Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Zika pandemic online trends, incidence and health risk communication: a time trend study

Objectives We aimed to describe the online search trends of Zika and examine their association with Zika incidence, assess the content of Zika-related press releases issued by leading health authorities and examine the association between online trends and press release timing. Design Using Google Trends, the 1 May 2015 to 30 May 2016 online trends of Zika and associated search terms were studied globally and in the five countries with the highest numbers of suspected cases. Correlations were then examined between online trends and Zika incidence in these countries. All Zika-related press releases issued by WHO/Pan America Health Organization (PAHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the study period were assessed for transparency, uncertainty and audience segmentation. Witte's Extended Parallel Process Model was applied to assess self-efficacy, response efficacy, susceptibility and severity. AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average with an eXogenous predictor variable (ARIMAX) (p,d,q) regression modelling was used to quantify the association between online trends and the timing of press releases. Results Globally, Zika online search trends were low until the beginning of 2016, when interest rose steeply. Strong correlations (r=0.748–0.922; p<0.001) were observed between online trends and the number of suspected Zika cases in four of the five countries studied. Compared with press releases issued by WHO/PAHO, CDC press releases were significantly more likely to provide contact details and links to other resources, include figures/graphs, be risk-advisory in nature and be more readable and briefer. ARIMAX modelling results indicate that online trends preceded by 1 week press releases by WHO (stationary-R2=0.345; p<0.001) and CDC (stationary-R2=0.318; p=0.014). Conclusions These results suggest that online trends can aid in pandemic surveillance. Identification of shortcomings in the content and timing of Zika press releases can help guide health communication efforts in the current pandemic and future public health emergencies.
Genetic instability in budding and fission yeast—sources and mechanisms

Cells are constantly confronted with endogenous and exogenous factors that affect their genomes. Eons of evolution have allowed the cellular mechanisms responsible for preserving the genome to adjust for achieving contradictory objectives: to maintain the genome unchanged and to acquire mutations that allow adaptation to environmental changes. One evolutionary mechanism that has been refined for survival is genetic variation. In this review, we describe the mechanisms responsible for two biological processes: genome maintenance and mutation tolerance involved in generations of genetic variations in mitotic cells of both Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe. These processes encompass mechanisms that ensure the fidelity of replication, DNA lesion sensing and DNA damage response pathways, as well as mechanisms that ensure precision in chromosome segregation during cell division. We discuss various factors that may influence genome stability, such as cellular ploidy, the phase of the cell cycle, transcriptional activity of a particular region of DNA, the proficiency of DNA quality control systems, the metabolic stage of the cell and its respiratory potential, and finally potential exposure to endogenous or environmental stress.
Novel Nanostructured Magnesium Composites for Lightweight Structural Application

Abstract : MATSYS initiated the development of novel compositions and processing techniques to produce lightweight, high-strength, nanostructured, Mg-based composites for structural applications. We used MA of a mixture of Mg or Mg alloy and reinforcement to synthesize a nanostructured composite powder with the reinforcement uniformly dispersed within the nanocrystalline metal matrix. These powders are then consolidated to full density by instrumented-HIP to produce nanostructured composites. The goals is to quantify the relationship between the amount of reinforcement and the resulting composite properties and tailor the process to balance the requirements for strength and ductility. To date we demonstrated that the tensile strength of nanostructured Mg is 58% higher than the coarse-grained material. The temperature required to achieve full densification has been reduced as a result of the microstructure refinement. We demonstrated the use of MA and instrumented-HIP to achieve the desired nanostructure in a fully dense material.
Sympathetic dysfunction in vasovagal syncope and the postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome

Orthostatic intolerance is the inability to tolerate the upright posture and is relieved by recumbence. It most commonly affects young women and has a major impact on quality of life and psychosocial well-being. Several forms of orthostatic intolerance have been described. The most common one is the recurrent vasovagal syncope (VVS) phenotype which presents as a transient and abrupt loss of consciousness and postural tone that is followed by rapid recovery. Another common type of orthostatic intolerance is the postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) which is characterized by an excessive rise in heart rate upon standing and is associated with symptoms of presyncope such as light-headedness, fatigue, palpitations, and nausea. Maintenance of arterial pressure under condition of reduced central blood volume during the orthostasis is accomplished in large part through sympathetic efferent nerve traffic to the peripheral vasculature. Therefore sympathetic nervous system (SNS) dysfunction is high on the list of possible contributors to the pathophysiology of orthostatic intolerance. Investigations into the role of the SNS in orthostatic intolerance have yielded mixed results. This review outlines the current knowledge of the function of the SNS in both VVS and POTS.
Age and Gender Classification for a Home-Robot Service

This paper describes a method to recognize the age and gender of a user on the basis of human speech. Using voice source characteristics of the Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs), a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) technique is applied in an effort to discover the age, gender, and other information as regards a user. On the basis of this information, service applications for robots can satisfy users by offering services adaptive to the special needs of specific user groups that may include adults and children as well as females and males. The major aim of this paper is to discover the voice source parameters of age and gender and to classify these two characteristics simultaneously. ETRI-VoiceDB2006 was employed to evaluate the proposed method.
Radiation fractionation: the search for isoeffect relationships and mechanisms

Abstract Purpose: Review the historical basis for the use of fractionated radiation in radiation oncology. Conclusion: The history of dose fractionation in radiation oncology is long and tortuous, and the radiobiologist’s understanding of why fractionation worked came decades after radiation oncologists had adopted multi-week daily-dose fractionation as ‘standard’. Central to the history is the search for ‘isoeffective’ formulas that would allow different radiation schedules to be compared. Initially, this meant dealing with different lengths of treatment, leading to the 1944 Strandqvist formulation that dominated thinking for decades. Concerns about the number of fractions, not just the total time, led to the 1967 Ellis NSD formulation that held sway through the 1980s. The development of experimental radiotherapy in 1970s (e.g. Fowler’s work at the Gray Laboratory, and Fischer’s work at Yale) led to biologically-based approaches that culminated with the Biologically Effective Dose (BED) concept. BED is the current dogma for treatment optimization, but it must be used with caution, as there are multiple formulations, and some parameters have debatable values. There is also a controversy about whether BED is biologically-based or a ‘curve-fitting’ exercise. These latter issues are beyond the scope of this article, but the history of fractionation models suggests that our current concepts are probably wrong, although when used with caution they are clearly useful.
Effect of a Diet Enriched with Fresh Coconut Saturated Fats on Plasma Lipids and Erythrocyte Fatty Acid Composition in Normal Adults

ABSTRACT Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the effects of increased saturated fatty acid (SFA) (provided by fresh coconut) versus monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) intake (provided by a combination of groundnuts and groundnut oil) on plasma lipids and erythrocyte fatty acid (EFA) composition in healthy adults. Material and Methods: Fifty-eight healthy volunteers, randomized into 2 groups, were provided standardized diet along with 100 g fresh coconut or groundnuts and groundnut oil combination for 90 days in a Yoga University. Fasting blood samples were collected before and after the intervention period for the measurement of plasma lipids and EFA profile. Results: Coconut diet increased low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels significantly. In contrast, the groundnut diet decreased total cholesterol (TC), mainly due to a decrease in HDL levels. There were no differences in the major SFA of erythrocytes in either group. However, coconut consumption resulted in an increase in C14:0 and C24:0 along with a decrease in levels of C18:1 n9 (oleic acid). There was a significant increase in levels of C20:3 n6 (dihomo-gamma linolenic acid, DGLA). Conclusions: Consumption of SFA-rich coconut for 3 months had no significant deleterious effect on erythrocytes or lipid-related factors compared to groundnut consumption. On the contrary, there was an increase in the anti-atherogenic HDL levels and anti-inflammatory precursor DGLA in erythrocyte lipids. This suggests that coconut consumption may not have any deleterious effects on cardiovascular risk in normal subjects.
An atypical Meyerson's naevus: a dermoscopic, confocal microscopic and immunohistochemical description of one case

414 JEADV 2007, 21, 392–435 © 2006 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology keratotic papules were extremely pruritic and more numerous. A new light microscopy confirmed the diagnosis of PAD, in which a suprabasilar cleft with acantholytic and dyskeratotic cells was found (fig. 2). She was treated with oral isotretinoin, 20 mg/day for 8 weeks with remission of her condition (fig. 1b). In 1972 Ackerman introduced the term focal acantholytic dyskeratosis to describe a peculiar histological pattern, characterized by suprabasal cleft, hyperkeratosis, parakeratosis, acantholytic and dyskeratotic cells, including corps ronds. This pattern is classical of DD, but is also found in other genetic diseases such as benign familial pemphigus, and in acquired dermatosis such as Groover (also named transient acantholytic dermatosis), warty dyskeratoma and PAD. The latter was first described in the genital region. There is little information regarding PAD therapy. Successful treatment with cryotherapy and topical steroids has been reported. Some other diseases of this group can be treated with oral retinoids or steroids. A systemic therapy was preferable in the relapse of this patient, as over 300 lesions were seen on the lower legs, and a complete remission could be achieved. Oral isotretinoin should be considered a therapeutic option in cases of extensive PAD.
Exocyst-Positive Organelles and Autophagosomes Are Distinct Organelles in Plants1[OPEN]

Exocyst-positive organelles are distinct from autophagosomes under normal growth conditions but overlap in the vacuole after autophagic induction. Autophagosomes are organelles that deliver cytosolic proteins for degradation in the vacuole of the cell. In contrast, exocyst-positive organelles (EXPO) deliver cytosolic proteins to the cell surface and therefore represent a form of unconventional protein secretion. Because both structures have two boundary membranes, it has been suggested that they may have been falsely treated as separate entities. Using suspension culture cells and root tissue cells of transgenic Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants expressing either the EXPO marker Arabidopsis Exo70E2-GFP or the autophagosome marker yellow fluorescent protein (YFP)-autophagy-related gene 8e/f (ATG8e/f), and using specific antibodies against Exo70E2 and ATG8, we have now established that, in normally growing cells, EXPO and autophagosomes are distinct from one another. However, when cells/roots are subjected to autophagy induction, EXPO as well as autophagosomes fuse with the vacuole. In the presence of concanamycin A, the punctate fluorescent signals from both organelles inside the vacuole remain visible for hours and overlap to a significant degree. Tonoplast staining with FM4-64/YFP-Rab7-like GTPase/YFP-vesicle-associated membrane protein711 confirmed the internalization of tonoplast membrane concomitant with the sequestration of EXPO and autophagosomes. This suggests that EXPO and autophagosomes may be related to one another; however, whereas induction of autophagy led to an increase in the amount of ATG8 recruited to membranes, Exo70E2 did not respond in a similar manner.
Live tracking and mapping from both general and rotation-only camera motion

We present an approach to real-time tracking and mapping that supports any type of camera motion in 3D environments, that is, general (parallax-inducing) as well as rotation-only (degenerate) motions. Our approach effectively generalizes both a panorama mapping and tracking system and a keyframe-based Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) system, behaving like one or the other depending on the camera movement. It seamlessly switches between the two and is thus able to track and map through arbitrary sequences of general and rotation-only camera movements. Key elements of our approach are to design each system component such that it is compatible with both panoramic data and Structure-from-Motion data, and the use of the `Geometric Robust Information Criterion' to decide whether the transformation between a given pair of frames can best be modeled with an essential matrix E, or with a homography H. Further key features are that no separate initialization step is needed, that the reconstruction is unbiased, and that the system continues to collect and map data after tracking failure, thus creating separate tracks which are later merged if they overlap. The latter is in contrast to most existing tracking and mapping systems, which suspend tracking and mapping, thus discarding valuable data, while trying to relocalize the camera with respect to the initial map. We tested our system on a variety of video sequences, successfully tracking through different camera motions and fully automatically building panoramas as well as 3D structures.
Experimental Comparison between Traditional and Cryogenic Cooling Conditions in Rough Turning of Ti-6Al-4V

Titanium alloys, mainly because of their poor thermal conductivity, need to be cut at relatively low cutting speeds to avoid a severe diffusion wear, with obvious negative consequences on the profitability of machining. An important amount of research activities has been done in order to increase productivity in titanium machining operations and one of the most promising solutions is represented by the use of liquid nitrogen as a coolant during the machining operation. The aim of this paper is to compare traditional and cryogenic turning of Ti6Al4V in a region of cutting parameters particularly relevant to the aerospace industry where no previous data are available. The cutting parameters are those typical of titanium alloys rough machining which is considered, cost-wise, the most important operation because, for aerospace components, the so-called Buy-To-Fly ratio can reach values up to 20:1. The experiments have been performed using a full factorial design in order to statistically evaluate, using ANOVA and regression analyses, the significance of the input factors on the process most interesting outputs. The considered input factors are: type of cooling method, cutting speed and feed rate. The main analysed responses are: tool wear, surface roughness, cutting forces, coefficient of friction and chip morphology. The results show the significance of the cooling method on the tool life and that cryogenic machining is able to increase the tool life with respect to wet cutting. On the other hand, the beneficial effect of the liquid nitrogen cooling is reduced at high cutting speed and feed rate. Besides, the results showed that a small but significant reduction can be achieved for both the repulsion force and the coefficient of friction at the tool-workpiece interface.
HIV-1 gp120 and morphine induced oxidative stress: role in cell cycle regulation

HIV infection and illicit drugs are known to induce oxidative stress and linked with severity of viral replication, disease progression, impaired cell cycle regulation and neurodegeneration. Studies have shown that morphine accelerates HIV infection and disease progression mediated by Reactive oxygen species (ROS). Oxidative stress impact redox balance and ROS production affect cell cycle regulation. However, the role of morphine in HIV associated acceleration of oxidative stress and its link to cell cycle regulation and neurodegeneration has not been elucidated. The aim of present study is to elucidate the mechanism of oxidative stress induced glutathione synthases (GSS), super oxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) impact cell cycle regulated protein cyclin-dependent kinase 1, cell division cycle 2 (CDK-1/CDC-2), cyclin B, and cell division cycle 25C (CDC-25C) influencing neuronal dysfunction by morphine co-morbidity with HIV-1 gp120. It was observed that redox imbalance inhibited the GSS, GPx and increased SOD which, subsequently inhibited CDK-1/CDC-2 whereas cyclin B and CDC-25C significantly up regulated in HIV-1 gp120 with morphine compared to either HIV-1 gp120 or morphine treated alone in human microglial cell line. These results suggest that HIV positive morphine users have increased levels of oxidative stress and effect of cell cycle machinery, which may cause the HIV infection and disease progression.
Coexistence-aware scheduling for LTE and WLAN during hard in-device interference

In-device interference of concurrently active radios can cause significant performance degradation in small devices such as smart phones. To avoid interference-related conflicts under challenging in-device conditions, we propose a generic radio scheduling architecture to the smart phone and small but important extensions to the LTE and WLAN protocols. To LTE, we propose scheduling duration extension to the discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism. This provides statistically guaranteed off-durations by limiting when new data can be scheduled. To WLAN, we propose coexistence-aware delivery, which enables efficient adaptation to interference-free time periods for incoming data by adding a deadline to the delivery. Based on detailed MAC-level simulations, we show that coexistence-aware radio scheduling with the proposed protocol extensions improve significantly the LTE/WLAN coexistence under hard in-device interference compared to the current state of the art.
The equivalence of the anti-windup control design and the explicit model-based parametric controller

In this paper it is shown that under certain conditions the explicit model-based tracking optimal control law for constrained input linear dynamic systems results in the same control actions as a certain class of anti-windup control design techniques. This work clearly demonstrates how parametric programming transforms systematically the complex model-based advanced control technology to a simple anti-windup control scheme that features the significant benefits of broad industrial recognition and applicability. The equivalence of the two schemes is shown via theoretical arguments and a simple SISO plant example.
Virus movement in soil during saturated and unsaturated flow

Virus movement in soil during saturated and unsaturated flow was compared by adding poliovirus to sewage water and applying the water at different rates to a 250-cm-long soil column equipped with ceramic samplers at different depths. Movement of viruses during unsaturated flow of sewage through soil columns was much less than during saturated flow. Viruses did not move below the 40-cm level when sewage water was applied at less than the maximum infiltration rate; virus penetration in columns flooded with sewage was at least 160 cm. Therefore, virus movement in soils irrigated with sewage should be less than in flooded groundwater recharge basins or in saturated soil columns. Management of land treatment systems to provide unsaturated flow through the soil should minimize the depth of virus penetration. Differences in virus movement during saturated and unsaturated flow must be considered in the development of any model used to simulate virus movement in soils.
Local Global Neural Networks

We propose the local-global neural networks model within the context of time series models. This formulation encompasses some already existing nonlinear models and also admits the mixture of experts approach. We emphasize the linear expert case and extensively discuss the theoretical aspects of the model: stationarity conditions, existence, consistency and asymptotic normality of the parameter estimates, and model identifiability. The proposed model consists of a mixture of stationary and nonstationary linear models and is able to describe “intermittent” dynamics; the system spends a large fraction of time in a bounded region, but sporadically develops an instability that grows exponentially for some time and then suddenly collapses. Intermittency is a commonly observed behavior in ecology and epidemiology, fluid dynamics, and other natural systems. A model-building strategy is also considered, and the parameters are estimated by concentrated maximum likelihood. The procedure is illustrated with two real time series.