Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lipid Profiles in Young HIV-Infected Children Initiating and Changing Antiretroviral Therapy

Background Both HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy are associated with dyslipidemias in adults, but there are fewer data on outcomes in young children. Here we examined lipid profile changes in a cohort of young children before and after suppression on an initial ritonavir-boosted lopinavir (LPV/r)-based regimen and after switch to a nevirapine (NVP)-based regimen. Methods One hundred ninety-five HIV-infected children who initiated LPV/r-based therapy when <24 months of age at 1 site in Johannesburg, South Africa, and who achieved viral suppression (<400 copies/mL sustained for ≥ 3 months) were randomized to either continue on the LPV/r-based regimen (n = 99) or to switch to a NVP-based regimen (n = 96). Nonfasting concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and triglycerides (TG) were measured pretreatment, at randomization when suppressed, and at 9, 20, and 31 months postrandomization. Results Median age at treatment initiation was 9 months, and the initial regimen was maintained for an average of 9 months before randomization. TC, low-density lipoprotein, and HDL increased from pretreatment to randomization (P < 0.0001) and TC/HDL ratio and TG decreased (P < 0.0001). After switching to NVP, HDL was significantly higher (P < 0.02) and TC/HDL and TG significantly lower (P < 0.0001) through 31 months postswitch relative to remaining on the LPV/r-based regimen. Conclusion Initiating antiretroviral therapy was associated with changes to a more favorable lipid profile in young children. Switching from a LPV/r-based regimen to a NVP-based regimen accentuated and continued these improvements. Investigation of safe and effective methods for managing dyslipidemias in children of different ages in resource-limited settings is warranted.
Hyperaldosteronism and left ventricular hypertrophy.

To the Editor: In their prospective study, Gaddam et al1 have examined the effects of spironolactone on cardiac structure in 34 patients with resistant hypertension who were separated according to their plasma aldosterone levels. At baseline, cardiac volume overload was detected in patients with higher aldosterone levels that was significantly and rapidly reduced by spironolactone, whereas left ventricular (LV) mass was comparable at baseline and decreased significantly after treatment in both patients with higher and lower plasma aldosterone. Detection of comparable baseline LV mass even in the presence of significant volume overload is difficult to explain. As …
Speech dominoes and phonetic convergence

Interlocutors are known to mutually adapt during conversation. Recent studies have questioned the adaptation of phonological representations and kinematics of phonetic variables such as loudness, speech rate or fundamental frequency. Results are often contradictory and the effectiveness of phonetic convergence during conversation is still an open issue. This paper describes an original experimental paradigm – a game played in primary schools known as verbal dominoes - that enables us to collect several hundreds of syllables uttered by both speakers in different conditions: alone, in ambient speech or in full interaction. Speech recognition techniques are then applied to globally characterize phonetic convergence if any. We hypothesize here that convergence of phonetic representations such as vocalic dispersions is not immediate especially when considering common words of the target language.
Control of Nuclear Export of hnRNP A1

mRNA export is mediated by RNA‐binding proteins which shuttle between the nucleus and cytoplasm. Using an in vitro unidirectional export assay, we observe that the shuttling mRNA‐binding protein, hnRNP A1, is exported only extremely slowly unless incubations are supplemented with snRNA‐specific oligonucleotides which inhibit splicing. In vivo microinjection experiments support this conclusion. Like many examples of nucleocytoplasmic transport, export of hnRNP A1 requires energy and is sensitive to the presence of wheat germ agglutinin. It does not, however, require supplementation with cytoplasmic proteins. Although the exportin, Crm1, is needed for export of several varieties of RNA, both the in vitro assay and in vivo assays show that it is not required for export of hnRNP A1. In vitro and in vivo studies also show that inhibition of transcription allows continued shuttling of hnRNP A1 and in fact accelerates its export. Judging from the stimulatory effects of targeted destruction of snRNAs, this is likely to reflect completion of the covalent maturation of the RNAs with which hnRNP A1 associates. These observations therefore provide a simple explanation of why multiple RNA‐binding proteins relocate to the cytoplasm upon inhibition of transcription in vivo.
Heat Exchange and Voltage Drop in Welding Arc Column

The phenomena that are involved in arc welding processes are not well known, due to the difficulty in studying them experimentally, as a consequence of the complexity and interdependence of all the physical factors involved. One of the unclear issues is the electrical resistance of the arc column (composed of bulk plasma and presheath regions). Thus, the objective of this this was to investigate experimentally the relationship between heat exchange in the arc environment and the voltage drop as a means of understanding the nature of the resistance to the electrical current along the arc column. The observation of this phenomenon was performed through arc voltage analysis, using current as the input to the system. A pulsed Gas-Shielded Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) arc in an artificially created quasi-adiabatic environment was used and its arc voltage was compared with the voltage in an open environment. A heat-sinking environment was also used to validate the results. Evidence showed that, on the contrary to what has been sometimes mentioned in literature, the arc should not be treated as a pure ohmic electrical resistance and the voltage drop in the arc column would be significantly related to the electrical potential difference demanded to maintain the arc during atom deionization and reionization processes in the region.
Increased levels of tumor necrosis factor-&agr; and decreased levels of interleukin-12p70 in tracheal aspirates, within 2 hrs after birth, are associated with mortality among ventilated preterm infants

Objective: To determine the association of antibacterial interleukin (IL)-12p70 levels as well as the pathogen-induced proinflammatory cytokine response in tracheal aspirate (TA) to respiratory failure and mortality among ventilated preterm infants. Design: A prospective observational clinical cohort study with measurements of cytokine levels and microbial cultures of TA from ventilated preterm neonates. Interleukin (IL)-1&bgr;, IL-8, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-&agr; were measured in TA within 2 hrs of birth, and comorbidity characteristics were recorded prospectively. The association between cytokine levels in TA and neonatal mortality was determined, with correction for comorbidity factors by means of multivariate stepwise logistic regression. Setting: A single tertiary neonatal intensive care unit at the University Hospital of Antwerp, Belgium. Patients: One hundred forty-one neonates born before a gestational age of 31 wks and who required ventilation were enrolled in the study; 31 (22%) died and 37 (26%) had airway colonization. Measurements and Main Results: The airway colonization rate was significantly greater among deceased neonates (45% vs. 21%; chi-square, 7.4; p = .007). Neonates who died had a significantly lower IL-12p70 cytokine level (6 pg/mL vs. 11 pg/mL; p < .05) in their TA. Neonates with a low IL-12p70 cytokine level had more pronounced respiratory failure (significantly higher oxygenation index, higher degree of radiologic respiratory distress syndrome, higher critical index for babies score, and more surfactant use). Multivariate analysis revealed that, after correction for severity of disease by critical index for babies score, the degree of intraventricular hemorrhage (odds ratio, 5.0 [95% confidence interval, 2.6–9.7]), low IL-12p70 levels (odds ratio, 4.9 [95% confidence interval, 2.1–11.7]), and high TNF-&agr; levels in TA (odds ratio, 3.5 [95% confidence interval, 1.6–7.5]) were significantly associated with neonatal mortality. Conclusions: Pathogen-induced excessive production of the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-&agr; and lack of antibacterial IL-12p70 response in the TA are associated with increased neonatal mortality among ventilated preterm infants.
Generator thermal sensitivity analysis with Support Vector Regression

Generator thermal sensitivity issue is studied in this paper. Currently, thermal sensitivity test is usually adopted in industries to determine if a generator has been experiencing thermal sensitivity problem. However, this kind of tests has its own disadvantages. In this paper, Support Vector Regression is utilized to provide some valuable information regarding thermal sensitivity in a rotating machine based on the normal operational data of the machine. Experimental results on the steam turbine generators show that the proposed method can be used to track the generator condition related to the thermal effects and make a recommendation to the on-site engineers whether or not a thermal sensitivity test should be performed.
Model Predictive Control of Multilevel Cascaded H-Bridge Inverters

This paper presents a model predictive current control algorithm that is suitable for multilevel converters and its application to a three-phase cascaded H-bridge inverter. This control method uses a discrete-time model of the system to predict the future value of the current for all voltage vectors, and selects the vector which minimizes a cost function. Due to the large number of voltage vectors available in a multilevel inverter, a large number of calculations are needed, making difficult the implementation of this control in a standard control platform. A modified control strategy that considerably reduces the amount of calculations without affecting the system's performance is proposed. Experimental results for five- and nine-level inverters validate the proposed control algorithm.
15.1 A 0.0066mm2 780μW fully synthesizable PLL with a current-output DAC and an interpolative phase-coupled oscillator using edge-injection technique

Phase-locked loops (PLLs) are widely used for clock generation in modern digital systems. All-digital PLLs have been proposed to address design issues in conventional analog PLLs. However, current all-digital PLLs require custom circuit design, and therefore cannot fully leverage advanced automated digital design flows. While fully synthesizable PLLs have been reported, they suffer from high power consumption and large area. This arises because each stage of the ring needs to have a large number of parallel tristate buffers/inverters in order to achieve the necessary frequency resolution. Moreover, custom-designed cells are required in prior synthesizable PLLs, introducing additional place-and-route (P&R) steps, leading to poor portability, integration, and scalability. To address these issues, this paper proposes a fully synthesizable PLL based solely on a standard digital library, with a current-output digital-to-analog converter (DAC) for maintaining frequency linearity and duty balance, an interpolative phase-coupled oscillator for minimizing the output phase imbalance from automatic P&R, as well as an edge injection technique for avoiding injection-pulse width issues.
Effect of interrupting recovery on loss in cochlear microphonic sensitivity.

A previous experiment [G. R. Price, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 56, 183–189 (1974)] produced data that documented an early recovery process (ERP) measurable in the cochlear microphonic (CM) following intense stimulation. At that time, a hypothesis was advanced that if the ERP were interrupted by successive stimuli during intense intermittent stimulation, unusually large losses would result. The present experiment tested this hypothesis by comparing loss in CM sensitivity in the ears of anesthetized cats following one of three exposure conditions: (1) intermittent stimulation timed to interrupt the ERP (1 min on, variable off time), (2) the same amount of stimulation with a maximum of recovery time (1 min on, 9 min off), (3) and continuous stimulation. All ears received 30 min of stimulation with a 5.0‐kHz tone at 30 dB above that intensity necessary to produce a maximum in CM output. Interrupting the ERP when 5 dB from completion resulted in 1.2 dB/min of loss, while allowing it to run to completion produced loss.
Reduction of selection differentials in finite populations with a nested full-half sib family structure.

The effect of family structure is of increasing importance in modern breeding schemes, because increased intraclass correlations between relatives due to improved breeding value estimation methods use all family information, and increased family sizes are possible with improved reproduction rates. In addition, reduction of the generation intervals in modern breeding schemes leads to increased intraclass (family) correlations, because young animals have little information on individual or on progeny performance. This paper derives an approximation for the selection differential in a population divided into families. The result is then extended to an approximation for the selection differentials in populations that are divided into full sib families within paternal half sib families. The approximation is compared with Monte Carlo results, from which it is concluded that the approximation is satisfactory (i.e., rarely more than 5% in error). In some practical situations the approximation is shown to be not more than 2% in error. With high intraclass correlations and few animals selected, the reduction of the selection differentials is maximal. When breeding values are based on family information and the family structure is not accounted for, overestimation of the selection differentials can be up to 61%.
The Impact of Vitamin D Status on Periodontal Surgery Outcomes

Vitamin D regulates calcium and immune function. While vitamin D deficiency has been associated with periodontitis, little information exists regarding its effect on wound healing and periodontal surgery outcomes. This longitudinal clinical trial assessed outcomes of periodontal surgery and teriparatide administration in vitamin-D-sufficient and -insufficient individuals. Forty individuals with severe chronic periodontitis received periodontal surgery, daily calcium and vitamin D supplements, and self-administered teriparatide or placebo for 6 wks to correspond with osseous healing time. Serum 25(OH)D was evaluated at baseline, 6 wks, and 6 mos post-surgery. Clinical and radiographic outcomes were evaluated over 1 yr. Placebo patients with baseline vitamin D deficiency [serum 25(OH)D, 16-19 ng/mL] had significantly less clinical attachment loss (CAL) gain (-0.43 mm vs. 0.92 mm, p < 0.01) and probing depth (PPD) reduction (0.43 mm vs. 1.83 mm, p < 0.01) than vitamin-D-sufficient individuals. Vitamin D levels had no significant impact on CAL and PPD improvements in teriparatide patients at 1 yr, but infrabony defect resolution was greater in teriparatide-treated vitamin-D-sufficient vs. -deficient individuals (2.05 mm vs. 0.87 mm, p = 0.03). Vitamin D deficiency at the time of periodontal surgery negatively affects treatment outcomes for up to 1 yr. Analysis of these data suggests that vitamin D status may be critical for post-surgical healing. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, CT00277706)
Enhancing Single-Item Recognition Accuracy by Cueing Spatial Locations in Vision

With single-item visual displays, facilitating effects of foreknowledge of position have been shown in detection tasks with latency and with accuracy as the dependent variables, as well as in recognition tasks with latency as the dependent variable. There is no evidence, however, of positive selective attention effects on recognition accuracy with single-item displays. One failure to find such an effect was reported by Grindley and Townsend (1968). It is argued that in the study of Grindley and Townsend sub-optimal conditions were used and that a more elaborate replication of their study is in order. In the experiment reported here, an exposure duration resulting in 75% correct recognitions of target letters was determined per subject. This exposure time was used in the subsequent experimental sessions. In the experimental trials, single letters were presented on one out of five positions on an imaginary circle around a fixation point. The position of the impending target item was either cued or not cued by presenting either one or five dots at corresponding positions on the circumference of a similar, but somewhat larger, imaginary circle. The results showed a small, but highly significant, improvement in recognition accuracy when the position of the target letter was cued. It is concluded that cueing enhances recognition accuracy in single-item displays. Such an effect can only be shown if optimal experimental conditions are used.
Intragastric Balloon: Ethics, Medical Need and Cosmetics

The development of the intragastic balloon as a safe, noninvasive, alternative method to weight reduction raises all the ethical questions routinely faced by practitioners of other forms of cosmetic surgery. In the case of the morbidly, severely or merely obese, the surgeon is faced with a medical decision in a situation defined by medical parameters. The case of the overweight or normal may, however, create an ethical dilemma in which the doctor is forced to make decisions of a nonmedical nature, for which his training has not prepared him, and relating essentially to his personal attitudes and moral beliefs, culture and the recognition that ‘if I don’t, somebody else – possibly less competent – will’.
Primary cutaneous B‐cell lymphoma (marginal zone) with prominent T‐cell component and aberrant dual (T and B) genotype; diagnostic usefulness of laser‐capture microdissection

The presence of a dominant B‐ or T‐cell clone is an important diagnostic criterion for distinguishing cutaneous lymphomas from lymphoid reactive infiltrates. Rarely, a combined B‐ and T‐cell rearrangement can be detected from a single sample. In such instances, genotypic analysis does not permit differentiation of the coexistence of a T‐ and B‐cell lymphoma from a single clone harbouring a monoclonal rearrangement for both immunoglobulin heavy chain and T‐cell receptor genes. We herein report a case of a skin tumour consistent with a dense cutaneous lymphoid infiltrate showing a double prominent B‐ and T‐cell component. A dual B‐ and T‐cell clonality was detected by polymerase chain reaction from whole‐tissue DNA sample. Genotypic analysis with DNA, obtained after laser‐assisted microdissection from the B‐cell population, again showed both T‐ and B‐cell monoclonal rearrangements. Conversely, the microdissected T‐cell population did not reveal a clonal pattern. The diagnosis of cutaneous B‐cell lymphoma with a dual B‐ and T‐cell genotype was established. This description illustrates the diagnostic usefulness of laser‐capture microdissection in cutaneous lymphomas presenting dual genotype.
Interferon-Induced SCYL2 Limits Release of HIV-1 by Triggering PP2A-Mediated Dephosphorylation of the Viral Protein Vpu

HIV-infected cells dephosphorylate and inactivate a viral factor to restrict viral spreading. Belt and Braces Antiviral Approach In the ongoing arms race between pathogens and their hosts, each side generates factors with which to thwart the other. In the case of HIV-1 infection, cells produce type I interferon (IFN), which induces production of tetherin (also known as BST2), which traps new virus particles at the plasma membrane, preventing their release. For its part, HIV-1 produces the protein Vpu, which causes the degradation of tetherin, thus promoting viral release. Miyakawa et al. found that another IFN-inducible host protein, SCYL2, antagonized the function of Vpu, enabling tetherin to fulfill its role as a viral restriction factor. Vpu requires phosphorylation at two serine residues to function normally, and SCYL2 recruited the phosphatase PP2A to Vpu to render it inactive. Together, these data suggest the existence of a host back-up system to restrict viral spreading. Human cells respond to infection by retroviruses through the actions of proteins that inhibit the spread of viruses to other cells. One example is bone marrow stromal cell antigen 2 (BST2; also known as tetherin), which is an interferon (IFN)–inducible protein that restricts the release of progeny virions from infected cells. The HIV-1 accessory protein Vpu (viral protein U) causes degradation of BST2, and phosphorylation of Vpu at residues Ser52 and Ser56 is required for this function. We report that the host protein SCY1-like protein 2 (SCYL2) mediates the dephosphorylation of Vpu, antagonizing Vpu function and facilitating BST2-dependent restriction of HIV-1 release. SCYL2 reduced the number of virus particles released from cells infected with wild-type HIV-1, but not a strain lacking vpu, in a BST2-dependent manner. SCYL2 stimulated the dephosphorylation of Vpu on Ser52 and Ser56 by recruiting protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) to Vpu. Conversely, depletion of SCYL2 resulted in enhanced phosphorylation of Vpu and increased viral particle release. Moreover, SCYL2 was produced in response to type I IFN and contributed to IFN-mediated viral restriction. Together, these results suggest that SCYL2 serves as a regulatory factor for Vpu, reducing the extent of Vpu phosphorylation and consequently enhancing BST2-mediated viral restriction.
Development and Applications of Wireless Group Support Systems in Mobile Business

The new generation of wireless technologies has provided various wireless applications for business to conduct group decisions. Wireless devices provide several advantages to typical group decision support systems (GSS) by overcoming the existing limitations. At this moment, wireless group decision support systems (WGSS) have prompted multiple decision makers to consider these systems for a group meeting because of their flexibility and mobility. WGSS was further developed to overcome its limitations. The prototype consists of two components: the GSS server and WGSS devices (tablet PC, PDA, and cell phone). Quantitative data about user satisfaction for information, perceived enjoyment and perceived mobility with the system was collected from a questionnaire and t-tested. This study also highlighted WGSS applications to associated participants.
INFERRING THE LOCUS AND ORIENTATION OF THE PERCEIVER FROM RESPONSES TO STIMULATION OF THE SKIN.

A way of presenting stimuli for response which permits interpretation in terms of the locus of the perceiver is described by Krech and Crutchfield.1 A figure, say b, is drawn by E on S's forehead. If it is experienced as b, then the locus of perception may be said to be external; if it is experienced as d, the mirror-image, then the locus is internal. The special interest of the procedure lies in the fact that it yields a locus for the perceiver which is not prejudiced entirely by the physical locus of S's perceptual system. Hebb has stressed the separability in experience of perceiver and body and has urged, for practical and theoretical reasons, the experimental study of the perceiver as a mediating process.2 Piaget and Inhelder provide evidence, using other techniques, which suggests that the likelihood of a shift in the locus of perception from an internal to various external positions increases with the age of the child.3