Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Administration of Lactobacillus johnsonii FI9785 to chickens affects colonisation by Campylobacter jejuni and the intestinal microbiota

ABSTRACT 1. Campylobacter jejuni is the most common bacterial cause of human food-borne gastroenteritis in the world. A major source of human infection is the consumption of contaminated meat, particularly poultry. New control measures to reduce or eliminate this pathogen from the animal gastrointestinal tract are urgently required, and the use of probiotics as competitive exclusion agents is a promising biocontrol measure to reduce C. jejuni in the food chain. 2. In this study, we assessed the potential of Lactobacillus johnsonii FI9785, which has shown efficacy against Clostridium perfringens, to combat C. jejuni. The effect of prophylactic administration of L. johnsonii on the ability of C. jejuni to colonise chickens was determined. 3. Two doses of L. johnsonii given a week apart led to a reduction in C. jejuni colonisation in the caecal contents, but this biocontrol seemed reliant upon a high level of initial colonisation by the probiotic. 4. The microbial composition in the chicken gut was significantly altered by the probiotic treatment, as shown by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rRNA gene amplicons. 5. Together these results demonstrate the potential of this probiotic strain to be tested further as a competitive exclusion agent in poultry against C. jejuni.
Automatic Measurement of Head and Facial Movement for Analysis and Detection of Infants’ Positive and Negative Affect

Previous work in automatic affect analysis (AAA) has emphasized static expressions to the neglect of the dynamics of facial movement and considered head movement only a nuisance variable to control. We investigated whether the dynamics of head and facial movements apart from specific facial expressions communicate affect in infants, an under-studied population in AAA. Age-appropriate tasks were used to elicit positive and negative affect in 31 ethnically diverse infants. 3D head and facial movements were tracked from 2D video. Head angles in the horizontal (pitch), vertical (yaw), and lateral (roll) directions were used to measure head movement; and the 3D coordinates of 49 facial points to measure facial movements. Strong effects were found for both head and facial movements. Angular velocity and angular acceleration of head pitch, yaw, and roll were higher during negative relative to positive affect. Amplitude, velocity, and acceleration of facial movement were higher as well during negative relative to positive affect. A linear discriminant analysis using head and facial movement achieved a mean classification rate of positive and negative affect equal to 65% (Kappa = 0.30). Head and facial movement individually and in combination were also strongly related to observer ratings of affect intensity. Our results suggests that the dynamics of head and facial movements communicate affect at ages as young as 13 months. These interdisciplinary findings from behavioral science and computer vision deepen our understanding of communication of affect and provide a basis for studying individual differences in emotion in socio-emotional development.
Falling through the cracks: the decline of mental health care and firearm violence

Abstract Background: This paper argues that the decline in the availability of long-term, intensive mental health services, particularly through state mental health hospital systems, has had negative impacts on firearm-related deaths and possibly on the incidence of mass shooting events. Aims: Establish the effect of reduced availability of long-term, intensive mental health treatment on firearm-related violence in the United States. Method: Ordinary least squares regressions on cross-sectional data of US states. Results: Mass shooting perpetrators had significantly higher rates of mental illness than the general population. In addition, using simple regressions, this paper’s results demonstrate that increasing the number of state psychiatric hospital beds is associated with lower rates of homicide. Conclusions: The shrinking number of intensive, long-term mental health facilities in US states has had many negative consequences, including higher rates of firearm homicide.
Manifestations of pulmonary tuberculosis in the elderly: a prospective observational study from north India.

BACKGROUND There is scarcity of published literature on manifestations of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) among elderly patients in India. The aim of the present study was to compare the clinical, radiological and laboratory manifestations of PTB among young and elderly patients. METHODS This prospective study involved 100 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) negative patients with PTB. The demographic, clinical, radiological and laboratory manifestations were compared between young (n=50; under 60 years of age) and elderly (n=50; aged 60 years and above) with PTB. RESULTS Elderly patients, in comparison to younger patients, tended to be heavier smokers and had more co-morbidities (40% vs 8%; p < 0.05). They presented more frequently with constitutional symptoms (except fever) and less frequently with respiratory symptoms. The mean duration of symptoms and rate of sputum smear-positivity for acid-fast bacilli was similar in both groups. Both the groups were similar with respect to physical examination and chest radiograph findings. Median values of erythrocyte sedimentation rate and total leukocyte count were significantly higher and lower respectively in the elderly patients. CONCLUSIONS The presentation of PTB in elderly patients differs from that of younger patients by the predominance of constitutional rather than respiratory symptoms. A high index of suspicion is required to make a timely diagnosis of tuberculosis in the elderly.
Information Costs and Networks in International Trade

This paper discusses the impact of information costs on the organisation of international trade. The conditions under which trade is organized through an information intermediary, the incentives for network building and the implications for trade volumes are analysed using a stylised model. The model illustrates how information barriers can affect the way trade is organised. The model shows how direct trade through search and indirect trade through an information intermediary can coexist in equilibrium. The framework is employed to discuss the effects of information and communication technology improvements on the organization of international trade. Results suggest that for a range of parameter values improvements in information technology, such as access to the Internet, can strengthen the incentives for network building by information intermediaries, increasing trade volumes traded indirectly through the network and raising world welfare. Moreover, direct ties between certain traders are introduced to reflect the operation of an ethnic network of traders, which can be shown to crowd out intermediation.
Application of BASNEF Model in Prediction of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Against Women

Although some studies have been carried out about Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Iran, little is still known about some predictors such as attitudes, subjective norms and other factors in IPV. Intimate partner violence refers to behaviors that harm physically, socially, and psychologically, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse, and controlling behaviors. In order to understand the factors that contribute to IPV with the ultimate goal of conducting primary prevention interventions, we examined one of the health education and health promotion models: the BASNEF (Belief, Attitudes, Subjective Norm, and Enabling Factors) model as a predictor of IPV against women who were referred to health centers. Data were collected through a questionnaire based on the BASNEF model and the Conflict Tactics Scales. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistics including Pearson Correlation and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Amos software was applied to Structural Equation Modeling. Descriptive and other analyses were performed by SPSS. The significance level was set at 0.05. The findings of the present study indicate that this model predicts IPV partly. Women’s and men’s education levels were related to violence: women with less than seven years education experienced more IPV and women with less educated husbands experienced more violence. Due to the importance of understanding the IPV for health education and health promotion designs, more qualitative and quantitative studies are suggested.
Carbon Nanotubes Hybrid Hydrogels in Drug Delivery: A Perspective Review

The use of biologics, polymers, silicon materials, carbon materials, and metals has been proposed for the preparation of innovative drug delivery devices. One of the most promising materials in this field are the carbon-nanotubes composites and hybrid materials coupling the advantages of polymers (biocompatibility and biodegradability) with those of carbon nanotubes (cellular uptake, stability, electromagnatic, and magnetic behavior). The applicability of polymer-carbon nanotubes composites in drug delivery, with particular attention to the controlled release by composites hydrogel, is being extensively investigated in the present review.
Minding the Dissociative Gap

Abstract I offer the view that the source of therapeutic action in psychoanalysis is a shared minding of the dissociative gap—a process that simultaneously decreases the mind's fear of otherness and the vulnerability of the brain's neural networks to potential affect dysregulation. Through a patient's “me” and “not-me” self-states becoming more at home with each other, the automatic neurosynaptic warning signal that triggers immediate dissociation as a protection against potential hyperarousal becomes more selective at the brain level and, through a feedback loop, allows the patient's mind to support increased development of intersubjectivity. Little by little, the patient's capacity to bear internal conflict is increased by easing the mental struggle to hold it cognitively. For a classical psychoanalyst, taking this seriously does not lead to abandoning Freud, but it does lead to a different listening stance. It requires listening to clinical process not only dyadically, but listening to it as an inherently confusing affective event to be processed together, rather than as content to be “understood”; that is, organized by the analyst into something he deems cognitively conceptual and then made available for potential interpretation. Clinical examples are provided for consideration.
Number of natively unfolded proteins scales with genome size

Natively unfolded proteins exist as an ensemble of flexible conformations lacking a well defined tertiary structure along a large portion of their polypeptide chain. Despite the absence of a stable configuration, they are involved in important cellular processes. In this work we used from three indicators of folding status, derived from the analysis of mean packing and mean contact energy of a protein sequence as well as from VSL2, a disorder predictor, and we combined them into a consensus score to identify natively unfolded proteins in several genomes from Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya. We found a high correlation among the number of predicted natively unfolded proteins and the number of proteins in the genomes. More specifically, the number of natively unfolded proteins scaled with the number of proteins in the genomes, with exponent 1.81 +- 0.10. This scaling law may be important to understand the relation between the number of natively unfolded proteins and their roles in cellular processes.
Analysis of a Resonant Converter Controlled by Triac

Analytical and experimental considerations in the constant voltage transformer are presented. The constant voltage transformer consists of a linear reactor, a linear transformer, a capacitor, a triac, and a feedback circuit. The feedback circuit is used to make the triac fire precisely at any angle from zero to ¿/2 so as to keep output voltage constant. An analysis of this circuit is presented in which the higher harmonic currents generated in the triac are neglected and the output voltage is assumed to be kept constant. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical value with respect to the load characteristic, the voltage characteristic, the power factor, and the jumping phenomenon.
A Critical and Comprehensive Sociological Theory of Race and Racism

This article contests the contention that sociology lacks a sound theoretical approach to the study of race and racism, instead arguing that a comprehensive and critical sociological theory of race and racism exists. This article outlines this theory of race and racism, drawing from the work of key scholars in and around the field. This consideration of the state of race theory in sociology leads to four contentions regarding what a critical and comprehensive theory of race and racism should do: (1) bring race and racism together into the same analytical framework; (2) articulate the connections between racist ideologies and racist structures; (3) lead us towards the elimination of racial oppression; and (4) include an intersectional analysis.
Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Their Sources in Undergraduate Computing Disciplines

This study has two central purposes: First, it examines not only the roles of gender and persistence in undergraduate computing majors’ learning self-efficacy, computer self-efficacy, and programming self-efficacy but also Bandura’s hypothesized sources of self-efficacy; second, it examines the influence of sources of efficacy on the three aforementioned self-efficacy beliefs as a whole and as functions of gender and persistence levels. The results indicate that persistence levels had a significant effect on all the self-efficacy beliefs and sources of efficacy except computer self-efficacy and physiological state. However, these students’ self-efficacy beliefs and sources of efficacy did not vary by gender. Moreover, the sources of efficacy differently influenced the three self-efficacy beliefs not only as a whole but also as functions of gender and persistence levels.
Endothelial cell repopulation after stenting determines in-stent neointima formation: effects of bare-metal vs. drug-eluting stents and genetic endothelial cell modification

Aims Understanding endothelial cell repopulation post-stenting and how this modulates in-stent restenosis is critical to improving arterial healing post-stenting. We used a novel murine stent model to investigate endothelial cell repopulation post-stenting, comparing the response of drug-eluting stents with a primary genetic modification to improve endothelial cell function. Methods and results Endothelial cell repopulation was assessed en face in stented arteries in ApoE−/− mice with endothelial-specific LacZ expression. Stent deployment resulted in near-complete denudation of endothelium, but was followed by endothelial cell repopulation, by cells originating from both bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells and from the adjacent vasculature. Paclitaxel-eluting stents reduced neointima formation (0.423 ± 0.065 vs. 0.240 ± 0.040 mm2, P = 0.038), but decreased endothelial cell repopulation (238 ± 17 vs. 154 ± 22 nuclei/mm2, P = 0.018), despite complete strut coverage. To test the effects of selectively improving endothelial cell function, we used transgenic mice with endothelial-specific overexpression of GTP-cyclohydrolase 1 (GCH-Tg) as a model of enhanced endothelial cell function and increased NO production. GCH-Tg ApoE−/− mice had less neointima formation compared with ApoE−/− littermates (0.52 ± 0.08 vs. 0.26 ± 0.09 mm2, P = 0.039). In contrast to paclitaxel-eluting stents, reduced neointima formation in GCH-Tg mice was accompanied by increased endothelial cell coverage (156 ± 17 vs. 209 ± 23 nuclei/mm2, P = 0.043). Conclusion Drug-eluting stents reduce not only neointima formation but also endothelial cell repopulation, independent of strut coverage. In contrast, selective targeting of endothelial cell function is sufficient to improve endothelial cell repopulation and reduce neointima formation. Targeting endothelial cell function is a rational therapeutic strategy to improve vascular healing and decrease neointima formation after stenting.
Electronic structure, stability, and mechanism of the decohesion and shear of interfaces in superhard nanocomposites and heterostructures

Electronic structure of interfaces, their stability and the mechanism of decohesion in tension as well as of ideal shear have been studied by means of ab initio density-functional theory for heterostructures consisting of a few nanometer thick fccNaCl-TiN slabs with one monolayer of pseudomorphic SiN interface. It is found that the SiN interface sandwiched between fcc001-TiN slabs is unstable in its symmetric fcc structure, but it stabilizes by distortion of the Si-N bonds, which lowers the symmetry. Significant strengthening of the SiN interface occurs due to partial transfer of valence charge to the Si containing interface which induces damped valence charge-density oscillations propagating into the TiN bulk. As a consequence of these oscillations, decohesion, and ideal shear does not occur within the SiN interface, but in the TiN slabs between the Ti-N planes parallel to that interface. We provide a detailed study of this mechanism of decohesion and ideal shear on the atomic scale. The results are discussed in the context of the experimentally found hardness enhancement in heterostructures and superhard nanocomposites.
Health effects of perceived racial and religious bullying among urban adolescents in China: A cross-sectional national study

Research concerning ethnocultural bullying and adolescent health in China remains extremely limited. This study among Chinese urban adolescents examines associations between ethnocultural bullying and eight health-related outcomes: suicidal ideation, suicide planning, depressive symptomology, anxiety symptomatology, fighting, injury intentionally inflicted by another, smoking and moderate/heavy alcohol consumption. Data were obtained from the World Health Organisation's 2003 Chinese Global School-based Health Survey, a cross-sectional national survey of urban adolescents in four Chinese cities. The analytic sample size was n = 8182, which represented a sampling frame of 769,835 adolescents. Statistical analysis was conducted using generalised linear mixed effects models and sampling weights. Prevalence of ethnocultural bullying was significantly higher in Urumqi, Xinjiang province (2.08%) compared with Beijing municipality (0.72%) or Wuhan, Hubei province (0.67%). Compared to participants who were not bullied, religious bullying victimisation was significantly associated with suicidal ideation, injury intentionally inflicted by another and depressive symptomology. Racial bullying victimisation was significantly associated with suicidal ideation, injury intentionally inflicted by another and among females but not males, depressive symptomology. Health effects of ethnocultural bullying appear to be distinct from that of bullying in general. Additional research on ethnocultural adolescent health issues in China is warranted.
Performance Analysis of Distributed Queueing Random Access Protocol--DQRAP

Distributed Queueing Random Access Protocol (DQRAP) is a multi-access protocol for a broadcast channel that provides performance superior to any other protocol with respect to stability, delay, and throughput. DQRAP achieves this performance with a transmission queue TQ, a collision resolution queue RQ, and ternary feedback from as few as three minislots. Xu and Campbell introduced DQRAP and provided a mathematical model of the throughput. This paper extends the throughput analysis of Xu and Campbell to show that a throughput of one is achieved with a load of one or greater. A mathematical model of the delay is introduced. Stability is discussed. The average delay and throughput of DQRAP as obtained by theoretical analysis are compared with simulation results. Comparisons of DQRAP with ALOHA and Tree protocols show the superiority of DQRAP with respect to both delay and throughput.
Comparison of Pressor and Adrenergic Responses Derived from Direct and Indirect Methods of Cardiovascular Testing

&NA; This study in ten healthy volunteers compared the influence of direct vs. indirect (i.e., invasive vs. noninvasive) methods of measurement on cardiovascular responses to noxious stimuli. Several biochemical correlates of adrenergic stimulation also were determined (i.e., urinary catechols, plasma‐free fatty acids, and cortisol). The study was designed so that the effects of “novelty” in the experiment also could be evaluated by analyzing the data for the order of testing as well as the type of testing. The data indicated a greater urinary excretion of epinephrine prior to testing on the first procedural day independent of whether the testing was done by direct or indirect techniques. There were no other differences related to the order of testing. No differences were noted in the cardiovascular responses or the biochemical measurements related to whether the testing was done by direct or indirect techniques, with the possible exception of a greater rise in free fatty acids with direct procedures which could not be explained. As in our previous studies, the degree of response of the biochemical correlates of adrenergic stimulation did not correlate with the magnitude of cardiovascular response. Thus within the limits defined by the type of volunteer subject used here, the stimulus responses were not affected by the type of methodology used. However, a novelty effect was shown in catecholamine excretion, affecting epinephrine but not norepinephrine. The lack of correlation between the degree of response of the cardiovascular system and the degree of activation of the adrenergic system as indicated biochemically, lends further support to the concept that the former is determined by the intrinsic vascular sensitivity of the patient whereas the latter indicates primarily his degree of emotional arousal.
Voltage island-driven power optimization for application specific network-on-chip design

In this paper, a voltage island aware framework is proposed for low power design of application specific NoC (LPASNoC). Through a three-phase processing including voltage island generation, VI-driven floorplanning and post-floorplan processing, the total power consumption, design cost and total wire length can be optimized. Experimental results show that compared to traditional ASNoC, the proposed method can reduce total core power by about 34.5% and chip area by about 26.8% without increasing communication power.
Unsafe abortion in Kenya

Unsafe abortion is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a procedure to terminate an unwanted pregnancy either by persons lacking the necessary skills, or, in an environment lacking the minimum medical standards, or both. It is important to note that ‘unsafe’ is not a synonym for ‘illegal or ‘clandestine’. For example, legal abortions may be unsafe because of poorly trained clinicians, inadequate facilities, or both.