Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adiposity, Cardiometabolic Risk, and Vitamin D Status: The Framingham Heart Study

OBJECTIVE Because vitamin D deficiency is associated with a variety of chronic diseases, understanding the characteristics that promote vitamin D deficiency in otherwise healthy adults could have important clinical implications. Few studies relating vitamin D deficiency to obesity have included direct measures of adiposity. Furthermore, the degree to which vitamin D is associated with metabolic traits after adjusting for adiposity measures is unclear. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We investigated the relations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentrations with indexes of cardiometabolic risk in 3,890 nondiabetic individuals; 1,882 had subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volumes measured by multidetector computed tomography (CT). RESULTS In multivariable-adjusted regression models, 25(OH)D was inversely associated with winter season, waist circumference, and serum insulin (P < 0.005 for all). In models further adjusted for CT measures, 25(OH)D was inversely related to SAT (−1.1 ng/ml per SD increment in SAT, P = 0.016) and VAT (−2.3 ng/ml per SD, P < 0.0001). The association of 25(OH)D with insulin resistance measures became nonsignificant after adjustment for VAT. Higher adiposity volumes were correlated with lower 25(OH)D across different categories of BMI, including in lean individuals (BMI <25 kg/m2). The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (25[OH]D <20 ng/ml) was threefold higher in those with high SAT and high VAT than in those with low SAT and low VAT (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Vitamin D status is strongly associated with variation in subcutaneous and especially visceral adiposity. The mechanisms by which adiposity promotes vitamin D deficiency warrant further study.
An efficient filter for abruptly changing systems

For a linear discrete time system with Markovian coefficients a new filtering algorithm is given, which is called the Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) algorithm. The mathematical support for this algorithm is outlined and a qualitative comparison with other known filtering algorithms is made. The main conclusion is that the ratio between performance and computational complexity is far better for the IMM algorithm.
Dimensions of communication

This study is concerned with the identification and analysis of dimensions of communication in dialogue, with the aim to provide theoretical and empirical arguments for chosing the dimensions in the ISO standard for dialogue act annotation 24617-2 “Semantic annotation framework, Part 2: Dialogue acts”. A ‘dimension’ in this context is a cluster of semantically related communicative functions which has a conceptual, theoretical and empirical significance. Five criteria are put forward for including a particular dimension in a multidimensional annotation schema: it should be (1) theoretically justified; (2) empirically observed; (3) recognizable by human annotators and by machine; ( 4) addressable independently of other dimensions; and (5) reflected in a significant number of existing dialogue act schemes. Eight dimensions are identified which fulfil all five criteria, and can be considered as ‘core’ aspects of dialogue communication, namely Task, Feedback, Turn Management, Social Obligation Management, Discourse Structuring, Own Communication Management, Partner Communication Management, and Time Management. Contact Management is proposed to be given the status of an optional additional dimension.
The correlation function of Gaussian noise passed through nonlinear devices

This paper is concerned with the output autocorrelation function R^{y} of Gaussian noise passed through a nonlinear device. An attempt is made to investigate in a systematic way the changes in R^{y} when certain mathematical manipulations are performed on some given device whose correlation function is known. These manipulations are the "elementary combinations and transformations" used in the theory of Fourier integrals, such as addition, differentiation, integration, shifting, etc. To each of these, the corresponding law governing R^{y} is established. The same laws are shown to hold for the envelope of signal plus noise for narrow-band noise with spectrum symmetric about signal frequency. Throughout the text and in the Appendix it is shown how the results can be used to establish unknown correlation function quickly with main emphasis on power-law devices y = x^{m} with m either an integer or half integer. Some interesting recurrence formulas are given. A second-order differential equation is derived which serves as an alternative means for calculating R^{y} .
Epidemiology of cardiovascular risk in patients with chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are highly prone to cardiovascular disease for a number of reasons. At the time of starting renal replacement treatment, their cardiovascular condition is already severely compromised, suggesting that cardiovascular risk factors begin to operate very early in the progression of CKD. Moreover, those patients reaching end-stage renal disease without cardiovascular abnormalities have a high probability of developing de novo cardiovascular disease. METHODS In this review, we analyse the prevalence of the major cardiovascular risk factors in CKD patients and their importance as contributors to the excess cardiovascular disease in this population. We also describe and discuss the main results obtained in the management of these risk factors in terms of preventing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. RESULTS Hypertension plays a major role in determining cardiac damage at all stages of CKD, including the dialytic phase. Anaemia is a major determinant of the development of left ventricular hypertrophy and therefore its correction can be expected to improve cardiovascular status and long-term survival, but this needs to be done before changes in cardiac structure become well established. Calcium-phosphate disorders are increasingly acknowledged to be cardiovascular risk factors in CKD, yet their medical control is still far from being satisfactory. Dyslipidaemia is particularly frequent in CKD patients, but the benefit of lipid-lowering treatments still has to be proven. Finally, CKD is associated with newly recognized risk factors for atherosclerosis, although their importance as cardiovascular risk factors is still controversial. CONCLUSIONS Nephrologists should attempt to give optimal treatment for well-established cardiovascular risk factors, even if this generally fails to prevent the excess cardiovascular disease of CKD patients. Increasing attention is now being paid to newly recognized CKD-related risk factors for atherosclerosis, although their real importance is still under debate and, before therapeutic prescriptions can be applied to CKD patients, further studies in these new fields are needed.
A cryptic deletion of 2q35 including part of the PAX3 gene detected by breakpoint mapping in a child with autism and a de novo 2;8 translocation

We report a de novo, apparently balanced (2;8)(q35;q21.2) translocation in a boy with developmental delay and autism. Cross species (colour) paint (Rx) and SKY FISH, forward and reverse chromosome painting, and FISH with subtelomeric probes were used to examine the patient's karyotype, but further rearrangements were not detected. FISH with region specific clones mapping near 2q35 and 8q21.2 breakpoints and STS mapping performed on the isolated derivative chromosomes were used to refine the location of the breakpoints further. A cryptic deletion of between 4.23 and 4.41 Mb in extent and involving at least 13 complete genes or transcription units was found at the breakpoint on 2q35. The deletion includes the promoter and 5` untranslated region of the paired box 3 (PAX3) gene. The child has very mild dystopia canthorum which may be associated with the PAX3 haploinsufficiency. The 8q21.2 breakpoint is within MMP16 which encodes matrix metalloproteinase 16. We postulate that the cryptic deletion and rearrangement are responsible for the patient's phenotype and that a gene (or genes) responsible for autism lies at 2q35 or 8q21.2. The results present a step towards identifying genes predisposing to autism.
Phosphate availability regulates biosynthesis of two antibiotics, prodigiosin and carbapenem, in Serratia via both quorum‐sensing‐dependent and ‐independent pathways

Serratia sp. ATCC 39006 produces two secondary metabolite antibiotics, 1‐carbapen‐2‐em‐3‐carboxylic acid (Car) and the red pigment, prodigiosin (Pig). We have previously reported that production of Pig and Car is controlled by N‐acyl homoserine lactone (N‐AHL) quorum sensing, with synthesis of N‐AHLs directed by the LuxI homologue SmaI, and is also regulated by Rap, a member of the SlyA family. We now describe further characterization of the SmaI quorum‐sensing system and its connection with other regulatory mechanisms. We show that the genes responsible for biosynthesis of Pig, pigA–O, are transcribed as a single polycistronic message in an N‐AHL‐dependent manner. The smaR gene, transcribed convergently with smaI and predicted to encode the LuxR homologue partner of SmaI, was shown to possess a negative regulatory function, which is uncommon among the LuxR‐type transcriptional regulators. SmaR represses transcription of both the pig and car gene clusters in the absence of N‐AHLs. Specifically, we show that SmaIR exerts its effect on car gene expression via transcriptional control of carR, encoding a pheromone‐independent LuxR homologue. Transcriptional activation of the pig and car gene clusters also requires a functional Rap protein, but Rap dependency can be bypassed by secondary mutations. Transduction of these suppressor mutations into wild‐type backgrounds confers a hyper‐Pig phenotype. Multiple mutations cluster in a region upstream of the pigA gene, suggesting this region may represent a repressor target site. Two mutations mapped to genes encoding pstS and pstA homologues, which are parts of a high‐affinity phosphate transport system (Pst) in Escherichia coli. Disruption of pstS mimicked phosphate limitation and caused concomitant hyper‐production of Pig and Car, which was mediated, in part, through increased transcription of the smaI gene. The Pst and SmaIR systems define distinct, yet overlapping, regulatory circuits which form part of a complex regulatory network controlling the production of secondary metabolites in Serratia ATCC 39006.
Evaluation of microRNA-205 expression as a potential triage marker for patients with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions

High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) testing is a recommended triage approach for females with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), but due to its poor specificity this approach is not recommended for patients with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL). The objective of the current study was to determine microRNA (miR)-205 expression levels in liquid-based cytology (LBC) samples, and evaluate their ability to predict cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2/3 or worse (CIN2/3+) in females with minor cytological abnormalities. LBC samples were obtained from patients attending the Swedish Cervical Cancer Screening Program. The Mann-Whitney U test, one-way analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman rank order correlation analysis, and Pearson's χ2 test were used to assess the results. Accuracy analyses indicated that high miR-205 expression had a significantly higher specificity to high-risk HPV testing, and a sensitivity similar to that of high-risk HPV testing to predict CIN2+ and CIN3+ in women with LSIL, but not those with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions. Although further research is required for females with LSIL, miR-205 expression in LBC samples may be a novel triage marker for, or a beneficial supplement to high-risk-HPV testing in these patients.
Immunogenicity of anti-TNFα therapy in psoriasis: a clinical issue?

Introduction: Immunogenicity of antitumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) agents has been proven to play a significant role in the variability of clinical responses among patients with chronic inflammatory diseases. However, its clinical impact on the outcome of patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis receiving anti-TNFα treatment is not yet fully clear. Despite the high rates of efficacy of anti-TNFα agents in psoriasis, a substantial proportion of patients remain who experience a primary or secondary failure or significant side effects, which are potentially ascribable to immunogenicity. Areas covered: Topics include immunologic response elicited by anti-TNFα agents, the impact of immunogenicity on treatment response to anti-TNFα and the role played by immunogenicity in the lack of efficacy of anti-TNFα agents (infliximab, adalimumab and etanercept) in psoriasis. Expert opinion: Based on data available in the literature and the clinical experience of the authors, this article suggests the optimal approach to drug monitoring and antidrug antibody assay and the most effective use of biologic immunotherapies in this setting. Immunogenicity should be taken into account in the adoption of therapeutic choices in psoriatic patients, such as anti-TNFα agent intensification, or switching to another anti-TNFα agent or a drug with a different mechanism of action.
Capacity Planning with Flow and Reliability Evaluation Using Monte Carlo Simulation

A Monte Carlo method for reliability assessment, network flow estimation, and capacity planning has been developed. An expansion strategy improves the system reliability (ie, reduces the system mean demand not served); this strategy selects the element with the highest full load ratio for capacity expansions. The procedure considers capacity-limited sources and links as well as multiple sinks with demand-forecast uncertainties. The accuracy of the solution and the computing requirements increase not only as the values of flow quantization and capacity increment step are decreased, but also as the number of simulations is increased. These values are selected depending upon the result accuracy required and the configuration of the system. This approach is demonstrated using an example network with 2 sources, 7 links, and 4 sinks.
Does your SEM really tell the truth?--How would you know? Part 1.

The scanning electron microscope (SEM) has gone through a tremendous evolution to become a critical tool for many and diverse scientific and industrial applications. The high resolution of the SEM is especially suited for both qualitative and quantitative applications especially for nanotechnology and nanomanufacturing. Quantitatively, measurement, or metrology is one of the main uses. It is likely that one of the first questions asked before even the first scanning electron micrograph was ever recorded was: "… how big is that? " The quality of that answer has improved a great deal over the past few years especially since today these instruments are being used as a primary measurement tool on semiconductor processing lines to monitor the manufacturing processes. The well-articulated needs of semiconductor production prompted a rapid evolution of the instrument and its capabilities. Over the past 20 years or so, instrument manufacturers, through substantial semiconductor industry investment of research and development (R&D) money, have vastly improved the performance of these instruments. All users have benefited from this investment, especially where quantitative measurements with an SEM are concerned. But, how good are these data? This article discusses some of the most important aspects and larger issues associated with imaging and measurements with the SEM that every user should know, and understand before any critical quantitative work is attempted.
Optimization of peripheral blood stem cell collection

&NA; Peripheral blood stem cells are increasingly used in lieu of marrow for hematopoietic support because of ease of collection and the rapid kinetics of recovery relative to bone marrow transplantation. More recently, it has been shown that adequate numbers of peripheral blood stem cells can be collected using growth factors alone without prior chemotherapy. By measuring CD34 or granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming unit content of peripheral blood stem cell collections, mobilization technique, age, marrow disease, prior radiation, and prior chemotherapy regimens have been found to be important factors influencing the numbers of stem cells collected. However, interpatient variation in CD34 collections remains high and there are subgroups of heavily pretreated patients who will fail to mobilize sufficient numbers of stem cells to ensure rapid engraftment. The current challenge for clinical investigations is to improve methods for identifying such patients prior to collection and utilize new strategies for stem cell mobilization. The relative ease of collection and the rapid engraftment after myeloablative therapy suggest that peripheral blood stem cells will likely supplant marrow for both allogeneic and autologous transplantation in the next 5 years.
A survey on multiple access Visible Light Positioning

Due to the ubiquitous presence of smart mobile devices, the search for an enabling technology for indoor positioning has accelerated. Different systems have been designed for applications like asset tracking, guiding and other Location Based Services (LBS). Depending on the application, the solutions use RF-, InfraRed or ultrasound technologies as communication system between the mobile nodes and the reference points. The biggest challenge with the different technologies is the rough indoor environment leading to an insufficient accuracy, combined with a high installation cost. In recent years, Visible Light Communication (VLC) has received a lot of attention as a new wireless means of communicating. The local character of the light and the dense deployment of light fixture make VLC a candidate to bring a solution for indoor positioning. This paper gives an overview of the current research results on Visible Light Positioning (VLP) systems classified according to the multiple access technology used. The advantages and disadvantages of the different VLP topologies are addressed in this work.
Exploration de la Grammaire Catégorielle Combinatoire Multimodale

Ce rapport de stage propose l'etude d'un formalisme du Traitement Automatique des Langues (TAL), la Grammaire Categorielle Combinatoire Multi-Modale (GCC-MM) de Jason Baldridge, extension de la Grammaire Categorielle Combinatoire (GCC) de Mark Steedman. Un troisieme formalisme, les Categorial Type Logics (CTL), issu du courant logique du TAL, y joue egalement un role central. Apres avoir mis en evidence (tant theoriquement qu'empiriquement) les limites inherentes a GCC, notamment en matiere de controle des faux positifs (surgeneration), nous presentons l'extension GCC-MM et les solutions qu'elle apporte a ces problemes. Nous detaillons les fondements formels de GCC-MM et les liens etroits que ceux-ci etablissent entre ce formalisme et les CTL, notamment via l'importation de la notion de controle modal. Partant de cette idee, nous entreprenons ensuite de la systematiser en dessinant les etapes d'une methode generale d'utilisation conjointe des formalismes GCC-MM et CTL, visant a combiner leurs avantages respectifs. Nous tentons enfin d'appliquer cette methode pour transposer une analyse CTL existante d'un phenomene linguistique complexe, les pronoms clitiques du francais.
Trypanosoma cruzi TcI and TcII transmission among wild carnivores, small mammals and dogs in a conservation unit and surrounding areas, Brazil

SUMMARY Aiming to better understand the ecological aspects of Trypanosoma cruzi transmission cycles, wild carnivores, small mammals and dogs were examined for T. cruzi infection in the Serra da Canastra National Park region, Brazil. Isolates were genotyped using mini-exon gene and PCR-RFLP (1f8 and H3) genomic targets. Trypanosoma cruzi transmission was well established in the area and occurred in both wild and peridomestic environments. Dog seroprevalence was 29·4% (63/214) and TcI and TcII genotypes, besides mixed infections were observed. Only TcI was detected in wild mammals. Marsupials displayed lower relative abundance, but a high prevalence of positive haemocultures (4/22), whereas rodents displayed positive haemocultures (9/113) mainly in the abundant Akodon montensis and Cerradomys subflavus species. The felid Leopardus pardalis was the only carnivore to display positive haemoculture and was captured in the same region where the small mammal prevalence of T. cruzi infection was high. Two canid species, Chrysocyon brachyurus and Cerdocyon thous, were serologically positive for T. cruzi infection (4/8 and 8/39, respectively), probably related to their capacity to exploit different ecological niches. Herein, dog infection not only signals T. cruzi transmission but also the genotypes present. Distinct transmission strategies of the T. cruzi genotypes are discussed.
Rough-wall turbulent boundary layers with constant skin friction

A semi-empirical model is presented that describes the development of a fully developed turbulent boundary layer in the presence of surface roughness with length scale $k_{s}$ that varies with streamwise distance $x$ . Interest is centred on flows for which all terms of the von Kármán integral relation, including the ratio of outer velocity to friction velocity $U_{\infty }^{+}\equiv U_{\infty }/u_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}$ , are streamwise constant. For $Re_{x}$ assumed large, use is made of a simple log-wake model of the local turbulent mean-velocity profile that contains a standard mean-velocity correction for the asymptotic fully rough regime and with assumed constant parameter values. It is then shown that, for a general power-law external velocity variation $U_{\infty }\sim x^{m}$ , all measures of the boundary-layer thickness must be proportional to $x$ and that the surface sand-grain roughness scale variation must be the linear form $k_{s}(x)=\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}x$ , where $x$ is the distance from the boundary layer of zero thickness and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ is a dimensionless constant. This is shown to give a two-parameter $(m,\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC})$ family of solutions, for which $U_{\infty }^{+}$ (or equivalently $C_{f}$ ) and boundary-layer thicknesses can be simply calculated. These correspond to perfectly self-similar boundary-layer growth in the streamwise direction with similarity variable $z/(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}x)$ , where $z$ is the wall-normal coordinate. Results from this model over a range of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ are discussed for several cases, including the zero-pressure-gradient ( $m=0$ ) and sink-flow ( $m=-1$ ) boundary layers. Trends observed in the model are supported by wall-modelled large-eddy simulation of the zero-pressure-gradient case for $Re_{x}$ in the range $10^{8}{-}10^{10}$ and for four values of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ . Linear streamwise growth of the displacement, momentum and nominal boundary-layer thicknesses is confirmed, while, for each $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ , the mean-velocity profiles and streamwise turbulent variances are found to collapse reasonably well onto $z/(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}x)$ . For given $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ , calculations of $U_{\infty }^{+}$ obtained from large-eddy simulations are streamwise constant and independent of $Re_{x}$ when this is large. The present results suggest that, in the sense that $U_{\infty }^{+}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},m)$ is constant, these flows can be interpreted as the fully rough limit for boundary layers in the presence of small-scale linear roughness.
MEFIPES, método para obtener finanzas personales sanas. Caso: Tenaris Tamsa

Esta investigacion, tiene como objetivo el disenar un metodo sencillo y practico para obtener finanzas personales sanas, donde se busca determinar los vicios financieros incurridos con frecuencia, llevar un equilibrio de los ingresos y gastos, determinar metas a corto, mediano y largo plazo de manera cuantificable, incrementar la cultura financiera e iniciar un plan de retiro durante la vida laboral son parte de los factores considerados como relevantes en este trabajo.