Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urbanization is a main driver for the larval ecology of Aedes mosquitoes in arbovirus-endemic settings in south-eastern Côte d'Ivoire

Background Failure in detecting naturally occurring breeding sites of Aedes mosquitoes can bias the conclusions drawn from field studies, and hence, negatively affect intervention outcomes. We characterized the habitats of immature Aedes mosquitoes and explored species dynamics along a rural-to-urban gradient in a West Africa setting where yellow fever and dengue co-exist. Methodology Between January 2013 and October 2014, we collected immature Aedes mosquitoes in water containers in rural, suburban, and urban areas of south-eastern Côte d’Ivoire, using standardized sampling procedures. Immature mosquitoes were reared in the laboratory and adult specimens identified at species level. Principal findings We collected 6,159, 14,347, and 22,974 Aedes mosquitoes belonging to 17, 8, and 3 different species in rural, suburban, and urban environments, respectively. Ae. aegypti was the predominant species throughout, with a particularly high abundance in urban areas (99.374%). Eleven Aedes larval species not previously sampled in similar settings of Côte d’Ivoire were identified: Ae. albopictus, Ae. angustus, Ae. apicoargenteus, Ae. argenteopunctatus, Ae. haworthi, Ae. lilii, Ae. longipalpis, Ae. opok, Ae. palpalis, Ae. stokesi, and Ae. unilineatus. Aedes breeding site positivity was associated with study area, container type, shade, detritus, water turbidity, geographic location, season, and the presence of predators. We found proportionally more positive breeding sites in urban (2,136/3,374, 63.3%), compared to suburban (1,428/3,069, 46.5%) and rural areas (738/2,423, 30.5%). In the urban setting, the predominant breeding sites were industrial containers (e.g., tires and discarded containers). In suburban areas, containers made of traditional materials (e.g., clay pots) were most frequently encountered. In rural areas, natural containers (e.g., tree holes and bamboos) were common and represented 22.1% (163/738) of all Aedes-positive containers, hosting 18.7% of the Aedes fauna. The predatory mosquito species Culex tigripes was commonly sampled, while Toxorhynchites and Eretmapodites were mostly collected in rural areas. Conclusions/significance In Côte d’Ivoire, urbanization is associated with high abundance of Aedes larvae and a predominance of artificial containers as breeding sites, mostly colonized by Ae. aegypti in urban areas. Natural containers are still common in rural areas harboring several Aedes species and, therefore, limiting the impact of systematic removal of discarded containers on the control of arbovirus diseases.
Effect of drivers' age and push button locations on visual time off road, steering wheel deviation and safety perception

The study examined the effects of manual control locations on two groups of randomly selected young and old drivers in relation to visual time off road, steering wheel deviation and safety perception. Measures of visual time off road, steering wheel deviations and safety perception were performed with young and old drivers during real traffic. The results showed an effect of both driver's age and button location on the dependent variables. Older drivers spent longer visual time off road when pushing the buttons and had larger steering wheel deviations. Moreover, the greater the eccentricity between the normal line of sight and the button locations, the longer the visual time off road and the larger the steering wheel deviations. No interaction effect between button location and age was found with regard to visual time off road. Button location had an effect on perceived safety: the further away from the normal line of sight the lower the rating.
Human Neural Progenitor Cell Engraftment Increases Neurogenesis and Microglial Recruitment in the Brain of Rats with Stroke

Main Objectives Stem cell transplantation is to date one of the most promising therapies for chronic ischemic stroke. The human conditionally immortalised neural stem cell line, CTX0E03, has demonstrable efficacy in a rodent model of stroke and is currently in clinical trials. Nonetheless, the mechanisms by which it promotes brain repair are not fully characterised. This study investigated the cellular events occurring after CTX0E03 transplantation in the brains of rats that underwent ischemic stroke. Methods We focused on the endogenous proliferative activity of the host brain in response to cell transplantation and determined the identity of the proliferating cells using markers for young neurons (doublecortin, Dcx) and microglia (CD11b). So as to determine the chronology of events occurring post-transplantation, we analysed the engrafted brains one week and four weeks post-transplantation. Results We observed a significantly greater endogenous proliferation in the striatum of ischemic brains receiving a CTX0E03 graft compared to vehicle-treated ischemic brains. A significant proportion of these proliferative cells were found to be Dcx+ striatal neuroblasts. Further, we describe an enhanced immune response after CTX0E03 engraftment, as shown by a significant increase of proliferating CD11b+ microglial cells. Conclusions Our study demonstrates that few Dcx+ neuroblasts are proliferative in normal conditions, and that this population of proliferative neuroblasts is increased in response to stroke. We further show that CTX0E03 transplantation after stroke leads to the maintenance of this proliferative activity. Interestingly, the preservation of neuronal proliferative activity upon CTX0E03 transplantation is preceded and accompanied by a high rate of proliferating microglia. Our study suggests that microglia might mediate in part the effect of CTX0E03 transplantation on neuronal proliferation in ischemic stroke conditions.
Inhibition of Krebs Cycle Enzymes by Hydrogen Peroxide: A Key Role of α-Ketoglutarate Dehydrogenase in Limiting NADH Production under Oxidative Stress

In this study we addressed the function of the Krebs cycle to determine which enzyme(s) limits the availability of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) for the respiratory chain under H2O2-induced oxidative stress, in intact isolated nerve terminals. The enzyme that was most vulnerable to inhibition by H2O2 proved to be aconitase, being completely blocked at 50 μmH2O2. α-Ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (α-KGDH) was also inhibited but only at higher H2O2 concentrations (≥100 μm), and only partial inactivation was achieved. The rotenone-induced increase in reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) [NAD(P)H] fluorescence reflecting the amount of NADH available for the respiratory chain was also diminished by H2O2, and the effect exerted at small concentrations (≤50 μm) of the oxidant was completely prevented by 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU), an inhibitor of glutathione reductase. BCNU-insensitive decline by H2O2 in the rotenone-induced NAD(P)H fluorescence correlated with inhibition of α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. Decrease in the glutamate content of nerve terminals was induced by H2O2 at concentrations inhibiting aconitase. It is concluded that (1) aconitase is the most sensitive enzyme in the Krebs cycle to inhibition by H2O2, (2) at small H2O2 concentrations (≤50 μm) when aconitase is inactivated, glutamate fuels the Krebs cycle and NADH generation is unaltered, (3) at higher H2O2concentrations (≥100 μm) inhibition of α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase limits the amount of NADH available for the respiratory chain, and (4) increased consumption of NADPH makes a contribution to the H2O2-induced decrease in the amount of reduced pyridine nucleotides. These results emphasize the importance of α-KGDH in impaired mitochondrial function under oxidative stress, with implications for neurodegenerative diseases and cell damage induced by ischemia/reperfusion.
Neural dynamics implement a flexible decision bound with a fixed firing rate for choice: a model-based hypothesis

Decisions are faster and less accurate when conditions favor speed, and are slower and more accurate when they favor accuracy. This speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT) can be explained by the principles of bounded integration, where noisy evidence is integrated until it reaches a bound. Higher bounds reduce the impact of noise by increasing integration times, supporting higher accuracy (vice versa for speed). These computations are hypothesized to be implemented by feedback inhibition between neural populations selective for the decision alternatives, each of which corresponds to an attractor in the space of network states. Since decision-correlated neural activity typically reaches a fixed rate at the time of commitment to a choice, it has been hypothesized that the neural implementation of the bound is fixed, and that the SAT is supported by a common input to the populations integrating evidence. According to this hypothesis, a stronger common input reduces the difference between a baseline firing rate and a threshold rate for enacting a choice. In simulations of a two-choice decision task, we use a reduced version of a biophysically-based network model (Wong and Wang, 2006) to show that a common input can control the SAT, but that changes to the threshold-baseline difference are epiphenomenal. Rather, the SAT is controlled by changes to network dynamics. A stronger common input decreases the model's effective time constant of integration and changes the shape of the attractor landscape, so the initial state is in a more error-prone position. Thus, a stronger common input reduces decision time and lowers accuracy. The change in dynamics also renders firing rates higher under speed conditions at the time that an ideal observer can make a decision from network activity. The difference between this rate and the baseline rate is actually greater under speed conditions than accuracy conditions, suggesting that the bound is not implemented by firing rates per se.
Forecasting Lifetime and Aggregate Long-term Care Spending: Accounting for Changing Disability Patterns

Objective:The impact population aging exerts on future levels of long-term care (LTC) spending is an urgent topic in which few studies have accounted for disability trends. We forecast individual lifetime and population aggregate annual LTC spending for the Dutch 55+ population to 2030 accounting for changing disability patterns. Methods:Three levels of (dis)ability were distinguished: none, mild, and severe. Two-part models were used to estimate LTC spending as a function of age, sex, and disability status. A multistate life table model was used to forecast age-specific prevalence of disability and life expectancy (LE) in each disability state. Finally, 2-part model estimates and multistate projections were combined to obtain forecasts of LTC expenditures. Results:LE is expected to increase, whereas life years in severe disability remain constant, resulting in a relative compression of severe disability. Mild disability life years increase, especially for women. Lifetime homecare spending—mainly determined by mild disability—increases, whereas institutional spending remains fairly constant due to stable LE with severe disability. Lifetime LTC expenditures, largely determined by institutional spending, are thus hardly influenced by increasing LE. Aggregate spending for the 55+ population is expected to rise by 56.0% in the period of 2007–2030. Conclusions:Longevity gains accompanied by a compression of severe disability will not seriously increase lifetime spending. The growth of the elderly cohort, however, will considerably increase aggregate spending. Stimulating a compression of disability is among the main solutions to alleviate the consequences of longevity gains and population aging to growth of LTC spending.
Neotropical forest expansion during the last glacial period challenges refuge hypothesis

Significance The tropical forests of South America are among the most diverse and unique habitats in the world in terms of plant and animal species. One of the most popular explanations for this diversity and endemism is the idea that forests retracted and fragmented during glacial periods, forming ecological refuges, surrounded by dry lands or savannas. These historically stable forest refuges would have been responsible for maintaining the pattern of diversity and endemism observed today. Here, we show that the Atlantic Forest of eastern South America probably expanded, rather than contracted, during the last glacial period. In addition, the emerged Brazilian continental shelf played a major, yet neglected, role on the evolution of this biodiversity hotspot during the last glacial period. The forest refuge hypothesis (FRH) has long been a paradigm for explaining the extreme biological diversity of tropical forests. According to this hypothesis, forest retraction and fragmentation during glacial periods would have promoted reproductive isolation and consequently speciation in forest patches (ecological refuges) surrounded by open habitats. The recent use of paleoclimatic models of species and habitat distributions revitalized the FRH, not by considering refuges as the main drivers of allopatric speciation, but instead by suggesting that high contemporary diversity is associated with historically stable forest areas. However, the role of the emerged continental shelf on the Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot of eastern South America during glacial periods has been ignored in the literature. Here, we combined results of species distribution models with coalescent simulations based on DNA sequences to explore the congruence between scenarios of forest dynamics through time and the genetic structure of mammal species cooccurring in the central region of the Atlantic Forest. Contrary to the FRH predictions, we found more fragmentation of suitable habitats during the last interglacial (LIG) and the present than in the last glacial maximum (LGM), probably due to topography. We also detected expansion of suitable climatic conditions onto the emerged continental shelf during the LGM, which would have allowed forests and forest-adapted species to expand. The interplay of sea level and land distribution must have been crucial in the biogeographic history of the Atlantic Forest, and forest refuges played only a minor role, if any, in this biodiversity hotspot during glacial periods.
Compressive Acquisition of Linear Dynamical Systems

Compressive sensing (CS) enables the acquisition and recovery of sparse signals and images at sampling rates significantly below the classical Nyquist rate. Despite significant progress in the theory and methods of CS, little headway has been made in compressive video acquisition and recovery. Video CS is complicated by the ephemeral nature of dynamic events, which makes direct extensions of standard CS imaging architectures and signal models difficult. In this paper, we develop a new framework for video CS for dynamic textured scenes that models the evolution of the scene as a linear dynamical system (LDS). This reduces the video recovery problem to first estimating the model parameters of the LDS from compressive measurements and then reconstructing the image frames. We exploit the low-dimensional dynamic parameters (the state sequence) and high-dimensional static parameters (the observation matrix) of the LDS to devise a novel compressive measurement strategy that measures only the time-varying paramet.
Scooter injuries: a new pediatric morbidity.

OBJECTIVE To describe types of injuries, mechanisms of injury, and treatment of injuries caused by scooter use in children, and to discuss issues of injury prevention in children who use scooters. STUDY DESIGN Data were collected from 14 children seen by a general pediatrician and an orthopedic surgeon over a 3-month period in the summer of 2000. Detailed histories were obtained from patients and their families, and medical records were reviewed. RESULTS Eleven of the 14 patients suffered fractures. The injuries in the other 3 patients were a large abrasion, a laceration, and a septic knee. Half (7) of the children were injured within the first day of riding their scooter, and 13 of the 14 injuries occurred within the first month of scooter use. Only 5 patients used protective gear at the time of their injuries, and those patients were injured in unprotected parts of their bodies. CONCLUSIONS The popularity of scooters presents a new cause of pediatric injuries and a significant health hazard to children. In our study, most injuries occurred shortly after children began scooter use, and younger children suffered the most severe injuries. Additional studies are needed to determine how scooter-related injuries can be prevented or minimized. scooters, injuries.
Proactively Accountable Anonymous Messaging in Verdict

Among anonymity systems, DC-nets have long held attraction for their resistance to traffic analysis attacks, but practical implementations remain vulnerable to internal disruption or "jamming" attacks, which require time-consuming detection procedures to resolve. We present Verdict, the first practical anonymous group communication system built using proactively verifiable DC-nets: participants use public-key cryptography to construct DC-net ciphertexts, and use zero-knowledge proofs of knowledge to detect and exclude misbehavior before disruption. We compare three alternative constructions for verifiable DC-nets: one using bilinear maps and two based on simpler ElGamal encryption. While verifiable DC-nets incur higher computational overheads due to the public-key cryptography involved, our experiments suggest that Verdict is practical for anonymous group messaging or microblogging applications, supporting groups of 100 clients at 1 second per round or 1000 clients at 10 seconds per round. Furthermore, we show how existing symmetric-key DC-nets can "fall back" to a verifiable DC-net to quickly identify misbehavior, speeding up previous detections schemes by two orders of magnitude.
Comparison of efficacy of labetalol and methyldopa in patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension

Background: In a country like India, where maternal mortality rate is still very high despite progress and development which has consistently been made in the health services, a big proportion is still deprived of it. Hypertension is the most common medical problem encountered during pregnancy. It is estimated that globally 6-8% of pregnancies are complicated by hypertension. Antihypertensive drugs are often used to lower blood pressure with the aim of preventing its progression to adverse outcomes for the mother and the fetus. The risk of developing severe hypertension is reduced to half by using antihypertensive medications. Hence, this study was planned to assess and compare efficacy of labetalol and methyldopa in controlling blood pressure in patients with PIH and to study maternal and perinatal outcome in rural Indian population. Methods: 180 patients with PIH were divided in to two groups randomly. After randomization, group A received methyldopa 250 mg tid and group B received labetalol 100mg tid. Mean Arterial pressure (MAP) was calculated according to formula systolic BP +/-2 diastolic BP /3. Patients were subjected to 6 hrly BP monitoring. Comparison of two drugs was done daily by calculating MAP of two groups. Following Observations were made as regards Fall in BP with Labetalol/ Methyldopa, Time required to control BP, Average dose of drugs required to control BP, Onset of labour-spontaneous/induced, Bishop score at induction of labour, Side effects of drugs. Results: Significant fall in MAP was seen in patients receiving Labetalol. Mean time required to control B.P in group A was 42.22 hours and in group B it was 36.97 hours. Mean Bishop score at induction in present study in group A was 8.27 and in group B was 9.33 with a statistically significant p
Memantine binding to a superficial site on NMDA receptors contributes to partial trapping

Although many nervous system disorders are associated with N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor overactivation, pharmacological inhibition of NMDA receptors has typically demonstrated limited clinical value due to debilitating psychotomimetic side‐effects. Memantine, however, induces far fewer behavioural side‐effects than other NMDA receptor channel blockers such as ketamine, and slows the progressive cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease. Memantine and ketamine inhibit NMDA receptors with similar affinity and kinetics. A prominent mechanistic difference between memantine and ketamine is the degree to which they are ‘trapped’ within the closed channel of NMDA receptors following removal of agonist: ketamine becomes trapped in nearly all NMDA receptors to which it was bound before agonist removal, whereas some bound memantine molecules dissociate after agonist removal, a phenomenon called partial trapping. Here we investigated the mechanism underlying partial trapping of memantine by recombinant NR1/2A NMDA receptors. We found that memantine dissociation from NR1/2A receptors after agonist removal (the process that results in partial trapping) followed an exponential time course with τ= 0.79 ± 0.32 s. Neither membrane voltage depolarization nor maintained presence of memantine after agonist removal affected partial trapping, suggesting that partial trapping does not result from memantine escape through open channels. We tested the hypothesis that partial trapping results from binding of memantine to two sites, a superficial ‘non‐trapping’ site and a deep ‘trapping’ site, which cannot be occupied simultaneously. This hypothesis was supported by the lack of ketamine binding to the superficial site, the voltage dependence of partial trapping, and the effect on partial trapping of a mutation near the deep site. The superficial binding site for memantine may, by causing partial trapping, contribute to memantine's unique therapeutic utility.
Legumes Can Increase Cadmium Contamination in Neighboring Crops

Legumes are widely used in many cropping systems because they share their nitrogen fixation products and phosphorus mobilization activities with their neighbors. In the current study, however, we showed that co-cultivation with legumes increased cadmium (Cd) contamination in the adjacent crops. Both field and mesocosm experiments indicated that legumes increased Cd levels in edible parts and shoots of four neighboring crops and five maize varieties tested, regardless of the Cd levels in the soil. This enhanced Cd accumulation in crops was attributed to root interactions that alter the rhizosphere environment. Co-cultivation with legumes reduced soil pH, which somewhat increased the exchangeable forms of Cd. Our results have demonstrated the inevitable increases in Cd levels of crops as a direct result of co-cultivation with legumes even under situations when these levels are below the permissible threshold. With this new revelation, we need to consider carefully the current cropping systems involving legumes and perhaps to re-design the current and future cropping systems in view of avoiding food contamination by Cd.