Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Susceptibility of adults of the cerambycid beetle Hedypathes betulinus to the entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, and Purpureocillium lilacinum

Abstract The cerambycid beetle Hedypathes betulinus (Klug) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) causes severe damage to yerba mate plants (Ilex paraguariensis (St. Hilaire) (Aquifoliales: Aquifoliaceae)), which results in large losses of production. In this study, the pathogenicity of entomopathogenic fungi of the species Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo-Crivelli) Vuillemin (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae), Metarhizium anisopliae sensu lato (Metschnikoff) Sorokin (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae), and Purpureocillium lilacinum (Thom) Luangsa-ard, Hywel-Jones, Houbraken and Samson (Hypocreales: Ophiocordycipitaceae) on yerba mate were evaluated. Fifteen isolates of B. bassiana, two of M. anisopliae, and seven of P. lilacinum on H. betulinus adults were analyzed under laboratory conditions. The raw mortality rate caused by B. bassiana isolates varied from 51.1 to 86.3%, and their LT50 values varied between 8.7 and 13.6 d. The isolates of M. anisopliae caused 69.6–81.8% mortality, and their LT50 values varied between 7.4 and 7.9 d. In contrast, isolates of P. lilacinum were not pathogenic. M. anisopliae and B. bassiana isolates were pathogenic against H. betulinus adults, suggesting that they may be useful in biological control programs for insect pests of yerba mate.
Proteus: Efficient Resource Use in Heterogeneous Architectures

Current processors provide a variety of different processing units to improve performance and power efficiency. For example, ARM’S big.LITTLE, AMD’s APUs, and Oracle’s M7 provide heterogeneous processors, on-die GPUs, and ondie accelerators. However, the performance experienced by programs on these accelerators can be highly variable due to issues like contention from multiprogramming or thermal constraints. In these systems, the decision of where to execute a task will have to consider not only stand-alone performance but also current system conditions and the program’s performance goals such as throughput, latency or real-time deadlines. We built Proteus, a kernel extension and runtime library, to perform scheduling and handle task placement in such dynamic heterogeneous systems. Proteus enables programs to perform task placement decisions by choosing the right processing units with the libadept runtime, since programs are best suitable to determine how to achieve their performance goals. System conditions such as load on accelerators are exposed by the OpenKernel, the kernel component of Proteus, to the libadept enabling programs to make an informed decision. While placement is determined by libadept, the OpenKernel is also responsible for resource management including resource allocation and enforcing isolation among applications. When integrated with StarPU, a runtime system for heterogeneous architectures, Proteus improves StarPU by performing 1.5-2x better than its native scheduling policies in a shared heterogeneous environment.
Indoxyl Sulfate and Atherosclerotic Risk Factors in Hemodialysis Patients

Background: Indoxyl sulfate is a uremic toxin that accelerates the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Serum levels of indoxyl sulfate are increased in dialysis patients. It was reported that indoxyl sulfate plays a role in endothelial dysfunction in uremic patients, and stimulates proliferation of rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). We examined associations between indoxyl sulfate and several markers related to atherosclerosis. Methods: The association between indoxyl sulfate and atherosclerotic risk factors was studied in 224 hemodialysis (HD) patients (123 male, 101 female). Serum levels of indoxyl sulfate were measured by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: There were significant differences in serum levels of creatinine, calcium × phosphate and pentosidine between high- and lowindoxyl sulfate level groups. Indoxyl sulfate showed significant positive correlations with pentosidine, creatinine, and protein catabolic rate, and a significant negative correlation with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Further, pentosidine, creatinine, and HDL-cholesterol were independently associated with indoxyl sulfate by multiple linear regression analysis. Conclusion: In addition to creatinine, pentosidine and HDL-cholesterol, the risk factors of atherosclerosis, were associated with indoxyl sulfate in HD patients. Indoxyl sulfate may be involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.
Approximate String Joins in a Database (Almost) for Free

String data is ubiquitous, and its management has taken on particular importance in the past few years. Approximate queries are very important on string data especially for more complex queries involving joins. This is due, for example, to the prevalence of typographical errors in data, and multiple conventions for recording attributes such as name and address. Commercial databases do not support approximate string joins directly, and it is a challenge to implement this functionality efficiently with user-defined functions (UDFs). In this paper, we develop a technique for building approximate string join capabilities on top of commercial databases by exploiting facilities already available in them. At the core, our technique relies on matching short substrings of length , called -grams, and taking into account both positions of individual matches and the total number of such matches. Our approach applies to both approximate full string matching and approximate substring matching, with a variety of possible edit distance functions. The approximate string match predicate, with a suitable edit distance threshold, can be mapped into a vanilla relational expression and optimized by conventional relational optimizers. We demonstrate experimentally the benefits of our technique over the direct use of UDFs, using commercial database systems and real data. To study the I/O and CPU behavior of approximate string join algorithms with variations in edit distance and -gram length, we also describe detailed experiments based on a prototype implementation.
Survey of consent practices in cluster randomized trials: Improvements are needed in ethical conduct and reporting

Background Informed consent procedures in cluster randomized trials (CRTs) are considerably more complicated than in individually randomized trials. In a CRT, the units of randomization, intervention, and observation may differ in a single trial; there can be multiple levels of participants (individual and cluster level); consent may be required separately for intervention and data collection; and there may be practical constraints to seeking informed consent, for example, due to cluster-level interventions or the sheer size of clusters. Purpose We aimed to document consent practices at individual and cluster levels, assess the adequacy of reporting consent in trial publications, and assess associations with two trial characteristics that may influence consent requirements in CRTs: presence or absence of study interventions and presence or absence of data collection procedures at individual and cluster levels. Methods We reviewed a random sample of 300 CRTs published during 2000–2008. We sent survey questionnaires to 285 unique authors of these trials to gather detailed information about consent procedures used in each trial. Results In all, 182 authors (64%) responded. Overall, 93% (95% confidence interval (CI): 88.8%−96.6%) indicated that participant consent had been sought for some aspects of the study. Consent was less frequently sought for a study intervention (70% of respondents) than for data collection (88%). More than half of the respondents (52%) indicated that consent had been sought at both cluster and individual levels. There was strong evidence for under-reporting of consent in trial publications: only 63% of all trial publications reported that informed consent had been sought for some aspect of the study. The odds ratios (ORs) summarizing the association of the two trial characteristics with cluster-level participant consent were weak (OR = 1.17, p = 0.70 for presence of cluster-level study intervention and OR = 1.54, p = 0.29 for data collection); on the other hand, the ORs summarizing the associations with individual-level consent were strong (OR = 6.2, p < 0.0001 for presence of individual-level intervention and OR = 14.7, p < 0.0001 for data collection). Limitations In all, 36% of authors did not respond to the survey; to the extent that consent practices in their trials were different than in respondents’ trials, our results may be biased. Conclusions There is a need for improvements in research practices in CRTs as well as their reporting. There may be a lack of clarity about consent requirements at the cluster level in particular. With the publication of the Ottawa Statement on the Ethical Design and Conduct of Cluster Randomized Trials, researchers and research ethics committees now have access to comprehensive ethics guidelines specific to CRTs.
Prostate‐specific antitumor activity by probasin promoter‐directed p202 expression

p202, an interferon (IFN) inducible protein, arrests cell cycle at G1 phase leading to cell growth retardation. We previously showed that ectopic expression of p202 in human prostate cancer cells renders growth inhibition and suppression of transformation phenotype in vitro. In this report, we showed that prostate cancer cells with stable expression of p202 were less tumorigenic than the parental cells. The antitumor activity of p202 was further demonstrated by an ex vivo treatment of prostate cancer cells with p202 expression vector that showed significant tumor suppression in mouse xenograft model. Importantly, to achieve a prostate‐specific antitumor effect by p202, we employed a prostate‐specific probasin (ARR2PB) gene promoter to direct p202 expression (ARR2PB‐p202) in an androgen receptor (AR)–positive manner. The ARR2PB‐p202/liposome complex was systemically administered into mice bearing orthotopic AR‐positive prostate tumors. We showed that parenteral administration of an ARR2PB‐p202/liposome preparation led to prostate‐specific p202 expression and tumor suppression in orthotopic prostate cancer xenograft model. Furthermore, with DNA array technique, we showed that the expression of p202 was accompanied by downregulation of G2/M phase cell‐cycle regulators, cyclin B, and p55cdc. Together, our results suggest that p202 suppresses prostate tumor growth, and that a prostate‐specific antitumor effect can be achieved by systemic administration of liposome‐mediated delivery of ARR2PB‐p202. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Spatial Logic for Modeling and Verification of Collision-Free Control of Vehicles

Spatio-temporal information is essential for specifying and verifying Internet of Vehicles (IoV). Multi-lane spatial logic (MLSL) is a real-time spatial logic that can specify constraints in traffic manoeuvres on multi-lane motorways. It turns out to be a promising way to specify the properties of traffic manoeuvres because of its domain specificity and simplicity in modeling and reasoning. In this paper, we extend MLSL by introducing vertical lanes that intersect with the horizontal lanes. And this allows us to specify more complex road conditions including turning, crossroads and blocked road. The application of the extended spatial logic and the enriched traffic control model is then demonstrated on traffic scenes like T-junction to check safety properties such as collision avoidance.
Resampling as a cluster validation technique in fMRI

Exploratory, data‐driven analysis approaches such as cluster analysis, principal component analysis, independent component analysis, or neural network‐based techniques are complementary to hypothesis‐led methods. They may be considered as hypothesis generating methods. The representative time courses they produce may be viewed as alternative hypotheses to the null hypothesis, ie, “no activation. ” We present here a resampling technique to validate the results of exploratory fuzzy clustering analysis. In this case an alternative hypothesis is represented by a cluster centroid. For both simulated and in vivo functional magnetic resonance imaging data, we show that by permutation‐based resampling, statistical significance may be computed for each voxel belonging to a cluster of interest without parametric distributional assumptions. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2000;11:228–231. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Variation of Transaminases, HCV-RNA Levels and Th1/Th2 Cytokine Production during the Post-Partum Period in Pregnant Women with Chronic Hepatitis C

This study analyses the evolution of liver disease in women with chronic hepatitis C during the third trimester of pregnancy and the post-partum period, as a natural model of immune modulation and reconstitution. Of the 122 mothers recruited to this study, 89 were HCV-RNA+ve/HIV-ve and 33 were HCV-RNA-ve/HIV-ve/HCVantibody+ve and all were tested during the third trimester of pregnancy, at delivery and post-delivery. The HCV-RNA+ve mothers were categorized as either Type-A (66%), with an increase in ALT levels in the post-partum period (>40 U/L; P<0.001) or as Type-B (34%), with no variation in ALT values. The Type-A mothers also presented a significant decrease in serum HCV-RNA levels in the post-delivery period (P<0.001) and this event was concomitant with an increase in Th1 cytokine levels (INFγ, P = 0.04; IL12, P = 0.01 and IL2, P = 0.01). On the other hand, the Type-B mothers and the HCV-RNA-ve women presented no variations in either of these parameters. However, they did present higher Th1 cytokine levels in the partum period (INFγ and IL2, P<0.05) than both the Type-A and the HCV-RNA-ve women. Cytokine levels at the moment of delivery do not constitute a risk factor associated with HCV vertical transmission. It is concluded that differences in the ALT and HCV-RNA values observed in HCV-RNA+ve women in the postpartum period might be due to different ratios of Th1 cytokine production. In the Type-B women, the high partum levels of Th1 cytokines and the absence of post-partum variation in ALT and HCV-RNA levels may be related to permanent Th1 cytokine stimulation.
Review of fault location methods for distribution power system

For the past fifty years, electric power systems have rapidly grown. This has resulted in a large increase of the number of lines in op eration an d their total length. These lines experience faults which are caused by storms, lightning, snow, freezing rain, insulation breakdown and short circuits caused by birds and other external objects. In most cases, electrical faults manifest in mechanical damage, which must be repaired before returning the line to service. The restoration can be expedited if the location of the fault is either known or can be estimated with reasonable accuracy. Speedy an d precise fault location plays an important role in accelerating system restoration, reducing outage time and significantly improving system reliability. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the conceptual aspects as well as recent algorithmic developments for fault location on distribution system. Several fundamentally different approaches are discussed in the paper together with the factors affecting the assumptions of the underlying concepts and the various criteria used in the different approaches are reviewed.
Low-temperature plasticity of olivine revisited with in situ TEM nanomechanical testing

The flow properties of the mineral olivine under lithospheric conditions, as seen in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The rheology of the lithospheric mantle is fundamental to understanding how mantle convection couples with plate tectonics. However, olivine rheology at lithospheric conditions is still poorly understood because experiments are difficult in this temperature range where rocks and mineral become very brittle. We combine techniques of quantitative in situ tensile testing in a transmission electron microscope and numerical modeling of dislocation dynamics to constrain the low-temperature rheology of olivine. We find that the intrinsic ductility of olivine at low temperature is significantly lower than previously reported values, which were obtained under strain-hardened conditions. Using this method, we can anchor rheological laws determined at higher temperature and can provide a better constraint on intermediate temperatures relevant for the lithosphere. More generally, we demonstrate the possibility of characterizing the mechanical properties of specimens, which can be available in the form of submillimeter-sized particles only.
Multi-Drug Resistance Mediated by Class 1 Integrons in Aeromonas Isolated from Farmed Freshwater Animals

Aeromonas is regarded as an important pathogen of freshwater animals but little is known about the genetics of its antimicrobial resistance in Chinese aquaculture. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of integrons and characterize multidrug resistant Aeromonas spp. isolated from diseased farmed freshwater animals. These animal samples included fish, ornamental fish, shrimp, turtles, and amphibians which were collected from 64 farms in Guangdong province of South China. One hundred and twelve Aeromonas spp. isolates were examined for antimicrobial resistance phenotypes and the presence of class 1 integron sequences. Twenty-two (19.6%) of these isolates carried a class 1 integron comprising six different gene insertion cassettes including drfA12-orfF-aadA2, drfA12-orfF, aac(6′)-II-blaOXA-21-cat3, catB3, arr-3, and dfrA17. Among these, drfA12-orfF-aadA2 was the dominant gene cassette array (63.6%, 14/22) and this is the first report of aac(6′)-II-blaOXA-21-cat3 in an Aeromonas hydrophila isolate from a Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus). All the integron-positive strains were resistant to more than five agents and 22 contained other resistance genes including blaCTX-M-3, blaTEM-1, aac(6′)-Ib-cr, and tetA. All integron-positive isolates also contained mutations in the quinolone resistance determining regions (QRDR). Our investigation demonstrates that freshwater animals can serve as a reservoir for pathogenic Aeromonas strains containing multiple drug-resistance integrons. This data suggests that surveillance for antimicrobial resistance of animal origin and a prudent and responsible use of antimicrobials in aquaculture is necessary in these farms.
Luminal narrowing after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. A study of clinical, procedural, and lesional factors related to long-term angiographic outcome. Coronary Artery Restenosis Prevention on Repeated Thromboxane Antagonism (CARPORT) Study Group.

BACKGROUND The renarrowing process after successful percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is now believed to be caused by a response-to-injury vessel wall reaction. The magnitude of this process can be assessed by the change in minimal lumen diameter (MLD) at follow-up angiography. The aim of the present study was to find independent patient-related, lesion-related, and procedure-related risk factors for this luminal narrowing process. A model that accurately predicts the amount of luminal narrowing could be an aid in patient or lesion selection for the procedure, and it could improve assessment of medium-term (6 months) prognosis. Modification or control of the identified risk factors could reduce overall restenosis rates, and it could assist in the selection of patients at risk for a large loss in lumen diameter. This population could then constitute the target population for pharmacological intervention studies. METHODS AND RESULTS Quantitative angiography was performed on 666 successfully dilated lesions at angioplasty and at 6-month follow-up. Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to obtain variables with an independent contribution to the prediction of the absolute change in minimal lumen diameter. Diabetes mellitus, duration of angina < 2.3 months, gain in MLD at angioplasty, pre-PTCA MLD, lesion length > or = 6.8 mm, and thrombus after PTCA were independently predictive of change in MLD. Overall prediction of the model was poor, however, percentage-correct classification for a predicted change between -0.1 to -0.4 mm was approximately 10%. Lesions showing no change or regression (change > -0.1 mm) and lesions showing large progression (< or = -0.4 mm) were more predictable (correct classification, 59.5% and 49.7%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Renarrowing after successful PTCA as determined with contrast angiography is a process that cannot be accurately predicted by simple clinical, morphological, and lesion characteristics.
Health-Related Quality of Life as Measured with EQ-5D among Populations with and without Specific Chronic Conditions: A Population-Based Survey in Shaanxi Province, China

Introduction The aim of this study was to examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as measured by EQ-5D and to investigate the influence of chronic conditions and other risk factors on HRQoL based on a distributed sample located in Shaanxi Province, China. Methods A multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method was performed to select subjects. EQ-5D was employed to measure the HRQoL. The likelihood that individuals with selected chronic diseases would report any problem in the EQ-5D dimensions was calculated and tested relative to that of each of the two reference groups. Multivariable linear regression models were used to investigate factors associated with EQ VAS. Results The most frequently reported problems involved pain/discomfort (8.8%) and anxiety/depression (7.6%). Nearly half of the respondents who reported problems in any of the five dimensions were chronic patients. Higher EQ VAS scores were associated with the male gender, higher level of education, employment, younger age, an urban area of residence, access to free medical service and higher levels of physical activity. Except for anemia, all the selected chronic diseases were indicative of a negative EQ VAS score. The three leading risk factors were cerebrovascular disease, cancer and mental disease. Increases in age, number of chronic conditions and frequency of physical activity were found to have a gradient effect. Conclusion The results of the present work add to the volume of knowledge regarding population health status in this area, apart from the known health status using mortality and morbidity data. Medical, policy, social and individual attention should be given to the management of chronic diseases and improvement of HRQoL. Longitudinal studies must be performed to monitor changes in HRQoL and to permit evaluation of the outcomes of chronic disease intervention programs.
Comprehensive Analysis of 22 XPC Polymorphisms and Bladder Cancer Risk

Two major risk factors for bladder cancer are smoking and occupational exposure to chemicals. The XPC protein is crucial in the recognition and initiation of the nucleotide excision repair pathway which repairs the DNA adducts formed by carcinogens found in cigarette smoke and chemicals. Polymorphisms in the XPC gene have been shown to influence an individual's DNA repair capacity, and hence, increase that individual's susceptibility to cancer. We undertook a case-control study of 547 bladder cancer cases and 579 cancer-free controls to investigate the association between 22 XPC polymorphisms and bladder cancer susceptibility, and investigated gene-environment interactions. We showed that the nonsynonymous polymorphism Ala499Val was in strong linkage disequilibrium with two polymorphisms in the 3′-untranslated region (Ex15-184 and Ex15-177) with Lewontin's D′ ≥ 0.99 and r2 ≥ 0.82. Individuals homozygous for the minor allele of Ala499Val, Ex15-184, or Ex15-177 had an increased risk of bladder cancer compared with those homozygous for the common allele [adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval), 1.65 (1.05-2.59), 1.82 (1.12-2.97), and 1.82 (1.12-2.96), respectively]. The associations were somewhat stronger for smokers and those occupationally exposed to chemicals, although tests for gene-environment interactions were not significant. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(12):2537–41)