Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between age and time from calving and reported lameness in a dairy herd in the Waikato region of New Zealand

Abstract CASE HISTORY: During the 2014/2015 season 823 predominantly Holstein-Friesian cows calved on a pasture-based farm in the Waikato region of New Zealand. A high prevalence and recurrence rate of lameness had been noted for several years but cows feet were not routinely picked up and therapeutically trimmed. CLINICAL FINDINGS: At a farm visit in December 2015, 23 cows feet were examined and 18/23 (78%) cows had white line disease and 17/23 (74%) sole haemorrhages, as well as severely overgrown and misshapen hooves. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION: Lameness, culling and reproductive data were collected for the farm for the period from 01 July 2014 to 30 November 2015. In the 2014/2015 season, 207/823 (25.2%) cows were recorded lame, and in the first half of the 2015/16 season 120/850 (14%) cows were recorded lame. Of the cows recorded lame, 52/207 (25.1%) in the 2014/15 season had >1 case of lameness, and 39/120 (32.5%) cows recorded lame in the 2015/2016 season had been lame in the previous season. There was an apparent increase in prevalence between 29–37 weeks post-calving. Cows >7-years-old had seven times the odds of being recorded as lame compared to 2–3-year-old cows (p<0.001). Lameness was not associated with culling, empty rate or days to conception (p>0.3). DIAGNOSIS: No direct cause for the lameness could be determined. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: It was hypothesised that, along with the degenerative changes in the pedal bone as dairy cows increased in age, suboptimal treatment and overgrowth of hooves resulted in permanent changes in the cows feet, resulting in a high prevalence of lameness in older cattle and a high recurrence rate of lameness within and between seasons. This case highlights the importance of prompt identification and treatment of lame cattle.
Cancer Genes and Genomics The ARF Tumor Suppressor Inhibits Tumor Cell Colonization Independent of p 53 in a Novel Mouse Model of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Metastasis

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an incurable, highly metastatic disease that is largely resistant to existing treatments. A better understanding of the genetic basis of PDAC metastasis should facilitate development of improved therapies. To that end, we developed a novel mouse xenograft model of PDAC metastasis to expedite testing of candidate genes associated with the disease. Human PDAC cell lines BxPC-3, MiaPaCa-2, and Panc-1 stably expressing luciferase were generated and introduced by intracardiac injections into immunodeficient mice to model hematogenous dissemination of cancer cells. Tumor development was monitored by bioluminescence imaging. Bioluminescent MiaPaCa-2 cells most effectively recapitulated PDAC tumor development and metastatic distribution in vivo. Tumors formed in nearly 90% of mice and in multiple tissues, including normal sites of PDAC metastasis. Effects of p14ARF, a known suppressor of PDAC, were tested to validate the model. In vitro, p14ARF acted through a CtBP2-dependent, p53-independent pathway to inhibit MiaPaCa-2–invasive phenotypes, which correlated with reduced tumor cell colonization in vivo. These findings establish a new bioluminescent mouse tumor model for rapidly assessing the biological significance of suspected PDACmetastasis genes. This system may also provide a valuable platform for testing innovative therapies. Mol Cancer Res; 9(7); 867–77. ’2011 AACR.
Racial and Ethnic Differences in Drug Expenditures and Access under Medicare Part D

Little is known about the impact of Medicare Part D on drug expenditures and access among different racial and ethnic groups, and its potential to reduce disparities. Using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from January 2004 to December 2007, we investigate the impact of Part D on drug expenditures and access among different racial and ethnic elderly Medicare beneficiaries (ages 65 and above). The results indicate that both total out-of-pocket drug expenditures and the probability of having unmet drug needs decreased significantly for Medicare beneficiaries after January 2006. Multivariate regression analyses reveal that total out-of-pocket payments decreased more for African American Medicare beneficiaries (non-dual), and the probability of having unmet drug needs decreased more for Latino Medicare and Medicaid dual eligibles compared with their White counterparts. These results suggest that racial and ethnic differences in prescription drug expenditures and differences in access to medications were reduced under Part D.
Isolation and Characterization of Hexavalent Chromium-Reducing Rhizospheric Bacteria From a Wetland

Scirpus americanus Pers. occurs naturally in “San Germán,” a pond that serves as a receptor of industrial wastewater in Guanajuato, México. This plant accumulates metals mainly in the root: concentrations (mg/kg) of Cr, As, Cd and Se were 970, 49, 41, and 85 respectively. Analysis of rhizosphere samples indicated bacterial population of 108 cfu g−1 in media with 0.2 mM Cr(VI) and 10 mM sodium gluconate. Thirteen isolates were obtained and phylogenetic analyses (16S rRNA) indicated they corresponded to genera of Agrobacterium, Arthrobacter, Microbacterium, Curtobacterium, Rhodococcus, Xanthomonas and Pseudomonas. Cr(VI) reduction was evaluated using the diphenyl carbazide method. The isolates accomplished 5–40% (20 μM) of reduction in assays of resting cell and tolerated 0.5–5.0 mM Cr(VI). Eight strains used nitrate and thirteen used iron and chromium as electron acceptors to grow under anaerobic conditions. Cr(VI) reduction by five strains occurred at pH values (7–9) and NaCl concentrations (0.5–1.0 M) in basal medium. A mixed culture of strains (S17 and S28) reached a chromium removal of 100% at 0.2 mM Cr(VI) initial concentration. Aerobically, this consortium was capable of 93.8% Cr(VI) reduction of 81 μgL−1 Cr(VI) of the industrial effluent, indicating their possible use in environmental cleanup.
On the Joint Time Synchronization and Source Localization Using TOA Measurements

This paper considers the problem of estimating the clock bias and the position of an unknown source using time of arrival (TOA) measurements obtained at a sensor array to achieve time synchronization and source localization. The study starts with deriving the localization mean square error (MSE) for the case where we pretend that the source clock bias is absent and apply TOA positioning to find the source position. An upper bound on the clock bias, over which we shall obtain a higher localization MSE than that from jointly identifying the clock bias with the source position, is established. Motivated by the MSE analysis, this paper proceeds to develop a new efficient solution for joint synchronization and source localization. The new method is in closed-form, computationally attractive, and more importantly; it is shown analytically to attain the CRLB accuracy under small Gaussian TOA measurement noise. Computer simulations are conducted to corroborate the theoretical development and illustrate the good performance of the proposed algorithm.
2-Methyl-3-Hydroxybutyryl-CoA Dehydrogenase (MHBD) Deficiency: An X-linked Inborn Error of Isoleucine Metabolism that May Mimic a Mitochondrial Disease

We describe three patients, from two Spanish families, with 2-methyl-3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase (MHBD) deficiency, a recently described X-linked neurodegenerative inborn error of isoleucine metabolism. Two of them are males with severe lactic acidosis suggestive of a mitochondrial encephalopathy, and the third is a female who was less severely affected, suggesting skewed X-inactivation. Molecular studies revealed a new missense mutation, 740A→G, in one family and a previously described mutation, 388C→T, in the other, causing the amino acid substitutions N247S and R130C, respectively. Both male patients died, one of them despite treatment with an isoleucine-restricted diet, but the disease has remained stable in the female patient after 1 y of treatment.
A hiatus in the tropopause layer change

Despite continually increasing concentrations of greenhouse gas, there has been a hiatus in rising global temperatures during the 21st century. In this study, changes in the tropopause layer (TL) thickness are studied during the pre‐hiatus and the hiatus periods, based on radiosonde data from the Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive. Statistically significant thickening occurs in the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere extratropics, at 35 ± 15.6 (59.0 ± 27.6) m decade−1, and the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere high latitudes, at 104.8 ± 21.7 (132.6 ± 97.4) m decade−1, but not in the tropics during the pre‐hiatus period (1960–1997). For the hiatus period (2002–2013), significant thickening of the TL occurs only in the Southern Hemisphere extratropics (133 ± 98 m decade−1). Moreover, this study captures distinct regional characteristics in the hiatus of the TL thickening, including thinning over Alaska, Hawaii, the Western Plateau of North America, and Northern Australia.
AIS Electronic (AISeL) EXPLORING THE EXPENDITURE-BASED PROFILE OF MACAO VISITORS: A CLUSTER ANALYSIS CLUSTER ANALYSIS"

Visitor profiling has been increasingly recognized as an important tourism marketing tool in the advent of smart tourism. There is a substantial body of literature relating to tourism market segmentation and visitor profiles. However, most of them focus on psychographic and behavioral factors. Seldom research has addressed the visitor profile based on actual expenditure during the visit. In this study, we explored the expenditure-based profile of Macao visitors using a randomly sampled dataset from a large-scale visitor profile survey supported by Macao Government Tourist Office. Utilizing self-reported actual expenditure data from 3577 visitors, we extracted six expenditure clusters of Macao visitors using a k-means clustering with silhouette analysis. The six clusters, i.e., entertainment, gambling, cuisine, shopping, both cuisine & shopping, and transit, have significant differences in expenditure preferences and expenditure levels. We also analyzed the demographic and behavior profile for each cluster. Our findings shed light on developing customized marketing strategies to the profile of each distinct expenditure cluster of Macao visitors.
An Elastic Mixed-Criticality task model and its scheduling algorithm

To address the service abrupt problem for low-criticality tasks in existing mixed-criticality scheduling algorithms, we study an Elastic Mixed-Criticality (E-MC) task model, where the key idea is to have variable periods (i.e., service intervals) for low-criticality tasks. The minimum service requirement of a low-criticality task is ensured by its largest period. However, at runtime low-criticality tasks can be released early by exploiting the slack time generated from the over-provisioned execution time for high-criticality tasks to reduce their service intervals and thus improve their service levels. We propose an Early-Release EDF (ER-EDF) scheduling algorithm, which can judiciously manage the early release of low-criticality tasks without affecting the timeliness of high-criticality tasks. Compared to the state-of-the-art EDF-VD scheduling algorithm, our simulation results show that the ER-EDF can successfully schedule much more task sets. Moreover, the achieved execution frequencies of low-criticality tasks can also be significantly improved under ER-EDF.
Mixed Infections

Mixed bacterial infections are responsible for many puzzling groups of symptoms. The difficulties of diagnosis are increased because at one time there is a summation of effects, and at another the secondary results are more or less overshadowed by the predominant organisms. To take the case of tuberculous infections : the exudative pneumonia which occurs is generally the result of a secondary invading pneumococcus ; the exudates *n tuberculous pleurisy are almost always pneumococcal at flrst, the pneumococcus dying out later and leaving the fluid sterile ; the hectic fever is probably due to the action of ? ther organisms. A mixed infection, however, need not necessarily be purely bacterial. Protozoal lesions may be altered by the entrance Pyogenic cocci, and some of the filtrable viruses act in concert with schizomycetes. The primary organisms may damage the skin or mucous-membranes, and so provide an easy entrance for the secondary ? rganisms, as in tuberculosis, typhoid, dysentery or variola ; 0r the primary organisms may damage the general body distance, and so favour the action and spread of secondary ? rganisms. The frequency of pneumococcal infection in typhoid fever and erysipelas illustrates the latter type. In the spread of the mixed lesions certain fairly definite changes may be expected. The associated organisms may remain localised, as in the case of tuberculous skin lesions ^fected later with staphylococci. Or both types of organisms may be generalised, as in combined tuberculous and strepto-c? ccal infections, typhoid and para-typhoid, etc. Or the
Clinical utility of the soluble transferrin receptor and comparison with serum ferritin in several populations.

Soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) and ferritin concentrations were measured in a variety of clinical settings to compare the ability of these two tests to identify iron deficiency. Among 62 anemic patients who either had a bone marrow aspirate performed or had a documented response to iron therapy, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of sTfR (at a diagnostic cutoff of > 2.8 mg/L) were 92% and 84%, respectively, with a positive predictive value of 42% in this population. Ferritin (< or = 12 microg/L) had a sensitivity of 25% and a specificity of 98%. However, the sensitivity and specificity of ferritin could be improved to 92% and 98%, respectively, by using a diagnostic cutoff value of < or = 30 microg/L, resulting in a positive predictive value of 92%. Ferritin and sTfR were also measured in 267 outpatient samples and 112 medical students. In the outpatient group, the two tests agreed in 73% of the samples; however, 25% of the samples had ferritin values > 12 microg/L and increased sTfR. Among the medical students, there was 91% agreement between the two tests, but 7% of the samples had ferritin < or = 12 microg/L and normal sTfR. Together, these data suggest that measurement of sTfR does not provide sufficient additional information to ferritin to warrant routine use. However, sTfR may be useful as an adjunct in the evaluation of anemic patients, whose ferritin values may be increased as the result of an acute-phase reaction.
Successful catheter ablation reduces the risk of cardiovascular events in atrial fibrillation patients with CHA2DS2-VASc risk score of 1 and higher.

AIMS It is not known if successful catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) improves the patient's long-term cardiovascular outcomes. This study investigated the long-term outcomes and mortality of AF patients at high risk who received antiarrhythmic medication and catheter ablation. METHODS AND RESULTS The propensity scores for AF were calculated for each patient and were used to assemble a cohort of 174 AF patients with ablation who were compared with an equal number of AF patients without ablation. Composite cardiovascular end points (major adverse cardiovascular event, MACE), including mortality and vascular events in the medically treated patients representing the control group (group 1), were compared with those in the ablation-treated patients (group 2). The rates of the total mortality (2.95% vs. 0.74% per year; P < 0.01), cardiovascular death (1.77% vs. 0% per year; P = 0.001), and ischaemic stroke/transient ischaemic attack (2.21% vs. 0.59% per year; P = 0.02) were higher in group 1 than group 2, respectively. A multivariate Cox regression analysis of the MACE scores showed that a higher CHA2DS2-VASc score [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.309 per increment of score, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.06-1.617; P = 0.01] and the performance of the ablation procedure (HR = 0.225, CI = 0.076-0.671; P = 0.007) were independent predictors of a MACE. In patients who received catheter ablation, recurrence of any atrial arrhythmia was a predictor of vascular events and total mortality (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION In AF patients with CHA2DS2-VASc score ≥1, catheter ablation of AF reduced the risk of the total/cardiovascular mortality and total vascular events. Atrial fibrillation recurrence predicts long-term cardiovascular outcomes, as well as the CHA2DS2-VASc score.
Environmental Impacts of Artisanal Gold Mining: A case study of Nkaseim Community - Ghana

Artisanal gold mining [AGM] has numerous socio-economic benefits to communities involved. However, the four environmental variables or constructs used revealed that AGM significantly affects the environment. In other words; despite a source of livelihood; AGM communities are besieged with issues such as water pollution, land degradation and air pollution which affect almost all facets of the environment including humans. Most miners have no idea about alternative technologies to make AGM sustainable, yet Ghana ranks next to South Africa as the highest producers of gold in Africa. This paper, therefore, discusses the consequences of AGM for stakeholders to regularize AGM activities; and adopt alternative methods to mitigate the damage caused to the environment. Keywords : Artisanal gold mining, environmental impacts, regularize, pollution
Direct seeding onto green roof substrate supports species rich, high cover novel grassland

The vegetation of green roofs is central to their functioning and ability to provide ecosystem services. When vegetation performs well, green roofs contribute to storm water mitigation, thermally buffer buildings, improve biodiversity and provide aesthetic and recreational relief in the grey city landscape. However, poor vegetation performance is common, with a decline in both species richness and cover over time. This decline can in part be attributed to design, failing to consider community assemblage mechanisms that lead to quality vegetation performance. Direct seeding of grassland species could offer a randomness in distribution and abundance of seedlings that supports early community self-organization and co-existence. Comparatively, adult plant establishment does not provide this early opportunity. This thesis determines, the ability of a scoria based green roof substrate to support the germination and establishment of a species rich, high cover, novel grassland community, and the direct seeding sowing methods to achieve this. Additionally, species richness, and abundance were investigated as potential drivers of cover. A grassland forb only species seed mix was applied in two experiments. Experiment One (n=7), in glasshouse conditions, investigated application of seed with and without a sand bed, and depth of sowing; six treatments. Experiment Two (n=10) in green roof module conditions outside under irrigation, investigated depth of sowing and rate; four treatments. Main results showed a species rich and abundant germination on scoria based green roof substrate. Results indicated that both depth of sowing at greater than 10 mm and application in a sand bed, reduced species richness and abundance. In green roof module conditions, surface sowing indicated a slight species richness advantage and an abundance disadvantage, in comparison to sowing between 0 to 10 mm depth. Sowing rate approaching that of on ground grassland restoration rates, were shown to be as effective as a doubled sowing rate in producing a species rich, high cover. This study found; no support for species richness as a key driver of cover, however abundance is indicated as an early key driver of cover, and may not act in isolation during rapid cover development. These findings are relevant to management practices. Quality vegetation performance, achieved at sowing rates approximating on ground restoration, suggest that further investigation into lowering rate and species richness and cover response, is warranted. Long term studies investigating community dynamics, would give insight into this novel community’s ability to continue coexistence as a functional resilient system, as a predictor of ecosystem service potential.
Tree language automata for melody recognition

The representation of symbolic music by means of trees has shown to be suitable in melodic similarity computation. In order to compare trees, different tree edit distances have been previously used, being their complexity a main drawback. In this paper, the application of stochastic k-testable treemodels for computing the similarity between two melodies as a probability, compared to the classical edit distance has been addressed. The results show that k-testable tree-models seem to be adequate for the task, since they outperform other reference methods in both recognition rate and efficiency. The case study in this paper is to identify a snippet query among a set of songs. For it, the utilized method must be able to deal with inexact queries and efficiency for scalability issues.
Preferential publication of editorial board members in medical specialty journals

Background: Publication bias and discrimination are increasingly recognised in medicine. A survey was conducted to determine if medical journals were more likely to publish research reports from members of their own than a rival journal’s editorial board. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of all research reports published in 2006 in the four competing medical journals within five medical specialties. Only three journals were willing to divulge the authorship of reports that had been rejected. Results: Overall, 4460 research reports were published in 2006 by the 20 journals from five subspecialties (mean 223 (SD = 164) reports per journal; median 176; interquartile range 108–238). On average, 17.2 (7.7%) reports were from a journal’s own editorial board (SD = 10.7; median 15; interquartile range 10–23; n = 20), and 6.3 (2.8%) reports were from a member of the editorial board of one of the three rival journals within the specialty (SD = 7.3; median 3.5; interquartile range 1–8; n = 60). There was a statistically significant excess of publications from the journal’s own editorial board in 14 of the 20 journals (p<0.05). Journals were almost three times more likely to publish reports from their own editorial board than from one of the three rivals within their subspecialty (p<0.0001; median difference 11; Mann–Whitney U test; power for 5% significance >99.99%). Conclusions: There was a significant excess of publications from medical journals’ own editorial boards, although it is not possible to determine whether this is due to bias in the peer review process or selective submission by editors.