Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microbial Larvicide Application by a Large-Scale, Community-Based Program Reduces Malaria Infection Prevalence in Urban Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Background Malaria control in Africa is most tractable in urban settlements yet most research has focused on rural settings. Elimination of malaria transmission from urban areas may require larval control strategies that complement adult mosquito control using insecticide-treated nets or houses, particularly where vectors feed outdoors. Methods and Findings Microbial larvicide (Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti)) was applied weekly through programmatic, non-randomized community-based, but vertically managed, delivery systems in urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Continuous, randomized cluster sampling of malaria infection prevalence and non-random programmatic surveillance of entomological inoculation rate (EIR) respectively constituted the primary and secondary outcomes surveyed within a population of approximately 612,000 residents in 15 fully urban wards covering 55 km2. Bti application for one year in 3 of those wards (17 km2 with 128,000 residents) reduced crude annual transmission estimates (Relative EIR [95% Confidence Interval] = 0.683 [0.491–0.952], P = 0.024) but program effectiveness peaked between July and September (Relative EIR [CI] = 0.354 [0.193 to 0.650], P = 0.001) when 45% (9/20) of directly observed transmission events occurred. Larviciding reduced malaria infection risk among children ≤5 years of age (OR [CI] = 0.284 [0.101 to 0.801], P = 0.017) and provided protection at least as good as personal use of an insecticide treated net (OR [CI] = 0.764 [0.614–0.951], P = 0.016). Conclusions In this context, larviciding reduced malaria prevalence and complemented existing protection provided by insecticide-treated nets. Larviciding may represent a useful option for integrated vector management in Africa, particularly in its rapidly growing urban centres.
A single‐cell analysis reveals multiple roles of oligodendroglial lineage cells during post‐ischemic regeneration

NG2 cells represent precursors of oligodendrocytes under physiological conditions; however, following cerebral ischemia they play an important role in glial scar formation. Here, we compared the expression profiles of oligodendroglial lineage cells, after focal cerebral ischemia (FCI) and in Alzheimer's‐like pathology using transgenic mice, which enables genetic fate‐mapping of Cspg4‐positive NG2 cells and their progeny, based on the expression of red fluorescent protein tdTomato. tdTomato‐positive cells possessed the expression profile of NG2 cells and oligodendrocytes; however, based on the expression of cell type‐specific genes, we were able to distinguish between them. To shed light on the changes in the expression patterns caused by FCI, we employed self‐organizing Kohonen maps, enabling the division of NG2 cells and oligodendrocytes into subpopulations based on similarities in the expression profiles of individual cells. We identified three subpopulations of NG2 cells emerging after FCI: proliferative; astrocyte‐like and oligodendrocyte‐like NG2 cells; such phenotypes were further confirmed by immunohistochemistry. Oligodendrocytes themselves formed four subpopulations, which reflected the process of oligodendrocytes maturation. Finally, we used 5‐ethynyl‐2′ deoxyuridine (EdU) labeling to reveal that NG2 cells can differentiate directly into reactive astrocytes without preceding proliferation. In contrast, in Alzheimer's‐like pathology we failed to identify these subpopulations. Collectively, here we identified several yet unknown differences between the expression profiles of NG2 cells and oligodendrocytes, and characterized specific genes contributing to oligodendrocyte maturation and phenotypical changes of NG2 cells after FCI. Moreover, our results suggest that, unlike in Alzheimer's‐like pathology, NG2 cells acquire a multipotent phenotype following FCI.
Efficient Privacy-Preserving Biometric Identification

We present an efficient matching protocol that can be used in many privacy-preserving biometric identification systems in the semi-honest setting. Our most general technical contribution is a new backtracking protocol that uses the byproduct of evaluating a garbled circuit to enable efficient oblivious information retrieval. We also present a more efficient protocol for computing the Euclidean distances of vectors, and optimized circuits for finding the closest match between a point held by one party and a set of points held by another. We evaluate our protocols by implementing a practical privacy-preserving fingerprint matching system.
Phase III study comparing oxaliplatin plus S-1 with cisplatin plus S-1 in chemotherapy-naïve patients with advanced gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND We evaluated the efficacy and safety of S-1 plus oxaliplatin (SOX) as an alternative to cisplatin plus S-1 (CS) in first-line chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer (AGC). PATIENTS AND METHODS In this randomized, open-label, multicenter phase III study, patients were randomly assigned to receive SOX (80-120 mg/day S-1 for 2 weeks with 100 mg/m(2) oxaliplatin on day 1, every 3 weeks) or CS (S-1 for 3 weeks with 60 mg/m(2) cisplatin on day 8, every 5 weeks). The primary end points were noninferiority in progression-free survival (PFS) and relative efficacy in overall survival (OS) for SOX using adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with stratification factors; performance status and unresectable or recurrent (+adjuvant chemotherapy) disease. RESULTS Overall, 685 patients were randomized from January 2010 to October 2011. In per-protocol population, SOX (n = 318) was noninferior to CS (n = 324) in PFS [median, 5.5 versus 5.4 months; HR 1.004, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.840-1.199; predefined noninferiority margin 1.30]. The median OS for SOX and CS were 14.1 and 13.1 months, respectively (HR 0.958 with 95% CI 0.803-1.142). In the intention-to-treat population (SOX, n = 339; CS, n = 337), the HRs in PFS and OS were 0.979 (95% CI 0.821-1.167) and 0.934 (95% CI 0.786-1.108), respectively. The most common ≥grade 3 adverse events (SOX versus CS) were neutropenia (19.5% versus 41.8%), anemia (15.1% versus 32.5%), hyponatremia (4.4% versus 13.4%), febrile neutropenia (0.9% versus 6.9%), and sensory neuropathy (4.7% versus 0%). CONCLUSION SOX is as effective as CS for AGC with favorable safety profile, therefore SOX can replace CS. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER JapicCTI-101021.
Genetics and Genomics of Social Behavior in a Chicken Model

Johnsson et al. identify multiple genes affecting sociality-related behavior in chickens. They examine the genetic architecture of domestication in the chicken by studying pleiotropy and linkage in hypothalamus tissue. Statistical analyses of their eQTL data. The identification of genes affecting sociality can give insights into the maintenance and development of sociality and personality. In this study, we used the combination of an advanced intercross between wild and domestic chickens with a combined QTL and eQTL genetical genomics approach to identify genes for social reinstatement, a social and anxiety-related behavior. A total of 24 social reinstatement QTL were identified and overlaid with over 600 eQTL obtained from the same birds using hypothalamic tissue. Correlations between overlapping QTL and eQTL indicated five strong candidate genes, with the gene TTRAP being strongly significantly correlated with multiple aspects of social reinstatement behavior, as well as possessing a highly significant eQTL.
Causality of the Relationship between Geographic Distribution and Species Abundance

The positive relationship between a species' geographic distribution and its abundance is one of ecology's most well-documented patterns, yet the causes behind this relationship remain unclear. Although many hypotheses have been proposed to account for distribution-abundance relationships, none have attained unequivocal support. Accordingly, the positive association in distribution-abundance relationships is generally considered to be due to a combination of these proposed mechanisms acting in concert. In this review, we suggest that much of the disparity between these hypotheses stems from differences in terminology and ecological point of view. Realizing and accounting for these differences facilitates integration, so that the relative contributions of each mechanism may be evaluated. Here, we review all the mechanisms that have been proposed to account for distribution-abundance relationships, in a framework that facilitates a comparison between them. We identify and discuss the central factors governing the individual mechanisms, and elucidate their effect on empirical patterns.
Management of hunting waste as control measure for tuberculosis in wild ungulates in south‐central Spain

In recent decades, habitat change and the intensive management of wild ungulates for hunting have led to an increase in their populations in south-central Spain. This implies a higher generation of hunting waste, which can favour the transmission of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis (TB). The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of the proper disposal of hunting waste as TB control measure in wild boar (Sus scrofa) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) during the 2008/2009 to 2016/2017 hunting seasons. Blood samples from 664 wild boar and 934 red deer were obtained in 14 game estates in two provinces in Andalusia (Area 1), where the disposal of hunting waste was implemented since the 2012/2013 hunting season. Besides, six game estates in the province of Ciudad Real, in Castilla-La Mancha (Area 2), an adjacent region where this management measure was not implemented during the studied period, were used as controls, sampling 277 wild boar and 427 red deer sera. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC), seroprevalence detected in wild boar from Area 1, was significantly higher before the disposal of big game hunting by-products (82.8%; 2008/2009-2012/2013) compared to the second period (61.8%; 2013/2014-2016/2017) (p < .001), after this control measure became established. By contrast, no significant differences between periods were found in wild boar (41.3% versus 44.8%; p = .33) and red deer (14.9% versus 11.6%; p = .19) from Area 2 as well as in red deer (10.8% versus 10.5%; p = .48) from Area 1. The proper disposal of hunting waste contributed to achieve a 25% reduction in MTC seroprevalence in wild boar. These results are of particular relevance regarding wild boar in the current context of re-emerging and emerging diseases such as TB and African Swine Fever in Europe. Further studies are needed to assess the effect of this measure on the health status of livestock and other wildlife species.
Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Predicts Death in Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit: A Retrospective Cohort Study

ABSTRACT The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an inflammation score recognized as associated with outcome. Although inflammation has been shown to correlate with the development of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), we sought to investigate the role of NLR in predicting 90-day mortality in cirrhotic patients experiencing ACLF. We performed a retrospective cohort study involving a total of 108 consecutive cirrhotic patients admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU). NLR, clinical and biological data were recorded. Of the total, 75 patients had ACLF. The 90-day mortality rate was 53%. ACLF patients displayed higher NLR values in comparison with cirrhotic patients without ACLF throughout the ICU stay. NLR proved more elevated in nonsurvivors ACLF patients, with mortality correlating with increasing quartiles of NLR. On multivariable Cox regression analysis, NLR was found to be a predictor of mortality along with the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score and mechanical ventilation requirement. The model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score was not predictive of 90-days mortality. Performance analysis revealed an area under curve of 0.71 [95% confidence interval: 0.59–0.82] regarding NLR capacity to predict 90-days mortality. When including NLR, SOFA score, and mechanical ventilation requirement into the final model, the area under curve was significantly higher (0.81 [95% confidence interval: 0.72–0.91]). These findings suggest that NLR is associated with mortality in ACLF patients admitted to the ICU. Combining NLR, SOFA score, and the need for mechanical ventilation could be a useful prognostic tool to identify ACLF patients at a higher risk of mortality.
Analysis of miRNA and mRNA Expression Profiles Highlights Alterations in Ionizing Radiation Response of Human Lymphocytes under Modeled Microgravity

Background Ionizing radiation (IR) can be extremely harmful for human cells since an improper DNA-damage response (DDR) to IR can contribute to carcinogenesis initiation. Perturbations in DDR pathway can originate from alteration in the functionality of the microRNA-mediated gene regulation, being microRNAs (miRNAs) small noncoding RNA that act as post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression. In this study we gained insight into the role of miRNAs in the regulation of DDR to IR under microgravity, a condition of weightlessness experienced by astronauts during space missions, which could have a synergistic action on cells, increasing the risk of radiation exposure. Methodology/Principal Findings We analyzed miRNA expression profile of human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) incubated for 4 and 24 h in normal gravity (1 g) and in modeled microgravity (MMG) during the repair time after irradiation with 0.2 and 2Gy of γ-rays. Our results show that MMG alters miRNA expression signature of irradiated PBL by decreasing the number of radio-responsive miRNAs. Moreover, let-7i*, miR-7, miR-7-1*, miR-27a, miR-144, miR-200a, miR-598, miR-650 are deregulated by the combined action of radiation and MMG. Integrated analyses of miRNA and mRNA expression profiles, carried out on PBL of the same donors, identified significant miRNA-mRNA anti-correlations of DDR pathway. Gene Ontology analysis reports that the biological category of “Response to DNA damage” is enriched when PBL are incubated in 1 g but not in MMG. Moreover, some anti-correlated genes of p53-pathway show a different expression level between 1 g and MMG. Functional validation assays using luciferase reporter constructs confirmed miRNA-mRNA interactions derived from target prediction analyses. Conclusions/Significance On the whole, by integrating the transcriptome and microRNome, we provide evidence that modeled microgravity can affects the DNA-damage response to IR in human PBL.
Propagation Measurements and Estimation of Channel Propagation Models in Urban Environment

Wireless communication is a telecommunication technology, which enables wireless transmission between the portable devices to provide wireless access in all types of environments. In this research, the measurements and various empirical models are analysed and compared in order to find out a suitable propagation model to provide guidelines for cell planning of wireless communication systems. The measured data was taken in urban region with low vegetation and some trees at 900 MHz frequency band. Path loss models are useful planning tools, which permit the designers of cellular communication to obtain optimal levels for the base station deployment and meeting the expected service level requirements. Outcomes show that these empirical models tend to overestimate the propagation loss. As one of the key outputs, it was observed that the calculations of Weissberger model fit with the measured data in urban environment.
Stack-Captioning: Coarse-to-Fine Learning for Image Captioning

The existing image captioning approaches typically train a one-stage sentence decoder, which is difficult to generate rich fine-grained descriptions. On the other hand, multi-stage image caption model is hard to train due to the vanishing gradient problem. In this paper, we propose a coarse-to-fine multi-stage prediction framework for image captioning, composed of multiple decoders each of which operates on the output of the previous stage, producing increasingly refined image descriptions. Our proposed learning approach addresses the difficulty of vanishing gradients during training by providing a learning objective function that enforces intermediate supervisions. Particularly, we optimize our model with a reinforcement learning approach which utilizes the output of each intermediate decoder's test-time inference algorithm as well as the output of its preceding decoder to normalize the rewards, which simultaneously solves the well-known exposure bias problem and the loss-evaluation mismatch problem. We extensively evaluate the proposed approach on MSCOCO and show that our approach can achieve the state-of-the-art performance.
A Novel SP1/SP3 Dependent Intronic Enhancer Governing Transcription of the UCP3 Gene in Brown Adipocytes

Uncoupling protein (UCP) 3 is a mitochondrial inner membrane protein implicated in lipid handling and metabolism of reactive oxygen species. Its transcription is mainly regulated by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR), a family of nuclear hormone receptors. Employing bandshift assays, RNA interference and reporter gene assays we examine an intronic region in the UCP3 gene harboring a cis-element essential for expression in brown adipocytes. We demonstrate binding of SP1 and SP3 to this element which is adjacent to a direct repeat 1 element mediating activation of UCP3 expression by PPARγ agonists. Transactivation mediated by these elements is interdependent and indispensable for UCP3 expression. Systematic deletion uncovered a third binding element, a putative NF1 site, in close proximity to the SP1/3 and PPARγ binding elements. Data mining demonstrated binding of MyoD and Myogenin to this third element in C2C12 cells, and, furthermore, revealed recruitment of p300. Taken together, this intronic region is the main enhancer driving UCP3 expression with SP1/3 and PPARγ as the core factors required for expression.
Are All Professional Investors Sophisticated?

Abstract Existing empirical evidence is inconclusive as to whether professional investors show more sophisticated behavior than individual investors. Therefore, we study two important groups of professional investors and compare them with laymen by means of a survey covering about 500 investors.We find that some professionals, i.e. institutional investors, behave in a more sophisticated manner than laymen, whereas the less researched investment advisors seem to do even worse. Our survey approach complements available evidence due to its design: it compares professionals with (qualified) interested laymen, it covers six measures of sophisticated behavior, uses several control variables and strictly compares investment decisions in the private domain.
Influence Of Adhesive Type And Particles Size On Compressed Charcoal Briquettes Manufacturing

Charcoal briquettes were produced using three different adhesives (Poly Vinyl Acetate (PVA), local wooden glue (Shrees) and Methyl Cellulose (Paper glue) and three different sizes of charcoal particles (fine, medium and course) and two different pressures (2 and 5 kg) during manufacturing of the briquettes‚ in order to know the effect of these parameters on water temperature gain, specific gravity and ignition period. Results showed that methyl cellulose was the best in obtaining the highest ignition period compared with the other adhesives, but water temperature gain was approximately the same for all studied adhesives type. Also medium size charcoal particles have the best results in increasing water temperature gain, while fine particles was superior in igniting period character. The results also showed that 5 kg applied pressure during manufacturing have larger values for water temperature gain, specific gravity and igniting period compared with 2 kg pressure. Finally‚ the best treatment to produce charcoal briquettes with a higher values in water temperature gain and ignition period was by using methyl cellulose adhesive with 5 kg pressure. Generally, using all these three type of adhesives will yield an accepted charcoal briquettes for all studied characters.
The microenvironment of proliferative diabetic retinopathy supports lymphatic neovascularization

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) is a major diabetic microvascular complication characterized by pathological angiogenesis. Several retinopathy animal models have been developed to study the disease mechanisms and putative targets. However, knowledge on the human proliferative disease remains incomplete, relying on steady‐state results from thin histological neovascular tissue sections and vitreous samples. New translational models are thus required to comprehensively understand the disease pathophysiology and develop improved therapeutic interventions. We describe here a clinically relevant model, whereby the native multicellular PDR landscape and neo(fibro)vascular processes can be analysed ex vivo and related to clinical data. As characterized by three‐dimensional whole‐mount immunofluorescence and electron microscopy, heterogeneity in patient‐derived PDR neovascular tissues included discontinuous capillaries coupled with aberrantly differentiated, lymphatic‐like and tortuous endothelia. Spatially confined apoptosis and proliferation coexisted with inflammatory cell infiltration and unique vascular islet formation. Ex vivo‐cultured explants retained multicellularity, islet patterning and capillary or fibrotic outgrowth in response to vitreoretinal factors. Strikingly, PDR neovascular tissues, whose matched vitreous samples enhanced lymphatic endothelial cell sprouting, contained lymphatic‐like capillaries in vivo and developed Prox1+ capillaries and sprouts with lymphatic endothelial ultrastructures ex vivo. Among multiple vitreal components, vascular endothelial growth factor C was one factor found at lymphatic endothelium‐activating concentrations. These results indicate that the ischaemia‐induced and inflammation‐induced human PDR microenvironment supports pathological neolymphovascularization, providing a new concept regarding PDR mechanisms and targeting options. Copyright © 2018 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bacterial aetiology of recalcitrant acute otitis media in 62 children—high risk of pathogen colonisation after treatment

Acute otitis media (AOM), common childhood infection that is one of leading cause of antibiotic prescriptions for children, is diagnosed at least once in approximately 80% of preschool children and 30-40% of them have recurrent episodes. Antibiotic treatment of AOM is usually empiric, without isolation of otopathogens from middle ear fluid and their antibiotic susceptibility testing. Due to the improper antibiotic use, the infection can persist in some cases, termed AOM treatment failure. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.