Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Paternal exposure to pesticides and congenital malformations.

OBJECTIVES A case-referent study with 261 matched pairs was carried out in 8 hospitals of Comunidad Valenciana, Spain, to assess the relation between occupational exposure to pesticides and selected congenital malformations. In this paper, the results concerning paternal exposure are presented. METHODS The parents of the case patients and the referents were interviewed to collect information about exposure to pesticides and potential confounding variables. Detailed information on direct involvement in the handling of pesticides was collected for the interviewees involved in agricultural activities during a previously defined period in relation to conception and pregnancy. Exposure data were reviewed by 2 experts who assigned ordinal scores for the probability and intensity of exposure to pesticide classes and active ingredients. RESULTS The dichotomous analysis of exposure (absent, present) yielded some increased risks, although not statistically significant, for aliphatic hydrocarbons [adjusted odds ratio (adjusted OR) 2.05, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.62-6.80], inorganic compounds (adjusted OR 2.02, 95% CI 0.53-7.72), and glufosinate (adjusted OR 2.45, 95% CI 0.78-7.70), and a significant association for pyridil derivatives (adjusted OR 2.77, 95% CI 1.19-6.44). The analysis based on the experts' scores (2 levels of exposure) showed some consistent associations for these compounds. CONCLUSIONS This research indicates a possible risk of congenital malformations for paternal exposure to some pesticides, notably, pyridils, aliphatic hydrocarbons, inorganic compounds, and glufosinate. It did not find an increased risk for paternal exposure to pesticides in the classes of organophosphates, carbamates, organochlorines, chloroalkylthio fungicides and organosulfurs. These findings warrant further investigation.
Glass formation in a lattice model for living polymers.

We study glass formation in a lattice model for living, semiflexible polymers. Our model exhibits logarithmically slow relaxation out of quenched, metastable configurations, a frustration-driven glass to crystal transition, and an exotic lamellar glass. We propose a Monte Carlo analog of scanning calorimetry and use it to study these glasses. We discuss the relevance of our work to experiments and to some theories of the glass transition in model systems.
Synergistic effects of mixing sulfone and ionic liquid as safe electrolytes for lithium sulfur batteries.

A strategy of mixing both an ionic liquid and sulfone is reported to give synergistic effects of reducing viscosity, increasing ionic conductivity, reducing polysulfide dissolution, and improving safety. The mixtures of ionic liquids and sulfones also show distinctly different physicochemical properties, including thermal properties and crystallization behavior. By using these electrolytes, lithium sulfur batteries assembled with lithium and mesoporous carbon composites show a reversible specific capacity of 1265 mAh g(-1) (second cycle) by using 40 % 1.0 M lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) in N-methyl-N-propylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide with 60 % 1.0 M LiTFSI in methylisopropylsulfone in the first cycle. This capacity is slightly lower than that obtained in pure 1.0 M LiTFSI as the sulfone electrolyte; however, it exhibits excellent cycling stability and remains as high as 655 mAh g(-1) even after 50 cycles. This strategy provides a method to alleviate polysulfide dissolution and redox shuttle phenomena, at the same time, with improved ionic conductivity.
Üniversitelerin Kalkınmadaki Rolü: Babaeski Meslek Yüksekokulu Örneği

Genel anlamda kalkinma, bir ulusun hedeflenen gelisme surecini gerceklestirebilmesi icin ulusal ekonominin, toplumsal ve siyasal yapinin bir butun olarak duzenlenmesidir. Tarihsel surecte kalkinma icin izlenen surecin en belirleyici ozelliklerinden biri az gelismis ulkelerin beseri kaynaklarinin sikintilarinin giderilmesine ve refah seviyelerinin yukseltilmesine yonelik mevcut potansiyelin degerlendirilmesi olmustur. Beseri sermaye hem teknolojik gelismeyi saglayan, hem de bu gelismeyi uretim, verimlilik dolayisiyla gelir artisina donusturen unsur oldugundan ekonomik kalkinmanin en onemli dinamigi olarak kabul edilmektedir. 20. islevlerinin yaninda, toplumsal ve ekonomik yeni roller de yuklemistir. Universiteler genel olarak bilimsel bilgi ureten ve yayan kuruluslar olmalarinin yaninda kalkinmanin da temel dinamiklerinden biri olarak kabul edilmislerdir. Meslek yuksekokullari da bu surec icerisinde onceleri elitist olan universitelerin ve universite ogreniminin daha genis kitlelere ulasmasini saglayan araclar olarak gorulmektedir. Bolgesel kalkinmanin dinamigi olarak kabul edilen universiteler artan beklentilere bagli olarak surekli degisim ve gelisim sureci icerisindedir. Universiteler tarafindan yerel ekonomiye ve ulke kalkinmasina saglanan katkilar, universite sayisinin hizla arttigi yerlerde oldugu gibi ulkemizde de ( universiteler tarafindan ) saglanmasi beklenen temel katkilardir. Bu calismanin amaci kalkinma surecinde, meslek yuksekokullarinin rolunu ortaya koymaktir
American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists 2017

Abigail E. Dove, Payal H. Marathe, Helen X. Gao, and Kelly L. Close are of Close Concerns (http://www.closeconcerns.com), a healthcare information company focused exclusively on diabetes and obesity care. Close Concerns publishes Closer Look, a periodical that brings together news and insights in these areas. Each month, the Journal of Diabetes includes this News feature, in which Dove, Marathe, Gao, and Close review the latest developments relevant to researchers and clinicians.
Bass Track Selection in MIDI Files and Multimodal Implications to Melody

: Standard MIDI ﬁles consist of a number of tracks containing information that can be considered as a symbolic representation of music. Usually each track represents an instrument or voice in a music piece. The goal for this work is to identify the track that contains the bass line. This information is very relevant for a number of tasks like rhythm analysis or harmonic segmentation, among others. It is not easy since a bass line can be performed by very different kinds of instruments. We have approached this problem by using statistical features from the symbolic representation of music and a random forest classiﬁer. The ﬁrst experiment was to classify a track as bass or non-bass. Then we have tried to select the correct bass track in a multi-track MIDI ﬁle. Eventually, we have studied the issue of how different sources of information can help in this latter task. In particular, we have analyzed the interactions between bass and melody information. Yielded results were very accurate and melody track identiﬁcation was signiﬁcantly improved when using this kind of multimodal help.
Fusion of Escherichia coli lacZ to the cytochrome c gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Hybrid genes between the Escherichia coli lacZ gene and the iso-1-cytochrome c (CYC1) gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were constructed by recombination in vitro. Each of the hybrid genes encodes a chimeric protein with a cytochrome c moiety at the amino terminus and an active beta-galactosidase (beta-D-galactoside galactohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.23) moiety at the carboxy terminus. When these hybrids are introduced into S. cerevisiae on plasmid vectors, they direct synthesis of beta-galactosidase. beta-Galactosidase levels directed by one such plasmid display the pattern of regulation normally seen for cytochrome c (i.e., a reduction of synthesis in cells grown in glucose). This plasmid contains one codon of CYC1 fused to lacZ, and the fused gene is preceded by the 1100 nucleotides that lie upstream from CYC1. An analysis of deletions in the upstream DNA suggests that sequences required for efficient transcription initiation of CYC1 lie within the DNA segment 250--700 base pairs upstream from the start of the CYC1 coding sequence. This region is at least 130 base pairs upstream from the "Hogness box" sequence that precedes the CYC1 coding sequence.
Preoperative scar hyperalgesia is associated with post‐operative pain in women undergoing a repeat Caesarean delivery

Over 1.4 million Caesarean deliveries are performed annually in the United States, out of which 30% are elective repeat procedures. Post‐operative hyperalgesia is associated with an increased risk for persistent post‐surgical pain; however, there are no data on whether residual scar hyperalgesia (SHA) from a previous Caesarean delivery (CD) persists until the next delivery. We hypothesized that residual SHA may be present in a substantial proportion of women and is associated with increased post‐operative pain.
Miniature oscillators based on optical whispering gallery mode resonators

We discuss two approaches for producing spectrally pure high frequency microwave signals using miniature photonic devices. One way is based on the hyper parametric oscillations in a solid state optical resonator possessing a cubic optical nonlinearity; the other - on the microresonator based opto-electronic oscillator.We show that the optically pumped nonlinear resonator produces optical sidebands result in generation of high frequency spectrally pure microwaves when demodulated on a fast photodiode. We also show that an opto-electronic oscillator containing a narrowband whispering gallery mode electro-optical modulator possesses low phase noise even if the optical loop of the oscillator does not contain an optical fiber delay line. We demonstrate Ka band oscillator experimentally.
A microphysical parameterization for convective clouds in the ECHAM5 climate model: Single-column model results evaluated at the Oklahoma Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program site

[1] The microphysical parameterization used for stratiform clouds in the ECHAM5 climate model is now extended for simulations of convective clouds. The performance of the newly implemented parameterization in simulating midlatitude continental summertime convective cloud systems is evaluated in this paper at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Oklahoma using the single-column mode (SCM) of ECHAM5. Three ARM intensive operating periods (IOPs), including two summer ones and a late spring one, are used for the evaluation. Results show that the SCM simulated cloud cover fraction agrees well with observations. The SCM also captures most of the precipitation events. With the new microphysical parameterization, the model performs at least as well as with the original model setup in simulating almost all the fields examined in this study. Significant improvement is shown in the simulations of outgoing longwave radiation and net incoming solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere revealing the feasibility of the new parameterization. Sensitivity studies show that a 10-fold increase in cloud droplet number concentration significantly increases the simulated liquid water content. More interestingly, this increase in cloud droplet number leads to an increase in the total amount of precipitation in two of the three IOPs.
Capacity estimation of a comapct pattern diversity MIMO antenna

Theoretical channel capacity estimation of a compact multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna has been presented. The proposed MIMO antenna possesses excellent pattern diversity due to the orthogonal radiation maxima between the two radiators. Theoretical capacity of the proposed MIMO antenna in a Rayleigh fading channel has been calculated in MATLAB from practical scattering parameter measurements of the fabricated antenna.
Control of adeno-associated virus type 2 cap gene expression: relative influence of helper virus, terminal repeats, and Rep proteins

Adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV-2) gene expression is tightly controlled by functions of the helper virus as well as by the products of its own viral rep gene. Double-immunofluorescence studies of Rep and VP protein expression in cells coinfected with AAV-2 and adenovirus type 2 showed that a large proportion of these cells expressed Rep78 and Rep52 but no capsid proteins. The percentage of Rep78/Rep52- and capsid protein-positive cells was strongly influenced by the relative ratio of AAV-2 to adenovirus type 2. In contrast, nearly all cells positive for Rep68/Rep40 were also positive for capsid protein expression. Examination of p40 promoter transactivation by individual Rep proteins in the presence of adenovirus, however, showed that both Rep78 and Rep68 efficiently stimulated p40 mRNA accumulation and capsid protein expression. This strong transactivation was reliant upon the presence of terminal repeats and correlated with template amplification. In replication-deficient expression constructs, transactivation was observed only with Rep68 and was dependent on the linear Rep binding site within the left terminal repeat which was detected in the presence of high adenovirus concentrations. In the absence of any terminal repeat sequences, Rep68 expression again led to a minor transactivation of capsid protein expression which was detectable only at low adenovirus concentrations. This low level of transactivation of capsid protein expression by Rep proteins in the absence of terminal repeats resulted in a lower efficiency of capsid assembly. The data show a dominant influence of adenovirus type 2 functions on AAV-2 gene expression, a requirement for terminal repeats for strong transactivation of the p40 promoter by Rep proteins, and differential influences of Rep78 and Rep68 on AAV-2 promoters. Implications for the production of recombinant AAV-2 vectors are discussed.
Renal Effects Of Efonidipine Hydrochloride, A New Calcium Antagonist, In Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats With Glomerular Injury

1. To obtain some insight into the renoprotective mechanism of the new calcium antagonist efonidipine hydrochloride, we evaluated the acute effects of efonidipine on proteinuria, glomerular haemodynamics and the tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) mechanism in anaesthetized 24–25‐week‐old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) with glomerular injury.
The Effectiveness and Feasibility of routine IV medication administration systems and processes to prevent medication incidents in acute care settings: a systematic review

Review Objectives: To investigate what systems and processes, for routine IV medication administration in acute care settings, are most effective and feasible in preventing medication incidents. Criteria for considering studies for this review: Types of participants: Acute care nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, medical and surgical staff in acute care settings, patients in acute care settings. Types of interventions: Administration systems IT systems Human systems Administration processes Documentation/recording Drug types Prescribing Single nurse administration Multiple nurse administration Level/role of nurse Patient involvement Types of outcome measures: Medication incident rate Satisfaction with system and process Practicality/applicability of system and process
COMPARISON OF FIBER DIAMETER DISTRIBUTIONS DEDUCED BY MODELING COMPOUND ACTION POTENTIALS RECORDED BY EXTRACELLULAR AND SUCTION TECHNIQUES

In this study, the extracellular and suction techniques, used widely to record compound action potentials (CAP), were compared in respect to their ability to deduce fiber diameter distribution (FDD). Fiber diameter distribution derived by applying the deconvolution model to CAP depends not only on the modeling but also on the recording techniques. The FDDs determined by these two techniques were compared with that predicted by histological means. In our model study, a waveform for single fiber action potential (SFAP) was defined as f(t) = Asin(t/ ‰ 01) · exp( t/ ‰ 02) where the parameters ‰ 1 and ‰ 2 were taken from the literature and given for the SFAP of each fiber diameter between d = 3-22 w m, and A was chosen to normalize the amplitude of SFAP to 1. We substituted the measured CAPs into our model and calculated the histograms related with the fiber diameter distribution of the sciatic nerve trunk. We saw that the FDD as predicted from the CAP, recorded by the extracellular techniques, coincides better with that of the histologically determined FDD than that predicted by suction techniques.
A modular direct converter for transformerless rail interties

Transformerless rail interties are of high interest for the interconnection of the European 15kV/16.7Hz rail supply with the 50Hz industrial grid due to the direct connection to the rail supply without a 16.7Hz transformer. The MMLC is an emerging topology which offers high blocking voltages, high modularity and very high power quality. Two transformerless interties are presented and compared which are the “indirect MMLC” and the “direct MMLC”. The design for a 15MVA intertie and the calculation of the currents and voltages are the presented in detail. The cell capacitances are determined from the internal branch currents and voltages. Semiconductors loss calculations have been carried out in detail. The comparison of the indirect and the direct MML shows clear advantages of the direct MMLC.
Long-term effects of rotational atherectomy in patients with heavy calcified coronary artery lesions: a single-centre experience

Background: Rotational atherectomy (RA) plays a significant role in contemporary percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), especially in the era of population aging and expansion of PCI indications. Aim: The aim of the current study was to evaluate the rate of periprocedural complications, the long-term effectiveness of RA, and potential factors influencing the incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and major cardiac as well as cerebrovascular events (MACCE) after RA. Methods: The study included 60 consecutive patients who underwent effective RA between January 2002 and May 2016. Patients were followed-up for 2,616 days for MACE and MACCE. Results: The mean age of the enrolled patients was 72.1 years, and 78.3% were males. The mean follow-up period lasted 835.3 ± 611.8 days. Periprocedural complications occurred in 12 (20.0%) patients. In the follow-up of up to 2,616 days, 64% of patients were free of MACCE and 68% were free of MACE. Univariate Cox analysis revealed that MACCE occurred more often in patients from the high-risk group based on the EuroSCORE II and those with longer lengths of the implanted stent(s) after the RA procedure. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, both high-risk category and mean stent(s) length were identified as independent predictors of MACCE. EuroSCORE II was confirmed to be the only independent predictor of MACE after RA. Conclusions: Rotational atherectomy is a safe and sufficient technique for the endovascular treatment of heavily calcified coronary artery lesions. Individuals at a higher risk as assessed by the EuroSCORE II before RA and those with longer stent(s) implanted after RA are predisposed to MACCE in the follow-up.
Eccentric Loading, Shock-Wave Treatment, or a Wait- and-See Policy for Tendinopathy of the Main Body of Tendo Achillis

Background Few randomized controlled trials compare different methods of management in chronic tendinopathy of the main body of tendo Achillis. Purpose To compare the effectiveness of 3 management strategies—group 1, eccentric loading; group 2, repetitive low-energy shock-wave therapy (SWT); and group 3, wait and see—in patients with chronic tendinopathy of the main body of tendo Achillis. Study Design Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1. Methods Seventy-five patients with a chronic recalcitrant (>6 months) noninsertional Achilles tendinopathy were enrolled in a randomized controlled study. All patients had received unsuccessful management for >3 months, including at least (1) peritendinous local injections, (2) nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and (3) physiotherapy. A computerized random-number generator was used to draw up an allocation schedule. Analysis was on intention-to-treat basis. Results At 4 months from baseline, the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment (VISA)-A score increased in all groups, from 51 to 76 points in group 1 (eccentric loading), from 50 to 70 points in group 2 (repetitive low-energy SWT), and from 48 to 55 points in group 3 (wait and see). Pain rating decreased in all groups, from 7 to 4 points in group 1, from 7 to 4 points in group 2, and from 8 to 6 points in group 3. Fifteen of 25 patients in group 1 (60%), 13 of 25 patients in group 2 (52%), and 6 of 25 patients in Group 3 (24%) reported a Likert scale of 1 or 2 points (“completely recovered” or “much improved”). For all outcome measures, groups 1 and 2 did not differ significantly. For all outcome measures, groups 1 and 2 showed significantly better results than group 3. Conclusion At 4-month follow-up, eccentric loading and low-energy SWT showed comparable results. The wait- and-see strategy was ineffective for the management of chronic recalcitrant tendinopathy of the main body of the Achilles tendon.
Piggyback Lenses in Keratoconus

Intolerance to rigid contact lenses in keratoconus may occur as a result of epithelial pathology or a suboptimal fitting. The application of a soft lens as a bandage makes it possible to tolerate a rigid lens over it. This study gives the results of 40 eyes in 26 patients who were consecutively fitted with a new aspheric combination lens. Thirty-five eyes (87.5%) showed no discomfort, acceptable wearing time, and visual acuity. Four of these eyes showed an improvement of the corneal condition, eliminating the need for a further piggyback wearing system. Failures were found in five eyes (12.5%), which were caused by giant papillary conjunctivitis (two eyes), severe keratoconus (one eye), difficulty in lens handling and lack of motivation (two eyes). The successful use of an aspheric piggyback combination lens in rigid lensintolerant keratoconus may preclude early surgical therapy.
STATISTICAL METHODS FOR DETECTING THE ONSET OF INFLUENZA OUTBREAKS : A REVIEW

• This paper reviews different approaches for determining the epidemic period from influenza surveillance data. In the first approach, the process of differenced incidence rates is modeled either with a first-order autoregressive process or with a Gaussian white noise process depending on whether the system is in an epidemic or a nonepidemic phase. The second approach allows us to directly model the process of the observed cases via a Bayesian hierarchical Poisson model with Gaussian incidence rates whose parameters are modeled differently, depending on the epidemic phase of the system. In both cases transitions between both phases are modeled with a hidden Markov switching model over the epidemic state. Bayesian inference is carried out and both models provide the probability of being in epidemic state at any given moment. A comparison of both methodologies with previous approaches in terms of sensitivity, specificity and timeliness is also performed. Finally, we also review a web-based client application which implements the first methodology for obtaining the posterior probability of being in an epidemic phase.
MetaBAT: Metagenome Binning based on Abundance and Tetranucleotide frequence

Grouping large fragments assembled from shotgun metagenomic sequences to deconvolute complex microbial communities, or metagenome binning, enables the study of individual organisms and their interactions. Here we developed automated metagenome binning software, called MetaBAT, which integrates empirical probabilistic distances of genome abundance and tetranucleotide frequency. On synthetic datasets MetaBAT on average achieves 98percent precision and 90percent recall at the strain level with 281 near complete unique genomes. Applying MetaBAT to a human gut microbiome data set we recovered 176 genome bins with 92percent precision and 80percent recall. Further analyses suggest MetaBAT is able to recover genome fragments missed in reference genomes up to 19percent, while 53 genome bins are novel. In summary, we believe MetaBAT is a powerful tool to facilitate comprehensive understanding of complex microbial communities.