial diversity. While the performance of space-time block codes has been subject of extensive research (see Parkvall, S. et al, 2000; Correia, A. et al., 1999; Tharokh et al., 1999), the impact of channel estimation errors and closed loop power control on the performance of STBC remain open for further research. The performance of STBC with imperfect channel estimates and closed loop power control is analyzed for flat fading channels as well as for multipath channels.
Artificial Neural Network for Performance Modeling and Optimization of CMOS Analog Circuits

paper presents an implementation of multilayer feed forward neural networks (NN) to optimize CMOS analog circuits. For modeling and design recently neural network computational modules have got acceptance as an unorthodox and useful tool. To achieve high performance of active or passive circuit component neural network can be trained accordingly. A well trained neural network can produce more accurate outcome depending on its learning capability. Neural network model can replace empirical modeling solutions limited by range and accuracy. (2) Neural network models are easy to obtain for new circuits or devices which can replace analytical methods. Numerical modeling methods can also be replaced by neural network model due to their computationally expansive behavior. (2)(10)(20). The pro- posed implementation is aimed at reducing resource requirement, without much compromise on the speed. The NN ensures proper functioning by assigning the appropriate inputs, weights, biases, and excitation function of the layer that is currently being computed. The concept used is shown to be very effective in reducing resource requirements and enhancing speed.
Occurrence of platelet‐activating factor (PAF) in normal rat stomach and alteration of PAF level by water immersion stress

We detected platelet‐activating substance in gastrointestinal areas, which was confirmed to be platelet‐activating factor (PAF) on the basis of the following findings: 1) it comigrated with authentic PAF on thin‐layer chromatography; 2) it did not aggregate PAF‐desensitized platelets; and 3) its activity was completely antagonized by the receptor antagonists CV3988 and L‐652,731. The level of PAF was determined with a bioassay method based on the release of [3H] serotonin from washed rabbit platelets. In the normal rat stomach, the level of PAF was high in the antrum (940 ± 200 nmol PAF/mol phosphorus of original phospholipids), especially in the antral mucosa (1801 ± 426 nmol/mol phosphorus of original phospholipids). The stomach PAF level was significantly altered by water immersion stress. Stress for a period of 1 h was associated with a decrease in the antral PAF level to 39 ± 7% of that of untreated controls. This low PAF level persisted during stress. On the other hand, in the corpus, stress for periods of 1 and 3 h was associated with decreases in the PAF content, and further stress (7 h) resulted in restoration of the PAF level to normal. Furthermore, 7 h of stress was associated with distinct hemorrhagic lesions, which were prevented by CV3988 infused i.v. before the stress. This is the first report of an association between a decrease of the endogenous PAF level in animal tissues and tissue damage. —Sugatani, J.; Fujimura, K. ; Miwa, M. ; Mizuno, T. ; Sameshima, Y. ; Saito, K. Occurrence of platelet‐activating factor (PAF) in normal rat stomach and alteration of PAF level by water immersion stress. FASEB J. 3: 65‐70; 1989.
Journal Editors Awaken to the Impact of Citation Errors. How We Control Them at 1S1

The problem of inaccuratecitations is considered. Studies investigating the incidence and variety of citation errors in various spwialty journafs are examined. Such errors include inaccuracies in bibliographic information as well as erroneous or inappropriate quotation of source material. IS1@’s quality-control procedures,designedto catch and correct citation errors as data are processed, are also discusd.
Efficient pnp characteristics of pMOS transistors in sub-0.13µm ESD protection circuits

An analysis of pMOS transistors in snapback conduction mode for a sub-0. 13µm technology will be presented. The pMOS n-well confined behavior vs. nMOS will be discussed. It will be shown that n-well resistance control under ESD conditions is the key factor to maintaining a sufficient ballast resistance in fully silicided technologies. The snapback and breakdown behavior will be discussed with respect to both physical mechanisms and process features. New reliability issues arising from a highly performing pMOS pull up transistor will be described. Possible solutions at the process, device and circuit level will be presented to minimize these reliability concerns.
HydroCast: Pressure Routing for Underwater Sensor Networks

A Sensor Equipped Aquatic (SEA) swarm is a sensor cloud that drifts with water currents and enables 4-D (space and time) monitoring of local underwater events such as contaminants, marine life, and intruders. The swarm is escorted on the surface by drifting sonobuoys that collect data from the underwater sensors via acoustic modems and report it in real time via radio to a monitoring center. The goal of this study is to design an efficient anycast routing algorithm for reliable underwater sensor event reporting to any surface sonobuoy. Major challenges are the ocean current and limited resources (bandwidth and energy). In this paper, these challenges are addressed, and HydroCast, which is a hydraulic-pressure-based anycast routing protocol that exploits the measured pressure levels to route data to the surface sonobuoys, is proposed. This paper makes the following contributions: a novel opportunistic routing mechanism to select the subset of forwarders that maximizes the greedy progress yet limits cochannel interference and an efficient underwater dead end recovery method that outperforms the recently proposed approaches. The proposed routing protocols are validated through extensive simulations.