Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Finite Element Analysis of Linear Thermal Expansion Coefficients of Unidirectional Cracked Composites

The linear thermal expansion of coefficients of unidirectional composites are systematically studied by the Finite Element Method (FEM). Thermal expansion coefficients are first determined for composites with perfectly bonded interface between fiber and matrix. Results are compared with available experimental and analytical results. Next cracks caused by debonding along the fiber-matrix interface are studied to investigate the effects of interface cracking on the transverse thermal expansion coefficients. Due to the presence of cracks and shearing along the debonded interface, the principal direction of transverse thermal expansion changes. The obtained results showthat the transverse thermal expansion coefficients change significantly due to the presence of thin interfacial cracks.
Function of GATA Transcription Factors in Induction of Endothelial Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 by Tumor Necrosis Factor-&agr;

Abstract—Endothelial vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) is expressed in response to cytokine stimulation and plays a critical role in inflammatory reactions. Previously, we developed a novel VCAM-1 inhibitor that acts through a mechanism independent of nuclear factor-&kgr;B activity. It suppresses the binding activity of GATA proteins in cytokine-stimulated endothelial cells, which may be related to the anti–VCAM-1 induction effect of this drug. In this study, we investigated the role of GATA proteins in the induction of VCAM-1 by tumor necrosis factor-&agr; (TNF-&agr;) in human endothelial cells. The mRNA expression of GATA-6 was increased, whereas GATA-3 mRNA was decreased by TNF-&agr; stimulation. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay showed that TNF-&agr; stimulation increased the DNA binding of GATA-6 but decreased that of GATA-3. Experiments using protein overexpression or antisense oligonucleotides revealed that GATA-6 potently acts as a positive regulator of VCAM-1 gene transcription. In contrast, overexpression of GATA-3 was able to suppress TNF-&agr;–induced VCAM-1 expression. Our results provide evidence of the importance of GATA proteins in the induction of VCAM-1 by TNF-&agr; in vascular endothelial cells. The switch from GATA-3 to GATA-6 is taken to be an important transcriptional control event in TNF-&agr; induction of VCAM-1.
Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis for opportunistic infections in adults with HIV.

BACKGROUND The prevention and early treatment of infections are the mainstay of the medical management of the majority of people with HIV infection, who live in low income countries without access to antiretroviral drugs. Cotrimoxazole is cheap and effective against a wide range of organisms. However, routine prophylactic treatment is difficult to deliver in low-resource settings, and could also lead to increased resistance to the drug. OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of routinely administered cotrimoxazole on death and illness episodes in HIV infected adults. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched the Cochrane HIV/AIDS Group register, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, MEDLINE, LILACS, AIDSLINE, AIDSTRIALS and AIDSDRUGS databases, and proceedings and abstracts from AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) conferences (search date July 2001). We checked reference lists for trials and other pertinent articles, and contacted pharmaceutical companies and experts in the field. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomised or quasi randomised trials comparing routinely administered cotrimoxazole versus placebo or no treatment in adults (age greater than 13 years). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two reviewers independently assessed trial eligibility and quality, and extracted data. Where data were incomplete or unclear trial authors were contacted for further details. MAIN RESULTS Four trials involving 1476 people were identified. Three trials (1416 people) studied heterosexual men and women in West Africa. A fourth trial was of homosexual men on chemotherapy for Kaposi's sarcoma, in the United States. Meta-analysis of the three African trials showed a significant beneficial effect of cotrimoxazole for death: relative risk 0.69 (95% confidence interval 0.55 to 0.87); for morbid events: 0.76 (0.64 to 0.9); and for hospitalisation: 0.66 (0.48 to 0.92). There was no significantly greater risk of adverse effects: relative risk 1.28 (0.47 to 3.51). Effects were similar in people with early and advanced HIV disease. Insufficient evidence was found on effects in areas with higher bacterial resistance or in people on antiretroviral therapy. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS In the trials included in the review, cotrimoxazole prophylaxis had a beneficial effect in preventing death and illness episodes in adults with both early and advanced HIV disease. However, the wider applicability of these findings is unclear, in particular to areas with higher background bacterial resistance to cotrimoxazole. Further trials would be required in differing settings to widen applicability.
Network frailty and the geometry of herd immunity

The spread of infectious disease through communities depends fundamentally on the underlying patterns of contacts between individuals. Generally, the more contacts one individual has, the more vulnerable they are to infection during an epidemic. Thus, outbreaks disproportionately impact the most highly connected demographics. Epidemics can then lead, through immunization or removal of individuals, to sparser networks that are more resistant to future transmission of a given disease. Using several classes of contact networks—Poisson, scale-free and small-world—we characterize the structural evolution of a network due to an epidemic in terms of frailty (the degree to which highly connected individuals are more vulnerable to infection) and interference (the extent to which the epidemic cuts off connectivity among the susceptible population that remains following an epidemic). The evolution of the susceptible network over the course of an epidemic differs among the classes of networks; frailty, relative to interference, accounts for an increasing component of network evolution on networks with greater variance in contacts. The result is that immunization due to prior epidemics can provide greater community protection than random vaccination on networks with heterogeneous contact patterns, while the reverse is true for highly structured populations.
Pre-Loading of Chlorophyll Synthase with Tetraprenyl Diphosphate Is an Obligatory Step in Chlorophyll Biosynthesis

Abstract The reaction of recombinant chlorophyll synthase from Avena sativa, expressed in Escherichia coli, was investigated. To verify the identity of the recombinant and native enzymes, reaction rates were determined for both enzyme preparations with several chlorophyllide analogs. The rates of esterification of these modified substrates ranged from 0 to 100% of the rate with the natural substrate, and were nearly identical for both enzyme preparations. The Lineweaver Burk plot for variation of both chlorophyllide a and phytyl diphosphate concentration showed parallel lines, indicative of a 'pingpong' mechanism. Preincubation with phytyl diphosphate exhibited an initial rapid reaction phase, which did not occur after preincubation with chlorophyllide. We conclude that the tetraprenyl diphosphate must bind to the enzyme as the first substrate and esterification occurs when this preloaded enzyme meets the second substrate, chlorophyllide. Approximately 10 17% of the recombinant enzyme were preloaded with phytyl diphosphate under the experimental conditions. The rapid reaction phase is also observed for the chlorophyll synthase reaction in etiolated barley leaves in addition to the wellknown slow phase. This indicates that preloading of the enzyme with tetraprenyl diphosphate is also the basis for the reaction in vivo.
Chemistry of atmospheric brown carbon.

Organic carbon (OC) accounts for a large fraction of atmospheric aerosol and has profound effects on air quality, atmospheric chemistry and climate forcing. Molecular composition of the OC and its evolution during common processes of atmospheric aging have been a subject of extensive research over the last decade (see reviews of Ervens et al.,1 Hallquist et al.,2 Herckes et al.,3 Carlton et al.,4 Kroll and Seinfeld,5 Rudich et al.,6 and Kanakidou et al.7). Even though many fundamental advances have been reported in these studies, our understanding of the climate-related properties of atmospheric OC is still incomplete and the specific ways in which OC impacts atmospheric environment and climate forcing are just beginning to be understood. This review covers one topic of particular interest in this area –environmental chemistry of light-absorbing aerosol OC and its impact on radiative forcing.
VBPR: Visual Bayesian Personalized Ranking from Implicit Feedback

Modern recommender systems model people and items by discovering or `teasing apart' the underlying dimensions that encode the properties of items and users' preferences toward them. Critically, such dimensions are uncovered based on user feedback, often in implicit form (such as purchase histories, browsing logs, etc.); in addition, some recommender systems make use of side information, such as product attributes, temporal information, or review text.However one important feature that is typically ignored by existing personalized recommendation and ranking methods is the visual appearance of the items being considered. In this paper we propose a scalable factorization model to incorporate visual signals into predictors of people's opinions, which we apply to a selection of large, real-world datasets. We make use of visual features extracted from product images using (pre-trained) deep networks, on top of which we learn an additional layer that uncovers the visual dimensions that best explain the variation in people's feedback. This not only leads to significantly more accurate personalized ranking methods, but also helps to alleviate cold start issues, and qualitatively to analyze the visual dimensions that influence people's opinions.
Effects of Atrial Natriuretic Peptide on Transmural Blood Flow and Reactive Hyperemia in the Presence of Flow‐Limiting Coronary Stenosis in the Awake Dog: Evidence for Dilation of the Intramural Vasculature

The effects of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) on transmural myocardial blood flow distribution and the reactive hyperemic response in the presence and absence of flow-limiting coronary stenosis were examined in chronically instrumented conscious dogs. Ten-second coronary occlusion without subsequent flow restriction resulted in marked reactive hyperemic responses (Doppler flow probes), mean flow debt repayment was 481±55percent;. When the 10-second coronary occlusions were followed by a 20-second partial restriction that allowed normal preocclusion coronary inflow, the subsequent reactive hyperemia was significantly augmented, mean flow debt repayment was 938±91percent; (p<0.05). Pretreatment with ANP (3μg/kg) did not alter the flow debt repayment after a 10-second occlusion without restriction (474±30percent;, NS) but attenuated the augmentation of reactive hyperemia resulting from the 20-second inflow restriction, flow debt repayment (613±±66percent;, NS). Regional myocardial blood flow to the ischemic region was measured during restricted inflow after a 10-second coronary occlusion before and after ANP pretreatment. Before ANP, subendocardial flow decreased (0.54±0.04 ml/min/g) and subepicardial flow significantly increased (1.03±0.12 ml/min/g) when compared with the nonischemk zone (subendocardial, 1.03±0.09 ml/min/g; subepicardial, 0.87±0.09 ml/ min/g, p<0.05), indicating maldistribution of the restricted inflow. The resultant subendocardial-to-subepicardial ratio in the ischemic region was significantly decreased when compared with the nonischemic region (0.56±0.03 vs. 1.18±0.04, p<0.05). After ANP pretreatment, subendocardial flow to the ischemic region significantly increased (0.71±0.07 ml/min/g, p<0.05) and the subendocardial-to-subepicardial ratio in the ischemic zone was significantly unproved (0.91±0.10, p<0.05). Myocardial flow measured daring coronary occlusion was not altered after ANP pretreatment, indicating no change in native collateral flow to the ischemic region. Myocardial oxygen consumption, aortic and left ventricular end-diastolic pressures, dP/dt, and heart rates were also not affected by pretreatment with ANP. These data indicate that ANP favorably redistributed blood flow to the subendocardium and reduced subendocardial ischemia after a transient occlusion in the presence of a flow limiting coronary stenosis. The reversal of subendocardial hypoperfusion by ANP hi the absence of alterations of intrinsic vascular reactivity or native collateral flow supports a dilation effect of ANP on the intramural arteries.
Action of externally applied adenosine triphosphate on single smooth muscle cells dispersed from rabbit ear artery.

1. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), applied in the bathing solution or ionophoretically, depolarized freshly dispersed single arterial smooth muscle cells obtained by collagenase and elastase treatment of the rabbit ear artery. 2. Ionophoretic application of ATP evoked an inward current with a latency of about 70 ms and a time to peak of about 230 ms in cells held under voltage clamp using whole‐cell patch‐pipette techniques. 3. Bath application of 10 microM‐ATP evoked a transient inward current at negative holding potentials. The amplitude of the ATP‐induced current was linearly related to the clamp potential with a reversal potential near 0 mV. Removal of extracellular calcium, buffering intracellular calcium with high EGTA concentration, or depleting calcium stores with caffeine or noradrenaline treatment did not affect the ATP‐evoked current. 4. Changing the chloride concentration gradient by decreasing extracellular or intracellular chloride concentration, or using the chloride channel blocker, frusemide, had no effect on the currents. 5. Replacing sodium with Tris shifted the reversal potential to more negative potentials. The reversal potential was not affected by exchanging intracellular potassium for caesium or sodium. Replacing extracellular sodium with 89 mM‐barium also had little effect on the reversal potential. 6. These results are consistent with ATP activating a conductance that is cation selective but allows both monovalent and divalent cations to pass across the membrane.
Postnatal changes in maternal and neonatal plasma antioxidant vitamins and the influence of smoking

Objective: To study the postnatal changes in the plasma concentrations of fat soluble antioxidant vitamins and malondialdehyde (MDA) in mothers and their newborns and their relation to smoking. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Tertiary perinatal centre. Subjects: Eighteen non-smoking and 14 smoking mothers and 33 infants. Main outcome measures: Plasma concentrations of vitamins E, A, and β-carotene and MDA were measured in mothers and infants at delivery and on day 4 post partum. Results: Neonatal plasma levels of vitamins E, A, and β-carotene were significantly lower than maternal levels both at delivery and on day 4 in both groups. There was a significant postnatal increase in plasma vitamin E levels in smoking mothers and neonates of both groups. A significant postnatal increase in maternal, but not neonatal, plasma vitamin A was noted in both groups. Cord plasma vitamin E levels were significantly lower in infants of smoking mothers (mean 4.7 v 6.5 μmol/l, p = 0.041). Plasma MDA was paradoxically lower in smoking mothers at delivery (3.19 v 4.01 μmol/l, p = 0.03) and on day 4 (1.37 v 3.29 μmol/l , p = 0.005) and in infants of the smoking group on day 4 (2.18 v 3.12 μmol/l, p = 0.014). Also, there was a significant postnatal fall in plasma MDA levels on day 4 in mothers and infants in the smoking group. Conclusions: The postnatal changes in plasma vitamin E were more pronounced in the smoking group. The postnatal changes in plasma vitamins A and β-carotene were similar in both groups. The rapid decline in plasma MDA in smoking mothers and their infants suggests withdrawal of oxidative stress from smoking around delivery. This coincided with the increase in plasma vitamin E.
Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance Profile of Salmonella Isolates from Commercial Poultry and Poultry Farm-handlers in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.

Aim: This study was designed to investigate the prevalence and antibiotic resistance profile of Salmonella serovars from poultry and poultry farm-handlers. Study Design: Investigative Place and Duration of Study: Samples were analyzed at the Central Diagnostic Laboratory, National Veterinary Research Institute Vom and Department of Microbiology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. This work was carried out between August 2012 and April 2013. Methodology: Samples were pre-enriched in buffered peptone water followed by selective enrichment using Selenite Faeces Broth and Rappaport-Vassilidis Broth. Isolation and identification was made by inoculating the selectively enriched sample on to SalmonellaOriginal Research Article British Microbiology Research Journal, 4(4): 462-479, 2014 463 Shigella agar, Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate agar and Brilliant Green agar followed by confirmation of presumptive colonies using different biochemical tests and analytical profile index 20 E. Polyvalent (O) and (H) Salmonella antisera were used for serotyping the Salmonella isolates. The CLSI, 2010 method was used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing Results: A prevalence rate of 10.9% was observed from the 450 samples. Serovars of Salmonella detected were S. Gallinarum 57.2%, S. Typhimurium 8.2%, S. Typhi 20.4%, S. Pullorum 6.1%, S. Enteritidis 6.1% and S. Paratyphi A 2.0%. Statistically, significant difference (p<0.05) was observed between isolates and occurrence at different sample sites. The isolates were 100% resistant to oxacillin, 96.0% to ampicillin, 93.9% tylosin, 83.7 5 ceftazidime and 63.3% oxytetracycline. Five of the isolates were 100% resistant to more than five different antibiotics. There was statistical significant difference (p<0.01) in antimicrobial resistance patterns exhibited by the serovars. However, the isolates showed sensitivity to gentamycin 100%, gendox 83.7%, ciprofloxacin 81.6% and amoxicillinclavulanic acid 57.1%. Conclusion: The study revealed emergence of multiple-drug resistant Salmonella serovars from poultry and poultry farm handlers. We therefore suggest further epidemiological studies.
Good Medicine for Conservation Biology: the Intersection of Epidemiology and Conservation Theory

Abstract: Infectious disease can be a concern for several aspects of conservation biology, such as determining threats to species, estimating population viability, and designing reserves, captive breeding, and recovery programs. Several measures are useful for describing infectious diseases in host populations, but it is not straightforward to determine the degree to which a particular disease may affect a host population. The most basic epidemiological theory suggests that populations should be least subject to host‐specific infectious disease when they are at low abundance ( paradoxically, the state at which they are in most need of conservation action). There are important exceptions, however, such as when a reservoir host exists or when Allee or stochastic effects occur. Several of the key threats to biodiversity—habitat alteration, introduced species, pollution, resource exploitation, and climate change—can facilitate and/or impair transmission of infectious disease. Common management tools such as population viability analysis rarely address infectious disease explicitly. We suggest that such an inclusion is both possible and warranted. Considerations of infectious disease may influence the way we determine whether a species is in need of protection and how we might design reserves and captive breeding programs. Examples from the literature suggest that (1) introduced pathogens can make abundant species rare and (2) diseases of domestic animals can dramatically affect rare species. For both scenarios, conditions that cause stress or reduce genetic variation may increase susceptibility to disease, whereas crowding and cross‐species contact can increase transmission. Southern sea otters ( Enhydra lutris nereis) make an interesting case study for consideration of the intersection of epidemiology and conservation because disease may be an important factor limiting the growth of otter populations. We conclude that pathogens are of increasing concern for conservation. Because many newly emerging pathogen dynamics often do not conform to the simplifying assumptions used in classic epidemiology, a detailed understanding of pathogen life history will illuminate the intersection of epidemiology and conservation theory.
Self-reported Medication Adherence and Adverse Patient Safety Events in CKD.

BACKGROUND Promoting medication adherence is a recognized challenge for prescribers. In this study, we examine whether lower medication adherence is associated with adverse safety events in individuals with decreased estimated glomerular filtration rates (eGFRs). STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional baseline analysis of prospective cohort. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS Baseline analysis of the Safe Kidney Care (SKC) Cohort Study, a prospective study of individuals with eGFRs<60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) intended to assess the incidence of disease-specific safety events. Kidney transplant recipients were excluded. PREDICTOR Self-reported medication adherence based on responses to 3 questions ascertaining degree of medication regimen adherence. OUTCOMES Adverse safety events were self-reported at baseline (class I events), such as hypoglycemia or fall thought to be related to a medication, or detected incidentally during the baseline visit (class II events), for example, hypotension or hyperkalemia. Potential drug-related problems (DRPs) were determined by analyzing participants' medications with respect to dosing guidelines based on their screening eGFRs at the time of medication reporting. MEASUREMENTS Relationship between medication adherence and disease-specific patient safety events. RESULTS Of 293 SKC participants, 154 (53%) were classified as having lower medication adherence. After multivariable adjustment, lower medication adherence was significantly associated with a class I or II safety event (prevalence ratio [PR], 1.21; 95% CI, 1.04-1.41) and potential DRPs (PR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.02-1.63). Lower medication adherence was also significantly associated with multiple (≥2) class I events (PR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.18-2.49), multiple class I or II events (PR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.04-1.76), and multiple potential DRPs (PR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.08-2.69) compared with those with higher medication adherence. LIMITATIONS Use of self-reported medication adherence rather than pharmacy records. Clinical relevance of detected safety events is unclear. CONCLUSIONS Lower medication adherence is associated with adverse safety events in individuals with eGFRs<60 mL/min/1.73 m(2).
Modeling a leaky glottis.

During the last decade, awareness has grown that the glottis does not necessarily close completely during normal phonation. To what extent a glottal leak affects the glottal flow waveform, however, is still poorly understood. A speech production model is implemented that is capable of simulating source/tract interaction using a time‐varying glottal impedance analogous to that in the two‐mass glottal model of Ishizaka and Flanagan. The original formulas are extended to incorporate two different types of glottal leakage: (1) a leak that is in open connection with the membranous part of the glottis, and (2) a leak formed by a separate duct (e.g., in the posterior commissure). However, instead of letting the glottal geometry be defined by a self‐oscillating mechanical model of the vocal folds, the glottal inlet and outlet areas are prescribed by the authors. In the present simulations it is found that for a moderate leak area the flow through a type 2 leak and the flow through the membranous part may be in op.