Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antifungal Susceptibility Patterns of Candida Species Recovered from Endotracheal Tube in an Intensive Care Unit

Aims. Biofilms formed by Candida species which associated with drastically enhanced resistance against most antimicrobial agents. The aim of this study was to identify and determine the antifungal susceptibility pattern of Candida species isolated from endotracheal tubes from ICU patients. Methods. One hundred forty ICU patients with tracheal tubes who were intubated and mechanically ventilated were surveyed for endotracheal tube biofilms. Samples were processed for quantitative microbial culture. Yeast isolates were identified to the species level based on morphological characteristics and their identity was confirmed by PCR-RFLP. Antifungal susceptibility testing was determined according to CLSI document (M27-A3). Results. Ninety-five strains of Candida were obtained from endotracheal tubes of which C. albicans (n = 34; 35.7%) was the most frequently isolated species followed by other species which included C. glabrata (n = 24; 25.2%), C. parapsilosis (n = 16; 16.8%), C. tropicalis (n = 12; 12.6%), and C. krusei (n = 9; 9.4%). The resulting MIC90 for all Candida species were in increasing order as follows: caspofungin (0.5 μg/mL); amphotericin B (2 μg/mL); voriconazole (8.8 μg/mL); itraconazole (16 μg/mL); and fluconazole (64 μg/mL). Conclusion. Candida species recovered from endotracheal tube are the most susceptible to caspofungin.
Measuring Fiscal Shocks in Structural VARs Using Narrative Data

We describe a methodology that integrates the narrative approach to the identification of macroeconomic shocks into existing structural VAR settings while allowing for measurement error in the narrative measures of the shocks of interest. We apply our methodology to the fiscal VAR setup of Blanchard and Perotti (2002) and make use of the tax shocks constructed by Romer and Romer (2009). We find that the macroeconomic effects of unanticipated changes in taxes in the United States are significantly larger than in the typical application of the Blanchard and Perotti (2002) identification strategy. A cut in total federal tax revenues of one percent of GDP raises GDP by 2 percent in the first quarter and has a maximum output effect of 3 percent after one to two years. In contrast, the Blanchard and Perotti (2002) identification restrictions result in an impact multiplier of 0.4 percent and a maximum multiplier of 1.3 percent. We also use newly constructed data that allows identification of the distinct effects of personal income and corporate income tax changes. An unanticipated tax reform decreasing personal income taxes, but leaving cyclically
A Model to Evaluate the Impact of Headway Variation and Vehicle Size on the Reliability of Public Transit

Reliability of public transit systems is a chronic concern for transit operators, authorities, and users, in terms of system utilization and level of service. This paper develops a theoretical model to evaluate factors that influence the reliability of public transit systems and examines their performance based on stochastic variations in passenger arrival, boarding, alighting, and travel time on the regularity of headway along the route with multiple stops. The model is based on a Markov chain technique to obtain numerical estimates of performance. The predictions of this model are verified based on replicating the well-observed phenomenal relationship between the mean and variance of delay experienced by passengers. The numerical examples offer insights into the factors that affect the reliability of public transit systems. This investigation provides a better understanding of determinants of reliability of public transit systems and it can be used as an analysis tool by transit planners to evaluate the effectiveness of various policies.
Disruption of the IS6-AID Linker Affects Voltage-gated Calcium Channel Inactivation and Facilitation

Two processes dominate voltage-gated calcium channel (CaV) inactivation: voltage-dependent inactivation (VDI) and calcium-dependent inactivation (CDI). The CaVβ/CaVα1-I-II loop and Ca2+/calmodulin (CaM)/CaVα1–C-terminal tail complexes have been shown to modulate each, respectively. Nevertheless, how each complex couples to the pore and whether each affects inactivation independently have remained unresolved. Here, we demonstrate that the IS6–α-interaction domain (AID) linker provides a rigid connection between the pore and CaVβ/I-II loop complex by showing that IS6-AID linker polyglycine mutations accelerate CaV1.2 (L-type) and CaV2.1 (P/Q-type) VDI. Remarkably, mutations that either break the rigid IS6-AID linker connection or disrupt CaVβ/I-II association sharply decelerate CDI and reduce a second Ca2+/CaM/CaVα1–C-terminal–mediated process known as calcium-dependent facilitation. Collectively, the data strongly suggest that components traditionally associated solely with VDI, CaVβ and the IS6-AID linker, are essential for calcium-dependent modulation, and that both CaVβ-dependent and CaM-dependent components couple to the pore by a common mechanism requiring CaVβ and an intact IS6-AID linker.
High-speed spelling with a noninvasive brain–computer interface

Significance Brain–computer interface (BCI) technology provides a new communication channel. However, current applications have been severely limited by low communication speed. This study reports a noninvasive brain speller that achieved a multifold increase in information transfer rate compared with other existing systems. Based on extremely precise coding of frequency and phase in single-trial steady-state visual evoked potentials, this study developed a new joint frequency-phase modulation method and a user-specific decoding algorithm to implement synchronous modulation and demodulation of electroencephalograms. The resulting speller obtained high spelling rates up to 60 characters (∼12 words) per minute. The proposed methodological framework of high-speed BCI can lead to numerous applications in both patients with motor disabilities and healthy people. The past 20 years have witnessed unprecedented progress in brain–computer interfaces (BCIs). However, low communication rates remain key obstacles to BCI-based communication in humans. This study presents an electroencephalogram-based BCI speller that can achieve information transfer rates (ITRs) up to 5.32 bits per second, the highest ITRs reported in BCI spellers using either noninvasive or invasive methods. Based on extremely high consistency of frequency and phase observed between visual flickering signals and the elicited single-trial steady-state visual evoked potentials, this study developed a synchronous modulation and demodulation paradigm to implement the speller. Specifically, this study proposed a new joint frequency-phase modulation method to tag 40 characters with 0.5-s-long flickering signals and developed a user-specific target identification algorithm using individual calibration data. The speller achieved high ITRs in online spelling tasks. This study demonstrates that BCIs can provide a truly naturalistic high-speed communication channel using noninvasively recorded brain activities.
ISOMETRIC SQUAT FORCE OUTPUT AND MUSCLE ACTIVITY IN STABLE AND UNSTABLE CONDITIONS

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of stable vs. unstable conditions on force output and muscle activity during an isometric squat. Nine men involved in recreational resistance training participated in the investigation by completing a single testing session. Within this session subjects performed isometric squats either while standing directly on the force plate (stable condition, S) or while standing on inflatable balls placed on top of the force plate (unstable condition, U). Electromyography (EMG) was recorded during both conditions from the vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), biceps femoris (BF), and medial gastrocnemius (G) muscles. Results indicated peak force (PF) and rate of force development (RFD) were significantly lower, 45.6% and 40.5% respectively, in the U vs. S condition (p < 0.05). Average integrated EMG values for the VL and VM were significantly higher in the S vs. U condition. VL and VM muscle activity was 37.3% and 34.4% less in U in comparison to S. No significant differences were observed in muscle activity of the BF or G between U and S. The primary finding in this investigation is that isometric squatting in an unstable condition significantly reduces peak force, rate of force development, and agonist muscle activity with no change in antagonist or synergist muscle activity. In terms of providing a stimulus for strength gain no discernable benefit of performing a resistance exercise in an unstable condition was observed in the current study.
Intracranial Pressure and Its Relationship to Glaucoma: Current Understanding and Future Directions

Retrospective and prospective studies looking at the role of cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFP)/intracranial pressure (ICP) have stimulated new theories and hypotheses regarding the underlying causal events for glaucoma. Most recently, studies supporting a low CSFP/ICP as a risk factor for glaucoma have been published. This review summarizes the current understanding of CSFP/ICP and its potential role in the pathogenicity of the disease.
The Immune System of HIV-Exposed Uninfected Infants

Infants born to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected women are HIV-exposed but the majority remains uninfected [i.e., HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU)]. HEU infants suffer greater morbidity and mortality from infections compared to HIV-unexposed (HU) peers. The reason(s) for these worse outcomes are uncertain, but could be related to an altered immune system state. This review comprehensively summarizes the current literature investigating the adaptive and innate immune system of HEU infants. HEU infants have altered cell-mediated immunity, including impaired T-cell maturation with documented hypo- as well as hyper-responsiveness to T-cell activation. And although prevaccination vaccine-specific antibody levels are often lower in HEU than HU, most HEU infants mount adequate humoral immune response following primary vaccination with diphtheria toxoid, haemophilus influenzae type b, whole cell pertussis, measles, hepatitis B, tetanus toxoid, and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. However, HEU infants are often found to have lower absolute neutrophil counts as compared to HU infants. On the other hand, an increase of innate immune cytokine production and expression of co-stimulatory markers has been noted in HEU infants, but this increase appears to be restricted to the first few weeks of life. The immune system of HEU children beyond infancy remains largely unexplored.
High School dropouts : A closer examination of school effects

This research conceptualizes the high school as providing an opportunity structure for students and possibly altering a student's likelihood of dropping out. This research analyzes data from the High School and Beyond database. Select school-level concepts are estimated using confirmatory factor analysis ; school effects are estimated using hierarchical logistic regression. Specific elements of the school's structure (pupil/teacher ratio) and social milieu (percentage of minorities) significantly affect a student's likelihood of dropping out. Other school factors, such as the school's emphasis on academic achievement and a focus on teaching, are not found to significantly affect dropping out. Additionally, the relationship between racial and ethnic status and dropping out is not school-dependent, but is constant across schools. Conclusions. The findings presented are contrary to some researchers' theoretical speculation (e.g., relationship between academic emphasis and dropping out) and other empirical findings. This research sheds more light on the complex nature of school effects on dropping out, clarifies some findings, and casts doubt on some widely held beliefs
Personality of Wild Male Crested Macaques (Macaca nigra)

Animal personalities, i.e. consistent differences in behavior across time and/or context, have received increased attention of behavioral biologists over the last years. Recent research shows that personalities represent traits on which natural and sexual selection work and which can have substantial fitness consequences. The aim of this study is to establish the personality structure of crested macaque (Macaca nigra) males as foundation for future studies on its adaptive value. We collected behavioral data through focal animal sampling and additionally conducted two sets of playback experiments. Results of a factor analysis on the behavioral data revealed a four factor structure with components we labeled Anxiety, Sociability, Connectedness and Aggressiveness. Results from the experiments revealed an additional and independent Boldness factor but the absence of Neophilia. Overall, this structure resembles other macaque and animal species with the exception of Connectedness, which might be a consequence of the species' tolerant social style. Our results thus not only form the basis for future studies on the adaptive value of personality in crested macaques but also contribute an important data point for investigating the evolution of personality structure from a comparative perspective by refining, for example, which personality factors characterized the last common ancestor of hominids and macaques.
Comparative Evaluation of Narrative Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Abstract. Summarizing and organizing research in narrative reviews is a classic procedure for cumulating research. In recent years narrative reviews have been increasingly, though not completely, replaced by meta-analyses. Using a case study of a prominent narrative review of the behavioral priming literature (Bargh, Schwader, Hailey, Dyer, & Boothby, 2012), we show that narrative reviews run the risk of drawing a picture that tends to be too good to be true, when the effect-sizes of the papers cited in the narrative review are compared to meta-analyses of the respective topic. We shortly discuss the reasons for this, emphasizing two sources of bias that may inflict narrative reviews to a larger degree than meta-analyses, namely bias in study selection, and bias in study aggregation.
Altered Fronto-Temporal Functional Connectivity in Individuals at Ultra-High-Risk of Developing Psychosis

Background The superior temporal gyrus (STG) is one of the key regions implicated in psychosis, given that abnormalities in this region are associated with an increased risk of conversion from an at-risk mental state to psychosis. However, inconsistent results regarding the functional connectivity strength of the STG have been reported, and the regional heterogeneous characteristics of the STG should be considered. Methods To investigate the distinctive functional connection of each subregion in the STG, we parcellated the STG of each hemisphere into three regions: the planum temporale, Heschl’s gyrus, and planum polare. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was obtained from 22 first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients, 41 individuals at ultra-high-risk for psychosis (UHR), and 47 demographically matched healthy controls. Results Significant group differences (in seed-based connectivity) were demonstrated in the left planum temporale and from both the right and left Heschl’s gyrus seeds. From the left planum temporale seed, the FEP and UHR groups exhibited increased connectivity to the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In contrast, the FEP and UHR groups demonstrated decreased connectivity from the bilateral Heschl’s gyrus seeds to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. The enhanced connectivity between the left planum temporale and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was positively correlated with positive symptom severity in individuals at UHR (r = .34, p = .03). Conclusions These findings corroborate the fronto-temporal connectivity disruption hypothesis in schizophrenia by providing evidence supporting the altered fronto-temporal intrinsic functional connection at earlier stages of psychosis. Our data indicate that subregion-specific aberrant fronto-temporal interactions exist in the STG at the early stage of psychosis, thus suggesting that these aberrancies are the neural underpinning of proneness to psychosis.
Modulation of Endothelial Cell Adhesion by Hevin, an Acidic Protein Associated with High Endothelial Venules (*)

High endothelial venules (HEV) are specialized plump postcapillary venules in lymphoid tissues that support high levels of lymphocyte extravasation from the blood. We have recently identified a novel human transcript, expressed to high levels in HEV, that encodes a secreted, acidic protein closely related to the anti-adhesive extracellular matrix protein known as BM-40, osteonectin, and SPARC (secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine). Here, we show that this protein, designated hevin, is associated with basal, lateral, and apical surfaces of HEV cells, and unlike MECA-79 antigen, is not expressed on the underlying basement membrane. In contrast to fibronectin or other adhesive extracellular matrix proteins, purified hevin does not support endothelial cell adhesion in vitro. Moreover, addition of soluble exogenous hevin inhibits attachment and spreading of endothelial cells on fibronectin substrates. Hevin-treated cells do not form focal adhesions and exhibit a rounded morphology. Together, these results suggest that hevin is an abundant extracellular protein that modulates high endothelial cell adhesion to the basement membrane.
Bipolar cemented hip hemiarthroplasty in patients with femoral neck fracture who are on hemodialysis is associated with risk of stem migration

Background and purpose Femoral neck fractures are considerably more common in patients on hemodialysis than in the general population. We determined the outcome of bipolar hemiarthroplasty for hip fracture in patients with long-term hemodialysis and compared it with that of a matched-paired group of patients with intact renal function. Methods We analyzed 26 bipolar hemiarthroplasties in 23 hemodialysed patients with a mean age of 56 (41–78) years who were followed for mean 3.6 (1–8) years. These cases were matched for age, sex, and BMI with 26 patients with femoral neck fractures and normal renal function. The mean follow-up time in the control group was 7 (5–10) years. As primary surgery for their femoral neck fracture, all patients had a bipolar hemiarthroplasty with a 28-mm metal-polyethylene internal articulation and a cemented stem. Results The mortality rate was 21% in the hemodialysed group and 4% in the control group (p = 0.005). The bipolar head migrated in 1 patient in the hemodialysed group but in none of the patients in the case-matched group. In the hemodialysed group, 8 stems migrated and 3 of these were revised, whereas in the control group 3 stems migrated and 2 were revised. The stem migration in the hemodialysed group was not preceded by the development of osteolysis or radiolucent lines at the bone-cement interface. The cumulative survival for prosthesis migration as endpoint was 44% at 5 years in the hemodialysed group and 96% in the control group (p = 0.03). Interpretation The main mode of failure of cemented bipolar hemiarthroplasties in hemodialysed patients is stem migration, due to failure of the bone-cement interface.
Design an anomaly based fuzzy intrusion detection system for packet dropping attack in mobile ad hoc networks

Due to the advancement in communication technologies, mobile ad hoc network increases the ability in terms of ad hoc communication between the mobile nodes. Mobile ad hoc networks do not use any predefined infrastructure during the communication so that all the present mobile nodes which are want to communicate with each other immediately form the topology and initiates the request for data packets to send or receive. In terms of security perspectives, communication via wireless links makes mobile ad hoc networks more vulnerable to attacks because any one can join and move the networks at any time. Particularly, in mobile ad hoc networks one of very common attack is packet dropping attack through the malicious node (s). This paper developed an anomaly based fuzzy intrusion detection system to detect the packet dropping attack from mobile ad hoc networks and this proposed solution also save the resources of mobile nodes in respect to remove the malicious nodes. For implementation point of view, qualnet simulator 6.1 and sugeno-type fuzzy inference system are used to make the fuzzy rule base for analyzing the results. From the simulation results it's proved that proposed system is more capable to detect the packet dropping attack with high positive rate and low false positive under each level (low, medium and high) of speed of mobile nodes.
Interaction between the C Termini of Alg13 and Alg14 Mediates Formation of the Active UDP-N-acetylglucosamine Transferase Complex*

The second step of eukaryotic N-linked glycosylation in endoplasmic reticulum is catalyzed by an UDP-N-acetylglucosamine transferase that is comprised of two subunits, Alg13 and Alg14. The interaction between Alg13 and 14 is crucial for UDP-GlcNAc transferase activity, so formation of the Alg13/14 complex is likely to play a key role in the regulation of N-glycosylation. Using a combination of bioinformatics and molecular biological methods, we have undertaken a functional analysis of yeast Alg13 and Alg14 proteins to elucidate the mechanism of their interaction. Our mutational studies demonstrated that a short C-terminal α-helix of Alg13 is required for interaction with Alg14 and for enzyme activity. Electrostatic surface views of the modeled Alg13/14 complex suggest the presence of a hydrophobic cleft in Alg14 that provides a pocket for the Alg13 C-terminal α-helix. Co-immunoprecipitation assays confirmed the C-terminal three amino acids of Alg14 are required for maintaining the integrity of Alg13/Alg14 complex, and this depends on their hydrophobicity. Modeling studies place these three Alg14 residues at the entrance of the hydrophobic-binding pocket, suggesting their role in the stabilization of the interaction between the C termini of Alg13 and Alg14. Together, these results demonstrate that formation of this hetero-oligomeric complex is mediated by a short C-terminal α-helix of Alg13 in cooperation with the last three amino acids of Alg14. In addition, deletion of the N-terminal β-strand of Alg13 caused the destruction of protein, indicating the structural importance of this region in protein stability.