Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
QR Codes Advantages and Dangers

Quick Response (QR) codes are two dimensional (matrix) codes that have been developed in ways that allow companies and individuals to sell or market their products, skills, and events quickly and easily. The code can be used to represent data such as a web address or map location that can be scanned quickly by a mobile device such as a smart phone. Tracking inventories and marketers were some of the first uses and users of QR codes because of the ease of deployment and low development cost. The use has also grown quickly amongst individual users who want to transfer information such as sending an invitation, providing details about an event, or even announcing a babyâs birth. While there are many advantages in the use of QR codes, there is a negative side that has resulted in end users discontinuing their use. Our paper discusses both the usefulness of QR codes as well as the inconveniences and dangers that they may pose.
Acute hemolysis after high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin therapy in highly HLA sensitized patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Intravenous Ig (IVIG) is used in renal transplantation for desensitization and treatment of antibody-mediated rejection (AMR). The infusion of high-dose IVIG is generally well tolerated, but there are reports of hemolytic anemia induced by anti-blood group antibodies present in IVIG. Here, we report our experience with IVIG-induced hemolytic anemia (IH) in ESRD patients receiving IVIG for desensitization or treatment of AMR. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS All patients receiving IVIG for desensitization or for treatment of AMR were monitored for evidence of acute anemia and hemolysis. Markers of hemolysis, including direct antiglobulin tests, were recorded. Five different IVIG products were tested for isohemagglutinin titers. RESULTS There were 18 cases of IH in 16 patients. All identified cases received the IVIG product Gamunex, Gammagard liquid, or Privigen. All patients developing hemolysis were non-O blood types. Isohemagglutinin titers ranged from 1:2 to 1:64 in the various IVIG products, with higher titers noted in the liquid, nonlyophilized products. CONCLUSIONS Acute IH is a significant complication of high-dose IVIG infusion. Identified risk factors include non-O blood type of the recipient and administration of liquid IVIG preparations with high titer anti-A/B IgG antibodies. We recommend monitoring hemoglobin 48 to 72 h after IVIG infusion. If the hemoglobin decreases, a hemolytic work-up is recommended. Hemolysis could be avoided in at risk patients by choosing a low titer product. However, other complications such as acute renal failure or thrombosis may be seen because the low titer products are usually hyperosmotic.
Longitudinal Study of the Persistence of Antimicrobial-Resistant Campylobacter Strains in Distinct Swine Production Systems on Farms, at Slaughter, and in the Environment

ABSTRACT The objectives of this study were to compare and characterize the prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant (AR) Campylobacter in conventional and antimicrobial-free (ABF) production systems on farms, at slaughter, and in the environment. Fecal and environmental samples were collected from ABF farms (pigs, 1,239; environment, 797) and conventional farms (pigs, 1,650; environment, 1,325). At slaughter, we collected samples from carcasses, including postevisceration swabs, postchill swabs, and mesenteric lymph nodes from ABF systems (postevisceration swabs, 182; postchill swabs, 199; mesenteric lymph nodes, 184) and conventional systems (postevisceration swabs, 272; postchill swabs, 271; mesenteric lymph nodes, 255) at separate processing facilities. We also sampled the processing plant environment, including truck and lairage floor swab samples (ABF, 115; conventional, 90). Overall, a total of 2,908 Campylobacter isolates, including Campylobacter coli (farm, 2,557, 99.8%; slaughter, 341, 98.3%) and Campylobacter jejuni (farm, 4, 0.2%; slaughter, 6, 1.7%), were isolated in the study. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of Campylobacter between ABF and conventionally raised pigs (farrowing, P = 0.20; nursery, P = 0.06; finishing, P = 0.24) and the environment (P = 0.37). At slaughter, Campylobacter was isolated from all of the stages, including postchill. The highest frequencies of resistance were exhibited against tetracycline (ABF, 48.2%; conventional, 88.3%). Ciprofloxacin-resistant C. coli isolates were observed in conventionally raised (17.1%) and ABF (1.2%) pigs (P = 0.11). Antimicrobial use data from conventional farms indicated significant associations between oxytetracycline use and tetracycline resistance in the nursery pigs (P = 0.01), between tiamulin exposure and azithromycin and erythromycin resistance in nursery (P < 0.01) and finishing (P < 0.01) pigs, and between enrofloxacin exposure and ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid resistance in farrowing (P < 0.01) and nursery (P < 0.01) pigs. Identical antimicrobial resistance profiles were observed in the pigs and their environments on farms and at slaughter. In summary, our results highlight the persistence and dissemination of AR Campylobacter from farm to slaughter in ABF and conventionally raised pigs and their environments.
Neurological aspects of areca and betel chewing

Abstract Betel quid chewing has been claimed to produce a sense of well‐being, euphoria, warm sensation of the body, sweating, salivation, palpitation, heightened alertness and increased capacity to work. These effects suggest that betel quid chewing affects predominantly the central and autonomic nervous systems. Several studies have been conducted to elucidate the central and autonomic effects of betel quid chewing. The results are: (1) betel quid chewing increased the heart rate with onset within 2 minutes, maximal effect within 4–6 minutes and an average duration of 16.8 minutes. The cardio‐acceleratory response was more prominent for fresh and occasional chewers than for habitual chewers; (2) betel quid chewing increased the skin temperature with onset and duration similar to a cardio‐acceleratory response. The hyperthermic effect was abolished by atropine and partly inhibited by propranolol. (3) Betel quid chewing had no effect on simple reaction time but shortened the choice reaction time. (4) Betel quid chewing produced widespread cortical desynchronization of EEG. (5) Chewing of one or two betel quids attenuated the sympathetic skin response while continued consumption of more than two betel quids affected the RR interval variation. (6) Plasma concentrations of noradrenaline and adrenaline were elevated during betel quid chewing. These studies have confirmed several effects claimed by betel quid users. The effects of betel quid chewing appeared to be habit‐related and dose‐dependent. Although arecoline has been thought to be responsible for several effects of betel quid chewing, the present data suggest a role also played by sympathetic activation.
Automatic detection of arcs and arclets formed by gravitational lensing

We present an algorithm developed particularly to detect gravitationally lensed arcs in clusters of galaxies. This algorithm is suited for automated surveys as well as individual arc detections. New methods are used for image smoothing and source detection. The smoothing is performed by so-called anisotropic diffusion, which maintains the shape of the arcs and does not disperse them. The algorithm is much more efficient in detecting arcs than other source finding algorithms and the detection by eye.
Regenerative surgery of the complications with Morton's neuroma surgery: use of platelet rich plasma and hyaluronic acid

Morton's neuroma is an entrapment neuropathy of the plantar digital nerve. We treated five patients with wound dehiscence and tendon exposure, after Morton's neuroma surgery excision using a dorsal approach. In this article we describe our technique. From July 2010 to August 2011, at the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, five patients (four females and one male), with ages ranging between 35 and 52 years, were treated with a combination of PRP (platelet rich plasma) and HA (hyaluronic acid). Thirty days following surgery, all patients showed a complete healing of the wound. The use of this technique for the treatment of postoperative wound dehiscence and tendon exposure has proven as satisfactory.
A Survey on Protograph LDPC Codes and Their Applications

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have attracted much attention over the past two decades since they can asymptotically approach the Shannon capacity in a variety of data transmission and storage scenarios. As a type of promising structured LDPC codes, the protograph LDPC codes not only inherit the advantage of conventional LDPC codes, i.e., excellent error performance, but also possess simple representations to realize fast encoding and efficient decoding. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on the state-of-the-art in protograph LDPC code design and analysis for different channel conditions, including the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels, fading channels, partial response (PR) channels, and Poisson pulse-position modulation (PPM) channels. Moreover, the applications of protograph LDPC codes to joint source-and-channel coding (JSCC) and joint channel-and-physical-layer-network coding (JCPNC) are reviewed and studied. In particular, we focus our attention on the encoding design and assume the decoder is implemented by the belief propagation (BP) algorithm. Hopefully, this survey may facilitate research in this area.
Experimental comparison of three system test strategies preliminary report

This paper reports on some experiments which compare three system test strategies which were applied to artificial software systems. The artificial systems were seeded with known defects and then tested according to the three strategies which involved random system level input, random system level input with defect removal, and modified module coverage. The results suggests that of the three strategies considered here, the modified module coverage exposes a higher number of defects, especially for large systems.
Clinical characterization of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer depending on the KRAS status

This retrospective study investigated the clinical characteristics of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) depending on the KRAS status, thereby differentiating KRAS exon 2 mutations in codon 12 versus codon 13. In total, 273 patients with mCRC receiving first-line therapy were analyzed. One hundred patients were treated within the FIRE-3 trial (FOLFIRI plus cetuximab or bevacizumab), 147 patients within the AIO KRK-0104 trial (cetuximab plus CAPIRI or CAPOX), and further 26 patients received therapy outside the study. Thirty-eight tumors with KRAS mutation in codon 13, 140 tumors with mutation in codon 12, and 95 tumors with KRAS wild type as a comparison were included in this analysis. Bivariate analyses demonstrated significant differences between KRAS wild-type, codon 12-mutated, and codon 13-mutated tumors with regard to synchronous lymph node metastasis (P=0.018), organ metastasis (76.8% vs. 65.9% vs. 89.5%, P=0.009), liver metastasis (89.5% vs. 78.2% vs. 92.1%, P=0.025), lung metastasis (29.5% vs. 42.9% vs. 50%, P=0.041), liver-only metastasis (48.4% vs. 28.8% vs. 28.9%, P=0.006), and metastases in two or more organs (49.5, 61.4, 71.1, P=0.047). Regression models indicated a significant impact of KRAS mutations in codon 12 versus codon 13 for synchronous organ and nodal metastasis (P=0.01, 0.03). This pooled analysis indicates that mCRC is a heterogeneous disease, which seems to be defined by KRAS mutations of the tumor. Compared with KRAS codon 12 mutations, codon 13-mutated mCRC presents as a more aggressive disease frequently associated with local and distant metastases at first diagnosis.
Implicit Ethnic Group Attitude and Stereotype Development: Causes and Consequences

Ethnicity is an important social category, one that becomes the basis for intergroup attitudes and stereotypes early in life (Bigler & Liben, 2006). In two studies, this dissertation examined implicit (sub-conscious) ethnic attitudes and academic stereotypes among White-American and Latino-American children, ages 7-12 (N = 262, Mage = 10.05 years, SD = 1.46). Using evaluative priming (Fazio, Sanbonmatsu, Powell, & Kardes, 1986), children viewed various priming stimuli (e.g., pictures of White and Latino children) and responded to various target words (e.g., positive and negative words). Systematic variations in participants' reaction times across different prime-target combinations were used to infer implicit: ethnic identification, ethnic attitudes, ethnic academic stereotypes, self-esteem, and academic self-concepts. Study 1 focused on group differences in implicit identification and attitudes, and tested the prediction that group identification should be associated with positive group attitudes (Nesdale, 2004). Results indicated that although White children demonstrate implicit ethnic bias (i.e., a preference for their in-group relative to out-groups), this bias is primarily driven by positive in-group attitudes (not negative out-group attitudes); Latino children, on the other hand, demonstrate neutral in- and out-group attitudes and, therefore, no implicit ethnic bias. The association between identification and attitudes was supported for White stimuli: participants who identified with Whites tended to have positive attitudes towards White, but there was no such association between identification with and attitudes towards Latinos. Study 2 examined associations between in-group attitudes and self-attitudes (Greenwald et al., 2002). Results indicated that group-self associations depended on children's ethnicity and attitude domain. In the general domain, White children's positive in-group attitudes were associated with positive self-esteem, but only among those who strongly identified with being White; among Latinos, positive in-group attitudes were associated with positive self-esteem regardless of in-group identification. In the academic domain, White children's in-group academic stereotypes were independent from their academic self-concepts, whereas Latino children's positive in-group academic stereotypes were associated with negative academic self-concepts. Overall, this dissertation suggests that implicit ethnic attitude and stereotype development may vary depending on whether youth have ethnic-majority or ethnic-minority backgrounds. Societal and contextual reasons for these ethnic differences are discussed.
Exhaled nitric oxide measurements with dynamic flow restriction in children aged 4–8 yrs

Fractional exhaled nitric oxide concentration (FEno) depends on exhalation flow; however, children often are unable to perform controlled flow procedures. Therefore, a device was developed for off-line FEno sampling, with dynamic flow restriction (DFR). The authors compared off-line with on-line FEno, assessed feasibility, and obtained normal values for FEno in children aged 4–8 yrs. Subjects inhaled nitric oxide (NO)-free air and exhaled into the device, where DFR kept exhalation flow constant at 50 mL·s−1. Dead space air was discarded. Exhaled air was collected in a 150 mL mylar balloon. On-line measurements were performed and values compared with off-line FEno in 19 adult volunteers. Seventy-nine children performed off-line sampling. All samples were analysed with a chemiluminescence NO-analyser. Normal values were obtained in 34 healthy children. There was an excellent correlation between on- and off-line values. Bland and Altman plots showed good agreement between on- and off-line FEno. Seventy-four out of 79 children were able to perform a correct off-line procedure. Geometric mean±sem FEno in healthy children was 4.9±1.2 parts per billion (ppb) for male children and 7.6±1.1 ppb for female children. It can be concluded that off-line fraction of exhaled nitric oxide measurements with dynamic flow restriction are feasible in young children and correspond to on-line values.
Comparative Efficacy of Different Soy Protein Sources on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility and Intestinal Morphology in Weaned Pigs

To elucidate the efficacy of different soy protein sources on piglet's performance, a total of 280 weaned piglets (Duroc×Yorkshire×Landrace, 23±3 d of age, 5.86±0.45 kg initial BW) were allotted to 5 treatment diets comprising soybean meal (SBM), soy protein concentrate (SPC), Hamlet protein (HP300), fungal (Aspergillus oryzae) fermented soy protein (FSP-A), and fungal plus bacterial (A. oryzae+Bacillus subtilis) fermented soy protein (FSP-B), respectively. Experimental diets for feeding trial were formulated to contain each soy protein sources at 8% level to corn-whey powder basal diet. There were 14 pigs per pen and 4 pens per treatment. Experimental diets were fed from 0 to 14 d after weaning and then a common commercial diet was fed from 15 to 35 d. Also for ileal digestibility studies, 18 pigs were assigned to 6 dietary treatments as N-free, SBM, SPC, HP300, FSP-A and FSP-B with T- canulation at distal ileum for 6 days. At 14 th d of experimental feeding, the ADG was significantly higher (p 0.05). Villous height and crypt depth was not affected by dietary treatments. In conclusion, the growth and digestibility of nutrients in weaned pigs fed SPC was superior to others. Also FSP-A and FSP-B showed improved performance than those fed SBM. (Key Words : Piglets, Growth, Nutrient Digestibility, Intestine, Fermented Soy Protein)
Functional analysis of the BRI1 receptor kinase by Thr-for-Ser substitution in a regulatory autophosphorylation site

BRI1 becomes highly phosphorylated in vivo upon perception of the ligand, brassinolide, as a result of autophosphorylation and transphosphorylation by its co-receptor kinase, BAK1. Important autophosphorylation sites include those involved in activation of kinase activity and those that are inhibitory, such as Ser-891. The inhibitory sites are autophosphorylated after kinase activation has been achieved and are postulated to contribute to deactivation of the kinase. The function of phosphosites is usually tested by substituting a non-phosphorylatable residue or an acidic residue that can act as a phosphomimetic. What has typically not been examined is substitution of a Thr for a Ser phosphosite (or vice versa) but given that Thr and Ser are not equivalent amino acids this type of substitution may represent a new approach to engineer regulatory phosphorylation. In the present study with BRI1, we substituted Thr at the Ser-891 phosphosite to generate the S891T directed mutant. The recombinant Flag-BRI1 (S891T) cytoplasmic domain protein (the S891T protein) was catalytically active and phosphorylation occurred at the engineered Thr-891 site. However, the S891T recombinant protein autophosphorylated more slowly than the wild-type protein during expression in E. coli. As a result, activation of peptide kinase activity (measured in vitro) was delayed as was transphosphorylation of bacterial proteins in situ. Stable transgenic expression of BRI1 (S891T)-Flag in Arabidopsis bri1-5 plants did not fully rescue the brassinosteroid (BR) phenotype indicating that BR signaling was constrained. Our working model is that restricted signaling in the S891T plants occurs as a result of the reduced rate of activation of the mutant BRI1 kinase by autophosphorylation. These results provide the platform for future studies to critically test this new model in vivo and establish Ser-Thr substitutions at phosphosites as an interesting approach to consider with other protein kinases.
COSMOS Morphological Classification with the Zurich Estimator of Structural Types (ZEST) and the Evolution Since z = 1 of the Luminosity Function of Early, Disk, and Irregular Galaxies

Motivated by the desire to reliably and automatically classify structure of thousands of COSMOS galaxies, we present ZEST, the Zurich Estimator of Structural Types. To classify galaxy structure, ZEST uses (1) five nonparametric diagnostics: asymmetry, concentration, Gini coefficient, second-order moment of the brightest 20% of galaxy pixels, and ellipticity; and (2) the exponent n of single-Sérsic fits to the two-dimensional surface brightness distributions. To fully exploit the wealth of information while reducing the redundancy present in these diagnostics, ZEST performs a principal component (PC) analysis. We use a sample of ~56,000 IAB ≤ 24 COSMOS galaxies to show that the first three PCs fully describe the key aspects of the galaxy structure, i.e., to calibrate a three-dimensional classification grid of axes PC1, PC2, and PC3. We demonstrate the robustness of the ZEST grid on the z = 0 sample of Frei et al. The ZEST classification breaks most of the degeneracy between different galaxy populations that affects morphological classifications based on only some of the diagnostics included in ZEST. As a first application, we present the evolution since z ~ 1 of the luminosity functions (LFs) of COSMOS galaxies of early, disk, and irregular galaxies and, for disk galaxies, of different bulge-to-disk ratios. Overall, we find that the LF up to a redshift z = 1 is consistent with a pure luminosity evolution (of about 0.95 mag at z ~ 0.7). We highlight, however, two trends that are in general agreement with a downsizing scenario for galaxy formation, i.e., (1) a deficit of a factor of about 2 at z ~ 0.7 of MB > -20.5 structurally classified early-type galaxies and (2) an excess of a factor of about 3, at a similar redshift, of irregular galaxies.
Fostering Language and Literacy in Classrooms and Homes. Supporting Language Learning.

However, we must be aware that heightened visibility brings risks. The new emphasis on accountability will put added pressure on teachers to raise children’s scores on assessments. To meet this challenge and take advantage of the current climate, now is the time for early childhood educators to ensure that programs are of the highest quality. Staff at all levels must have a basic understanding of what early literacy is and an awareness of the experiences that support its development. Without such understanding there is a danger that programs will be mandated to address literacy skills in ways that neglect what we know about how young children construct literacy. And well-meaning teachers may be tempted to return to heavy-handed didactic instructional methods that have been discouraged for years. Of particular concern is the possibility that early literacy efforts will take a single-minded focus on print-related dimensions and fail to recognize that oral language is the foundation of early literacy. This article discusses how early childhood programs can make a difference through classroom-based experiences and by efforts of preschool staff to help parents communicate with their children in ways that build the language skills critical to early literacy. We do not discuss developing phonemic awareness or knowledge of the alphabet and other print-based activities in the classroom, not because they are of less importance, but because we wish to highlight the importance of oral language. In the rush to embrace literacy in early childhood settings, we fear that oral language may be overlooked. We based our study on the theoretical assumption that rich language experiences during the preschool years play an important role in ensuring that children are able to read with comprehension when they reach middle school.
Improving Text Proposals for Scene Images with Fully Convolutional Networks

Text Proposals have emerged as a class-dependent version of object proposals - efficient approaches to reduce the search space of possible text object locations in an image. Combined with strong word classifiers, text proposals currently yield top state of the art results in end-to-end scene text recognition. In this paper we propose an improvement over the original Text Proposals algorithm of Gomez and Karatzas (2016), combining it with Fully Convolutional Networks to improve the ranking of proposals. Results on the ICDAR RRC and the COCO-text datasets show superior performance over current state-of-the-art.