Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Executive function and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Ugandan children with perinatal HIV exposure

Background. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is among the most commonly diagnosed mental disorders in childhood and is associated with substantial deficits in executive functioning and lost academic and occupational attainment. This study evaluates symptoms of ADHD and their association with neurocognitive deficits in a cohort of rural Ugandan children who were born to HIV-infected mothers. Methods. We assessed ADHD symptoms and executive function (including memory and attention) in a non-clinical sample of children born to HIV-infected mothers in rural eastern Uganda. Analyses included assessments of the psychometric properties, factor structure, and convergent and discriminant validity of the ADHD measure (ADHD-Rating Scale-IV); and executive function deficits in children meeting symptom criteria for ADHD. Results. 232 children [54% female; mean age 7.8 years (s.d. 2.0)] were assessed for ADHD and executive function deficits. The ADHD measure showed good internal consistency (α = 0.85.) Confirmatory factor analysis showed an acceptable fit for the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) two-factor model. Subjects meeting DSM-5 symptom criteria for ADHD had worse parent-rated executive function on six out of seven subscales. Conclusions. Our results demonstrate structural validity of the ADHD measure with this population, strong associations between ADHD symptom severity and poorer executive function, and higher levels of executive function problems in perinatally HIV-exposed Ugandan children with ADHD. These findings suggest that ADHD may be an important neurocognitive disorder associated with executive function problems among children in sub-Saharan African settings where perinatal HIV exposure is common.
Host-Seeking Behavior and Dispersal of Triatoma infestans, a Vector of Chagas Disease, under Semi-field Conditions

Chagas disease affects millions of people in Latin America. The control of this vector-borne disease focuses on halting transmission by reducing or eliminating insect vector populations. Most transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, involves insects living within or very close to households and feeding mostly on domestic animals. As animal hosts can be intermittently present it is important to understand how host availability can modify transmission risk to humans and to characterize the host-seeking dispersal of triatomine vectors on a very fine scale. We used a semi-field system with motion-detection cameras to characterize the dispersal of Triatoma infestans, and compare the behavior of vector populations in the constant presence of hosts (guinea pigs), and after the removal of the hosts. The emigration rate – net insect population decline in original refuge – following host removal was on average 19.7% of insects per 10 days compared to 10.2% in constant host populations (p = 0.029). However, dispersal of T. infestans occurred in both directions, towards and away from the initial location of the hosts. The majority of insects that moved towards the original location of guinea pigs remained there for 4 weeks. Oviposition and mortality were observed and analyzed in the context of insect dispersal, but only mortality was higher in the group where animal hosts were removed (p-value <0.01). We discuss different survival strategies associated with the observed behavior and its implications for vector control. Removing domestic animals in infested areas increases vector dispersal from the first day of host removal. The implications of these patterns of vector dispersal in a field setting are not yet known but could result in movement towards human rooms.
catena-Poly[{μ-η5:η5-1-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl-κN]cyclopentadienyl}-lithium(I)-(μ-1,1,3,3-tetra-tert-butyltriphosphane-κ3 P 2:P 1,P 3)lithium(I)]

The title compound, [Li2(C9H14N)(C16H36P3)]n, is a by-product of the reaction of [Cp(C5H4CH2CH2NMe2)ZrCl2]n with tBu2P–P(SiMe3)Li in toluene. It is a coordination polymer composed of infinite chains running along [010]. One Li(I) atom is chelated by the cyclopentadienyl ring and and the N atom of the scorpionate ligand and a P atom, whereas the other Li(I) atom is coordinated by the backside of the cyclopentadienyl ring and two P atoms. Both Li(I) atoms adopt a distorted trigonal coordination. The structure was determined from a twinned crystal, but only the data from the main twin component was used. The fraction of components in the crystal was 0.555:0.445 and the twin matrix corresponds to twofold rotation about the c axis (00/00/001).
Treatment outcomes of patients with multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis according to drug susceptibility testing to first- and second-line drugs: an individual patient data meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Individualized treatment for multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis depends upon reliable and valid drug susceptibility testing (DST) for pyrazinamide, ethambutol, and second-line tuberculosis drugs. However, the reliability of these tests is uncertain, due to unresolved methodological issues. We estimated the association of DST results for pyrazinamide, ethambutol, and second-line drugs with treatment outcomes in patients with MDR tuberculosis and XDR tuberculosis. METHODS We conducted an analysis of individual patient data assembled from 31 previously published cohort studies of patients with MDR and XDR tuberculosis. We used data on patients' clinical characteristics including DST results, treatment received, outcomes, and laboratory methods in each center. RESULTS DST methods and treatment regimens used in different centers varied considerably. Among 8955 analyzed patients, in vitro susceptibility to individual drugs was consistently and significantly associated with higher odds of treatment success (compared with resistance to the drug), if that drug was used in the treatment regimen. Various adjusted and sensitivity analyses suggest that this was not explained by confounding. The adjusted odds of treatment success for ethambutol, pyrazinamide, and the group 4 drugs ranged from 1.7 to 2.3, whereas for second-line injectables and fluoroquinolones, odds ranged from 2.4 to 4.6. CONCLUSIONS DST for ethambutol, pyrazinamide, and second-line tuberculosis drugs appears to provide clinically useful information to guide selection of treatment regimens for MDR and XDR tuberculosis.
Development of a Homogeneous Model Municipal Solid Waste

A model waste mixing with kaolin, sand, and peat was developed. The physical properties of the waste were compared with the real municipal solid waste (MSW). The influence of unit weight on compression factor, shear strength, and saturated hydraulic conductivity was acquired. In addition, the homogeneous of the soil model was detected using the IWHR 450g-ton centrifuge and the newly developed centrifuge-robot.
POINTWISE C ESTIMATES AT THE BOUNDARY FOR THE MONGE-AMPÈRE EQUATION

were first obtained by Ivočkina [I] in 1980. A few years later independently Krylov [K] and Caffarelli-Nirenberg-Spruck [CNS] obtained the global C estimates in the case when ∂Ω, φ and f are sufficiently smooth and this led to the solvability of the classical Dirichlet problem for the Monge-Ampere equation. When the right-hand side f is less regular, i.e f ∈ C, the global C estimates were obtained recently by Trudinger and Wang in [TW] for φ, ∂Ω ∈ C. In this paper we discuss pointwise C estimates at boundary points under appropriate local conditions on the right-hand side and boundary data. Our main result can be viewed as a boundary Schauder estimate for the Monge-Ampere equation which extends up to the boundary the pointwise interior C estimate of Caffarelli [C2] (see also [JW]). These sharp estimates play an important role for example when dealing with fourth-order Monge-Ampère type equations arising in geometry (see [TW], [LS]) or when the right-hand side f depends also on the second derivatives. We start with the following definition (see [CC]).
Parameter Analysis of Compressive Web Members in Plane Tubular Truss with Simple Joints

Stability design for compressive web members of tubular structure could be simplified as determination of effective length of compressive web members. There were no design provisions for effective length of compressive web members in tubular truss in the current design code of steel structure (GB50017-2003). Based on previous research achievements, parameter analyses on compressive web members in tubular truss with simple joints were performed using finite element software, in which diameter ratios and wall thickness ratios of web members to chord members as well as different construction styles were considered. After analyzing 3 series, sum to 42 FEM model, the results indicates that stiffness ratio of web members to chord members has a significant effect on effective length of compressive web members, thus increasing width ratio of chord members to web members could decrease effective length of compressive web members; the effective length of compressive web member in circular tube truss is suitable to be 0.75 in-plane and out-plane, and 0.8 for the mixed truss of circular and square tube.
Advanced Bulk Defect Passivation for Silicon Solar Cells

Through an advanced hydrogenation process that involves controlling and manipulating the hydrogen charge state, substantial increases in the bulk minority carrier lifetime are observed for standard commercial grade boron-doped Czochralski grown silicon wafers from 250-500 μs to 1.3-1.4 ms and from 8 to 550 μs on p-type Czochralski wafers grown from upgraded metallurgical grade silicon. However, the passivation is reversible, whereby the passivated defects can be reactivated during subsequent processes. With appropriate processing that involves controlling the charge state of hydrogen, the passivation can be retained on finished devices yielding independently confirmed voltages on cells fabricated using standard commercial grade boron-doped Czochralski grown silicon over 680 mV. Hence, it appears that the charge state of hydrogen plays an important role in determining the reactivity of the atomic hydrogen and, therefore, ability to passivate defects.
CLC Chloride Channels and Transporters: From Genes to Protein Structure, Pathology and Physiology

ABSTRACT CLC genes are expressed in species from bacteria to human and encode Cl−-channels or Cl−/H+-exchangers. CLC proteins assemble to dimers, with each monomer containing an ion translocation pathway. Some mammalian isoforms need essential β -subunits (barttin and Ostm1). Crystal structures of bacterial CLC Cl−/H+-exchangers, combined with transport analysis of mammalian and bacterial CLCs, yielded surprising insights into their structure and function. The large cytosolic carboxy-termini of eukaryotic CLCs contain CBS domains, which may modulate transport activity. Some of these have been crystallized. Mammals express nine CLC isoforms that differ in tissue distribution and subcellular localization. Some of these are plasma membrane Cl− channels, which play important roles in transepithelial transport and in dampening muscle excitability. Other CLC proteins localize mainly to the endosomal-lysosomal system where they may facilitate luminal acidification or regulate luminal chloride concentration. All vesicular CLCs may be Cl−/H+-exchangers, as shown for the endosomal ClC-4 and -5 proteins. Human diseases and knockout mouse models have yielded important insights into their physiology and pathology. Phenotypes and diseases include myotonia, renal salt wasting, kidney stones, deafness, blindness, male infertility, leukodystrophy, osteopetrosis, lysosomal storage disease and defective endocytosis, demonstrating the broad physiological role of CLC-mediated anion transport.
An Initial Study of Anchor Selection in Patent Link Discovery

Patents are a source of technical knowledge, but often difficult to understand. Technological solutions that would help understand the knowledge expressed in patents can assist the creation of new knowledge, and inventions. This paper explores anchor text selection for linking patents to external knowledge sources such as web pages and prior patents. While link discovery has been investigated in other domains, e.g., Wikipedia and the medical domain, the application of linking patents has received little attention and it presents some unique challenges as this paper shows. The paper contributes: (1) a test collection investigating the identification of anchor text (entities) in patent link discovery, (2) a user experiment studying the selection of anchors by users, and (3) an evaluation of four popular unsupervised keyword ranking methods (TFIDF, BM25, Keyphraseness, Termex) to identify potential anchors to link.
Control and Sense of Eye Movement behind Closed Eyelids

To investigate the question of what happens with regard to position sense and control of the human eyes when the eyelids are closed, the contact-wire-free electromagnetic eye movement recording method was developed. It was shown that after the start of blinking or eyelid closure, the eyball moves up as the upper eyelids come down. Experimental data show human inability to maintain a given position of the eyes in the head under the closed eyelids. When the subject was asked to follow a simple geometrical path, a very weak metrical and topological correspondence between desired and actual paths occurred with closed eyes. It is proposed that the poor control of eye movements behind closed eyelids is due to the lack of available information about eye position in the head. The assumption was confirmed by providing artificial auditory feedback about eyeball position to the subject, which can be effectively used for gaze stabilization by the subject. It is suggested that visual information is the only useful basis for eye movement regulation under normal conditions.
Monitoring heritage buildings with wireless sensor networks: The Torre Aquila deployment

Wireless sensor networks are untethered infrastructures that are easy to deploy and have limited visual impact—a key asset in monitoring heritage buildings of artistic interest. This paper describes one such system deployed in Torre Aquila, a medieval tower in Trento (Italy). Our contributions range from the hardware to the graphical front-end. Customized hardware deals efficiently with high-volume vibration data, and specially-designed sensors acquire the building's deformation. Dedicated software services provide: i) data collection, to efficiently reconcile the diverse data rates and reliability needs of heterogeneous sensors; ii) data dissemination, to spread configuration changes and enable remote tasking; iii) time synchronization, with low memory demands. Unlike most deployments, built directly on the operating system, our entire software layer sits atop our TeenyLIME middleware. Based on 4 months of operation, we show that our system is an effective tool for assessing the tower's stability, as it delivers data reliably (with loss ratios ≪0.01%) and has an estimated lifetime beyond one year.
Chromium as an essential nutrient: a review

Chromium (Cr) has been studied since the end of the 19 th century, when carcinogenic effects of hexavalent Cr were discovered. Essentiality of trivalent Cr was demonstrated in 1959; Cr 3+ has been studied in humans and laboratory animals since the 1970s and it is only since the 1990s that Cr has been studied as an essen- tial element in livestock animals with the same intensity. Trivalent chromium is essential to normal carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolism. Chromium is biologically active as part of an oligopeptide - chromodulin - poten- tiating the effect of insulin by facilitating insulin binding to receptors at the cell surface. With chromium acting as a cofactor of insulin, Cr activity in the organism is parallel to insulin functions. Cr absorption is low, ranging between 0.4 and 2.0% for inorganic compounds while the availability of organic Cr is more than 10 times higher. Absorbed Cr circulates in blood bound to the β-globulin plasma fraction and is transported to tissues bound to transferrin. Absorbed Cr is excreted primarily in urine, by glomerular filtration; a small amount is excreted through perspiration, bile and in milk. The demand for Cr has been growing as a result of factors commonly referred to as stressors, especially during different forms of nutritional, metabolic and physical strain. This review describes Cr metabolism, the different biological functions of Cr and symptoms of Cr deficiency.
The prognostic value of KRAS mutation by cell-free DNA in cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

KRAS mutation has been found in various types of cancer. However, the prognostic value of KRAS mutation in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in cancer patients was conflicting. In the present study, a meta-analysis was conducted to clarify its prognostic significance. Literature searches of Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PubMed and Web of Science were performed to identify studies related to KRAS mutation detected by cfDNA and survival in cancer patients. Two evaluators reviewed and extracted the information independently. Review Manager 5.3 software was used to perform the statistical analysis. Thirty studies were included in the present meta-analysis. Our analysis showed that KRAS mutation in cfDNA was associated with a poorer survival in cancer patients for overall survival (OS, HR 2.02, 95% CI 1.63–2.51, P<0.01) and progression-free survival (PFS, HR 1.64, 95% CI 1.27–2.13, P<0.01). In subgroup analyses, KRAS mutation in pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and ovarian epithelial cancer had HRs of 2.81 (95% CI 1.83–4.30, P<0.01), 1.67 (95% CI 1.25–2.42, P<0.01), 1.64 (95% CI 1.13–2.39, P = 0.01) and 2.17 (95% 1.12–4.21, p = 0.02) for OS, respectively. In addition, the ethnicity didn’t influence the prognostic value of KRAS mutation in cfDNA in cancer patients (p = 0.39). Prognostic value of KRAS mutation was slightly higher in plasma than in serum (HR 2.13 vs 1.65), but no difference was observed (p = 0.37). Briefly, KRAS mutation in cfDNA was a survival prognostic biomarker in cancer patients. Its prognostic value was different in various types of cancer.
Prognostic Factors in the Survival of Patients Diagnosed with Primary Non-Metastatic Osteosarcoma with a Poor Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

INTRODUCTION: Identification of variables that determine the prognosis for osteosarcoma may enable stratification of patients into subgroups with better or worse risk of local recurrence, metastases and death due to the disease. Discovery of such prognostic factors would permit selection of a subgroup of at-risk patients, with the aim of improving the therapeutic effectiveness. OBJECTIVE: To identify prognostic factors related to local recurrence-free survival, metastasis-free survival and overall survival among patients with highly malignant primary osteosarcoma that was non-metastatic on diagnosis and had poor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. SAMPLE AND METHODS: Out of 45 patients admitted to a referral center in Brazil between 2000 and 2004, 24 were selected for this study. RESULTS: The adverse factors that influenced the risk of local recurrence and the overall survival in univariate analysis were histological subtype other than osteoblastic (p = 0.017) and tumor size greater than 15 cm (p = 0.048). In relation to metastasis-free survival, the non-osteoblastic subtype had a worse prognosis (p = 0.007). The association of histological subtype maintained its significance in multivariate analysis for all studied survival categories. CONCLUSIONS: Tumor size greater than 15 cm is an adverse factor for local recurrence-free survival and overall survival but did not influence metastasis-free survival. The osteosarcoma histological type is a significant independent predictor for local recurrence-free survival, metastasis-free survival and overall survival.
Experimental Evaluation of the Best Approach for Diesel Spray Images Segmentation

In this article, two of the most used methods for diesel spray macroscopic characterization are presented; the first one is the likelihood ratio test method (LRT) and the second one isthe Otsu’s thresholding method(OTM). Both methodsare applied to different diesel sprays visualized in a high-pressure nitrogen chamber obtaining better results with the LRT in terms of both contour determination and coherence of the results. Finally, the influence of the algorithm used for the segmentation on the macroscopic characterization measurements is observed.
Empirical Retrieval of Surface Melt Magnitude from Coupled MODIS Optical and Thermal Measurements over the Greenland Ice Sheet during the 2001 Ablation Season

Accelerated ice flow near the equilibrium line of west-central Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) has been attributed to an increase in infiltrated surface melt water as a response to climate warming. The assessment of surface melting events must be more than the detection of melt onset or extent. Retrieval of surface melt magnitude is necessary to improve understanding of ice sheet flow and surface melt coupling. In this paper, we report on a new technique to quantify the magnitude of surface melt. Cloud-free dates of June 10, July 5, 7, 9, and 11, 2001 Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) daily reflectance Band 5 (1.230-1.250μm) and surface temperature images rescaled to 1km over western Greenland were used in the retrieval algorithm. An optical-thermal feature space partitioned as a function of melt magnitude was derived using a one-dimensional thermal snowmelt model (SNTHERM89). SNTHERM89 was forced by hourly meteorological data from the Greenland Climate Network (GC-Net) at reference sites spanning dry snow, percolation, and wet snow zones in the Jakobshavn drainage basin in western GIS. Melt magnitude or effective melt (E-melt) was derived for satellite composite periods covering May, June, and July displaying low fractions (0-1%) at elevations greater than 2500m and fractions at or greater than 15% at elevations lower than 1000m assessed for only the upper 5 cm of the snow surface. Validation of E-melt involved comparison of intensity to dry and wet zones determined from QSCAT backscatter. Higher intensities (> 8%) were distributed in wet snow zones, while lower intensities were grouped in dry zones at a first order accuracy of ∼ ±2%.
Biochemical Properties of Highly Neuroinvasive Prion Strains

Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative diseases caused by the conformational conversion of the cellular prion protein, PrPC, into an aggregated, β‐sheet rich isoform, PrPSc. Prion pathogenesis can vary dramatically depending on the strain, thought to be conformational variants of PrPSc, yet the structural basis for the differences in pathogenesis in unclear. Using an array of mouseadapted prion strains, here we define the neuropathology and biochemical features of prion strains that efficiently or poorly invade the CNS from their peripheral entry site. In brain sections, we find that the highly neuroinvasive prion strains primarily form diffuse aggregates that do not bind to the amyloid binding dye, Congo red. Biochemically these aggregates are conformationally unstable in denaturing conditions. These neuroinvasive strains also efficiently generate PrPSc over short incubation periods. In contrast, the poorly neuroinvasive strains formed dense, Congo red binding aggregates that were conformationally stable. Our findings indicate that the most neuroinvasive, efficiently spreading strains are also the least conformationally stable, and support the concept that the unstable nature of the most rapidly converting prions may be a feature linked to their efficient spread into the CNS.