Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interferon Gamma Receptor 1 Gene Polymorphism in Patients with Tuberculosis in China

The aim of the study was to examine the influence of the CA microsatellite polymorphisms of interferon gamma receptor 1 on patients with tuberculosis (TB) in the south‐eastern Chinese population. Genomic DNA from patients with TB (n = 155) and ethnically matched controls (n = 89) were genotyped by short tandem repeat‐PCR method. The allele frequency of (CA)25 was 1.70‐fold higher among patients than that among controls (95% CI 1.07–2.70) (P = 0.025). Compared with the non‐(CA)25/non‐(CA)25 reference group, the risk to TB of the carriers of (CA)25/(CA)25 genotypes were 6.46‐fold (95% CI 1.40–29.74) (P = 0.0017) higher. On the contrary, the allele frequency of (CA)26 was 0.29‐fold lower in patients than that in controls (95% CI 0.11–0.76) (P = 0.012). Genotypes with (CA)26 allele were at 0.35‐fold (95% CI 0.13–0.98) (P = 0.045) lower to the risk of TB, compared with that of the non‐(CA)26/non‐(CA)26 in the reference group. The above results indicated that the allele (CA)25 appeared to be susceptible to TB, while the allele (CA)26 to be protective towards TB. Our data also suggest that the CA repeat was a highly polymorphic marker and could be used for linkage and association analysis.
An outbreak of infantile gastroenteritis due to E. coli 0142

Twelve cases of gastroenteritis caused by Escherichia coli 0142K86H6 are described. Ten of these cases were clearly involved in an outbreak of cross infection. The other two cases yielded interesting information on infection with E. coli. 0142. Five cases, two being fatal, required repeated intravenous infusion, and one further infant required parenteral replacement therapy on a single occasion only. Cross infection occurred at the primary site—a ward partitioned into cubicles—despite full barrier nursing techniques. Infection spread also to two other wards, and resulted from transfer of latently infected cases. Illness in several infants was protracted and debilitating because of the relapsing nature of the infection. The pathology of the two fatalities is reported briefly.
Increase in Incidence of Colorectal Cancer Among Young Men and Women in the United States

The recent, accelerated decline in colorectal cancer incidence rates has largely been attributed to an increase in screening rates among adults 50 years and older. We used data from 13 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registries to report on colorectal cancer incidence trends from 1992 through 2005 among adults under age 50 years, for whom screening is not recommended for persons at average risk, by sex, race/ethnicity, age, stage at diagnosis, and anatomic subsite. Overall, incidence rates of colorectal cancer per 100,000 young individuals (ages 20-49 years) increased 1.5% per year in men and 1.6% per year in women from 1992 to 2005. Among non-Hispanic Whites, rates increased for both men and women in each 10-year age grouping (20-29, 30-39, and 40-49 years) and for every stage of diagnosis. The increase in incidence among non-Hispanic Whites was predominantly driven by rectal cancer, for which there was an average increase of 3.5% per year in men and 2.9% per year in women over the 13-year study interval. In contrast to the overall decreasing trend in colorectal cancer incidence in the United States, rates are increasing among men and women under age 50 years. Further studies are necessary to elucidate causes for this trend and identify potential prevention and early detection strategies. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(6):1695–8)
Genetic alterations of IL-1 receptor antagonist in mice affect plasma cholesterol level and foam cell lesion size

Inflammatory cytokines have been linked to atherosclerosis by using cell culture models and acute inflammation in animals. The goal of this study was to examine lipoprotein levels and early atherosclerosis in chronic animal models of altered IL-1 physiology by using mice with deficient or excess IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra). IL-1ra knockout C57BL/6J mice fed a cholesterol/cholate diet for 3 mo had a 3-fold decrease in non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and a trend toward increased foam-cell lesion area compared to wild-type littermate controls. IL-1ra transgenic/low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) knockout mice fed a cholesterol-saturated fat diet for 10 wk showed a 40% increase in non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, consistent with the IL-1ra knockout data, although there was no change in lesion size. When these IL1-ra overexpressing transgenic mice on the LDLR knockout background were fed a high-cholesterol/high-fat diet containing cholate, however, a statistically significant 40% decrease in lesion area was observed compared to LDLR knockout mice lacking the transgene. By immunohistochemistry, IL-1ra was present in C57BL/6J and LDLR knockout aortae, absent in IL-1ra knockout aortae, and present at high levels in LDLR knockout/IL-1ra transgene aortae. In summary, IL-1ra tended to increase plasma lipoprotein levels and, when fed a cholate-containing diet, decrease foam-cell lesion size. These data demonstrate that in selected models of murine atherosclerosis, chronic IL-1ra depletion or overexpression has potentially important effects on lipoprotein metabolism and foam-cell lesion development.
Tensor-Rank and Lower Bounds for Arithmetic Formulas

We show that any explicit example for a tensor <i>A</i> : [<i>n</i>]<sup>r</sup> → <i>F</i> with tensor-rank ≥ <i>n</i><sup>rċ(1−o(1))</sup>, where <i>r</i> = <i>r</i>(<i>n</i>) ≤ log <i>n</i>/log log <i>n</i> is super-constant, implies an explicit super-polynomial lower bound for the size of general arithmetic formulas over F. This shows that strong enough lower bounds for the size of arithmetic formulas of depth 3 imply super-polynomial lower bounds for the size of general arithmetic formulas. One component of our proof is a new approach for homogenization and multilinearization of arithmetic formulas, that gives the following results: We show that for any <i>n</i>-variate homogeneous polynomial <i>f</i> of degree <i>r</i>, if there exists a (fanin-2) formula of size <i>s</i> and depth <i>d</i> for <i>f</i> then there exists a homogeneous formula of size <i>O</i>((<i>d</i>+<i>r</i>+1 r) ċ <i>s</i>) for <i>f</i>. In particular, for any <i>r</i> ≤ <i>O</i>(log <i>n</i>), if there exists a polynomial size formula for <i>f</i> then there exists a polynomial size homogeneous formula for <i>f</i>. This refutes a conjecture of Nisan and Wigderson [1996] and shows that super-polynomial lower bounds for homogeneous formulas for polynomials of small degree imply super-polynomial lower bounds for general formulas. We show that for any <i>n</i>-variate set-multilinear polynomial <i>f</i> of degree <i>r</i>, if there exists a (fanin-2) formula of size <i>s</i> and depth <i>d</i> for <i>f</i>, then there exists a set-multilinear formula of size <i>O</i>((<i>d</i> + 2)<sup>r</sup> ċ <i>s</i>) for <i>f</i>. In particular, for any <i>r</i> ≤ <i>O</i>(log <i>n</i>/log log <i>n</i>), if there exists a polynomial size formula for <i>f</i> then there exists a polynomial size set-multilinear formula for <i>f</i>. This shows that super-polynomial lower bounds for set-multilinear formulas for polynomials of small degree imply super-polynomial lower bounds for general formulas.
Network performance model for TCP/IP based cluster computing

A new communication model, called the PlogPT model, is proposed to predict communication performance in a commodity cluster where computing nodes communicate using TCP/IP. This model extends the PlogP model in order to consider the variation of bandwidth brought about by bottleneck links in network switches and the delay of packet retransmission by TCP/IP handling. Network switches are modeled as binary tree connections. To demonstrate the PlogPT modelpsilas modeling capability, the execution time of two all-to-all communication algorithms are estimated and compared with the actual execution time and that of the PlogP model. The PlogPT model predicts the execution time of those two algorithms more precisely than the existing model.
Fatty Acid Oxidation and Insulin Action

Type 2 diabetes is a disease of metabolic dysregulation involving impaired uptake and utilization of glucose, altered lipid metabolism, accumulation of various lipid species in the circulation and in tissues, and disruption of metabolic signaling pathways that regulate insulin secretion from pancreatic islet β-cells. Normal fuel homeostasis involves reciprocal regulation of glucose and lipid catabolism. Fundamental contributions to our understanding of the interplay between these two key groups of metabolic fuels came from the work of Randle (1), who demonstrated that increased rates of fatty acid oxidation in the fasted state lead to suppression of glucose oxidation and activation of gluconeogenesis, thereby preserving blood glucose for use by the brain and central nervous system. Conversely, the transition from the fasted to the fed state involves a coordinated shift from fatty acid to glucose oxidation. A key element in the latter switch, as elegantly demonstrated by the work of McGarry (2), is the glucose-induced rise in malonyl CoA, which inhibits fatty acid oxidation via direct binding to and allosteric inhibition of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 (CPT-1), the rate limiting enzyme for transport of cytosolic long-chain acyl CoA molecules into the mitochondria for oxidation. The multifaceted roles of malonyl CoA as a key glucose-derived metabolite, an allosteric inhibitor of fatty acid oxidation, and a biosynthetic precursor for fatty acid synthesis has led to a series of recent studies investigating the effects of manipulating this metabolite in various tissues. A bonus of such experiments is the opportunity to assess the physiological impact of enhanced or diminished fat oxidation in different cell types and in whole animals. In this issue of Diabetes …
Brain Network Theory Can Predict Whether Neuropsychological Outcomes Will Differ from Clinical Expectations

Objective Theories of brain-network organization based on neuroimaging data have burgeoned in recent years, but the predictive power of such theories for cognition and behavior has only rarely been examined. Here, predictions from clinical neuropsychologists about the cognitive profiles of patients with focal brain lesions were used to evaluate a brain-network theory (Warren et al., 2014). Method Neuropsychologists made predictions regarding the neuropsychological profiles of a neurological patient sample (N = 30) based on lesion location. The neuropsychologists then rated the congruence of their predictions with observed neuropsychological outcomes, in regard to the “severity” of neuropsychological deficits and the “focality” of neuropsychological deficits. Based on the network theory, two types of lesion locations were identified: “target” locations (putative hubs in a brain-wide network) and “control” locations (hypothesized to play limited roles in network function). Results We found that patients with lesions of target locations (N = 19) had deficits of greater than expected severity that were more widespread than expected, whereas patients with lesions of control locations (N = 11) showed milder, circumscribed deficits that were more congruent with expectations. Conclusions The findings for the target brain locations suggest that prevailing views of brain–behavior relationships may be sharpened and refined by integrating recently proposed network-oriented perspectives.
Intestinal concentrations of free and encapsulated dietary medium-chain fatty acids and effects on gastric microbial ecology and bacterial metabolic products in the digestive tract of piglets

The influence of low dietary levels of free and encapsulated medium-chain fatty acids on their concentrations in the digesta, the gastric microbial ecology and bacterial metabolic products in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) in weaned piglets was studied. Starting after weaning, 36 piglets were fed a diet without (Control) or with medium-chain fatty acids uncoated (MCFA) or coated with vegetable fat and lecithin (MCFAc). After 4 weeks, the animals were killed, and digesta from the stomach and different sections of the GIT were collected. The concentrations of caprylic (p < 0.001) and capric (p = 0.001) acids were higher in the stomachs of piglets fed diets MCFA and MCFAc compared to the Control group. The concentrations dropped rapidly along the GIT, regardless of encapsulation, and tended to be higher in groups MCFA and MCFAc compared to the Control. Compared to the Control group, ingestion of diet MCFAc led to an increase in the number of eubacteria (p = 0.001), enterobacteriaceae (p < 0.001), clostridial clusters I (p = 0.001) and IV (p = 0.019), Lactobacillus johnsonii (p < 0.001) and Lactobacillus amylovorus (p = 0.001) in gastric contents. A similar trend was seen with diet MCFA. Relative concentrations of short-chain fatty acids were characterised by lower propionic acid levels (p = 0.045), numerically (p < 0.1) higher acetic, lower n-butyric and i-valeric acid concentrations in the small intestine. Lactic acid concentrations were not significantly changed in the GIT, but ammonia concentrations increased (p < 0.001) in the distal small intestine in the MCFA and MCFAc groups. In conclusion, medium-chain fatty acids affected microbial ecology parameters in the gastric contents and bacterial metabolites in the small intestine. At low dietary levels, medium-chain fatty acids may be regarded as modulators of the gastric microbiota in weaned piglets.
Modeling and estimating uncertainty in parameter estimation

In this paper we discuss questions related to reliability or variability of estimated parameters in deterministic least-squares problems. By viewing the parameters for the inverse problem as realizations for a random variable we are able to use standard results from probability theory to formulate a tractable probabilistic framework to treat this uncertainty. We discuss method stability and approximate problems and are able to show convergence of solutions of the approximate problems to those of the original problem. The efficacy of our approach is demonstrated in numerical examples involving estimation of constant parameters in differential equations.
Real-time neural block control for a doubly fed induction generator

This paper show the implementation of a control scheme based on the discrete-time block control technique using sliding modes, for a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) connected to an infinity bus. In order to obtain the generator mathematical model, it is proposed to use a recurrent high order neural network (RHONN) identifier, which is trained with an extended Kalman filter (EKF) algorithm. Its performance is illustrated via a real-time implementation in a low power DFIG prototype.
Conceptualizing and measuring intergenerational ambivalence in later life.

OBJECTIVES In this paper, we explored the association between direct and indirect measures of intergenerational ambivalence, making comparisons by generational position and child's gender; furthermore, we examined whether these measures were similarly strong predictors of depressive symptoms and positive affect. METHODS Data for the analysis were collected from 254 mothers aged 72-82 years and a randomly selected adult child as part of a larger study of within-family differences in parent-adult child relations. RESULTS The findings provided evidence that direct and indirect measures were strongly associated among mothers but only weakly associated among adult children, particularly sons. The two measures were similarly strong predictors of mothers', but not children's, depressive symptoms and positive affect. The most pronounced differences in congruence between direct and indirect measures were found when comparing mothers and sons. DISCUSSION The analyses presented here suggest that direct and indirect measures of intergenerational ambivalence may not be tapping the same underlying construct, particularly in the case of adult children and especially sons. Furthermore, direct measures may have an advantage over indirect measures when including sons in the study design. We conclude that direct and indirect measures cannot be used interchangeably across the combination of generation and gender.
Towards a social media analytics platform: event detection and user profiling for twitter

Microblog data differs significantly from the traditional text data with respect to a variety of dimensions. Microblog data contains short documents, SMS kind of language, and is full of code mixing. Though a lot of it is mere social babble, it also contains fresh news coming from human sensors at a humungous rate. Given such interesting characteristics, the world wide web community has witnessed a large number of research tasks for microblogging platforms recently. Event detection on Twitter is one of the most popular such tasks with a large number of applications. The proposed tutorial on social analytics for Twitter will contain three parts. In the first part, we will discuss research efforts towards detection of events from Twitter using both the tweet content as well as other external sources. We will also discuss various applications for which event detection mechanisms have been put to use. Merely detecting events is not enough. Applications require that the detector must be able to provide a good description of the event as well. In the second part, we will focus on describing events using the best phrase, event type, event timespan, and credibility. In the third part, we will discuss user profiling for Twitter with a special focus on user location prediction. We will conclude with a summary and thoughts on future directions.
A flexible ultraviolet photodetector based on single crystalline MoO3 nanosheets

Large scale two dimensional orthorhombic structured MoO3 single crystalline belts with a bandgap of 3.28 eV were prepared by substrate-free physical vapor deposition. Ultra-thin MoO3 nanosheets were exfoliated from the belt and transferred to a polyethylene terephthalate substrate. A flexible ultraviolet photodetector (UVPD) based on the single crystalline MoO3 nanosheet was fabricated, and its optoelectronic response properties were investigated in detail. The UVPD has a high responsivity of 183 mA W−1, a high on/off ratio of over two orders and a response speed below 1 s. Moreover, the flexible UVPD exhibits excellent stability and reproducibility under different mechanical deformations. The excellent operating characteristics make the UVPD a potential candidate for wearable UV meters, touch sensor panels, communication devices and UV imaging cameras.
Isocoupling: reusing kernel coupling values to predict the performance of parallel applications

Summary form only given. Kernel coupling quantifies the interaction between adjacent and chains of kernels in an application. A kernel can be a loop, procedure or file. In our previous work, we used the kernel coupling values to identify how to combine the execution times of the individual kernels that compose the application to predict the execution time of the full application. The results of this previous work using the NAS Parallel Benchmark SP demonstrated that the use of coupling values resulted in very good predictions with average errors in the range of only 1.18% in contrast to simply summing the execution times of the kernels that resulted in average errors in the range of 20.54%. The major concern with the coupling values is the fact that values are needed for each different problem size, number of processors and machine. We explore the ability to reuse coupling values. In particular, we explore the reuse in terms of the three dimensional space consisting of the following axes: number of processors, problem size and system architecture. The experimental results indicate that when considering parallel systems, with increasing number of processors and problem sizes, we found clear transitions with the coupling values resulting in the ability to reuse values. Further, reusing coupling values is feasible on classes of systems such as clusters, distributed shared memory and other distributed memory systems.
Surface effects of alumina ceramics machined with femtosecond lasers

Laser machining is now an accepted method for shaping and modifying ceramics and is rapidly replacing other methods such as grinding and etching. In fact, new innovations such as short pulsed or femtosecond lasers have drastically decreased the amount of unwanted damage associated with laser machining. However, laser machining does still alter the surface and can change the flaw populations and the strength. In order to investigate this effect, the flaw populations and strengths of both unaltered and femtosecond laser machined surfaces were compared. Four point bend tests and a Weibull analysis were used to determine the strength and variability of each sample. From the Weibull analysis, a negligible increase in the characteristic strength was observed. However, the Weibull modulus consistently increased, thus indicating less varied values of strength for the surface treated samples relative to the unmachined samples. Fractography confirmed these findings by indicating more consistent flaw shapes on the m.
Very low energy microscopy in commercial SEMs

Minimum necessary adaptations are described that are sufficient for obtaining very low energy electron micrographs (VLEEMs) from commercially available routine scanning electron micrographs (SEMs) with the electrons accelerated to an energy of the order of tens of keV. A cathode lens inserted into the specimen chamber enables one to decelerate electrons in front of the specimen surface to a desired low landing energy, which can be freely varied even down to zero. When a potential slightly more negative than the accelerating voltage is applied, a scanning mirror electron microscopy mode can be effected. The achievable point resolution at very low energies proves to be not too dependent on the objective lens parameters, so that the physical limit of aberrations of the homogeneous field of the cathode lens is nearly attainable. The detection efficiency for the standard Everhart-Thornley secondary electron detector is discussed, and results for the routine Tesla BS 340 SEM are presented.
Hypothetical protein CT398 (CdsZ) interacts with σ54 (RpoN)‐holoenzyme and the type III secretion export apparatus in Chlamydia trachomatis

A significant challenge to bacteriology is the relatively large proportion of proteins that lack sufficient sequence similarity to support functional annotation (i.e. hypothetical proteins). The aim of this study was to apply protein structural homology to gain insights into a candidate protein of unknown function (CT398) within the medically important, obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. C. trachomatis is a major human pathogen responsible for numerous infections throughout the world that can lead to blindness and infertility. A 2.12 Å crystal structure of hypothetical protein CT398 was determined that was comprised of N‐terminal coiled‐coil and C‐terminal Zn‐ribbon domains. The structure of CT398 displayed a high degree of structural similarity to FlgZ (Flagellar‐associated zinc‐ribbon domain protein) from Helicobacter pylori. This observation directed analyses of candidate protein partners of CT398, revealing interactions with two paralogous type III secretion system (T3SS) ATPase‐regulators (CdsL and FliH) and the alternative sigma factor RpoN (σ54). Furthermore, genetic introduction of a conditional expression, affinity‐tagged construct into C. trachomatis enabled the purification of a CT398‐RpoN‐holoenzyme complex, suggesting a potential role for CT398 in modulating transcriptional activity during infection. The interactions reported here, in tandem with previous FlgZ studies in H. pylori, indicate that CT398 functions as a regulator of several key areas of chlamydial biology throughout the developmental cycle. Accordingly, we propose that CT398 be named CdsZ (Contact‐dependent secretion‐associated zinc‐ribbon domain protein).