Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estrogen and progesterone regulate a , b , and c ENaC subunit mRNA levels in female rat kidney

Estrogen and progesterone regulate a, b, and cENaC subunit mRNA levels in female rat kidney. Background. Estrogen and progesterone regulate a, b , and c amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) subunit mRNA levels in female rat kidney. Renal Na+ handling differs between males and females. Further, within females Na+ metabolism changes during the menstrual cycle and pregnancy. Electrolyte homeostasis and extracellular fluid volume are maintained primarily by regulated transport of Na+ via the amiloride-sensitive Na+ channel. This study examines the role of the female gender steroids in the regulation of expression of ENaC. Methods. We measured ENaC subunit mRNA levels in rat kidney using Northern blotting. Kidneys were taken from male and females at different ages and from adult ovariectomized rats treated with 17-b-estradiol benzoate (estrogen) and/or progesterone for 8 or 24 hours. Results. The abundance of a, b , and cENaC mRNA was significantly higher in female compared to male rat kidneys from 10 weeks of age (P = 0.001, P = 0.004, and P = 0.02, N = 10, respectively). These differences were abolished in ovariectomized rats. Treatment of ovariectomized rats with estrogen increased aENaC mRNA abundance in the kidney at both 8 and 24 hours (P < 0.05, N = 6; and P < 0.05, N = 7, respectively). Progesterone inhibited the effect of estrogen on aENaC mRNA at 8 hours but when given alone increased cENaC mRNA (P < 0.05, N = 3). Neither hormone, alone or in combination, had any significant effect on bENaC mRNA levels at 8 or 24 hours. Conclusion. Female gonadal steroids differentially modulate expression of ENaC subunit mRNA in the rat kidney.
A survey of statistical methods for gene-gene interaction in case-control genome-wide association studies

Over the last few years, case-control genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have proven to be a successful tool to identify genomic regions associated with complex diseases. Nevertheless, current GWAS still heavily rely on a single-marker strategy, in which each biological marker (or SNP for single nucleotide polymorphism) is tested individually for association with the disease. However, it is widely admitted that this is an oversimplified approach to tackle the complexity of underlying biological mechanisms and gene-gene interaction must be considered. Unfortunately, gene-gene interaction detection gives rise to complex statistical challenges, arising from the highdimensionality and the complex architecture of the data as well as the size of the space of interaction models. The purpose of this survey is to provide a critical overview of the numerous statistical methods proposed to detect gene-gene interaction detection in GWAS. Those methods have been developed to detect interaction at various scales of the data and we decompose our survey in three main classes: SNP-SNP interaction methods, Gene-Gene interaction methods and large-scale methods. For each class of methods, we identify relative strengths and weaknesses in terms of statistical power and provide perspectives to the future of statistical strategies in gene-gene interaction analysis. Résumé : Ces dernières années ont confirmé l’intérêt des études pangénomiques (GWAS) pour l’identification de régions génomiques associées à des maladies complexes. Néanmoins, les études actuelles reposent sur une stratégie simple-point, dans laquelle chaque marqueur biologique est testé individuellement pour l’association avec la maladie. Cependant, il est largement admis que cette approche est trop simpliste pour s’attaquer à la complexité des mécanismes biologiques sous-jacents et qu’il est important d’inclure l’interaction gène-gène dans l’analyse. Malheureusement, la détection de l’interaction gène-gène soulève des défis statistiques complexes, issus de la grande dimension et de l’architecture complexe des données ainsi que de la taille de l’espace des modèles d’interaction. Le but de cette étude est de fournir un aperçu des nombreuses méthodes statistiques proposées pour détecter une interaction gène-gène dans les GWAS. Ces méthodes ont été développées pour détecter l’interaction à différentes échelles des données et nous décomposons notre étude en trois classes principales : les méthodes d’interaction SNP-SNP, les méthodes d’interaction Gene-Gene et les méthodes à grande échelle. Pour chaque classe de méthodes, nous identifions les forces et les faiblesses en termes de puissance statistique et proposons des pistes de développements dans la modélisation statistique de l’interaction gène-gène.
Ab initio correlation calculations for the lattice structures of Zn, Cd, and Hg

Mercury condenses at 233 K into the rhombohedral structure with a bond length a = 3.005 A and an angle of 70.53 . In contrast, zinc and cadmium adopt the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure, but with an anomolous c/a ratio which is far from ideal hcp. Density functional methods fail to describe either of these structures accurately. An application of the method of increments to these metals, including correlation via coupled cluster calculations on finite fragments of the solid, allows the systematic inclusion and comparison of the competing effects that leads to the observed structures.
A reduced gene database for precision species detection

For the purpose of a faster identification of sequences, the current database should be modeled in a different way. The current databases should be converted to the reduced database. The reduced database is modeled in a way that at first it gives us information only about significant sequences, and all the other sequences are hidden behind their representative. We proposed three different approaches for creating reduced database. Two of them incorporates hierachical clustering, while the third one is based on partitional clustering. Since the approach with partitional clustering has been shown as the best, our final design contains implementation of it. Two programs has been created, the Reducer and the Searcher. The Reducer creates a reduced database, while the Serchers search through the reduced database to find a new sequence.
Application-specific arithmetic circuit design for a particle tracking application

The main bottleneck in system LSI performance is, in many cases, the processing overhead that occurs when arithmetic calculations are performed multiple times. The circuit size and processing time required for multiplication, division and other basic arithmetic operations are often especially large. In this paper we propose an application-specific arithmetic circuit design methodology and apply it to the design of a correlation coefficient calculation circuit for a particle tracking application. Particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) measures velocity fluctuations in fluids and gases and has been applied to a diverse range of flows. However, the algorithms are computationally intensive so to achieve real-time processing speeds implementation in hardware is essential. The computational overhead is accelerated by applying code refactoring, memory access optimization, and variable length pipelining. The processing speed and the circuit size of the design are evaluated. We show that the hardware solution is 1,000 times faster than the software solution and is able to achieve real-time processing speeds.
On the well-posedness of numerical DAE

Solving unstructured linear differential-algebraic equations in the presence of numeric uncertainty in the equation coefficients is an ill-posed problem - arbitrarily small changes in the coefficients of the leading matrix may change the solution completely. To obtain well-posedness, assumptions must be made, even for DAE of index 0. In this work, we propose assumptions about the system poles to obtain well-posedness.
Müller Muscle-Conjunctiva Resection to Correct Ptosis in High-Risk Patients

Purpose: Müller muscle-conjunctiva resection could be seen as a relative contraindication in patients with a prior history of a glaucoma filtering procedure, corneal disease, or corneal surgery. The concern centers around the theoretical risk of bleb-related complications or corneal damage from the palpebral conjunctival sutures. Our study aimed to determine whether any bleb- or cornea-related complications arose in patients who underwent Müller muscle-conjunctiva resection for ptosis correction. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed on 2 practices of oculofacial plastic surgeons from 2000 to 2006, including patients who had ptosis correction by Müller muscle-conjunctiva resection. Patients with a prior history of a glaucoma filtering procedure, corneal disease, or corneal surgery were identified. Each case was reviewed to determine whether any bleb- or cornea-related complications occurred. The postoperative improvement of ptosis measured by interpalpebral distance or margin reflex distance-1 also was noted. Results: Forty-three patients and 55 eyes with a history of a glaucoma filtering procedure (13 patients/15 eyes), corneal disease (1 patient/1 eye), or corneal surgery (29 patients/39 eyes) who underwent Müller muscle-conjunctiva resection were identified. The average follow-up time was 212.4 days. No bleb-related complications occurred. One patient with a history of Reis-Bücklers dystrophy experienced a corneal abrasion. Fifty-two of 55 patients had objective improvement of their ptosis. Conclusions: Müller muscle-conjunctiva resection can provide an effective means for ptosis repair in patients with a prior history of a glaucoma filtering procedure, corneal disease, or corneal surgery. One temporary postoperative corneal complication occurred in our series.
Recovery analysis for weighted mixed l 2 / l p minimization with 0 < p ≤ 1

We study the recovery conditions of weighted mixed l2/lp (0 < p ≤ 1) minimization for block sparse signal reconstruction from compressed measurements when partial block support information is available. We show that the block p-restricted isometry property (RIP) can ensure the robust recovery. Moreover, we present the sufficient and necessary condition for the recovery by using weighted block p-null space property. The relationship between the block p-RIP and the weighted block p-null space property has been established. Finally, we illustrate our results with a series of numerical experiments.
Accuracy and reliability of store‐and‐forward teledermatology: Preliminary results from the St George Teledermatology Project

Teledermatology is the practice of dermatology across distances (and time) and involves the transfer of electronic information. To be effective and safe, the teledermatology process needs to demonstrate an acceptable level of accuracy and reliability. Accuracy is reflected by the degree of concordance (agreement) between the teledermatology and face‐to‐face diagnoses. Reliability is dependent on how consistently a set of results can be reproduced across different operators. Mean concordance (primary diagnoses) achieved by four dermatologists studying 53 store‐and‐forward diagnostic cases, originating from 49 referred patients, was 79% (range 73–85%). When the differential diagnoses were taken into account, the variation across individual dermatologists narrowed further, with a mean of 86% (range 83–89%). In contrast, the mean general practitioner (GP; n = 11) concordance (GP face‐to‐face vs reference dermatologist store‐and‐forward diagnoses) was 49%. An interim review of all 49 teledermatology patients showed no adverse outcome at the end of 3 months. The ability to request face‐to‐face visits by dermatologists, combined with GPs maintaining primary care of the referred patient, serve as additional safeguards for patients using a telemedicine system. Our results indicate that teledermatology management of referred skin complaints is both accurate and reliable.
Linear Transceiver Design for Full-Duplex MIMO Relay Systems: A Non-Iterative Approach

Full-duplex (FD) multiple-input multiple-output relaying can significantly increase the spectral efficiency of cooperative systems. As known, the loop interference (LI) is a main factor affecting the performance of FD systems. The joint source/relay precoding has been considered a promising technique to reduce the influence of LI. Unfortunately, existing methods are developed as iterative, which is not desirable from the implementation point of view. In this letter, we propose a novel design to solve the problem. The proposed scheme not only gives closed-form solutions but avoids iterative operations. Simulation results show that our design can provide comparable performance to iterative schemes; meanwhile the required computational complexity is lower.
Genetic diversity within and among endangered local cattle breeds from Tuscany ( Italy ) SUMMARY

Italy has a rich diversity in farm animals. In particular, Tuscany hosts a number of autochthonous bovine breeds that are, or have been, relevant for the economic sustainability of the agriculture, the origin and history of which are still poorly documented. Most of these breeds suffered in the past a dramatic loss of economic importance being substituted by cosmopolite and more productive breeds. The aim of the present study was to analyse levels of genetic diversity and relationship among local cattle breeds from Tuscany (Central Italy) using microsatellite markers. DNA from 194 animals (Calvana, 61; Garfagnina, 43; Pontremolese, 23; Chianina, 67) was analyzed at 22 microsatellite loci. Number of alleles (NA) and allelic frequencies were estimated. Locus by locus FST, exact tests for deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) and pair-wise linkage disequilibrium (LD) among microsatellite loci were evaluated. In addition, various among-population genetic distances were calculated. The study evidenced a significant departure from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in all the analyzed breeds, probably caused by a rather high level of inbreeding for Calvana, Garfagnina and Pontremolese, whereas likely reflecting the results of recent selective processes in Chianina. The overall fixation index was 0.115±0.054. Results obtained in this study suggest that the situation of the analyzed breeds is risky as their variability is compromised by a high level of inbreeding, in particular Pontremolese was the most compromised breed. Several distance metrics highlighted a only moderate differentiation between Chianina and Calvana if compared to values found among the other breeds. Also molecular coancestry and kinship distance supported the hypothesis that Calvana originated from Chianina, whereas Garfagnina and Pontremolese should have different ancestral origins. The low genetic variability suggests the need for a careful genetic management of the breeds, in order to maintain long-term population survival and adaptability and to avoid the risk of more excessive increase in the inbreeding level, which would result in significant inbreeding depression and in significant loss of genetic variation.
Changes in Lipid Profile Over 24 Months Among Adults on First-Line Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in the Home-Based AIDS Care Program in Rural Uganda

Background:Use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has been linked to dyslipidemia and increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in HIV-infected patients in industrialized countries. The effects of HAART on lipid metabolism among sub-Saharan Africans, for whom access to antiretroviral therapy is expanding, remain largely unknown. Methods:From July 2003 to May 2004, 987 antiretroviral-naive patients with symptomatic HIV disease or a CD4 count <250 cells/mm3 were started on HAART in the Home-Based AIDS Care (HBAC) Program in Tororo, Uganda. The HBAC Program provided weekly drug delivery and field-based clinical monitoring. Nonfasting repository sera from a subset of 374 patients were analyzed for levels of total cholesterol (TC), direct low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), direct high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), and triglycerides (TG) at baseline (before HAART) and after 12 and 24 months of HAART using Randox enzymatic kits (Crumlin, United Kingdom). Results:The 374 patients evaluated (49% women, mean age = 39 years, CD4 count = 124 cells/mm3, body mass index = 19.7 kg/m2) received initial HAART composed of stavudine, lamivudine, and either nevirapine (365 patients [98%]) or efavirenz (9 patients [2%]). During 24 months, 99 (26%) patients had single drug substitutions from stavudine to zidovudine and 27 (7%) had single drug substitutions from nevirapine to efavirenz. At baseline, the mean serum lipid concentrations were 120 mg/dL for TC, 53 mg/dL for LDL-c, 29 mg/dL for HDL-c, and 123 mg/dL for TG; values were generally comparable for men and women. During 24 months of treatment, TC increased by a mean of 31 mg/dL, LDL-c by a mean of 26 mg/dL, and HDL-c by a mean of 19 mg/dL, whereas the TC/HDL-c ratio decreased from a mean of 4.6 to 3.4 (all changes, P < 0.001). TG levels initially decreased and then returned to baseline levels by 24 months. At baseline and 24 months, respectively, TC was ≥200 mg/dL for 2% and 10% of patients, LDL-c was ≥130 mg/dL for 1% and 6%, HDL-c was <40 mg/dL for 88% and 41%, and TG were ≥150 mg/dL for 23% and 20%. Conclusions:Rural Ugandans with advanced HIV disease initiating nevirapine- or efavirenz-based HAART experienced infrequent elevations in TC, LDL-c, and TG at baseline and after 24 months of therapy. Increases in HDL-c levels were substantial and proportionally greater than increases in TC or LDL-c levels. The risk of CVD and how it is affected by lipid changes in this rural African population are unknown. However, the changes we observed after 24 months of HAART seem unlikely to increase the risk of CVD.
Overview of current regional and local scale air quality modelling practices : Assessment and planning tools in the EU

The 2008 European Air Quality Directive (AQD) (2008/50/EC) encourages the use of models in combination with monitoring in a range of applications. It also requires Member States to design appropriate air quality plans for zones where the air quality does not comply with the AQD limit values. In order to cope with these various elements, a wide range of different modeling methods have been developed and applied by EU Member States in the last decade to assess the effects of local and regional emission abatement policy options on air quality and human health. However, an overall review of the methodologies that are used in different countries to compile local and regional air quality plans has not been performed so far. Such a review has been the objective of the APPRAISAL EU FP7 project with the main goal to identify methodologies and their limitations and to propose possible key areas to be addressed by research and innovation on the basis of this review. To fulfill these objectives, a structured online database of methodologies has been developed in collaboration with experts involved in the design of air quality plans (AQP). The current work relies on the APPRAISAL database which currently totals 59 contributions from 13 Member States. In this paper we summarize the outcome of the APPRAISAL project with respect to the review of current Integrated Assessment Modeling practices. ã 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
A Study to Assess the Prevalance of Vitamin-D Deficiency in Patients with Left Ventricular Dysfunction and Its Correlation with Conventional Echocardiographic Parameter

Clinical studies have reported cross-sectional associations between lower vitamin D levels and blood pressure, coronary artery calcification, and prevalent cardiovascular disease like coronary artery disease, chronic left ventricular dysfunction other than musculo-skeletal disease. Aim of our study is to assess the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients with chronic left ventricular dysfunction (LVEF<50%). 50 patients attending at cardiology outdoor and admitted at cardiology ward of IPGME&R and SSKM Hospital were included in the study from one year (April 2016-March 2017). Our study demonstrate that the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (< 20ng/ml) in patients with chronic left ventricular dysfunction is significantly more (72%) than general population (40 to 50%) though the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D (30ng/ml) is similar in both groups. (84% vs 90%. Low vitamin D level (<20 ng/ml) appears to be associated with worse systolic functions in terms of high end systolic volume (ESV) and left ventricular end systolic dimension(LVIDs) ,end diastolic volume (EDV), left ventricular end diastolic dimension (LVIDs), low left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), low fractional shortening (FS).
[Effect of laparoscopic trocar model on the quality of the movement: experimental study of friction].

OBJECTIVE To keep the pneumoperitoneum and the tightness of the abdominal and pelvic cavity during a laparoscopy, the sheaths of trocar are provided with a device (valvule, membranes etc.) inducing a friction during the handling of the instrument. The objective of this article is to analyse friction from different types of trocar's port. MATERIALS AND METHODS We present here the experimental results obtained during a testing bench of three different trocar sheaths. The mechanism of tightness of the first trocar sheath is made of a fine membrane associated to a valve, of a thick membrane for the second trocar sheath, whereas the third trocar sheath is made of two membranes, a fine and a thick, associated to a valve. After reporting the experimental device and the analytic model adopted to describe the relationship between the measured physical parameters, we lay out our results. The identification of parameters of this model makes it possible to objectively compare the three trocars. RESULTS Our results revealed that, under experimental conditions, the amplitude of friction was significantly lower with trocar's port provided with a valve and a fine membrane than with both other ports (fivefold weaker). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION We evoke the importance of the possible disruption brought by these frictions while referring these values to those of other measurements concerning interactions between instrument and organs. These different behaviours of the material could have some consequences in choosing the tools for the performance of precise gestures.
A COMBINATORIAL TECHNIQUE USING WAVELET AND EMPIRICAL MODE DECOMPOSITION FOR DENOISING PARTIAL DISCHARGE SIGNATURE

Insulation diagnostics has been accepted and applied as a tool for condition assessment of high voltage equipment to identify the weak spots of the insulation. Partial discharge (PD) signal features indicate insulation condition of the equipment effectively. Extracting PD signal is one of the major tasks in PD measurement system. PD signals are characterized by a high-frequency current pulse from the noisy background. Noise detection and removal pose considerable challenges due to unknown sources that cause noise distribution. A Recent literature survey indicates there are only a few methods to detect a few of noises types. Though wavelet threshold function and Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) technique evolved as noise detection tools not much work related to the design of robust techniques which will lead to a simultaneous reduction of types of noise has been reported to literature.This paper proposes a novel hybrid structure that combines wavelet threshold function and EMD technique, which has been applied to both numerically simulated PD pulses and later to the observed data from the laboratory. Quality metrics Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Cross-Correlation (CC), Mean Square Error (MSE) and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) are used to compare the results. The obtained result indicates the superior performance of proposed hybrid technique in denoising white noise pulses from the PD signatures. The average PSNR value of proposed hybrid technique for removal of white noises has been found to be more than the PSNR values of traditional methods. By fitting statistical distribution, the noise separated from the PD has been proven to be white noise.