Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors influencing primary care physicians to prescribe antibiotics in Delhi India.

BACKGROUND it is necessary to understand physician's prescribing behaviour in order to develop interventions that will effectively improve the use of antibiotics. OBJECTIVE to explore the factors that influence primary care physicians to prescribe antibiotics and to investigate possible interventions. METHODS focus group discussions (FGDs) were used to explore the perspectives of primary care physicians in the public and private sectors from five municipal wards (residential localities) of Delhi from where data on antibiotic use and resistance were collected. FGDs (n = 3 with 36 prescribers) were analysed through grounded theory. RESULTS three broad themes identified were as follows: behavioural characteristics of doctors and patients; laxity in regulation of prescribing and dispensing antibiotics and intervention strategies to decrease misuse of, and resistance to, antibiotics. Important factors identified for antibiotic prescriptions by doctors were diagnostic uncertainty, perceived demand and expectation from the patients, practice sustainability and financial considerations, influence from medical representatives and inadequate knowledge. For public sector doctors, besides the above, overstocked and near-expiry drugs and lack of time were the factors that promoted antibiotic overuse. Doctors also identified certain patient behaviour characteristics and laxity in regulation for prescribing and dispensing of antibiotics as aggravating the problem of antibiotic misuse. Interventions like Continuing Medical Educations for doctors, awareness raising of patients, shared decision making and stricter rules and regulations were suggested to promote rational use of antibiotics in the community. CONCLUSION exploration of doctors' antibiotic use practices and possible interventions will be helpful in carrying out interventions to promote appropriate use of antibiotics in the community.
Linear Volumetric Focus for Light Field Cameras

We demonstrate that the redundant information in light field imagery allows volumetric focus, an improvement of signal quality that maintains focus over a controllable range of depths. To do this, we derive the frequency-domain region of support of the light field, finding it to be the 4D hyperfan at the intersection of a dual fan and a hypercone, and design a filter with correspondingly shaped passband. Drawing examples from the Stanford Light Field Archive and images captured using a commercially available lenslet-based plenoptic camera, we demonstrate that the hyperfan outperforms competing methods including planar focus, fan-shaped antialiasing, and nonlinear image and video denoising techniques. We show the hyperfan preserves depth of field, making it a single-step all-in-focus denoising filter suitable for general-purpose light field rendering. We include results for different noise types and levels, through murky water and particulate matter, in real-world scenarios, and evaluated using a variety of metrics. We show that the hyperfan's performance scales with aperture count, and demonstrate the inclusion of aliased components for high-quality rendering.
Salt stress-induced seedling growth inhibition coincides with differential distribution of serotonin and melatonin in sunflower seedling roots and cotyledons.

Indoleamines regulate a variety of physiological functions during the growth, morphogenesis and stress-induced responses in plants. Present investigations report the effect of NaCl stress on endogenous serotonin and melatonin accumulation and their differential spatial distribution in sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seedling roots and cotyledons using HPLC and immunohistochemical techniques, respectively. Exogenous serotonin and melatonin treatments lead to variable effect on hypocotyl elongation and root growth under NaCl stress. NaCl stress for 48 h increases endogenous serotonin and melatonin content in roots and cotyledons, thus indicating their involvement in salt-induced long distance signaling from roots to cotyledons. Salt stress-induced accumulation of serotonin and melatonin exhibits differential distribution in the vascular bundles and cortex in the differentiating zones of the primary roots, suggesting their compartmentalization in the growing region of roots. Serotonin and melatonin accumulation in oil body rich cells of salt-treated seedling cotyledons correlates with longer retention of oil bodies in the cotyledons. Present investigations indicate the possible role of serotonin and melatonin in regulating root growth during salt stress in sunflower. Effect of exogenous serotonin and melatonin treatments (15 μM) on sunflower seedlings grown in the absence or presence of 120 mM NaCl substantiates their role on seedling growth. Auxin and serotonin biosynthesis are coupled to the common precursor tryptophan. Salt stress-induced root growth inhibition, thus pertains to partial impairment of auxin functions caused by increased serotonin biosynthesis. In seedling cotyledons, NaCl stress modulates the activity of N-acetylserotonin O-methyltransferase (HIOMT; EC 2.1.1.4), the enzyme responsible for melatonin biosynthesis from N-acetylserotonin.
Distinct Encoding of Spatial and Nonspatial Visual Information in Parietal Cortex

It is well established that the primate parietal cortex plays an important role in visuospatial processing. Parietal cortex damage in both humans and monkeys can lead to behavioral deficits in spatial processing, and many parietal neurons, such as in the macaque lateral intraparietal area (LIP), are strongly influenced by visual–spatial factors. Several recent studies have shown that LIP neurons can also convey robust signals related to nonspatial factors, such as color, shape, and the behavioral context or rule that is relevant for solving the task at hand. But what is the relationship between the encoding of spatial factors and more abstract, nonspatial, influences in LIP? To examine this, we trained monkeys to group visual motion patterns into two arbitrary categories, and recorded the activity of LIP neurons while monkeys performed a categorization task in which stimuli were presented either inside each neuron's receptive field (RF) or at a location in the opposite visual field. While the activity of nearly all LIP neurons showed strong spatial dependence (i.e., greater responses when stimuli were presented within neurons' RFs), we also found that many LIP neurons also showed reliable encoding of the category membership of stimuli even when the stimuli were presented away from neurons' RFs. This suggests that both spatial and nonspatial information can be encoded by individual LIP neurons, and that parietal cortex may be a nexus for the integration of visuospatial signals and more abstract task-dependent information during complex visually based behaviors.
Transient Mitigation of DC–DC Converters for High Output Current Slew Rate Applications

This paper presents a method of mitigating the transient overshoots of dc-dc converters undergoing large load disturbances. The method involves a small power auxiliary circuit which exists as an energy buffer to provide a smooth absorption and release of excess energy from and to the main dc-dc converter during transients. In the method, the regulation of the current magnitude of the converter and energy storage of the auxiliary circuit are guaranteed by the relevant control schemes. The cost and size of the auxiliary circuit will be relatively small as it only operates intermittently. In this paper, the voltage deviation analysis and the auxiliary circuit design guideline are provided. Experimental results validating the approach are presented.
Effects of Quaternary-Ammonium-Based Formulations on Bacterial Community Dynamics and Antimicrobial Susceptibility

ABSTRACT Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) are widely used as adjuncts to hygiene in domestic cleaning products. Current concern that the increased use of such biocides in consumer products might contribute to the emergence of antibiotic resistance has led us to examine the effects of a QAC-containing domestic cleaning fluid on the population dynamics and antimicrobial susceptibility of domestic sink drain biofilm communities. QAC susceptibilities of numerically dominant, culturable drain bacteria (15 genera, 17 species) were determined in vitro before and after repeated QAC exposure (14 passages). A fully characterized drain microcosm was then exposed to short-term (12 days) and long-term (3 months) dosing with a QAC-containing domestic detergent (QD). QAC exposure of isolated cultures caused both increases (three species) and circa twofold decreases (six species) in QAC susceptibility. The susceptibility of Ralstonia sp. was considerably decreased following 14 consecutive QAC passages. Control drain microcosm biofilms maintained dynamic stability, as evidenced by culture and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis. Bacterial population densities were largely unaffected during short-term exposure to use levels of QD, although 50% QD caused circa 10-fold viability reductions. DGGE analysis supported these observations; identified the major microcosm genera as Pseudomonas, Pseudoalteromonas, Erwinia, and Enterobacter, and showed that aeromonads increased in abundance under 10 to 50% QD. Long-term exposure of the microcosms to QD did not significantly alter the pattern of antimicrobial susceptibility. These data demonstrate the recalcitrance of domestic drain biofilms toward QAC and that although repeated QAC exposure of drain isolates in pure culture results in susceptibility change in some test bacteria, such changes do not necessarily occur within complex communities.
Stat5 Is Required for CD103+ Dendritic Cell and Alveolar Macrophage Development and Protection from Lung Injury

We tested the role of Stat5 in dendritic cell and alveolar macrophage (AM) homeostasis in the lung using CD11c-cre mediated deletion (Cre+5f/f). We show that Stat5 is required for CD103+ dendritic cell and AM development. We found that fetal monocyte maturation into AMs was impaired in Cre+5f/f mice, and we also confirmed impaired AM development of progenitor cells using mixed chimera experiments. In the absence of Stat5 signaling in AMs, mice developed alveolar proteinosis with altered lipid homeostasis. In addition, loss of Stat5 in CD11c+ cells was associated with exaggerated LPS-induced inflammatory responses and vascular leak. In Cre+5f/f mice, there was loss of immune-dampening effects on epithelial cells, a key source of CCL2 that serves to recruit monocytes and macrophages. These findings demonstrate the critical importance of Stat5 signaling in maintaining lung homeostasis, and underscore the importance of resident macrophages in moderating tissue damage and excess inflammation.
Comparative tests of contact elements at current collectors in order to comprehensively assess their operational performance

We have studied the interaction between contact elements in the pantographs of electric transport under operation at the sections of railroads powered by direct and alternating current. In contrast to known techniques for bench tests, we investigated the mechanism of current collection and wear resistance at the new testing installation over a minimally narrow region of the sliding contact, simulating the phenomenon of a pantograph "cut". This installation can be used both industrially when manufacturing new contact elements and under laboratory setting when studying wear resistance. The experimental research confirmed that the wear intensity of contact elements at pantographs depends on current load over a contact area, the magnitude of contact pressure, the area of a contact surface, and motion speed. We have practically proven a possibility to maintain a reliable contact connection in the sliding contact under extreme operating conditions when using a reliable contact material for the current collector pads. It has been proposed to use the powder composition BrIG based on bronze, iron, and graphite, for making contact elements for pantographs that could provide for reliable contact when interacting with the contact wire. Application of new and high-quality contact materials affects the tribology and stability of interaction between plates and the contact wire. Owing to our study, a possibility has been established to manufacture a reliable contact element BrIG, which would prolong the time of interaction in the contact pair "pantograph at electric transport ‒ contact network". The practical significance of this research relates to the proven efficiency of utilizing the new contact material BrIG for electric railroad transport network, in trolley buses and trams. Thus, one can argue about the possibility to prolong the time of operation for the contact pair "pad in a pantograph at electric transport ‒ contact network" by applying the new contact material BrIG
Surgical Treatment of 26 Patients with Necrotizing Pneumonia

Background: This study aimed to review the outcome of patients treated with surgical resection for necrotizing lung infection with various co-morbidities and complications. Methods: The records of 26 patients treated with pulmonary resection for necrotizing pneumonia between July 2004 and January 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. Surgical procedures included large wedge resection (n = 1), lobectomy (n = 19) and bilobectomy (n = 6). Results: The study cohort consisted of 21 men and 5 women aged 35–85 years (mean 64.7 ± 15.0 years). Twenty-three (88.5%) patients had underlying risk factors. At surgical consultation, 17 patients presented with progressive respiratory distress; 6 required ventilatory support; 12 had empyema, and in 5 patients the conditions were complicated by bronchopleural fistula. Four patients had septic shock requiring vasopressor support. Three patients developed hemoptysis. Two patients had bilateral diffuse pneumonia. Klebsiella pneumoniaeand Streptococcusviridans were the most common pathogens. The right lower (n = 13) and right middle lobes (n = 10) were the most frequently affected. Four deaths (15.4%) occurred: 3 due to perioperative progressing pulmonary infection/inflammation and 1 due to hepatorenal failure. Postoperative empyema occurred in 3 patients. One patient became ventilator dependent. Conclusion: Pulmonaryresection for necrotizing pneumonia is a feasible treatment option in patients with progressive pulmonary sepsis.
Carbon Nanotube and Graphene‐based Bioinspired Electrochemical Actuators

Bio‐inspired actuation materials, also called artificial muscles, have attracted great attention in recent decades for their potential application in intelligent robots, biomedical devices, and micro‐electro‐mechanical systems. Among them, ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuator has been intensively studied for their impressive high‐strain under low voltage stimulation and air‐working capability. A typical IPMC actuator is composed of one ion‐conductive electrolyte membrane laminated by two electron‐conductive metal electrode membranes, which can bend back and forth due to the electrode expansion and contraction induced by ion motion under alternating applied voltage. As its actuation performance is mainly dominated by electrochemical and electromechanical process of the electrode layer, the electrode material and structure become to be more crucial to higher performance. The recent discovery of one dimensional carbon nanotube and two dimensional graphene has created a revolution in functional nanomaterials. Their unique structures render them intriguing electrical and mechanical properties, which makes them ideal flexible electrode materials for IPMC actuators in stead of conventional metal electrodes. Currently although the detailed effect caused by those carbon nanomaterial electrodes is not very clear, the presented outstanding actuation performance gives us tremendous motivation to meet the challenge in understanding the mechanism and thus developing more advanced actuator materials. Therefore, in this review IPMC actuators prepared with different kinds of carbon nanomaterials based electrodes or electrolytes are addressed. Key parameters which may generate important influence on actuation process are discussed in order to shed light on possible future research and application of the novel carbon nanomateials based bio‐inspired electrochemical actuators.
Learning a Linear Influence Model from Transient Opinion Dynamics

Many social networks are characterized by actors (nodes) holding quantitative opinions about movies, songs, sports, people, colleges, politicians, and so on. These opinions are influenced by network neighbors. Many models have been proposed for such opinion dynamics, but they have some limitations. Most consider the strength of edge influence as fixed. Some model a discrete decision or action on part of each actor, and an edge as causing an ``infection'' (that is often permanent or self-resolving). Others model edge influence as a stochastic matrix to reuse the mathematics of eigensystems. Actors' opinions are usually observed globally and synchronously. Analysis usually skirts transient effects and focuses on steady-state behavior. There is very little direct experimental validation of estimated influence models. Here we initiate an investigation into new models that seek to remove these limitations. Our main goal is to estimate, not assume, edge influence strengths from an observed series of opinion values at nodes. We adopt a linear (but not stochastic) influence model. We make no assumptions about system stability or convergence. Further, actors' opinions may be observed in an asynchronous and incomplete fashion, after missing several time steps when an actor changed its opinion based on neighbors' influence. We present novel algorithms to estimate edge influence strengths while tackling these aggressively realistic assumptions. Experiments with Reddit, Twitter, and three social games we conducted on volunteers establish the promise of our algorithms. Our opinion estimation errors are dramatically smaller than strong baselines like the DeGroot, flocking, voter, and biased voter models. Our experiments also lend qualitative insights into asynchronous opinion updates and aggregation.
Hepatocytes internalize trophic receptors at large endocytic “Hot Spots”

Clathrin‐mediated endocytosis in mammalian epithelial cells is believed to require the synergistic action of structural coat proteins and mechanochemical enzymes to deform and sever the plasma membrane (PM) into discreet vesicles. It is generally believed that the formation of clathrin‐coated pits in epithelial cells occurs randomly along the apical and basolateral plasma membranes. In this study we visualized the endocytic machinery in living hepatocytes using green fluorescent protein (GFP)‐tagged dynamin, a large mechanochemical guanosine triphosphate (GTP)ase implicated in the liberation of nascent vesicles from the plasma membrane and a variety of internal membrane compartments. Confocal microscopy of living cells expressing the epithelial isoform of GFP‐tagged dynamin [Dyn2‐GFP] revealed a distribution along the ventral PM in discrete vesicle‐like puncta or in large (2‐10 μm) tubuloreticular plaques. Remarkably, these large structures are dynamic as they form and then disappear, while generating large numbers of motile endocytic vesicles with which dynamin associates. Inhibiting dynamin function by microinjection of purified dynamin antibodies increases the number and size of the tubuloreticular plaques. Importantly, these “hot spots” sequester specific trophic receptors and cognate ligands such as transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1), but not TfR2. Conclusion: These findings suggest that hepatocytes sequester or prerecruit both structural and enzymatic components of the clathrin‐based endocytic machinery to functional hot spots, from which large numbers of coated pits form and vesicles are generated. This process may mimic the endocytic organization found at the synapse in neuronal cells. (HEPATOLOGY 2011;)
Mean frequency and relative fluorescence intensity measurement of γ‐H2AX foci dose response in PBL exposed to γ‐irradiation: An inter‐ and intra‐laboratory comparison and its relevance for radiation triage

Measurement of γ‐H2AX protein changes in the peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of individuals exposed to ionizing radiation is a simple, sensitive, and rapid assay for radiation triage and early marker of dose estimation. The qualitative and quantitative measurements of the protein changes were examined using flow cytometry and microscopy. Whole blood and isolated lymphocytes were exposed in vitro between 0.1 and 5 Gy doses of 60Co γ‐radiation at a dose rate of 1 Gy/min. Radiation induced γ‐H2AX foci frequency (n = 3) and relative fluorescence intensity (n = 7) in PBL was measured at 0.5 and 2 hrs postexposure. The observed dose response for γ‐H2AX foci frequency at both time points, for whole blood and isolated lymphocytes did not show any significant (P > 0.05) differences. However, when compared with γ‐H2AX foci frequency scored manually (microscopy), the semiautomated analysis (captured images) showed a better correlation (r2 = 0.918) than that obtained with automated (Metafer) scoring (r2 = 0.690). It is noteworthy to mention that, the γ‐H2AX foci frequency quantified using microscopy showed a dose dependent increase up to 2 Gy and the relative fluorescence intensity (RFI) measured with flow cytometry revealed an increase up to 5 Gy in the PBL exposed in vitro. Moreover, a better correlation was observed between the γ‐H2AX foci frequency obtained by manual scoring and RFI (r2 = 0.910). Kinetic studies showed that the γ‐H2AX foci remain more or less unchanged up to 4 hrs and reduces gradually over 48 hrs of postexposure at 37°C. Further, inter and intra‐laboratory comparisons showed consistency in the scoring of γ‐H2AX foci frequency by manual and semiautomated scoring. The overall results suggest that measurement of γ‐H2AX (microscopy and flow cytometry) should be employed within 4 to 6 hrs for a reliable dosimetry either by sharing the work load between the laboratories or investing more manpower; however, triage can be possible even up to 48 hrs of postirradiation. © 2015 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry
Phosphorylation of GluR1, ERK, and CREB during spontaneous withdrawal from chronic heroin self‐administration

Negative motivational symptoms are observed soon after withdrawal from chronic opiate administration, and are thought to mediate dependence. Examination of brain region‐specific signaling changes that accompany early withdrawal may shed light on neural mechanisms underlying negative reinforcement and dependence. Thus, we measured alterations in protein phosphorylation in multiple limbic brain regions in rats undergoing 24 h spontaneous or naltrexone‐precipitated withdrawal from chronic (6 h/day) i.v. heroin self‐administration. Region‐specific increases in cyclic AMP‐dependent GluR1S845 phosphorylation were found in the nucleus accumbens shell, basolateral amygdala, hippocampal CA1 and CA3 subregions, and premotor cortex from 12 to 24 h of spontaneous withdrawal, and there were no changes in prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens core or caudate‐putamen. Increased GluR1S845 phosphorylation was detected earlier (12 h withdrawal) in the central amygdala and ventral tegmental area. In contrast, prominent increases in extracellular signal‐regulated kinase phosphorylation were found in both prefrontal and premotor cortex, and CA1 and CA3 between 12 and 24 h withdrawal. Phosphorylation of striatal cyclic AMP response element binding protein increased in the caudate‐putamen but not in the nucleus accumbens. Naltrexone administration after 24 h withdrawal increased extracellular signal‐regulated kinase phosphorylation in the central amygdala, and nucleus accumbens core and shell. Thus, spontaneous withdrawal from heroin self‐administration produces region‐ and time‐dependent changes in cyclic AMP and extracellular signal‐regulated kinase activity that could contribute to the behavioral manifestation of opiate dependence. Synapse 63:224–235, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.