Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of Influenza Vaccination and Reduced Risk of Recurrent Myocardial Infarction

Background—Numerous studies have suggested that microbial agents may promote atherosclerosis. A smaller body of research has suggested that acute respiratory infection may be a risk factor for myocardial infarction (MI). We hypothesized that influenza vaccine might reduce the risk of recurrent MI in patients with documented coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods and Results—A case-control study was performed on 218 CHD patients seen at Memorial Hermann Hospital during the influenza season of October 1997 through March 1998. Patients who experienced new MI were included in the case group, and those who did not experience new MI or unstable angina were assigned to the control group. Data were collected by structured review of patients’ charts and through a subsequent telephone survey. Adjusted for history of influenza vaccination in previous years, multivariate logistic regression revealed risk of MI to be associated with current hypertension (OR 4.96, 95% CI 2.06 to 11.96, P <0.0001), hypercholesterolemia (OR 4.08, 95% CI 1.67 to 9.99, P =0.002), smoking (OR 3.75, 95% CI 1.76 to 7.98, P =0.001), and influenza vaccination (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.82, P =0.017). Despite significant association in univariate analysis, multivitamin therapy and physical exercise were not associated with risk of reinfarction in multivariate analysis. Conclusions—In this study in patients with chronic CHD, vaccination against influenza was negatively associated with the development of new MI during the same influenza season. However, to address causal inference, examination of prospective data sets will be needed.
Satellite-Based Estimates of Long-Term Exposure to Fine Particles and Association with Mortality in Elderly Hong Kong Residents

Background A limited number of studies on long-term effects of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm (PM2.5) on health suggest it can be an important cause of morbidity and mortality. In Asia where air quality is poor and deteriorating, local data on long-term effects of PM2.5 to support policy on air quality management are scarce. Objectives We assessed long-term effects of PM2.5 on the mortality in a single Asian city. Methods For 10–13 years, we followed up a cohort of 66,820 participants ≥ 65 years of age who were enrolled and interviewed in all 18 Elderly Health Centres of the Department of Health, Hong Kong, in 1998–2001. Their residential addresses were geocoded into x- and y-coordinates, and their proxy exposures to PM2.5 at their addresses in 1 × 1 km grids were estimated from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellite data. We used Cox regression models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) of mortality associated with PM2.5. Results Mortality HRs per 10-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 were 1.14 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.22) for all natural causes, 1.22 (95% CI: 1.08, 1.39) for cardiovascular causes, 1.42 (95% CI: 1.16, 1.73) for ischemic heart disease, 1.24 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.53) for cerebrovascular disease, and 1.05 (95% CI: 0.90, 1.22) for respiratory causes. Conclusions Our methods in using NASA satellite data provide a readily accessible and affordable approach to estimation of a sufficient range of individual PM2.5 exposures in a single city. This approach can expand the capacity to conduct environmental accountability studies in areas with few measurements of fine particles. Citation Wong CM, Lai HK, Tsang H, Thach TQ, Thomas GN, Lam KB, Chan KP, Yang L, Lau AK, Ayres JG, Lee SY, Chan WM, Hedley AJ, Lam TH. 2015. Satellite-based estimates of long-term exposure to fine particles and association with mortality in elderly Hong Kong residents. Environ Health Perspect 123:1167–1172; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/ehp.1408264
Healthy weight game!: Lose weight together

Overweight and obesity pose a serious and increasing problem worldwide. Current treatment methods can result in weight loss in the short term but often fail in the longer term. Increasing motivation and thereby improving adherence can be a key factor in achieving the needed behavioral change. One approach is to address affective state (i.e. to promote positive emotions) by making people aware of their condition in a playful manner, possibly with peer interaction. Serious gaming is envisioned as one way to achieve this. Based on a study of the scientific evidence, the serious game `Healthy Weight Game! ' was designed. The design incorporates most of the features shown to be beneficial in the scientific literature. An evaluation of the design involving a survey of 53 subjects produced positive results. The game was well understood and seen as a good method to help people lose weight and induce positive behavioral change. It was seen as a good addition to own initiatives for being physically active and as a useful addition to dieting and physical therapy. The design of the game (appearance and content) was positively received. Some gender differences were found in reactions to features such as visualization of goal achievements (e.g. avatar getting thinner as exercise goals are reached) and the kind of informative feedback which was appreciated. Overall the game design was rated 7.57/10 over all respondents. We conclude that this design demonstrates potential for improving physical and, indirectly, mental health of people facing overweight and obesity by increasing adherence and promoting sustainable behavioral change. Next steps are to implement the game and conduct a larger scale evaluation.
Electroretinogram in diabetic retinopathy.

The classical electroretinogram (ERG) has been intensively studied, mainly concerning its initial deflections (a- andb- waves), in various diseases of the eye since the systematic work initiated by Karpe1who defined several basic pathologic types of ERG. Several papers have appeared in relation to the classical ERG in diabetic retinopathy. Francois and Derouck3recorded the ERG in advanced diabetic retinopathy exhibiting numerous hemorrhages and exudates and saw the values in normal limits. Muller-Limmroth4and Schmoger5stated that in the early stage of diabetic retinopathy the ERG was found to be normal. Jacobson6believes that diabetic retinopathy usually does not compromise the ERG amplitude until the disease has reached far advanced stages, such as retinitis proliferans and detachment of the retina. Straub7examined the ERG's of 24 diabetic patients with slight retinopathy, demonstrating that the ERG was normal in 20 cases and subnormal in
Comparison of Two Commercially Available DNA Line Probe Assays for Detection of Multidrug-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis

ABSTRACT Two commercially available DNA line probe assays, Genotype MTBDR and INNO-LiPA Rif. TB, were evaluated for their abilities to detect resistance to isoniazid (INH) and rifampin (RIF) in 52 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates. The test results were compared to those obtained by phenotypic drug susceptibility testing and sequencing. Compared to the results of phenotypic drug susceptibility testing, the Genotype MTBDR test results were concordant for INH for 47 of the 52 (90.4%) isolates, and both the Genotype MTBDR and the INNO-LiPA Rif. TB test results were concordant for RIF for 51 of the 52 (98.1%) isolates. The Genotype MTBDR test results correlated with the sequencing results for 48 of the 52 (92.3%) isolates and the INNO-LiPA Rif. TB results for 50 of the 52 (96.2%) isolates. Both assays are useful for the rapid screening of M. tuberculosis isolates obtained from patients suspected of having multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, but the GenoType MTBDR assay has the advantage of being able to detect resistance to both INH and RIF simultaneously.
Treatment of Hori's Nevus with the Q‐Switched Nd:YAG Laser

Background. Hori's nevus is an acquired pigmented lesion involving bilateral blue‐brown facial macules. There has been a dearth of reported treatment modalities for this condition. Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Q‐switched Nd:YAG laser for the treatment of Hori's nevus. Methods. The Q‐switched Nd:YAG laser was used to treat Hori's nevus in 66 Asian patients. Patients were treated up to seven times. The follow‐up time after the final treatment ranged from 3 to 44 months. Results. Twenty six percent of patients showed good to excellent clearing after one to two treatments. Fifty percent of patients who underwent more than two treatments received good to excellent results. Conclusion. The Q‐switched Nd:YAG laser can be used to treat Hori's nevus. Results are not as good as those seen with nevus of Ota.
IRAK-4 Inhibitors for Inflammation

Interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinases (IRAKs) are key components in the signal transduction pathways utilized by interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R), interleukin-18 receptor (IL-18R), and Toll-like receptors (TLRs). Out of four members in the mammalian IRAK family, IRAK-4 is considered to be the “master IRAK”, the only family member indispensable for IL-1R/TLR signaling. In humans, mutations resulting in IRAK-4 deficiency have been linked to susceptibility to bacterial infections, especially recurrent pyogenic bacterial infections. Furthermore, knock-in experiments by several groups have clearly demonstrated that IRAK-4 requires its kinase activity for its function. Given the critical role of IRAK-4 in inflammatory processes, modulation of IRAK-4 kinase activity presents an attractive therapeutic approach for the treatment of immune and inflammatory diseases. The recent success in the determination of the 3-dimensional structure of the IRAK-4 kinase domain in complex with inhibitors has facilitated the understanding of the mechanistic role of IRAK-4 in immunity and inflammation as well as the development of specific IRAK-4 kinase inhibitors. In this article, we review the biological function of IRAK-4, the structural characteristics of the kinase domain, and the development of small molecule inhibitors targeting the kinase activity. We also review the key pharmacophores required for several classes of inhibitors as well as important features for optimal protein/inhibitor interactions. Lastly, we summarize how these insights can be translated into strategies to develop potent IRAK-4 inhibitors with desired properties as new anti-inflammatory therapeutic agents.
Temporal symmetry constraints in block matching

Video processing applications such as picture rate conversion depend on accurate and consistent motion estimation. Most motion estimation and optical flow algorithms use some form of spatial regularization to improve consistency, but few perform a temporal regularization based on the symmetry between successive vector fields. Methods that do improve temporal symmetry are often computationally complex. This paper describes a simple implementation of symmetry constraints in a real-time block matching motion estimation algorithm and shows the effect on related occlusion detection methods that are based on forward-backward consistency checks.
Growth hormone (GH) stimulates insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-I-binding protein-3, but not GH receptor gene expression in livers of juvenile rats.

In the adult rat, expression of the liver GH receptor, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), and IGF-I-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) genes has been shown to be under GH control. Additionally, hypophysectomy and GH treatment have a differential effect on the relative abundance of liver IGF-I mRNA variants in adult rats. To further elucidate the time of appearance and the extent of GH control of liver GH receptor, IGF-I, and IGFBP-3 gene expression, we studied the effect of hypophysectomy and GH and IGF-I treatment in juvenile rats. Male Wistar rats were hypophysectomized (Hx) on postnatal day 26 and received twice daily sc injections of saline, recombinant human GH (2.5 U/kg.day), or recombinant human IGF-I (500 micrograms/kg.day) for 7 days. Sham-operated rats received the same treatment. Hx animals also received T4 (20 micrograms/kg.day). In Hx animals, there was a significant reduction in body weight (69.8 +/- 6.6 vs. 100.4 +/- 5.4 g; P < 0.001). GH, but not IGF-I, treatment increased body weight (79.6 +/- 9.6 g after GH vs. 69.8 +/- 6.6 g before GH; P < 0.05). GH treatment partially maintained liver, kidney, and lung weights in Hx animals and increased them in intact animals, whereas IGF-I treatment did so only in the lungs of intact and Hx animals. Serum GH and IGF-I levels were markedly reduced in Hx animals compared with those in intact controls, and GH treatment maintained, albeit partially, circulating IGF-I levels compared with those in saline-treated Hx animals. IGF-I mRNA levels were markedly reduced in Hx liver (25.0 +/- 5.4%; P < 0.001 compared with intact controls). GH treatment for 7 days increased IGF-I mRNA levels by 4.8-fold over the levels in 9-day Hx animals and increased IGF-I mRNA levels by 2.2-fold in control rats. Hypophysectomy decreased exon 2-containing transcripts by 7.0-fold and exon 1-containing transcripts by 4.1-fold. GH treatment, however, affected both exon 1- and exon 2-containing transcripts similarly. Hepatic IGFBP-3 mRNA levels were reduced in Hx (53.2 +/- 1.8%; P < 0.01 compared with intact controls) and IGF-treated Hx animals, but were not decreased in Hx GH-treated animals (100.6 +/- 9.5). No changes in GH receptor or GH-binding protein mRNA levels were caused by Hx, GH, or IGF-I treatment. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
International Journal of Information Management the Impact of Consumer Trust on Attitudinal Loyalty and Purchase Intentions in B2c E-marketplaces: Intermediary Trust vs. Seller Trust

Keywords: B2C e-marketplace Consumer trust Intermediary Purchase intentions Attitudinal loyalty a b s t r a c t The online merchant of an e-marketplace consists of an intermediary, providing the market infrastructure, and the community of sellers conducting business within that infrastructure. Typically, consumers willingly buy from unknown sellers within an e-marketplace, despite the apparent risk, since they trust the institutional mechanisms furnished by the relatively well-known intermediary. Consumers' trust in one component of the e-marketplace merchant may not only affect their trust in the other, but also influence the way consumers make online purchases. This paper explores the impact of trust on consumer behavior in e-marketplaces. An empirical study has been conducted to accomplish our research objectives, using a questionnaire survey of 222 active e-marketplace shoppers in Korea. The results reveal that consumer trust in an intermediary has a strong influence upon both attitudinal loyalty and purchase intentions, although consumer trust in the community of sellers has no significant effect on the two constructs representing consumer behavior. In addition, it was found that trust is transferred from an intermediary to the community of sellers, implying that the trustworthiness of the intermediary plays a critical role in determining the extent to which consumers trust and accept the sellers in the e-marketplace. This paper offers some implications from the findings of the research.
Reduced-latency scheduling scheme for min-max non-binary LDPC decoding

Compared to binary low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, non-binary (NB) LDPC codes can achieve higher coding gain when the code length is moderate. On the other hand, the decoding of NB-LDPC codes is more complicated since a vector of messages instead of a single message is passed along each edge of the associated Tanner graph. Layered decoding can be employed to simplify LDPC decoding. However, there is extra latency between the decoding of layers caused by check node processing, message permutation and updating when applied to NB-LDPC codes. In this paper, a novel scheduling scheme is developed to eliminate the extra latency for the Min-max decoding of quasi-cyclic (QC) NB-LDPC codes using trellis-based check node processing. Assume that each row of sub-matrices in the parity check matrix of a QCNB-LDPC code is divided into two layers, the proposed scheme can reduce the decoding latency by a factor of around (2dc + 5)/2dc, where dc is the check node degree. It leads to significant speedup when dc is not large. Moreover, the area overhead of the proposed scheme is less than 10%.
Pronounced Segregation of Donor Mitochondria Introduced by Bovine Ooplasmic Transfer to the Female Germ-Line1

Abstract Ooplasmic transfer (OT) has been used in basic mouse research for studying the segregation of mtDNA, as well as in human assisted reproduction for improving embryo development in cases of persistent developmental failure. Using cattle as a large-animal model, we demonstrate that the moderate amount of mitochondria introduced by OT is transmitted to the offspring's oocytes; e.g., modifies the germ line. The donor mtDNA was detectable in 25% and 65% of oocytes collected from two females. Its high variation in heteroplasmic oocytes, ranging from 1.1% to 33.5% and from 0.4% to 15.5%, can be explained by random genetic drift in the female germ line. Centrifugation-mediated enrichment of mitochondria in the pole zone of the recipient zygote's ooplasm and its substitution by donor ooplasm led to elevated proportions of donor mtDNA in reconstructed zygotes compared with zygotes produced by standard OT (23.6% ± 9.6% versus 12.1% ± 4.5%; P < 0.0001). We also characterized the proliferation of mitochondria from the OT parents—the recipient zygote (Bos primigenius taurus type) and the donor ooplasm (B. primigenius indicus type). Regression analysis performed for 57 tissue samples collected from the seven OT fetuses at different points during fetal development found a decreasing proportion of donor mtDNA (r2 = 0.78). This indicates a preferred proliferation of recipient taurine mitochondria in the context of the nuclear genotype of the OT recipient expressing a B. primigenius indicus phenotype.
An open clinical trial of naltrexone for amphetamine dependence: Compliance and tolerability

The aim of the study was to assess the feasibility of naltrexone as a potential pharmacotherapy for amphetamine dependence. The study design was an open-label clinical trial with 20 amphetamine-dependent patients receiving 12 weeks of treatment comprised of naltrexone (50 mg) along with relapse prevention therapy. Patients were assessed weekly for adverse events and compliance to medication. Tolerability to naltrexone was measured by patient's self-report and observed adverse effects along with plasma markers of hepatotoxicity. Compliance to treatment was measured by number of treatment days attended and by the presence of naltrexone's metabolite, 6-β-naltrexol in urine. Majority of the patients tolerated the medication well, also during relapse. Mild headache, nausea and abdominal pain were reported (n=3) but subsided within 2 weeks. Plasma levels of hepatic markers did not reveal any significant increase from baseline. Eleven out of 20 patients complied with the treatment and there was a significantly higher proportion of positive tests of 6-β-naltrexol in urine among patients completing 12 weeks of treatment compared to those who did not (77% vs. 22%). The frequency and amount of amphetamine consumed was significantly lower during treatment compared with pre-treatment consumption (P<0.01). In conclusion, naltrexone was well tolerated with moderate rates of compliance, supporting the feasibility of investigating this compound in a larger placebo-controlled trial as a potential pharmacotherapy for amphetamine dependence.
Color Image Segmentation Using Soft Computing

segmentation is an important process and are used in in many image processing applications. Color images can increase the quality of segmentation but also increases the complexity of the problem. To reduce this complexity soft computing tools played promising role. This paper discussed the segmenting any given color image using soft computing approaches i.e. fuzzy logic, neural network and genetic algorithms.
Models-3 community multiscale air quality (cmaq) model aerosol component

[1] An initial evaluation of the Models-3 Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model aerosol component reveals CMAQ's varying ability to simulate observed visibility indices and aerosol species concentrations. The visibility evaluation, using National Weather Service observations from 139 airports for 11–15 July 1995, shows that CMAQ reasonably captured the general spatial and temporal patterns of visibility degradation, including major gradients, maxima and minima. However, CMAQ's two visibility prediction methods, Mie theory approximation and mass reconstruction, both underpredict visibility degradation (i.e., overpredict visibility). The mean bias, normalized mean bias (NMB), mean error and normalized mean error (NME) for the Mie calculations are −5.9 dv, −21.7%, 7.0 dv and 25.4%, respectively. For the reconstruction simulations, these statistics are −9.8 dv, −35.5%, 10.0 dv and 36.2%, respectively. Most simulated values (∼90% Mie and ∼85% reconstruction) fall within a factor of two of the observations, although r2 = 0.25 (Mie) and r2 = 0.24 (reconstruction). The speciated aerosol evaluation uses observations of sulfate, nitrate, PM2.5, PM10 and organic carbon obtained from 18 stations of the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network in June 1995. This evaluation reveals that, with the exception of sulfate (mean bias: 0.15 μg/m3, NMB: 3.1%), the model consistently underpredicts aerosol concentrations of nitrate (−0.10 μg/m3, −33.1%), PM2.5 (−3.9 μg/m3, −30.1%), PM10 (−5.66 μg/m3, −29.2%) and organic carbon (−0.78 μg/m3, −33.7%). Sulfate was simulated best by the model (r2 = 0.63, mean error = 1.75 μg/m3, NME = 36.2%), followed by PM2.5 (0.55, 5.00 μg/m3, 38.5%), organic carbon (0.25, 0.94 μg/m3, 40.6%), PM10 (0.13, 9.85 μg/m3, 50.8%) and nitrate (0.01, 0.33 μg/m3, 104.3%). Except for nitrate, 75–80% of simulated concentrations fall within a factor of two of the IMPROVE observations.
Resource-aware High Quality Clustering in Ubiquitous Data Streams

Data stream mining has attracted much research attention from the data mining community. With the advance of wireless networks and mobile devices, the concept of ubiquitous data mining has been proposed. However, mobile devices are resource-constrained, which makes data stream mining a greater challenge. In this paper, we propose the RA-HCluster algorithm that can be used in mobile devices for clustering stream data. It adapts algorithm settings and compresses stream data based on currently available resources, so that mobile devices can continue with clustering at acceptable accuracy even under low memory resources. Experimental results show that not only is RA-HCluster more accurate than RA-VFKM, it is able to maintain a low and stable memory usage.
Development of Heterogeneous Olympic Medal Metal Nanoparticle Catalysts for Environmentally Benign Molecular Transformations Based on the Surface Properties of Hydrotalcite

In this review, we describe the development by our research group of highly functionalized heterogeneous Olympic medal metal (gold, silver, and copper) nanoparticle catalysts using hydrotalcite as a support, aimed towards Green and Sustainable Chemistry. Olympic medal metal nanoparticles can cooperate with the basic sites on the hydrotalcite surface, providing unique and high performance catalysis in environmentally-benign organic transformations such as aerobic oxidation of alcohols, lactonization of diols and selective deoxygenation of epoxides and nitro aromatic compounds.