Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lower lung cancer rates in Jewish smokers in Israel and the USA

Lung cancer rates in Israeli Jews have remained stable over the last five decades and are much lower than in most developed countries despite high historical smoking rates. We compared lung cancer risk in Jews and non‐Jews in Israel and in the United States. Data were derived from a population‐based, case–control study in Israel (638 cases, 496 controls) to estimate lung cancer risk associated with smoking. Data were also acquired from a case–control study in the United States with information on religious affiliation (5,093 cases, 4,735 controls). Smoking was associated with lung cancer risk in all religion/gender groups in both studies. However, major differences in risk magnitude were noted between Jews and non‐Jews; ever smoking was associated with a moderately elevated risk of lung cancer in Jewish men and women in Israel (OR = 4.61, 2.90–7.31 and OR = 2.10, 1.36–3.24, respectively), and in Jewish men and women in the United States (OR = 7.63, 5.34–10.90 and OR = 8.50, 5.94–12.17) but were significantly higher in Israeli non‐Jewish men (OR = 12.96, 4.83–34.76) and US non‐Jewish men and women (OR = 11.33, 9.09–14.12 and OR = 12.78, 10.45–15.63). A significant interaction between smoking and religion was evident in light, moderate and heavy male and female smokers. The differences in risk level between Israeli Jews and non‐Jews could not be explained by lung cancer genetic risk variants which were identified in GWAS (genes in the CHRNA5, TERT and CLPTM1L regions). Data from the two studies support the notion of a reduced risk of lung cancer in Jewish compared to non‐Jewish smokers in different areas of the world.
Effect of Group Size on Anycasting with Receiver Base Forwarding in Delay Tolerant Networks

Delay/disruption tolerant networks (DTNs) are known for frequent and long duration partitions and end-to-end connectivity may be absent between the source and the destination. Anycast service is used for applications such as information exchange in hazards/crisis situation, recourse discovery, etc in Delay Tolerant Networks. For a specific type of DTN, where the mobile nodes are sparsely distributed, communicating via low radio range experience frequent and long duration partition and end-to-end path may not be present at the time of message generation. We have proposed a Receiver Based Forwarding (RBF) scheme for anycasting in DTN, which considers the path length as well as the number of receivers in forwarding the anycast bundle to the next hop Group size plays an important role in DTN anycasting, the group size varies in different scenarios. In this paper we have studied the effect of group size on our proposed Anycasting protocol by varying the group size from 3 to 15. Our simulation results have shown that the RBF performs better than the normal forwarding (NF) in term of data delivery ratio, average end-to-end delay and overall data efficiency because the probability of available receivers increases.
A three pulse phase response curve to three milligrams of melatonin in humans

Exogenous melatonin is increasingly used for its phase shifting and soporific effects. We generated a three pulse phase response curve (PRC) to exogenous melatonin (3 mg) by administering it to free‐running subjects. Young healthy subjects (n= 27) participated in two 5 day laboratory sessions, each preceded by at least a week of habitual, but fixed sleep. Each 5 day laboratory session started and ended with a phase assessment to measure the circadian rhythm of endogenous melatonin in dim light using 30 min saliva samples. In between were three days in an ultradian dim light (< 150 lux)–dark cycle (LD 2.5 : 1.5) during which each subject took one pill per day at the same clock time (3 mg melatonin or placebo, double blind, counterbalanced). Each individual's phase shift to exogenous melatonin was corrected by subtracting their phase shift to placebo (a free‐run). The resulting PRC has a phase advance portion peaking about 5 h before the dim light melatonin onset, in the afternoon. The phase delay portion peaks about 11 h after the dim light melatonin onset, shortly after the usual time of morning awakening. A dead zone of minimal phase shifts occurred around the first half of habitual sleep. The fitted maximum advance and delay shifts were 1.8 h and 1.3 h, respectively. This new PRC will aid in determining the optimal time to administer exogenous melatonin to achieve desired phase shifts and demonstrates that using exogenous melatonin as a sleep aid at night has minimal phase shifting effects.
GRSDB2 and GRS_UTRdb: databases of quadruplex forming G-rich sequences in pre-mRNAs and mRNAs

G-quadruplex motifs in the RNA play significant roles in key cellular processes and human disease. While sequences capable of forming G-quadruplexes in the pre-mRNA are involved in regulation of polyadenylation and splicing events in mammalian transcripts, the G-quadruplex motifs in the UTRs may help regulate mRNA expression. GRSDB2 is a second-generation database containing information on the composition and distribution of putative Quadruplex-forming G-Rich Sequences (QGRS) mapped in ∼29 000 eukaryotic pre-mRNA sequences, many of which are alternatively processed. The data stored in the GRSDB2 is based on computational analysis of NCBI Entrez Gene entries with the help of an improved version of the QGRS Mapper program. The database allows complex queries with a wide variety of parameters, including Gene Ontology terms. The data is displayed in a variety of formats with several additional computational capabilities. We have also developed a new database, GRS_UTRdb, containing information on the composition and distribution patterns of putative QGRS in the 5′- and 3′-UTRs of eukaryotic mRNA sequences. The goal of these experiments has been to build freely accessible resources for exploring the role of G-quadruplex structure in regulation of gene expression at post-transcriptional level. The databases can be accessed at the G-Quadruplex Resource Site at: http://bioinformatics.ramapo. edu/GQRS/.
Interleukin-18 gene polymorphism and markers of subclinical atherosclerosis. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

Abstract Background and aim. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a pro-atherosclerotic cytokine. We wanted to evaluate whether IL-18 gene polymorphism associates independently of risk factors, with early subclinical markers of atherosclerosis (intima-media thickness (IMT), coronary artery compliance (CAC), and flow-mediated dilatation (FMD)) in a population of young healthy Caucasian adults. Methods. This study was based on the on-going Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study consisting of 2260 young adults, mean age being 31.7 (range 24–39 years) (1247 women and 1013 men). Results. Five studied tagSNPs formed six major haplotypes, which accounted for 99.9% of all variation of the IL-18 gene. According to adjusted analysis of variance, the IL-18 gene polymorphism did not associate with subclinical atherosclerosis in the whole study population. However, one major haplotype associated differently among men and women with IMT (P = 0.011). Male carriers of a major CCTgT haplotype (n = 441) seemed to have a lower IMT when compared to the non-carriers (−0.016 mm, 95% confidence interval (CI) –0.028 to –0.004, P = 0.014). Among women no significant associations were observed. Conclusions. Among all study subjects, the polymorphism of the IL-18 gene is not associated with subclinical markers of atherosclerosis. However, among men one major IL-18 haplotype seemed to associate with substantially lower IMT values.
THE TIME TO DEFUZZIFY NEURO-FUZZY MODELS

Fuzzy models present a singular Janus-faced: On the one hand, they are knowledge-based software environments constructed from a collection of linguistic IF-THEN rules, and on the other hand, they realize nonlinear mappings which have interesting mathematical properties like "low-order interpolation" and "universal function approximation". Neuro-fuzzy basically provides fuzzy models with the capacity, based on the available data, to compensate for the missing human knowledge by an automatic self-tuning of the structure and the parameters. A first consequence of this hybridization between the architectural and representational aspect of fuzzy models and the learning mechanisms of neural networks has been to progressively increase and fuzzify the contrast between the two Janus faces: readability or performance.
A novel risk factor for a novel virus: obesity and 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1).

BACKGROUND many critically ill patients with 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) (2009 H1N1) infection were noted to be obese, but whether obesity, rather than its associated co-morbidities, is an independent risk factor for severe infection is unknown. METHODS using public health surveillance data, we analyzed demographic and clinical characteristics of California residents hospitalized with 2009 H1N1 infection to assess whether obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 30) and extreme obesity (BMI ≥ 40) were an independent risk factor for death among case patients ≥ 20 years old. RESULTS during the period 20 April-11 August 2009, 534 adult case patients with 2009 H1N1 infection for whom BMI information was available were observed. Two hundred twenty-eight patients (43%) were ≥ 50 years of age, and 378 (72%) had influenza-related high-risk conditions recognized by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices as risk factors for severe influenza. Two hundred and seventy-four (51%) had BMI ≥ 30, which is 2.2 times the prevalence of obesity among California adults (23%) and 1.5 times the prevalence among the general population of the United States (33%). Of the 92 case patients who died (17%), 56 (61%) had BMI ≥ 30 and 28 (30%) had BMI ≥ 40. In multivariate analysis, BMI ≥ 40 (odds ratio [OR], 2.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-5.9) and BMI ≥ 45 (OR, 4.2; 95% CI, 1.9-9.4), age ≥ 50 years (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.2-3.7), miscellaneous immunosuppressive conditions (OR, 3.9; 95% CI, 1.6-9.5), and asthma (OR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.9) were associated with death. CONCLUSION half of Californians ≥ 20 years of age hospitalized with 2009 H1N1 infection were obese. Extreme obesity was associated with increased odds of death. Obese adults with 2009 H1N1 infection should be treated promptly and considered in prioritization of vaccine and antiviral medications during shortages.
Semantic Informativeness Mediates the Detection of Changes in Natural Scenes

Three experiments investigated whether the semantic informativeness of a scene region (object) influences its representation between successive views. In Experiment 1, a scene and a modified version of that scene were presented in alternation, separated by a brief retention interval. A changed object was either semantically consistent with the scene (non-informative) or inconsistent (informative). Change detection latency was shorter in the semantically inconsistent versus consistent condition. In Experiment 2, eye movements were eliminated by presenting a single cycle of the change sequence. Detection accuracy was higher for inconsistent versus consistent objects. This inconsistent object advantage was obtained when the potential strategy of selectively encoding inconsistent objects was no longer advantageous (Experiment 3). These results indicate that the semantic properties of an object influence whether the representation of that object is maintained between views of a scene, and this influence is not caused solely by the differential allocation of eye fixations to the changing region. The potential cognitive mechanisms supporting this effect are discussed.
Printing anisotropic appearance with magnetic flakes

The ability to fabricate surfaces with fine control over bidirectional reflectance (BRDF) is a long-standing goal in appearance research, with applications in product design and manufacturing. We propose a technique that embeds magnetic flakes in a photo-cured resin, allowing the orientation distribution of those flakes to be controlled at printing time using a magnetic field. We show that time-varying magnetic fields allow us to control off-specular lobe direction, anisotropy, and lobe width, while using multiple spatial masks displayed by a UV projector allows for spatial variation. We demonstrate optical effects including bump maps: fat surfaces with spatially-varying specular lobe direction.
Congenital Heart Disease

as single entities or in combination, makes for variety, intrigues the most experienced clinician and adds to the satisfaction of their successful elucidation. In addition to these diagnostic problems, the mechanism of the production of even the simplest defects has aroused much interest amongst epidemiologists and experimental embryologists since the observations of Swann 26 and Gregg 19 on the adverse influence of German measles contracted by the mother about the second month of pregnancy. Considering the complexity of the embryology of the heart and great vessels, a mysterious process regulated by an unseen hand the wonder is that gross malformations are not of commoner
Power analysis for generalized linear mixed models in ecology and evolution

‘Will my study answer my research question? ’ is the most fundamental question a researcher can ask when designing a study, yet when phrased in statistical terms – ‘What is the power of my study? ’ or ‘How precise will my parameter estimate be? ’ – few researchers in ecology and evolution (EE) try to answer it, despite the detrimental consequences of performing under‐ or over‐powered research. We suggest that this reluctance is due in large part to the unsuitability of simple methods of power analysis (broadly defined as any attempt to quantify prospectively the ‘informativeness’ of a study) for the complex models commonly used in EE research. With the aim of encouraging the use of power analysis, we present simulation from generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) as a flexible and accessible approach to power analysis that can account for random effects, overdispersion and diverse response distributions. We illustrate the benefits of simulation‐based power analysis in two research scenarios: estimating the precision of a survey to estimate tick burdens on grouse chicks and estimating the power of a trial to compare the efficacy of insecticide‐treated nets in malaria mosquito control. We provide a freely available R function, sim.glmm, for simulating from GLMMs. Analysis of simulated data revealed that the effects of accounting for realistic levels of random effects and overdispersion on power and precision estimates were substantial, with correspondingly severe implications for study design in the form of up to fivefold increases in sampling effort. We also show the utility of simulations for identifying scenarios where GLMM‐fitting methods can perform poorly. These results illustrate the inadequacy of standard analytical power analysis methods and the flexibility of simulation‐based power analysis for GLMMs. The wider use of these methods should contribute to improving the quality of study design in EE.
Register binding guided by the size of variables

An important problem is how to carry out register binding such that any register has to be bound to a set of variables such that the difference between their sizes is as small as possible. For the case of hardware implementations, satisfying this latter constraint will allow to reduce the complexity of the clock generation tree, and saving area occupied by the registers which is very important for the case of system-on-chip and some embedded systems. When registers are already built, satisfying this latter constraint would allow reducing power consumption due to useless switching activities that will happen into any register that is bound to variables with different sizes. Assuming that the size in bits of any variable is known, we propose in this paper exact algorithms to optimally solve this problem for the case of acyclic graphs. An extended version of this problem is how to solve it while controlling the number of variables to be assigned to a same register. We also propose exact algorithms to optimally solve this latter version of the problem. Experimental results are provided. We also test the impact of the proposed approach in the case of a hardware implementation using the design analyzer tool from Synopsys Inc. Obtained results have shown that both area and power consumption have been reduced.
Problems involved in including women with simple hysterectomy in epidemiologic studies measuring the effects of hormone replacement therapy on breast cancer risk.

A number of epidemiologic studies of breast cancer risk have classified women who reported undergoing simple premenopausal hysterectomy without bilateral oophorectomy as being postmenopausal at the age when natural menopause has occurred in a high percentage (S:90 percent) of women (1-3). We demonstrate below that this approach to the inclusion of women with simple hysterectomy leads to an underestimate of the effect of age at menopause on breast cancer risk, as well as an underestimate of the effect of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on breast cancer risk. Other epidemiologic studies of breast cancer have included women with simple hysterectomy in their analyses by setting the woman's age at menopause equal to her age at hysterectomy, with the inclusion of an indicator variable for this category of women (4). We demonstrate below that this approach also leads to biased results, again underestimating the impact of age at menopause and of HRT use on breast cancer risk.
Investigation of doppler effects on high mobility OFDM-MIMO systems

The merging of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with Multiple-Input Multiple- Output (MIMO) systems is a promising mobile air interface solution for the next generation wireless local area networks (WLANs) and 4G mobile cellular wireless systems. The main aim of this research is to design a highly robust and efficient OFDM-MIMO system to support permanent accessibility and high data rates to users moving at high mobility and speeds up to 300km/h. The paper discusses a comprehensive literature review focused in both technologies and the contributions that have been anticipated during the last years, followed by a research project planning with discussions and what experiments will be carried out using the simulation programs. Furthermore, building the hybrid architecture involves merging the novel model with High Altitude Platform system (HAPs) technology, to analyze the overall performance of the network in delivering IP-broadband services and high load application to users.
News Image Annotation on a Large Parallel Text-image Corpus

In this paper, we present a multimodal parallel text-image corpus, and propose an image annotation method that exploits the textual information associated with images. Our corpus contains news articles composed of a text, images and image captions, and is significantly larger than the other news corpora proposed in image annotation papers (27,041 articles and 42,568 captionned images). In our experiments, we use the text of the articles as a textual information source to annotate images, and image captions as a groundtruth to evaluate our annotation algorithm. Our annotation method identifies relevant named entities in the texts, and associates them with high-level visual concepts detected in the images (in this paper, faces and logos). The named entities most suited to image annotation are selected using an unsupervised score based on their statistics, inspired from the weights used in information retrieval. Our experiments show that, although it is very simple, our annotation method achieves an acceptable accuracy on our real-world news corpus.
Health-related quality of life assessment in people with multiple sclerosis and their family caregivers. A multicenter study in Catalonia (Southern Europe)

Objectives: To measure the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and their caregivers, and to assess which factors can best describe HRQoL. Methods: A cross-sectional multicenter study of nine hospitals enrolled MS patients and their caregivers who attended outpatient clinics consecutively. The instruments used were the SF-36 for patients and the SF-12 and GHQ-12 for caregivers. Classification and regression tree analysis was used to analyze the explanatory factors of HRQoL. Results: A total of 705 patients (mean age 40.4 years, median Expanded Disability Status Scale 2.5, 77.8% with relapsing-remitting MS) and 551 caregivers (mean age 45.4 years) participated in the study. MS patients had significantly lower HRQoL than in the general population (physical SF-36: 39.9; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 39.1–40.6; mental SF-36: 44.4; 95% CI: 43.5–45.3). Caregivers also presented lower HRQoL than general population, especially in its mental domain (mental SF-12: 46.4; 95% CI: 45.5–47.3). Moreover, according to GHQ-12, 27% of caregivers presented probable psychological distress. Disability and co-morbidity in patients, and co-morbidity and employment status in caregivers, were the most important explanatory factors of their HRQoL. Conclusions: Not only the HRQoL of patients with MS, but also that of their caregivers, is indeed notably affected. Caregivers’ HRQoL is close to population of chronic illness even that the patients sample has a mild clinical severity and that caregiving role is a usual task in the study context.
A Self-Reconfigurable Platform for Scalable DCT Computation Using Compressed Partial Bitstreams and BlockRAM Prefetching

In this paper, we propose a self-reconfigurable platform which can reconfigure the architecture of DCT computations during run-time using dynamic partial reconfiguration. The scalable architecture of DCT computations can compute different number of DCT coefficients in the zig-zag scan order to adapt to different requirements, such as power consumption, hardware resource, and performance. We propose a configuration manager which is implemented in the embedded processor in order to adaptively control the reconfiguration of scalable DCT architecture during run-time. In addition, we use LZSS algorithm for compression of the partial bitstreams and on-chip BlockRAM as a cache to reduce latency overhead for loading the partial bitstreams from the off-chip memory for run-time reconfiguration. A hardware module is designed for parallel reconfiguration of the partial bitstreams. The experimental results show that our approach can reduce the external memory accesses by 69% and can achieve 400 MBytes/s reconfiguration rate. Detailed trade-offs of power, throughput, and quality are investigated, and used as a criterion for self-reconfiguration.
Hybrid greedy pursuit

For constructing the support set of a sparse vector in the standard compressive sensing framework, we develop a hybrid greedy pursuit algorithm that combines the advantages of serial and parallel atom selection strategies. In an iterative framework, the hybrid algorithm uses a joint sparsity information extracted from the independent use of serial and parallel greedy pursuit algorithms. Through experimental evaluations, the hybrid algorithm is shown to provide a significant improvement for the support set recovery performance.