Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HIV prevalence and associated risk behaviors in New York City's house ball community.

OBJECTIVES We measured HIV seroprevalence and associated risk factors among persons in New York City's house ball community. METHODS In 2004 we conducted a venue-based risk-behavior survey and HIV testing in the house ball community. RESULTS Of the 504 study participants, 67% were male, 14% female, and 18% transgender. Mean age was 24 years (range=15-52 years); 55% were Black, and 40% were Latino. More than 85% of participants had previously been tested for HIV, although only 60% had been tested in the previous 12 months. Of the 84 (17%) persons who tested positive for HIV in our study, 61 (73%) were unaware of their HIV status. A logistic regression analysis on data from 371 participants who had had a male sexual partner in the previous 12 months showed that HIV-infected participants were more likely than were HIV-negative participants to be Black, to be older than 29 years, and not to have been tested for HIV in the previous 12 months. CONCLUSIONS Culturally specific community-level prevention efforts are warranted to reduce risk behaviors and increase the frequency of HIV testing in New York City's house ball community.
Matriptase-2 (TMPRSS6) is directly up-regulated by hypoxia inducible factor-1: identification of a hypoxia-responsive element in the TMPRSS6 promoter region

Abstract The type II transmembrane serine protease matriptase-2 (TMPRSS6) down-regulates the expression of hepcidin, the main regulator of systemic iron homeostasis, and increases in this way iron plasma levels. Matriptase-2 is up-regulated under hypoxic conditions, providing a new link between hypoxia signaling and iron homeostasis. In this study, we have characterized the TMPRSS6 promoter region and identified a functional hypoxia-responsive element (HRE). Mutations of the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-binding site located within the HRE abrogate HIF-1α-dependent induction of TMPRSS6 expression. The action of HIF-1α on TMPRSS6 promoter activity reveals a new regulative element for the suppression of hepcidin synthesis.
Methods and Preliminary Outcomes of Pediatric Auditory Brainstem Implantation

Objective: The objective was to provide information about methods used and preliminary outcomes for pediatric ABI (auditory brainstem implant). Study Design: An analysis of outcome was performed in children who received an ABI. Methods: Twelve children received a MED-EL ABI system. Progress in audition and language was monitored through parental reports, questionnaires, profiles, and closed-set tests. Results: The median number of active electrodes was 9 of 12. Seven of 12 users consistently respond to sound, and 5 of 12 do not. Highest performers can recognize words in small sets and have begun to use some words. Conclusion: Auditory brainstem implants appear to be beneficial for some pediatric patients who cannot benefit from traditional cochlear implant surgery. Benefits in the short term can be recognition of environmental sounds, recognition of some words and very commonly used phrases, and the beginning use of words. Although some of our ABI users demonstrate no response to sound, they do want to wear their sound processors all waking hours. The cause of lack of response may be related to the second intervention, which might have led to displacement of the electrode array, or presence of additional handicaps or syndromes. However, the results are less than optimal. The relatively short postoperative follow-up duration is a considered weakness of this study.
Insomnia in North Korean Refugees: Association with Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms

Objective We investigated the prevalence of insomnia and its clinical characteristics in North Korean refugees. Methods North Korean refugees living in South Korea (48 males, 129 females; mean age 38.22±12.24 years) and South Koreans (112 males, 203 females; mean age 39.48±10.32 years) completed the following questionnaires: the Self-reported Questionnaire on Insomnia, Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), Trauma Exposure Check List for North Korean Refugees, and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). Results North Korean refugees had insomnia more often than South Koreans did (38.42% vs. 8.89%). Depression combined with insomnia was also more prevalent in North Korean refugees (28.25% vs. 3.17%). Compared with South Koreans with insomnia, North Korean refugees with insomnia showed higher CES-D scores. The North Korean refugees with insomnia had experienced a larger number of traumatic events, and had higher CES-D and IES-R scores compared to North Korean refugees without insomnia. Insomnia in North Korean refugees was also associated with the presence of significant depressive and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Conclusion Insomnia was common in North Korean refugees and was closely associated with depressive and PTSD symptoms. Our study suggests that complaints of insomnia may indicate more severe psychopathology, especially in refugees.
Endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy without silicone stent

Abstract Conclusion: In nasolacrimal duct (NLD) obstruction patients that undergo endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR), creation of a patent rhinostomy with adequate epithelialization can be accomplished without a stent. However, in common canalicular obstruction patients, a silicone stent seems to have a beneficial role and to bear more favorable results. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the surgical outcome of endoscopic DCR without the use of a silicone stent. Methods: In all, 36 patients (41 eyes) who underwent endoscopic DCR were enrolled in this study. The patients were classified into a DCR with silicone stent group and a DCR without silicone stent group. Then each of the groups was subdivided into common canalicular obstruction group and NLD obstruction group. Surgical outcomes were evaluated by postoperative symptom improvement and patency of the rhinostomy under nasal endoscopic exam. Results: The epiphora was improved in 84.2% of the silicone stent group and 81.8% of the non-silicone stent group. Categorized by the level of obstruction, in common canalicular obstruction, the success rate was 84.5% (11/13) in the silicone stent group and 57.1% (4/7) in the no stent group. In NLD obstruction, the success rate was 83.0% (5/6) in the silicone stent group and 93.3% (14/15) in the no stent group.
A novel Graph-based Selection Wrapper for learning enhancement in a semi-supervised manner

In real-world applications, labeled data are often inadequate while unlabeled data are available in large quantities. Many Semi-supervised learning (SSL) algorithms are proposed to take advantage of unlabeled data. In this paper we propose a novel wrapper method for semi-supervised learning called Graph-based Selection Wrapper (GSW), which aims to improve an existing classifier in a semi-supervised manner. A new way of deciding the confidence of unlabled data is introduced. GSW uses labeled data points and confident unlabeled data points together with their labels estimated by the target classifier to retrain a new classifier. Experimental results for transmembrane protein datasets and several benchmark databases show that our method is more effective than other related approaches.
Peri-hepatic lymphadenopathy in primary biliary cirrhosis reflects progression of the disease.

OBJECTIVE We prospectively investigated the peri-hepatic lymph node volume in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and healthy controls to evaluate the correlation with histology, biochemical and immunological features. MATERIALS AND METHODS The total peri-hepatic lymph node volume in the liver hilus was evaluated by high-resolution ultrasound in 67 consecutive patients with PBC and in 43 healthy controls. Stages I-IV of PBC were biochemically, immunologically and histologically proven in all patients. RESULTS Adequate visualization of the liver hilus was achieved in 59/67 patients (88%) with PBC and in 39/43 healthy controls (91%). Lymph nodes in the liver hilus were sonographically detected in all 59 patients with PBC and in 26/39 healthy controls (67%) with adequate visualization of the liver hilus. The mean peri-hepatic lymph node volumes were: stage I (n = 9): 0.8 +/- 0.5 ml; stage II (n = 28): 2.4 +/- 1.5 ml; stage III (n = 21): 4.2 +/- 2.3 ml; stage IV (n = 9): 3.2 +/- 1.0 ml. The peri-hepatic lymph node volume did not significantly correlate with cholestasis, liver function tests or the immunological status. CONCLUSIONS Enlarged lymph nodes in the liver hilus are sonographically detectable in almost all patients with PBC. The total peri-hepatic lymph node volume in patients with PBC reflects histological stage, i.e. larger lymph nodes are observed in more advanced disease.
THE SUPPRESSIVE ROLE OF MOUSE PERITONEAL PHAGOCYTES IN AGGLUTININ RESPONSE.

In an attempt to determine the possible role of peritoneal phagocytes in the initiation of agglutinin response to RBC, bio-assay curves were first constructed to assess the immunogenicity of the test antigen by culturing in vivo varying numbers of sheep RBC with 107 primed mouse spleen cells. This number of spleen cells, when optimally stimulated, synthesized as much antibody as an intact mouse. Observations made at varying time intervals after culture of RBC with fixed or varying numbers of phagocytes revealed that immunogens or immunogen-like substances were neither released nor stored by phagocytes actively engaged in phagocytosis in either in vitro or in vivo conditions. Furthermore, when fixed or varying numbers of peritoneal phagocytes were cultured in vivo together with a fixed number of spleen cells and RBC, they were shown to be destructive competitors rather than “symbionts” of spleen cells undergoing either a primary or secondary antibody response. Finally, non-opsonized and opsonized RBC were injected into glycogen-treated and untreated mice by the intraperitoneal and intravenous routes, and the results showed that minimum response was obtained when opsonized RBC were injected i.p. into glycogen-treated mice, and maximum response when nonopsonized RBC were injected i.v. into untreated mice. These results show that peritoneal phagocytes respond to foreign RBC as scavenger cells and are not essential for the initiation of antibody response.
Saving Energy in Partially Deployed Software Defined Networks

As power consumption of the Internet has been growing quickly in recent years, saving energy has become an important problem of networking research, for which the most promising solution is to find the minimum-power network subsets and shut down other unnecessary network devices and links to satisfy changing traffic loads. However, in traditional networks, it is difficult to implement a coordinated strategy among the network devices due to their distributed network control. On the other hand, the new networking paradigm-software defined network (SDN) provides us an efficient way of having a centralized controller with a global network view to control the power states. As an emerging technology, SDNs usually coexist with traditional networks at present. Therefore, we need to investigate how to save energy in partially deployed SDNs. In this paper, we formulate the optimization problem of finding minimum-power network subsets in partially deployed SDNs. After proving the problem is NP-hard, we propose a heuristic solution to approach its exact solution. Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate that our heuristic algorithm has a good performance; that is, on average we can save about 50 percent of total power consumption in the full SDN, having a distance less than 5 percent of the exact solution's power consumption. Moreover, it also achieves good performance in the partially deployed SDN, on average saving about 40 percent of the total power consumption when there are about 60 percent SDN nodes in the network. Meanwhile, it runs significantly faster than a general linear solver of this problem, by reducing the computation time of the network containing hundreds of nodes by 100× at least.
Job-related knowledge sharing: comparative case studies

This paper presents data from two case studies showing the enhancement of organizational effectiveness, which can proceed through knowledge sharing amongst employees. The main purpose of this paper is to elaborate the content of knowledge which employees share in two researched hotels, and to explore some key approaches which are utilized for sharing knowledge. It also investigates some key factors which can inhibit the effectiveness of the knowledge sharing process. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted in this study. The research sample consisted of 26 individual interviews with employees from the top to the front‐line levels of management hierarchy from two international five‐star hotels. The evidence shows that first, all interviewees agreed with the importance and necessity of sharing knowledge. Second, it shows that the sharing climate seemed to be informal. The implication of this research for senior managers is to reinforce their understanding that the stronger the knowledge sharing climate an organization has, the greater the degree of organizational effectiveness that it achieves.
Maximizing Firm Wind Connection to Security Constrained Transmission Networks

Prudent use of existing transmission capacity could be achieved by an optimal allocation of wind capacity to distinct transmission nodes. The statistical interdependency of geographically separate wind sites and the partially-dispatchable nature of wind power require a collective analysis of all potential wind farms over an extended time-frame in any optimized transmission planning study. The methodology presented in this paper separates this large optimization problem into smaller subtasks, including a year-long sequential time series hourly integer unit commitment, a linear dc load-flow network model with hourly security constraints, and a linear programming optimization model to estimate the maximum firm wind energy penetration for a given network. A novel maximal- vector based constraint redundancy analysis is employed to significantly reduce the linear programming optimization dimensionality. Firm wind capacity connections are facilitated in this paper - i.e., those to which wind curtailment to manage congestion is not applicable within a typical system ¿planning¿ timeframe analysis. Each bus is allocated firm capacity on the basis of maximizing the possible firm wind energy penetration in the transmission system as a whole, while preserving traditional network security standards.
Map building using occupancy grids with differentiated occupancy states

For map building purposes it is necessary to distinguish between moving and not moving objects, because moving objects might falsify map matching procedures. This paper presents a new approach of a grid based map building algorithm which represents an extension of occupancy grids. As well as it its archetype, the algorithm can easily be used for 2d or 3d time-dependent map building procedures. The original occupancy grids were extended so that cells which are marked as occupied get further differentiated regarding the motion characteristic of their particular obstacle. An occupied cell can therefore be differentiated in a cell occupied by a dynamic, quasi static or static obstacle. This differentiation might also come in handy regarding object detection or similar algorithms. The presented algorithm was developed and tested using a SICK LMS511 high resolution laser measurement system.
Flexural rigidity of microtubules and actin filaments measured from thermal fluctuations in shape

Microtubules are long, proteinaceous filaments that perform structural functions in eukaryotic cells by defining cellular shape and serving as tracks for intracellular motor proteins. We report the first accurate measurements of the flexural rigidity of microtubules. By analyzing the thermally driven fluctuations in their shape, we estimated the mean flexural rigidity of taxol-stabilized microtubules to be 2.2 x 10(-23) Nm2 (with 6.4% uncertainty) for seven unlabeled microtubules and 2.1 x 10(-23) Nm2 (with 4.7% uncertainty) for eight rhodamine-labeled microtubules. These values are similar to earlier, less precise estimates of microtubule bending stiffness obtained by modeling flagellar motion. A similar analysis on seven rhodamine-phalloidin- labeled actin filaments gave a flexural rigidity of 7.3 x 10(-26) Nm2 (with 6% uncertainty), consistent with previously reported results. The flexural rigidity of these microtubules corresponds to a persistence length of 5,200 microns showing that a microtubule is rigid over cellular dimensions. By contrast, the persistence length of an actin filament is only approximately 17.7 microns, perhaps explaining why actin filaments within cells are usually cross-linked into bundles. The greater flexural rigidity of a microtubule compared to an actin filament mainly derives from the former's larger cross-section. If tubulin were homogeneous and isotropic, then the microtubule's Young's modulus would be approximately 1.2 GPa, similar to Plexiglas and rigid plastics. Microtubules are expected to be almost inextensible: the compliance of cells is due primarily to filament bending or sliding between filaments rather than the stretching of the filaments themselves.
Monolithic GaInNAsSb/GaAs VECSEL Operating at 1550 nm

The first monolithic GaAs-based vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) operating at 1550 nm is reported. The VECSEL operation is based on a gain mirror which was grown in a single growth run by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The gain mirror comprised eight GaInNAsSb/GaAs quantum wells with a photoluminescence peak at 1505 nm and an AlAs/GaAs distributed Bragg reflector ensuring high reflectivity. The VECSEL chip was pumped with an 808-nm diode laser that had a large quantum defect in respect to the lasing wavelength. An output power of 80 mW in continuous wave mode and 210 mW in pulsed pump mode are demonstrated close to room temperature.
Do citizens and communities have the news and information they need and want in a digital age

News and information assist citizens and communities to participate in democratic processes, develop a sense of connectedness and attachment to New Zealand, solve problems, coordinate activities and establish systems of public accountability. In the digital age, news quality and access, and citizen engagement in democratic processes, are being transformed. Traditional forms of citizen engagement are supplemented by ‘modern’ methods of participation facilitated by technological media developments.
Television viewing as a cause of increasing obesity among children in the United States, 1986-1990.

BACKGROUND AND METHODS The prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents has increased, and television viewing has been suggested as a cause. We examined the relation between hours of television viewed and the prevalence of overweight in 1990, and the incidence and remission of overweight from 1986 to 1990 in a nationally representative cohort of 746 youths aged 10 to 15 years in 1990 whose mothers were 25 to 32 years old. Overweight was defined as a body mass index higher than the 85th percentile for age and gender. RESULTS We observed a strong dose-response relationship between the prevalence of overweight in 1990 and hours of television viewed. The odds of being overweight were 4.6 (95% confidence interval, 2.2 to 9.6) times greater for youth watching more than 5 hours of television per day compared with those watching 0 to 2 hours. When adjustments were made for previous overweight (in 1986), baseline maternal overweight, socioeconomic status, household structure, ethnicity, and maternal and child aptitude test scores, results were similar (odds ratio, 5.3; 95% confidence interval, 2.3 to 12.1). We also found significant relations between television viewing and increased incidence and decreased remission of overweight during this 4-year period, adjusted for baseline covariates. The adjusted odds of incidence were 8.3 (95% confidence interval, 2.6 to 26.5) times greater for youth watching more than 5 hours of television per day compared with those watching for 0 to 2 hours. Estimates of attributable risk indicate that more than 60% of overweight incidence in this population can be linked to excess television viewing time. CONCLUSION Television viewing affects overweight among youth, and reductions in viewing time could help prevent this increasingly common chronic health condition.
Comparison of pseudophakic visual quality in spherical and aspherical intraocular lenses.

OBJECTIVE This study compares the visual performance of spherical and aspherical intraocular lenses (IOLs) by measuring higher-order aberration and contrast sensitivity (CS) values. DESIGN Prospective controlled study. PARTICIPANTS Fifty-seven patients with age-related cataract (61 eyes). METHODS Patients were randomly allocated to 1 of 3 groups and implanted with either aspherical IOLs, Acrysof IQ (SN60WF) or Tecnis Z9001, or a spherical IOL, Acrysof Natural. Patients underwent routine examinations, including visual acuity, slit-lamp checks, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), as well as measurement of higher-order aberrations and CS values, preoperatively and at 1 week, 1 month, and 2 months postoperatively. RESULTS All the patients had a BCVA better than 20/30 postoperatively. The spherical aberrations of the IQ group and Tecnis group were both lower than in the Natural (control) group (IQ: p < 0.05; Tecnis: p < 0.05); there was no significant difference in coma and higher-order aberration. No statistically significant difference was found in spherical aberration, coma, or higher-order aberration between the IQ and Tecnis groups. Under glare conditions, the CS values of the 2 aspherical IOLs were obviously better (IQ: p < 0.05; Tecnis: p < 0.05) than the CS value of the spherical IOL group at low frequency (IQ: 6.3 degrees, Tecnis: 4.0 degrees); under non-glare conditions there was a significant difference in CS values between the aspherical IOL groups and the control group (IQ: p < 0.01; Tecnis: p < 0.01) at low frequency (both 6.3 degrees). There was no statistical difference between the IQ and the Tecnis groups with or without glare. CONCLUSIONS An aspherical IOL can effectively reduce spherical aberration after cataract surgery, enhance CS values, and improve visual quality compared with traditional spherical IOLs for age-related cataract. However, there was no statistically significant difference in postoperative aberration and CS values between the Acrysof IQ and Tecnis Z9001 aspherical IOLs.
Development of Species-Specific PCR Techniques for the Detection of Tortoise Herpesvirus

Previously, a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was employed with consensus degenerate primers targeting highly conserved motifs within herpesviral DNA polymerase genes to detect a newly described tortoise herpesvirus. However, nucleotide sequence information obtained from the final amplified fragment was restricted to a small region of 181 bp. In the present study, additional sequences flanking this segment were determined from a PCR product successfully amplified using a set of known degenerate primers, which covered a 692-bp region within the tortoise herpesviral DNA polymerase gene. Polymerase chain reaction primers for specific amplification of the tortoise herpesviral DNA were designed on the basis of these nucleotide sequences and successfully amplified tortoise herpesviral DNA from the tissues of tortoises that were well characterized histopathologically with herpesviral infection. The lower limit of detection was 1,000 herpesviral DNA equivalents in the presence of normal tortoise genomic DNA. Furthermore, a more sensitive and specific PCR technique for the identification of herpesviral infections in tortoises was developed employing a heminested form, which will enable the detection of latent infections or herpesvirus carriers in tortoises.