Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tripling the detection view of high-frequency linear-array-based photoacoustic computed tomography by using two planar acoustic reflectors.

BACKGROUND Linear-array-based photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) suffers from a limited view. Circular scanning does increase the detection view angle but is time-consuming. Therefore, it is desirable to increase the detection view angle of linear-array-based PACT without sacrificing imaging speed. METHODS Two planar acoustic reflectors placed at 120 degrees to each other were added to a linear-array-based PACT system. Each reflector redirects originally undetectable photoacoustic waves back to the transducer array elements, and together they triple the original detection view angle of the PACT system. RESULTS Adding two reflectors increased the detection view angle from 80 to 240 degrees. As a comparison, a single-reflector PACT has a detection view angle of only 160 degrees. A leaf skeleton phantom with a rich vascular network was imaged with the double-reflector PACT, and most of its features were recovered. CONCLUSIONS The two acoustic reflectors triple the detection view angle of a linear-array-based PACT without compromising the original imaging speed. This nearly full-view detection capability produces higher-quality images than single-reflector PACT or conventional PACT without reflectors.
Physical activity and inflammation in a multiethnic cohort of women.

PURPOSE Many cross-sectional studies using data from a single time point have reported that higher levels of physical activity or fitness are associated with lower levels of inflammatory markers, but data examining change are limited, as are race/ethnicity-specific data. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between physical activity and inflammation assessed at two time points among women of different race/ethnicities. METHODS A total of 1355 postmenopausal women (301 whites, 300 blacks, 300 Hispanics, 300 Asians/Pacific Islanders, and 154 American Indians) age 50-79 yr were studied. Participants were from 40 US cities and were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer. At baseline and year 3, women reported their recreational physical activities and provided blood samples, which were analyzed for several inflammatory markers. RESULTS In cross-sectional analyses, after adjusting for several potential confounders including body mass index, higher physical activity levels were generally related to lower inflammatory marker concentrations. For example, P values for a linear trend of lower C-reactive protein levels across physical activity tertiles at baseline were <0.0001 in all women and 0.94, 0.09, 0.002, 0.20, and 0.10, respectively, for the five race/ethnic groups listed above. For interleukin 6, the corresponding P values were <0.0001, 0.0007, 0.01, 0.03, 0.37, and 0.004, respectively, at baseline. Relationships at year 3 were similar to baseline. However, there was no relation between changes in physical activity and changes in inflammatory markers during the 3-yr period. CONCLUSIONS Among middle-age and older women overall, there were strong, inverse, cross-sectional associations between physical activity level and inflammatory markers. However, changes in inflammatory markers were unrelated to changes in physical activity. These data suggest a noncausal association between physical activity and inflammatory markers.
EBV latent membrane protein (LMP‐1) and bcl‐2 protein expression in Reed‐Sternberg‐like cells in post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorders

An inconsistent association exists between EBV‐LMP‐1 and bcl‐2 protein expression in Reed‐Sternberg cells seen in Hodgkin’s disease. In fact, many studies have concluded that there is no correlation between EBV‐LMP and bcl‐2 expression in Hodgkin's disease. We undertook an analysis of post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorders to explore the relationship between EBV‐LMP and bcl‐2 in Reed‐Sternberg‐like cells found in this condition, given the strong association between this disorder and EBV. Reed‐Sternberg‐like cells were found histologically in 11 of 28 cases of renal, heart and heart‐lung post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorders. Formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded sections were stained with monoclonal antibodies to EBV‐LMP‐1 and bcl‐2 proteins. Reed‐Sternberg‐like cells in all 11 cases co‐expressed EBV‐LMP and bcl‐2. A similar relationship was noted with large, mononuclear cells and occasional small lymphoid cells. The staining pattern seen with both antibodies was of similar intensity and both displayed cytoplasmic Golgi accentuation. In the setting of post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorders, Reed‐Sternberg‐like cells exhibit strong co‐expression of EBV‐LMP‐1 and bcl‐2 proteins, supporting a positive correlation between them. This is in contrast to the findings in Hodgkin's disease. The reason for this discrepancy may be due to the iatrogenic immunosuppression and resultant severe EBV infection, together with other cellular events.
The International Journal of Biostatistics Joint Analysis of Current Status and Marker Data : An Extension of a Bivariate Threshold Model

This paper considers joint analysis of current status and marker data using a threshold model based on first hitting times. A failure time is defined as the time at which a subject's latent health status process first decreases to zero. We extend the bivariate Wiener process model in Whitmore et al. (1998) to the case when only current status data are available. We develop maximum likelihood estimation procedures and provide simulation studies. We apply our methods to a motivating example involving liver tumors in mice.
Role of the gate-to-drain distance in the performance of the normally-off InAlN/GaN HEMTs

We correlate dc maximal drain current I<inf>DSmax</inf>, pulsed output characteristics, rf small-signal and breakdown performance of normally-off InAlN/GaN HEMTs with varied gate-to-drain distance d<inf>GD</inf>. It is found that parasitic lag effects which are related to the possible surface states are not appearing at longer d<inf>GD</inf>. On the other hand compromise need to be found between the improved gate performance and impaired I<inf>DSmax</inf> and f<inf>T</inf> as the d<inf>GD</inf> is increased. The leakage current of the 0.5 µm-long gate may be reduced by up-to three orders of magnitude, down to µA/mm at −20 V bias if d<inf>GD</inf> increases from 3 to 15 µm. On the other hand I<inf>DSmax</inf> and f<inf>T</inf> drop by about one third of the original value (from about 0.6 A/mm and 34 GHz down to 0.4 A/mm and 21 GHz, respectively) if d<inf>GD</inf> changes.
The 14‐3‐3 protein as a novel regulator of ion channel localisation

An exciting epoch is starting as we begin to grasp the variety of physiological functions of the protein 14-3-3. Moore & Perez first described 14-3-3 as a brain-enriched protein in 1968. 14-3-3 was subsequently found to represent a family of regulatory proteins which are ubiquitously expressed in eukaryotic tissues (Fu et al. 2000). The unusual name is derived from the fraction number of DEAE-cellulose chromatography and its migration position in starch-gel electrophoresis. Today 14-3-3 is regarded as a multifunctional protein, like calmodulin, which binds to a variety of cellular proteins and modulates their function. Biochemical and molecular biological techniques have revealed that more than 50 signalling molecules can be regulated by 14-3-3. Through interaction with its effectors, 14-3-3 is now considered to play a pivotal role in the regulation of diverse cell signalling pathways, including activation of protein kinases, cell cycle control, neural development and pathogenesis of bacteria and viruses. To date, seven mammalian 14-3-3 isoforms have been found and these are distinguished by the Greek letters β, e, γ, η, σ, θ and ζ. The structural basis of the specific interaction between a 14-3-3 protein and its target peptide has been elucidated (Yaffe et al. 1997), but the physiological significance of 14-3-3 in mammalian cells has remained elusive.
Working conditions , selfperceived selfperceived selfperceived stress , anxiety , depression and quality of life : A structural equation modelling approach

Background: The relationships between working conditions [job demand, job control and social support]; stress, anxiety, and depression; and perceived quality of life factors [physical health, psychological wellbeing, social relationships and environmental conditions] were assessed using a sample of 698 male automotive assembly workers in Malaysia. Methods: The validated Malay version of the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) were used. A structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis was applied to test the structural relationships of the model using AMOS version 6.0, with the maximum likelihood ratio as the method of estimation. Results: The results of the SEM supported the hypothesized structural model (χ2 = 22.801, df = 19, p = 0.246). The final model shows that social support (JCQ) was directly related to all 4 factors of the WHOQOL-BREF and inversely related to depression and stress (DASS). Job demand (JCQ) was directly related to stress (DASS) and inversely related to the environmental conditions (WHOQOL-BREF). Job control (JCQ) was directly related to social relationships (WHOQOLBREF). Stress (DASS) was directly related to anxiety and depression (DASS) and inversely related to physical health, environment conditions and social relationships (WHOQOL-BREF). Anxiety (DASS) was directly related to depression (DASS) and inversely related to physical health (WHOQOL-BREF). Depression (DASS) was inversely related to the psychological wellbeing (WHOQOL-BREF). Finally, stress, anxiety and depression (DASS) mediate the relationships between job demand and social support (JCQ) to the 4 factors of WHOQOL-BREF. Conclusion: These findings suggest that higher social support increases the self-reported quality of life of these workers. Higher job control increases the social relationships, whilst higher job demand increases the self-perceived stress and decreases the self-perceived quality of life related to environmental factors. The mediating role of depression, anxiety and stress on the relationship between working conditions and perceived quality of life in automotive workers should be taken into account in managing stress amongst these workers. Published: 6 February 2008 BMC Public Health 2008, 8:48 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-8-48 Received: 17 June 2007 Accepted: 6 February 2008 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral. com/1471-2458/8/48 © 2008 Rusli et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Clinical role of calprotectin assay in determining histological relapses in children affected by inflammatory bowel diseases

Background: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are characterized by periods of remission with recurrent episodes of symptom exacerbation because of acute intestinal inflammation, which is correctly evaluated by endoscopy with biopsy sampling. However, many surrogate markers of intestinal inflammation, including fecal calprotectin (FC), are detected as potential predictors of mucosal inflammation in IBD patients. The aim of our study was to retrospectively assess the clinical efficacy of the calprotectin assay in determining histological relapses of pediatric IBD patients. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the histological examinations, clinical records, and FC values of patients who had undergone colonoscopy at our hospital over an 8‐year period, from December 31, 1998, to December 31, 2006. Only patients with a first histological examination showing a quiescent IBD who submitted to a second histological examination during the next 3 years were selected. Results: Seventy‐three IBD patients, all with a first biopsy showing a quiescent IBD, were studied; at the second histological examination, 32 presented with relapse and 41 presented with remission. Relapsed patients showed significantly increased FC levels compared with nonrelapsed patients. A FC value of 275 &mgr;g/g achieved sensitivity and negative predictive value of 97% and specificity and positive predictive value of 85% in predicting histological relapse. Conclusions: FC seems to be a direct measure of intestinal inflammation and therefore a good marker of the risk of histological relapse in pediatric IBD patients. The application of this test in clinical practice may enable the avoidance of invasive tests as well as targeting treatment.
Dietary supplementation with melatonin reduces levels of amyloid beta‐peptides in the murine cerebral cortex

Abstract: Melatonin levels decrease with aging in mice. Dietary supplementation with melatonin has recently been shown to result in a significant rise in levels of endogenous melatonin in the serum and all other tissue samples tested. Herein, the effects of dietary melatonin on brain levels of nitric oxide synthase, synaptic proteins and amyloid beta‐peptides (Aβ) were determined in mice. Melatonin supplementation did not significantly change cerebral cortical levels of nitric oxide synthase or synaptic proteins such as synaptophysin and SNAP‐25. Increased brain melatonin concentrations however, led to a significant reduction in levels of toxic cortical Aβ of both short and long forms which are involved in amyloid depositions and plaque formation in Alzheimer's diseases. Thus, melatonin supplementation may retard neurodegenerative changes associated with brain aging. Depletion of melatonin in the brain of aging mice may in part account for this adverse change.
Effective Dimension Reduction Techniques for Text Documents

Summary Frequent term based text clustering is a text clustering technique, which uses frequent term set and dramatically decreases the dimensionality of the document vector space, thus especially addressing: very high dimensionality of the data and very large size of the databases. Frequent Term based Clustering algorithm (FTC) has shown significant efficiency comparing to some well known text clustering methods, but the quality of clustering still needs further enhancement. In this paper, the morphological variant words, stopwords and grammatical words are identified and removed for further dimension reduction. Two effective dimension reduction algorithms, improved stemming and frequent term generation algorithms have been presented. An experiment on classical text documents as well as on web documents demonstrates that the developed algorithms yield good dimension reduction.
Production of S-(+)-ibuprofen from a nitrile compound by Acinetobacter sp. strain AK226

S-(+)-2-(4'-Isobutylphenyl)propionic acid [S-(+)-ibuprofen] was produced from racemic 2-(4'-isobutylphenyl)propionitrile (Ibu-CN) by an isolated bacterial strain, Acinetobacter sp. strain AK226. Ammonium acetate, acetonitrile, or n-butyronitrile as a carbon source in the culture medium was effective for bacterial growth and induction of this activity. The optimum pH of the reaction was around 8.0. S-(+)-Ibuprofen formed from Ibu-CN by resting cells was present in a 95% enantiomeric excess. Acinetobacter sp. strain AK226 appeared to possess a nitrilase for Ibu-CN because 2-(4'-isobutylphenyl)propionamide was not detected in the reaction mixture and 2-(4'-isobutylphenyl)propionamide was not hydrolyzed to S-(+)-ibuprofen. Since S-(+)-ibuprofen was preferentially produced while the R enantiomer of Ibu-CN was left almost intact over the time course of the reaction, the putative nitrilase appeared to be highly specific for the S enantiomer of Ibu-CN.
Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping Motivations of Male Fashion Leaders

This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Conferences and Symposia at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) Annual Conference Proceedings by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact digirep@iastate.edu. Engelbrecht, Lizelle and Jacobs, Bertha, "Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping Motivations of Male Fashion Leaders" (2016). International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) Annual Conference Proceedings. 143. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/itaa_proceedings/2016/presentations/143 brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac. uk
A Note on the Shapley Value for Characteristic Functions on Bipartitions

We consider a cooperative game with a bipartition that indicates which players are participating. This paper provides an analytical solution for the Shapley value when the worth of a coalition only depends on the number of participating coalition players. The computational complexity grows linearly in the number of players, which contrasts with the usual exponential increase. Our result remains true when we introduce (i) randomization of the bipartition, and (ii) randomly draw a characteristic function.
To quark or to spark, that is the question

A rise in the intracellular Ca¥ concentration ([Ca¥]é) is the first and last signal that most animal cells generate during the span of their life. The question of how these whole-cell Ca¥ signals (e.g. for contraction, secretion, information processing) are generated, is still a matter of great debate. Advancements in optical techniques are constantly revealing new layers of complexity in the mechanisms responsible for cellular Ca¥ signals. For excitable cells, the question was at least partially answered a few years ago by the description of spatially confined Ca¥ transients in resting rat cardiac muscle cells, the so-called ‘Ca¥ sparks’ (Cheng et al. 1993). This initial observation in cardiac muscle cells was thereafter confirmed throughout the entire diversity of excitable cells, from cardiac and smooth to skeletal muscle and recently spatially restricted Ca¥ release was also observed in neuronal cells (for a review see Lipp & Niggli, 1996b). The idea of these Ca¥ sparks being the elementary building blocks of Ca¥ signalling has been established during recent years. The original concept was that the gating of a single sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca¥ release channel (ryanodine receptor or RyR) gives rise to the occurrence of Ca¥ sparks. Spatiotemporal recruitment of these Ca¥ sparks then leads to a global or whole-cell Ca¥ transient.
Chromosome bi-orientation on the mitotic spindle

For proper chromosome segregation, sister kinetochores must attach to microtubules extending from opposite spindle poles prior to anaphase onset. This state is called sister kinetochore bi-orientation or chromosome bi-orientation. The mechanism ensuring chromosome bi-orientation lies at the heart of chromosome segregation, but is still poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests that mal-oriented kinetochore-to-pole connections are corrected in a tension-dependent mechanism. The cohesin complex and the Ipl1/Aurora B protein kinase seem to be key regulators for this correction. In this article, I discuss how cells ensure sister kinetochore bi-orientation for all chromosomes, mainly focusing on our recent findings in budding yeast.
Estimation of Genetic Parameters and Trends for Weaning-to-first Service Interval and Litter Traits in a Commercial Landrace-Large White Swine Population in Northern Thailand

The objectives of this research were the estimation of genetic parameters and trends for weaning-to-first service interval (WSI), and litter traits in a commercial swine population composed of Landrace (L), Large White (T), LT, and TL animals in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. The dataset contained 4,399 records of WSI, number of piglets born alive (NBA), litter weight of live piglets at birth (LBW), number of piglets at weaning (NPW), and litter weight at weaning (LWW). Variance and covariance components were estimated with REML using 2-trait analyses. An animal model was used for WSI and a sire-dam model for litter traits. Fixed effects were farrowing year-season, breed group of sow, breed group of boar (litter traits), parity, heterosis (litter traits), sow age, and lactation length (NPW and LWW). Random effects were boar (litter traits), sow, permanent environment, and residual. Heritabilities for direct genetic effects were low for WSI (0.04±0.02) and litter traits (0.05±0.02 to 0.06±0.02). Most heritabilities for maternal litter trait effects were 20% to 50% lower than their direct counterparts. Repeatability for WSI was similar to its heritability. Repeatabilities for litter traits ranged from 0.15±0.02 to 0.18±0.02. Direct genetic, permanent environment, and phenotypic correlations between WSI and litter traits were near zero. Direct genetic correlations among litter traits ranged from 0.56±0.20 to 0.95±0.05, except for near zero estimates between NBA and LWW, and LBW and LWW. Maternal, permanent environment, and phenotypic correlations among litter traits had similar patterns of values to direct genetic correlations. Boar genetic trends were small and significant only for NBA (-0.015±0.005 piglets/yr, p<0.004). Sow genetic trends were small, negative, and significant (-0.036±0.013 d/yr, p<0.01 for WSI ; -0.017±0.005 piglets/yr, p<0.007, for NBA; -0.015±0.005 kg/yr, p<0.01, for LBW; -0.019±0.008 piglets/yr, p<0.02, for NPW; and -0.022 ±0.006 kg/yr, p<0.003, for LWW). Permanent environmental correlations were small, negative, and significant only for WSI (-0.028± 0.011 d/yr, p<0.02). Environmental trends were positive and significant only for litter traits (p<0.01 to p<0.0003). Selection based on predicted genetic values rather than phenotypes could be advantageous in this population. A single trait analysis could be used for WSI and a multiple trait analysis could be implemented for litter traits.
Sharedness of team mental models in the course of design-related interaction between architects and clients

This study deals with the role of mental models in the coordination of team activities during design problem-solving. The work centers on the sharedness of mental models in a design team setting, mainly on the interaction between an architect and two clients. A major goal is to gain insight into how modifications in mental models affect coordination, and how sharedness develops through the process. Our focus is to explore, through a case study, the individual contributions of the architect and the clients to coordination of the work process, and how sharedness of the development of the team mental model evolves in the early stage of concept generation. Our claim is that work teams develop a certain degree of sharedness of the mental models of individual team members during information exchange. This team mental model can be insufficient or even wrong, but as long as the team members feel agreement in the team, they coordinate their work on that basis. Thus, sharedness of mental models is believed to be a powerful team asset, especially when it is reached in the earlier phases of the design process. Our findings suggest that in order to attain sharedness among design team members, design activities related to the task mental model should be encouraged, specifically the generation of new ideas and the analysis of solutions. Implications for practice and education are suggested.