Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Within-herd prevalence thresholds for the detection of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis-positive dairy herds using boot swabs and liquid manure samples

SUMMARY The control of Johne's disease requires the identification of Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP)-positive herds. Boot swabs and liquid manure samples have been suggested as an easy-to-use alternative to sampling individual animals in order to diagnose subclinical Johne's disease at the herd level, but there is a need to evaluate performance of this approach in the field. Using a logistic regression model, this study aimed to calculate the threshold level of the apparent within-herd prevalence as determined by individual faecal culture, thus allowing the detection of whether a herd is MAP positive. A total of 77 boot swabs and 75 liquid manure samples were taken from 19 certified negative and 58 positive dairy herds. Faecal culture, three different polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods and the combination of faecal culture with PCR were applied in order to detect MAP. For 50% probability of detection, a within-herd prevalence threshold of 1·5% was calculated for testing both matrices simultaneously by faecal culture and PCR, with the threshold increased to 4·0% for 90% probability of detection. The results encourage the use of boot swabs or liquid manure samples, or a combination both, for identifying MAP-positive herds and, to a certain extent, for monitoring certified Johne's disease-negative cattle herds.
Gut Bacterial Communities in the Giant Land Snail Achatina fulica and Their Modification by Sugarcane-Based Diet

The invasive land snail Achatina fulica is one of the most damaging agricultural pests worldwide representing a potentially serious threat to natural ecosystems and human health. This species is known to carry parasites and harbors a dense and metabolically active microbial community; however, little is known about its diversity and composition. Here, we assessed for the first time the complexity of bacterial communities occurring in the digestive tracts of field-collected snails (FC) by using culture-independent molecular analysis. Crop and intestinal bacteria in FC were then compared to those from groups of snails that were reared in the laboratory (RL) on a sugarcane-based diet. Most of the sequences recovered were novel and related to those reported for herbivorous gut. Changes in the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were observed when the snails were fed a high-sugar diet, suggesting that the snail gut microbiota can influence the energy balance equation. Furthermore, this study represents a first step in gaining a better understanding of land snail gut microbiota and shows that this is a complex holobiont system containing diverse, abundant and active microbial communities.
Saccadic Velocity in the New Suppression Head Impulse Test: A New Indicator of Horizontal Vestibular Canal Paresis and of Vestibular Compensation

Objective To determine whether saccadic velocity in the suppression head impulse paradigm (SHIMP) test is a reliable indicator of vestibular loss at the acute and at the chronic stage in patients suffering from different vestibular pathologies. Methods Thirty-five normal subjects and 57 patients suffering from different vestibular pathologies associated with unilateral vestibular loss (UVL) or bilateral vestibular loss (BVL) were tested in the SHIMPs paradigm. SHIMPs were performed by turning the head 10 times at high velocities to the left or right side, respectively. The patients were instructed to fixate on a red spot generated by a head-fixed laser projected on the wall. In this SHIMPs paradigm, healthy subjects made a large anti-compensatory saccade at the end of the head turn (a SHIMP saccade). The peak saccadic velocity, the percentage of the trials completed with saccades in 10 trials, and the latency of the saccades were quantified in each group. A video-head impulse test (v-HIT) was systematically performed in all of our subjects as well as a caloric test. The dizziness handicap inventory questionnaire was also given to chronic UVL and BVL patients. Results At the acute stage after a complete UVL, patients had zero or a few anti-compensatory saccades for low velocity head turns toward the lesioned side. These saccades had lower velocity than the anti-compensatory saccades recorded during head rotation toward the intact side and/or compared with the saccades measured in control subjects. At the chronic stage, some of the patients recovered the ability to perform SHIMP saccades at each head turn toward the lesioned side, but very often these saccades were of significantly lower velocity. In BVL patients, no anti-compensatory saccades, or only significantly smaller ones, could be detected for head turns to both sides. Conclusion SHIMP is a specific and sensitive test to detect a complete horizontal canal loss at the acute stage. In addition, it reflects the ability of patients with moderate horizontal vestibulo–ocular reflex gain decrease to generate anti-compensatory saccades in the chronic stage. In association with v-HIT, it allows determination of the residual vestibular function and to detect anti-compensatory saccades.
Mommy and Me

How do infants find the words in the tangle of speech that confronts them? The present study shows that by as early as 6 months of age, infants can already exploit highly familiar words—including, but not limited to, their own names—to segment and recognize adjoining, previously unfamiliar words from fluent speech. The head-turn preference procedure was used to familiarize babies with short passages in which a novel word was preceded by a familiar or a novel name. At test, babies recognized the word that followed the familiar name, but not the word that followed the novel name. This is the youngest age at which infants have been shown capable of segmenting fluent speech. Young infants have a powerful aid available to them for cracking the speech code. Their emerging familiarity with particular words, such as their own and other people's names, can provide initial anchors in the speech stream.
Physiologic response to dobutamine infusion during cardiac stress testing of dogs.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate response of various cardiovascular variables after administration of incremental doses of dobutamine in healthy conscious dogs, using standardized dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE). ANIMALS 8 healthy dogs. PROCEDURE A DSE was performed twice on each dog within 24 hours. Dobutamine was infused at a rate of 12.5 to 42.5 microg/kg/min, using incremental increases of 10 microg/kg/min. Doppler sphygmomanometry, electrocardiography, and echocardiography were performed. Left ventricular size, global ventricular performance, and left ventricular systolic myocardial function were measured by means of echocardiography. RESULTS At the highest dosage, dobutamine induced an increase of 20+/-3% and 109+/-12% in systolic blood pressure and cardiac index, respectively. The latter was associated with a significant increase in heart rate and stroke index. Fractional shortening of the left ventricle, fractional thickening of the left ventricular free wall and interventricular septum, ejection fraction, and mean velocity of fiber shortening had a progressive and significant increase during dobutamine infusion. Preejection period and left ventricular ejection time had a progressive and significative decrease during the stress test. CONCLUSIONS The technique used was feasable, safe, and repeatable in healthy conscious dogs. Control values were determined. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Data for these healthy dogs might be useful for comparison with results obtained from dogs with known or suspected cardiovascular disease.
Join irreducible semigroups

We begin a systematic study of finite semigroups that generate join irreducible members of the lattice of pseudovarieties of finite semigroups, which are important for the spectral theory of this lattice. Finite semigroups [Formula: see text] that generate join irreducible pseudovarieties are characterized as follows: whenever [Formula: see text] divides a direct product [Formula: see text] of finite semigroups, then [Formula: see text] divides either [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text] for some [Formula: see text]. We present a new operator [Formula: see text] that preserves the property of join irreducibility, as does the dual operator, and show that iteration of these operators on any nontrivial join irreducible pseudovariety leads to an infinite hierarchy of join irreducible pseudovarieties. We also describe all join irreducible pseudovarieties generated by a semigroup of order up to five. It turns out that there are [Formula: see text] such pseudovarieties, and there is a relatively easy way to remember them. In addition, we survey most results known about join irreducible pseudovarieties to date and generalize a number of results in Sec. 7.3 of [The[Formula: see text]-theory of Finite Semigroups, Springer Monographs in Mathematics (Springer, Berlin, 2009)].
The structural evolution of the Web 2.0 service network

Purpose- The purpose of this research is to analyze empirically the structure of the Web2.0 service network and the mechanism behind its evolution over time. Design/Methodology/Approach - Based on the list of Web2.0 services and their Mashups that is announced on www.programmableweb. com, a network of Web2.0 services was constructed. Within this network, a node represents a Web2.0 service with an open API, and a link between two nodes represents the existence of a Mashup service that uses the two nodes.Findings - Our findings suggest that the evolution of the Web2.0 service network follows the preferential attachment rule, although the exponent of the preferential attachment is lower than for other networks following a preferential attachment rule. Additionally, our results indicate that the Web2.0 service network evolves to a scalefree network, but the exponent of the power law distribution is lower than for other networks as well. Originality/ value - The research applied social network analysis to the Web2.0 service network. It showed that its network structure and the evolution mechanism are different from those found in similar areas, e.g. the WWW. The findings imply that there are factors which lower the exponent of the preferential attachment equation and the power law distribution of the degree centralities. Research limitation/implications - However, we did not investigate the factors responsible for the low values of the exponent of the preferential attachment equation and the exponent of the power law distribution. However, we discussed that it could be correlated with the fact that the interconnection between nodes depends on the property of the nodes.
Pors: proofs of retrievability for large files

In this paper, we define and explore proofs of retrievability (PORs). A POR scheme enables an archive or back-up service (prover) to produce a concise proof that a user (verifier) can retrieve a target file F, that is, that the archive retains and reliably transmits file data sufficient for the user to recover F in its entirety. A POR may be viewed as a kind of cryptographic proof of knowledge (POK), but one specially designed to handle a large file (or bitstring) F. We explore POR protocols here in which the communication costs, number of memory accesses for the prover, and storage requirements of the user (verifier) are small parameters essentially independent of the length of F. In addition to proposing new, practical POR constructions, we explore implementation considerations and optimizations that bear on previously explored, related schemes. In a POR, unlike a POK, neither the prover nor the verifier need actually have knowledge of F. PORs give rise to a new and unusual security definition whose formulation is another contribution of our work. We view PORs as an important tool for semi-trusted online archives. Existing cryptographic techniques help users ensure the privacy and integrity of files they retrieve. It is also natural, however, for users to want to verify that archives do not delete or modify files prior to retrieval. The goal of a POR is to accomplish these checks without users having to download the files themselves. A POR can also provide quality-of-service guarantees, i.e., show that a file is retrievable within a certain time bound.
Realpolitik in the lab: Voting, heterogeneity, and group preferences for fair allocations in a threshold public goods game

By means of a laboratory experiment, this study investigates if groups consisting of two heterogeneous player types (with either di erent marginal contribution costs or di erent endowments) choose di erent e cient allocations under two separate decision rules: individual voluntary contributions in a repeated game or a binding unanimous vote on contribution vectors in a one-shot setting. While allocations do not vary signi cantly if contribution costs are heterogeneous (or in the homogeneous control treatments), heterogeneous endowments result in equal contributions in a voluntary repeated setting, but equal payo s (and unequal contributions) in a unanimous vote. The subjects' behavior corresponds to what is called realpolitik in a political context, i.e., putting aside one's own ideologies in order to achieve what is feasible under the institutional constraints.
Mechanisms of splenic control of murine malaria: tissue culture studies of the erythropoietic interplay of spleen, bone marrow, and blood in lethal (strain 17XL) Plasmodium yoelii malaria in BALB/c mice.

This work characterizes the erythropoietic interplay of the spleen, blood, and bone marrow in a lethal murine malaria, strain 17XL P. yoelii. This malaria runs a fulminant 7 day course in BALB/c/ByJ mice, marked by high levels of parasitized reticulocytes with death likely due to anemia. We have quantitated the levels of burst forming units-erythroid (BFU-E), the early, niche-seeking, largely erythropoietin-unresponsive erythropoietic precursors, and of colony forming units-erythroid (CFU-E), the more differentiated sessile erythropoietin-responsive precursors, in bone marrow, blood, and spleen, through the course of this malaria. A decline in marrow BFU-E began on day 2, but recovered, relatively, after day 3. Marrow cellularity declined, being but 75% normal on day 6. Spleen weight increased about 5-fold within 6 days with enlargement of erythroid, lymphoid, macrophage, and stromal compartments. Splenic BFU-E increased in the first 24 hr and 5-fold by day 6. Splenic CFU-E increased in the first 24 hr and into day 4. They then declined and showed a secondary, large-scale, sustained rise interrupted by death. Because the spleen was enlarging, a greater than 60-fold increase in the absolute number of splenic CFU-E occurred at the time of death. Marrow CFU-E followed the same pattern as splenic CFU-E, but the terminal increase represented but a 4-fold absolute increase because of declining marrow cellularity. High levels of erythropoietin occurred only late in the course of disease, likely in response to profound anemia. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Identification and characterization of variants and a novel 4 bp deletion in the regulatory region of SIX6, a risk factor for primary open‐angle glaucoma

Primary open‐angle glaucoma (POAG) is a complex disease of multigenic inheritance and the most common subtype of glaucoma. SIX6 encodes a transcription factor involved in retina, optic nerve, and pituitary development. Previous studies showed a genetic association between the SIX6 locus and POAG, identifying risk alleles. Whether these alleles are present also in the south Indian population is unclear.
Effect of socio-demographic characteristics and clinical findings on the quality of life of patients with chronic venous insufficiency

Objective This study was planned and implemented to evaluate the effect of socio-demographic characteristics and clinical findings on the quality of life of patients with chronic venous insufficiency. Methods The sample of this cross-sectional study consisted of 163 patients that presented with the diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency to the cardiovascular surgery clinic of an education and research hospital in the west of Turkey. The data were collected during face-to-face interviews using a personal information form, clinical, etiology, anatomy, pathophysiology classification, venous insufficiency epidemiological and economic study-quality of life/symptoms scales and the Short Form-36. Descriptive statistics as well as univariate and multivariate analyses were used to analyze the data. Results The chronic venous insufficiency patients were found to have a low quality of life. Advanced age, higher body mass index, longer working times, being on regular medication, hypertension and presence of pigmentation according to the clinical, etiology, anatomy, pathophysiology classification were found to be associated with a reduced physical score in SF-36. Furthermore, longer weekly working hours and presence of pigmentation reduced the Venous Insufficiency Epidemiological and Economic Study-Quality of Life/Symptoms scores. Undertaking physical exercise at twice and more than twice a week increased the overall physical scores in SF-36. Conclusions The results of the study showed that the quality of life of chronic venous insufficiency patients are affected by not only physical characteristics, working hours and physical activity but also presence of edema and pigmentation.
Softcomputing approach to segmentation of speech in phonetic units

Speech applications are essentially based on an effective separation of phonetic units, so the segmentation of uttered speech into phonetic units is a key processing task for successfully implementing speech recognition systems. Softcomputing methods demonstrate to be more effective than other methods due to the capability neural networks and fuzzy logic to be trained by expert. This work phonetic segmentation of uttered speech that separates vowels from consonants is based on a fuzzy logic inference engine tuned by an expert using speech features distribution. Only time-domain feature-extraction algorithms are applied to speech to extract features, so minimum computational cost was achieved. Fuzzy decision logic is used to infer about phonetic units separation point. A set of tests has been executed to demonstrate that this approach can be effective in separating phonetic units, while requiring minimal computing power and reducing system complexity.
The Role of Bacteria in the Pathogenesis of Ulcerative Colitis

Factors implicated in the pathophysiology of ulcerative colitis (UC) are an abnormal immune response, defect in intestinal epithelial barrier function, and gut microbiota. Currently, it is unclear whether specific bacterial strains are responsible for the induction of intestinal inflammation, but increased bacterial tissue invasion has been described in affected UC patients. Further, a quantitative and qualitative microbial imbalance in UC, defined as dysbiosis, has been characterized by an increase in Rhodococcus spp. , Shigella spp. , and Escherichia spp. , but a decrease in certain Bacteroides spp. More specifically, Campylobacter spp. , Enterobacteriae, and enterohepatic Helicobacter were more prevalent in tissue sample from UC patients subjected to molecular detection methods, but not controls. In addition, serologic testing identified Fusobacterim varium as a potential contributor to the intestinal inflammation in UC. Interestingly, in-situ hybridization studies have shown anti-inflammatory Lactobacillus spp. and Pediococcus spp. were absent in samples from subjects affected by UC. Therefore, dysbiosis is a factor in the pathogenesis of UC.
Impact of heart failure on quality of sleep

Chronic heart failure is an important health problem associated with a high mortality and morbidity. Appropriate treatment reduces mortality and leads to improved exercise tolerance but many patients report poor quality of sleep. Sleep studies of patients with heart failure suggest that sleep disordered breathing is experienced in 50% of patients and is a powerful predictor of poor prognosis. Sleep disordered breathing broadly comprises obstructive sleep apnoea, when upper airway instability causes mechanical obstruction to breathing; and central sleep apnoea, characterised by an absence of ventilatory effort. Sleep disordered breathing occurring in patients with heart failure is in most part attributable to central sleep apnoea and reflects uncompensated instability of the ventilatory feedback mechanism.
The diagnosis and treatment of limbic encephalitis

The term limbic encephalitis (LE) was first introduced in 1968. While this disease was initially considered rare and is often fatal with very few treatment options, several reports published in the last decade provide a better description of this condition as well as possible causes and some cases of successful treatment. The clinical manifestation of LE is primarily defined by the subacute onset of short‐term memory loss, seizures, confusion and psychiatric symptoms suggesting the involvement of the limbic system. In addition, EEG often shows focal or generalized slow wave or epileptiform activity, and MRI findings reveal hyperintense signals of the medial temporal lobes in T2‐weighted or FLAIR images. The current literature suggests that LE is not a single disorder but is comprised of a group of autoimmune disorders predominantly affecting the limbic system. Before the diagnosis of LE can be determined, other causes of subacute encephalopathy must be excluded, especially those resulting from infectious aetiologies. LE has previously been regarded as a paraneoplastic phenomenon associated with the classical onconeuronal antibodies that are primarily directed against intracellular antigens. However, recent literature suggests that LE is also associated with antibodies that are directed against cell surface antigens, and these cases of LE display a much weaker association to the neoplasm. The treatment options for LE largely depend on the aetiology of the disease and involve the removal of the primary neoplasm. Therefore, a search for the underlying tumour is mandatory. In addition, immunotherapy has been successful in a significant number of patients where LE is not associated with cancer.
Antioxidant supplementations in vitro improve rat sperm parameters and enhance antioxidant enzyme activities against dimethoate‐induced sperm damages

Organophosphorus compounds are currently among the most frequently used pesticides worldwide, and therefore, the potential for human exposure to man is considerable. Their toxicity results in negative effects on many organs and systems such as the male reproductive system. So, vitamins that can offer spermatozoa protection are of great importance. This study was designed to investigate (i) the possibility of dimethoate, an organophosphate insecticide, to induce oxidative stress response in rat spermatozoa in vitro and its effect on antioxidant defence system and (ii) the role of vitamin C and vitamin E in alleviating the cytotoxic effects of dimethoate Epididymal spermatozoa were incubated for 3 h at 37 °C with different concentrations of dimethoate (50, 100 and 200 μm) without vitamins or pre‐incubated with 20 mm of vitamin C or 2 mm of vitamin E. Sperm parameters, malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels were performed. Dimethoate caused a significant induction of oxidative damage in spermatozoa at different concentrations as evidenced by increased MDA levels. However, a significant decrease in sperm mobility, viability and activities SOD, CAT and GPx was observed. Vitamins pre‐treated spermatozoa showed a significant protection against the cytotoxic effects induced by dimethoate on studied parameters.