Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Changing Epidemiology of Invasive Aspergillosis in the Non-Traditional Host: Risk Factors and Outcomes

Background: Invasive fungal infections due to Aspergillus spp. are common in ‘high-risk’ immunocompromised patients. Recently, invasive aspergillosis (IA) in the ‘low-risk’ or ‘non-traditional’ host has been increasingly recognized. Unfortunately, risk factors and diagnostic modalities for this infection are poorly described. This study’s goal is to further characterize IA in the population classically described as ‘low-risk’ and infrequently studied. Methods: A retrospective cohort of patients with proven or probable IA (excluding those with neutropenia or hematologic malignancy) was evaluated. Results: Thirty-six patients with either proven (23) or probable (13) IA met inclusion criteria. Mean age was 54.6 years. The most common risk factors identified in patients with IA were steroid use (69%), ICU stay (56%), immunosuppressive agents (39%), solid organ transplant (33%), diabetes (28%) and mechanical ventilation (28%). The most common sites of infection were lungs (67%) and sinuses (19%). A. fumigatus was the most prevalent spp. isolated (63%), followed by A. niger (16%). Additionally, 17 patients had bacterial coinfections. Voriconazole was the first-line antifungal used in 23 patients, followed by combination antifungal therapy in eight patients. Clinical success was noted in 72% of patients with a 25% cumulative mortality 90 days after diagnosis. Conclusions: This study describes IA in a population infrequently studied and considered to be at low risk when compared to the neutropenic population of patients. Awareness of risk factors in this ‘non-traditional’ host, improved diagnostic techniques, and earlier initiation of appropriate antifungal therapy should improve overall survival and response to therapy. Larger, multicenter epidemiologic studies in similar populations are warranted to improve the understanding of this underestimated infection. Correspondence to: Jose A Vazquez MD, Division of Infectious Diseases, Medical College of Georgia/Augusta University, 1120 15th Street, Room 3029, Augusta, GA 30912, USA, Tel: +1 706-721-1244; Fax: +1 706-721-4517; E-mail: jvazquez@augusta.edu
Ghrelin prevents tumour- and cisplatin-induced muscle wasting: characterization of multiple mechanisms involved

Cachexia and muscle atrophy are common consequences of cancer and chemotherapy administration. The novel hormone ghrelin has been proposed as a treatment for this condition. Increases in food intake and direct effects on muscle proteolysis and protein synthesis are likely to mediate these effects, but the pathways leading to these events are not well understood.
Arterial hypertension and family care: care provided to hypertensive individuals in a small municipality in Southern Brazil.

OBJECTIVE Based on the analysis of indicators which express the rationale of the actions of the program, we developed a cross-sectional study to assess the performance of a Family Healthcare Team as regards the care provided to individuals with arterial hypertension living in a small municipality. METHODS The study carried out was based on the analysis of the records (Record A) of SIAB (Primary Care Information System) of 418 individuals suffering from arterial hypertension, of 351 records stored in the primary healthcare center, and of 376 interviews with individuals living in the area under the team's care, in the year 2003. The following variables were studied: gender, age, family income, housing conditions, health services used, presence of diabetes mellitus, coverage and concentration of care. RESULTS Women above 60 years of age prevailed. They were 65.7% of the cases. The arterial hypertension prevalence rate was 18%, and was different for both genders: for women it was 22.3%. The coverage was 64.1% for appointments with doctors, 32.4% for appointments with nurses, and 36.4% for home visits. The information on files revealed that 25.8% of hypertensive individuals did not receive care in 2003 and 52.7% did not receive care in the last semester. The concentration of care was below the recommendation. CONCLUSION The information showed that the organization of health care does not reflect the rationale of health surveillance in that services focus mostly on meeting spontaneous demand, which in turn reflects unpreparedness as to the use of information systems for the planning and evaluation of actions.
Behavioural flexibility: the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus, and the northern long-eared bat,M.septentrionalis , both glean and hawk prey

We present behavioural data demonstrating that the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus, and the northern long-eared bat, M. septentrionalis, can glean prey from surfaces and take prey on the wing. Our data were collected in a large outdoor flight room mimicking a cluttered environment. We compared and analysed flight behaviours and echolocation calls used by each species of bat when aerial hawking and gleaning. Our results challenge the traditional labelling of M. lucifugus as an obligate aerial-hawking species and show that M. septentrionalis, which is often cited as a gleaning species, can capture airborne prey. As has been shown in previous studies, prey-generated acoustic cues were necessary and sufficient for the detection and localization of perched prey. We argue that the broadband, high-frequency, downwardsweeping, frequency-modulated calls used by some bats when gleaning prey from complex surfaces resolve targets from background. First, because calls of lower frequency and narrower bandwidth are sufficient for assessing a surface before landing, and second, because there are few, if any, simple surfaces in nature from which substrate-gleaning behaviours in wild bats would be expected.
Maternal Blood Lead Levels and the Risk of Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension: The EDEN Cohort Study

Background Prior studies revealed associations of environmental lead exposure with risks of hypertension and elevated blood pressure. Objective We examined the effect of blood lead levels on blood pressure and the incidence of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Methods One thousand seventeen pregnant women were enrolled in two French municipalities between 2003 and 2005 for the EDEN (Etude des Déterminants pré et post natals du développement et de la santé de l′ Enfant) cohort study. Blood lead concentrations were measured by atomic absorption spectrometry in mothers between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation. Results PIH was diagnosed in 106 subjects (10.9%). Age, parity, weight gain, alcohol, smoking habits, and calcium supplementation were comparable between hypertensive and nonhypertensive women. Lead levels were significantly higher in PIH cases (mean ± SD, 2.2 ± 1.4 μg/dL) than in normotensive patients (1.9 ± 1.2 μg/dL; p = 0.02). Adjustment for potential confounder effects slightly attenuated but did not eliminate the significant association between blood lead levels and the risk of PIH (adjusted odds ratio of PIH = 3.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–9.7). We also observed geographic differences in lead exposure and in the incidence of PIH and found significant correlations between blood lead levels and unadjusted as well as adjusted systolic and diastolic blood pressures after 24 weeks of gestation. Conclusions These findings confirm the relationship between blood lead levels at mid-pregnancy and blood pressure and suggest that environmental lead exposure may play an etiologic role in PIH.
On capacity of the dirty paper channel with fading dirt in the strong fading regime

The classic “writing on dirty paper” capacity result establishes that full state pre-cancellation can be attained in Gelfand-Pinsker problem with additive state and additive white Gaussian noise. This result holds under the assumption that both the transmitter and the receiver have perfect knowledge of the channel. We are interested in characterizing capacity under the more realistic assumption that only partial channel knowledge is available at the transmitter. To this end we study the “dirty paper channel with slow fading dirt”, a variation of the dirty paper channel in which the state sequence is multiplied by a slow fading value known only at the receiver. For this model we establish two approximate characterizations of capacity, one for the case in which fading takes only two values and one for the case in which fading takes M possible values but these values are greatly spaced apart. For both results, a naive strategy in which the encoder pre-codes against different fading realizations in different time slots is sufficient to approach capacity.
Abnormal Pulmonary Function and Respiratory Muscle Strength Findings in Chinese Patients with Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple System Atrophy–Comparison with Normal Elderly

Background There have been limited comparative data regarding the investigations on pulmonary and respiratory muscle function in the patients with different parkinsonism disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) versus normal elderly. The present study is aiming to characterize the performance of pulmonary function and respiratory muscle strength in PD and MSA, and to investigate the association with severity of motor symptoms and disease duration. Methods Pulmonary function and respiratory muscle strength tests were performed in 30 patients with PD, 27 with MSA as well as in 20 age-, sex-, height-, weight-matched normal elderly controls. All the patients underwent United Parkinson’s disease rating scale (UPDRS) or united multiple system atrophy rating scale (UMSARS) separately as diagnosed. Results Vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 second and forced vital capacity decreased, residual volume and ratio of residual volume to total lung capacity increased in both PD and MSA groups compared to controls (p<0.05). Diffusing capacity was decreased in the MSA group, compared with PD and normal elderly control groups (p<0.05). Respiratory muscle strength was lower in both PD and MSA groups than in controls (p<0.05). The values representing spirometry function and respiratory muscle strength were found to have a negative linear correlation with mean score of UPDRS-III in PD and mean score of UMSARS-I in MSA. Respiratory muscle strength showed a negative linear correlation with the mean score of UMSARS-II and disease duration in MSA patients. Conclusions These findings suggest that respiratory dysfunction is involved in PD and MSA. Respiratory muscle strength is remarkably reduced, and some of the parameters correlate with disease duration and illness severity. The compromised respiratory function in neurodegenerative disorders should be the focus of further researches.
SemTagger: A Novel Approach for Semantic Similarity Based Hashtag Recommendation on Twitter

This paper proposes a semantic similarity based novel approach, to assign or recommend a hashtag to a given tweet. The work uses a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) based learning approach. In the training phase, we learn the latent concept space of a given set of training tweets, via topic modeling, and identify a group of tweets that act as representatives of the topic. In the inference phase, we create a probability distribution of a given test tweet belonging to the learned topics, and ﬁnd the semantic similarity of the test tweet with representative tweets for each topic. We propose two assignment approaches. In one approach, we assign hashtags to a target tweet, by obtaining these from a set of representative training tweets, that have the highest semantic similarities with the target tweet. In the other approach, we combine (a) the semantic similarity of the target tweet with the representative tweets, and (b) the assignment probability of the target tweet to a given topic, and assign hashtags using this joint maximization. The hashtags are assigned to the target tweet, by selecting the top-K values from the combination. Our system yields F-score of 46 . 59% , improving over the LDA baseline by around 6
Limitations of episodic memory for highly similar auditory stimuli

ABSTRACT Two experiments investigated participants’ recognition memory for word content, while varying vocal characteristics, and for vocal characteristics alone. In Experiment 1, participants performed an auditory recognition task in which they identified whether a spoken word was “new”, “old” (repeated word, repeated voice), or “similar” (repeated word, new voice). Results showed that word recognition accuracy was lower for similar trials than old trials. In Experiment 2, participants performed an auditory recognition task in which they identified whether or not a phrase was spoken in an old or new voice, with repetitions occurring after a variable number of intervening stimuli. Results showed that recognition accuracy was lower when old voices spoke an alternate message than a repeated message and accuracy decreased as a function of number of intervening items. Overall, the results suggest that speech recognition is better for lexical content than vocal characteristics alone.
The Seesaw mechanism at arbitrary order: Disentangling the small scale from the large scale

We develop a recipe which allows one to recursively and uniquely decouple the large scale from the small scale in mass matrices of the seesaw type, up to any order in the inverse of the large scale. Our method allows one to calculate the mass matrix of the light neutrinos with arbitrary precision. The same method can be applied in the case of quark mass matrices in an extension of the Standard Model with vector-like quarks which have mass terms at a scale much higher than the electroweak scale.
CD 30 + cells in benign inflammatory infiltrate of some dermatological diseases

Background: CD30 (cluster of differentiation) is a membrane antigen belonging to the so called activation antigen that are induced in lymphocytic cells following their activation. Objective: Assessment of CD30+ cells status in benign inflammatory infiltrate of some dermatological diseases such as psoriasis, lichen planus and scabies in Nile Delta, Egypt. Patients & Methods: This study conducted on 30 patients with three benign inflammatory skin diseases (psoriasis, lichen planus and scabies) and 10 normal volunteers as controls. Skin biopsies were taken from all patients and normal controls under local anasethia. All specimens were stained by hematoxylin and eosin for routine histopathological diagnosis. Each disease was classified into early and late well developed stage according to duration and pathological findings. Immunodetection of CD30 cells were performed. In each biopsy specimen, the distribution and the number of CD30 cells were evaluated as follows: isolated weak positive cells (+), small non-cohesive aggregates (3-5cells) of positive cells (++) and large aggregates (> 5 cells) of strong positive cells (+++). Results: Histopathologically, the skin lesions of the three diseases showed the classical pathological findings. It was found that two out of ten normal human specimens gave a weak positive (+) staining for CD30+ cells. All late cases of psoriasis (6 cases), lichen planus (4 cases), and scabies (7 cases) stained positive (++) or strong positive (+++)] for CD30. Conclusion: CD30 antigen expression occurs in benign inflammatory infiltrate of some benign skin conditions such as psoriasis, lichen planus and scabies.
Blind restoration of confocal microscopy images in presence of a depth-variant blur and Poisson noise

We are interested in blind image restoration in confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Two challenging problems in this imaging system are considered: First, spherical aberrations due to refractive index mismatch leads to a depth variant (DV) blur. Second, low illumination leads to a signal dependent Poisson noise. In addition, the DV point spread function (PSF) is unknown, which increases the complexity of the problem considered. Our goal is to remove in a blind framework both the DV blur and the Poisson noise from CLSM images. Using an approximation of the DV PSF, we define in a Bayesian framework a criterion to be jointly minimized w.r. t. the specimen function and the PSF. We then adopt an alternate minimization scheme for the optimization problem. For each elementary minimization, we use the recently proposed scaled gradient projection (SGP) algorithm that has shown a fast convergence rate. Results are shown on simulated and real CLSM images.
Line formation in convective stellar atmospheres I. Granulation corrections for solar photospheric abundances

In an eort to estimate the largely unknown eects of photospheric temperature fluctuations on spec- troscopic abundance determinations, we have studied the problem of LTE line formation in the inhomogeneous solar photosphere based on detailed 2-dimensional radiation hydrodynamics simulations of the convective surface layers of the Sun. By means of a strictly dierential 1D/2D comparison of the emergent equivalent widths, we have derived \granulation abundance corrections" for individual lines, which have to be applied to standard abun- dance determinations based on homogeneous 1D model atmospheres in order to correct for the influence of the photospheric temperature fluctuations. In general, we nd a line strengthening in the presence of temperature inhomogeneities as a consequence of the non-linear temperature dependence of the line opacity. The resulting corrections are negligible for lines with an excitation potential around Ei = 5 eV, regardless of element and ionization stage. Moderate granulation eects (gran 0:1 dex) are obtained for weak, high-excitation lines (Ei > 10 eV) of C i ,N i ,O i as well as Mg ii and Si ii. The largest corrections are found for ground state lines (Ei = 0 eV) of neutral atoms with an ionization potential between 6 and 8 eV like Mg i ,C ai ,T ii ,F ei, amounting to gran 0:3 dex in the case of Ti i. For many lines of practical relevance, the magnitude of the abundance correction may be estimated from interpolation in the tables and graphs provided with this paper. The appli- cation of abundance corrections may often be an acceptable alternative to a detailed tting of individual line proles based on hydrodynamical simulations. The present study should be helpful in providing upper bounds for possible errors of spectroscopic abundance analyses, and for identifying spectral lines which are least sensitive to the influence of photospheric temperature inhomogeneities.
The International Journal of Biostatistics Cut-Off Estimation and Medical Decision Making Based on a Continuous Prognostic Factor : The Prediction of Kidney Graft Failure

The determination of a cut-off value for a continuous prognostic test is an important problem, which is statistically challenging and practically important for risk assessment. We propose in this paper a method to estimate the optimal cut-off from this type of longitudinal data with censored failure times. The principle is to combine the prognostic error rates of false positives and false negatives with a cost function, which has the advantages to be statistically convenient and to be directly associated with the decision-making. Simulations were performed and the results demonstrate the interest of our approach compared to a reference method. The method is also illustrated by predicting the long-term survival of kidney transplant recipients from the 1-year creatinine clearance.
Teachers' Perspectives regarding the Impacts of the Secondary Education Expansion Policy on Students' Self-Regulatory Learning Experiences in Tanzania

Since 2004, the Tanzania secondary education sector has witnessed a significant increase in the number of new schools and enrolment rates. At the same time, academic results have indicated an increase in poor student performance. The assumption has been that the expansion policy brought about devastating consequences for student learning. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate the perceptions of teachers in relation to the impacts of the government’s secondary education expansion policy on students, especially their self-regulatory learning. A qualitative case study approach was employed, and interviews were used as data gathering tools. Thirty respondents were purposively drawn from two highly and two poorly performing community secondary schools in Tanzania. Findings revealed that false policy promises in relation to school libraries, students’ housing and students’ learning spaces were obstacles to students in developing their self-regulatory learning habits. For the sake of fostering students’ self-regulatory learning, this paper recommends that it is the responsibility of the government, among other stakeholders, to address all issues pertaining to school infrastructure. The limitation of this study provides a chance to suggest areas which need further investigation.
Novel Use of Regional Citrate Anticoagulation for Ultrafiltration Circuit in a Neonate with Severe Ebstein ’ s Anomaly and Intracranial Hemorrhage

Background: Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT), even continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH), is often not well tolerated in hemodynamically unstable patients. Ultrafiltration (UF) using the AquadexTM system has emerged as a potential alternative therapy for fluid removal in critically ill pediatric patients. UF, like CVVH, traditionally requires systemic anticoagulation, putting patients at risk for hemorrhage, and precluding its use for fluid removal in patients who have had bleeding complications. Case: In this report, we present a neonate with complex congenital heart disease, intracranial hemorrhage and acute kidney injury (AKI) who received UF using the AquadexTM system with regional citrate anticoagulation (RCA) instead of the usual unfractionated heparin. Conclusions: To our knowledge, we describe the first case of the successful use of citrate for anticoagulation for UF using the AquadexTM system. Given that this novel modality for fluid removal is most useful in critically ill children who are commonly at risk for bleeding complications, RCA may prove to be a viable and important alternative to systemic anticoagulation with heparin in this population.
Acute Pancreatitis Secondary to Severe Hypertriglyceridemia: Management of Severe Hypertriglyceridemia in Emergency Setting

Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is the third most common cause of acute pancreatitis (AP). The incidence of AP is around 10-20% with levels > 2,000 mg/dL. We present here a case of a 44-year-old male with history of uncontrolled diabetes mellitus and HTG admitted with severe abdominal pain. Labs revealed elevated lipase and amylase. CT of abdomen with contrast showed AP. He was found to have a triglyceride (TG) level of 6,672 mg/dL. Besides conventional treatment for AP with intravenous (IV) hydration, he was started on IV regular insulin along with dextrose saline. He had marked improvement in his TG level the next day. He was continued on insulin and dextrose saline with hourly glucose monitoring until TG was < 500 mg/dL. He was discharged on statins and fenofibrate. The goal of management of AP secondary to severe HTG in emergency setting is to lower the TG levels to less than 500 as quickly as possible as lower levels are associated with good clinical outcomes. Apheresis and IV insulin are both helpful in lowering TG levels with no randomized controlled trials showing greater efficacy of one over other. Further episodes of AP can be prevented by lifestyle modification and lipid lowering drugs to keep TG levels below 500 mg/dL. Fibrates are first-line drugs to lower TG and used either alone or in conjunction with statins. Periodic plasmapheresis can also be considered in some non-compliant patients with recurrent episodes of pancreatitis.