Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extreme Lipoprotein(a) Levels and Risk of Myocardial Infarction in the General Population: The Copenhagen City Heart Study

Background— Elevated lipoprotein(a) levels are associated with myocardial infarction (MI) in some but not all studies. Limitations of previous studies include lack of risk estimates for extreme lipoprotein(a) levels, measurements in long-term frozen samples, no correction for regression dilution bias, and lack of absolute risk estimates in the general population. We tested the hypothesis that extreme lipoprotein(a) levels predict MI in the general population, measuring levels shortly after sampling, correcting for regression dilution bias, and calculating hazard ratios and absolute risk estimates. Methods and Results— We examined 9330 men and women from the general population in the Copenhagen City Heart Study. During 10 years of follow-up, 498 participants developed MI. In women, multifactorially adjusted hazard ratios for MI for elevated lipoprotein(a) levels were 1.1 (95% CI, 0.6 to 1.9) for 5 to 29 mg/dL (22nd to 66th percentile), 1.7 (1.0 to 3.1) for 30 to 84 mg/dL (67th to 89th percentile), 2.6 (1.2 to 5.9) for 85 to 119 mg/dL (90th to 95th percentile), and 3.6 (1.7 to 7.7) for ≥120 mg/dL (>95th percentile) versus levels <5 mg/dL (<22nd percentile). Equivalent values in men were 1.5 (0.9 to 2.3), 1.6 (1.0 to 2.6), 2.6 (1.2 to 5.5), and 3.7 (1.7 to 8.0). Absolute 10-year risks of MI were 10% and 20% in smoking, hypertensive women aged >60 years with lipoprotein(a) levels of <5 and ≥120 mg/dL, respectively. Equivalent values in men were 19% and 35%. Conclusions— We observed a stepwise increase in risk of MI with increasing levels of lipoprotein(a), with no evidence of a threshold effect. Extreme lipoprotein(a) levels predict a 3- to 4-fold increase in risk of MI in the general population and absolute 10-year risks of 20% and 35% in high-risk women and men.
Testing Competing Models of the Leisure Constraint Negotiation Process in a Corporate Employee Recreation Setting

Four models of leisure constraint negotiation (independence, buffer, mitigation, reduction) based on competing views of how constraint, negotiation, and motivation are interconnected and influence participation were tested using regression and structural equation modeling procedures. Full-time employees ( N = 186, X age = 36.7 years, 64.5 percent females) of four companies with similar work site recreation services completed a survey measuring participation in work site physical recreation activities, constraint on participation, negotiation resources, and motivation to participate. Strong support was found for the constraint - effects - mitigation model. Though constraints decreased the level of participation, they also triggered greater use of negotiation resources, which counteracted their negative effects. Stronger health and enjoyment motives also resulted in employees increasing negotiation efforts. The results support several of the constraint negotiation propositions developed by Jackson, Crawford, and Godbey (1993) and a theoretical model that clarifies the role of motivation and distinguishes between the negotiatory and facilitatory functions of negotiation resources.
Glasnost: Enabling End Users to Detect Traffic Differentiation

Holding residential ISPs to their contractual or legal obligations of "unlimited service" or "network neutrality" is hard because their traffic management policies are opaque to end users and governmental regulatory agencies. We have built and deployed Glasnost, a system that improves network transparency by enabling ordinary Internet users to detect whether their ISPs are differentiating between flows of specific applications. We identify three key challenges in designing such a system: (a) to attract many users, the system must have low barrier of use and generate results in a timely manner, (b) the results must be robust to measurement noise and avoid false accusations of differentiation, which can adversely affect ISPs' reputation and business, (c) the system must include mechanisms to keep it up-to-date with the continuously changing differentiation policies of ISPs worldwide. We describe how Glasnost addresses each of these challenges. Glasnost has been operational for over a year. More than 350,000 users from over 5,800 ISPs worldwide have used Glasnost to detect differentiation, validating many of our design choices. We show how data from individual Glasnost users can be aggregated to provide regulators and monitors with useful information on ISP-wide deployment of various differentiation policies.
Quantification of brain gray matter damage in different MS phenotypes by use of diffusion tensor MR imaging.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Increasing evidence exists that cerebral gray matter (GM) from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) is not spared. This study was performed to quantify in vivo the extent of cerebral GM pathologic abnormality in patients with relapsing-remitting (RR), secondary progressive (SP), and primary progressive MS, by using diffusion tensor (DT) MR imaging. METHODS Dual-echo and DT MR imaging of the brain were performed in 102 patients with MS and 30 healthy volunteers. After GM segmentation using a technique based on diffusion anisotropy thresholding, average diffusivity (D) histograms of the cerebral GM were produced for all participants. RESULTS All D histogram-derived metrics of the GM were significantly different between control volunteers and the whole MS population. No significant difference was found for any of the D histogram-derived metrics between control volunteers and patients with RRMS, whereas significant differences were found for D and D histogram peak location between control volunteers and patients with PPMS. All the D histogram-derived metrics differed significantly between patients with RRMS and patients with SPMS. Patients with SPMS also had significantly lower D than did patients with PPMS. All D histogram-derived metrics of the GM were strongly correlated with the T2 lesion volume. CONCLUSIONS This study confirms the presence of brain GM changes in patients with MS. It also shows that the extent of such changes is greater during the progressive forms of the disease.
Politics: The education effect

This article explores in some detail published research exploring the associations between aspects of education (knowledge and skill acquisition, attitude formation, credential acquisition, participation in networks and institutions) and political outcomes such as participation, partisan choice and political identity. Correlated effects models, direct effects models, and relative effects models are considered in turn. Particular attention is paid to the relative effects of network position. Some notable gaps in the research literature are identified, notably regarding citizens' understanding of the nature of political processes.
Competitive routing in multi-user communication networks

A communication network shared by several selfish users is considered. Each user seeks to optimize its own performance by controlling the routing of its given flow demand, giving rise to a noncooperative game. The Nash equilibrium of such systems is investigated. For a two-node multiple-link system, the uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium is proved under reasonable convexity conditions. It is shown that this Nash equilibrium point possesses interesting monotonicity properties. For general networks, the uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium is established under various assumptions. <<ETX>>
Complexity and fragility in ecological networks

A detailed analysis of three species–rich ecosystem food webs has shown that they display skewed distributions of connections. Such graphs of interaction are, in fact, shared by a number of biological and technological networks, which have been shown to display a very high homeostasis against random removals of nodes. Here, we analyse the responses of these ecological graphs to both random and selective perturbations (directed against the most–connected species). Our results suggest that ecological networks are very robust against random removals but can be extremely fragile when selective attacks are used. These observations have important consequences for biodiversity dynamics and conservation issues, current estimations of extinction rates and the relevance and definition of keystone species.
Identifying Thresholds for Penumbra and Irreversible Tissue Damage

Diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) in combination with perfusion-weighted MRI (PWI) has become a widely accepted modality for the selection of patients amenable for acute therapy, if a mismatch between these procedures suggests viable penumbral tissue. However, DWI as well as PWI yields semiquantitative measures limiting the definitions of irreversible damage and of potentially viable penumbral tissue. These limitations of PWI/DWI may be better understood if findings in individual patients are compared with the results from measurements of blood flow, oxygen metabolism, and benzodiazepine receptor binding obtained with positron emission tomography (PET). Comparative studies with PET and MRI were performed in 3 groups of patients: (1) In 12 acute stroke patients, results from DWI (median, 6.5 hours after symptom onset) and 11C-flumazenil (FMZ) PET (median, 85 minutes between DWI and PET) were compared with infarct extension 24 to 48 hours later on T2-weighted MRI. (2) In 11 acute stroke patients, results from PWI (median, 8 hours after symptom onset) were compared with cerebral blood flow measurements obtained with [15O]H2O PET (interval, 60 minutes between PWI and PET). (3) In 10 patients with acute (n=5) or chronic stroke (n=5), results from PWI/DWI were compared with PET of cerebral blood flow and oxygen consumption to detect mismatch or increased oxygen extraction fraction as surrogate markers of penumbra. Results were: (1) from regions with increased DWI intensity, decreased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and decreased FMZ binding probability curves were computed for eventual infarction, and 95% prediction limits were determined. These limits predicted 83.5% (FMZ), 84.7% (DWI), and 70.9% (ADC) of the final infarct volume. However, the false-positive predictions were much higher for the DWI variables (5.1 and 3.6 cm3 for DWI and ADC versus a median of 0 for FMZ). (2) The comparison of volumes generated by different time to peak (TTP) thresholds (PWI) and hypoperfusion <20 mL/100 g per minute (PET) indicates that a TTP delay of 4 to 6 seconds yields a fair estimate of hypoperfusion. (3) The PWI/DWI mismatch with TTP >4 seconds did not reliably correspond to the penumbra as assessed by PET (oxygen extraction fraction >150%). Only 6 of 10 patients with a mismatch had areas of penumbra. In these cases, the penumbra volume was overestimated by MRI. DWI correlates with FMZ results and, with a few exceptions, yields a good estimate of acute tissue damage and final infarct volume. PWI measures seem to be less reliable; the TTP prolongation of >4 seconds assessed only 83% of the volume of hypoperfusion <20 mL/100 g per minute. The mismatch volume imprecisely depicts increased oxygen extraction fraction, and, despite its clinical role for selection of patients for eventual therapy, it does not to seem to be a reliable correlate of penumbra.
Vertical distribution of the soil microbiota along a successional gradient in a glacier forefield

Spatial patterns of microbial communities have been extensively surveyed in well‐developed soils, but few studies investigated the vertical distribution of micro‐organisms in newly developed soils after glacier retreat. We used 454‐pyrosequencing to assess whether bacterial and fungal community structures differed between stages of soil development (SSD) characterized by an increasing vegetation cover from barren (vegetation cover: 0%/age: 10 years), sparsely vegetated (13%/60 years), transient (60%/80 years) to vegetated (95%/110 years) and depths (surface, 5 and 20 cm) along the Damma glacier forefield (Switzerland). The SSD significantly influenced the bacterial and fungal communities. Based on indicator species analyses, metabolically versatile bacteria (e.g. Geobacter) and psychrophilic yeasts (e.g. Mrakia) characterized the barren soils. Vegetated soils with higher C, N and root biomass consisted of bacteria able to degrade complex organic compounds (e.g. Candidatus Solibacter), lignocellulolytic Ascomycota (e.g. Geoglossum) and ectomycorrhizal Basidiomycota (e.g. Laccaria). Soil depth only influenced bacterial and fungal communities in barren and sparsely vegetated soils. These changes were partly due to more silt and higher soil moisture in the surface. In both soil ages, the surface was characterized by OTUs affiliated to Phormidium and Sphingobacteriales. In lower depths, however, bacterial and fungal communities differed between SSD. Lower depths of sparsely vegetated soils consisted of OTUs affiliated to Acidobacteria and Geoglossum, whereas depths of barren soils were characterized by OTUs related to Gemmatimonadetes. Overall, plant establishment drives the soil microbiota along the successional gradient but does not influence the vertical distribution of microbiota in recently deglaciated soils.
Cytokines increase human hemopoietic cell adhesiveness by activation of very late antigen (VLA)-4 and VLA-5 integrins

Cytokines are known to be important regulators of normal hemopoiesis, acting in concert with components of the bone marrow microenvironment. Interactions with this microenvironment are known to regulate the proliferation, differentiation, and homing of hemopoietic progenitor (CD34+) cells. Adhesive interactions with the extracellular matrix retain CD34+ cells in close proximity to cytokines, but may also provide important costimulatory signals. Thus, the functional states of adhesion receptors are critical properties of CD34+ cells, but the physiological mechanisms responsible for regulating functional properties of cell adhesion receptors on primitive hemopoietic cells are still unknown. We confirm that the integrins very late antigen (VLA)-4 and VLA-5 are expressed on the CD34+ cell lines MO7e, TF1, and on normal bone marrow CD34+ progenitor cells, but in a low affinity state, conferring on them a weak adhesive phenotype on fibronectin (Fn). Herein, we show that the cytokines interleukin (IL)-3, granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF), and KIT ligand (KL) are physiological activators of VLA-4 and VLA-5 expressed by MO7e, TF1, and normal bone marrow CD34+ progenitor cells. Cytokine-stimulated adhesion on Fn is dose dependent and transient, reaching a maximum between 15 and 30 min and returning to basal levels after 2 h. This cytokine- dependent activation is specific for VLA-4 and VLA-5, since activation of other beta 1 integrins was not observed. The addition of second messenger antagonists staurosporine and W7 abolished all cytokine- stimulated adhesion to Fn. In contrast, genistein inhibited KL- stimulated adhesion, but failed to inhibit GM-CSF- and IL-3-stimulated adhesion. Our data suggest that cytokines GM-CSF and IL-3 specifically stimulate beta 1 integrin function via an "inside-out" mechanism involving protein kinase activity, while KL stimulates integrin activity through a similar, but initially distinct, pathway via the KIT tyrosine-kinase. Thus, in addition to promoting the survival, proliferation, and development of hemopoietic progenitors, cytokines also regulate adhesive interactions between progenitor cells and the bone marrow microenvironment by modifying the functional states of specific integrins. These data are of importance in understanding the fundamental processes of beta 1 integrin activation and cellular response to mitogenic cytokines as well as on the clinical setting where cytokines induce therapeutic mobilization of hematopoietic progenitors.
Psychological functions in male-to-female transsexual people before and after surgery

Patients with gender dysphoria (GD) suffer from a constant feeling of psychological discomfort related to their anatomical sex. Gender reassignment surgery (GRS) attempts to release this discomfort. The aim of this study was to compare the functioning of a cohort or patients with GD before and after GRS. We hypothesised that there would be an improvement in the scores of the self-administered SCL-90R following gender reassignment surgery among male-to-female people with gender dysphoria. We studied 40 patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) who attended Leicester Gender Identity Clinic. We compared their functioning as measured by Symptom Check List-90R (SCL-90R) which was administered to 40 randomly selected male-to-female patients before and within six months after GRS using the same sample as control pre-and post-surgery. There was no significant change in the different sub-scales of the SCL-90R scores in patients with male-to-female GID pre- and within six months post-surgery. The results of the study showed that GRS had no significant effect on functioning as measured by SCL-90R within six months of surgery. Our study has the advantage of reducing inter-subject variability by using the same patients as their own control. This study may be limited by the duration of reassessment post-surgery. Further studies with larger sample size and using other psychosocial scales are needed to elucidate on the effectiveness of surgical intervention on psychosocial parameters in patients with GD.
Accelerated perturbation-resilient block-iterative projection methods with application to image reconstruction

We study the convergence of a class of accelerated perturbation-resilient block-iterative projection methods for solving systems of linear equations. We prove convergence to a fixed point of an operator even in the presence of summable perturbations of the iterates, irrespective of the consistency of the linear system. For a consistent system, the limit point is a solution of the system. In the inconsistent case, the symmetric version of our method converges to a weighted least-squares solution. Perturbation resilience is utilized to approximate the minimum of a convex functional subject to the equations. A main contribution, as compared to previously published approaches to achieving similar aims, is a more than an order of magnitude speed-up, as demonstrated by applying the methods to problems of image reconstruction from projections. In addition, the accelerated algorithms are illustrated to be better, in a strict sense provided by the method of statistical hypothesis testing, than their unaccelerated versions for the task of detecting small tumors in the brain from x-ray CT projection data.
Informative Polythetic Hierarchical Ephemeral Clustering

Ephemeral clustering has been studied for more than a decade, although with low user acceptance. According to us, this situation is mainly due to (1) an excessive number of generated clusters, which makes browsing difficult and (2) low quality labeling, which introduces imprecision within the search process. In this paper, our motivation is twofold. First, we propose to reduce the number of clusters of Web page results, but keeping all different query meanings. For that purpose, we propose a new polythetic methodology based on an informative similarity measure, the InfoSimba, and a new hierarchical clustering algorithm, the HISGK-means. Second, a theoretical background is proposed to define meaningful cluster labels embedded in the definition of the HISGK-means algorithm, which may elect as best label, words outside the given cluster. To confirm our intuitions, we propose a new evaluation framework, which shows that we are able to extract most of the important query meanings but generating much less clusters than state-of-the-art systems.
Primary pulmonary extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma of nasal type misdiagnosed as pneumonia

Rationale: Primary pulmonary NK/T cell lymphoma is extremely rare, and only a few cases have reported so far. Its diagnosis is mainly dependent on open-lung biopsy. Patient concerns: Here, we report a 44-year-old male who was initially misdiagnosed as having pneumonia according to the clinical characteristics and computed tomography (CT) findings. Diagnosis: The first lung biopsy indicated a large number of coagulative necrotic lesions, and definite diagnosis was made after the second lung biopsy following non-response to 6-day wide spectrum antibiotic therapy. The second lung biopsy showed the tumor cells were positive for LCA, CD3&egr;, CD30, TIA-1, Ki67 and negative for CD20, CD56, CD1a, MPO, CK, S-100, desmin, and CD34. Interventions: This patient refused to receive further therapy and died 1 month after confirmed diagnosis. Outcomes: Clinically, it is difficult to differentiate pneumonia from NK/T cell lymphoma in pathology due to the presence of plenty of focal necrosis in primary pulmonary NK/T cell lymphoma. Lessons: The diagnosis of primary pulmonary NK/T cell lymphoma should be based on lung biopsy (usually multiple lung biopsies are required), immunohistochemistry and clinical and imaging findings.
Continuities in aggressive behavior from childhood to adulthood

The study was part of the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study on Social Development. The subjects (originally 173 females, 196 males) were studied at age 8, 14, 20, and 26. Stability of aggression from the age of 8 to 14 was as high for girls as for boys when peer nomination was employed, but lower for girls in teacher rating. For males, both peer nominations and teacher ratings on aggression at age 8 and 14 predicted criminality, arrests for alcohol abuse, and problem drinking as well as self-reports on aggression at age 26. The outcomes were most negative if aggression was patterned with other adjustment problems. For females, teacher ratings on aggression were biased by school adjustment, and they predicted arrests for alcohol abuse and problem drinking; peer nominations predicted self-reports on aggression. Developmental trajectories for physically aggressive girls differed from those for verbally and facially aggressive girls, the former being less oriented to education. Sex differences did not exist in the amount of aggression when measured with peer nominations, but boys were more aggressive when measured with teacher ratings.
The Effectiveness of Two Online Persuasion Claims: Limited Product Availability and Product Popularity

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of two online persuasion claims: limited product availability (e.g., only 3 items left) and product popularity (e.g., 94% of consumers bought this product after viewing this site). The popularity claim appeared to enhance quality perception, particularly among highly risk-averse consumers, and purchase intention. We attribute these findings to the quality signaling effect and the bandwagon effect of the claim. On the other hand, the limited availability claim exerted no influence: low message credibility and the lack of psychological reactance are deemed to be possible reasons for the insignificant effect of the claim.