Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serological Response in RT-PCR Confirmed H1N1-2009 Influenza A by Hemagglutination Inhibition and Virus Neutralization Assays: An Observational Study

Background We describe the serological response following H1N1-2009 influenza A infections confirmed by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Methodology and Principal Findings The study included patients admitted to hospital, subjects of a seroepidemiologic cohort study, and participants identified from outbreak studies in Singapore. Baseline (first available blood sample) and follow-up blood samples were analyzed for antibody titers to H1N1-2009 and recently circulating seasonal influenza A virus strains by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and virus micro-neutralization (VM) assays. 267 samples from 118 cases of H1N1-2009 were analyzed. Geometric mean titers by HI peaked at 123 (95% confidence interval, CI 43-356) between days 30 to 39. The chance of observing seroconversion (four-fold or greater increase of antibodies) was maximized when restricting analysis to 45 participants with baseline sera collected within 5 days of onset and follow-up sera collected 15 or more days after onset; for these participants, 82% and 89% seroconverted to A/California/7/2009 H1N1 by HI and VM respectively. A four-fold or greater increase in cross-reactive antibody titers to seasonal A/Brisbane/59/2007 H1N1, A/Brisbane/10/2007 H3N2 and A/Wisconsin/15/2009 H3N2 occurred in 20%, 18% and 16% of participants respectively. Conclusions and Significance Appropriately timed paired serology detects 80–90% RT-PCR confirmed H1N1-2009; Antibodies from infection with H1N1-2009 cross-reacted with seasonal influenza viruses.
Safety and efficacy of the PleurX catheter for the treatment of malignant ascites.

BACKGROUND Malignant ascites is a common complication seen in association with various types of neoplastic processes. Due to high recurrence rates, patients may require multiple paracenteses, which have associated complications such as increased risk of bleeding, infection, pain, and volume and electrolyte depletion. OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the management of malignant ascites by placement of the PleurX® tunneled catheter system at a single center. METHODS This was a retrospective study of 38 patients who underwent PleurX catheter placement for refractory malignant ascites between February 2006 and March 2012 at our institution. Pretreatment characteristics and outcome measures were reported using descriptive statistics. RESULTS The population included 21 males and 17 females with a mean age of 60.6 years (range, 36-79 years) diagnosed with metastatic disease from a variety of primary malignancies, the most common of which was pancreatic cancer (10 patients). In 84% of patients (32/38) who were not lost to follow-up, mean survival time was 40.7 days (range 4-434 days). Technical success rate of catheter placement was 100%. CONCLUSIONS The PleurX catheter can be used to manage malignant ascites in severely ill patients with metastatic cancer, with a high rate of procedural success and a low incidence of potentially serious adverse events, infections, or catheter-related complications.
Use of Alpha-Lipoic Acid in Prevention of Contrast-Induced Nephropathy in Diabetic Patients

In this prospective study, we aimed to determine the protective antioxidant role of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) on development of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) in diabetic patients undergoing coronary angiography. Seventy-eight diabetic patients undergoing coronary angiography were included. Thirty-nine patients were randomized to control group and 39 patients to ALA group. Both groups were hydrated on the day of angiography, and the ALA group had also received three doses of “Thioctacid 600 mg HR, MEDA Manufacturing GmbH” in pill form. Serum creatinine clearance, cystatin C, and urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) were studied before and after angiography. We defined CIN as either ≥25% or ≥0.5 mg/dL increase in serum creatinine at 48th hour after angiography. Baseline clinical characteristics were similar in both groups. Mehran risk score and creatinine clearance were comparable in control and therapy groups (5.59 ± 1.96 vs. 5.49 ± 1.73, p = 0.54 and 89 ± 21 vs. 96 ± 24, p = 0.13, respectively). The volumes of contrast media (median values of 80 mL vs. 75 mL) and hydration with saline (2862 ± 447 mL vs. 2637 ± 592 mL) were also similar (p > 0.05). The incidence of CIN was the same (8%) in both the groups. Alterations in serum creatinine, cystatin C, and urinary NGAL levels before and after the procedure were comparable between the ALA and control groups (group p-values were >0.05 in two-way repeated measures analysis of variance). We presented for the first time that ALA therapy added to hydration does not decrease the risk of CIN development in diabetic patients undergoing coronary angiography.
Geometry and surface morphology effects for Catalytic Nano-Mobile Robot

In this paper, we develop the Catalytic Nano-mobile Robot (CNMR) by Focus Ion Beam (FIB), which can swim in hydrogen peroxide solution as a novel type of nano machine. And then an effective and stable manipulation method in sub micrometer scale and liquid environment is shown to operate the fabricated nano-mobile robot. Following up the manipulation method, we get the movement of the nano-mobile robot. And then the effects of geometry and surface morphology of CNMR on its movement are evaluated. The evaluations show that the geometry of CNMR can have effect on the trajectory greatly, and the surface morphology can also influence the direction of the oxygen bubbles propulsion force.
Ab initio computational modeling of loops in G‐protein‐coupled receptors: Lessons from the crystal structure of rhodopsin

With the help of the crystal structure of rhodopsin an ab initio method has been developed to calculate the three‐dimensional structure of the loops that connect the transmembrane helices (TMHs). The goal of this procedure is to calculate the loop structures in other G‐protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) for which only model coordinates of the TMHs are available. To mimic this situation a construct of rhodopsin was used that only includes the experimental coordinates of the TMHs while the rest of the structure, including the terminal domains, has been removed. To calculate the structure of the loops a method was designed based on Monte Carlo (MC) simulations which use a temperature annealing protocol, and a scaled collective variables (SCV) technique with proper structural constraints. Because only part of the protein is used in the calculations the usual approach of modeling loops, which consists of finding a single, lowest energy conformation of the system, is abandoned because such a single structure may not be a representative member of the native ensemble. Instead, the method was designed to generate structural ensembles from which the single lowest free energy ensemble is identified as representative of the native folding of the loop. To find the native ensemble a successive series of SCV‐MC simulations are carried out to allow the loops to undergo structural changes in a controlled manner. To increase the chances of finding the native funnel for the loop, some of the SCV‐MC simulations are carried out at elevated temperatures. The native ensemble can be identified by an MC search starting from any conformation already in the native funnel. The hypothesis is that native structures are trapped in the conformational space because of the high‐energy barriers that surround the native funnel. The existence of such ensembles is demonstrated by generating multiple copies of the loops from their crystal structures in rhodopsin and carrying out an extended SCV‐MC search. For the extracellular loops e1 and e3, and the intracellular loop i1 that were used in this work, the procedure resulted in dense clusters of structures with Cα‐RMSD ∼0.5 Å. To test the predictive power of the method the crystal structure of each loop was replaced by its extended conformations. For e1 and i1 the procedure identifies native clusters with Cα‐RMSD ∼0.5 Å and good structural overlap of the side chains; for e3, two clusters were found with Cα‐RMSD ∼1.1 Å each, but with poor overlap of the side chains. Further searching led to a single cluster with lower Cα‐RMSD but higher energy than the two previous clusters. This discrepancy was found to be due to the missing elements in the constructs available from experiment for use in the calculations. Because this problem will likely appear whenever parts of the structural information are missing, possible solutions are discussed. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Adrenomedullin Peptide: Gene Expression of Adrenomedullin, its Receptors and Receptor Activity Modifying Proteins, and Receptor Binding in Rat Testis—Actions on Testosterone Secretion1

Abstract Adrenomedullin (ADM) has been shown to be present in the human and rat male reproductive systems. This study demonstrates the expression of ADM in the rat testis and its effect on the secretion of testosterone. Whole testicular extracts had 5.43 ± 0.42 fmol of immunoreactive ADM per milligram of protein and 84 ± 8 fg of ADM mRNA per picogram of Actb (β-actin) mRNA. Immunocytochemical studies showed positive ADM immunostaining in the Leydig cells and in the Sertoli cells. Gel filtration chromatography of testicular extracts showed two peaks, with the predominant one eluting at the position of the ADM precursor. Furthermore, the testis was shown to coexpress mRNAs encoding the calcitonin receptor-like receptor and receptor activity modifying protein 1 (Ramp1), Ramp2, and Ramp3. These account for the specific binding of ADM to the testis, which was partially inhibited by human ADM (22–52) and by human calcitonin gene-related peptide (8–37), the ADM and calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonists, respectively. Administration of ADM to testicular blocks in vitro resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of hCG-stimulated release of testosterone, which was abolished by the administration of ADM (22–52). Our results suggest a paracrine effect of ADM on testicular steroidogenesis.
Estimate of CRP and TNF-alpha level before and after periodontal therapy in cardiovascular disease patients

Introduction Epidemiological studies show that individuals with periodontitis have a radically amplified threat to develop cardiovascular disease. CRP& TNF-α, are acute phase proteins monitored as a marker of inflammatory status, which have been identified as a major risk factor for atherosclerotic complications. Elevated CRP & TNF-α level in periodontitis patients have been reported by several groups. The present study was performed to determine whether presence of periodontitis and periodontal therapy could influence the serum levels of CRP & TNF-α in cardiovascular disease patients. Methods Forty cardiovascular disease subjects participated in the study. They were classified into two groups. Group A (Control) where no periodontal treatment was given, Group B (Test) where periodontal treatment (scaling & root planing) was performed. Periodontal clinical parameters like OHI-S, probing pocket depth, were evaluated together with serum CRP, TNF-α, at baseline and reassessed after 8 weeks for all the subjects in both the groups. Results The CRP & TNF-α levels in both the groups decreased but the decrease in the Group A was minimal and was not statistically significant (P > 0.05); whereas in Group B where periodontal therapy was performed, there was statistically significant decrease. Conclusion It can be concluded from the study that there can be a possible causal relationship between pathogenesis of periodontal disease and CVD as inferred from the statistical significant outcome in the form of decreased inflammatory biomarkers after the periodontal treatment.
E-System for Automatic Data Migration

Interoperability represents an important issue in developing successful e-Services applications. Many times data is obtained from services belonging to one organization and must be used within a service under the domain of another one. Automatic data migration and transfer utilities are not sufficiently addressed. There are various ways of moving data between files and databases, all with the common inconvenience that the structure of the data is fixed. Today’s users’ requirements are for data transfer tools that provide increased flexibility. We present a solution for automatic data migration that is able to handle data transfers between different database instances. The solution is able to work with dynamic data schemas, and requires minimal user input and interaction. The solution was evaluated as a case study in a real-world e-System designed to automatically collect report data.
Soft drinks, aggression and suicidal behaviour in US high school students

Consumption of carbonated soft drinks has been rising among teens, and recent research has identified potential links to violence, depression, suicidal thoughts and suicidal behaviour. We analyse a national data-set, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, to examine the relationship between soft drink consumption and aggression, depression and suicidal behaviours among US adolescents. We find that higher soft drink consumption is associated with a range of undesirable behaviours: being in a physical fight, feeling sad or hopeless and having suicidal thoughts and actions. The data display a ‘dose–response’ relationship, with the percentage engaged in aggression or suicidal behaviour increasing steadily with greater quantities of soft drinks consumed. While further research is needed to determine if the association is causal, soft drink consumption may be a useful indicator for both aggression and suicidal behaviours among American high school students.
Effects of temperature and host stage on the parasitization rate and offspring sex ratio of Aenasius bambawalei Hayat in Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley

Temperature and host stage are important factors that determine the successful development of parasitoids. Aenasius bambawalei Hayat (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is a primary parasitoid of the newly invasive mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). The effects of temperature on the parasitic characteristics of A. bambawalei have seldom been investigated. In the study, we explored the effects of temperature, exposure time, and host stage on the parasitization rate and offspring sex ratio (female to male) of A. bambawalei under laboratory conditions. The laboratory results showed that the successful parasitization rate of A. bambawalei increased with higher temperatures and older host stages. When the parasitoids were exposed to 36 °C for 24 h, the parasitization rate of female adults (52%) was nearly two times that of 3rd instar nymphs. Additionally, heat stress duration and host stage resulted in an increase in the offspring sex ratio of A. bambawalei. When A. bambawalei was exposed to 36 °C for 24 h, the offspring sex ratio increased dramatically to 81.78% compared with those exposed for 12 h, and it increased to 45.34% compared with those exposed for 16 h. The offspring sex ratio was clearly higher when the host stage was an adult female mealybug Our findings provide important guidance for the mass rearing and field releases of A. bambawalei for the management of P. solenopsis in the future.
Reduced-Rank STAP Schemes for Airborne Radar Based on Switched Joint Interpolation, Decimation and Filtering Algorithm

In this paper, we propose a reduced-rank space-time adaptive processing (STAP) technique for airborne phased array radar applications. The proposed STAP method performs dimensionality reduction by using a reduced-rank switched joint interpolation, decimation and filtering algorithm (RR-SJIDF). In this scheme, a multiple-processing-branch (MPB) framework, which contains a set of jointly optimized interpolation, decimation and filtering units, is proposed to adaptively process the observations and suppress jammers and clutter. The output is switched to the branch with the best performance according to the minimum variance criterion. In order to design the decimation unit, we present an optimal decimation scheme and a low-complexity decimation scheme. We also develop two adaptive implementations for the proposed scheme, one based on a recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm and the other on a constrained conjugate gradient (CCG) algorithm. The proposed adaptive algorithms are tested with simulated radar data. The simulation results show that the proposed RR-SJIDF STAP schemes with both the RLS and the CCG algorithms converge at a very fast speed and provide a considerable SINR improvement over the state-of-the-art reduced-rank schemes.
Schmallenberg virus detection in bovine semen after experimental infection of bulls

SUMMARY To study Schmallenberg virus (SBV) excretion in bovine semen after experimental infection, two bulls were inoculated subcutaneously with a SBV isolate (1 ml Vero cell culture 106 TCID50). After inoculation (at day 0), semen was collected daily from both animals for 21 days and samples were tested for SBV by qRT–PCR assay. At 24 days post-inoculation both animals were subjected to necropsy and the genital organs and lymph nodes draining these organs were also tested for SBV RNA (qRT–PCR). After SBV infection both animals in the study showed viraemia (qRT–PCR) with fever and diarrhoea. SBV RNA could be detected in semen from both animals. The highest SBV RNA concentrations in semen were found in the first week (days 4–7 post-inoculation) but concentrations were relatively low (Ct values 30–39). Viable SBV was only isolated from blood samples and not from semen or genital tissues.
The Impact of Recasts on the Syntactic Accuracy of Iranian EFL University Students’ Oral Discourse

Among the major issues raised by classroom SLA researchers is the debate on the degree to which teacher’s or learner’s attention should be directed to linguistic features. However, one of the relevant variables in corrective feedback studies which seem to be less operationalized is the differential impact of different types of feedback on the accuracy of the oral performance of the participants. The merits of recasts as one type of feedback commonly used in the classroom have turned to be a controversial issue. The present study examined the impact of recasts in comparison to no-recast on the syntactic accuracy of Iranian EFL university students’ oral discourse. One hundred and nine male and female students majoring in English Language Translation at Islamic Azad University (Central Tehran Branch) took part in the study. The participants were attending the listening and speaking classes. Ten sessions were devoted to the treatment of the experimental group (n=54) who received recasts as feedback to syntactic errors. The control group (n=55), received no recast. A posttest was administered in the 12th session. The teachers introduced a topic and the participants were required to talk about it in 60 seconds. A total of 6540 seconds of the participants’ oral performance were observed and recorded. Analysis of individual participants’ oral data revealed that the recast group outperformed the no-recast group. In other words, recasts were effective in reducing the frequency of syntactic errors of participants’ oral discourse.
Exploring Adult Attachment, Acculturation and Psychological Well-being in Chinese/ Taiwanese Immigrants

Exploring Adult Attachment, Acculturation and Psychological Well-being in Chinese/ Taiwanese Immigrants Wan-Chen Weng The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among adult attachment, acculturation, and psychological well-being in Chinese/ Taiwanese immigrants. Specifically, the present study examined how adult attachment predicted psychological well-being and how acculturation moderated the relationship between adult attachment and psychological well-being. Adult attachment was measured by two dimensions, attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. Acculturation was measured by two domains, behavioral aspect and psychological aspect of acculturation. Bivariate correlation analyses on attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance and psychological well-being were conducted. The results suggested that both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were significantly negatively associated with psychological well-being. In addition, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed where attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were entered as predictor variables; acculturation towards Chinese orientation, acculturation towards American orientation and Asian cultural values as moderating variables; psychological well-being as the outcome variable. The results indicated that acculturation towards American orientation moderated the relationship between attachment anxiety and psychological well-being and the relationship between attachment avoidance and psychological well-being. The findings and discussions, limitations, implications for future research, clinical practice and training were addressed.
Maternal and Perinatal Mortality: A snapshot on the Egyptian situation.

Improving maternal health as one of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG 5) is the least likely to be achieved in the developing low source African and some Asian countries. This review aimed at highlighting the situation of maternal and perinatal mortality in Egypt, with special emphasis on one of the common cause of maternal mortality namely postpartum hemorrhage. In Egypt, according to the available data, maternal mortality ratio (MMR) showed a significant decline although it took 25 years to reach the 66/100,000 live births, many agencies linked that decline to the wide coverage and utilization of the antenatal care services. A sizable portion of MMR in Egypt is attributed to avoidable causes in particular the substandard care and lack of supplies necessary for management of life threatening pregnancy-related
Scalable Variational Gaussian Process Classification

Gaussian process classification is a popular method with a number of appealing properties. We show how to scale the model within a variational inducing point framework, outperforming the state of the art on benchmark datasets. Importantly, the variational formulation can be exploited to allow classification in problems with millions of data points, as we demonstrate in experiments.
HIV-1/HAART-Related Lipodystrophy Syndrome (HALS) Is Associated with Decreased Circulating sTWEAK Levels

Background and Objectives Obesity and HIV-1/HAART–associated lipodystrophy syndrome (HALS) share clinical, pathological and mechanistic features. Tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) is a multifunctional cytokine that plays an important role in obesity and related diseases. We sought to explore the relationship between HALS and circulating levels of soluble (s) TWEAK and its scavenger receptor sCD163. Methods This was a cross-sectional multicenter study of 120 HIV-1-infected patients treated with a stable HAART regimen; 56 with overt HALS and 64 without HALS. Epidemiological and clinical variables were determined. Serum levels of sTWEAK and sCD163 levels were measured by ELISA. Results were analyzed with Student’s t-test, Mann-Whitney U and χ2 test. Pearson and Spearman correlation were used to estimate the strength of association between variables. Results Circulating sTWEAK was significantly decreased in HALS patients compared with non-HALS patients (2.81±0.2 vs. 2.94±0.28 pg/mL, p = 0.018). No changes were observed in sCD163 levels in the studied cohorts. On multivariate analysis, a lower log sTWEAK concentration was independently associated with the presence of HALS (OR 0.027, 95% CI 0.001–0.521, p = 0.027). Conclusions HALS is associated with decreased sTWEAK levels.