Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bacillus thuringiensis colonises plant roots in a phylogeny-dependent manner.

Although much is known about the pathology of Bacillus thuringiensis against invertebrates, current understanding of its natural ecology is limited. This study evaluated the biodiversity of B. thuringiensis in relation to its interaction with plants. Phylogenetic relationships between 44 reference and field-collected strains, determined using 16S rRNA and gyrB gene sequences, revealed a high degree of variability, similar to that found in databases. An Arabidopsis thaliana in vitro inoculation model was developed to screen the ability of B. thuringiensis to colonise roots. Significant colonisation differences up to 91-fold were observed between strains, and correlation between strain phylogeny and colonisation was found. The genetics and biochemistry of auxin production; presence of the gene encoding indole pyruvate decarboxylase; and the abilities of Bt strains to swarm, grow in rich/minimal media and affect root growth differed between the strains, but only auxin production correlated significantly with ability to colonise roots. Co-inoculation with Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN or Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25 produced no effect on B. thuringiensis colonisation levels, regardless of the co-inoculant. Similarly, root colonisation of A. thaliana mutants impaired in plant defences was not significantly higher compared with controls. This is the first systematic and phylogenetic evaluation of B. thuringiensis interaction with plants.
Coaching and Transferring Life Skills: Philosophies and Strategies Used by Model High School Coaches

Whether life skills are developed through sport greatly depends on how coaches create suitable environments that promote the development of youth (Gould & Carson, 2008). The purpose of this study was to examine, using Gould and Carson’s (2008) model of coaching life skills, the philosophies and strategies used by model high school coaches to coach life skills and how to transfer these life skills to other areas of life. Interviews were conducted with both coaches and their student-athletes. Results indicated that coaches understood their student-athletes preexisting make up and had philosophies based on promoting the development of student-athletes. Results also demonstrated that coaches had strategies designed to coach life skills and educate student-athletes about the transferability of the skills they learned in sport. Although variations were reported, coaches and student-athletes generally believed that student-athletes can transfer the skills learned in sport to other areas of life. These results ar.
Longitudinal Effects of ADHD in Children with Learning Disabilities or Emotional Disturbances

Despite the high prevalence of comorbidity between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disabilities (LD) or emotional disturbances (ED), few studies have examined the long-term effects of these comorbid relationships on student outcomes. We estimated the longitudinal academic, social, and behavioral outcomes in children with LD or ED comorbid with or without ADHD in a nationally representative sample of students receiving special education. We found that children with LD and ADHD had lower letter word identification scores, teacher-rated reading levels, and parent-reported social skills than children with LD alone. The differences between the two groups remained similar over time. Children with ED and ADHD had lower social skills and more classroom behavior problems and suspensions in schools than children with ED alone. Children with ED and ADHD also had slower growth in math calculation skills than children with ED alone over time. Implications for the education of children with comorbidity are discussed.
Computer Models and the Public's Understanding of Science

Many of the aspects of science which touch the public most deeply involve some degree of modelling (for example, the dispersion of pollutants, predicted climate change or the spread of flood waters), yet explicit analyses in the public understanding of science tradition (PUS) have seldom examined computerized scientific models. However, scientific models of all sorts are increasingly run on computers, often raising new obstacles to public understanding and participation. The availability of increasing computer power at declining cost makes the possibility of modelling all the greater; recently, UK local authorities and other regional executive bodies, as well as lobby groups, have been able to carry out their own modelling activities. Though the practicalities of modelling have received some attention from social scientists, it is clear that there are comparatively neglected questions about PUS in relation to public judgements of the accuracy and legitimacy of such models, and to their reception and use by the public. This paper examines the significance of these issues through a recent case study of a local authority-operated air-quality model in the British city of Sheffield.
Self-Enhancement: Is it Restricted to Individualistic Cultures?

Two studies investigated how self-enhancement relates to interdependent and independent self-construals typical of collectivist and individualist cultures, respectively. Participants from three cultures were surveyed, two of them collectivist (Singaporean Chinese and Israeli Druze) and one individualist (Israeli Jews). Study 1 shows that the two collectivist cultures differ in their self-enhancement level among university students: Self-enhancement level among Singaporeans was weaker for academic self-enhancement and for other agentic traits. No cultural difference in self-enhancement of communal traits was found (N = 418). Study 2 replicated these results for high school students and evaluated the relations between self-construals, modesty, and self-enhancement. Regression analyses show that self-enhancement of agentic traits is predicted by independent self-construal and modesty (negatively), whereas self-enhancement of communal traits is predicted by interdependent self-construal (N = 362). The role of modesty norms in self-enhancement is discussed.
Incorporating the strength of MIP modeling in schedule construction

Linear programming techniques can be used in constructing schedules but their application is not trivial. This in particular holds true if a trade-off has to be made between computation time and solution quality. However, it turns out that - when handled with care - mixed integer linear programs may provide effective tools. This is demonstrated in the successful approach to the benchmark constructed for the 2007 ROADEF computation challenge on scheduling problems furnished by France Telecom.
Serum vitamin D concentrations and associated severity of acute lower respiratory tract infections in Japanese hospitalized children

Background: Vitamin D is an immunomodulatory molecule related to innate immunity that may contribute to the increased occurrence of acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) in children, one of the most common reasons for hospitalization and intensive care unit admission. In the present study, the association between vitamin D deficiency and the severity of respiratory infection was evaluated by determining serum concentrations of 25‐hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) in a group of hospitalized children with ALRI.
Outcome of treatment in patients with methamphetamine poisoning in an Iranian tertiary care referral center

Objective: Methamphetamine is the second most widely abused drug worldwide. We performed a study on the treatment outcome of acute methamphetamine intoxication in a referral tertiary care University hospital in Iran. Methods: In this hospital-based, retrospective study which was carried out from 2012 to 2013, medical records of all patients aged 18 to 65 years who were admitted with a reliable history and clinical diagnosis of acute methamphetamine intoxication were abstracted and analyzed. Patients’ data included gender, age, type and route of poisoning, clinical manifestations, duration of hospitalization, and the treatment outcome. ANOVA, Chi-square, and binary logistic regression statistical tests were used for data analysis. Findings: A total of 129 patients with a mean age of 30.70 ± 0.93 (mean ± standard error), including 111 (86%) males, had been fully evaluated. Most of the patients had intentional poisoning (93.7%). In 42.6% of patients, inhalation was the main route of exposure. Most of the patients had complete improvement without any complication (89.1%). Age (odds ratio [OR], 1.05; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.006–1.099), suicide history (OR, 30.33; 95% CI 3.11–295.24), route of poisoning ([ingestion: OR, 0.21; 95% CI 0.05–0.87], [inhalation: OR, 0.19; 95% CI 0.04–0.78]), and pulmonary system manifestations (OR 1.84; 95% CI 1.15–2.93) were predictive in patients outcome (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Methamphetamine poisoning was more common in males with intentional poisoning. Age, past history of suicide, route of poisoning, and pulmonary manifestations on admission could be considered as important predictive factors in patients’ outcome.
The Plurality of Cognitive Formats and Engagements

Cognitive forms vary considerably as a human being detaches herself from what is closest and most personal and moves to communicate — in the broad sense of taking part in a common matter — across increasing relational distances. The article proposes to deal with the variety of cognitive formats which cannot `commonize' cognition to an equal degree, relating them to a set of regimes of engagement with the world that are identified in terms of the dependency between the human agent and her environment. The good that engagement aims to guarantee orients how reality is grasped and specifies the format of what constitutes relevant information. This analysis offers new insight into the composition of communities as well as persons who have to cope with the plurality of cognitive formats and engagements from the very familiar to the most public.
Cytomixis in Pollen Mother Cells of Citrus Genotypes

A microsporogenesis analysis performed in several Citrus populations revealed the presence of cytomixis (i.e., chromatin migration between meiocytes) in pollen mother cells of diploid and tetraploid genotypes. Single and double chromatin bridges between adjacent meiocytes were mainly observed at prophase I, but also in the subsequent phases of first division and in the second meiotic division. The percentage of cytomictic cells in the genotypes examined was quite variable. In addition to cytomixis, other meiotic abnormalities were observed, in both the first and second meiotic divisions. The cytomictic plants showed lower values of pollen viability compared to the control plants. A possible relationship between the occurrence of cytomixis, pollen viability and the reduced fertility of Citrus populations is discussed. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
C-Cell-Derived Calcitonin-Free Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Thyroid

In the thyroid, primary neuroendocrine tumors encompass medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and, rarely, other tumors such as paragangliomas. MTCs are derived from C-cells and express calcitonin and neuroendocrine markers. Besides classic MTC, some reports have documented thyroid neuroendocrine tumors, which show no calcitonin expression and raise difficult diagnostic problems. A 76-year-old man presented with a mass in the left thyroid with neither serological calcitonin elevation nor familial history. A thorough clinico-laboratorial study did not disclose any other mass elsewhere. A left hemithyroidectomy was performed, and the histological examination revealed a neuroendocrine carcinoma resembling a paraganglioma-like MTC displaying unequivocal signs of vascular invasion. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells showed reactivity for chromogranin A, synaptophysin, thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1), paired box gene 8 (PAX8), cytokeratins (AE1/AE3 and CK8/18), and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and negativity for calcitonin, carcinoembryonic antigen, TTF-2, thyroperoxidase, and thyroglobulin. In situ hybridization showed that the tumor cells lacked expression for calcitonin and thyroglobulin mRNA. Genetic analysis did not disclose any RET mutation. A diagnosis of C-cell-derived primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of the thyroid without calcitonin expression was made, and the patient remains free of metastasis or recurrence 18 months after surgery.
Exploring Common and Distinct Structural Connectivity Patterns Between Schizophrenia and Major Depression via Cluster-Driven Nonnegative Matrix Factorization

In this paper, we introduce a novel method to discover common and distinct structural connectivity patterns between SZP and MDD via a Cluster-Driven Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (called CD-NMF). Specifically, CD-NMF is applied to decompose the joint structural connectivity map into common and distinct parts, and each part is further factorized into two sub-matrices (i.e. common/distinct basis matrix and common/distinct encoding matrix) correspondingly. By imposing the clustering constraints on common and distinct encoding matrices, the discriminative patterns as well as the common patterns between the two disorders are extracted simultaneously. Experimental results demonstrate that CD-NMF allows finding the common and distinct structural patterns effectively. More importantly, the derived distinct patterns, show powerful ability to discriminate the patients of schizophrenia and major depressive disorder.
Naturally Acquired Antibody Responses to the C-Terminal Region of Merozoite Surface Protein 1 of Plasmodium vivax in Korea

ABSTRACT We expressed a protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae in order to evaluate the humoral immune responses to the C-terminal region of the merozoite surface protein 1 of Plasmodium vivax. This protein (Pv20018) had a molecular mass of 18 kDa and was reactive with the sera of individuals with patent vivax malaria on immunoblotting analysis. The levels of immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies against Pv20018 were measured in 421 patients with vivax malaria (patient group), 528 healthy individuals from areas of nonendemicity (control group 1), and 470 healthy individuals from areas of endemicity (control group 2), using the indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. To study the longevity of the antibodies, 20 subjects from the patient group were also tested for the antibody levels once a month for 1 year. When the cutoff values for seropositivity were determined as the mean + 3 × standard deviation of the antibody levels in control group 1, both IgG and IgM antibody levels were negative in 98.5% (465 of 472) of control group 2. The IgG and IgM antibodies were positive in 88.1% (371 of 421) and 94.5% (398 of 421) of the patient group, respectively. The IgM antibody became negative 2 to 4 months after the onset of symptoms, whereas the IgG antibody usually remained positive for more than 5 months. In conclusion, indirect ELISA using Pv20018 expressed in S. cerevisiae may be a useful diagnostic method for vivax malaria.
A Phase 3, Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, Vehicle-Controlled Study Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Metronidazole Vaginal Gel 1.3% in the Treatment of Bacterial Vaginosis

Background Bacterial vaginosis (BV), a prevalent infection in women of reproductive age, is associated with increased risk of upper genital tract and sexually transmitted infections, and complications in pregnancy. Currently approved treatments include metronidazole, which requires once or twice daily intravaginal administration for 5 days or twice daily oral administration for 7 days. This phase 3 study determined the safety and efficacy of single-dose metronidazole vaginal gel (MVG) 1.3%. Methods In this double-blind, vehicle-controlled study, 651 women with clinical diagnosis of BV were randomized 1:1 to receive MVG 1.3% or vehicle vaginal gel. Primary efficacy measure was clinical cure (normal discharge, negative “whiff test,” and <20% clue cells) at day 21. Secondary measures included therapeutic cure (both clinical and bacteriological; day 21) and bacteriologic cure (Nugent score <4), clinical cure, and time to resolution of symptoms (day 7). Results A total of 487 participants were included in the primary analysis. Clinical and therapeutic cure rates (day 21) were higher in participants treated with MVG 1.3% compared with vehicle gel (37.2% vs. 26.6% [P = 0.010] and 16.8% vs. 7.2% [P = 0.001], respectively). Clinical and bacteriologic cure rates (day 7) were also higher in the MVG 1.3% group (46.0% vs. 20.0% [P < 0.001] and 32.7% vs. 6.3% [P < 0.001], respectively). The median time to resolution of symptoms was shorter in the MVG 1.3% (day 6) than vehicle group (not reached). No serious adverse events were reported, and incidence was similar across treatment groups. Conclusions Single-dose MVG 1.3% was safe and superior to vehicle gel in producing cure among women with BV.
Verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli infection in dairy farm families.

Jeffrey B. Wilson, Robert C. Clarke, Shane A. Renwick, Kris Rahn, Roger P. Johnson, Mohamed A. Karmali, Hermy Lior, David Alves, Carlton L. Gyles, Kulbir S. Sandhu, Scott A. McEwen, and John S. Spika Laboratory Centre Jar Disease Control, Health Canada, Ottawa; Health qfAnimals Laboratory, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Department oj Population Medicine and Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology, University oj Guelph, Guelph; Science and Technology Services, Food Production and Inspection Branch, Agriculture and AgriFood Canada, Nepean; Department of Microbiology, Hospital Jor Sick Children, Toronto; Animal Health Division, Ontario Ministry oj Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Fergus, Canada
Teachers’ Work Groups as Professional Development: what do the teachers learn?

ABSTRACT This article presents a study on the ‘Permanent Seminars’ in Andalusia (Spain). We consider permanent seminars an essential instrument for the professional development of teachers, for innovation, and for the improvement of the school; and we attempt to identify the characteristics and the work system of the groups of teachers necessary for success in training activities. It is a descriptive work. The data for the study were obtained using a group questionnaire answered by 616 work groups (30.8% of the population), which included 4840 teachers. Analysis of the questionnaires had a quantitative component and another qualitative, depending on the type of response. We present the results of our work as the following topics: what are the intentions of the teachers making up a permanent seminar? ; what are the seminars, and how do they work? ; and what do the participating teachers learn?
Abusive Language Detection in Online User Content

Detection of abusive language in user generated online content has become an issue of increasing importance in recent years. Most current commercial methods make use of blacklists and regular expressions, however these measures fall short when contending with more subtle, less ham-fisted examples of hate speech. In this work, we develop a machine learning based method to detect hate speech on online user comments from two domains which outperforms a state-of-the-art deep learning approach. We also develop a corpus of user comments annotated for abusive language, the first of its kind. Finally, we use our detection tool to analyze abusive language over time and in different settings to further enhance our knowledge of this behavior.
The Relationship Between Fidelity and Learning in Aviation Training and Assessment

Flight simulators serve two purposes: training pilots and assessing pilot performance. Fidelity, which is the degree to which a simulation experience imitates the real world, is a critical variable in the design of simulators. Low-fidelity simulators have been found to maximize the initial learning rate of novice pilots and minimize initial costs, while more expensive high-fidelity simulators better predict the real-world in-flight performance of expert pilots. This paper distinguishes the role of fidelity in learning from its role in assessment as a function of skill level. The degree of fidelity and the learning stage of the pilot are found to be mutually interdependent variables that must be considered when designing flight simulators. Further research is needed to discover if there is an optimal point beyond which one additional unit of flight-simulator fidelity results in a diminished rate of cost-effective assessment of pilots who are between the novice and expert stages of learning.
Sinorhizobium meliloti YbeY is an endoribonuclease with unprecedented catalytic features, acting as silencing enzyme in riboregulation

Abstract Structural and biochemical features suggest that the almost ubiquitous bacterial YbeY protein may serve catalytic and/or Hfq-like protective functions central to small RNA (sRNA)-mediated regulation and RNA metabolism. We have biochemically and genetically characterized the YbeY ortholog of the legume symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti (SmYbeY). Co-immunoprecipitation (CoIP) with a FLAG-tagged SmYbeY yielded a poor enrichment in RNA species, compared to Hfq CoIP-RNA uncovered previously by a similar experimental setup. Purified SmYbeY behaved as a monomer that indistinctly cleaved single- and double-stranded RNA substrates, a unique ability among bacterial endoribonucleases. SmYbeY-mediated catalysis was supported by the divalent metal ions Mg2+, Mn2+ and Ca2+, which influenced in a different manner cleavage efficiency and reactivity patterns, with Ca2+ specifically blocking activity on double-stranded and some structured RNA molecules. SmYbeY loss-of-function compromised expression of core energy and RNA metabolism genes, whilst promoting accumulation of motility, late symbiotic and transport mRNAs. Some of the latter transcripts are known Hfq-binding sRNA targets and might be SmYbeY substrates. Genetic reporter and in vitro assays confirmed that SmYbeY is required for sRNA-mediated down-regulation of the amino acid ABC transporter prbA mRNA. We have thus discovered a bacterial endoribonuclease with unprecedented catalytic features, acting also as gene silencing enzyme.
Ant Colony Optimization and Ad-hoc On-demand Multipath Distance Vector (AOMDV) Based Routing Protocol

Path quality of service is one of the key factors affecting routing performance in ad hoc networks. In order to improve multipath routing performance, we present an ant colony optimization and ad-hoc on-demand multipath distance vector (AOMDV) based routing protocol (ACO-AOMDV) for ad hoc networks. In ACO-AOMDV, ant packets deposit simulated pheromone as a function of multiple parameters corresponding to the information collected each path visited, such as average link count of path, average load of path, hop count and the current pheromone the nodes possess and so on, and provide the information to the visiting nodes to update their pheromone tables by endowing the above different parameters corresponding to different information with different weight values. Selecting the transmission path dynamically through regular updating the pheromone of transmission path and backup paths, expects to improve routing performance. Simulation results show that ACO-AOMDV performs effectively in terms of packet delivery fraction, end-to-end delay and route discovery frequency compared with ARA and AOMDV.