Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intracellular, biofilm-inhibitory and membrane-damaging activities of nimbolide isolated from Azadirachta indica A. Juss (Meliaceae) against meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Staphylococcus aureus is a leading aetiologic agent of nosocomial- and community-acquired infectious diseases worldwide. The public health concern regarding staphylococcal infections is inflated by the increasing occurrence of multidrug-resistant strains, e.g. multidrug- and meticillin-resistant S.aureus (MDR MRSA). This study was designed to evaluate the intracellular killing, membrane-damaging and biofilm-inhibitory activities of nimbolide isolated from Azadirachta indica against MDR MRSA. In vitro antibacterial activity of nimbolide was determined by performing MIC, minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) and time-kill kinetic studies. Bacterial membrane-damaging activity was determined by membrane perturbation and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination. Biofilm-inhibitory activities were determined by SEM. Cellular drug accumulation and assessments of intracellular activities were performed using Vero cell culture. SEM revealed that nimbolide caused significant membrane damage and lysis of the S. aureus cells. The biofilm structure was disrupted, and the biofilm formation was greatly reduced in the presence of nimbolide as examined by SEM. The level of accumulation of nimbolide in Vero cells incubated for 24 h is relatively higher than that of ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid (Cc/Ce for nimbolide > ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid). The viable number of intracellular S. aureus was decreased [reduction of ~2 log10 c.f. u. (mg Vero cell protein)-1] in a time-dependent manner in the presence of nimbolide (4× MBC) that was comparable to that of tetracycline and nalidixic acid. The significant intracellular, biofilm-inhibitory and bacterial membrane-damaging activities of nimbolide demonstrated here suggested that it has potential as an effective antibacterial agent for the treatment of severe infections caused by MDR MRSA.
A Benchmark Comparison of State-of-the-Practice Sentiment Analysis Methods

In the last few years thousands of scientific papers have explored sentiment analysis, several startups that measures opinions on real data have emerged, and a number of innovative products related to this theme have been developed. There are multiple methods for measuring sentiments, including lexical-based approaches and supervised machine learning methods. Despite the vast interest on the theme and wide popularity of some methods, it is unclear which method is better for identifying the polarity (i.e., positive or negative) of a message. Thus, there is a strong need to conduct a thorough apple-to-apple comparison of sentiment analysis methods, as they are used in practice, across multiple datasets originated from different data sources. Such a comparison is key for understanding the potential limitations, advantages, and disadvantages of popular methods. This study aims at filling this gap by presenting a benchmark comparison of twenty one popular sentiment analysis methods (which we call the state-of-the-practice methods). Our evaluation is based on a benchmark of twenty labeled datasets, covering messages posted on social networks, movie and product reviews, as well as opinions and comments in news articles. Our results highlight the extent to which the prediction performance of these methods varies widely across datasets. Aiming at boosting the development of this research area, we open the methods' codes and datasets used in this paper and we deploy a benchmark system, which provides an open API for accessing and comparing sentence-level sentiment analysis methods.
The Back Disability Risk Questionnaire for Work-Related, Acute Back Pain: Prediction of Unresolved Problems at 3-Month Follow-Up

Objective: To assess the validity of the Back Disability Risk Questionnaire (BDRQ) to predict developing chronic back disability. Methods: Five hundred nineteen working adults (67% male) seeking outpatient care for acute, work-related back pain (≤14 days) completed the BDRQ. After the initial medical evaluation, clinicians provided prognostic impressions in a 10-item questionnaire. Pain, functional limitation, and work status were assessed at 3-month follow-up. Results: In multivariate analyses, the presence of persistent pain, functional limitation, or impaired work status (31.4%) was predicted by six BDRQ questions: injury type, work absence preceding medical evaluation, job tenure, prior back surgery, worries about re-injury, expectation for early return-to-work, and stress. Classification accuracy at 3 months was 76.3%. Initial clinician impressions showed no multivariate associations with outcomes. Conclusions: The BDRQ may provide prognostic information not observed in a routine medical evaluation for acute BP.
Effects of hemolysis interferences on routine biochemistry parameters.

INTRODUCTION Hemolysis is still the most common reason for rejecting samples, while reobtaining a new sample is an important problem. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of hemolysis in different hemolysis levels for mostly used biochemical parameters to prevent unnecessary rejections. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixteen healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. Four hemolysis levels were constituted according to hemoglobin concentrations and they were divided into five groups: Group I: 0-0.10 g/L, Group II:0.10-0.50 g/L, Group III: 0.51-1.00 g/L, Group IV: 1.01-2.50 g/L, Group V: 2.51-4.50 g/L. Lysis was achieved by mechanical trauma. RESULTS Hemolysis interference affected lactate dehydrogenase (LD) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) almost at undetectable hemolysis by visual inspection (plasma hemoglobin < 0.5 g/L). Clinically meaningful variations of potassium and total bilirubin were observed in moderately hemolyzed samples (hemoglobin > 1 g/L). Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), cholesterol, gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT), and inorganic phosphate (P) concentrations were not interfered up to severely hemolyzed levels (hemoglobin: 2.5-4.5 g/L). Albumin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), amylase, chloride, HDL-cholesterol, creatine kinase (CK), glucose, magnesium, total protein, triglycerides, unsaturated iron binding capacity (UIBC) and uric acid differences were statistically significant, but remained within the CLIA limits. CONCLUSION To avoid preanalytical visual inspection for hemolysis detection, improper sample rejection, and/or rerun because of hemolysis, it is recommended in this study that, routine determination of plasma or serum free hemoglobin concentrations is important. For the analytes interfered with hemolysis, new samples have to be requested.
Fault Tolerant Thermal Control of Steam Turbine Shell Deflections

The metal-to-metal clearances of a steam turbine during full or part load operation are among the main drivers of efficiency. The requirement to add clearances is driven by a number of factors including the relative movements of the steam turbine shell and rotor during transient conditions such as startup and shutdown. This paper includes a description of a control algorithm to manage external heating blankets for the thermal control of the shell deflections during turbine shutdown. The proposed method is tolerant of changes in the heat loss characteristics of the system as well as simultaneous component failures.
Cosmic Dawn (CoDa): the first radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of reionization and galaxy formation in the Local Universe

Cosmic reionization by starlight from early galaxies affected their evolution, thereby impacting reionization, itself. Star formation suppression, for example, may explain the observed underabundance of Local Group dwarfs relative to N-body predictions for Cold Dark Matter. Reionization modelling requires simulating volumes large enough [~(100Mpc)^3] to sample reionization "patchiness", while resolving millions of galaxy sources above ~10^8 Msun , combining gravitational and gas dynamics with radiative transfer. Modelling the Local Group requires initial cosmological density fluctuations pre-selected to form the well-known structures of the local universe today. Cosmic Dawn ("CoDa") is the first such fully-coupled, radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of reionization of the local universe. Our new hybrid CPU-GPU code, RAMSES-CUDATON, performs hundreds of radiative transfer and ionization rate-solver timesteps on the GPUs for each hydro-gravity timestep on the CPUs. CoDa simulated (91Mpc)^3 with 4096^3 particles and cells, to redshift 4.23, on ORNL supercomputer Titan, utilizing 8192 cores and 8192 GPUs. Global reionization ended slightly later than observed. However, a simple temporal rescaling which brings the evolution of ionized fraction into agreement with observations also reconciles ionizing flux density, cosmic star formation history, CMB electron scattering optical depth and galaxy UV luminosity function with their observed values. Photoionization heating suppressed the star formation of haloes below ~2 x 10^9 Msun , decreasing the abun- dance of faint galaxies around MAB_1600 = [-10,-12]. For most of reionization, star formation was dominated by haloes between 10^10 - 10^11 Msun , so low-mass halo suppression was not reflected by a distinct feature in the global star formation history. (Abridged)
How to Do IT Together: Modeling Group Work for How to Do IT Together: Modeling Group Work for How to Do IT Together: Modeling Group Work for How to Do IT Together: Modeling Group Work for

Students of programming need to master group work skills. This paper presents a model for group work in it classrooms based on literature and research done the past couple of years. The model emphasizes the importance of structuring small group work for effectiveness by ensuring that the basic elements of positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face interaction, interpersonal and social skills, and group processing are correctly applied. Assigning particular responsibilities to group members and assessing groups are also addressed. A description of the research methodology and data collection and analysis techniques to be used in the piloting of the model is provided. We describe the training workshops for teachers used, the actual teaching of the model in these teachers’ classrooms, as well as future work envisioned. Finally, the importance of the study is justified and conclusions drawn. CATEGORIES AND SUBJE CATEGORIES AND SUBJE
Experimental comparison of pre- vs. post-filtering approaches in context-aware recommender systems

Recently, methods for generating context-aware recommendations were classified into the pre-filtering, post-filtering and contextual modeling approaches. Although some of these methods have been studied independently, no prior research compared the performance of these methods to determine which of them is better than the others. This paper focuses on comparing the pre-filtering and the post-filtering approaches and identifying which method dominates the other and under which circumstances. Since there are no clear winners in this comparison, we propose an alternative more effective method of selecting the winners in the pre- vs. the post-filtering comparison. This strategy provides analysts and companies with a practical suggestion on how to pick a good pre- or post-filtering approach in an effective manner to improve performance of a context-aware recommender system.
Mechanisms of NMDA Receptor- and Voltage-Gated L-Type Calcium Channel-Dependent Hippocampal LTP Critically Rely on Proteolysis That Is Mediated by Distinct Metalloproteinases

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is widely perceived as a memory substrate and in the hippocampal CA3-CA1 pathway, distinct forms of LTP depend on NMDA receptors (nmdaLTP) or L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (vdccLTP). LTP is also known to be effectively regulated by extracellular proteolysis that is mediated by various enzymes. Herein, we investigated whether in mice hippocampal slices these distinct forms of LTP are specifically regulated by different metalloproteinases (MMPs). We found that MMP-3 inhibition or knock-out impaired late-phase LTP in the CA3-CA1 pathway. Interestingly, late-phase LTP was also decreased by MMP-9 blockade. When both MMP-3 and MMP-9 were inhibited, both early- and late-phase LTP was impaired. Using immunoblotting, in situ zymography, and immunofluorescence, we found that LTP induction was associated with an increase in MMP-3 expression and activity in CA1 stratum radiatum. MMP-3 inhibition and knock-out prevented the induction of vdccLTP, with no effect on nmdaLTP. L-type channel-dependent LTP is known to be impaired by hyaluronic acid digestion. We found that slice treatment with hyaluronidase occluded the effect of MMP-3 blockade on LTP, further confirming a critical role for MMP-3 in this form of LTP. In contrast to the CA3-CA1 pathway, LTP in the mossy fiber-CA3 projection did not depend on MMP-3, indicating the pathway specificity of the actions of MMPs. Overall, our study indicates that the activation of perisynaptic MMP-3 supports L-type channel-dependent LTP in the CA1 region, whereas nmdaLTP depends solely on MMP-9. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Various types of long-term potentiation (LTP) are correlated with distinct phases of memory formation and retrieval, but the underlying molecular signaling pathways remain poorly understood. Extracellular proteases have emerged as key players in neuroplasticity phenomena. The present study found that L-type calcium channel-dependent LTP in the CA3-CA1 hippocampal projection is critically regulated by the activity of matrix metalloprotease 3 (MMP-3), in contrast to NMDAR-dependent LTP regulated by MMP-9. Moreover, the induction of LTP was associated with an increase in MMP-3 expression and activity. Finally, we found that the digestion of hyaluronan, a principal extracellular matrix component, disrupted the MMP-3-dependent component of LTP. These results indicate that distinct MMPs might act as molecular switches for specific types of LTP.
Neutralizing Antibodies to Interferon β-1b are not Associated with Disease Worsening in Multiple Sclerosis

The clinical impact of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) on interferon beta (IFNβ) efficacy was studied in three large patient cohorts comprising 6698 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients receiving IFNβ-1b across North America, Europe, and Australia. In North America and Europe, NAb testing was generally undertaken because of a poor clinical response; in Australia, it was mandatory for every patient. Of the 6697 patients tested, 28.9% had at least one NAb titre ≥ 20 neutralizing units (NU)/ml, 14.4% had NAb titres ≥ 100 NU/ml and 7.7% had NAb titres ≥ 400 NU/ml. The NAb-positive rate of 37.0% in Australia was significantly greater than those in North America (21.3%) and Europe (27.6%), and this was observed at every NAb titre level. Our results suggest that NAbs are not responsible for poor clinical responses and that NAb status is of little clinical value. These findings will need to be confirmed in a large independent study.
Report of Endometrial Cancer in Australian BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation-Positive Families

There is evidence that tamoxifen treatment of BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers for prior breast cancer increases risk of endometrioid subtype endometrial cancer (EC), and suggestive evidence that BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers may be predisposed to EC in the absence of tamoxifen exposure. We assessed the association of EC with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation status in Australasian breast-ovarian families. Report of at least one case of EC was significantly greater in BRCA1-positive families (35/218 (16%); p = . 03) and non-significantly greater in BRCA2-positive families (23/189 (12%); p = . 6), compared to high-risk breast cancer families without a BRCA1/2 mutation (86/796 (11%)). EC was the first/concurrent cancer for 41% of EC cases with multiple cancer diagnoses from BRCA1/2 families, and early onset for most of these diagnoses. Mutation status was imputed for ungeno-typed individuals from 57 BRCA1/2 pedigrees reporting EC using BRCAPRO. Effects of genotype on EC diagnosis age, and interaction with tamoxifen therapy, were assessed using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. EC risk was non-significantly marginally greater for BRCA1 carriers (hazard ratio = 1.25, 95%CI = 0.65–2.41), and BRCA2 carriers (HR = 1.12, 95%CI = 0.51–2.45), compared to non-carrier family members. Tamoxifen therapy was highly significantly associated with EC (HR = 6.68, 95%CI = 3.12–15.15; p = 1.7 x 10-6) in BRCA1/2 families, with no evidence for interaction between tamoxifen therapy and BRCA1/2 genotype. Our family-based study supports a 7-fold increase in EC risk with tamoxifen exposure for female family members from BRCA1/2 families. Early onset EC in carriers without tamoxifen use suggests that further study is required to assess association of modest EC risk with BRCA1/2 mutation status alone.
THE IMPACT OF POLICE LEVELS ON CRIME RATAES: A SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF METHODS AND STATISTICS IN EXISTING STUDIES1)

This article investigated whether increased policing levels reduce crime rates, focusing on methodological and statistical specifications which should be addressed to examine the relationship. A total of 256 findings out of 58 relevant studies were systematically analyzed. Although the types of crime rates used in each study varied, most of the findings produced negative relationships rather than positive ones between police levels and crime rates regardless of their significance levels. The overall results of this study, however, could not support firm conclusions on the deterrent impact of increased police levels on crime rates because most reviewed studies did not control essential variables and failed to resolve methodological issues in their analysis. A better specified and sophisticated research design and statistical techniques are needed to identify the relationship between police levels and crime.
Short-Term Trading Skill: An Analysis of Investor Heterogeneity and Execution Quality

We examine short-horizon return predictability using a novel proprietary dataset of institutional traders with known identities. We estimate investor-specific short-term trading skill and find that there is pronounced heterogeneity in predicting short-term returns among institutional investors. Incorporating short-term predictive ability, our model explains much higher fraction of variation in asset returns. Ignoring the heterogeneity in short-term trading skill has major implications in modeling price impact. We analyze the differences between trading characteristics of skilled and unskilled investors. A simple trading strategy exploiting our skill estimates yields statistically significant abnormal returns supporting the skill-based interpretation.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL ANXIETY AND ALCOHOL USE IN A COLLEGE STUDENT SAMPLE

Title of Thesis: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL ANXIETY AND ALCOHOL USE IN A COLLEGE STUDENT SAMPLE Edwin L. Bercaw, Master of Arts, 2004 Thesis directed by: Professor Samuel M. Turner Department of Psychology Some individuals with social phobia frequently use alcohol, a behavior that may often result in the alleviation of anticipatory or performance anxiety in social situations. Reinforcement of drinking behavior may eventually lead to alcohol abuse or possibly the more severe condition of dependence. This study investigated the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in a sample of socially anxious college students. Quantity and frequency of drinking were measured and analyzed between high social anxiety participants (HSA) and low social anxiety participants (LSA). The HSA group included those with DSM-IV social phobia, as well as those who did not meet criteria for social phobia. Drinking motives were analyzed between the two groups to determine whether highly socially anxious drinkers differed from low socially anxious drinkers in reported reasons for drinking. Trait negative affect also was measured to explore the possibility that socially anxious drinkers experience a greater level of general, negative emotionality when compared to those with social anxiety who do not drink. Results indicated that low socially anxious participants had greater amounts of alcohol use on all drinking indices. When drinking motives were used to predict actual amount of alcohol use, high social facilitation motives were best associated with actual drinking for LSA participants; whereas coping motives were most predictive for HSA drinkers. Therefore, among college students, where drinking is a social behavior, individuals with low social anxiety were more likely to drink. However, socially anxious individuals may be more likely to drink to cope with anxiety and depression, a style of drinking associated with drinking problems later in life. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL ANXIETY AND ALCOHOL USE IN A COLLEGE STUDENT SAMPLE
The role of H-2-linked genes in helper T-cell function. I. In vitro expression in B cells of immune response genes controlling helper T-cell activity

The ability of murine helper T cells primed to the antigen, sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) to cross-react with burro erythrocytes (BRBC) in the in vitro anti-trinitrophenol (TNP) response to TNP-RBC was shown to be under genetic control. Although non-H-2 genes were shown to influence the absolute level of helper activity assayed after SRBC priming, the extent of cross-reaction of SRBC-primed helpers with BRBC was shown to be controlled by an H-2-1inked Ir gene(s). H-2 haplotypes were identified which determined high, intermediate, or low response to the cross- reacting determinants and the gene(s) controlling the cross-reaction tentatively mapped to the K through I-E end of the H-2 complex. Helpers primed in F(1) mice of high x intermediate or high x low responder parents were tested for cross-reaction using B cells and macrophages (Mφ) of parental haplotypes. In each case the extent of cross-reaction was predicted by the H-2 haplotype of the B cells and Mφ, establishing the expression of the Ir gene(s) in B cells and/or Mφ a t least, but not ruling out its expression in T cells as well. The low cross-reaction seen when T cells from F(1) mice of high × low responder parents were tested on low responder B cells and Mφ was not increased by the presence of high responder Mφ, indicating the Ir gene(s) is expressed in the B cell a t least although it may be expressed in Mφ as well. These and our previously reported experiments are consistent with the hypothesis that helper T cells recognize antigen bound to the surface of B cells and Mφ in association with the product(s) of Ir gene(s) expressed on the B cell and Mφ.