Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Examining changes in farmers’ markets and in customers’ farmers’ market shopping frequency and fruit and vegetable purchase and consumption: evaluation data from the Partnerships to Improve Community Health Project, 2014–2017

ABSTRACT The Partnerships to Improve Community Health Project focused on making improvements to farmers’ markets, including adding welcome signs and accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Electronic Benefit Transfer as a payment option. To evaluate these efforts, we examined the associations between farmers’ market shopping frequency and fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption among farmers’ market customers before and after establishing improvements at three time points between 2015 and 2017. After Year 1, there was a significantly higher proportion of high FV purchasers in farmers’ markets with more amenities (57.3%) versus markets with fewer amenities (41.1%) (odds ratio = 1.92, 95% confidence interval = 1.14, 3.25). After Year 2, there was a greater proportion of customers that were high FV purchasers in markets that accepted Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Electronic Benefit Transfer (SNAP/EBT) (64.9%) when compared to those surveyed in markets that did not accept SNAP/EBT (30.3%) (OR = 4.26, 95% CI = 1.77, 10.24). Customers’ produce consumption decreased from 4.99 servings/day in 2015 to 4.48 servings/day in 2016 and went back up to 4.86 servings/day in 2017 (p = 0.09). Body mass index (BMI) was inversely associated with frequency of shopping at farmers’ markets (p value = 0.01). Results indicate that adding SNAP/EBT to farmers’ markets may bolster customers’ FV purchases, and shopping at farmers’ markets with enhanced amenities more frequently may be associated with a lower BMI.
Spatial features of calcium transients during early and delayed afterdepolarizations.

Although changes in intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) are spatially heterogeneous during spontaneous contraction in mammalian cardiac muscle, it has not yet been observed how [Ca2+]i changes spatially within cardiac myocytes during delayed (DADs) and early (EADs) afterdepolarizations. The aim of this study is to characterize the spatial features of the increase in [Ca2+]i during such afterdepolarizations and to understand the ionic mechanisms responsible for them. Myocytes were enzymatically isolated from guinea pig ventricles and loaded with fura 2-acetoxymethylester, the Ca2+ fluorescence indicator dye. Membrane potential was recorded with a conventional microelectrode technique, and spatiotemporal changes in fura 2 fluorescence and cell length were recorded using a digital television system. After superfusion with potassium-free Tyrode solution, DADs and EADs were induced. During DADs, fluorescence transients were heterogeneous within myocytes (n = 11). Furthermore, they often propagated within myocytes as if they were "waves. " In contrast, during EADs, fluorescence transients showed no waves within myocytes but rather showed synchronous changes throughout the myocytes (n = 15). The results of this study suggest that the spatial features of the increase in [Ca2+]i differ between the DADs and EADs. We concluded from these differing features that the ionic mechanisms responsible for the two triggered activities are different.
Fluoroquinolone Resistance in Helicobacter pylori: Role of Mutations at Position 87 and 91 of GyrA on the Level of Resistance and Identification of a Resistance Conferring Mutation in GyrB

Background and Aims: Fluoroquinolone‐containing regimens have been suggested as an alternate to standard triple therapy for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infections. To determine the relationship between fluoroquinolone resistance and mutations of GyrA and GyrB in H. pylori, we exchanged the mutations at positions 87and 91 of GyrA among fluoroquinolone‐resistant clinical isolates. GyrB of a strain with no mutations in GyrA was also analyzed to identify mechanisms of resistance to norfloxacin.
Outage-Storage Tradeoff in Frequency Regulation for Smart Grid With Renewables

Future power grid systems are envisioned to be integrated with many distributed renewable energy sources (DRES). Energy storage is a key technology to enable reliable and cost-effective renewable energy. Given the fact that a large-scale energy storage device is usually costly to install and operate, we are naturally led to the following question: How much storage is necessary to guarantee the stability of a power grid network with DRESs? This paper represents a first step in systematically exploring the tradeoff between the capacity of energy storage devices and the outage probability, i.e., the probability of the occurrence of imbalance between the supply and demand. We first propose a secure scheduling and dispatch (SSD) algorithm that is capable of maintaining the grid stability in the presence of volatility in the power generation. We then derive a closed-form bound to quantify the tradeoff between the storage capacity and the outage probability. Under mild assumptions, we show that the outage probability decreases exponentially with respect to the square of the storage capacity. This finding implies that energy storage is an effective and economically viable solution to maintain the stability of a smart grid network, even in the presence of many volatile and intermittent renewable energy sources. The impact of correlation in energy generation on the stability of a smart grid network is also investigated .
Immunoenzyme Assay for Human Prostatic Acid Phosphatase

Summary Human sera or plasma containing acid phosphatases were mixed with rabbit antiserum specific for prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) and the resulting primary immune complexes were precipitated by ammonium sulfate. The amount of specifically precipitated PAP was estimated directly by its enzyme activity. Using this assay, as little as 10 ng/ml of the PAP could be determined. Excellent correlation of this assay method with other immunoassays of PAP was demonstrated. This work was supported in part by PHS Research Grant CA 18748 and CA 16426 from the National Cancer Institute.
The bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of glucosamine hydrochloride and low molecular weight chondroitin sulfate after single and multiple doses to beagle dogs

Objective—The purpose of this study was to determine the oral bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of a glucosamine (GL) and the disaccharides of chondroitin sulfate (CS) after single and multiple‐dosing of a GL/CS combination (CosaminR*, CosequinR*). Methods—Male beagle dogs (n = 8, 12 kg) received the following treatments: (1) IV GL (500 mg)/CS (400 mg), (2) p.o. GL (1500 mg)/CS (1200 mg), (3) p.o. GL (2000 mg)/CS (1600 mg), (4) p.o. GL (1500 mg)/CS (1200 mg) QD for days 1–7 and p.o. GL (3000 mg)/CS (2400 mg) from days 8 to 14. Blood samples were collected over 24 h and glucosamine and the disaccharides of chondroitin sulfate were determined. Pharmacokinetic analysis was performed on glucosamine and total chondroitin sulfate disaccharides and parameters were compared across treatments using ANOVA with post hoc analysis. Result—After the IV administration, glucosamine declined rapidly in a bi‐exponential fashion with a mean ( ± S.D.) elimination t1/2 of 0.52 (0.25) h. GL absorption was relatively fast (Cmax = 8.95 μg/ml, and Tmax 1.5 h after 1500 mg dose) and the mean bioavailability of glucosamine after single dosing was approximately 12%. The extent of absorption of chondroitin sulfate as indicated by the mean Cmax (21.5 μg/ml) and mean AUC (187 μg/ml h) of total disaccharides after dosing (1600 mg) provides evidence that chondroitin sulfate is absorbed orally. The bioavailability of CS ranged from 4.8 to 5.0% after single dosing and 200–278% upon multiple dosing. Conclusion—The results of this study show that both glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate (measured as total disaccharides) are bioavailable after oral dosing. In addition, the low molecular weight chondroitin sulfate used in this study displays significant accumulation upon multiple dosing. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Influence of pravastatin, a specific inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase, on hepatic metabolism of cholesterol.

BACKGROUND Inhibitors of the rate-limiting enzyme of cholesterol biosynthesis, 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, are now used frequently to treat hypercholesterolemia. We studied the effects of specific inhibition of cholesterol synthesis by one of these agents (pravastatin) on the hepatic metabolism of cholesterol in patients with gallstone disease who were scheduled to undergo cholecystectomy. METHODS Ten patients were treated with pravastatin (20 mg twice a day) for three weeks before cholecystectomy; 20 patients not treated served as controls. A liver specimen was obtained from each patient at operation, and the activities of rate-determining enzymes in cholesterol metabolism as well as low-density-lipoprotein (LDL)-receptor binding activity were determined. RESULTS Pravastatin therapy reduced plasma total cholesterol by 26 percent and LDL cholesterol by 39 percent (P less than 0.005). Serum levels of free lathosterol, a precursor of cholesterol whose concentration reflects the rate of cholesterol synthesis in vivo, decreased by 63 percent (P less than 0.005), indicating reduced de novo biosynthesis of cholesterol. Microsomal HMG-CoA reductase activity, when analyzed in vitro in the absence of the inhibitor, was increased 11.8-fold (1344 +/- 311 vs. 105 +/- 14 pmol per minute per milligram of protein in the controls; P less than 0.001). The expression of LDL receptors was increased by 180 percent (P less than 0.005), whereas the activities of cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase (which governs bile acid synthesis) and of acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol O-acyltransferase (which regulates cholesterol esterification) were unaffected by treatment. CONCLUSIONS Inhibition of hepatic HMG-CoA reductase by pravastatin results in an increased expression of hepatic LDL receptors, which explains the lowered plasma levels of LDL cholesterol.
Design of Power-Efficient Configurable Booth Multiplier

In this paper, a power-efficient 16times 16 configurable Booth multiplier (CBM) that supports single 16-b, single 8-b, or twin parallel 8-b multiplication operations is proposed. To efficiently reduce power consumption, a novel dynamic-range detector is developed to dynamically detect the effective dynamic ranges of two input operands. The detection result is used to not only pick the operand with smaller dynamic range for Booth encoding to increase the probability of partial products becoming zero but also deactivate the redundant switching activities in ineffective ranges as much as possible. Moreover, the output product of the proposed multiplier can be truncated to further decrease power consumption by sacrificing a bit of output precision. To efficiently and correctly combine these techniques, some additional components, including a correcting-vector generator, an adjustor, a sign-bit generator, a modified error compensation circuit, etc., are also developed. Finally, three real-life applications are adopted to evaluate the power efficiency and error performance of the proposed multiplier. The results show that the proposed multiplier is more complex than non-CBMs, but significant power and energy savings can be achieved. Furthermore, the proposed multiplier maintains an acceptable output quality for these applications when truncation is performed.
Rise and fall of elites: professionals as movers?

ABSTRACT A significant topic within elite research deserving more attention is the issue of the “rise and fall of elites”. This subject addresses changes in the composition of elites, the emergence of new elites and the decline of established ones, and covers questions like: In what ways do particular groups climb to elite power and status? What may explain the rise of new elite groups? In this paper, the focus is upon the role of professionals in the processes of elite ascent (and descent). Most holders of elite positions are professionals. This fact invites to draw on approaches within the professions literature to explain the rise of elites. This paper presents three empirical cases of elite ascent in Norway – the rise of economists, communication practitioners and public accountants. The three historical cases demonstrate that the professionals themselves actively sought to promote their expertise, and to expand their occupational territory. Nonetheless, the professionals’ own efforts to obtain collective advancement contributed to a lesser degree to their elite ascent than more fundamental economic and political changes in the Norwegian society.
High Performance Compact Multilayer Circular Spiral Inductors in Advanced Photoimageable Technology

This paper presents the development and thorough analysis of a wide range of coplanar-waveguide circular spiral inductors with remarkably high performance and inductance density using advanced multilayer (ML) photoimageable thick-film (Pimage-TF) multichip module (MCM) technology. The performances of the embedded spiral inductors are thoroughly analyzed, modeled, and compared with the competitive MCM technologies and are superior to most of the published results. A new design and layout generation technique with a simplified closed form expression for circular spiral inductors is proposed. Moreover, the impact of MCM/system-on-package technologies on inductor key parameters has been explained in detail and compared with other technologies. The cost-effective Pimage-TF-based inductors demonstrate the highest level of self-resonance frequency, as well as inductance density (15 nH/$\mathrm{mm}^{\mathrm {\mathbf {2}}}$ ) reported to date in conventional thick-film-based ML MCM technologies, including low temperature cofired ceramic.
Optimal Task Allocation for Human–Machine Collaborative Manufacturing Systems

Human–machine collaborative manufacturing systems consist of human operators and automated machines. They cooperate with each other to accomplish complex tasks that are difficult for either the human or machine alone. This letter considers an optimal task-allocation problem for human–machine collaborative manufacturing systems, where various tasks are dispatched to human operators and automated machines to achieve optimal joint human-system performance. Designing such optimal task allocation is challenging because of the stochastic hybrid feature of manufacturing processes, as well as varying human performance caused by physical fatigue. To address this challenge, we first model human fatigue as a continuous-time Markov decision process, which is capable of capturing stochastic uncertainties on fatigue dynamics under different task assignments. A novel controlled stochastic petri net is then proposed to model the manufacturing process, in which both time- and event-driven dynamics can be regulated by task allocation between the human and machine. Under mild assumptions, we show that the optimal task-allocation problem under the proposed human manufacturing framework can be solved by linear programming. Simulation results of a four-part assembly process are used to verify our theoretical findings.
Dimer formation and transcription activation in the sporulation response regulator Spo0A.

The response regulator Spo0A is the master control element in the initiation of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis. Like many other multi-domain response regulators, the latent activity of the effector, C-terminal domain is stimulated by phosphorylation on a conserved aspartic acid residue in the regulatory, N-terminal domain. If a threshold concentration of phosphorylated Spo0A is achieved, the transcription of genes required for sporulation is activated, whereas the genes encoding stationary phase sentinels are repressed, and sporulation proceeds. Despite detailed genetic, biochemical and structural characterisation, it is not understood how the phosphorylation signal in the receiver domain is transduced into DNA binding and transcription activation in the distal effector domain. An obstacle to our understanding of Spo0A function is the uncertainty concerning changes in quaternary structure that accompany phosphorylation. Here we have revisited this question and shown unequivocally that Spo0A forms dimers upon phosphorylation and that the subunit interactions in the dimer are mediated principally by the receiver domain. Purified dimers of two mutants of Spo0A, in which the phosphorylatable aspartic acid residue has been substituted, activate transcription from the spoIIG promoter in vitro, whereas monomers do not. This suggests that dimers represent the activated form of Spo0A.
The significance of western blot assays indeterminate for antibody to HIV in a cohort of homosexual/bisexual men. The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study.

The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and significance of nondiagnostic Western blot (WB) assays in homosexual/bisexual men at risk of infection with HIV-1. The presence of a positive enzyme-linked antibody assay (EIA) confirmed by a positive WB was used as evidence of infection and seroconversion. Indeterminate WB assays were defined as reactions to only one viral gene product of HIV-1. Three analyses were conducted to (a) determine the frequency of such reactions in men who, during a 4-year period, did not develop diagnostic serologic reactions; (b) determine, retrospectively, the preseroconversion frequency of indeterminate WB assays in 286 men who seroconverted; and (c) evaluate in vitro production of specific antibody by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as a method of indicating whether or not an indeterminate WB assay represents HIV-1 infection. Reactions to products of gag, pol, or env were noted in 8.0, 4.0, and 6.7% of 1,595 first-visit tests of men who remained seronegative for 4 years. Indeterminate reactions occurred in 204 men with negative EIAs who subsequently seroconverted and in 82 men with positive EIAs preconversion. Supernatants harvested from PBMCs of 2 of 36 seroconverters obtained one or two visits preseroconversion and cultured with pokeweed mitogen were antibody-positive. All were positive at the visit, with diagnostic serology. None of the supernatants from cells of 19 men with EIA-negative WB-indeterminate serologic assays were antibody-positive. Our results suggest that persistently EIA-negative homosexual/bisexual men who have indeterminate WB assays are unlikely to be infected with HIV-1. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Healthy: A Diary System Based on Activity Recognition Using Smartphone

An activity-diary system, named Healthy, is presented in this paper. Healthy can infer users diary of physical activities and energy expenditure based on METS (Metabolic Equivalents) values via recognizing general human activities. In this system, we design a two-layer classifier which costs less energy and memory with satisfactory accuracy. Our classifier divides the activities into two categories: periodic and nonperiodic. And a different sub-classifier is applied for each category. Meanwhile, We design a state listener to recognize more complicated activities. To further improve recognition accuracy, in the second layer sub-classifier, we put forward an adaptive framing algorithm based on the period length of periodical activities to determine the time during which features are extracted. By testing Healthy in real situation, we obtained an average recognition accuracy of 98.0%.
THE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF CETACEAN BRAIN AND BODY SIZE

Cetaceans rival primates in brain size relative to body size and include species with the largest brains and biggest bodies to have ever evolved. Cetaceans are remarkably diverse, varying in both phenotypes by several orders of magnitude, with notable differences between the two extant suborders, Mysticeti and Odontoceti. We analyzed the evolutionary history of brain and body mass, and relative brain size measured by the encephalization quotient (EQ), using a data set of extinct and extant taxa to capture temporal variation in the mode and direction of evolution. Our results suggest that cetacean brain and body mass evolved under strong directional trends to increase through time, but decreases in EQ were widespread. Mysticetes have significantly lower EQs than odontocetes due to a shift in brain:body allometry following the divergence of the suborders, caused by rapid increases in body mass in Mysticeti and a period of body mass reduction in Odontoceti. The pattern in Cetacea contrasts with that in primates, which experienced strong trends to increase brain mass and relative brain size, but not body mass. We discuss what these analyses reveal about the convergent evolution of large brains, and highlight that until recently the most encephalized mammals were odontocetes, not primates.
UTP14c Is a Recently Acquired Retrogene Associated with Spermatogenesis and Fertility in Man1

Abstract In the mouse, Utp14b is a retrogene transposed to an intron of Acsl3 (long-chain-fatty-acid coenzyme A ligase 3) on mouse chromosome 1. It represents a copy of Utp14a, a ubiquitously expressed, X-linked gene involved in 18S rRNA synthesis. The Utp14b is specifically expressed in male germ cells and, when mutated in the jsd (juvenile spermatogonial depletion) mouse, results in early spermatogenic arrest and male infertility. To understand the function and relevance of the orthologous human gene in testis pathology, we mapped transcripts and searched for mutations within the gene in infertile males. In humans, the strict ortholog of UTP14b has degenerated and is no longer functional. However, a second active retroposon, UTP14c, is found within a widely expressed, putative glycosyl transferase-containing gene, GT8, on human chromosome 13. Unlike mouse Utp14b, which is only expressed in the male germ line, human UTP14c is expressed in testis and ovary, which is consistent with having a gonad-specific function. To determine if UTP14c is functionally equivalent to mouse Utp14b and essential to spermatogenesis in humans, we screened DNA from 234 nonobstructive, azoospermic/severely oligospermic males and 208 proven-fertile controls for mutations within UTP14c. We identified a mutation in three unrelated patients that introduces an in-frame stop codon truncating the UTP14c protein near the carboxyl terminus. These data indicate that UTP14c may be functionally equivalent to mouse Utp14b and required for normal male fertility in humans. The novel evolution of retroposed UTP14 genes supports the hypothesis that retrogenes play an important role in evolution via regulation of male reproductive fitness.