Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Community-acquired bacteria frequently detected by means of quantitative polymerase chain reaction in nosocomial early-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia*

Objective:To test whether real-time polymerase chain reaction allows for rapid quantitative detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Legionella pneumophila in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids and to determine the prevalence of these pathogens in nosocomial ventilator-associated pneumonia. Design:Prospective epidemiologic study applying a new molecular biology-based diagnostic tool during a 27-month period. Setting:Three medical intensive care units of a tertiary care university hospital. Patients:One hundred patients suffering from nosocomial ventilator-associated pneumonia, hospitalized for ≥14 days, intubated for reasons other than pneumonia, and mechanically ventilated for >48 hrs. Interventions:None. Measurements and Main Results:S. pneumoniae, M. pneumoniae, and C. pneumoniae were detected in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of 100 patients in 20 (20%), three (3%), and two (2%) cases, respectively. There of 17 (71%) revealed no growth or no significant growth by conventional culture. In one patient, S. pneumoniae and M. pneumoniae were detected simultaneously. Corresponding colony-forming units/mL were partly up to 106 CFU/mL with Gram stainings showing signs of acute inflammation in 80%. A significant temporary correlation between the number of days on ventilator, development of nosocomial pneumonia, and the frequency of detection of these pathogens was found for day 4. Conclusions:S. pneumoniae, M. pneumoniae, and C. pneumoniae should be considered as causative agents in critically ill patients who develop early-onset nosocomial ventilator-associated pneumonia. Thus, empirical antimicrobial regimens should cover S. pneumoniae, Chlamydia, and Mycoplasma alike. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction is a fast diagnostic tool allowing for detection of these bacteria within 3 hrs in pretreated patients.
Directional selectivity and spatiotemporal structure of receptive fields of simple cells in cat striate cortex.

1. Simple cells in cat striate cortex were studied with a number of stimulation paradigms to explore the extent to which linear mechanisms determine direction selectivity. For each paradigm, our aim was to predict the selectivity for the direction of moving stimuli given only the responses to stationary stimuli. We have found that the prediction robustly determines the direction and magnitude of the preferred response but overestimates the nonpreferred response. 2. The main paradigm consisted of comparing the responses of simple cells to contrast reversal sinusoidal gratings with their responses to drifting gratings (of the same orientation, contrast, and spatial and temporal frequencies) in both directions of motion. Although it is known that simple cells display spatiotemporally inseparable responses to contrast reversal gratings, this spatiotemporal inseparability is demonstrated here to predict a certain amount of direction selectivity under the assumption that simple cells sum their inputs linearly. 3. The linear prediction of the directional index (DI), a quantitative measure of the degree of direction selectivity, was compared with the measured DI obtained from the responses to drifting gratings. The median value of the ratio of the two was 0.30, indicating that there is a significant nonlinear component to direction selectivity. 4. The absolute magnitudes of the responses to gratings moving in both directions of motion were compared with the linear predictions as well. Whereas the preferred direction response showed only a slight amount of facilitation compared with the linear prediction, there was a significant amount of nonlinear suppression in the nonpreferred direction. 5. Spatiotemporal inseparability was demonstrated also with stationary temporally modulated bars. The time course of response to these bars was different for different positions in the receptive field. The degree of spatiotemporal inseparability measured with sinusoidally modulated bars agreed quantitatively with that measured in experiments with stationary gratings. 6. A linear prediction of the responses to drifting luminance borders was compared with the actual responses. As with the grating experiments, the prediction was qualitatively accurate, giving the correct preferred direction but underestimating the magnitude of direction selectivity observed. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Early Trabecular Development in Human Vertebrae: Overproduction, Constructive Regression, and Refinement

Early bone development may have a significant impact upon bone health in adulthood. Bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mass are important determinants of adult bone strength. However, several studies have shown that BMD and bone mass decrease after birth. If early development is important for strength, why does this reduction occur? To investigate this, more data characterizing gestational, infant, and childhood bone development are needed in order to compare with adults. The aim of this study is to document early vertebral trabecular bone development, a key fragility fracture site, and infer whether this period is important for adult bone mass and structure. A series of 120 vertebrae aged between 6 months gestation and 2.5 years were visualized using microcomputed tomography. Spherical volumes of interest were defined, thresholded, and measured using 3D bone analysis software (BoneJ, Quant3D). The findings showed that gestation was characterized by increasing bone volume fraction whilst infancy was defined by significant bone loss (≈2/3rds) and the appearance of a highly anisotropic trabecular structure with a predominantly inferior–superior direction. Childhood development progressed via selective thickening of some trabeculae and the loss of others; maintaining bone volume whilst creating a more anisotropic structure. Overall, the pattern of vertebral development is one of gestational overproduction followed by infant “sculpting” of bone tissue during the first year of life (perhaps in order to regulate mineral homeostasis or to adapt to loading environment) and then subsequent refinement during early childhood. Comparison of early bone developmental data in this study with adult bone volume values taken from the literature shows that the loss in bone mass that occurs during the first year of life is never fully recovered. Early development could therefore be important for developing bone strength, but through structural changes in trabecular microarchitecture rather than bone mass.
Analysis of Preexistent Vertebral Rotation in the Normal Spine

Study Design. A newly developed CT measurement method was used to investigate axial rotation from T2 to L5 in the normal, nonscoliotic spine. Objectives. To identify a preexistent rotational pattern in the normal, nonscoliotic spine. Summary of Background Data. The data available on axial rotation measurements in the normal spine are scant and limited to only a few vertebrae. Systematic analysis of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae of the normal spine, based on computed tomography has, to our knowledge, not been performed. Methods. CT scans of the thorax and abdomen of 50 persons without clinical or radiologic evidence of scoliosis were used to measure vertebral axial rotation from T2 to L5 with a newly developed semiautomatic computerized method. Results. The results of the present study showed a predominant rotation to the left of the high thoracic vertebrae, and to the right of the mid and lower thoracic vertebrae in the normal, nonscoliotic spine, which differed significantly from an equal right-left distribution. This rotational pattern is present in both males and females. Conclusion. The normal, nonscoliotic spine demonstrates a preexistent pattern of vertebral rotation that corresponds to what is seen in the most prevalent types of thoracic idiopathic scoliosis.
Moving beyond end-to-end path information to optimize CDN performance

Replicating content across a geographically distributed set of servers and redirecting clients to the closest server in terms of latency has emerged as a common paradigm for improving client performance. In this paper, we analyze latencies measured from servers in Google's content distribution network (CDN) to clients all across the Internet to study the effectiveness of latency-based server selection. Our main result is that redirecting every client to the server with least latency does not suffice to optimize client latencies. First, even though most clients are served by a geographically nearby CDN node, a sizeable fraction of experience latencies several tens of milliseconds higher than other in the same region. Second, we find that queueing delays often override the benefits of a client interacting with a nearby server. To help the administrators of Google's CDN cope with these problems, we have built a system called WhyHigh. First, WhyHigh measures client latencies across all nodes in the CDN and correlates measurements to identify the prefixes affected by inflated latencies. Second, since clients in several thousand prefixes have poor latencies, WhyHigh prioritizes problems based on the impact that solving them would have, e.g., by identifying either an AS path common to several inflated prefixes or a CDN node where path inflation is widespread. Finally, WhyHigh diagnoses the causes for inflated latencies using active measurements such as traceroutes and pings, in combination with datasets such as BGP paths and flow records. Typical causes discovered include lack of peering, routing misconfigurations, and side-effects of traffic engineering. We have used WhyHigh to diagnose several instances of inflated latencies, and our efforts over the course of a year have significantly helped improve the performance offered to clients by Google's CDN.
Stimulus Control Over Action for Food in Obese versus Healthy-weight Individuals

In the current study we examined an associative learning mechanism by which food cues (signaling low- versus high-calorie food) can bias instrumental responses directed toward those foods. To investigate the clinical relevance of this mechanism, we used a computerized Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer task and compared performance of 19 severely obese individuals to that of 19 healthy-weight controls matched for age, education and gender. During the response-priming test we exposed participants to both food pictures and to Pavlovian cues predictive of those food pictures, and examined their biasing effect on instrumental choice. As expected, obese participants showed higher priming rates for palatable, high-calorie foods (potato chips and chocolate) relative to low-calorie foods (lettuce and courgette) whereas healthy-weight individuals did not show a difference between priming rates for these two food types. We also included various measures of impulsivity as well as a slips-of-action task designed to investigate the balance between goal-directed and habitual behavioral control in these two groups. We did not find any evidence of increased impulsivity or reliance on a habitual strategy during the slips-of-action task, in obese participants. General Scientific Summary: Our environment is full of cues signaling the availability of tasty, but often unhealthy, foods. This study suggests that severely obese individuals are particularly sensitive to high-calorie food cues whereas low-calorie food cues have little effect on their behavior.
Effect of fillers on electrical properties of epoxy composites

The effect of fillers such as glass, ferrite, and carbon on the dielectric properties of epoxide resin along with conductivity has been studied as a function of frequency (1–100 kHz) and temperature (30–200°C). The glass transition temperature is not much affected by the presence of the fillers. The observed higher values of dielectric permittivity and loss in the case of filled polymers are attributed to Maxwell–Wagner–Sillars polarization.
T2 Quantitation of Human Articular Cartilage in a Clinical Setting at 1.5 T: Implementation and Testing of Four Multiecho Pulse Sequence Designs for Validity

Rationale and Objectives:Evaluation of the T2 relaxation time of articular cartilage holds great potential for quantitative assessment of internal changes of the cartilage matrix. The purpose of the present study was to assess the validity of multiecho-based cartilage T2 quantitation in a clinical MRI setting at 1.5 T. Methods:Four multisection multiecho sequence variants dedicated for quantitative T2 mapping of human articular cartilage were implemented on a 1.5 T whole-body imager and tested for accuracy in CuSO4-agarose gel phantoms and human patellar cartilage. Sequence design was varied to minimize errors in T2 quantitation due to stimulated echoes. Results:As compared with single spin-echo experiments, the apparent T2 values calculated from the multiecho sequence variants showed mean deviations ranging from +26% to −32% (phantoms) and from +42% to −18% (cartilage). The patellar cartilage T2 covered a range from about 25 milliseconds to 55 milliseconds, with longer T2 values observed in the more superficial layers. In cartilage, best results were obtained from the sequence design using improved section profiles and a spoiler gradient scheme for suppression of stimulated echoes. Conclusions:Our results revealed a clear dependence of apparent T2 relaxation times on the pulse sequence design, emphasizing that the “true” T2 is hard to find. In addition, the effect on the apparent T2 values resulting from the specific modification of any sequence variant varied according to the respective tissue's properties. Therefore, the acquisition technique in conjunction with the specific tissue on which T2 mapping is performed need to be reported in detail and should kept consistent to allow large-scale comparisons and monitoring of treatment strategies, e.g., in osteoarthritis.
A test of Metabolic Theory as the mechanism underlying broad-scale species-richness gradients

Aim To t est whether the temperature dependence of individuals’ metabolic rates is the mechanism shaping broad-scale species-richness gradients as proposed in the Metabolic Theory of Ecology recently proposed by Allen, Gillooly and Brown. Location North America, north of Mexico. Methods Metabolic Theory predicts that the natural logarithm of species richness will be a linear function of environmental temperature (( kT ) − 1 , where k is Boltzmann’s constant and T is temperature in K) with a slope of − 0.78. We tested these predictions using the broad-scale variation in richness of amphibians, reptiles, trees, tiger beetles, butterflies and blister beetles. We tested whether the temperature‐richness relationship was linear or curvilinear, and determined the range of temperature values (and geographical area) where the instantaneous slope of the curvilinear temperature‐ richness relationship was statistically indistinguishable from − 0.78, after correcting for spatial autocorrelation. Results We found that for all taxa, temperature‐richness relationships were curvilinear. Moreover, for five of six taxa, the slope of this relationship was close to the predicted value for only a narrow range of temperatures. Blister beetles displayed the widest temperature range that is consistent with the Metabolic Theory, covering 45% of the study’s geographical area. For the remaining taxa, the geographical range in which the slope is consistent with the predicted value amounts to only 10‐20% of North America. Main conclusions For a wide array of taxa in North America, temperature‐richness relationships deviate from the pattern predicted by Metabolic Theory. These results demonstrate that the temperature dependence of individuals’ metabolic rates is not the sole cause of broad-scale diversity gradients. Even in areas where factors other than temperature do not influence productivity, the data do not suggest that richness patterns are determined by the temperature dependence of metabolic rate.
Families of microRNAs Expressed in Clusters Regulate Cell Signaling in Cervical Cancer

Tumor cells have developed advantages to acquire hallmarks of cancer like apoptosis resistance, increased proliferation, migration, and invasion through cell signaling pathway misregulation. The sequential activation of genes in a pathway is regulated by miRNAs. Loss or gain of miRNA expression could activate or repress a particular cell axis. It is well known that aberrant miRNA expression is well recognized as an important step in the development of cancer. Individual miRNA expression is reported without considering that miRNAs are grouped in clusters and may have similar functions, such as the case of clusters with anti-oncomiRs (23b~27b~24-1, miR-29a~29b-1, miR-29b-2~29c, miR-99a~125b-2, miR-99b~125a, miR-100~125b-1, miR-199a-2~214, and miR-302s) or oncomiRs activity (miR-1-1~133a-2, miR-1-2~133a-1, miR-133b~206, miR-17~92, miR-106a~363, miR183~96~182, miR-181a-1~181b-1, and miR-181a-2~181b-2), which regulated mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase (PI3K), NOTCH, proteasome-culling rings, and apoptosis cell signaling. In this work we point out the pathways regulated by families of miRNAs grouped in 20 clusters involved in cervical cancer. Reviewing how miRNA families expressed in cluster-regulated cell path signaling will increase the knowledge of cervical cancer progression, providing important information for therapeutic, diagnostic, and prognostic methodology design.
A comparative study of prenatal diagnosis and perinatal autopsy.

The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy of prenatal ultrasonography and to identify patterns of fetal malformations. All fetal and neonatal autopsies over a 3 year period were compared to prenatal sonographic findings and comparisons were made between the results of the two examinations. We identified 133 fetuses and neonates who had both a complete autopsy and a perinatal autopsy. Approximately 87% of autopsy‐demonstrated major abnormalities had been detected by prenatal ultrasonography, with 61% of all malformations detected. Some limitations in accuracy of prenatal diagnosis are unavoidable, but strict attention to a thorough fetal examination should improve accuracy. Autopsy examination remains an important component of the evaluation of perinatal losses, especially if dysmorphology is known or suspected.
Interactions among drainage flows, gravity waves and turbulence: a BLLAST case study

Abstract. The interactions among several stable-boundary-layer (SBL) processes occurring just after the evening transition of 2 July 2011 have been analysed using data from instruments deployed over the area of Lannemezan (France) during the Boundary Layer Late Afternoon and Sunset Turbulence (BLLAST) field campaign. The near-calm situation of the afternoon was followed by the formation of local shallow drainage flows (SDFs) of less than 10 m depth at different locations. The SDF stage ended with the arrival of a stronger wind over a deeper layer more associated with the mountain-plain circulation, which caused mixing and destruction of the SDFs. Several gravity-wave-related oscillations were also observed on different time series. Wavelet analyses and wave parameters were calculated from high resolution and accurate surface pressure data of an array of microbarometers. These waves propagated relatively long distances within the SBL. The effects of these phenomena on turbulent parameters (friction velocity and kinematic heat flux) have been studied through multi-resolution flux decomposition methods performed on high frequency data from sonic anemometers deployed at different heights and locations. With this method, we were able to detect the different time-scales involved in each turbulent parameter and separate them from wave contributions, which becomes very important when choosing averaging-windows for surface flux computations using eddy covariance methods. The extensive instrumentation allowed us to highlight in detail the peculiarities of the surface turbulent parameters in the SBL, where several of the noted processes were interacting and producing important variations in turbulence with height and between sites along the sloping terrain.
A Hierarchical Classification System Based on Adaptive Resonance Theory

In this study, we propose a hierarchical classification system, which emulates the eye-brain channel in two hierarchical layers. In the first layer, a set of classifiers are trained by using low level, low dimensional features. In the second layer, the recognition results of the first layer are fed to the fuzzy ARTMAP (FAM) classifier which implements the adaptive resonance theory. Experiments indicate that the hierarchical approach proposed in this paper, increases the classification performances compared to the available methods.
ASCT 2 silencing regulates mammalian target-of-rapamycin growth and survival signaling in human hepatoma cells

Fuchs BC, Finger RE, Onan MC, Bode BP. ASCT2 silencing regulates mammalian target-of-rapamycin growth and survival signaling in human hepatoma cells. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 293: C55–C63, 2007. First published February 28, 2007; doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00330. 2006. System ASC amino acid transporter-2 (ASCT2) was previously demonstrated to be essential for human hepatoma cell growth and survival, as its silencing via inducible antisense RNA expression results in complete apoptosis within 48 h by a mechanism that transcends its role in amino acid delivery. To gain mechanistic insights into the reliance of cancerous liver cells on ASCT2, the aim of this study was to determine the early consequences of its silencing on the growth and survival signaling that presage apoptosis. Induced antisense ASCT2 RNA in SK-Hep1 cells led to 90% suppression of ASCT2 mRNA by 6 h and inhibition of mammalian target-of-rapamycin (mTOR)/raptor (mTOR complex-1; mTORC1) signaling by 8 h, as manifested by diminished p70 ribosomal protein S6 kinase-1 and eukaryotic initiation factor-4E (eIF4E) binding protein-1 phosphorylation, while protein synthesis rates declined by nearly 50% despite no measurable decreases in the cap binding protein eIF4G or cellular ribosomal protein content. Depressed mTORC1 signaling occurred before detectable reduction in ASCT2 activity but coincided with a 30% decline in total cellular ASCT2 protein. By 12 h after ASCT2 silencing, further decrements were observed in protein synthesis rates and ASCT2 protein and activity, each by 50%, while signaling from mTOR/rictor (mTOR complex-2; mTORC2) was stimulated as indexed by enhanced phosphorylation of the Akt/PKB kinase on serine-473 and of its proapoptotic substrate Bad on serine-136. These results suggest that ASCT2 silencing inhibits mTORC1 signaling to the translational machinery followed by an mTORC2-initiated survival response, establishing a link between amino acid transporter expression and mTOR function.
Marijuana and sexual activity.

Abstract This research was intended to discern any correlations between marijuana and human sexual activity. I was specifically interested in exploring the concept that the drug might produce different effects on males and females in regard to their sexual activity. Finally, I was concerned with the dosage of the drug which would produce the most pronounced effect on the majority of the users in regard to their sexual activity.