Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between birth weight and objectively measured sedentary time is mediated by central adiposity: data in 10,793 youth from the International Children’s Accelerometry Database123

Background: Birth weight is an early correlate of disease later in life, and animal studies suggest that low birth weight is associated with reduced activity and increased sedentary time. Whether birth weight predicts later sedentary time in humans is uncertain. Objectives: We examined the relation between birth weight and sedentary time in youth and examined whether this association was mediated by central adiposity. Design: We used pooled cross-sectional data from 8 observational studies conducted between 1997 and 2007 that consisted of 10,793 youth (boys: 47%) aged 6–18 y from the International Children’s Accelerometry Database. Birth weight was measured in hospitals or maternally reported, sedentary time was assessed by using accelerometry (<100 counts/min), and abdominal adiposity (waist circumference) was measured according to WHO procedures. A mediation analysis with bootstrapping was used to analyze data. Results: The mean (±SD) time spent sedentary was 370 ± 91 min/d. Birth weight was positively associated with sedentary time (B = 4.04, P = 0.006) and waist circumference (B = 1.59, P < 0.001), whereas waist circumference was positively associated with sedentary time (B = 0.82, P < 0.001). Results of the mediation analysis showed a significant indirect effect of birth weight on sedentary time through waist circumference (B: 1.30; 95% bias-corrected CI: 0.94, 1.72), and when waist circumference was controlled for, the effect of birth weight on sedentary time was attenuated by 32% (B = 2.74, P = 0.06). Conclusion: The association between birth weight and sedentary time appears partially mediated by central adiposity, suggesting that both birth weight and abdominal adiposity may be correlates of sedentary time in youth.
Contact with mental health and primary care providers before suicide: a review of the evidence.

OBJECTIVE This study examined rates of contact with primary care and mental health care professionals by individuals before they died by suicide. METHOD The authors reviewed 40 studies for which there was information available on rates of health care contact and examined age and gender differences among the subjects. RESULTS Contact with primary care providers in the time leading up to suicide is common. While three of four suicide victims had contact with primary care providers within the year of suicide, approximately one-third of the suicide victims had contact with mental health services. About one in five suicide victims had contact with mental health services within a month before their suicide. On average, 45% of suicide victims had contact with primary care providers within 1 month of suicide. Older adults had higher rates of contact with primary care providers within 1 month of suicide than younger adults. CONCLUSIONS While it is not known to what degree contact with mental health care and primary care providers can prevent suicide, the majority of individuals who die by suicide do make contact with primary care providers, particularly older adults. Given that this pattern is consistent with overall health-service-seeking, alternate approaches to suicide-prevention efforts may be needed for those less likely to be seen in primary care or mental health specialty care, specifically young men.
Model Behavior: An Assessment of Role Model Attachment

Despite the term existing since the early part of the 20th century, little is known about role models and relationships that individuals develop with them. Using attachment theory, a cornerstone of interpersonal theory, relationships between individuals and their role models are compared to relationships between those individuals and their parents in the present study. While data did not support the hypothesis (those with anxious attachment to their parents will experience more secure attachment to their role model) promising opportunities for future research were suggested by the qualitative and quantitative data that were collected. For example, the experience of many participants revealed a potentially complex relationship between role model expectations and gender in both qualitative and quantitative data collected. Acknowledgements Speical thanks to Lee Dixon, PhD. , James Robinson, PhD, and Erin O’Mara, PhD, for their emotional support and academic assistance, the University Honors Program for encouraging students to write theses, and my family and friends for listening to me ramble endlessly about these topics at parties, during casual conversation, and around the dinner table.
The medial paralemniscal nucleus and its afferent neuronal connections in rat

Previously, we described a cell group expressing tuberoinfundibular peptide of 39 residues (TIP39) in the lateral pontomesencephalic tegmentum, and referred to it as the medial paralemniscal nucleus (MPL). To identify this nucleus further in rat, we have now characterized the MPL cytoarchitectonically on coronal, sagittal, and horizontal serial sections. Neurons in the MPL have a columnar arrangement distinct from adjacent areas. The MPL is bordered by the intermediate nucleus of the lateral lemniscus nucleus laterally, the oral pontine reticular formation medially, and the rubrospinal tract ventrally, whereas the A7 noradrenergic cell group is located immediately mediocaudal to the MPL. TIP39‐immunoreactive neurons are distributed throughout the cytoarchitectonically defined MPL and constitute 75% of its neurons as assessed by double labeling of TIP39 with a fluorescent Nissl dye or NeuN. Furthermore, we investigated the neuronal inputs to the MPL by using the retrograde tracer cholera toxin B subunit. The MPL has afferent neuronal connections distinct from adjacent brain regions including major inputs from the auditory cortex, medial part of the medial geniculate body, superior colliculus, external and dorsal cortices of the inferior colliculus, periolivary area, lateral preoptic area, hypothalamic ventromedial nucleus, lateral and dorsal hypothalamic areas, subparafascicular and posterior intralaminar thalamic nuclei, periaqueductal gray, and cuneiform nucleus. In addition, injection of the anterograde tracer biotinylated dextran amine into the auditory cortex and the hypothalamic ventromedial nucleus confirmed projections from these areas to the distinct MPL. The afferent neuronal connections of the MPL suggest its involvement in auditory and reproductive functions. J. Comp. Neurol. 511:221–237, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Visual Annotation for Mobile Robot Navigation Visual Annotation for Mobile Robot Navigation

The most classical way of attempting to solve the vision-guided navigation problem for autonomous robots, corresponds to the use of 3D geometrical descriptions of the scene; what is known as modelbased approaches. However, these approaches do not facilitate the user's task because they require a geometrically precise models of the 3D environment be given by the user. In this paper, we propose the use of \annotations" posted on some type of blackboard or \descriptive" map to facilitate this user-robot interaction. We will show how using this technique the user's command can be as easier as: \go to label 5". To build such a mechanism, new approaches for vision-guided mobile robot navigation have to be found. We will show how this can be achieve by means of mixture models within an appearance-based paradigm. Mixture models have proven to be more useful, in practice, than other pattern recognition methods such as PCA (Principal Component Analysis) or DA (Discriminant Analysis), because they allow the learning of non-linear spaces. However, given the fact that mixturemodels are usually learned using the EM (Expectation-Maximization) algorithm, which is a gradient ascent technique, the system can not always converge to a desired nal solution; due to the local maxima problem. To resolve this, a genetic version of the EM algorithm is introduced. It is shown, using a navigation task, how this latest approach can achieve better results than PCA, Fisher DA and mixture models learned using the classical EM algorithm.
Study on effect of GGCX in knee osteoarthritis pathogenesis

Objective: To explore the effect of γ-glutamyl carboxylase (GGCX) in the pathogenesis of knee osteoarthritis. Methods: 40 cases of patients with knee osteoarthritis treated in our hospital from January 2014 to January 2015 were selected as the observation group, and another 40 cases of patients with normal knee during the same period were selected as the control group. The joint cartilage and synovial fluid were collected for further study. The expression of GGCX in the cartilage tissues of both groups was determined using immunohistochemical assay, the expressions of GGCX protein and mRNA in both groups were evaluated by Western blot and Real-time PCR, respectively; And the expression level of GGCX in synovial fluid was measured by using Magnetic chemiluminescence immunoassay. SPSS 21.0 software was used for the statistical analysis. Results: Immunohistochemical assay showed that the integrated optical density (IOD) in observation group was (0.578 ± 0.221), which was significantly lower than that of the control group (1.339 ± 0.118), the difference was statistically significant (t = 17.14, P = 0.00); Western blot showed the relative gray value of GGCX in observation group was (0.296 ± 0.194), which was significantly lower than that of the control group (0.898 ± 0.049), the difference was statistically significant (t = 19.34, P = 0.00); Real-time PCR results showed that the mRNA expression of GGCX in observation group was (2.992 ± 1.316), which was significantly lower than that of the control group (10.978 ± 2.112), the difference was statistically significant (t = 18.01, P = 0.00). Chemiluminescence immunoassay showed that the content of GGCX in synovial fluid of observation group was (111.215 ± 25.106 nmol/L), which was significantly lower than that of the control group (578.546 ± 121.622 nmoL/L), indicating a statistically significant difference (t = 23.01, P = 0.00). The correlation analysis showed that the expression of GGCX decreased with the degeneration of joint cartilage. Conclusion: The expression of GGCX significantly reduced in the cartilage and the synovial fluid in patients with knee osteoarthritis; and with the worsening of cartilage degeneration, expression of GGCX decreased too.
Influence of urine creatinine concentrations on the relation of albumin-creatinine ratio with cardiovascular disease events: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).

BACKGROUND Higher urine albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) events, an association that is stronger than that between spot urine albumin on its own and CVD. Urine creatinine excretion is correlated with muscle mass, and low muscle mass also is associated with CVD. Whether low urine creatinine concentration in the denominator of the ACR contributes to the association of ACR with CVD is uncertain. STUDY DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS 6,770 community-living individuals without CVD. PREDICTORS Spot urine albumin concentration, the reciprocal of the urine creatinine concentration (1/UCr), and ACR. OUTCOME Incident CVD events. RESULTS During a mean of 7.1 years of follow-up, 281 CVD events occurred. Geometric mean values for spot urine creatinine concentration, urine albumin concentration, and ACR were 95 ± 2 (SD) mg/dL, 0.7 ± 3.7 mg/dL, and 7.0 ± 3.1 mg/g. Urine creatinine concentration was lower in older, female, and low-weight individuals. Adjusted HRs per 2-fold higher increment in each urinary measure with CVD events were similar (1/UCr: 1.07 [95% CI, 0.94-1.22]; urine albumin concentration: 1.08 [95% CI, 1.01-1.14]; and ACR: 1.11 [95% CI, 1.04-1.18]). ACR ≥10 mg/g was associated more strongly with CVD events in individuals with low weight (HR for lowest vs highest tertile: 4.34 vs 1.97; P for interaction = 0.006). Low weight also modified the association of urine albumin concentration with CVD (P for interaction = 0.06), but 1/UCr did not (P for interaction = 0.9). LIMITATIONS We lacked 24-hour urine data. CONCLUSIONS Although ACR is associated more strongly with CVD events in persons with low body weight, this association is not driven by differences in spot urine creatinine concentration. Overall, the associations of ACR with CVD events appear to be driven primarily by urine albumin concentration and less by urine creatinine concentration.
Preeclampsia is associated with low concentrations of protein Z

Objective. Protein Z, a vitamin K-dependent plasma protein, has an important role in the regulation of the coagulation cascade. Protein Z deficiency has been associated with unexplained pregnancy loss and adverse pregnancy outcome in patients with thrombophilia. This study was conducted to determine if preeclampsia (PE), small for gestational age (SGA), and fetal demise are associated with changes in maternal plasma concentrations of protein Z. Study design. This cross-sectional study included normal pregnant women (N = 71), patients with PE (N = 130), patients who delivered an SGA neonate (N = 58), and patients with fetal demise (N = 58). Maternal plasma protein Z concentrations were measured by a sensitive and specific immunoassay. Protein Z deficiency was defined as maternal plasma concentrations ≤5th percentile of the normal pregnancy group (≤1.59 µg/mL). Non-parametric statistics were used for analysis. Results. (1) Patients with PE had a lower median plasma concentration of protein Z than normal pregnant women (PE: median 1.6 µg/mL, range 0.2–3.3 µg/mL vs. normal pregnancy: median 2.4 µg/mL, range 1.1–3.4 µg/mL; p < 0.0001); (2) patients with an SGA neonate (median 2.3 µg/mL, range 0.2–3.8 µg/mL) and fetal demise (median 2.6 µg/mL, range 0.2–4.3 g/mL) did not have significantly different median protein Z concentrations from normal pregnant women (p > 0.05); and (3) women in the PE and fetal demise groups had significantly higher rates of protein Z deficiency than those with normal pregnancy outcome. Conclusions. (1) PE, but not SGA or fetal demise, is associated with a significantly lower maternal median plasma concentration of protein Z than normal pregnancy, and (2) a high rate of protein Z deficiency is observed in patients with PE and fetal demise.
Eye gaze and movement behaviour in the operation of adaptive in-car touchscreens

The usability of in-car touchscreens with small display areas can be significantly improved if buttons are only displayed or enlarged once the userpsilas hand approaches the display. This survey examines the influence of such adaptive buttons on eye and hand movements in the vehicle. The results show that movement behaviour in the use of both static and adaptive interfaces comprises a number of movement phases whose interplay can be described with the Optimized Initial Impulse Model (OIIM). The adaptive expansion of buttons leads to significantly lower error rates compared with non-adaptive buttons, given comparable movement times. A particular observation was the influence of indicators (visible information on the relevant target prior to start of movement) during the use of adaptive interfaces. It emerges that these contribute to a reduction of the movement times, as they make motion planning easier and thereby significantly increase the precision of the initial movement phase. In addition, this means a clear reduction in eye gaze duration.
ECOLOGY OF WEST NILE VIRUS TRANSMISSION AND ITS IMPACT ON BIRDS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

W N (WNV) was introduced into the western hemisphere in 1999 near New York City, where it caused substantial mortality in corvids and a small number of human cases (Nash et al. 2001). Genetic analysis showed that the introduced virus was most similar to a genotype isolated in Israel in 1998 (Lanciott i et al. 1999), and more virulent for some bird species (but not for others) than genotypes from Kenya and Australia (Kunjin virus) (Brault et al. 2004, 2007; Langevin et al. 2005). The virus is a plussense single-stranded RNA virus in the family Flaviviridae, which also includes Japanese encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis, yellow fever, and dengue fever viruses (Hayes 1989). From 1999 to 2006, WNV caused 26,274 reported human cases in the United States and Canada, including 9,942 cases of encephalitis, and 1,008 deaths (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] 2007, Health Canada 2007). The actual number of infections, based on serosurveys, is estimated to be more than 1.4 million, with ∼280,000 illnesses (Petersen and Hayes 2004, CDC 2007). West Nile virus has also caused widespread disease in horses in North America (with ∼40% of cases being fatal) and tens of thousands of deaths before the advent of vaccination (Hall and Khromykh 2004). Several human vaccines are being developed, but so far none have been approved for use by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) (Kramer et al. 2007). In contrast to the situation in North America, few human or horse illnesses have been observed in the tropics. The reasons for the absence of WNV in the tropics are unknown, but several hypothetical explanations have been put forth, including the idea that protective immunity has been conferred from other circulating fl aviviruses, diff erences in the avian-host and mosquito-vector communities, and diff erences in the virulence of the virus when it circulates in the tropics (Tesh et al. 2002, Weaver and Barrett 2004, Fang and Reisen 2006, Komar and Clark 2006). Substantial research has been done on many aspects of WNV virology, ecology, and public health since its introduction in 1999. There have been several recent reviews of the ecology of WNV transmission (Komar 2003, Marra et al. 2004, Weaver and Barrett 2004, Hayes et al. 2005), and a large body of literature is available on a closely related virus, the St. Louis encephalitis virus (Monath 1980). However, since the most recent reviews were published, substantial work has been done that greatly increases our understanding of the distribution and ecology of transmission of this virus and its eff ect on 3E-mail: kilpatrick@conservationmedicine.org The Auk 124(4):1121–1136, 2007 © The American Ornithologists’ Union, 2007. Printed in USA.
Political Theory and the Ecological Challenge: Citizenship

In recent years the engagement between the environmental 'agenda' and mainstream political theory has become increasingly widespread and profound. Each has affected the other in palpable and important ways, and it makes increasing sense for political theorists in each camp to engage with one another. This book, first published in 2006, draws together the threads of this interconnecting enquiry in order to assess its status and meaning. Andrew Dobson and Robyn Eckersley have gathered together a team of renowned scholars to think through the challenge that political ecology presents to political theory. Looking at fourteen familiar political ideologies and concepts such as liberalism, conservatism, justice and democracy, the contributors question how they are reshaped, distorted or transformed from an environmental perspective. Lively, accessible and authoritative, this book will appeal to scholars and students alike.
Structure and Dynamics of Male Swarms of Anopheles gambiae

ABSTRACT Mosquito swarms are poorly understood mating aggregations. In the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae Giles, they are known to depend on environmental conditions, such as the presence of a marker on the ground, and they may be highly relevant to reproductive isolation. We present quantitative measurements of in dividual An. gambiae positions within swarms from Donéguébougou, Mali, estimated by stereoscopic video image analysis. Results indicate that swarms in this species are approximately spherical, with an unexpectedly high density of individuals close to the swarm centroid. This high density may be the result of individual males maximizing their probability of encountering afemale or aproduct of mosquito orientation through cues within the swarm. Our analysis also suggests a difference in swarm organization between putative incipient species of An. gambiae with increasing numbers of males. This may be related to a difference in marker use between these groups, supporting the hypothesis that swarming behavior is a mechanism of mate recognition and ultimately reproductive isolation.
TRACKING MANUALLY SELECTED OBJECT IN VIDEOS USING COLOR HISTOGRAM MATCHING

Tracking a moving object over time is a challenging task. In this paper object to be tracked is manually selected by the user in one video frame and it is tracked in all subsequent frames of the given input video sequence. The work is carried out in two steps. First the object is detected using 64bin colour histogram matching and the object positions in all the video frames is determined to obtain a temporal sequence of coordinates. Next the object is tracked by calculating Euclidean distance between tracked objects and manually selected reference object. The proposed method is compared with KLT tracker which is a kernel based tracking method and it is found that 64 bin colour histogram matching method can be used to track objects effectively. The results show that the colour histogram features are very efficient in tracking objects, in small and medium length video sequences.
Unexplained anaemia in older persons is characterised by low erythropoietin and low levels of pro‐inflammatory markers

Epidemiological studies report that a third of the cases of anaemia in older persons is unexplained. We compared erythropoietin (EPO), inflammatory markers and major comorbidities between older subjects with normal haemoglobin levels and those with different aetiologic forms of anaemia, including unexplained anaemia. Participants were a representative sample of 964 persons aged ≥65 years, with no evidence of bleeding, complete blood tests, and a complete blood count within 6 h of phlebotomy. Anaemia was defined as haemoglobin <130 g/l in men and 120 g/l in women, and classified as a result of chronic kidney disease, iron deficiency, chronic disease and B12/folate deficiency anaemia, or unexplained anaemia based on standard criteria. Of the 124 anaemic participants, 42 (36·8%) had unexplained anaemia. Participants with anaemia of chronic diseases had significantly higher interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) and C‐reactive protein (CRP) levels, while those with unexplained anaemia had significantly lower CRP than non‐anaemic controls. Iron deficiency anaemia was characterised by significantly higher EPO levels compared with other types of anaemia and normal haemoglobin, B12 and/or folate deficiency. Unexplained anaemia was characterised by unexpectedly low EPO and low lymphocyte count. Unexplained anaemia is associated with reduced kidney EPO response, low levels of pro‐inflammatory markers and low lymphocyte counts.