Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prognosis of wheezing and asthma presenting in early childhood

Key points Childhood asthma and wheezing illness encompass a wide clinical spectrum. Most children with asthma first present before the age of 3 years. Coexistent atopy and initial disease severity carry a poor long-term prognosis. A switch from male to female predominance occurs at puberty. Good prognostic factors include presentation before 2 years of age and exclusively virally induced episodes. CME article: educational aims To identify the different types of wheezing illness in asthma that present in childhood. To aid healthcare professionals in the discussion of medium- to long-term prognosis with parents of children presenting with wheezing illness. To place prophylactic therapy in the context of the natural history of the disease. Summary Childhood asthma covers a wide spectrum, ranging from mild-intermittent to severe-persistent disease, with different natural histories. Female sex, age at presentation, atopic constitution, parental atopy, and severity and frequency of attacks can all be identified as risk factors for persistence into adult life, while others, including maternal smoking, prematurity and bronchiolitis of infancy, do not appear to be associated to such an extent. The use of prognostic features alongside assessment of disease severity should inform long-term clinical management and be useful in counselling the child and her/his family.
Modulation of Base Excision Repair Alters Cellular Sensitivity to UVA1 but not to UVB¶

Abstract Oxidative DNA damage has been implicated in some of the biological properties of UVA but so far not in the acute photosensitivity or cellular sensitivity. In contrast to pyrimidine dimers, oxidative DNA damage is predominantly processed by base excision repair (BER). In order to further clarify the role of oxidative DNA damage and its repair in the acute cellular response to UV light, we studied UVA1 and UVB sensitivities in three different cell model systems with modified BER. 8-Oxoguanine-DNA-glycosylase 1–/– (OGG1–/–) mouse embryonal fibroblasts and human fibroblasts in which BER was inhibited by incubation with methoxyamine were hypersensitive to UVA1, in particular to low doses. This hypersensitivity could be partially corrected by reexpression of OGG1 in OGG1–/– cells. The Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells with upregulated AP-endonuclease 1 exhibited reduced UVA1 sensitivity. UVB sensitivity was not altered in any of the cell models. These results indicate that DNA damage, in particular oxidative DNA damage, contributes to cellular UVA1 sensitivity and underline a pivotal role of its repair in the cellular responses to UVA1.
Altered synaptosomal phospholipid metabolism after toluene: possible relationship with membrane fluidity, Na+,K(+)-adenosine triphosphatase and phospholipid methylation.

The mechanism by which toluene decreased synaptosomal phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) was investigated by studying degradative and synthetic phospholipid pathways. Toluene stimulated a PE-specific phospholipase (PLase) C both in vivo (44-75%) and in vitro (20-30%) whereas PLase A, PLase D and base exchange enzymes were unchanged. Toluene, in vivo, also increased the synthesis of PE (27%) when expressed as [3H]ethanolamine incorporation into [3H]PE, but had no effect on PE synthesis when administered in vitro. Perhaps this reflects a compensatory mechanism in synaptosomes to replace PE via increasing de novo synthesis. Phospholipid methylation, an event proposed to be related to the transduction of singals across membranes, as well as a measure of membrane function, was studied. Toluene was found to rapidly increase phospholipid methylation (43%, 15 min), followed by a significant decrease (35%, 1 hr). Another measure of membrane, as well as cell function used in these studies was ATPase activity. Toluene, both in vivo and in vitro, stimulated Na+, K(+)-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity (20-30%, 15-30 min), whereas Mg(++)-ATPase and Ca(++)-ATPase were unaffected, an indication that toluene alters neuronal cell function. Membrane fluidity studies using fluorescence polarization reported that toluene, both in vivo and in vitro, increased the outer synaptosomal membrane fluidity using the probe trimethylammonium-diphenylhexatriene, whereas no effect was observed on the central core fluidity using diphenylhexatriene. These are the first studies to demonstrate that an organic solvent effects only specific membrane region fluidities. One possibility is that early synaptic alterations resulting from toluene exposure may be preceded by increases in outer membrane fluidity. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A single switch boost converter with a high conversion ratio

To supply a high voltage load directly from a low voltage battery pack, often a converter is required with a high conversion ratio. Converters with coupled inductors have emerged displaying a high efficiency, a low overall component count, a simple topology, and the need for only a single low-voltage active switch. However, if the different possible positions for the capacitors in the topology are considered, several variants of this topology can be distinguished. After a review of the principles of operation of the basic converter, the properties of the different topological variations are studied. Finally, a topological choice is made based on the proposed criteria for a 200 V supply, converting 200 W from a 24 V battery. The theoretical results are compared to the results retrieved from a prototype converter.
Variation of electrocardiogram interpretation: yet another contributor to the Achilles heel of pre-participation electrocardiographic programmes in athletes.

This editorial refers to ‘Variability in interpretation of the electrocardiogram in young athletes: an unrecognized obstacle for electrocardiogram-based screening protocols’ by B. Berte et al . , doi:10.1093/europace/euu385. Deaths from cardiac disease in young athletes are uncommon but receive considerable attention from the media and are highly scrutinized by the community at large. Both the American Heart Association and European Society of Cardiology (ESC) advocate pre-participation cardiac screening (PPS) in athletes to detect those at risk on the premise that the majority of conditions implicated in sudden cardiac death (SCD) in the young can be detected during life and that such deaths are potentially preventable.1,2 The ESC endorse the inclusion of the electrocardiogram (ECG) in addition to history and physical examination based on persuasive evidence for the efficacy of such a model from a large prospective Italian study which demonstrated a 90% reduction in SCD in screened athletes over a 25-year period.3 The 12-lead ECG is a relatively cheap screening tool that significantly improves the sensitivity for the detection of serious cardiac diseases in asymptomatic athletes with normal physical examination. Unacceptably, high false-positive rates are the main component to the Achilles heel of PPS with ECG in athletes, mainly because some of the electrical expressions of the athlete's heart overlap with those observed in patients with cardiomyopathy. Accurate interpretation of the athlete's ECG is crucial to minimize the risk of unnecessary investigations or erroneous disqualification in the event of a false-positive diagnosis. Conversely, a false-negative diagnosis may result in false reassurance with catastrophic consequences for an …
SPLINE SMOOTHING FOR BIVARIATE DATA WITH APPLICATIONS TO ASSOCIATION BETWEEN HORMONES

In this paper penalized weighted least-squares is used to jointly estimate nonparametric functions from contemporaneously correlated data. Under condi- tions generally encountered in practice, it is shown that these joint estimates have smaller posterior variances than those of marginal estimates and are therefore more efficient. We describe three methods: generalized maximum likelihood (GML), gen- eralized cross validation (GCV) and leaving-out-one-pair cross validation (CV) to estimate the smoothing parameters, the weighting parameter and the correlation parameter simultaneously. Based on simulations we conclude that the GML method has smaller mean-square errors for the nonparametric functions and the parame- ters and needs less computational time than the other methods. Also, it does not overfit data when the sample size is small. Our research is motivated by and is applied to the problem of estimating associations between hormones. We find that the circadian rhythms of the hormones ACTH and cortisol have similar patterns and that cortisol lags ACTH.
A Self-Organized Vortex Array of Hydrodynamically Entrained Sperm Cells

Many patterns in biological systems depend on the exchange of chemical signals between cells. We report a spatiotemporal pattern mediated by hydrodynamic interactions. At planar surfaces, spermatozoa self-organized into dynamic vortices resembling quantized rotating waves. These vortices formed an array with local hexagonal order. Introducing an order parameter that quantifies cooperativity, we found that the array appeared only above a critical sperm density. Using a model, we estimated the hydrodynamic interaction force between spermatozoa to be ∼0.03 piconewtons. Thus, large-scale coordination of cells can be regulated hydrodynamically, and chemical signals are not required.
The Effect of Dimensionality Reduction on Software Vulnerability Prediction Models

Statistical prediction models can be an effective technique to identify vulnerable components in large software projects. Two aspects of vulnerability prediction models have a profound impact on their performance: 1) the features (i.e., the characteristics of the software) that are used as predictors and 2) the way those features are used in the setup of the statistical learning machinery. In a previous work, we compared models based on two different types of features: software metrics and term frequencies (text mining features). In this paper, we broaden the set of models we compare by investigating an array of techniques for the manipulation of said features. These techniques fall under the umbrella of dimensionality reduction and have the potential to improve the ability of a prediction model to localize vulnerabilities. We explore the role of dimensionality reduction through a series of cross-validation and cross-project prediction experiments. Our results show that in the case of software metrics, a dimensionality reduction technique based on confirmatory factor analysis provided an advantage when performing cross-project prediction, yielding the best F-measure for the predictions in five out of six cases. In the case of text mining, feature selection can make the prediction computationally faster, but no dimensionality reduction technique provided any other notable advantage.
Pulsatile secretion of LH and ovarian estradiol during the follicular phase of the sheep estrous cycle.

The concentration of LH in jugular venous plasma and the ovarian secretion of estradiol was measured every 10 mm for periods of 60 or 120 mm on 28 occasions in 13 ewes with utero-ovarian or ovarian autotransplants. Blood samples were collected at various times during the follicular phase; 2 days prior to esifus (estruS -2), estrus -1 and on the day of estrus and the results compared to those obtained during the luteal phase. During the luteal phase, episodic pulses of LH occurred at intervals of approximately 3 h 20 mm and each pulse was followed by a significant rise in the secretion of estradiol. During the follicular phase, the pulses of LH occurred with increased frequency (1/h) but with decreased amplitude. Although each pulse of LH was smaller, the peak of secretion of estradiol following each pulse was significantly greater during the follicular than during the luteal phase. By estrus, the secretion of estradiol declined in spite of LH values in the range of the preovulatory LH surge. It is suggested that the increased secretion of estradiol from the preovulatory Graaflan follicle is due to repeated stimulation by episodic pulses of LH which occur with increasing frequency.
Postembryonic development of serotoninlike immunoreactivity in the central nervous system of the snail, lymnaea stagnalis

Posthatching growth in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis involves approximately a 20‐fold increase in the linear dimensions of the ganglia composing the central nervous system. Developmental change within the population of neurons exhibiting serotoninlike immunoreactivity (SLIR) was examined in order to explain this growth in cellular terms. The study indicates that at least two factors contribute to the growth of the nervous system. First, SLIR cells approximately double in number from the 200–250 cells in hatchlings to the complement found in animals approaching sexual maturity. Much of this increase in cell number occurred within identifiable discrete clusters of neurons with different clusters adding cells at different rates and at different times. The number of SLIR cells also increased in more diffuse populations, particularly along the medial aspects of the paired pedal and the right parietal ganglion. No identified cells were added postembryonically. In addition to the increases in neuron numbers, posthatching development in Lymnaea also involves the growth of individual cells. All cells examined showed continuous somatic growth during posthatching development, but different identified cells and different cell clusters were characterized by different rates of relative growth. Together, the results highlight the complexity of postembryonic development in the snail by indicating the temporal and spatial specificity for both cell addition and cell growth within the nervous system.
'Low' Fertility and Population Replacement in Scotland.

It has been argued that Scotland faces population ageing and decline that will have potentially serious economic and social consequences, and that the origin of these process lie in its low and declining fertility rates. This paper argues that low fertility is not the problem it is purported to be, and that pro-natalism is both undesirable and unnecessary. It suggests that low fertility and population ageing are positive developments, and that what is distinctive about Scotland is not any shortage of births but an excess of early deaths.
Partitioning reference values for several subpopulations using cluster analysis

Abstract Background: A crucial question when developing reference intervals is whether different subpopulations need their own reference interval or if a single joint reference interval can be used. It is reasonable to use partitioned reference intervals in situations where a single interval results in considerable variation in sensitivity between subpopulations. The aim of partitioning is to harmonize the sensitivity of the reference intervals, i.e., to make the sensitivity similar for all patients, regardless of patient characteristics. Statistical criteria to identify when partitioning is adequate have been developed over the last two decades. These criteria are applicable when considering two subpopulations, but recently a procedure for considering several subpopulations has been developed. When several subpopulations are considered, there is a possibility that some subpopulations could form a group or cluster that could share a common reference interval. However, there is no formal systematic approach to indicate how to divide these subpopulations into clusters. The aim of this study was to suggest such a systematic approach for clustering. Methods: A clustering technique was applied to data including several subpopulations. The technique is based on measuring the distance between separated reference limits and successively pooling subpopulations divided by short distances. A cluster is defined by a group of subpopulations that are close to each other and that differ from subpopulations in another cluster. A cluster recruits new subpopulations as long as the subpopulations can be pooled without violating a partitioning criterion. Conclusions: We have suggested a procedure for partitioning a number of Gaussian (or Gaussian-transformable) subpopulations into clusters. This is the only formalized procedure indicating how to analyze several subpopulations and identify a suitable number of groups and reference intervals. Using a computer program developed for partitioning issues, the approach was easy to adopt. Clin Chem Lab Med 2007;45:1026–32.
A Batch Mode Scheduling Algorithm for Grid Computing

Nowadays, computational grids have been wildly used to share geographically distributed heterogeneous resources, because of high demand of computational power. One of the most important problems in computational grids is scheduling. Max-min and min-min are simple and well known scheduling algorithms for grid computing. The drawback of min-min algorithm is the schedule produced by min-min is not optimal with respect of load balancing and max-min's relative time to finish assigning tasks is too high. To overcome these drawbacks, a new two phase grid scheduler is proposed with simple min-min algorithm in the first phase and a new rescheduling technique in the second phase. To evaluate the performance of proposed algorithm and comparing it with other algorithms, Three main objective functions are measured in grid scheduling which are make span, resource utilization and matching proximity. Algorithms are tested using Expected to compute model of benchmark. The results of simulation shows improvement in all three objective functions i.e. make span is minimized while resource utilization and matching proximity are maximized.
Choice Interactions and Business Strategy

Choice settings are strategic to the extent that they entail cross-sectional or intertemporal linkages. These same factors may impose daunting demands on decision makers. We develop a graph-theoretic generalization of the NK model of fitness landscapes to model the way in which policy choices may be more or less strategic. We use this structure to examine, through simulation, how fully articulated a strategy or set of policy choices must be to achieve a high level of performance and how feasible it is to offset past strategic mistakes through tactical adjustments (instead of alignment). Our analysis highlights the role of asymmetry in the interaction of strategic choices and in particular the degree to which choices vary in terms of being influential, dependent, or autonomous from other choices.
Control of Teleoperators with Communication Time Delay through State Convergence

This paper describes a new control method of teleoperation systems with communication time delay. This method models the teleoperation system in the state space, considering all the possible interactions that could appear in the operator-master-slave-environment set, and it uses the Taylor expansion to model the time delay. The control system allows that the slave manipulator follows the master in spite of the time delay in the communication channel. The tracking is achieved by state convergence between the master and the slave. The method is also able to establish the desired dynamics of this convergence and the dynamics of the slave manipulator. Furthermore, a simple design procedure is provided to obtain the control system gains. These control gains are calculated solving a set of seven equations. The control method is robust to the uncertainty of the design parameters, so it is not necessary to obtain good estimations of these parameters. Simulations and experiments with a one DOF teleoperation system are presented to verify the control method. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Genetic determinants of tissue factor pathway inhibitor plasma levels

Summary Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) impedes early stages of the blood coagulation response, and low TFPI plasma levels increase the risk of thrombosis. TFPI plasma levels are heritable, but specific genetic determinants are unclear. We conducted a comprehensive review of genetic risk factors for TFPI plasma levels and identified 26 studies. We included 16 studies, as well as results from two unpublished genome-wide studies, in random effects meta-analyses of four commonly reported genetic variants in TFPI and its promoter (rs5940, rs7586970/rs8176592, rs10931292, and rs10153820) and 10 studies were summarised narratively. rs5940 was associated with all measures of TFPI (free, total, and activity), and rs7586970 was associated with total TFPI. Neither rs10931292 nor rs10153820 showed evidence of association. The narrative summary included 6 genes and genetic variants (P151L mutation in TFPI, PROS1, F5, APOE, GLA, and V617F mutation in JAK2) as well as a genome-wide linkage study, and suggested future research directions. A limitation of the systematic review was the heterogeneous measurement of TFPI. Nonetheless, our review found robust evidence that rs5940 and rs7586970 moderate TFPI plasma levels and are candidate risk factors for thrombosis, and that the regulation of TFPI plasma levels involves genetic factors beyond the TFPI gene.
Nicotinamide Prevents Ultraviolet Radiation‐induced Cellular Energy Loss

UV radiation is carcinogenic by causing mutations in the skin and also by suppressing cutaneous antitumor immunity. We previously found nicotinamide (vitamin B3) to be highly effective at reducing UV‐induced immunosuppression in human volunteers, with microarray studies on in vivo irradiated human skin suggesting that nicotinamide normalizes subsets of apoptosis, immune function and energy metabolism‐related genes that are downregulated by UV exposure. Using human adult low calcium temperature keratinocytes, we further investigated nicotinamide’s effects on cellular energy metabolism. We found that nicotinamide prevented UV‐induced cellular ATP loss and protected against UV‐induced glycolytic blockade. To determine whether nicotinamide alters the effects of UV‐induced oxidative stress posttranslationally, we also measured UV‐induced reactive oxygen species (ROS). Nicotinamide had no effect on ROS formation, and at the low UV doses used in these studies, equivalent to ambient daily sun exposure, there was no evidence of apoptosis. Hence, nicotinamide appears to exert its UV protective effects on the skin via its role in cellular energy pathways.
An OVT Based on Conoscopic Interference and Position Sensitive Detector

The measurement mode of the existing optical voltage transducer (OVT) is mostly based on light intensity detection. In such a way, the OVT has some big issues, such as a light intensity dependency, a temperature drift, an additional birefringence in the crystal and a half-wave voltage limitation to its measurement range. A new OVT based on conoscopic interference and bi-dimensional position sensitive detector (PSD) is proposed in the paper, which can convert the electro-optical phase delay of the crystal to a rotation angle of spot pattern, and therefore, a high voltage can be measured by the PSD. Compared with the existing OVT, the measurement mode of the new one is independent of light intensity, capable of measuring the electro-optical phase delay from 0° to 180° linearly and directly, and has a wide measurement range with no restriction of the half-wave voltage. The rotation angle of the spot pattern is positioned by a bi-dimensional PSD and the new OVT has a good linearity better than 0.5%.