Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aflatoxin B1 and M1 contamination of animal feeds and milk from urban centers in Kenya.

BACKGROUND Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is the principal hydroxylated AFB1 metabolite present in milk of cows fed with a diet contaminated with AFB1and excreted within 12 hours of administration of contaminated feeds. OBJECTIVE This study was initiated to assess the knowledge and practices of urban dairy farmers and feed millers about aflatoxin in feeds and milk, determine the prevalence and quantify the levels of AFB1 and AFM1 in animal feeds and milk respectively from urban environs in Kenya. METHODS This work was carried out in the Department of Public Health Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Nairobi, Kenya, between February 2006 and March 2007. RESULTS A total of 830 animal feed and 613 milk samples from four urban centers were analyzed for aflatoxin B1 and M1 respectively using competitive enzyme immunoassay. Eighty six percent (353/412) of the feed samples from farmers were positive for aflatoxin B1 and 67% (235/353) of these exceeded the FAO/WHO level of 5µ gKg-1. Eighty one percent (197/243) of the feed samples from feed millers and 87% (153/175) from agrochemical shops were positive, while 58% (115/197) and 66% (92/153) of the positive samples exceeded the FAO/WHO limits respectively. Seventy two percent (315/439) of the milk from dairy farmers, 84% (71/85) from large and medium scale farmers and 99% (88/89) of the pasteurized marketed milk were positive for aflatoxin M1, and 20%, 35% an 31% of positive milk from dairy farmers, medium and large scale farmers and market outlets respectively, exceeded the WHO/FAO levels of 0. 05µ g/Kg-1. Sixty seven percent of the urban smallholder dairy farmers had no knowledge that milk could be contaminated with aflatoxin M1 and neither knew how they could mitigate against this exposure. Feed millers knew about aflatoxin B1 in grains and excretion of aflatoxin M1 in milk, but were not alleviating exposure to animals. CONCLUSION There is need to create awareness and establish routine monitoring of animal feeds and milk to reduce animal and consequently human response.
Qualitative DNA differences between two structurally different lesions: high-grade dysplasia and carcinoma in situ in colorectal adenomas.

BACKGROUND Despite the fact that the Vienna classification of neoplasias in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract acknowledged low-grade dysplasia (LGD), high-grade dysplasia (HGD) and carcinoma in situ (CIS) and that most Western pathologists recognize CIS in many organs, both CIS and HGD are still used synonymously in colorectal adenomas. Differences between CIS and HGD in colorectal adenomas are reported. MATERIALS AND METHODS Five large colorectal adenomas (measuring >20 mm) having areas of both HGD and CIS were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and with Feulgen stains. RESULTS The HGD areas showed tightly packed, spindle shaped, hyperchromatic cells with slight to moderate pleomorphic nuclei having coarse chromatin. In contrast, the CIS cells displayed marked pleomorphism, large vesicular nuclei and a prominent nucleolus. In H&E stain the hyperchromasia found in HGD nuclei was much less evident in CIS nuclei. The HGD nuclei were intensively stained (+++) with the DNA-specific Feulgen reaction but the CIS nuclei were not. CONCLUSION It would appear that following the completion of chromosomal mutations in the nuclei of HGD-cells, their DNA, carrying the new genetic information, is transcribed into RNA in the nuclei of CIS. Thus, through messenger-RNA, the production of mutated cytoplasmic proteins, required for the ultimate invasion of the lamina propria mucosa (and beyond), would be triggered.
Deeply learned attributes for crowded scene understanding

Crowded scene understanding is a fundamental problem in computer vision. In this study, we develop a multi-task deep model to jointly learn and combine appearance and motion features for crowd understanding. We propose crowd motion channels as the input of the deep model and the channel design is inspired by generic properties of crowd systems. To well demonstrate our deep model, we construct a new large-scale WWW Crowd dataset with 10, 000 videos from 8, 257 crowded scenes, and build an attribute set with 94 attributes on WWW. We further measure user study performance on WWW and compare this with the proposed deep models. Extensive experiments show that our deep models display significant performance improvements in cross-scene attribute recognition compared to strong crowd-related feature-based baselines, and the deeply learned features behave a superior performance in multi-task learning.
Variation of ATM Gene Expression in Peripheral Blood Cells of Sporadic Breast Carcinomas in Iranian Patients

The ataxia telangiectasia mutated gene (ATM), candidate for breast cancer susceptibility gene, encode a 350-kDa protein belongs to the core components of DNA-damage response machinery. Female AT carriers have at least 5-fold increase risk for breast cancer. Reduction in ATM expression is shown in multiple studies in breast tissues. We aimed to perform a research to measure the ATM mRNA expression in peripheral blood cells in breast cancer patients. Peripheral blood sample from 40 newly diagnosed, histologically confirmed female breast cancer patients was collected before surgery. Total RNA was isolated from blood cells using the RNX-Plus solution and reverse transcribed into cDNA. Real-time PCR was performed using the 2−ΔΔCT method to calculate relative changes in gene expression by REST software. The Relative Quantitation (RQ) mean was 1.27 with the min. and max. equal to 0.20 and 3.34, respectively. Calculation of patient frequencies in different groups revealed that 17.5% had reduced expression lower than two fold decreases and 15% high expression more than two fold increases, but according to REST software there was no up-regulation or down-regulation compared to normal females. The findings of multiple studies consistent with this study indicate that the ATM gene may play an important role in breast cancer development and progression, and ATM expression is down-regulated in breast cancer tissues. Although, some of the results do not support a suppressor role for ATM in the development of sporadic breast cancer, 17.5% of our patients had under expression of ATM mRNA less than two fold relative to control.
Comparison of the Relationship Between Impairment, Disability and Psychological Factors According to the Difference of Duration of Low Back Pain

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlations between pain intensity, physical impairments, disability, and psychological factors according to the difference in duration of low back pain. This study was a cross-sectional survey of 102 participants with low back pain, divided into two groups equal in number: The first group consisted of patients with acute and subacute low back pain, while the second group consisted of patients suffering from chronic low back pain. The results showed that gender, age, pain intensity, physical impairment, disability and Fear-Avoidance Beliefs (FABs) for work activities were not significantly different between two groups. FABs for physical activities of the first group were significantly more prevalent than in the second group. More than moderate correlations were found between pain intensity, physical impairment, and disability in the first group. Less than moderate correlations were found between pain intensity, physical impairment, disability, FABs, and depression in the second group. These findings suggest that we must consider psychological factors in the treatment of patients with chronic low back pain. Regression analyses revealed that pain intensity and FABs for work activities significantly contributed to the prediction of disability in the first group. Also, pain intensity and FABs for physical activities significantly contributed to the prediction of disability in the second group. Pain intensity was most important predictor of disability in two groups.
Maximizing Detection of Adenomas and Cancers During Colonoscopy

Some patients who undergo colonoscopy that appeared to have cleared the colorectum of neoplasia return within a short interval (1–3 yr) with colorectal cancer. Although several a priori mechanisms could account for this occurrence, wide variation in detection rates of adenomas and cancer at colonoscopy suggests that suboptimal colonoscopic technique is a significant contributor. Optimal technique with white-light colonoscopy involves taking adequate time for inspection during withdrawal (an average of at least 6 min in normal colons), interrogating the proximal sides of folds, flexures, and valves, clearing fluid and debris, and distending adequately. Some adjunctive techniques are directed toward exposing more colonic mucosa during colonoscopy. Wide-angle colonoscopy appears to improve efficiency but does not eliminate miss rates. Colonoscopy in retroflexion was unsuccessful in reducing miss rates in one study, whereas cap-fitted colonoscopy was successful in reducing miss rates in one small study. Techniques to improve detection of flat lesions include pancolonic chromoendoscopy (CE). In two randomized controlled trials, CE improved adenoma detection, but CE does not appear to provide substantially greater yields than those obtained by the more sensitive white-light colonoscopists. Narrow band imaging and autofluorescence are being assessed for improved detection of flat lesions. Adenoma detection rates are an important measure of the quality of colonoscopy and should be reported to endoscopists in quality improvement programs in colonoscopy.
The effect of anteversion on femoral component stability assessed by radiostereometric analysis.

Internal rotation of a femoral stem within the femur, with posterior migration of the femoral head (PHM) relative to the femur, is an important mode of failure. The relationship between anteversion and rotational stability for the Exeter (Howmedica International Ltd, London, UK) and Charnley Elite (DePuy International Ltd, Leeds, UK) stems was investigated using radiostereometric analysis (RSA). For the Elite, there was a significant (P=.01) correlation between anteversion and PHM, whereas for the Exeter, there was no significant correlation (P=.6). Increasing anteversion of the Elite was associated with decreasing PHM and increased stability. Of stems, 20% of the Elite and none of the Exeter were classified as having reduced rotational stability because their PHM was >2 SDs from the mean. All reduced rotational stability implants had anteversion substantially <20 degrees. Polished collarless tapered stems such as the Exeter seem to have enhanced rotational stability. For conventional stems, increasing anteversion increases stability. It is recommended that these stems are anteverted 20 degrees.
The Effect of Mosquito Magnet® Liberty Plus Trap on the Human Mosquito Biting Rate under Semi-Field Conditions

Abstract This study evaluated the efficacy of a commercially available mosquito trap, the Mosquito Magnet® Liberty Plus (MM), in reducing human biting rates under semi-field conditions when used alone or with different types of repellents. The MM trap significantly reduced the human biting rate with both laboratory-reared Culex quinquefasciatus and Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto. The MM trap catch did not increase when a mosquito coil was burned but did significantly increase when a skin repellent was applied to the human bait. Microencapsulated repellent ankle bands did not increase the MM trap catch with either Cx. quinquefasciatus or An. gambiae s.s. , although its combination with the trap was more effective at reducing bites by Cx. quinquefasciatus. The absence of the commercial attractant Lurex3™ in traps significantly lowered the catch efficiency of Cx. quinquefasciatus even when the skin repellent was applied to volunteers. The results from this study showed that the use of a skin repellent and an attractant-baited trap can significantly reduce the human biting rate of both nuisance biting mosquitoes and malaria vectors. Further work is required to investigate how this push-pull system would work in a field environment.
The Saccharomyces cerevisiae YCC5(YCL025c) Gene Encodes an Amino Acid Permease, Agp1, Which Transports Asparagine and Glutamine

ABSTRACT The yeast YCC5 gene encodes a putative amino acid permease and is homologous to GNP1 (encoding a high-affinity glutamine permease). Using strains with disruptions in the genes for multiple permeases, we demonstrated that Ycc5 (which we have renamed Agp1) is involved in the transport of asparagine and glutamine, performed a kinetic analysis of this activity, and showed that AGP1 expression is subject to nitrogen repression.
Anti‐nociceptive properties of the xanthine oxidase inhibitor allopurinol in mice: role of A1 adenosine receptors

Background and purpose: Allopurinol is a potent inhibitor of the enzyme xanthine oxidase, used primarily in the treatment of hyperuricemia and gout. It is well known that purines exert multiple effects on pain transmission. We hypothesized that the inhibition of xanthine oxidase by allopurinol, thereby reducing purine degradation, could be a valid strategy to enhance purinergic activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti‐nociceptive profile of allopurinol on chemical and thermal pain models in mice.
Postexercise immune correlates in children with and without cystic fibrosis.

INTRODUCTION Previous studies have shown that children with cystic fibrosis (CF) are capable of mounting a normal immune response after the stress of exercise. However, few data are available regarding the underlying mechanisms by which this immune modulation occurs. METHODS In this study, lymphocyte and leukocyte cell counts were measured before and immediately after a single bout of exhaustive exercise in 25 children (ages 8-17 yr; 12 with CF and 13 healthy controls). Catecholamine, cortisol, and insulin levels, age, nutritional parameters, and static and dynamic lung function were measured as potential correlates for immune modulation. We hypothesized that catecholamine levels would be associated with the immune changes seen after exercise in children with CF. RESULTS Our results demonstrated positive correlations between age and the change in cell counts after exercise for white blood cells (r = 0.44, P < 0.03), lymphocytes (r = 0.60, P < 0.002), monocytes (r = 0.43, P < 0.03), and CD3-CD16+CD56+ cells (r = 0.61, P < 0.002). Lower increases in the lymphocyte and CD3-CD16+CD56+ cells were observed in the CF group. Changes in pre- and post-exercise norepinephrine levels were weakly correlated with the changes in granulocyte, lymphocyte, and monocyte cell counts. Changes in cortisol levels correlated with lymphocyte and CD19+ cell count changes for the CF group but not for the healthy controls. Within the CF group, the severity of lung disease (as indicated by a FEV1) was negatively correlated with changes in lymphocyte (r = -0.66, P < 0.02) and CD3-CD16+CD56+ cell counts (r = -0.67, P < 0.02). CONCLUSION The results suggest that postexercise changes in cell counts occur in an age dependent, norepinephrine associated manner. Disease severity for children with CF also appears to enhance the postexercise leukocytosis with pronounced increases seen in natural killer cells.
Runtime I/O Re-Routing + Throttling on HPC Storage

Massively parallel storage systems are becoming more and more prevalent on HPC systems due to the emergence of a new generation of data-intensive applications. To achieve the level of I/O throughput and capacity that is demanded by data intensive applications, storage systems typically deploy a large number of storage devices (also known as LUNs or data stores). In doing so, parallel applications are allowed to access storage concurrently, and as a result, the aggregate I/O throughput can be linearly increased with the number of storage devices, reducing the application's end-to-end time. For a production system where storage devices are shared between multiple applications, contention is often a major problem leading to a significant reduction in I/O throughput. In this paper, we describe our efforts to resolve this issue in the context of HPC using a balanced re-routing + throttling approach. The proposed scheme re-routes I/O requests to a less congested storage location in a controlled manner so that write performance is improved while limiting the impact on read.
Supernatant from stored red blood cell primes inflammatory cells: influence of prestorage white cell reduction

BACKGROUND: The contribution of RBC transfusion to adverse patient outcomes is controversial. There is conflicting clinical data and limited biologic data that provide an underpinning biologic rationale for any adverse impacts from RBC transfusion. This study used in‐vitro measures of PMN stimulation to determine the ability of supernatant from RBCs to stimulate allogeneic WBCs and to determine the influence of residual donor WBCs and storage time on the proinflammatory potential of RBCs.
Effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory ophthalmic solution on intraocular pressure reduction by latanoprost

Aim: To investigate the effects of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) ophthalmic solution on latanoprost induced intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction using normal volunteers. Methods: This study was conducted as a prospective and observer masked clinical trial. 13 normal volunteers were enrolled. After measurement of basal IOP and ophthalmic examination, latanoprost ophthalmic solution was initially administered to both eyes once daily. Four weeks later, an NSAID ophthalmic solution, sodium 2-amino-3-(4-bromobenzoyl) phenylacetate sesquihydrate (refer to bromfenac sodium hydrate), was co-administered to one randomly selected eye (NSAID group) twice daily for 2 weeks. The other eye was employed as a control (non-NSAID group). After withdrawal of the NSAID ophthalmic solution, latanoprost ophthalmic solution was continuously administered for another 2 weeks and was then withdrawn. After a 4 week washout, only bromfenac sodium hydrate ophthalmic solution was administered to the eyes of the NSAID group for 2 weeks. During the study period, ophthalmic examination, including IOP measurement was performed in an observer masked fashion. Results: Before initiation of bromfenac sodium hydrate, baseline IOPs of the non-NSAID group and the NSAID group were 15.73 (SD 1.97) mm Hg and 15.86 (2.06) mm Hg, respectively (p=0.88). Although latanoprost ophthalmic solution significantly reduced IOP in both groups, co-administration of bromfenac sodium hydrate significantly inhibited latanoprost induced IOP reduction compared with the non-NSAID group. The IOPs of the non-NSAID and NSAID groups were 10.18 (1.17) mm Hg and 11.63 (1.35) mm Hg with a 2 week co-administration, respectively (p <0.01). Withdrawal of bromfenac sodium hydrate ophthalmic solution diminished the difference between the two groups. Re-administration of bromfenac sodium ophthalmic solution only did not affect IOP. Conclusion: These results indicate that NSAID ophthalmic solution may interfere with IOP reduction by latanoprost ophthalmic solution in normal volunteers and that we should take this into account when treating patients with glaucoma using latanoprost ophthalmic solution.
Different Neural Mechanisms for the Comparison and Priming Distance Effects: An fMRI Study

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study examined whether the comparison distance effect (CDE) and the priming distance effect (PDE) in number processing had the same underlying neural mechanisms. 24 healthy participants completed a number comparison task and a number priming task in the scanner. Imaging data were examined for brain regions selected based on a meta-analysis of previous studies of number processing. Results revealed robust CDE and PDE at both behavioral and neural levels. The CDE had a significant hemodynamic signature in the right parietal cortex but not in the left parietal cortex, although a direct test of this hemispheric laterality did not reach statistical significance. In contrast, the PDE showed significant left-hemisphere laterality with a significant hemodynamic signature in the left parietal cortex but not in the right parietal cortex. These results suggested that the CDE and PDE had different underlying neural mechanisms.
In Vivo Assessment of Choroid in Diabetic Retinopathy by Enhanced Depth Imaging in Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

PurposeThe aim of this study was to measure the largest hyporeflective (LHR) lumen in the choroid and subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and in control subjects using enhanced depth imaging (EDI) spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). DesignThis was a prospective, cross-sectional study. MethodsThis was a study of 240 eyes of DR patients (n = 120) and control subjects (n = 120) matched for age, sex, and refractive error. The LHR lumens of the choroidal vessels and SFCT were measured by EDI SD-OCT. Further intergroup classification into nonproliferative and proliferative DR, with or without macular edema, was done. ResultsThe mean diameter of the LHR lumen in DR patients (139.24 ± 35.53 &mgr;m) was significantly smaller (P < 0.01) than in control subjects (186.37 ± 26.43 &mgr;m). The mean SFCT was also significantly less (P < 0.01) in patients with diabetes (277.15 ± 32.24 &mgr;m) as compared with control subjects (313.68 ± 25.13 &mgr;m). There was no significant intergroup variation. ConclusionsPatients with DR showed smaller LHR lumen and SFCT as compared with control eyes. In vivo assessment of the choroid in DR is possible using EDI SD-OCT.
Compressing continuous point cloud data using image compression methods

Continuous point cloud data has become very important recently as a key component in the development of autonomous driving technology, and has in fact become indispensable for some autonomous driving applications such as obstacle detection. However, such large amounts of data are very expensive to store and are difficult to share directly due to their volume. Previous studies have explored various methods of compressing point cloud data directly by converting it into 2D images or by using tree-based approaches. In this study, rather than compress point cloud data directly, we choose to compress packet data which is raw point cloud data, by converting it losslessly into range images, and then using various image/video compression algorithms to reduce the volume of the data. In this paper, four methods, which are based on MPEG, JPEG and two kinds of preprocessing approaches for each method, are evaluated for range images compression. PSNR V.S Bitrate and RMSE V.S Bitrate are used to compare and evaluate the performance of these four methods. As whether a lossy compression methods is good always depending on the application, a localization application to test point cloud data reconstruction performance is also conducted. By comparing these methods, some important conclusions can be got.