Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring families' experiences of an organ donation request after brain death

This qualitative research study with a content analysis approach aimed to explore families’ experiences of an organ donation request after brain death. Data were collected through 38 unstructured and in-depth interviews with 14 consenting families and 12 who declined to donate organs. A purposeful sampling process began in October 2009 and ended in October 2010. Data analysis reached 10 categories and two major themes were listed as: 1) serenity in eternal freedom; and 2) resentful grief. The central themes were peace and honor versus doubt and regret. The findings indicated that the families faced with an organ donation request of a brain-dead loved one experienced a lasting effect long after the patient's demise regardless of their decision to donate or refusal to donate. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of family support and follow-up in an efficient healthcare system aimed at developing trust with the families and providing comfort during and after the final decision.
A NOVEL MICROFLUIDIC DROPLET MANIPULATION METHOD FOR FABRICATION OF REVERSE-PHASE TWO LAYER LAYER-BY-LAYER PROTEIN MICROCAPSULES

This paper presents a novel droplet manipulation approach using high flow resistance microstructures for transferring microdroplets through different reagent streams for generating 2 layered polymericshell PSS/PEI microcapsules for biomolecular encapsulation. Our approach demonstrates the formation of protein capsules using the principle of Reverse� Phase LayerbyLayer (RPLbL) polyelectrolyte deposition. This is the first demonstration of RPLBL in microfluidic devices and is a suitable, continuous method for encapsulating water soluble biomolecules.
Voice change as a new measure of male pubertal timing: A study among Bolivian adolescents

Background: Age at menarche is often used to measure maturational tempo in girls. Unfortunately, no parallel marker exists for boys. It is suggested that voice change has a number of advantages as a marker of the timing and degree of male pubertal development. Aim: Traditional auxological methods are applied to voice change in order to compare differential development both between (males vs females; Tsimane vs North American; better vs worse condition) and within (voice vs height; fundamental frequency vs formant structure) populations. Subjects and methods: Fundamental and formant frequencies, as well as height and weight, were measured for 172 Tsimane males and females, aged 8–23. Participants were assigned to ‘better’ or ‘worse’ condition based on a median split of height-for-age and weight-for-age z-scores. Results: Results support dramatic vocal changes in males. Peak voice change among Tsimane male adolescents occurs∼1 year later than in an age-matched North American sample. Achieved adult male voices are also higher in the Tsimane. Tsimane males in worse condition experience voice change more than 1 year later than Tsimane males in better condition. Conclusion: Voice change has a number of attractive features as a marker of male pubertal timing including its methodological and technical simplicity as well as its social salience to group members.
Management of irritable bowel syndrome

The diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is made on clinical grounds with appropriate limited investigations to exclude organic disease. IBS is common and may have a significant impact on a patient’s quality of life. Psychological symptoms are common. IBS may benefit from pharmacological and non-pharmacological management. Specific measures should be directed towards the dominant symptoms of constipation or diarrhoea. Several new drugs are currently under evaluation and may prove valuable for subgroups of patients with IBS. Successful management requires a combination of reassurance and explanation about the natural history of the condition.
Epigenetic drift in the aging genome: a ten-year follow-up in an elderly twin cohort.

BACKGROUND Current epigenetic studies on aging are dominated by the cross-sectional design that correlates subjects' ages or age groups with their measured epigenetic profiles. Such studies have been more aimed at age prediction or building up the epigenetic clock of age rather than focusing on the dynamic patterns in epigenetic changes during the aging process. METHODS We performed an epigenome-wide association study of intra-individual longitudinal changes in DNA methylation at CpG (cytosine-phosphate-guanine) sites measured in whole-blood samples of a cohort of 43 elderly twin pairs followed for 10 years (age at intake 73-82 years). Biological pathway analysis and survival analysis were also conducted on CpGs showing longitudinal change in their DNA-methylation levels. Classical twin models were fitted to each CpG site to estimate the genetic and environmental effects on DNA-methylation. RESULTS Our analysis identified 2284 CpG sites whose DNA-methylation levels changed longitudinally over the follow-up. Twin modelling revealed that the longitudinal change for 90% of these CpG sites was explained solely by individual unique environmental factors and only for 10% of these sites was it influenced by familial factors (genetic or shared environment). Over 60% of the identified CpG sites were replicated (same direction and replication P < 0.05) in an independent cross-sectional sample of 300 twins aged from 30 to 74 years. The replication rate went up to 91% for the top 53 CpGs with P < 1 × 10-07. Pathway analysis of genes linked to these CpGs identified biologically meaningful gene-sets involved in cellular-signalling events and in transmission across chemical synapses, which are important molecular underpinnings of aging-related degenerative disorders. CONCLUSION Our epigenome-wide association studies on a cohort of old twins followed up for 10 years identified highly replicable epigenetic biomarkers predominantly implicated in signalling pathways of degenerative disorders and survival in the elderly.
tsRNA signatures in cancer

Significance We found that tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) are dysregulated in many cancers and that their expression is modulated during cancer development and staging. Indeed, activation of oncogenes and inactivation of tumor suppressors lead to a dysregulation of specific tsRNAs, and tsRNA-KO cells display a specific change in gene-expression profile. Thus tsRNAs could be key effectors in cancer-related pathways. These results indicate active crosstalk between tsRNAs and oncogenes and suggest that tsRNAs could be useful markers for diagnosis or targets for therapy. Additionally, ts-46 and ts-47 affect cell growth in lung cancer cell lines, further confirming the involvement of tsRNAs in cancer pathogenesis. Small, noncoding RNAs are short untranslated RNA molecules, some of which have been associated with cancer development. Recently we showed that a class of small RNAs generated during the maturation process of tRNAs (tRNA-derived small RNAs, hereafter “tsRNAs”) is dysregulated in cancer. Specifically, we uncovered tsRNA signatures in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lung cancer and demonstrated that the ts-4521/3676 cluster (now called “ts-101” and “ts-53,” respectively), ts-46, and ts-47 are down-regulated in these malignancies. Furthermore, we showed that tsRNAs are similar to Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) and demonstrated that ts-101 and ts-53 can associate with PiwiL2, a protein involved in the silencing of transposons. In this study, we extended our investigation on tsRNA signatures to samples collected from patients with colon, breast, or ovarian cancer and cell lines harboring specific oncogenic mutations and representing different stages of cancer progression. We detected tsRNA signatures in all patient samples and determined that tsRNA expression is altered upon oncogene activation and during cancer staging. In addition, we generated a knocked-out cell model for ts-101 and ts-46 in HEK-293 cells and found significant differences in gene-expression patterns, with activation of genes involved in cell survival and down-regulation of genes involved in apoptosis and chromatin structure. Finally, we overexpressed ts-46 and ts-47 in two lung cancer cell lines and performed a clonogenic assay to examine their role in cell proliferation. We observed a strong inhibition of colony formation in cells overexpressing these tsRNAs compared with untreated cells, confirming that tsRNAs affect cell growth and survival.
The Pro12Ala polymorphism of the PPAR gamma 2 gene regulates weight from birth to adulthood.

OBJECTIVE The Pro12Ala polymorphism in exon B of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma 2 (PPAR gamma 2) gene has been related to obesity, insulin resistance, and risk of type 2 diabetes. In this study, the effect of the Pro12Ala polymorphism on long-term changes in weight and body composition was investigated. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES The Pro12Ala polymorphism was genotyped in 311 subjects who participated in our previous population-based study. In that study, weight at birth, 7 years, 20 years, and 41 years, and ponderal index at birth and BMI and waist circumference at 41 years were recorded. RESULTS The Ala12 allele of the PPAR gamma 2 gene was associated with high ponderal index at birth (2.77 +/- 0.27 kg/m(3) in subjects with the Ala12Ala genotype, 2.79 +/- 0.29 kg/m(3) in subjects with the Pro12Ala genotype, and 2.63 +/- 0.25 kg/m(3) in subjects with the Pro12Pro genotype, p = 0.007, adjusted for gender) and weight at 7 years (p = 0.045) and tended to be associated with high birth weight (p = 0.094). Subjects with this allele gained less weight between 7 and 20 years (p = 0.043) and more weight between 20 and 41 years (p = 0.001) and ended up having higher waist circumference (p = 0.040) in adulthood than did subjects with the Pro12Pro genotype. DISCUSSION We conclude that the Pro12Ala polymorphism of the PPAR gamma 2 gene regulates weight and body composition from utero to adulthood.
An electromyographic analysis of idiopathic vocal cord paresis.

Ten patients with idiopathic vocal cord paresis were subjected to electromyographic examination. By means of a transcutaneous approach, some 20 motor unit potentials from each vocal muscle were identified. The electromyographic pattern showed great interindividual differences. In all patients investigated it differed from the normal pattern in a way indicating a neurogenic lesion. In all muscles investigated there were changes showing that part of the motor units of the vocal muscle was subjected to denervation.
Nutrition and Health of Dairy Animals

Modern breeds of dairy animals are able to produce huge amount of milk. In attempt to consume, digest and metabolize enough nutrients to satisfy lactation needs, those animals are exposed to serious stress conditions that can affect their health. Health problems which arise from those conditions are mainly related to impaired ability to metabolize enough nutrients to compensate for those lost in milk. They are known as metabolic or production diseases and may be of great economic importance in milk production systems.
Ultra wideband stacked microstrip patch antenna

A novel ultra wideband stacked microstrip patch antenna (MPA) is proposed. In the new design the stacked patch is larger than the excited one. The thickness of the whole antenna is small as 5.5 mm. An impedance bandwidth (VSWR≪2) of about 2.5:1 is achieved between 5.6 – 14.2 GHz when the excited patch and stacked one are co-centered at (0,0). The impedance bandwidth is improved to a ratio of 3:1 in the frequency range 5.6 –17.2 GHz when the stacked patch center is shifted to (3, 3 mm).
A Novel Massive MIMO Precoding Scheme for Next Generation Heterogeneous Networks

Heterogeneous network (HetNet) is a promising technology to improve the capacity of future generations of cellular network, in which a mobile station can be served by multiple base stations (BSs) with different scales of coverage range, including short range low power nodes (LPNs). In HetNet, a major challenge is how to provide guaranteed quality-of-service (QoS) for all users. To address this issue, we investigate a practical scenario in which the massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology is adopted by the cooperation of one macro-cell BS and several LPNs. Furthermore, we provide a lightweight channel state information (CSI) acquisition scheme for the implementation. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that the signal-to-interference-and noise ratio (SINR) of intended users in LPNs covered with small cells can be significantly increased by this proposed massive MIMO precoding scheme, whereas oppressing the impact on neighboring victim users.
Evaluación de la Calidad de Servicio de la Escuela de Ingeniería Industrial de la Universidad de Carabobo, Venezuela

El presente trabajo plantea una evaluacion de la Calidad de Servicio de la Escuela de Ingenieria Industrial de la Universidad de Carabobo (EIIUC), considerando como receptor y prestador de dicho servicio al sector empresarial del Estado Carabobo y a los profesionales egresados de la escuela, respectivamente, a fi n de obtener informacion para evaluar el perfi l del Ingeniero Industrial egresado y su posicionamiento en el mercado laboral. El modelo de encuesta usado para la medicion de la Calidad de Servicio se basa en una modifi cacion del modelo SERVQUALing, que excluye las expectativas del cliente y considera unicamente sus percepciones; esta encuesta fue aplicada a una muestra compuesta por egresados, graduandos y empleadores. Los resultados muestran una alta consistencia interna y pertinencia de la aplicacion del Analisis de Factores (α= 0.915, KMO=0.716, p<0.05), obteniendose cinco dimensiones que agrupan variables relativas a la formacion del Ingeniero Industrial. El modelo de encuesta usada presenta validez de contenido, concepto y concurrente; concluyendose que es un instrumento valido para evaluar la Calidad de Servicio de la EIIUC. A partir de las dimensiones identifi cadas y del analisis DOFA realizado, se proponen diferentes estrategias orientadas al mejoramiento de la preparacion profesional y consecuentemente, del desempeno del Ingeniero Industrial.
Prosodic correlates of information structure in Swedish human-human dialogues

Investigation of travel agent (~System) Task-related utterances reveals intonational contours where focal accents occur on information given previously in the dialogue by the client (~User). The accentuation can be related to the interactive nature of dialogue where the information holder picks up on a Task-related topic introduced by the client and comments on it in an engaged manner.
Genome-Wide Comparison of Nucleotide-Binding Site-Leucine-Rich Repeat-Encoding Genes in Arabidopsis1[W][OA]

Plants, like animals, use several lines of defense against pathogen attack. Prominent among genes that confer disease resistance are those encoding nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) proteins. Likely due to selection pressures caused by pathogens, NB-LRR genes are the most variable gene family in plants, but there appear to be species-specific limits to the number of NB-LRR genes in a genome. Allelic diversity within an individual is also increased by obligatory outcrossing, which leads to genome-wide heterozygosity. In this study, we compared the NB-LRR gene complement of the selfer Arabidopsis thaliana and its outcrossing close relative Arabidopsis lyrata. We then complemented and contrasted the interspecific patterns with studies of NB-LRR diversity within A. thaliana. Three important insights are as follows: (1) that both species have similar numbers of NB-LRR genes; (2) that loci with single NB-LRR genes are less variable than tandem arrays; and (3) that presence-absence polymorphisms within A. thaliana are not strongly correlated with the presence or absence of orthologs in A. lyrata. Although A. thaliana individuals are mostly homozygous and thus potentially less likely to suffer from aberrant interaction of NB-LRR proteins with newly introduced alleles, the number of NB-LRR genes is similar to that in A. lyrata. In intraspecific and interspecific comparisons, NB-LRR genes are also more variable than receptor-like protein genes. Finally, in contrast to Drosophila, there is a clearly positive relationship between interspecific divergence and intraspecific polymorphisms.
The Cartridge: A Canonical Neural Circuit Abstraction of the Lamina Neuropil - Construction and Composition Rules

The Lamina is a neuropil that resides in the optic lobe of the early visual system of the fruit fly. Its neural circuit consists of some 700 ∼ 800 cartridges. A cartridge is an atomic neural circuit abstraction whose I/O behavior can be studied in isolation. The anatomy of the neurons, neurotransmitter types and connectivity patterns of the neurons in the cartridge are briefly reviewed. A circuit-level model of a cartridge suitable for implementation on a GPU platform is presented in detail. Cartridge interconnects create neural circuits with different I/O characteristics. A number of cartridge composition rules for building neural circuits with different spatial I/O characteristics are discussed. We present a model neural circuit for initial functional evaluations and scaling of the Lamina and its interconnection with the Medulla. Implementation considerations of the Lamina neural circuit are discussed. ∗Names are listed in alphabetical order. Neurokernel RFC #2 v1.0 DOI:10.5281/zenodo.11856
EXPLORANDO LOS SIGNIFICADOS COTIDIANOS DE UN ENVEJECIMIENTO SANO * (EXPLORING DAILY MEANINGS OF A HEALTHY AGING PROCESS)

This paper, of qualitative type, presents answers and opinions provided by aged people who perceive themselves as healthy people when they were asked about their good health being older than 60 years old. Most of the answers indicate that appropriate programs of exercise and diet have maintained them in good health. Additionally, the results show that the psychological component strongly influences both in the perception and in their real state of good health. The results also show answers that theorists of health do not count on and that deserve to be discussed, and, some others, to be considered.
Impact of 3D rotation on the characteristics of dual-polarized antenna systems

The impact of 3D rotation on the characteristic parameters of dual-polarized antenna systems, including inter-antenna envelope correlation coefficient and cross-polar discrimination (XPD), are analyzed theoretically. The variable parameters are the 3D rotation angle of antennas and the initial environment XPD. Some special rotation cases that are much likely to happen in practices are discussed specifically. It is shown that the conventional 2D rotation analysis in previous literatures is a special case of the 3D analytical model, which validates our theoretical results.
Sequential segmental analysis of the crocodilian heart

Differences between hearts of crocodilians and those of mammals and birds are only partly understood because there is no standardised approach and terminology for describing cardiac structure. Whereas most reptiles have an undivided ventricle, crocodilians have a fully septated ventricle. Their hearts, therefore, are more readily comparable with the hearts of mammals and birds. Here, we describe the heart of a crocodile (Crocodylus noliticus). We use the versatile sequential segmental approach to analysis, juxtaposing several key views of the crocodilian heart to the comparable views of human hearts. In crocodiles, the atrial and ventricular septums are complete but, unlike in placental mammals, the atrial septum is without an oval fossa. The myocardial component of the crocodilian ventricular septum dominates, but the membranous septum likely makes up a greater proportion than in any mammal. In the crocodile, the aortic trunk takes its origin from the left ventricle and is not wedged between the atrioventricular junctions. Consequently, there is a common atrioventricular junction, albeit with separate right and left atrioventricular valvar orifices. As in mammals, nonetheless, the crocodilian left atrioventricular valvar orifice is cranial to the right atrioventricular valvar orifice. By applying a method of analysis and terminology usually restricted to the human heart, we build from the considerable existing literature to show neglected and overlooked shared features, such as the offset between the left and right atrioventricular valvar orifices. Such commonalities are surprising given the substantial evolutionary divergence of the archosaur and synapsid lineages, and likely reflect evolutionarily shared morphogenetic programmes.
H2 analysis for LPV systems by parameter-dependent Lyapunov functions

New linear matrix inequalities-based conditions for robust stability and H2 performance analysis of linear parameter-varying uncertain systems under polytopic structure are presented in this paper. New representation for the parameter’s rate of variation is addressed. Besides, parameter-dependent Lyapunov functions of particular forms by considering suitable redundant system description are investigated. The proposed approach decreases the conservatism generated by the previous ones. A numerical example illustrates the efficiency of the method.
Coordination Avoidance in Distributed Databases

The rise of Internet-scale geo-replicated services has led to upheaval in the design of modern data management systems. Given the availability, latency, and throughput penalties associated with classic mechanisms such as serializable transactions, a broad class of systems (e.g., "NoSQL") has sought weaker alternatives that reduce the use of expensive coordination during system operation, often at the cost of application integrity. When can we safely forego the cost of this expensive coordination, and when must we pay the price? In this thesis, we investigate the potential for coordination avoidance---the use of as little coordination as possible while ensuring application integrity---in several modern data-intensive domains. We demonstrate how to leverage the semantic requirements of applications in data serving, transaction processing, and web services to enable more efficient distributed algorithms and system designs. The resulting prototype systems demonstrate regular order-of-magnitude speedups compared to their traditional, coordinated counterparts on a variety of tasks, including referential integrity and index maintenance, transaction execution under common isolation models, and database constraint enforcement. A range of open source applications and systems exhibit similar results.