Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Concepts and Misconceptions about the Polygenic Additive Model Applied to Disease

It is nearly one hundred years, since R.A. Fisher published his now famous paper that started the field of quantitative genetics. That paper reconciled Mendelian genetics (as exemplified by Mendel's peas) and the biometrical approach to quantitative traits (as exemplified by the correlation and regression approaches from Galton and Pearson), by showing that a simple model of many genes of small effects, each following Mendel's laws of segregation and inheritance, plus environmental variation could account for the observed resemblance between relatives. In this review, we discuss a number of concepts and misconceptions about the assumptions and limitations of polygenic models of common diseases in human populations.
The Interactions of P-Glycoprotein with Antimalarial Drugs, Including Substrate Affinity, Inhibition and Regulation

The combination of passive drug permeability, affinity for uptake and efflux transporters as well as gastrointestinal metabolism defines net drug absorption. Efflux mechanisms are often overlooked when examining the absorption phase of drug bioavailability. Knowing the affinity of antimalarials for efflux transporters such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp) may assist in the determination of drug absorption and pharmacokinetic drug interactions during oral absorption in drug combination therapies. Concurrent administration of P-gp inhibitors and P-gp substrate drugs may also result in alterations in the bioavailability of some antimalarials. In-vitro Caco-2 cell monolayers were used here as a model for potential drug absorption related problems and P-gp mediated transport of drugs. Artemisone had the highest permeability at around 50 x 10−6 cm/sec, followed by amodiaquine around 20 x 10−6 cm/sec; both mefloquine and artesunate were around 10 x 10−6 cm/sec. Methylene blue was between 2 and 6 x 10−6 cm/sec depending on the direction of transport. This 3 fold difference was able to be halved by use of P-gp inhibition. MRP inhibition also assisted the consolidation of the methylene blue transport. Mefloquine was shown to be a P-gp inhibitor affecting our P-gp substrate, Rhodamine 123, although none of the other drugs impacted upon rhodamine123 transport rates. In conclusion, mefloquine is a P-gp inhibitor and methylene blue is a partial substrate; methylene blue may have increased absorption if co-administered with such P-gp inhibitors. An upregulation of P-gp was observed when artemisone and dihydroartemisinin were co-incubated with mefloquine and amodiaquine.
Use of cognitive aids and other assistive technology by individuals with multiple sclerosis

Purpose. To investigate the use of assistive technology (AT), unmet needs for AT, and examine correlates of use of memory aids and cognitive strategies among individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). Method. A cross-sectional study of 1,063 community dwelling adults with MS in Washington State. A self-report survey assessed use of AT as well as depression, fatigue, mobility, and other demographic and disease related variables. Results. Some 70% of respondents reported using memory strategies and 50.7% reported using electronic memory aids. The strongest correlate of use of electronic memory aids was endorsement of difficulties thinking (OR: 2.09, p < 0.001) though younger age, higher education, and report of higher fatigue were also significant. Fatigue (OR: 1.27, p < 0.001) and depression (OR: 0.89, p < 0.001) were highly associated with use of memory strategies. Subjects who were older, unemployed, more depressed, and have more mobility disability were less likely to use memory strategies. Conculsions. Use of AT for memory is widespread and further research should be conducted on efficacy of AT. Many individuals who might be presumed to need AT for memory most (older, less educated, more disability) are least likely to report use. Healthcare providers are urged to ask about memory AT and make appropriate referrals.
Small power load disaggregation in office buildings based on electrical signature classification

This paper assesses the application of Non-Intrusive Appliance Load Monitoring (NIALM) methods for disaggregating electricity consumption in office buildings. The focus of the research is on small power equipment, which can represent up to 50% of the electricity use in buildings fitted with high efficiency building services. Research in this field has led to numerous algorithms being developed for use with NIALM systems, however, due to the highly variable nature of electrical appliances no suitable common characteristic has been identified for disaggregation. This paper presents an analysis of a set of electrical signatures based on transient and current-voltage phase shift during steady-state conditions for which subsets of the signatures are considered for identifying different small power loads. The ability of this approach to disaggregate appliance loads is demonstrated with the idea of applying disaggregation techniques during energy audits of office buildings.
Auditory (Re)Habilitation for Adolescents with Hearing Loss: Theory and Practice

Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction to Auditory (Re)habilitation for Adolescents Chapter 2. Developmental Considerations Fundamental to Understanding Adolescents with Hearing Loss Chapter 3. Theories, Philosophies, and Perspectives Underpinning Auditory (Re)habilitation for Adolescents Chapter 4. Auditory (Re)habilitation Framework and Pedagogical Practices Chapter 5. Audiological Management for Adolescents with Hearing Loss Chapter 6. Adolescent Spoken Communication Chapter 7. Communication Assessment in Adolescent Auditory (Re)habilitation Chapter 8. Literacy and Auditory (Re)habilitation Chapter 9. Auditory-based Communication Skills Chapter 10. Adolescents with Hearing Loss: Enhancing Learning Potential via Personal Resources Chapter 11. Strategies For Facilitating Social Communication of Adolescents With Hearing Loss Chapter 12. Computer-Mediated Communication and Its Importance to Adolescents with Hearing Loss Chapter 13. Stakeholder Characteristics Influencing the Auditory (Re)habilitation Process For Adolescents With Hearing Loss Chapter 14. Theory To Practice In Auditory (Re)habilitation For Adolescents: Two Case Studies References
Learning Styles of First-Semester Baccalaureate Nursing Students: A Literature Review

Learning style is the characteristic method of gaining knowledge, skill, or attitudes through study or experiences (James, D’Armore, & Thomas, 2011). Learning style addresses the approach to learning and the manner that individual learns best. Learning style refers to the distinctive method of individuals interacting with the environment. Nurses function in a challenging environment where they are required to utilize various methods of learning to process, integrate, and dissimilate information when appropriate. It is important for first-semester nursing students to recognize their learning style and be able to recall knowledge gained during the clinical and classroom environment.
A Meta‐Analysis of Carbon Nanotube Pulmonary Toxicity Studies—How Physical Dimensions and Impurities Affect the Toxicity of Carbon Nanotubes

This article presents a regression‐tree‐based meta‐analysis of rodent pulmonary toxicity studies of uncoated, nonfunctionalized carbon nanotube (CNT) exposure. The resulting analysis provides quantitative estimates of the contribution of CNT attributes (impurities, physical dimensions, and aggregation) to pulmonary toxicity indicators in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid: neutrophil and macrophage count, and lactate dehydrogenase and total protein concentrations. The method employs classification and regression tree (CART) models, techniques that are relatively insensitive to data defects that impair other types of regression analysis: high dimensionality, nonlinearity, correlated variables, and significant quantities of missing values. Three types of analysis are presented: the RT, the random forest (RF), and a random‐forest‐based dose‐response model. The RT shows the best single model supported by all the data and typically contains a small number of variables. The RF shows how much variance reduction is associated with every variable in the data set. The dose‐response model is used to isolate the effects of CNT attributes from the CNT dose, showing the shift in the dose‐response caused by the attribute across the measured range of CNT doses. It was found that the CNT attributes that contribute the most to pulmonary toxicity were metallic impurities (cobalt significantly increased observed toxicity, while other impurities had mixed effects), CNT length (negatively correlated with most toxicity indicators), CNT diameter (significantly positively associated with toxicity), and aggregate size (negatively correlated with cell damage indicators and positively correlated with immune response indicators). Increasing CNT N2‐BET‐specific surface area decreased toxicity indicators.
Comparison of Chest Computed Tomography and Chest X-Ray in the Diagnosis of Rib Fractures in Patients with Blunt Chest Trauma

Chest traumas constitute 10-15% of all traumas and are the cause of death in 25% of all fatalities due to trauma (1, 2). Blunt chest trauma accounts for 81% of thoracic injuries in children and 78% in the elderly, and minor blunt chest trauma is the most common form of blunt chest trauma (3). Motor vehicle accidents is the most predominant reason for (4), and rib fracures are the most common (25%) injuries resulting from, blunt chest trauma (5). Minor blunt chest trauma comprises more than half of the rib fractures without any complications such as pneumothorax, hemothorax or pulmonary contusion, and is often treated on an outpatient basis (3). The findings in blunt chest trauma have a wide range, including multiple rib fractures with flail chest and associated underlying visceral injury (3). Rib fractures may cause severe pain with resultant limitation of deep breathing, atelectasis and pneumonitis, and unless detected and properly treated, it may become a life threatening lesion, especially in elderly patients (3). Thus, an appropriate radiological examination and diagnosis of a rib fracture is of clinical significance in chest trauma (3). Abstract Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare computed tomography and chest X-ray in the diagnosis of rib fractures in patients with blunt chest trauma. Materials and Methods: A total of 83 patients with blunt chest trauma who were treated in three hospitals between May 2010 and June 2011 and who had received both chest computed tomography scan and chest X-ray as part of their initial assessment were included in the study. Results: The number of rib fractures was 2.15±2.12 on chest X-ray, however, on chest computed tomography the number was 3.75±2.35. There was a significant difference between the chest X-ray and the computed tomography (p<0.001). Conclusion: Chest computed tomography is the best and a significantly more sensitive radiological method than chest X-ray in the detection of rib fracture, and it should be routinely used in the initial assessment of chest trauma. However, chest X-ray can be a suitable method in follow-up period. (JAEM 2012; 11: 171-5)
Appearance of L90I and N205S Mutations in Effector Domain of NS1 Gene of pdm (09) H1N1 Virus from India during 2009–2013

In the present study, full length sequencing of NS gene was done in 91 samples which were obtained from patients over the time period of five years from 2009 to 2013. The sequencing of NS gene was undertaken in order to determine the changes/mutations taking place in the NS gene of A H1N1 pdm (09) since its emergence in 2009. Analysis has shown that the majority of samples belong to New York (G1 type) strain with valine at position 123. Effector domain of NS1 protein displays the appearance of three mutations L90I, I123V, and N205S in almost all the samples from 2010 onwards. Phylogenetic analysis of available NS1 sequences from India has grouped all the sequences into four clusters with mean genetic distance ranging from 12% to 24% between the clusters. Variability in length of NS1 protein was seen in sequences from these clusters, 230-amino-acid-residue NS1 for all strains from year 2007 to 2008 and for 21 strains from year 2009 and 219-residue products for 37 strains from year 2009 and all strains from year 2010 to 2013. Mutations like K62R, K131Q, L147R, and A202P were observed for the first time in NS1 protein and their function remains to be determined.
Sensor network algorithms and applications

A sensor network is a collection of nodes with processing, communication and sensing capabilities deployed in an area of interest to perform a monitoring task. There has now been about a decade of very active research in the area of sensor networks, with significant accomplishments made in terms of both designing novel algorithms and building exciting new sensing applications. This Theme Issue provides a broad sampling of the central challenges and the contributions that have been made towards addressing these challenges in the field, and illustrates the pervasive and central role of sensor networks in monitoring human activities and the environment.
An image blur estimation scheme for severe out of focus images while scanning linear barcodes

In recent years, charge coupled device are used for scanning linear barcode. The main drawback of CCD is, it does not have the potential to handle the out-of-focus images. In this project, low resolution images with severe out-of-focus blur is resolved in spatial domain. This work is based on dynamic template matching scheme which make use of directed graphical model in spatial domain. The directed graphical model is used to determine the relationship between state variable from blurred waveform at specific blur level and observation sequence. A varying program based inference algorithm is used to recover the optimal state sequence and hence the system works in real-time.
Improving Self-Organizing Information Maps as Navigational Tools: A Semantic Approach

Purpose – The goal of the research is to explore whether the use of higher‐level semantic features can help us to build better self‐organising map (SOM) representation as measured from a human‐centred perspective. The authors also explore an automatic evaluation method that utilises human expert knowledge encapsulated in the structure of traditional textbooks to determine map representation quality.Design/methodology/approach – Two types of document representations involving semantic features have been explored – i.e. using only one individual semantic feature, and mixing a semantic feature with keywords. Experiments were conducted to investigate the impact of semantic representation quality on the map. The experiments were performed on data collections from a single book corpus and a multiple book corpus.Findings – Combining keywords with certain semantic features achieves significant improvement of representation quality over the keywords‐only approach in a relatively homogeneous single book corpus. Cha.
NoC Based Virtualized Accelerators for Cloud Computing

Hardware accelerators (HwAcc) provide good performance in computation intensive applications. Integrating hardware accelerators in a cloud environment is the optimal way to improve the quality of service. However, mapping all possible application statically into the reconfigurable fabric of the FPGA is rather impractical and prohibitively expensive in terms of resource and power consumption. This problem can be alleviated via time multiplexing the access to the underlying hardware resources by designing dynamically reconfigurable accelerators in the cloud. Two cloud service: Reconfigurable IPs as a Service (RIPaaS) and Reconfigurable Region as a Service (RRaaS) are considered in this paper. Similarly, the connection and communication between the accelerators and the reconfigurable control will not be efficient without the use of Network-on-Chip (NoC). In order to address these issues, we propose a NoC based virtualized accelerators for cloud computing. Reconfigurable accelerators communicate their status and exchange data through the routers connected to them. A Hypervisor is used as an intermediate level between the physical reconfigurable hardware and application layer to manage the FPGA resources. A 2×2-mesh NoC based reconfigurable accelerators for image analysis and matrix computation are implemented and tested showing a promising result for more scalable systems in cloud computing.
MizBee: A Multiscale Synteny Browser

In the field of comparative genomics, scientists seek to answer questions about evolution and genomic function by comparing the genomes of species to find regions of shared sequences. Conserve dsyntenic blocks are an important biological data abstraction for indicating regions of shared sequences. The goal of this work is to show multiple types of relationships at multiple scales in a way that is visually comprehensible in accordance with known perceptual principles. We present a task analysis for this domain where the fundamental questions asked by biologists can be understood by a characterization of relationships into the four types of proximity/location, size, orientation, and similarity/strength, and the four scales of genome, chromosome, block, and genomic feature. We also propose a new taxonomy of the design space for visually encoding conservation data. We present MizBee, a multiscale synteny browser with the unique property of providing interactive side-by-side views of the data across the range of scales supporting exploration of all of these relationship types. We conclude with case studies from two biologists who used MizBee to augment their previous automatic analysis work flow, providing anecdotal evidence about the efficacy of the system for the visualization of syntenic data, the analysis of conservation relationships, and the communication of scientific insights.
Regulation of Matrix Assembly through Rigidity-dependent Fibronectin Conformational Changes*

Background: Cell behavior is affected by changes in extracellular matrix stiffness during disease progression. Results: Fibronectin matrix assembly is inhibited on soft substrates but can be restored by manipulating cell-fibronectin binding or by partially unfolding substrate fibronectin. Conclusion: On soft substrates, cells are deficient in integrin-fibronectin bond strength and therefore cannot induce fibronectin conformational changes required for assembly. Significance: Rigidity-dependent changes in fibronectin conformation provide a novel mechanism for mechanotransduction. Cells sense and respond to the mechanical properties of their microenvironment. We investigated whether these properties affect the ability of cells to assemble a fibrillar fibronectin (FN) matrix. Analysis of matrix assembled by cells grown on FN-coated polyacrylamide gels of varying stiffnesses showed that rigid substrates stimulate FN matrix assembly and activation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) compared with the level of assembly and FAK signaling on softer substrates. Stimulating integrins with Mn2+ treatment increased FN assembly on softer gels, suggesting that integrin binding is deficient on soft substrates. Guanidine hydrochloride-induced extension of the substrate-bound FN rescued assembly on soft substrates to a degree similar to that of Mn2+ treatment and increased activation of FAK along with the initiation of assembly at FN matrix assembly sites. In contrast, increasing actin-mediated cell contractility did not rescue FN matrix assembly on soft substrates. Thus, rigidity-dependent FN matrix assembly is determined by extracellular events, namely the engagement of FN by cells and the induction of FN conformational changes. Extensibility of FN in response to substrate stiffness may serve as a mechanosensing mechanism whereby cells use pericellular FN to probe the stiffness of their environment.
Effects of Healthcare Environmental Design on Medical Outcomes

or challenging images, there is mounting evidence that such content or styles in pictures can increase stress and worsen other outcomes in many patients. (Ulrich, 1991, 1992, 1999). Caution should be exercised before displaying ambiguous, challenging art in patient spaces or high-stress waiting and treatment areas (Ulrich, 1999, 2000bb). A growing but limited amount of research on gardens in healthcare facilities (Marcus and Barnes, 1999) suggests that gardens will tend to alleviate stress effectively if they contain green or relatively verdant foliage, flowers, non-turbulent water, park-like qualities (grassy spaces with scattered trees), and compatible nature sound (birds, water, breezes) (Ulrich, 1999). Apart from providing soothing gardens that can be easily accessed by family, patients, and staff, examples of other design approaches for fostering access to nature include providing: nature window views for patient rooms, waiting areas, and staff spaces; an aquarium in a high-stress waiting area; an atrium with greenery and a fountain; and calming nature art mounted where bedridden patients can readily see it (Ulrich 1992, 2000b). Advantages and costs of evidencebased supportive design One way to summarize the emerging field of evidence-based design is by addressing the question: What advantages can healthcare administrators, medical professionals, designers, and the general public reasonably expect to achieve by including supportive design criteria in the objectives for a new facility? The list of advantages below was identified on the basis of a broad yet reasonably cautious assessment of the available scientific research (Ulrich, 2000a, 2000b). The advantages are stated in terms of improved outcomes that seem realistically attainable assuming that a facility is well designed given current research knowledge (Ulrich, 2000b). • Reduced stress/anxiety for patients and
Analysis of CMOS differential input to increase ICMR of folded cascode operational amplifier

This paper presents a CMOS latched comparator designed for low power analog to digital conversion application. The circuit consists of a rail-to-rail operational transconductance amplifier followed by a dynamic latch to achieve a fast, high resolution performance at low power. The regenerative latch efficiently reduces the number of gain stage needed and consumes negligibly small static power. The amplifier acts as a preamplifier providing sufficient gain to overcome dynamic offset of dynamic latch. Simulation across process and temperature variation shows the circuit has reliable operation as low as 2.7V in a standard CMOS 0. 18μm mixed signal process. The circuit consumes maximum of 111μA typical current. Average delay is 2.25ns and easily operates at 10MHz.
UC-1, a new bacteriophage that uses the tonA polypeptide as its receptor

We characterized UC-1, a previously undescribed Escherichia coli phage. UC-1 was observed to have an icosahedral head and a long, flexible, noncontractile tail: its genome consisted of linear double-stranded DNA having a molecular weight of 34 X 10(6). The product of the tonA gene served as at least part of the receptor for UC-1. E. coli tonA strains neither plated nor adsorbed UC-1 well, tonA mutants were selected on the basis of UC-1 resistance, and ferrichrome, a siderophore which utilizes TonA as its receptor, blocked infection. Restriction analyses, DNA-DNA hybridization experiments, and guanine-plus-cytosine determinations demonstrated that UC-1 DNA was unrelated to that of other phages (T1, T5, and phi 80) which employ TonA as a receptor. Also, mutants specifically resistant to UC-1 were isolated. UC-1 may be useful as a probe for investigating TonA, which functions as a receptor for more ligands than any other membrane protein. Study of the resistant mutants may improve our understanding of how phage DNA penetrates the cell envelope.