Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Seroprevalence of Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii in dogs and risk of infection of dogs and women in the city Saint Louis, Senegal

The aim of the study was to determine the seroprevalence of Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii in dogs and evaluate the risk of infection of dogs and women in antenatal consultation in the city of Saint Louis (Senegal). Investigators recorded information via interview of owners of 100 dogs and 136 women in antenatal consultation in the town of Saint Louis. They related to the age, the sex, the lifestyle and the medical condition of the dogs. The level of education, contact with carnivores and the dietary habits were taken into account to assess the risk of human infection. A blood sample was taken from each animal for the search for anti Neospora caninum (LSIVET Blocking competitive ELISA multi-species) and anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies using the modified direct agglutination method (BioMerieux©Toxo-ScreenDA). The seroprevalence recorded in the population of dogs was 48±9.7% (neosporosis) and 68±9.1% (toxoplasmosis). The co-infection rate of the dogs was 36±9.4%. No studied variables were associated with the prevalence of the neosporosis. On the other hand, bitches were 2.5 times more infected with Toxoplasma gondii (95%CI=1.1-7.7; p<0.05) and the absence of deworming of the animals increased by 2.5 times the risk of contamination (95%CI=0.9-6.7; p<0.05). The investigation conducted on women showed that 87.5% of them had an age ranging between 15-36 years, 60.3% did not have access to education and 17.6% presented unexplained miscarriages. Risk factors of infection that were investigated, in particular contact of the women of Saint Louis with the carnivores (57.4% and 63.2% with dogs and cats respectively), well/borehole water consumption by 13.3% of the women, the dietary habits including the consumption of raw vegetables, insufficiently cooked meats, grills and raw milk by 80.2%, 24.3%, 64.7% and 53.7% of the women respectively show a real exposure of the human population to Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii. Moreover, the insalubrity of the city and insufficient family hygiene could be additional risk factors of human infection.
Specific Uptake of Retinoids into Human Promyelocytic Leukemia Cells HL‐60 by Retinoid‐specific Binding Protein: Possibly the True Retinoid Receptor

The uptake of all‐trans‐retinoic acid (RA) and two new retinoids [4‐(5,6,7,8‐tetrahydro‐5,5,8,8‐tetramethyl‐2‐naphthalenylcarbamoyl)benzoic acid (Am80) and (E)‐4‐[3‐(3,5‐di‐tert‐butylphenyl)‐3‐oxo‐1‐propenyl]benzoic acid (Ch55)] by HL‐60 human promyelocytic leukemia cells was investigated. For the investigation, [3H]RA and [3H]Am80 with high specific radioactivities (more than 50 Ci/mmol) were used. [3H]Am80 was prepared by hydrogenolysis of the corresponding chlorinated derivative of Am80 with tritium gas. The retinoids RA, Am80 and Ch55 were efficiently taken up by HL‐60 cells, and induced differentiation of the cells into mature granulocytes. The specific bindings (uptake) of RA, Am80 and Ch55 (the bindings inhibited competitively by the other two retinoids) by HL‐60 cells were due to a newly detected binding protein. The protein that bound specifically to RA appeared identical to that which bound specifically to Am80 by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and was named retinoid‐specific binding protein (RSBP). One HL‐60 cell was found to contain about 1500 molecules of RSBP distributed between the nuclear fraction and cytosolic fraction in proportions of about 4:1. The bindings of the three retinoids (RA, Am80 and Ch55) to RSBP (i.e., formation of retinoid‐RSBP complexes) greatly enhanced the affinity of RSBP for the nuclei. The apparent molecular weight of RSBP was estimated to be 95,000 daltons by size exclusion HPLC. The association constants (Ka) of RSBP were calculated to be 2.4 × 1010M‐1 for RA and 4.4 × 1010M‐1 for Am80 from Scatchard plots. The bindings of RA, Am80 and Ch55 to RSBP were mutually competitive, indicating that the binding sites for RA, Am80 and Ch55 were identical. The very high affinities of these retinoids for RSBP (Ka's of the order of 1010M‐1) correspond to the effective concentrations of these retinoids in HL‐60 cell culture medium for induction of differentiation of the cells. The mutually competitive bindings of these retinoids strongly support the idea that RSBP is the true receptor of retinoids.
Cytokeratin 19 (KRT19) has a Role in the Reprogramming of Cancer Stem Cell-Like Cells to Less Aggressive and More Drug-Sensitive Cells

Cytokeratin 19 (KRT19) is a cytoplasmic intermediate filament protein, which is responsible for structural rigidity and multipurpose scaffolds. In several cancers, KRT19 is overexpressed and may play a crucial role in tumorigenic transformation. In our previous study, we revealed the role of KRT19 as signaling component which mediated Wnt/NOTCH crosstalk through NUMB transcription in breast cancer. Here, we investigated the function of KRT19 in cancer reprogramming and drug resistance in breast cancer cells. We found that expression of KRT19 was attenuated in several patients-derived breast cancer tissues and patients with a low expression of KRT19 were significantly correlated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. Consistently, highly aggressive and drug-resistant breast cancer patient-derived cancer stem cell-like cells (konkuk university-cancer stem cell-like cell (KU-CSLCs)) displayed higher expression of cancer stem cell (CSC) markers, including ALDH1, CXCR4, and CD133, but a much lower expression of KRT19 than that is seen in highly aggressive triple negative breast cancer MDA-MB231 cells. Moreover, we revealed that the knockdown of KRT19 in MDA-MB231 cells led to an enhancement of cancer properties, such as cell proliferation, sphere formation, migration, and drug resistance, while the overexpression of KRT19 in KU-CSLCs resulted in the significant attenuation of cancer properties. KRT19 regulated cancer stem cell reprogramming by modulating the expression of cancer stem cell markers (ALDH1, CXCR4, and CD133), as well as the phosphorylation of Src and GSK3β (Tyr216). Therefore, our data may imply that the modulation of KRT19 expression could be involved in cancer stem cell reprogramming and drug sensitivity, which might have clinical implications for cancer or cancer stem cell treatment.
Performance limitation and mitigation of longitudinal spatial hole burning in high-power diode lasers

Facets of high-power broad area diode lasers are typically coated with one high-reflecting and one partially reflecting layer to improve slope efficiency and maximize output power. The typical cavity lengths of commercial devices have also been progressively increasing, mainly to reduce temperature rise at the active region and improve laser performance and reliability. The asymmetric reflectivities and long cavity length, however, result in a highly inhomogeneous longitudinal profile of the photon density, which induces a spatially non-uniform carrier distribution, so-called longitudinal spatial hole burning (LSHB). A more uniform longitudinal photon and carrier distribution is believed to improve the overall gain of the cavity and reduce gain saturation, although further study is required to understand the impact of LSHB to power efficiency and its implication in laser design optimization to achieve higher peak powers. We present a phenomenological model that incorporates LSHB to describe longitudinal photon and carrier density inhomogeneity, as well as light-current characteristics of a diode laser. The impact of LSHB on the power efficiency is demonstrated through numerical calculation and can be significant under high-power operations. This presents new guidelines for high-power diode laser designs, in which LSHB imposes limits on reducing facet reflectivity and/or increasing cavity length, beyond which performance deteriorates. Alternatively, effects of LSHB can be mitigated through longitudinal patterning of the waveguide or contact to achieve high-power and high-efficiency diode lasers. We propose specially designed longitudinal patterning of electrical contact to mitigate LSHB. Ongoing device implementation will be used to demonstrate performance benefits.
Structural connectivity of the brain in autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterised by social communication deficits and restricted and repetitive interests. It mostly affects males, and has a range of severities and presentations. The causes of ASD are, as yet, unknown, though research indicates that a combination of genetic and environmental factors contribute to aberrant brain structure and function. The structure of the brain can be non-invasively assessed in vivo using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The MRI method diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can be used to reconstruct the brain’s white matter tracts and quantify their microstructural health. The aim of this thesis is to investigate white matter microstructure in ASD, and comprises of four studies: an investigation of the association between white matter microstructure and the spectrum of ASD traits; a study of amygdala connections and their association with ASD symptomatology; a graph theory approach to investigate the structural networks of the brain; a study of sex-based differences in brain structure in ASD, and unaffected siblings of probands. White matter microstructure was associated with ASD traits across a spectrum that incorporated healthy controls through to those with clinically-diagnosed autism. Associations between the microstructure of amygdala–cortical connections and ASD symptoms were dependent upon the brain region and ASD trait of interest. The ASD structural network was similar to that of controls, which indicates that the macromolecular arrangement of the ASD brain is relatively conserved. There were some sex-based differences in white matter microstructure in ASD, though fewer than anticipated. In conclusion, DTI techniques provide evidence that brain microstructure is compromised in ASD, and that the severity of the structural deficits is correlated with symptom severity in a specific fashion. Brain topology is relatively conserved, indicating that ASD arises from deficits in the quality of brain connections, rather than their overall arrangement.
Comorbidity of Anxiety and Affective Disorders as Neuropsychiatric and Evolutionary Problem (A New Concept)

Although the comorbidity issues in psychiatry have received a wide recognition for at least the last 20 years and caused a great stream of publications all over the world, many questions remain unanswered. It concerns as phenomenon of comorbidity itself, as plausible explanation of its origin. Little is known, why in some patients the so-called pure (non comorbid) psychopathological states present (i.e. pure depression or anxiety), while in other cases comorbidity between affective and anxiety disorders exists. At present, factors determining the comorbidity between depression and anxiety disorders unfortunately remain unknown. The principal and unexplained phenomenon in comorbidity issues concern the asymmetry in comorbidity between affective and anxiety disorders (Table 1). Indeed, patients with primary diagnosis of anxiety disorder have more frequent comorbidity with depression (4862%) than vice versa (10-20%, Table 1). (Kendler et al., 1992; Kessler, 1999; Kessler et al., 1994; 1995; 1996, 1999; Roy-Byrne et al., 2000). These findings haven’t obtained any plausible explanation yet, and comorbidity studies including description of comorbid disorders and statistical evaluation of risk for their development didn’t give us any clue (except for genetic origin or predisposing trigger factors) for solving these issues. On the other hand, neuropsychological or neuropsychiatric mechanisms have been rarely used in order to explain any psychopathological phenomena, and strong demarcation line, unfortunately still exists between neuropsychology and general psychopathology, although the both disciplines represent two domains of neuroscience. It concerns the problems of localization and lateralization of cerebral functions as in so-called normal, as in pathological states, although a great progress has been achieved for the last forty years in realms relevant to these problems. Moreover, epilepsy (especially temporal lobe epilepsy, TLE) seems to represent a useful model for profound understanding of unresolved psychopathological issues, including comorbidity between anxiety and depression.
Discovery of South American suckermouth armored catfishes (Loricariidae, Pterygoplichthys spp.) in the Santa Fe River drainage, Suwannee River basin, USA

We report on the occurrence of South American suckermouth armored catfishes (Loricariidae) in the Suwannee River basin, southeastern USA. Over the past few years (2009-2012), loricariid catfishes have been observed at various sites in the Santa Fe River drainage, a major tributary of the Suwannee in the state of Florida. Similar to other introduced populations of Pterygoplichthys, there is high likelihood of hybridization. To date, we have captured nine specimens (270-585 mm, standard length) in the Santa Fe River drainage. One specimen taken from Poe Spring best agrees with Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps (Kner, 1854) or may be a hybrid with either P. pardalis or P. disjunctivus. The other specimens were taken from several sites in the drainage and include seven that best agree with Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus (Weber, 1991); and one a possible P. disjunctivus × P. pardalis hybrid. We observed additional individuals, either these or similar appearing loricariids, in Hornsby and Poe springs and at various sites upstream and downstream of the long (> 4 km) subterranean portion of the Santa Fe River. These specimens represent the first confirmed records of Pterygoplichthys in the Suwannee River basin. The P. gibbiceps specimen represents the first documented record of an adult or near adult of this species in open waters of North America. Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus or its hybrids (perhaps hybrid swarms) are already abundant and widespread in other parts of peninsular Florida, but the Santa Fe River represents a northern extension of the catfish in the state. Pterygoplichthys are still relatively uncommon in the Santa Fe drainage and successful reproduction not yet documented. However, in May 2012 we captured five adult catfish (two mature or maturing males and three gravid females) from a single riverine swallet pool. One male was stationed at a nest burrow (no eggs present). To survive the occasional harsh Florida winters, these South American catfish apparently use artesian springs as thermal refugia. In the Santa Fe River, eradication might be possible during cold periods when catfish congregate in spring habitats. However, should Pterygoplichthys increase in number and disperse more widely, the opportunity to eliminate them from the drainage will pass.
Elevated androstenedione in young adult but not early adolescent prenatally androgenized female rats

Background Elevated testosterone (T) is routinely reported as a marker of hyperandrogenemia in rodent models for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). In women with PCOS, elevated serum androstenedione (A4) is associated with more severe phenotypes, including a positive correlation with serum T, DHEAS, free androgen index (FAI), LH, and LH/FSH ratio. Furthermore, A4, along with calculated free T and FAI, was identified as one of the best predictors of PCOS in adult women of all ages (18 to > 50 y). Objective The objective of this study was to investigate serum A4 levels in early adolescent and young adult prenatally androgenized (PNA) female rats, a model for PCOS. Methods Pregnant rats were injected with 5 mg T daily during gestational days 16–19 (PNA rats, experimental group) or an equal volume of vehicle (control group). Female offspring of both groups had tail vein blood drawn for serum analysis at 8 and 16 weeks of age. ELISAs were used to quantify serum A4 and T levels. Results Serum A4 and T were elevated in 16-week-old PNA rats compared to controls. There was no significant difference in either hormone at 8 weeks of age. Conclusions The PNA rats demonstrated elevated serum A4 and T in young adulthood, as has been observed in women with PCOS, further validating this as a model for PCOS and underscoring the importance of serum A4 elevation as a parameter inherent to PCOS and a rodent model for the disorder. Significant A4 elevation develops between early adolescence and early adulthood in this PNA rat model.
Tweeting Behaviour during Train Disruptions within a City

In a smart city environment, citizens use social media for communicating and reporting events. Existing work has shown that social media tools, such as Twitter and Facebook, can be used as social sensors to monitor events in real-time as they happen (e.g.\ riots, natural disasters and sport events). In this paper, we study the reactions of citizens in social media towards train disruptions within a city. Our study using 30 days of tweets in a large city shows that citizens react differently to train disruptions by, for instance, displaying unique behaviours in tweeting depending on the time of the disruption. Specifically, for working days, tweets related to train disruptions are typically generated during rush hour periods. In contrast, during weekends, urban citizens tended to tweet about train disruptions during late evenings. Using these insights, we develop a supervised approach to predict whether a train disruption tweet will be retweeted and propagated on the social network, by using features, such as time, user, and the content of tweets. Our experimental results show that we can effectively predict when a train disruption tweet is retweeted by using such features.
Thermal pre-treatment of primary and secondary sludge at 70°C prior to anaerobic digestion

In general, mesophilic anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge is more widely used compared to thermophilic digestion, mainly because of the lower energy requirements and higher stability of the process. However, the thermophilic anaerobic digestion process is usually characterised by accelerated biochemical reactions and higher growth rate of microorganisms resulting in an increased methanogenic potential at lower hydraulic retention times. Furthermore, thermal pre-treatment is suitable for the improvement of stabilization and could be realized at relatively low cost especially at low temperatures. The present study investigates the effect of the pre-treatment at 70 °C on thermophilic (55 °C) anaerobic digestion of primary and secondary sludge in continuously operated digesters. Thermal pre-treatment of primary and secondary sludge at 70 °C enhanced the removal of organic matter and the methane production during the subsequent anaerobic digestion step at 55 °C. It also greatly contributed to the destruction of pathogens present in primary sludge. Finally it results in enhanced microbial activities of the subsequent anaerobic step suggesting that the same efficiencies in organic matter removal and methane recovery could be obtained at lower HRTs.
Thermal conductivity enhancement of carbon nanotube composites : A simple model containing the anisotropy , aspect ratio and non-straightness of carbon nanotubes

Simple and analytical models for thermal conductivity for randomly oriented distribution CNT composites were presented as analytical functions of volume fraction, anisotropic thermal conductivities, aspect ratio, nonstraightness, and interfacial thermal resistance of the CNTs. Moreover, using the interaction direct derivative (IDD) micromechanics scheme, we have incorporated interactions between included CNTs and gained non-linear volume fraction dependence of thermal conductivity enhancement which agreed quite well with the observed data. Based on the analysis, it is an efficient means using CNTs as straight as possible with aspect ratio high enough to get much higher thermal conductivity enhancement of CNT composites.
Lack of Modifying Effects of Environmental Estrogenic Compounds on the Development of Thyroid Proliferative Lesions in Male Rats Pretreated with N‐Bis(2‐hydroxypropyl)nitrosamine (DHPN)

The modifying effects of various environmental estrogenic compounds on thyroid carcinogenesis were investigated in a rodent two‐stage carcinogenesis model. The compounds examined were a soy isoflavone mixture (SI) and genistein (GEN) as phytoestrogens, nonylphenol (NP) as a xenoestrogen, 3‐chloro‐4‐(dichloromethyl)‐5‐hydroxy‐2(5H)‐furanone (MX) as a thyroid carcinogen and sulfadimethoxine (SDM) as a known thyroid tumor promoter. Five‐week‐old male F344 rats were given a single subcutaneous injection of N‐bis(2‐hydroxypropyl)nitrosamine (DHPN; 2800 mg/kg, body weight) or the vehicle alone. Starting one week thereafter, GEN (250 or 25 ppm in diet), SI (400 ppm in diet), NP (250 or 25 ppm in diet), MX (30 ppm, in drinking water) or SDM (1000 ppm in drinking water) was administered for 12 weeks. Major organs including the thyroid, pituitary, liver, kidney, testis, brain and pancreas were weighed and histopathological observation was performed. Thyroid weights were significantly increased (P < 0.001) only in the SDM treatment groups, especially with DHPN pretreatment. Kidney weights were slightly increased in the NP or MX treatment groups, albeit without statistical significance. Histopathologically, thyroid proliferative lesions were only observed in the SDM alone or DHPN+SDM group with significant focal hyperplasias, adenomas and adenocarcinomas limited to the combined treatment case. There were no organ weight changes or histopathological lesions in the major organs including the thyroid in the GEN, SI, NP, and MX treatment groups regardless of DHPN pretreatment. Our results thus indicate that the weakly estrogenic compounds GEN, SI and NP and the environmental rat thyroid carcinogen MX do not exert any modifying effects on thyroid carcinogenesis in rats under the present experimental conditions.
Frequency-Domain NOMA With Two Sets of Orthogonal Signal Waveforms

We present a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme based on combining orthogonal frequency-division multiple access and multi-carrier code-division multiple access. Contrary to other NOMA architectures, the proposed approach does not require any power imbalance between user signals, making it possible to grant all users the same data rate and performance. Another major contribution concerns the receiver operation: Many papers in the recent NOMA literature refer to single-stage successive interference cancellation, where the strong user signal is first detected and subtracted from the received signal before detecting the weak user signal. While this approach may be optimal from information theoretic viewpoint, we show that this type of receiver cannot achieve performance results close to those of interference-free transmission and that, in our framework, an iterative receiver is actually required for this purpose. We investigate both hard-decision and soft-decision iterative receivers and show that a soft-decision receiver significantly improves the performance and increases the number of users.