Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sulfur Metabolizing Microbes Dominate Microbial Communities in Andesite-Hosted Shallow-Sea Hydrothermal Systems

To determine microbial community composition, community spatial structure and possible key microbial processes in the shallow-sea hydrothermal vent systems off NE Taiwan’s coast, we examined the bacterial and archaeal communities of four samples collected from the water column extending over a redoxocline gradient of a yellow and four from a white hydrothermal vent. Ribosomal tag pyrosequencing based on DNA and RNA showed statistically significant differences between the bacterial and archaeal communities of the different hydrothermal plumes. The bacterial and archaeal communities from the white hydrothermal plume were dominated by sulfur-reducing Nautilia and Thermococcus, whereas the yellow hydrothermal plume and the surface water were dominated by sulfide-oxidizing Thiomicrospira and Euryarchaeota Marine Group II, respectively. Canonical correspondence analyses indicate that methane (CH4) concentration was the only statistically significant variable that explains all community cluster patterns. However, the results of pyrosequencing showed an essential absence of methanogens and methanotrophs at the two vent fields, suggesting that CH4 was less tied to microbial processes in this shallow-sea hydrothermal system. We speculated that mixing between hydrothermal fluids and the sea or meteoric water leads to distinctly different CH4 concentrations and redox niches between the yellow and white vents, consequently influencing the distribution patterns of the free-living Bacteria and Archaea. We concluded that sulfur-reducing and sulfide-oxidizing chemolithoautotrophs accounted for most of the primary biomass synthesis and that microbial sulfur metabolism fueled microbial energy flow and element cycling in the shallow hydrothermal systems off the coast of NE Taiwan.
Joubert Syndrome and Related Disorders: Spectrum of Neuroimaging Findings in 75 Patients

In this nice Clinical Report, the authors review not only the classic features of Joubert syndrome (vermian hypoplasia and molar tooth sign) but also other lesser known features found in 75 patients. All showed vermian abnormalities and molar tooth sign and, in addition, the following findings were also quite common: enlarged posterior fossa, brain stem abnormalities, callosal dysgenesis with malrotation of the hippocampi, cephaloceles, and ventricular dilation. No correlation between imaging findings and genotype was detected. SUMMARY: VH and MTS are the neuroimaging hallmarks of JSRD. We aimed to look at the full spectrum of neuroimaging findings in JSRD and reviewed the MR imaging of 75 patients with JSRD, including 13 siblings and 4 patients with OFD VI. All patients had VH and enlargement of the fourth ventricle. The degree of VH and the form of the MTS were variable. In most patients, the cerebellar hemispheres were normal and the PF was enlarged. Brain stem morphology was abnormal in 30% of the patients. Supratentorial findings included hippocampal malrotation, callosal dysgenesis, migration disorders, cephaloceles, and ventriculomegaly. All patients with OFD VI had a similar pattern, including HH in 2 patients. No neuroimaging-genotype correlation could be found. The wide neuroimaging spectrum in our patients supports the heterogeneity of JSRD. Neuroimaging differences in siblings represent intrafamilial heterogeneity. Due to the absence of a correlation with genotype, neuroimaging findings are of limited value in classifying patients with JSRD.
The Side Effects of Morphine and Hydromorphone Patient-Controlled Analgesia

BACKGROUND: Despite “clinical lore” among health care providers that treatment with hydromorphone results in improved pain control and fewer adverse side effects, morphine continues to be the first-line medication for postoperative patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). In this study, we compared the efficacy and side-effect profiles of morphine and hydromorphone at concentrations producing equivalent drug effect measured by pain score and miosis. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, randomized, double-blind trial of 50 general and gynecological surgery patients. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive either morphine (1 mg/mL) or hydromorphone (0.2 mg/mL) via PCA after surgery and were followed for a period of 8 h. The primary outcome was nausea. Secondary outcome variables were pruritus, vomiting, sedation, pain report, pupillary miosis, and patient satisfaction. RESULTS: The side effect profile was not different between drugs. The incidence of nausea did not differ between morphine and hydromorphone-treated patients (1 h: 44% vs 52%, 8 h: 68% vs 64%), vomiting (1 h: 4% vs 0%, 8 h: 0% vs 4%), or pruritus (1 h: 4% vs 16%, 8 h: 40% vs 40%). There was no difference in the amount of medication required to treat side effects or patient satisfaction. The average ratio of morphine to hydromorphone use was about 7:1. The patients used 10.9 ± 6.0 mg morphine versus 1.57 ± 1.0 mg hydromorphone after 1 h and 29.0 ± 18.0 mg morphine versus 3.9 ± 2.5 mg hydromorphone after 8 h. There was no difference between the morphine and hydromorphone groups with respect to postoperative pain scores with movement at 1 h (7.9 ± 2.3 vs 7.1 ± 2.4) or 8 h (5.7 ± 2.8 vs 5.9 ± 2.7). There was also no difference in pain at rest or miosis between groups. CONCLUSIONS: We found no systematic difference between morphine and hydromorphone in opioid-related side effects. Neither was there any difference in efficacy of pain control or patient satisfaction when patients self-titrated to equal drug effect as measured by equianalgesia and pupillary miosis. The choice between morphine and hydromorphone for use in PCA should be guided by patient history, as there may be idiosyncratic reactions to either drug.
Determining Discharge Characteristics and Limits of Heavy Metals and Metalloids for Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) in China Based on Statistical Methods

Industrial wastewater and sewage are both important sources of heavy metals and metalloids in urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). China has made great efforts to control heavy metal and metalloid pollution by setting discharge limits for WWTPs. There is, however, limited discharge data and no systematic methodology for the derivation of discharge limits. In this study, 14 heavy metals and metalloids (Hg, alkyl mercury, As, Cd, Cr, Cr6+, Pb, Ni, Be, Ag, Cu, Zn, Mn, Se) that are listed in the Discharge Standard of Pollutants for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (GB 18918-2002) were selected for the analysis of discharge characteristics while using the supervised monitoring data from more than 800 WWTPs located in nine provinces in China. Of the 14 heavy metals and metalloids, all but alkyl mercury were detected in the discharge water. There was a high rate of detection of As, Cu, Mn, Se, and there were some samples that exceeded the standard concentrations of Cr, Cr6+, Pb, and Ni. Removal rates of Hg, As, Cd, Cr, Cr6+, Pb, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mn, and Se were higher than 40%, comparable to values from other countries. Hg and As were selected to analyze the influencing factors of effluent and derive discharge limits of WWTPs using a statistical method, because these two metals had more detected data than other metals. The study used supervised monitoring data from Zhejiang WWTPs with 99 for Hg and 112 for As. Based on the delta-lognormal distribution, the results showed that geographic location was significantly closely correlated with Hg (P = 0.027 < 0.05) and As (P ≈ 0 < 0.05) discharge concentrations, while size (for Hg P = 0.695 > 0.05, for As P = 0.088 > 0.05) and influent concentration (R2 < 0.5) were not. Derived Hg and As discharge limits suggest that it is necessary to establish stricter discharge limits for WWTPs, which is more consistent with the real-world situation in China. The study here comprehensively researches the discharge characteristics of heavy metals and metalloids in effluent of WWTPs in China, and developed for the first time in China heavy metals and metalloids discharge limits based on statistical methods. The results may inform special discharge limit settings for WWTPs in China.
Structural and functional effects of hemiretinal endodiathermy axotomy in cynomolgus macaques.

PURPOSE Outer retinal injury has been well described in glaucoma. To better understand the source of this injury, we wanted to develop a reliable model of partial retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axotomy. METHODS Endodiathermy spots were placed along the inferior 180° adjacent to the optic nerve margin in the right eyes of four cynomolgus monkeys. Fluorescein angiography, spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) were performed at various intervals. Two animals were sacrificed at 3 months. Two animals were sacrificed at 4 months, at which time they underwent an injection of fluorescent microspheres to measure regional choroidal blood flow. Retinal immunohistochemistry for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), rhodopsin, S-cone opsin, and M/L-cone opsin were performed, as were axon counts of the optic nerves. RESULTS At 3 months, there was marked thinning of the inferior nerve fiber layer on SD-OCT. The mfERG waveforms were consistent with inner but not outer retinal injury. Greater than 95% reduction in axons was seen in the inferior optic nerves but no secondary degeneration superiorly. There was marked thinning of the nerve fiber and ganglion cell layers in the inferior retinas. However, the photoreceptor histology was similar in the axotomized and nonaxotomized areas. Regional choroidal blood flow was not affected by the axotomy. CONCLUSIONS Unlike experimental glaucoma, hemiretinal endodiathermy axotomy (HEA) of the RGCs produces no apparent anatomic, functional, or blood flow effects on the outer retina and choroid.
Products of the IgT-C region of chromosome 12 are maturational markers for T cells. Sequence of appearance in immunocompetent T cells parallels ontogenetic appearance of Tthyd, Tindd, and Tsud

Monoclonal antibodies specific for three T cell alloantigens linked to the immunoglobulin complex on chromosome 12 were used to establish the order of expression of these antigens on immunocompetent cells and in ontogeny. Modification of monoclonal antibodies with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and use with anti-FITC and complement has amplified lytic capacity of the monoclonals and allowed us to complete a distribution study of Tsud, Tindd, And Tthyd alloantigens on immunocompetent cells. Tthyd is expressed on both cortisone-sensitive and cortisone-resistant thymocytes; Tsud and Tindd are on "mature" cortisone-resistant cells. Tthyd is also expressed on a Thy-1.2-bearing recirculating marrow cell but is undetectable in the peripheral T cell pool. In contrast, resting spleen and lymph node T cells express Tsud and Tindd; antigen-activated populations express these two cells in high frequencies. These antigens must be markers for relatively differentiated cells because "nude" animals, which have pre-T cells, fail to express these determinants. All three antigens segregate independently in our T cell hybrids, arising from adult peripheral node cells, supporting the hypothesis that these are three separate structural products of a gene complex. In contrast, fetal T cell hybrids fail to express these antigens. The appearance of all three antigens on the cell surface in ontogeny is postnatal; Tthyd is expressed at days 1-2, Tindd at days 2-3, and Tsud at days 5-6. If the T cell isotype genes are organized similar to the immunoglobulin loci, then the parallels in maturational expression on immunocompetent cells and in ontogeny would lead one to speculate a gene order of Tthyd leads to Tindd leads to Tsud. Orientation with respect to the centromere is unknown.
Shareholders in the Driver’s Seat: Unraveling the Impact on Financial Performance in Latvian Fintech Companies

Fintech companies are relatively young and operate in a rapidly evolving and ever-changing industry, which makes it important to understand how different factors, including shareholder presence in management roles, affect their performance. This study investigates the impact of shareholder presence in director and manager positions on the financial performance of Latvian fintechs. Our investigation centers on essential financial ratios, including Return on Assets, Return on Equity, Profit Margin, Liquidity Ratio, Current Ratio, and Solvency Ratio. Our findings suggest that the presence of shareholders in director and manager roles does not significantly affect the financial performance of fintech companies. Although the statistical analysis did not yield significant results, it is important to consider additional insights garnered from Cliff’s Delta effect sizes. Specifically, despite the lack of statistical significance, practical significance indicates that fintech companies in which directors and managers are shareholders show slightly better performance than other fintech companies. Beyond shedding light on the intricacies of corporate governance in the fintech sector, this research serves as a valuable resource for investors, stakeholders, and fellow researchers seeking to understand the impact of shareholder presence in director and manager roles on the financial performance of fintechs.
Quantitative expression of Toll‐like receptor‐2, ‐4, and ‐9 in dendritic cells generated from blasts of patients with acute myeloid leukemia

BACKGROUND: Dendritic cells (DCs) generated from leukemic blasts constitute a promising tool in immunotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia patients (AML‐DCs), because AML‐DCs express human leukocyte antigens and costimulatory molecules such as CD40, CD80, and CD86 at a higher level than leukemic blasts. Potentiation of AML‐DC vaccine might become feasible by the addition of adjuvants such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS) or CPG‐rich oligodeoxyribonucleotides binding to Toll‐like receptors (TLR) and inducing a stronger Type 1 T‐cell response.
Response of the polyphagous whitefly Bemisia tabaci B-biotype (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) to crop diversification – influence of multiple sensory stimuli on activity and fecundity

Abstract A fundamental question concerning crop diversification is which mechanisms determine pest population size in polycultures compared to monocultures. It has been proposed that polyphagous insects experience a difficulty in decision-making when selecting food and oviposition sites in the presence of different host plants. This hypothesis was tested in the extremely polyphagous whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) B-biotype, where behaviour (movement) and fecundity of females were compared in choice and no-choice experiments in the laboratory. Two parallel tests, one on different crops, including cucumber, bean and tomato, and one on different tomato cultivars, were conducted using both a mixture of crops and of tomato cultivars, as opposed to the same crop or cultivar respectively. Bemisia tabaci showed a distinct behavioural preference for cucumber when exposed to different crops simultaneously suggesting that B. tabaci has no difficulty in choosing a host plant, i.e. in making a decision, when one of the plants offered in the choice test is a high-ranking host plant. Conversely, when only low-ranking hosts of similar, but not identical, signatures were present, female whiteflies appeared to have difficulty in making a decision, resulting in increased movement and reduced fecundity. This is consistent with both the hypothesis that polyphagous insects have a problem selecting a host plant when given multiple choices and with the hierarchy threshold model, under which egg loads are lessened between periods of searching for better host plants. The study illustrates how insect behaviour can be affected by intercropping not only with different crops, but also with different cultivars of the same crop, thus potentially providing a simple and efficient way of reducing whitefly population build-up.
High-frame-rate region-based visual tracking on CPU: An implementation perspective

This paper describes fast implementations of Efficient Second-order Minimization method for region-based visual tracking of a planar target on a multi-core CPU with SIMD instructions, without relying on GPUs. We show that careful implementation considerations lead to high performance even only with scalar instructions on a single core, and full utilization of the parallelism achieves a frame rate of more than 3500 fps for a template with 64 × 64 pixels and 1200 fps for 128 × 128 pixels on Intel Core i7-4600U processor. Real-time visual tracking experiments with 450-fps USB 3.0 shows its effectiveness in high-frame-rate tracking applications.
Saudi Arabian adult intensive care unit pressure ulcer incidence and risk factors: a prospective cohort study

The purpose of this study was to identify pressure ulcer (PU) incidence and risk factors that are associated with PU development in patients in two adult intensive care units (ICU) in Saudi Arabia. A prospective cohort study design was used. A total of 84 participants were screened second daily basis until discharge or death, over a consecutive 30‐day period, out of which 33 participants with new PUs were identified giving a cumulative hospital‐acquired PU incidence of 39·3% (33/84 participants). The incidence of medical devices‐related PUs was 8·3% (7/84). Age, length of stay in the ICU, history of cardiovascular disease and kidney disease, infrequent repositioning, time of operation, emergency admission, mechanical ventilation and lower Braden Scale scores independently predicted the development of a PU. According to binary logistic regression analyses, age, longer stay in ICU and infrequent repositioning were significant predictors of all stages of PUs, while the length of stay in the ICU and infrequent repositioning were associated with the development of stages II–IV PUs. In conclusion, PU incidence rate was higher than that reported in other international studies. This indicates that urgent attention is required for PU prevention strategies in this setting.
Pharmacogenetics, Pharmacogenomics, and Individualized Medicine

Individual variability in drug efficacy and drug safety is a major challenge in current clinical practice, drug development, and drug regulation. For more than 5 decades, studies of pharmacogenetics have provided ample examples of causal relations between genotypes and drug response to account for phenotypic variations of clinical importance in drug therapy. The convergence of pharmacogenetics and human genomics in recent years has dramatically accelerated the discovery of new genetic variations that potentially underlie variability in drug response, giving birth to pharmacogenomics. In addition to the rapid accumulation of knowledge on genome-disease and genome-drug interactions, there arises the hope of individualized medicine. Here we review recent progress in the understanding of genetic contributions to major individual variability in drug therapy with focus on genetic variations of drug target, drug metabolism, drug transport, disease susceptibility, and drug safety. Challenges to future pharmacogenomics and its translation into individualized medicine, drug development, and regulation are discussed. For example, knowledge on genetic determinants of disease pathogenesis and drug action, especially those of complex disease and drug response, is not always available. Relating the many gene variations from genomic sequencing to clinical phenotypes may not be straightforward. It is often very challenging to conduct large scale, prospective studies to establish causal associations between genetic variations and drug response or to evaluate the utility and cost-effectiveness of genomic medicine. Overcoming the obstacles holds promise for achieving the ultimate goal of effective and safe medication to targeted patients with appropriate genotypes.
An Investigation into the Continued Use of Unified Modeling Language (UML) in Information Systems Development

As the de facto standard for object-oriented modeling language, UML is expected to play an increasingly important role in information systems development. The long-term viability and eventual success of UML depend, to a great extent, on the continued use by UML users such as developers and analysts. Systematic investigations on UML’s continued use have been missing from contemporary discussions. Our study attempts to fill this gap in the literature. We developed a research model, which is primarily based on the Expectation Disconfirmation Theory (EDT). According to this model, UML users’ perceived discrepancy between pre-adoption expectation and post-adoption perceived performance, which is conceptualized as performance disconfirmation and effort disconfirmation, is the determinant of satisfaction. UML users’ post-adoption expectation, in terms of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, is the determinant of attitude. Both satisfaction and attitude are posited as determinants of users’intention to continue using UML.
Cross-Spectral Analysis of Cerebral Autoregulation Dynamics in High Risk Preterm Infants during the Perinatal Period1

In preterm infants intraventricular hemorrhage occurs predominantly within the perinatal period, which may be due to a “lost autoregulation” of cerebral blood flow (CBF). In this study, perinatal autoregulation dynamics were investigated in high risk preterm infants by cross-spectral analysis (CSA), which is a statistical tool in the analysis of time series. In 15 ventilated preterm infants of 25-32 gestational weeks, a total number of 30 records were made between 24 and 96 h of life. Doppler-derived CBF velocity (CBFv), used as a quantitative measure for CBF, and direct mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) were measured continuously for 10 min. The spectral power of low frequency (LF, 0.02-0.2 Hz) oscillations in CBFv and MABP was quantified by spectral analysis. From the results of CSA, a LF phaseshift between the CBFv and MABP LF oscillations was calculated in each record. Within the study group, the LF spectral power of CBFv and MABP was initially low and increased significantly until 96 h of life. The LF phase-shift was about 0 ° at 24 h and increased significantly to 55 ° at 96 h of life. The initially low LF spectral power of CBFv and MABP may indicate a perinatal depression of autonomic nervous centers, which are thought to control LF oscillations of vital parameters. In the light of a high pass filter model for autoregulation, the initially low LF phase-shift may indicate an initially impaired autoregulation, which supports the “lost autoregulation” hypothesis.
A survey about Solitaire Clobber

Solitaire Clobber is a one-player variant of the 2-player board game Clobber introduced by Albert et al. in 2002. According to simple rules, the objective of Solitaire Clobber is to capture the maximum number of stones from a given graph. Two versions of Solitaire Clobber were recently investigated : a partisan and an impartial one. In this survey, we give an overview of the major results about Solitaire Clobber, more especially about the impartial version. In particular, the game is considered on grids, trees, hypercubes.Two new results are provided: when playing on a tree, we show that the minimum number of remaining stones can be computed in polynomial time. We also assert that any game position on a ”large” grid can be reduced to 1 or 2 stones. Note that in each part of this survey, we propose several open problems related to Solitaire Clobber.