Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of preventive home visits in reducing the risk of falls in old age: a randomized controlled trial

Background Falls in older people are a major public health issue, but the underlying causes are complex. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of preventive home visits as a multifactorial, individualized strategy to reduce falls in community-dwelling older people. Methods Data were derived from a prospective randomized controlled trial with follow-up examination after 18 months. Two hundred and thirty participants (≥80 years of age) with functional impairment were randomized to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received up to three preventive home visits including risk assessment, home counseling intervention, and a booster session. The control group received no preventive home visits. Structured interviews at baseline and follow-up provided information concerning falls in both study groups. Random-effects Poisson regression evaluated the effect of preventive home visits on the number of falls controlling for covariates. Results Random-effects Poisson regression showed a significant increase in the number of falls between baseline and follow-up in the control group (incidence rate ratio 1.96) and a significant decrease in the intervention group (incidence rate ratio 0.63) controlling for age, sex, family status, level of care, and impairment in activities of daily living. Conclusion Our results indicate that a preventive home visiting program can be effective in reducing falls in community-dwelling older people.
Defining inter-cloud architecture for interoperability and integration

This paper presents on-going research to develop the Inter-Cloud Architecture that should address problems in multi-provider multi-domain heterogeneous Cloud based applications integration and interoperability, including integration and interoperability with legacy infrastructure services. Cloud technologies are evolving as a common way of infrastructure services and resources virtualisation and provisioning on-demand. In this way, they bring applications and infrastructure services mobility and physical/hardware platform independency to the existing distributed computing and networking technologies. The paper refers to existing standards in Cloud Computing, in particular, recently published NIST Cloud Computing Reference Architecture (CCRA). The proposed Inter-Cloud Architecture defines three complimentary components addressing inter-cloud interoperability and integration: multi-layer Cloud Services Architecture that combines commonly adopted cloud service models, such as IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, in one multilayer model with corresponding inter-layer interfaces; Inter-Cloud Control and Management Plane that supports cloud based applications interaction; and Inter-Cloud Federation Framework. The paper briefly presents the architectural framework for cloud based infrastructure services provisioned on-demand being developed by authors that can be used as a basis for building multilayer cloud services integration framework that can allow optimised provisioning of both computing, storage and networking resources. The proposed architecture is intended to provide a conceptual model for developing inter-cloud middleware and in this way will facilitate clouds interoperability and integration.
Multiple primary malignancies in association with soft tissue sarcomas

Modern cancer treatment has increased the survival of patients with various malignancies substantially. One of the late sequelae of successful treatment is the development of a second malignant tumor. However, in many cases of second primary tumors, exposure to chemotherapy or radiation therapy is not evident, and it should be postulated that the putative mechanism for the development of the second tumor is different. In the current series, the association between soft tissue sarcoma (STS) in adults and the development of other primary malignancies was studied.
The Effect of Learning on the Function of Monkey Extrastriate Visual Cortex

One of the most remarkable capabilities of the adult brain is its ability to learn and continuously adapt to an ever-changing environment. While many studies have documented how learning improves the perception and identification of visual stimuli, relatively little is known about how it modifies the underlying neural mechanisms. We trained monkeys to identify natural images that were degraded by interpolation with visual noise. We found that learning led to an improvement in monkeys' ability to identify these indeterminate visual stimuli. We link this behavioral improvement to a learning-dependent increase in the amount of information communicated by V4 neurons. This increase was mediated by a specific enhancement in neural activity. Our results reveal a mechanism by which learning increases the amount of information that V4 neurons are able to extract from the visual environment. This suggests that V4 plays a key role in resolving indeterminate visual inputs by coordinated interaction between bottom-up and top-down processing streams.
Simulation of Synthetic Jets in Quiescent Air Using Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations

We report research experience in applying an Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) solver for the prediction of time-dependent flows in the presence of an active flow control device. The configuration under consideration is a synthetic jet created by a single diaphragm piezoelectric actuator in quiescent air. Time-averaged and instantaneous data for this case were obtained at Langley Research Center, using multiple measurement techniques. Computational results for this case using one-equation Spalart-Allmaras and two-equation Menter’s turbulence models are presented here along with comparisons with the experimental data. The effect of grid refinement, preconditioning and time-step variation are also examined.
Execution replay of multiprocessor virtual machines

Execution replay of virtual machines is a technique which has many important applications, including debugging, fault-tolerance, and security. Execution replay for single processor virtual machines is well-understood, and available commercially. With the advancement of multi-core architectures, however, multiprocessor virtual machines are becoming more important. Our system, SMP-ReVirt, is the first system to log and replay a multiprocessor virtual machine on commodity hardware. We use hardware page protection to detect and accurately replay sharing between virtual cpus of a multi-cpu virtual machine, allowing us to replay the entire operating system and all applications. We have tested our system on a variety of workloads, and find that although sharing under SMP-ReVirt is expensive, for many workloads and applications, including debugging, the overhead is acceptable.
3D printing for continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites: mechanism and performance

Purpose Continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTPCs) are becoming more significant in industrial applications but are limited by the high cost of molds, the manufacturing boundedness of complex constructions and the inability of special fiber alignment. The purpose of this paper is to put forward a novel three-dimensional (3D) printing process for CFRTPCs to realize the low-cost rapid fabrication of complicated composite components. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, the mechanism of the proposed process, which consists of the thermoplastic polymer melting, the continuous fiber hot-dipping and the impregnated composites extruding, was investigated. A 3D printing equipment for CFRTPCs with a novel composite extrusion head was developed, and some composite samples have been fabricated for several mechanical tests. Moreover, the interface performance was clarified with scanning electron microscopy images. Findings The results showed that the flexural strength and the tensile strength of these 10 Wt. % continuous carbon fiber (CCF)/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) specimens were improved to 127 and 147 MPa, respectively, far greater than the one of ABS parts and close to the one of CCF/ABS (injection molding) with the same fiber content. Moreover, these test results also exposed the very low interlaminar shear strength (only 2.81 MPa) and the inferior interface performance. These results were explained by the weak meso/micro/nano scale interfaces in the 3D printed composite parts. Originality/value The 3D printing process for CFRTPCs with its controlled capabilities for the orientation and distribution of fiber has great potential for manufacturing of load-bearing composite parts in the industrial circle.
Management of cardiac tamponade in patients with malignancy

From January 1967 through November 1983, 66 patients with a previously established diagnosis of malignancy were treated for pericardial effusion by the creation of a pericardial window. The majority of the patients had malignancies of the breast or lung, or lymphoma. There were no deaths or major complications attributable to the operative procedures.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: molecular mechanisms for the hepatic steatosis

Liver plays a central role in the biogenesis of major metabolites including glucose, fatty acids, and cholesterol. Increased incidence of obesity in the modern society promotes insulin resistance in the peripheral tissues in humans, and could cause severe metabolic disorders by inducing accumulation of lipid in the liver, resulting in the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD, which is characterized by increased fat depots in the liver, could precede more severe diseases such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cirrhosis, and in some cases hepatocellular carcinoma. Accumulation of lipid in the liver can be traced by increased uptake of free fatty acids into the liver, impaired fatty acid beta oxidation, or the increased incidence of de novo lipogenesis. In this review, I would like to focus on the roles of individual pathways that contribute to the hepatic steatosis as a precursor for the NAFLD.
Safety of Irradiated Foods

How it all began radiation sources and process control chemical effects of ionizing radiation biological effects of ionizing radiation indemnification of irradiated foods radiological and toxicological safety of irradiated foods microbiological safety of irradiated foods nutritional adequacy of irradiated foods evaluation of the wholesomeness of irradiated foods by expert groups and international agencies potential and current applications of food irradiation government regulation of irradiated foods consumer attitudes outlook. Appendices: codex general standard for irradiated foods (worldwide standard) recommended international code of practice for the operation of irradiation facilities used for the treatment of foods list of codes of good irradiation practice and other documents issued by the international consultative group on food irradiation (ICGFI) glossary of terms and abbreviations.
Local versus global strategies in multiparameter estimation

We consider the problem of estimating multiple phases using a multi-mode interferometer. In this setting we show that while global strategies that estimate all the phases simultaneously can lead to high precision gains, the same enhancements can be obtained with local strategies where each phase is estimated individually. A key resource for the enhancement is shown to be a large particle-number variance in the probe state, and for states where the total particle number is not fixed, this can be obtained for mode-separable states and the phases can be read out with local measurements. This has important practical implications because local strategies are generally preferred to global ones for their robustness to local estimation failure, flexibility in the distribution of resources, and comparatively easier state preparation. We obtain our results by analyzing two different schemes: the first uses a set of interferometers, which can be used as a model for a network of quantum sensors, and the second looks at measuring a number of phases relative to a reference, which is concerned primarily with quantum imaging.
THE INITIAL MASS FUNCTION OF THE ORION NEBULA CLUSTER ACROSS THE H-BURNING LIMIT

We present a new census of the Orion Nebula Cluster over a large field of view (≳ 30′ × 30′), significantly increasing the known population of stellar and substellar cluster members with precisely determined properties. We develop and exploit a technique to determine stellar effective temperatures from optical colors, nearly doubling the previously available number of objects with effective temperature determinations in this benchmark cluster. Our technique utilizes colors from deep photometry in the I band and in two medium-band filters at λ ∼ 753 and 770 nm, which accurately measure the depth of a molecular feature present in the spectra of cool stars. From these colors we can derive effective temperatures with a precision corresponding to better than one-half spectral subtype, and importantly this precision is independent of the extinction to the individual stars. Also, because this technique utilizes only photometry redward of 750 nm, the results are only mildly sensitive to optical veiling produced by accretion. Completing our census with previously available data, we place some 1750 sources in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram and assign masses and ages down to 0.02 solar masses. At faint luminosities, we detect a large population of background sources which is easily separated in our photometry from the bona fide cluster members. The resulting initial mass function of the cluster has good completeness well into the substellar mass range, and we find that it declines steeply with decreasing mass. This suggests a deficiency of newly formed brown dwarfs in the cluster compared to the Galactic disk population.
Stackebrandtia cavernae sp. nov., a novel actinobacterium isolated from a karst cave sample.

A novel actinobacterial strain, YIM ART06T, was isolated from a rock sample of karst cave located at Guizhou province, south-west China, and was characterized by a polyphasic taxonomic approach. The morphological and chemotaxonomic properties of strain YIM ART06T were in accordance with those of the genus Stackebrandtia. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain YIM ART06T showed highest similarity to Stackebrandtia nassauensis JCM 14905T (98.0 %). The DNA-DNA hybridization value between strains YIM ART06T and S. nassauensis JCM 14905T was, however, moderately high (62.9 %) but below the 70 % limit for species identification. Strain YIM ART06T contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid, and mannose, ribose and xylose in the whole-cell hydrolysates. The predominant menaquinones detected were MK-10(H4), MK-10(H6), MK-11(H4) and MK-11(H6), while the cell membrane polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine and three unidentified phospholipids. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain YIM ART06T was 71 mol%. The major fatty acids were anteiso-C17 : 0, iso-C17 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0. Based on the taxonomic characteristics from the genotypic and phenotypic results, strain YIM ART06T merits recognition as a representative of a novel species of the genus Stackebrandtia, for which the name Stackebrandtia cavernae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM ART06T ( = KCTC 39599T = CCTCC AA 2015021T = DSM 100594T).
n-Quasi-isotopy: I. Questions of nilpotence

It is well-known that no knot can be cancelled in a connected sum with another knot, whereas every link can be cancelled up to link homotopy in a (componentwise) connected sum with another link. In this paper we address the question whether the noncancellation property of knots holds for some (piecewise-linear) links up to some stronger analogue of link homotopy, which still does not distinguish between sufficiently close C^0-approximations of a topological link. We introduce a sequence of such increasingly stronger equivalence relations under the name of k-quasi-isotopy, k=1,2,. ; all of them are weaker than isotopy (in the sense of Milnor). We prove that every link can be cancelled up to peripheral structure preserving isomorphism of any quotient of the fundamental group, functorially invariant under k-quasi-isotopy; functoriality means that the isomorphism between the quotients for links related by an allowable crossing change fits in the commutative diagram with the fundamental group of the complement to the intermediate singular link. The proof invokes Baer's theorem on the join of subnormal locally nilpotent subgroups. On the other hand, the integral generalized (lk\ne 0) Sato-Levine invariant \tilde\beta is invariant under 1-quasi-isotopy, but is not determined by any quotient of the fundamental group (endowed with the peripheral structure), functorially invariant under 1-quasi-isotopy - in contrast to Waldhausen's theorem. As a byproduct, we use \tilde\beta to determine the image of the Kirk-Koschorke invariant \tilde\sigma of fibered link maps.
Pattern of anti-diabetic drugs prescribed in a tertiary care hospital of Bangladesh

Background Globally, diabetes mellitus is a common endocrine disorder. This study was conducted for collecting the demographic details of diabetic patients and determining the pattern of drugs prescribed among them in outpatient department of a tertiary healthcare center. Methods A descriptive type of cross-sectional study was carried out at the outpatient department of Endocrinology, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh from 1 May to 31 July, 2015. Diabetic patients receiving the management for at least 6 months were enrolled and interviewed by the researchers after getting informed written consent. Structured case record form was used for demographic data & prescription details. Data were analysed using computer in SPSS 22 and Microsoft Excel 2010. Results Altogether 105 patients, 40 males (38.1%) and 65 females (61.9%) were enrolled with urban predominance (69.5%) where 51 (48.6%) were in the age group 47-61 years with a mean of 53.4 (SD±10.6) years. 70 (66.7%) had diabetic history of less than 5 years and 66 (62.9%) had at least one concurrent illness. Hypertension accounted for majority (34.3%) of complications. On an average, 5.62 (SD±3.16) drugs were advised per prescription for diabetes as well as associated co-morbidities and majority (23.8%) had 4 drugs. The majority of drugs (74.3%) were from local manufacturers. Most patients (62.9%) were prescribed with oral drugs singly. Metformin alone predominated in 41% prescriptions followed by the combination of Metformin and Sitagliptin (31.4%). Conclusions The findings can serve as a guide to choose the formulation and combination of anti-diabetic drugs in this part of the world before developing & marketing any new drug.
Endophytic and epiphytic microbes as “sources” of bioactive agents

Beginning with the report by Stierle and Strobel in 1993 on taxol(R) production by an endophytic fungus (Stierle et al., 1993), it is possible that a number of the agents now used as leads to treatments of diseases in man, are not produced by the plant or invertebrate host from which they were first isolated and identified. They are probably the product of a microbe in, on or around the macroorganism. At times there is an intricate “dance” between a precursor produced by a microbe, and interactions within the macroorganism, or in certain cases, a fungus, that ends up with the production of a novel agent that has potential as a treatment for a human disease. This report will give examples from insects, plants, and marine invertebrates.
The sea urchin complement homologue, SpC3, functions as an opsonin

SUMMARY The purple sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus expresses a homologue of complement component C3 (SpC3), which acts as a humoral opsonin. Significantly increased phagocytic activity was evident when yeast target cells were opsonized after incubation with coelomic fluid containing SpC3. SpC3 could be detected on the surface of yeast, and phagocytic activity could be inhibited by an anti-SpC3 antibody. This indicates that SpC3 promotes phagocytosis by physically tagging target cells for ingestion. Confocal microscopy showed that opsonized yeast were phagocytosed by a single coelomocyte type (polygonal phagocytes), presumably because these cells express SpC3 receptors. Overall, these data indicate that SpC3 is a major humoral opsonin in S. purpuratus coelomic fluid.
Historical perspective on the use of animal bioassays to predict carcinogenicity: Evolution in design and recognition of utility

The animal testing protocols used today to evaluate the carcinogenicity of chemicals are very different from those used in the earlier part of the 20th century. To explore how cancer bioassays have changed over time, we surveyed the literature discussing test design and interpretation from the 1930s to the present. We also analyzed compendia of bioassays published by the US Public Health Service (US PHS) from 1938 to 1978, and evaluated the data to understand the evolution of testing methodology (e.g., animals used, test duration) and the types of chemicals being studied. The cancer bioassay evolved in several stages. At the beginning of the 20th century, animal bioassays were primarily used to re-create known human diseases, whereas in the 1940s to 1960s, animal bioassays were largely used to evaluate the safety of chemicals in foods, drugs, and cosmetics. Beginning in the late 1960s and 1970s, chemicals primarily associated with occupational or environmental exposures were also evaluated. Testing strategies now emphasize a suite of tests including multiple in vitro tests and both short-term and long-term animal tests. The objectives of testing are broader, too, with test goals encompassing information regarding mode of action and other parameters aimed at evaluating potential species differences (e.g., in toxicokinetics) and their relevance for evaluating human risks. It is important to consider this evolution when evaluating the testing methodology and scientific conclusions in earlier eras. As toxicology continues to develop, testing methods will continue to change in concert with increased knowledge and understanding.