Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of pathogens and virulence profile of Rhodococcus equi and Escherichia coli strains obtained from sand of parks

The identification of pathogens of viral (Rotavirus, Coronavirus), parasitic (Toxocara spp.) and bacterial (Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Rhodococcus equi) origin shed in feces, and the virulence profile of R. equi and E. coli isolates were investigated in 200 samples of sand obtained from 40 parks, located in central region of state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, using different diagnostic methods. From 200 samples analyzed, 23 (11.5%) strains of R. equi were isolated. None of the R. equi isolates showed a virulent (vapA gene) or intermediately virulent (vapB gene) profiles. Sixty-three (31.5%) strains of E. coli were identified. The following genes encoding virulence factors were identified in E. coli: eae, bfp, saa, iucD, papGI, sfa and hly. Phylogenetic classification showed that 63 E. coli isolates belonged to groups B1 (52.4%), A (25.4%) and B2 (22.2%). No E. coli serotype O157:H7 was identified. Eggs of Toxocara sp. were found in three parks and genetic material of bovine Coronavirus was identified in one sample of one park. No Salmonella spp. and Rotavirus isolates were identified in the samples of sand. The presence of R. equi, Toxocara sp, bovine Coronavirus and virulent E. coli isolates in the environment of parks indicates that the sanitary conditions of the sand should be improved in order to reduce the risks of fecal transmission of pathogens of zoonotic potential to humans in these places.
Integrating Metabolome and Functional Data in Plant Pathology andProtection Studies

The dynamic interactions that are established between plant and microorganisms rely on complex mechanisms of recognition and defense. Primary metabolism has been traditionally implicated as a major target in several plant-pathogen interactions, but also critical changes in some pathways of secondary metabolism have been identified [1]. In the last decade, transcriptomics has largely contributed to decipher some of the cellular pathways that are involved in recognition and defense mechanisms between hosts-microorganisms interactions. For example, infection has been associated with differential regulation of genes involving energy processing (eg., up-regulation of genes related with energy production while down-regulation of genes associated with assimilatory processes as photosynthesis or chlorophyll biosynthesis). These and other transcriptomic findings contributed to reevaluate the role of some metabolic pathways during host-pathogen interactions, namely at modulating signal transduction cascades [2].
Tests for Long‐Run Granger Non‐Causality in Cointegrated Systems

Abstract. In this article, we propose a new approach to test the hypothesis of long‐run Granger non‐causality in cointegrated systems. We circumvent the problem of singularity of the covariance matrix associated with the usual Wald‐type test by proposing a generalized inverse procedure. A test for the ranks of submatrices of the cointegration matrix and its orthogonal matrix plays a vital role in our procedure. The relevant small‐sample experiments indicate that the proposed method performs reasonably well in finite samples. As empirical applications, we examine long‐run causal relations among long‐term interest rates of three nations.
Prostate-specific antigen testing of older men.

BACKGROUND Elevated serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels are predictive of a future diagnosis of prostate cancer. To test the hypothesis that older men with low PSA levels may require less intensive PSA testing because of a reduced prostate cancer detection rate, we evaluated the association between age, baseline PSA level, and prostate cancer detection. METHODS We conducted a prospective cohort study among participants in a study of aging who had serial PSA measurements taken from age 60 or 65 years until they either were diagnosed with prostate cancer (cancer case subjects) or reached the age of 75 years (subjects without prostate cancer). The time of cancer detection among cancer case subjects was defined as the measurement date on which a PSA level above 4.0 ng/mL was detected (i.e., PSA conversion). Cancer case subjects and subjects without prostate cancer were analyzed according to baseline PSA level and age. RESULTS All cancer case subjects in the 60-year-old cohort had baseline PSA levels above 0.5 ng/mL, and 14 of 15 cancer cases that would have been detected by a PSA conversion among the 65-year-old cohort were associated with baseline PSA levels of 1.1 ng/mL or more. If PSA testing were discontinued in men aged 65 years with PSA levels of 0.5 ng/mL or less, 100% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 78%-100%) of the cancers would still be detected by age 75 years; if PSA testing were discontinued in men aged 65 years who had PSA levels of 1.0 ng/mL or less, 94% (95% CI = 70%-100%) of the cancers would still be detected by age 75 years. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that a decrease in the intensity of screening among older men with low PSA values may not lead to an increase in undetected prostate cancer.
The performance of spherical wavelets to detect non‐Gaussianity in the cosmic microwave background sky

We investigate the performance of spherical wavelets in discriminating between standard inflationary (Gaussian) and non-Gaussian models. For the latter we consider small perturbations of the Gaussian model in which an artificially specified skewness or kurtosis is introduced through the Edgeworth expansion. By combining all the information present in all the wavelet scales with the Fisher discriminant, we find that the spherical Mexican Hat wavelets are clearly superior to the spherical Haar wavelets. The former can detect levels of skewness and kurtosis of ≈1 per cent for 33-arcmin resolution, an order of magnitude smaller than the latter. Also, as expected, both wavelets are better for discriminating between the models than the direct consideration of moments of the temperature maps. The introduction of instrumental white noise in the maps, S/N = 1, does not change the main results of this paper.
Assessment of Social Cognition and Theory of Mind: Initial Validation of the Geneva Social Cognition Scale

Background: Social cognition is widely studied in neurology. At present, such evaluations are designed for research or for specific diseases and simple general clinical tools are lacking. We propose a clinical evaluation tool for social cognition, the Geneva Social Cognition Scale (GeSoCS). Methods: The GeSoCS is a 100-point scale composed of 6 subtests (theory of mind stories, recognition of social emotions, false beliefs, inferences, absurdity judgement and planning abilities) chosen from different validated tests of social and cognitive evaluation. Eighty-four patients with neurological disorders and 52 controls participated in the study. Evaluation duration lasted 20-60 min. Results: Mean scores were 92.6 ± 4.5 for controls and 76.5 ± 15.3 for patients and differentiate patients and controls in all subtests. With a cut-off score of 84, the scale had a sensitivity of 62% and a specificity of 94%. In our stroke subgroup, right CVAs failed in cartoons, inferences, ‘mind in the eyes', and in the temporal rule task while left CVAs were impaired in verbal/discourse tasks (social cognition, inferences, absurd stories, and cartoons. Conclusions: The GeSoCS is a medium duration assessment tool that appears to detect and characterize significant social impairment in neurological patients.
Low-level laser therapy with a pulsed infrared laser accelerates second-degree burn healing in rat: a clinical and microbiologic study.

OBJECTIVE This study was carried out to investigate the influence of pulsed-wave low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on the healing of a deep second-degree burn model in rat. BACKGROUND DATA Review of literature indicates that LLLT has a biostimulatory effect on wound healing; however, no clear recommendation can yet be made. METHODS Two deep second-degree burns were made in the skin of 67 rats. Rats were divided into four groups. In the first group (control), the proximal burn were received LLLT with shot down laser; in the second and third groups, proximal burns were treated with a 3,000-Hz pulsed infrared diode laser with 2.3 and 11.7 J/cm(2) energy densities, respectively. In the fourth group, the proximal burns were treated topically with 0.2% nitrofurazone. The distal burn of all groups was considered the control burn. The response to treatment was assessed both microbiologically and macroscopically. RESULTS The incidence of Staphylococcus aureus decreased significantly in group 3 in comparison with group 1 on day 28 (χ(2) test, p = 0.05). Analysis of variance showed that LLLT with 11.7 J/cm (2) significantly increased the wound-closure rate at 2 weeks (0.915 ± 0.310) and 3 weeks (0.677 ± 0.397) after burning compared with placebo burns (1.413 ± 0.319; 1.116 ± 0.436, respectively) ANOVA-LSD test, p = 0.045 and p = 0.046 respectively. Independent sample t tests showed that LLLT with 11.7 J/cm (2) significantly increased the wound-closure rate at 4 weeks after burning (0.211 ± 0.146) compared with the control burns (0.707 ± 0.480) p = 0.039. CONCLUSIONS Pulsed LLLT with 11.7 J/cm(2)/890 nm of a deep second-degree burn model in rat significantly increased the rate of wound closure compared with control burns.
Bond Behavior between Near-Surface-Mounted CFRP Strips and Concrete at High Temperatures

AbstractThis paper presents an experimental study concerning the bond behavior at high temperatures between concrete and carbon fiber–reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips installed according to the near-surface-mounted (NSM) technique. Double-lap shear tests were performed on concrete blocks strengthened with CFRP strips installed into slits and bonded with either an epoxy adhesive (series EP) or a mixed grout composed of epoxy and cement binders (series MG). Specimens were first heated up to predefined temperatures (from 20 to 150°C, measured in the adhesive) and then were loaded up to failure. The obtained results allow drawing the following conclusions: (1) the axial strains along the bonded length became closer to linear (at high temperature) because of the softening (glass transition) of the bonding materials; (2) the effective bond length increased for elevated temperature; (3) the bond-slip curves exhibited considerable and consistent stiffness and maximum shear stress reduction with temperature; (4) t.
Performance of Orthogonal Beamforming for SDMA With Limited Feedback

On the multiantenna broadcast channel, the spatial degrees of freedom support simultaneous transmission to multiple users. The optimal multiuser transmission, which is known as dirty paper coding, is not directly realizable. Moreover, close-to-optimal solutions such as Tomlinson-Harashima precoding are sensitive to channel state information (CSI) inaccuracy. This paper considers a more practical design called per user unitary and rate control (PU2RC), which has been proposed for emerging cellular standards. PU2RC supports multiuser simultaneous transmission, enables limited feedback, and is capable of exploiting multiuser diversity. Its key feature is an orthogonal beamforming (or precoding) constraint, where each user selects a beamformer (or precoder) from a codebook of multiple orthonormal bases. In this paper, the asymptotic throughput scaling laws for PU2RC with a large user pool are derived for different regimes of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In the multiuser interference-limited regime, the throughput of PU2RC is shown to logarithmically scale with the number of users. In the normal SNR and noise-limited regimes, the throughput is found to scale double logarithmically with the number of users and linearly with the number of antennas at the base station. In addition, numerical results show that PU2RC achieves higher throughput and is more robust against CSI quantization errors than the popular alternative of zero-forcing beamforming if the number of users is sufficiently large.
T-DM1, a novel antibody–drug conjugate, is highly effective against primary HER2 overexpressing uterine serous carcinoma in vitro and in vivo

Amplification of c‐erbB2 has been reported in over 30% of uterine serous carcinoma (USC) and found to confer poor survival because of high proliferation and increased resistance to therapy. In this study, we evaluated for the first time Trastuzumab emtansine (T‐DM1), a novel antibody–drug conjugate, against multiple epidermal growth factor receptor‐2 (HER2)‐positive USC cells in vitro followed by developing a supportive in vivo model. Fifteen primary USC cell lines were assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and flow cytometry for HER2 protein expression. C‐erbB2 gene amplification was evaluated using fluorescent in situ hybridization. Sensitivity to T‐DM1 and trastuzumab (T)‐induced antibody‐dependent cell‐mediated cytotoxicity was evaluated in 5‐h chromium release assays. T‐DM1 and T cytostatic and apoptotic activities were evaluated using flow‐cytometry‐based proliferation assays. In vivo activity of T‐DM1 versus T in USC xenografts in SCID mice was also evaluated. High levels of HER2 protein overexpression and HER2 gene amplification were detected in 33% of USC cell lines. T‐DM1 was considerably more effective than trastuzumab in inhibiting cell proliferation and in causing apoptosis (P = 0.004) of USC showing HER2 overexpression. Importantly, T‐DM1 was highly active at reducing tumor formation in vivo in USC xenografts overexpressing HER2 (P = 0.04) and mice treated with TDM‐1 had significantly longer survival when compared to T‐treated mice and control mice (P ≤ 0.0001). T‐DM1 shows promising antitumor effect in HER2‐positive USC cell lines and USC xenografts and its activity is significantly higher when compared to T. T‐DM1 may represent a novel treatment option for HER2‐positive USC patients with disease refractory to trastuzumab and traditional chemotherapy.
Presentation of a Learning Game for Programming Languages Education

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in computer learning games. This is due to the belief that games can offer various learning benefits to learners. Specially, learning games which focus on programming language are needed today given that programming is seen as an important subject for learners. So, developing games which enhance learners' motivation for the programming subject is the main issue of this work. This paper describes a learning game for higher education. This new game is called Instruction right place Game and it allows learners to benefit from the drag and drop technology to construct a program in an amusing way.
An Analysis to the Kinetics of Austenite Recrystallization in Fe-30Mn-5Al Steel

The high-Mn twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steels possess high strength combined with high formability due to the TWIP effects. To optimize the final mechanical properties of these steels, the characterization of static recrystallization behavior is highly needed. To address this demand a cold-rolled TWIP steel has been isothermally annealed at two different temperatures (600°C and 700°C). The microstructural characteristics such as the recrystallized fraction and interfacial area between the recrystallized and unrecrystallized grains have been determined. The distribution of nuclei and their impingement have been precisely examined through a proper observation. A continuous decrease of the velocity of recrystallization front is observed, which can be ascribed to the reduction of the driving force for migration as recrystallization advances. The results indicated that the stored energy gradients are responsible for nonhomogeneous distribution of nuclei and lower Avrami constant.
The pro-social neurohormone oxytocin reverses the actions of the stress hormone cortisol in human ovarian carcinoma cells in vitro

The journey patients with ovarian cancer travel from non-specific symptoms causing delayed diagnosis through surgery and chemotherapy, culminating in a 5-year survival rate of 43%, must have a profound and detrimental psychological impact on patients. Emerging studies link higher levels of oxytocin (OT) and increased social support, an independent prognostic factor in cancer, with a moderating effect on stress. In contrast, there is a known association of tumour cell proliferation with elevated cortisol (stress hormone) levels. We hypothesise therefore that there is cross-talk between cortisol and oxytocin at a molecular level. Three ovarian cancer cell lines, used as in vitro models, were treated with cortisol at concentrations mimicking physiological stress in vivo in the presence or absence of OT. OT reduced cell proliferation and migration, induced apoptosis and autophagy for all three cell lines, partially reversing the effects of cortisol. Quantitative RT-PCR of tissue taken from ovarian cancer patients revealed that the glucocorticoid receptor (splice variant GR-P) and OT receptor (OTR) were significantly upregulated compared to controls. Tissue microarray revealed that the expression of GRα was lower in the ovarian cancer samples compared to normal tissue. OT is also shown to drive alternative splicing of the GR gene and cortisol-induced OTR expression. OT was able to transactivate GR in the presence of cortisol, thus providing further evidence of cross-talk in vitro. These data provide explanations for why social support might help distressed ovarian cancer patients and help define novel hypotheses regarding potential therapeutic interventions in socially isolated patients.
The Impact of Social Presence on the Experiences of Online Shoppers - A Cross-Cultural Study

A notable difference between online and offline shopping that is hindering the growth of e-Commerce is the decreased presence of human and social elements in the online environment. This paper explores how human warmth and sociability can be integrated through the Web interface to positively impact online consumer perceptions. More specifically, the impact of design elements (emotive text and socially-rich pictures) is explored across two national cultures: Canadian and Chinese. Our results show increased levels of social presence through socially-rich design elements (i.e. socially-rich text and pictures) as having a positive impact on antecedents of attitude/intention of Canadian online shoppers (perceived usefulness, trust and enjoyment). We were also able to demonstrate similar results with Chinese online consumers in the case of perceived usefulness and enjoyment but not for trust. The paper concludes with a discussion of these results outlining implications for practitioners and directions for future research.
Topographic specializations in the retinal ganglion cell layer of Australian passerines

Thornbills, honeyeaters, and silvereyes represent an abundant group of Australian passerines, whose diversity in niche differentiation suggests a pivotal role for vision. Using stereological methods and retinal wholemounts, we studied the topographic distribution of neurons in the ganglion cell layer of insectivorous, nectarivorous, and frugivorous species occupying terrestrial and arboreal microhabitats. All species studied have a central convexiclivate fovea (peak densities from 130,000 to 160,000 cells/mm2), which is shallow in the terrestrial/insectivorous yellow‐rumped thornbill and deep in the arboreal/nectarivorous honeyeaters and frugivorous silvereye. Surrounding the fovea, neuronal densities in the ganglion cell layer form a broadly ovoid and asymmetric plateau in the yellow‐rumped thornbill and a more restricted, circular and symmetric plateau in the other species. These differences in the plateau organization may reflect specific needs to locate food on the ground or among dense vegetation. We also found a temporal area (peak densities from 43,000 to 54,000 cells/mm2) across species, which increases spatial resolution in the frontal visual field and assists with foraging. Using microtubule‐associated protein 2 (MAP2) immunohistochemistry, we detected a higher concentration of giant ganglion cells forming an area gigantocellularis in the temporal retina of all species. Giant ganglion cell densities also form a horizontal streak in all species, except in the yellow‐rumped thornbill, which has an unusual increase toward the retinal periphery. In the yellow‐rumped thornbill and silvereye, giant ganglion cells also peak in the nasal retina. We suggest that these topographic variations afford differential sampling of motion signals for the detection of predators. J. Comp. Neurol. 522:3609–3628, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Study of bubble's equilibrium in rotating flow

The equilibrium of small bubbles (d ∈ [0.2 mm, 2 mm]) in a solid body rotating flow around an horizontal axis is studied. The caracterisation of the reference flow (eg) the rotating flow without bubbles is led. Measurements show that the velocity profiles are linear as expected and that the axis of rotation of the flow exhibits motions of small amplitude (≈ ±0.1 mm). The frequencies that appear in this motion are explored. One peak is the rotation rate of the tank, frequency that is also present in the bubble's oscillating motion. The influence of the bubbles on this reference flow is then investigated. Depending of the size of the bubble and of its position relatively to the axis of rotation the bubble can feel back its own perturbation. The range of Reynolds and Strouhal numbers in which this occurs is quantified. When the incoming flow on the bubble is not influenced by the wake of the bubble, the drag and lift coefficients are considered. The two coefficients are determined from the measurement of the bubble's equilibrium position. The resulting coefficients exhibit an increase of the drag with shear and a decrease of the lift. The lift coefficient tends asymptotically to 1 at high Reynolds number which is higher than the 0.5 value of Auton (1987)'s potential theory. The bubble never stabilizes on its equilibrium position, but slightly oscillates around this position. The spectrum of these oscillations shows three types of frequencies. One is equal to the rotation rate of the tank, another one is linked with a three-dimensional motion of the bubble and the last one is related to the interaction between the bubble and the shedding of vortices in the wake.
Influence of high density polyethylene‐g‐maleic anhydride on compatibility and properties of poly(butylene terephthalate)/high density polyethylene blends

Poly(butylene terephthalate)/high density polyethylene (PBT/HDPE) blends and PBT/HDPE-grafted maleic anhydride (PBT/HDPE-g-MAH) blends were prepared by the reactive extrusion approach, and the effect of blend compositions on the morphologies and properties of PBT/HDPE blends and PBT/HDPE-g-MAH blends was studied in detail. The results showed that flexural strength, tensile strength, and notched impact strength of PBT/HDPE blends decreased with the addition of HDPE, and flexural strength and tensile strength of PBT/HDPE-g-MAH blends decreased, while the notched impact strength of PBT/HDPE-g-MAH increased with the addition of HDPE-g-MAH. Compared with PBT/HDPE blends, the dimension of the dispersed phase particles in PBT/HDPE-g-MAH blends was decreased and the interfacial adhesion was increased. On the other hand, the effects of HDPE and HDPE-g-MAH contents on the crystalline and the rheological properties of the blends were also investigated. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 6081–6087, 2006