Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Is Associated With Decreases in Cardiac Function Independent of Vascular Alterations

In contrast to the plethora of vasculopathies to which oxidized low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (ox-LDL) can be linked, there are no data linking ox-LDL to myocardial (dys)function in the community. We tested whether ox-LDL, a marker of oxidative stress, was linked to early cardiac structural and functional damage in the general population. The Asklepios Study is a random sample of 2524 male and female volunteers, comparable to the Belgian population between 35 and 55 years free from overt cardiovascular disease. Cardiac morphology, systolic, and early and late diastolic tissue Doppler mitral annulus velocities were recorded during an echocardiography, followed by a vascular examination (carotid and femoral arteries). Serum ox-LDL was measured by sandwich ELISA using the mAb-4E6 monoclonal antibody. Effects of ox-LDL were assessed after adjustment for age, gender, lipid fractions, blood pressure, heart rate, height, weight, glycemia, smoking, and drug treatment. Mean ox-LDL was 96.0±38.9 U/L. After adjustment, increasing ox-LDL levels were associated with a more spherical left ventricular cavity (minor/major axis dimensions; P<0.001) and decreasing diastolic (early diastolic tissue Doppler mitral annulus velocity; P<0.001, more pronounced in women) and systolic function (amplitude of systolic tissue Doppler mitral annulus velocity; P=0.008, more pronounced in men). These results remained unaffected when further adjustments were made for inflammatory markers, lifestyle, or vascular damage (atherosclerosis and arterial stiffening). These results are the first “proof of concept” that ox-LDL impacts cardiac structure and function at a community level, independent of classic risk factors, lifestyle, inflammation, and prevalent vascular damage. Our data suggest that ox-LDL is a risk marker for early ventricular remodelling. However, the effect size in the general population is small.
Training Knowledge-Based Neural Networks to Recognize Genes

We describe the application of a hybrid symbolic/connectionist machine learning algorithm to the task of recognizing important genetic sequences. The symbolic portion of the KBANN system utilizes inference rules that provide a roughly-correct method for recognizing a class of DNA sequences known as eukaryotic splice-junctions. We then map this "domain theory" into a neural network and provide training examples. Using the samples, the neural network's learning algorithm adjusts the domain theory so that it properly classifies these DNA sequences. Our procedure constitutes a general method for incorporating preexisting knowledge into artificial neural networks. We present an experiment in molecular genetics that demonstrates the value of doing so.
Influence of manure, compost additions and temperature on the water repellency of tropical soils

Soil water repellency is a major concern in many systems as it substantially reduces infiltration and enhances surface runoff. While it is recognised that repellency is affected by the soil organic matter in natural ecosystems, the impact of manure and compost additions on the development and persistence of repellency in agroecosystems, particularly in the tropics, is poorly understood. We therefore examined the impact of different manure, compost additions and temperature on soil water repellency of tropical soils. We monitored the change in repellency in a Cambisol (Talparo – clay loam), Acrisol (Piarco – silt loam) and Arenosol (Arena – loamy sand), amended with three different manure and compost combinations at three different concentrations and four temperatures. Water repellency was the strongest among soils with higher clay content, which was likely due to the higher levels of organic matter observed in the clay loam. The cattle manure produced the most severe repellency despite having the lowest total organic carbon, whereas the sugarcane bagasse produced the lowest repellency. The increases in temperature had the strongest influence on repellency in sandy soils. Our results strongly support the findings of other studies that the quality of the organic material is more important than the total organic carbon in controlling the severity of repellency. This exploratory work also highlighted the importance of plant compost in reducing the level of repellency caused by cattle manure while still having a positive influence on the nutrient status of soils.
odeling of rate-dependent hysteresis in piezoelectric actuators sing a family of ellipses

In this paper, a new ellipse-like mathematic model is proposed to describe the rate-dependent hysteresis in piezoelectric actuators. Since the expressions of the model are completely analytical and can be determined only by a set of parameters, this method simplifies the modeling of complicated hysteresis behaviors. To represent the hysteresis effects, experiments are performed with designed sinusoidal excitations under different frequencies in the range 0.5–300 Hz. The rate-dependent hysteresis is characterized as increasing maximum hysteresis error (MHE) and decreasing peak-to-peak output amplitude (PPOA) phenomenons with the increase of input frequencies. Then, the parameters of the developed model are extracted from the experimental data using the direct least square method through MATLAB offline. The simulation results well correspond to the measured data and demonstrate that the developed llipse model can precisely predict the rate-dependent hysteresis. We also investigate the parameters’ properties with hysteresis characteristics. In the developed model, the length of the minor radius describes the MHE varying with the input frequencies and amplitudes, while the length of major radius and the orientation of the ellipses represent the decreasing PPOA phenomenon. Finally, a real-time feedforward controller with an inverse model is designed to compensate for the rate-dependent hysteresis under different input frequencies. The experimental results show that the hysteresis effects are obviously reduced her fr at both the lower and hig
Mapping of low temperature heat sources in Denmark

: Low temperature heat sources are available in many applications, ranging from waste heat from industrial processes and buildings to geothermal and solar heat sources. Technical advancements, such as heat pumps with novel cycle design and multi-component working fluids, make the utilisation of many of those heat sources feasible. In this work a mapping of those heat sources is performed to gain an overview of the potential amount of waste heat and natural heat sources in Denmark. The energy potentials are mapped together with the temperature ranges at which the heat is available and the exergy content of the heat. The mapping is based on data and literature primarily published by Statistics Denmark and the Danish Energy Agency, as well as interviews with specialists and engineering estimates. The results indicate that up to 13 % of the energy input to the analysed sectors is available as waste heat. The total accessible waste heat potential is found to be approximately 266 PJ per year with 58 % of it below 100 °C. In the natural heat category, temperatures below 20 °C originate from ambient air, sea water and shallow geothermal energy, and temperatures up to 100 °C are found for solar and deep geothermal energy. The theoretical solar thermal potential alone would be above 500 PJ per year. For the development of advanced thermodynamic cycles for the integration of heat sources in the Danish energy system, several areas of interest are determined. In the maritime transport sector a high potential is found in exhaust gases, where also high temperatures are present. Also the industry sector has a large waste heat recovery potential from refrigeration and cooling processes, however at much lower
Clinical and Laboratory Findings That Differentiate Herpes Simplex Virus Central Nervous System Disease from Enteroviral Meningitis

Background. It can be difficult for clinicians to distinguish between the relatively benign enteroviral (EnV) meningitis and potentially lethal herpes simplex virus (HSV) central nervous system (CNS) disease. Very limited evidence currently exists to guide them. Objective. This study sought to identify clinical features and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings associated with HSV CNS disease. Methods. Given that PCR testing often is not immediately available, this chart review study sought to identify clinical and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings associated with HSV meningitis over a 6-year period. In cases where PCR was not performed, HSV and EnV were assigned based on clinical criteria. Results. We enrolled 166 consecutive patients: 40 HSV and 126 EnV patients. HSV patients had a mean 40.4 versus 31.3 years for EnV, p = 0.005, seizures 21.1% versus 1.6% for EnV, p < 0.001, altered mental status 46.2% versus 3.2% for EnV, p < 0.001, or neurological deficits 44.7% versus 3.9% for EnV, p < 0.001. CSF neutrophils were lower in HSV (median 3.0% versus 9.5%, p = 0.0002); median lymphocytes (87.0% versus 67.0%, p = 0.0004) and protein (0.9 g/L versus 0.6 g/L, p = 0.0005) were elevated. Conclusion. Our study found that HSV patients were older and more likely to have seizure, altered mental status, or neurological deficits than patients with benign EnV meningitis. HSV cases had lower CSF neutrophils, higher lymphocytes, and higher protein levels.
Impact of Depression on Sex Differences in Outcome After Myocardial Infarction

Background—Women have an unexplained worse outcome after myocardial infarction (MI) compared with men in many studies. Depressive symptoms predict adverse post-MI outcomes and are more prevalent among women than men. We examined whether depressive symptoms contribute to women’s worse outcomes after MI. Methods and Results—In a prospective multicenter study (PREMIER), 2411 (807 women) MI patients were enrolled. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire. Outcomes included 1-year rehospitalization, presence of angina using the Seattle Angina Questionnaire, and 2-year mortality. Multivariable analyses were used to evaluate the association between sex and these outcomes, adjusting for clinical characteristics. The depressive symptoms score was added to the models to evaluate whether it attenuated the association between sex and outcomes. Depressive symptoms were more prevalent in women compared with men (29% versus 18.8%, P<0.001). After adjusting for demographic factors, comorbidities, and MI severity, women had a mildly higher risk of rehospitalization (hazard ratio, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.40), angina (odds ratio, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.75), and mortality (hazard ratio, 1.27; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.64). After adding depressive symptoms to the multivariable models, the relationship further declined toward the null, particularly for rehospitalization (hazard ratio, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.34) and angina (odds ratio, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.91 to 1.63), whereas there was little change in the estimate for mortality (hazard ratio, 1.24; 95% CI, 0.95 to 1.62). Depressive symptoms were significantly associated with each of the study outcomes with a similar magnitude of effect in both women and men. Conclusions—A higher prevalence of depressive symptoms in women modestly contributes to their higher rates of rehospitalization and angina compared with men but not mortality after MI. Our results support the recent recommendations of improving recognition of depressive symptoms after MI.
The deubiquitylase USP15 stabilizes newly synthesized REST and rescues its expression at mitotic exit

Reversible ubiquitylation of proteins contributes to their integrity, abundance and activity. The RE1-silencing transcription factor (REST) plays key physiological roles and is dysregulated in a spectrum of disease. It is rapidly turned over and is phosphorylated, polyubiquitylated and degraded en masse during neuronal differentiation and cell cycle progression. Through siRNA screening we identified the deubiquitylase USP15 as a key regulator of cellular REST. Both antagonism of REST polyubiquitylation and rescue of endogenous REST levels are dependent on the deubiquitylase activity of USP15. However, USP15 depletion does not destabilize pre-existing REST, but rather specifically impairs de novo REST synthesis. Indeed, we find that a small fraction of endogenous USP15 is associated with polysomes. In accordance with these findings, USP15 does not antagonize the degradation of phosphorylated REST at mitosis. Instead it is required for the rapid accumulation of newly synthesized REST on mitotic exit, thus playing a key role in its cell cycle oscillations. Importantly, this study reveals a novel role for a DUB in specifically promoting new protein synthesis.
Hunger Artists: Yeast Adapted to Carbon Limitation Show Trade-Offs under Carbon Sufficiency

As organisms adaptively evolve to a new environment, selection results in the improvement of certain traits, bringing about an increase in fitness. Trade-offs may result from this process if function in other traits is reduced in alternative environments either by the adaptive mutations themselves or by the accumulation of neutral mutations elsewhere in the genome. Though the cost of adaptation has long been a fundamental premise in evolutionary biology, the existence of and molecular basis for trade-offs in alternative environments are not well-established. Here, we show that yeast evolved under aerobic glucose limitation show surprisingly few trade-offs when cultured in other carbon-limited environments, under either aerobic or anaerobic conditions. However, while adaptive clones consistently outperform their common ancestor under carbon limiting conditions, in some cases they perform less well than their ancestor in aerobic, carbon-rich environments, indicating that trade-offs can appear when resources are non-limiting. To more deeply understand how adaptation to one condition affects performance in others, we determined steady-state transcript abundance of adaptive clones grown under diverse conditions and performed whole-genome sequencing to identify mutations that distinguish them from one another and from their common ancestor. We identified mutations in genes involved in glucose sensing, signaling, and transport, which, when considered in the context of the expression data, help explain their adaptation to carbon poor environments. However, different sets of mutations in each independently evolved clone indicate that multiple mutational paths lead to the adaptive phenotype. We conclude that yeasts that evolve high fitness under one resource-limiting condition also become more fit under other resource-limiting conditions, but may pay a fitness cost when those same resources are abundant.
Sélection d'habitat du lièvre d'Amérique en forêt boréale irrégulière aménagée

This thesis explores how different components of natural and human disturbance regimes shape the distribution of a key boreal forest herbivore, the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus). I investigated both broad-scale changes in hare abundance during forest succession and fine-scale responses to heterogeneity created by canopy gap dynamics in old-growth forests. I then evaluated how hare respond to silvicultural treatments designed to maintain the irregular structure of old-growth stands using patterns of density-dependent habitat selection and browse history reconstruction. Snowshoe hare followed a bimodal abundance distribution with stand age, with a pronounced peak in density between 40-50 years post-disturbance followed by a second more subtle increase phase during latesuccession. Within old-growth stands, canopy gaps offered areas of higher food availability, but foraging and movement behaviours indicated that hares perceived a greater risk of predation within openings. The structure of old-growth stands thus appears to impose a trade-off between acquiring food and avoiding predation. The response of snowshoe hare to forest harvesting depended on both disturbance intensity and local population density. Preference for uncut forest stands over harvest treatments with >50% tree retention quickly diminished as local populations increased. In contrast, preference for uncut forests over treatments with <20% tree retention became more pronounced with increasing local population density. Similarly, in the first years following harvesting, browse use patterns of white birch (Betula papyrifera) stems in low intensity treatments (>50% retention) remained similar to those in uncut old-growth forest stands, whereas browse use declined rapidly in intensive harvest treatments (<20% retention) over the same period. These findings suggest that silvicultural treatments that conserve old-growth forest structure can also maintain distributions of hare that are characteristic of late-succession. This thesis helps to further our understanding of the links between snowshoe hare distribution and regional disturbance regimes in managed boreal forests.
Near-IR spectra of IPHAS extremely red Galactic AGB stars

We present a library of 139 near-IR spectra of cool asymptotic giant branch stars that will be useful for comparison with theoretical model atmosphere calculations and for modelling the integrated emission from intermediate-age stellar populations. The source list was selected from the `extremely red' region of the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) Photometric H alpha Survey (IPHAS) colour-colour plane that is overwhelmingly dominated by very late-type stars. The spectral library also includes a large fraction of S-type and carbon stars. We present a number of spectral classification sequences highlighting the various molecular features identified and discuss a number of rare features with uncertain identifications in the literature. With its focus on particularly cool photospheres, this catalogue serves as a companion to recent spectroscopic atlases of MK standards in the near-IR. Finally, the relationship between IPHAS (r' - i') and (r' - H alpha) colours and spectroscopically determined properties is discussed and a strong correlation between the (r' - H alpha) colour and the C/O abundance index for S-type and carbon stars is noted. This relation has the potential to separate O-rich, S-type and carbon stars in the Galaxy based on their photometry alone.
Articulation points guided redundancy elimination for betweenness centrality

Betweenness centrality (BC) is an important metrics in graph analysis which indicates critical vertices in large-scale networks based on shortest path enumeration. Typically, a BC algorithm constructs a shortest-path DAG for each vertex to calculate its BC score. However, for emerging real-world graphs, even the state-of-the-art BC algorithm will introduce a number of redundancies, as suggested by the existence of articulation points. Articulation points imply some common sub-DAGs in the DAGs for different vertices, but existing algorithms do not leverage such information and miss the optimization opportunity. We propose a redundancy elimination approach, which identifies the common sub-DAGs shared between the DAGs for different vertices. Our approach leverages the articulation points and reuses the results of the common sub-DAGs in calculating the BC scores, which eliminates redundant computations. We implemented the approach as an algorithm with two-level parallelism and evaluated it on a multicore platform. Compared to the state-of-the-art implementation using shared memory, our approach achieves an average speedup of 4.6x across a variety of real-world graphs, with the traversal rates up to 45 ~ 2400 MTEPS (Millions of Traversed Edges per Second).
Combining Technology Mapping With Layout

Due to the significant contribution of interconnect to the area and speed of today's circuits and the technological trend toward smaller and faster gates which will make the effects of interconnect even more substantial, interconnect optimization must be performed during all phases of the design. The premise of this paper is that by increasing the interaction between logic synthesis and physical design, circuits with smaller area and interconnection length, and improved performance and routability can be obtained compared to when the two processes are done separately. In particular, this paper describes an integrated approach to technology mapping and physical design which finds solutions in both domains of design representation simultaneously and interactively. The two processes are performed in lockstep: technology mapping takes advantage of detailed information about the interconnect delays and the layout cost of various optimization alternatives; placement itself is guided by the evolving logic structure and accurate path-based delay traces. Using these techniques, circuits with smaller area and higher performance have been synthesized.
Tunable metamaterials with negative permeability in THz range

We report on metamaterials which exhibit a tunable interval of negative effective permeability within 0.2–0.36 THz. They consist of a strontium titanate platelet, which shows a high and temperature tunable permittivity, with an array of laser engraved slits. The negative permeability then is due to a resonant confinement of the electromagnetic field within the rods. The range of negative permeability is determined by the geometry and the permittivity of the material used.
Identification of sleep disruption and sleep disordered breathing from the systolic blood pressure profile.

BACKGROUND--Respiratory sleep studies are frequently performed to identify sleep disruption resulting from upper airway obstruction. Traditional polysomnographic studies may not detect brief recurrent sleep disruption and thus fail to recognise a significant problem when apnoea, hypopnoea, or arterial desaturation are not present. Arousal from sleep causes a transient blood pressure rise, and each inspiration causes a transient blood pressure fall. This study assesses whether these blood pressure changes are a useful indirect marker of disturbed sleep, obstructed sleep apnoea, and snoring related sleep disturbance. METHODS--Computer algorithms were developed to identify blood pressure falls caused by inspiration and rises related to arousal from 286 sleeping blood pressure samples of a consistent respiratory state drawn from 51 polysomnographic studies. From these samples, normal ranges for the number of arousal related systolic rises and the average size of the inspiratory falls were established. These were then applied prospectively to all night unedited blood pressure recordings from a further 20 subjects. RESULTS--The size of the inspiratory falls in blood pressure progressively increased from normal sleep, through snoring, to frank obstructive sleep apnoea. The 95th centile of normal was 12.5 mm Hg. The number of arousal related blood pressure rises also increased during obstructive sleep apnoea and periods of snoring with associated arousals, compared with normal undisturbed sleep, and all these periods of disturbed sleep included more than 30 such rises per hour. When these blood pressure features were examined in the 20 subjects studied prospectively, the six with a sleep related breathing disorder could all have been identified from their systolic blood pressure profile alone. CONCLUSIONS--The systolic blood pressure profile may be helpful in identifying patients with obstructive sleep apnoea, snoring with arousals, or other sleep disruption syndromes.