Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Common antigens of streptococcal and nonstreptococcal oral bacteria: characterization of wall-associated protein and comparison with extracellular protein antigen

A soluble wall-associated common protein (WAP) has been isolated from cell wall-extracted antigens of exponentially growing cells of Streptococcus sanguis OMZ9, two serotypes (a and e), of Streptococcus mutans and Actinomyces viscosus OMZ104. The WAP antigens from the different strains were obtained by chromatography on an anti-rabbit immunoglobulin column of sodium dodecyl sulfate-dissociated immunoprecipitates. The affinity-isolated WAP antigens from the different oral bacteria were identical, as demonstrated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (showing an apparent molecular weight of 80,000) and amino acid and sugar compositions. This WAP antigen, common to all bacterial strains tested, consisted of 90% protein and 10% sugar. A comparison of the chemical properties of this WAP antigen and of the soluble extracellular common protein antigen showed that, although having similar amino acid and sugar compositions, the two proteins are different. Electron micrographs developed after immunocytological labeling of the WAP antigen on whole cells confirmed that it is located on the cell wall.
Aging Does Not Affect Brain Patterns of Repetition Effects Associated with Perceptual Priming of Novel Objects

This study examined how aging affects the spatial patterns of repetition effects associated with perceptual priming of unfamiliar visual objects. Healthy young (n = 14) and elderly adults (n = 13) viewed four repetitions of structurally possible and impossible figures while being scanned with blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging. Although explicit recognition memory for the figures was reduced in the elder subjects, repetition priming did not differ across the two age groups. Using multivariate linear modeling, we found that the spatial networks of regions that demonstrated repetition-related increases and decreases in activity were identical in both age groups, although there was a trend for smaller magnitude repetition effects in these networks in the elder adults for objects that had been repeated thrice. Furthermore, repetition-related reductions in activity in the left inferior frontal cortex for possible objects correlated with repetition-related facilitation in reaction time across both young and elder subjects. Repetition-related increases of an initially negative response were observed for both object types in both age groups in parts of the default network, suggesting that less attention was required for processing repeated stimuli. These findings extend prior studies using verbal and semantic picture priming tasks and support the view that perceptual repetition priming remains intact in later adulthood because the same spatial networks of regions continue to show repetition-related neural plasticity across the adult life span.
Substructural Method for Vibration Analysis of the Elastically Connected Double-Beam System

Free and forced vibration analyses of the two parallel beams connected to each other by the uniformly distributed vertical springs have been conducted in this contribution. The coupled motion equations were derived by using the free interface substructural method, and both of the free vibration characteristics and the forced vibration responses of the complex double-beam system were obtained. The mode localization and frequency loci veering phenomena would take place in such weakly coupled double beam system when there is a disorder in the system. By comparing with the available data in the literature, our numerical results were verified, and the well agreements were observed. These investigations showed that the proposed method is general and can be extended easily for vibration analysis of coupled double plate system or other complex systems.
Improving b2c e-commerce trust through social presence factors

In e-Commerce field, there are many researchers conducted on different properties of trust but lack of attention has been given to interpersonal based trust. This has lead to limitations for e-Commerce growth where social events have not yet fully duplicate into digital form especially in e-Commerce environment. Taking the advantage of rapid growth of social network nowadays, the objective of this study is to improve current e-Commerce implementation through social presence. In order to achieve this objective, this study has explored e-Commerce trust properties with its attributes as suggested by previous researchers. Trust factors based on social presence attributes also have been identified. This research hopes to provide a guideline to online businesses in order to develop a trusted website based on updated trend of e- Commerce which is more customer-oriented.
Linear vibration analysis of isotropic conical shells by discrete singular convolution (DSC)

Vibration analysis of conical shells has been of considerable research interest due to their importance in the area of structural, aerospace, chemical, submarine hulls, and mechanical applications. A number of analytical and numerical studies have been conducted on the linear and nonlinear static and dynamic analysis of conical shells (Saunders et al. 1960, Garnet and Kemper 1960, Irie et al. 1984, Tong 1993, Liew et al. 2005). Some selected works in this research topic includes those of Leissa (1973). More detailed information can be found in a review paper by Chang (1981). This note presents a novel computational approach, the discrete singular convolution (DSC) algorithm, for the linear free vibration analysis of conical shells.
Increased iris thickness and association with primary angle closure glaucoma

Aims To investigate the relationship between quantitative iris parameters and angle closure disease. Methods Participants with angle closure were recruited prospectively from glaucoma clinics. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) was performed under standardised dark conditions. Customised software was used on horizontal AS-OCT scans to measure iris thickness at 750 um (IT750) and 2000 um (IT2000) from the sclera spur, maximal iris thickness (ITM) and cross-sectional area of the iris (I-Area). Results 167 Angle closure (consisting of 50 primary angle-closure (PAC), 73 primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) and 44 fellow eyes of acute PAC) and 1153 normal participants were examined. After adjusting for age, sex, pupil size and anterior chamber depth, mean IT750 (0.499 vs 0.451 mm, p<0.001), IT2000 (0.543 vs 0.479 mm, p<0.001), ITM (0.660 vs 0.602 mm, p<0.001) and I-Area (1.645 vs 1.570 mm2, p=0.014) were significantly greater in angle closure (combined groups) versus normal eyes. Multivariate adjusted odd ratios (OR) of each parameter for the angle closure as compared with normal eyes were: IT750 OR1.7 (95% CI 1.1 to 2.7, p=0.032); IT2000 OR2.2 (95% CI 1.3 to 3.8, p=0.006) and ITM OR2.2 (95% CI 1.3 to 3.6, p=0.003), respectively, per 0.1 unit increase. Conclusions Increased iris thickness is associated with angle closure.
Comparison of coronary heart disease genetic assessment with conventional cardiovascular risk assessment in primary care: reflections on a feasibility study

Aim This study assesses the feasibility of collecting genetic samples and self-reported outcome measures after cardiovascular risk assessment, and presenting the genetic test results to participants. Background Coronary heart disease (CHD) genetic tests are increasingly available through direct-to-consumer marketing, but their potential clinical impact on cardiovascular risk assessment is unclear. Methods Observational study in 10 British general practices in Central England. A total of 320 individuals, who had completed conventional cardiovascular risk assessment, were offered CHD genetic test, with follow-up outcome questionnaire at eight months for lifestyle change and State-Trait Anxiety. Findings A total of 119 (37%) participants returned genetic test specimens, with over a third reporting family history of CHD in a specified relative; 79 (66.4%) were categorized above-average risk on conventional cardiovascular risk assessment, 65 of whom (82.3%) were only average risk on genetic assessment. The dietary fat questionnaire was poorly completed while study participation was not associated with increased anxiety (mean increase in anxiety score=2.1; 95% CI −0.1–4.3; P=0.06). Conclusion As a feasibility study, over a third of individuals offered genetic testing in primary care, as part of CVD risk assessment, took up the offer. Although intervention did not appear to increase anxiety, this needs further evaluation. To improve generalizability and effect size, future studies should actively engage individuals from wider socio-economic backgrounds who may not have already contemplated lifestyle change. The current research suggests general practitioners will face the clinical challenge of patients presenting with direct-to-consumer genetic results that are inconsistent with conventional cardiovascular risk assessment.
PainVision® Apparatus for Assessment of Efficacy of Pulsed Radiofrequency Combined with Pharmacological Therapy in the Treatment of Postherpetic Neuralgia and Correlations with Measurements

Objective. PainVision device was a developed application for the evaluation of pain intensity. The objective was to assess the efficacy and safety of pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) combined with pharmacological therapy in the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). We also discussed the correlation of the measurements. Method. Forty patients with PHN were randomized for treatment with PRF combined with pharmacological therapy (PRF group, n = 20) or pharmacological therapy (control group, n = 20) at postoperative 48 hours. The efficacy measure was pain degree (PD) that was assessed by PainVision and visual analog scale (VAS), short form Mcgill pain questionnaire (SF-Mcgill), and numeric rate scale sleep interference score (NRSSIS). Correlations between PD, VAS, SF-Mcgill, and NRSSIS were determined. Results. The PD for persistent pain (PP) and breakthrough pain (BTP) at postoperative 48 hours assessed by PainVision were significantly lower in PRF group than in control group (PD-PP, P < 0.01; PD-BTP, P < 0.01). PD and VAS were highly correlated for both persistent pain (r = 0.453, ρ = 0.008) and breakthrough pain (r = 0.64, ρ = 0.001). Conclusion. PRF was well tolerated and superior to isolated pharmacological therapy in the treatment of PHN. PainVision device showed great value in the evaluation of pain intensity and PD had an excellent correlation with VAS and SF-Mcgill.
Low-frequency noise behavior of 0.15- mu m gate-length lattice-matched and lattice-mismatched MODFETs on InP substrates

Experimental data are presented on equivalent gate noise voltage from 1 to 10/sup 5/ Hz obtained from lattice-matched and strained InGaAs quantum-well modulation-doped field effect transistors (MODFETs). In both types of devices excess generation-recombination (g-r) noise is observed at or below 100 Hz above an 'apparent' background 1/f noise with spectral intensity ranging from 0.5*10/sup -17/ to 2*10/sup -17/ V/sup 2/-Hz/sup -1/-cm/sup 2/ at 1 Hz. These results are comparable to those reported by S.M. J. Liu et al. (1986) for the pseudomorphic MODFETs. <<ETX>>
Functional Metagenomic Investigations of the Human Intestinal Microbiota

The human intestinal microbiota encode multiple critical functions impacting human health, including metabolism of dietary substrate, prevention of pathogen invasion, immune system modulation, and provision of a reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes accessible to pathogens. The complexity of this microbial community, its recalcitrance to standard cultivation, and the immense diversity of its encoded genes has necessitated the development of novel molecular, microbiological, and genomic tools. Functional metagenomics is one such culture-independent technique, used for decades to study environmental microorganisms, but relatively recently applied to the study of the human commensal microbiota. Metagenomic functional screens characterize the functional capacity of a microbial community, independent of identity to known genes, by subjecting the metagenome to functional assays in a genetically tractable host. Here we highlight recent work applying this technique to study the functional diversity of the intestinal microbiota, and discuss how an approach combining high-throughput sequencing, cultivation, and metagenomic functional screens can improve our understanding of interactions between this complex community and its human host.
Smith ScholarWorks Smith ScholarWorks

A full understanding of somite development requires knowledge of the molecular genetic pathways for cell determination as well as the cellular behaviors that underlie segmentation, somite epithelialization, and somite patterning. The zebraﬁsh has long been recognized as an ideal organism for cellular and histological studies of somite patterning. In recent years, genetics has proven to be a very powerful complementary approach to these embryological studies, as genetic screens for zebraﬁsh mutants defective in somitogenesis have identiﬁed over 50 genes that are necessary for normal somite development. Zebraﬁsh is thus an ideal system in which to analyze the role of speciﬁc gene products in regulating the cell behaviors that underlie somite development. We review what is currently known about zebraﬁsh somite development and compare it where appropriate to somite development in chick and mouse. We discuss the processes of segmentation and somite epithelialization, and then review the patterning of cell types within the somite. We show directly, for the ﬁrst time, that muscle cell and sclerotome migrations occur at the same time. We end with a look at the many questions about somitogenesis that are still unanswered.
Carotid Intraplaque Neovascularization Quantification Software (CINQS)

Intraplaque neovascularization (IPN) is an important biomarker of atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability. As IPN can be detected by contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), imaging-biomarkers derived from CEUS may allow early prediction of plaque vulnerability. To select the best quantitative imaging-biomarkers for prediction of plaque vulnerability, a systematic analysis of IPN with existing and new analysis algorithms is necessary. Currently available commercial contrast quantification tools are not applicable for quantitative analysis of carotid IPN due to substantial motion of the carotid artery, artifacts, and intermittent perfusion of plaques. We therefore developed a specialized software package called Carotid intraplaque neovascularization quantification software (CINQS). It was designed for effective and systematic comparison of sets of quantitative imaging biomarkers. CINQS includes several analysis algorithms for carotid IPN quantification and overcomes the limitations of current contrast quantification tools and existing carotid IPN quantification approaches. CINQS has a modular design which allows integrating new analysis tools. Wizard-like analysis tools and its graphical-user-interface facilitate its usage. In this paper, we describe the concept, analysis tools, and performance of CINQS and present analysis results of 45 plaques of 23 patients. The results in 45 plaques showed excellent agreement with visual IPN scores for two quantitative imaging-biomarkers (The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.92 and 0.93).
Dynamic Scene Classification: Learning Motion Descriptors with Slow Features Analysis

In this paper, we address the challenging problem of categorizing video sequences composed of dynamic natural scenes. Contrarily to previous methods that rely on handcrafted descriptors, we propose here to represent videos using unsupervised learning of motion features. Our method encompasses three main contributions: 1) Based on the Slow Feature Analysis principle, we introduce a learned local motion descriptor which represents the principal and more stable motion components of training videos. 2) We integrate our local motion feature into a global coding/pooling architecture in order to provide an effective signature for each video sequence. 3) We report state of the art classification performances on two challenging natural scenes data sets. In particular, an outstanding improvement of 11% in classification score is reached on a data set introduced in 2012.
Hybrid Plasmonic Nanoantenna With the Capability of Monolithic Integration With Laser and Photodetector on InP Substrate

In this paper, a novel InP-based hybrid plasmonic (HP) bowtie nanoantenna with director was proposed that can serve as a good alternative to the silicon-on-insulator based ones. The proposed bowtie HP nanoantenna is capable of monolithic integration with laser and photodetector at optical communication wavelengths. By using the finite-element method, it was observed that the device can radiate and receive the optical field with a gain of about 9 dB at frequency range of 180 to 220 THz. In addition, the results showed that this device is expandable in array structure. Antenna gains with two diverse array arrangements of single row and square array were also determined.
Evaluation of an MSO-Solver

A fundamental theorem of Courcelle states that every problem definable in Monadic Second-Order Logic (MSO) is solvable in linear time on graphs of bounded treewidth. In this paper, we report on our ongoing effort to develop a general purpose software tool designed to solve MSO-definable optimization and decision problems on graphs of small treewidth. We discuss the theoretical underpinnings of our tool and present experimental results, which indicate that for some natural optimization problems MSO based approaches might be a suitable alternative to ILP solvers.
Infectious Agents Detected in the Feces of Diarrheic Foals: A Retrospective Study of 233 Cases (2003–2008)

Background: Diarrhea is common in foals but there are no studies investigating the relative prevalence of common infectious agents in a population of hospitalized diarrheic foals. Objectives: To determine the frequency of detection of infectious agents in a population of hospitalized foals with diarrhea and to determine if detection of specific pathogens is associated with age, outcome, or clinicopathologic data. Animals: Two hundred and thirty‐three foals ≤ 10 months of age with diarrhea examined at a referral institution. Methods: Retrospective case series. Each foal was examined for Salmonella spp. , viruses, Clostridium difficile toxins, Clostridium perfringens culture, C. perfringens enterotoxin, Cryptosporidium spp. , and metazoan parasites in feces collected at admission or at the onset of diarrhea. Results: At least 1 infectious agent was detected in 122 foals (55%). Rotavirus was most frequently detected (20%) followed by C. perfringens (18%), Salmonella spp. (12%), and C. difficile (5%). Foals < 1 month of age were significantly more likely to be positive for C. perfringens (odds ratio [OR] = 15, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.5–66) or to have negative fecal diagnostic results (OR = 3.0, 95% CI = 1.7–5.2) than older foals. Foals > 1 month of age were significantly more likely to have Salmonella spp. (OR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.2–6.0), rotavirus (OR = 13.3, 95% CI = 5.3–33), and parasites (OR = 23, 95% CI = 3.1–185) detected compared with younger foals. Overall 191 of the 223 foals (87%) survived. The type of infectious agent identified in the feces or bacteremia was not significantly associated with survival. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: In the population studied, foals with diarrhea had a good prognosis regardless of which infectious agent was identified in the feces.
A classification of pregnancy losses after invasive prenatal diagnostic procedures: an approach to allow comparison of units with a different case mix

Pregnancy loss rates after prenatal invasive procedures such as amniocentesis (Amnio), chorionic villous sampling (CVS) and fetal blood sampling (FBS) vary with an underlying indication for the procedure and due to different background risk of miscarriage. Loss rates need to be quantified and available for counselling. We developed a classification of pregnancy losses that will help in calculating procedure‐related pregnancy loss rates and allow comparison between units with a different case mix.
Using place name data to train language identification models

The language of origin of a name affects its pronunciation, so language identiﬁcation is an important technology for speech synthesis and recognition. Previous work on this task has typ-ically used training sets that are proprietary or limited in cov-erage. In this work, we investigate the use of a publically-available geographic database for training language ID models. We automatically cluster place names by language, and show that models trained from place name data are effective for language ID on person names. In addition, we compare several source-channel and direct models for language ID, and achieve a 24% reduction in error rate over a source-channel letter trigram model on a 26-way language ID task.
Left Ventricular Hypertrophy in Hypertension Prevalence and Relationship to Pathophysiologic Variables

In less than a decade since development of echocardiographic measurement of left ventricular muscle mass, studies using this technique have provided considerable information about the prevalence and pathophysiology of left ventricular hypertrophy in human hypertension. Increased left ventricular mass has been found in a significant minority of patients with systemic hypertension, with the exact prevalence dependent both on how a population is selected and on the sex, race, and possibly age composition of its members. All published studies have reported that left ventricular hypertrophy is more closely related to blood pressure recorded in the patient's natural setting during normal activity or exercise – whether measured by portable recorder or home manometer – than to blood pressure measured by the physician. In addition, studies indicate that the classic hypertensive abnormalities of concentric left ventricular hypertrophy and increased peripheral resistance are interrelated, while left ventricular hypertrophy is absent in a subgroup of patients with mild essential hypertension who exhibit high cardiac output and evidence of supernormal myocardial contractility. Conversely, the left ventricular functional response to exercise is inversely related to the degree of hypertrophy. High levels of blood viscosity, which would tend to blunt the reduction in peripheral resistance expected during sleep or exercise, have also been associated with left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with essential hypertension. Echocardiographic studies have provided evidence both for and against the hypothesis that activity of the sympathetic or reninangiotensin systems plays a direct role in causing hypertensive cardiac hypertrophy. These findings demonstrate the useful role that echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular structure and function may play in hypertension research.