Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two-year mental health service use and course of remission in patients with substance use and posttraumatic stress disorders.

OBJECTIVE Comorbid diagnoses of substance abuse/dependence and posttraumatic stress disorder (SUD-PTSD) adversely affect substance abuse patients' treatment outcomes. Recently, several practices have been recommended for the treatment of SUD-PTSD patients based on empirical findings, including providing PTSD-specific care. Accordingly, this study examines the association between outpatient PTSD treatment and the long-term course of SUD-PTSD patients. METHOD Male substance abuse/dependence patients (N = 125) with a comorbid diagnosis of PTSD completed 1-and 2-year follow-ups. Based on these reports, 26 patients were stably remitted from substance abuse, 39 were partially remitted and 60 were not remitted at either follow-up. These three groups were compared on mental health service use indices gathered from patients' self-reports of inpatient treatment and nationwide Veterans Affairs (VA) databases abstracting outpatient visits. RESULTS SUD-PTSD patients who attended more outpatient substance abuse, psychiatric and PTSD services in the first year following treatment (and cumulatively over the 2-year follow-up) were more likely to maintain a stable course of remission from substance use in the 2 years following inpatient SUD treatment. When the three types of sessions were examined in regression analyses, PTSD sessions in the second year and the total number of PTSD sessions over the 2 years following the index treatment episode emerged as the most significant predictors of remission. Self-help group participation was also associated with a remitted course for SUD-PTSD patients. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that PTSD-focused treatment services are an essential treatment component for substance abuse/dependence patients with PTSD.
Antimicrobial activity of bone cements embedded with organic nanoparticles

Infections after orthopedic surgery are a very unwelcome outcome; despite the widespread use of antibiotics, their incidence can be as high as 10%. This risk is likely to increase as antibiotics are gradually losing efficacy as a result of bacterial resistance; therefore, novel antimicrobial approaches are required. Parabens are a class of compounds whose antimicrobial activity is employed in many cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. We developed propylparaben nanoparticles that are hydrophilic, thus expanding the applicability of parabens to aqueous systems. In this paper we assess the possibility of employing paraben nanoparticles as antimicrobial compound in bone cements. The nanoparticles were embedded in various types of bone cement (poly(methyl methacrylate) [PMMA], hydroxyapatite, and brushite) and the antimicrobial activity was determined against common causes of postorthopedic surgery infections such as: Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Acinetobacter baumannii. Nanoparticles at concentrations as low as 1% w/w in brushite bone cement were capable of preventing pathogens growth, 5% w/w was needed for hydroxyapatite bone cement, while 7% w/w was required for PMMA bone cement. No detrimental effect was determined by the addition of paraben nanoparticles on bone cement compression strength and cytocompatibility. Our results demonstrate that paraben nanoparticles can be encapsulated in bone cement, providing concentration-dependent antimicrobial activity; furthermore, lower concentrations are needed in calcium phosphate (brushite and hydroxyapatite) than in acrylic (PMMA) bone cements. These nanoparticles are effective against a wide spectrum of bacteria, including those already resistant to the antibiotics routinely employed in orthopedic applications, such as gentamicin.
Geopotential determination based on a direct clock comparison using two-way satellite time and frequency transfer

According to Einstein’s general relativity theory, a precise (atomic) clock runs faster at a position with higher gravitational potential than a clock at a position with lower potential. Here, we provide a direct clock comparison using a fixed hydrogen clock and a portable hydrogen clock for geopotential determination based on the two-way satellite time and frequency transfer (TWSTFT) technique. After synchronizing the two hydrogen clocks at positions at the same height, the clocks were compared for a height difference of 22 m over a period of 14 days using the TWSTFT technique. Interpretation of the observed time elapse implies a height difference of 175 m +/59 m, which matches the frequency stability of our instruments. This study and relevant experiments provide a way of determining the geopotential using ultrahigh precise clocks based on the TWSTFT technique in the near future. Article history: Received 22 February 2018
A Unified Account of Perceptual Layering and Surface Appearance in Terms of Gamut Relativity

When we look at the world—or a graphical depiction of the world—we perceive surface materials (e.g. a ceramic black and white checkerboard) independently of variations in illumination (e.g. shading or shadow) and atmospheric media (e.g. clouds or smoke). Such percepts are partly based on the way physical surfaces and media reflect and transmit light and partly on the way the human visual system processes the complex patterns of light reaching the eye. One way to understand how these percepts arise is to assume that the visual system parses patterns of light into layered perceptual representations of surfaces, illumination and atmospheric media, one seen through another. Despite a great deal of previous experimental and modelling work on layered representation, however, a unified computational model of key perceptual demonstrations is still lacking. Here we present the first general computational model of perceptual layering and surface appearance—based on a boarder theoretical framework called gamut relativity—that is consistent with these demonstrations. The model (a) qualitatively explains striking effects of perceptual transparency, figure-ground separation and lightness, (b) quantitatively accounts for the role of stimulus- and task-driven constraints on perceptual matching performance, and (c) unifies two prominent theoretical frameworks for understanding surface appearance. The model thereby provides novel insights into the remarkable capacity of the human visual system to represent and identify surface materials, illumination and atmospheric media, which can be exploited in computer graphics applications.
Fitness of Anopheline Mosquitoes Expressing Transgenes That Inhibit Plasmodium Development

One potential strategy for the control of malaria and other vector-borne diseases is the introduction into wild vector populations of genetic constructs that reduce vectorial capacity. An important caveat of this approach is that the genetic construct should have minimal fitness cost to the transformed vector. Previously, we produced transgenic Anopheles stephensi expressing either of two effector genes, a tetramer of the SM1 dodecapeptide or the phospholipase A2 gene (PLA2) from honeybee venom. Mosquitoes carrying either of these transgenes were impaired for Plasmodium berghei transmission. We have investigated the role of two effector genes for malaria parasite blockage in terms of the fitness imposed to the mosquito vector that expresses either molecule. By measuring mosquito survival, fecundity, fertility, and by running population cage experiments, we found that mosquitoes transformed with the SM1 construct showed no significant reduction in these fitness parameters relative to nontransgenic controls. The PLA2 transgenics, however, had reduced fitness that seemed to be independent of the insertion site of the transgene. We conclude that the fitness load imposed by refractory gene(s)-expressing mosquitoes depends on the effect of the transgenic protein produced in that mosquito. These results have important implications for implementation of malaria control via genetic modification of mosquitoes.
The effect of personality on measures of quality of life related to vision in glaucoma patients

Aim: To determine the effect of personality on vision-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Methods: Based on power calculations, 148 individuals diagnosed as having glaucoma or ocular hypertension, without ocular comorbidity, were selected using criteria that included age over 30, no recent or upcoming surgery, the absence of a diagnosis of clinical depression or any other psychiatric illness. Qualifying participants completed the 25-Item National Eye Institute’s Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ), the Neuroticism, Extraversion and Openness Personality Inventory Revised (NEO PI-R) and the 15-Item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), and provided information regarding their demographic characteristics and past medical history. Each patient also underwent an ocular examination. Data analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between NEO PI-R personality profiles and VFQ scoring, while controlling for the effects of a range of demographic, psychiatric, past medical and clinical ophthalmic variables. Results: Multivariate analysis indicated that after controlling for a range of covariates, three out of five NEO PI-R personality domains shared statistically significant associations with a variety of VFQ total and subscale score measurements. Conclusion: Normal variations in personality characteristics influence how patients report their vision-specific HRQoL.
THE PREVALENCE OF HELMINTH EGGS IN THE SOIL OF ABUJA RECREATIONAL PARKS AND GARDENS, ABUJA NIGERIA

ATHESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN VETERINARY PUBLIC HEALTH AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE DEPARTMENT OF VETERINARY PUBLIC HEALTH AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE, FACULTY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA May, 2011
Identification of the Primary Lesion of Toxic Aluminum in Plant Roots1[OPEN]

The primary mechanism of aluminum toxicity was found to be apoplastic, with aluminum binding to the cell wall inhibiting loosening required for root elongation. Despite the rhizotoxicity of aluminum (Al) being identified over 100 years ago, there is still no consensus regarding the mechanisms whereby root elongation rate is initially reduced in the approximately 40% of arable soils worldwide that are acidic. We used high-resolution kinematic analyses, molecular biology, rheology, and advanced imaging techniques to examine soybean (Glycine max) roots exposed to Al. Using this multidisciplinary approach, we have conclusively shown that the primary lesion of Al is apoplastic. In particular, it was found that 75 µm Al reduced root growth after only 5 min (or 30 min at 30 µm Al), with Al being toxic by binding to the walls of outer cells, which directly inhibited their loosening in the elongation zone. An alteration in the biosynthesis and distribution of ethylene and auxin was a second, slower effect, causing both a transient decrease in the rate of cell elongation after 1.5 h but also a longer term gradual reduction in the length of the elongation zone. These findings show the importance of focusing on traits related to cell wall composition as well as mechanisms involved in wall loosening to overcome the deleterious effects of soluble Al.
Joint Learning of Entity Linking Constraints Using a Markov-Logic Network

Entity linking (EL) is the task of linking a textual named entity mention to a knowledge base entry. Traditional approaches have addressed the problem by dividing the task into separate stages: entity recognition/classification, entity filtering, and entity mapping, in which different constraints are used to improve the system's performance. Nevertheless, these constraints are executed separately and cannot be used interactively. In this paper, we propose an integrated solution to the task based on a Markov logic network (MLN). We show how the stage decision can be formulated and combined in an MLN. We conducted experiments on the biomedical EL task, gene mention linking (GML), and compared our model's performance with those of two other GML approaches. Our experimental results provide the first comprehensive GML evaluations from three different perspectives: article-wide precision/recall/F-measure (PRF), instance-based PRF, and question answering accuracy. This paper also provides formal definitions of all of the above EL tasks. Experimental results show that our method outperforms the baseline and state-of-the-art systems under all three evaluation schemes.
Global routing by new approximation algorithms for multicommodityflow

We show how the new approximation algorithms by Garg and Konemann with extensions due to Fleischer for the multicommodity flow problem can be modified to solve the linear programming relaxation of the global routing problem. Implementation issues to improve the performance, such as a discussion of different functions for the dual variables and how to use the Newton method as an additional optimization step, are given. It is shown that not only the maximum relative congestion is minimized, but the congestion of the edges is distributed equally such that the solution is optimal in a well-defined sense: the vector of the relative congestion of the edges sorted in nonincreasing order is minimal by lexicographic order. This is an important step toward improving signal integrity by extra spacing between wires. Finally, we show how the weighted netlength can be minimized. Our computational results with recent IBM processor chips show that this approach can be used in practice even for large chips and that it is superior on difficult instances where ripup and reroute algorithms fail.
Uncertainty in Satellite estimate of Global Mean Sea Level changes, trend and acceleration

Abstract. Satellite altimetry missions now provide more than 25 years of accurate, continuous and quasi-global measurements of sea level along the reference ground track of TOPEX/Poseidon. These measurements are used by different groups to build the Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL) record, an essential climate change indicator. Estimating a realistic uncertainty of the GMSL record is of crucial importance for climate studies such as estimating precisely the current rate and acceleration of sea level, analyzing the closure of the sea level budget, understanding the causes of sea level rise, detecting and attributing the response of sea level to anthropogenic activity, or estimating the Earth energy imbalance. (Ablain et al., 2015) estimated the uncertainty of the GMSL trend over the period 1993–2014 by thoroughly analyzing the error budget of the satellite altimeters and showed that it amounts to ±0.5 mm/yr (90 % confidence level). In this study, we extend (Ablain et al., 2015) analysis by providing a comprehensive description of the uncertainties in the satellite GMSL record. We analyse 25 years of satellite altimetry data and estimate for the first time the error variance-covariance matrix for the GMSL record with a time resolution of 10 days. Three types of errors are modelled (drifts, biases, noise) and combined together to derive a realistic estimate of the GMSL error variance-covariance matrix. From the error variance-covariance matrix we derive a 90 % confidence envelop of the GMSL record on a 10-day basis. Then we use a least square approach and the error variance-covariance matrix to estimate the GMSL trend and acceleration uncertainties over any time periods of 5 years and longer in between October 1992 and December 2017. Over 1993–2017 we find a GMSL trend of 3.35 ± 0.4 mm/yr within a 90 % Confidence Level (CL) and a GMSL acceleration of 0.12 ± 0.07 mm/yr2 (90 % CL). This is in agreement (within error bars) with previous studies. The full GMSL error variance-covariance matrix is freely available online: https://doi.org/10.17882/58344 (Ablain et al., 2018).
Scalable, High Performance Fourier Domain Optical Coherence Tomography: Why FPGAs and Not GPGPUs

Fourier Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (FD-OCT) is an emerging biomedical imaging technology featuring ultra-high resolution and fast imaging speed. Due to the complexity of the FD-OCT algorithm, real time FD-OCT imaging demands high performance computing platforms. However, the scaling of real-time FD-OCT processing for increasing data acquisition rates and 3-dimensional (3D) imaging is quickly outpacing the performance of general purpose processors. Our research analyzes the scalability of accelerating FD-OCT processing on two potential implementation platforms: General Purpose Graphical Processing Units (GPGPUs) and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). We implemented a complete FD-OCT system using a NVIDIA GPGPU as co-processor, with a speed up of 6.9x over general purpose processors (GPPs). We also created a hardware processing engine using FPGAs with a speed up of 15.5x over GPPs for a single pipeline, which can be replicated to further increase performance. Our analysis of the performance and scalability for both platforms shows that, while GPGPUs offer an easy and low cost solution for accelerating FD-OCT, FPGAs are more likely to match the long term demands for real-time, 3D, FD-OCT imaging.
Knowledge, attitude and practice of municipal solid waste management among highland residents in Northern Thailand

Purpose Chiang Rai is the northernmost province of Thailand. Municipal solid wastes (MSWs) was generated 430,828.2 ton/y in this area; however, only 24 percent of waste was properly disposed, and 43 percent of waste was properly managed. The purpose of this paper is to explore knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of highland residents in order to provide a basis for the development of waste management in the study area. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional study was conducted in Mae Fah Luang district, Thailand, from November 2016 to January 2017. A random sample of 451 respondents constituted the study population. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire. Pearson Correlation and χ2 were applied to identify the association among variables. Findings Overall, 73 percent of respondents had high level of knowledge; 85 percent of respondents showed neutral attitude; and 59 percent of respondents performed moderate practice on MSW management. The results highlighted that age and education levels were statistically significant associated with KAP levels on MSW management at (p=0.05). Originality/value The respondents who have good knowledge also have a good level of practice; and those who have good attitude also have a good level of practice. Socio-demographic factors and suitable way to promote an effective MSW management should be considered.
Soft-to-Hard Vector Quantization for End-to-End Learning Compressible Representations

We present a new approach to learn compressible representations in deep architectures with an end-to-end training strategy. Our method is based on a soft (continuous) relaxation of quantization and entropy, which we anneal to their discrete counterparts throughout training. We showcase this method for two challenging applications: Image compression and neural network compression. While these tasks have typically been approached with different methods, our soft-to-hard quantization approach gives results competitive with the state-of-the-art for both.
Alkyl-Glycerol Rescues Plasmalogen Levels and Pathology of Ether-Phospholipid Deficient Mice

A deficiency of plasmalogens, caused by impaired peroxisomal metabolism affects normal development and multiple organs in adulthood. Treatment options aimed at restoring plasmalogen levels may be relevant for the therapy of peroxisomal and non-peroxisomal disorders. In this study we determined the in vivo efficacy of an alkyl glycerol (AG), namely, 1-O-octadecyl-rac-glycerol, as a therapeutic agent for defects in plasmalogen synthesis. To achieve this, Pex7 knockout mice, a mouse model for Rhizomelic Chondrodysplasia Punctata type 1 characterized by the absence of plasmalogens, and WT mice were fed a control diet or a diet containing 2% alkyl-glycerol. Plasmalogen levels were measured in target organs and the biochemical data were correlated with the histological analysis of affected organs. Plasmalogen levels in all peripheral tissues of Pex7 KO mice fed the AG diet for 2 months normalized to the levels of AG fed WT mice. In nervous tissues of Pex7 KO mice fed the AG-diet, plasmalogen levels were significantly increased compared to control fed KO mice. Histological analysis of target organs revealed that the AG-diet was able to stop the progression of the pathology in testis, adipose tissue and the Harderian gland. Interestingly, the latter tissues are characterized by the presence of lipid droplets which were absent or reduced in size and number when ether-phospholipids are lacking, but which can be restored with the AAG treatment. Furthermore, nerve conduction in peripheral nerves was improved. When given prior to the occurrence of major pathological changes, the AG-diet prevented or ameliorated the pathology observed in Pex7 KO mice depending on the degree of plasmalogen restoration. This study provides evidence of the beneficial effects of treating a plasmalogen deficiency with alkyl-glycerol.
THE EFFECTS OF THE . AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT GOVERNOR TRAINING COURSES ON FIELD INDEPENDENCE , CREATIVITY , INTELLIGENCE , AND BEHAVIORAL FLEXIBILITY

Controlled, longitudinal studies showed that field independence, creativity, intelligence, and behavioral flexibility are increased by Age of Enlightenment Governor Training Courses in which course participants learn and practice the "sidhis"-procedures in which natural and evolutionary desires are effortlessly projected from the deepest level of the mind to result in materialization at the level of experience and physiological performance. -EDITORS
Risk of Fungi Associated with Aflatoxin and Fumonisin in Medicinal Herbal Products in the Kenyan Market

Utilization of herbal products is a major concern due to the possibility of contamination by toxigenic fungi that are mycotoxin producers such as Aspergillus species during processing and packaging. Research was carried out to determine the presence of aflatoxins and fumonisins in herbal medicinal products sold in Eldoret and Mombasa towns in Kenya. The study employed both exploratory and laboratory experimental design. The herbal products were purchased from the market and transported to Kenya Medical Research Institute for processing and analysis. Fungal contaminants were determined according to Pharmacopoeia specifications. The toxins were quantified using ELISA based technique. The genus Aspergillus was the most dominant followed by Penicillium. Fungal counts ranged between 1 CFU/g and >1000 cfu/g. Analysis of variance showed that the rate of fungal contaminants for Eldoret and Mombasa samples had significant association (p ≤ 0.001). Aflatoxin levels ranged from 1 to 24 ppb, while fumonisin levels ranged from 1 to >20 ppb. Only 31% of samples met the standards for microbial limits as specified in Pharmacopoeia. There is need for product microbial quality improvement through proper harvesting, processing, storage, and marketing. It is recommended that a policy be enacted to enable regulation of herbal products in Kenya.