Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Demographic and clinical features of leptospirosis: three-year experience in central Taiwan.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Leptospirosis is a major cause of fever in subtropical and tropical areas. The clinical manifestations are protean, ranging from very mild and nonspecific symptoms to severe septic shock and death. This retrospective study investigated the demographic and clinical features of leptospirosis in central Taiwan over 3 years, with emphasis on pulmonary manifestations. METHODS We analyzed the clinical characteristics of serologically-confirmed leptospirosis cases at a tertiary teaching hospital from October 2002 to October 2005. RESULTS Twenty three confirmed cases were included and Leptospira santarosai serovar Shermani was the most commonly identified serovar (77.3%). The male-to-female ratio was 2.67:1 and the average age was 42.4 years. Nineteen cases (82.6%) were hospitalized, 3 were diagnosed in the outpatient setting and 1 died before admission. The majority of cases (63.6%) occurred in rainy months (from June to October). Fever (incidence, 100%), anorexia (74%), headache (61%), gastrointestinal upset (53%), myalgia (48%), and cough (48%) were the common clinical manifestations. Fifteen cases (63%) had respiratory symptoms and twelve (52%) had chest roentgenography abnormalities. Multiple nodular densities pattern (42%) was the most common abnormal finding on chest plain film. Three patients met the criteria of Weil's syndrome. The overall mortality rate was 4.3%. CONCLUSIONS Respiratory symptoms or abnormal findings on chest X-ray were not uncommon in patients with leptospirosis. In addition to hepatic or renal dysfunction, leptospirosis should be seriously considered in patients with pulmonary symptoms and fever, especially in subtropical and tropical areas.
A generalized thresholding algorithm of pedestrian segmentation for far-infrared images

Designing a robust and efficient thresholding algorithm for far-infrared (FIR) images under various imaging conditions is one of critical technologies. The existing algorithms are difficult to deal with the images corrupted by noise, if a predefined filter is not used. However, it is difficult to define an appropriate filter beforehand because some prior knowledge about image noise is required. To solve this problem, an improved fast generalized fuzzy c-means (IFGFCM) is proposed to reconstruct a filtered image first regardless of the type of image noise. A novel adaptive thresholding algorithm combining IFGFCM with clustering centers analysis is then used to segment pedestrians from FIR images automatically. Experiments performed on a set of FIR images show that, compared with three other algorithms, the segmentation effectiveness of the thresholding algorithm is more consistent with the ground truth, and the resulting misclassification rate is less than 2%.
Nonregenerative stimulation of hepatocyte proliferation in the rat: Variable effects in relation to spontaneous liver growth; a possible link with metabolic induction

Three procedures were used to stimulate hepatocyte proliferation in the rat without reducing liver mass, resulting in a supplementary growth which differs from the regenerative growth observed after loss of liver mass by hepatectomy or toxic necrosis. They were: (a) the ingestion of cyproterone, a cytochrome P450 inducing drug (b) the injection of an irritant which provokes glycogenesis and synthesis of acute‐phase proteins (c) the injection of albumin‐bound bilirubin leading to elimination of glucuronated bilirubin in bile.
Structural plasticity of the social brain: Differential change after socio-affective and cognitive mental training

Training to understand the feelings and thoughts of others induces structural changes in two divergent social brain networks. Although neuroscientific research has revealed experience-dependent brain changes across the life span in sensory, motor, and cognitive domains, plasticity relating to social capacities remains largely unknown. To investigate whether the targeted mental training of different cognitive and social skills can induce specific changes in brain morphology, we collected longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data throughout a 9-month mental training intervention from a large sample of adults between 20 and 55 years of age. By means of various daily mental exercises and weekly instructed group sessions, training protocols specifically addressed three functional domains: (i) mindfulness-based attention and interoception, (ii) socio-affective skills (compassion, dealing with difficult emotions, and prosocial motivation), and (iii) socio-cognitive skills (cognitive perspective-taking on self and others and metacognition). MRI-based cortical thickness analyses, contrasting the different training modules against each other, indicated spatially diverging changes in cortical morphology. Training of present-moment focused attention mostly led to increases in cortical thickness in prefrontal regions, socio-affective training induced plasticity in frontoinsular regions, and socio-cognitive training included change in inferior frontal and lateral temporal cortices. Module-specific structural brain changes correlated with training-induced behavioral improvements in the same individuals in domain-specific measures of attention, compassion, and cognitive perspective-taking, respectively, and overlapped with task-relevant functional networks. Our longitudinal findings indicate structural plasticity in well-known socio-affective and socio-cognitive brain networks in healthy adults based on targeted short daily mental practices. These findings could promote the development of evidence-based mental training interventions in clinical, educational, and corporate settings aimed at cultivating social intelligence, prosocial motivation, and cooperation.
Expression of the Three Human Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II Isotypes Exhibits a Differential Dependence on the Transcription Factor RFXAP

ABSTRACT Major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) molecules play a pivotal role in the immune system because they direct the development and activation of CD4+ T cells. There are three human MHCII isotypes, HLA-DR, HLA-DQ, and HLA-DP. Key transcription factors controlling MHCII genes have been identified by virtue of the fact that they are mutated in a hereditary immunodeficiency resulting from a lack of MHCII expression. RFXAP—one of the factors affected in this disease—is a subunit of RFX, a DNA-binding complex that recognizes the X box present in all MHCII promoters. To facilitate identification of conserved regions in RFXAP, we isolated the mouse gene. We then delimited conserved domains required to restore endogenous MHCII expression in cell lines lacking a functionalRFXAP gene. Surprisingly, we found that 80% of RFXAP is dispensable for the reactivation of DR expression. Only a short C-terminal segment of the protein is essential for this isotype. In contrast, optimal expression of DQ and DP requires a larger C-terminal segment. These results define an RFXAP domain with an MHCII isotype-specific function. Expression of the three MHCII isotypes exhibits a differential requirement for this domain. We show that this is due to a differential dependence on this domain for promoter occupation and recruitment of the coactivator CIITA in vivo.
Carbon: architectural support for fine-grained parallelism on chip multiprocessors

Chip multiprocessors (CMPs) are now commonplace, and the number of cores on a CMP is likely to grow steadily. However, in order to harness the additional compute resources of a CMP, applications must expose their thread-level parallelism to the hardware. One common approach to doing this is to decompose a program into parallel "tasks" and allow an underlying software layer to schedule these tasks to different threads. Software task scheduling can provide good parallel performance as long as tasks are large compared to the software overheads. We examine a set of applications from an important emerging domain: Recognition, Mining, and Synthesis (RMS). Many RMS applications are compute-intensive and have abundant thread-level parallelism, and are therefore good targets for running on a CMP. However, a significant number have small tasks for which software task schedulers achieve only limited parallel speedups. We propose Carbon, a hardware technique to accelerate dynamic task scheduling on scalable CMPs. Carbon has relatively simple hardware, most of which can be placed far from the cores. We compare Carbon to some highly tuned software task schedulers for a set of RMS benchmarks with small tasks. Carbon delivers significant performance improvements over the best software scheduler: on average for 64 cores, 68% faster on a set of loop-parallel benchmarks, and 109% faster on aset of task-parallel benchmarks.
Reassessing the Source of Long-Period Comets

Inside Oort Long-period comets are thought to come from the outermost region of the solar system, the Oort Cloud, where a large number of icy bodies orbit the Sun. Outer Oort Cloud bodies are more likely to penetrate the inner planetary region of the solar system as comets, because they experience stronger external gravitational perturbations. Inner Oort Cloud bodies, by contrast, are thought to be ejected before they reach observable orbits. Using numerical simulations that followed the orbital histories of bodies in the inner Oort Cloud, Kaib and Quinn (p. 1234, published online 30 July 2009; see the Perspective by Duncan) identified a dynamical pathway that allows comets in the inner Oort Cloud to move to the outer Oort Cloud, where they can be perturbed and enter the visible region in great numbers. According to this mechanism, the amount of mass in this region is consistent with the material needed to form the giant planets. Numerical simulations show that the inner Oort Cloud is a major source of long-period comets that cross Earth’s orbit. We present numerical simulations to model the production of observable long-period comets (LPCs) from the Oort Cloud, a vast reservoir of icy bodies surrounding the Sun. We show that inner Oort Cloud objects can penetrate Jupiter’s orbit via a largely unexplored dynamical pathway, and they are an important, if not the dominant, source of known LPCs. We use this LPC production to place observationally motivated constraints on the population and mass of the inner Oort Cloud, which are consistent with giant planet formation theory. These constraints indicate that only one comet shower producing late Eocene bombardment levels has likely occurred since the Cambrian Explosion, making these phenomena an improbable cause of additional extinction events.
Optimising contraction and alignment of cellular collagen hydrogels to achieve reliable and consistent engineered anisotropic tissue

Engineered anisotropic tissue constructs containing aligned cell and extracellular matrix structures are useful as in vitro models and for regenerative medicine. They are of particular interest for nervous system modelling and regeneration, where tracts of aligned neurons and glia are required. The self-alignment of cells and matrix due to tension within tethered collagen gels is a useful tool for generating anisotropic tissues, but requires an optimal balance between cell density, matrix concentration and time to be achieved for each specific cell type. The aim of this study was to develop an assay system based on contraction of free-floating cellular gels in 96-well plates that could be used to investigate cell–matrix interactions and to establish optimal parameters for subsequent self-alignment of cells in tethered gels. Using C6 glioma cells, the relationship between contraction and alignment was established, with 60–80% contraction in the 96-well plate assay corresponding to alignment throughout tethered gels made using the same parameters. The assay system was used to investigate the effect of C6 cell density, collagen concentration and time. It was also used to show that blocking α1 integrin reduced the contraction and self-alignment of these cells, whereas blocking α2 integrin had little effect. The approach was validated by using primary astrocytes in the assay system under culture conditions that modified their ability to contract collagen gels. This detailed investigation describes a robust assay for optimising cellular self-alignment and provides a useful reference framework for future development of self-aligned artificial tissue.
Mitochondrial genomes of three Tetrigoidea species and phylogeny of Tetrigoidea

The mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of Formosatettix qinlingensis, Coptotettix longjiangensis and Thoradonta obtusilobata (Orthoptera: Caelifera: Tetrigoidea) were sequenced in this study, and almost the entire mitogenomes of these species were determined. The mitogenome sequences obtained for the three species were 15,180, 14,495 and 14,538 bp in length, respectively, and each sequence included 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), partial sequences of rRNA genes (rRNAs), tRNA genes (tRNAs) and a A + T-rich region. The order and orientation of the gene arrangement pattern were identical to that of most Tetrigoidea species. Some conserved spacer sequences between trnS(UCN) and nad1 were useful to identify Tetrigoidea and Acridoidea. The Ka/Ks value of atp8 between Trachytettix bufo and other four Tetrigoidea species indicated that some varied sites in this gene might be related with the evolution of T. bufo. The three Tetrigoidea species were compared with other Caelifera. At the superfamily level, conserved sequences were observed in intergenic spacers, which can be used for superfamily level identification between Tetrigoidea and Acridoidea. Furthermore, a phylogenomic analysis was conducted based on the concatenated data sets from mitogenome sequences of 24 species of Orthoptera in the superorders Caelifera and Ensifera. Both maximum likelihood and bayesian inference analyses strongly supported Acridoidea and Tetrigoidea as forming monophyletic groups. The relationships among six Tetrigoidea species were (((((Tetrix japonica, Alulatettix yunnanensis), Formosatettix qinlingensis), Coptotettix longjiangensis), Trachytettix bufo), Thoradonta obtusilobata).
Treadmill running improves spatial learning and memory in the rats with intracerebroventricular injection of streptozotocin

Exercise has positive effects on central nervous system, especially when there is a context of disorder.1 Considering the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and lack of a decisive treatment, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of exercise on learning and memory in rats after intracerebroventricular injection of streptozotocin (ICV-STZ), a well defined model for Alzheimer's disease . 2 Experimental groups consisted of sham-rest, sham-exercise, lesion-rest and lesion-exercise groups. Rats in lesion group received ICV-STZ. In the exercise group, rats were made to run on a treadmill (20 m/min, 0-degree inclination, 50 min/day, 4 weeks). Morris water maze test was used to evaluate spatial learning and memory. The results showed that spatial learning and memory indices were significantly impaired in the rats with ICV-STZ (Figure 1). However, exercise prevented impairments as there was a significant difference between lesion-exercise and lesion-rest groups. Figure 1 Effects of exercise and ICV-STZ on the escape latencies (A) and the path length (B) at different block to reach the platform (lower numbers indicate better performance); and performance during the probe trials as measured by mean percentage (%) of time . The findings of this study suggested that similar to Alzheimer's disease, ICV-STZ severely impairs cognitive process, but exercise prevents this damage. Therefore, exercise probably is helpful in prevention and alleviation of cognitive disorders in Alzheimer's disease.
Parametric Hidden Markov Models for Gesture Recognition

A method for the representation, recognition, and interpretation of parameterized gesture is presented. By parameterized gesture we mean gestures that exhibit a systematic spatial variation; one example is a point gesture where the relevant parameter is the two-dimensional direction. Our approach is to extend the standard hidden Markov model method of gesture recognition by including a global parametric variation in the output probabilities of the HMM states. Using a linear model of dependence, we formulate an expectation-maximization (EM) method for training the parametric HMM. During testing, a similar EM algorithm simultaneously maximizes the output likelihood of the PHMM for the given sequence and estimates the quantifying parameters. Using visually derived and directly measured three-dimensional hand position measurements as input, we present results that demonstrate the recognition superiority of the PHMM over standard HMM techniques, as well as greater robustness in parameter estimation with respect to noise in the input features. Finally, we extend the PHMM to handle arbitrary smooth (nonlinear) dependencies. The nonlinear formulation requires the use of a generalized expectation-maximization (GEM) algorithm for both training and the simultaneous recognition of the gesture and estimation of the value of the parameter. We present results on a pointing gesture, where the nonlinear approach permits the natural spherical coordinate parameterization of pointing direction.
Tensor Robust Principal Component Analysis: Exact Recovery of Corrupted Low-Rank Tensors via Convex Optimization

This paper studies the Tensor Robust Principal Component (TRPCA) problem which extends the known Robust PCA [4] to the tensor case. Our model is based on a new tensor Singular Value Decomposition (t-SVD) [14] and its induced tensor tubal rank and tensor nuclear norm. Consider that we have a 3-way tensor X ε R<sup>n1×n2×n3</sup> such that X = L<sub>0</sub> + S<sub>0</sub>, where L<sub>0</sub> has low tubal rank and <sub>S0 is</sub> sparse. Is that possible to recover both components? In this work, we prove that under certain suitable assumptions, we can recover both the low-rank and the sparse components exactly by simply solving a convex program whose objective is a weighted combination of the tensor nuclear norm and the l1-norm, i.e., min L, E ||L||* + λ||ε||1, s.t. X = L + ε, where λ = 1/√max(n<sub>1</sub>, n<sub>2</sub>)n<sub>3</sub>. Interestingly, TRPCA involves RPCA as a special case when n<sub>3</sub> = 1 and thus it is a simple and elegant tensor extension of RPCA. Also numerical experiments verify our theory and the application for the image denoising demonstrates the effectiveness of our method.
Divergent Thinking Styles of the Hemispheres: How Syllogisms Are Solved during Transitory Hemisphere Suppression

Psychiatric patients solved syllogisms while recovering from transitory ictal suppression of one hemisphere by electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The premises were familiar or unfamiliar, true or false. While the right hemisphere was suppressed, syllogisms were usually solved by theoretical, deductive reasoning even when the factual answer was known a priori, the premises were obviously false and the conclusions were absurd. While their left hemisphere was suppressed, the same subjects applied their prior knowledge; if the syllogism content was unfamiliar or false, they refused to answer. We postulate a left-hemisphere mechanism capable of decontextualized mental operations and a right-hemisphere mechanism, the operation of which is context-bound and incapable of abstraction. We show that each hemisphere tends to overextend its perspective on the problem and that in the intact brain they both contribute to an extent that depends on the characteristics of the problem at hand.
Proton capture reaction rates in the rp process.

Detailed shell-model calculations have been performed to study the structure of excited states in neutron deficient {ital T}=1, {ital T}=3/2, and {ital T}=2 nuclei in the mass range {ital A}=23--43. Excitation energies, single-particle spectroscopic factors, as well as {gamma}-transition strengths were computed. On the basis of these results new reaction rates were calculated for proton capture on the {ital T}=1/2 nucleus {sup 35}Ar, on the odd-odd {ital T}=1 nuclei {sup 24}Al and {sup 32}Cl, on the even-even {ital T}=1 nuclei {sup 26}Si, {sup 30}S, {sup 34}Ar, and {sup 42}Ti and the {ital T}=3/2 nuclei {sup 23}Al, {sup 27}P, {sup 31}Cl, and {sup 35}K. The new reaction rates are compared with the results of statistical model calculations as well as with previous estimates. The consequences of these new rates for the reaction flow and the {ital rp} process nucleosynthesis at different stellar temperature and density conditions will be discussed.
Operation-based merging

Existing approaches for merging the results of parallel development activities are limited. These approaches can be characterised as state-based: only the initial and final states are considered. This paper introduces operation-based merging, which uses the operations that were performed during development. In many cases operation-based merging has advantages over state-based merging, because it automatically respects the data-type invariants of the objects, is extensible for arbitrary object types, provides better conflict detection and allows for better support for solving these conflicts. Several algorithms for conflict detection are described and compared.
Lacking a Shared Vision: Practitioners and the Literature on the Topic of Strategy

Strategy is an ambiguous term in the field of educational leadership. This article reports on a study in which I sought to investigate how practicing school principals and the literature construct the concept. Specifically, I investigated the congruence between two sources of data: the transcribed texts of interviews with practicing principals and a systematic search of peer-reviewed journal articles extending over a 28-year period. The poor match between practitioners and the literature in how they portray the strategic role of school leaders challenges scholars and practitioners alike to reconsider the conceptualization of strategy. If strategy is to become a meaningful construct in the field, then a broader, more discursive lens is required; otherwise, the concept risks fading into obscurity or becoming little more than yet another adjectival form of leadership.
Aerobic Capacities and Anthropometric Characteristics of Elite Female Soccer Players

Ingebrigtsen, J, Dillern, T, and Shalfawi, SAI. Aerobic capacities and anthropometric characteristics of elite female soccer players. J Strength Cond Res 25(12): 3352–3357, 2011—This study investigated aerobic capacities and anthropometric characteristics within a group of 29 elite female soccer players. The purpose was to identify and establish aerobic capacities and anthropometric characteristics for these players and to look for possible positional differences between keepers, defenders, midfielders, and attackers. We did this by measuring standard anthropometrical variables and maximal oxygen (&OV0312;o2max) and anaerobic threshold (AT). One-way analysis of variance revealed no significant differences among anthropometric or physiological variables. However, a trend (p = 0.062) toward positional differences was found within running speed at AT. A subsequent Tukey post hoc test showed differences (p = 0.04) between keepers and defenders, with the latter running faster (∼1.7 km·h−1) at AT. The present results suggest that few anthropometric and physiological differences exist between playing positions in elite female soccer players. Furthermore, the current results indicate that present elite players' physiological characteristics are similar to those previously shown, despite the rapid changes of the female soccer game. Based on well-established knowledge that different playing positions within a soccer team ought to have distinct capacities, we recommend regular testing programs to be able to construct and implement tailored training programs for players' physical capacities with respect to the demands of their playing positions.