Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of vitamin D status on clinical pregnancy rates following in vitro fertilization.

BACKGROUND Recent studies suggest that vitamin D may play a role in human reproduction. Our goal was to investigate whether vitamin D levels are predictive of implantation and clinical pregnancy rates in infertile women following in vitro fertilization (IVF). METHODS We prospectively evaluated vitamin D status, as determined by serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25[OH]D) levels, in a cohort of 173 women undergoing IVF at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario. Serum 25(OH)D samples were collected within 1 week before oocyte retrieval. We classified patients as having sufficient (≥ 75 nmol/L) or insufficient (or deficient; hereafter referred to as "insufficient"; < 75 nmol/L) serum levels of 25(OH)D. We compared patient demographics and IVF cycle parameters between groups. The primary outcome measure was clinical pregnancy (intrauterine sac visible on ultrasound performed 4-5 weeks after embryo transfer). RESULTS Of the included women, 54.9% had insufficient 25(OH)D levels and 45.1% had sufficient levels. Women with sufficient levels had significantly higher rates of clinical pregnancy per IVF cycle started (52.5%) compared with women with insufficient levels (34.7%; p < 0.001). Implantation rates were also higher in the sufficient 25(OH)D group, but the results were not statistically significant. Multivariable logistic regression analysis (adjusted for age, body mass index and day 5 [v. day 3] embryo transfer) showed that serum 25(OH)D level may be a predictor of clinical pregnancy (adjusted odds ratio 1.01, 95% confidence interval 1.00-1.03). INTERPRETATION Our findings suggest that women with sufficient levels of vitamin D are significantly more likely to achieve clinical pregnancy following IVF. Vitamin D supplementation could provide an easy and cost-effective way of improving pregnancy rates; this merits further investigation. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, no. NCT01348594.
Valproic acid increases SMN levels in spinal muscular atrophy patient cells

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an inherited motor neuron disease caused by mutation of the telomeric copy of the survival motor neuron gene (SMN1). Although a centromeric copy of the survival motor neuron gene (SMN2) is retained in all patients with SMA, it differs from SMN1 at a critical nucleotide such that the majority of SMN2 transcripts lack exon 7 and encode an unstable, truncated protein. Here, we show that valproic acid increases levels of exon 7–containing SMN transcript and SMN protein in type I SMA patient–derived fibroblast cell lines. Valproic acid may increase SMN levels both by activating the SMN promoter and by preventing exon 7 skipping in SMN transcripts. Valproic acid and related compounds warrant further investigation as potential treatment for SMA. Ann Neurol 2003;54:647–654
Optimizing i/o-intensive transactions in highly interactive applications

The performance provided by an interactive online database system is typically measured in terms of meeting certain pre-specified Service Level Agreements (SLAs), with expected transaction latency being the most commonly used type of SLA. This form of SLA acts as a soft deadline for each transaction, and user satisfaction can be measured in terms of minimizing tardiness, that is, the deviation from SLA. This objective is further complicated for I/O-intensive transactions, where the storage system becomes the performance bottleneck. Moreover, common I/O scheduling policies employed by the Operating System with a goal of improving I/O throughput or average latency may run counter to optimizing per-transaction performance since the Operating System is typically oblivious to the application high-level SLA specifications. In this paper, we propose a new SLA-aware policy for scheduling I/O requests of database transactions. Our proposed policy synergistically combines novel deadline-aware scheduling policies for database transactions with features of Operating System scheduling policies designed for improving I/O throughput. This enables our proposed policy to dynamically adapt to workload and consistently provide the best performance.
The athlete monitoring cycle: a practical guide to interpreting and applying training monitoring data

Given the relationships among athlete workloads, injury1 and performance,2 athlete monitoring has become critical in the high-performance sporting environment. Sports medicine and science staff have a suite of monitoring tools available to track how much ‘work’ an athlete has performed, the response to that ‘work’ and whether the athlete is in a relative state of fitness or fatigue. The volume of literature, coupled with clever marketing around the ‘best approaches’ to optimising athlete performance, has resulted in practitioners having more choices than ever before. Furthermore, the range of different practices used in sport and the lack of agreement between parties emphasise the importance of having a clear rationale for athlete monitoring. The aim of this paper is to provide a practical guide to strategic planning, analysing, interpreting and applying athlete monitoring data in the sporting environment irrespective of data management software. When deciding on the athlete monitoring tools to use with your athletes, the first question one should ask is “What do I want to achieve through athlete monitoring? ” Quite commonly, the answer is to maximise the positive effects (eg, fitness, readiness and performance) and minimise the negative effects (eg, excessive fatigue, injury and illness) of training. Once practitioners know the reasons for athlete monitoring, appropriate tools can be chosen in order to answer the athlete monitoring question. For example, if practitioners wish to maximise ‘fitness’ and minimise ‘fatigue’, then appropriate monitoring tools to measure these outcomes are necessary. Measurement of fitness improvements for a Premier League football player (eg, a Yo-Yo test) …
An OpenMP Programming Toolkit for Hybrid CPU/GPU Clusters Based on Software Unified Memory

Recently, hybrid CPU/GPU cluster has drawn much attention from the researchers of high performance computing because of amazing energy efficiency and adaptable resource exploitation. However, the programming of hybrid CPU/GPU clusters is very complex because it requires users to learn new programming interfaces such as CUDA and OpenCL, and combine them with MPI and OpenMP. To address this problem, we propose a novel OpenMP toolkit called HyCOMP (Hybrid Cluster OpenMP) for hybrid CPU/GPU clusters in this paper. This toolkit is developed based on a novel page-based distributed shared memory system called SUM (software unified memory) which is aimed at emulating a virtual shared memory space over distributed CPUs and GPUs. Compared to traditional page-based DSM systems, SUM can effectively prevent GPUs from performance degradation caused by the latency of handling an enormous number of page faults coming from host-to-device memory copies. Moreover, HyCOMP can automatically achieve load balance of heterogeneous processors. Consequently, HyCOMP dramatically reduces the programming complexity of hybrid CPU/GPU clusters while simultaneously maintains the execution performance of user programs.
The Origin of Peer Relationship Difficulties in Early Childhood and their Impact on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment and Development

Introduction Peer relationships are thought to play an important role in children’s development. They offer unique opportunities for getting acquainted with the social norms and processes involved in interpersonal relationships, and for learning new social skills. They also provide contexts in which capacities for self-control may be tested and refined. Childhood peer relations are also multi-faceted: children experience peer interactions through their participation in group activities, as well as through their dyadic (i.e. one-on-one) associations with friends. These different facets of peer experiences are seen as providing age-related developmental opportunities for the construction of the self, with peer group experiences progressively gaining in importance and culminating in middle childhood, before giving way to friendships as the most central feature in late childhood and adolescence.
Curcumin Encapsulation in Submicrometer Spray-dried Chitosan/ Tween 20 Particles

Optimal curcumin delivery for medicinal applications requires a drug delivery system that both solubilizes curcumin and prevents degradation. To achieve this, curcumin has been encapsulated in submicrometer chitosan/Tween 20 particles via a benchtop spray-drying process. Spray-drying parameters have been optimized using a Taguchi statistical approach to minimize particle size and to favor spheroid particles with smooth surfaces, as evaluated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging. Nearly spherical particles with 285 ± 30 nm diameter and 1.21 axial ratio were achieved. Inclusion of curcumin in the spray-drying solution results in complete encapsulation of curcumin within the chitosan/Tween 20 particles. Release studies confirm that curcumin can be released completely from the particles over a 2 h period. ■ INTRODUCTION Optimized drug delivery systems for curcumin, a major component of turmeric extracted from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, would offer new treatment options for a variety of diseases. 1 However, despite displaying potent antioxidant, 2,3 anti-inflammatory, 4,5 antiseptic, 6 and analgesic 7 activity, the efficacy and widespread clinical use of curcumin is hampered by poor bioavailability. Although high doses of curcumin have been shown to be pharmacologically safe, oral administration of curcumin is rapidly metabolized and excreted. 8 Solubilization of curcumin in aqueous solution typically requires addition of organic solvents (e.g., methanol, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)) or alkaline conditions. Unfortunately, curcumin quickly decomposes under these conditions, with a pH-dependent half-life on the order of seconds to minutes. 9−11 The insolubility and instability of curcumin thus provide a prime opportunity for use of drug delivery agents to enhance curcumin's clinical relevance. To this effect, spray-dried chitosan particles have been chosen as a potential drug delivery vehicle to both solubilize and protect curcumin for medicinal applications. Chitosan, an amine-rich polysaccharide derived from chitin, is well-known for its ability to form biodegradable and biocompatible particulate systems for drug delivery. 12−18 Chitosan has been shown to serve as a protective agent against photolytic and hydrolytic degradation of curcumin. 19 Chitosan-based drug carriers for curcumin have also been shown to protect curcumin from degradation, increase drug uptake, and maintain therapeutic benefits. 20 The carrier used in the previous study, however, required several purification steps during production and had a tendency to aggregate in solution. Several methods are available for producing nanoparticles from chitosan, including ionic gelation with tripolyphosphate, microemulsion, emulsification solvent diffusion, polyelectrolyte complexation, and spray-drying. 12,21 Spray-drying offers the advantage of producing a dry drug-loaded particle from a …
Disruptive devices: mobile technology for conversational learning

Learners can command an increasing range of mobile technologies that have the potential to support learning anytime anywhere, but also to disrupt the carefully managed environment of the classroom. This paper outlines a theory of learning as conversation that can provide a framework for the design of mobile-networked technology for learning. It describes a prototype device based on a pen tablet computer with camera, phone and wireless LAN connection, combined with software to support learning actions, descriptions and conversations. Such devices raise both opportunities and challenges for classroom education.
Mounting a specific immune response increases energy expenditure of the subterranean rodent Ctenomys talarum (tuco-tuco): implications for intraspecific and interspecific variation in immunological traits

SUMMARY It was recently hypothesised that specific induced defences, which require substantial time and resources and are mostly beneficial against repeated infections, are more likely to be favoured in ‘slow-living-pace’ species. Therefore, understanding how different types of immune defences might vary with life history requires knowledge of the costs and benefits of defence components. Studies that have explored the energetic costs of immunity in vertebrates have done so with a focus primarily on birds and less so on mammals, particularly surface-dwelling rodents. In this study, we evaluated whether an experimental induction of the immune system with a non-pathogenic antigen elevates the energetic expenditure of a subterranean rodent: Ctenomys talarum (tuco-tucos). In both seasons studied, a significant increase in oxygen consumption was verified in immune-challenged tuco-tucos injected with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) compared with control animals. The increase in oxygen consumption 10 days after the exposure to SRBC was lower for female tuco-tucos monitored in the breeding season compared with females in the non-breeding season. Interestingly, antibody titres of female tuco-tucos did not decrease during the breeding season. Our results add new insight into the role of other factors such as basal metabolic rate or degree of parasite exposure besides ‘pace of life’ in modulating the interspecific immunological variation observed in natural populations of mammals.
A sharp lower bound of the spectral radius of simple graphs

Let G be a simple connected graph with n vertices and let p(G) be its spectral radius. The 2-degree of vertex i is denoted by ti, which is the sum of degrees of the vertices adjacent to i. Let Ni = Σj~i tj and Mi = Σj~i Nj. We find a sharp lower bound of p(G), which only contains two parameter Ni and Mi. Our result extends recent known results.
Synthesis and Gas Transport Properties of Hyperbranched Polyimide–Silica Hybrid/Composite Membranes

Hyperbranched polyimide–silica hybrids (HBPI–silica HBDs) and hyperbranched polyimide–silica composites (HBPI–silica CPTs) were prepared, and their general and gas transport properties were investigated to clarify the effect of silica sources and preparation methods. HBPI–silica HBDs and HBPI–silica CPTs were synthesized by two-step polymerization of A2 + B3 monomer system via polyamic acid as precursor, followed by hybridizing or blending silica sources. Silica components were incorporated by the sol-gel reaction with tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) or the addition of colloidal silica. In HBPI-silica HBDs, the aggregation of silica components is controlled because of the high affinity of HBPI and silica caused by the formation of covalent bonds between HBPI and silica. Consequently, HBPI-silica HBDs had good film formability, transparency, and mechanical properties compared with HBPI-silica CPTs. HBPI-silica HBD and CPT membranes prepared via the sol-gel reaction with TMOS showed specific gas permeabilities and permselectivities for CO2/CH4 separation, that is, both CO2 permeability and CO2/CH4 selectivity increased with increasing silica content. This result suggests that gas transport can occur through a molecular sieving effect of the porous silica network derived from the sol-gel reaction and/or through the narrow interfacial region between the silica networks and the organic matrix.
New Security Threats Caused by IMS-based SMS Service in 4G LTE Networks

SMS (Short Messaging Service) is a text messaging service for mobile users to exchange short text messages. It is also widely used to provide SMS-powered services (e.g., mobile banking). With the rapid deployment of all-IP 4G mobile networks, the underlying technology of SMS evolves from the legacy circuit-switched network to the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) system over packet-switched network. In this work, we study the insecurity of the IMS-based SMS. We uncover its security vulnerabilities and exploit them to devise four SMS attacks: silent SMS abuse, SMS spoofing, SMS client DoS, and SMS spamming. We further discover that those SMS threats can propagate towards SMS-powered services, thereby leading to three malicious attacks: social network account hijacking, unauthorized donation, and unauthorized subscription. Our analysis reveals that the problems stem from the loose security regulations among mobile phones, carrier networks, and SMS-powered services. We finally propose remedies to the identified security issues.
The Influence of Rotator Cuff Disease on the Results of Shoulder Arthroplasty for Primary Osteoarthritis: Results of a Multicenter Study

Background: Rotator cuff disease is uncommon in primary glenohumeral osteoarthritis. Consequently, the prognostic implications of rotator cuff disease in patients undergoing prosthetic replacement for the treatment of primary glenohumeral osteoarthritis are uncertain. The purpose of this study was to report the effects of the condition of the supraspinatus tendon and the rotator cuff musculature on the results of shoulder arthroplasty in the treatment of primary osteoarthritis.Methods: Five hundred and fifty-five shoulders in 514 patients who had an arthroplasty for the treatment of primary glenohumeral osteoarthritis as part of a multicenter study were evaluated. Forty-one shoulders had a partial-thickness tear of the supraspinatus, and forty-two had a full-thickness tear. Ninety shoulders had moderate (stage-2) fatty degeneration of the infraspinatus, and nineteen had severe (stage-3 or 4) degeneration. Eighty-four shoulders had moderate fatty degeneration of the subscapularis, and fifteen had severe degeneration. The influence of the condition of the supraspinatus tendon and the infraspinatus and subscapularis musculature on the postoperative outcome was evaluated with respect to the scores according to the system of Constant and Murley, active mobility, subjective satisfaction, radiographic result, and rate of complications.Results: The shoulders were evaluated at a mean of 43.1 months postoperatively. With the numbers available, supraspinatus tears were not found to influence the postoperative outcome with respect to the total Constant score, active mobility, subjective satisfaction, radiographic result, or rate of complications. Additionally, the treatment of these tears did not markedly influence the outcome parameters. Conversely, both shoulders with moderate fatty degeneration and those with severe degeneration of the infraspinatus were associated with poorer results than those with no degeneration with respect to the total Constant score (p < 0.0005), active external rotation (p < 0.0005), active forward flexion (p = 0.001), and subjective satisfaction (p = 0.031). Similar although less dramatic results were seen with fatty degeneration of the subscapularis.Conclusions: This study demonstrates that minimally retracted or nonretracted rotator cuff tears that are limited to the supraspinatus tendon do not appreciably affect most shoulder-specific outcome parameters in shoulder arthroplasty performed for the treatment of primary osteoarthritis. Conversely, fatty degeneration of the infraspinatus and, less importantly, subscapularis musculature adversely affects many of these parameters.
Multiparty quantum communication complexity.

Quantum entanglement cannot be used to achieve direct communication between remote parties, but it can reduce the communication needed for some problems. Let each of k parties hold some partial input data to some fixed k-variable function f. The communication complexity of f is the minimum number of classical bits required to be broadcasted for every party to know the value of f on their inputs. We construct a function G such that for the one-round communication model and three parties, G can be computed with n+1 bits of communication when the parties share prior entanglement. We then show that without entangled particles, the one-round communication complexity of G is (3/2)n + 1. Next we generalize this function to a function F. We show that if the parties share prior quantum entanglement, then the communication complexity of F is exactly k. We also show that if no entangled particles are provided, then the communication complexity of F is roughly k*log(k). These two results prove for the first time communication complexity separations better than a constant number of bits.
Cumulative Risks of Foster Care Placement by Age 18 for U.S. Children, 2000–2011

Foster care placement is among the most tragic events a child can experience because it more often than not implies that a child has experienced or is at very high risk of experiencing abuse or neglect serious enough to warrant state intervention. Yet it is unclear how many children will experience foster care placement at some point between birth and age 18. Using synthetic cohort life tables and data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), we estimated how many U.S. children were placed in foster care between birth and age 18, finding support for three conclusions. First, up to 5.91% of all U.S. children were ever placed in foster care between their birth and age 18. Second, Native American (up to 15.44%) and Black (up to 11.53%) children were at far higher risk of placement. Foster care is thus quite common in the U.S., especially for historically disadvantaged racial/ethnic groups. Third, differences in foster care placement were minimal between the sexes, indicating that the high risks of foster care placement are shared almost equally by boys and girls.