Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Triclosan Promotes Staphylococcus aureus Nasal Colonization

ABSTRACT The biocide triclosan is used in many personal care products, including toothpastes, soaps, clothing, and medical equipment. Consequently, it is present as a contaminant in the environment and has been detected in some human fluids, including serum, urine, and milk. Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen that colonizes the noses and throats of approximately 30% of the population. Colonization with S. aureus is known to be a risk factor for several types of infection. Here we demonstrate that triclosan is commonly found in the nasal secretions of healthy adults and the presence of triclosan trends positively with nasal colonization by S. aureus. We demonstrate that triclosan can promote the binding of S. aureus to host proteins such as collagen, fibronectin, and keratin, as well as inanimate surfaces such as plastic and glass. Lastly, triclosan-exposed rats are more susceptible to nasal colonization with S. aureus. These data reveal a novel factor that influences the ability of S. aureus to bind surfaces and alters S. aureus nasal colonization. IMPORTANCE Triclosan has been used as a biocide for over 40 years, but the broader effects that it has on the human microbiome have not been investigated. We demonstrate that triclosan is present in nasal secretions of a large portion of a test population and its presence correlates with Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization. Triclosan also promotes the binding of S. aureus to human proteins and increases the susceptibility of rats to nasal colonization by S. aureus. These findings are significant because S. aureus colonization is a known risk factor for the development of several types of infections. Our data demonstrate the unintended consequences of unregulated triclosan use and contribute to the growing body of research demonstrating inadvertent effects of triclosan on the environment and human health. Triclosan has been used as a biocide for over 40 years, but the broader effects that it has on the human microbiome have not been investigated. We demonstrate that triclosan is present in nasal secretions of a large portion of a test population and its presence correlates with Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization. Triclosan also promotes the binding of S. aureus to human proteins and increases the susceptibility of rats to nasal colonization by S. aureus. These findings are significant because S. aureus colonization is a known risk factor for the development of several types of infections. Our data demonstrate the unintended consequences of unregulated triclosan use and contribute to the growing body of research demonstrating inadvertent effects of triclosan on the environment and human health.
Stability of generalized Jackson networks with permanent customers

Jackson queueing networks are typically open or closed: Either all customers join the network and eventually leave it, or no customers ever enter or exit. Here we focus on mixed Jackson networks, with both types of customers, general arrival streams and general service time distributions. We examine the stability of the model in terms of the positive Harris recurrence or transience of a Markov process which describes the state of the system. We show that this stability study reduces to that of an associated macroscopic deterministic model called the fluid model, obtained by an appropriate time-space scaling. This fluid model is shown to coincide with that associated with the equivalent open network, obtained by removing the closed component. As a result, the stability condition for the mixed Jackson network is the same as that for the equivalent open Jackson network.
Management of lower ureteric stones: a prospective study

Objective To discuss the current concepts in lower ureteric stone management. Material and methods Between October 2008 and November 2010, 190 patients of both sexes and of different age groups with lower ureteric stones, underwent in situ extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) (48 cases), ureterorenoscopy (URS) (120 cases) and open stone surgery (OSS) (22 cases). The patients’ clinical and radiological findings, as well as stone characteristics, were reviewed and correlated with the stone–free status. Results In the ESWL group, the operative time was 43.13 +22.5 min; the average number of sessions/patients was 1.5 sessions; the average number of SW/patients was 4500 SW/patients; the average energy was 16.5 kV; the average stone burden was 7.8/mm; the overall stone–free rate was 75% (36/48); and the average radiation exposure time was 3.5 min. In the URS group, the operative time was 49.21 +16.09 min; the average stone burden was 10.81mm; the overall stone–free rate was 97.5% (117/120); the average hospital stay was 3.99 days; and the average radiation exposure time was 0.75 min. In the OSS group, the operative time was 112.38 +37.1 min; the overall stone–free rate was 100% (22/22); and the average hospital stay was 9.74 days. Conclusion In the management of patients with lower ureteral stones, URS, SWL and OSS were considered acceptable treatment options. This recommendation was based on the stone–free results, morbidity and retreatment rates for each therapy.
Aversive Reinforcement Improves Visual Discrimination Learning in Free-Flying Honeybees

Background Learning and perception of visual stimuli by free-flying honeybees has been shown to vary dramatically depending on the way insects are trained. Fine color discrimination is achieved when both a target and a distractor are present during training (differential conditioning), whilst if the same target is learnt in isolation (absolute conditioning), discrimination is coarse and limited to perceptually dissimilar alternatives. Another way to potentially enhance discrimination is to increase the penalty associated with the distractor. Here we studied whether coupling the distractor with a highly concentrated quinine solution improves color discrimination of both similar and dissimilar colors by free-flying honeybees. As we assumed that quinine acts as an aversive stimulus, we analyzed whether aversion, if any, is based on an aversive sensory input at the gustatory level or on a post-ingestional malaise following quinine feeding. Methodology/Principal Findings We show that the presence of a highly concentrated quinine solution (60 mM) acts as an aversive reinforcer promoting rejection of the target associated with it, and improving discrimination of perceptually similar stimuli but not of dissimilar stimuli. Free-flying bees did not use remote cues to detect the presence of quinine solution; the aversive effect exerted by this substance was mediated via a gustatory input, i.e. via a distasteful sensory experience, rather than via a post-ingestional malaise. Conclusion The present study supports the hypothesis that aversion conditioning is important for understanding how and what animals perceive and learn. By using this form of conditioning coupled with appetitive conditioning in the framework of a differential conditioning procedure, it is possible to uncover discrimination capabilities that may remain otherwise unsuspected. We show, therefore, that visual discrimination is not an absolute phenomenon but can be modulated by experience.
Cutting Edge: Identification of the Targets of Clonal Deletion in an Unmanipulated Thymus1

Autoreactive thymocytes can be eliminated by clonal deletion during their development in the thymus. The precise developmental stage(s) at which clonal deletion occurs in a normal thymus has been difficult to assess, in large part because of the absence of a specific marker for TCR-mediated apoptosis. In this report, we reveal that Nur77 expression can be used as a specific marker of clonal deletion in an unmanipulated thymus and directly identify TCRintCD4+CD8+ and semimature CD4+CD8− thymocytes as the principal targets of deletion. These data indicate that clonal deletion normally occurs at a relatively late stage of development, as cells mature from CD4+CD8+ thymocytes to single-positive T cells.
A Feature at z ∼ 3.2 in the Evolution of the Lyα Forest Optical Depth

The effective optical depth in the Lyα forest region of 1061 low-resolution QSO spectra drawn from the SDSS database decreases with decreasing redshift over the range 2.5 ≤ z ≤ 4. Although the evolution is relatively smooth, τeff ∝ (1 + z)3.8±0.2, at z ∼ 3.2 the effective optical depth decreases suddenly by about 10% with respect to this smoother evolution. It climbs back to the original smooth scaling again by z ∼ 2.9. We describe two techniques, one of which is new, for quantifying this evolution that give consistent results. A variety of tests show that the feature is not likely to be a consequence of how the QSO sample was selected nor the result of flux calibration or other systematic effects. Other authors have argued that, at this same epoch, the temperature of the IGM also shows a departure from an otherwise smooth decrease with time. These features in the evolution of the temperature and the optical depth are signatures of the reionization of He II.
Incidental vocabulary acquisition from reading, reading-while-listening, and listening to stories

This study examined the rate at which English vocabulary was acquired from the 3 input modes of reading, reading-while-listening, and listening to stories. It selected 3 sets of 28 words within 4 frequency bands and administered 2 test types immediately after the reading and listening treatments, 1 week later and 3 months later. The results showed that new words could be learned incidentally in all 3 modes, but that most words were not learned. Items occurring more frequently in the text were more likely to be learned and were more resistant to decay. The data demonstrated that, on average, when subjects were tested by unprompted recall, the meaning of only 1 of the 28 items met in either of the reading modes and the meaning of none of the items met in the listening-only mode, would be retained after 3 months.
Simple Analytical Bulk Current Model for Long-Channel Double-Gate Junctionless Transistors

A bulk current model is formulated for long-channel double-gate junctionless (DGJL) transistors. Using a depletion approximation, an analytical expression is derived from the Poisson equation to find channel potential, which expresses the dependence of depletion width under an applied gate voltage. The depletion width equation is further simplified by the unique characteristic of junctionless transistors, i.e., a high channel doping concentration. From the depletion width formula, the bulk current model is constructed using Ohm's law. In addition, an analytical expression for subthreshold current is derived. The proposed model is compared with simulation data, revealing good agreement. The simplicity of the model gives a fast and easy way to understand, analyze, and design DGJL transistors comprehensively.
Early positive biomarker in relation to myocardial necrosis and impaired fatty acid metabolism in patients presenting with acute chest pain at an emergency room.

BACKGROUND Measurement of circulating biomarkers has enabled early diagnosis and risk assessment of acute coronary syndrome. This study sought diagnostic values of the first single-point data of biomarkers obtained soon after patient arrival by comparing with scintigraphically quantified myocardial injury in patients presenting with acute chest pain at an emergency room. METHODS AND RESULTS Serial blood samples were taken soon after arrival in an emergency department in 74 patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome to quantify blood levels of troponin-T (TnT), heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP), myocardial-bound creatine kinase (CK-MB), and myoglobin. Myocardial perfusion and metabolic defects were scintigraphically quantified. The first single-point data had high positive predictive values for detecting the defects (80-100%) but low negative predictive values (15-41%). CK-MB and TnT had higher specificities (73-100%) but significantly lower positive rates (22-27%) than the others (61-68%), resulting in greater sensitivities of H-FABP and myoglobin (75-80%) than those of CK-MB and TnT (29-35%). Among biomarkers, TnT peak concentrations most closely correlated with scintigraphic abnormalities. CONCLUSION H-FABP can contribute to early detection of myocardial injury and TnT is most likely to correlate with injured myocardial mass. The differential features of biomarkers are complementary in patients with acute chest pain presenting at an emergency room.
Spiral Galaxies with Wfpc2: Iii. Nuclear Cusp Slopes Received ; Accepted

In this paper, the third of a series dedicated to the investigation of the nuclear properties of spiral galaxies, we have (i) modelled the WFPC2 F606W nuclear surface brightness profiles of 41 spiral galaxies presented in Carollo et al. 1997c, 1998 with the analytical law introduced by Lauer et al. 1995, and (ii) deprojected these surface brightness profiles and their analytical fits, so as to estimate the nuclear stellar densities of bulges of spiral galaxies. We find that the nuclear stellar cusps (quantified by the average logarithmic slope of the surface brightness profiles within 0.1 ′′-0.5 ′′) are significantly different for R 1/4-law and exponential bulges. The former have nuclear properties similar to those of early-type galaxies, i.e. similar values of nuclear cusps for comparable luminosities, and increasingly steeper stellar cusps with decreasing luminosity. By contrast, exponential bulges have (underlying the light contribution from photometrically distinct, central compact sources) comparative shallower stellar cusps, and likely lower nuclear densities, than R 1/4-law bulges.
Early Detection of Tuberculosis Outbreaks among the San Francisco Homeless: Trade-Offs Between Spatial Resolution and Temporal Scale

Background San Francisco has the highest rate of tuberculosis (TB) in the U.S. with recurrent outbreaks among the homeless and marginally housed. It has been shown for syndromic data that when exact geographic coordinates of individual patients are used as the spatial base for outbreak detection, higher detection rates and accuracy are achieved compared to when data are aggregated into administrative regions such as zip codes and census tracts. We examine the effect of varying the spatial resolution in the TB data within the San Francisco homeless population on detection sensitivity, timeliness, and the amount of historical data needed to achieve better performance measures. Methods and Findings We apply a variation of space-time permutation scan statistic to the TB data in which a patient's location is either represented by its exact coordinates or by the centroid of its census tract. We show that the detection sensitivity and timeliness of the method generally improve when exact locations are used to identify real TB outbreaks. When outbreaks are simulated, while the detection timeliness is consistently improved when exact coordinates are used, the detection sensitivity varies depending on the size of the spatial scanning window and the number of tracts in which cases are simulated. Finally, we show that when exact locations are used, smaller amount of historical data is required for training the model. Conclusion Systematic characterization of the spatio-temporal distribution of TB cases can widely benefit real time surveillance and guide public health investigations of TB outbreaks as to what level of spatial resolution results in improved detection sensitivity and timeliness. Trading higher spatial resolution for better performance is ultimately a tradeoff between maintaining patient confidentiality and improving public health when sharing data. Understanding such tradeoffs is critical to managing the complex interplay between public policy and public health. This study is a step forward in this direction.
In This Issue Ne Ne Ne Ne Newsletter Wsletter Wsletter Wsletter Wsletter Canadian Advertising Research Foundation Data Integration Committee Report Data Integration Committee Report... Data Integration Committee Report

Last Fall, the Canadian Media Directors’ Council initiated discussions with media owners, advertising agencies, advertisers and research suppliers with a view to unifying the industry’s approach to the provision of product linked media data as a way of controlling the rapid expansion in data sources. The CARF Data Integration Committee was set up to look at the alternative methodologies for creating some form of unified database from a technical viewpoint, and to examine the advantages and disadvantages of each method. In particular, the Committee will try to represent the interests of those who will, eventually, have to use the database(s) concerned, whether they are media, agencies or advertisers. Within this mandate the committee defined its main objectives, in order of priority, as:
Discontinuation of the bleeding time test without detectable adverse clinical impact.

BACKGROUND The bleeding time (BT) test predicts a higher bleeding complication rate in populations at risk for inherited or acquired platelet dysfunction, but it is of limited assistance in evaluating individual patients. There are no reports of clinical outcomes after discontinuation of the BT test. METHODS Interviews with a subset of the physicians who had ordered the BT test before discontinuation of the test were conducted. The total number of platelet-aggregation tests, the mean number of monthly, unmodified platelet units transfused, the incidence of kidney biopsy complications, and the number of doses of 1-deamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP) administered 5 months before and after discontinuation of the BT test were compared. We recorded the rates of bleeding complications in the Major Surgery Risk Pool during the 12 months before and the 5 months after the discontinuation of the BT test. RESULTS Clinicians reported they did not significantly change their preprocedural work-ups, postpone an invasive procedure, experience an increase in bleeding complications, or increase their use of blood products after discontinuation of the BT test. Platelet-aggregation tests (n = 9, before and after), platelet transfusions (P = 0.958), and DDAVP administration (before = 24; after = 10) did not increase after discontinuation of the BT test. The rate of postprocedural bleeding complications did not increase significantly in either Major Surgery Risk Pool cases (<3final sigma deviation from the mean rate) or in patients undergoing renal biopsies (P = 0.225 for decrease in hematocrit; P = 1.000 for the percentage of patients transfused) after discontinuation of the BT test. CONCLUSIONS Our study failed to identify a clinically significant, negative impact of discontinuing the BT test.
Inheritance of craniofacial features in Colombian families with class III malocclusion

Introduction The inheritance of class III malocclusion has been well documented, but the inheritance of craniofacial structures in Colombian families with this malocclusion has been not yet reported. Patients and methods The study sample of 25 families comprised 186 untreated orthodontic individuals from 8 to 60 years old. Pedigrees were drawn using Cyrillic software. Complete family histories for each proband were ascertained and the affection status of relatives was confirmed by lateral cephalograms and facial and dental photographs. Analysis of variance and odds ratio test for each parameter was performed to estimate inheritance from parents to offspring and to determine similar phenotypic features in relatives. Results The analysis of the pedigrees suggests autosomal dominant inheritance. The craniofacial characteristics that showed more resemblance between parents and offspring were middle facial height, shorter anterior cranial base and mandibular prognathism. In contrast the protrusion of upper lip and maxillary retrusion were the phenotypic features that contributed to class III in the majority of families. Conclusion Knowledge of the inheritance of craniofacial phenotypes in class III malocclusion will enable the design of new therapies to treat this malocclusion.
Graphene Barristor, a Triode Device with a Gate-Controlled Schottky Barrier

Updating the Triode with Graphene In early electronics, the triode—a vacuum device that combined a diode and an electrical grid—was used to control and amplify signals, but was replaced in most applications by solid-state silicon electronics. One characteristic of silicon-metal interfaces is that the Schottky barrier created—which acts as a diode—does not change with the work function of the metal—the Fermi level is pinned by the presence of surface states. Yang et al. (p. 1140, published online 17 May) now show that for a graphene-silicon interface, Fermi-level pinning can be overcome and a triode-type device with a variable barrier, a “barristor,” can be made and used to create devices such as inverters. The absence of defects and surface oxides at a graphene/silicon interface enables voltage control of graphene devices. Despite several years of research into graphene electronics, sufficient on/off current ratio Ion/Ioff in graphene transistors with conventional device structures has been impossible to obtain. We report on a three-terminal active device, a graphene variable-barrier “barristor” (GB), in which the key is an atomically sharp interface between graphene and hydrogenated silicon. Large modulation on the device current (on/off ratio of 105) is achieved by adjusting the gate voltage to control the graphene-silicon Schottky barrier. The absence of Fermi-level pinning at the interface allows the barrier’s height to be tuned to 0.2 electron volt by adjusting graphene’s work function, which results in large shifts of diode threshold voltages. Fabricating GBs on respective 150-mm wafers and combining complementary p- and n-type GBs, we demonstrate inverter and half-adder logic circuits.