Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fathers over 40 and increased failure to conceive: the lessons of in vitro fertilization in France.

OBJECTIVE To investigate paternal age effect mediated by biological modifications with use of data from assisted reproductive technologies. DESIGN National IVF registry. SETTING Fifty nine French IVF centers. PATIENT(S) A total of 1,938 men whose partners were totally sterile, with bilateral tubal obstruction or absence of both tubes (to avoid bias sampling in analysis of paternal age) and treated by conventional IVF. INTERVENTION(S) None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Risk of failure to conceive defined as absence of intrauterine pregnancy. RESULT(S) The odds ratio of failure to conceive for paternal age > or =40 years was 2.00 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10-3.61) when the woman was 35-37 years old, 2.03 (95% CI: 1.12-3.68) for age 38-40 years, and 5.74 (95% CI: 2.16, 15.23) for age 41 years and over. CONCLUSION(S) As an increasing number of couples choose to postpone childbearing, they should be informed that paternal age over 40 years is an important risk factor for failure to conceive.
Lifelong Impact of Early Self-Control: Childhood self-discipline predicts adult quality of life

W hen we first joined the Dunedin Study team in the 1980s, we had been taught in our psychology Ph.D. training to think in developmental stages: We had learned what is typical of preschoolers, of teenagers, and of older persons. But "typical" failed to describe any of the 1,000 Study participants, who had been physically and psychologically examined since their birth in the early 1970s and were now teenagers. By interviewing tliese young people, we learned to appreciate the remarkable variation among her sweater. A quiet boy recited multiplication tables for fun. The children ranged remarkably in a quality that we have devoted much of our science to understanding:, self-control. The capacity for self-control over our thoughts and actions is a fundamental human faculty. But the inability to make use of that capacity can be our greatest personal failure, especially in today's fast-paced, fast-food world of endless possibility, distraction, and temptation. It's no wonder that every self-help literature shelf is cluttered with promises of greater self-discipline.
SWIFT : Predictive Fast Reroute Technical Report

Network operators often face the problem of remote outages in transit networks leading to significant (sometimes on the order of minutes) downtimes. The issue is that BGP, the Internet routing protocol, often converges slowly upon such outages, as large bursts of messages have to be processed and propagated router by router. In this paper, we present SWIFT, a fast-reroute framework which enables routers to restore connectivity in few seconds upon remote outages. SWIFT is based on two novel techniques. First, SWIFT deals with slow outage notification by predicting the overall extent of a remote failure out of few control-plane (BGP) messages. The key insight is that significant inference speed can be gained at the price of some accuracy. Second, SWIFT introduces a new dataplane encoding scheme, which enables quick and flexible update of the affected forwarding entries. SWIFT is deployable on existing devices, without modifying BGP. We present a complete implementation of SWIFT and demonstrate that it is both fast and accurate. In our experiments with real BGP traces, SWIFT predicts the extent of a remote outage in few seconds with an accuracy of ∼90% and can restore connectivity for 99% of the affected destinations.
Fragmentation and Trade in Value Added Over Four Decades

We combine data on trade, production, and input use to compute the value added content of trade for forty-two countries from 1970 to 2009. For the world, the ratio of value added to gross trade falls by ten to fifteen percentage points, with two-thirds of this decline in the last two decades. Across countries, declines range from zero to twenty-five percentage points, with large declines concentrated among countries undergoing structural transformation. Across bilateral trade partners, declines are larger for nearby partners and partners that adopt regional trade agreements. That is, both policy and non-policy trade costs shape production fragmentation.
Human-Computer Interaction And Security

Usability, as the major element of Human-Computer Interaction, can be described as the efficiency of a system, the effectiveness, the satisfaction of the user, the memorability. Nowadays, security is a part of our lives in a lot of different ways. We are concerned about our personal safety as well as about our personal data especially when technology is involving. The usability of a secure system is a huge concern and later in this paper I will discuss that most of the times they seem to be at odds. This study involves literature review about security and HCI (HCISec), how security coexists with HCI and the ways that we can make a secure system as much as usable it can be. However, security is not only focusing on software systems but also in events of our every day lives that require privacy and safety. This study also includes literature review about these events like money withdrawals form ATM machines and security alerts in our houses.
Growth Recovery on Glucose under Aerobic Conditions of an Escherichia coli Strain Carrying a Phosphoenolpyruvate:Carbohydrate Phosphotransferase System Deletion by Inactivating arcA and Overexpressing the Genes Coding for Glucokinase and Galactose Permease

In Escherichia coli the phosphotransferase system (PTS) consumes one molecule of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) to phosphorylate each molecule of internalized glucose. PEP bioavailability into the aromatic pathway can be increased by inactivating the PTS. However, the lack of the PTS results in decreased glucose transport and growth rates. To overcome such drawbacks in a PTS– strain and reconstitute rapid growth on glucose phenotype (Glc+), the glk and galP genes were cloned into a plasmid and the arcA gene was inactivated. Simultaneous overexpression of glk and galP increased the growth rate and regenerated a Glc+ phenotype. However, the highest growth rate was obtained when glk and galP were overexpressed in the arcA– background. These results indicated that the arcA mutation enhanced glycolytic and respiratory capacities of the engineered strain.
Symptomatic SUNCT in an eleven-year-old girl

Paroxysmal short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache with conjunctival injection and tearing (SUNCT) is a rare headache syndrome that was first described in 1989 and belongs to the so-called trigeminal autonomic cephalgias.1,2⇓ Besides unilateral (rarely bilateral) headaches, conjunctival injection and tearing, lacrimation, nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, ptosis, or eyelid edema may be observed. This headache syndrome largely affects men, with a gender ratio of 17 to 2, with duration of paroxysms of 5 to 250 seconds. Attack frequency is about 30 per day and may range between one attack per day to 30 attacks per hour. Most drugs used for other paroxysmal headache syndromes including triptans and indomethacin are ineffective in SUNCT. Lamotrigine and gabapentin were recently reported to be effective in a few patients with SUNCT.3,4⇓ We are aware of only a few reports of secondary SUNCT syndromes and only one case in a child.5 As a contribution to the literature we report on an 11-year-old girl with symptomatic …
Effects of music therapy for children and adolescents with psychopathology: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND The objectives of this review were to examine the overall efficacy of music therapy for children and adolescents with psychopathology, and to examine how the size of the effect of music therapy is influenced by the type of pathology, client's age, music therapy approach, and type of outcome. METHOD Eleven studies were included for analysis, which resulted in a total of 188 subjects for the meta-analysis. Effect sizes from these studies were combined, with weighting for sample size, and their distribution was examined. RESULTS After exclusion of an extreme positive outlying value, the analysis revealed that music therapy has a medium to large positive effect (ES =.61) on clinically relevant outcomes that was statistically highly significant (p <.001) and statistically homogeneous. No evidence of a publication bias was identified. Effects tended to be greater for behavioural and developmental disorders than for emotional disorders; greater for eclectic, psychodynamic, and humanistic approaches than for behavioural models; and greater for behavioural and developmental outcomes than for social skills and self-concept. CONCLUSIONS Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed.
MPP+ analogs acting on mitochondria and inducing neuro-degeneration.

This review focuses on the mechanisms of action and the injurious effect of complex I inhibitors, of which 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion (MPP(+)) is a well studied example. These compounds can be divided into two groups, i.e. competitive inhibitors with respect to ubiquinone, such as piericidine A, and non-competitive inhibitors such as rotenone. Complex I inhibitors such as MPP(+) have been reported to induce anatomical, behavioral, and biochemical changes similar to those seen in Parkinson's disease, which is characterized by nigrostriatal dopaminergic neuro-degeneration. Spectroscopic analyses and structure-activity relationship studies have indicated that the V-shaped structure of the rotenone molecule is critical for binding to the rotenone binding site on complex I. Many isoquinoline derivatives, some of them endogenous, are also complex I inhibitors. Many lines of evidence show that complex I inhibitors elicit neuronal cell death. Recently, it was reported that chronic and systemic exposure to low-dose rotenone reproduces the features of Parkinson's disease. This work further focused attention on compounds acting on mitochondria, such as MPP(+). In Guadeloupe, the French West Indies, patients with atypical parkinsonism or progressive supranuclear palsy are frequently encountered. These diseases seem to be associated with ingestion of tropical herbal teas or tropical fruits of the Annonaceae family, which contain complex I inhibitors such as benzylisoquinoline derivatives and acetogenins. Complex I inhibitors may not simply result in reactive oxygen species generation or ATP exhaustion, but may influence complex downstream signal transduction processes. An understanding of these changes would throw light on the ways in which complex I inhibitors induce a wide range of abnormalities.
HISTOCHEMISTRY OF MUSCLE SPINDLES IN SNAKES OF NATRIX SPECIES

The muscle spindles of snakes consist of a single intrafusal fiber; in addition to this, two types of spindles are found. We have studied the histochemistry of the snake intrafusal fibers. One type of spindle, the long capsule spindle intrafusal fiber, is characterized by high levels of the enzymes myosin adenosine triphosphatase, succinic dehydrogenase and phosphorylase; the other type, the short capsule spindle intrafusal fiber, is characterized by low levels of myosin adenosine triphosphatase and phosphorylase and an intermediate level of succinic dehydrogenase. The short capsule spindle intrafusal fiber is thus histochemically similar to the tonic extrafusal fibers, whereas the long capsule spindle intrafusal fiber is similar to the twitch extrafusal muscle fibers. The long capsule spindle is concerned mainly with monitoring static length, the short capsule spindle with monitoring changes in length. It is interesting that the histochemical profiles of long and short capsule spindle intrafusal fibers are similar to the mammalian bag and chain fibers, respectively.
Evaluating website navigability: validation of a tool-based approach through two eye-tracking user studies

Following information scent has been established as a metaphor to describe a user's behaviour while navigating an information space by successively selecting hyperlinks. This metaphor suggests that users assess the profitability of following a particular hyperlink based on its perceived semantic association with their goal. The purpose of this paper is to study how information scent, this important attribute of hypermedia navigability, influences concurrently four aspects of users' behaviour while exploring a website: (1) distribution of attention; (2) confidence in choice of link; (3) efficiency; and (4) effectiveness. It was found that in webpages with high scent, users were significantly more focused, confident of their choices, efficient and effective compared to webpages with ambiguous scent. The findings of the study are discussed in comparison with results obtained from a previously conducted analysis using InfoScent Evaluator (ISEtool), a tool that has been proposed to facilitate scent evaluation of websites. This comparison provided support for the effectiveness of ISEtool in indicating potential scent-related navigability problems. We argue that such a tool-based approach can facilitate hypermedia design by reducing the resources and expertise required, and by providing the necessary flexibility for practitioners.
Normal head‐hair length is correlated with its diameter

Shed head‐hair fibres of young (16–20‐year‐old), nonalopecic women (n = 25), exhibiting both exogen clubs and anagen tips (EA) were studied. Such fibres are shown, for the first time, to comprise ≈ 44% of shed hair and to form a uni‐modal, positively skewed distribution with a mean length of 16.7 ± 4.9 cm, which is also correlated with the length of the haircut. As individual fibres exit the skin in early anagen VI, their major‐axis diameters increase rapidly to maxima at about 25% of their total potential length and subsequently decrease to their exogen clubs, at a rate of 1.31% per cm (n = 28). EA diameters are further correlated with their lengths. Maximal and proximal diameters increase by 1.40% per cm and 1.02% per cm increments in fibre lengths, respectively (P < 0.0001 each; n = 14), these changes being also different from each other (P < 0.001). Besides identifying and characterizing a new class of normal hair (EA) which will probably feature prominently in future hair research, this study reveals several other important aspects of hair growth: (i) the classically described concept of hair miniaturization in androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is excessively broad and should therefore be revised; (ii) female AGA need not necessarily require a mechanism for rapid miniaturization as recently proposed; and (iii) the putative large variability of normal hair diameters is significantly overestimated, which further opens the field of hair diameter evaluation as a biological indicator of disease and physiological function.
Gabab receptor-mediated modulation of glutamate signaling in cerebellar Purkinje cells

Since Purkinje cells are the sole output neurons of the cerebellar cortex, the postsynaptic integration of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs in this cell type is a pivotal step for cerebellar motor information processing. In Purkinje cells, Gi/o protein-coupled B-type γ-aminobutyric acid receptor (GABABR) is expressed at the annuli of the dendritic spines that are innervated by the glutamatergic terminals of parallel fibers. The subcellular localization of GABABR suggests the possibility of postsynaptic interplay between GABABR and glutamate signaling. It has recently been demonstrated that GABABR indeed modulates α amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxalone propionate-type ionotropic glutamate receptor (AMPAR)-mediated and type-1 metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR1)-mediated signaling. Interestingly, GABABR exerts modulatory actions not only via the classical Gi/o protein-dependent signaling cascade but also via a Gi/o protein-independent interaction between GABABR and mGluR1. In this review, we compare the physiological nature, underlying mechanisms, and possible functional significance of these modulatory actions of GABABR
On assessment of prominent heuristic methods towards selective harmonic mitigation

Low-frequency switching strategies are considered as an effective way of achieving efficient performance in multilevel inverters. Selective harmonic elimination (SHE) is a modulation technique of this category which gives a superior outcome suppressing low-order detrimental harmonics. Limited number of decision variables offered by SHE in the corresponding nonlinear equations hinders obtaining quality waveforms. Current research is targeted on two distinct objectives for CHB inverters. First objective is to obtain a quality output signal. The second one is accomplishing a realistic solution with compromised voltage quality where a broad operating range becomes mathematically challenging. These aims are achievable by deploying additional degree of freedom in the equation set. In other words, the introduction of floating voltage levels contributes to effectively doubling the number of variables. The enhancement of output waveforms is presented through several illustrations and comparisons. Subsequent laboratory implementation validates the proposal and confirms its feasibility.
Regulation of fibronectin splicing in sinusoidal endothelial cells from normal or injured liver

Fn containing an extra type III domain (EIIIA in the rat, ED1 or EDA in humans) is commonly termed “fetal” fibronectin, but it is prominent during the injury response of adult tissues and mediates important early events in the response. This form is particularly apparent in acute liver injury, where it has been shown that sinusoidal endothelial cells produce EIIIA-fibronectin. This fibronectin isoform arises by alternative splicing of the primary transcript. In the present experiments, we have studied the regulation of fibronectin splicing in primary sinusoidal endothelial cells by transfecting a minigene containing the EIIIA exon and its flanking introns, driven by various promoters. The results indicate that fibronectin splicing in endothelial cells from normal liver is in part promoter-dependent. However, in cells from injured liver in which expression of both total and EIIIA-fibronectin is strikingly increased, promoter effects disappear. Because fibronectin splicing is known to be regulated in part by TGFβ, we also examined the effect of a soluble inhibitor of the TGFβ type 2 receptor. This agent had no effect on splicing by normal endothelial cells. By contrast, for endothelial cells from the injured liver, the splicing pattern reverted to that of normal cells, i.e., it became promoter-dependent. We conclude that, in the setting of injury in vivo, TGFβ overrides the promoter dependence of fibronectin splicing in normal cells. The data suggest that TGFβ modifies the spliceosome, if not through its known signaling intermediates, then through the products of genes regulated by this cytokine.
Web search efficacy: definition and implementation

Purpose – This paper aims to report a number of factors that are perceived by web users as influential elements in their search procedure. The paper introduces a new conceptual measure called “web search efficacy” (hereafter WSE) to evaluate the performance of searches mainly based on users' perceptions.Design/methodology/approach – A rich dataset of a wider study was inductively re‐explored to identify different categories that are perceived influential by web users on the final outcome of their searches. A selective review of the literature was carried out to discover to what extent previous research supports the findings of the current study.Findings – The analysis of the dataset led to the identification of five categories of influential factors. Within each group different factors have been recognized. Accordingly, the concept of WSE has been introduced. The five “Ss” which determine WSE are searcher's performance, search tool's performance, search strategy, search topic, and search situation.Researc.
Biotic attrition from tropical forests correcting for truncated temperature niches

Species migration in response to warming temperatures is expected to lead to ‘biotic attrition,’ or loss of local diversity, in areas where the number of species emigrating or going locally extinct exceeds the number immigrating. Biotic attrition is predicted be especially severe in the low‐lying hot tropics since elevated temperatures may surpass the observed tolerances of most extant species. It is possible, however, that the estimated temperature niches of many species are inaccurate and truncated with respect to their true tolerances due to the absence of hotter areas under current global climate. If so, these species will be capable of persisting in some areas where future temperatures exceed current temperatures, reducing rates of biotic attrition. Here, we use natural history collections data to estimate the realized thermal niches of > 2000 plant species from the tropical forests of South America. In accord with the truncation hypothesis, we find that the thermal niches of species from hot lowland areas are several degrees narrower than the thermal niches of species from cooler areas. We estimate rates of biotic attrition for South American tropical forests due to temperature increases ranging from 1 to 5 °C, and under two niche assumptions. The first is that the observed thermal niches truly reflect the plant's tolerances and that the reduction in niche breadth is due to increased specialization. The second is that lowland species have the same mean thermal niche breadth as nonlowland and nonequatorial species. The differences between these two models are dramatic. For example, using observed thermal niches we predict an almost complete loss of plant diversity in most South American tropical forests due to a 5 °C temperature increase, but correcting for possible niche truncation we estimate that most forests will retain > 50–70% of their current species richness. The different predictions highlight the importance of using fundamental vs. realized niches in predicting the responses of species to global climate change.
The Von Hippel-Lindau Protein Interacts with Heteronuclear Ribonucleoprotein A2 and Regulates Its Expression*

The product of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene, pVHL, functions as a ubiquitin-protein isopeptide ligase in regulating HIF-1 protein turnover, thus accounting for the increased transcription of hypoxia-inducible genes that accompanies VHL mutations. The increased vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA stability in cells lacking pVHL has been hypothesized to be due to a similar regulation of an RNA-binding protein. We report the expression of the GLUT-1 3′-untranslated region RNA-binding protein, heteronuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) A2, is specifically increased in pVHL-deficient cell lines. Enhanced hnRNP A2 expression was apparent in all cell fractions, including polysomes, where a similar modest effect on hnRNP L (a GLUT-1 and VEGF 3′-untranslated region-binding protein), was seen. Steady state levels of hnRNP A2 mRNA were unaffected. Regulation of hnRNP A2 levels correlated with the ability of pVHL to bind elongin C. Proteasome inhibition of cells expressing wild type pVHL selectively increased cytoplasmic hnRNP A2 levels to that seen in pVHL-deficient cells. Finally, an in vivo interaction between pVHL and hnRNP A2 was demonstrated in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm. Collectively, these data indicate that hnRNP A2 expression is regulated by pVHL in a manner that is dependent on elongin C interactions as well as functioning proteasomes.