Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Isolation and Characterization of Two European Strains of Ehrlichia phagocytophila of Equine Origin

ABSTRACT We report the isolation and partial genetic characterization of two equine strains of granulocytic Ehrlichia of the genogroup Ehrlichia phagocytophila. Frozen whole-blood samples from two Swedish horses with laboratory-verified granulocytic ehrlichiosis were inoculated into HL-60 cell cultures. Granulocytic Ehrlichia was isolated and propagated from both horses. DNA extracts from the respective strains were amplified by PCR using primers directed towards the 16S rRNA gene, the groESL heat shock operon gene, and the ank gene. The amplified gene fragments were sequenced and compared to known sequences in the GenBank database. With respect to the 16S rRNA gene, the groESL gene, and the ank gene, the DNA sequences of the two equine Ehrlichia isolates were identical to sequences found in isolates from clinical cases of granulocytic ehrlichiosis in humans and domestic animals in Sweden. However, compared to amplified DNA from an American Ehrlichia strain of the E. phagocytophila genogroup, differences were found in the groESL gene and ank gene sequences.
A descriptive analysis of sleep behaviour in children with Fragile X

The current paper reports on the sleep of 13 children aged 3–19 years with Fragile X (FraX). Their parents completed a sleep questionnaire, the Developmental Behaviour Checklist and the Parenting Hassles Scale. The parents of four children (31%) reported a current sleep problem, which had been present for more than 2 years in three cases. A further six children also exhibited various problematic sleep behaviours on the questionnaire. Parental reporting of a sleep problem was associated with more severe child psychopathology and parental stress. The findings suggest that sleep difficulties are relatively common in FraX, are similar to those found in other children with an intellectual disability, may be long term, and are related to clinically significant behavioural difficulties and parental stress. It is concluded that the parents' perceptions of problematic sleep and the impact on daytime behaviour and parental stress are important considerations for future research and clinical intervention.
Protective processes: the function of young people's implicit theories of crime in offending behaviour

Abstract Despite development in high-risk environments, many youths are resilient and do not engage in antisocial behaviour and crime. Research on human traits such as intelligence and morality, suggest that the implicit theories (ITs) people have about the controllability of their behaviour, as either fixed (entity beliefs) or malleable (incremental beliefs) may play a part in successful behavioural outcomes. Using this as a framework, the function of ITs about crime in successful adolescent development was investigated among 422 ‘at-risk’ youths. Incremental ITs of criminality were found to significantly predict less self-reported involvement in youth offending, controlling for academic attainment. Entity ITs, conversely, were associated with an increased rate of participation in deviant behaviour. Further analysis revealed that incremental ITs of criminality moderated the negative effects of associating with delinquent peers on adolescent behaviour. The results demonstrate the direct and indirect protective function of incremental ITs of criminality for youths at risk and highlight the value of investigating further the protective processes that are involved in preventing youth crime.
Translator status: Helpers and opponents in the ongoing battle of an emerging profession

The present article is part of a larger project which investigates the occupational status of professional translators. The studies conducted so far within the framework of the project have been based on questionnaires and mainly been of a quantitative nature. The present article reports on a qualitative analysis of the wealth of comments which the translators who participated in the questionnaire studies wrote in response to an open invitation to comment on anything in relation to the study and its subject. In order to structure the translators' comments, we have relied on Algirdas-Julien Greimas' actantial model. Themes identified as important facilitators of or barriers to status included translator training, recognition of translators' expertise, authorization, level of professionalization and income.
Greater Utilization of Neural-Circuits Related to Executive Functions is Associated with Better Reading: A Longitudinal fMRI Study Using the Verb Generation Task

Introduction: Reading is an acquired-developmental ability that relies on intact language and executive function skills. Verbal fluency tasks (such as verb generation) also engage language and executive function skills. Performance of such tasks matures with normal language development, and is independent of reading proficiency. In this longitudinal fMRI study, we aim to examine the association between maturation of neural-circuits supporting both executive functions and language (assessed using verb generation) with reading proficiency achieved in adolescence with a focus on left-lateralization typical for language proficiency. Methods: Normalized fMRI data from the verb generation task was collected from 16 healthy children at ages 7, 11, and 17 years and was correlated with reading scores at 17 years of age. Lateralization indices were calculated in key language, reading, and executive function-related regions in all age groups. Results: Typical development was associated with (i) increasingly left-lateralized patterns in language regions (ii) more profound left-lateralized activation for reading and executive function-related regions when correlating with reading scores, (iii) greater involvement of frontal and parietal regions (in older children), and of the anterior frontal cortex (in younger children). Conclusion: We suggest that reading and verb generation share mutual neural-circuits during development with major reliance on regions related to executive functions and reading. The results are discussed in the context of the dual-networks architecture model.
Estimation of Markov Chain Transition Probabilities and Rates from Fully and Partially Observed Data: Uncertainty Propagation, Evidence Synthesis, and Model Calibration

Markov transition models are frequently used to model disease progression. The authors show how the solution to Kolmogorov’s forward equations can be exploited to map between transition rates and probabilities from probability data in multistate models. They provide a uniform, Bayesian treatment of estimation and propagation of uncertainty of transition rates and probabilities when 1) observations are available on all transitions and exact time at risk in each state (fully observed data) and 2) observations are on initial state and final state after a fixed interval of time but not on the sequence of transitions (partially observed data). The authors show how underlying transition rates can be recovered from partially observed data using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods in WinBUGS, and they suggest diagnostics to investigate inconsistencies between evidence from different starting states. An illustrative example for a 3-state model is given, which shows how the methods extend to more complex Markov models using the software WBDiff to compute solutions. Finally, the authors illustrate how to statistically combine data from multiple sources, including partially observed data at several follow-up times and also how to calibrate a Markov model to be consistent with data from one specific study.
Simplex partitioning via exponential clocks and the multiway cut problem

The Multiway-Cut problem is a fundamental graph partitioning problem in which the objective is to find a minimum weight set of edges disconnecting a given set of special vertices called terminals. This problem is NP-hard and there is a well known geometric relaxation in which the graph is embedded into a high dimensional simplex. Rounding a solution to the geometric relaxation is equivalent to partitioning the simplex. We present a novel simplex partitioning algorithm which is based on em competing exponential clocks and distortion. Unlike previous methods, it utilizes cuts that are not parallel to the faces of the simplex. Applying this partitioning algorithm to the multiway cut problem, we obtain a simple (4/3)-approximation algorithm, thus, improving upon the current best known result. This bound is further pushed to obtain an approximation factor of 1.32388. It is known that under the assumption of the unique games conjecture, the best possible approximation for the Multiway-Cut problem can be attained via the geometric relaxation.
Sequence Effects in Rule Learning and Conceptual Generalization

Subjects were given 12 training problems based on four primary bidimensional rules, the problems mixed so that the rule changed after every problem (to facilitate adoption of a truth-table strategy; condition M) or systematically blocked by rule (condition S). Their next tasks were to learn an unpracticed complementary rule, to discover a tridimensional rule, and to identify a rule based on novel and meaningful stimuli. The findings show that condition M facilitated the subjects' ability to abstract, generalize, and extend a higherorder strategy. They suggest the importance of the sequence as well as the variety of rules and imply a hierarchical model of concept learning.
Dental maturity of Saudi children: Role of ethnicity in age determination

Purpose Demirjian's dental maturity scores and curves have been widely used for human age determination. Several authors have reported considerable differences between the true and estimated age based on the Demirjian curves, which have been accounted for by ethnicity. The purpose of the current study was to assess the role of ethnicity-specific dental maturation curves in age estimation of Saudi children. Materials and Methods A sample of 452 healthy Saudi children aged 4 to 14 years were aged based on the original French-Canadian Demirjian curves and several modified Demirjian curves specified for certain ethnic groups: Saudi, Kuwaiti, Polish, Dutch, Pakistani, and Belgian. One-way ANOVA and a post hoc Scheffé's test were used to assess the differences between chronological age and dental age estimated by the different curves (P<0.05). Results The curves designed for Dutch, Polish, Saudi, and Belgian (5th percentile) populations had a significantly lower error in estimating age than the original French-Canadian and Belgian (50th percentile) curves. The optimal curve for males was the Saudi one, with a mean absolute difference between estimated age and chronological age of 8.6 months. For females, the optimal curve was the Polish one, with a mean absolute difference of 7.4 months. It was revealed that accurate age determination was not related to certain ethnicity-specific curves. Conclusion We conclude that ethnicity might play a role in age determination, but not a principal one.
Mitigating Diseases Transmitted by Aedes Mosquitoes: A Cluster-Randomised Trial of Permethrin-Impregnated School Uniforms

Background Viral diseases transmitted via Aedes mosquitoes are on the rise, such as Zika, dengue, and chikungunya. Novel tools to mitigate Aedes mosquitoes-transmitted diseases are urgently needed. We tested whether commercially insecticide-impregnated school uniforms can reduce dengue incidence in school children. Methods We designed a cluster-randomised controlled trial in Thailand. The primary endpoint was laboratory-confirmed dengue infections. Secondary endpoints were school absenteeism; and impregnated uniforms’ 1-hour knock-down and 24 hour mosquito mortality as measured by standardised WHOPES bioassay cone tests at baseline and after repeated washing. Furthermore, entomological assessments inside classrooms and in outside areas of schools were conducted. Results We enrolled 1,811 pupils aged 6–17 from 5 intervention and 5 control schools. Paired serum samples were obtained from 1,655 pupils. In the control schools, 24/641 (3.7%) and in the intervention schools 33/1,014 (3.3%) students had evidence of new dengue infections during one school term (5 months). There was no significant difference in proportions of students having incident dengue infections between the intervention and control schools, with adjustment for clustering by school. WHOPES cone tests showed a 100% knock down and mortality of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes exposed to impregnated clothing at baseline and up to 4 washes, but this efficacy rapidly declined to below 20% after 20 washes, corresponding to a weekly reduction in knock-down and mosquito mortality by 4.7% and 4.4% respectively. Results of the entomological assessments showed that the mean number of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes caught inside the classrooms of the intervention schools was significantly reduced in the month following the introduction of the impregnated uniforms, compared to those collected in classrooms of the control schools (p = 0.04) Conclusions Entomological assessments showed that the intervention had some impact on the number of Aedes mosquitoes inside treatment schools immediately after impregnation and before insecticidal activity declined. However, there was no serological evidence of protection against dengue infections over the five months school term, best explained by the rapid washing-out of permethrin after 4 washes. If rapid washing-out of permethrin could be overcome by novel technological approaches, insecticide-treated clothes might become a potentially cost-effective and scalable intervention to protect against diseases transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01563640
Diagnostic and Therapeutic Implications of Histone Epigenetic Modulators in Breast Cancer

ABSTRACT Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and great advancements have been made for individualised patient treatment. Through understanding the underlying altered biology in the different subtypes of breast cancer, targeted therapeutics have been developed. Unfortunately, resistance to targeted therapy, intrinsic or acquired, is a recurring theme in cancer treatment. Epigenetic-mediated resistance to targeted therapy has been identified across different types of cancer. In addition, tumorigenesis has also been linked to altered expression of epigenetic modifiers. Due to the reversible nature of epigenetic modifications, epigenetic proteins are appealing as therapeutic targets in both the primary and relapsed/resistant setting. In this review, we will discuss the current state of targetable epigenetic histone modifications and their diagnostic and therapeutic implications in breast cancer.
Revisiting Routability-Driven Placement for Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuits

The exponential increase in scale and complexity of very large-scale integrated circuits (VLSIs) poses a great challenge to current electronic design automation (EDA) techniques. As an essential step in the whole EDA layout synthesis, placement is attracting more and more attention, especially for analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits. Recently, experts in this field have observed a variety of analog-specific layout constraints to obtain high-performance placement solutions. These constraints include symmetry, alignment, boundary, preplace, abutment, range and maximum separation, and routability of the placement solutions. In this article, the effectiveness of slicing and nonslicing representation is investigated. Additionally, the technique of congestion-based virtual sizing is proposed. Experimental results show that the routability can be improved significantly by applying congestion-based virtual sizing. Results also show that the slicing representation can improve the regularity of the placement solutions and hence improve the routability with higher efficiency compared to the nonslicing representation.
Sibling Relationships of Preschool-Aged Children in Gross Motor Environments.

Abstract This research describes the behaviors and interactions of preschool-aged siblings in two conditions: object-oriented and body-oriented. The hypothesis was that a child's social network, and more specifically, the child's siblings significantly influence motor skill development. Thirty-five pairs of same-sex (n = 20), and mixed-sex (n = 15) siblings individually performed motor tasks for seven minutes in each condition, and a Sony video camera recorded all behaviors. Two major categories of sibling behaviors and interactions—moving (five items) and observing (four items)—were coded using standard procedures from social-developmental psychology (Lamb, Suomi, & Stephenson, 1979). Item frequencies were analyzed using a four-factor (sex composition × sex of older child × age × condition) mixed analysis of variance procedure with age interval as a covariate. Two of the major findings for the movement items were (1) in the body-oriented condition, the older siblings usually initiated task performance wh.
CFD Study of an Annular-Ducted Fan Lift System for VTOL Aircraft

The present study aimed at assessing a novel annular-ducted fan lift system for VTOL aircraft through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The power and lift efficiency of the lift fan system in hover mode, the lift and drag in transition mode, the drag and flight speed of the aircraft in cruise mode and the pneumatic coupling of the tip turbine and jet exhaust were studied. The results show that the annular-ducted fan lift system can have higher lift efficiency compared to the rotor of the Apache helicopter; the smooth transition from vertical takeoff to cruise flight needs some extra forward thrust to overcome a low peak of drag; the aircraft with the lift fan system enclosed during cruise flight theoretically may fly faster than helicopters and tiltrotors based on aerodynamic drag prediction, due to the elimination of rotor drag and compressibility effects on the rotor blade tips; and pneumatic coupling of the tip turbine and jet exhaust of a 300 m/s velocity can provide enough moment to spin the lift fan. The CFD results provide insight for future experimental study of the annular-ducted lift fan VTOL aircraft.
Developing and sustaining professional dialogue about teaching and learning in schools

Abstract This article presents empirical evidence from a follow-up study of schools which had been members of a school-based research consortium. It offers insight into the work of professional learning communities at the level of practice and so contributes to the growing research interest in probing their development. It investigates the extent to which activities to support professional dialogue that evolved in a schoolbased research consortium had been sustained and developed three years after the period of external funding. It was found that only those activities most explicitly focused on immediate classroom practice were sustained. The findings support the view that learning in partnerships and networks is highly contextualised and consequently not easily transferred.
Highly entangled multi-qubit states with simple algebraic structure

Recent works by Brown et al (2005 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 38 1119) and Borras et al (2007 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40 13407) have explored numerical optimization procedures to search for highly entangled multi-qubit states according to some computationally tractable entanglement measure. We present an alternative scheme based upon the idea of searching for states having not only high entanglement but also simple algebraic structure. We report results for 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 qubits discovered by this approach, showing that many of such states do exist. In particular, we find a maximally entangled 6-qubit state with an algebraic structure simpler than the best results known so far. For the case of 7 qubits, we discover states with high, but not maximum, entanglement and simple structure, as well as other desirable properties. Some preliminary results are shown for the case of 8 qubits.
Autopsy of a failure, evaluating process and contextual issues in an organizational-level work stress intervention

The difficulties associated with the evaluation of organizational-level work stress interventions are notorious yet little attention has been paid to the reasons why they fail. This case study took place in a department of 205 employees from a private company where an intervention was developed but poorly implemented. This paper scrutinizes the intervention to understand why it was poorly implemented and examine its effects on employees. Qualitative data (field notes and interviews with managers) was used to evaluate the intervention. Questionnaires (n = 125, n = 94, 60 full-completers) were used to evaluate the level of implementation and its effects. Results suggest partial implementation might have a detrimental effect on commitment. Poor implementation could be accounted for by the changing organizational context, low ownership of stakeholders, and flaws in the intervention design. Considering the process and context of interventions is essential to understand their effects
Thioredoxin-1, chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand-9 and interferon-γ expression in the neoplastic cells and macrophages of Hodgkin lymphoma: clinicopathologic correlations and potential prognostic implications

Abstract Expression of thioredoxin-1 (TXN) and CXCL9 is not restricted to THRLBCL macrophages, but may be observed in histiocytes and neoplastic (HRS) cells of EBV + mixed cellularity (MC) classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) and nodular lymphocyte predominant HL. We aimed to validate and extend the above observations in 174 cHL patients evaluating the immunohistochemical expression of TXN, CXCL9 and IFN-γ. HRS-cell CXCL9 expression was higher in latent membrane protein-1 (LMP1)+, MC and Stage IV. TXN and CXCL9 expression by cHL histiocytes was more frequent in LMP1+, MC and older patients (only for CXCL9). TXN expression by HRS cells (≥80%) was independently associated with better failure-free survival. In conclusion, markers of TCHRLBCL histiocytes (TXN, CXCL9), as well as IFN-γ are also expressed by histiocyte subsets and neoplastic cells of cHL. The expression of some of them is more prominent in EBV + MC, but not restricted to this subtype. The prognostic implication of TXN needs further evaluation.
Reprint: Lost in Translation: Mentors Learning to Participate in Competing Discourses of Practice

Situated in the context of Israeli in-service education, this article explores the development of the author’s understanding of the process of learning to mentor from the acquisition of communicative competencies (as identified in an initial study), toward a more discursive view of the process as “participation in competing discourses of practice” (as identified in subsequent studies). Recent work has revealed the intricacies and complexities entailed in translating from one language (teaching) to another (mentoring), often positioning mentors as “lost in translation. ” Specifically, studies shed light on issues of morality, expertise, context, and conditions for learning to mentor. To discuss the author’s evolving understandings, she attends to three interrelated themes: Mentoring as connected to teaching, mentoring as distinct from teaching, and conditions for learning to mentor. Finally, the author addresses the question, So what? to consolidate her emergent understandings of the metaphor, framed as assertions for thinking about the practice of mentoring.