Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can We Predict Oral Antibiotic Treatment Failure in Children with Fast-Breathing Pneumonia Managed at the Community Level? A Prospective Cohort Study in Malawi

Background Pneumonia is the leading cause of infectious death amongst children globally, with the highest burden in Africa. Early identification of children at risk of treatment failure in the community and prompt referral could lower mortality. A number of clinical markers have been independently associated with oral antibiotic failure in childhood pneumonia. This study aimed to develop a prognostic model for fast-breathing pneumonia treatment failure in sub-Saharan Africa. Method We prospectively followed a cohort of children (2–59 months), diagnosed by community health workers with fast-breathing pneumonia using World Health Organisation (WHO) integrated community case management guidelines. Cases were followed at days 5 and 14 by study data collectors, who assessed a range of pre-determined clinical features for treatment outcome. We built the prognostic model using eight pre-defined parameters, using multivariable logistic regression, validated through bootstrapping. Results We assessed 1,542 cases of which 769 were included (32% ineligible; 19% defaulted). The treatment failure rate was 15% at day 5 and relapse was 4% at day 14. Concurrent malaria diagnosis (OR: 1.62; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.47) and moderate malnutrition (OR: 1.88; 95% CI: 1.09, 3.26) were associated with treatment failure. The model demonstrated poor calibration and discrimination (c-statistic: 0.56). Conclusion This study suggests that it may be difficult to create a pragmatic community-level prognostic child pneumonia tool based solely on clinical markers and pulse oximetry in an HIV and malaria endemic setting. Further work is needed to identify more accurate and reliable referral algorithms that remain feasible for use by community health workers.
Architects in neural circuit design: Glia control neuron numbers and connectivity

Glia serve many important functions in the mature nervous system. In addition, these diverse cells have emerged as essential participants in nearly all aspects of neural development. Improved techniques to study neurons in the absence of glia, and to visualize and manipulate glia in vivo, have greatly expanded our knowledge of glial biology and neuron–glia interactions during development. Exciting studies in the last decade have begun to identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which glia exert control over neuronal circuit formation. Recent findings illustrate the importance of glial cells in shaping the nervous system by controlling the number and connectivity of neurons.
Athletes, runners, and joggers: participant-group dynamics in a sport of "individuals".

A figurational framework is employed to analyze aspects of the phenomenon of mass nonelite road running in Britain. More particularly, the paper explores the dynamics of identifiable participant-groups in a sport where, formally, all are in competition with all. The analysis of data derived, primarily from a series of interviews with a range of participants in Britain, indicates that there are three identifiable participant-groups involved in the sport. A distinction between “athletes” and others—a distinction between winners and losers—is widely recognized outside road running circles, but one between “runners” and “joggers” is not. This lack of general recognition gives rise to a tension between these groups, more acutely felt on the part of the runners, as they are faced with having to defend what they see as an important status difference.
Sampling Graphs with a Prescribed Joint Degree Distribution Using Markov Chains

One of the most influential results in network analysis is that many natural networks exhibit a power-law or log-normal degree distribution. This has inspired numerous generative models that match this property. However, more recent work has shown that while these generative models do have the right degree distribution, they are not good models for real life networks due to their differences on other important metrics like conductance. We believe this is, in part, because many of these real-world networks have very different joint degree distributions, i.e. the probability that a randomly selected edge will be between nodes of degree k and l. Assortativity is a sufficient statistic of the joint degree distribution, and it has been previously noted that social networks tend to be assortative, while biological and technological networks tend to be disassortative. We suggest that the joint degree distribution of graphs is an interesting avenue of study for further research into network structure. We provide a simple greedy algorithm for constructing simple graphs from a given joint degree distribution, and a Monte Carlo Markov Chain method for sampling them. We also show that the state space of simple graphs with a fixed degree distribution is connected via endpoint switches. We empirically evaluate the mixing time of this Markov Chain by using experiments based on the autocorrelation of each edge.
Corridors restore animal-mediated pollination in fragmented tropical forest landscapes

Tropical biodiversity and associated ecosystem functions have become heavily eroded through habitat loss. Animal-mediated pollination is required in more than 94% of higher tropical plant species and 75% of the world's leading food crops, but it remains unclear if corridors avert deforestation-driven pollination breakdown in fragmented tropical landscapes. Here, we used manipulative resource experiments and field observations to show that corridors functionally connect neotropical forest fragments for forest-associated hummingbirds and increase pollen transfer. Further, corridors boosted forest-associated pollinator availability in fragments by 14.3 times compared with unconnected equivalents, increasing overall pollination success. Plants in patches without corridors showed pollination rates equal to bagged control flowers, indicating pollination failure in isolated fragments. This indicates, for the first time, that corridors benefit tropical forest ecosystems beyond boosting local species richness, by functionally connecting mutualistic network partners. We conclude that small-scale adjustments to landscape configuration safeguard native pollinators and associated pollination services in tropical forest landscapes.
Clinically Relevant Chromosomally Encoded Multidrug Resistance Efflux Pumps in Bacteria

SUMMARY Efflux pump genes and proteins are present in both antibiotic-susceptible and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Pumps may be specific for one substrate or may transport a range of structurally dissimilar compounds (including antibiotics of multiple classes); such pumps can be associated with multiple drug (antibiotic) resistance (MDR). However, the clinical relevance of efflux-mediated resistance is species, drug, and infection dependent. This review focuses on chromosomally encoded pumps in bacteria that cause infections in humans. Recent structural data provide valuable insights into the mechanisms of drug transport. MDR efflux pumps contribute to antibiotic resistance in bacteria in several ways: (i) inherent resistance to an entire class of agents, (ii) inherent resistance to specific agents, and (iii) resistance conferred by overexpression of an efflux pump. Enhanced efflux can be mediated by mutations in (i) the local repressor gene, (ii) a global regulatory gene, (iii) the promoter region of the transporter gene, or (iv) insertion elements upstream of the transporter gene. Some data suggest that resistance nodulation division systems are important in pathogenicity and/or survival in a particular ecological niche. Inhibitors of various efflux pump systems have been described; typically these are plant alkaloids, but as yet no product has been marketed.
Cataract-specific posttranslational modifications and changes in the composition of urea-soluble protein fraction from the rat lens

Purpose To determine age-related changes in the composition of the urea-soluble (US) protein fraction from lenses of senescence-accelerated OXYS (cataract model) and Wistar (control) rats and to establish posttranslational modifications (PTMs) occurring under enhanced oxidative stress in OXYS lenses. Methods The identity and the relative abundance of crystallins in the US fractions were determined using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (MS). The identities and the positions of PTMs were established using MS/MS measurements. Results Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis maps of US protein fractions were obtained for lenses of 3-, 12-, and 62-week-old Wistar and OXYS rats, and the relative abundance of different isoforms of α-, β-, and γ-crystallins was determined. β-Crystallins were the major contributor of the US fraction in 3-week-old lenses (above 50%), γ-crystallins in 12-week-old lenses (50–60%), and in 62-week-old lenses, the contributions from all three crystallin families leveled out. The major interstrain difference was the elevated level of α-crystallins in the US fraction from 12-week-old OXYS lenses. Spots with increased relative abundance in OXYS maps were attributed to the cataract-specific spots of interest. The crystallins from these spots were subjected to MS/MS analysis, and the positions of acetylation, oxidation, deamidation, and phosphorylation were established. Conclusions The increased relative abundance of α-crystallins in the US fraction from 12-week-old OXYS lenses points to the fast insolubilization of α-crystallins under oxidative stress. Most of the PTMs attributed to the cataract-specific modifications also correspond to α-crystallins. These PTMs include oxidation of methionine residues, deamidation of asparagine and glutamine residues, and phosphorylation of serine and threonine residues.
Analysis of a triploid genetic algorithm over deceptive landscapes

This paper compares the performance of a canonical genetic algorithm (CGA) against that of the triploid genetic algorithm (TGA) introduced in [10], over a number of well known deceptive landscapes in order to increase our understanding of the TGA's ability to control convergence. The TGA incorporates a mechanism to control the convergence direction instead of simply increasing the population diversity. Results indicate that the TGA appears to have the highest level of difficulty in solving problems with a disordered pattern. While the disorder-mapping seems to improve the CGA's performance, it has a negative effect on the performance of the TGA. However, the results illustrate that the TGA performs better on problems with epistasis present.
Osmoregulation of Vasopressin Secretion via Activation of Neurohypophysial Nerve Terminals Glycine Receptors by Glial Taurine

Osmotic regulation of supraoptic nucleus (SON) neuron activity depends in part on activation of neuronal glycine receptors (GlyRs), most probably by taurine released from adjacent astrocytes. In the neurohypophysis in which the axons of SON neurons terminate, taurine is also concentrated in and osmo-dependently released by pituicytes, the specialized glial cells ensheathing nerve terminals. We now show that taurine release from isolated neurohypophyses is enhanced by hypo-osmotic and decreased by hyper-osmotic stimulation. The high osmosensitivity is shown by the significant increase on only 3.3% reduction in osmolarity. Inhibition of taurine release by 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid, niflumic acid, and 4,4′-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid suggests the involvement of volume-sensitive anion channels. On purified neurohypophysial nerve endings, activation of strychnine-sensitive GlyRs by taurine or glycine primarily inhibits the high K+-induced rise in [Ca2+]i and subsequent release of vasopressin. Expression of GlyRs in vasopressin and oxytocin terminals is confirmed by immunohistochemistry. Their implication in the osmoregulation of neurohormone secretion was assessed on isolated whole neurohypophyses. A 6.6% hypo-osmotic stimulus reduces by half the depolarization-evoked vasopressin secretion, an inhibition totally prevented by strychnine. Most importantly, depletion of taurine by a taurine transport inhibitor also abolishes the osmo-dependent inhibition of vasopressin release. Therefore, in the neurohypophysis, an osmoregulatory system involving pituicytes, taurine, and GlyRs is operating to control Ca2+ influx in and neurohormone release from nerve terminals. This elucidates the functional role of glial taurine in the neurohypophysis, reveals the expression of GlyRs on axon terminals, and further defines the role of glial cells in the regulation of neuroendocrine function.
The Acyl Desaturase CER 17 Is Involved in Producing Wax Unsaturated Primary Alcohols and Cutin Monomers 1 [ OPEN ]

Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden (X.Y., R.L., X.L., Z.W., S.L.), Sino-Africa Joint Research Center (S.L.), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Applied Biotechnology Center, Wuhan Institute of Bioengineering, Wuhan, 430415, China (H.Z.); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China (X.Y., X.L., Z.W.); Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557 (D.K.K.); U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center, Maricopa, Arizona 85138 (P.T., J.M.D.); Prairie State College, Chicago Heights, Illinois 60411 (E.P.P.); and Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506-6108 (M.A.J.)
Determinants of Household Savings in South Africa: An Econometric Approach (1990-2011)

This paper examines the determinants of household savings in South Africa over the period 1990-2011. Based on the life cycle hypothesis upon which the study is based as well as empirical literature, particular attention is paid to the effects of age dependency ratio, the level of household income, inflation and real interest rate on household savings. The study employs the Augmented Dickey-Fuller and Phillips Perron unit root tests to test for stationarity in the time series. The Johansen co-integration and the Error Correction Mechanism are employed to identify the long-run and short-run dynamics among the variables. The results of the study reveal that contrary to a theoretical expectation, the level of income and household savings are negatively related, implying that South African households do not only save but increasingly rely on debt to finance their spending. On the other hand age dependency ratio, inflation and real interest rate have positive long run relationships with household savings rate. The study recommends that the government should embark on counter-cyclical fiscal policy to avoid the development of excessive current account deficits during periods of more rapid economic growth, rising investment and falling saving. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014. v5n15p183
Custom processor design for efficient, yet flexible Lucas-Kanade optical flow

State-of-the-art solutions to optical flow fail to jointly offer high density flow estimation, low power consumption and real time operation, rendering them unsuitable for embedded applications. Joint hardware-software scalability at run-time is crucial to achieve these conflicting requirements in one device. This paper therefore presents a scalable Lucas-Kanade optical flow algorithm, together with a flexible power-optimized processor architecture. The C-programmable processor exploits algorithmic scalability through innovations in its memory structure, memory interface, and datapath optimized for efficient convolutions. Jointly, the scalable flow algorithm and optimized computer vision hardware platform enable applications to on-the-fly trade-off throughput and power consumption in function of flow density and accuracy. The processor chip is synthesized in 40nm CMOS technology and verified on FPGA. The architecture is capable of scaling the frame rate at run-time and processes 16fps of dense optical flow at 640×480 resolution with 15.06° average angular error, while only consuming 24mW.
Assessing the response of indigenous loquat cultivar Mardan to phytohormones for in vitro shoot proliferation and rooting

In vitro cultures of loquat cultivar Mardan were established using shoot apices after treating with NaOCl (5%, 7%, 10%, 12%, 14% (v/v)) for 12 min and HgCl2 (0.01%, 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.20%, 0.25% (w/v)) for 2 min. A maximum survival rate of 70% was recorded after surface sterilization with 10% NaOCl. Caulogenic response was assessed on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium fortified with assorted combinations of the cytokinins, benzylaminopurine (BAP), kinetin, and N6-(2-isopentyl)adenine (2iP). Treatment of BAP 1.5 mg/L combined with 2iP 9.0 mg/L and kinetin 1.5 mg/L was found to be optimum for shoot morphogenesis in terms of the number and subsequent growth of shoots, while the highest shoot length was yielded by the combination of BAP 0.5 mg/L, kinetin 0.5 mg/L, and 2iP 3 mg/L. Higher levels of cytokinins induced callogenesis, vitrification and stunted growth to some extent. For rhizogenesis, uniform sized micro-shoots were excised and transferred to half-strength MS medium containing auxins. The best rooting expression was observed with naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) 1 mg/L combined with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) 2 mg/L and paclobutrazol (PBZ) 1 mg/L.
Self-reported work ability in long-term breast cancer survivors. A population-based questionnaire study in Denmark

Abstract Background. Although up to 80% of women can return to work after treatment for breast cancer, maintaining an affiliation to the labour market may be a challenge, as shown by the fact that the risks for unemployment and early retirement are increased in the years after treatment of cancer. It is important to understand the work problems experienced by cancer survivors, including their ability to work. The aim of this study was to determine whether the ability of long-term breast cancer survivors to work was different from that of a cancer-free control group. Material and methods. In this population-based cross-sectional questionnaire study, 776 breast cancer survivors were matched with 1552 cancer-free women. Women with breast cancer diagnosed in 1997–2000 were identified in the Danish Cancer Registry, and the cancer-free controls were sampled from the Central Population Registry. Work ability was measured from a single question on the ‘work ability index’. Furthermore, the questionnaire contained questions on socioeconomic factors, health-related factors and factors related to the workplace. Results. The overall response rate was 57% (493 survivors and 830 controls). After exclusions, the study population consisted of 170 survivors and 391 controls. Women with a diagnosis of breast cancer who had survived at least five years and had returned to work reported significantly poorer work ability than cancer-free controls. In models with adjustment for socioeconomic factors, health-related factors and support at work, the factors most strongly associated with impaired work ability were low income, fatigue and little help and support from a supervisor. Conclusion. Our findings indicate that the work ability of long-term breast cancer survivors who are disease-free and back in work is impaired in comparison with that of cancer-free women.
Two-Year Prospective Study of Relative Risk of a Second Cerebral Concussion

Zemper ED: Two-year prospective study of relative risk of a second cerebral concussion. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 2003;82:653–659. Objective To prospectively measure the relative risk of cerebral concussion among those with a history of concussion compared with those having no previous concussions by using a population of high school and college football players. Design A representative national sample of high school and college football players was followed for two football seasons over a 2-yr period (1997–1998) as part of a national football injury surveillance project. There were a total of 15,304 player-seasons and over 1 million athlete-exposures to the possibility of injury in practices and games; 975 of the player-seasons (6.4%) had a history of concussion in the previous 5 yr. Results There were 572 concussions recorded, 161 among those with a history (16.5%) and 411 among those with no history (2.9%). Relative risk for individuals with a history of concussion is 5.8 times greater than for individuals with no history (95% confidence interval, 4.8–6.8). Conclusion This large prospective cohort study indicates the risk of sustaining a cerebral concussion is nearly six times greater for individuals with a history of concussion than for individuals with no such history.
3-D Pain Drawings–-Mobile Data Collection Using a PDA

A large number of the adult population suffers from some kind of back pain during their lifetime. Part of the process of diagnosing and treating such back pain is for a clinician to collect information as to the type and location of the pain that is being suffered. Traditional approaches to gathering and visualizing this pain data have relied on simple 2-D representations of the human body, where different types of sensation are recorded with various monochrome symbols. Although patients have been shown to prefer such drawings to traditional questionnaires, these pain drawings can be limited in their ability to accurately record pain. The work described in this paper proposes an alternative that uses a 3-D representation of the human body, which can be marked in color to visualize and record the pain data. This study has shown that the new approach is a promising development in this area of medical practice and has been positively received by patients and clinicians alike.
Running Speed in Mammals Increases with Muscle n-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Content

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are important dietary components that mammals cannot synthesize de novo. Beneficial effects of PUFAs, in particular of the n-3 class, for certain aspects of animal and human health (e.g., cardiovascular function) are well known. Several observations suggest, however, that PUFAs may also affect the performance of skeletal muscles in vertebrates. For instance, it has been shown that experimentally n-6 PUFA-enriched diets increase the maximum swimming speed in salmon. Also, we recently found that the proportion of PUFAs in the muscle phospholipids of an extremely fast runner, the brown hare (Lepus europaeus), are very high compared to other mammals. Therefore, we predicted that locomotor performance, namely running speed, should be associated with differences in muscle fatty acid profiles. To test this hypothesis, we determined phospholipid fatty acid profiles in skeletal muscles of 36 mammalian species ranging from shrews to elephants. We found that there is indeed a general positive, surprisingly strong relation between the n-6 PUFAs content in muscle phospholipids and maximum running speed of mammals. This finding suggests that muscle fatty acid composition directly affects a highly fitness-relevant trait, which may be decisive for the ability of animals to escape from predators or catch prey.