Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus in a group of patients newly diagnosed with active tuberculosis in Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil

BACKGROUND Porto Alegre is the Brazilian state capital with second highest incidence of tuberculosis (TB) and the highest proportion of people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among patients with TB. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection increases the risk of anti-TB drug-induced hepatotoxicity, which may result in discontinuation of the therapy. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was (i) to estimate prevalence of HCV and HIV in a group of patients newly diagnosed with active TB in a public reference hospital in Porto Alegre and (ii) to compare demographic, behavioural, and clinical characteristics of patients in relation to their HCV infection status. METHODS One hundred and thirty-eight patients with TB were tested for anti-HCV antibody, HCV RNA, and anti-HIV1/2 antibody markers. HCV RNA from real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive samples was submitted to reverse transcription and PCR amplification. The 5′ non-coding region of the HCV genome was sequenced, and genotypes of HCV isolates were determined. FINDINGS Anti-HCV antibody, HCV RNA, and anti-HIV antibodies were detected in 27 [20%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 13-26%], 17 (12%; 95% CI, 7-18%), and 34 (25%; 95% CI, 17-32%) patients, respectively. HCV isolates belonged to genotypes 1 (n = 12) and 3 (n = 4). Some characteristics were significantly more frequent in patients infected with HCV. Among them, non-white individuals, alcoholics, users of illicit drugs, imprisoned individuals, and those with history of previous TB episode were more commonly infected with HCV (p < 0.05). MAIN CONCLUSIONS HCV screening, including detection of anti-HCV antibody and HCV RNA, will be important to improving the management of co-infected patients, given their increased risk of developing TB treatment-related hepatotoxicity.
Traumatic intrathoracic tracheobronchial injuries: A study of 78 cases

Background: Tracheobronchial injuries are encountered with increasing frequency because of improvements in pre-hospital care. We reviewed our experience of these injuries to determine how to better recognize them and facilitate their correct management. Methods: Patients with traumatic non-iatrogenic intrathoracic tracheobronchial injuries managed in 2 tertiary centers in Saudi Arabia between 2000 and 2012, were studied. Clinical presentation, diagnostic evaluation, management, and outcome were reviewed. Results: 78 patients with tracheobronchial injuries were included in this study. They were divided into 2 groups according to the management strategy. Forty-seven patients who were managed conservatively, and 31 underwent surgery. Surgery allowed shorter intensive care unit and hospital stays; otherwise, the results were comparable between the two groups. Conclusions: Early recognition and expedient appropriate management are essential in these potentially lethal injuries. Operative management can be achieved with acceptable mortality, and conservative treatment should be considered as a valuable alternative to the well-established surgical treatment.
The use of magnetic resonance imaging to study the brain size of young children with autism

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a syndrome of social communication deficits and repetitive behaviors or restricted interests. While the impairments associated with ASD tend to deteriorate from childhood into adulthood, it is of critical importance that the syndrome is diagnosed at an early age. One means of facilitating this is through understanding how the brain of people with ASD develops from early childhood. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the method of choice for in vivo and non-invasive investigations of the morphology of the human brain, especially when the subjects are children. In this study, we conducted a systematic review of existing structural MRI studies that have investigated brain size in ASD children of up to 5 years old. Methods: In this study, we systematically reviewed published papers that describe research studies in which the brain size of ASD children has been examined. PubMed and Scopus databases were searched for all relevant original articles that described the use of MRI techniques to study ASD patients who were between 1 and 5 years old. To be included in the review, all studies needed to be cohort and case series that involved at least 10 patients. No time limitations were placed on the searched articles within the inclusion criteria. The exclusion criteria were non-English articles, case reports, and articles that described research involving subjects that were not within the qualifying age range of 1-5 years old.Result: After an initial screening process through which the title, abstracts, and full text of the articles were reviewed to confirm they met the inclusion criteria, a total of 10 relevant articles were studied in depth. All studies found that children with ASD who were within the selected age range had a larger brain size than children without ASD.Discussion: The findings of recent studies indicate that the vast majority of ASD patients exhibit an enlarged brain; however, the extent of the enlargement varies from study to study. As such, further studies are required to develop an understanding of the areas of the brain in which enlargement manifests in children with ASD before the age of five and to verify the significance of the prognostic value of MRI as a non-invasive diagnostic technique that can be employed to detect ASD in young children.Conclusion: Based on the extracted data, brain size was related to the emergence and presence of autism in children who were below school age. The use of MRI represents a functional and non-invasive method of confirming ASD in children who have an initial ASD diagnosis.
Online Learning Experiences of University Students

The aim of this article is to provide an overview of university students’ experiences of online learning, based both on some previous empirical studies and literature during the last decade. Online education has become widespread in many countries during recent years, and the paradigmatic shift from traditional to online education (e.g., Harasim, 2000; Karuppan, 2001) has occurred as part of planned educational policy, with both international and national experiences supporting its growth. Similarly, students now have increasingly higher expectations regarding the quality of learning, and they expect a more individual, flexible, and humanistic approach in education. Students are increasingly demanding online access and universities are working to meet these demands (e.g., Song, Singleton, Hill, & Hwa Koh, 2004). In addition, technology is expected to improve access to education, reduce costs, improve the cost-effectiveness of education, and maintain the competitive advantage in student recruitment in higher education (Katz & Yablon, 2003; Newton, 2003). It is also important to note that no consistent paradigm for online education exists; rather there are multiple ways of making use of the Web in education, and these will vary for many reasons, for example, the needs of the learner and the subject being taught.
Some contributions of electron microscopy to knowledge of human platelets

Thromb Haemost 2007; 98: 69–72 The years covered during publication of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, now celebrating its 50th anniversary, have witnessed the greatest surge of new knowledge about human platelets in the history of this area or interest. New findings regarding their biochemistry, physiology, structure, function and pathology have all made critical contributions to our current understanding of this cell. Examination of normal and abnormal platelets in the electron microscope has resulted in numerous findings which have provided a context for integrating new knowledge from many other fields into their cellular and sub-cellular structure. The present report will not attempt to review all of the contributions of electron microscopy to the platelet field. Instead it will focus on a few major observations provided by ultrastructural investigations over the past 50 years that have had an impact on our current state of knowledge.
Measures of the geographic concentration of industries: improving distance-based methods

This study introduces two new measures of spatial concentration. The proposed M functions constitute an extension to Ripley's functions (Ripley, 1976, 1977). They allow the evaluation of the relative geographic concentration and co-location of industries in a non-homogeneous spatial framework. Some rigorous comparisons with similar recently developed tools prove the relevance of the M functions in the field of spatial economics.
In vivo processes in cognitive therapy for depression: Frequency and benefits

Abstract Several recent variants of cognitive therapy (CT) for depression attempt to improve treatment with an increased focus on the occurrence of problems in the context of the therapy setting, the therapeutic process, and the therapeutic relationship. These processes are referred to as in vivo work. However, it is possible that cognitive therapists already incorporate in vivo work. One study compared standard CT to a version that emphasized in vivo work according to the guidelines outlined in functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP). The resulting treatment was called FAP-enhanced cognitive therapy (FECT). Using a turn-by-turn process-coding method, the authors examined therapist behavior in every session of this study to determine the frequency of in vivo work. Results indicated that cognitive therapists only occasionally engaged in such work, but rates increased in FECT and related to several weekly client-reported variables, including progress in treatment but not depressive symptoms.
Energy Properties of Sunflower Seed Husk as Industrial Extrusion Residue

Abstract The paper presents possibilities of using by ‒ products of the agri-food sector, in the form of sunflower husks, for energy purposes. Physical and chemical properties in the form of heat of combustion, calorific value for three moisture levels and ash content for two temperatures of combustion were determined and the carbon content (C), hydrogen content (H) and nitrogen content (N) were calculated pursuant to the PN-EN 15104 standard. Analysis of the heat of combustion and calorific value proved good energy properties of the investigated biomass. For the moisture level of 9%, 16%, 32% the heat of combustion was respectively 19.44 MJ∙kg-1, 17.94 MJ∙kg-1, 15.03 MJ∙kg-1, and the calorific value 18.09 MJ∙kg-1, 16.28 MJ∙kg-1, 13.16 MJ∙kg-1. The average ash content of the investigated biomass for the combustion temperature of 600°C and 815°C was respectively 2.12% and 2.04. In the analyzed biomass the nitrogen content was determined at the level of 1.57%, carbon of 43.87% and hydrogen of 6.29%.
Disorder relevance for the random walk pinning model in dimension 3

Nous etudions la version a temps continu du modele de marche aleatoire avec accrochage, ou conditionne sur une marche aleatoire a temps continu (Y s ) s≥0 sur ℤ d avec taux de saut ρ > 0, qui joue le role de desordre, la loi jusqu'au temps t d'une seconde marche aleatoire independante (X s ) 0≤s≤t avec taux de saut 1 est la transformee de Gibbs avec poids e βLt(X,Y) , ou L t (X, Y) est le temps local de collision entre X et Y jusqu'au temps t. Lorsque la temperature inverse β varie, le modele subit une transition de localisation-delocalisation a un β c ≥ 0 critique. Une question naturelle est de savoir s'il y a pertinence du desordre ou pas, i.e., si β c differe ou pas du point critique β ann c pour le modele moyenne. Dans [3], il a ete montre qu'il y avait non pertinence du desordre en dimensions d = 1 et 2, et pertinence du desordre lorsque d ≥ 4. Pour d ≥ 5, la pertinence du desordre fut d'abord prouvee dans [2]. Dans ce papier, nous prouvons que si X et Y ont le meme noyau de probabilite de saut, qui est irreductible et symetrique avec des moments du second ordre finis, alors il y a egalement pertinence du desordre en dimension critique d = 3, et β c ― β ann c est au moins de l'ordre e ―C(ζ)/ρζ , C(ζ) > 0, pour tout ζ > 2. Notre preuve utilise des techniques de coarse graining et de moment fractionnaire, qui ont ete recemment appliquees par Lacoin [13] au modele de polymere dirige en milieu aleatoire, et par Giacomin, Lacoin et Toninelli [10] pour etablir la pertinence du desordre pour le modele d'accrochages aleatoires en dimension critique. En chemin, nous prouvons egalement une version en temps continu du theoreme limite local de Doney [5] pour des processus de renouvellement avec moyenne infinie.
Spinal fracture in a dog with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis

Summary A six-year-old, spayed female Weimaraner dog was first presented with the complaint of hindlimb paresis and then hindlimb paralysis two years later after colliding with a tree. Radiographs and computed tomography revealed spinal fractures at lumbar vertebrae (L)2-3 and at L4-5. In addition, the spinal column was affected by new bone formation along the vertebral bodies, bridging the disc spaces, as seen in diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH). Open reduction and internal fixation was achieved with standard vertebral body plating. This is the first report of DISH-associated spinal fractures after minor trauma in a dog. Surgery resulted in return of the full function after the first, and in improvement of neurologic function after the second incident.
It Takes Two–Skilled Recognition of Objects Engages Lateral Areas in Both Hemispheres

Our object recognition abilities, a direct product of our experience with objects, are fine-tuned to perfection. Left temporal and lateral areas along the dorsal, action related stream, as well as left infero-temporal areas along the ventral, object related stream are engaged in object recognition. Here we show that expertise modulates the activity of dorsal areas in the recognition of man-made objects with clearly specified functions. Expert chess players were faster than chess novices in identifying chess objects and their functional relations. Experts' advantage was domain-specific as there were no differences between groups in a control task featuring geometrical shapes. The pattern of eye movements supported the notion that experts' extensive knowledge about domain objects and their functions enabled superior recognition even when experts were not directly fixating the objects of interest. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) related exclusively the areas along the dorsal stream to chess specific object recognition. Besides the commonly involved left temporal and parietal lateral brain areas, we found that only in experts homologous areas on the right hemisphere were also engaged in chess specific object recognition. Based on these results, we discuss whether skilled object recognition does not only involve a more efficient version of the processes found in non-skilled recognition, but also qualitatively different cognitive processes which engage additional brain areas.
Relationships between Ear‐Leaf Nutrient Concentrations at Silking and Corn Biomass and Grain Yields at Maturity

Agronomy Journa l • Volume 109, I s sue 6 • 2017 In-season assessments of nutrient suffi ciency for corn plants following the depletion of seed nutrient reserves has typically involved either whole-plant sampling at early vegetative stages (e.g., V6; Abendroth et al., 2011) or sampling of ear leaves at fl owering (R1). Early vegetative stage sampling generally permits time for supplemental nutrient applications if tissue tests show a defi ciency. Sampling of ear leaves (which are generally among the two largest leaves on corn plants) at fl owering (when half or more of the whole-plant biomass has been achieved) off ers a perspective on the crop’s nutrient condition just before grain fi lling begins. Th e timing of the R1 ear-leaf sampling is normally too late for corrective nutrient actions to be undertaken for that crop season, although there are occasional documented crop responses to nutrient applications as late as R1 (Scharf et al., 2002; Miller, 2012). However, mid-season ear-leaf sampling can still inform crop nutrient status and balance for an improved nutrient management strategy for future crops. Nutrient concentrations and contents can be measured again at maturity, and these values are helpful for measuring factors like individual nutrient uptake (Ciampitti et al., 2013) and nutrient recovery effi ciencies as well as nutrient balance (Ciampitti and Vyn, 2014a). However, whole-plant and plant component assessment at the end of the season involves much more expense and problems with spatial variability than does the simple pulling of ear leaves at fl owering. Although farmers and crop consultants routinely determine soil nutrient concentrations, and many also take early vegetative plant samples, very few crop consultants routinely sample corn ear leaves unless farmers are participating in high yield contests. Perhaps R1 stage ear-leaf sampling would become more tenable if there were more meaningful information to be gathered from knowing the individual nutrient concentrations and nutrient balances just as pollination occurs. A better understanding of the relationships of ear-leaf nutrient concentrations at or above the published critical levels on reproductive-stage biomass gain and fi nal grain yields may also motivate such sampling. Growing conditions bracketing the silking period is one of the most critical yield-infl uencing factors (Tollenaar and Lee, 2011). Recent studies have confi rmed that crop parameters at silking are more infl uential than similar parameters measured at other times in the growing season to individual corn plant yields (Kovács and Vyn, 2014) and to grain yields per unit area (Ciampitti et al., 2012). Plant phenotyping involving ear-leaf sampling for nutrient concentration determination has been employed routinely for decades. Relationships between Ear-Leaf Nutrient Concentrations at Silking and Corn Biomass and Grain Yields at Maturity
Neutron powder diffraction – new opportunities in hydrogen location in molecular and materials structure

The potential of neutron powder diffraction in the location of hydrogen atoms in molecular materials and inorganic-molecular complexes is reviewed. Advances in instrumentation and data collection techniques that have made this field accessible are reviewed, along with a wide range of applications carried out by our collaboration investigating functional materials, hydrogen-containing minerals and molecular compounds. Some of the limitations in this area, particularly for molecular systems, are also addressed.
The BHK Color Diagram: A Tool to Study Young Stellar Populations

A new method to derive age differences between the various super–star-clusters observed in starburst galaxies using the two-color diagram B-H versus H-K is presented. This method offers a quick and easy way to differentiate very young and intermediate-age stellar populations even if data on extinction are unavailable. In this case, discrimination of regions younger and older than 4 Myr is feasible. With the availability of data on extinction, the time resolution can be improved significantly. The application of the method to the starbursting system Arp 299 is presented. The validity of the method is confirmed by comparing the equivalent width of the Hα line with the chronological map of the northern part of NGC 3690.
Clinical associations of maternal thyroid function with foetal brain development: Epidemiological interpretation and overview of available evidence

Thyroid hormone is an important regulator of early brain development, particularly during early stages of gestation during which foetal thyroid hormone availability depends on the maternal transfer of thyroid hormones. There is a wide range of experimental studies showing that low maternal thyroid hormone availability is associated with suboptimal brain development parameters. While few clinical studies have shown that overt maternal hypothyroidism is associated with lower child IQ, the question whether more subclinical changes in maternal thyroid function could also lead to suboptimal foetal brain development. In this review, we put the latter studies in perspective and discuss their interpretation from an epidemiological and clinical perspective. Furthermore, we extend this discussion to also include future perspective and identify important knowledge gaps in the field.
Surface plasmon driven electric and magnetic resonators for metamaterials

Using interplay between surface plasmons and metamaterials, we propose a different technique for novel metamaterial designs. We show that surface plasmons existing on thin metal surfaces can be used to “drive” nonresonant structures in their vicinity to provide new types of electric and magnetic resonators. These resonators strictly adhere to plasmon dispersion of the host-metal film. The operating frequency of the resultant metamaterials can be scaled to extremely high frequencies, otherwise not possible with conventional split-ring-resonatorbased designs. Our approach opens possibilities for theory and experiment in the interface of plasmonics and metamaterials to harvest many potential applications of both fields combined.
An Adaptive Data Representation for Robust Point-Set Registration and Merging

This paper presents a framework for rigid point-set registration and merging using a robust continuous data representation. Our point-set representation is constructed by training a one-class support vector machine with a Gaussian radial basis function kernel and subsequently approximating the output function with a Gaussian mixture model. We leverage the representation's sparse parametrisation and robustness to noise, outliers and occlusions in an efficient registration algorithm that minimises the L2 distance between our support vector -- parametrised Gaussian mixtures. In contrast, existing techniques, such as Iterative Closest Point and Gaussian mixture approaches, manifest a narrower region of convergence and are less robust to occlusions and missing data, as demonstrated in the evaluation on a range of 2D and 3D datasets. Finally, we present a novel algorithm, GMMerge, that parsimoniously and equitably merges aligned mixture models, allowing the framework to be used for reconstruction and mapping.
Netizen-Style Commenting on Fashion Photos: Dataset and Diversity Measures

Recently, deep neural network models have achieved promising results in image captioning task. Yet, "vanilla'' sentences, only describing shallow appearances (e.g., types, colors), generated by current works are not satisfied netizen style resulting in lacking engagements, contexts, and user intentions. To tackle this problem, we propose Netizen Style Commenting (NSC), to automatically generate characteristic comments to a user-contributed fashion photo. We are devoted to modulating the comments in a vivid "netizen'' style which reflects the culture in a designated social community and hopes to facilitate more engagement with users. In this work, we design a novel framework that consists of three major components: (1) We construct a large-scale clothing dataset named NetiLook, which contains 300K posts (photos) with 5M comments to discover netizen-style comments. (2) We propose three unique measures to estimate the diversity of comments. (3) We bring diversity by marrying topic models with neural networks to make up the insufficiency of conventional image captioning works. Experimenting over Flickr30k and our NetiLook datasets, we demonstrate our proposed approaches benefit fashion photo commenting and improve image captioning tasks both in accuracy and diversity.