Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circulating Immune Complexes and Rheumatoid Factors in Patients with Farmer's Lung

Circulating IgG immune complexes (CICs), IgM rheumatoid factors (RFs), complement level (C3 and C4), and IgG antibodies to Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus umbrosus, Thermo‐actinomyces vulgaris, and Micropolyspora faeni were analysed in the sera of 14 patients with farmer's lung (FL), 10 in the acute and four in the subacute phase of the disease. Ten spouses of FL patients served as exposed healthy controls. C3 and C4 were measured fluoronephelometrically. C3 levels were above the normal range and C4 levels near the upper limit of the normal range in both patients and controls; no statistically significant difference between patients and controls were observed. CICs were determined by enzyme immunoassays (EIA) of conglutinin‐binding (KgB) and Clq‐binding (ClqB). CIC levels above the normal range were detected in 12 (KgB‐EIA) and nine (ClqB‐EIA) of the patients and three (KgB‐EIA) and six (ClqB‐EIA) of the controls. No statistically significant differences were found in the mean levels between patients and controls. In contrast, RF levels in the acute phase of FL were significantly higher in the patients (P < 0.01) than in the controls. CICs correlated positively with most microbial IgG antibodies, but negatively with RFs. RFs also correlated negatively with microbial IgG antibodies, as well as with both C3 and C4. In FL, the increased RF level may, in the absence of increased CIC and decreased complement levels, represent an immune response (IgM anti‐IgG autoantibodies) induced by local mechanisms of IgG immune complexes in the lungs.
Evaluation of a DNA Microarray, the Check-Points ESBL/KPC Array, for Rapid Detection of TEM, SHV, and CTX-M Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamases and KPC Carbapenemases

ABSTRACT Extended-spectrum ß-lactamases (ESBLs) and Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPC carbepenemases) have rapidly emerged worldwide and require rapid identification. The Check-Points ESBL/KPC array, a new commercial system based on genetic profiling for the direct identification of ESBL producers (SHV, TEM, and CTX-M) and of KPC producers, was evaluated. Well-characterized Gram-negative rods (Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii) expressing various ß-lactamases (KPC-2, SHV, TEM, and CTX-M types) were used as well as wild-type reference strains and isolates harboring ß-lactamase genes not detected by the assay. In addition, phenotypically confirmed ESBL producers isolated in clinical samples over a 3-month period at the Bicetre hospital were analyzed using the Check-Points ESBL/KPC array and by standard PCR. The Check-Points ESBL/KPC array allowed fast detection of all TEM, SHV, and CTX-M ESBL genes and of the KPC-2 gene. The assay allowed easy differentiation between non-ESBL TEM and SHV and their ESBL derivatives. None of the other tested ß-lactamase genes were detected, underlining its high specificity. The technique is suited for Enterobacteriaceae but also for P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii. However, for nonfermenters, especially P. aeruginosa, a 1:10 dilution of the total DNA was necessary to detect KPC-2 and SHV-2a genes reliably. The Check-Points ESBL/KPC array is a powerful high-throughput tool for rapid identification of ESBLs and KPC producers in cultures. It provided definitive results within the same working day, allowing rapid implementation of isolation measures and appropriate antibiotic treatment. It showed an interesting potential for routine laboratory testing.
AN X-BAND STANDING WAVE DIELECTRIC LOADED ACCELERATING STRUCTURE

An 11.4 GHz standing wave Dielectric Loaded Accelerating (DLA) structure was recently developed. The structure is designed to achieve a 120 MV/m gradient powered by a 10 MW 200 ns rf pulse from the X-band Magnicon at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). The structure uses on-axis rf coupling, which helps to localize the maximum EM fields within the dielectric region. Bench testing shows excellent agreement with the simulation results. In the high power rf test, multipactor was found to prevent increasing the gradient inside the dielectric cavity beyond 10MV/m. A simple model has been constructed that shows good agreement with the experiment. A new approach to completely suppress the multipactor in DLA structures using an axial magnetic field has been proposed. More experiments are planned.
Online learning and mining human play in complex games

We propose a hybrid model for automatically acquiring a policy for a complex game, which combines online learning with mining knowledge from a corpus of human game play. Our hypothesis is that a player that learns its policies by combining (online) exploration with biases towards human behaviour that's attested in a corpus of humans playing the game will outperform any agent that uses only one of the knowledge sources. During game play, the agent extracts similar moves made by players in the corpus in similar situations, and approximates their utility alongside other possible options by performing simulations from its current state. We implement and assess our model in an agent playing the complex win-lose board game Settlers of Catan, which lacks an implementation that would challenge a human expert. The results from the preliminary set of experiments illustrate the potential of such a joint model.
Teaching English Speaking and English Speaking Tests in the Thai Context: A Reflection from Thai Perspective

To successfully assess how language learners enhance their performance and achieve language learning goals, the four macro skills of listening, speaking reading and writing are usually the most frequently assessed and focused areas. However, speaking, as a productive skill, seems intuitively the most important of all the four language skills because it can distinctly show the correctness and language errors that a language learner makes. Since English speaking tests, in general, aim to evaluate how the learners express their improvement and success in pronunciation and communication, several aspects, especially speaking test formats and pronunciation need to be considered. To enhance Thai learners’ English performance and the quality of the speaking tests, this paper has three principal objectives. First, this paper presents English language teaching, as well as teaching English speaking in the Thai context. Then, it highlights the significance of the test format as it is the main tool and indicator for scoring performance and analytic rating methods. Lastly, the paper addresses major problems found in the speaking tests to elucidate certain facts about learners’ speaking ability and English instruction in the Thai context. Some pedagogical implications of the study are discussed for learning and teaching speaking to second or foreign language learners.
Classification and Effects of Implant Surface Modification on the Bone: Human Cell‐Based In Vitro Studies

&NA; Implant surfaces are continuously being improved to achieve faster osseointegration and a stronger bone to implant interface. This review will present the various implant surfaces, the parameters for implant surface characterization, and the corresponding in vitro human cell‐based studies determining the strength and quality of the bone‐implant contact. These in vitro cell‐based studies are the basis for animal and clinical studies and are the prelude to further reviews on how these surfaces would perform when subjected to the oral environment and functional loading.
Challenges in Atherosclerotic Plaque Characterization With Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS): From Data Collection to Classification

In vivo plaque characterization is an important research field in interventional cardiology. We will study the realistic challenges to this goal by deploying 40 MHz single-element, mechanically rotating transducers. The intrinsic variability among the transducers' spectral parameters as well as tissue signals will be demonstrated. Subsequently, we will show that global data normalization is not suited for data calibration, due to the aforementioned variations as well as the stringent characteristics of spectral features. We will describe the sensitivity of an existing feature extraction algorithm based on eight spectral signatures (integrated backscatter coefficient, slope, midband-fit (MBF), intercept, and maximum and minimum powers and their relative frequencies) to a number of factors, such as the window size and order of the autoregressive (AR) model. It will be further demonstrated that the variations in the transducer's spectral parameters (i.e., center frequency and bandwidth) cause inconsistencies among extracted features. In this paper, two fundamental questions are addressed: 1) what is the best reliable way to extract the most informative features? and 2) which classification algorithm is the most appropriate for this problem? We will present a full-spectrum analysis as an alternative to the eight-feature approach. For the first time, different classification algorithms, such as k -nearest neighbors (k-NN) and linear Fisher, will be employed and their performances quantified. Finally, we will explore the reliability of the training dataset and the complexity of the recognition algorithm and illustrate that these two aspects can highly impact the accuracy of the end result, which has not been considered until now.
Prevalence of Abdominal Obesity in Adolescents 2012, Birjand, East of Iran

Background: Prevalence of obesity in children has been increased during recent decades all over the world. Obesity, particularly, abdominal obesity (AO) is associated with the risk of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to assess obesity and central obesity within students aged 11-18 of Birjand city. Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive- analytical study was conducted on 2458 secondary and high school students, including 1345 girls (54.8%) and 1113 boys (45.2%), who had been selected from Birjand Middle and high schools through multiple-cluster sampling in 2012. For determination of AO, waist circumference and the percentage 90 or more regarding age and sex were used. The obtained data were analyzed by using statistical t-tests and χ2 at the significant level P < 0.05. Results: Among the studied students, average 16.3% (20% of boys and 13.2% of girls) had AO. The obtained data about these two groups shows statistical significant difference of P < 0.001. Chance of AO in boys was 1.6 times greater than that of girls. Odds ratio (OR) = 1.6 (confidence interval [CI]: 1.3-2.1). It was 1.9 times more about under 15-year-old than over 15 aged subjects. OR = 1.9 (CI: 1.5-2.4). Conclusions: Regarding high prevalence of AO in Birjand adolescents, it is recommended that adolescents and their families should be warned for long-term outcomes of obesity on quality-of-life. Periodic studies are suggested for awareness of obesity trends in the coming years.
Recognizing Text-Based Traffic Signs

We propose a novel system for the automatic detection and recognition of text in traffic signs. Scene structure is used to define search regions within the image, in which traffic sign candidates are then found. Maximally stable extremal regions (MSERs) and hue, saturation, and value color thresholding are used to locate a large number of candidates, which are then reduced by applying constraints based on temporal and structural information. A recognition stage interprets the text contained within detected candidate regions. Individual text characters are detected as MSERs and are grouped into lines, before being interpreted using optical character recognition (OCR). Recognition accuracy is vastly improved through the temporal fusion of text results across consecutive frames. The method is comparatively evaluated and achieves an overall $F_{\rm measure}$ of 0.87.
Can the Search for “Fairness” Be Taken Too Far?

The many works devoted to the issue of fairness in language testing (e.g., Kunnan, 1999, 2000; Shohamy, 2001; Spolsky, 1981) testify to the field’s recognition of the importance of this issue. Brown (1996) defines fairness as “the degree to which a test treats every student the same or the degree to which it is impartial” (p. 31). The goal of language tests is to impartially measure individual test-takers’ language ability. If, however, performance on those tests is influenced by factors other than language ability, then bias is introduced into the measurement.
BuMP: Bulk Memory Access Prediction and Streaming

With the end of Den nard scaling, server power has emerged as the limiting factor in the quest for more capable data enters. Without the benefit of supply voltage scaling, it is essential to lower the energy per operation to improve server efficiency. As the industry moves to lean-core server processors, the energy bottleneck is shifting toward main memory as a chief source of server energy consumption in modern data enters. Maximizing the energy efficiency of today's DRAM chips and interfaces requires amortizing the costly DRAM page activations over multiple row buffer accesses. This work introduces Bulk Memory Access Prediction and Streaming, or BuMP. We make the observation that a significant fraction (59-79%) of all memory accesses fall into DRAM pages with high access density, meaning that the majority of their cache blocks will be accessed within a modest time frame of the first access. Accesses to high-density DRAM pages include not only memory reads in response to load instructions, but also reads stemming from store instructions as well as memory writes upon a dirty LLC eviction. The remaining accesses go to low-density pages and virtually unpredictable reference patterns (e.g., Hashed key lookups). BuMP employs a low-cost predictor to identify high-density pages and triggers bulk transfer operations upon the first read or write to the page. In doing so, BuMP enforces high row buffer locality where it is profitable, thereby reducing DRAM energy per access by 23%, and improves server throughput by 11% across a wide range of server applications.
Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of curcumin on acute lung injury in a rodent model of intestinal ischemia reperfusion by inhibiting the pathway of NF-Kb.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect of curcumin on lung lesion induced by intestinal ischemia reperfusion injury (IIR). METHODS Rats were divided into four groups: sham, intestinal IIR (IIR), 1 mg/kg of curcumin treatment group (1 mg/kg), and 5 mg/kg of curcumin treatment group (5 mg/kg). Curcumin was given respectively (1 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg) following the above doses. IIR was produced by 1 h of intestinal ischemia followed by 2 h of reperfusion. Rats were sacrificed at the end of reperfusion and lung tissues were collected for biochemical and histopathological examination in 4 groups. Lung tissues histology and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) protein were assayed. Serum IL-6, lung superoxide dismutase (SOD) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) were measured. The expression level of NF-κB and ICAM-1 (including immunohistochemical analysis and western blot analysis) were also measured. RESULTS Lung tissue injury induced by IIR was obviously observed through pathology and BALF protein. MPO activity, IL-6 level and ICAM-1 expression were significantly increased with the elevation of NF-κB, simultaneously, SOD activity was decreased. With Treatment of curcumin, pathology and BALF protein of lung tissue were improved clearly. Inflammatory indexes (MPO activity, IL-6 level and ICAM-1) were improved and antioxidant index (SOD activity) was enhanced paralleled with NF-κB. CONCLUSION Using curcumin effectively prevented IIR-induced lung injury. Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of curcumin could be observed by inhibiting the pathway of NF-κB.
Towards adaptive brain-computer interfaces: Improving accuracy of detection of event-related potentials

Electroencefalography (EEG) has a wide range of applications in human-computer interaction and in adaptation and personalization of the interfaces. It can be used either as a sensor, e.g., for emotion detection, or as an input device that allows to take actions based on the brain's response to the presented stimuli. For the latter, it is crucial to be able to reliably detect event-related potentials (ERPs), which can be a hard task because of the noise in the signal, especially when using affordable consumer-oriented devices, such as Emotiv Epoc. In the paper, we present a method of EEG signal processing and classification for detection of ERP P300 wave. We particularly focus on the adaptive channel selection and propose to use genetic algorithm combined with linear discriminant analysis to determine the optimal subset of electrodes for signal processing for each individual user. We evaluated our proposed method on a standard data set outperforming the existing approaches even with decreasing size of a training set. In addition, we conducted a user study with Emotiv Epoc device on a standard P300 Speller task in order to compare the results of our method and to find out, whether this device is suitable for P300 detection.
The Phosducin-Like Protein PhnA Is Required for Gβγ-Mediated Signaling for Vegetative Growth, Developmental Control, and Toxin Biosynthesis in Aspergillus nidulans

ABSTRACT Phosducin or phosducin-like protein (PhLP) is a positive regulator of Gβγ activity. The Gβ (SfaD) and Gγ (GpgA) subunits function in vegetative growth and developmental control in the model filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. To better understand the nature of Gβγ-mediated signaling, phnA, encoding an A. nidulans PhLP, has been studied. Deletion of phnA resulted in phenotypes almost identical to those caused by deletion of sfaD, i.e., reduced biomass, asexual sporulation in liquid submerged culture, and defective fruiting body formation, suggesting that PhnA is necessary for Gβ function. The requirement for the RGS protein FlbA in asexual sporulation could be bypassed by the ΔphnA mutation, indicating that PhnA functions in FlbA-controlled vegetative growth signaling, primarily mediated by the heterotrimeric G protein composed of FadA (Gα), SfaD, and GpgA. However, whereas deletion of fadA restored both asexual sporulation and the production of sterigmatocystin (ST), deletion of sfaD, gpgA, or phnA failed to restore ST production in the ΔflbA mutant. Further studies revealed that SfaD, GpgA, and PhnA are necessary for the expression of aflR, encoding the transcriptional activator for the ST biosynthetic genes, and subsequent ST biosynthesis. Overexpression of aflR bypassed the need for SfaD in ST production, indicating that the results of SfaD-mediated signaling may include transcriptional activation of aflR. Potential differential roles of FadA, Gβγ, and FlbA in controlling ST biosynthesis are further discussed.
Adsorption of mesitylene via mesoporous adsorbents

ABSTRACT Mesitylene (or 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene) is a volatile organic compound emitted from various industrial processes, e.g., spray coating. Its emissions have become a critical issue because mesitylene is toxic and cannot be removed using traditional adsorbents, e.g., zeolite (H-ZSM-5; the diameter of mesitylene molecules is greater than the pore size of H-ZSM-5). Hence, an adsorbent with a large pore size, MCM-41, is used in this study to investigate its adsorption capacity for mesitylene and compare with that of H-ZSM-5. Experimental results reveal that MCM-41 without Al2O3 exhibits a good adsorption capacity (184 mg/g) for the gas stream containing 100 ppm of mesitylene at a relative humidity of 10%. The adsorption kinetics is well described by the Freundlich isotherm. Furthermore, experimental results reveal that MCM-41 is effective for the adsorption of low concentrations (10 ppm) of mesitylene. In addition, adsorption–desorption tests revealed that the sample MCM-41-AS is stable to sustain the adsorption capacity after 10 adsorption–desorption cycles. After 10 adsorption–desorption cycles, MCM-41-AS retains 92.4% of its initial adsorption capacity (170 vs. 184 mg/g). Finally, MCM-41 and H-ZSM-5 in series are effective for the simultaneous removal of mesitylene and toluene in the gas stream. Implications: This study aims to improve the performance of adsorbent for mesitylene, which is typically applied in the spray-coating industry. The zeolite MCM-41-AS is selected as a candidate for the investigation. Experimental results reveal that MCM-41-AS exhibits a good adsorption capacity for mesitylene and that it can be integrated with H-ZSM-5-25 for the simultaneous adsorption of mesitylene and toluene.
Impact of Improving Quality of Dialysis Fluid on Oxidative Stress and Lipid Profile in Hemodialysis Patients

The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of malondialdehyde as an oxidative stress marker in the same hemodialysis patients after changing the quality of dialysate with ultrapure dialysis fluid. Methods. This prospective study concerns hemodialysis patients; all patients were in the first step treated with conventional dialysate, and in the second step (three months later) the same patients were treated with online produced ultrapure dialysis fluid. The malondialdehyde, C-reactive protein, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, fibrinogen, and albumin were quantified before the two steps. Results. Thirty-seven patients completed the study. Ultrapure dialysis fluid reduced but not significantly the malondialdehyde concentrations. Both dialysis fluids were associated with improvement in the malondialdehyde level before and after the hemodialysis session. In lipid parameters, there was a significant decrease with conventional dialysis fluid versus ultrapure dialysis fluid of triglycerides, total cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein in patients' blood. Instead, the level of low-density lipoprotein, fibrinogen, albumin, and C-reactive protein does not change significantly. Conclusion. The lipid parameters were improved for triglycerides and total cholesterol. Malondialdehyde increases following the hemodialysis session, and the conventional dialysate increased malondialdehyde levels more than the ultrapure dialysis but the differences were not statistically significant.
Efficacy of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy in the management of chronic periodontitis: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

AIM To evaluate the potential of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) in the treatment of chronic periodontitis. MATERIAL AND METHODS In a single-centred randomized and controlled clinical trial, 90 patients (51 females and 39 males) with untreated chronic periodontitis were randomly assigned to receive SRP with aPDT (test group) or SRP alone (control group). Clinical parameters and halitosis were recorded for 6 months after treatment by a periodontist who was blinded to the procedure. RESULTS Inter-group and intra-group statistical analyses were performed. Significant difference between the two groups with respect to each variable was assessed using non-parametric Rank Order ancova. Probing pocket depth and clinical attachment levels showed statistically significant reduction in the test group on evaluation at 3 months and 6 months as compared to the control group (p < 0.05). A statistically significant improvement in gingival index and gingival bleeding index was seen for the test group after 2 weeks and 1 month of aPDT (p < 0.01), whereas the improvement in gingival index and gingival bleeding index at 3 months and in plaque index at 2 weeks after aPDT was less (p < 0.05). Also, a significant difference was detected for the test group at 1 month in terms of halitosis (p < 0.05), which did not persist for long. CONCLUSIONS Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy acts as a beneficial adjunct to SRP in non-surgical treatment and management of chronic periodontitis in short-term. Further studies are required to assess the long-term effectiveness of aPDT.