Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variants of the caveolin-1 gene: a translational investigation linking insulin resistance and hypertension.

CONTEXT The co-occurrence of insulin resistance (IR) and hypertension is a heritable condition leading to cardiovascular complications. Caveolin-1 (CAV1), a gene previously associated with metabolic dysfunction in animal and cellular models, may be a marker for these conditions in humans. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between CAV1 variants and IR in two hypertensive cohorts and to corroborate the findings in a CAV1 knockout mouse. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A candidate gene association study was conducted in two hypertensive cohorts: 1) Caucasian and 2) Hispanic. Multivariate associations between individual variants and insulin-resistant phenotypes were analyzed, accounting for age, gender, body mass index, and sibling relatedness. Intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests were conducted in wild-type and CAV1 knockout mice. RESULTS In the Caucasian hypertensive cohort, minor allele carriers of two CAV1 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (rs926198, rs3807989) had significantly higher fasting insulin levels (P = 0.005, P = 0.007), increased homeostatic assessment model for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (P =0.005, P = 0.008), and decreased M value during hyperinsulinemic, euglycemic clamp procedure (P = 0.004, P = 0.05) than major allele homozygotes. Findings were replicated in the Hispanic hypertensive cohort cohort for fasting insulin levels (P = 0.005, P = 0.02) and HOMA-IR (P = 0.008 and P = 0.02). Meta-analysis demonstrated significant associations of both single-nucleotide polymorphisms with fasting insulin levels (P = 0.00008, P = 0.0004) and HOMA-IR (P = 0.0001, P = 0.0004). As compared with wild type, CAV1 knockout mice displayed higher blood pressure levels and higher fasting glucose, insulin, and HOMA-IR levels and an exaggerated glycemic response to a glucose challenge. CONCLUSION Variations in the CAV1 gene are associated with IR and hypertension. CAV1 gene polymorphisms may be a biomarker for IR and hypertension, enabling earlier detection and improved treatment strategies.
Perception at the Blind Spot and Tilt Aftereffect

Black and white stripes were used to induce a tilt aftereffect near the blind spot. Stripe fragments on either side of the blind spot were seen as being completed across the blind spot, but the magnitude of the tilt aftereffect they induced suggested that the perceptually ‘filled-in’ portions of the stripes did not contribute to the aftereffect. So perceptually filled-in lines seem not to be fully potent percepts.
Number of Tasks, not Threads, is Key

The concept of task already exists in many parallel programming models. Programmers express parallelism by defining tasks in their applications, and runtime libraries schedule tasks on threads. However, in many task-based parallel programming models, choosing the right number of threads is still key to performance. Hence, the onus is on the programmer to decide not only about the number of tasks, but also about the optimal number of threads in order to get good performance. In this paper, we aim to show that desirable performance can be achieved by only focusing on tasks. For this purpose, we compare a purely task-centric parallel programming model called GPRM with three popular approaches (OpenMP, Intel Cilk Plus, and TBB) on two modern many core systems, the Tilera TILEPro64 and Intel Xeon Phi, which have respectively 64 and 60 physical cores integrated into a single chip. We have chosen three benchmarks with different characteristics to show that a task-centric approach such as GPRM can facilitate parallel programming while it outperforms other models in most cases. It does so by controlling only the number of tasks, rather than having to tune the number of threads.
Pitch processing and learning ability of the tone language Chinese : A correlational study of music and language

As evidence of intimate music-language relations grow, a certain connection between the use of tone language and the ability of absolute pitch has been found. Genesis of absolute pitch has long been a controversial topic among scientists. While interest of learning the tone language Chinese increases, it is, from a pedagogical perspective, relevant and engaging to specifically study this connection.The purpose of this essay is to study a small group of young beginners in Chinese at close quarters. By implementing a pitch-based hearing test, their pronunciation skills in Chinese were compared with sense of pitch shown in the test. The findings point to complex interactions between several factors, and show for instance a significant importance of musical training and learning motivation.
Relationship between perceived vocal registers and glottal flow parameters

The perception of modal and falsetto registers was analyzed in a material consisting of a total of 80 vowel sounds sung by 10 choir singers, 40 sung in modal register and 40 in falsetto register. These vowel sounds were classified by sixteen expert listeners in a force choice test and the number of votes for modal was compared with the voice source parameters (1) Closed Quotient (Q closed )and (2) level difference between the two lowest source spectrum partials (H1 – H2). Tones with a high value of Qclosed and low values of H1-H2 were typically associated with high number of votes for modal register, and vice versa, Qclosed showing the strongest correlation. Some singer subjects produced tones that could not be classified as either falsetto or modal register, suggesting that category perception of registers is not always feasible.
Effect of oscillation mode on the free-molecule squeeze-film air damping

A 3D Monte Carlo (MC) simulation approach is developed and employed to study the effect of the oscillation mode on the squeeze-film air damping in the free-molecule regime. By tracking individual gas molecule's motion and its interaction with the resonator, the MC approach is by far the most accurate modeling approach for the modeling of squeeze-film damping in the free-molecule regime. The accuracy of this approach is demonstrated on several cases in which either analytical solutions or experimental measurements are available. It has been found that unlike the case when resonators oscillate in an unbounded domain, squeeze film damping is very sensitive to the mode shape, which implies that some of the existing modeling approaches based on rigid-resonator assumption may not be accurate when applied to model resonators oscillating at their deformed shape.
IncHI2 Plasmids Are Predominant in Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella Isolates

The wide usage of antibiotics contributes to the increase in the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella. Plasmids play a critical role in horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance markers in Salmonella. This study aimed to screen and characterize plasmid profiles responsible for antibiotic resistance in Salmonella and ultimately to clarify the molecular mechanism of transferable plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance. A total of 226 Salmonella isolates were examined for antimicrobial susceptibility by a disk diffusion method. Thirty-two isolates (14.2%) were resistant to at least one antibiotic. The presence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes and β-lactamase genes were established by PCR amplification. PCR-based replicon typing revealed that these 32 isolates represented seven plasmid incompatibility groups (IncP, HI2, A/C, FIIs, FIA, FIB, and I1), and the IncHI2 (59.4%) was predominant. Antibiotic resistance markers located on plasmids were identified through plasmid curing. Fifteen phenotypic variants were obtained with the curing efficiency of 46.9% (15/32). The cured plasmids mainly belong to the HI2 incompatibility group. The elimination of IncHI2 plasmids correlated with the loss of β-lactamase genes (blaOXA-1 and blaTEM-1) and PMQR genes (qnrA and aac(6′)-Ib-cr). Both IncHI2 and IncI1 plasmids in a S. enterica serovar Indiana isolate SJTUF 10584 were lost by curing. The blaCMY -2-carrying plasmid pS10584 from SJTUF 10584 was fully sequenced. Sequence analysis revealed that it possessed a plasmid scaffold typical for IncI1 plasmids with the unique genetic arrangement of IS1294-ΔISEcp1-blaCMY -2-blc-sugE-ΔecnR inserted into the colicin gene cia. These data suggested that IncHI2 was the major plasmid lineage contributing to the dissemination of antibiotic resistance in Salmonella and the activity of multiple mobile genetic elements may contribute to antibiotic resistance evolution and dissemination between different plasmid replicons.
Error Propagation in a Digital Avionic Processor: A Simulation-Based Study

An experimental analysis to study error propagation from the gate to the chip level is described. The target system is the CPU in the Bendix BDX-930, an avionic miniprocessor. Error activity data for the study was collected via a gate-level simulation. A family of distributions to characterize the error propagation, both within the chip and at the pins, was then generated. Based on these distributions, measures of error propagation and severity were defined. The analysis quantifies the dependency of the measured error propagation on the location of the fault and the type of instruction/microinstruction executed.
The Effectiveness of Self-Regulating Strategies on On-Task Behaviors of a Student with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been on the rise over the past ten years, increasing to approximately eleven percent of the student population. Children with ADHD often struggle in the classroom both academically and behaviorally. While teachers work to manage the difficult behaviors, many recognize the benefits of teaching students to regulate their own behaviors. Self-regulating is an effective strategy to address academic and behavior challenges in students including those with ADHD. Self-regulating has been found to be successful in bringing about more on-task behaviors for students as well as creating an environment that requires less teacher monitoring of behaviors. Through self-regulating, students become aware of their own behaviors and learn to change those behaviors through various methods. A study was designed for a third grade student with ADHD. The study took place in a parochial school of approximately 200 students in a Midwestern city. Using a single-subject experimental design, four self-regulating strategies were implemented to determine the effectiveness of increasing on-task behaviors during independent work time in Reading and Math classes. Baseline data was collected over three days in both classes. Four different self-regulating strategies, self-monitoring, self-monitoring plus reinforcement, self-reinforcement, and self-management were taught and implemented, each lasting four days in Reading and Math classes. Data was collected and analyzed. The results indicated that the intervention of self-management appeared to be the most effective for the student, however all of the interventions brought about a significant increase in on-task behaviors in Reading and Math class. The study clearly reveals that self-regulating strategies are viable interventions to bring about more on-task behaviors for students with ADHD.
Towards Retrieving Scholarly Literature via Ontological Relationships

We analyse the problem of retrieving scientific literature related to a problem with complex description, and outline the skeleton of a solution. The proposed mixture of methods and approaches covers manual as well as automatic methods, with emphasis on community tagging, automated ontology learning from text and ontology mapping. Symbiosis of RDF/OWL and Topic Maps as underlying formalisms is foreseen. As a very simple proof of concept, relational annotation of five research papers has been carried out independently by two annotators, and the results were analysed.
Protecting Biodiversity when Money Matters: Maximizing Return on Investment

Background Conventional wisdom identifies biodiversity hotspots as priorities for conservation investment because they capture dense concentrations of species. However, density of species does not necessarily imply conservation ‘efficiency’. Here we explicitly consider conservation efficiency in terms of species protected per dollar invested. Methodology/Principal Findings We apply a dynamic return on investment approach to a global biome and compare it with three alternate priority setting approaches and a random allocation of funding. After twenty years of acquiring habitat, the return on investment approach protects between 32% and 69% more species compared to the other priority setting approaches. To correct for potential inefficiencies of protecting the same species multiple times we account for the complementarity of species, protecting up to three times more distinct vertebrate species than alternate approaches. Conclusions/Significance Incorporating costs in a return on investment framework expands priorities to include areas not traditionally highlighted as priorities based on conventional irreplaceability and vulnerability approaches.
Efficient aggregation via iterative block-based adapting support-weights

Local stereo matching algorithms based on adapting-weights aggregation produce excellent results compared to other local methods. In particular, they produce more accurate results near disparity edges. This improvement is obtained thanks to the fact that the support for each pixel is accurately determined based on information such as colour or spatial distance. However, the computation of the support for each pixel results in computationally complex algorithms, especially when using large aggregation windows. Iterative aggregation schemes are a potential alternative to using large windows. In this paper we propose a novel iterative approach for adapting-weights aggregation which produces better results and out-performs most previous adapting-weights methods.
A Cellular Study of Human Testis Development

This study catalogs the cellular events underlying the formation of a human testis. These events were identified by immunocytochemistry using antibodies that served as markers for specific cell types, then contrasted with the events occurring in the developing mouse testis. The presence of germ cells in the embryonic gonadal ridge and of coelomic epithelial cells that give rise to Sertoli cells was observed at 7 weeks. This was followed by the appearance of Sertoli cells in testicular tubules and of Leydig cells at 9 weeks and by the appearance of vascular endothelial cells and peritubular myoid cells at 12 weeks. Overall the temporal sequence of events in humans was similar, albeit longer, than what occurs in mice. Notably, Leydig cell differentiation occurs earlier in the sequence of events and germ cell maturation occurs during fetal life. The candidate testis-determining genes, FGF9, GATA4, FOG2, EMX2, and CBX2 were expressed at 7 weeks suggesting a role in early gonadal development, such as that observed in mice. In addition, expression of FGF9 in germ cells following testis determination suggests a role in germ cell maturation.
Computer supported evaluation in cooperative spoken dialog systems' design projects

The paper examines the role of evaluation in collaborative work in design. It includes, on the one hand, to study the variations of evaluation needs along the development lifecycles. On the other hand, it demands to address the consequent adjustments of evaluation tools (metrics and dashboards) developed both locally and at the project monitoring level. Evaluation is also affected by human factors and issues related to cooperative work. As a case study, we approach the multidisciplinary field of SDSs to apprehend how CSCW tools could support the evaluation process in cross-disciplinary projects. We first review existing tools that implement design conventions for evaluators. They permit a convergence of evaluation practices while considering the various analytical points of view. Then, we present a framework based on the mapping between prototypical evaluation situations and relative evaluation templates. Finally, we propose a new framework that makes evaluation situations and evaluation schemes explicit so as to nurture a reflection on the heuristics that guide the evaluation design.
Octave-Spanning Supercontinuum Generation From an NALM Mode-Locked Yb-Fiber Laser System

We demonstrate a broadband all polarization-maintaining Yb-fiber laser system that provides 137-nJ pulse at 140-fs duration. The pulses are generated in a passively mode-locked laser in which the nonlinear amplifying loop mirror acts as the mode locker, an integrated nonreciprocal device biases π/2 phase shift to reduce the mode locking threshold, and a pair of gratings are involved to force the oscillator operating in its quietest mode. Self-started mode locking is first achieved in multiple-pulse regime with 250-mW pump power, and stable single-pulse operation with 1.1-ps pulse duration, 75-pJ energy, and 29-nm spectral width are obtained subsequently when the pump power is decreased to 135 mW. Being amplified and spectral broadened, the laser pulses lead to an fceo signal with >30-dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) which is suitable for frequency comb stabilization.
Multiple Reaction Monitoring to Identify Site-Specific Troponin I Phosphorylated Residues in the Failing Human Heart

Background— Human cardiac troponin I is known to be phosphorylated at multiple amino acid residues by several kinases. Advances in mass spectrometry allow sensitive detection of known and novel phosphorylation sites and measurement of the level of phosphorylation simultaneously at each site in myocardial samples. Methods and Results— On the basis of in silico prediction and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry data, 14 phosphorylation sites on cardiac troponin I, including 6 novel residues (S4, S5, Y25, T50, T180, S198), were assessed in explanted hearts from end-stage heart failure transplantation patients with ischemic heart disease or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and compared with samples obtained from nonfailing donor hearts (n=10 per group). Thirty mass spectrometry–based multiple reaction monitoring quantitative tryptic peptide assays were developed for each phosphorylatable and corresponding nonphosphorylated site. The results show that in heart failure there is a decrease in the extent of phosphorylation of the known protein kinase A sites (S22, S23) and other newly discovered phosphorylation sites located in the N-terminal extension of cardiac troponin I (S4, S5, Y25), an increase in phosphorylation of the protein kinase C sites (S41, S43, T142), and an increase in phosphorylation of the IT-arm domain residues (S76, T77) and C-terminal domain novel phosphorylation sites of cardiac troponin I (S165, T180, S198). In a canine dyssynchronous heart failure model, enhanced phosphorylation at 3 novel sites was found to decline toward control after resynchronization therapy. Conclusions— Selective, functionally significant phosphorylation alterations occurred on individual residues of cardiac troponin I in heart failure, likely reflecting an imbalance in kinase/phosphatase activity. Such changes can be reversed by cardiac resynchronization.
Improved concept-based query expansion using Wikipedia

The query formulation has always been a challenge for the users. In this paper, we propose a novel interactive query expansion methodology that identifies and presents the potential directions generalised concepts for the given query enabling the user to explore the interested topic further. The methodology proposed is concept-based direction CoD finder which relies on the external knowledge repository for finding the directions. Wikipedia, the most important non-profit crowdsourcing project, is considered as the external knowledge repository for CoD finder methodology. CoD finder identifies the concepts for the given query and derives the generalised direction for each of the concepts, based on the content of the Wikipedia article and the categories it belongs to. The CoD finder methodology has been evaluated in the crowdsourcing marketplace - Amazon's Mechanical Turk - for measuring the quality of the identified potential directions. The evaluation result shows that the potential directions identified by the CoD finder methodology produces better precision and recall for the given queries.
Fondaparinux combined with intermittent pneumatic compression vs. intermittent pneumatic compression alone for prevention of venous thromboembolism after abdominal surgery: a randomized, double‐blind comparison

Summary. Background: The benefit of combined mechanical and pharmacologic methods for venous thromboembolism prevention after abdominal surgery has not been clearly established. Objectives: To compare the efficacy and safety of fondaparinux in conjunction with intermittent pneumatic compression vs. intermittent pneumatic compression alone in this context. Patients and Methods: This was a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled superiority trial. Patients aged at least 40 years undergoing abdominal surgery were randomized to receive either fondaparinux 2.5 mg or placebo s.c. for 5–9 days, starting 6–8 h postoperatively. All patients received intermittent pneumatic compression. The primary efficacy outcome was venous thromboembolism up to day 10. The main safety outcomes were major bleeding and all‐cause mortality. Follow‐up lasted 32 days. Results: Of the 1309 patients randomized, 842 (64.3%) were evaluable for efficacy. The venous thromboembolism rate was 1.7% (7/424) in the fondaparinux‐treated patients and 5.3% (22/418) in the placebo‐treated patients (odds ratio reduction 69.8%; 95% confidence interval 27.9–87.3; P = 0.004). Fondaparinux significantly reduced the proximal deep vein thrombosis rate from 1.7% (7/417) to 0.2% (1/424; P = 0.037). Major bleeds occurred in 1.6% (10/635) and 0.2% (1/650) of fondaparinux‐treated and placebo‐treated patients, respectively (P = 0.006), none being fatal or involving a critical organ. By day 32, eight patients (1.3%) receiving fondaparinux and five (0.8%) receiving placebo had died. Conclusions: In patients undergoing abdominal surgery and receiving intermittent pneumatic compression, fondaparinux 2.5 mg reduced the venous thromboembolism rate by 69.8% as compared to pneumatic compression alone, with a low bleeding risk as compared to placebo.
Effect of coarse woody debris on Peromyscus leucopus population size.

Peromyscus leucopus (white-footed mouse) is commonly found throughout Michigan in forested habitats. Recently, a small mammal census discovered a large increase in the numbers of P. leucopus at an experimental plot that produced large amounts of coarse woody debris at the University of Michigan Biological Station in Pellston, MI. We hypothesized that the increase in the amount of downed coarse woody debris at the experimental plot provided high quality habitat for P. leucopus, leading to an increase in the population, and we predicted that traps set at an increasing distance from the experimental plot would be less successful than traps set close to the plot. We set up 3 trapping grids: one in the experimental plot, 1 450 m from the plot, and 1 1150 m from the plot. The mice were assessed for their pelage class, sex, reproductive condition, and mass. Measurements of the amount of downed coarse woody debris and number of trees at each trapping station were also taken. The proportion of traps that caught mice differed among plots (experimental plot: 0.627 mice/trap night, plot A: 0.47 mice/trap night, plot C: 0.74 mice/trap night; χ=15.44, df=2, p<0.001), but the plot with the largest number of mice was the furthest from the FASET plot, leading to rejection of the hypothesis.