Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Increasing Threat in an Iranian Referral Children's Hospital: Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.

INTRODUCTION Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen in the past decades. Due to the prevalence of A. baumannii across the world, suitable typing methods to investigate the epidemiological distribution of the organism have been developed. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiological and molecular diversity of A. baumannii strains isolated from nosocomial infections of hospitalized children in Children Medical Center Hospital (CMC), an Iranian referral hospital, in Tehran, Iran. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 27 non-duplicate clinical A. baumannii isolates were collected during October 2013 to March 2014 and tested for antimicrobial resistance to several antibiotic agents. The genetic similarity of the strains was investigated by amplification of Random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) method. RESULTS One predominant RAPD profile (type B) was identified in 15 strains (56% of all typed isolates). Other clusters depicted in the dendrogram, namely A, C, and D comprised 6 (22%), 5 (19%) and 1 (3%) isolates, respectively. All A. baumannii strains were resistant to all antibiotics except colistin. CONCLUSION This study highlights the clonal spread of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii in our hospital. Therefore, the factors responsible for dissemination of such isolates need to be identified, controlled, and prevented to avoid major outbreaks.
Adapted diameters and the efficient computation of Fourier transforms on finite groups

This paper introduces new techniques for the efficient computation of the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) for a finite group G and in so doing, relates the complexity of a finite group to its adapted diameter, relative to a given generating set and chain of subgroups. Consequently, we are able to show, for the first time, that the complexity of the DFT of a finite group is intimately related to group structure and thereby begin to link two major areas of research in computational group theory. In many particular cases, the resulting algorithms have potential applications for data analysis and signal processing. Given a chain of subgroups for a group G we introduce a technique which produces factorizations of group elements into short products of elements which commute with various subgroups along the chain. The commutativity properties of the factors is used to to show that for any irreducible matrix representation of the group these elements will have factorizations as highly structured sparse matrices. This allows a separation of variables style algorithm to be used in computing the associated DFT and consequent speedups follow immediately. In particular, this technique recovers the best known algorithms for the symmetric groups and wreath products and beyond that, dramatically improves on the known complexity of the DFT for the finite groups GL(n, q) and gives first complexity results for all finite classical groups, finite groups of Lie type and groups with a (B, N)-pair.
Off-Nominal Operation of Class-E Amplifier at Any Duty Ratio

Design equations for satisfying the suboptimum operating condition, i.e., only the zero-voltage switching (ZVS) condition, of a class-E amplifier with a linear shunt capacitance at any duty ratio are derived. By exploiting the suboptimum class-E operation, various amplifier parameters such as operating frequency, output power, load resistance, and component values can vary, while the ZVS operation and high efficiency can be achieved. An example of a design procedure of the class-E amplifier is given. The theoretical results were verified with PSpice simulation and an experiment.
GEOGRAPHICAL AND GENERATIONAL CONTEXT EFFECTS ON WOMEN'S ATTITUDES TOWARDS ENTREPRENEURSHIP

While entrepreneurial activity among women has increased over the last decade, research findings show a gender gap in terms of women’s entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviors. This study investigates how geographical context and age moderate the gender and entrepreneurial attitudes relationship. Our findings suggest that in rural states, the number of younger men and women intending to start businesses is increasing. However, studies show that the level of gender equality in a geographic area is related to both its support for female entrepreneurship and also its support for entrepreneurship in general. These results have implications for both government and educational policy.
Increased in vivo inhibition of gene expression by combining RNA interference and U1 inhibition

Inhibition of gene expression can be achieved with RNA interference (RNAi) or U1 small nuclear RNA—snRNA—interference (U1i). U1i is based on U1 inhibitors (U1in), U1 snRNA molecules modified to inhibit polyadenylation of a target pre-mRNA. In culture, we have shown that the combination of RNAi and U1i results in stronger inhibition of reporter or endogenous genes than that obtained using either of the techniques alone. We have now used these techniques to inhibit gene expression in mice. We show that U1ins can induce strong inhibition of the expression of target genes in vivo. Furthermore, combining U1i and RNAi results in synergistic inhibitions also in mice. This is shown for the inhibition of hepatitis B virus (HBV) sequences or endogenous Notch1. Surprisingly, inhibition obtained by combining a U1in and a RNAi mediator is higher than that obtained by combining two U1ins or two RNAi mediators. Our results suggest that RNAi and U1i cooperate by unknown mechanisms to result in synergistic inhibitions. Analysis of toxicity and specificity indicates that expression of U1i inhibitors is safe. Therefore, we believe that the combination of RNAi and U1i will be a good option to block damaging endogenous genes, HBV and other infectious agents in vivo.
Time-preference, Non-cognitive Skills and Well-being across the Life Course: Do Non-cognitive Skills Encourage Healthy Behavior?

A number of prominent diseases are influenced by health behaviors. For example, it is well-known that the decision to smoke comes with considerable risks of developing smoking-related ailments such as lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. Obesity is another health condition that can be costly. It is associated with increased risk for diseases such as coronary heart disease and diabetes (Centers for Disease Control 2009). Nationally, it is estimated that about one-third of the U.S. population is obese, and estimates suggest that obesity costs society anywhere from $27 to $47 billion in health care expenditures annually (Centers for Disease Control 2009, National Center for Health Statistics 2008). Research suggests that changing individuals’ diets and getting them to exercise would help to reduce the prevalence of obesity in society (Melayne McInnes and Judith Shinogle, 2009). Smoking and obesity provide just two examples of cases in which the nation’s burden of disease is influence by behaviors that its citizens engage in. Because the United States spends a large share of GDP on health care each year, understanding the determinants of health behaviors is important, as it may allow scholars to identify ways to reduce these costs. This paper examines the relationship between individuals’ health behaviors and the “non-cognitive” skills that individuals possess. In the past decade the economics discipline has seen a burst of interest in human capabilities that contribute to labor market productivity beyond the usual foci of attention—levels of education and learning by doing. The collection of personality traits, soft-skills, incentive-enhancing preferences, and socio-emotional factors that economists are now studying has been loosely grouped together under the heading “non-cognitive” skills.1 While the term may be something of a misnomer because many of the worker attributes that the authors writing in this subfield are interested in require reasoning or cognition, the skills of interest have been found to be important determinants of labor market success (James Heckman, Jora Stixrud, and Sergio Urzua 2006; Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, and Melissa Osborne 2001). 2James Heckman (2007) has stated that these socio-emotional attributes--as non-cognitive skills are sometimes called--are also likely to affect health behaviors. This paper tests this hypothesis. It provides a theoretical and an empirical analysis of the connection between socio-emotional attributes and the choices that individuals make about health. It uses data from a large, nationally representative dataset to analyze the relationships.
Synthesis, characterization, and efficacy of antimicrobial chlorhexidine hexametaphosphate nanoparticles for applications in biomedical materials and consumer products

Chlorhexidine (CHX) is an antimicrobial agent that is efficacious against gram-negative and -positive bacteria and yeasts. Its mechanism of action is based on cell membrane disruption and, as such, it does not promote the development of bacterial resistance, which is associated with the widespread use of antibiotics. In this manuscript, we report the development of novel antimicrobial nanoparticles (NPs) based on a hexametaphosphate salt of CHX. These are synthesized by instantaneous reaction between equimolar aqueous solutions of CHX digluconate and sodium hexametaphosphate, under room temperature and pressure. The reaction results in a stable colloid composed of highly negatively charged NPs (−50 mV), of size 20–160 nm. The NPs adhere rapidly to specimens of glass, titanium, and an elastomeric wound dressing, in a dose-dependent manner. The functionalized materials exhibit a gradual leaching of soluble CHX over a period of at least 50 days. The NP colloid is efficacious against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in both planktonic and biofilm conditions. These NPs may find application in a range of biomedical and consumer materials.
Dimensions of the Boundaries of Self-Similar Sets

We introduce a finite boundary type condition on iterated function systems of contractive similitudes on Rd. Under this condition, we compute the Hausdorff dimension of the boundary of the attractor in terms of the spectral radius of some finite offspring matrix. We describe how to construct such a matrix. We also show that, in this case, the box dimension equals the Hausdorff dimension. In particular, this allows us to compute the Hausdorff dimension of the boundary of a class of self-similar sets defined by expansion matrices with noninteger entries.
Toward a More Robust Assessment of Intraspecies Diversity, Using Fewer Genetic Markers

ABSTRACT Phylogenetic sequence analysis of single or multiple genes has dominated the study and census of the genetic diversity among closely related bacteria. It remains unclear, however, how the results based on a few genes in the genome correlate with whole-genome-based relatedness and what genes (if any) best reflect whole-genome-level relatedness and hence should be preferentially used to economize on cost and to improve accuracy. We show here that phylogenies of closely related organisms based on the average nucleotide identity (ANI) of their shared genes correspond accurately to phylogenies based on state-of-the-art analysis of their whole-genome sequences. We use ANI to evaluate the phylogenetic robustness of every gene in the genome and show that almost all core genes, regardless of their functions and positions in the genome, offer robust phylogenetic reconstruction among strains that show 80 to 95% ANI (16S rRNA identity, >98.5%). Lack of elapsed time and, to a lesser extent, horizontal transfer and recombination make the selection of genes more critical for applications that target the intraspecies level, i.e., strains that show >95% ANI according to current standards. A much more accurate phylogeny for the Escherichia coli group was obtained based on just three best-performing genes according to our analysis compared to the concatenated alignment of eight genes that are commonly employed for phylogenetic purposes in this group. Our results are reproducible within the Salmonella, Burkholderia, and Shewanella groups and therefore are expected to have general applicability for microevolution studies, including metagenomic surveys.
Distributed synchronization in wireless networks

This article has explored history, recent advances, and challenges in distributed synchronization for distributed wireless systems. It is focused on synchronization schemes based on exchange of signals at the physical layer and corresponding baseband processing, wherein analysis and design can be performed using known tools from signal processing. Emphasis has also been given on the synergy between distributed synchronization and distributed estimation/detection problems. Finally, we have touched upon synchronization of nonperiodic (chaotic) signals. Overall, we hope to have conveyed the relevance of the subject and to have provided insight on the open issues and available analytical tools that could inspire further research within the signal processing community.
The Analysis of a Friendly Fire Accident Using a Systems Model of Accidents

In another paper presented at this conference, Leveson describes a new accident model based on systems theory [2]. In this model, accidents are understood in terms of a lack of adequate control over safety at each level of the socio-technical control structure in which the accident occurred. In order to evaluate this model, we have applied it to the accidental shootdown in 1994 of two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters by two U.S. Air Force F-15s in the no-fly-zone over northern Iraq. Because of the complexity of the accident process and limitations in the length of this paper, only an incomplete description of the accident analysis can be provided. Examples taken from the complete analysis [1] are provided to show how the new accident model can be applied. The model has the potential for supporting new types of hazard analysis that better handle software, human decision-making, and organizational and social factors than current approaches.
Structural Conversion of Aβ17–42 Peptides from Disordered Oligomers to U-Shape Protofilaments via Multiple Kinetic Pathways

Discovering the mechanisms by which proteins aggregate into fibrils is an essential first step in understanding the molecular level processes underlying neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson's. The goal of this work is to provide insights into the structural changes that characterize the kinetic pathways by which amyloid-β peptides convert from monomers to oligomers to fibrils. By applying discontinuous molecular dynamics simulations to PRIME20, a force field designed to capture the chemical and physical aspects of protein aggregation, we have been able to trace out the entire aggregation process for a system containing 8 Aβ17–42 peptides. We uncovered two fibrillization mechanisms that govern the structural conversion of Aβ17–42 peptides from disordered oligomers into protofilaments. The first mechanism is monomeric conversion templated by a U-shape oligomeric nucleus into U-shape protofilament. The second mechanism involves a long-lived and on-pathway metastable oligomer with S-shape chains, having a C-terminal turn, en route to the final U-shape protofilament. Oligomers with this C-terminal turn have been regarded in recent experiments as a major contributing element to cell toxicity in Alzheimer’s disease. The internal structures of the U-shape protofilaments from our PRIME20/DMD simulation agree well with those from solid state NMR experiments. The approach presented here offers a simple molecular-level framework to describe protein aggregation in general and to visualize the kinetic evolution of a putative toxic element in Alzheimer’s disease in particular.
THE PTF ORION PROJECT: A POSSIBLE PLANET TRANSITING A T-TAURI STAR

We report observations of a possible young transiting planet orbiting a previously known weak-lined T-Tauri star in the 7–10 Myr old Orion-OB1a/25-Ori region. The candidate was found as part of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) Orion project. It has a photometric transit period of 0.448413 ± 0.000040 days, and appears in both 2009 and 2010 PTF data. Follow-up low-precision radial velocity (RV) observations and adaptive optics imaging suggest that the star is not an eclipsing binary, and that it is unlikely that a background source is blended with the target and mimicking the observed transit. RV observations with the Hobby–Eberly and Keck telescopes yield an RV that has the same period as the photometric event, but is offset in phase from the transit center by ≈ − 0.22 periods. The amplitude (half range) of the RV variations is 2.4 km s−1 and is comparable with the expected RV amplitude that stellar spots could induce. The RV curve is likely dominated by stellar spot modulation and provides an upper limit to the projected companion mass of Mpsin iorb ≲ 4.8 ± 1.2 MJup; when combined with the orbital inclination, iorb, of the candidate planet from modeling of the transit light curve, we find an upper limit on the mass of the planetary candidate of Mp ≲ 5.5 ± 1.4 MJup. This limit implies that the planet is orbiting close to, if not inside, its Roche limiting orbital radius, so that it may be undergoing active mass loss and evaporation.
Efficient Support Vector Classifiers for Named Entity Recognition

Named Entity (NE) recognition is a task in which proper nouns and numerical information are extracted from documents and are classified into categories such as person, organization, and date. It is a key technology of Information Extraction and Open-Domain Question Answering. First, we show that an NE recognizer based on Support Vector Machines (SVMs) gives better scores than conventional systems. However, off-the-shelf SVM classifiers are too inefficient for this task. Therefore, we present a method that makes the system substantially faster. This approach can also be applied to other similar tasks such as chunking and part-of-speech tagging. We also present an SVM-based feature selection method and an efficient training method.
Rabies-Specific Antibodies: Measuring Surrogates of Protection against a Fatal Disease

Antibodies play a central role in prophylaxis against many infectious agents. While neutralization is a primary function of antibodies, the Fc- and complement-dependent activities of these multifunctional proteins may also be critical in their ability to provide protection against most viruses. Protection against viral pathogens in vivo is complex, and while virus neutralization—the ability of antibody to inactivate virus infectivity, often measured in vitro—is important, it is often only a partial contributor in protection. The rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT) remains the “gold standard” assay to measure rabies virus–neutralizing antibodies. In addition to neutralization, the rabies-specific antigen-binding activity of antibodies may be measured through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), as well as other available methods. For any disease, in selecting the appropriate assay(s) to use to assess antibody titers, assay validation and how they are interpreted are important considerations—but for a fatal disease like rabies, they are of paramount importance. The innate limitations of a one-dimensional laboratory test for rabies antibody measurement, as well as the validation of the method of choice, must be carefully considered in the selection of an assay method and for the interpretation of results that might be construed as a surrogate of protection.
Salivary Glucosyltransferase B as a Possible Marker for Caries Activity

Bacteria-derived glucosyltransferases (Gtf) (EC 2.4.1.5), through synthesizing glucan polymers from sucrose and starch hydrolysates, play an essential role in the etiology and pathogenesis of caries. We attempted to correlate the levels of Gtf in whole saliva with the prevalence of carious lesions in young children. We examined saliva from children who were either free of overt carious lesions, or had severe early childhood caries (mean dmfs = 18.72 ± 9.0 SD), for Gtf by direct enzyme assay. The levels of GtfB, GtfC and GtfD from Streptococcus mutans in the saliva using monoclonal/specific antibodies in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were determined. Multiple logistic regression analyses with model selection showed that GtfB levels correlated with dmfs values of the subjects (p = 0.006). There was no correlation between total Gtf activity as measured by direct enzyme assay and dmfs values. There was a strong correlation between mutans streptococci populations in saliva and caries activity. Collectively, these data show that GtfB levels in saliva correlate strongly with presence of clinical caries and with number of carious lesions in young children. It is also possible to measure different Gtfs, separately, in whole saliva. These observations may have important clinical implications, may lead to development of a chair side caries activity test and support the importance of GtfB in the pathogenesis of dental caries.
Precise Voronoi cell extraction of free-form rational planar closed curves

We present an algorithm for generating the Voronoi cells for a set of rational C1-continuous planar closed curves, which is precise up to machine precision. Initially, bisectors for pairs of curves, (C(t), Ci(r)), are generated symbolically and represented as implicit forms in the tr-parameter space. Then, the bisectors are properly trimmed after being split into monotone pieces. The trimming procedure uses the orientation of the original curves as well as their curvature fields, resulting in a set of trimmed-bisector segments represented as implicit curves in a parameter space. A lower-envelope algorithm is then used in the parameter space of the curve whose Voronoi cell is sought. The lower envelope represents the exact boundary of the Voronoi cell.
Novel cationic trypsinogen (PRSS1) N29T and R122C mutations cause autosomal dominant hereditary pancreatitis

Hereditary pancreatitis (HP) is usually caused by mutations in the cationic trypsinogen (PRSS1) gene, especially R122H or N29I. We sequenced the PRSS1 gene in the proband of families without these common mutations. Novel R122C and N29T mutations were detected in independent families that segregated with the disease in an autosomal dominant fashion. The R122C mutation eliminates the arginine autolysis site as with R122H mutations. The N29T mutation may also enhance intrapancreatic trypsin activity as has been demonstrated in vitro. Identification of these new mutations requires special attention as commonly used detection methods may fail.
Frequency of Pro475Ser Polymorphism of ADAMTS13 Gene and Its Association with ADAMTS-13 Activity in the Korean Population

Purpose The in vitro study suggested that proline to serine polymorphism in codon 475 (C1423T) of the A Disintegrin and Metalloprotease with ThromboSpondin type 1 repeats-13 (ADAMTS-13) gene is related to reduced activity of ADAMTS-13. In this study, the frequency of the Pro475Ser polymorphism in Koreans was studied and plasma ADAMTS-13 activity was measured to find out whether this polymorphism contributes to decreased ADAMTS-13 activity in Koreans. Patients and Methods The frequency of the C1423T allele of the ADAMTS13 gene was studied along with measuring plasma ADAMTS-13 activity in 250 healthy Korean individuals. Results The allele frequency of C1423T polymorphism was 4%, and the median activity of CT type was 107 (69 - 143)%, which was lower than in controls with the CC genotype [118 (48 - 197)%, (p = 0.021)]. Conclusion Therefore, the Pro475Ser polymorphism seems to be popular in the Korean population, and attenuates ADAMTS-13 plasma activity.