Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feeding practices among Indonesian children above six months of age: a literature review on their magnitude and quality (part 1).

BACKGROUND In Indonesia, 37% of children under-five are stunted, 12% wasted and 12% overweight. Adequate feeding practices among children above 6 months of age are critical to tackle malnutrition. National surveys have been conducted to assess feeding practices but these aggregates hide geographic disparities. While several studies have been conducted in specific country locations to address this gap, no attempt has been made to reconcile available information. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the literature on feeding practices among Indonesian children above six months of age. METHODS A literature search was conducted in several databases using combinations of different search terms: feeding, child, Indonesia, MPASI/complementary feeding, gizi/nutrition, factor, determinant, praktek/practices. All documents were reviewed using a three-step procedure to assess content appropriateness and research quality. Available information was analyzed using current recommendations on feeding practices. RESULTS Dietary diversity, consumption of iron-rich foods, active feeding and hygiene practices were among the non-optimal feeding practices. Consequently dietary intakes are not fulfilled for several micronutrients. Some feeding practices are worst in younger children. Differences between data from national and site-specific surveys are noted. Overall quality of the surveys needs to be strengthened. CONCLUSIONS Generally, child feeding practices are not optimal. Indicators used to assess components of child feeding vary and make inter-survey comparisons challenging. The results also stress the need to investigate the underlying factors to optimal child feeding practices. The results may be used for advocacy of additional resource allocation for effective child feeding promotion programs.
Development of an Implantable Artificial Anal Sphincter by the Use of the Shape Memory Alloy

In this study, we developed and assessed an artificial anal sphincter driven by an shape memory alloy actuator (AS-SMA). The performance characteristics of the device were analyzed with a measurement system. Assessment showed that the AS-SMA could generate a pressure of 55 mm Hg at an atmospheric temperature of 36°C, and displacement of the SMA actuator was 7.5 mm when the temperature of the SMA plate was 55°C. To evaluate opening and closing, we studied a piglet colostomy model, in which the AS-SMA was implanted around the colostomy in the extraperitoneal space. Flow control tests using living porcine intestine revealed that the AS-SMA could maintain fecal continence against an intestinal pressure of 75 mm Hg. The high pressure zone corresponding to the location of the device was demonstrated in a manometric examination. For 6 days after surgery, we activated the AS-SMA twice a day and observed the bowel movements. The animal experiment indicated that the AS-SMA is able to control the bowel movements of patients with fecal incontinence if several problems, such as burning of tissue around the device and compression injury of the intestine, are resolved.
PowerDB-IR: information retrieval on top of a database cluster

Our current concern is a scalable infrastructure for information retrieval (IR) with up-to-date retrieval results in the presence of frequent, continuous updates. Timely processing of updates is important with novel application domains, e.g., e-commerce. We want to use off-the-self hardware and software as much as possible. These issues are challenging, given the additional requirement that the resulting system must scale well. We have built PowerDB-IR, a system that has the characteristics sought. This paper describes its design, implementation, and evaluation. PowerDB-IR is a coordination layer for a database cluster. The rationale behind a database cluster is to 'scale-out', i.e., to add further cluster nodes, whenever necessary for better performance. We build on IR-to-database mappings and service decomposition to support high-level parallelism. We follow a three-tier architecture with the database cluster as the bottom layer for storage management. The middle tier provides IR-specific processing and update services. PowerDB-IR has the following features: It allows to insert and retrieve documents concurrently, and it ensures freshness with almost no overhead. Alternative physical data organization schemes provide adequate performance for different workloads. Query processing techniques for the different data organizations efficiently integrate the ranked retrieval results from the cluster nodes. We have run extensive experiments with our prototype using commercial database systems and middleware software products. The main result is that PowerDB-IR shows surprisingly ideal scalability and low response times.
Effect of immunoglobulin G isotype on the infectivity of Chlamydia trachomatis in a mouse model of intravaginal infection

It has been previously shown with an in vitro neutralization system that monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to the major outer membrane protein (MOMP) of Chlamydia trachomatis, depending on the isotype of the MAb and the host cell used, can either neutralize or enhance the infectivity of this organism. MAbs to variable domain 4 (VD 4) of MOMP have been described that neutralize the infectivity of C. trachomatis when tested in a system in which either the host cell does not have detectable Fc gammaRIII receptors or complement is added to block the interaction of the MAb with the receptor. However, if Fc gammaRIII receptors are available, immunoglobulin G2b (IgG2b) MAbs to the VD 4 are able to enhance the infectivity of this pathogen. Two MAbs that recognize the sequence TLNPTIA in VD 4 of the MOMP but differ in isotype, E4 (IgG2b) and E21 (IgG1), were used to test whether in vivo the isotype of the MAb modulates the outcome of a vaginal infection in a murine model. A third MAb, CP33 (IgG2b), that recognizes the chlamydial lipopolysaccharide but does not neutralize infectivity of C. trachomatis, was also tested. Elementary bodies (EBs) of C. trachomatis, serovar E (BOUR), were pretreated with the three MAbs and were used to inoculate the vaginas of C3H/HeJ mice which had been pretreated with progesterone. Subsequently mice were monitored over a 5-week period with vaginal cultures. In the groups that were inoculated with EBs pretreated with MAbs directed to VD 4 of MOMP, there was a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in the number of mice infected. Only 30% of the mice were infected in the MAb E4-treated group, and 10% were infected in the MAb E21 group. This was in contrast to the groups inoculated with EBs pretreated with MAb CP33 and control untreated EBs, which resulted in 100 and 79% of the mice infected, respectively. Therefore, in this setting in which EBs were introduced in vivo coated with MAb, there was no enhancement of infection by IgG2b MAbs; rather, the results paralled the in vitro neutralization results, in which cells lacking Fc gammaRIII receptors were employed. Mice were also given the MAbs, as well as purified IgG as a control, by intraperitoneal injection before and after intravaginal inoculation with C. trachomatis. Despite relatively high levels of MAbs in serum and detectable levels of MAbs in the vagina at the time of infection, there was only modest protection in animals receiving MAb E21, with 60% of the mice infected in contrast to 90% of the mice receiving MAb E4, MAb CP33, and IgG. However, by the second week of infection compared to controls, there was a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the amount of chlamydiae recovered from the vaginas of mice that had received the two IgG2b MAbs, E4 and CP33. In summary, the presence of IgG2b MAbs directed to surface components of C. trachomatis at certain times during the course of infection may play a role in enhancing the infectivity of this pathogen.
Frontotemporal Dementia: Paroxetine as a Possible Treatment of Behavior Symptoms

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) represents an important cause for degenerative disruption and is increasingly recognized as an important cause (up to 25%) of degenerative dementia among late-middle-age individuals. The serotoninergic system is tightly bound to frontal circuits, whose degeneration subserves FTD. Patients aged 64–68 years, with a diagnosis of FTD, were randomized to receive paroxetine up to 20 mg/day (n = 8) or piracetam up to 1,200 mg/day (n = 8). At 14 months, the patients treated with paroxetine showed significant improvements in behavioral symptoms, reflected by a reduction of caregiver stress. Side effects were easily tolerable, and there was no dropout. The results are presented with an overview of the literature on the topic.
Cumulus cells secrete a meiosi‐inducing substance by stimulation with forskolin and dibutyric cyclic adenosine monophosphate

The role of the cumulus cells in initiating the resumption of meiosis after exposure to forskolin and dbcAMP was studied in the mouse. The resumption of meiosis was monitored by the percentage of germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and polar body formation (PB). The cumulus‐enclosed oocytes (CEO) and denuded oocytes (DO) were cultured with and without hypoxanthine (HX) in the culture medium.
Effect of cooking brassica vegetables on the subsequent hydrolysis and metabolic fate of glucosinolates

The protective effects of brassica vegetables against cancer may be partly related to their glucosinolate content. Glucosinolates are hydrolysed by plant myrosinase following damage of plant tissue. Isothiocyanates are one of the main groups of metabolites of glucosinolates and are implicated in the preventive effect against cancer. During cooking of brassica the glucosinolate–myrosinase system may be modified as a result of inactivation of plant myrosinase, loss of enzymic cofactors such as epithiospecifier protein, thermal breakdown and/or leaching of glucosinolates and their metabolites or volatilisation of metabolites. Cooking brassica affects the site of release of breakdown products of glucosinolates, which is the upper gastrointestinal tract following consumption of raw brassica containing active plant myrosinase. After consumption of cooked brassica devoid of plant myrosinase glucosinolates are hydrolysed in the colon under the action of the resident microflora. Feeding trials with human subjects have shown that hydrolysis of glucosinolates and absorption of isothiocyanates are greater following ingestion of raw brassica with active plant myrosinase than after consumption of the cooked plant with denatured myrosinase. The digestive fate of glucosinolates may be further influenced by the extent of cell rupture during ingestion, gastrointestinal transit time, meal composition, individual genotype and differences in colonic microflora. These sources of variation may partly explain the weak epidemiological evidence relating consumption of brassica to prevention against cancer. An understanding of the biochemical changes occurring during cooking and ingestion of brassica may help in the design of more robust epidemiological studies to better evaluate the protective effects of brassica against cancer.
Convex Deep Learning via Normalized Kernels

Deep learning has been a long standing pursuit in machine learning, which until recently was hampered by unreliable training methods before the discovery of improved heuristics for embedded layer training. A complementary research strategy is to develop alternative modeling architectures that admit efficient training methods while expanding the range of representable structures toward deep models. In this paper, we develop a new architecture for nested nonlinearities that allows arbitrarily deep compositions to be trained to global optimality. The approach admits both parametric and nonparametric forms through the use of normalized kernels to represent each latent layer. The outcome is a fully convex formulation that is able to capture compositions of trainable nonlinear layers to arbitrary depth.
Psychometric evaluation of the Major Depression Inventory among young people living in Coastal Kenya

Background: The lack of reliable, valid and adequately standardized measures of mental illnesses in sub-Saharan Africa is a key challenge for epidemiological studies on mental health. We evaluated the psychometric properties and feasibility of using a computerized version of the Major Depression Inventory (MDI) in an epidemiological study in rural Kenya. Methods: We surveyed 1496 participants aged 13-24 years in Kilifi County, on the Kenyan coast. The MDI was administered using a computer-assisted system, available in three languages. Internal consistency was evaluated using both Cronbach’s alpha and the Omega Coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to evaluate the factorial structure of the MDI. Results: Internal consistency using both Cronbach’s Alpha (α= 0.83) and the Omega Coefficient (0.82; 95% confidence interval 0.81- 0.83) was above acceptable thresholds. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit of the data to a unidimensional model of MDI (χ 2 (33, N = 1409) = 178.52 p < 0.001, TLI = 0.947, CFI = 0.961, and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation, RMSEA = . 056), and this was confirmed using Item Response Models (Loevinger’s H coefficient 0.38) that proved the MDI was a unidimensional scale. Equivalence evaluation indicated invariance across sex and age groups. In our population, 3.6% of the youth presented with scores suggesting major depression using the ICD-10 scoring algorithm, and 8.7% presented with total scores indicating presence of depression (mild, moderate or severe). Females and older youth were at the highest risk of depression. Conclusions: The MDI has good psychometric properties. Given its brevity, relative ease of usage and ability to identify at-risk youth, it may be useful for epidemiological studies of depression in Africa. Studies to establish clinical thresholds for depression are recommended. The high prevalence of depressive symptoms suggests that depression may be an important public health problem in this population group.
Multilocus Sequence Typing for Comparison of Veterinary and Human Isolates of Campylobacter jejuni

ABSTRACT Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) has been applied to 266 Campylobacter jejuni isolates, mainly from veterinary sources, including cattle, sheep, poultry, pigs, pets, and the environment, as well as isolates from human cases of campylobacteriosis. The populations of veterinary and human isolates overlap, suggesting that most veterinary sources should be considered reservoirs of pathogenic campylobacters. There were some associations between source and sequence type complex, indicating that host or source adaptation may exist. The pig isolates formed a distinct group by MLST and may well represent a potential pig-adapted clone of C. jejuni. A subset (n = 82) of isolates was reanalyzed with a second MLST scheme which provided a unique set of isolates that had been analyzed at a total of 12 loci. The distribution of isolates among the complexes in each of the two schemes was similar but not identical. In addition to isolates from human outbreaks, one group of isolates that were not epidemiologically linked was also identical at all 12 loci. This group of isolates is believed to represent another stable strain of C. jejuni.
Contact‐dependent aggregation of functional Ca2+ channels, synaptic vesicles and postsynaptic receptors in active zones of a neuromuscular junction

To examine whether Ca2+ channels aggregate in a contact‐dependent manner, we characterized the distribution of synaptic vesicles and postsynaptic receptors, and compared it to the location of Ca2+ entry sites, in a Xenopus laevis nerve‐muscle coculture preparation using a localized Ca2+ detection method. The majority (75%) of Ca2+ entry sites at spontaneously formed nerve–muscle contacts were associated with enhanced immunofluorescence to the synaptic vesicle protein, SV2. In contrast, only 11% of recorded sites without Ca2+ transients exhibited significant SV2 immunofluorescence. When comparing the spatial distribution of synaptic markers with that of Ca2+ entry sites, we found that the majority of Ca2+ entry sites (61%) were associated with both enhanced SV2 immunofluorescence and R‐BTX fluorescence, thereby identifying putative neurotransmitter release sites where Ca2+ channels, synaptic vesicles and postsynaptic receptors are colocalized. Using polystyrene beads coated with a heparin binding protein known to mediate in vitro postsynaptic receptor clustering, we show that the location of Ca2+ domains was associated with enhanced SV2 immunofluorescence at neurite‐to‐bead contacts. We conclude that the localization of functional Ca2+ channels to putative active zones follows a contact‐dependent signalling mechanism similar to that known to mediate vesicle aggregation and AChR clustering.
Hurricane Katrina's Carbon Footprint on U.S. Gulf Coast Forests

Hurricane Katrina's impact on U.S. Gulf Coast forests was quantified by linking ecological field studies, Landsat and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image analyses, and empirically based models. Within areas affected by relatively constant wind speed, tree mortality and damage exhibited strong species-controlled gradients. Spatially explicit forest disturbance maps coupled with extrapolation models predicted mortality and severe structural damage to ~320 million large trees totaling 105 teragrams of carbon, representing 50 to 140% of the net annual U.S. forest tree carbon sink. Changes in disturbance regimes from increased storm activity expected under a warming climate will reduce forest biomass stocks, increase ecosystem respiration, and may represent an important positive feedback mechanism to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Associations between maternal risk factors of adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes and the offspring epigenetic clock of gestational age at birth

Background: A recent study has shown that it is possible to accurately estimate gestational age (GA) at birth from the DNA methylation (DNAm) of fetal umbilical cord blood/newborn blood spots. This DNAm GA predictor may provide additional information relevant to developmental stage. In 814 mother-neonate pairs, we evaluated the associations between DNAm GA and a number of maternal and offspring characteristics. These characteristics reflect prenatal environmental adversity and are expected to influence newborn developmental stage. Results: DNAm GA acceleration (GAA; i.e., older DNAm GA than chronological GA) of the offspring at birth was associated with maternal age of over 40 years at delivery, pre-eclampsia and fetal demise in a previous pregnancy, maternal pre-eclampsia and treatment with antenatal betamethasone in the index pregnancy, lower neonatal birth size, lower 1-min Apgar score, and female sex. DNAm GA deceleration (GAD; i.e., younger DNAm GA than chronological GA) of the offspring at birth was associated with insulin-treated gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in a previous pregnancy and Sjögren ’ s syndrome. These findings were more accentuated when the DNAm GA calculation was based on the raw difference between DNAm GA and GA than on the residual from the linear regression of DNAm GA on GA. Conclusions: Our findings show that variations in the DNAm GA of the offspring at birth are associated with a number of maternal and offspring characteristics known to reflect exposure to prenatal environmental adversity. Future studies should be aimed at determining if this biological variation is predictive of developmental adversity.
Interactive Visualization of Multidimensional Data

Information visualization techniques can aid us in gaining insight into abstract and complex data, and help us when we need to form a mental image thereof. One of the challenging areas in information visualization is the visualization of multidimensional data. The problem arises when we need to consider a large number of data variables and their relationships simultaneously, often without a well-defined understanding of what to look for. Information acquisition can be amplified through interaction with the visualization. Visualizations of multidimensional data are often visually complex, and interaction allows users to inspect and probe the presentation for better comprehension. This thesis studies interaction in three conceptually different visualization techniques for multidimensional data: the reorderable matrix, parallel coordinates, and interactive glyphs. The first two can be regarded as classic information visualization techniques, and the third is an interactive variant of a classic technique that is used in print media. In addition to gaining, and thus offering, better understanding of the interaction in these techniques, improvements to them are suggested and evaluated. The three techniques were studied by implementing a number of interactive prototypes and performing controlled experiments with them. Human-computer interaction research practices were followed by using an incremental development approach and augmenting the controlled experiments with usability evaluation techniques. The results include a new technique for processing a reorderable matrix visualization, enhancements to the user interface of parallel coordinate browsers, and a new visualization technique based on data glyphs and small multiple visualizations.
Hypothalamic sensing of circulating lactate regulates glucose production

Emerging studies indicate that hypothalamic hormonal signalling pathways and nutrient metabolism regulate glucose homeostasis in rodents. Although hypothalamic lactate‐sensing mechanisms have been described to lower glucose production (GP), it is currently unknown whether the hypothalamus senses lactate in the blood circulation to regulate GP and maintain glucose homeostasis in vivo. To examine whether hypothalamic sensing of circulating lactate is required to regulate GP, we infused intravenous (i.v.) lactate in the absence or presence of inhibition of central/hypothalamic lactate‐sensing mechanisms in normal rodents. Inhibition of central/hypothalamic lactate‐sensing mechanisms was achieved by three independent approaches. Tracer‐dilution methodology in combination with the pancreatic clamp technique was used to assess the effect of i.v. and central/hypothalamic administrations on glucose metabolism in vivo. In the presence of physiologically relevant increases in the levels of plasma lactate, inhibition of central lactate‐sensing mechanisms by lactate dehydrogenase inhibitor oxamate (OXA) or ATP‐sensitive potassium channels blocker glibenclamide increased GP. Furthermore, direct administration of OXA into the mediobasal hypothalamus increased GP in the presence of similar elevation of circulating lactate. Together, these data indicate that hypothalamic sensing of circulating lactate regulates GP and is required to maintain glucose homeostasis.
Novel Brucella Strain (BO1) Associated with a Prosthetic Breast Implant Infection

ABSTRACT We report the microbiological, biochemical, and molecular characterization of an unusual Brucella strain (BO1) isolated from a breast implant wound in a 71-year-old woman with clinical symptoms consistent with brucellosis. Initial phenotypic analysis, including biochemical and antimicrobial susceptibility testing, cellular fatty acid analysis, and molecular analysis based on DNA-DNA reassociation and the presence of multiple copies of IS711 element suggested that the isolate was a Brucella-like organism, but species determination using microbiological algorithms was unsuccessful. Furthermore, molecular data based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing and multilocus sequence analysis demonstrated that BO1 was an unusual Brucella strain and not closely related to any currently described Brucella species. However, comparison with equivalent sequences in Ochrobactrum spp. confirms that the isolate is much more closely related to Brucella than to Ochrobactrum spp. , and thus the isolate likely represents an atypical and novel strain within the genus Brucella.