Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cumulative exposure to premenopausal obesity and risk of postmenopausal cancer: A population‐based study in Icelandic women

Obesity, often assessed at one point in time, is an established risk factor of several types of cancer, however, associations with cumulative exposure to obesity across the life course are not well understood. We investigated the relationship between combined measures of duration and intensity of premenopausal overweight and obesity and the incidence of postmenopausal breast, endometrial, and colorectal cancers in Icelandic women. Body mass index (BMI) trajectories between ages 20 and 50 of 88,809 women from the Cancer Detection Clinic Cohort were predicted using growth curve models. Indicators of overweight and obesity duration and intensity were computed and their association with risk of postmenopausal breast, endometrial, and colorectal cancers was examined using multivariate Cox models for subjects followed‐up beyond the age of 50 (n = 67,488). During a mean follow‐up of 17 years, incident events of 3,016 postmenopausal breast, 410 endometrial and 987 colorectal cancers were ascertained. Each 0.1 kg/m2 per year increase in BMI between ages 20 and 50 was positively associated with risks of postmenopausal breast, endometrium and colorectal cancers with hazard ratios equal to 1.09 (95% Confidence Interval (CI):1.04–1.13), 1.31 (95% CI: 1.18–1.44) and 1.10 (95% CI: 1.00–1.21), respectively. Compared to women who were never obese, cumulative BMI × years of obesity were linearly positively associated with risk of endometrial cancer, whereas the association with breast cancer was initially positive, but leveled off with increasing cumulative BMI × years. Cumulative exposure to obesity may provide additional insights into the etiology of cancer and should be considered in future studies that assess obesity–cancer relationships.
Balloon Cryoablation for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation. Initial Experience

Background: Pulmonary vein isolation is the cornerstone for the treatment of patients with recurrent and symptomatic paroxysmalatrial fibrillation (PAF). Balloon cryoablation (BCA) is an option to radiofrequency with shorter procedural and fluoroscopy times.Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the immediate outcomes and the initial experience in the first BCA procedures forPAF in our hospital.Methods: Between November 2013 and February 2015, 23 patients underwent BCA for PAF. A computed tomography angiographywith reconstruction of the left atrium and pulmonary veins was performed before the procedure.Results: Mean age was 53±11 years, 19 patients were men, left atrial dimension was 40±7 mm and LVEF was 58%±8%. AverageCHA2DS2VASc score was 0.6. The average procedural time was 169±47 minutes, with a fluoroscopy time of 39±17 minutes. Isolationof the pulmonary veins was achieved in 89/91 pulmonary veins (97.8%), and 2 patients required additional radiofrequencycatheter ablation. One patient (4.34%) presented transient paralysis of the diaphragm with spontaneous recovery after 30 minutes.No further complications were observed.After a median follow-up of 9.2 months, 21 patients (91.3%) remained with sinus rhythm.Conclusions: In this initial experience, BCA for PAF proved to be a safe and effective technique in selected patients. A high acute successrate was achieved for pulmonary vein isolation. During follow-up, the recurrence rate was low. The real impact of the procedurewill be known when long-term outcomes become available.
Effects of anaemia on TAVR outcomes

We have read with great interest the paper published by Kanjanahattakij et al. which was about the effects of anaemia on transfemoral aortic valve replacement (TAVR) outcomes. Authors depicted that anaemia is related with increased long term mortality rates but not with short term mortality rates defined as deaths occured in first month after TAVR [1]. There are a lot of causes of anaemia in elderly patients. In different series; cause of anaemia cannot be defined clearly in most patients and this situation is described as unexplained anaemia of the elderly [2]. The most common cause of iron deficiency anaemia in elderly patients is gastrointestinal blood loss. Although frequency of underlying causes varies by age; polyps, cancer and dysplasia are common causes of iron deficiency [3]. The incidence of myelodysplastic syndrome increases with ageing and carries a risk of leucemic transformation. Anaemia is usually normochromic and normocytic in myelodyplastic syndrome and eryhthropoietin stimulating agents (ESAs) can be used in symptomatic patients [4]. ESA treatment should be ordered cautiously and it is related with cardiovascular complications including uncontrolled hypertension and stroke [5]. Heyde syndrome is defined as co-existence of aortic stenosis and anaemia because of gastrointestinal bleeding from angiodyplasia. Cause of bleeding is explained by decreased von Willebrand factor levels due to extremely disruption while passing through aortic valve with high velocity. Treatment of aortic stenosis leads normalisation of haemoglobin levels [6]. To conclude, aside from the presence and severity of anaemia, cause of the anaemia plays an important role on patients’ outcomes and survival. Presence of cancer, chronic disease and use of ESAs may be related with increased long term mortality in patients with severe aortic stenosis and anaemia might have recovered after TAVR in patients with Heyde syndrome. Therefore we think that it would be better if the causes of anaemia were evaluated in details.
Cabins, castles, and constant hearts: rhythm control therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation

Abstract Recent innovations have the potential to improve rhythm control therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Controlled trials provide new evidence on the effectiveness and safety of rhythm control therapy, particularly in patients with AF and heart failure. This review summarizes evidence supporting the use of rhythm control therapy in patients with AF for different outcomes, discusses implications for indications, and highlights remaining clinical gaps in evidence. Rhythm control therapy improves symptoms and quality of life in patients with symptomatic AF and can be safely delivered in elderly patients with comorbidities (mean age 70 years, 3–7% complications at 1 year). Atrial fibrillation ablation maintains sinus rhythm more effectively than antiarrhythmic drug therapy, but recurrent AF remains common, highlighting the need for better patient selection (precision medicine). Antiarrhythmic drugs remain effective after AF ablation, underpinning the synergistic mechanisms of action of AF ablation and antiarrhythmic drugs. Atrial fibrillation ablation appears to improve left ventricular function in a subset of patients with AF and heart failure. Data on the prognostic effect of rhythm control therapy are heterogeneous without a clear signal for either benefit or harm. Rhythm control therapy has acceptable safety and improves quality of life in patients with symptomatic AF, including in elderly populations with stroke risk factors. There is a clinical need to better stratify patients for rhythm control therapy. Further studies are needed to determine whether rhythm control therapy, and particularly AF ablation, improves left ventricular function and reduces AF-related complications.
Coding-Complete Genome Sequence of Staphylococcus aureus Podophage Portland

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, especially the multidrug resistance strains, are responsible for a wide range of clinical infections. Here, we announce the genome sequence of S. aureus podophage Portland, which is closely related to a group of phi29‐like S. aureus podophages, including phages phi44AHJD and phiP68. The exact genome sequence ends of phage Portland were not determined and may be obscured by terminal proteins. ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, especially the multidrug resistance strains, are responsible for a wide range of clinical infections. Here, we announce the genome sequence of S. aureus podophage Portland, which is closely related to a group of phi29‐like S. aureus podophages, including phages phi44AHJD and phiP68. The exact genome sequence ends of phage Portland were not determined and may be obscured by terminal proteins.
Effect of Cyclic Corrosion on Static Strength of Composite/Aluminum Double Lap Joints

This study investigates effect of cyclic corrosion on the static strength of double lap joints (DLJs) that are either bonded-only, bolted-only, or hybrid bonded-and- bolted. Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced thermoplastic composite material is bonded to Aluminum Alloy 6060 using either polyurethane-based or epoxy-based structural adhesives. Bolting is achieved using an M4-0.7 Class 8.8 threaded fasteners that are properly preloaded. Treatment of bonded surfaces include abrasion blasting, followed by ultrasonic solvent cleaning and roughness measurement using Wyko optical profilometer. Assembled DLJs are placed in a cyclic corrosion (salt-fog) test chamber following standard GMW 14872 3-stage cyclic corrosion test. Joints are pulled out for tensile-shear testing and visual inspection after 1, 7, 14, 22, and 30 days of exposure to cyclic corrosion. Results, discussion, observations, and conclusions are provided.
Mitigation of Radio Frequency Interference in Synthetic Aperture Radar Data: Current Status and Future Trends

Radio frequency interference (RFI) is a major issue in accurate remote sensing by a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system, which poses a great hindrance to raw data collection, image formation, and subsequent interpretation process. This paper provides a comprehensive study of the RFI mitigation techniques applicable for an SAR system. From the view of spectrum allocation, possible terrestrial and spaceborne RFI sources to SAR system and their geometry are analyzed. Typical signal models for various RFI types are provided, together with many illustrative examples from real measured data. Then, advanced signal processing techniques for removing RFI are reviewed. Advantages and drawbacks of each approach are discussed in terms of their applicability. Discussion on the future trends are provided from the perspective of cognitive, integrated, and adaptive. This review serves as a reference for future work on the implementation of the most suitable RFI mitigation scheme for an air-borne or space-borne SAR system.
About the Orbit Structure of Sequences of Maps of Integers

Motivated by connections to the study of sequences of integers, we study, from a dynamical systems point of view, the orbit structure for certain sequences of maps of integers. We find sequences of maps for which all individual orbits are bounded and periodic and for which the number of periodic orbits of fixed period is finite. This allows the introduction of a formal ζ -function for the maps in these sequences, which are actually polynomials. We also find sequences of maps for which the orbit structure is more complicated, as they have both bounded and unbounded orbits, both individual and global. Most of our results are valid in a general numeration base.
Hyperspectral Anomaly Detection Based on Separability-Aware Sample Cascade

A hyperspectral image usually covers a large scale of ground scene, which contains various materials with different spectral properties. When directly exploring the background information using all the image pixels, complex spectral interactions and inter-/intra-difference of different samples will significantly reduce the accuracy of background evaluation and further affect the detection performance. To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel hyperspectral anomaly detection method based on separability-aware sample cascade model. Through identifying separability of hyperspectral pixels, background samples are sifted out layer-by-layer according to their separable degrees from anomalies, which can ensure the accuracy and distinctiveness of background representation. First, as spatial structure is beneficial for recognizing target, a new spectral–spatial feature extraction technique is used in this work based on the PCA technique and edge-preserving filtering. Second, depending on different separability computed by sparse representation, samples are separated into different sets which can effectively and completely reflect various characteristics of background across all the cascade layers. Meanwhile, some potential abnormal targets are removed at each selection step to avoid their effects on subsequent layers. Finally, comprehensively taking different good properties of all the separability-aware layers into consideration, a simple multilayer anomaly detection strategy is adopted to obtain the final detection map. Extensive experimental results on five real-world hyperspectral images demonstrate our method’s superior performance. Compared with seven representative anomaly detection methods, our method improves the average detection accuracy with great advantages.
DeepQuarantine for Suspicious Mail

In this paper, we introduce DeepQuarantine (DQ), a cloud technology to detect and quarantine potential spam messages. Spam attacks are becoming more diverse and can potentially be harmful to email users. Despite the high quality and performance of spam filtering systems, detection of a spam campaign can take some time. Unfortunately, in this case some unwanted messages get delivered to users. To solve this problem, we created DQ, which detects potential spam and keeps it in a special Quarantine folder for a while. The time gained allows us to double-check the messages to improve the reliability of the anti-spam solution. Due to high precision of the technology, most of the quarantined mail is spam, which allows clients to use email without delay. Our solution is based on applying Convolutional Neural Networks on MIME headers to extract deep features from large-scale historical data. We evaluated the proposed method on real-world data and showed that DQ enhances the quality of spam detection.
Central reforms through local governments: Challenges and design

In the Nordic welfare states, local governments are important providers of welfare services such as education, health care, and social services. Decentralization is combined with legal regulations to clarify the local responsibilities and to impose minimum standards for and rights to services. Financial equalization levels the playing field and limits variation in service standards across local governments. Decentralized provision is combined with national policies for redistributive welfare services.
Molecular identification and characterization and phylogenetic study of six Eimeria species in cattle in Al-Najaf province

The study extended from April 2015 through January 2016 and included 600 cattle with varying age (1 day to 8 years). It was conducted in Al.Najaf province. Direct and flotation methods were used for the diagnosis of Eimeria infection. PCR and phylogentic tree was done for all isolates. Eimeria infection was reported in 211 out of 600 (35.2 %). PCR permitted the isolation of six Eimeria species. Nucleotide sequence was done and phylogenetic tree was established. The percentage of each species was as follows: E. zuernii (53.1%), E. cylindrical (49.3%), E. ellipsoidalis (34.6%), E. bovis (28.0%), E. auburnensis (22.7%) and E. alabamensis (19.4%). The Eimeria bovis, Eimeria auburnensis, Eimeria cylindrica, and Eimeria zuernii were closely related together. The Eimeria ellipsoidalis appeared less related to other Eimeria species. Whereas, the Eimeria alabamensis appeared significantly different from other Eimeria species and out off tree. For our knowledge this is the first molecular study done in Iraq for identification and characterization of Eimeria species in cattle. Molecular method can be utilized as a powerful, sensitive tool for the diagnosis of Eimeria infection in cattle, and as a superior substitute to the conventional morphologic methods. Phylogenetic tree analysis of the common six Eimeria species has been disclosed in this study to add to the original Japanese study by Kawahra in 2010.
Gut microbiota differences during metamorphosis in sick and healthy giant spiny frogs (Paa spinosa) tadpoles

Gut microbiota plays important roles in host nutrition, immunity, development and health; therefore, disruption of the gut microbiota is closely associated with development of diseases in the host. In amphibians, metamorphosis is associated not only with extensive changes in the gut microbiota, but also with high mortality. Therefore, we hypothesized that unsuccessful restructuring of the gut microbiota during metamorphosis was an important factor that caused the fatalities. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the gut microbiota of apparently sick and healthy giant spiny frog tadpoles during metamorphosis, using high‐throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Our results showed that most dominant phyla differed significantly among developmental stages of sick and healthy Paa spinosa tadpoles. The differences in the dominant genera in sick and healthy tadpoles were the highest at the stage of degeneration of cloacal tube (TDCT). After the metamorphosis, the composition of the gut microbiota was more alike between healthy and sick tadpoles at the stage of forelimb emergence than at TDCT. These results imply that failed restructuring of the gut microbiota during metamorphosis caused the death of P. spinosa tadpoles. These results provided an important reference to prevent the high actual of P. spinosa tadpoles during metamorphosis.
Lactate dehydrogenase in dermatology practice

Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is used in dermatology practice, particularly as a prognostic marker for cutaneous lymphoma. LDH is an intracellular enzyme involved in anaerobic glycolysis, and is found at low concentrations in the blood. LDH is produced in every tissue, thus cell damage releases LDH into the circulation, so the causes of elevated LDH levels are multiple. The utility of LDH in dermatology practice is reviewed, alongside current diagnostic and staging guidelines.
Geomorphological signature and flow dynamics of The Minch palaeo-ice stream, NW Scotland

Large-scale streamlined glacial landforms are identified in 11 areas of NW Scotland, from the Isle of Skye in the south to the Butt of Lewis in the north. These ice-directional features occur in bedrock and superficial deposits, generally below 350 m above sea level, and where best developed have elongation ratios of >20:1. Sidescan sonar and multibeam echo-sounding data from The Minch show elongate streamlined ridges and grooves on the seabed, with elongation ratios of up to 70:1. These bedforms are interpreted as mega-scale glacial lineations. All the features identified formed beneath The Minch palaeo-ice stream which was c. 200 km long, up to 50 km wide and drained ~15,000 km of the NW sector of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet (Late Devensian Glaciation). Nine ice-stream tributaries and palaeoonset zones are also identified, on the basis of geomorphological evidence. The spatial distribution and pattern of streamlined bedforms around The Minch has enabled the catchment, flow paths and basal shear stresses of the palaeo-ice stream and its tributaries to be tentatively reconstructed.
Comparison of option pricing between ARMA-GARCH and GARCH-M models

Option pricing is a major area in financial modeling. Option pricing is sometimes based on normal GARCH models. Normal GARCH models fail to capture the skewness and the leptokurtosis in financial data. The variant GARCH-in-mean (GARCH-M) model is widely used in the option pricing literature. It adds a heteroskedasticity term to the mean equation, which is interpreted as a risk premium, and also incorporates a type of asymmetry. Our goal is to compare option valuation between GARCH-M and ARMA-GARCH models with normal and non-normal, z-distributed innovations. The models are fitted to the historical return data, and risk neutral measures are based on the conditional Esscher transform and the extended Girsanov principle. We compare European Calls on the S&P 500 with the model predictions. The TGARCH is best for ARMA-GARCH/GARCH-M models. Neither normal nor z dominates the other, but overall z-TGARCH-M (z-innovations) seems to be best, ARMATGARCH is surprisingly good.
Experimental investigation of turning maneuverability of a multilegged robot using pitchfork bifurcation

Ryoe Tomatsua, Yuki Yabuuchia, Shinya Aoia,∗, Soichiro Fujikib, Tetsuro Funatoc, Kei Sendaa, and Kazuo Tsuchiyaa aDept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan ∗shinya aoi@kuaero.kyoto-u.ac. jp bDept. of Physiology and Biological Information, School of Medicine, Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan cDept. of Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Systems, Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan
Review on Compositions, Formation, and Genetic Control of Bacterial Biofilm

Biofilm is an innate defensive way through which bacterial cells are linked together to be associated with the biotic and abiotic surfaces within a self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substance. A biofilm is consisted of attached microbial cells sessile within a matrix of extracellular polymeric secretions (EPS). EPS has been composed of ; proteins arranged from 1-2% including enzymes, DNA and RNA less than 1%, while the polysaccharides was 1-2% and the main remaining component is, water up to 97% which is responsible for the flow of nutrients inside biofilm matrix. which surround and protect bacterial cells. The EPSmatrix is typically composed of polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, and extracellular DNA (eDNA). Biofilm fashioning is commonly considered to occur in four main steps: (1) Microbial attachment to a surface, (2) micro-colony formation, (3) biofilm maturation and (4) detachment of bacteria which may then colonize new regions of interest. Biofilm formation and dispersal are highly controlled proceduresadjusted at the genetic level and by environmental signals. From among the latter, quorum sensing (QS), cyclic diguanosine-5’monophosphate, and small RNAs are considered as the main regulators of bacterial biofilms. The formation of microbial biofilms is an important causative for failure of antimicrobial treatment. Biofilm-associated infections represent one of the most important threats of modern medicine. According to National Institutes of Health (NIH) about 65% of all microbial infections, and 80% of all chronic infections are associated with biofilms.Gene expression of 30 to 50%of unknown functionoftentimes involvedin biofilm procedure formation.