pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Physical fitness reference standards in European children: the IDEFICS study

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: A low fitness status during childhood and adolescence is associated with important health-related outcomes, such as increased future risk for obesity and cardiovascular diseases, impaired skeletal health, reduced quality of life and poor mental health. Fitness reference values for adolescents from different countries have been published, but there is a scarcity of reference values for pre-pubertal children in Europe, using harmonised measures of fitness in the literature. The IDEFICS study offers a good opportunity to establish normative values of a large set of fitness components from eight European countries using common and well-standardised methods in a large sample of children. Therefore, the aim of this study is to report sex-and age-specific fitness reference standards in European children. 
SUBJECTS/METHODS: Children (10 302) aged 6-10.9 years (50.7% girls) were examined. The test battery included: the flamingo balance test, back-saver sit-and-reach test (flexibility), handgrip strength test, standing long jump test (lower-limb explosive strength) and 40-m sprint test (speed). Moreover, cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed by a 20-m shuttle run test. Percentile curves for the 1st, 3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, 97th and 99th percentiles were calculated using the General Additive Model for Location Scale and Shape (GAMLSS). 
RESULTS: Our results show that boys performed better than girls in speed, lower-and upper-limb strength and cardiorespiratory fitness, and girls performed better in balance and flexibility. Older children performed better than younger children, except for cardiorespiratory fitness in boys and flexibility in girls. 
CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide for the first time sex-and age-specific physical fitness reference standards in European children aged 6-10.9 years
Disrespect and Abuse During Childbirth in Tanzania: Are Women Living With HIV More Vulnerable?

HIV-related stigma and discrimination and disrespect and abuse during childbirth are barriers to use of essential maternal and HIV health services. Greater understanding of the relationship between HIV status and disrespect and abuse during childbirth is required to design interventions to promote women's rights and to increase uptake of and retention in health services; however, few comparative studies of women living with HIV (WLWH) and HIV-negative women exist. Mixed methods included interviews with postpartum women (n = 2000), direct observation during childbirth (n = 208), structured questionnaires (n = 50), and in-depth interviews (n = 18) with health care providers. Bivariate and multivariate regressions analyzed associations between HIV status and disrespect and abuse, whereas questionnaires and in-depth interviews provided insight into how provider attitudes and workplace culture influence practice. Of the WLWH and HIV-negative women, 12.2% and 15.0% reported experiencing disrespect and abuse during childbirth (P = 0.37), respectively. In adjusted analyses, no significant differences between WLWH and HIV-negative women's experiences of different types of disrespect and abuse were identified, with the exception of WLWH having greater odds of reporting non-consented care (P = 0.03). None of the WLWH reported violations of HIV confidentiality or attributed disrespect and abuse to their HIV status. Provider interviews indicated that training and supervision focused on prevention of vertical HIV transmission had contributed to changing the institutional culture and reducing HIV-related violations. In general, WLWH were not more likely to report disrespect and abuse during childbirth than HIV-negative women. However, the high overall prevalence of disrespect and abuse measured indicates a serious problem. Similar institutional priority as has been given to training and supervision to reduce HIV-related discrimination during childbirth should be focused on ensuring respectful maternity care for all women
Novel Regulation of the Synthesis of α-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic Acid (AMPA) Receptor Subunit GluA1 by Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase 1C (CPT1C) in the Hippocampus

The regulation of AMPA-type receptor (AMPAR) abundance in the postsynaptic membrane is an important mechanism involved in learning and memory formation. Recent data suggest that one of the constituents of the AMPAR complex is carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1C (CPT1C), a brain-specific isoform located in the endoplasmic reticulum of neurons. Previous results had demonstrated that CPT1C deficiency disrupted spine maturation in hippocampal neurons and impaired spatial learning, but the role of CPT1C in AMPAR physiology had remained mostly unknown. In the present study, we show that CPT1C binds GluA1 and GluA2 and that the three proteins have the same expression profile during neuronal maturation. Moreover, in hippocampal neurons of CPT1C KO mice, AMPAR-mediated miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents and synaptic levels of AMPAR subunits GluA1 and GluA2 are significantly reduced. We show that AMPAR expression is dependent on CPT1C levels because total protein levels of GluA1 and GluA2 are decreased in CPT1C KO neurons and are increased in CPT1C-overexpressing neurons, whereas other synaptic proteins remain unaltered. Notably, mRNA levels of AMPARs remained unchanged in those cultures, indicating that CPT1C is post-transcriptionally involved. We demonstrate that CPT1C is directly involved in the de novo synthesis of GluA1 and not in protein degradation. Moreover, in CPT1C KO cultured neurons, GluA1 synthesis after chemical long term depression was clearly diminished, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor treatment was unable to phosphorylate the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and stimulate GluA1 protein synthesis. These data newly identify CPT1C as a regulator of AMPAR translation efficiency and therefore also synaptic function in the hippocampus
Composition of biochemical networks using domain knowledge

Graph composition has applications in a variety of practical applications. In drug development, for instance, in order to understand possible drug interactions, one has to merge known networks and examine topological variants arising from such composition. Similarly, the design of sensor nets may use existing network infrastructures, and the superposition of one network on another can help with network design and optimisation. The problem of network composition has not received much attention in algorithm and database research. Here, we work with biological networks encoded in Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML), based on XML syntax. We focus on XML merging and examine the algorithmic and performance challenges we encountered in our work and the possible solutions to the graph merge problem. We show that our XML graph merge solution performs well in practice and improves on the existing toolsets. This leads us into future work directions and the plan of research which will aim to implement graph merging primitives using domain knowledge to perform composition and decomposition on specific graphs in the biological domain
Uncertainty and ratification failure

I study a game where two agents bargain on an agreement to replace the status quo. For their agreement to come into e¤ect, they need the approval of a third agent. The preferences of this third agent is private information, but there is communication among agents. I study this game in the context of international agreements to provide an explanation for involuntary ratication failures. I show that under certain assumptions, the informational deciency is incurable due to incentives to misrepresent preferences, and that a parliament whose majority is more hawkish than their executive prefers the executive to be risk averse
Dense and Nearly Jammed Random Packings of Freely Jointed Chains of Tangent Hard Spheres

Dense packings of freely jointed chains of tangent hard spheres are produced by a novel Monte Carlo method. Within statistical uncertainty, chains reach a maximally random jammed (MRJ) state at the same volume fraction as packings of single hard spheres. A structural analysis shows that as the MRJ state is approached (i) the radial distribution function for chains remains distinct from but approaches that of single hard sphere packings quite closely, (ii) chains undergo progressive collapse, and (iii) a small but increasing fraction of sites possess highly ordered first coordination shells
MIRACLE’s Ad-Hoc and Geographical IR Approaches for CLEF 2006

This paper presents the 2006 Miracle team’s approaches to the Ad-Hoc and Geographical Information Retrieval tasks. A first set of runs was obtained using a set of basic components. Then, by putting together special combinations of these runs, an extended set was obtained. With respect to previous campaigns some improvements have been introduced in our system: an entity recognition prototype is integrated in our tokenization scheme, and the performance of our indexing and retrieval engine has been improved. For GeoCLEF, we tested retrieving using geo-entity and textual references separately, and then combining them with different approaches
From risk to vulnerability : the role of perceived adaptive capacity for the acceptance of contested infrastructure

Infrastructure projects such as repositories for nuclear waste or hazardous waste sites impose risks (in the form of potential burdens or losses) over extensive timescales. These risks change dynamically over time and so, potentially, does their management. Societies and key actors go through learning processes and subsequently may be better able to deal with related challenges. However, social scientific research on the acceptance of such projects is mainly concerned with (static) risk perception issues and does not include dynamic aspects. Adaptive capacity, which is part of the concept of vulnerability, therefore represents a promising complementing facet for this line of research. The aim of this paper is to examine the role of perceived adaptive capacity for the acceptance of contested long-term infrastructure for the two issues of nuclear and hazardous waste. In an online experimental survey (N = 300) examining either the acceptance of a nuclear waste repository or of a hazardous waste site we demonstrate that i) perceived adaptive capacity can be separated empirically as a psychological construct from risk and benefit perception, and ii) perceived adaptive capacity explains a significant additional share of variance in the acceptance of both waste types beyond risk and benefit perception. Furthermore, we report what adaptation mechanisms of perceived adaptive capacity participants expect to occur in the future. We conclude that such a dynamic perspective yields important insights in understanding individual decision-making regarding long-term infrastructure projects
Reconstruction of solar irradiance variations in cycles 21–23 based on surface magnetic fields

All A&A articles are in open access one year after their publication date (August 2013).Aims. We present a reconstruction of total solar irradiance (TSI) back to 1974, i.e. from the minimum of cycle 21 to the declining phase of cycle 23. We also present a cross-calibration between the magnetograms obtained by the 512 channel magnetograph and the spectromagnetograph at Kitt Peak.
Methods. The TSI reconstruction is carried out using data from the 512-channel Diode Array Magnetograph and the newer spectromagnetograph on Kitt Peak. The model is based on the assumption that all irradiance changes on time-scales of a day and longer are entirely due to the variations of the surface distribution of the solar magnetic field. The reconstructed irradiance is compared with the composite of total solar irradiance measurements from PMOD/WRC (version 41).
Results. A good correspondence is found with the PMOD TSI composite, with no bias between the three cycles on time-scales longer than the solar rotation period, although the accuracy of the TSI reconstruction is somewhat lower when 512 channel magnetograph data are used. This suggests that the same driver of the irradiance variations, namely the evolution of the magnetic flux at the solar surface, is acting in cycles 21–23. Different methods of comparing the magnetograms obtained by the two Kitt Peak magnetographs give somewhat different results, with factors by which 512 channel data must be divided in the range 1.38–1.63 being found. This is due to the non-linearity of the relationship between the magnetic field measured by the two instruments
Low temperature growth technique for nanocrystalline cuprous oxide thin films using microwave plasma oxidation of copper

We report on the direct formation of phase pure nanocrystalline cuprous oxide (Cu2O) film with band gap ~ 2 eV by microwave plasma oxidation of pulsed dc magnetron sputtered Cu films and the highly controlled oxidation of Cu in to Cu2O and CuO phases by controlling the plasma exposure time. The structural, morphological and optoelectronic properties of the films were investigated. p-type Cu2O film with a grain size ~20-30 nm, resistivity of ~66 Ω cm and a hole concentration of  ~2×1017 cm-3 is obtained for a plasma exposure time of 10 min without using any foreign dopants. The optical absorption coefficient (~105 cm-1) of the Cu2O film is also reported
Orientationally correlated colloidal polycrystals without long-range positional order

We probe the local and global structure of spin-coated colloidal crystals via laser diffraction measurements\ud
and scanning electron and atomic force microscopies, and find that they are unique three-dimensional orientationally\ud
correlated polycrystals, exhibiting short-range positional order but long-range radial orientational correlations, reminiscent of—but distinct from—two-dimensional colloidal hexatic phases. Thickness and symmetries are controllable by solvent choice and spin speed. While the polycrystallinity of these colloidal films\ud
limits their applicability to photonics, we demonstrate their feasibility as templates to make crack-free magnetic\ud
patterns
Infants' object location and identity processing in spatial scenes: an ERP study

Contains fulltext :
                  125976.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Fast detection and identification of objects in an environment is important for using objects as landmarks during navigation. While adults rapidly process objects within an environment and use landmarks during navigation, infants do not routinely use distal landmarks below the age of 18 months. In the current event-related potential (ERP) study we adopted an oddball paradigm to examine whether infants are capable of processing objects in environments, which is a prerequisite for using objects as landmarks. METHODS: We measured the electrophysiological correlates and time courses related to the processing of changes in object location, object identity, and a switch of two objects. RESULTS: Twelve-month-old infants showed an Nc (negative central) effect reflecting increased attention likely caused by initial change detection within 300 msec for all three manipulations. In addition, they showed conscious processing of an object change and a location change as evidenced by a positive slow wave (PSW). CONCLUSION: This study is the first to show that infants are capable of rapidly detecting changes in single objects when these are presented in an environment, but lack conscious detection of a switch. These results indicate that 12-month-old infants as yet lack the ability to rapidly bind the identity and location of multiple objects within an environment
Strong, tunable terahertz emission by two-color picosecond laser irradiation

It is shown by particle-in-cell simulations that powerful terahertz (THz) radiation can be generated by picosecond (ps) laser pulses below 1014W/cm2 via a two-color laser scheme. At such laser intensities, increasing the laser duration can result in significant enhancement in THz intensities. From 0.03 ps to 0.9 ps the enhancement climbs to nearly 40× before saturating until 2 ps. This demonstrates that low intensity, readily available ps laser technology could be utilized for driving powerful THz sources. By contrast, for laser intensities high enough to completely ionize the gas medium, it is found that the THz emission decreases with increasing pulse duration: optimal conversion is found for few-femtosecond drivers
Hemolymph microbiome of Pacific oysters in response to temperature, temperature stress and infection

Microbiota provide their hosts with a range of beneficial services, including defense from external pathogens. However, host-associated microbial communities themselves can act as a source of opportunistic pathogens depending on the environment. Marine poikilotherms and their microbiota are strongly influenced by temperature, but experimental studies exploring how temperature affects the interactions between both parties are rare. To assess the effects of temperature, temperature stress and infection on diversity, composition and dynamics of the hemolymph microbiota of Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas), we conducted an experiment in a fully-crossed, three-factorial design, in which the temperature acclimated oysters (8 or 22 degrees C) were exposed to temperature stress and to experimental challenge with a virulent Vibrio sp. strain. We monitored oyster survival and repeatedly collected hemolymph of dead and alive animals to determine the microbiome composition by 16s rRNA gene amplicon pyrosequencing. We found that the microbial dynamics and composition of communities in healthy animals (including infection survivors) were significantly affected by temperature and temperature stress, but not by infection. The response was mediated by changes in the incidence and abundance of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and accompanied by little change at higher taxonomic levels, indicating dynamic stability of the hemolymph microbiome. Dead and moribund oysters, on the contrary, displayed signs of community structure disruption, characterized by very low diversity and proliferation of few OTUs. We can therefore link short-term responses of host-associated microbial communities to abiotic and biotic factors and assess the potential feedback between microbiota dynamics and host survival during disease
The Incompressible Navier-Stokes Limit of the Boltzmann Equation for Hard Cutoff Potentials

56 pages, LaTeX, a few typos have been corrected, a few remarks added, one uncited reference removedInternational audienceThe present paper proves that all limit points of sequences of renormalized solutions of the Boltzmann equation in the limit of small, asymptotically equivalent Mach and Knudsen numbers are governed by Leray solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations. This convergence result holds for hard cutoff potentials in the sense of H. Grad, and therefore completes earlier results by the same authors [Invent. Math. 155, 81-161 (2004)] for Maxwell molecules
The effect of topology on the structure and free energy landscape of DNA
  kissing complexes

We use a recently developed coarse-grained model for DNA to study kissing
complexes formed by hybridization of complementary hairpin loops. The binding
of the loops is topologically constrained because their linking number must
remain constant. By studying systems with linking numbers -1, 0 or 1 we show
that the average number of interstrand base pairs is larger when the topology
is more favourable for the right-handed wrapping of strands around each other.
The thermodynamic stability of the kissing complex also decreases when the
linking number changes from -1 to 0 to 1. The structures of the kissing
complexes typically involve two intermolecular helices that coaxially stack
with the hairpin stems at a parallel four-way junction
A phase I pharmacokinetic and safety study of cabazitaxel in adult cancer patients with normal and impaired renal function

Purpose: Limited data are available on cabazitaxel pharmacokinetics in patients with renal impairment. This open-label, multicenter study assessed cabazitaxel in patients with advanced solid tumors and normal or impaired renal function. Methods: Cohorts A (normal renal function: creatinine clearance [CrCL] >80 mL/min/1.73 m2), B (moderate renal impairment: CrCL 30 to <50 mL/min/1.73 m2) and C (severe impairment: CrCL <30 mL/min/1.73 m2) received cabazitaxel 25 mg/m2 (A, B) or 20 mg/m2 (C, could be escalated to 25 mg/m2), once every 3 weeks. Pharmacokinetic parameters and cabazitaxel unbound fraction (FU) were assessed using linear regression and mixed models. Geometric mean (GM) and GM ratios (GMRs) were determined using mean CrCL intervals (moderate and severe renal impairment: 40 and 15 mL/min/1.73 m2) versus a control (90 mL/min/1.73 m2). Results: Overall, 25 patients received cabazitaxel (median cycles: 3 [range 1–20]; Cohort A: 5 [2–13]; Cohort B: 3 [1–15]; and Cohort C: 5 [1–20]), of which 24 were eligible for pharmacokinetic analysis (eight in each cohort). For moderate and severe renal impairment versus normal renal function, GMR estimates were: clearance normalized to body surface area (CL/BSA) 0.95 (90% CI 0.80–1.13) and 0.89 (0.61–1.32); area under the curve normalized to dose (AUC/dose) 1.06 (0.88–1.27) and 1.14 (0.76–1.71); and FU 0.99 (0.94–1.04) and 0.97 (0.87–1.09), respectively. Estimated slopes of linear regression of log parameters versus log CrCL (renal impairment) were: CL/BSA 0.06 (−0.15 to 0.28); AUC/dose −0.07 (−0.30 to 0.16); and FU 0.02 (−0.05 to 0.08). Cabazitaxel safety profile was consistent with previous reports. Conclusions: Renal impairment had no clinically meaningful effect on cabazitaxel pharmacokinetics
The case for a victimology of nonhuman animal harms

For the last twenty years 'victimology', the study of crime victims and victimisation has developed markedly. Like its 'parent' discipline of criminology, however, very little work has been done in this field around the notion of environmental victimisation. Like criminology itself, victimology has been almost exclusively anthropocentric in its outlook and indeed even more recent discussions of environmental victims - prompted by the development of green criminology - have failed to consider in any depth the victimisation of nonhuman animals. In this paper, we examine the shortfall in provision for and discussions of nonhuman animal victims with reference to Christie's (1986) notion of the 'ideal victim' and Boutellier's concept of the 'victimalization of morality'. We argue that as victimology has increasingly embraced concepts of victimisation based on 'social harms' rather than strict legalistic categorises, its rejection of nonhuman victims from the ambit of study is no longer conceptually or philosophically justified
The effect of globalization on capital taxation: What have we learned after 20 years of empirical studies?

This paper applies meta- regression analysis to the empirical literature that examines the impact of international market integration on capital taxation. The main objective is to explore whether particular data, model specification and estimation procedures exert systematic impact on the reported findings. Our results provide empirical evidence that differences across studies can be attributed to differences in the measurement of globalization. Moreover, in contrast to the conventional wisdom, study characteristics related to the measurement of the tax burden on capital appear to have an insignificant effect on the above mentioned relationship. Finally the meta- analysis fails to confirm a negative effect of globalization on the taxation of capital.