Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic Diversity of Human Adenovirus in Children with Acute Gastroenteritis, Albania, 2013–2015

The objectives of the present study were to assess the occurrence of human adenoviruses (HAdVs) in paediatric patients with gastroenteritis in Albania and to characterize HAdV strains. Faecal specimens from children admitted with acute gastroenteritis to the Paediatric Hospital in Tirana were screened for HAdV, using broad-range primers targeting the hexon gene, in combination with species-specific primers targeting the fiber gene. Phylogenetic analysis was then performed to assess the genetic relationships among the different sequences and between the sequences of the samples and those of the prototype strains. Adenovirus DNA was detected in 33/142 samples (23.2%); 14 belonged to species F (13 HAdV-41 and 1 HAdV-40), 13 to species C (1 HAdV-1, 8 HAdV-2, and 4 HAdV-5), 5 to species B (HAdV-3), and 1 to species A (HAdV-12). Rotavirus coinfection was present in 9/33 (27.2%) positive samples. In the remaining 24 positive samples (12 enteric—F species; 12 nonenteric—A, B, or C species), HAdVs were detected as unique viral pathogens, suggesting that HAdV may be an important cause of diarrhoea in children requiring hospitalization. This is the first study investigating the presence of human adenoviruses (species A–G) as etiologic agents of viral gastroenteritis in children in Albania.
In Vitro Effect of Dexamethasone, Pentoxifylline, and Anti-Endotoxin Monoclonal Antibody on the Release of Proinflammatory Mediators by Human Leukocytes Stimulated with Haemophilus influenzae Type B

ABSTRACT: The effects of dexamethasone, pentoxifylline, and MAb against endotoxin (HA-1A) on the release of various proinflammatory mediators, i.e. tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF), IL-1β, IL-8, and prostaglandin i, by human leukocytes during stimulation with Haemophilus influenzae type B were studied. The results show that only monocytes, and thus neither lymphocytes nor granulocytes, release these mediators in response to H. influenzae. Dexamethasone inhibited the release of all of these mediators, whereas pentoxifylline only inhibited the release of TNF. HA-1A only reduced the release of IL-8 from adherent monocytes significantly and had no significant effect on the release of TNF, IL-1β, and prostaglandin E2. In whole blood, no significant effect of HA-1A on the release of TNF, IL-1β, IL-8, and prostaglandin E2 was found. In summary, the results of this study demonstrate that dexamethasone is the most potent inhibitor of the release of proinflammatory mediators by monocytes induced by H. influenzae type B.
How is the effectiveness of immune surveillance impacted by the spatial distribution of spreading infections?

What effect does the spatial distribution of infected cells have on the efficiency of their removal by immune cells, such as cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL)? If infected cells spread in clusters, CTL may initially be slow to locate them but subsequently kill more rapidly than in diffuse infections. We address this question using stochastic, spatially explicit models of CTL interacting with different patterns of infection. Rather than the effector : target ratio, we show that the relevant quantity is the ratio of a CTL's expected time to locate its next target (search time) to the average time it spends conjugated with a target that it is killing (handling time). For inefficient (slow) CTL, when the search time is always limiting, the critical density of CTL (that required to control 50% of infections, C*) is independent of the spatial distribution and derives from simple mass-action kinetics. For more efficient CTL such that handling time becomes limiting, mass-action underestimates C*, and the more clustered an infection the greater is C*. If CTL migrate chemotactically towards targets the converse holds—C* falls, and clustered infections are controlled most efficiently. Real infections are likely to spread patchily; this combined with even weak chemotaxis means that sterilizing immunity may be achieved with substantially lower numbers of CTL than standard models predict.
Functional and Histologic Changes After Repeated Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Rat Stroke Model

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is associated with enhancement or weakening of the NMDA receptor activity and change of the cortical blood flow. Therefore, repeated tDCS of the brain with cerebrovascular injury will induce the functional and histologic changes. Sixty-one Sprague-Dawley rats with cerebrovascular injury were used. Twenty rats died during the experimental course. The 41 rats that survived were allocated to the exercise group, the anodal stimulation group, the cathodal stimulation group, or the control group according to the initial motor function. Two-week treatment schedules started from 2 days postoperatively. Garcia, modified foot fault, and rota-rod performance scores were checked at 2, 9, and 16 days postoperatively. After the experiments, rats were sacrificed for the evaluation of histologic changes (changes of the white matter axon and infarct volume). The anodal stimulation and exercise groups showed improvement of Garcia's and modified foot fault scores at 16 days postoperatively. No significant change of the infarct volume happened after exercise and tDCS. Neuronal axons at the internal capsule of infarct hemispheres showed better preserved axons in the anodal stimulation group. From these results, repeated tDCS might have a neuroprotective effect on neuronal axons in rat stroke model.
Class in Britain

George Orwell once described Britain as the most class-ridden society under the sun, and it is still widely believed that British society is obsessed with class, to a greater degree unrivalled by any other country. Yet this British sense of class is generally confused. In this study, David Cannandine sets out to banish this ignorance and shed light on the confusion by offering a sustained history of class in Britain over the last 300 years. This is not a history of class as understood in Marxist terms; as the making of classes, the clash and conflict of classes, and the birth and demise of class. In this post-communist, post-modern world of multiple identities that we inhabit today, this is no longer an appropriate or constructive way to treat of define the subject. Cannadine's concern is to explain how different generations of Briton's across the centuries from the 18th to the 20th have perceived their society, and their place within it. He suggests thta class may best be understood as a shorthand term for three different but abiding ways in which the British have visualized their social worlds and social identities: class as a seamless hierarchy of individual social relations; The book discusses how most commonly the social order has been defined by hierarchy - a great chain of being extending from the humblest of subjects to the monarch on the throne. Even today, Cannandine argues, the belief in a providentially ordered social world, where everyone knows their station, retains an importance often underestimated. British society has also been seen as divided into three, especially by those in the middle, anxious to assert their unique claims of virtue and importance against those above and beneath them. Across the last three centuries, the resonance and appeal of these three different ways of viewing British society has ebbed and flowed, and this text is an account of why this has been the case. In discussing how we see ourselves and how we see the society to which we belong, the author lays particular emphasis on the role of politicians in shaping social identities in a modern democratic world. Part of the book deals with Margaret Thatcher and the significance of her attempt to change the way we look at things, and with John Major, whose vision of a classless society still lingers on in the aftermath of Conservative defeat.
The XPD helicase: XPanDing archaeal XPD structures to get a grip on human DNA repair

Abstract Xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group D protein (XPD) is an iron-sulfur cluster containing 5′-3′ helicase and, in humans, part of the transcription factor TFIIH. TFIIH is involved in nucleotide excision repair as well as in transcription initiation. Recently, three different groups have reported the structures of archaeal XPDs. All structures revealed a four-domain organization with two RecA-like domains, an Arch domain and an iron-sulfur cluster domain. It was possible to rationalize several of the mutations in the human XPD gene that lead to one of the three severe diseases xeroderma pigmentosum, Cockayne syndrome and trichothiodystrophy. The different structures are compared and disease-related mutations are discussed.
Detection of bacterial infections using PCT and CRP in elderly emergency room patients

Older patients represent an increasing population in the emergency department as a result of the demographic shift. Bacterial infections are one of the major reasons for ED visits and the main cause of death in the elderly. Thus, it is important to identify elderly patients with bacterial infections early and initiate emergency department therapeutic bundles for a better outcome. An infection in older patients is difficult to assess in the emergency department due to atypical presenting symptoms. The recognition of the vital threat and the diagnosis of infections in elderly emergency patients is a complex task and even subtle changes in the clinical status need to be recognized. For the diagnosis of an infection in elderly emergency room patients non-specific symptoms, the pre-existing functionality, worsening of comorbidities, vital signs, acute mental status changes and laboratory values including biomarkers (C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT)) need to be taken into account. CRP and PCT interpreted in the clinical context facilitate the diagnosis of an infection. Page 1 Article downloaded from acutecaretesting.org Detection of bacterial infections using PCT and CRP in elderly emergency room patients PD Dr. med. Ingo Ahrens University Heart Centre Freiburg Department for Cardiology and Angiology I Freiburg, Germany Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Christoph Bode University Heart Centre Freiburg Department for Cardiology and Angiology I
Perceived Organizational Climate and Organizational Tenure on Organizational Citizenship Behaviour: Empirical Study among Ghanaian Banks

Research into organizational citizenship behaviour has engaged the attention of Industrial and Organizational Psychologist in recent times with a lot of focus devoted to identifying the antecedents of such behaviours. The researcher sought to determine the extent to which engagement in organizational citizenship behaviour was influenced by perceived organizational climate and organizational tenure of employees in the banking industry of Ghana. Using correlational and cross-sectional survey designs, the researcher drew 152 respondents conveniently from the banks involved in the study. Pearson Product-Moment correlation and Independent t-tests were the statistical tools used for the analysis of the 2 hypotheses. Analysis of results indicates that employee’s perception of organizational climate positively influenced OCB. There was no significant relationship between bankers’ organizational tenure and OCB in the Ghanaian context. This study provides human resource practitioners with insights into the relationship between perceived organizational climate, tenure and OCB as a desirable work attitude. The implications of the study are discussed. Keywords: Social Exchange Theory, Organizational Climate, Organizational Tenure, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, Ghana
DIAGNOSIS OF SUBCLINICAL MASTITIS IN BOVINE USING CONVENTIONAL METHODS AND ELECTRONIC DETECTOR

Sub clinical mastitis is an important disease of dairy cows and buffaloes causing huge economic losses in form of reduced milk production. In the current study, 125 animals (25 buffaloes, 30 crossbred cows, 15 Sahiwal and 55 Achai breed) apparently mastitis free, were selected for the collection of milk samples. These samples were subjected to surf test, NaOH, pH meter and Electronic detector. On the electronic detector 65.2% animals were positive for subclinical mastitis. On Surf and NaOH tests, 56.8% animals were found positive for each test. While On pH meter, 40.8% animals were positive for subclinical mastitis. In case of Sahiwal cattle, prevalence of subclinical mastitis was more in left fore quarter (P<0.05). In buffaloes, it was more prevalent in both hind quarters. In Achai and crossbred cows, no significant difference was found in quarter wise prevalence. The results of the current study indicate that electronic detector is more sensitive than surf test, NaOH and pH detector. It gives the results on spot and can also help to detect quarter wise prevalence. So the farmers can easily use this technique to screen out their dairy animals for subclinical mastitis.
Hepatitis C Virus NS5B RNA Replicase Specifically Binds Ribosomes

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) non‐structural protein 5B (NS5B) is an RNA replicase. We expressed full‐length NS5B (591 amino acid residues) in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with maltose binding protein (MBP‐NS5B). MBP‐NS5B was recovered in the soluble fraction after centrifugation at 40,000 × g and affinity‐purified with amylose resin. The purified MBP‐NS5B had a high‐level of poly (A), oligo (U)‐dependent UMP incorporation with a Km of 2 μm for UTP. Surprisingly, the enzymatically active MBP‐NS5B was sedimented by ultracentrifugation at 160,000 × g. The pellet contained 16S and 23S ribosomal RNAs, suggesting that ribosomes were associated with MBP‐NS5B. Ribosomes and MBP‐NS5B were subsequently co‐purified on amylose resin. Deletion study revealed that either the N‐terminal (amino acid residues 1 107) or the C‐terminal (amino acid residues 498–591) region of NS5B were sufficient for this association with ribosomes. We further found that NS5B also bound with human ribosomes. Our results implicate a novel mechanism of coupling between replication and translation of the viral genome in the life cycle of HCV.
Results of Pancreas-Transplant Registry

From December 1966 to March 1988, 1394 pancreas transplants were reported to the International Pancreas Transplant Registry. For the 1129 cases since 1982, the overall 1-yr graft and recipient survival rates were 46 and 82%, respectively. When analyzed according to the three most common duct-management techniques, polymer injection (n = 324), intestinal drainage (n = 282), and bladder drainage (n = 462), the 1-yr function rates were 47, 45, and 54%, respectively. The graft survival rates were also similar, whether whole (n = 492) or segmental (n = 634) grafts were transplanted (47 vs. 46% at 1 yr). Graft survival rates according to preservation times were 49, 42, and 43% at 1 yr for those stored <6h (n = 694), 6–12h (n = 237), and >12h (n = 89), respectively. Immunosuppressive regimens that included both cyclosporin and azathioprine were associated with significantly (P < .03) higher graft survival rates than those that included only one of the drugs, with 1-yr graft survival rates for technically successful grafts of 67, 54, and 39% for patients treated with azathioprine plus cyclosporin (n = 602), cyclosporin without azathioprine (n = 201), and azathioprine without cyclosoporin (n = 44). Pancreas-graft survival rates differed according to whether a kidney was or was not transplanted and according to the timing of the transplant: 53, 40, and 32%, respectively, at 1 yr for cases in which a simultaneous kidney was transplanted (n = 685), a kidney had previously been transplanted (n = 201), or a kidney had never been transplanted (n = 202). Patient survival rates in the three categories were 77, 88, and 90% at 1 yr. In recipients of a pancreas-only transplant or a pancreas after a kidney from a different donor, functional survival rates were higher for bladder-drained than for enteric-drained or duct-injected grafts, whereas for recipients of a simultaneous kidney, the pancreas-graft survival rates were similar for all duct-management techniques. In recipients of simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplants (n = 685), the 1-yr kidney-graft survival rate was 69%. Loss of kidney function with continuation of pancreas funtion is uncommon, whereas loss of the pancreas with continuation of kidney function is common. Overall, the results of pancreas transplantation continue to improve. In an analysis of all cases reported to the registry for 1986–1988 (n = 604), the 1-yr patient and graft survival rates were 86 and 56%, respectively.
System policies for gradual tuning of security and workload in wireless sensor networks

In wireless sensor networks (WSN) energy consumption is a key issue. Security of communications, with its demand of computational resources, as well as performances are other fundamental issues. Finding a trade-off between performance and energy consumption, yet providing an adequate level of security is very challenging. Traditional solutions for the aforementioned problem assume that the operative environment is well-known and static, thus limiting the flexibility of the system. In this paper, instead, we propose a self-adaptation mechanism for gradual adaption of security and system workload in WSNs. The adaptation process can be tuned by using specific policies both for controlling the running tasks and for customizing the behavior of the self-adaptation mechanism. The ultimate goal is to perform adaptations by maximizing system performances while satisfying power constraints. A case study, implemented on Sun SPOTs, is also presented to show how the self-adaptation mechanism works in a real sensor node.
A neural network model for detecting DDoS attacks using darknet traffic features

This paper presents a fast and large-scale monitoring system for detecting one of the major cyber-attacks, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS). The proposed system monitors the packet traffic on a subnet of unused IPs called darknet. Almost all darknet packets are originated from malicious activities. However, it is not obvious what traffic patterns DDoS attacks have. Therefore, we adopt a classifier and train it with traffic features of known DDoS attacks using 80/TCP and 53/UDP packets which can be labeled based on the header information and payloads. The proposed system consists of the two parts: pre-processing and classifier. In the pre-processing part, darknet packets for 30 seconds are transformed into a feature vector which consists of 17 traffic features on darknet traffic. As for the classifier part, we adopt Resource Allocating Network with Locality Sensitive Hashing (RAN-LSH) in which data to be trained are selected by using LSH and fast online learning is actualized by training only selected data. The learning of RAN-LSH is carried out not only with the training data for 80/TCP and 53/UDP packets but also with new training data labeled by a supervisor. The performance of the proposed detection system is evaluated for 9,968 training data obtained from 80/TCP and 53/UDP packets and 5,933 test data obtained from darknet packets with other protocols and source/destination ports. The results indicate that the proposed system detects backscatter packets caused by DDoS attacks accurately and adapts to new attacks quickly.
PRICKLE1 Interaction with SYNAPSIN I Reveals a Role in Autism Spectrum Disorders

The frequent comorbidity of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) with epilepsy suggests a shared underlying genetic susceptibility; several genes, when mutated, can contribute to both disorders. Recently, PRICKLE1 missense mutations were found to segregate with ASD. However, the mechanism by which mutations in this gene might contribute to ASD is unknown. To elucidate the role of PRICKLE1 in ASDs, we carried out studies in Prickle1+/− mice and Drosophila, yeast, and neuronal cell lines. We show that mice with Prickle1 mutations exhibit ASD-like behaviors. To find proteins that interact with PRICKLE1 in the central nervous system, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screen with a human brain cDNA library and isolated a peptide with homology to SYNAPSIN I (SYN1), a protein involved in synaptogenesis, synaptic vesicle formation, and regulation of neurotransmitter release. Endogenous Prickle1 and Syn1 co-localize in neurons and physically interact via the SYN1 region mutated in ASD and epilepsy. Finally, a mutation in PRICKLE1 disrupts its ability to increase the size of dense-core vesicles in PC12 cells. Taken together, these findings suggest PRICKLE1 mutations contribute to ASD by disrupting the interaction with SYN1 and regulation of synaptic vesicles.
Use of Micro-Modulation Features in Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition Tasks

Most of the state-of-the-art ASR systems take as input a single type of acoustic features, dominated by the traditional feature schemes, i.e., MFCCs or PLPs. However, these features cannot model rapid, intra-frame phenomena present in the actual speech signals. On the other hand, micro-modulation components, inspired by the AM-FM speech model, can capture these important characteristics of spoken speech, resulting in significant performance improvements, as previously shown in small-vocabulary ASR tasks. Yet, they have limited use in large vocabulary ASR applications, where feature post-processing schemes are usually employed. To enable the successful application of these frequency measures in real-life tasks, we investigate their combination with the traditional Cepstral features when employing linear, e.g., HDA, and nonlinear, i.e., bottleneck neural net (BN), feature transforms. This feature combination is investigated in the context of the hybrid DNN-HMM framework, as well. The experimental results reveal that the integration of micro-modulation and Cepstral features, using neural nets, can greatly improve the ASR performance with respect to using the Cepstral features alone. We apply this novel feature extraction approach on different tasks, i.e., a clean speech task (DARPA-WSJ), the Aurora-4 task and a real-life, open-vocabulary, mobile search task, the Speak4it, always reporting improved performance, while the obtained relative word error reduction ranges between 7%-21% depending on the task, e.g., a relative WER improvement of 18% for the Speak4it task, and similar improvements, up to 21%, for the WSJ task are reported.
Lysis of erythrocytes by a hemolysin produced by a group B Streptococcus sp

An improved procedure for the isolation and purification of the hemolysin produced by a group B streptococcus was developed, and the inactivation of partially purified hemolysin by several enzymes was studied. Hemolysin obtained in buffer containing starch and Tween 80 was inactivated by subtilisin and alpha-amylase, suggesting that the hemolysin may consist of a protein hemolytic moiety complexed to starch which acts as a carrier or stabilizer. Properties of the hemolytic reaction were studied by using sheep erythrocytes as target cells. Experiments to examine the kinetics of hemolysis at different hemolysin concentrations resulted in a family of sigmoidal curves characterized by a short prelytic lag phase followed by a period of rapid release of hemoglobin. The binding of the group B hemolysin at 37 degrees C was rapid; within 3 min, most of the cells had bound sufficient hemolysin to produce lysis. In contrast, the hemolysin did not bind to erythrocytes at 0 degrees C. The length of the prelytic lag period and the rate of hemolysis were also temperature dependent. A decrease in total hemolysis was observed when the target cell/hemolysin ratio was increased, suggesting that a multihit response is required for lysis. Intracellular 86Rb and hemoglobin were released at the same rate from hemolysin-treated cells, indicating that a colloid-osmotic process is not involved in the lytic mechanism.