Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol is a predictor of metabolic syndrome in a Japanese health screening population.

OBJECTIVE Both increased serum levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are associated with obesity and have been established to be risk factors of cardiovascular disease. However, studies on the relationship between LDLC and MetS have been limited. METHODS Cross-sectional (n=3,871) and longitudinal (n=2,558) associations between LDLC and MetS were examined in a Japanese health screening population. RESULTS The odds ratio (OR) [95% confidence interval (CI)] of coexisting MetS for each one SD increase in the LDLC level was 1.25 [1.12-1.40] (p<0.001) adjusted for body mass index (BMI) and other confounding covariates and 1.12 [0.97-1.28] (p=0.119) adjusted for numerical values of the components of MetS and other confounding covariates. The similarly adjusted ORs [95% CIs] for the highest quartile of LDLC (Q4) compared with the lowest quartile (Q1) were 1.76 [1.22-2.54] (p=0.002) and 1.46 (0.93-2.30) (p=0.101), respectively. The hazard ratio (HR) [95% CI] for developing MetS for each one SD increase in the LDLC level was 1.24 [1.10-1.40] (p<0.001) adjusted for BMI and other confounding covariates and 1.19 [1.05-1.34] (p=0.006) adjusted for the pre-existing dichotomous five components of MetS and other confounding covariates. The similarly adjusted HRs [95% CIs] for developing MetS for Q4 compared with Q1 were 1.71 [1.17-2.51] (p=0.006) and 1.61 [1.08-2.40] (p=0.020), respectively. CONCLUSION The LDLC level is associated with coexisting MetS and functions as a predictor of the development of MetS, independent of BMI or the pre-existing components of MetS, in a Japanese health screening population.
How Infants and Young Children Learn About Food: A Systematic Review

Early childhood is a critical time for establishing food preferences and dietary habits. In order for appropriate advice to be available to parents and healthcare professionals it is essential for researchers to understand the ways in which children learn about foods. This review summarizes the literature relating to the role played by known developmental learning processes in the establishment of early eating behavior, food preferences and general knowledge about food, and identifies gaps in our knowledge that remain to be explored. A systematic literature search identified 48 papers exploring how young children learn about food from the start of complementary feeding to 36 months of age. The majority of the papers focus on evaluative components of children's learning about food, such as their food preferences, liking and acceptance. A smaller number of papers focus on other aspects of what and how children learn about food, such as a food's origins or appropriate eating contexts. The review identified papers relating to four developmental learning processes: (1) Familiarization to a food through repeated exposure to its taste, texture or appearance. This was found to be an effective technique for learning about foods, especially for children at the younger end of our age range. (2) Observational learning of food choice. Imitation of others' eating behavior was also found to play an important role in the first years of life. (3) Associative learning through flavor-nutrient and flavor-flavor learning (FFL). Although the subject of much investigation, conditioning techniques were not found to play a major role in shaping the food preferences of infants in the post-weaning and toddler periods. (4) Categorization of foods. The direct effects of the ability to categorize foods have been little studied in this age group. However, the literature suggests that what infants are willing to consume depends on their ability to recognize items on their plate as familiar exemplars of that food type.
Regularized ROC Estimation : With Applications to Disease Classification Using Microarray Data

1 Shuangge Ma is Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington–Seattle. (Email: shuangge@u.washington.edu) The work of Ma is partly supported by N01-HC-95159 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Jian Huang is Professor, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, and Program in Public Health Genetics, University of Iowa. (Email: jian@stat.uiowa.edu). The work of Huang is supported in part by the NIH grant HL72288.
Negative Pressure Wound Therapy After Severe Open Fractures: A Prospective Randomized Study

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) after severe open fractures on deep infection. Design: Prospective randomized study. Setting: Academic level I trauma center. Patients/Participants: Fifty-nine patients with 63 severe high-energy open fractures were enrolled in this study, with data available on 58 patients with 62 open fractures. Intervention: Twenty-three patients with 25 fractures randomized to the control group and underwent initial irrigation and debridement followed by standard fine mesh gauze dressing, with repeat irrigation and debridement every 48-72 hours until wound closure. Thirty-five patients randomized to the NPWT group and had identical treatment except that NPWT was applied to the wounds between irrigation and debridement procedures until closure. Main Outcome Measurements: The presence or absence of deep wound infection or osteomyelitis, wound dehiscence, and fracture union were primary outcome measures. Results and Conclusions: Control patients developed 2 acute infections (8%) and 5 delayed infections (20%), for a total of 7 deep infections (28%), whereas NPWT patients developed 0 acute infections, 2 delayed infections (5.4%), for a total of 2 deep infections (5.4%). There is a significant difference between the groups for total infections (P = 0.024). The relative risk ratio is 0.199 (95% confidence interval: 0.045-0.874), suggesting that patients treated with NPWT were only one-fifth as likely to have an infection compared with patients randomized to the control group. NPWT represents a promising new therapy for severe open fractures after high-energy trauma.
Pancreatic β‐cell imaging in humans: fiction or option?

Diabetes mellitus is a growing worldwide epidemic disease, currently affecting 1 in 12 adults. Treatment of disease complications typically consumes ∼10% of healthcare budgets in developed societies. Whilst immune‐mediated destruction of insulin‐secreting pancreatic β cells is responsible for Type 1 diabetes, both the loss and dysfunction of these cells underly the more prevalent Type 2 diabetes. The establishment of robust drug development programmes aimed at β‐cell restoration is still hampered by the absence of means to measure β‐cell mass prospectively in vivo, an approach which would provide new opportunities for understanding disease mechanisms and ultimately assigning personalized treatments. In the present review, we describe the progress towards this goal achieved by the Innovative Medicines Initiative in Diabetes, a collaborative public–private consortium supported by the European Commission and by dedicated resources of pharmaceutical companies. We compare several of the available imaging methods and molecular targets and provide suggestions as to the likeliest to lead to tractable approaches. Furthermore, we discuss the simultaneous development of animal models that can be used to measure subtle changes in β‐cell mass, a prerequisite for validating the clinical potential of the different imaging tracers.
Hardware / software codesign for energy-efficient parallel computing

Increasing complexity and integration of multicore processors have enabled unprecedented increases in parallel processing throughput. Unfortunately, the power consumed by these massively parallel integrated systems will likely limit the achieved system performance. Many mechanisms have been proposed to minimize the power consumption of this underlying microprocessor hardware (dynamic-voltage scaling; frequency throttling; power/clock gating; I/O bandwidth scaling; sub/near-threshold operation), but these mechanisms all require sacrifices in throughput in order to improve performance/watt. Without system-level cooptimization of the algorithms, compiler, and hardware, the opportunity to improve performance/power will be limited. In this paper, we describe a holistic software/hardware codesign approach that utilizes information feedback from all levels of the computing system, including the application, operating system, compiler, architecture, and device level to find an energy optimal operating point. We also describe a feedback situation that enables applications and computation systems to adapt to different computational load conditions. Through adaptation of both the software and hardware together, with real-time feedback of both power consumed and throughput achieved, our proposed system will achieve optimal power consumed while minimizing the performance impact, resulting in significantly improved energy efficiency.
The effects of symbiotic therapy on anthropometric measures, body composition and blood pressure in patient with metabolic syndrome: a triple blind RCT

Background: Increase in prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes which are of the main risk factors of metabolic syndrome, is not only the result of changes in genetic, diet or physical activity, but also an imbalance of micro flora may play an important role. Therefore, alteration of micro flora using pre/probiotic is considered as a new strategy for treatment of metabolic disorders. Methods: The current study is a triple blind randomized controlled trial. 46 patients from both sexes, who fulfilled inclusion criteria, randomly categorized into intervention or placebo group. The intervention and placebo groups consumed 2 probiotic capsules or 2 placebo capsules during 3 months, respectively. Both groups received a weight loss diet, according to their adjusted ideal body weight. Anthropometric, body composition, blood pressure and nutritional measurements were done in the beginning, at 6th week, and at the end of the study. T-test and paired-t test were used for statistical analysis. Results: 40 patients completed the study. BMI, WC, HC, fat mass, lean mass and blood pressure were reduced in all participants (p< 0.05). Systolic blood pressure in symbiotic group was less than placebo group, significantly (p< 0.05). The trend of weight loss in symbiotic group continued at least for 12 weeks while it was stopped at week 6 in placebo group. Conclusion: Symbiotic supplement with the weight loss diet had synergistic effects on improvement in systolic blood pressure and anthropometric measurements. Based on our findings, symbiotic can postpone plateau phase of weight loss and it may prevent resistance to further weight loss.
beta-Alanine auxotrophy associated with dfp, a locus affecting DNA synthesis in Escherichia coli

Strains containing the conditional-lethal dfp-707 mutation, which have a defect in DNA synthesis at 42 degrees C, were found to require either pantothenate or its precursor, beta-alanine, for growth at 30 degrees C. The auxotrophy and conditional lethality were corevertible. Through localized mutagenesis of the dfp-pyrE region of Escherichia coli, another mutation, dfp-1, was obtained. It conferred the auxotrophy but not the conditional lethality of dfp-707. Complementation analysis, performed with a set of plasmid-borne deletion and insertion mutations, revealed a correspondence between the complementation of each mutant phenotype and the production of the dfp gene product, previously identified as a 45-kilodalton flavoprotein. The dfp mutants had a normal level of aspartate-1-decarboxylase, which is the only enzyme known to produce beta-alanine in E. coli and which is specified by the distant panD gene. A prototrophic pseudorevertant of a dfp-1 strain was found to have retained the dfp mutation, to be genetically unstable, and to have an elevated level of aspartate-1-decarboxylase, suggesting that it had acquired a duplication of panD. It is not known what steps in pantothenate or DNA metabolism are affected by the mutant dfp product or how its flavin moiety may be involved.
Detecting error related negativity using EEG potentials generated during simulated brain computer interaction

Detecting Error Related Negativity using EEG Potentials Generated during Simulated Brain Computer Interaction Error related negativity (ERN) is one of the components of the Event-Related Potential (ERP) observed during stimulus based tasks. In order to improve the performance of a brain computing interface (BCI) system, it is important to capture the ERN, classify the trials as correct or incorrect and feed this information back to the system. The objective of this study was to investigate techniques to detect presence of ERN in trials. In this thesis, features based on averaged ERP recordings were used to classify incorrect from correct actions. One feature selection technique coupled with four classification methods were used and compared in this work. Data were obtained from healthy subjects who performed an interaction experiment and the presence of ERN indicating incorrect responses was studied. Using suitable classifiers trained on data recorded earlier, the average recognition rate of correct and erroneous trials was reported and analyzed. The significance of selecting a subset of features to reduce the data dimensionality and to improve the classification performance was explored and discussed. We obtained success rates as high as 72% using a highly compact feature subset.
The COLIBRI Project - Subsystem Improvement

This paper highlights the main features of the COLIBRI project aiming at constructing a flapping twin-wing robot of the size of hummingbird (Colibri in French), actively stabilized in pitch and roll, and capable of hovering. The prototype has a total mass of 22 gr, a wing span of 21 cm and a flapping frequency of 22 Hz. The paper discusses some recent improvements and on-going works.
A Comparison of Nonoliguric and Oliguric Severe Acute Kidney Injury according to the Risk Injury Failure Loss End-Stage (RIFLE) Criteria

Background: Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss, and End-Stage (RIFLE) criteria have been proposed as a standard definition of acute kidney injury (AKI). The most severe form of AKI, class F AKI, can be defined by either severe oliguria or a 3-fold increase in serum creatinine concentrations. We hypothesized that the outcomes of patients with these 2 alternative criteria of severe AKI were different. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted of all patients attaining RIFLE class F AKI during a 12-month period in a tertiary critical care facility. Results: Among a total of 2,379 critical care admissions, 129 (5.4%) fulfilled the serum creatinine criteria without oliguria (RIFLE class F) and 99 (4.2%) fulfilled oliguric (RIFLE class F) AKI criteria. Patients with oliguric AKI suffered a more severe disease process than nonoliguric AKI. Oliguric AKI was associated with a significantly higher risk of requiring acute dialysis (70.7 vs. 22.4%, p = 0.001), long-term dialysis >90 days (15 vs. 1.9%, p = 0.006), and hospital mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 3.33, 95% confidence interval, p = 0.001) than nonoliguric AKI. Conclusions: Oliguric RIFLE class F AKI is a more severe form of AKI than nonoliguric class F AKI. These 2 forms of AKI should be considered separately when AKI is evaluated in a clinical trial.
Longitudinal Changes of Cardiothoracic Ratio and Vascular Pedicle Width as Predictors of Volume Status during One Year in Chinese Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

Background: Volume overload is an important contributing factor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Vascular pedicle width (VPW) and cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) in routine chest radiograph are indicators of intravascular volume. Longitudinal changes of VPW and CTR may be important prognostic factors of PD patients. Method: We studied 212 PD patients. Longitudinal changes in VPW (ΔVPW) and CTR (ΔCTR) were calculated. The relationship between radiologic measurements and clinical outcome was analyzed. Results: During the 12 months prior to enrollment, VPW rose from 53.35 ± 5.66 to 55.40 ± 6.30 mm (p < 0.001) and CTR rose from 53.3 ± 7.1 to 56.0 ± 7.8% (p < 0.001). After adjusting for confounding variables by Cox regression model, ΔCTR is an independent predictor of hospitalization-free survival; 1% increase in CTR confers 2.9% higher risk of hospitalization (95% confidence interval 0.2–5.7%, p = 0.034). None of the radiologic measurements correlated with actuarial patient survival. Conclusions: In chronic PD patients, ΔCTR is an independent predictor of hospitalization-free survival. This simple radiological parameter may serve as an important parameter for the risk stratification of PD patients.
"USA-Fat": prevalence is related to ambient outdoor temperature-evaluation with 18F-FDG PET/CT.

UNLABELLED Increased (18)F-FDG activity in fatty tissue has previously been reported with PET/CT. We previously named this activity uptake in supraclavicular area fat ("USA-Fat"). We and others have speculated that this uptake exists in metabolically active brown adipose tissue (BAT). Such tissue might be expected to have varying metabolic activity depending on the ambient temperature. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the frequency of USA-Fat and its relationship to the outdoor temperature. METHODS Between July 2001 and June 2002, 1,017 consecutive whole-body scans were obtained with a PET/CT scanner and (18)F-FDG for clinical patients. PET images were reviewed for the presence of USA-Fat. RESULTS USA-Fat was observed in 68 scans obtained from 62 patients (51 female and 11 male). The incidence of USA-Fat was highest, at 13.7%, in January through March, while outside temperatures were low, and was significantly lower, at 4.1%, during the rest of the year. CONCLUSION The incidence of USA-Fat is clearly increased during the cooler period of the year. This finding suggests that stimulation by cold temperatures increases the frequency with which USA-Fat occurs, supporting underlying BAT as the etiology for this activity.
Diagnostik bei Persönlichkeitsstörungen

Die Abgrenzung von Persönlichkeitsstörungen untereinander und zu anderen psychischen Störungen stellt – trotz Veränderungen und Präzisierungen in der Klassifikation – weiterhin eine große Herausforderung an den Diagnostiker. Wie lässt sich eine praktikable Lösung für die ambulante Praxis finden, die dem Patienten gerecht wird und verantwortungsvoll mit etwaigen Stigmatisierungsproblemen umgeht?
Regulation of membrane trafficking by signalling on endosomal and lysosomal membranes

Abstract Endosomal and lysosomal membrane trafficking requires the coordination of multiple signalling events to control cargo sorting and processing, and endosome maturation. The initiation and termination of signalling events in endosomes and lysosomes is not well understood, but several key regulators have been identified, which include small GTPases, phosphoinositides, and Ca2+. Small GTPases act as master regulators and molecular switches in a GTP‐dependent manner, initiating signalling cascades to regulate the direction and specificity of endosomal trafficking. Phosphoinositides are membrane‐bound lipids that indicate vesicular identities for recruiting specific cytoplasmic proteins to endosomal membranes, thus allowing specificity of membrane fusion, fission, and cargo sorting to occur within and between specific vesicle compartments. In addition, phosphoinositides regulate the function of membrane proteins such as ion channels and transporters in a compartment‐specific manner to mediate transport and signalling. Finally, Ca2+, a locally acting second messenger released from intracellular ion channels, may provide precise spatiotemporal regulation of endosomal signalling and trafficking events. Small GTPase signalling can regulate phosphoinositide conversion during endosome maturation, and electrophysiological studies on isolated endosomes have shown that endosomal and lysosomal Ca2+ channels are directly modulated by endosomal lipids. Thus trafficking and maturation of endosomes and lysosomes can be precisely regulated by dynamic changes in GTPases and membrane lipids, as well as Ca2+ signalling. Importantly, impaired phosphoinositide and Ca2+ signalling can cause endosomal and lysosomal trafficking defects at the cellular level, and a spectrum of lysosome storage diseases.
Joint Channel Estimation and Signal Detection for the OFDM System Without Cyclic Prefix Over Doubly-Selective Channels

In the high-speed railway wireless communication, a joint channel estimation and signal detection algorithm is proposed for the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system without cyclic prefix in the doubly-selective fading channels. Our proposed method first combines the basis expansion model (BEM) and the inter symbol interference (ISI) cancellation to overcome the situation that exists with the fast time-varying channel and the normalized maximum multipath channel exceeding the length of the cyclic prefix (CP). At first, the channel estimation and signal detection can be approximated without considering the ISI. Then, the channel parameters and signal detection are updated through ISI cancellation and circular convolution reconstruction from the frequency domain. The simulations show the algorithm can improve the performance of channel estimation and signal detection.
Shaping Innate Lymphoid Cell Diversity

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a key cell type that are enriched at mucosal surfaces and within tissues. Our understanding of these cells is growing rapidly. Paradoxically, these cells play a role in maintaining tissue integrity but they also function as key drivers of allergy and inflammation. We present here the most recent understanding of how genomics has provided significant insight into how ILCs are generated and the enormous heterogeneity present within the canonical subsets. This has allowed the generation of a detailed blueprint for ILCs to become highly sensitive and adaptive sensors of environmental changes and therefore exquisitely equipped to protect immune surfaces.
Nemo through the looking-glass: a commentary on Desjardins & Fernald

Mirror-elicited aggression has been widely used in animal behaviour research. Recently, Desjardins & Fernald [[1][1]] reported that males of the cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni fighting a mirror had higher expression of immediate early genes in brain areas homologous to the amygdala and the
Epistemologies of Postmodernism: A Rejoinder to Jean-Francois Lyotard

In the recent, flourishing debate on the nature and significance of postmodernism, architecture appears to occupy a special place. ' It is tempting to describe this situation through a Hegelianism: it is as if the Zeitgeist of an epoch approaching its end has reached self-consciousness in those monuments of modern architecture of steel, concrete, and glass. Contemplating itself in its objectifications, Spirit has not "recognized" and thus "returned to itself," but has recoiled in horror from its own products. The visible decay of our urban environment, the uncanniness of the modern megalopolis, and the general dehumanization of space appear to prove the Faustian dream to be a nightmare. The dream of an infinitely malleable world, serving as mere receptacle of the desires of an infinitely striving self, unfolding its powers in the process of conquering externality, is one from which we have awakened. Postmodernist architecture, whatever other sources it borrows its inspiration from, is undoubtedly the messenger of the end of this Faustian dream, which had accompanied the self-understanding of the moderns from the beginning.2 The end of the Faustian dream has brought with it a conceptual and semiotic shift in many domains of culture. This shift is not characterized by a moral or political critique of the Faustian aspects of modernity, but by the questioning of the very conceptual framework that made the Faustian dream possible in the first place. The following