Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Population response to the risk of vector-borne diseases: lessons learned from socio-behavioural research during large-scale outbreaks

Vector-borne infectious diseases, such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and West Nile fevers are increasingly identified as major global human health threats in developing and developed countries. The success or failure of vector control rests mainly on the nature and scale of the behavioural response of exposed populations. Large-scale adoption of recommended protective behaviour represents a critical challenge that cannot be addressed without a better understanding of how individuals perceive and react to the risk of infection. Recently, French overseas territories faced large-scale outbreaks: an epidemic of chikungunya fever in La Re′ union and Mayotte (2005–2006) and four successive outbreaks of dengue fever in one Caribbean island, Martinique (1995–2007). To assess how these populations perceived and responded to the risk, and how the nature and scale of protection affected their clinical status, socio-epidemiological surveys were conducted on each island during the outbreaks. These surveys address three crucial and interconnected questions relevant to the period after persons infected by the virus were identified: which factors shape the risk of acquiring disease? Which socio- demographic characteristics and living conditions induce a higher likelihood of infection? What is the impact of risk perception on protective behaviours adopted against mosquito bites? Grounded on the results of these surveys, a general framework is proposed to help draw out the knowledge needed to reveal the factors associated with higher probability of infection as an outbreak emerges. The lessons learnt can inform health authorities’ efforts to improve risk communication programmes, both in terms of the target and content of messages, so as to explore new strategies for ensuring sustainable protective behaviour. The authors compare three epidemics of vector-borne diseases to elucidate psychosocial factors that determine how populations perceive and respond to the risk of infectious disease.
Semantic description of location based web services using an extensible location ontology

A growing number of Web services, including Location Based Services (LBS) is becoming available to the public, but it is difficult to find them and to judge whether they could be used in combination with other services. This is partly caused by the fact that conventional service descriptions fall short in capturing the semantics of services. In this paper we present alternative ways to enrich service descriptions with semantic information, focussing on the domain of LBS. These descriptions refer to concepts in an extensible location ontology that is expressed in the Web Ontology Language (OWL). We demonstrate the adequacy of a reasoner to perform matchmaking between the descriptions of a required service and advertised services. Despite the current limitations, the presented method allows for much more expressive descriptions than WSDL and can be used to semantically enable OpenGIS GetCapabilities in discovery and service chaining mechanisms.
Heat Transfer and Flow Characteristics in Vertical Annular Two-Phase Two-Component Flow

Experimental and theoretical results on flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics for the countercurrent flow of air and water in a vertical circular pipe are compared. An experimental setup was designed and constructed. Hot water is introduced through a porous section at the upper end ofa test section and flows downward as a thin liquid film on the pipe wall while the air flows countercurrently. The air and water flow rates used in this study are those before the flooding is reached. A developed mathematical model is separated into three parts: A high Reynolds number turbulence model, in which the local state of turbulence characteristics consists of the turbulent kinetic energy (k) and its dissipation rate (e). The transport equations for both k and e are solved simultaneously with the momentum equation to determine the kinetic turbulence viscosify, the pressure drop, interfacial shear stress and then the friction factor at the film/core interface; heat and mass transfer rnodels are proposed in order to estimate the distribution of the temperature and the mass fraction of water vapor in gas core. The results from the model are compared with the present experimental ones. It can be shown from the present study that the influence of the interfacial wave phenomena is significant to the pressure loss, and the heat and mass transfer rates in the gas phase.
Interactive Buckling Analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Thin-Walled Columns

An analytical approximate model, leading to a closed form solution, is presented to account for buckling mode interaction in composite I section columns. Three buckling modes are considered in the analysis: a global mode (Euler mode about the weak axis); a primary local mode (rotation of the flanges and bending of the web); and a secondary local mode (bending of the flanges), which are modeled using analytical functions and four degrees of freedom. The fundamental state is shown to be linear and the three critical states for the isolated modes are found to be stable symmetric bifurcations. Mode interaction analysis in terms of the amplitudes of first order fields is carried out, for the first time, for prismatic sections of composite material. The tertiary (coupled) path involves coupling between the two local modes and it describes the sensitivity to imperfections of the buckling behavior of the composite column. A salient feature of the model presented is the closed form of the resulting solution, which enables the designer to easily perform parametric studies. Also, this is the first buckling mode interaction study for thin-walled composite columns. Numerical examples are presented to validate the results and to show the influence of the geometry and properties of the composite on the interaction phenomenon.
Neuronal control of motility changes in the canine lower esophageal sphincter and stomach in response to meal ingestion.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Neuronal control of motility changes in the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), gastric body (GB) and gastric antrum (GA) in response to meal ingestion is not fully understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the neuronal mechanism of the LES and gastric motility response to meal ingestion in conscious dogs. METHODS Dogs fitted with force transducers in the LES, GB and GA were given neuronal antagonists before a meal. Motility was assessed for 10 min after feeding and was compared to results without antagonists. RESULTS In the LES, atropine inhibited tonic contractions, whereas N omega-nitro-L-arginine (L-NAME) significantly enhanced tonic contractions initiated by meal ingestion. In the GB, atropine, hexamethonium or L-NAME inhibited receptive relaxation, and the effect of hexamethonium was significantly greater than that of atropine or L-NAME. In the GA, atropine, hexamethonium or naloxone inhibited postprandial phasic contractions, whereas L-NAME tended to enhance phasic contractions. CONCLUSIONS Neuronal control of postprandial motility was clearly different in each region: (1) LES tonic contractions are mainly regulated by muscarinic receptors, (2) nicotinic transmission plays an essential role in receptive relaxation, which also involves muscarinic receptors and nitric oxide, (3) cholinergic nerves and opiate receptors are involved in the occurrence of antral phasic contractions, and (4) endogenous nitric oxide may inhibit postprandial contractions in the LES and GA.
More introgression with less gene flow: chloroplast vs. mitochondrial DNA in the Picea asperata complex in China, and comparison with other Conifers

Recent work has suggested that rates of introgression should be inversely related to levels of gene flow because introgressed populations cannot be ‘rescued’ by intraspecific gene flow if it is too low. Mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA (mtDNA and cpDNA) experience very different levels of gene flow in conifers due to their contrasted maternal and paternal modes of transmission, hence the prediction that mtDNA should introgress more readily than cpDNA in this group. Here, we use sequence data from both mtDNA and cpDNA to test this hypothesis in a group of closely related spruces species, the Picea asperata complex from China. Nine mitochondrial and nine chloroplast haplotypes were recovered from 459 individuals in 46 natural populations belonging to five species of the Picea asperata complex. Low variation was found in the two mtDNA introns along with a high level of differentiation among populations (GST = 0.90). In contrast, we detected higher variation and lower differentiation among populations at cpDNA markers (GST = 0.56), a trend shared by most conifer species studied so far. We found that cpDNA variation, although far from being fully diagnostic, is more species‐specific than mtDNA variation: four groups of populations were identified using cpDNA markers, all of them related to species or groups of species, whereas for mtDNA, geographical variation prevails over species differentiation. The literature suggests that mtDNA haplotypes are often shared among related conifer species, whereas cpDNA haplotypes are more species‐specific. Hence, increased intraspecific gene flow appears to decrease differentiation within species but not among species.
Monadic queries over tree-structured data

Monadic query languages over trees currently receive considerable interest in the database community, as the problem of selecting nodes from a tree is the most basic and widespread database query problem in the context of XML. Partly a survey of recent work done by the authors and their group on logical query languages for this problem and their expressiveness, this paper provides a number of new results related to the complexity of such languages over so-called axis relations (such as "child" or "descendant") which are motivated by their presence in the XPath standard or by their utility for data extraction (wrapping).
Neurophypophyseal Hormones : From Genomics and Physiology to Disease Activation of adenosine A 2 A receptors alters postsynaptic currents and depolarizes neurons of the supraoptic nucleus

Ponzio, Todd A. , Yu-Feng Wang, and Glenn I. Hatton. Activation of adenosine A2A receptors alters postsynaptic currents and depolarizes neurons of the supraoptic nucleus. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 291: R359–R366, 2006. First published April 27, 2006; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00747. 2005. —Supraoptic nucleus (SON) neurons secrete oxytocin or vasopressin in response to various physiological stimuli (e.g., lactation/suckling, dehydration). Released near fenestrated capillaries of the neurohypophysis, these peptides enter the blood and travel to peripheral target organs. The pervasive neuromodulator adenosine, acting at A1 receptors, is an important inhibitory regulator of magnocellular neuroendocrine cell activity. Another high-affinity adenosine receptor exists in this system, however. We examined the physiological effects of adenosine A2A receptor activation and determined its localization among various cell types within the SON. In whole cell patch-clamp recordings from rat brain slices, application of the selective adenosine A2A receptor agonist CGS-21680 caused membrane depolarizations in SON neurons, often leading to increased firing activity. Membrane potential changes were persistent ( 10 min) and could be blocked by the selective A2A receptor antagonist ZM-241385, or GDP-S, the latter suggesting postsynaptic sites of action. However, -methyl-(4-carboxyphenyl) glycine or TTX also blocked CGS-21680 effects, indicating secondary actions on postsynaptic neurons. In voltage-clamp mode, application of CGS-21680 caused a slight increase ( 8%) in high-frequency clusters of excitatory postsynaptic currents. With the use of specific antibodies, adenosine A2A receptors were immunocytochemically localized to both the magnocellular neurons and astrocytes of the SON. Ecto-5 nucleotidase, an enzyme involved in the metabolism of ATP to adenosine, was also localized to astrocytes of the SON. These results demonstrate that adenosine acting at A2A receptors can enhance the excitability of SON neurons and modulate transmitter release from glutamatergic afferents projecting to the nucleus. We suggest that adenosine A2A receptors may function in neuroendocrine regulation through both direct neuronal mechanisms and via actions involving glia.
Genome‐Wide Identification of the AP2/ERF Gene Family Involved in Active Constituent Biosynthesis in Salvia miltiorrhiza

Tanshinones and phenolic acids are the major bioactive constituents in the traditional medicinal crop Salvia miltiorrhiza; however, transcription factors (TFs) are seldom investigated with regard to their regulation of the biosynthesis of these compounds. Here a complete overview of the APETALA2/ethylene‐responsive factor (AP2/ERF) transcription factor family in S. miltiorrhiza is provided, including phylogeny, gene structure, conserved motifs, and gene expression profiles of different organs (root, stem, leaf, flower) and root tissues (periderm, phloem, xylem). In total, 170 AP2/ERF genes were identified and divided into five relatively conserved subfamilies, including AP2 (25 genes), DREB (61 genes), ethylene responsive factor (ERF; 79 genes), RAV (4 genes), and Soloist (1 gene). According to the distribution of bioactive constituents and the expression patterns of AP2/ERF genes in different organs and root tissues, the genes related to the biosynthesis of bioactive constituents were selected. On the basis of quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) analysis, coexpression analysis, and the prediction of cis‐regulatory elements in the promoters, we propose that two genes (Sm128 and Sm152) regulate tanshinone biosynthesis and two genes (Sm008 and Sm166) participate in controlling phenolic acid biosynthesis. The genes related to tanshinone biosynthesis belong to the ERF‐B3 subgroup. In contrast, the genes predicted to regulate phenolic acid biosynthesis belong to the ERF‐B1 and ERF‐B4 subgroups. These results provide a foundation for future functional characterization of AP2/ERF genes to enhance the biosynthesis of the bioactive compounds of S. miltiorrhiza.
Kinematic Control of Redundant Manipulators: Generalizing the Task-Priority Framework to Inequality Task

Redundant mechanical systems like humanoid robots are designed to fulfill multiple tasks at a time. A task, in velocity-resolved inverse kinematics, is a desired value for a function of the robot configuration that can be regulated with an ordinary differential equation (ODE). When facing simultaneous tasks, the corresponding equations can be grouped in a single system or, better, sorted in priority and solved each in the solutions set of higher priority tasks. This elegant framework for hierarchical task regulation has been implemented as a sequence of least-squares problems. Its limitation lies in the handling of inequality constraints, which are usually transformed into more restrictive equality constraints through potential fields. In this paper, we propose a new prioritized task-regulation framework based on a sequence of quadratic programs (QP) that removes the limitation. At the basis of the proposed algorithm, there is a study of the optimal sets resulting from the sequence of QPs. The algorithm is implemented and illustrated in simulation on the humanoid robot HRP-2.
A Stochastic View of Optimal Regret through Minimax Duality

We study the regret of optimal strategies for online convex optimization games. Using von Neumann's minimax theorem, we show that the optimal regret in this adversarial setting is closely related to the behavior of the empirical minimization algorithm in a stochastic process setting: it is equal to the maximum, over joint distributions of the adversary's action sequence, of the difference between a sum of minimal expected losses and the minimal empirical loss. We show that the optimal regret has a natural geometric interpretation, since it can be viewed as the gap in Jensen's inequality for a concave functional--the minimizer over the player's actions of expected loss--defined on a set of probability distributions. We use this expression to obtain upper and lower bounds on the regret of an optimal strategy for a variety of online learning problems. Our method provides upper bounds without the need to construct a learning algorithm; the lower bounds provide explicit optimal strategies for the adversary.
A conceptual model for IT governance in public sectors

The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of Information Technology (IT) Governance models for public organizations and presenting an IT Governance model that can be adopted by both practitioners and researchers. A review of the literature in IT Governance has been initiated to shape the intended theoretical background of this study. The systematic literature review formalizes a richer context for the IT Governance concept. An empirical survey, using a questionnaire based on COBIT 4.1 maturity model used to investigate IT Governance practice in multiple case studies from Kingdom of Bahrain. This method enabled the researcher to gain insights to evaluate IT Governance practices. The results of this research will enable public sector organizations to adopt an IT Governance model in a simple and dynamic manner. The model provides a basic structure of a concept; for instance, this allows organizations to gain a better perspective on IT Governance processes and provides a clear focus for decision-making attention. IT Governance model also forms as a basis for further research in IT Governance adoption models and bridges the gap between conceptual frameworks, real life and functioning governance.
Nilotinib 300 mg twice daily: an academic single-arm study of newly diagnosed chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients

The introduction and the extended clinical use of nilotinib in the first-line treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia have been based on company-sponsored trials. Independent confirmations are extremely important. We report an investigator-sponsored study of nilotinib 300 mg twice daily in 130 chronic myeloid leukemia patients in early chronic phase. A deep molecular response was achieved in 46% (MR4.0) and 17% (MR4.5) of patients at 2 years; 58% of the enrolled patients achieved a MR4.0 at least once, with a sustained MR4.0 in 52% of them. With a median observation of 29 months (range 24–37 months), 77% of patients were still on treatment with nilotinib. The reasons for permanent discontinuation were: 3% progression, 5% failure or suboptimal response, 8% adverse events, 1% treatment-free remission, and 5% other reasons. Thirteen thrombotic arterial events were reported in 12 patients. A prospective evaluation of metabolic effects showed an increase of fasting glucose without significant variations of glycated hemoglobin, an increase of total cholesterol (both low density lipoprotein and high density lipoprotein fractions) and a decrease of triglycerides. This study confirms a high and rapid efficacy of nilotinib 300 mg twice daily and provides detailed information on the type and incidence of non-hematologic and metabolic adverse events (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: 01535391).
Birthsize, gestational age and adrenal function in adult life: studies of dexamethasone suppression and ACTH1-24 stimulation.

OBJECTIVE Several studies show that low birthweight is associated with long-term alterations in the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA). We recently reported that the relationship between birthweight and fasting serum cortisol concentrations differed according to the gestational age of the babies, suggesting that both hypercortisolism and hypocortisolism could be a consequence of impaired fetal growth. We have now extended these findings by examining the relationship between birthweight, gestational age and tests of adrenal suppression and stimulation. DESIGN Prospective birth cohort study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS We studied 165 women (mean age 71.3 Years) born at term in Helsinki, Finland, between 1924 and 1933, whose body size and gestational age at birth were recorded. These women underwent an overnight 0.25 mg dexamethasone suppression test followed by a 1 microg ACTH(1-24) stimulation test. RESULTS In all women combined, low birthweight was associated with lower total (P=0.03) and free (P=0.02) cortisol concentrations following dexamethasone. However, these relationships were dependent on gestational age at birth, interactions between the effects of birth size and gestational age on dexamethasone responsiveness being statistically significant. To demonstrate these interactions, we divided the study population into two groups according to gestational age. In subjects born at 40 weeks of gestation or more, low birthweight was strongly associated with enhanced dexamethasone suppression (P=0.003 for total and P=0.0004 for free cortisol), while in subjects born before 40 weeks of gestation there was no association. There was, however, no correlation between birth size and the adrenal response to ACTH(1-24). CONCLUSIONS These findings reinforce our suggestions that events during prenatal life may lead to both up-regulation and down-regulation of the HPAA.
Characteristics of synergic relations during isometric contractions of human elbow muscles.

We studied the patterns of EMG activity in elbow muscles in three normal human subjects. The myoelectrical activity of 7-10 muscles that act across the human elbow joint was simultaneously recorded with intramuscular electrodes during isometric joint torques exerted over a range of directions. These directions included flexion, extension, varus (internal humeral rotation), valgus (external humeral rotation), and several intermediate directions. The forces developed at the wrist covered a range of 360 degrees, all orthogonal to the long axis of the forearm. The levels of EMG activity were observed to increase with increasing joint torque in an approximately linear manner. All muscles were active for ranges less than 360 degrees and most were active for less than 180 degrees. The EMG activity was observed to vary in a systematic manner with changes in torque direction and, when examined over the full angular range at a variety of torque levels, is simply scaled with increasing torque magnitude. There were no torque directions or torque magnitudes for which a single muscle was observed to be active alone. In all cases, joint torque appeared to be produced by a combination of muscles. The direction for which the EMG of a muscle reached a maximum value was observed to correspond to the direction of greatest mechanical advantage as predicted by a simple mechanical model of the elbow and relevant muscles. Muscles were relatively inactive during varus torques. This implies that the muscles were not acting to stabilize the joint in this direction and could have been allowing ligaments to carry the load. Plots of EMG activity in one muscle against EMG activity in another demonstrate some instances of pure synergies, but patterns of coactivation for most muscles are more complicated and vary with torque direction. The complexity of these patterns raises the possibility that synergies are determined by the task and may have no independent existence. Activity in two heads of triceps brachii (medial head--a single-joint muscle and long head--a two-joint muscle) covaried closely for a range of torque magnitudes and directions, though shoulder torque and hence the forces experienced by the long head of the triceps undoubtedly varied. The similarity of activation patterns indicates that elbow torque was the principal determining factor. The origins of muscle synergies are discussed. It is suggested that they are best understood on the basis of a model which encodes limb torque in premotor neurons. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)