Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mining Social Media and Web Searches For Disease Detection

Web-based social media is increasingly being used across different settings in the health care industry. The increased frequency in the use of the Internet via computer or mobile devices provides an opportunity for social media to be the medium through which people can be provided with valuable health information quickly and directly. While traditional methods of detection relied predominately on hierarchical or bureaucratic lines of communication, these often failed to yield timely and accurate epidemiological intelligence. New web-based platforms promise increased opportunities for a more timely and accurate spreading of information and analysis. This article aims to provide an overview and discussion of the availability of timely and accurate information. It is especially useful for the rapid identification of an outbreak of an infectious disease that is necessary to promptly and effectively develop public health responses. These web-based platforms include search queries, data mining of web and social media, process and analysis of blogs containing epidemic key words, text mining, and geographical information system data analyses. These new sources of analysis and information are intended to complement traditional sources of epidemic intelligence. Despite the attractiveness of these new approaches, further study is needed to determine the accuracy of blogger statements, as increases in public participation may not necessarily mean the information provided is more accurate.
A Method to Differentiate between the Levels of ESR Signals Induced by Sunlight and by Ionizing Radiation in Teeth from Atomic Bomb Survivors

Abstract Nakamura, N. , Cullings, H. M. , Kodama, Y. , Wada, T. , Miyazawa, C. , Lee, K. and Awa, A. A. A Method to Differentiate between the Levels of ESR Signals Induced by Sunlight and by Ionizing Radiation in Teeth from Atomic Bomb Survivors. Radiat. Res. 165, 359–364 (2006). Electron spin resonance (ESR, or electron paramagnetic resonance, EPR) analysis of tooth enamel is an effective method for the retrospective estimation of individual radiation doses. One problem with this technique is that the observed ESR signal may include a contribution from ultraviolet (UV) light exposure from sunlight, especially in front teeth. Thus there has been a need to find ways to estimate the UV-light effect in the total signal so that the net ESR dose from ionizing radiation can be determined. To examine this issue, we measured 96 teeth of various types, but with buccal and lingual parts measured separately, from a control group of atomic bomb survivors (estimated dose <5 mGy). We found that, except for molars, the mean ESR-estimated dose for the buccal halves was, on average, nearly twice that from the lingual side, which indicates that the UV-light-induced lingual dose equals the difference between the two halves. Using these corrections for UV-light exposure to front teeth that had been exposed to both ionizing radiation and UV light, it was found that the estimated radiation doses closely approximated the previously estimated ESR dose to molars from the same donors or the estimated dose arrived at with cytogenetic methods. We concluded that, when using ESR to estimate radiation dose, measuring molars is the first choice, but if only front teeth are available, separate measurements to the buccal and lingual parts can provide an estimation of the mean UV-light contribution to the ESR-determined dose.
The behavior of clay soil under the effect of cyclic loading

The behavior of soil appropriate to earthquake and maritime problems may studied by performing alternating cyclic simple shear and triaxial tests. The main purpose of this present research, is to evaluate the strength reduction of saturated untrained clay soils under direct shear cyclic stress. The test results revealed that such reduction exists and it increased with increasing cyclic stress amplitude , confining pressure , the number of loading cycles and with decreasing sample thickness . The results indicate that there is a lower limit to the cyclic stress ratio below which cyclic loading has a negligible effect on clay softening . It is observed also that the direct cyclic strength is greater than the Triaxial cyclic strength which conforms with the published results
Fringe‐dependent notch activation and tramtrack function are required for specification of the polar cells in Drosophila oogenesis

During Drosophila oogenesis, each egg chamber is encapsulated through the coordinated signaling of multiple pathways, resulting in the formation of polar cells at the termini and a row of stalk cells in between each egg chamber. Notch signaling is required for specification of a precursor group containing both stalk and polar cells. Together, the Notch and JAK/STAT pathways specify the stalk cells as well as a group of prepolar cells, from within that group. The mechanism by which the polar cells differentiate from the prepolar group involves apoptosis, but the pathways which control that process are largely unknown. We now demonstrate that Notch signaling, activated by Delta and transduced by the transcription factor Tramtrack, is involved in the process of refining the prepolar cell group to two polar cells. The glycosyltransferase Fringe is expressed and required cell‐autonomously in prepolar cells for this process. However, the transcription factor Mirror, which inhibits fringe expression in other tissues and stages of development, as well as Serrate, one of the two known ligands for Notch, are not required for maturation of prepolar cells. This finding suggests that Fringe is necessary for generating positional information in localizing a high‐affinity interaction between Notch and its ligand Delta, even if a second ligand is not essential. Developmental Dynamics 232:1013–1020, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Deep Generative Models for Relational Data with Side Information

We present a probabilistic framework for overlapping community discovery and link prediction for relational data, given as a graph. The proposed framework has: (1) a deep architecture which enables us to infer multiple layers of latent features/communities for each node, providing superior link prediction performance on more complex networks and better interpretability of the latent features; and (2) a regression model which allows directly conditioning the node latent features on the side information available in form of node attributes. Our framework handles both (1) and (2) via a clean, unified model, which enjoys full local conjugacy via data augmentation, and facilitates efficient inference via closed form Gibbs sampling. Moreover, inference cost scales in the number of edges which is attractive for massive but sparse networks. Our framework is also easily extendable to model weighted networks with count-valued edges. We compare with various state-of-the-art methods and report results, both quantitative and qualitative, on several benchmark data sets.
Clinicopathological Characteristics of Young Patients With Pancreatic Cancer: An Analysis of Data From Pancreatic Cancer Registry of Japan Pancreas Society

Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma younger than 40 years. Methods Data from the Japan Pancreas Society's nationwide Pancreatic Cancer Registry were analyzed retrospectively. Clinicopathological characteristics were compared in patients who were grouped according to age, namely, younger than 40 years versus 40 years and older. Results Of the 36 145 patients in the database, the younger group included 526 (1.5%) patients. A family history of pancreatic cancer was not more frequent in the younger group. The frequency of Union Internationale Contre le Cancer T4 and M1 were both significantly higher in younger patients, resulting in a higher percentage of patients with Union Internationale Contre le Cancer stage IV. Pancreatectomy was performed less frequently in the younger group, and R0 resection was also less frequent. The overall survival rate was significantly better in the older group, whereas in surgically resected patients, the overall survival and recurrence-free survival rates were not different between the 2 groups. Conclusions Younger patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma were more often diagnosed at advanced stages, and the overall survival rate was worse than that in older patients. Family genetic background and the prognoses of patients who underwent surgery were similar between the 2 groups.
Infectious Prions in the Saliva and Blood of Deer with Chronic Wasting Disease

A critical concern in the transmission of prion diseases, including chronic wasting disease (CWD) of cervids, is the potential presence of prions in body fluids. To address this issue directly, we exposed cohorts of CWD-naïve deer to saliva, blood, or urine and feces from CWD-positive deer. We found infectious prions capable of transmitting CWD in saliva (by the oral route) and in blood (by transfusion). The results help to explain the facile transmission of CWD among cervids and prompt caution concerning contact with body fluids in prion infections.
Pixel-Accurate Representation and Evaluation of Page Segmentation in Document Images

This paper presents a new representation and evaluation procedure of page segmentation algorithms and analyzes six widely-used layout analysis algorithms using the procedure. The method permits a detailed analysis of the behavior of page segmentation algorithms in terms of over- and undersegmentation at different layout levels, as well as determination of the geometric accuracy of the segmentation. The representation of document layouts relies on labeling each pixel according to its function in the overall segmentation, permitting pixel-accurate representation of layout information of arbitrary layouts and allowing background pixels to be classified as "don't care". Our representations can be encoded easily in standard color image formats like PNG, permitting easy interchange of segmentation results and ground truth
Supplementation of Adult Rats with Moderate Amounts of β-Carotene Modulates the Redox Status in Plasma without Exerting Pro-Oxidant Effects in the Brain: A Safer Alternative to Food Fortification with Vitamin A?

Despite the antioxidant potential of vitamin A, recent studies reported that chronic retinol ester supplementation can also exert pro-oxidant effects and neurotoxicity in vivo and raises the mortality rates among healthy subjects. Our aim was to find evidence for a safer (i.e., less toxic) molecule with provitamin A activity. Therefore, we investigated whether chronic supplementation of healthy Wistar rats with β-carotene (0.6, 3, and 6 mg/kg/day) would demonstrate antioxidant characteristics without leading to pro-oxidant side effects in the brain. Total reactive antioxidant potential (TRAP), thiobarbituric reactive species level (TBARS), and total reduced thiol content (SH) were evaluated in plasma. TBARS and SH were additionally evaluated in selected brain regions together with superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity. In the present study, we show that β-carotene is able to exert antioxidant activity in plasma without triggering pro-oxidant events in the brain, providing evidence that may justify its further evaluation as a safer nutritional supplement with provitamin A activity.
Automatic Grid workflow based on imperative programming languages

GRID superscalar is a Grid programming environment that enables one to parallelize the execution of sequential applications in computational Grids. The run‐time library automatically builds a task data‐dependence graph of the application and it can be seen as an implicit workflow system. The current interface supports C/C++ and Perl applications. The run‐time library is based on Globus Toolkit 2.x using GRAM and GSIFTP services. In this document we describe the GRID superscalar basics emphasizing those aspects related to Grid workflow, in particular the flexibility of using an imperative language to describe the application. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A cultural side effect: learning to read interferes with identity processing of familiar objects

Based on the neuronal recycling hypothesis (Dehaene and Cohen, 2007), we examined whether reading acquisition has a cost for the recognition of non-linguistic visual materials. More specifically, we checked whether the ability to discriminate between mirror images, which develops through literacy acquisition, interferes with object identity judgments, and whether interference strength varies as a function of the nature of the non-linguistic material. To these aims we presented illiterate, late literate (who learned to read at adult age), and early literate adults with an orientation-independent, identity-based same-different comparison task in which they had to respond “same” to both physically identical and mirrored or plane-rotated images of pictures of familiar objects (Experiment 1) or of geometric shapes (Experiment 2). Interference from irrelevant orientation variations was stronger with plane rotations than with mirror images, and stronger with geometric shapes than with objects. Illiterates were the only participants almost immune to mirror variations, but only for familiar objects. Thus, the process of unlearning mirror-image generalization, necessary to acquire literacy in the Latin alphabet, has a cost for a basic function of the visual ventral object recognition stream, i.e., identification of familiar objects. This demonstrates that neural recycling is not just an adaptation to multi-use but a process of at least partial exaptation.
Can bedside patient-reported numbness predict postoperative ambulation ability for total knee arthroplasty patients with nerve block catheters?

Background Adductor canal catheters offer advantages over femoral nerve catheters for knee replacement patients because they produce less quadriceps muscle weakness; however, applying adductor canal catheters in bedside clinical practice remains challenging. There is currently no patient-reported outcome that accurately predicts patients' physical function after knee replacement. The present study evaluates the validity of a relatively new patient-reported outcome, i.e., a numbness score obtained using a numeric rating scale, and assesses its predictive value on postoperative ambulation. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study pooling data from two previously-published clinical trials using identical research methodologies. Both studies recruited patients undergoing knee replacement; one studied adductor canal catheters while the other studied femoral nerve catheters. Our primary outcome was patient-reported numbness scores on postoperative day 1. We also examined postoperative day 1 ambulation distance and its association with postoperative numbness using linear regression, adjusting for age, body mass index, and physical status. Results Data from 94 subjects were included (femoral subjects, n = 46; adductor canal subjects, n = 48). Adductor canal patients reported decreased numbness (median [10th–90th percentiles]) compared to femoral patients (0 [0–5] vs. 4 [0–10], P = 0.001). Adductor canal patients also ambulated seven times further on postoperative day 1 relative to femoral patients. There was a significant association between postoperative day 1 total ambulation distance and numbness (Beta = –2.6; 95% CI: –4.5, –0.8, P = 0.01) with R2 = 0.1. Conclusions Adductor canal catheters facilitate improved early ambulation and produce less patient-reported numbness after knee replacement, but the correlation between these two variables is weak.
Explorer Comparative genome analysis of two Cryptosporidium parvum isolates with different host range

Parasites of the genus Cryptosporidium infect the intestinal and gastric epithelium of different vertebrate species. Some of the many Cryptosporidium species described to date differ with respect to host range; whereas some species’ host range appears to be narrow, others have been isolated from taxonomically unrelated vertebrates. To begin to investigate the genetic basis of Cryptosporidium host specificity, the genome of a C. parvum isolate belonging to a sub-specific group found exclusively in humans was sequenced and compared to the reference C. parvum genome representative of the zoonotic group. Over 12,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), or 1.4 SNP per kilobase, were identified. The genome distribution of SNPs was highly heterogeneous, but non-synonymous and silent SNPs were similarly distributed. On many chromosomes, the most highly divergent regions were located near the ends. Genes in the most diverged regions were almost twice as large as the genome-wide average. Transporters, and ABC transporters in particular, were over-represented among these genes, as were proteins with predicted signal peptide. Possibly reflecting the presence of regulatory sequences, the distribution of intergenic SNPs differed according to the function of the downstream open reading frame. A 3way comparison of the newly sequenced anthroponotic C. parvum, the reference zoonotic C. parvum and the human parasite C. hominis identified genetic loci where the anthroponotic C. parvum sequence is more similar to C. hominis than to the zoonotic C. parvum reference. Because C. hominis and anthroponotic C. parvum share a similar host range, this unexpected observation suggests that proteins encoded by these genes may influence the host range. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. *Corresponding author: 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton, Massachusetts 01536, USA telephone 1 508 839 79 44; fax 1 508 839 7911; giovanni.widmer@tufts.edu. *current address: University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK #current address: UCLA, Department of Biostatistics, Los Angeles, CA 90024 Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Author Manuscript Infect Genet Evol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 August 01. Published in final edited form as: Infect Genet Evol. 2012 August ; 12(6): 1213–1221. doi:10.1016/j.meegid. 2012.03. 027. N IH PA Athor M anscript N IH PA Athor M anscript N IH PA Athor M anscript
The Effects of Ethical Leadership and Organizational Culture towards Employees ’ Sociability and Commitment – A Study of Tourism Sector in Ho Chi Minh City , Vietnam

This study investigated the effects of ethical leadership and organizational culture on employees’ sociability as well as organizational commitment in tourism sector. Quantitative approach was the major method used with questionnaire distributed to 300 official employees in tourist companies such as travel agencies, tour operations, tourist destinations, hotels, and restaurants. The results indicated that employee sociability, involvement and mission culture had positive relationships with employees’ organizational commitment. Additionally, the research suggested that in order to improve organization commitment, companies should: a) hire employees with sociable traits, b) apply involvement and mission culture for internal operation. Besides that, employee sociability was positively affected ethical leadership and adaptive culture. Therefore, ethical leadership and adaptive culture indirectly affected organization commitment through the sociability of
Substrate specificity of recombinant human immunodeficiency virus integrase protein

Recombinant human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase (IN) produced in Escherichia coli efficiently cleaves two nucleotides from the 3' end of synthetic oligonucleotide substrates which mimic the termini of HIV-1 proviral DNA. Efficient cleavage was restricted to HIV-1 substrates and did not occur with substrates derived from other retroviruses. Mutagenesis of the U5 long terminal repeat (LTR) terminus revealed only moderate effects of mutations outside the terminal four bases of the U5 LTR and highlighted the critical nature of the conserved CA dinucleotide motif shared by all retroviral termini. Integration of the endonuclease cleavage products occurs subsequent to cleavage, and evidence that the cleavage and integration reactions may be uncoupled is presented. Competition cleavage reactions demonstrated that IN-mediated processing of an LTR substrate could be inhibited by competition with LTR and non-LTR oligonucleotides.
Preparation, characterization, and in vitro release of gentamicin from coralline hydroxyapatite-alginate composite microspheres.

In this work, composite microspheres were prepared from bioactive ceramics such as coralline hydroxyapatite [Ca(10)(PO(4))(6)(OH)(2)] granules, a biodegradable polymer, sodium alginate, and an antibiotic, gentamicin. Previously, we have shown a gentamicin release from coralline hydroxyapatite granules-chitosan composite microspheres. In the present investigation, we attempted to prepare composite microspheres containing coralline hydroxyapatite granules and sodium alginate by the dispersion polymerization technique with gentamicin incorporated by absorption method. The crystal structure of the composite microspheres was analyzed using X-ray powder diffractometer. Fourier transform infrared spectra clearly indicated the presence of per-acid of sodium alginate, phosphate, and hydroxyl groups in the composite microspheres. Scanning electron micrographs and optical micrographs showed that the composite microspheres were spherical in shape and porous in nature. The particle size of composite microspheres was analyzed, and the average size was found to be 15 microns. The thermal behavior of composite microspheres was studied using thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetric analysis. The cumulative in vitro release profile of gentamicin from composite microspheres showed near zero order patterns.
Using similarity criteria to make negotiation trade-offs

Addresses the issues involved in software agents making trade-offs during automated negotiations in which they have information uncertainty and resource limitations. In particular the importance of being able to make tradeoffs in real-world applications is highlighted and an algorithm for performing trade-offs for multi-dimensional goods is developed. The algorithm uses the notion of fuzzy similarity in order to find negotiation solutions that are beneficial to both parties. Empirical results indicate the benefits and effectiveness of the trade-off algorithm in a range of negotiation situations.
Efficient context-sensitive word completion for mobile devices

Word completion is a basic technology for reducing the effort involved in text entry on mobile devices and in augmentative communication devices, where efficiency and ease of use are needed, but where a low memory footprint is also required. Standard solutions compress a lexicon into a suffix tree with a small memory footprint and high retrieval speed. Keystroke savings, a measurable correlate of text entry effort gain, typically improve when the algorithm would also take into account the previous word; however, this comes at the cost of a large footprint. We develop two word completion algorithms that encode the previous word in the input. The first algorithm utilizes a character buffer that includes a fixed number of recent keystrokes, including those belonging to previous words. The second algorithm includes the complete previous word as an extra input feature. In simulation studies, the first algorithm yields marked improvements in keystroke savings, but has a large memory footprint. The second algorithm can be tuned by frequency thresholding to have a small footprint, and be less than one order of magnitude slower than the baseline system, while its keystroke savings improve over the baseline.