Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thermal Inactivation of Enteric Viruses and Bioaccumulation of Enteric Foodborne Viruses in Live Oysters (Crassostrea virginica)

ABSTRACT Human enteric viruses are among the main causative agents of shellfish-associated outbreaks. In this study, the kinetics of viral bioaccumulation in live oysters and the heat stabilities of the predominant enteric viruses were determined both in tissue culture and in oyster tissues. A human norovirus (HuNoV) GII.4 strain, HuNoV surrogates (murine norovirus [MNV-1], Tulane virus [TV]), hepatitis A virus (HAV), and human rotavirus (RV) bioaccumulated to high titers within oyster tissues, with different patterns of bioaccumulation for the different viruses. We tested the thermal stability of each virus at 62, 72, and 80°C in culture medium. The viruses can be ranked from the most heat resistant to the least stable as follows: HAV, RV, TV, MNV-1. In addition, we found that oyster tissues provided protection to the viruses during heat treatment. To decipher the mechanism underlying viral inactivation by heat, purified TV was treated at 80°C for increasing time intervals. It was found that the integrity of the viral capsid was disrupted, whereas viral genomic RNA remained intact. Interestingly, heat treatment leading to complete loss of TV infectivity was not sufficient to completely disrupt the receptor binding activity of TV, as determined by the porcine gastric mucin–magnetic bead binding assay. Similarly, HuNoV virus-like particles (VLPs) and a HuNoV GII.4 strain retained some receptor binding ability following heat treatment. Although foodborne viruses have variable heat stability, 80°C for >6 min was sufficient to completely inactivate enteric viruses in oysters, with the exception of HAV.
Role of Dimensionless Parameters in Modelling MEMS Hot-arm Actuators

The current work presents a novel approach to analysing traditional U-shaped MEMS hot-arm actuators via the use of dimensional analysis. Two dimensionless groups, a thermo-electro parameter and a geometric parameter, are proposed in order to describe actuator behaviour, and the interpretation of each is discussed. Deflection data for six different actuators collected from five different studies are correlated using the dimensionless groups, resulting in a semi-empirical relationship that offers good predictability. In general, actuator deflection shows a strong linear dependence on the thermo-electro parameter, with large values of the geometric parameter resulting in smaller deflections.
Gallbladder carcinoma update: multimodality imaging evaluation, staging, and treatment options.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to review the epidemiology, multimodality imaging findings, differential diagnosis, pathologic staging, and current treatment options of gallbladder carcinoma. CONCLUSION Understanding the characteristic appearances of primary gallbladder carcinoma at multiple imaging modalities can facilitate diagnosis and enable more accurate staging for triage to extended resection or an alternate therapy.
Sentence Level Discourse Parsing using Syntactic and Lexical Information

We introduce two probabilistic models that can be used to identify elementary discourse units and build sentence-level discourse parse trees. The models use syntactic and lexical features. A discourse parsing algorithm that implements these models derives discourse parse trees with an error reduction of 18.8% over a state-of-the-art decision-based discourse parser. A set of empirical evaluations shows that our discourse parsing model is sophisticated enough to yield discourse trees at an accuracy level that matches near-human levels of performance.
Fabrication and characterization of bolus material using polydimethyl-siloxane

Bolus has been used in radiotherapy to reduce tissue harm and to increase the superficial dose for skin cancer treatment. Commonly, a bolus is made of melamine in several hospitals. In this research, polydimethyl-siloxane (PDMS) material was used for bolus fabrication. The aims of the study are to investigate bolus density, percentage surface dose and its structural strength for each various composition. In bolus preparation, bolus material used composition variation between PDMS volume and catalyst volume. Composition variation were 20:1, 22:1, 24:1, 26:1, 28:1, 30:1 and 32:1. PDMS and catalyst were mixed by chemical solution deposition method. Bolus was molded by using glass cast with the size of 10 × 10 × 0.5 cm3. Bolus density was analyzed by mass per volume equation, for bolus radiation was examined by the linear accelerator using two electron energy (5 and 7 MeV) and bolus strain and tensile strength were examined by Brookfield CT 3 machine. The results of bolus density were similar with soft tissue density, while the lowest and highest density each variation are 22:1 and 28:1. In general, the use of bolus has increased the surface dose. Percentage of surface dose at 5 MeV energy is higher than 7 MeV energy. The highest percentage of surface dose at 5 MeV energy with 0.5 and 1.0 cm bolus thickness was achieved at composition of 32:1. For strain and tensile strength result, the lowest and highest strain each variation are 22:1 and 28:1, then the lowest and highest tensile strength each variation are 32:1 and 28:1. These results is important to select composition material for bolus fabrication in radiotherapy treatment.
Developing Polymer Composite Materials: Carbon Nanotubes or Graphene?

The formation of composite materials represents an efficient route to improve the performances of polymers and expand their application scopes. Due to the unique structure and remarkable mechanical, electrical, thermal, optical and catalytic properties, carbon nanotube and graphene have been mostly studied as a second phase to produce high performance polymer composites. Although carbon nanotube and graphene share some advantages in both structure and property, they are also different in many aspects including synthesis of composite material, control in composite structure and interaction with polymer molecule. The resulting composite materials are distinguished in property to meet different applications. This review article mainly describes the preparation, structure, property and application of the two families of composite materials with an emphasis on the difference between them. Some general and effective strategies are summarized for the development of polymer composite materials based on carbon nanotube and graphene.
Kinetic Simulations of Diffusion-Controlled Phase Transformations in Cu-Based Alloys

In this chapter, we present computational kinetics of diffusion-controlled phase transformations in Cu-based alloys, which becomes possible only most recently due to the establishment of the first atomic mobility database (MOBCU) for copper alloys. This database consists of 29 elements including most common ones for industrial copper alloys. It contains descriptions for both the liquid and Fcc_A1 phases. The database was developed through a hybrid CALPHAD approach based on experiments, first-principles calculations, and empirical rules. We demonstrate that by coupling the created mobility database with the existing compatible thermodynamic database (TCCU), all kinds of diffusivities in both solid and liquid solution phases in Cu-based alloys can be readily calculated. Furthermore, we have applied the combination of MOBCU and TCCU to simulate diffusion-controlled phenomena, such as solidification, nucleation, growth, and coarsening of precipitates by using the kinetic modules (DICTRA and TC-PRISMA) in the Thermo-Calc software package. Many examples of simulations for different alloys are shown and compared with experimental observations. The remarkable agreements between calculation and experimental results suggest that the atomic mobilities for Cu-based alloys have been satisfactorily described. This newly developed mobility database is expected to be continuously improved and extended in future and will provide fundamental kinetic data for computer-aided design of copper base alloys.
Ketamine helps a third of patients with treatment resistant depression, finds small UK study

A course of ketamine delivered intravenously could potentially be used to treat severe depression in patients who do not respond to other drugs, a UK study has found. Currently electroconvulsive therapy may be offered to treatment resistant patients, but the potential benefits have to be balanced against the risk of memory loss. Small randomised trials have shown that a single infusion of ketamine can have a substantial and rapid antidepressive effect in some treatment resistant patients who had been taken off other antidepressants.1 However, most of these patients relapsed within a week. Ketamine is a licensed drug that is widely used as an anaesthetic and in pain relief but is a class C banned substance because it is also used recreationally. Researchers in Oxford decided to explore the safety and effectiveness …
Analysis of dynamically scheduled tile algorithms for dense linear algebra on multicore architectures

The objective of this paper is to analyze the dynamic scheduling of dense linear algebra algorithms on shared‐memory, multicore architectures. Current numerical libraries (e.g., linear algebra package) show clear limitations on such emerging systems mainly because of their coarse granularity tasks. Thus, many numerical algorithms need to be redesigned to better fit the architectural design of the multicore platform. The parallel linear algebra for scalable multicore architectures library developed at the University of Tennessee tackles this challenge by using tile algorithms to achieve a finer task granularity. These tile algorithms can then be represented by directed acyclic graphs, where nodes are the tasks and edges are the dependencies between the tasks. The paramount key to achieve high performance is to implement a runtime environment to efficiently schedule the execution of the directed acyclic graph across the multicore platform. This paper studies the impact on the overall performance of some parameters, both at the level of the scheduler (e.g., window size and locality) and the algorithms (e.g., left‐looking and right‐looking variants). We conclude that some commonly accepted rules for dense linear algebra algorithms may need to be revisited. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Ulnar Head Replacement and Related Biomechanics

Abstract A stable distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ) is mandatory for the function and load transmission in the wrist and forearm. Resectional salvage procedures such as the Darrach procedure, Bowers arthroplasty, and Sauvé-Kapandji procedure include the potential risk of radioulnar instability and impingement, which can lead to pain and weakness. Soft tissue stabilizing techniques have only limited success rates in solving these problems. In an attempt to stabilize the distal forearm mechanically following ulnar head resection, various endoprostheses have been developed to replace the ulnar head. The prostheses can be used for secondary treatment of failed ulnar head resection, but they can also achieve good results in the primary treatment of osteoarthritis of the DRUJ. Our experience consists of twenty-five patients (follow-up 30 months) with DRUJ osteoarthritis who were treated with an ulnar head prosthesis, with improvement in pain, range of motion, and grip strength. An ulnar head prosthesis should be considered as a treatment option for a painful DRUJ.
Probiotics in Treatment and Prevention of Periodontal Diseases: A Systemic Review

Aim: Aim of this systematic review was to analyse the available scientific evidence on the effects of probiotics in prevention and treatment of periodontal diseases Materials and methods: A broad literature search was performed using both electronic database and hand search in library. The important databases like COCHRANE CENTRAL, MEDLINE, GOOGLE SCHOLAR, EMBASE were used for online data search. Hand search was performed in the central library of the institute to identify the relevant articles, articles that satisfied the inclusion criteria with description of randomized clinical trials comparing the administration of probiotics versus placebo or another intervention to prevent or treat periodontal diseases in adult patients were selected. Results: The initial search resulted in 73 articles; however, 45 of these articles were excluded after reviewing the abstracts because they did not have the proper clinical trial design or because they were duplicates. After analysing the full text from 27 clinical trials, 12 were excluded because they did not fulfil all the selection criteria. Our final review included 15 articles. Included outcome measures were probing pocket depth, bleeding on probing, clinical attachment loss, plaque index and gingival inflammation. Included studies were subjected to critical analysis following the Cochrane Collaboration tool for evaluating the risk of bias. Conclusion: Probiotics had a beneficial effect on reducing probing pocket depth, gingival inflammation, bleeding on probing when compared with placebo. Lactobacillus was the most commonly used probiotic genus, in which L.reuteri strain had most beneficial effects.
Biogenic Silver Nanoparticles as Potential Agent against Mycobacterium Tuberculosis

: Purpose: Numerous species of mycobacterium caused chronic contagious disease known as Tuberculosis. Owing to multi-drug resistant strains of mycobacterium and number of people infected with tuberculosis increasing worldwide and mostly acquired in patient who have acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). To overcome this situation and replace currently used medicine, there is an urgent need for new effective agents [1]. In present state, Nanoparticles have opened new opportunity in medicine, diagnosis, and therapeutics [2]. In sight of this, the present study was undertaken to synthesize biogenic silver nanoparticles using and to test their efficiency against the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Methods: Silver nanoparticles synthesis using Sesbania grandiflora flower extracts. Characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, Zeta potential, DLS and TEM analysis. Anti mycobacterium activity determine by L.J Slope method against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37 RV strain [3]. The strains were procured from Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh. Results: The UV–visible data reveal that an absorbance peak in between 400nm to 421 nm confirms formation of silver nanoparticles with zeta potential is -19.65 mV and they are spherical in shape with sizes between 20 nm and 56 nm.These nanoparticles control the growth of M. tuberculosis H37 RV strain at 12.5 ug/mL Conclusion: synthesis of biogenic silver nanoparticles is green, eco friendly and inexpensive technology. In present study based on results we conclude that aqueous extracts of flower of can be used for synthesis of Silver nanoparticle and these nanoparticles shows antimycobacterial activity and this was confirmed by L.J Slop method. Thus, the potential of biogenic silver nanoparticles further investigate with other screening methods as well as on animal modelling for developed novel TB nanomedicine.
Effects of denosumab on bone mineral density and bone turnover in postmenopausal women.

CONTEXT Denosumab is an investigational fully human monoclonal antibody against receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand, a mediator of osteoclastogenesis and osteoclast survival. OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the ability of denosumab to increase bone mineral density (BMD) and decrease bone turnover markers (BTMs) in early and later postmenopausal women with low BMD. DESIGN AND SETTING This 2-yr randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted in North America. PARTICIPANTS Subjects included 332 postmenopausal women with lumbar spine BMD T-scores between -1.0 and -2.5. INTERVENTIONS SUBJECTS were randomly assigned to receive denosumab sc, 60 mg every 6 months, or placebo. Randomization was stratified by time since onset of menopause (< or =5 yr or > 5 yr). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary end point was the percent change in lumbar spine BMD by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at 24 months. Additional end points were percent change in volumetric BMD of the distal radius by quantitative computed tomography; percent change in BMD by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry for the total hip, one-third radius, and total body; hip structural analysis; percent change in BTMs; and safety. RESULTS Denosumab significantly increased lumbar spine BMD, compared with placebo at 24 months (6.5 vs. -0.6%; P<0.0001) with similar results for both strata. Denosumab also produced significant increases in BMD at the total hip, one-third radius, and total body (P < 0.0001 vs. placebo); increased distal radius volumetric BMD (P < 0.01); improved hip structural analysis parameters; and significantly suppressed serum C-telopeptide, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-5b, and intact N-terminal propeptide of type 1 procollagen. The overall incidence of adverse events was similar between both study groups. CONCLUSIONS Twice-yearly denosumab increased BMD and decreased BTMs in early and later postmenopausal women.
Enhancement of Alkaline Protease Activity and Stability via Covalent Immobilization onto Hollow Core-Mesoporous Shell Silica Nanospheres

The stability and reusability of soluble enzymes are of major concerns, which limit their industrial applications. Herein, alkaline protease from Bacillus sp. NPST-AK15 was immobilized onto hollow core-mesoporous shell silica (HCMSS) nanospheres. Subsequently, the properties of immobilized proteases were evaluated. Non-, ethane- and amino-functionalized HCMSS nanospheres were synthesized and characterized. NPST-AK15 was immobilized onto the synthesized nano-supports by physical and covalent immobilization approaches. However, protease immobilization by covalent attachment onto the activated HCMSS–NH2 nanospheres showed highest immobilization yield (75.6%) and loading capacity (88.1 μg protein/mg carrier) and was applied in the further studies. In comparison to free enzyme, the covalently immobilized protease exhibited a slight shift in the optimal pH from 10.5 to 11.0, respectively. The optimum temperature for catalytic activity of both free and immobilized enzyme was seen at 60 °C. However, while the free enzyme was completely inactivated when treated at 60 °C for 1 h the immobilized enzyme still retained 63.6% of its initial activity. The immobilized protease showed higher Vmax, kcat and kcat/Km, than soluble enzyme by 1.6-, 1.6- and 2.4-fold, respectively. In addition, the immobilized protease affinity to the substrate increased by about 1.5-fold. Furthermore, the enzyme stability in various organic solvents was significantly enhanced upon immobilization. Interestingly, the immobilized enzyme exhibited much higher stability in several commercial detergents including OMO, Tide, Ariel, Bonux and Xra by up to 5.2-fold. Finally, the immobilized protease maintained significant catalytic efficiency for twelve consecutive reaction cycles. These results suggest the effectiveness of the developed nanobiocatalyst as a candidate for detergent formulation and peptide synthesis in non-aqueous media.
Seasonal Influence on the Parasite Fauna of a Wild Population of Astronotus ocellatus (Perciformes: Cichlidae) from the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract: Parasite infracommunities were studied in 202 specimens of Astronotus ocellatus collected from a freshwater lake in the State of Amapá, northern Brazil. Relationships between some host attributes (i.e., ontogeny, sex, and body size) and parasite infections were analyzed, but the primary focus was the seasonal variation in the parasite fauna. In total, 6,308,912 parasites belonging to 11 different taxa were found. Protozoa were the most abundant and dominant taxa, but monogeneans, trematode metacercariae, and nematode larvae were also prevalent and abundant. Fish ontogeny had a weak influence on parasite infection rates; juveniles were more parasitized by Dolops nana and Posthodiplostomum sp. The abundances of all parasite species were weakly correlated with host body size (low r2 values), except D. nana, Contracaecum sp. , and Posthodiplostomum sp. , which exhibited no correlation between abundance and host body size. Prevalence and abundance were different between flood and drainage seasons for all parasite species, except for D. nana and the 2 metacercarial species. Astronotus ocellatus may represent a link in food-web transmissions for parasites because it is used both as definitive and intermediate host. The parasite fauna of A. ocellatus was composed primarily of ectoparasites, and this could be considered typical of fishes that inhabit lentic waters. Seasonality was a strong determinant in the parasite community structure.
Incentives in Web Studies: Methodological Issues and a Review

Two meta-analyses review the effectiveness of incentives in Web studies. The first analysis summarizes 32 experiments on the impact of material incentives on response. It is based on a sample of 212,810 people. A significant effect (odds ratio = 1.19; 95% confidence interval: 1.13—1.25) is revealed, indicating that incentives motivate people to start a Web survey. The second analysis comprises 26 experiments on the impact of incentives on retention and is based on a sample of 7,073 people. It yields a significant effect (odds ratio = 1.27; 95% confidence interval: 1.12—1.44), indicating that once people have accessed a survey for whatever reasons, they are more likely to finish if an incentive is offered. The established incentive effects are stable across various study characteristics. Conclusions did not appear to be due to publication bias.
Quality of Life Among Veterans With War-Related Unilateral Lower Extremity Amputation: A Long-Term Survey in a Prosthesis Center in Iran

Objective: To determine the factors that have an adverse effect on the long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of veterans who have lost their extremities on the battlefield. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Tertiary prosthesis center. Participants: One hundred forty-one male Iranian veterans who have sustained unilateral lower extremity amputation during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) were evaluated after an average of 21.6 years (range, 20-27 years) after amputation. Intervention: No intervention. Main Outcome Measurements: Physical and mental HRQOL according to the Short Form-36 (SF-36) Health Survey. A cutoff point to define poor versus good HRQOL was calculated using the first quartile of SF-36 physical and mental component scores. Results: Poor physical HRQOL was positively associated with transfemoral amputation, phantom movement, low back pain, and a lower Barthel Index [odds ratios (ORs): 4.1, 7.8, 9.1, and 0.9, respectively). Poor mental HRQOL was associated with education level lower than high school diploma and the articular pain of the sound leg (OR = 2.9 and 6.5, respectively). Being employed or receiving disability was a factor that had a lower OR to associate with poor mental HRQOL (OR = 0.2). Conclusions: Alleviation of complaints such as low back pain and articular pain of the sound leg through appropriate medical management, granting facilities for continuing education, and employment are issues that should be considered by authorities and rehabilitative centers to increase HRQOL in amputee veterans.