Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of cyclophosphamide on the immune response to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in mice

Natural resistance in mice to Pseudomonas aeruginosa was decreased 10-fold with a single dose of 300 mg of cyclophosphamide (CY) per kg intraperitoneally. Mice were resistant to infection when immunized actively with Pseudomonas vaccine or passively with Pseudomonas immune serum before receiving CY. Syngeneic spleen, thymus and/or bone marrow cells were transfused into CY-treated recipient mice. Protective anti-Pseudomonas antibody was elicited in the recipient mice when they were vaccinated 1 day after receiving normal spleen cells and challenged 8 days after vaccination. When 1.6 X 10(7) normal thymus and bone marrow cells were infused before vaccination, 69% of the recipients of both cell preparations responded serologically compared with 15 and 27% of those receiving either thymus or bone marrow cells, respectively. CY-treated thymus or bone marrow cell recipients were resistant to Pseudomonas infection when 6 X 10(7) of either cell population was transfused.
Stress Hyperglycemia and Prognosis of Stroke in Nondiabetic and Diabetic Patients: A Systematic Overview

Background and Purpose “Stress” hyperglycemia may be associated with increased mortality and poor recovery in diabetic and nondiabetic patients after stroke. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature relating acute poststroke glucose levels to the subsequent course were done to summarize and quantify this relationship. Methods A comprehensive literature search was done for cohort studies reporting mortality and/or functional recovery after stroke in relation to admission glucose level. Relative risks in hyperglycemic compared with normoglycemic patients with and without diabetes were calculated and meta-analyzed when possible. Results Thirty-two studies were identified; relative risks for prespecified outcomes were reported or could be calculated in 26 studies. After stroke of either subtype (ischemic or hemorrhagic), the unadjusted relative risk of in-hospital or 30-day mortality associated with admission glucose level >6 to 8 mmol/L (108 to 144 mg/dL) was 3.07 (95% CI, 2.50 to 3.79) in nondiabetic patients and 1.30 (95% CI, 0.49 to 3.43) in diabetic patients. After ischemic stroke, admission glucose level >6.1 to 7.0 mmol/L (110 to 126 mg/dL) was associated with increased risk of in-hospital or 30-day mortality in nondiabetic patients only (relative risk=3.28; 95% CI, 2.32 to 4.64). After hemorrhagic stroke, admission hyperglycemia was not associated with higher mortality in either diabetic or nondiabetic patients. Nondiabetic stroke survivors whose admission glucose level was >6.7 to 8 mmol/L (121 to 144 mg/dL) also had a greater risk of poor functional recovery (relative risk=1.41; 95% CI, 1.16 to 1.73). Conclusions Acute hyperglycemia predicts increased risk of in-hospital mortality after ischemic stroke in nondiabetic patients and increased risk of poor functional recovery in nondiabetic stroke survivors.
Systemic redox imbalance in stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract Context: Increased oxidative burden is found in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Objective: To assess the association of ceruloplasmin, albumin, bilirubin, transferrin, thiols and malondialdehyde (MDA) with stable COPD. Materials and methods: Oxidative stress markers measured in 106 COPD patients and 45 healthy subjects were evaluated. Results: Higher ceruloplasmin and MDA, and lower albumin, transferrin and thiols in COPD patients were found. Ceruloplasmin was the strongest single predictor of COPD. The model combining ceruloplasmin, albumin and thiols improved their individual diagnostic performances. Conclusions: Diagnostic characteristics of ceruloplasmin, albumin, transferrin, thiols and MDA suggest their potential value as additional tools in disease diagnosis.
Magnetically Controlled Electronic Ballasts With Isolated Output: The Variable Transformer Solution

In this paper, the variable transformer solution is presented as a step forward in magnetically controlled electronic ballasts. The proposed technique takes advantage of the device's equivalent series inductance to provide a new flexible way for lamp's luminous flux regulation. Output electrical isolation and constant frequency operation are also guaranteed by the proposed realization. A simple method for large-signal characterization of the variable transformer is described. An FH 14W/840 Osram lamp was chosen to validate this new technique and experimental results clearly show its adequate behavior.
Walkie-Talkie: Motion-Assisted Automatic Key Generation for Secure On-Body Device Communication

Ubiquity of wearable and implantable devices sparks a new set of mobile computing applications that leverage the prolific information of sensors. For many of these applications, to ensure the security of communication between legitimate devices is a crucial problem. In this paper, we design Walkie-Talkie, a shared secret key generation scheme that allows two legitimate devices to establish a common cryptographic key by exploiting users' walking characteristics (gait). The intuition is that the sensors on different locations of the same body experience similar accelerometer signal when the user is walking. However, the accelerometer also captures motion signal produced by other body parts (e.g., swinging arms). We address this issue by employing Blind Source Separation (BSS) technique to extract the informative signal produced by the unique gait pattern. Our experimental results show that the keys generated by two independent devices on the same body are able to achieve up to 100% bit agreement rate. To demonstrate the feasibility, we implement the proposed key generation scheme on modern smartphones. The evaluation results show that the proposed scheme can run in real-time on modern mobile devices and incurs low system overhead.
Measuring Procedural Imitation Aptitude in Children: Further Validation of the Preschool Imitation and Praxis Scale (PIPS)

The Preschool Imitation and Praxis Scale (PIPS) was developed to measure bodily and procedural imitation aptitude in young children. However, the investigation of procedural imitation is more complex than that of bodily imitation. The procedural imitation tasks of the PIPS mainly consisted of unusual acts upon objects (for example, switching on a lamp in a toy animal with the forehead). This study assessed the suitability of these tasks by ruling out nonimitative learning in 15 typically developing children between 12 and 55 mo. of age (6 girls, 9 boys). Results indicated that the tasks seem novel and unlikely to be performed spontaneously by the children. In addition, the number of target acts performed by the children in the imitation condition was significantly higher than in the baseline, investigator-manipulation, and imitation-enhancement nonimitative control conditions. Finally, the tasks elicited more frequently imitative behaviour than end-state emulation. Therefore, the tasks appear appropriate to measure procedural imitation, and the findings support the theoretical validity of the PIPS.
Green Computing: An Awareness Survey among University of Technology, Mauritius Students

Given the emphasis of saving the Earth against the eﬀect of global warming, green technology has become mandatory in every aspect of life today. Green computing is the study and practice of using computing resources eﬃciently so as to reduce CO 2 emission. This paper is an attempt to comprehend the awareness of green computing among the students of University of Technology, Mauritius. The results suggest that students have a moderate knowledge about green computing but their everyday green computing practices are not satisfactory. It is quite promising however, that the students surveyed intend to adopt green computing for the beneﬁt of the environment and their future.
Determining the Frequency and Mechanisms of HIV-1 and HIV-2 RNA Copackaging by Single-Virion Analysis

ABSTRACT HIV-1 and HIV-2 are derived from two distinct primate viruses and share only limited sequence identity. Despite this, HIV-1 and HIV-2 Gag polyproteins can coassemble into the same particle and their genomes can undergo recombination, albeit at an extremely low frequency, implying that HIV-1 and HIV-2 RNA can be copackaged into the same particle. To determine the frequency of HIV-1 and HIV-2 RNA copackaging and to dissect the mechanisms that allow the heterologous RNA copackaging, we directly visualized the RNA content of each particle by using RNA-binding proteins tagged with fluorescent proteins to label the viral genomes. We found that when HIV-1 and HIV-2 RNA are present in viral particles at similar ratios, ∼10% of the viral particles encapsidate both HIV-1 and HIV-2 RNAs. Furthermore, heterologous RNA copackaging can be promoted by mutating the 6-nucleotide (6-nt) dimer initiation signal (DIS) to discourage RNA homodimerization or to encourage RNA heterodimerization, indicating that HIV-1 and HIV-2 RNA can heterodimerize prior to packaging using the DIS sequences. We also observed that the coassembly of HIV-1 and HIV-2 Gag proteins is not required for the heterologous RNA copackaging; HIV-1 Gag proteins are capable of mediating HIV-1 and HIV-2 RNA copackaging. These results define the cis- and trans-acting elements required for and affecting the heterologous RNA copackaging, a prerequisite for the generation of chimeric viruses by recombination, and also shed light on the mechanisms of RNA-Gag recognition essential for RNA encapsidation.
Regulation of DNA replication at the end of the mitochondrial D-loop involves the helicase TWINKLE and a conserved sequence element

The majority of mitochondrial DNA replication events are terminated prematurely. The nascent DNA remains stably associated with the template, forming a triple-stranded displacement loop (D-loop) structure. However, the function of the D-loop region of the mitochondrial genome remains poorly understood. Using a comparative genomics approach we here identify two closely related 15 nt sequence motifs of the D-loop, strongly conserved among vertebrates. One motif is at the D-loop 5′-end and is part of the conserved sequence block 1 (CSB1). The other motif, here denoted coreTAS, is at the D-loop 3′-end. Both these sequences may prevent transcription across the D-loop region, since light and heavy strand transcription is terminated at CSB1 and coreTAS, respectively. Interestingly, the replication of the nascent D-loop strand, occurring in a direction opposite to that of heavy strand transcription, is also terminated at coreTAS, suggesting that coreTAS is involved in termination of both transcription and replication. Finally, we demonstrate that the loading of the helicase TWINKLE at coreTAS is reversible, implying that this site is a crucial component of a switch between D-loop formation and full-length mitochondrial DNA replication.
Activity of Cathelicidin Peptides against Chlamydia spp

ABSTRACT The in vitro activity of six cathelicidin peptides against 25 strains of Chlamydia was investigated. SMAP-29 proved to be the most active peptide, reducing the inclusion numbers of all 10 strains of Chlamydia trachomatis tested by ≥50% at 10 μg/ml. This peptide was also active against C. pneumoniae and C. felis.
Testing a complete-diet model for estimating the land resource requirements of food consumption and agricultural carrying capacity: The New York State example

Abstract Agriculture faces a multitude of challenges in the 21st century, and new tools are needed to help determine how it should respond. Among these challenges is a need to reconcile how human food consumption patterns should change to both improve human nutrition and reduce agriculture's environmental footprint. A complete-diet framework is needed for better understanding how diet influences demand for a fundamental agricultural resource, land. We tested such a model, measuring the impact of fat and meat consumption on the land requirements of food production in New York State (NYS). Analysis was confined to this geographic area to simplify the modeling procedure and to examine the state's ability to reduce environmental impact by supplying food locally. Per capita land resource requirements were calculated with a spreadsheet model for 42 diets ranging from 0 to 381 g d−1 (0 to 12 oz d−1) of meat and eggs and 20 to 45% total calories from fat. Many of these diets meet national dietary recommendations. The potential human carrying capacity of the NYS land base was then derived, based on recent estimates of available agricultural land. A nearly fivefold difference (0.18–0.86 ha) in per capita land requirements was observed across the diets. Increasing meat in the diet increased per capita land requirements, while increasing total dietary fat increased the land requirements of low meat diets but reduced the land needed for high meat diets. Higher meat diets used a larger share of the available cropland suited only to pasture and perennial crops. Thus, only a threefold difference was observed for the potential number of people fed from the NYS land base (2.0–6.2 million). In addition, some high-fat vegetarian diets supported fewer people than lower fat diets containing 63–127 g d−1 of meat (approximately one- to two-thirds of the national average per capita consumption in the US). These results support the assertion that diet should be considered in its entirety when assessing environmental impact. To more completely understand how diet influences land requirements and potential carrying capacity, this model should be applied across a larger geographic area that encompasses a wider variety of climates and soil resources. To better understand the ability of a local region to supply more of its own food, the model should be moved into a geospatial framework.
Better Safe than Sorry: Precautionary Reasoning and Implied Dominance in Risky Decisions

In four studies, student and nonstudent participants evaluated the possible outcomes of binary decisions involving health, safety, and environmental risks (e.g., whether to issue a dam-failure evacuation order). Many participants indicated that false positives (e.g., evacuation, but no dam failure) were better than true negatives (e.g., no evacuation and no dam failure), thereby implying that the more protective action dominated the less protective action. A common rationale for this response pattern was the precautionary maxim “better safe than sorry. ” Participants apparently evaluated outcomes partly on the basis of the decisions that might lead to them, in conflict with consequentialist decision models. Consistent with this explanation, the prevalence of implied dominance decreased substantially when the emphasis on decisions was reduced. These results demonstrate that an initial preference for a decision alternative can alter the evaluation of possible consequences of both the preferred alternative and a competing alternative, suggesting positive feedback loops that reinforce the initial preference. The rationality of considering the decision itself as an attribute of possible outcomes is discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Simultaneous confidence bounds for relative risks in multiple comparisons to control

We discuss the construction of asymptotic simultaneous upper confidence limits that jointly bound relative risks formed by comparing several treatments to a control. Motivated by a vaccine study, we investigate the performance of several methods under such settings. Inverting the minimum of score statistics, together with estimating the correlation matrix of these statistics under the null gives simultaneous coverage rates closest to the nominal level. In typical settings of vaccine studies, this method proves to be the most powerful of the ones considered, but computationally simpler alternatives are also worth exploring when the number of comparisons is large. Simultaneous lower and two‐sided confidence intervals are also considered. All procedures can be implemented and evaluated using freely available and general R code. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The prevalence of limited health literacy

AbstractOBJECTIVE: To systematically review U.S. studies examining the prevalence of limited health literacy and to synthesize these findings by evaluating demographic associations in pooled analyses. DESIGN: We searched the literature for the period 1963 through January 2004 and identified 2,132 references related to a set of specified search terms. Of the 134 articles and published abstracts retrieved, 85 met inclusion criteria, which were 1) conducted in the United States with ≥25 adults, 2) addressed a hypothesis related to health care, 3) identified a measurement instrument, and 4) presented primary data. The authors extracted data to compare studies by population, methods, and results. MAIN RESULTS: The 85 studies reviewed include data on 31,129 subjects, and report a prevalence of low health literacy between 0% and 68%. Pooled analyses of these data reveal that the weighted prevalence of low health literacy was 26% (95% confidence interval [CI], 22% to 29%) and of marginal health literacy was 20% (95% CI, 16% to 23%). Most studies used either the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) or versions of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA). The prevalence of low health literacy was not associated with gender (P=.38) or measurement instrument (P=.23) but was associated with level of education (P=.02), ethnicity (P=.0003), and age (P=.004). CONCLUSIONS: A pooled analysis of published reports on health literacy cannot provide a nationally representative prevalence estimate. This systematic review exhibits that limited health literacy, as depicted in the medical literature, is prevalent and is consistently associated with education, ethnicity, and age. It is essential to simplify health services and improve health education. Such changes have the potential to improve the health of Americans and address the health disparities that exist today.
Global shape from shading

A new approach for the reconstruction of a smooth three dimensional object from its two dimensional gray level image is presented. An algorithm based on topological properties of simple smooth surfaces is provided to solve the problem of global reconstruction. Classifying singular points in the shading image as maxima minima and two kinds of saddle points, serves as the key to the solution of the problem. This classification is performed globally with no assumptions on the local behavior of characteristics near singular points. The global reconstruction procedure, being deterministic and using topological properties of the surface performs better than other approaches proposed so far, based on classification of singular points according to the local behavior of characteristics in their neighborhood. The proposed algorithm is simple, easy to implement and works remarkably fast on a parallel machine.
A Comparison of Optimization Methods and Software for Large-scale L1-regularized Linear Classification

Large-scale linear classification is widely used in many areas. The L1-regularized form can be applied for feature selection; however, its non-differentiability causes more difficulties in training. Although various optimization methods have been proposed in recent years, these have not yet been compared suitably. In this paper, we first broadly review existing methods. Then, we discuss state-of-the-art software packages in detail and propose two efficient implementations. Extensive comparisons indicate that carefully implemented coordinate descent methods are very suitable for training large document data.
New checks and subtleties for AdS/CFT and a-maximization

We provide a cross-check of AdS/CFT and a-charge maximization for a four dimensional = 1 SCFT with irrational R-charges. The gauge theory is the low energy effective theory of N D3-branes at the tip of the complex cone over the first del Pezzo surface. By carefully taking into account the subtle issue of flavor symmetry breaking at the fixed point, we show, using a-maximization, that this theory has in fact irrational central charge and R-charges. Our results perfectly match with those inherited from the recently discovered supergravity dual background. Along analogous lines, we make novel predictions for the still unknown AdS dual of the quiver theory for the second del Pezzo surface. This should flow to a SCFT with irrational charges, too. All of our results differ from previous findings in the literature and outline interesting subtleties in a-maximization and AdS/CFT techniques overlooked in the past.
A Minimum Relative Entropy Principle for Learning and Acting

This paper proposes a method to construct an adaptive agent that is universal with respect to a given class of experts, where each expert is designed specifically for a particular environment. This adaptive control problem is formalized as the problem of minimizing the relative entropy of the adaptive agent from the expert that is most suitable for the unknown environment. If the agent is a passive observer, then the optimal solution is the well-known Bayesian predictor. However, if the agent is active, then its past actions need to be treated as causal interventions on the I/O stream rather than normal probability conditions. Here it is shown that the solution to this new variational problem is given by a stochastic controller called the Bayesian control rule, which implements adaptive behavior as a mixture of experts. Furthermore, it is shown that under mild assumptions, the Bayesian control rule converges to the control law of the most suitable expert.
A Socio-cultural Analysis of African Immigration to South Africa

Since the advent of a democratic South Africa in 1994, it has become a new destination for African immigrants, thus adding to the increasing trend of South-South migration globally. African immigration to South Africa has increased not only through the regular immigration of skilled professionals and other economic migrants, but also through refugees fleeing from conflict areas in the continent. This article utilizes the ideology of Makwerekwere as a theoretical framework for explaining non-belonging in South Africa within which African immigrants are imagined and treated as despicable ‘others’. It also gains useful insights from a survey of 92 South Africans and African immigrants in KwaZulu-Natal. Some of its findings show that African immigrants in South Africa have stimulated interest and fostered knowledge of other African cultures amongst South Africans and Africans living in South Africa.