Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hospital-acquired infections in a Nigerian tertiary health facility: An audit of surveillance reports

Background: Hitherto efforts to implement data driven prevention guidelines for hospital-acquired infections (HAI) in Nigeria have been limited by the inadequate knowledge of the risks of these infections. This study evaluated the occurrence of HAI in a foremost tertiary health facility over a 5-year period for the purpose of reinforcing control efforts. Materials and Methods: A retrospective survey of records from the infection control unit of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, was done for the years 2005-09. For the 5 years studied 22,941 in-patients were reviewed and the data of those who developed infections during admission were retrieved and analyzed. The prevalence, types, and causative organisms of HAI were determined. The chi-square test was used to evaluate associations. Results: The prevalence of HAI over the 5-year period was 2.6% (95% CI: 2.4–2.8). Surgical and medical wards had the most infections (48.3%) and (20.5%) respectively. Urinary tract infection (UTI) and surgical site infection (30.7%) were the most prevalent (43.9%) HAI. UTIs were significantly higher in surgical and medical wards, surgical site infections in obstetrics and gynecology wards, and soft tissue infections and bacteremia in pediatric wards (P<0.05). Gram-negative infections occurred about four times as often as gram-positive infections with Klebsiella sp. and staphylococcus aureus being the predominant isolates (34.3%) and (20.1%) respectively. Conclusion: Efforts to limit HAI should be guided by local surveillance data if progress is to be made in improving the quality of patient care in Nigeria.
The Effect of Intrahippocampal Beta Amyloid (1‐42) Peptide Injection on Oxidant and Antioxidant Status in Rat Brain

Abstract: In some animal models, cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative disorders that mimic Alzheimer's disease (AD) can be reproduced by intracerebral or intracerebroventricular administration of peptide (Aβ) beta amyloid. Evidence suggests that oxidative stresses are involved in the mechanism of Aβ‐induced neurotoxicity and AD pathogenesis. Exposure to Aβ increases lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation, and the formation of hydrogen peroxide in cultured cells. Nitric oxide (NO) has significant physiological roles in the central nervous system and also it can be implicated in neurodegenerative diseases because of its free radical properties. The purpose of this study is to search the effects of intrahippocampal Aβ (1‐42) injection on malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), and nitrite plus nitrate (NOx) levels in temporal cortex and basal forebrain in rats. In this study, male adult Wistar albino rats were divided into two groups. Aβ (1‐42) peptide (10 μg/2 μL) was administered bilaterally as a single injection into the hippocampal fissure by a Hamilton microsyringe. Distilled water was administered to the control group by using the same procedure. Ten days after the Aβ (1‐42) injection, the rats were decapitated and brains were rapidly removed. MDA, GSH, and NOx levels were analyzed spectrophotometrically in temporal cortex and basal forebrain. MDA levels and NOx were increased 10 days after the injection of Aβ (1‐42) in temporal cortex and basal forebrain, but no statistical significance was found compared to control group. However, GSH levels were significantly higher in temporal cortex and basal forebrain in the Aβ (1‐42)‐injected group than the control group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, increased levels of GSH in temporal cortex and basal forebrain after the intrahippocampal Aβ (1‐42) injection show that a protective mechanism might develop due to oxidative stress.
Tumour necrosis factor gene polymorphisms are associated with COPD

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α has been shown to be an important factor in animal models of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, human studies of TNF polymorphisms in COPD have been equivocal. Six TNF single nucleotide polymorphisms (-1031C/T, -863C/A, -857C/T, -237G/A, -308G/A and +487G/A) and their haplotypes were investigated in 423 Caucasian smokers (298 patients with spirometric evidence of COPD and 125 without airflow obstruction). The -308 minor allele (A) had a higher odds ratio (OR) of being associated with COPD in multivariate analysis (controlling for age, sex, pack-yrs; OR 1.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1–3.2) and was also associated with worse forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity. The -237 minor allele (A) had a lower OR of being associated with COPD (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.19–0.86). In COPD patients, the -857 minor allele (T) had a lower OR of being associated with severe stages of COPD (Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease stage III and IV versus stage I and II, OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.24–0.88). Other TNF single nucleotide polymorphisms were not associated with COPD but the -1031/-863 haplotype CC/TC had a lower OR in COPD patients versus smoking controls (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.05–0.97). The present study adds further evidence that tumour necrosis factor genotypes play a role in susceptibility to cigarette smoke.
CSPP and CSPP‐L associate with centrosomes and microtubules and differently affect microtubule organization

We recently described the identification of a centrosome/spindle pole associated protein, CSPP, involved in cell cycle progression. Here we report a CSPP isoform denoted CSPP‐L, with a 294 amino acids longer N‐terminus and a 51 amino acids insertion located in the coiled‐coil mid‐domain. Expression analysis indicates an inverse cell cycle dependent regulation. CSPP mRNA expression is highest in G1 whereas CSPP‐L expression is highest in G2/M. Ectopic expression of CSPP‐L impairs cell cycle progression weaker in G1 than CSPP. Furthermore, normal mitotic phenotypes were observed in CSPP‐L but not in CSPP transfectants. CSPP‐L relocates from spindle microtubules and poles in metaphase to the mid‐spindle in anaphase and concentrates at the mid‐body in telophase/cytokinesis. CSPP‐L high‐expressing mitotic cells were predominantly characterized by lagging chromosomes or monopolar spindles, in contrast to the predominant multipolar spindles observed with CSPP expression. The different effects of CSPP and CSPP‐L on microtubule organization in mitosis depend on the coiled‐coil mid‐domain insertion. The common C‐terminal domain is required to repress that activity until mitosis. Notably, this C‐terminal domain alone can associate with centrosomes in a microtubule independent manner. Taken together, CSPP and CSPP‐L interact with centrosomes and microtubules and can differently affect microtubule organization. J. Cell. Physiol. 209: 199–210, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Gravity-driven flow of a shear-thinning power-law fluid over a permeable plane

The flow of a thin layer of power-law fluid on a porous inclined plane is considered. The unsteady equations of motion are depth-integrated according to the von Karman momentum integral method. The variation of the velocity distribution with the depth is accounted for, and it is furthermore assumed that the flow through the porous medium is governed by the modified Darcy’s law. The stability condition is deduced considering the hierarchy of kinematic and gravity waves. The response of the linearized model to a Dirac-delta disturbance in unbounded domain is analytically deduced, in both stable and unstable conditions 1624 C. Di Cristo, M. Iervolino and A. Vacca of flow. The influence of the effect of power-law exponent and bottom permeability on the disturbance propagation is finally analyzed, suggesting indications about the choice of the bottom permeability in order to improve the performance of industrial processes.
ENRICHED MODEL CATEGORIES AND AN APPLICATION TO ADDITIVE ENDOMORPHISM SPECTRA

We define the notion of an additive model category and prove that any stable, additive, combinatorial model category M has a model enrichment over Sp (sAb) (symmetric spectra based on simplicial abelian groups). So to any object X2 M one can attach an endomorphism ring object, denoted hEndad(X), in the category Sp (sAb). We establish some useful properties of these endomorphism rings. We also develop a new notion in enriched category theory which we call 'adjoint modules'. This is used to compare enrichments over one symmetric monoidal model category with enrichments over a Quillen equivalent one. In particular, it is used here to compare enrichments over Sp (sAb) and chain complexes.
Hepatotoxicity of Prenatal and Postnatal Exposure to Nicotine in Rat Pups

Prenatal and postnatal exposure to nicotine have been shown to affect developing tissues in growing animals. Rat pups were exposed to nicotine prenatally and/or postnatally for 10 days by feeding pregnant and lactating rat dams water containing 0, 54, or 108 μM of nicotine. Nicotine exposure did not affect either litter sizes or body weights at birth and at 10 days of age. Exposure to 108 μM of nicotine prenatally increased significantly the incidence of focal necrosis at birth, and the liver damage was still evident at 10 days of age even after the pups were allowed to suckle dams not exposed to any nicotine during the study period. Continuation of nicotine exposure postnatally increased the incidence and severity of focal and confluent necrosis. Postnatal exposure to 108 μM of nicotine to pups not previously exposed also increased the incidence of mild focal and confluent necrosis, although not significantly. Exposure to nicotine prenatally did not affect liver malondialdehyde (MDA) levels at birth. However, liver MDA was significantly lower in rat pups exposed to nicotine prenatally when they were 10 days of age irrespective of whether there were further exposure to nicotine postnatally. Reasons for the late onset of the low MDA levels need further investigation. Postnatal nicotine exposure to either 54 or 108 μM of nicotine to pups not previously exposed fails to affect liver MDA at 10 days of age. The significant decrease in hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels reflects those of hepatic injury, indicating the possibility of a nicotine-induced downregulation of SOD enzyme production.
The Determination of Critical Rest Interval from the Intermittent Critical Velocity Test in Club-Level Collegiate Hockey and Rugby Players

Fukuda, DH, Smith, AE, Kendall, KL, Cramer, JT, and Stout, JR. The determination of critical rest interval from the intermittent critical velocity test in club-level collegiate hockey and rugby players. J Strength Cond Res 25(4): 889-895, 2011-The intermittent critical velocity (ICV) test is used to quantify the relationship between velocity and time to exhaustion, yielding an aerobic parameter (ICV), an anaerobic parameter (anaerobic running capacity [ARC]), and critical rest interval (CRI). Critical rest interval is the theoretical rest period needed to maintain repeated bouts of exercise for an extended period of time without inducing fatigue during intermittent treadmill running. Fourteen collegiate, club-level male participants (mean ± SD; age: 21.4 ± 1.8 years; weight: 82.8 ± 5.9 kg; body fat: 11.8 ± 5.4%; and &OV0312;O2max: 51.2 ± 2.8 ml·kg−1·min−1), primarily hockey and rugby players, completed the ICV test, using 15-second repeated sprints to exhaustion during separate sessions of treadmill running at varying supramaximal intensities. The time and total distance for each running session were used to determine ICV and ARC via linear regression. The CRI was calculated using the relationship between total distance during the ICV test and the number of intervals completed. Mean ICV and ARC (±SD) values were calculated as 4.80 ± 0.3 m·s−1 and 154.1 ± 36 m, respectively. The mean ICV values were significantly different from the mean peak velocity (±SD) (4.67 ± 0.17 m·s−1) achieved during the &OV0312;O2max test (p = 0.011). The CRI was calculated as mean ± SD: 33.9 ± 1.9 seconds. Body fat percentage measured by air displacement plethysmography (BOD POD®; r = −0.649; p = 0.012), lean body mass (r = −0.556; p = 0.039), fat mass (r = −0.634; p = 0.015), body weight (r = −0.669; p = 0.006), and relative &OV0312;O2max (r = 0.562; p = 0.036) were significantly correlated with ICV. The ARC (r = 0.804; p = 0.001) and velocity at ventilatory threshold (r = −0.630; p = 0.016) were significantly correlated with CRI. The ability to quantify CRI, an additional variable derived from the ICV test, provides a possible measure that can be used in the prescription and evaluation of training methods.
A Comparison of Whole Genome Gene Expression Profiles of HepaRG Cells and HepG2 Cells to Primary Human Hepatocytes and Human Liver Tissues

HepaRG cells, derived from a female hepatocarcinoma patient, are capable of differentiating into biliary epithelial cells and hepatocytes. More importantly, differentiated HepaRG cells are able to maintain activities of many xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes, and expression of the metabolizing enzyme genes can be induced by xenobiotics. The ability of these cells to express and induce xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes is in stark contrast to the frequently used HepG2 cells. The previous studies have mainly focused on a set of selected genes; therefore, it is of significant interest to know the extent of similarity of gene expression at whole genome levels in HepaRG cells and HepG2 cells compared with primary human hepatocytes and human liver tissues. To accomplish this objective, we used Affymetrix (Santa Clara, CA) U133 Plus 2.0 arrays to characterize the whole genome gene expression profiles in triplicate biological samples from HepG2 cells, HepaRG cells (undifferentiated and differentiated cells), freshly isolated primary human hepatocytes, and frozen liver tissues. After using similarity matrix, principal components, and hierarchical clustering methods, we found that HepaRG cells globally transcribe genes at levels more similar to human primary hepatocytes and human liver tissues than HepG2 cells. In particular, many genes encoding drug-processing proteins are transcribed at a more similar level in HepaRG cells than in HepG2 cells compared with primary human hepatocytes and liver samples. The transcriptomic similarity of HepaRG with primary human hepatocytes is encouraging for use of HepaRG cells in the study of xenobiotic metabolism, hepatotoxicology, and hepatocyte differentiation.
Eliciting Domain Knowledge Using Conceptual Metaphors to Inform Interaction Design: A Case Study from Music Interaction

Interaction design for domains that involve complex abstractions can prove challenging. This problem is particularly acute in domains where the intricate nature of domain-specific knowledge can be difficult for even the most experienced expert to conceptualise or articulate. One promising solution to the problem of representing complex domain abstractions involves the use of conceptual metaphors. Previous applications of conceptual metaphors to abstract domains have yielded encouraging results. However, the design of appropriate methods for eliciting conceptual metaphors for the purposes of informing interaction design remains an open question. In this paper, we report on a series of studies carried out to elicit conceptual metaphors from domain experts, using music as a case study, reflecting on the benefits and drawbacks of each approach.
Mediated meditation: cultivating mindfulness with sonic cradle

Sonic Cradle enables users to shape sound with their breath while suspended in a completely dark chamber. We conducted a qualitative investigation to understand 39 naïve participants' subjective responses to this design artifact. Systematic analysis with 3 independent data coders produced 11 findings which richly describe the Sonic Cradle experience as clearly comparable to mindfulness meditation (e.g. clarity of mind, loss of intention). This paper shows how persuasive media have the potential to promote long-term psychological health by experientially introducing a stress-relieving, contemplative practice to non-practitioners.
Workload-aware anonymization techniques for large-scale datasets

Protecting individual privacy is an important problem in microdata distribution and publishing. Anonymization algorithms typically aim to satisfy certain privacy definitions with minimal impact on the quality of the resulting data. While much of the previous literature has measured quality through simple one-size-fits-all measures, we argue that quality is best judged with respect to the workload for which the data will ultimately be used. This article provides a suite of anonymization algorithms that incorporate a target class of workloads, consisting of one or more data mining tasks as well as selection predicates. An extensive empirical evaluation indicates that this approach is often more effective than previous techniques. In addition, we consider the problem of scalability. The article describes two extensions that allow us to scale the anonymization algorithms to datasets much larger than main memory. The first extension is based on ideas from scalable decision trees, and the second is based on sampling. A thorough performance evaluation indicates that these techniques are viable in practice.
IMPAIRED ANTICIPATORY CONTROL OF ISOMETRIC FORCES DURING GRASPING BY CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY

The authors examined the force regulation during prehension of 12 children with cerebral palsy (CP) and an age‐matched control group. The control group appropriately scaled the isometric force output in one force‐rate pulse toward the weight of the previously lifted object, but children with CP exhibited stepwise increases in force in which the force amplitudes were not influenced by the object's weight. When the object was held in the air, most children with CP were able to modify their force output according to the object's weight, using sensory feedback, but their forces were more variable than those of the control group and less influenced by the object's weight. Although children with CP have disturbed sensory feedback—likely to lead to an indistinct internal representation of an object's physical properties—their main disability stems from impaired central co‐ordination of motor activity.
Patients experiencing statin-induced myalgia exhibit a unique program of skeletal muscle gene expression following statin re-challenge

Statins, the 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase inhibitors, are widely prescribed for treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Although statins are generally well tolerated, up to ten percent of statin-treated patients experience myalgia symptoms, defined as muscle pain without elevated creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) levels. Myalgia is the most frequent reason for discontinuation of statin therapy. The mechanisms underlying statin myalgia are not clearly understood. To elucidate changes in gene expression associated with statin myalgia, we compared profiles of gene expression in skeletal muscle biopsies from patients with statin myalgia who were undergoing statin re-challenge (cases) versus those of statin-tolerant controls. A robust separation of case and control cohorts was revealed by Principal Component Analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). To identify putative gene expression and metabolic pathways that may be perturbed in skeletal muscles of patients with statin myalgia, we subjected DEGs to Ingenuity Pathways (IPA) and DAVID (Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery) analyses. The most prominent pathways altered by statins included cellular stress, apoptosis, cell senescence and DNA repair (TP53, BARD1, Mre11 and RAD51); activation of pro-inflammatory immune response (CXCL12, CST5, POU2F1); protein catabolism, cholesterol biosynthesis, protein prenylation and RAS-GTPase activation (FDFT1, LSS, TP53, UBD, ATF2, H-ras). Based on these data we tentatively conclude that persistent myalgia in response to statins may emanate from cellular stress underpinned by mechanisms of post-inflammatory repair and regeneration. We also posit that this subset of individuals is genetically predisposed to eliciting altered statin metabolism and/or increased end-organ susceptibility that lead to a range of statin-induced myopathies. This mechanistic scenario is further bolstered by the discovery that a number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (e.g., SLCO1B1, SLCO2B1 and RYR2) associated with statin myalgia and myositis were observed with increased frequency among patients with statin myalgia.
Words Matter: Scene Text for Image Classification and Retrieval

Text in natural images typically adds meaning to an object or scene. In particular, text specifies which business places serve drinks (e.g., cafe, teahouse) or food (e.g., restaurant, pizzeria), and what kind of service is provided (e.g., massage, repair). The mere presence of text, its words, and meaning are closely related to the semantics of the object or scene. This paper exploits textual contents in images for fine-grained business place classification and logo retrieval. There are four main contributions. First, we show that the textual cues extracted by the proposed method are effective for the two tasks. Combining the proposed textual and visual cues outperforms visual only classification and retrieval by a large margin. Second, to extract the textual cues, a generic and fully unsupervised word box proposal method is introduced. The method reaches state-of-the-art word detection recall with a limited number of proposals. Third, contrary to what is widely acknowledged in text detection literature, we demonstrate that high recall in word detection is more important than high f-score at least for both tasks considered in this work. Last, this paper provides a large annotated text detection dataset with 10 K images and 27 601 word boxes.
Long-Term Antihypertensive Treatment Fails to Improve E/e′ Despite Regression of Left Ventricular Mass: An Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial Substudy

Antihypertensive treatment can improve tissue Doppler indices of left ventricular diastolic function in the short term, but little is known about the longer-term effect of different antihypertensive treatments on progression of left ventricular diastolic function and left ventricular hypertrophy. We hypothesized that long-term treatment of hypertension will lead to improvements in left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic function. We collected detailed cardiovascular phenotypic data on 1006 participants from a substudy of the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial. Patients randomized to either an amlodipine±perindopril-based or an atenolol±bendroflumethiazide-based regimen underwent conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography at time of control of blood pressure after randomization (≈1.5 years; phase 1) and after a further 2 years of antihypertensive treatment (phase 2). There were no prerandomization data. Five hundred thirty-six patients had complete data collection at both phases. Left ventricular mass index regressed from phase 1 to 2 with no significant difference between treatment groups (amlodipine: 119.5–116.8; atenolol: 122.9–117.5; P<0.001 for both). Conversely, tissue Doppler diastolic indices did not change in the amlodipine±perindopril-based regimen (E/e′, 7.5–7.6 cm/s; P=not significant), but deteriorated in the atenolol±bendroflumethiazide-based regimen (E/e′, 8.0–8.5 cm/s; P<0.01). Despite regression of left ventricular hypertrophy, there was no associated improvement in diastolic function. In fact, long-term treatment with atenolol±bendroflumethiazide resulted in a progressive deterioration in E/e′. This may be a factor contributing to the previously described worse clinical outcome in patients treated with atenolol±bendroflumethiazide compared with amlodipine±perindopril.