Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Utility of the shock index in predicting mortality in traumatically injured patients.

BACKGROUND Currently, specific triage criteria, such as blood pressure, respiratory status, Glasgow Coma Scale, and mechanism of injury are used to categorize trauma patients and prioritize emergency department (ED) and trauma team responses. It has been demonstrated in previous literature that an abnormal shock index (SI = heart rate [HR]/systolic blood pressure, >0.9) portends a worse outcome in critically ill patients. Our study looked to evaluate the SI calculated in the field, on arrival to the ED, and the change between field and ED values as a simple and early marker to predict mortality in traumatically injured patients. METHODS A retrospective chart review of the trauma registry of an urban level I trauma center. Analysis of 2,445 patients admitted over 5 years with records in the trauma registry of which 1,166 also had data for the field SI. An increase in SI from the field to the ED was defined as any increase in SI regardless of the level of the magnitude of change. RESULTS Twenty-two percent of patients reviewed had an ED SI >0.9, with a mortality rate of 15.9% compared with 6.3% in patients with a normal ED SI. An increase in SI between the field and ED signaled a mortality rate of 9.3% versus 5.7% for patients with decreasing or unchanged SI. Patients with an increase in SI of >or=0.3 had a mortality rate of 27.6% versus 5.8% for patients with change in SI of <0.3. CONCLUSION Trauma patients with SI >0.9 have higher mortality rates. An increase in SI from the field to the ED may predict higher mortality. The SI may be a valuable addition to other ED triage criteria currently used to activate trauma team responses.
Self-Harm and Suicide Attempts among High-Risk, Urban Youth in the U.S.: Shared and Unique Risk and Protective Factors

The extent to which self-harm and suicidal behavior overlap in community samples of vulnerable youth is not well known. Secondary analyses were conducted of the “linkages study” (N = 4,131), a cross-sectional survey of students enrolled in grades 7, 9, 11/12 in a high-risk community in the U.S. in 2004. Analyses were conducted to determine the risk and protective factors (i.e., academic grades, binge drinking, illicit drug use, weapon carrying, child maltreatment, social support, depression, impulsivity, self-efficacy, parental support, and parental monitoring) associated with both self-harm and suicide attempt. Findings show that 7.5% of participants reported both self-harm and suicide attempt, 2.2% of participants reported suicide attempt only, and 12.4% of participants reported self-harm only. Shared risk factors for co-occurring self-harm and suicide attempt include depression, binge drinking, weapon carrying, child maltreatment, and impulsivity. There were also important differences by sex, grade level, and race/ethnicity that should be considered for future research. The findings show that there is significant overlap in the modifiable risk factors associated with self-harm and suicide attempt that can be targeted for future research and prevention strategies.
Understanding Cotton Growers’ Information Needs from Rural Bahawalpur

This study investigated the information needs of cotton growers residing in two villages in the district of Bahawalpur. Face-to-face interviews were conducted by visiting farms or homes using a semi-structured interview schedule. Data were analyzed by applying descriptive statistics. The results indicated that cotton growers required information, in general, in the areas of soil management and plot preparation, cotton seeds, crop care, and pre- and post- harvesting activities. Moreover, these farmers relied very much upon informal networks (progressive farmers, sales agents, and pesticides dealers) while looking for the needed information. Lack of timely access, illiteracy, infrequent visits of extension staff, and language barrier were the major problems that these farmers faced while getting needed information. The results of this research indicated the need for an integrated agricultural information delivery system for farmers. This research has made a significant contribution in cotton growers' information behavior research.
Supersymmetric states in M5/M2 CFTs

We propose an exact, finite N formula for the partition function over 1/4th BPS states in the conformal field theory on the world volume of N coincident M5 branes, and 1/8th BPS states in the theory of N conincident M2 branes. We obtain our partition function by performing the radial quantization of the Coulomb Branches of these theories and rederive the same formula from the quantization of supersymmetric giant and dual giant gravitons in AdS7 × S4 and AdS4 × S7. Our partition function is qualitatively similar to the analogous quantity in = 4 Yang Mills. It reduces to the sum over supersymmetric multi gravitons at low energies, but deviates from this supergravity formula at energies that scale like a positive power of N.
High-Level Acetaldehyde Production in Lactococcus lactis by Metabolic Engineering

ABSTRACT Efficient conversion of glucose to acetaldehyde is achieved by nisin-controlled overexpression of Zymomonas mobilis pyruvate decarboxylase (pdc) and Lactococcus lactis NADH oxidase (nox) in L. lactis. In resting cells, almost 50% of the glucose consumed could be redirected towards acetaldehyde by combined overexpression of pdc and nox under anaerobic conditions.
A Novel Yeast Surface Display Method for Large-Scale Screen Inhibitors of Sortase A

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer substrates of sortase A are too expensive to be used to roughly screen high-throughput sortase A inhibitors. This makes therapeutic strategies difficult to realize in a clinical therapeutic use. Instead, we design here an LPETG-EGFP (leucine, proline, glutamic, threonine and glycine-enhanced green fluorescence) protein displayed on a yeast surface as a substrate by adaptively reducing the cost. We do this by optimizing the induction conditions of sortase A expression in Escherichia coli DE3(BL21) and catalyzing LPETG proteins, which are displayed on surface of Pichia pastoris. Different expression conditions of sortase A include: induction temperature (22 °C, 28 °C, 37 °C and 40 °C), induction time (4 h, 5 h, 6 h and 7 h) and induction concentration of isopropyl β-d-thiogalactoside IPTG (0.25 mmol/L, 0.5 mmol/L, 1 mmol/L, and 2 mmol/L). The fluorescence change of the LPETG-EGFP protein on the surface of P. pastoris over time was detected by flow cytometry and fluorescence spectrophotometry, and then the sensitivities of the two methods were compared. Using berberine chloride as an inhibitor, the activity of sortase A was investigated with the substrates of LPETG-EGFP protein, and compared to Dabcyl-QALPETGEE-Edans. A high yield of sortase A was achieved by inducing 1.0 mmol/L IPTG at 28 °C for 6 h. The intensity of green fluorescence of substrates displayed on the yeast surface was increased over time, while the stability was decreased slightly. Both fluorescence spectrophotometery and flow cytometry were fit for detection because of their high sensitivity. We utilized two different substrates of sortase A to investigate sortase A activity, which resulted in the increase of fluorescence intensity with respect to the increased time of growth. However, the method with Dabcyl-QALPETGEE-Edans as its substrate was more robust. Thus, the method described in this paper is a simple and cheap method which is very suitable for high-throughput analysis, but the conventional method is much more sensitive. The method described in this paper is expected to lead to large-scale screening of sortase A inhibitors which can be used to decrease the risk of drug resistance development.
Development and Characterization of a Novel Animal Model of Intermittent MDMA (“Ecstasy”) Exposure during Adolescence

Adult animals treated with high doses of MDMA (“ecstasy”) either on a single day or for several consecutive days show numerous behavioral changes as well as persistent reductions in brain serotonin (5‐HT) concentrations and 5‐HT transporter (SERT) protein expression. However, such dosing regimens do not adequately mimic the intermittent use patterns commonly seen in adolescent recreational ecstasy users. We have developed and characterized a rat model of intermittent adolescent MDMA exposure that simulates many of the features of human weekend use. Animals treated with our dosing regimen experience only small increases in core body temperature, and their plasma MDMA levels compare favorably with the levels reported for heavy ecstasy users under naturalistic conditions when species differences in drug clearance rates are taken into account. Intermittent adolescent MDMA exposure causes later deficits in object‐recognition memory, increased impulsivity in the elevated plus‐maze, and reduced sensitivity to a 5‐HT1A agonist challenge. SERT‐immunoreactive fiber density is significantly reduced in the hippocampus but not the neocortex, suggesting that the hippocampus may be particularly vulnerable to moderate MDMA exposure during adolescence. Finally, adolescent MDMA‐treated animals are protected (i.e., show tolerance) against the neurotoxic and depressant effects of a subsequent MDMA “binge” challenge. We believe that the present animal model has important clinical relevance based on the similarities between the model and the reported effects of regular ecstasy use.
Performance of a neural adaptive tracking controller for multi-input nonlinear dynamical systems in the presence of additive and multiplicative external disturbances

We discuss the tracking problem in the presence of additive and multiplicative external disturbances, for affine in the control nonlinear dynamical systems, whose nonlinearities are assumed unknown. Based on a recurrent high order neural network (RHONN) model of the unknown plant, a smooth control law is designed to guarantee the uniform ultimate boundedness of all signals in the closed loop. Certain measures are utilized to test its performance. The controller, which can be viewed as a nonlinear combination of three high order neural networks, does not require knowledge regarding upper bounds on the optimal weights, modeling error and external disturbances. Simulations performed on a simple example illustrate the approach.
Unitary effects in spin-orbit splitting of P-wave baryons.

The behavior of the low-transfer vertex for baryon--baryon-meson interaction and threshold effects plays an important role for the spin-orbit interaction in baryons. If treated correctly they are capable of explaining, at least schematically, the order and importance of spin-orbit splittings in {ital L}=1 baryons as well as partial and total widths.
Prevalence, Clinical Features and Outcome of Neonatal Malaria in Two Major Hospitals in Jos, North-Central Nigeria

Malaria was thought to be rare in neonates. However, recent studies report increasing prevalence in neonates. Clinical features of neonatal malaria have also not been adequately reported. This study was undertaken to assess the prevalence, clinical features and outcome of malaria in neonates admitted into two tertiary hospitals in Jos, Plateau State. All consecutive neonates aged 0 - 28 days admitted into the neonatal units of Jos University Teaching Hospital and Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos were recruited into the study. Giemsa stained blood films of the neonates were examined by trained microscopists. Neonates with malaria had presenting clinical features recorded and treated with amodiaquine (1st line) and quinine (2nd line). Clinical features and parasitaemia were monitored for 14 days for outcome. Of the 301 neonates enrolled, 16 had malaria parasitaemia giving a prevalence of 5.3%. Congenital malaria accounted for 87.5% of cases of neonatal malaria. Plasmodium falciparum mono-infection was responsible for all the cases of malaria. ITN use in pregnancy offered some protection against neonatal malaria (CI=0.2 - 0.7). The median parasite density was 255 (72, 385) parasites/μl. Fever was significantly present in 10 (66.7%) of the cases (p=0.03). Fifteen of the 16 neonates had clinical and parasitological cure on treatment with amodiaquine. One treatment failure had cure after retreatment with quinine. There was no mortality in all 16 neonates treated for malaria. Malaria is not rare in neonates on admission in Jos. Fever is the commonest clinical feature of neonatal malaria. Amodiaquine provided effective treatment of malaria in neonates in Jos.
Delivery of short interfering RNA using endosomolytic cell‐penetrating peptides

Cell‐penetrating peptides (CPPs) are peptides able to promote uptake of various cargos, including proteins and plasmids. Advances in recent years imply the uptake to be endocytic, where the current hurdle for efficient intracellular delivery is material being retained in the endosomes. In this study we wanted to compare the ability of various established CPPs to deliver siRNA and induce gene silencing of luciferase, with a novel designed penetratin analog having endosomolytic properties, using a noncovalent strategy. In principal, the penetratin analog EB1 will, upon protonation in the early‐late endosomes, be able to form an amphipathic alpha helix resulting in perme‐abilization of the endosomal membrane. We demonstrate that even though all CPPs evaluated in this study can form complexes with siRNA, there is not a direct relationship between the complex formation ability and delivery efficacy. More important, although all CPPs significantly promote siRNA uptake, in some cases no gene silencing effect can be observed unless endosomal escape is induced. We find the designed endosomolytic peptide EB1 to be far more effective both in forming complexes and transporting biologically active siRNA than its parent peptide penetratin. We believe that developing CPPs with increased endosomolytical properties is a necessary step toward achieving biological effects at low concentrations for future in vivo applications. —Lundberg, P., El‐Andaloussi, S. , Sütlüi, T. , Johansson, H. , Langel, Ü. Delivery of short interfering RNA using endosomolytic cell‐penetrating peptides. FASEB J. 21, 2664–2671 (2007)
Pathologic Significance of EBV Encoded RNA in NPC

The EBV-encoded RNAs (EBERs) are the most abundant EBV transcripts (about 107 copies per cell) during latent infection by EBV in a variety of cells. Owing to its expression abundance and universal existence in all of the 3 forms of latent infection, EBERs have been under intensive studies since they were discovered by Lernar (Lerner et al., 1981) for the first time. Looking back over the past 30 years, great efforts have been made to unveil the accurate role of EBERs in the latency and transformation process, the definite secondary structure and the signaling pathways they participate in. Despite significant achievements were achieved in these fields, most pioneer work was conducted in lymphoma cells. Bearing this in mind, we explore the similarities between lymphoma and carcinoma to fill the gaps in our knowledge of EBERs’ roles in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, it remains to be clarified whether the same scenario accurately applies to the pathological significance of EBERs in NPC.
GWAS Meets Microarray: Are the Results of Genome-Wide Association Studies and Gene-Expression Profiling Consistent? Prostate Cancer as an Example

Background Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and global profiling of gene expression (microarrays) are two major technological breakthroughs that allow hypothesis-free identification of candidate genes associated with tumorigenesis. It is not obvious whether there is a consistency between the candidate genes identified by GWAS (GWAS genes) and those identified by profiling gene expression (microarray genes). Methodology/Principal Findings We used the Cancer Genetic Markers Susceptibility database to retrieve single nucleotide polymorphisms from candidate genes for prostate cancer. In addition, we conducted a large meta-analysis of gene expression data in normal prostate and prostate tumor tissue. We identified 13,905 genes that were interrogated by both GWASs and microarrays. On the basis of P values from GWASs, we selected 1,649 most significantly associated genes for functional annotation by the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. We also conducted functional annotation analysis using same number of the top genes identified in the meta-analysis of the gene expression data. We found that genes involved in cell adhesion were overrepresented among both the GWAS and microarray genes. Conclusions/Significance We conclude that the results of these analyses suggest that combining GWAS and microarray data would be a more effective approach than analyzing individual datasets and can help to refine the identification of candidate genes and functions associated with tumor development.
Surface EMG-based Sketching Recognition Using Two Analysis Windows and Gene Expression Programming

Sketching is one of the most important processes in the conceptual stage of design. Previous studies have relied largely on the analyses of sketching process and outcomes; whereas surface electromyographic (sEMG) signals associated with sketching have received little attention. In this study, we propose a method in which 11 basic one-stroke sketching shapes are identified from the sEMG signals generated by the forearm and upper arm muscles from 4 subjects. Time domain features such as integrated electromyography, root mean square and mean absolute value were extracted with analysis windows of two length conditions for pattern recognition. After reducing data dimensionality using principal component analysis, the shapes were classified using Gene Expression Programming (GEP). The performance of the GEP classifier was compared to the Back Propagation neural network (BPNN) and the Elman neural network (ENN). Feature extraction with the short analysis window (250 ms with a 250 ms increment) improved the recognition rate by around 6.4% averagely compared with the long analysis window (2500 ms with a 2500 ms increment). The average recognition rate for the eleven basic one-stroke sketching patterns achieved by the GEP classifier was 96.26% in the training set and 95.62% in the test set, which was superior to the performance of the BPNN and ENN classifiers. The results show that the GEP classifier is able to perform well with either length of the analysis window. Thus, the proposed GEP model show promise for recognizing sketching based on sEMG signals.
Surface water quality estimation using remote sensing in the Gulf of Finland and the Finnish Archipelago Sea

This thesis deals with surface water quality estimation using remote sensing in the Gulf of Finland and the Archipelago Sea. Satellite remote sensing of water and empirical algorithms for surface water quality variables in coastal waters in the Gulf of Finland and the Archipelago Sea are explained and results from the studies in the area are presented. Concurrent in situ surface water measurements, AISA data, Landsat TM data, ERS-2 SAR data, AVHRR and MODIS data were obtained for selected locations in the Gulf of Finland and the Archipelago Sea in August 1997 and from April to May 2000, respectively. The AISA, TM, SAR, AVHRR and MODIS data from locations of water samples were extracted and digital data were examined. Significant correlations were observed between digital data and surface water quality variables. Semi-empirical, simple and multivariate regression analyses, and neural network algorithms were developed and applied in the study area. Application of neural networks appears to yield a superior performance in modelling radiative transfer functions describing the relation between satellite observations and surface water characteristics. The results show that the estimated accuracy for major characteristics of surface waters using the neural network method is much better than retrieval by using regression analysis. Since radar observations of water are strongly affected by surface geometry but not by water quality, radar data should be useful to eliminate the effects of surface roughness from the results when combined with optical observations. However, our results suggest that microwave data improve estimation of water quality very little or not at all. The technique, however, should be examined with new data sets obtained under various weather and water quality conditions in order to estimate its feasibility for estimating surface water quality parameters in the Finnish coastal waters.
Response of Bacterial Metabolic Activity to Riverine Dissolved Organic Carbon and Exogenous Viruses in Estuarine and Coastal Waters: Implications for CO2 Emission

A cross-transplant experiment between estuarine water and seawater was conducted to examine the response of bacterial metabolic activity to riverine dissolved organic carbon (DOC) input under virus-rich and virus-free conditions, as well as to exogenous viruses. Riverine DOC input increased bacterial production significantly, but not bacterial respiration (BR) because of its high lability. The bioavailable riverine DOC influenced bulk bacterial respiration in two contrasting ways; it enhanced the bulk BR by stimulating bacterial growth, but simultaneously reduced the cell-specific BR due to its high lability. As a result, there was little stimulation of the bulk BR by riverine DOC. This might be partly responsible for lower CO2 degassing fluxes in estuaries receiving high sewage-DOC that is highly labile. Viruses restricted microbial decomposition of riverine DOC dramatically by repressing the growth of metabolically active bacteria. Bacterial carbon demand in the presence of viruses only accounted for 7–12% of that in the absence of viruses. Consequently, a large fraction of riverine DOC was likely transported offshore to the shelf. In addition, marine bacteria and estuarine bacteria responded distinctly to exogenous viruses. Marine viruses were able to infect estuarine bacteria, but not as efficiently as estuarine viruses, while estuarine viruses infected marine bacteria as efficiently as marine viruses. We speculate that the rapid changes in the viral community due to freshwater input destroyed the existing bacteria-virus relationship, which would change the bacterial community composition and affect the bacterial metabolic activity and carbon cycling in this estuary.
Change in wellbeing from childhood to adolescence: risk and resilience [Wider Benefits of Learning Research Report No. 34]

Within the framework of risk and resilience, this report focuses on changes in wellbeing from middle childhood to early adolescence. Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we investigate trajectories and drivers of change across psychological, behavioural, social and subjective school wellbeing. We also examine those children who have a large number of risks in their lives, identifying those factors which may help protect their wellbeing. Findings suggest that the course of wellbeing for the individual child is varied and complex. Factors either support or undermine changes in wellbeing, but while some appear universal for both high- and low-risk children, others are differentiated by risk level and/or gender. Nonetheless, a few key factors are highlighted, including the importance of children’s environments – in terms of their relationships with parents, friends and school – as well as their experiences and capabilities in terms of attainment and SEN, rather than their social background and where they live.