Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of Mycoplasma pneumoniae and asthma among Indian children

Abstract The role of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection as a trigger for asthma exacerbations is well supported in previous studies. This study was designed to investigate the role of M. pneumoniae infection in acute exacerbation of asthma in children. A total of 150 patients (110 males, 40 females) were studied and immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies to M. pneumoniae were detected by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and PCR amplification was performed for the P1 gene to associate M. pneumoniae infection with asthma. As compared with 33 children with asthma, only two of the control subjects had positive IgM titers for M. pneumoniae, which was statistically significant (P=0.002). A total of 15 children with asthma were positive by PCR for the P1 gene while none of the controls had a positive PCR. Of these positive cases, 24 cases were positive only by ELISA, six were positive only by PCR and nine patients were found to be positive by both ELISA and PCR. All the clinical characteristics of the patients at baseline were comparable between the moderate and the severe group of patients statistically, except for the peak expiratory flow rate. Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection was found to have a significant association with acute exacerbation in the moderate group of asthma patients by PCR (P=0.01). These data suggest that M. pneumoniae infection may contribute to asthma exacerbation.
Community-Based HIV-1 Early Diagnosis and Risk Behavior Analysis of Men Having Sex with Men in Hong Kong

The increasing prevalence of HIV-1 among men having sex with men (MSM) calls for an investigation of HIV-1 prevalence and incidence in MSM by early diagnosis to assist with early preventive interventions in Hong Kong. The participants were recruited randomly from MSM communities within a one-year period. Rapid HIV Test (RHT) and real-time dried blood spot (DBS)-based quantitative polymerase chain reaction (DBS-qPCR) were used for the early diagnosis of 474 participants. Risk behavior analysis was performed by studying information obtained from the participants during the study period. The HIV-1 prevalence and incident rates in the studied MSM population were 4.01% (19/474) and 1.47% (7/474), respectively. Three infected participants were found at the acute phase of infection by DBS-qPCR. Only 46.4% (220/474) MSM were using condoms regularly for anal sex. HIV infection significantly correlated with unprotected receptive anal sex and syphilis infection. An increased number of infections was found among foreign MSM in Hong Kong. This study is the first to use DBS-qPCR to identify acutely infected individuals in a community setting and to provide both the prevalence and incident rates of HIV-1 infection among MSM in Hong Kong. The risk analysis provided evidence that behavior intervention strengthening is necessary to fight against the increasing HIV-1 epidemic among MSM in Hong Kong and surrounding regions in Asia.
Combined Pulse Electroporation – A Novel Strategy for Highly Efficient Transfection of Human and Mouse Cells

The type of a nucleic acid and the type of the cell to be transfected generally affect the efficiency of electroporation, the versatile method of choice for gene regulation studies or for recombinant protein expression. We here present a combined square pulse electroporation strategy to reproducibly and efficiently transfect eukaryotic cells. Cells suspended in a universal buffer system received an initial high voltage pulse that was continuously combined with a subsequent low voltage pulse with independently defined electric parameters of the effective field and the duration of each pulse. At comparable viable cell recoveries and transfection efficiencies of up to 95% of all cells, a wide variety of cells especially profited from this combined pulse strategy by high protein expression levels of individual cells after transfection. Long-term silencing of gene expression by transfected small interfering RNA was most likely due to the uptake of large nucleic acid amounts as shown by direct detection of fluorochromated small interfering RNA. The highly efficient combined pulse electroporation strategy enables for external regulation of the number of naked nucleic acid molecules taken up and can be easily adapted for cells considered difficult to transfect.
Receptors and Entry Cofactors for Retroviruses Include Single and Multiple Transmembrane-Spanning Proteins as well as Newly Described Glycophosphatidylinositol-Anchored and Secreted Proteins

SUMMARY In the past few years, many retrovirus receptors, coreceptors, and cofactors have been identified. These molecules are important for some aspects of viral entry, although in some cases it remains to be determined whether they are required for binding or postbinding stages in entry, such as fusion. There are certain common features to the molecules that many retroviruses use to gain entry into the cell. For example, the receptors for most mammalian oncoretroviruses are multiple membrane-spanning transport proteins. However, avian retroviruses use single-pass membrane proteins, and a sheep retrovirus uses a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored molecule as its receptor. For some retroviruses, particularly the lentiviruses, two cell surface molecules are required for efficient entry. More recently, a soluble protein that is required for viral entry has been identified for a feline oncoretrovirus. In this review, we will focus on the various strategies used by mammalian retroviruses to gain entry into the cell. The choice of receptors will also be discussed in light of pressures that drive viral evolution and persistence.
An EPR Study of Defects in Neutron-Irradiated Cubic SiC Crystals

EPR spectroscopy has been used to characterize neutron-irradiated cubic SiC samples after thermal annealing in the 200-1100OC temperature range. Three new paramagnetic defects named Ky6, Ky7 and Ky8 have been revealed. Based on the present results, these defects have been tentatively attributed to the negatively charged carbon vacancy-carbon antisite pair, negatively charged divacancy and neutral carbon <100> split interstitial, respectively. Furthermore, the finding of practically isotropic hyperfine splitting for EPR lines of the T6 center confirms its assignment as a carbon vacancy-interstitial pair.
Scalable ordered indexing of streaming data

In order to efficiently answer continuous queries requiring range search in large stream windows, data stream management systems (DSMSs) need ordered indexes. Conventional DBMS indexing methods are not specifically designed for data streaming applications with extremely high insert and delete rates for windows over streams. This motivates a scalability investigation for various ordered main memory indexing methods in a streaming environment, through implementation and experiments. Our experimental studies show that a state-of-the-art implementation of cache-aware compact tries is a very suitable indexing structure for data streaming applications allowing constant time insert and access rates. However, in the best of the investigated implementation the range search was slow. Since a highly optimized implementation of compact tries is very complex we developed a framework for scalable range search in an index without any change to its source code. Another important issue is that index maintenance in window based data stream environments require a scalable way of deleting data, which is addressed by an index independent window aware bulk deletion technique, also without changing any source code.
Study on passive and/or active vibration control for flexible structures

OF THE DISSERTATION STUDY ON PASSIVE AND/OR ACTIVE VIBRATION CONTROL FOR FLEXIBLE STRUCTURES by Qinghua Chen Florida International University, 1995 Professor Cesar Levy, Major Professor The purpose of this research is to present new methods of active and passive vibration control for flexible structures. The study includes: 1) passive viscoelastic damping treatment; 2 ) active vibration control using layered shape memory alloy (SMA); 3) combined application of viscoelastic damping treatment and SMA; 4) experiments. In order to maximize damping and save weight of the structure and cost, a partially covered double sandwich cantilever beam model has been presented. It is shown that the double sandwich beam is better than single sandwich beam for some conditions. To take into account of end loads effect of elastic structures such as robot arm or manipulator, a model of partially covered double sandwich cantilever beam with mass at free end is given and discussed. Also a more accurate model (Timoshenko model) is discussed. The experiments were done to verify the theoretical results. The active vibration control by means of layered shape memory alloy actuator is discussed. The layered structure is easy to implement in real application, especially for the existing structures. The control results are compared and discussed. The temperature effects are discussed. Also a model with combined application of viscoelastic damping treatment and shape memory alloy layer is presented. Both the vibration characteristics and control results are obtained and discussed. The vibration control results for different control schemes are compared and discussed. The temperature effects are also discussed CHAPTER PAGE
Risk factors for acute cellulitis of the lower limb: a prospective case-control study.

BACKGROUND Acute bacterial cellulitis is a potentially serious infection that commonly recurs. The identification of preventable risk factors could reduce infection-related morbidity and cost and improve patient management. The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors associated with lower-limb cellulitis, including both analysis of risk factors associated with cellulitis in either limb and risk factors in a single limb associated with cellulitis in the same limb. We placed particular emphasis on dermatophytic infections of the foot and bacterial infection and colonization of the toe webs. METHODS We conducted a prospective case-control study of 100 subjects with cellulitis and 200 control subjects, matched for age and sex, who were admitted to a university hospital during the period October 2000-February 2004. Data were obtained with a questionnaire and from examination of lower limbs and microbiological analyses of samples from the feet. RESULTS The median age of the participants was 66.5 years (interquartile range, 48.8-77.0). The following risk factors were strongly and independently associated with cellulitis: previous history of cellulitis (OR, 31.04; 95% CI, 4.15-232.20), the presence of Staphylococcus aureus and/or beta -hemolytic streptococci in the toe webs (OR, 28.97; 95% CI, 5.47-153.48), presence of leg erosions or ulcers (OR, 11.80; 95% CI, 2.47-56.33), and prior saphenectomy (OR, 8.49; 95% CI, 1.62-44.52). Tinea pedis interdigitalis was associated with cellulitis only when toe web bacteria were excluded from the analysis (OR, 3.86; 95% CI, 1.32-11.27). CONCLUSIONS Risk factors for acute bacterial cellulitis in hospitalized patients include predisposing factors and the presence of sites of pathogen entry on legs and toe webs. These findings indicate that improved awareness and management of toe web intertrigo, which may harbor bacterial pathogens, and other skin lesions might reduce the incidence of cellulitis.
Incorporating uncertainty into adaptive, transboundary water challenges: a conceptual design for the Okavango River basin

In this paper, we present a review and conceptual design to integrate hydrological/ecological models, global uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, integrative modelling and decision analysis for complex and adaptive transboundary challenges. The research uses the transboundary issues within the Okavango River basin, a shared water resource among the nations of Angola, Namibia and Botswana, as an example for constructing
Blood biomarkers for personalized treatment and patient management decisions in community-acquired pneumonia

Purpose of review In patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), blood biomarkers can help to substantially improve individual decisions involving initiation, (de-)intensification, and cessation of antibiotics, and initial risk stratification, site-of-care assignment (outpatient versus ward versus ICU), and discharge. To illustrate these processes, this review summarizes recent findings from trials investigating the use of two hormokines, procalcitonin (PCT) or proadrenomedullin (ProADM), in personalized treatment and management decisions in CAP patients. Recent findings Many biomarkers from distinct pathophysiological pathways have been evaluated in observational studies. However, only few analytes have been tested for efficacy and safety in numerous, large observational studies or in prospective, randomized, interventional trials. Among the latter, PCT has been demonstrated to be well tolerated and highly effective for monitoring and de-escalating antibiotic therapy. ProADM has shown higher accuracy for short-term and long-term adverse outcome prediction and improves prognostic accuracy when combined with current clinical risk scores, that is, Pneumonia Severity Index, the CURB65 (confusion, uremia, respiratory rate, blood pressure, age at least 65 years) score, and Risk of Early Admission to ICU, compared to applying the respective score alone. ProADM use has – in a pilot interventional study – improved site-of-care decisions and tended to shorten length hospitalization. Summary Inclusion of biomarker data in clinical algorithms improves individual decision-making in CAP patients. Interventional trials should be conducted to determine these markers’ ultimate utility in patient management.
Transparency, Liquidity, and Valuation: International Evidence

We examine the relation between transparency, stock market liquidity, and valuation for a global sample of firms. Following the prior literature, we argue that transaction costs will be higher and investors will be less willing to transact if they perceive significant issues with respect to transparency, particularly in international settings where potential information effects are more pronounced Consistent with expectations, we document lower transaction costs and greater liquidity (as measured by lower bid-ask spreads and fewer zero return days) when transparency is likely to be higher (as measured by less evidence of earnings management, better accounting standards, higher quality auditors, more analyst following and more accurate analyst forecasts). We also find evidence that the relation between transparency and liquidity is more pronounced when country-level investor protections and disclosure requirements are poor, suggesting that firm-level transparency matters most when country-level institutions are weak. Finally, we provide evidence that increased liquidity is associated with lower implied cost of capital based on an analyst-forecast-based valuation model, and with higher valuation as measured by Tobin's Q. Magnitudes are substantial, with an interquartile increase in transparency in a low investor protection country associated with a decrease in bid-ask spread from 1.9% to 0.9% and a decrease in cost of capital of 62 basis points.
ABNORMAL ERPS AND HIGH FREQUENCY BANDS POWER IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Event-related potentials (ERPs) and power spectral density (PSD) were registered during an auditory-oddball paradigm in 11 MS patients. These patients showed a decrease in the amplitude of P2 and N2 components and a delayed P3 latency compared to control subjects suggesting that the attentional orienting mechanism in the auditory modality is affected in MS. The PSD analysis showed that MS patients exhibited an increased power in beta and gamma bands. The combined analysis of frequency and time domain suggested diverse phenomena that occurred in the MS patient group related with the EEG background or the motivational status.
Vesicular Stomatitis Virus mRNA Capping Machinery Requires Specific cis-Acting Signals in the RNA

ABSTRACT Many viruses of eukaryotes that use mRNA cap-dependent translation strategies have evolved alternate mechanisms to generate the mRNA cap compared to their hosts. The most divergent of these mechanisms are those used by nonsegmented negative-sense (NNS) RNA viruses, which evolved a capping enzyme that transfers RNA onto GDP, rather than GMP onto the 5′ end of the RNA. Working with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), a prototype of the NNS RNA viruses, we show that mRNA cap formation is further distinct, requiring a specific cis-acting signal in the RNA. Using recombinant VSV, we determined the function of the eight conserved positions of the gene-start sequence in mRNA initiation and cap formation. Alterations to this sequence compromised mRNA initiation and separately formation of the GpppA cap structure. These studies provide genetic and biochemical evidence that the mRNA capping apparatus of VSV evolved an RNA capping machinery that functions in a sequence-specific manner.
Reliability of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide assay in diagnosis of heart failure: cohort study in representative and high risk community populations

Abstract Objective: To investigate the performance of a novel assay for N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in diagnosing heart failure in various randomly selected general and high risk community populations. Design: Community cohort study (substudy of the echocardiographic heart of England screening study). Setting: Four randomly selected general practices in the West Midlands of England. Participants: 591 randomly sampled patients over the age of 45, stratified for age and socioeconomic status and falling into four cohorts (general population, patients with an existing clinical label of heart failure, patients prescribed diuretics, and patients deemed at high risk of heart failure). Main outcome measure: Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, likelihood ratios, and area under receiver operating characteristic curve for NT-proBNP assay in the diagnosis of heart failure. Results: For NT-proBNP in the diagnosis of heart failure in the general population (population screen), a level of >36 pmol/l had a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 70%, a positive predictive value of 7%, a negative predictive value of 100%, and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.92 (95% confidence interval 0.82 to 1.0). Similar negative predictive values were found for patients from the three other populations screened. Conclusions: This NT-proBNP assay seems to have value in the diagnosis of heart failure in the community. High negative predictive values indicate that the assay's chief use would be to rule out heart failure in patients with suspected heart failure with normal concentrations of NT-proBNP. Positive results may identify patients who need cardiac imaging.
Placement for Binary-Weighted Capacitive Array in SAR ADC Using Multiple Weighting Methods

The overall accuracy and linearity of a matching-limited successive-approximation-register analog-to-digital converter are primarily determined by its digital-to-analog converter's (DAC's) matching characteristics. As the resolution of the DAC increases, it is harder to achieve accurate capacitance ratios in the layout, which are affected by systematic and random mismatches. An ideal placement for the DAC array should try to minimize the systematic mismatches, followed by the random mismatch. This paper proposes a placement strategy, which incorporates a matrix-adjustment method for the DAC, and different placement techniques and weighting methods for the placements of active and dummy unit capacitors. The resulting placement addresses both systematic and random mismatches. We consider the following four systematic mismatches such as the first-order process gradients, the second-order lithographic errors, the proximity effects, the wiring complexity, and the asymmetrical fringing parasitics. The experimental results show that the placement strategy achieves smaller capacitance ratio mismatch and shorter computational runtime than those of existing works.
Thermal-aware compilation for system-on-chip processing architectures

The development of compiler-based mechanisms to reduce the percentage of hotspots and optimize the thermal profile of large register files has become an important issue. Thermal hotspots have been known to cause severe reliability issues, while the thermal profile of the devices is also related to the leakage power consumption and the cooling cost. In this paper we propose several compilation techniques that, based on an efficient register allocation mechanism, reduce the percentage of hotspots in the register file and uniformly distribute the heat. As a result, the thermal profile and reliability of the device is clearly improved. Simulation results show that the proposed flow achieved 91% reduction of hotspots and 11% reduction of the peak temperature.
Bone Scan in Detection of Biological Activity in Nonhypertrophic Fracture Nonunion

Biological activity of the fracture site is very important factor in treatment planning of fracture nonunion. If no biological activity is detected, then an autologous bone graft can be supplemented or osteogenic supplementations, such as bone morphogenetic protein is given. If biological activity is present, then secure fixation is sufficient to achieve bony union. Biological activity of nonunions is usually assessed by conventional radiographs. The presence of callus formation is usually assessed as the presence of biological activity. However, high number of radiologically nonhypertrophic nonunion demonstrates intense, uniform tracer uptake on bone scan, a sign of biological activity. Poor or absent callus visualization on radiographs does not always mean a lack of biological activity and it underestimates it. Uptake in bone scintigraphy reflects blood flow and new bone formation and being functional imaging technique, it is more suitable for assessing biological activity.
Detecting DDoS attacks with passive measurement based heuristics

Network traffic anomalies such as distributed denial of service attacks or the propagation of a new worm are hard to detect on noncongested ISP backbone links. The research community hasn't managed to offer reliable detection metrics that can be implemented with the current technology constraints to network administrators yet. In this work we explore and evaluate the effectiveness of several potential heuristics in detecting flooding attacks. Our observations are based on a daily network traffic analysis for a period longer than 3 months and on more than 40 experiments that were conducted with the use of common DDoS tools in the production network of an academic ISP. The data analyzed are based on different types of passive measurements that are available today to ISP's. We identify multiple effective detection metrics that could give network administrators insight to malicious activities passing through their networks.