Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unexplained Deaths of Type 1 Diabetic Patients

The suggestion of an increase in the number of sudden deaths of young people with Type 1 diabetes in the UK has been investigated. It was suggested that such deaths were due to hypoglycaemia and related to the increasing use of human insulin. In total we were notified of 50 deaths of people with Type 1 diabetes under age 50 years in the UK in 1989 which our informants (relatives, physicians, and pathologists) considered sudden and unexpected. An autopsy had been done in all cases and we supplemented this with detailed clinical information from relatives and case records. Of the 50 cases we excluded five with a definite cause of death, 11 suicides or self‐poisonings, six cases of ketoacidosis, and four in which there was insufficient information about the circumstances of death to drawn any conclusions. Of the other 24 cases, two patients had been found with irreversible hypoglycaemic brain damage and died after a period of artificial ventilation. The most puzzling group were 22, aged 12–43 years, most of whom had gone to bed in apparently good health and been found dead in the morning. Nineteen of the 22 were sleeping alone at the time of death and 20 were found lying in an undisturbed bed. Most had uncomplicated diabetes and in none were anatomical lesions found at autopsy. There are major difficulties in diagnosing hypoglycaemia post‐mortem, but the timing of death and other circumstantial evidence suggests that hypoglycaemia or a hypoglycaemia‐associated event was responsible. All patients were taking human insulin at the time of death but most had been changed from animal insulin between 6 months and 2 years earlier and there was nothing to implicate the species of insulin as a factor in these deaths
APC gene methylation is inversely correlated with features of the CpG island methylator phenotype in colorectal cancer

The notion of a CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) was proposed to describe a subset of colorectal cancers (CRC) displaying frequent and concordant methylation of CpG islands located within gene promoter regions. Some workers have failed to observe associations between CIMP and specific clinicopathological features of CRC, possibly because of the choice of genes used to define this phenotype. The aim of the current study was to determine whether the aberrant methylation of 6 genes implicated in CRC development was associated with the same phenotypic features of this tumour type. The MethyLight assay was used to provide quantitative estimates of MLH1, P16, TIMP3, P14, DAPK and APC methylation levels in 199 unselected colorectal tumours. The methylation of MLH1, P16, TIMP3 and P14 was highly concordant (p < 0.0001 for each pair) but that of DAPK and APC was not. An inverse association was observed between the methylation of APC and TIMP3 (p = 0.004). Methylation of the MLH1, P16, TIMP3 and P14 genes was associated with tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (p < 0.05), microsatellite instability (p < 0.001), BRAF mutation (p < 0.0001) and elevated concentrations of the methyl group carriers tetrahydrofolate (THF) and 5,10‐methylene THF (p < 0.05). In contrast, APC methylation was associated with wildtype BRAF (p = 0.003) and with lower concentrations of methyl group carriers (p < 0.05). These findings highlight the importance of gene selection in studies that aim to characterize the biological features and clinical behaviour of CIMP+ tumours. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
TR-SDTN: Trust Based Efficient and Scalable Routing in Hostile Social DTNs

A delay tolerant network (DTN) presents a new communication model, which uses a store-carry-forward approach to deliver messages due to the nature of the network. With the development of the mobile internet, the research on DTNs becomes a hot topic. One critical issue in the DTNs with social characteristics is that there could exist selfish and malicious nodes which block important data and as a result intentionally disturb the communication. Although there are many research works which address the issue and adopt various trust models to encourage nodes to forward information, most of them have not considered the social characteristics of the mobile nodes and they have not handled the selfish behaviors and attacks in a systematic way. In view of these defects, we propose a novel solution to address the selfish and security issues in social DTNs. Based on nodes’ social characteristics, a dynamic trust model is proposed to prevent bad-mouthing and ballot stuffing attacks and the Shannon entropy function is introduced to avoid blackhole and greyhole attacks. The simulation results show that our proposed scheme can significantly improve the performance of social DTNs. And the simulation is proved to be consistent with the results from theoretical analysis.
Minimization of call congestion in telecommunication system using OFDM optimization model

Global Systems for Mobile communication (GSM) in Nigeria is currently enjoying very high patronage. This is arose due to the fact that subscribers can freely call from anywhere at any time combined with clarity of the voice enjoyed since it is on a digital technology platform [1]. As the number of subscribers continues to increase at a very high rate, there is a consequential increase in network congestion. Aftermath of this is the reduction in the quality of services delivered to customers. This paper, therefore, looked at the various causes of call congestions with special emphasis to Nigeria as well as possible solution approaches. The application of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Optical Wireless Communications technique for GSM congestion reduction in Nigeria is proposed. OFDM was suggested for adoption because of its inherent advantages such as high spectral efficiency, cross talk and intersymbol interference elimination, etc.
Associative memory framework for speech recognition: Adaptation of Hopfield network

We examine the problem of how the Hopfield net associative memory framework can be adapted for speech recognition, by first identifying specific issues in such an adaptation, such as i) the problem of representing spectral feature vector sequences in the form of time normalized time-frequency (t-f) constellations, ii) the issue of limited capacity of the network when the temporal patterns are highly correlated as in the case of such temporal speech patterns and how it can be enhanced using a principal component transform with Hebbian learning or with the Pseudo-inverse learning rule, and iii) speaker-independent word recognition performance on a large number of test speakers (up to 400) by making the unsupervised Hopfield learning / retrieval perform as a classifier. We present early results on these issues and show the basic feasibility and merits of the Hopfield network formulation for speech recognition.
Chemopreventive efficacy of curcumin and piperine during 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene-induced hamster buccal pouch carcinogenesis.

INTRODUCTION Oral carcinoma accounts for 40-50 percent of all cancers in India. Tobacco chewing, smoking and alcohol consumption are the major risk factors associated with the high incidence of oral cancer in India. Our aim was to investigate the chemopreventive potential of curcumin and piperine during 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced hamster buccal pouch carcinogenesis. METHODS Oral squamous cell carcinoma was developed in the buccal pouch of Syrian golden hamsters, by painting them with 0.5 percent DMBA in liquid paraffin, three times a week for 14 weeks. The tumour incidence, tumour volume and burden were determined in the buccal pouches. The status of phase II detoxification agents, lipid peroxidation and antioxidants were estimated by specific colorimetric methods. RESULTS We observed 100 percent tumour formation in DMBA-alone painted hamsters. Disturbances in the status of lipid peroxidation, antioxidants and phase II detoxification agents were noticed in DMBA-alone painted hamsters. Oral administration of curcumin (80 mg/kg body weight) and piperine (50 mg/kg body weight) to DMBA-painted hamsters on alternate days to DMBA painting for 14 weeks completely prevented the formation of oral carcinoma. Also, curcumin and piperine restored the status of lipid peroxidation, antioxidants and detoxifying agents in DMBA-painted hamsters. CONCLUSION The chemopreventive efficacy of curcumin and piperine is probably due to their antilipidperoxidative and antioxidant potential as well as their modulating effect on the carcinogen detoxification process.
Fatiguing inspiratory muscle work causes reflex sympathetic activation in humans

1 We tested the hypothesis that reflexes arising from working respiratory muscle can elicit increases in sympathetic vasoconstrictor outflow to limb skeletal muscle, in seven healthy human subjects at rest. 2 We measured muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) with intraneural electrodes in the peroneal nerve while the subject inspired (primarily with the diaphragm) against resistance, with mouth pressure (PM) equal to 60 % of maximal, a prolonged duty cycle (TI/TTot) of 0.70, breathing frequency (fb) of 15 breaths min−1 and tidal volume (VT) equivalent to twice eupnoea. This protocol was known to reduce diaphragm blood flow and cause fatigue. 3 MSNA was unchanged during the first 1–2 min but then increased over time, to 77 ± 51 % (s.d.) greater than control at exhaustion (mean time, 7 ± 3 min). Mean arterial blood pressure (+12 mmHg) and heart rate (+27 beats min−1) also increased. 4 When the VT, fb and TI/TTot of these trials were mimicked with no added resistance, neither MSNA nor arterial blood pressure increased. 5 MSNA and arterial blood pressure also did not change in response to two types of increased central respiratory motor output that did not produce fatigue: (a) high inspiratory flow rate and fb without added resistance; or (b) high inspiratory effort against resistance with PM of 95 % maximal, TI/TTot of 0.35 and fb of 12 breaths min−1. The heart rate increased by 5–16 beats min−1 during these trials. 6 Thus, in the absence of any effect of increased central respiratory motor output per se on limb MSNA, we attributed the time‐dependent increase in MSNA during high resistance, prolonged duty cycle breathing to a reflex arising from a diaphragm that was accumulating metabolic end products in the face of high force output plus compromised blood flow.
Recall Bias in a Case-Control Surveillance System on the Use of Medicine during Pregnancy

It is important to study possible teratogenic effects of drugs used during pregnancy. Many studies of this type rely upon case-control designs in which drug intake is recalled by the mothers after having given birth. Recall bias in this situation may lead to spurious associations. We looked for indicators of recall bias by comparing self-reported drug intake with medically notified intake for specific diseases in the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance System of Congenital Abnormalities, which includes 22,865 cases with congenital abnormalities and 39,151 controls. Recall error was present, especially for drugs used for a short time period. Furthermore, the timing of drug intake was reported slightly closer to the time of interview for cases compared than for controls. Severe or visible congenital abnormalities did not appear to be more conducive to recall bias than other abnormalities under study. A case-control surveillance system of this type may frequently cause spurious associations, with biased odds ratios up to a factor of 1.9.
Kumamoto University Repository System Title On affine difference sets and their multipliers

Let D be an affine difference set of order n in an abelian group G relative to a subgroup N . We denote by π(s) the set of primes dividing an integer s(> 0) and set H∗ = H \ {ω}, where H = G/N and ω = ∏ σ∈H σ. In this article, using D we define a map g from H to N satisfying for τ, ρ ∈ H∗, g(τ) = g(ρ) iff {τ, τ−1} = {ρ, ρ−1} and show that ordo(σ)(m)/ordo(g(σ))(m) ∈ {1, 2} for any σ ∈ H∗ and any integer m > 0 with π(m) ⊂ π(n). This result is a generalization of J.C. Galati’s theorem on even order n ([3]) and gives a new proof of a result of Arasu-Pott on the order of a multiplier modulo exp(H) ([1] Section 5).
Monitoring Grazing Lands: How, Why, When, What?

Monitoring is the orderly collection, analysis and interpretation of information and data used to make shortand long-term management decisions (Wyoming Range Service Team 2001). Therefore, monitoring is an evaluation process used by animal and natural resource managers to help determine how rangeland or pasture systems respond to management (Holechek et al. 2004). The identification of monitoring as a process is crucial and suggests a number of important considerations. Monitoring has multiple components. This process includes not just collection, but also analysis and interpretation of information and data. Simply collecting information and data (for example taking lots of pictures) does not necessarily meet the definition of monitoring. The information and data collected as part of a monitoring effort must be put to use. The primary use of monitoring data and information is to support management decisions, and this requires analysis and interpretation of the information and data relative to management objectives, inputs and decisions. Analysis and interpretation are difficult or perhaps impossible in the absence of management objectives. Objectives facilitate evaluation by defining success. Natural resource objectives on grazing lands might describe the desired characteristics of vegetation, soil or water resources. Livestock or wildlife production objectives are often included in monitoring efforts as well. Finally, because monitoring is an ongoing process, organization and repeatability are important. Conducting monitoring efforts in an orderly manner ensures organization and repeatability. Evaluation of management decisions and actions relative to objectives depends on the ability to establish some relationship between management choices and responses observed on the land. The lack of organization and repeatability will likely lead to erroneous conclusions regarding the adequacy of management choices because differences (or lack there of) might be a result of different methods, timing or location of data / information collection.
Control strategies of a dc based offshore wind farm with series connected collection grid

This paper presents the control strategy of a dc series offshore wind farm with an onshore modular multilevel converter (MMC). The series connection of the dc wind turbines establishes the HVDC transmission voltage level with neither offshore transformer nor centralized converter station, indicating huge savings on offshore wind farm investment. However, power production unbalance in the wind farm or bypass of any wind turbine may impose overvoltage at the outputs of several wind turbines. A global control strategy, which regulates the HVDC voltage level by controlling the onshore MMC, is thus proposed to ensure the operation of each wind turbine under a safe voltage level while no power production is lost in the wind farm. This paper first introduces the whole wind generation system. Then the steady state analysis of the dc series offshore wind farm and the overvoltage phenomenon are described, which lead to the proposal of the global control strategy. The detailed realization of the global control strategy by use of the MMC is given after a short recall of the MMC arm average model.
Ixodid tick species recovered from domestic dogs in Japan

The species of ixodid ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) recovered from domestic dogs in Japan between September to November 2000 and April to June 2001 were identified. A total of 4122 ticks, including 1624 larvae, 1200 nymphs, 1016 females and 282 males were removed from 1221 dogs during these periods. Haemaphysalis longicornis (Neumann) was the most frequently found (40.3% of dogs), followed by H. flava (Neumann) (16.1% of dogs), Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille) (4.8% of dogs) and Ixodes ovatus (Neumann) (4.1% of dogs). Small numbers of H. hystricis (Supino), H. campanulata (Warburton), H. japonica (Warburton), H. ias (Nakamura and Yajima), I. persulcatus (Schulze), I. nipponensis (Kitaoka and Saito) and Amblyomma testudinarium (Koch) were also recovered. In the spring sample, a total of 1408 ticks (78 larvae, 411 nymphs, 792 adult females and 127 adult males) were recovered from 570 dogs. The autumn sample included a larger proportion of larval stage and fewer adult ticks (1546 larvae, 789 nymphs, 224 adult females and 155 adult males). Haemaphysalis longicornis, H. flava and I. ovatus showed a wide geographical distribution from northern to southern Japan, whereas R. sanguineus were mainly distributed in the subtropical Okinawa prefecture with a few exceptions. Dogs in rural areas more frequently carried H. longicornis, H. flava and I. ovatus than dogs in urban or suburban areas, whereas R. sanguineus was more associated with the dogs in urban/suburban areas. Exposure to a garden was significantly associated with R. sanguineus and exposure to woodland was significantly associated with H. flava and I. ovatus. This is the first systematic survey of canine ticks in Japan.
Prenatal and childhood influences on osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality through its association with age-related fractures. Although most effort in fracture prevention has been directed at retarding the rate of age-related bone loss, and reducing the frequency and severity of trauma among elderly people, evidence is growing that peak bone mass is an important contributor to bone strength during later life. The normal patterns of skeletal growth have been well characterized in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. It has been confirmed that boys have higher bone mineral content, but not volumetric bone density, than girls. Furthermore, in both genders there is a dissociation between the peak velocities for height gain and bone mineral accrual. Puberty is the period during which volumetric density appears to increase in both axial and appendicular sites. Many factors influence the accumulation of bone mineral during childhood and adolescence, including heredity, gender, diet, physical activity, endocrine status and sporadic risk factors such as cigarette smoking. Measures for maximizing bone mineral acquisition, particularly through encouraging physical activity and adequate dietary calcium intake, are likely to affect the risk of fracture in later generations. In addition to these modifiable factors during childhood, evidence has also accrued that the risk of fracture might be programmed during intrauterine life. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated a relationship between birthweight, weight in infancy and adult bone mass. This appears to be mediated through modulation of the set-point for basal activity of pituitary-dependent endocrine systems such as the hypothalamic - pitutiary - adrenal (HPA) and growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor I (GH/IGF-I) axes. Maternal smoking, diet and physical activity levels appear to modulate bone mineral acquisition during intrauterine life; furthermore, both low birth size and poor childhood growth are directly linked to the later risk of hip fracture. The optimization of maternal nutrition and intrauterine growth should also be included within preventive strategies against osteoporotic fracture, albeit for future generations.
The C2 domain of the Ca(2+)-independent protein kinase C Apl II inhibits phorbol ester binding to the C1 domain in a phosphatidic acid-sensitive manner.

There are two protein kinase Cs (PKCs) in the Aplysia nervous system, PKC Apl I, which is homologous to the Ca(2+)-activated PKC family, and PKC Apl II, which is homologous to the Ca(2+)-independent PKCs epsilon and eta. Purified PKC Apl I requires much less phosphatidylserine for activation than does purified PKC Apl II, and this may explain why the neurotransmitter serotonin activates PKC Apl I but not PKC Apl II in the intact nervous system [Sossin, W. S. , Fan, X. , and Baseri, F. (1996) J. Neurosci. 16, 10-18]. PKC Apl II's requirement for high levels of phosphatidylserine may be mediated by its C2 domain, since removal of this domain allows PKC Apl II to be activated at lower concentrations of phosphatidylserine. To begin to understand how this inhibition is mediated, we generated fusion proteins containing the C1 and C2 domains from PKC Apl II and determined their lipid dependence for phorbol ester binding. Our results indicate that the presence of the C2 domain lowers the affinity of protein kinase C activators for the C1 domains and this inhibition can be removed by phosphatidylserine. Phosphatidic acid, however, is much more potent than phosphatidylserine in reducing C2 domain-mediated inhibition, suggesting that phosphatidic acid may be a required cofactor for the activation of PKC Apl II.
Design of a capacitor-supported dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) for unbalanced and distorted loads

The paper discusses the operating principles and control characteristics of a dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) that protects sensitive but unbalanced and/or distorted loads. The main aim of the DVR is to regulate the voltage at the load terminal irrespective of sag/swell, distortion, or unbalance in the supply voltage. In this paper, the DVR is operated in such a fashion that it does not supply or absorb any active power during the steady-state operation. Hence, a DC capacitor rather than a DC source can supply the voltage source inverter realizing the DVR. The proposed DVR operation is verified through extensive digital computer simulation studies.
Full-thickness corneal grafts in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

IN Ethiopia, as in many other African countries, blindness afflicts 4 per cent. of the population, with the partially-blind numbering up to 20 per cent. of the country's 20 million inhabitants. By far the most important cause of blindness in Africa is scarring of the cornea, not only because of its frequency (in European countries it accounts for less than 1 per cent. of the blind population, but in Kenya for 20 per cent.-Bisley, 1964) but also because such corneal scars normally develop in children who are otherwise quite healthy and have a full life-span ahead of them, whereas the other common blinding diseases (cataract, dystrophies, glaucoma, etc.) normally affect the aged when they have completed a lifetime of useful work. The source of this corneal scarring is manifold, but trachoma is generally a major factor, with an incidence in Ethiopia of between 30 and 100 per cent. , 16 per cent. of whom have severe visual impairment in consequence (Guerra, 1951, 1965; Feitelberg, 1964; Vozza, Renna, and Felici, 1964). Thus, while vigorous measures have already been taken to control tuberculosis, malaria, and other major causes of disablement, about one million Ethiopians are either blind or partially blind, and remain an economic drain on the country's resources. The Ethiopian government, aided by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund is at present campaigning against trachoma and planning further preventive measures against this and other eye diseases, while the Haile Selassie I Foundation seriously endeavours to assist the blind Ethiopians to become productive members of the community. For those who are already blind, the only effective treatment is keratoplasty, which in the large majority entails replacing the scarred cornea by a full-thickness graft. The ocular damage is usually so extensive that the prognosis is poor even with the best donor material. Furthermore, while keratoplasties on carefully selected patients and performed under high hygienic standards in sterile operating conditions, and with well-trained personnel have a success rate of up to 88 per cent. (Ainslie, 1959; Leigh, 1966), such ideal conditions can hardly be expected in developing countries. Nevertheless, it was felt that the visit of a small team, who would undertake a pilot series of grafts, would at least prepare the ground for further surgical forays.