Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The salutogenic approach to the making of HiAP/healthy public policy: illustrated by a case study

Twenty years have passed since the central document of health promotion, the Ottawa Charter, was constituted. Health was seen as the process enabling individuals and communities to increase control over their determinants of health, thereby improving their health and enabling an active and productive life, that is, a good quality of life. One main strategy was the making of a healthy public policy. At the same time Aaron Antonovsky developed the salutogenic theory and its core concepts the sense of coherence and the generalized resistance resources. This paper integrates Antonovsky's salutogenic theory and a salutogenic model of quality of life into the core principles of the Ottawa Charter and exemplifies how to make healthy public policy the salutogenic way. A process-oriented coherent health promotion research model integrating an ecological, a salutogenic and a resilient approach is shown. The objective of this theoretical model is to bring together the whole spectrum of risk factors, protective factors and promotion factors in one model. Further, individual, group and society level are considered. The model suggested aims to contribute to the creation of sense of coherence. This is exemplified in practice in a case study of a Nation, that is, on a national level. The case study of the “Nation” is partly masked. The principles behind these processes are explained in detail while the case study of the “Nation” only includes parts of the process explaining some core issues. The overall aim of this paper is to stimulate health promotion activities along the lines presented and invite the readers to comment and continue the discussion. (Global Health Promotion, 2009; 16 (1): pp. 17—28)
Long noncoding RNA in genome regulation

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are pervasively transcribed and critical regulators of the epigenome[1, 2]. These long, polyadenylated RNAs do not code for proteins, but function directly as RNAs, recruiting chromatin modifiers to mediate transcriptional changes in processes ranging from X-inactivation (XIST) to imprinting (H19)[3]. The recent discovery that lncRNA HOTAIR can link chromatin changes to cancer metastasis[4] furthers the relevance of lncRNAs to human disease. Here, we discuss lncRNAs as regulatory modules and explore the implications for disease pathogenesis. Although large-scale analyses of mammalian transcriptomes have revealed that more than 50% of transcripts have no protein coding potential[2, 5, 6], the functions of these putative transcripts are largely unknown. A subset of these noncoding transcripts are termed long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), based on an arbitrary minimum length of 200 nucleotides. LncRNAs are roughly classified based on their position relative to protein-coding genes: intergenic (between genes), intragenic/intronic (within genes), and antisense[2]. Initial efforts to characterize these molecules demonstrated that they function in cis, regulating their immediate genomic neighbors. Examples include AIR, XIST, and Kcnq1ot (reviewed in [1, 7, 8]), which recruit chromatin modifying complexes to silence adjacent sites. The scope of lncRNAs in gene regulation was advanced with the finding that lncRNA HOTAIR exhibited trans regulatory capacities. HOTAIR is transcribed at the intersection of opposing chromatin domains in the HOXC locus, but targets Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) to silence 40 kilobases of HOXD[9], a locus involved in developmental patterning. A subsequent study revealed that HOTAIR is overexpressed in approximately one quarter of human breast cancers, directing PRC2 to approximately 800 ectopic sites in the genome, which leads to histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation and changes in gene expression[4]. The impacts of lncRNA-mediated chromatin changes are noteworthy: not only did HOTAIR drive metastasis in a mouse model, but HOTAIR expression in human breast cancer was found to be an independent prognostic marker for death and metastasis[4]. The fact that HOTAIR drives chromatin reprogramming genome-wide suggests that long-range regulation by lncRNAs may be a widespread mechanism. This is supported by a study showing that >20% of tested lncRNAs are bound by PRC2 and other chromatin modifiers[10]. Furthermore, this is an underestimate of the total RNAs involved in chromatin modification, as PRC2 target genes also transcribe smaller 50-200 nt RNAs that interact with SUZ12 to mediate gene repression[11]. These findings provoke questions regarding the initial triggers for HOTAIR overexpression and whether understanding of lncRNA mechanics may have clinical relevance.
Fibronectin has a dual role in locomotion and anchorage of primary chick fibroblasts and can promote entry into the division cycle

Fibronectin (FN), which is already known to be a natural factor for fibroblast spreading on substrata, has now been shown to be essential for two distinct types of adhesion with different biological functions in chick heart fibroblasts, namely adhesion directed toward locomotion and toward stationary anchorage for growth. Manipulation of culture conditions and the use of antisera of differing specificities has demonstrated that both exogenous and cell-derived FN are important in each process. The organization of the fibronectin-containing matrix differs between the two states. Immunoelectron microscopy with a colloidal gold marker reveals the presence of small membrane-associated plaques of fibronectin in motile cells with associated submembranous specialization. A fibrillar matrix containing fibronectin is dominant in nonmotile, growing fibroblasts. The development of focal adhesions for stationary anchorage can be dramatically enhanced by addition of cell-derived FN at an appropriate stage, and this promotes entry into the growth cycle. New macromolecular synthesis in addition to FN is necessary for focal adhesion development but not for locomotion.
Using Haptic Feedback to Improve Grasp Force Control in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

We describe a simple and low-cost system that can help multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with asymmetric impairment to exert better grasp force control in manipulation tasks. The approach consists of measuring force vectors at the fingertips of the impaired hand, computing the force imbalance among the fingers, and providing corresponding haptic signals to the fingers of the opposite hand. Tests conducted on 24 MS patients indicated that for those with mild impairment, slightly better results were obtained with an ldquoevent-cuerdquo feedback (ECF) that alerted them when the grasp forces were straying outside of a desirable range. For patients with more severe impairment, better results were obtained by providing a proportional signal, in which the frequency and duty cycle of vibration pulses were correlated directly with the magnitudes of the fingertip forces. Post-test surveys of the patients also indicated that mildly impaired subjects preferred an event-cue feedback, and more severely impaired subjects preferred the proportional feedback.
Integrated information and dimensionality in continuous attractor dynamics

Abstract There has been increasing interest in the integrated information theory (IIT) of consciousness, which hypothesizes that consciousness is integrated information within neuronal dynamics. However, the current formulation of IIT poses both practical and theoretical problems when empirically testing the theory by computing integrated information from neuronal signals. For example, measuring integrated information requires observing all the elements in a considered system at the same time, but this is practically very difficult. Here, we propose that some aspects of these problems are resolved by considering the topological dimensionality of shared attractor dynamics as an indicator of integrated information in continuous attractor dynamics. In this formulation, the effects of unobserved nodes on the attractor dynamics can be reconstructed using a technique called delay embedding, which allows us to identify the dimensionality of an embedded attractor from partial observations. We propose that the topological dimensionality represents a critical property of integrated information, as it is invariant to general coordinate transformations. We illustrate this new framework with simple examples and discuss how it fits with recent findings based on neural recordings from awake and anesthetized animals. This topological approach extends the existing notions of IIT to continuous dynamical systems and offers a much-needed framework for testing the theory with experimental data by substantially relaxing the conditions required for evaluating integrated information in real neural systems.
GRP94/gp96 Elicits ERK Activation in Murine Macrophages

Vaccination of mice with GRP94/gp96, the endoplasmic reticulum Hsp90, elicits a variety of immune responses sufficient for tumor rejection and the suppression of metastatic tumor progression. Macrophages are a prominent GRP94/gp96 target, with GRP94/gp96 reported to activate macrophage NF-κB signaling and nitric oxide production, as well as the MAP kinase p38, JNK, and ERK signaling cascades. However, recent studies report that heat shock protein elicited macrophage activation is due, in large part, to contaminating endotoxin. To examine the generality of this finding, we have investigated the role of endotoxin in GRP94/gp96-elicited macrophage activation. We report that GRP94/gp96 binds endotoxin in a high-affinity, saturable, and specific manner. Low endotoxin calreticulin and GRP94/gp96 were purified, the latter using a novel method of depyrogenation; this resulted in GRP94/gp96 and calreticulin preparations with endotoxin levels substantially lower than those of previously reported preparations. Low endotoxin GRP94/gp96 retained its native conformation, ligand binding activity, and in vitro chaperone function, yet did not activate macrophage NF-κB signaling, nitric oxide production or inducible nitric-oxide synthase production. Low endotoxin GRP94/gp96 and calreticulin did, however, elicit a marked increase in ERK phosphorylation at protein concentrations as low as 2 μg/ml. These results are discussed with respect to current understanding of the contributions of endotoxin and heat shock/chaperone proteins to the stimulation of innate immune responses.
Record performance for junctionless transistors in InGaAs MOSFETs

We demonstrate junctionless tri-gate MOSFETs utilizing a single layer 7 nm thick In<inf>0.80</inf>Ga<inf>0.20</inf>As (N<inf>D</inf> ∼ 1×10<sup>19</sup> cm<sup>−3</sup>) as both channel and contacts. Devices with source and drain metal separation of 32 nm and L<inf>g</inf> of 25 nm exhibit SS = 76 mV/dec., both the highest reported g<inf>m</inf> = 1.6 mS/μΑ and I<inf>on</inf> = 160 μA/μm (V<inf>DD</inf> = 0.5 V, I<inf>OFF</inf> = 100 nA/μm) for a junctionless transistor. We also examine the influence of the contact thickness, comparing double-layer junctionless devices with 37 nm thick contacts with single-layer 7 nm contact devices.
Non‐indigenous species as stressors in estuarine and marine communities: Assessing invasion impacts and interactions

Invasions by non‐indigenous species (NIS) are recognized as important stressors of many communities throughout the world. Here, we evaluated available data on the role of NIS in marine and estuarine communities and their interactions with other anthropogenic stressors, using an intensive analysis of the Chesapeake Bay region as a case study. First, we reviewed the reported ecological impacts of 196 species that occur in tidal waters of the bay, including species that are known invaders as well as some that are cryptogenic (i.e., of uncertain origin). Second, we compared the impacts reported in and out of the bay region for the same 54 species of plants and fish from this group that regularly occur in the regionÂ's tidal waters. Third, we assessed the evidence for interaction in the distribution or performance of these 54 plant and fish species within the bay and other stressors. Of the 196 known and possible NIS, 39 (20%) were thought to have some significant impact on a resident population, community, habitat, or process within the bay region. However, quantitative data on impacts were found for only 12 of the 39, representing 31% of this group and 6% of all 196 species surveyed. The patterns of reported impacts in the bay for plants and fish were nearly identical: 29% were reported to have significant impacts, but quantitative impact data existed for only 7% (4/54) of these species. In contrast, 74% of the same species were reported to have significant impacts outside of the bay, and some quantitative impact data were found for 44% (24 /54) of them. Although it appears that 20% of the plant and fish species in our analysis may have significant impacts in the bay region based upon impacts measured elsewhere, we suggest that studies outside the region cannot reliably predict such impacts. We surmise that quantitative impact measures for individual bays or estuaries generally exist for <5% of the NIS present, and many of these measures are not particularly informative. Despite the increasing knowledge of marine invasions at many sites, it is evident that we understand little about the full extent and variety of the impacts they create singly and cumulatively. Given the multiple anthropogenic stressors that overlap with NIS in estuaries, we predict NIS‐stressor interactions play an important role in the pattern and impact of invasions.
CASh: a novel "Clock As Shield" design methodology for noise immune precharge-evaluate logic

In gigascale integrated circuits (GSI), interconnects are expected to play a more dominant role in circuit performance than transistor cells. The circuit performance is affected by signal integrity as cross-talk becomes more significant with the sealing of feature sizes. Many attempts have been made to improve noise immunity, but all require the sacrifice of speed as a tradeoff, especially in dynamic circuits. Avoiding noise problems while maintaining the desired speed would involve increased wire spacing or extensive shielding, both of which are unfavorable due to demands for high density and a relatively higher cost of wires in current process technologies. We propose a novel methodology in which clock lines are used as shielding wires to reduce cross-talk effects in domino circuits, thereby minimizing the possibility of functional failures. In addition, this method provides another benefit: a small buffer size is required for driving a long interconnect for iso-noise immunity. Since clock lines, which are always required in domino circuits, are used to shield signal lines, speed penalty and area overhead which are drawbacks of previous work can be avoided. This design methodology CASh (Clock As Shielding) demonstrates the superiority over conventional methods. HSPICE simulations on a 2-input domino AND gate and 4 and 8-bit full adders designed in CASh show higher noise immunity over conventional design.
Adaptive L1/2 Shooting Regularization Method for Survival Analysis Using Gene Expression Data

A new adaptive L1/2 shooting regularization method for variable selection based on the Cox's proportional hazards mode being proposed. This adaptive L1/2 shooting algorithm can be easily obtained by the optimization of a reweighed iterative series of L1 penalties and a shooting strategy of L1/2 penalty. Simulation results based on high dimensional artificial data show that the adaptive L1/2 shooting regularization method can be more accurate for variable selection than Lasso and adaptive Lasso methods. The results from real gene expression dataset (DLBCL) also indicate that the L1/2 regularization method performs competitively.
Energy Efficient Mobile Operating Systems

ABSTRACT -------------------------------------------------------------- Energy is an important resource in mobile computers now days. It is important to manage energy in efficient manner so that energy consumption will be reduced. Developers of operating system decided to increase the battery life time of mobile phones at operating system level. So, design of energy efficient mobile operating system is the best way to reduce the energy consumption in mobile devices. In this paper, currently used energy efficient mobile operating system is discussed and compared. Recent energy efficient techniques used to reduce the power consumption of mobile devices will also be summarized and discussed. Keywords – Android, Battery life, Energy awareness, Mobile, Power management, Symbian ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ Date of Submission: July 10, 2013 Date of Acceptance : August 30, 2013 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------
Origin and Evolution of the AmpC β-Lactamases of Citrobacter freundii

ABSTRACT To determine whether the widespread clinical use of β-lactams has been selective for Citrobacter freundii-derived alleles of plasmid ampC genes, we generated a Bayesian consensus phylogeny of the published ampC sequences and compared the MICs of 16 β-lactam antibiotics for Escherichia coli strains containing cloned copies of the C. freundii ampC alleles. We found that for the majority of compounds investigated, there has been essentially no increase in β-lactam resistance conferred by those alleles. We also found that ampC alleles from the chromosomes of two β-lactam-sensitive C. freundii strains isolated in the 1920s, before the clinical use of antibiotics, were as effective at providing β-lactam resistance in E. coli as were the plasmid-borne alleles from β-lactam-resistant clinical isolates. These results suggest that selection for increased resistance to β-lactam antibiotics has not been a significant force directing the evolution of the C. freundii ampC alleles found in β-lactam-resistant clinical isolates.
Controlling a Language Generation Planner

The set of partially interdependent lexical and syntactic decisions that have to be made in the process of natural language generation are best seen as a complex planning and search problem. This paper discusses the phenomena involved in natural language generation planning and argues that a blackboard-type architecture with agenda-style control is more appropriate for this task than a sequential control architecture with backtracking. The blackboard architecture we describe is implemented in the language generator DIOGENES.
An Alternative Domain Determines Nuclear Localization in Multifunctional Protein 4.1*

Multiple protein 4.1 isoforms are originated by alternative pre-mRNA splicing, differential use of two translation initiation sites, and posttranslational modifications. The complexity of alternative splicing events suffered by the 4.1 pre-mRNA makes necessary the direct cloning of 4.1 full-coding cDNA sequences to ensure that the encoded 4.1 proteins are naturally occurring isoforms. We have approached this point by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction techniques using RNA from the nucleated human Molt-4 T-cell line as a starting template. Molecular cloning of 4.1 cDNAs using the second translation initiation codon has allowed us to identify two 4.1 isoforms, designated 4.1H and 4.1I, which are differentially targeted to the nucleus (4.1H) and the cytoplasm (4.1I). These two isoforms differ only in the inclusion (4.1H) or exclusion (4.1I) of 21 amino acids encoded by exon 16. A cluster of basic amino acids, KKKR, generated by joining of the sequences encoded by the constitutive exon 13 and the alternative exon 16, is necessary for the nuclear targeting of 4.1H, as demonstrated by site-directed mutagenesis analysis. Immunofluorescence microscopy and biochemical studies indicate that 4.1H belongs to the group of nuclear 4.1 proteins that are distributed diffusely throughout the nucleoplasm and that are extractable in 0.5% Triton X-100. This is the first demonstration of differential nuclear targeting by the presence of an alternative domain, among naturally occurring protein 4.1 isoforms.
Asthma increases pulmonary thromboembolism risk: a nationwide population cohort study

Studies on the association between asthma and pulmonary thromboembolism are considerably limited. We investigated whether pulmonary embolism is associated with asthma using a nationwide cohort study. We identified 31 356 patients with newly diagnosed asthma in 2002–2008 and 125 157 individuals without asthma randomly selected from the general population, frequency matched by age, sex and index year using the National Health Insurance Research Database. Both cohorts were followed-up until the end of 2010 to measure the incidence of pulmonary embolism. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to measure the hazard ratio of pulmonary embolism for the asthmatic cohort, compared with the nonasthmatic cohort. We followed 186 182 person-years for asthmatic patients and 743 374 person-years for nonasthmatic subjects. The hazard ratio of pulmonary embolism was 3.24 for the asthmatic cohort, compared with the nonasthmatic cohort after adjusting for sex, age, comorbidities and oestrogen supplementation. The risk of developing pulmonary embolism significantly increased with the increased frequency of asthma exacerbation and hospitalisation. This nationwide cohort study suggests that the risk of developing pulmonary embolism is significantly increased in asthmatic patients compared to the general population. Frequent asthma exacerbation and hospitalisation are significantly associated with pulmonary embolism risk. Risk of pulmonary embolism in an asthmatic cohort was 3.24-fold compared with a nonasthmatic cohort http://ow.ly/rHEsF
Number Plate Recognition for Indian Cars Using Morphological Dilation and Erosion with the Aid Of Ocrs

Vehicle number plate recognition(VNPR) has been intensively studied in many countries. Due to the different types of number plates being used, the requirements of an automatic number plate recognition system is different for each country. In this paper, a number plate localization and recognition system for vehicles in Tamilnadu(India) is proposed. This system is developed based on digital images and can be easily applied to commercial car park systems for the use of documenting access of parking services, secure usage of parking houses and also to prevent car theft issues. The proposed algorithm is based on a combination of morphological operation with area criteria tests for number plate localization. Segmentation of the plate characters was achieved by the application of edge detectors, labeling and fill hole approach. The character recognition was accomplished with the aid of optical characters by the process of Template matching. The system was experimented with four different edge detectors namely Sobel, Canny, Prewitt, LOG. A comparative analysis on the success rate of the proposed system showed overall better success rate of 96.8% by using canny edge detector.