Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Opioid Antagonists , Naloxone & Naltrexone — Aids for Pain Management

chieving effective, durable, and safe pain relief, especially in patients with chronic and/or severe pain conditions, can be a clinical challenge. For many types of pain, prescription opioids are among the most effective analgesics [Fine and Portenoy 2004]. However, there could be concerns about the development of opioid tolerance or adverse effects, and in some cases opioids seem to worsen pain (eg, hyperalgesia) [Compton 2008; DuPen et al. 2007; Stein et al. 2003]. For certain difficult conditions, such as fibromyalgia or neuropathies, opioids alone are sometimes considered of limited effectiveness [Chou et al. 2009]. Healthcare providers interested in pain management must be alert to new or novel approaches that help to overcome deficiencies of opioids, such as treatment-limiting side effects, and as aids in relieving difficult-to-treat pain conditions. In this regard, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting potential benefits of opioid antagonists. Opioid antagonists — in particular, naloxone and naltrexone — have been available and studied for decades as agents that displace opioid molecules from their neuroreceptors, and block opioids from attaching to and activating those receptors. Such qualities can be of important benefit, as short-acting antagonists like naloxone are used effectively to quickly reverse toxic effects of opioid overmedication or overdose. Laboratory research and clinical trials have demonstrated the unexpected, paradoxical effects of opioid antagonists as adjuvants for enhancing rather than attenuating analgesic effects of opioids like morphine, oxycodone, and others. Further benefits of opioid antagonists, as monotherapy, for better managing certain chronic pain conditions also have been discovered. This paper provides an overview of naloxone and naltrexone pharmacology, and briefly examines some of the theoretical founA
Characterization of the cciIR Quorum-Sensing System in Burkholderia cenocepacia

ABSTRACT Several transmissible Burkholderia cenocepacia strains that infect multiple cystic fibrosis patients contain a genomic island designated as the cenocepacia island (cci). The cci contains a predicted N-acylhomoserine lactone (AHL) synthase gene, cciI, and a predicted response regulator gene, cciR. AHL production profiles indicated that CciI catalyzes the synthesis of N-hexanoyl-l-homoserine lactone and minor amounts of N-octanoyl-l-homoserine lactone. The cciI and cciR genes were found to be cotranscribed by reverse transcription-PCR analysis, and the expression of a cciIR::luxCDABE fusion in a cciR mutant suggested that the cciIR system negatively regulates its own expression. B. cenocepacia strains also have a cepIR quorum-sensing system. Expression of cepI::luxCDABE or cepR::luxCDABE fusions in a cciR mutant showed that CciR negatively regulates cepI but does not regulate cepR. Expression of the cciIR::luxCDABE fusion in a cepR mutant indicated that functional CepR is required for cciIR expression. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that the cciIR system was acquired by horizontal gene transfer from a distantly related organism and subsequently incorporated into the ancestral cepIR regulatory network. Mutations in cciI, cciR, cepI cciI, and cepR cciR were constructed in B. cenocepacia K56-2. The cciI mutant had greater protease activity and less swarming motility than the parent strain. The cciR mutant had less protease activity than the parent strain. The phenotypes of the cepI cciI and cepR cciR mutants were similar to cepI or cepR mutants, with less protease activity and swarming motility than the parent strain.
Aircraft Type Recognition Based on Segmentation With Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

Aircraft type recognition in remote sensing images is a meaningful task. It remains challenging due to the difficulty of obtaining appropriate representation of aircrafts for recognition. To solve this problem, we propose a novel aircraft type recognition framework based on deep convolutional neural networks. First, an aircraft segmentation network is designed to obtain refined aircraft segmentation results which provide significant details to distinguish different aircrafts. Then, a keypoints’ detection network is proposed to acquire aircrafts’ directions and bounding boxes, which are used to align the segmentation results. A new multirotation refinement method is carefully designed to further improve the keypoints’ precision. At last, we apply a template matching method to identify aircrafts, and the intersection over union is adopted to evaluate the similarity between segmentation results and templates. The proposed framework takes advantage of both shape and scale information of aircrafts for recognition. Experiments show that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods and can achieve 95.6% accuracy on the challenging data set.
Significance of Hepatitis B Virus Genotype in Liver Transplantation for Chronic Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype influences chronic hepatitis B disease profile but its relevance in liver transplantation (LTx) is not known. HBV genotype was identified by direct sequencing from pre‐transplant sera of 119 patients who underwent LTx using lamivudine prophylaxis (genotype A,1; B,43; C,74; D,1). The baseline characteristics and outcome of 43 genotype B and 74 genotype C patients were compared. Genotype B patients had significantly more pre‐transplant acute flare, worse liver functions and higher model for end‐stage liver disease score. Fewer genotype B patients had HBeAg (13% vs. 32%; p = 0.017), but HBV DNA seropositivity (by bDNA assay) was comparable (26% vs. 23%; p = 0.727). The 3‐year graft survival was 83% for genotype B and 89% for genotype C (p = 0.2). The rate of HBsAg clearance or seroreversion was the same. The cumulative rate of viral breakthrough due to lamivudine‐resistant mutants at 3 years was 4% for genotype B and 21% for genotype C (p = 0.017). Liver biopsy after viral breakthrough showed recurrent hepatitis B in 7 of 10 genotype C patients, including 2 with fibrosing cholestatic hepatitis, and no histologic recurrence in 2 genotype B patients. In conclusion, HBV genotypes B and C are associated with different patterns of end‐stage liver diseases that required transplantation, and genotype C may carry a greater risk and severity of recurrence due to lamivudine‐resistant mutants.
Construction of a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infectious cDNA Clone and a Replicon To Study Coronavirus RNA Synthesis

ABSTRACT The engineering of a full-length infectious cDNA clone and a functional replicon of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) Urbani strain as bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) is described in this study. In this system, the viral RNA was expressed in the cell nucleus under the control of the cytomegalovirus promoter and further amplified in the cytoplasm by the viral replicase. Both the infectious clone and the replicon were fully stable in Escherichia coli. Using the SARS-CoV replicon, we have shown that the recently described RNA-processing enzymes exoribonuclease, endoribonuclease, and 2′-O-ribose methyltransferase were essential for efficient coronavirus RNA synthesis. The SARS reverse genetic system developed as a BAC constitutes a useful tool for the study of fundamental viral processes and also for developing genetically defined vaccines.
White matter injury: Ischemic and nonischemic

Ischemic pathologies of white matter (WM) include a large proportion of stroke and developmental lesions while multiple sclerosis (MS) is the archetype nonischemic pathology. Growing evidence suggests other important diseases including neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders also involve a significant WM component. Axonal, oligodendroglial, and astroglial damage proceed via distinct mechanisms in ischemic WM and these mechanisms evolve dramatically with maturation. Axons may pass through four developmental stages where the pattern of membrane protein expression influences how the structure responds to ischemia; WM astrocytes pass through at least two and differ significantly in their ischemia tolerance from grey matter astrocytes; oligodendroglia pass through at least three, with the highly ischemia intolerant pre‐oligodendrocyte (pre‐Oli) stage linking the less sensitive precursor and mature phenotypes. Neurotransmitters play a central role in WM pathology at all ages. Glutamate excitotoxicity in WM has both necrotic and apoptotic components; the latter mediated by intracellular pathways which differ between receptor types. ATP excitotoxicity may be largely mediated by the P2X7 receptor and also has both necrotic and apoptotic components. Interplay between microglia and other cell types is a critical element in the injury process. A growing appreciation of the significance of WM injury for nonischemic neurological disorders is currently stimulating research into mechanisms; with curious similarities being found with those operating during ischemia. A good example is traumatic brain injury, where axonal pathology can proceed via almost identical pathways to those described during acute ischemia. GLIA 2014;62:1780–1789
Thinking in Chinese vs. Thinking in English: Social Preference and Risk Attitudes of Multicultural Minds

This paper investigates whether language priming activates different cultural identities and norms associated with the language communicated with respect to social preference and risk attitudes. Our contribution is on identifying the conditions where there will be language priming effects. We conduct economic games with bilingual subjects using Chinese and English as instructions. It is found that language priming affects social preference, but only in context involving strategic interactions. In social preference games involving strategic interactions, e.g., the trust game, subjects in the Chinese treatment are more trusting and trustworthy. In individual choice games, such as the dictator game, there is no treatment difference. Further, we also find that language priming affects risk attitudes. Subjects in the Chinese treatment prefer to pick Chinese lucky numbers in Mark Six lottery. These findings suggest that the effect of language priming is context dependent.
RESILIENCE TO CHILDHOOD ADVERSITY: RESULTS OF A 21 YEAR STUDY

INTRODUCTION There has been a large amount of research on the contributions of childhood and familial factors to the development of psychopathology in children and young people (for reviews see, e.g., Farrington et al., 1990; Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992; Loeber, 1990; Patterson, DeBaryshe, & Ramsey, 1989; Rutter & Giller, 1983). This research has established that young people reared in disadvantaged, dysfunctional, or impaired home environments have increased risks of a wide range of adverse outcomes that span mental health problems, criminality, substance abuse, suicidal behaviors, and educational underachievement. Although popular and policy concerns have often focused on the role of specific factors such as child abuse, poverty, single parenthood, family violence, parental divorce, and the like, the weight of the evidence suggests that the effects of specific risk factors in isolation on later outcomes often tend to be modest (Fergusson, Horwood, & Lynskey, 1994; Garmezy, 1987; Rutter, 1979; Sameroff, Seifer, Barocas, Zax, & Greenspan, 1987). What distinguishes the high-risk child from other children is not so much exposure to a specific risk factor but rather a life history characterized by multiple familial disadvantages that span social and economic disadvantages; impaired parenting; a neglectful and abusive home environment; marital conflict; family instability; family violence; and high exposure to adverse family life events (Blanz, Schmidt, & Esser, 1991; Fergusson et al., 1994; Masten, Morison, Pellegrini, & Tellegen, 1990; Sameroff & Seifer, 1990; Shaw & Emery, 1988; Shaw, Vondra, Hommerding, Keenan, & Dunn, 1994).
Setting of noninvasive pressure support in young patients with cystic fibrosis

The aim of the current study was to compare a clinical noninvasive method of setting up noninvasive pressure support ventilation (PS-NI) in young patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), based on parameters such as breathing frequency, arterial oxygen saturation and comfort rating, with a more invasive method (PS-I) targeted at optimising unloading of the inspiratory muscles and enhancing patient-ventilator synchronisation. PS-NI and PS-I were compared in random order in 10 children with CF. PS-NI differed from PS-I with regard to the level of inspiratory pressure (n=5), rate of inspiratory pressurisation (n=1), inspiratory trigger sensitivity (n=2) and expiratory trigger sensitivity (n=5). Although both methods modified breathing pattern, improved oxygen saturation and reduced diaphragmatic pressure time product (450±91 cmH2O·s−1·min−1 during spontaneous breathing, and 129±125 and 104±75 cmH2O·s−1·min−1 during PS-NI and PS-I, respectively), patient-ventilator synchrony and patient comfort were enhanced more during PS-I. In young patients with cystic fibrosis, setting up pressure support using a clinical noninvasive approach based on easily measurable parameters, such as respiratory rate and comfort rating, is as effective as a more invasive technique based on unloading of the inspiratory muscles and optimising patient-ventilator synchronisation. However, whilst the standard clinical method is satisfactory in the majority of patients, more invasive measurements should be considered in patients who have difficulty synchronising with the ventilator to enhance patient tolerance and compliance.
Surprise in Elections

Elections involving a very large voter population often lead to outcomes that surprise many. This is particularly important for the elections in which results affect the economy of a sizable population. A better prediction of the true outcome helps reduce the surprise and keeps the voters prepared. This paper starts from the basic observation that individuals in the underlying population build estimates of the distribution of preferences of the whole population based on their local neighborhoods. The outcome of the election leads to a surprise if these local estimates contradict the outcome of the election for some fixed voting rule. To get a quantitative understanding, we propose a simple mathematical model of the setting where the individuals in the population and their connections (through geographical proximity, social networks etc.) are described by a random graph with connection probabilities that are biased based on the preferences of the individuals. Each individual also has some estimate of the bias in their connections. We show that the election outcome leads to a surprise if the discrepancy between the estimated bias and the true bias in the local connections exceeds a certain threshold, and confirm the phenomenon that surprising outcomes are associated only with {\em closely contested elections}. We compare standard voting rules based on their performance on surprise and show that they have different behavior for different parts of the population. It also hints at an impossibility that a single voting rule will be less surprising for {\em all} parts of a population. Finally, we experiment with the UK-EU referendum (a.k.a.\ Brexit) dataset that attest some of our theoretical predictions.
The Gendarmerie Alternative: Is There a Case for the Existence of Police Organisations with Military Status in the Twenty-First Century European Security Apparatus?

Historical literature traditionally assimilates gendarmerie forces with old-fashioned, centralised, colonial, or totalitarian regimes. Similarly, the media and much of the current academic literature seem to consider the gendarmerie model as antiquated, and unable to meet the demands of public accountability or human rights compliance associated with modern democratic policing. How then can France, Italy or the Netherlands still reasonably promote it as a credible policing alternative? Gendarmeries receive very little attention from the Anglo-American criminal justice community. On closer inspection however, it appears that gendarmeries are tasked to perform public order, riot control and criminal police duties in many European democracies. This unique association of military semantics and civilian police tasks symbolises the modern gendarmerie concept, which can provide a substantial added value with public, specialised and professional police units. This critical analysis of the existing literature examines how gendarmeries are viewed by the English-speaking academic community, and most importantly, why this perception has become flawed. One of the lead arguments is that the terminology habitually used to describe the gendarmerie model, because it wrongly suggests a persistent functional discrepancy between these forces and their civilian counterparts found for instance in common-law countries, actually conceals the fact that gendarmeries have become important actors on the European policing scene. The study singles out arguments which demonstrate that police forces bearing a military status present useful credentials to promote the liberal-democratic policing ideal in twenty-first century Europe.
Care as social organization: Creating, maintaining and dissolving significant relations

Although increasingly debated in public, scholarly discourses on care remain frag- mented. This is not only due to the scientific division of labor, but also to different national research traditions as well as to categories that link predefined relations to specific practices. In this article I set out to establish care practices as vital elements of social organization in order to overcome commonplace dichotomies such as private-public, good–bad, modern–traditional, and micro–macro. In order to facilitate making care a central element of anthropological theory, I revisit diverse theoretical frameworks from Marxism and feminism to disability, social security and humanitarianism studies. With the decline of Marxist anthropology, the awareness it once raised regarding `public' aspects of care has virtually vanished. Today practices of care are mostly discussed in kinship debates, with the result that the importance of care for other social relations is underestimated. Finally, I propose a processual conceptualization of care with a focus on practices that can enhance our understanding of the links and overlaps between relationships that are usually analysed within distinct spheres of social life, such as economics and politics.
Cerebral hemodynamic changes in sleep apnea syndrome and effect of continuous positive airway pressure treatment

Background and Objective: A clear association among snoring, sleep apnea, and increased risk of stroke has been shown by previous studies. However, the possible role played by sleep apnea in the pathogenesis of cerebrovascular disease is subject to debate. To evaluate the influence of hemodynamic changes caused by obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), we investigated cerebrovascular reactivity to hypercapnia in patients with OSAS. Methods: The study was performed at baseline and after 1 night and 1 month of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (n-CPAP) therapy, with patients in the waking state (8:00 to 8:30 AM and 5:30 to 6:00 PM) with transcranial Doppler ultrasonography. Cerebrovascular reactivity was calculated with the breath-holding index (BHI). Results: In the baseline condition, compared with normal subjects, patients with OSAS showed significantly lower BHI values in both the morning (0.57 versus 1.40, p < 0.0001) and the afternoon (1.0 versus 1.51, p < 0.0001). Cerebrovascular reactivity was significantly higher in the afternoon than it was in the morning in both patients (p < 0.0001) and controls (p < 0.05). In patients, the BHI returned to normal values, comparable with those of control subjects, after both 1 night and 1 month of n-CPAP therapy. Conclusions: These findings suggest an association between OSAS and diminished cerebral vasodilator reserve. This condition may be related to the increased susceptibility to cerebral ischemia in patients with OSAS, particularly evident in the early morning.
Inferring Developmental Stage Composition from Gene Expression in Human Malaria

In the current era of malaria eradication, reducing transmission is critical. Assessment of transmissibility requires tools that can accurately identify the various developmental stages of the malaria parasite, particularly those required for transmission (sexual stages). Here, we present a method for estimating relative amounts of Plasmodium falciparum asexual and sexual stages from gene expression measurements. These are modeled using constrained linear regression to characterize stage-specific expression profiles within mixed-stage populations. The resulting profiles were analyzed functionally by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), confirming differentially active pathways such as increased mitochondrial activity and lipid metabolism during sexual development. We validated model predictions both from microarrays and from quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) measurements, based on the expression of a small set of key transcriptional markers. This sufficient marker set was identified by backward selection from the whole genome as available from expression arrays, targeting one sentinel marker per stage. The model as learned can be applied to any new microarray or qRT-PCR transcriptional measurement. We illustrate its use in vitro in inferring changes in stage distribution following stress and drug treatment and in vivo in identifying immature and mature sexual stage carriers within patient cohorts. We believe this approach will be a valuable resource for staging lab and field samples alike and will have wide applicability in epidemiological studies of malaria transmission.
A Cost-Effective Approach of Building Multi-tenant Oriented Lightweight Virtual HPC Cluster

HPC are considered as increasingly importance but only a small set of large enterprises or governments have the capability to use this high performance approach. In order to deliver HPC service and solve software dependency problems which rigidly restrict the usage of HPC applications. Based on Fat-Tree network topology and the virtual HPC cluster model, this paper provides a cloud of HPC delivery model and solves the dependency of HPC application software stack without destroying the initial HPC environments. Extensive experiments are conducted and the results validate the feasibility and the efficiency of our approach.
A video-based real-time adaptive vehicle-counting system for urban roads

In developing nations, many expanding cities are facing challenges that result from the overwhelming numbers of people and vehicles. Collecting real-time, reliable and precise traffic flow information is crucial for urban traffic management. The main purpose of this paper is to develop an adaptive model that can assess the real-time vehicle counts on urban roads using computer vision technologies. This paper proposes an automatic real-time background update algorithm for vehicle detection and an adaptive pattern for vehicle counting based on the virtual loop and detection line methods. In addition, a new robust detection method is introduced to monitor the real-time traffic congestion state of road section. A prototype system has been developed and installed on an urban road for testing. The results show that the system is robust, with a real-time counting accuracy exceeding 99% in most field scenarios.