Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biofilms’ Role in Planktonic Cell Proliferation

The detachment of single cells from biofilms is an intrinsic part of this surface-associated mode of bacterial existence. Pseudomonas sp. strain CT07gfp biofilms, cultivated in microfluidic channels under continuous flow conditions, were subjected to a range of liquid shear stresses (9.42 mPa to 320 mPa). The number of detached planktonic cells was quantified from the effluent at 24-h intervals, while average biofilm thickness and biofilm surface area were determined by confocal laser scanning microscopy and image analysis. Biofilm accumulation proceeded at the highest applied shear stress, while similar rates of planktonic cell detachment was maintained for biofilms of the same age subjected to the range of average shear rates. The conventional view of liquid-mediated shear leading to the passive erosion of single cells from the biofilm surface, disregards the active contribution of attached cell metabolism and growth to the observed detachment rates. As a complement to the conventional conceptual biofilm models, the existence of a biofilm surface-associated zone of planktonic cell proliferation is proposed to highlight the need to expand the traditional perception of biofilms as promoting microbial survival, to include the potential of biofilms to contribute to microbial proliferation.
Diagnostic and prognostic significance of serum soluble endoglin levels in preeclampsia and eclampsia

Background: Preeclampsia is a multisystem disorder of unknown etiology that affects 4–5% of all pregnancies. The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of serum soluble endoglin (sEng) in preeclampsia and eclampsia and also to evaluate its prognostic significance. Materials and Methods: This prospective case–control study carried out over a period of 1 year in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, King George Medical University, Lucknow. After written informed consent and ethical clearance, total 90 subjects were enrolled. Among them, 30 subjects of eclampsia, 15 of nonsevere preeclampsia, 15 of severe preeclampsia served as cases, and 30 healthy pregnant normotensive women served as controls. Levels were estimated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique in both cases and controls. Results: Mean level was highest in eclampsia group (14.96 ± 1.96 ng/mL) and lowest in controls (2.08 ± 0.56 ng/mL). At cut-off value of sEng levels of ≥6.26 ng/mL, it was found to be 100% sensitive and 100% specific for the diagnosis of preeclampsia (area under curve =1) at 95% confidence interval. sEng levels were strongly correlated with systolic (r = 0.928) and diastolic blood pressure (r = 0.916), serum lactate dehydrogenase (r = 0.791) and serum uric acid (r = 0.722). All four maternal deaths were reported within eclampsia group, in whom the mean sEng level was significantly higher (17.84 ± 0.22) as compared to other subjects (9.50 ± 5.80). Conclusion: sEng is a novel marker for diagnosis of preeclampsia, and it can also be used as a prognostic marker to predict the severity of preeclampsia.
Incremental Integer Linear Programming for Non-projective Dependency Parsing

Integer Linear Programming has recently been used for decoding in a number of probabilistic models in order to enforce global constraints. However, in certain applications, such as non-projective dependency parsing and machine translation, the complete formulation of the decoding problem as an integer linear program renders solving intractable. We present an approach which solves the problem incrementally, thus we avoid creating intractable integer linear programs. This approach is applied to Dutch dependency parsing and we show how the addition of linguistically motivated constraints can yield a significant improvement over state-of-the-art.
A Complex-Valued Projection Neural Network for Constrained Optimization of Real Functions in Complex Variables

In this paper, we present a complex-valued projection neural network for solving constrained convex optimization problems of real functions with complex variables, as an extension of real-valued projection neural networks. Theoretically, by developing results on complex-valued optimization techniques, we prove that the complex-valued projection neural network is globally stable and convergent to the optimal solution. Obtained results are completely established in the complex domain and thus significantly generalize existing results of the real-valued projection neural networks. Numerical simulations are presented to confirm the obtained results and effectiveness of the proposed complex-valued projection neural network.
Graves' Disease: Influence of Age on Clinical Findings

• To determine the influence of age on the signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism we prospectively examined 880 patients and matched them by age, sex, race, and visit date with similarly examined euthyroid control subjects. Many signs and symptoms showed little change with age until after the fifth decade of life when they began to decrease gradually. Findings that increased with age were weight loss and atrial fibrillation, while those that decreased most markedly with age were increased appetite and weight gain. The diagnosis is more difficult as age progresses because there are fewer findings and because the significance of those present may not be appreciated. Identification of the most sensitive and specific signs and symptoms in each age decade should improve the early detection of hyperthyroidism. ( Arch Intern Med 1988;148:626-631)
Private Equity Investments : Performance and Diseconomies of Scale

October 2008 This paper uses a newly created dataset containing the performance of 4,848 investments of 151 Private Equity (PE) firms between 1973 and 2002. This data allows us to present new results on the cross-section of private equity investments. We find that private equity investments are held on average for 4 years with only 14% of quick flips (held less than 2 years). The average IRR gross-offees is 17% with 10% of the deals going bust. Our investment level data coupled with structural characteristics of PE firms help us shed light on the issue of managerial diseconomies of scale. Investments held during times when a high number (or amount) of investments are under management underperform substantially: the median IRR is 32% for the lowest quartile and 11% for the highest quartile. These results are robust to a number of controls and across all sub-samples. Diseconomies of scale are somewhat attenuated in more experienced firms, more seasoned managers, and in PE firms with flatter hierarchies and where managers have similar backgrounds. Our results seem consistent with theories of diseconomies of scale originating from hierarchy and communication costs occurring when soft information is transmitted.
Gamma knife radiosurgery for craniopharyngiomas: long-term results in the first Swedish patients.

OBJECT The purpose of this study was to assess the long-term treatment efficacy and morbidity of patients who undergo gamma knife radiosurgery (GKS) for craniopharyngioma. METHODS Twenty-one consecutive Swedish patients were evaluated retrospectively: 11 children (< or = 15 years) and 10 adults. The time from diagnosis to the most recent follow-up imaging study was 6.3 to 34.3 years (mean 18.2 years, median 16.8 years). Tumor volumes and morbidity from GKS or other treatments were assessed at the time of the most recent imaging study or at the time of a subsequent new treatment. The observation period ranged from 0.5 to 29 years (mean 7.5 years, median 3.5 years). The prescription dose ranged from less than 3 Gy to 25 Gy. The mean tumor volume was 7.8 cm3 (range 0.4-33 cm3). There were 22 tumors in 21 patients treated with GKS. Five of these tumors were reduced in size, three were unchanged, and 14 increased. Tumor progression correlated with a low dose to the tumor margin. Eleven (85%) of 13 tumors that received a dose of less than 6 Gy to the margin increased in size, whereas only three (33%) of nine tumors that received 6 Gy increased. This difference was statistically significant (p = 0.01). In five of six patients tumors that became smaller after GKS there were no recurrences within a mean follow-up period of 12 years. Nine (82%) of 11 tumors in children ultimately increased after GKS, compared with five (50%) of 10 in adults. In eight patients there was a deterioration of visual function. In all except one this could be related to a volume increase but radiation-induced damage could not be excluded as a factor in any of them. Four patients developed pituitary deficiencies. CONCLUSIONS Gamma knife radiosurgery is effective in controlling growth of craniopharyngiomas with a minimum dose of 6 Gy. The findings also suggest that other stereotactic techniques, such as cyst aspiration and intracystic treatment, are only of value in reducing tumor volume in preparation for safe GKS.
The Relationship of Attitudinal and Behavioral Outcomes with Employee Development in the Context of Performance Appraisal in Public Universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

This study examines the impact of performance appraisal on employees' development perceptions and the effects of those perceptions on employees' work-related attitudes and behavior in the public universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.The study looks into the mediating role of development in linking performance appraisal and organizational commitment, job satisfaction, employees‘ trust, and turnover intentions.The model is evaluated through Confirmatory Factor Analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). In Pakistan, efforts to link this HR activity with employee attitudinal and behavioural outcomes are equal to naught.The present study is an effort to addresses this gap. Results of the research indicate that employee development perceptions have a direct positive influence on organizational commitment, job satisfaction and employees‘ trust and negatively affect turnover intentions.Besides, these variables have interdependence as well.The findings support the mediating role of development perceptions in the relationships among performance appraisal and these attitudinal and behavioural outcomes.The results provide guidelines and significant implications to help policy makers to better understand and critically look into the current performance appraisal process critically for positive improvements in this crucial HR intervention to promote positive employee attitude and behaviour while considering their career development.Furthermore, the study helps in enriching the current body of knowledge on performance appraisal in developing countries.Future studies should examine other antecedents like fairness perception, organizational citizenship behaviour and perceived organizational support to have a holistic approach to the intervention.Replication of the study in other settings is also recommended.
2.4-$\mu\hbox{m}$-Cutoff AlGaAsSb/InGaAsSb Phototransistors for Shortwave-IR Applications

Shortwave-infrared (IR) detectors are critical for several applications, including remote sensing and optical communications. Several detectors are commercially available for this wavelength range, but they lack sufficient gain that limits their detectivity. The characterization results of AlGaAsSb/InGaAsSb phototransistors for shortwave-IR application are reported. The phototransistors are grown using molecular beam epitaxy technique. Spectral-response measurements showed a uniform responsivity between 1.2- and 2.4- region with a mean value of 1000 A/W. A maximum detectivity of was obtained at 2 at and 1.3 V.
Psychotherapy over the Last Four Decades

Psychological treatments are the other arm of therapy for depression and many psychiatric disorders. The literature is full of trials indicating that they are in some contexts more effective and better at preventing relapse than pharmaceutical interventions. There are no physical side effects, but some of the best-validated treatments depend on therapists with training. Unlike drug therapies, there are no multibillion-dollar suppliers of these treatments with the motivation tomarket them andmake them easily obtainable . And yet such therapies have the potential to make a substantive difference to new categories of patients. —“Therapy Deficit: Studies to Enhance Psychological TreatmentsAre ScandalouslyUnder-supported” (2012 editorial, Nature)
Analyzing the Characteristics of Shared Playlists for Music Recommendation

The automated generation of music playlists { as supported by modern music services like last.fm or Spotify { represents a special form of music recommendation. When designing a \playlisting" algorithm, the question arises which kind of quality criteria the generated playlists should fulll and if there are certain characteristics like homogeneity, diversity or freshness that make the playlists generally more enjoyable for the listeners. In our work, we aim to obtain a better understanding of such desired playlist characteristics in order to be able to design better algorithms in the future. The research approach chosen in this work is to analyze several thousand playlists that were created and shared by users on music platforms based on musical and meta-data features. Our rst results for example reveal that factors like popularity, freshness and diversity play a certain role for users when they create playlists manually. Comparing such usergenerated playlists with automatically created ones moreover shows that today’s online playlisting services sometimes generate playlists which are quite dierent from user-created ones. Finally, we compare the user-created playlists with playlists generated with a nearest-neighbor technique from the research literature and observe even stronger dierences. This last observation can be seen as another indication that the accuracy-based quality measures from the literature are probably not sucient to assess the eectiveness of playlisting algorithms.
Leukocyte function-associated antigen-1 deficiency impairs responses to polymicrobial sepsis.

AIM To determine the role of leukocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) in polymicrobial sepsis model in mice. METHODS Cecal ligation and puncture model was used to study polymicrobial sepsis in wild type and LFA-1 knockout (KO) (= CD11a KO) mice. Their survivals were examined. Neutrophil recruitment to the abdominal cavity, bacterial tissue load and bacterial killing by neutrophils, tissue cytokine profiles, and serum cytokines were examined. Apoptosis of tissues was assessed using cleaved-caspase 3 and TUNNEL staining. The recruitment of neutrophils to various tissues was assessed using myeloperoxidase staining or measuring myeloperoxidase activity. RESULTS LFA-1 deficiency significantly decreased survival (P = 0.0024) with the reduction of neutrophil recruitment to the abdominal cavity and higher bacterial load in blood. It was also associated with increased apoptosis in spleen and more organ injuries probed by interleukin-6 mRNA level. However, the deficiency of LFA-1 did not prevent neutrophil recruitment to lung, liver, spleen or kidney, which suggested the existence of LFA-1 independent recruitment mechanism in these organs. CONCLUSION LFA-1 deficiency did not attenuate neutrophil recruitment to various organs to adequately mitigate secondary tissue injury in sepsis. It was associated with decreased neutrophil recruitment to the abdominal cavity, higher bacterial load, leading to increased mortality in an abdominal, polymicrobial sepsis.
Mitogenomic analysis of a 50-generation chicken pedigree reveals a rapid rate of mitochondrial evolution and evidence for paternal mtDNA inheritance

Mitochondrial genomes represent a valuable source of data for evolutionary research, but studies of their short-term evolution have typically been limited to invertebrates, humans and laboratory organisms. Here we present a detailed study of 12 mitochondrial genomes that span a total of 385 transmissions in a well-documented 50-generation pedigree in which two lineages of chickens were selected for low and high juvenile body weight. These data allowed us to test the hypothesis of time-dependent evolutionary rates and the assumption of strict maternal mitochondrial transmission, and to investigate the role of mitochondrial mutations in determining phenotype. The identification of a non-synonymous mutation in ND4L and a synonymous mutation in CYTB, both novel mutations in Gallus, allowed us to estimate a molecular rate of 3.13 × 10−7 mutations/site/year (95% confidence interval 3.75 × 10−8–1.12 × 10−6). This is substantially higher than avian rate estimates based upon fossil calibrations. Ascertaining which of the two novel mutations was present in an additional 49 individuals also revealed an instance of paternal inheritance of mtDNA. Lastly, an association analysis demonstrated that neither of the point mutations was strongly associated with the phenotypic differences between the two selection lines. Together, these observations reveal the highly dynamic nature of mitochondrial evolution over short time periods.
Association of the STAT4 gene with increased susceptibility for some immune-mediated diseases.

OBJECTIVE The STAT4 gene encodes a transcription factor involved in the signaling pathways of several cytokines, including interleukin-12 (IL-12), the type I interferons, and IL-23. Recently, the association of a STAT4 haplotype marked by rs7574865 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus was reported. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of this STAT4 tagging polymorphism in other immune-mediated diseases. METHODS The study group comprised 2,776 consecutively recruited Spanish individuals: 575 with RA, 440 with multiple sclerosis, 700 with inflammatory bowel disease, 311 with type 1 diabetes, and 723 ethnically matched healthy control subjects. The STAT4 polymorphism rs7574865 was genotyped using a predesigned TaqMan assay. Allele and genotype frequencies in patients and control subjects were compared by chi-square test. RESULTS The association of STAT4 polymorphism rs7574865 with RA was validated in patients of Spanish origin (for T versus G, P = 1.2 x 10(-6), odds ratio [OR] 1.59, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.31-1.92), and the association was described for the first time in both clinical forms of inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (for T versus G, P = 0.006, OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.07-1.55), and in type 1 diabetes mellitus (for T versus G, P = 0.008, OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.07-1.71). In contrast, the genotypic distribution of this polymorphism showed no difference between patients with multiple sclerosis and healthy control subjects (for T versus G, P = 0.83, OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.82-1.28). CONCLUSION The STAT4 gene is emerging as a novel common risk factor for diverse complex diseases.
Hearing Results with Cartilage Tympanoplasty

Cartilage has shown promise as a graft material to close perforations in the tympanic membrane (TM), particularly in cases of advanced middle ear pathology. Although it is similar to fascia, its more rigid quality tends to resist resorption and retraction. However, it is this rigid quality that has led many to anticipate a significant conductive hearing loss when using cartilage to reconstruct the TM. Because little has been reported in the literature comparing hearing results using cartilage with results using other grafting materials, this retrospective study was conducted to compare the hearing results of patients with cartilage tympanoplasty with results in patients who underwent revision tympanoplasty using perichondrium. Both series of patients had undergone type I tympanoplasty, and the middle ear pathology was considered to be similar between the two groups. TM closure was achieved in all 22 patients undergoing cartilage reconstruction, but three of the 20 patients undergoing perichondrium reconstruction had a recurrent perforation during the follow‐up period (approximately 1 year). The average pre‐ and postoperative puretone average air‐bone gap (PTA‐ABG) was 21.1 dB and 6.8 dB for the cartilage group and 17.9 dB and 7.7 dB for the perichondrium group, respectively. These gains in hearing were statistically significant (P < 0.001 in each case), but there was no statistically significant difference in hearing results between the two groups. Analysis of the PTA‐ABG as a function of percentage of TM reconstructed showed no statistically significant difference in hearing results due to percentage of cartilage used. These results indicate that cartilage tympanoplasty offers the possibility of a rigorous TM reconstruction with excellent postoperative hearing results.
Semantic similarity measure in biomedical domain leverage Web Search Engine

Semantic similarity measure plays an essential role in Information Retrieval and Natural Language Processing. In this paper we propose a page-count-based semantic similarity measure and apply it in biomedical domains. Previous researches in semantic web related applications have deployed various semantic similarity measures. Despite the usefulness of the measurements in those applications, measuring semantic similarity between two terms remains a challenge task. The proposed method exploits page counts returned by the Web Search Engine. We define various similarity scores for two given terms P and Q, using the page counts for querying P, Q and P AND Q. Moreover, we propose a novel approach to compute semantic similarity using lexico-syntactic patterns with page counts. These different similarity scores are integrated adapting support vector machines, to leverage the robustness of semantic similarity measures. Experimental results on two datasets achieve correlation coefficients of 0.798 on the dataset provided by A. Hliaoutakis, 0.705 on the dataset provide by T. Pedersen with physician scores and 0.496 on the dataset provided by T. Pedersen et al. with expert scores.
How molecular motors shape the flagellar beat

Cilia and eukaryotic flagella are slender cellular appendages whose regular beating propels cells and microorganisms through aqueous media. The beat is an oscillating pattern of propagating bends generated by dynein motor proteins. A key open question is how the activity of the motors is coordinated in space and time. To elucidate the nature of this coordination we inferred the mechanical properties of the motors by analyzing the shape of beating sperm: Steadily beating bull sperm were imaged and their shapes were measured with high precision using a Fourier averaging technique. Comparing our experimental data with wave forms calculated for different scenarios of motor coordination we found that only the scenario of interdoublet sliding regulating motor activity gives rise to satisfactory fits. We propose that the microscopic origin of such “sliding control” is the load dependent detachment rate of motors. Agreement between observed and calculated wave forms was obtained only if significant sliding between microtubules occurred at the base. This suggests a novel mechanism by which changes in basal compliance could reverse the direction of beat propagation. We conclude that the flagellar beat patterns are determined by an interplay of the basal properties of the axoneme and the mechanical feedback of dynein motors.