Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire for Monitoring Health Status in Patients With Aortic Stenosis

Background— Improving functional status and quality of life are important goals of treatment for patients with severe aortic stenosis. The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) is a heart failure health status measure and has been used in studies of patients with aortic stenosis. However, its psychometric properties have not yet been evaluated in these patients. Methods and Results— We analyzed data from 955 patients, enrolled in the PARTNER trial of transcatheter aortic valve replacement, to evaluate the reliability, responsiveness, validity, and prognostic importance of the KCCQ in patients with severe aortic stenosis. The KCCQ was administered at baseline and at 1, 6, and 12 months after randomization to medical therapy, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or surgical valve replacement. Among clinically stable patients, there were only small changes in the KCCQ domain scores over time (mean differences 0.1–4.2 points), and the intraclass correlation coefficients showed good agreement between paired assessments (0.65–0.76). However, the domain scores of patients who underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement showed large changes after treatment (mean differences 13–30 points). Construct validity was demonstrated by comparing each domain against a relevant reference measure (Spearman correlations 0.46–0.69). Finally, among 157 patients randomized to medical management, lower KCCQ overall summary scores at baseline were strongly associated with an increased risk of mortality during the following 12 months. Conclusions— The KCCQ is a highly reliable, responsive, and valid measure of symptoms, functional status, and quality of life in patients with severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis.
Interleukin (IL) 18 stimulates osteoclast formation through synovial T cells in rheumatoid arthritis: comparison with IL1 beta and tumour necrosis factor alpha.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether IL18 has any indirect effects on osteoclastogenesis mediated by T cells in RA synovium, and compare its effects with those of IL1 beta and TNF alpha. METHODS Resting T cells were isolated from peripheral blood of healthy donors, and stimulated with 2 microg/ml phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) and 0.5 ng/ml IL2 for 24 hours. Synovial T cells were isolated from RA synovial tissue. The levels of soluble receptor activator of the NF-kappa B ligand (RANKL), osteoprotegerin (OPG), IFN gamma, M-CSF, and GM-CSF were determined by ELISA. Membrane bound RANKL expression was analysed by flow cytometry. Commercially available human osteoclast precursors were cocultured with T cells to induce osteoclast formation, which was determined with tartrate resistant acid phosphatase staining and pit formation assay. RESULTS In PHA prestimulated T cells or RA synovial T cells, IL18, IL1 beta, or TNFalpha increased soluble RANKL production and membrane bound RANKL expression in a dose dependent manner. IL18, IL1 beta, and TNF alpha did not induce M-CSF, GM-CSF, IFN gamma, or OPG production in PHA prestimulated T cells or RA synovial T cells. IL18 increased the number of osteoclasts and bone resorption area on dentine slices in the coculture of human osteoclast precursors with PHA prestimulated T cells or RA synovial T cells; its ability was equivalent to that of IL1 beta, but less potent than that of TNF alpha. In the coculture system, OPG completely blocked osteoclast induction by IL18 or IL1 beta, and greatly inhibited induction by TNF alpha. CONCLUSION IL18, IL1 beta, or TNF alpha can indirectly stimulate osteoclast formation through up regulation of RANKL production from T cells in RA synovitis; IL18 is as effective as IL1 beta, but less potent than TNF alpha.
A new, high-resolution global mass coral bleaching database

Episodes of mass coral bleaching have been reported in recent decades and have raised concerns about the future of coral reefs on a warming planet. Despite the efforts to enhance and coordinate coral reef monitoring within and across countries, our knowledge of the geographic extent of mass coral bleaching over the past few decades is incomplete. Existing databases, like ReefBase, are limited by the voluntary nature of contributions, geographical biases in data collection, and the variations in the spatial scale of bleaching reports. In this study, we have developed the first-ever gridded, global-scale historical coral bleaching database. First, we conducted a targeted search for bleaching reports not included in ReefBase by personally contacting scientists and divers conducting monitoring in under-reported locations and by extracting data from the literature. This search increased the number of observed bleaching reports by 79%, from 4146 to 7429. Second, we employed spatial interpolation techniques to develop annual 0.04° × 0.04° latitude-longitude global maps of the probability that bleaching occurred for 1985 through 2010. Initial results indicate that the area of coral reefs with a more likely than not (>50%) or likely (>66%) probability of bleaching was eight times higher in the second half of the assessed time period, after the 1997/1998 El Niño. The results also indicate that annual maximum Degree Heating Weeks, a measure of thermal stress, for coral reefs with a high probability of bleaching increased over time. The database will help the scientific community more accurately assess the change in the frequency of mass coral bleaching events, validate methods of predicting mass coral bleaching, and test whether coral reefs are adjusting to rising ocean temperatures.
Venomic Analysis of the Poorly Studied Desert Coral Snake, Micrurus tschudii tschudii, Supports the 3FTx/PLA2 Dichotomy across Micrurus Venoms

The venom proteome of the poorly studied desert coral snake Micrurus tschudii tschudii was unveiled using a venomic approach, which identified ≥38 proteins belonging to only four snake venom protein families. The three-finger toxins (3FTxs) constitute, both in number of isoforms (~30) and total abundance (93.6% of the venom proteome), the major protein family of the desert coral snake venom. Phospholipases A2 (PLA2s; seven isoforms, 4.1% of the venom proteome), 1–3 Kunitz-type proteins (1.6%), and 1–2 l-amino acid oxidases (LAO, 0.7%) complete the toxin arsenal of M. t. tschudii. Our results add to the growing evidence that the occurrence of two divergent venom phenotypes, i.e., 3FTx- and PLA2-predominant venom proteomes, may constitute a general trend across the cladogenesis of Micrurus. The occurrence of a similar pattern of venom phenotypic variability among true sea snake (Hydrophiinae) venoms suggests that the 3FTx/PLA2 dichotomy may be widely distributed among Elapidae venoms.
A Novel Approach for Heart Disease Diagnosis using Data Mining and Fuzzy Logic

disease is a term used to describe a variety of heart diseases, illnesses, and events that impact the heart and circulatory system. A clinician uses several sources of data and tests to make a diagnostic impression but it is not necessary that all the tests are useful for the diagnosis of a heart disease. The objective of our work is to reduce the number of attributes used in heart disease diagnosis that will automatically reduce the number of tests which are required to be taken by a patient. Our work also aims at increasing the efficiency of the proposed system. The observations illustrated that Decision Tree and Naive Bayes using fuzzy logic has outplayed over other data mining techniques.
Chemopreventive Potential of Ethanolic Extracts of Luobuma Leaves (Apocynum venetum L.) in Androgen Insensitive Prostate Cancer

Luobuma (Apocynum venetum L. (AVL)) is a popular beverage in Asia and has been reportedly to be associated with the bioactivities such as cardiotonic, diuretic, antioxidative, and antihypertensive. However, its biofunction as chemoprevention activity is seldom addressed. Herein, we aimed to characterize the anti-androgen-insensitive-prostate-cancer (anti-AIPC) bioactive compounds of Luobuma, and to investigate the associated molecular mechanisms. Activity-guided-fractionation (antioxidative activity and cell survivability) of Luobuma ethanolic extracts was performed to isolate and characterize the major bioactive compounds using Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC), Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS), and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). Plant sterols (lupeol, stigamasterol and β-sitosterol) and polyphenolics (isorhamnetin, kaempferol, and quercetin) were identified. Lupeol, a triterpene found in the fraction (F8) eluted by 10% ethyl acetate/90% hexane and accounted for 19.3% (w/w) of F8, inhibited the proliferation of PC3 cells. Both lupeol and F8 induced G2/M arrest, inhibition of β-catenin signaling, regulation of apoptotic signal molecules (cytochrome c, Bcl-2, P53, and caspase 3 and 8), and suppression DNA repair enzyme expression (Uracil-DNA glycosylase (UNG)). To our knowledge, our study is the first report that lupeol inhibited the expression of UNG to elicit the cytotoxicity against androgen-insensitive-prostate-cancer cells. Collectively, Luobuma, which contains several antitumor bioactive compounds, holds the potential to be a dietary chemopreventive agent for prostate cancer.
Artificial Neural Networks for Evolutionary Architectures and Connection weights : A Survey on History and Current state

Evolutionary computation has started a significant attention during the last two decades. Learning and evolution are two fundamental forms of adaption connection weights and architecture in ANN's. This article surveys the history as well as the current state of this rapidly growing field. We describe the genetic algorithms(GA's), Evolution Programming(EP), Evolution Strategies(ES), and Evolutionary ensembles by analysis and comparison of their important constituents like representation, various operators, reproduction and selection mechanism. Though during the last years these paradigms have crossbred and thus the distinctions blurred, each of them has different features. The main difference between these evolutionary algorithms lies in their representation and genetic operators [1]. The operators are closely related with the underlying representation scheme of each evolutionary algorithm. Genetic algorithms typically work on fixed-size bit-strings using crossover as its main operator. Evolution strategies are based on vectors of real values for representation and use mutation as the main operator. Evolutionary programming usually manipulates graphs using mutation as the single genetic operator. Genetic programming represents individuals as trees of flexible size. Each of the evolutionary algorithms has also developed its own selection scheme. Genetic algorithms and genetic programming use proportional selection. Evolution strategies have developed various ranking-based selection schemes. Evolutionary programming is used usually with tournament selection. Genetic Algorithms were initially developed by Bremermann [2] in 1958 but popularized by Holland whoapplied GA to formally study adaptation in nature [3]. In the 1990s, criticisms of the Schema theorem have appeared. Grefenstette argued [4] that the Schema theorem formulates that the GA will converge schemas that are winners of actual competition rather than on schemas with the best-observed fitness. Fogel and Ghozeil [5] criticized the Schema theorem for not being able to estimate the proportion of Schema in a population when fitness proportionate selection is used in the presence of noise or other stochastic effects. In Holland's defense, Poli argued [6] that Fogel and Ghozeil's criticisms were not based upon Holland's original theorem and that the original theorem is very good at modeling Schema in the presence of noise. Radcliffe also defended [7] the Schema theorem by explaining that many of the criticisms were not with Holland's theorem itself but with its over interpretation.
Working Paper Series , 21 Creative Assets and the Changing Economy

Many arts advocates and policymakers have argued that certain changes in the economy (globalization, digitalization, the rise of the “knowledge” worker, the boom in intellectual property, changes in leisure consumption) are having a catalytic effect on art and culture. In particular, the arts are heralded as engines of economic growth and development. Scholars and pundits have written about the central role of creative cities, creative clusters, creative economies, and the “rise of the creative class. ” Governments have begun to measure the size and scope of the creative economy as an important indicator of economic health. In short, there is a growing belief that changes in the economy have pushed creative assets to the center of economic life. In this article I will offer a critical assessment of some of these arguments and suggest ways that scholars and policymakers might usefully approach the notion of the changing economy and culture. My general point is that rather than spending time calculating the impact or size of the creative economy, we should direct our analytical and policy energies toward better understanding how creative work and institutions are changing and what might be done to encourage or foster a healthier, more robust, more creative, and more diverse cultural life.
Acetaldehyde metabolism in different aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 genotypes.

In order to clarify the relationships between acetaldehyde (Ac-CHO) metabolism and low Km (mitochondrial) aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) genotypes, hepatic ALDH2 activity was determined and serial changes of blood Ac-CHO levels after ethanol administration were analyzed in the individuals homozygous for the normal ALDH2 genes, heterozygous for the normal and mutant ALDH2 genes, and homozygous for the mutant ALDH2 genes. Genomic DNA was extracted from white blood cells and genotyping of ALDH2 was performed using the polymerase chain reaction technique and slot blot hybridization with synthesized oligonucleotide probes specific to the normal and mutant ALDH2 genes. ALDH2 activity was not detectable in the liver in two cases of the mutant homozygote. In four out of eight cases of the heterozygote, hepatic ALDH2 activity was measurable, although the activity was lower compared with that in the normal homozygote. Blood ethanol levels after alcohol administration were not different among the three different ALDH2 genotypes. Blood Ac-CHO levels after drinking of alcohol were significantly higher in the heterozygotes and the mutant homozygotes than in the normal homozygotes. The levels after a moderate amount of ethanol (0.8 g/kg of body weight) in a case of the mutant homozygote were not different from those of the heterozygotes. However, the levels after a small amount of ethanol (0.1 g/kg of body weight) were significantly higher in the mutant homozygotes than in the heterozygotes. These results indicate that hepatic ALDH2 activity is lacking completely, and metabolism of Ac-CHO in the liver is severely impaired in the homozygotes of the mutant ALDH2 genes. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Semistructured Data: The Tsimmis Experience

In this paper we discuss themanagement of semi-structured data, i.e., data that has irregular or dynamically changing structure. We describe components of the Stanford TSIMMIS Project that help extract semi-structured data from Web pages, that allow the storage and querying of semi-structured data, and that allow its browsing through the World Wide Web. A prototype implementation of the TSIMMIS system as described here is currently installed and running in the database group testbed.
Regulation of Insulin Secretion by SIRT4, a Mitochondrial ADP-ribosyltransferase*

Sirtuins are homologues of the yeast transcriptional repressor Sir2p and are conserved from bacteria to humans. We report that human SIRT4 is localized to the mitochondria. SIRT4 is a matrix protein and becomes cleaved at amino acid 28 after import into mitochondria. Mass spectrometry analysis of proteins that coimmunoprecipitate with SIRT4 identified insulindegrading enzyme and the ADP/ATP carrier proteins, ANT2 and ANT3. SIRT4 exhibits no histone deacetylase activity but functions as an efficient ADP-ribosyltransferase on histones and bovine serum albumin. SIRT4 is expressed in islets of Langerhans and colocalizes with insulin-expressing β cells. Depletion of SIRT4 from insulin-producing INS-1E cells results in increased insulin secretion in response to glucose. These observations define a new role for mitochondrial SIRT4 in the regulation of insulin secretion.
A Successful Teaching Strategy for Applying Evidence‐based Practice

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the conscientious use of the best evidence contained in the literature to guide healthcare decisions. The authors describe how their baccalaureate program prepares its graduates to be successful in implementing EBP in their nursing practice. Outcomes of sustained student projects in agency settings are presented. They posit that bachelor of science in nursing students, agency personnel, and faculty can lead practice innovations supported by EBP.
COLOR-MAGNITUDE DIAGRAM DISTRIBUTION OF THE BULGE RED CLUMP STARS : EVIDENCE FOR THE GALACTIC BAR

The color-magnitude diagrams of $\sim 5\times 10^5$ stars obtained for 13 fields towards the Galactic bulge with the OGLE project reveal a well-defined population of bulge red clump stars. We find that the distributions of the extinction-adjusted apparent magnitudes of the red clump stars in fields lying at $l=\pm5\deg$ in galactic longitude differ by $0.37\pm0.025\;mag$. Assuming that the intrinsic luminosity distribution of the red clump stars is the same on both sides of the Galactic center, this implies that the distances to the red clump stars in the two fields differ by a factor of $1.185\pm0.015$. A plausible explanation of the observed difference in the luminosity distribution is that the Galactic bulge is a triaxial structure, or bar, which is inclined to the line of sight by no more than $45\deg$, with the part of the bar at the positive galactic longitude being closer to us. This agrees rather well with other studies indicating the presence of the bar in the center of the Galaxy. Color-magnitude diagram data are accessible over the computer network with anonymous {\tt ftp}.
Introduction history of Drosophila subobscura in the New World: a microsatellite‐based survey using ABC methods

Drosophila subobscura is a Palearctic species that was first observed in South and North America in the early 1980s, and that rapidly invaded broad latitudinal ranges on both continents. To trace the source and history of this invasion, we obtained genotypic data on nine microsatellite loci from two South American, two North American and five European populations of D. subobscura. We analysed these data with traditional statistics as well as with an approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) framework. ABC methods yielded the strongest support for the scenario involving a serial introduction with founder events from Europe into South America, and then from South America into North America. Stable effective population size of the source population was very large (around one million individuals), and the propagule size was notably smaller for the introduction into South America (i.e. high bottleneck severity index with only a few effective founders) but considerably larger for the subsequent introduction into North America (i.e. low bottleneck severity index with around 100–150 effective founders). Finally, the Mediterranean region of Europe (and most likely Barcelona from the localities so far analysed) is proposed as the source of the New World flies, based on mean individual assignment statistics.
Information logistic applications for information-on-demand scenarios: concepts and experiences from WIND project

The field of information logistics aims at developing concepts, technologies and applications for need-oriented information supply. Information-on-demand services are a typical application area for information logistics, as they have to fulfill user needs with respect to content, location, time and quality. The application context is the implementation of the weather-information-on-demand service WIND, providing warnings about hazardous weather conditions to end customers. The major technical aspects presented are (1) an information logistical framework consisting of a set of configurable and adaptive software components and (2) a robust and scalable event-reaction mechanism as part of the framework. Experiences from the WIND project include aspects of system design, development process and operations.
Interaction of Coxiella burnetii Strains of Different Sources and Genotypes with Bovine and Human Monocyte-Derived Macrophages

Most human Q fever infections originate from small ruminants. By contrast, highly prevalent shedding of Coxiella (C.) burnetii by bovine milk rarely results in human disease. We hypothesized that primary bovine and human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) represent a suitable in vitro model for the identification of strain-specific virulence properties at the cellular level. Twelve different C. burnetii strains were selected to represent different host species and multiple loci variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) genotypes. Infection efficiency and replication of C. burnetii were monitored by cell culture re-titration and qPCR. Expression of immunoregulatory factors after MDM infection was measured by qRT-PCR and flow cytometry. Invasion, replication and MDM response differed between C. burnetii strains but not between MDMs of the two hosts. Strains isolated from ruminants were less well internalized than isolates from humans and rodents. Internalization of MLVA group I strains was lower compared to other genogroups. Replication efficacy of C. burnetii in MDM ranged from low (MLVA group III) to high (MLVA group IV). Infected human and bovine MDM responded with a principal up-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-12, and TNF-α. However, MLVA group IV strains induced a pronounced host response whereas infection with group I strains resulted in a milder response. C. burnetii infection marginally affected polarization of MDM. Only one C. burnetii strain of MLVA group IV caused a substantial up-regulation of activation markers (CD40, CD80) on the surface of bovine and human MDM. The study showed that replication of C. burnetii in MDM and the subsequent host cell response is genotype-specific rather than being determined by the host species pointing to a clear distinction in C. burnetii virulence between the genetic groups.
A Scalable Master-Worker Architecture for PaaS Clouds

Clouds provide an attractive infrastructural option to deploy highly-scalable distributed applications. Platform as a Service (PaaS) clouds offer basic software stack and services along with the execution containers to simplify the hosting of user applications. However, traditional many task computing architectures cannot be hosted as-is on current PaaS platforms due to certain limitations. This paper describes a novel modified architecture for master-worker, a well-known many task computing paradigm, to take advantage of the fast scalability provided by PaaS. The architecture is transformed into a multiagent system where the distributed agents use a message broker for communication and to store the computation progress. The agents are capable of dynamically shifting between a master and a worker role based on the information available with a durable message broker. This state-less feature of the agents makes them amenable for a PaaS platform and adds fault-tolerance to the system. The experiments illustrate the promising potential of the architecture to efficiently scale computationally intensive tasks on PaaS.