Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vitamin a deficiency and anaemia in young children living in a malaria endemic district of western Kenya.

BACKGROUND Vitamin A deficiency makes children vulnerable to infections and influences the outcome of various infections. In 1993 vitamin A deficiency was found to be a public health problem in Bungoma district of western Kenya. OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency, anaemia and malaria parasitaemia and to correlate these with haemoglobin, ferritin and acute phase response. DESIGN A cross-sectional study. SETTING Bungoma district of western Kenya. SUBJECTS Three hundred and three children aged one to three years were studied. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Serum retinol, haemoglobin, serum ferritin, alpha-1 acid glycoprotein, C-reactive protein and malaria parasite density. RESULTS Twentynine percent of the children had severe vitamin A deficiency, 92% had anaemia (haemoglobin less than 10 g/dl) 24(7%) of these were severely anaemic while 76% had malaria parasitaemia. There was no significant difference in the retinol levels of children with malaria parasitaemia and those without malaria parasitaemia (P = 0.6). Retinol levels were significantly lower among children with high C-reactive protein (P < 0.001). Malaria parasitaemia negatively correlated with haemoglobin (r = -0.13, P < 0.05) and C-reactive protein (r = 0.21, P < 0.01). There was no difference in haemoglobin level of children with normal serum retinol and those with low serum retinol (P = 0.16). Ferritin did not differ significantly among children with normal haemoglobin and those with low haemoglobin (P = 0.13). CONCLUSION Vitamin A deficiency and anaemia are a public health problem among the children studied. The high prevalence of vitamin A deficiency may have resulted from acute phase response induced by infections.
EM2: A Scalable Shared-Memory Multicore Architecture

We introduce the Execution Migration Machine (EM2), a novel, scalable shared-memory architecture for large-scale multicores constrained by off-chip memory bandwidth. EM2 reduces cache miss rates, and consequently off-chip memory usage, by permitting only one copy of data to be stored anywhere in the system: when a thread wishes to access an address not locally cached on the core it is executing on, it migrates to the appropriate core and continues execution. Using detailed simulations of a range of 256-core configurations on the SPLASH-2 benchmark suite, we show that EM2 improves application completion times by 18% on the average while remaining competitive with traditional architectures in silicon area.
Translaminar Reinforced Composites: A Review

A trans-laminar-reinforced (TLR) composite may be defined as a composite laminate with up to 5% volume of fibrous reinforcement oriented in a translaminar or through-thickness direction. The TLR can be continuous threads as in stitched laminates, or it can be discontinuous rods or pins as in Z-fiber materials. These materials may be considered a subset of 3D composites, with the distinction that the material structure is a simple layered structure with only a few percent volume of reinforcement through-the-thickness. It has been repeatedly documented in the literature that adding either type of TLR to an otherwise two-dimensional laminate results in the following advantages: substantially improved compression-after-impact response, considerably increased fracture toughness in Mode I (double cantilever beam) and Mode II (end notch flexure), and severely restricted size and growth of impact damage and edge delamination. TLR has also been used to eliminate catastrophic stiffener disbonding in stiffened structures, and in cocured structures it may be used as a substitute for mechanical fasteners. TLR directly protects the Achilles' heel of laminated composites, that is, delamination. As little as 1% volume of TLR significantly alters the mechanical response of laminates. While there is a significant volume of literature, which is reviewed in this paper, there is still a very incomplete understanding of the mechanisms and parameters affecting those mechanisms responsible for the significant changes in the laminate response.
Executable Petri Nets Model for Semantic Web Services

A new approach that using Petri net to model composite semantic web service is put forward oriented to the implementation of semantic web services. Atomic semantic web service is described as a transition element and its input, output, pre-condition and effect as place elements of Petri net, each place element has its place id, name and semantic markup (domain ontology definition) according to parameter’s domain ontology. Composite semantic web service Petri net model could be constructed through sharing composition operation of atomic web services Petri nets with ontology reasoning on place semantic markups and its Petri net should allow self-loop, be acyclic and 1-safe.
Prenatal Stress and Balance of the Child's Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System at Age 5-6 Years

Objective Autonomic nervous system (ANS) misbalance is a potential causal factor in the development of cardiovascular disease. The ANS may be programmed during pregnancy due to various maternal factors. Our aim is to study maternal prenatal psychosocial stress as a potential disruptor of cardiac ANS balance in the child. Methods Mothers from a prospective birth cohort (ABCD study) filled out a questionnaire at gestational week 16 [IQR 12–20], that included validated instruments for state anxiety, depressive symptoms, pregnancy-related anxiety, parenting daily hassles and job strain. A cumulative stress score was also calculated (based on 80th percentiles). Indicators of cardiac ANS in the offspring at age 5–6 years are: pre-ejection period (PEP), heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and cardiac autonomic balance (CAB), measured with electrocardiography and impedance cardiography in resting supine and sitting positions. Results 2,624 mother-child pairs, only single births, were available for analysis. The stress scales were not significantly associated with HR, PEP, RSA and CAB (p≥0.17). Accumulation of maternal stress was also not associated with HR, PEP, RSA and CAB (p≥0.07). Conclusion Results did not support the hypothesis that prenatal maternal psychosocial stress deregulates cardiac ANS balance in the offspring, at least in rest, and at the age of five-six years.
The clinical safety of disabled patients: Proposal for a methodology for analysis of health care risks and specific measures for improvement

The clinical risks associated with health care have been a known factor since ancient times, and their prevention has constituted one of the foundations of health care. However, concern for the risks involved in health care treatments has risen very significantly in recent years, becoming a modern current of concern for clinical health care risks which is referred to by the name of “patient safety” in the scientific literature. Unfortunately, there are no studies on patient safety in dental practice or case studies of adverse events in this practice. In addition to the lack of studies on adverse events in regular dental practice, there are even fewer references to treatment for disabled patients. In this article, we provide a “proposal for analysis” of the clinical risks associated with treating disabled patients, which will make it possible to evaluate the health care risks associated with the treatment of patients who have a specific disability, at one determined moment and in one specific environment. Key words:Patient safety, disabled patients, health care risk.
Par6B and Atypical PKC Regulate Mitotic Spindle Orientation during Epithelial Morphogenesis*

Cdc42 plays an evolutionarily conserved role in promoting cell polarity and is indispensable during epithelial morphogenesis. To further investigate the role of Cdc42, we have used a three-dimensional matrigel model, in which single Caco-2 cells develop to form polarized cysts. Using this system, we previously reported that Cdc42 controls mitotic spindle orientation during cell division to correctly position the apical surface in a growing epithelial structure. In the present study, we have investigated the specific downstream effectors through which Cdc42 controls this process. Here, we report that Par6B and its binding partner, atypical protein kinase C (aPKC), are required to regulate Caco-2 morphogenesis. Depletion or inhibition of Par6B or aPKC phenocopies the loss of Cdc42, inducing misorientation of the mitotic spindle, mispositioning of the nascent apical surface, and ultimately, the formation of aberrant cysts with multiple lumens. Mechanistically, Par6B and aPKC function interdependently in this context. Par6B localizes to the apical surface of Caco-2 cysts and is required to recruit aPKC to this compartment. Conversely, aPKC protects Par6B from proteasomal degradation, in a kinase-independent manner. In addition, we report that depletion or inhibition of aPKC induces robust apoptotic cell death in Caco-2 cells, significantly reducing both cyst size and number. Cell survival and apical positioning depend upon different thresholds of aPKC expression, suggesting that they are controlled by distinct downstream pathways. We conclude that Par6B and aPKC control mitotic spindle orientation in polarized epithelia and, furthermore, that aPKC coordinately regulates multiple processes to promote morphogenesis.
Clonal expansion within clonal complex 2 and spread of vancomycin-resistant plasmids among different genetic lineages of Enterococcus faecalis from Portugal.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess the diversity of Enterococcus faecalis populations recovered in different regions of Portugal during the last decade (1996-2007) and to analyse their genetic elements associated with vancomycin resistance. METHODS Forty E. faecalis isolates (22 vancomycin-susceptible and 18 vancomycin-resistant) representing disseminated and/or multiresistant strains from different sources (humans, animals and the environment) were characterized by PFGE and multilocus sequence typing. Genes encoding putative virulence markers and the backbone of Tn1546 were investigated by PCR. Plasmid analysis included determination of size, content (S1 hybridization) and comparison of restriction fragment length polymorphism patterns. RESULTS The 40 E. faecalis isolates (22 PFGE types) mostly clustered within the worldwide-spread clonal complexes (CCs) CC2 (13 ST6 mostly corresponding to an epidemic strain, where ST stands for sequence type), CC21 (3 ST21, 1 ST22 and 1 ST224) and ST16 (n = 7), but also comprised ST159, ST35, ST19, ST26, ST30, ST41, ST55, ST59, ST117, ST160 and ST200. CC2 and CC21 were isolated from both hospital and community settings. Similar Tn1546-like elements encoding VanA were found on related plasmids within strains belonging to different clonal lineages and recovered in distinct hospitals over several years. CONCLUSIONS The predominance of E. faecalis CC2 is mainly due to the dissemination of a particular clone persistently recovered for 11 years. The presence in the community of specific strains belonging to major clonal lineages highlights the role of community-associated hosts as possible reservoirs of putative human pathogenic enterococci. Both clonal expansion and dissemination of epidemic conjugative VanA plasmids seem to join forces in the establishment of pathogenic E. faecalis strains.
Spectral analysis of near-infrared spectroscopy signals measured from prefrontal lobe in subjects at risk for stroke.

PURPOSE The objective of this study was to assess the spontaneous cerebral oscillations based on the wavelet transform of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) signals in subjects at risk for atherosclerotic stroke. METHODS A total of 32 subjects were recruited from the university to participate in this study: 20 were normal subjects (age = 59.6 ± 10.2 year) and the other 12 were subjects at risk for ischemic stroke (age = 60.2 ± 10.1 year). The cerebral oxygenation signal was monitored for 10 min from the left prefrontal lobe using NIRS. RESULTS With spectral analysis based on wavelet transform, five frequency intervals were identified (I, 0.005-0.02 Hz; II, 0.02-0.06 Hz; III, 0.06-0.15 Hz; IV, 0.15-0.40 Hz; and V, 0.40-2.0 Hz). The amplitude of the [Hb] in the frequency intervals from I to V and of the [HbO(2)] in frequency intervals I and V in subjects at risk for stroke were found to be significantly lower compared to the amplitudes in normal subjects. CONCLUSIONS The reduction of spontaneous oscillations in these subjects suggests an increased stiffness in the cerebral artery. This indicates the possibility of applying spontaneous oscillations, based on the wavelet transform of NIRS signals, to assess the risk in subjects with atherosclerosis.
EquiNMF: Graph Regularized Multiview Nonnegative Matrix Factorization

Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) methods have proved to be powerful across a wide range of real-world clustering applications. Integrating multiple types of measurements for the same objects/subjects allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the data and refine the clustering. We have developed a novel Graph-reguarized multiview NMF-based method for data integration called EquiNMF. The parameters for our method are set in a completely automated data-specific unsupervised fashion, a highly desirable property in real-world applications. We performed extensive and comprehensive experiments on multiview imaging data. We show that EquiNMF consistently outperforms other single-view NMF methods used on concatenated data and multi-view NMF methods with different types of regularizations.
A Deep Learning Approach to Detect SNP Interactions

The susceptibility of complex diseases are characterised by numerous genetic, lifestyle, and environmental causes individually or due to their interaction effects. The recent explosion in detecting genetic interacting factors is increasingly revealing the underlying biological networks behind complex diseases. Several computational methods are explored to discover interacting polymorphisms among unlinked loci. However, there has been no significant breakthrough towards solving this problem because of biomolecular complexities and computational limitations. Our previous research trained a deep multilayered feedforward neural network to predict two-locus polymorphisms due to interactions in genome-wide data. The performance of the method was studied on numerous simulated datasets and a published genomewide dataset. In this manuscript, the performance of the trained multilayer neural network is validated by varying the parameters of the models under various scenarios. Furthermore, the observations of the previous method are confirmed in this study by evaluating on a real dataset. The experimental findings on a real dataset show significant rise in the prediction accuracy over other conventional techniques. The result shows highly ranked interacting two-locus polymorphisms, which may be associated with susceptibility for the development of breast cancer.
A simplified steady-state characterization of long AC transmission lines

In this paper, a simplified formulation of the steady-state, distributed-parameter model of AC transmission lines is presented, which is sufficiently accurate in practice for very long lines. The simplification stems from a reduction in the number of parameters involved in the model and provides a better understanding of the effect that the remaining parameters have on the line performance (i.e., transmission capability, power losses, voltage drop, etc.) at different voltage levels and line lengths.
Recipient cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen‐4 +49 G/G genotype is associated with reduced incidence of hepatitis B virus recurrence after liver transplantation among Chinese patients

Background: Single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of two‐gene locus cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen‐4 (CTLA‐4) +49 and CD86 +1057 were previously reported to influence the outcome of liver transplantation (LT) with respect to allograft acceptance. SNP at CTLA‐4 +49 was also suggested to be associated with the individual difference in the clearance of hepatitis B virus (HBV). However, their influence on the incidence of post‐LT HBV reinfection was not clear. With the increasing knowledge of costimulatory mechanisms on LT and host immune response, we designed this study to investigate the relationship between different alleles as well as genotypes at these two locations and HBV reinfection after LT.
Automated design of scoring rules by learning from examples

Scoring rules are a broad and concisely-representable class of voting rules which includes, for example, Plurality and Borda. Our main result asserts that the class of scoring rules, as functions from preferences into candidates, is efficiently learnable in the PAC model. We discuss the applications of this result to automated design of scoring rules. We also investigate possible extensions of our approach, and (along the way) we establish a lemma of independent interest regarding the number of distinct scoring rules.
METIS-II: the German to English MT system

Within the METIS-II project, we have implemented a machine translation system which uses transfer and expander rules to build an AND/OR graph of partial translation hypotheses and a statistical ranker to find the best path through the graph. The paper gives an overview of the architecture and an evaluation of the system for several languages.
Expression of CD44 Isoforms Correlates With the Metastatic Potential of Osteosarcoma

CD44 is a family of cell surface glycoproteins that not only function as receptors to hyaluronan and other extracellular matrix ligands but also is implicated in the invasiveness and metastasis of malignancies. The expression of CD44 and its variant isoforms was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in primary osteosarcoma, and the metastatic significance and prognostic relevance were assessed. Fifty formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded conventional osteosarcoma samples were immunostained with monoclonal antibodies to CD44s, CD44v5, and CD44v6. When more than 50% of the tumor cells were stained, the result was regarded as ++ (overexpression). Staining patterns of CD44 mainly were membranous with a minor cytoplasmic pattern contribution. CD44s was overexpressed in 16% (eight of 50), CD44v6 in 20% (10 of 50), and CD44v5 in 46% (23 of 50) of the osteosarcomas. Of 26 patients with metastasis, CD44s was overexpressed in six (23%), CD44v6 in four (15%), and CD44v5 in 17 (65%). Overexpression of CD44v5 correlated significantly with metastasis. The survival rate of the patients in the CD44v5-positive (overexpressed) group was significantly lower than that of the patients in the CD44v5-negative group. Overexpression of CD44v5 may play a role in the metastatic behavior of osteosarcoma and may be a prognostic parameter of osteosarcoma.
Effect of Two-Step Deforming and Aging Process on the Properties and Microstructure of Cu-Cr-Zr-Mg-Si Alloy

Effect of two-step deforming and aging process on the properties and structure of Cu-Cr-Zr-Mg-Si alloy was investigated. The results show under the condition of same cold deformation, two-step deforming and aging processes can improve overall performance of the alloy. The hardness obtained by two-step deforming and aging process is higher 6%-9% than that by single-step deforming and aging. The hardness and conductivity are up to 160HV and 88.1% IACS respectively after 80 % rolling and reaging at 480°C for 30min. The particles precipitate along the dislocation and pin on the dislocation during the reaging. These finer particles distribute more uniformly in the copper matrix and result in the higher strength and electrical conductivity.
Power allocation games for mimo multiple access channels with coordination

A game theoretic approach is used to derive the optimal decentralized power allocation (PA) in fast fading multiple access channels where the transmitters and receiver are equipped with multiple antennas. The players (the mobile terminals) are free to choose their PA in order to maximize their individual transmission rates (in particular they can ignore some specified centralized policies). A simple coordination mechanism between users is introduced. The nature and influence of this mechanism is studied in detail. The coordination signal indicates to the users the order in which the receiver applies successive interference cancellation and the frequency at which this order is used. Two different games are investigated: the users can either adapt their temporal PA to their decoding rank at the receiver or optimize their spatial PA between their transmit antennas. For both games a thorough analysis of the existence, uniqueness and sum-rate efficiency of the network Nash equilibrium is conducted. Analytical and simulation results are provided to assess the gap between the decentralized network performance and its equivalent virtual multiple input multiple output system, which is shown to be zero in some cases and relatively small in general.
On Gene Duplication Models for Evolving Regulatory Networks

Background: Duplication of genes is important for evolution of molecular networks. Many authors have therefore considered gene duplication as a driving force in shaping the topology of molecular networks. In particular it has been noted that growth via duplication would act as an implicit way of preferential attachment, and thereby provide the observed broad degree distributions of molecular networks.
Fuc-Tvii Is Required for T Helper 1 and T Cytotoxic 1 Lymphocyte Selectin Ligand Expression and Recruitment in Inflammation, and Together with Fuc-Tiv Regulates Naive T Cell Trafficking to Lymph Nodes

To determine how the α(1,3)fucosyltransferases Fuc-TIV and Fuc-TVII, and the selectin ligands they control may contribute to the adaptive immune response, contact hypersensitivity (CHS) was characterized in mice deficient in either or both enzymes. We find a substantial CHS deficiency in Fuc-TVII−/− mice, and a complete deficiency in Fuc-TIV−/−/Fuc-TVII−/− mice. These defects are not accounted for by alterations in the number or function of epidermal Langerhans cells required for cutaneous antigen processing and presentation. By contrast, defective CHS in Fuc-TVII−/− mice or Fuc-TIV−/−/Fuc-TVII−/− mice is attributed in part to prominent, or nearly complete deficiencies, respectively, in the complement of naive T lymphocytes available in lymph nodes for antigen-dependent activation, expansion, differentiation, and dissemination. Fuc-TVII deficiency also deletes expression of E- and P-selectin ligands by Th1 and T cytotoxic 1 (Tc1) lymphocytes, annuls T cell trafficking to inflamed cutaneous sites in vivo, and thereby controls an essential component of the efferent phase of the cutaneous immune response. These observations indicate that collaborative contributions of Fuc-TIV and Fuc-TVII to L-selectin ligand synthesis, and to lymphocyte recruitment, are requisite components of the primary cellular immune response, and assign an essential role to Fuc-TVII in control of E- and P-selectin ligand expression by Th1 and Tc1 lymphocytes.