Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Parallels with Autoimmune Disorders

Autoimmune disorders are known to affect a substantial number of people worldwide and in some cases may be fatal. They occur in the presence of unregulated inflammatory re‐ sponses including failure in self-tolerance. Some unexplained disorders with immune com‐ promises may demonstrate certain characteristics that suggest an autoimmune disorder including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). CFS/ME re‐ mains an unsolved disorder with multiple symptoms and no single causative factor. These symptoms may include but are not limited to incapacitating fatigue, weakened short term memory or attentiveness, sore throat, tender cervical or axillary lymph nodes, muscle pain, severe headaches, impaired sleep and postexertional malaise. To date succinct and concise mechanisms that underlie this disorder have not yet being identified although, many hy‐ potheses have been put forward. CFS/ME often occurs as a consequence of a post-infectious episode accompanied by compromises in the immune, endocrine and nervous systems. The sequences of these events have not being clearly identified. Importantly, immune deteriora‐ tion in CFS/ME is related to heightened or suppressed cell function, differential gene expres‐ sion, equivocal levels of immune cell numbers and protein secretion promoting adverse inflammatory activation. Both innate and adaptive immune system perturbations persist in CFS/ME. These characteristics are in many respects similar to mechanisms of disease in au‐ toimmune disorders suggesting that the changes in immune response may develop from cellular and molecular changes in immune cells and proteins. We propose here that as the mechanism of CFS/ME may involve certain immunological factors that have been shown to be compromised in other autoimmune diseases, CFS/ME may in some cases have an autoim‐
Klf5 is involved in self-renewal of mouse embryonic stem cells

Self-renewal of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is maintained by a complex regulatory mechanism involving transcription factors Oct3/4 (Pou5f1), Nanog and Sox2. Here, we report that Klf5, a Zn-finger transcription factor of the Kruppel-like family, is involved in ESC self-renewal. Klf5 is expressed in mouse ESCs, blastocysts and primordial germ cells, and its knockdown by RNA interference alters the molecular phenotype of ESCs, thereby preventing their correct differentiation. The ability of Klf5 to maintain ESCs in the undifferentiated state is supported by the finding that differentiation of ESCs is prevented when Klf5 is constitutively expressed. Maintenance of the undifferentiated state by Klf5 is, at least in part, due to the control of Nanog and Oct3/4 transcription, because Klf5 directly binds to the promoters of these genes and regulates their transcription.
Volume-based indirect illumination with irradiance decomposition

This paper proposes a fast and accurate algorithm for indirect illumination. It uses volumes of different resolutions to sample and cache the geometric information and the secondary lights. By dividing the irradiance into two parts, it treats the lights coming from the far-field and that coming from the near-field differently. For the far-field ones, it propagates sphere harmonic represented lights on coarse voxels. For the near-field ones, it shoots rays and collects their contributions on fine voxels. By doing this, the algorithm in this paper avoids using many rays to march long distance. In the experiments, it renders about ten times faster than the VGI algorithm to get the same image qualities, especially for the large and complex scenes. Meanwhile, it further accelerates the rendering by inventing an incremental multi-resolution gathering. The experiments illustrate fast and accurate indirect light effects.
Using and abusing Mexican farmworkers: The Bracero program and the INS

nUited States immigration policy historically has been plagued by the contradictory demands of capitalists for foreign workers and of domestic labor for limits on immigration to reduce wage suppression and competition for jobs. Foreign relations and fiscal concerns add to policymakers' frustrations. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has the seemingly impossible job of controlling illegal immigration without harming an economy that relies heavily on illegal immigrant workers. INS officials have found that they can reduce the numbers of undocumented workers only when they simultaneously supply growers with a legal source of cheap Mexican farmworkers. This solution is only viable in the short term, however, as illegal immigration typically accompanies legal guestworkers, and as employers become increasingly dependent on foreign sources of labor. INS's most successful attempt to reduce illegal immigration was the Bracero Program. This was a system of contract labor whereby farmers could hire young Mexican men, pay them low wages, and send them back to Mexico when they were not needed. Like undocumented workers, braceros were subject to exploitation and abuse by their employers, racial discrimina-
Enabling Low Degraded Read Latency and Fast Recovery for Erasure Coded Cloud Storage Systems

Compared to 3-way replication, which incurs triple storage costs for data availability and reliability, erasure coding has emerged as a good alternative to ensure data safety with significantly lower storage overhead for large-scale cloud storage systems. However, this results in high degraded read latency and long reconstruction time owing to higher disk and network traffic where unavailable data are erasure coded. In this paper, we aim to improve the recovery performance for coded data when failure occurs, by shortening the reconstruction time and degraded read latency. Two optimization methods are proposed: (a) proactive data migration using drive failure prediction, (b) reactive recovery optimization when failures actually occur. This paper includes the current research direction and the future work that the author aims to perform in the next years. These results show that the reconstruction time of unavailable data could be reduced by these optimizations.
The Phosphothreonine Lyase Activity of a Bacterial Type III Effector Family

Pathogenic bacteria use the type III secretion system to deliver effector proteins into host cells to modulate the host signaling pathways. In this study, the Shigella type III effector OspF was shown to inactivate mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) [extracellular signal–regulated kinases 1 and 2 (Erk1/2), c-Jun N-terminal kinase, and p38]. OspF irreversibly removed phosphate groups from the phosphothreonine but not from the phosphotyrosine residue in the activation loop of MAPKs. Mass spectrometry revealed a mass loss of 98 daltons in p-Erk2, due to the abstraction of the α proton concomitant with cleavage of the C-OP bond in the phosphothreonine residue. This unexpected enzymatic activity, termed phosphothreonine lyase, appeared specific for MAPKs and was shared by other OspF family members.
Associations of Self-Presentation on Facebook with Mental Health and Personality Variables: A Systematic Review

Many investigations of the associations of self-presentation on Facebook with mental health and personality variables exist, but their findings have not yet been synthetized. We therefore carried out a narrative synthesis of 21 observational studies (combined N = 7,573) obtained from a systematic search of four academic databases. Significant self-presentation associations were yielded for self-esteem, perceived social support, social anxiety, well-being, depression, bipolar/mania, stress, self-consciousness, and insecure attachment. Significant associations were also yielded for all of the big five personality variables and narcissism. The clearest trends-based on the number of times significant associations were yielded across included studies-were as follows: (1) inauthentic self-presentation was consistently associated with low self-esteem and elevated levels of social anxiety; (2) inauthentic self-presentation was consistently more likely to occur in people high in neuroticism and narcissism; and (3) authentic/positive self-presentation was consistently associated with increased levels of self-esteem and perceived social support. The assessment of online self-presentation may offer clinicians important insights into how clients are functioning in relation to various domains of mental health and personality. For example, clients who present inauthentic versions of themselves on Facebook could be experiencing social anxiety or have maladaptive personality traits such as neuroticism and narcissism, all of which could be targeted in intervention.
Levels and distributions of organophosphate flame retardants and plasticizers in sediment from Taihu Lake, China

The concentrations and distribution of seven organophosphate flame retardants and plasticizers (OPs) were investigated in 28 sediment samples collected from Taihu Lake. The analytes were ultrasonically extracted, enriched using solid‐phase extraction, and determined by gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry. The results indicated that the analytes were all detected in the sediments. The total concentrations of seven OPs ranged from 3.38 to 14.25 µg/kg, and tris (2‐chloroiso‐propyl) phosphate (TCPP), tris (2‐chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), and tris (2‐butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBEP) were the dominant compounds, with concentrations ranging from < limit of quantification to 2.27 µg/kg, 0.62 to 3.17 µg/kg, and 1.03 to 5.00 µg/kg, respectively. The highest concentration of total assessed OPs (14.25 µg/kg) was found at GH‐5, with tris (1,3‐dichloro‐2‐propyl) phosphate (TDCPP) as the main component at the sampling site. This result implied that there is an obvious emission source nearby at Suzhou City; in addition, human activities also play an important role in the concentration of OPs in the sediment. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012; 31: 1478–1484. © 2012 SETAC
Performance analysis of differentiated QoS in IEEE 802.11e WLANs

This paper proposes a multi‐dimensional Markov model to analyse the performance of the IEEE 802.11e EDCF MAC protocol. Based on this model, we present extensive performance evaluation in terms of throughput, throughput ratios, and access delay of flows of distinct priorities under RTS/CTS mode. We also provide quantitative analysis of the impact of prioritized parameters, i.e. Arbitration InterFrame Space (AIFS), Contention Window (CW) on Quality of Service (QoS) differentiation. The accuracy of the proposed model is verified by means of comparing the numerical results obtained from both analytical model and simulations. Our research can be used as a guideline for the prediction of how flows belonging to a certain Traffic Category (TC) perform with their TC‐specific parameters, as well as designing EDCF‐based WLANs and tuning the parameters to achieve the desirable differentiated QoS objectives. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Low vegetable intake is strongly associated with venous thromboembolism in Thai population

Recent studies have demonstrated a much higher incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) among Asian patients compared with previous studies. This study aims to determine dietary and behavioral factors that may have contributed to this increase. A case-control study was conducted. Cases were objectively confirmed VTE between 2006 and 2009 at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. Patients with underlying cancer, antiphospholipid syndrome and arterial thrombosis were excluded. Controls were age and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Food consumption was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire modified from the Thailand National Health Examination Survey III previously validated in the Thai population. There were 97 cases and 195 controls. The mean age was 54.6 years and 70% were women. VTE patients consumed significantly less vegetable, fish and spicy food compared with normal individuals with an odds ratio (OR) for venous thrombosis of 3.74 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.24–6.26, P < 0.001], 2.05 (95% CI 1.24–3.41, P = 0.005) and 2.30 (95% CI 1.29–4.11, P = 0.01), respectively. Additionally, thrombosis was associated with overweight (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.21–3.62, P = 0.002), obesity (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.46–6.74, P = 0.001) and estrogen uses (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.05–13.2, P = 0.02), but not with smoking or lack of exercise. A multivariate analysis showed that low vegetable consumption (OR 3.74, 95% CI 1.85–7.55, P < 0.001), female hormones (OR 5.80, 95% CI 1.51–22.22, P = 0.011) and body mass index (BMI, P = 0.048) were independently associated with VTE. Low vegetable intake, hormonal use and high BMI are the risk factors for noncancer-related VTE in Thai population.
Effect of hyperthermia on heat balance during running in the African hunting dog.

TAYLOR, C. R. , KNUT SCHMIDT-NIELSEN, RAZI DMI’EL, AND MICHAEL FEDAK. E$ect of hyperthermia on heat balance during running in the African hunting dog. Am. J. Physiol. , 220(3): 823-827. 1971 . -The tricolored Cape hunting dog (Lycaon pi&s) is a doglike African carnivore. It hunts in packs and tirelessly runs down its prey. In experiments at 26 C, the running hunting dog had a higher rectal temperature than the domestic dog and lost a smaller percentage of its heat production by respiratory evaporation. For example, at 15 km hr-l and 26 C the hunting dog’s rectal temperature was 41.2 C =t 0.05 and it lost 25.1% of= 0.5 of its heat production by respiratory evaporation; the corresponding figures for the domestic dog were 39.2 C rt 0.03 and 49.7% h 3.0. At rest, however, the hunting dog, like the domestic dog, increased respiratory evaporation and maintained a nearly constant rectal temperature at high air temperatures (up to 41 C). We designed experiments to measure the combined effect of 20 min running plus 40 min recovery on heat production and avenues of heat loss. In the hunting dog, even at 41 C, 407, of the additional heat generated by the run was lost without evaporation. The hunting dog’s low evaporation while running might increase the distance it can pursue its prey.
A clear human footprint in the coral reefs of the Caribbean

The recent degradation of coral reefs worldwide is increasingly well documented, yet the underlying causes remain debated. In this study, we used a large-scale database on the status of coral reef communities in the Caribbean and analysed it in combination with a comprehensive set of socioeconomic and environmental databases to decouple confounding factors and identify the drivers of change in coral reef communities. Our results indicated that human activities related to agricultural land use, coastal development, overfishing and climate change had created independent and overwhelming responses in fishes, corals and macroalgae. While the effective implementation of marine protected areas (MPAs) increased the biomass of fish populations, coral reef builders and macroalgae followed patterns of change independent of MPAs. However, we also found significant ecological links among all these groups of organisms suggesting that the long-term stability of coral reefs as a whole requires a holistic and regional approach to the control of human-related stressors in addition to the improvement and establishment of new MPAs.
Evolution and the Social Psychology of Leadership: The Mismatch Hypothesis

An evolutionary perspective on leadership assumes that leadership consists of a constellation of adaptations for solving different coordination problems in human ancestral environments, most notably pertaining to group movement, social cohesion, and intergroup relations. Our evolved leadership psychology influences the way we think about and respond to modern leadership, which creates the potential for a mismatch between leadership requirements in modern versus ancestral environments. This chapter provides some evidence for this mismatch hypothesis and notes some implications for leadership theory and practice.
Application of Histogram of Oriented Gradient in Person Detection from Aerial Images

With the steady increase in the frequency of occurrences and intensity of natural calamities in recent years, the use of technology for disaster prevention and mitigation is becoming more prominent. Aerial surveillance is one way of monitoring the progression of events in disaster-stricken areas, one important aspect of which is conducting a search for survivors who are in immediate need of rescue and relief. Computer vision algorithms can be used to aid in the detection, recognition, and tracking of humans in aerial videos recorded using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In this paper, Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) is used for the human detection algorithm. This technique uses feature descriptors that generalize objects under different conditions (i.e. perspective, pose and illumination), in order to make the classification task easier. A Support Vector Machine (SVM) is employed for the image classification task. The developed system's performance is presented using confusion matrix, recall, precision, and F-score metrics.
Cross-linguistic differences in narration in Dutch and Flemish four year old children with a typical language development.

Narration is becoming an important method to evaluate child language development. It requires complex language abilities and language use can be evaluated in a more or less natural context. The Dutch adaptation of the Renfrew Language Scales was used to examine cross-linguistic differences in Flemish and Dutch four year old children, matched on age, sex and social economic status. Differences were found on two variables concerning the pragmatics of story retelling and on the semantic-lexical aspect, more specific on GAP-verbs. Further research is suggested to examine both the semantic-lexical and semantic-grammatical aspect.
Transformation-derived Neisseria gonorrhoeae plasmids with altered structure and function

Plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid from Neisseria gonorrhoeae containing a 7.1-kilobase (kb) (4.7-megadalton) penicillinase (Pcr) plasmid transformed homogenic gonococci to penicillinase production at a low frequency. About 25% of the penicillinase-producing gonococcal transformants contained Pcr plasmids which were either larger or smaller than the 7.1 kb donor plasmid; these Pcr plasmids varied in size from 3.45 to 42 kb. Some of these altered plasmids differed from the donor plasmid in stability or in frequency of mobilization by a 36-kb (24-megadalton) conjugative plasmid. A restriction endonuclease cleavage map of the 7.1-kilobase Pcr plasmid and several of the smaller deleted plasmids was constructed. The most common size of altered Pcr plasmid was 5.1 kb (3.4 megadaltons). A Pcr plasmid isolated from a gonococcus in London, England, was identical with these 5.1-kb transformant plasmids in both size and restriction endonuclease cleavage profiles, suggesting that the 5.1-kb Pcr plasmid could have arisen from a 7.1-kb Pcr plasmid by a transformation-associated deletion in nature.
Traffic Flow Forecast Survey

Short-term traffic flow forecasting is an important aspect of the ITS as traffic predication can alleviate congestion, which causes drivers to incur a longer traveling time and economical loses. In addition, traffic congestion increases the pollution and the fuel usage. Thus, it is one of the severe problems in Metropolitan areas. Further, in tunnels the forecasting may help scheduling the ventilation fans. This way, the ventilation cost might be decreased while the air quality increased. Additional aspect of traffic prediction is that it may enable the drivers to plan their departure time and traveling path, as they posses the predictive information. In this paper, we survey the different techniques used for traffic forecasting, the input data for these techniques, the output provided by them, as well as some general insights.
Managing inflammatory bowel disease in adolescent patients

Increasing numbers of adolescents are being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, the two main subtypes of inflammatory bowel disease. These young people face many short- and long-term challenges; one or more medical therapies may be required indefinitely; their disease may have great impact, in terms of their schooling and social activities. However, the management of adolescents with one of these incurable conditions needs to encompass more than just medical therapies. Growth, pubertal development, schooling, transition, adherence, and psychological well-being are all important aspects. A multidisciplinary team setting, catering to these components of care, is required to ensure optimal outcomes in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease.
Cognitive behaviour therapy for anxiety in children with asthma.

AIM This article describes a study that aimed to investigate the effect of nurse-delivered behaviour therapy on anxiety levels and quality of life in children with asthma and coexistent anxiety. METHOD A prospective cohort pilot study in which ten children, aged between seven and ten years, with asthma and diagnosed with health-related anxiety took part. Data were collected over a two-year period, cognitive behaviour therapy sessions were provided, and asthma, anxiety and quality of life scores were measured. FINDINGS The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services-devised, respiratory nurse-delivered, cognitive behaviour therapy programme was associated with an increase in quality of life for children with asthma and a decrease in anxiety levels and hyperventilation scores. CONCLUSION All nursing staff need to be aware of the detrimental effects of anxiety on asthma control, so that early symptoms of anxiety can be identified and addressed quickly.
From Brilliant Baby to Child Placed at Risk: The Perilous Path of African American Boys in Early Childhood Education

Abstract:The preschool and early elementary years play a major role in transforming young African American boys from "brilliant babies" into "children placed at risk". A preschool to prison pipeline now exists that is becoming increasingly apparent. It runs from preschool settings through elementary and middle school, into the high schools from which young African American men continue to drop out in staggering numbers, and ultimately, into federal and state prisons. A number of critical factors affect the status of African American boys in early childhood education. They include quality of preschool setting; teacher beliefs, expectations, and behavior; acquisition of early literacy and school readiness skills; and curriculum quality and relevance. In order to address these issues and the broader context of early childhood education for African American boys, a wide range of recommendations are made for consideration by communities and policymakers.
Laplacian Spectrum and Protein-Protein Interaction Networks

From the spectral plot of the (normalized) graph Laplacian, the essential qualitative properties of a network can be simultaneously deduced. Given a class of empirical networks, reconstruction schemes for elucidating the evolutionary dynamics leading to those particular data can then be developed. This method is exemplified for protein-protein interaction networks. Traces of their evolutionary history of duplication and divergence processes are identified. In particular, we can identify typical specific features that robustly distinguish protein-protein interaction networks from other classes of networks, in spite of possible statistical fluctuations of the underlying data.