Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polygenic Overlap Between Kidney Function and Large Artery Atherosclerotic Stroke

Background and Purpose— Epidemiological studies show strong associations between kidney dysfunction and risk of ischemic stroke (IS), the mechanisms of which are incompletely understood. We investigated whether these associations may reflect shared heritability because of a common polygenic basis and whether this differed for IS subtypes. Methods— Polygenic models were derived using genome-wide association studies meta-analysis results for 3 kidney traits: estimated glomerular filtration rate using serum creatinine (eGFRcrea: n=73 998), eGFR using cystatin C (eGFRcys: n=22 937), and urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (n=31 580). For each, single nucleotide polymorphisms passing 10 P value thresholds were used to form profile scores in 4561 IS cases and 7094 controls from the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia. Scores were tested for association with IS and its 3 aetiological subtypes: large artery atherosclerosis, cardioembolism, and small vessel disease. Results— Polygenic scores correlating with higher eGFRcrea were associated with reduced risk of large artery atherosclerosis, with 5 scores reaching P<0.05 (peak P=0.004) and all showing the epidemiologically expected direction of effect. A similar pattern was observed for polygenic scores reflecting higher urinary albumin to creatinine ratio, of which 3 associated with large artery atherosclerosis (peak P=0.01) and all showed the expected directional association. One urinary albumin to creatinine ratio–based score also associated with small vessel disease (P=0.03). The global pattern of results was unlikely to have occurred by chance (P=0.02). Conclusions— This study suggests possible polygenic correlation between renal dysfunction and IS. The shared genetic components may be specific to stroke subtypes, particularly large artery atherosclerotic stroke. Further study of the genetic relationships between these disorders seems merited.
Integrating Java 8 Streams with The Real-Time Specification for Java

The paper investigates the use of the Java 8 stream processing facilities within the context of the Real-Time Specification for Java. Java 8 stream processing uses the Java 7 Fork/Join framework. We demonstrate that it is not possible, with the current framework, to supply a pool of real-time worker threads with which to perform stream evaluation. We show what changes would need to be made to the framework for it to be used in a real-time context. Our evaluation shows that without such changes, use of the current Java 8 stream processing faculties by real-time threads can result in significant priority inversions. We also consider what hooks the RTSJ would need to allow real-time Fork/Join pools to be generated without changes to the source code.
THE GEOCHEMISTRY OF BASALTIC MATERIALS AND AUSTRALIA ASSOCIATED SOILS OF SOUTH-EASTERN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Summary Four profiles in the Mt. Burr forest area of south-eastern South Australia have been examined in detail. Two profiles were podzolized deep aeolian sands overlying buried soils which had developed on basaltic tuff, a third profile was developed on olivine basalt while the fourth was a composite profile developed on basaltic tuff and containing a buried profile formed on an earlier ash shower. The main factors operative in influencing the geochemical distribution of the elements in these profiles were the translocation of elements by plant growth and their relative mobility on weathering, association with the clay fraction, and restricted drainage. In the aeolian sands Ca, Mn, and V with lesser amounts of K, P, Mo, Cu, Mg, Zr, and Al, were the elements which generally accumulated in the surface horizon as the result of plant action. In the surface soils of volcanic origin Ca, Mn, P, and Mg with lesser amounts of Cu and K accumulated. The highest concentrations in the clay fraction were, in general, for the aeolian sands Al, Fe, Ga, V, and Ni, and in the basaltic soils Na, Al, Ga with, to a lesser extent, K, V, P, and Ni. In the soils developed on basaltic material the elements most readily lost from the weathering zones during soil formation were in decreasing order of magnitude, Ca, P > Na, Mg, Co, Zn > Cu, Mn > Ni. K, V, Ga, Mo, Fe, Al, Ti, and Zr were in general much less mobile and tended t remain incorporated in the weathering products and concentrated in the upper weathering zones. P, Zn, and Cu and to a lesser extent Mn, Fe, Ni, Co, and Ca were found to be more readily lost on weathering under conditions of restricted drainage. The elements most concentrated in the hardpan of a ground-water podzol were, in decreasing order of magnitude, Fe > Al ≫ V, Zn, Ni > P, K, Mo > Na, Mn, Cu, and Ti. When the more strongly cemented nodules were separated for analysis it was found that relative to the matrix Fe > Al, V, and P, in that order, were most concentrated. Zn alone was lower in the nodules than the sandy matrix. Mn and Mo were most concentrated in the upper part of the hardpan, and Zn, V, Ni, Cu, Ti, and P in the lower part. Some of the mineralogical changes which have taken place during the weathering of the basaltic material have been studied by examination of sand and clay fractions of the soil and thin rock sections. In the olivine basalt, the plagioclase and, to a lesser extent, olivine have weathered most readily. The main weathering products of the soil developed on the olivine basalt were kaolin and haematite. In the tuff the first important weathering product was montmorillonite, formed by the breakdown of the volcanic glass. This montmorillonite was found to break down in the upper weathering zones of the soils formed on tuff to give kaolin and goethite.
Mapping vesicle shapes into the phase diagram: A comparison of experiment and theory

H. -G. Dobereiner, 1 E. Evans, 2 M. Kraus, 1 U. Seifert, 1 and M. Wortis 3 Max-Planck-Institut fur Kolloidund Grenzflachenforschung, Kantstrase 55, 14513 Teltow-Seehof, Germany Department of Physics, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agriculture Road, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 2A6 Physics Department, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6 ~Received 10 October 1996!
A biogenic amine and a neuropeptide act identically: tyramine signals through calcium in Drosophila tubule stellate cells

Insect osmoregulation is subject to highly sophisticated endocrine control. In Drosophila, both Drosophila kinin and tyramine act on the Malpighian (renal) tubule stellate cell to activate chloride shunt conductance, and so increase the fluid production rate. Drosophila kinin is known to act through intracellular calcium, but the mode of action of tyramine is not known. Here, we used a transgenically encoded GFP::apoaequorin translational fusion, targeted to either principal or stellate cells under GAL4/UAS control, to demonstrate that tyramine indeed acts to raise calcium in stellate, but not principal cells. Furthermore, the EC(50) tyramine concentration for half-maximal activation of the intracellular calcium signal is the same as that calculated from previously published data on tyramine-induced increase in chloride flux. In addition, tyramine signalling to calcium is markedly reduced in mutants of NorpA (a phospholipase C) and itpr, the inositol trisphosphate receptor gene, which we have previously shown to be necessary for Drosophila kinin signalling. Therefore, tyramine and Drosophila kinin signals converge on phospholipase C, and thence on intracellular calcium; and both act to increase chloride shunt conductance by signalling through itpr. To test this model, we co-applied tyramine and Drosophila kinin, and showed that the calcium signals were neither additive nor synergistic. The two signalling pathways thus represent parallel, independent mechanisms for distinct tissues (nervous and epithelial) to control the same aspect of renal function.
Proteolysis of a Negative Regulator of Innate Immunity Is Dependent on Resistance Genes in Tomato and Nicotiana benthamiana and Induced by Multiple Bacterial Effectors[W][OA]

RPM1-interacting protein 4 (RIN4), a negative regulator of the basal defense response in plants, is targeted by multiple bacterial virulence effectors. We show that RIN4 degradation is induced by the effector AvrPto from Pseudomonas syringae and that this degradation in Solanaceous plants is dependent on the resistance protein, Pto, a protein kinase, and Prf, a nucleotide binding site–leucine-rich repeat protein. Our data demonstrate overlap between two of the best-characterized pathways for recognition of pathogen virulence effectors in plants. RIN4 interacts with multiple plant signaling components and bacterial effectors in yeast and in planta. AvrPto induces an endogenous proteolytic activity in both tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and Nicotiana benthamiana that degrades RIN4 and requires the consensus site cleaved by the protease effector AvrRpt2. The interaction between AvrPto and Pto, but not the kinase activity of Pto, is required for proteolysis of RIN4. Analysis of many of the effectors comprising the secretome of P. syringae pv tomato DC3000 led to the identification of two additional sequence-unrelated effectors that can also induce degradation of RIN4. Therefore, multiple bacterial effectors besides AvrRpt2 elicit proteolysis of RIN4 in planta.
Stabilization of microtubules by tubulin-GDP-Pi subunits.

Microtubule dynamic instability has been accounted for by assuming that tubulin subunits at microtubule ends differ from the tubulin-GDP subunits that constitute the bulk of the microtubule. It has been suggested that this heterogeneity results because ends contain tubulin subunits that have not yet hydrolyzed an associated GTP molecule. Alternatively, in a recent model it was proposed that ends contain tubulin-GDP-Pi subunits from which Pi has not yet dissociated. The models differ in their predicted response to added ligands: because GDP in subunits in microtubules does not exchange with nucleotide in solution, the heterogeneity from a tubulin-GTP cap will not be eliminated by added GTP; however, the dissociability of Pi in tubulin-GDP-Pi subunits will allow a heterogeneity resulting from a tubulin-GDP-Pi cap to be eliminated by added excess Pi. Elimination of the heterogeneity is expected to be manifested by an elimination of dynamic instability behavior. Using video microscopy to study the kinetic behavior of individual microtubules under reaction conditions where dynamic instability is the dominant mechanism for microtubule length changes, we have determined the effects of 0.167 M Pi on the rate of subunit addition in the elongation phase, the rate of subunit dissociation in the rapid shortening phase, and the rates of the phase transitions from elongation to rapid shortening and from rapid shortening to growing. Since 0.167 M Pi did not decrease the subunit dissociation rate in the rapid shortening phase or the rate of the phase transition from growing to rapid shortening, our results provide no support for the hypothesis that tubulin-GDP-Pi subunits are responsible for dynamic instability behavior of microtubules. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Enhanced wound‐healing quality with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells autografting after skin injury

Adult stem cells exist in various tissues and organs and have the potential to differentiate into different cell lineages, including bone, cartilage, fat, tendon, muscle, and epithelial cells of the gastrointestinal tract. Here, we report that the in vitro expanded and purified bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) might take on phenotypes with characteristics of vascular endothelial cells (7% on day 3 and 15% on day 1) or epidermal cells (3% on day 3 and 13% on day 1) after being cultured under different lineage‐specific culture conditions. Also, in vivo grafting experiments showed that 5‐bromodeoxyuridine‐labeled MSCs could convert into the phenotypes of vascular endothelial cells (3.43, 3.46, and 2.94% on days 7, 14, and 28, respectively) in granulation tissues, sebaceous duct cells, and epidermal cells (0–1.49%) in regenerated skin, implying that these grafted MSCs might have transdifferentiated into the above three cell types. Animal autografting experiments with MSCs further confirmed that indices pertaining to wound healing quality, such as the speed of reepithelialization, the number of epidermal ridges and thickness of the regenerated epidermis, the morphology and the number and arrangement of microvasculature, fibroblasts and collagen, were much enhanced. Our results indicate that locally delivered bone marrow MSCs can enhance wound healing quality, and may generate de novo intact skin, resulting in perfect skin regeneration after full‐thickness injury.
Active infrared thermography techniques for the nondestructive testing of materials

Active infrared thermography refers to the group of methods employed to inspect the integrity of materials or systems through the use of an external energy source and an infrared detector. The external stimulus can be of many forms such as warm or cold air, heat pulses, periodic thermal waves, or mechanical oscillations, e.g. ultrasounds. The way data is captured and processed, as well as the typical applications differ according to the excitation source. This chapter presents a review of three of the most common active techniques in the field of thermography: pulsed thermography, lock-in thermography and vibrothermography.
Overconfident Consumers in the Marketplace Author :

When consumers sign contracts, expectations about future usage of the product or service matter. For instance, the value provided by car insurance depends on how likely a consumer believes she is to file a claim, the value provided by a gym membership depends on how often a consumer anticipates going to the gym, and the value provided by a cellular phone contract depends on how many gigabytes of data a consumer anticipates using. The standard modeling paradigm assumes that consumers have rational expectations. Like assuming risk neutrality, assuming rational expectations is often expedient, drastically simplifying models and eliminating the need to measure beliefs. Yet consumer beliefs often deviate substantially from rational expectations, and a large literature in psychology shows that they are often wrong in systematic ways. This has important consequences for contract design, firm profits, and consumer welfare. The term overconfidence is used broadly in the psychology literature, referring to both overoptimism and overprecision. Overconfident consumers who exhibit overoptimism overestimate their own abilities or prospects, either in absolute terms or in relative terms (the above average effect). Overoptimism can cause consumers to missforecast their average future consumption or to overestimate their ability to successfully navigate contract terms. Moreover, even appropriately optimistic individuals who are good at estimating means can still be very bad at estimating variances. Overconfident consumers who exhibit overprecision place overly narrow confidence intervals around forecasts, thereby underestimating uncertainty. Overprecision can cause consumers to underestimate the variance of future consumption. Consumer overconfidence, whether it is overoptimism or overpreicison, causes consumers to missforecast the costs and benefits of offered contracts and to make poor choices as a result. For instance, overoptimism about self-control is a leading explanation for why individuals overpay for gym memberships they do not use (DellaVigna & Malmendier, 2006). Similarly, overprecision is a leading explanation for why individuals systematically choose the wrong calling plans, racking up large overage charges for exceeding usage allowances in the process (Grubb, 2009; Grubb & Osborne, 2015). While overconfidence necessarily leads to individually suboptimal choices, this leaves open three important questions about how consumer overconfidence alters equilibrium market outcomes: (1) First, what will firms do to exploit consumer overconfidence? (2) Second, what are the equilibrium welfare consequences of consumer overconfidence for consumers, firms, and society? (3) Third, what are the implications of consumer overconfidence for public policy?
Modelling Robust Resource Allocation for Grid Computing

With the increase in size, complexity, and heterogeneity of grid computing environments, we argue that, in addition to performance metrics, the resource allocation algorithms should be designed for robustness. That is, they should have the ability to maintain performance under a wide variety of operating conditions. Although robustness is easy to define, there are no widely used metrics for this property. We introduce the concept of robustness and present an analysis technique to determine the robustness of a resource allocation. As the main contributions of the paper, we present a mathematical description of a metric for the robustness of a resource allocation with respect to a specific disturbance. Simulation results prove the efficiency and applicability of our algorithms
Revision of Piceoerpeton Meszoely (Caudata: Scapherpetontidae) and description of a new species from the late Maastrichtian and ?early Paleocene of western North America

The scapherpetontid salamander Piceoerpeton is known from the latest Cretaceous to middle Paleogene of North America and was the last surviving member of that paedomorphic family. A suite of vertebral features differentiates Piceoerpeton from other scapherpetontids, including three atlantal features that are autapomorphic within the family: odontoid process reduced to an anteriorly short, nipple-like structure; ventral surface of odontoid process lacks an articular surface for contact with skull; and articular surfaces of anterior cotyles are deeply concave. Differences in inferred body size and vertebral structure permit the recognition of two congeners: P. willwoodense, a large-bodied species (estimated snout-vent length = 100 cm) from the late Paleocene of the Western Interior and early Eocene of the Canadian Arctic and the much smaller P. naylori new species from the late Maastrichtian and ? early Paleocene of Wyoming and Montana, USA. In terms of its older age, smaller size, and less derived vertebral features, P. naylori is potentially ancestral to P. willwoodense.
[Therapeutic effect of Xincang Decoction on chronic airway inflammation in children with bronchial asthma in remission stage].

OBJECTIVE To observe the therapeutic effect of Xincang Decoction on chronic airway inflammation in children with asthma in clinical investigation. METHODS Xincang Decoction was composed of Flos Magnoliae (Xinyi) and Fructus Xanthii (Cangoerzi), the traditional Chinese herbs for expelling wind. Sixty cases of children with bronchial asthma in remission stage were randomly divided into two groups. Thirty cases in the treatment group were treated with Xincang Decoction and the others in the control group were treated with ketotifen fumarate. The therapeutic effects of the two groups were compared, and the peripheral eosinophil (EOS) count, the levels of immunoglobulin E (IgE), interleukin 4 (IL-4) and interleukin 5 (IL-5), and the pulmonary functions were observed before and three months after the treatment. RESULTS After three months treatment, the results showed that the total response rates of the treatment and the control group were 83.3% and 80.0%, respectively, without marked difference (P>0.05). The levels of EOS and IL-5 were obviously decreased after the treatment, and the levels of EOS and IL-5 of the patients in the treatment group were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). Meanwhile the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)) was improved after the treatment, and the FEV(1) of the patients in the treatment group was higher than that of the patients in the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION Xincang Decoction can decrease the levels of EOS and IL-5 and improve the pulmonary function in treating chronic airway inflammation in children with bronchial asthma in remission stage.
Outage Rate Regions for the MISO Interference Channel: Definitions and Interpretations

We consider the slow-fading two-user multiple-input singl e-output (MISO) interference channel (IC), where the receivers treat the interference as additiv e Gaussian noise. We study the rate points that can be achieved, allowing a non-zero outage probability. Th e points which meet the outage probability specification constitute a so-called outage rate region. Th ere exist several definitions of the outage rate regions for the IC, as for the broadcast and the multiple-acc ess channels. We give four definitions for the outage region of the MISO IC. The definitions differ on whe ther the rates are declared in outage jointly or individually and whether there is instantaneous or statistical channel state information (CSI) at the transmitters. For the statistical CSI scenario, we di scuss how to find the outage probabilities in closed form. We provide interpretations of the definitions a d compare the corresponding regions via analytical and numerical results. Index Terms Beamforming, interference channel, MISO, outage probabil ity, rate region
Effects of forest fires on visibility and air quality

The U.S. Clean Air Act establishes the goal of preventing future and remedying existing visibility impairment in 156 Class I areas (national parks, wilderness areas, and wildlife refuges). A key element in implementing this goal is the Regional Haze Regulation (RHR). RHR is based on relating impaired visibility, using metrics of extinction (inverse megameters and/or ‘‘deciviews’’), to concentration of ambient particulate matter (PM), especially the chemical components of particulates smaller than 2.5 µm in diameter, collectively known as PM2.5. PM2.5itself is also subject to national ambient air quality standards. Forest, rangeland, and agricultural fires, both natural and human caused emit both primary and secondary (formed in the atmosphere from gaseous organic carbon (OC) emissions) PM2.5. This chapter will review the RHR and what we know about relationships between fire emissions, their fate in the atmosphere, and their contribution to regional haze and PM2.5.
The effect of bottom topography on the speed of long extratropical planetary waves

Abstract This paper examines how slowly varying topography induces changes in all aspects of long planetary wave propagation, including phase speed and surface signature, through steering effects. The approach introduces a method for the exact solution of the vertical topographic eigenvalue problem for arbitrary realistic stratification and ray theory in the horizontal. It is shown that, for observed stratifications, first internal mode topographic waves have phase speeds between about 0.4 and twice the local flat-bottom phase speed. Increases occur on the western and equatorward sides of hills. Focusing of ray trajectories and caustics are common features of the solutions. Despite a bias between slowdown and speedup, on average there is little speedup except in high latitudes (where long-wave theory is less applicable). Calculations are performed for five main ocean basins, assuming waves are generated at the eastern coastline, using smoothed topography. These calculations confirm the above findings: the.