Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of protracted cytomegalovirus infection in solid-organ transplant patients1

Background. Recurrent infection frequently follows the response to the initial treatment of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in solid-organ transplant (SOT) recipients. The objective of this study was to describe the course of CMV infection in SOT patients and to identify factors that would predict protracted CMV infection with recurrences. Methods. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for CMV DNA in leukocytes and in plasma were used to assess viral load changes retrospectively in consecutive SOT patients, whose CMV infection episodes had been attended therapeutically or preemptively using quantitative blood culture. Results. Among 101 SOT patients, CMV infection occurred in 63, of whom 32 developed recurrent infection after the initial episode. In patients with recurrent infection, PCR indicated that a majority (27) of recipients had high level of CMV DNA in peripheral blood leukocytes and plasma throughout a protracted (≥1 month) period including after preemptive or therapeutic ganciclovir courses. Predictors of protracted high-level infection were increasing age, CMV donor seropositivity, and all measures of viral load during the initial episode. CMV recipient seropositivity protected strongly against protracted infection. End of treatment plasma CMV DNA best discriminated between patients who did or did not develop protracted infection. Conclusions. In SOT patients, protracted CMV infection is associated with increasing age, donor seropositivity, recipient seronegativity, and high viral load during the first episode. End of therapy plasma CMV DNA level best predicts the occurrence of protracted infection. In patients with a high risk of protracted infection, prophylaxis is likely to be particularly cost effective.
The Use of Moisture Flux Convergence in Forecasting Convective Initiation: Historical and Operational Perspectives

Abstract Moisture flux convergence (MFC) is a term in the conservation of water vapor equation and was first calculated in the 1950s and 1960s as a vertically integrated quantity to predict rainfall associated with synoptic-scale systems. Vertically integrated MFC was also incorporated into the Kuo cumulus parameterization scheme for the Tropics. MFC was eventually suggested for use in forecasting convective initiation in the midlatitudes in 1970, but practical MFC usage quickly evolved to include only surface data, owing to the higher spatial and temporal resolution of surface observations. Since then, surface MFC has been widely applied as a short-term (0–3 h) prognostic quantity for forecasting convective initiation, with an emphasis on determining the favorable spatial location(s) for such development. A scale analysis shows that surface MFC is directly proportional to the horizontal mass convergence field, allowing MFC to be highly effective in highlighting mesoscale boundaries between different air .
History-based Conflict Management for Multi-users and Multi-services

Context management in context-aware applications manages contexts obtained from various sensors and services related to users and environments. However, most of the previous context management mainly focuses on single user or single application. In this paper, we propose Context Manager that resolves conflicts among multiple users and multiple services for contextaware application in smart home environments. In such environments, the proposed Context Manager resolves conflicts among users by assigning priority to each user based on their context. In addition, it adjusts weights of the context by applying Bayesian theory to conflict history of users and applications. Furthermore, Context Manager detects and resolves conflicts among services by utilizing preferences of users and properties of the services. During experiments on ubiHome, a smart home test-bed, the proposed Context Manager resolved conflicts among users more accurately than resolution method having fixedpriority. The Conflict Manager also resolved conflicts among ubiServices. We expect the proposed method can play a vital role in context-aware applications for offering personalized services to users by resolving service conflicts among applications as well as users.
Empagliflozin, Cardiovascular Outcomes, and Mortality in Type 2 Diabetes.

To the Editor: The EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial (Nov. 26 issue)1 showed relative-risk reductions of 38% in death from cardiovascular causes, 31% in sudden death, and 35% in hospitalization for heart failure with empagliflozin as compared with placebo. The authors briefly speculate about underlying mechanisms. The difference in blood pressure favoring the empagliflozin groups, averaging 4 mm Hg in systolic pressure and 1.5 mm Hg in diastolic pressure (similar to previous data with sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 [SGLT2] inhibitors) and sustained from the first weeks of the trial to its end, cannot be overlooked. In patients with type 2 diabetes, blood-pressure reduction with active treatment has conferred the largest cardiovascular benefit of all risk factors. For example, in the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) 38, mean differences of 10 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure and 5 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure were associated with a 32% decrease in the risk of diabetesrelated death (including death from cardiovascular causes). 2 In the Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease: Preterax and Diamicron Modified Release Controlled Evaluation (ADVANCE) trial, mean differences of 5.6 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure and 2.2 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure were associated with an 18% decrease in the risk of death from cardiovascular causes.3 In the EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial, however, the magnitude of effect should be compared with that of multifactorial interventions in diabetes,4 and the lack of a reduction in stroke incidence raises questions about the importance of antihypertensive action alone. Early onset of effects and the reductions in death from cardiovascular causes, sudden death, and hospitalization for heart failure resemble results seen with mineralocorticoid-receptor antagonists,5 suggesting an additional hemodynamic effect, potentially mediated by osmotic diuresis caused by empagliflozin. Pantelis A. Sarafidis, M.D., Ph.D. Apostolos Tsapas, M.D., Ph.D.
Growth, modification and integration of carbon nanotubes into molecular electronics

Molecules are the smallest possible elements for electronic devices, with active elements for such devices typically a few Angstroms in footprint area. Owing to the possibility of producing ultrahigh density devices, tremendous effort has been invested in producing electronic junctions by using various types of molecules. The major issues for molecular electronics include (1) developing an effective scheme to connect molecules with the present microand nano-technology, (2) increasing the lifetime and stabilities of the devices, and (3) increasing their performance in comparison to the state-of-the-art devices. In this work, we attempt to use carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as the interconnecting nanoelectrodes between molecules and microelectrodes. The ultimate goal is to use two individual CNTs to sandwich molecules in a cross-bar configuration while having these CNTs connected with microelectrodes such that the junction displays the electronic character of the molecule chosen. We have successfully developed an effective scheme to connect molecules with CNTs, which is scalable to arrays of molecular electronic devices. To realize this far reaching goal, the following technical topics have been investigated. 1. Synthesis of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by thermal chemical vapor deposition (T-CVD) and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) techniques (Chapter 3). We have evaluated the potential use of tubular and bamboo-like MWCNTs grown by T-CVD and PE-CVD in terms of their structural properties. 2. Horizontal dispersion of MWCNTs with and without surfactants, and the integration of MWCNTs to microelectrodes using deposition by dielectrophoresis (DEP) (Chapter 4). We have systematically studied the use of surfactant molecules to disperse and
No-Reference Image Quality Assessment in the Spatial Domain

We propose a natural scene statistic-based distortion-generic blind/no-reference (NR) image quality assessment (IQA) model that operates in the spatial domain. The new model, dubbed blind/referenceless image spatial quality evaluator (BRISQUE) does not compute distortion-specific features, such as ringing, blur, or blocking, but instead uses scene statistics of locally normalized luminance coefficients to quantify possible losses of “naturalness” in the image due to the presence of distortions, thereby leading to a holistic measure of quality. The underlying features used derive from the empirical distribution of locally normalized luminances and products of locally normalized luminances under a spatial natural scene statistic model. No transformation to another coordinate frame (DCT, wavelet, etc.) is required, distinguishing it from prior NR IQA approaches. Despite its simplicity, we are able to show that BRISQUE is statistically better than the full-reference peak signal-to-noise ratio and the structural similarity index, and is highly competitive with respect to all present-day distortion-generic NR IQA algorithms. BRISQUE has very low computational complexity, making it well suited for real time applications. BRISQUE features may be used for distortion-identification as well. To illustrate a new practical application of BRISQUE, we describe how a nonblind image denoising algorithm can be augmented with BRISQUE in order to perform blind image denoising. Results show that BRISQUE augmentation leads to performance improvements over state-of-the-art methods. A software release of BRISQUE is available online: http://live.ece. utexas.edu/research/quality/BRISQUE_release. zip for public use and evaluation.
Why male ground squirrels disperse

When they are about two months old, male Belding’s develop the idea that natal dispersal, like other behaviors ground squirrels (Spermophilus beldingi) leave the burrow and phenotypic attributes, can be understood from mulwhere they were born, never to return. Their sisters tiple, complementary perspectives. Separating these levbehave quite differently, remaining near home throughels of analysis helps organize hypotheses about cause out their lives. Why do juvenile males, and only males, and effect in biology (7). In the case of natal dispersal, disperse? This deceptively simple question, which has this approach can minimize misunderstandings in termiintrigued us for more than a decade (1, 2), has led us to nology and allow for clearer focus on the issues of investigate evolutionary, ecological, interest. ontogenetic, and mechanistic explaQuestions of the general form nations. Only recently have answers “Why does animal A exhibit trait X? ” begun to emerge. A multilevel analysis have always caused confusion Dispersal, defined as a complete helps us to understand among biologists. And even today, and permanent emigration from an the literature is full of examples. The individual’s home range, occurs why male and not female sometime in the life cycle of nearly all Belding’s ground nature-nurture controversy, which
Resistivity and core size dependencies of eddy current loss for Fe-Si compressed cores

In this study, resistivity and core size dependencies of eddy current loss were investigated for Fe-Si compressed powder cores. Over the resistivity of about 0.01 /spl Omega/m eddy current loss is independent on core height, however when the resistivity is lower than about 0.01 /spl Omega/m it increases with decrease of the resistivity. And eddy current loss increases as the core height is high. It is supposed that over about 0.01 /spl Omega/m eddy current generates only inside each particle, so eddy current loss does not depend on the core height, while under about 0.01 /spl Omega/m as eddy current flows through particles, eddy current loss depends largely on core height. Furthermore eddy current loss is proportional to the 1.70th-1.95th power of frequency, and the exponent changes with resistivity. It is suggested that under the situation of intra-particle eddy current, domain wall motions relate to the eddy current loss.
Studies of a Biochemical Factory: Tomato Trichome Deep Expressed Sequence Tag Sequencing and Proteomics1[W][OA]

Shotgun proteomics analysis allows hundreds of proteins to be identified and quantified from a single sample at relatively low cost. Extensive DNA sequence information is a prerequisite for shotgun proteomics, and it is ideal to have sequence for the organism being studied rather than from related species or accessions. While this requirement has limited the set of organisms that are candidates for this approach, next generation sequencing technologies make it feasible to obtain deep DNA sequence coverage from any organism. As part of our studies of specialized (secondary) metabolism in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) trichomes, 454 sequencing of cDNA was combined with shotgun proteomics analyses to obtain in-depth profiles of genes and proteins expressed in leaf and stem glandular trichomes of 3-week-old plants. The expressed sequence tag and proteomics data sets combined with metabolite analysis led to the discovery and characterization of a sesquiterpene synthase that produces β-caryophyllene and α-humulene from E,E-farnesyl diphosphate in trichomes of leaf but not of stem. This analysis demonstrates the utility of combining high-throughput cDNA sequencing with proteomics experiments in a target tissue. These data can be used for dissection of other biochemical processes in these specialized epidermal cells.
Prenatal Exposure to Nicotine Stimulates Neurogenesis of Orexigenic Peptide-Expressing Neurons in Hypothalamus and Amygdala

Animal and clinical studies show that gestational exposure to nicotine increases the propensity of offspring to consume nicotine, but the precise mechanism mediating this behavioral phenomenon is unclear. The present study in Sprague Dawley rats examined the possibility that the orexigenic peptide systems, enkephalin (ENK) and orexin (OX), which are stimulated by nicotine in adult animals and promote consummatory behavior, may be similarly responsive to nicotine's stimulatory effect in utero while having long-term behavioral consequences. The results demonstrated that nicotine exposure during gestation at low doses (0.75 or 1.5 mg/kg/d) significantly increased mRNA levels and density of neurons that express ENK in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus and central nucleus of the amygdala, OX, and another orexigenic peptide, melanin-concentrating hormone, in the perifornical lateral hypothalamus in preweanling offspring. These effects persisted in the absence of nicotine, at least until puberty. Colabeling of the cell proliferation marker BrdU with the neuronal marker NeuN and peptides revealed a marked stimulatory effect of prenatal nicotine on neurogenesis, but not gliogenesis, and also on the number of newly generated neurons expressing ENK, OX, or melanin-concentrating hormone. During adolescence, offspring also exhibited significant behavioral changes, increased consumption of nicotine and other substances of abuse, ethanol and a fat-rich diet, with no changes in chow and water intake or body weight. These findings reveal a marked sensitivity during gestation of the orexigenic peptide neurons to low nicotine doses that may increase the offspring's propensity to overconsume substances of abuse during adolescence.
Neonatal respiratory distress in a reference neonatal unit in Cameroon: an analysis of prevalence, predictors, etiologies and outcomes

Introduction Neonatal respiratory distress (NRD) is a main cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Early detection of its risk factors and early treatment of its etiologies are major challenges. However, few studies in developing countries have provided data needed to tackle it. We aimed to determine the prevalence, predictors, etiologies and outcome of NRD in a tertiary health care centre of Cameroon. Methods We analyzed the hospital files of all newborns admitted to the Neonatal unit of Douala General Hospital from 1st January 2011 to 28th February 2013. NRD was diagnosed based on the presence of one or more of the following signs: an abnormal respiratory rate, expiratory grunting, nasal flaring, chest wall recessions and thoraco-abdominal asynchrony with or without cyanosis, in their files. Socio-demographic and clinical variables of newborns and their mothers were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Results The prevalence of NRD was 47.5% out of the 703 newborns studied. Acute fetal distress, elective caesarean delivery, APGAR score < 7 at the 1st minute, prematurity, male gender and macrosomia were independent predictors of NRD. The main etiologies were neonatal infections (31%) and transient tachypnea of the newborn (25%). Its neonatal mortality rate was 24.5%, mainly associated with neonatal sepsis and hyaline membrane disease. Conclusion NRD is a frequent emergency and causes high morbidity and mortality. Most of its risk factors and etiologies are preventable. Adequate follow-up of pregnancy and labor for timely intervention may improve the neonatal outcomes.
Cytokine, Antibody and Proliferative Cellular Responses Elicited by Taenia solium Calreticulin upon Experimental Infection in Hamsters

Taenia solium causes two diseases in humans, cysticercosis and taeniosis. Tapeworm carriers are the main risk factor for neurocysticercosis. Limited information is available about the immune response elicited by the adult parasite, particularly the induction of Th2 responses, frequently associated to helminth infections. Calreticulin is a ubiquitous, multifunctional protein involved in cellular calcium homeostasis, which has been suggested to play a role in the regulation of immune responses. In this work, we assessed the effect of recombinant T. solium calreticulin (rTsCRT) on the cytokine, humoral and cellular responses upon experimental infection in Syrian Golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Animals were infected with T. solium cysticerci and euthanized at different times after infection. Specific serum antibodies, proliferative responses in mesenteric lymph nodes and spleen cells, as well as cytokines messenger RNA (mRNA) were analyzed. The results showed that one third of the infected animals elicited anti-rTsCRT IgG antibodies. Interestingly, mesenteric lymph node (MLN) cells from either infected or non-infected animals did not proliferate upon in vitro stimulation with rTsCRT. Additionally, stimulation with a tapeworm crude extract resulted in increased expression of IL-4 and IL-5 mRNA. Upon stimulation, rTsCRT increased the expression levels of IL-10 in spleen and MLN cells from uninfected and infected hamsters. The results showed that rTsCRT favors a Th2-biased immune response characterized by the induction of IL-10 in mucosal and systemic lymphoid organs. Here we provide the first data on the cytokine, antibody and cellular responses to rTsCRT upon in vitro stimulation during taeniasis.
Predictive Top-Down Integration of Prior Knowledge during Speech Perception

A striking feature of human perception is that our subjective experience depends not only on sensory information from the environment but also on our prior knowledge or expectations. The precise mechanisms by which sensory information and prior knowledge are integrated remain unclear, with longstanding disagreement concerning whether integration is strictly feedforward or whether higher-level knowledge influences sensory processing through feedback connections. Here we used concurrent EEG and MEG recordings to determine how sensory information and prior knowledge are integrated in the brain during speech perception. We manipulated listeners' prior knowledge of speech content by presenting matching, mismatching, or neutral written text before a degraded (noise-vocoded) spoken word. When speech conformed to prior knowledge, subjective perceptual clarity was enhanced. This enhancement in clarity was associated with a spatiotemporal profile of brain activity uniquely consistent with a feedback process: activity in the inferior frontal gyrus was modulated by prior knowledge before activity in lower-level sensory regions of the superior temporal gyrus. In parallel, we parametrically varied the level of speech degradation, and therefore the amount of sensory detail, so that changes in neural responses attributable to sensory information and prior knowledge could be directly compared. Although sensory detail and prior knowledge both enhanced speech clarity, they had an opposite influence on the evoked response in the superior temporal gyrus. We argue that these data are best explained within the framework of predictive coding in which sensory activity is compared with top-down predictions and only unexplained activity propagated through the cortical hierarchy.
Xylem Sap Surface Tension May Be Crucial for Hydraulic Safety1[OPEN]

Xylem sap surface tension of two timberline conifers remarkably changed across seasons and revealed pronounced effects on tree hydraulic safety. The surface tension (γ) of xylem sap plays a key role in stabilizing air-water interfaces at the pits between water- and gas-filled conduits to avoid air seeding at low water potentials. We studied seasonal changes in xylem sap γ in Picea abies and Pinus mugo growing at the alpine timberline. We analyzed their vulnerability to drought-induced embolism using solutions of different γ and estimated the potential effect of seasonal changes in γ on hydraulic vulnerability. In both species, xylem sap γ showed distinct seasonal courses between about 50 and 68 mn m−1. Solutions with low γ caused higher vulnerability to drought-induced xylem embolism. The water potential at 50% loss of hydraulic conductivity in P. abies and P. mugo was −3.35 and −3.86 MPa at γ of 74 mn m−1 but −2.11 and −2.09 MPa at 45 mn m−1. This indicates up to about 1 MPa seasonal variation in 50% loss of hydraulic conductivity. The results revealed pronounced effects of changes in xylem sap γ on the hydraulic safety of trees in situ. These effects also are relevant in vulnerability analyses, where the use of standard solutions with high γ overestimates hydraulic safety. Thus, γ should be considered carefully in hydraulic studies.
Adapting finite-state translation to the TransType2 project

Machine translation can play an important role nowadays, helping communication between people. One of the projects in this field is TransType2 1. Its purpose is to develop an innovative, interactive machine translation system. TransType2 aims at facilitating the task of producing high-quality translations, and make the translation task more cost-effective for human translators. To achieve this goal, stochastic finite-state transducers are being used. Stochastic finite-state transducers are generated by means of hybrid finite-state and statistical alignment techniques. Viterbi parsing procedure with stochastic finite-state transducers have been adapted to take into account the source sentence to be translated and the target prefix given by the human translator. Experiments have been carried out with a corpus of printer manuals. The first results showed that with this preliminary prototype, users can only type a 15% of the words instead the whole complete translated text. TransType2 Computer Assisted Translation, RTD project by the European Commission under the IST Programme (IST2001-32091).