Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of obesity on heart rate variability in healthy subjects

Aim: The present study was designed to show the effect of obesity on Heart Rate Variability (HRV) in healthy people. Methods: The study included 30 healthy adults, which were divided in 2 groups depending on the Body Mass Index (BMI) given by the World Health Organization (WHO) classification: control group with BMI [18.5-24.9 kg/m2] and obese group with BMI [30-34.9 kg/m2]. For HRV analysis are used linear (time-domain, frequency-domain) and non-linear (Poincare plot, Rescaled Adjusted Range Statistics plot-R/S and Detrended Fluctuation Analysis-DFA) methods. Results: The statistical time-domain indices of HRV such as SDNN (p<0.0001), RMSSD (p<0.0001) and pNN50% (p<0.0001) in obese group were significantly decreased when compared to control group. The time-domain geometrical HRV parameters, such as HRVi (p=0.001) and TINN (p=0.007) also were decreased in obese group. The frequency-domain analysis of HRV, indicating significant decrease of low frequencies (LF, p=0.002) and high frequencies (HF, p<0.0001) in obese patients compared with controls. The ratio LF/HF (p<0.0001) was significantly higher in obese group. The analysis of the fractal properties of the heart rate, using the DFA method, showed that the alpha1 values (p<0.05) were significantly higher in obese people, but no statistically significant difference between obesity group and controls regarding the alpha2 values (p=0.2). In the R/S analysis, a significant increase in the Hurst exponent was observed in obesity subjects compared with control group (p<0.0001). The SD1 index (p<0.05), obtained from the Poincare plot was significantly lower in obesity subjects compared with control group, while the SD2 index (p=0.9) presented no statistically significant difference between groups. Conclusions: The obtained results show that reducing of HRV in the obese people, characterized by decreased parasympathetic (vagal) tone and increased sympathetic activity can lead to cardiovascular disease even to death.
Histone H4 Methyltransferase Suv420h2 Maintains Fidelity of Osteoblast Differentiation

Osteogenic lineage commitment and progression is controlled by multiple signaling pathways (e.g., WNT, BMP, FGF) that converge on bone‐related transcription factors. Access of osteogenic transcription factors to chromatin is controlled by epigenetic regulators that generate post‐translational modifications of histones (“histone code”), as well as read, edit and/or erase these modifications. Our understanding of the biological role of epigenetic regulators in osteoblast differentiation remains limited. Therefore, we performed next‐generation RNA sequencing (RNA‐seq) and established which chromatin‐related proteins are robustly expressed in mouse bone tissues (e.g., fracture callus, calvarial bone). These studies also revealed that cells with increased osteogenic potential have higher levels of the H4K20 methyl transferase Suv420h2 compared to other methyl transferases (e.g., Suv39h1, Suv39h2, Suv420h1, Ezh1, Ezh2). We find that all six epigenetic regulators are transiently expressed at different stages of osteoblast differentiation in culture, with maximal mRNAs levels of Suv39h1 and Suv39h2 (at day 3) preceding maximal expression of Suv420h1 and Suv420h2 (at day 7) and developmental stages that reflect, respectively, early and later collagen matrix deposition. Loss of function analysis of Suv420h2 by siRNA depletion shows loss of H4K20 methylation and decreased expression of bone biomarkers (e.g., alkaline phosphatase/Alpl) and osteogenic transcription factors (e.g., Sp7/Osterix). Furthermore, Suv420h2 is required for matrix mineralization during osteoblast differentiation. We conclude that Suv420h2 controls the H4K20 methylome of osteoblasts and is critical for normal progression of osteoblastogenesis. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 1262–1272, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Benchmark for road marking detection: Dataset specification and performance baseline

Detection of drivable road area and other critical objects like obstacles and landmarks in traffic scenes is fundamental to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and self-driving car. Although scene parsing is able to make segmentation of road area from other objects and background, it basically does not get involved in recognizing other on-road markings. In fact, detection and classification of road area are only one small step towards true autonomous driving, because there are many categories of informative markings embodied within road area, such as lane markings, arrows, guiding lines, pedestrian crosswalks, and no-vehicle signs. If system identifies those markings, more information for both ADAS and self-driving car system can be provided. For this purpose, we release a benchmark dataset named TRoM (Tsinghua Road Marking), which is served for detection of 19 road-marking categories in urban scenarios. TRoM was built by means of over one-month data covering a full spectrum of time, weather, and traffic-load. An annotation toolkit was also presented to facilitate enriching such dataset. By directly applying our state-of-the-art method called RPP (ResNet with Pyramid Pooling), a reasonably accurate baseline on TRoM benchmark is made public for further performance comparison and evaluation.
Heterologous phosphorylation–induced formation of a stability lock permits regulation of inactive receptors by β-arrestins

β-Arrestins are key regulators and signal transducers of G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs). The interaction between receptors and β-arrestins is generally believed to require both receptor activity and phosphorylation by GPCR kinases. In this study, we investigated whether β-arrestins are able to bind second messenger kinase–phosphorylated, but inactive receptors as well. Because heterologous phosphorylation is a common phenomenon among GPCRs, this mode of β-arrestin activation may represent a novel mechanism of signal transduction and receptor cross-talk. Here we demonstrate that activation of protein kinase C (PKC) by phorbol myristate acetate, Gq/11-coupled GPCR, or epidermal growth factor receptor stimulation promotes β-arrestin2 recruitment to unliganded AT1 angiotensin receptor (AT1R). We found that this interaction depends on the stability lock, a structure responsible for the sustained binding between GPCRs and β-arrestins, formed by phosphorylated serine–threonine clusters in the receptor's C terminus and two conserved phosphate-binding lysines in the β-arrestin2 N-domain. Using improved FlAsH-based serine-threonine clusters β-arrestin2 conformational biosensors, we also show that the stability lock not only stabilizes the receptor–β-arrestin interaction, but also governs the structural rearrangements within β-arrestins. Furthermore, we found that β-arrestin2 binds to PKC-phosphorylated AT1R in a distinct active conformation, which triggers MAPK recruitment and receptor internalization. Our results provide new insights into the activation of β-arrestins and reveal their novel role in receptor cross-talk.
The Interference-Multiple-Access Channel

We introduce the interference-multiple-access channel, which is a discrete memoryless channel with two transmitters and two receivers, similar to the interference channel. One receiver is required to decode the information encoded at one transmitter, the other receiver is required to decode the messages from both transmitters. We provide an inner bound on the capacity region of this channel, as well as an outer bound for a special class of such channels. For this class, we also quantify the gap between inner and outer bound and show that the bounds match for a semi-deterministic channel, providing a complete characterization. For the Gaussian case, we show that the gap is at most 1 bit, yielding an approximate characterization.
STT-RAM Aware Last-Level-Cache Policies for Simultaneous Energy and Performance Improvement

High capacity Last Level Cache (LLC) architectures have been proposed to mitigate the widening processor-memory speed gap. These LLC architectures have been realized using DRAM or SpinTransfer-Torque Random Access Memory (STT-RAM) memory technologies. It has been shown that STT-RAM LLC provides improved energy efficiency compared to DRAM LLC. However, existing STT-RAM LLC suffers from increased energy consumption by fetching unncesseary cache lines into the row buffer. To address this problem, we propose a Selective Read Policy for STT-RAM LLC. This policy is based on the idea of fetching those cache lines into the row buffer that are likely to be reused. This policy restricts the number of unneeded cache line reads and thereby reduces the energy consumption. While the Selective Read Policy provides energy reduction, it introduces a latency penalty. To address this problem, we propose three performance optimizations namely Row Buffer Tags Bypass Policy, LLC Data Cache, and a Tag Organization. These optimizations reduce the impact of the latency penalty of Selective Read Policy while considering STT-RAM and application characteristics. For an 8-core system, we show that our synergetic policies reduce the average LLC dynamic energy consumption by 72.6% and improve the system performance by 1.3% compared to the recently proposed STT-RAM LLC. Compared to the state-of-the-art DRAM LLC, our architecture reduces the LLC dynamic energy consumption by 90.6% and improves the system performance by 1.4%.
Detection of gastric atrophy by circulating pepsinogens: A comparison of three assays

Circulating levels of pepsinogens have been used in high gastric cancer‐risk Asian and European populations to triage endoscopic evaluation for more severe pathology. There are different analytic methods with uncertain correlations. We therefore compared diagnostic performance of three commonly used pepsinogen assays to detect histologically confirmed gastric atrophy.
Pathways to Infidelity: The Roles of Self-Serving Bias and Betrayal Trauma

ABSTRACT This study employed a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to examine the interrelationships between the self-serving bias and various known predictors of sexual infidelity. Specifically, we sought to generate a path model depicting how the following variables jointly predict sexual infidelity perpetration: (1) insecure attachment, (2) pathological narcissism, (3) sexual narcissism, (4) primary psychopathy, (5) self-serving attributions for retaliatory infidelity, and (6) sexual betrayal victimization. We developed a structural model describing various pathways to sexual infidelity perpetration based on these six variables. Three pathways to infidelity were discovered. In the first pathway, anxious and avoidant attachment predicted primary psychopathy, and self-justification for retaliatory infidelity mediated the relationship between primary psychopathy and infidelity perpetration. In the second pathway, anxious attachment predicted sexual narcissism, which predicted self-justification for retaliatory infidelity, which in turn predicted infidelity perpetration. In the third pathway, being a victim of sexual betrayal directly predicted sexual infidelity perpetration. In fact, suffering sexual betrayal was the best predictor of sexual infidelity perpetration. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
CT volumetry for gastric adenocarcinoma: association with lymphovascular invasion and T-stages

Purpose To determine whether gross tumor volume of resectable gastric adenocarcinoma on multidetector computed tomography could predict presence of lymphovascular invasion and T-stages. Results Gross tumor volume increased with the lymphovascular invasion (r = 0.426, P < 0.0001) and T stage (r = 0.656, P < 0.0001). Univariate analysis showed gross tumor volume could predict lymphovascular invasion (P < 0.0001). Multivariate analyses indicated gross tumor volume as an independent risk factor of lymphovascular invasion (P = 0.026, odds ratio = 2.284). The Mann-Whitney U test showed gross tumor volume could distinguish T2 from T3, T1 from T2–T4a, T1–T2 from T3–T4a and T1–T3 from T4a (P = 0.000). In the development cohort, gross tumor volume could predict lymphovascular invasion (cutoff, 15.92 cm3; AUC, 0.760), and distinguish T2 from T3 (cutoff, 10.09 cm3; AUC, 0.828), T1 from T2-T4a (cutoff, 8.20 cm3; AUC, 0.860), T1-T2 from T3-T4a (cutoff, 15.88 cm3; AUC, 0.883), and T1-T3 from T4a (cutoff, 21.53 cm3; AUC, 0.834). In validation cohort, gross tumor volume could predict presence of lymphovascular invasion (AUC, 0.742), and distinguish T2 from T3 (AUC, 0.861), T1 from T2-T4a (AUC, 0.859), T1–T2 from T3–T4a (AUC, 0.875), and T1–T3 from T4a (AUC, 0.773). Materials and Methods 360 consecutive patients with gastric adenocarcinoma were retrospectively identified. Gross tumor volume was evaluated on multidetector computed tomography images. Statistical analysis was performed to determine whether gross tumor volume could predict presence of lymphovascular invasion and T-stages. Cutoffs of gross tumor volume were first investigated in 212 patients and then validated in an independent 148 patients using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for predicting lymphovascular invasion and T-stages. Conclusions Gross tumor volume of resectable gastric adenocarcinoma at multidetector computed tomography demonstrated capability in predicting lymphovascular invasion and distinguishing T-stages.
Fetuin‐A aggravates lipotoxicity in podocytes via interleukin‐1 signaling

Sterile inflammation is considered critical in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Here we show that Fetuin‐A (FetA) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exacerbate palmitic acid‐induced podocyte death, which is associated with a strong induction of monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 (MCP‐1) and keratinocyte chemoattractant (KC). Moreover, blockage of TLR4 prevents MCP‐1 and KC secretion and attenuates podocyte death induced by palmitic acid alone or combined with FetA. In addition, inhibition of interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) signaling by anakinra, a recombinant human IL‐1Ra, or a murinized anti‐IL‐1β antibody attenuates the inflammatory and ultimate cell death response elicited by FetA alone or combined with palmitic acid. In vivo short‐term therapy of diabetic DBA/2J mice with an anti‐IL1‐β antibody for 4 weeks prevented an increase in serum FetA and considerably decreased urinary tumor necrosis alpha (TNF‐α), a known risk factor for DN progression. In summary, our results suggest that FetA similarly to LPS leads to an inflammatory response in podocytes, which exacerbates palmitic acid‐induced podocyte death and our data imply a critical role for IL‐1β signaling in this process. The study offers the rational for prolonged in vivo studies aimed at testing anti‐IL‐1β therapy for prevention and treatment of DN.
Structural and Functional Lung Impairment in Adult Survivors of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia.

RATIONALE As more preterm infants recover from severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), it is critical to understand the clinical consequences of this condition on the lung health of adult survivors. OBJECTIVES To assess structural and functional lung parameters in young adult BPD survivors and preterm and term control subjects. METHODS Young adult survivors of BPD (mean age, 24 yr) underwent spirometry, lung volume assessment, transfer factor, lung clearance index, and fractional exhaled nitric oxide measurements, together with high-resolution chest computed tomography and cardiopulmonary exercise testing. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Twenty-five adult BPD survivors (mean ± SD gestational age, 26.8 ± 2.3 wk; birth weight, 866 ± 255 g), 24 adult prematurely born non-BPD control subjects (gestational age, 30.6 ± 1.9 wk; birth weight, 1,234 ± 207 g), and 25 adult term-birth control subjects (gestational age, 38.5 ± 0.9 wk; birth weight, 3,569 ± 2,979 g) were studied. Subjects with BPD were more likely to be wakened by cough (odds ratio, 9.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.8-52.6; P < 0.01) or wheeze and breathlessness (odds ratio, 12.2; 95% confidence interval; 1.3-112; P < 0.05) than term control subjects after adjusting for sex and current smoking. Preterm subjects had greater airway obstruction than term subjects. Subjects with BPD had significantly lower values for FEV1 and forced expiratory flow, midexpiratory phase (percent predicted and z-scores), than term control subjects (both P < 0.001). Although non-BPD subjects also had lower spirometric values than term control subjects, none of the differences reached statistical significance. More subjects with BPD (25%) had fixed airflow obstruction than non-BPD (12.5%) and term (0%) subjects (P = 0.004). Both BPD and non-BPD subjects had significantly greater impairment in gas transfer (Kco percent predicted) than term subjects (both P < 0.05). Eighteen (37%) preterm participants were classified as small for gestational age (birth weight below the 10th percentile for gestational age). These subjects had significantly greater impairment in FEV1 (percent predicted values and z-scores) than those born appropriate for gestational age. BPD survivors had significantly more severe radiographic structural lung impairment than non-BPD subjects. Both preterm groups had impaired exercise capacity compared with term control subjects. There was a trend for greater limitation and leg discomfort in BPD survivors. CONCLUSIONS Adult preterm birth survivors, especially those who developed BPD, continue to experience respiratory symptoms and exhibit clinically important levels of pulmonary impairment.
Models and Algorithms for the Next Generation of Glass Transition Studies

Successful computer studies of glass-forming materials need to overcome both the natural tendency to structural ordering and the dramatic increase of relaxation times at low temperatures. We present a comprehensive analysis of eleven glass-forming models to demonstrate that both challenges can be efficiently tackled using carefully designed models of size polydisperse supercooled liquids together with an efficient Monte Carlo algorithm where translational particle displacements are complemented by swaps of particle pairs. We study a broad range of size polydispersities, using both discrete and continuous mixtures, and we systematically investigate the role of particle softness, attractivity and non-additivity of the interactions. Each system is characterized by its robustness against structural ordering and by the efficiency of the swap Monte Carlo algorithm. We show that the combined optimisation of the potential's softness, polydispersity and non-additivity leads to novel computer models with excellent glass-forming ability. For such models, we achieve over ten orders of magnitude gain in the equilibration timescale using the swap Monte Carlo algorithm, thus paving the way to computational studies of static and thermodynamic properties under experimental conditions. In addition, we provide microscopic insights into the performance of the swap algorithm which should help optimizing models and algorithms even further.
Prevalence of diastasis recti abdominis in the population of young multiparous adults in Turkey.

OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence and factors associated with diastasis recti abdominis (DRA) MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between January 2011 and May 2011, we examined 95 patients, aged between 19-24, for the presence of DRA during an ultrasonographic exploration in Mus Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Mus, Turkey DRA was graded by the number of fingerbreadths between the medial edges of the bellies of the rectus abdominis muscle, 3-4 cm above the umbilicus. The exclusion criteria included urogynecologic problems since childhood, excessive protrusion of the vagina due to loss of support, pregnancy obesity less than 6 months postpartum. The relationship between DRA and parity previous abdominal surgery pelvic relaxation as well as type of parity was assessed. RESULTS Positive correlation was found between parity and DRA (r = 0.77; p < 0.001). Although there was no significant difference between DRA and the type of delivery among primiparous patients (p = 0.556), DRA increased significantly in the second cesarean section patients (p = 0.004). In this trial, cystocele and rectocele were established in 57% and 43% of patients with DRA, while descensus uteri was present in 10 (52%) patients. CONCLUSIONS Increased parity and recurrent abdominal surgery seem to increase the risk of DRA. However; the importance of DRA in the young women remains unknown.
A Multilevel Analysis of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Effect on Preterm Births in Georgia, USA

This study estimates the neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) effect on the risk of preterm birth (PTB) using multilevel regression (MLR) models. Birth data retrieved from year 2000 and 2010 Georgia Vital Records were linked to their respective census tracts. Principle component analysis (PCA) was performed on nine selected census variables and the first two principal components (Fac1 and Fac2) were used to represent the neighborhood-level SES in the MLR models. Two-level random intercept MLR models were specified using 122,744 and 112,578 live and singleton births at the individual level and 1613 and 1952 census tracts at the neighborhood level, for 2000 and 2010, respectively. After adjustment for individual level factors, Fac1, which represents disadvantaged SES, respectively generated an Odds Ratio of 1.056 (95% CI: 1.031–1.081) and 1.080 (95% CI: 1.056–1.105) for these two years, showing a modest but statistically significant effect on PTB. After adjusting for individual level factors and the census tract level factors, Intra-class correlation (ICC) was 1.2% and 1.4%, for year 2000 and 2010, respectively. The two IOR-80% intervals, 0.73–1.52 (year 2000) and 0.73–1.59 (year 2010) suggest large unexplained between census tract variation. The Median Odds Ratio (MOR) value of 1.21(year 2000) and 1.23 (year 2010) revealed that the un-modeled neighborhood effect was smaller than two individual-level predictor variables, race, and tobacco use but larger than the fixed effect of census tract-level predicting variable, Fac1 and all the other individual level factors. Overall, better census tract level SES was found to have a modest protective effect for PTB risk and the effects of the two examined years were similar. Large unexplained between census tract heterogeneity warrants more sophisticated MLR models to further investigate the PTB risk factors and their interactions at both individual and neighborhood levels.
Assessing the Influence of Temporal Autocorrelations on the Population Dynamics of a Disturbance Specialist Plant Population in a Random Environment

Biological populations are strongly influenced by random variations in their environment, which are often autocorrelated in time. For disturbance specialist plant populations, the frequency and intensity of environmental stochasticity (via disturbances) can drive the qualitative nature of their population dynamics. In this article, we extended our earlier model to explore the effect of temporally autocorrelated disturbances on population persistence. In our earlier work, we only assumed disturbances were independent and identically distributed in time. We proved that the plant seed bank population converges in distribution, and we showed that the mean and variance in seed bank population size were both increasing functions of the autocorrelation coefficient for all parameter values considered, but the interplay between increasing population size and increasing variability caused interesting relationships between quasi-extinction probability and autocorrelation. For example, for populations with low seed survival, fecundity, and disturbance frequency, increasingly positive autocorrelated disturbances decreased quasi-extinction probability. Higher disturbance frequency coupled with low seed survival and fecundity caused a nonmontone relationship between autocorrelation and quasi-extinction, where increasingly positive autocorrelations eventually caused an increase in quasi-extinction probability. For higher seed survival, fecundity, and/or disturbance frequency, quasi-extinction probability was generally a monotonically increasing function of the autocorrelation coefficient.