LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Three novel myxobolid species of genera Henneguya and Myxobolus (Myxosporea: Bivalvulida) from marine fish in Japan

Myxosporean genera Henneguya and Myxobolus (Bivalvulida: Myxobolidae) are closely related in morphology and molecular phylogeny, speciose with approximately 1,000 nominal species. The majority of them are recorded from freshwater fish worldwide, and few are known from marine fish. In this study, three myxobolid spp. are described from marine fish around Japan. Two novel Henneguya spp., Henneguya ogawai sp. n. and Henneguya yokoyamai sp. n., are described from two black sea breams (Acanthopagrus schlegelii) fished in the Inland Sea (Setonaikai), Japan. Plasmodia of the former species were localized in the esophageal or intestinal wall, and those of the latter species were in the wall of the gall bladder and peritoneum. Spore development in plasmodia of these two species was synchronous. The spore body of H. ogawai sp. n. was 11.0 (8.9–12.2) μm in length, 6.9 (6.3–7.5) μm in width, 5.9 (5.2–6.6) μm in thickness, with a bifurcated caudal process of equal length, 10.0 (8.4–12.7) μm long; total spore length, 21.1 (19.2–23.4) μm. It contained two polar capsule, 4.3 (3.8–5.2) × 1.9 (1.4–2.3) μm. The spore body of H. yokoyamai sp. n. was 11.0 (10.1–13.7) μm in length, 7.1 (6.6–7.5) μm in width, and 5.6 (4.5–6.4) μm in thickness, with a bifurcated caudal process of equal length, 14.1 (10.8–17.0) μm long; total spore length, 25.0 (21.9–29.2) μm. It contained two polar capsules, 3.7 (3.1–4.2) × 2.0 (1.8–2.4) μm. A novel Myxobolus sp., Myxobolus machidai sp. n., is described from a spotted knifejaw (Oplegnathus punctatus) fished in the Sea of Japan, off Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. Plasmodia were embedded in the esophageal wall. Its round spore was small in size, 9.0 (8.1–9.4) μm in length, 7.8 (7.5–8.3) μm in width, and 5.5 (5.1–6.0) μm in thickness. It contained two polar capsules, 3.5 (3.2–3.8) × 2.3 (2.2–2.5) μm. Spore development in a plasmodium was asynchronous. Nucleotide sequencing of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU rDNA) of these two novel Henneguya spp. revealed a close phylogenetic relationship with the marine clade of Henneguya spp.; however, they were distinct in morphology and SSU rDNA sequence from any known species. M. machidai sp. n. was grouped with freshwater Henneguya spp. in a phylogenetic tree based on the SSU rDNA, distant from a known marine clade of Myxobolus spp. reported mainly from the Mediterranean Sea. This is the first record of Henneguya–Myxobolus spp. from natural marine water in Japan.
Understanding Kombucha Tea Fermentation: A Review.

Kombucha is a beverage of probable Manchurian origins obtained from fermented tea by a microbial consortium composed of several bacteria and yeasts. This mixed consortium forms a powerful symbiosis capable of inhibiting the growth of potentially contaminating bacteria. The fermentation process also leads to the formation of a polymeric cellulose pellicle due to the activity of certain strains of Acetobacter sp. The tea fermentation process by the microbial consortium was able to show an increase in certain biological activities which have been already studied; however, little information is available on the characterization of its active components and their evolution during fermentation. Studies have also reported that the use of infusions from other plants may be a promising alternative.


PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Kombucha is a traditional fermented tea whose consumption has increased in the recent years due to its multiple functional properties such as anti-inflammatory potential and antioxidant activity. The microbiological composition of this beverage is quite complex and still more research is needed in order to fully understand its behavior. This study comprises the chemical and microbiological composition of the tea and the main factors that may affect its production.
Improving safety with information technology.

Health care is growing increasingly complex, and most clinical research focuses on new approaches to diagnosis and treatment. In contrast, relatively little effort has been targeted at the perfection of operational systems, which are partly responsible for the well-documented problems with medical safety. If medicine is to achieve major gains in quality, it must be transformed, and information technology will play a key part, especially with respect to safety.
Tolerability, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics studies of depsipeptide (romidepsin) in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia or advanced myelodysplastic syndromes.

PURPOSE
Epigenetic modulation of gene expression plays an important role in cancer, including leukemia. Furthermore, histone deacetylase inhibitors may induce the reexpression or repression of genes critical for normal hematopoiesis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the toxicity, pharmacokinetic profile, and selected pharmacodynamic properties of the histone deacetylase inhibitor depsipeptide in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) or acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).


EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
Depsipeptide was administered to MDS or AML patients at a (solid tumor) phase I dose of 18 mg/m(2) i.v. on days 1 and 5 every 3 weeks. Toxicities and clinical activity were monitored and pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies were done.


RESULTS
Twelve patients (nine with AML, three with MDS) received one to five cycles of depsipeptide. The most common grade 3/4 toxicities were febrile neutropenia/infection (five patients), neutropenia/thrombocytopenia (nine patients), nausea (nine patients), and asymptomatic hypophosphatemia (three patients). No clinically significant cardiac toxicity was observed. The best response of 11 assessed patients was one complete remission in a patient with AML, stable disease in six patients, and progression of disease in four patients. Exploratory laboratory studies showed modest but rapid increases in apoptosis and changes in myeloid maturation marker expression. Histone H3 and H4 acetylation levels were evaluated in five patients; no consistent changes were observed.


CONCLUSION
Depsipeptide therapy can be administered with acceptable short-term toxicity. However, gastrointestinal symptoms and fatigue seem to be treatment-limiting after multiple cycles. Depsipeptide monotherapy has limited clinical activity in unselected AML/MDS patients.
Endothelial nitric oxide synthase exon 7 polymorphism, ischemic cerebrovascular disease, and carotid atheroma.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in normal physiology suggests that it could be a potential candidate gene for stroke. Reduced eNOS activity could mediate an increased stroke risk through hypertension or independent of hypertension through abnormal vasomotor responses, promoting atherogenesis, or increased platelet adhesion and aggregation. Recently, a common polymorphism in exon 7 of the eNOS gene (894G-->T) has been reported to be a strong risk factor for coronary artery disease. We determined whether it was also a risk factor for transient ischemic attack (TIA) and ischemic stroke and for carotid atheroma.


METHODS
We studied 361 consecutive white patients presenting with ischemic stroke or TIA to a neurological cerebrovascular disease service and 236 normal white controls. In all patients CT and/or MR head imaging and high-resolution carotid duplex ultrasound were performed. The presence of the polymorphism (N/n) was determined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction with the enzyme BanII.


RESULTS
There was no difference in the frequency of the NN genotype between patients and controls (13.0% versus 15.3%; P=0.44) or in N allele frequency (39% versus 37%; P=0.57). There was no association with genotype when only patients with stroke (excluding those with TIA) or when only individuals aged < or =65 years were considered. In contrast, there was a highly significant independent association between cerebrovascular disease and hypertension (odds ratio, 2.87; 95% CI, 2.0 to 4.15; P<0.00001), smoking (odds ratio, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.80 to 3.70; P<0.00001), and diabetes (odds ratio, 2.68; 95% CI, 1.38 to 5.24; P=0.004). There was no relationship between the polymorphism and any particular stroke subtype: large-vessel disease, for NN, 15 of 105 (14.3%); lacunar disease, 10 of 75 (13.3%); cardioembolic and unknown, 18 of 151 (11.9%); and tandem pathology, 4 of 30 (13.3%) (P=0.68, chi2). There was no difference in the mean degree of carotid stenosis between the 3 genotypes: NN, 31.1% (SD, 27.1); Nn, 30.1% (29.0); and nn, 31.2% (26.3) (P=0.9). There was no association between the NN genotype or the N allele and hypertension.


CONCLUSIONS
We failed to find a relationship between this exon 7 polymorphism and ischemic cerebrovascular disease. In particular, it was not associated with stroke and TIA secondary to large-vessel atherosclerosis or with the degree of carotid stenosis in patients with cerebrovascular disease. It is unlikely that this particular polymorphism or any closely linked polymorphism is a major risk factor in the majority of white patients with stroke.
The 2.2～2.1Ga magmatic event and its tectonic implication in the Lüliang Mountains,North China Craton

Paleoproterozoic magmas are widely distributed in Luliang Mountains,and the petrogenesis and tectonic setting of these magmas are significant for reshaping the geological evolution of the North China Craton.In this paper,we report Dujiagou feldspar porphyrite,intermediate basic volcanic rocks from the Jinzhouyu Formation of the Luliang Group and Ehutan gneiss in Luliang Mountains.SHRIMP U-Pb zircon dating of two Dujiagou feldspar porphyrite samples yield the ages of 2189±6Ma and 2186±3Ma,respectively,and one Ehutan dioritic gneiss sample gets a SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age of 2182±5Ma.Dujiagou feldspar porphyrites show the characteristics of A-type granite formed in a post orogenic setting.While,intermdiate basic volcanic rocks in the Jinzhouyu Formation and Ehutan gneisses have the characteristics of volcanic rocks formed in island arc setting.Considering the tectonic setting of 2.2~2.0Ga magmatic events in the North China Craton,the formation of the 2.2~2.1Ga magmatic rocks is probably related to its tectonic position during the Paleoproterozoic,with Luliang Mountains being located at the margin of the North China Craton.The 2.2~2.1Ga magmatic rocks in the study area were formed in both island arc and rift regimes at about same time.
CAR-Net: Clairvoyant Attentive Recurrent Network

We present an interpretable framework for path prediction that leverages dependencies between agents’ behaviors and their spatial navigation environment. We exploit two sources of information: the past motion trajectory of the agent of interest and a wide top-view image of the navigation scene. We propose a Clairvoyant Attentive Recurrent Network (CAR-Net) that learns where to look in a large image of the scene when solving the path prediction task. Our method can attend to any area, or combination of areas, within the raw image (e.g., road intersections) when predicting the trajectory of the agent. This allows us to visualize fine-grained semantic elements of navigation scenes that influence the prediction of trajectories. To study the impact of space on agents’ trajectories, we build a new dataset made of top-view images of hundreds of scenes (Formula One racing tracks) where agents’ behaviors are heavily influenced by known areas in the images (e.g., upcoming turns). CAR-Net successfully attends to these salient regions. Additionally, CAR-Net reaches state-of-the-art accuracy on the standard trajectory forecasting benchmark, Stanford Drone Dataset (SDD). Finally, we show CAR-Net’s ability to generalize to unseen scenes.
Multidisciplinary and multifaceted outpatient management of patients with osteoarthritis: protocol for a randomised, controlled trial

BACKGROUND
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent joint disorder with a need for efficient and evidence-based management strategies.


OBJECTIVES
The primary purpose of this study is to compare the effects of a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic, including a brief group-based educational programme, with a traditional individual outpatient clinic for patients with hip, knee, hand or generalized OA. A secondary purpose is to investigate the effects of a telephone follow-up call.


METHODS
This is a pragmatic randomised single-blind controlled study with a total of 400 patients with hip, knee, hand or generalized OA between 40 and 80 years referred to an outpatient rheumatology hospital clinic. The randomisation is stratified according to the diagnostic subgroups. The experimental group is exposed to a multidisciplinary and multifaceted intervention, including a 3.5 hour group-based patient education programme about OA in addition to individual consultations with members of a multidisciplinary team. The control intervention is based on regular care with an individual outpatient consultation with a rheumatologist (treatment as usual). Primary outcomes are patient satisfaction measured at 4 months and cost-effectiveness measured at 12 months. Secondary outcomes are pain and global disease activity measured on a numeric rating scales (NRS), generic and disease specific functioning and disability using Short Form-36 (SF-36) health survey, the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index 3 (WOMAC), the Australian/Canadian Osteoarthritis Hand Index (AUSCAN), and a patient-generated measure of disability (Patient-Specific Functional scale, PSFS). Global perceived effect of change in health status during the study period is also reported. At 4-month follow-up, patients in both groups will be randomly allocated to a 10-minute telephone call or no follow-up ("treatment as usual"). After additional 8 months (12-month follow-up) the four groups will be compared in a secondary analysis with regard to health outcomes and health care costs.


DISCUSSION
This trial will provide results on how multidisciplinary and multifaceted management of patients with OA affects health outcomes and health care costs.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN25778426.
Effect of Anastomosis Level on Continence Performance and Quality of Life after Colonic J-pouch Reconstruction

Total mesorectal excision (TME) has become the recommended method for treatment of cancer in the middle or lower third of the rectum. Thus very low anastomoses are necessary to preserve continence, and pouch reconstruction is favored. It is unclear whether the level of anastomosis is important for continence and quality of life in colonic J-pouch reconstruction. In this investigation all patients were included who underwent curative elective anterior continuity resection with colorectal or coloanal J-pouch reconstruction for primary rectal cancer between January 2001 and December 2004. Exclusion criteria were distant metastases and any signs of recurrence at the time of investigation. Evaluation of continence performance by Wexner and Holschneider questionnaire and quality of life using the QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CR38 (EORTC) questionnaires was done 220 ± 38 days after closure of the protective Ileostomy, which was performed 106 ± 48 days after primary intervention. Fifty-two patients (79%) were analyzed. Colopouch rectal anastomosis was performed in eighteen cases and colopouch anal anastomosis in thirty-four cases. Fifty percent of the patients in both groups were continent for solid stool. Patients with a colopouch anal anastomosis had a significantly higher rate of incontinence for liquid stool, however. They took stool-regulating medicine more frequently and complained of fecal soiling and a restricted quality of life. Patients with a colopouch anal anastomosis had a significantly lower score on the most important points of the QLQ-C30 (emotional functioning, social functioning, pain, and quality of life). The same applied to the QLQ-CR38 for body image and problems with defecation. The quality of life of patients with a colopouch anal anastomosis was still considered acceptable compared with reference data for the normal healthy population, however. Both continence and quality of life are substantially affected by the level of the anastomosis after colonic pouch reconstruction. This suggests preservation of a small part of the rectum when oncologically feasible and performing a colopouch rectal anastomosis.
Determinants of financial performance of a firm: Case of Pakistani stock market

This paper examines the possible association between financial performance of the firm and economic indicators, corporate governance, ownership structure, capital structure, and risk management. It is also one of the very few examples, which attempts to test various determinant of firm performance in context of developing market (Pakistan). The present study examines the performance of firms in terms of profitability and its association with multiple determinants for 60 Pakistani corporate firms listed in Karachi stock exchange for the period of 2007 to 2011 and attempts to explain the observed behavior with the help of fixed effect model. The results consistently support the potential association between firm’s financial performance and economic indicators, corporate governance, ownership structure, and capital structure although the intensity of relationship differs across different measures of performance. We find evidence in support of the hypotheses that a positive association exists between corporate governance, and risk management and performance while mixed results are observed for other variables.
Learning Better Embeddings for Rare Words Using Distributional Representations

There are two main types of word representations: low-dimensional embeddings and high-dimensional distributional vectors, in which each dimension corresponds to a context word. In this paper, we initialize an embedding-learning model with distributional vectors. Evaluation on word similarity shows that this initialization significantly increases the quality of embeddings for rare words.
Review of the publications of the Nigeria national blindness survey: methodology, prevalence, causes of blindness and visual impairment and outcome of cataract surgery.

This is a review of the major publications from the Nigeria national blindness survey in order to highlight major findings and challenges of eye care in Nigeria. The review summarizes methodology and key findings. Survey publications on methodology, prevalence and causes of visual impairment and outcome of cataract surgery were retrieved, reviewed and relevant data extracted, reported and discussed. The study was the largest and more detailed eye survey in Nigeria (15,375 people 40 years and older recruited). Participants had detailed eye examination including visual acuity, autorefractokeratometry, A- scan biometry, visual field and basic eye examination. Cause(s) of visual impairment in each eye using WHO algorithm was determined among participants with vision < 6/12. Some of the participants also had qualitative questions on barriers to uptake of services, quality of life and visual function. Major highlights of the results as contained in the publications include a high prevalence of blindness with 4.2% (95% CI: 3.8-4.6%;),of the study population having blindness (using presenting vision (PVA)) even with best correction the prevalence was 3.4% (95% CI: 3.0-3.8%. The prevalence of SVI using PVA was 1.5% (95% CI: 1.3-1.7%).and with best correction 0.8% (95% CI: 0.7-1.0%). Blindness varied by age groups, sex, literacy level and geopolitical zone. Furthermore, 84% of blindness was due to avoidable causes with cataract responsible for 43% of blindness, glaucoma 16.7%, uncorrected aphakia 8.4% and corneal opacity 7.9%. Of the total 538 eyes that had cataract surgery procedures, 42.7% had couching and the remaining had cataract surgery, but only 41.4% of cataract operated eyes had IOL surgery. Outcome of cataract surgery was good at presentation for only 30.8% of eyes (84 eyes) which improved to 56.8% with correction. The possible remedy for the high burden of needless blindness and harmful eye health practices in Nigeria are discussed.
Microservices Architecture Enables DevOps: Migration to a Cloud-Native Architecture

This article reports on experiences and lessons learned during incremental migration and architectural refactoring of a commercial mobile back end as a service to microservices architecture. It explains how the researchers adopted DevOps and how this facilitated a smooth migration.
Maximum likelihood parameter estimation by model augmentation with applications to the extended four-parameter generalized gamma distribution

Maximum likelihood parameter estimation becomes easy by augmenting the parameter space of the probability distribution. A newly proposed extended model of the four-parameter generalized gamma distribution includes the three-parameter generalized extreme-value distribution which includes the two-parameter Gumbel distribution. These relationships allow us to construct the maximum likelihood parameter estimation procedure from simpler models to more complex models. This method works successfully when the solution is located in the interior of the parameter space. The continuation method is used for the model augmentation. The likelihood equations for the four-parameter generalized gamma distribution does not always have solutions in the interior of the parameter space; the continuation method, however, leads us to find solutions on the boundary or at the corner of the parameter space.
Decentralized learning for wireless communications and networking

This chapter deals with decentralized learning algorithms for in-network processing of graph-valued data. A generic learning problem is formulated and recast into a separable form, which is iteratively minimized using the alternatingdirection method of multipliers (ADMM) so as to gain the desired degree of parallelization. Without exchanging elements from the distributed training sets and keeping inter-node communications at affordable levels, the local (per-node) learners consent to the desired quantity inferred globally, meaning the one obtained if the entire training data set were centrally available. Impact of the decentralized learning framework to contemporary wireless communications and networking tasks is illustrated through case studies including target tracking using wireless sensor networks, unveiling Internet traffic anomalies, power system state estimation, as well as spectrum cartography for wireless cognitive radio networks. Georgios B. Giannakis University of Minnesota, 117 Pleasant Str., Minneapolis, MN 55455, e-mail: georgios@umn.edu Qing Ling University of Science and Technology of China, 443 Huangshan Road, Hefei, Anhui, China 230027, e-mail: qingling@mail.ustc.edu.cn Gonzalo Mateos University of Rochester, 413 Hopeman Engineering Building, Rochester, NY 14627, e-mail: gmateosb@ece.rochester.edu Ioannis D. Schizas University of Texas at Arlington, 416 Yates Street, Arlington, TX 76011, e-mail: schizas@uta.edu Hao Zhu University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 4058 ECE Building, 306 N. Wright Street, Urbana, IL 61801, e-mail: haozhu@illinois.edu