Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enterococcus faecalis isolates of food origin and detection of their virulence determinant factors and genes in Osun State, Nigeria

Resistance of Enterococcus faecalis to a wide variety of antibiotics has been severally reported. Antibiotic resistance only cannot explain the virulence of E. faecalis as an emerging pathogen of public health concern, causing a variety of human infections. In the present study, incidence of putative virulence determinants among E. faecalis strains isolated from different categories of food canteens namely; primaryschool, fast-food and commoners’ canteens (bukataria) in Osun States, Nigeria was investigated. Six hundred and fifty-eight isolates were examined for the expressions of three putative virulence determinant factors; gelatinase, aggregation substance and cytolysin activator by phenotypic tests. Meanwhile, twenty selected representative strains were examined for virulence determinant genes; gelatinase (gelA), aggregation substance (asa 1), cytolysin activator (cylA), enterococcal surface protein (esp) and collagenbinding protein (ace) as well as confirmation of their identity by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Six primers were used to amplify the DNA from all the 20 selected E. faecalis strains examined. Expression of putative virulence determinant factors (gelatinase, cytolysin activator and aggregation substance) in all the isolates was low (10.18, 13.83 and 29.03%, respectively). The percentage of isolates with GelA, cylA and asa1 genes (95, 15 and 75%) was higher compared to the isolates that show phenotypic expression (40, 15 and 30%, respectively) of the virulence determinants. None of the isolates had less than two out of the five virulence determinants investigated while, the highest was four in 1 (13%) and 4 (57%) of primary school canteen and bukataria isolates respectively. Moreover, statistically there is no significant association (p < 0.05) between the virulence markers and canteen sources. It is concluded that, potentially virulent E. faecalis occurred in environment of a number of canteens in Osun State, Nigeria, which may hide phenotypic expression. Hence, there is need for constant epidemiological surveillance and strict enforcement of good hygiene practices.
Formation of body-centered-cubic tantalum via sputtering on low-κ dielectrics at low temperatures

Sputtered Ta films (60 nm) were deposited at room temperature onto selected substrates, including silicon, SiO2, porous methyl silsesquioxane (porous MSQ), parylene-N (Pa-N) caulked porous MSQ, benzocyclobutene (BCB), and SiLK layers. It was observed that the Ta structure after deposition mainly depends on the underlayer surface chemistry. β-Ta with a resistivity of ∼130–160μΩcm and an average grain size of ∼20nm was observed after sputter depositing 60-nm-thick Ta films onto the oxygen-rich materials of native oxide of Si, SiO2, and porous MSQ. α-Ta with a much lower resistivity (∼35μΩcm) and an average grain size of ∼16nm was observed after sputter deposition of Ta onto a substrate with a 4-nm-thick hydrocarbon Pa-N film on porous MSQ. α-Ta was also formed when sputter depositing on the hydrocarbon BCB and SiLK low-κ dielectrics. The lattice constants of the α-Ta films were slightly larger (3.310–3.351 A) than those of the bulk Ta (3.305 A).
SERUM LACTATE AS PROGNOSTIC MARKER IN INDIAN ELDERLY WITH SEPTICEMIA

Introduction: Serum Lactate is recognized as a potentially useful prognostic marker to risk stratify patients with severe sepsis and elevated serum lactate is found to be strongly associated with morbidity and mortality in various populations with sepsis. The aim of our study was to determine correlation between serum lactate level in Indian elderly presenting with sepsis with the stage of sepsis and ultimate outcome. Method: In a single centre prospective, observational study done in geriatric ward of tertiary care centre,200 elderly patients (age>60 yrs) with sepsis were included . The primary outcome was 14 days in hospital mortality. Risk factor variable was venous serum lactate (mg/dl) at presentation. Result: Mortality at 14 days in elderly patients with sepsis was 20%. Mean serum lactate(mg/dl) in survivor group was 30.16±19.48 while 61.52±31.52 in non survivor group (p value <0.001). The mean serum lactate level(mg/dl) in survivor and non survivors was 24.83±13.71 and 33.58±15.11 in sepsis, 50.56±22.47 and 75.22±11.41 in severe sepsis, 70.75±19.32 and 86.82±11.6 in Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome while 83.50±31.68 and 104.88±14.14 in septic shock group. Conclusion: We conclude that initial high serum lactate level was associated with increased mortality independent of etiology of sepsis, it also correlate well with severity of sepsis and serum lactate level were high in those with septic shock and diabetic group.
Closed geodesics on oval surfaces and pattern formation

on a smooth oval surface M , where ∆ represents the Laplace-Beltrami operator and W is a nonlinear term to be specified later. Equation (1) arises in many contexts, for instance in materials science, superconductivity, population dynamics and pattern formation (see for instance [13] and references therein.) Depending on the context, u might represent an order parameter, concentration of a chemical, population density, etc. and is usually assumed to be defined on a twoor three-dimensional domain Ω. Equation (1) is normally supplemented with a zero flux or homogeneous Neumann boundary condition ∂u
A reflection origin for the soft and hard X-ray excess of Ark 120

Over the last few years, several models have been proposed to interpret the widespread soft excess observed in the X-ray spectra of type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGN). In particular, reflection from the photoionized accretion disc blurred by relativistic effects has proven to be successful in reproducing both the spectral shape and the variability pattern of many sources. As a further test to this scenario, we present the analysis of a recent ~100 ks long Suzaku observation of Arakelian 120, a prototypical 'bare' Seyfert 1 galaxy in which no complex absorption system is expected to mimic a soft excess or mask the intrinsic properties of this key component. We show that a reflection model allowing for both warm/blurred and cold/distant reprocessing provides a self-consistent and convincing interpretation of the broad-band X-ray emission of Ark 120, also characterized by a structured iron feature and a high-energy hump. Although warm absorbers, winds/outflows and multiple Comptonizing regions may play significant roles in sources with more spectral complexity, this case study adds evidence to the presence of blurred disc reflection as a basic component of the X-ray spectra of type 1 AGN.
Therapeutic Effectiveness of Nutrition Therapy in Pediatric Patients with Chronic Liver Diseases Awaiting Liver Transplantation

It is important to prevent protein/calorie malnutrition in children with end stage liver diseases prior to transplantation. This study involved 34 patients between the ages of 10 and 156 months (mean value 25.69 months  32.2) (13 females and 21 males) on the liver transplant waiting list. Data collected as of three months before transplant and up to ten months after the procedure concerned gender, age, weight, height, Pediatric End Stage Liver Disease Score, baseline pathology, type of nutrition, type of transplant, immunosuppression, pulse steroid therapy, length of stay, and post transplant complications. Linear regression analysis showed that the length of hospital stay was 24.5 days more for females than for males, but also that intensive nutrition therapy shortens this stay for both female patients (P = 0.085) and younger patients (P = 0.023). The study population was divided into two groups according to the different nutritional therapies adopted. The Student’s t-test and Mann-Whitney test evidenced that the group receiving intensive nutrition therapy grew taller compared with the group following an oral diet (mean -1.37 and Prob = 0.043); that females grew taller compared to males (mean -1.65 +/- 0.56); and that there was an increase in height among the children in the group receiving intensive nutrition therapy despite the presence (-1.37 +/- 0.56) or absence (-14.8 +/- 5.44 and Prob = 0.035) of complications, and despite the administration (-1.03 +/- 0.33) or non administration (-1.48 +/- 0.55 and Prob = 0.019) of steroids. Intensive nutrition therapy enhances the velocity of growth in height and shortens the length of hospital stay, thus optimizing the final prognosis of the baseline pathology.
Using Noise Addition Method Based on Pre-mining to Protect Healthcare Privacy

With medical device cyber-physical systems being more and more widely used, a lot of healthcare data are produced, making data sharing for health research a vital requirement. But, privacy concerns must be addressed before sharing and publishing any data set. Privacy-preserving data mining (PPDM) is an important technology to protect personal privacy. This paper begins with a proposal of two new noise addition algorithms for perturbing the original healthcare data, and then applies them to a two-step perturbation model. Experiments show that the algorithms given in this paper have much higher accuracy than existing ones under the similar privacy strength.
Strategic Spatial Planning as Persuasive Storytelling: The Case of Loop City

The paper analyses how the spatial vision of the Loop City for the Øresund Region has played an important persuasive role in legitimizing and mobilizing local and national political support for a light rail project along the outer ring road in the Greater Copenhagen Area. The paper discusses the persuasive power of spatial concepts in bringing transport infrastructure projects onto the national political agenda. In conclusion, the paper calls for critical attention to the rationalities underpinning practices of persuasive storytelling in contemporary strategic spatial planning. “Imagine a light rail, running from Lundtofte in north via Kgs. Lyngby, Gladsaxe, Herlev and Glostrup to Ishøj, Brøndby and Avedøre Holme in south, thereafter over the Øresund Bridge to Malmø and up along the Swedish coast back to Helsingør and returning to Lundtofte. This sounds like a future vision and it is indeed. But if the Ring City Vision for the urban areas along Ring 3 is implemented, this can be reality in 2047, precisely 100 years after the Finger Plan for the Greater Copenhagen Area was launched. ” (Realdania, press release 10 December 2010, author’s translation)
Romans and Batavians : Regional Developments at the Imperial Frontier

The Batavians are certainly among the most well-known tribes in the Roman empire, both in antiquity and today. Their relation with the Romans has been the subject of much scholarly discussion in the past and the present, but most of this discussion was based primarily on literary data. With the exception of the work of Modderman (1949, 1951), however, no effort has been made to substanriate the archaeological data-base of the Batavian tribal area in the eastern part of the Dutch Rhine delta. Fortunately, in 1978 a detailed study of all archaeological evidence of the central part of this area could be starled. On the basis of the preliminary results of this project, it is now possible to examine some of the archaeological correlates of the acculturation processes which operated here from the Late Iron Age to the Early Middle Ages (c. 250 B.C. A.D. 750). But first it is necessary to examine some of the theoretical concepts involved. Since the 1954 SSRC Seminar, acculturation is often defined as culture change that is initiated by the conjunction of two or more autonomous cultural systems. In our case it is evident that the differences between the cultural systems involved are very large indeed (below p. 112 and Roymans this vol.). On the one hand is a system which may be described as a state, while on the other hand we are dealing with a society at a much lower level of social complexity. As a result of this, there is an enormous difference in the resources of the systems involved, which may be expressed in coercion. This is one of the reasons why it seems justified to view the situation in which the acculturation process develops as a case of colonialism. Although it is very difficult to come to grips with colonialism at a theoretical level (Horvath 1972; Bartel 1980), several aspects of the colonial situation can be identified. The presence of coercion has already been mentioned, but nearly as fundamental is the fact that there has to be a direct and important interest at stake for the colonizing party. The nature of this interest is more or less irrelevant, it may be economical, politica! , ideological, or something else. From an 'etic' point of view it may even be completely unintelligible; it just has to be considered important enough. It is easy to see why this should be so, for colonizing has its price: it means the expenditure of energy. This becomes especially clear when we look at the relation between colonialism and imperialism. Imperialism also implies coercion, but it is a form of domination which consumes much smaller amounts of energy. It does not involve moving significant numbers of people, but it is primarily based on the transfer of information. The distinction between 'power' and 'force' which was made by Luttwak (1976, 195-200) will serve to clear this point. In his analysis, force is essentially a physical phenomenon which is consumed in application and wanes over distance: ". military force is indeed governed by constraints on accumulation, use, transmission, and dispersion akin to the physi-
Biology of shallow marine ichnology: a modern perspective

This study considers the construction and functionality of biogenic structures made by marine, vermiform nemerteans, polychaetes and hemichordates; marine crustaceans; motile bivalves; motile echinoderms; and sponges and sea anemones. We report on a range of modern biogenic struc- tures similar to several known ichnogenera. Vermiform animals dominantly occupy vertical burrows that range from simple through helical shafts to Y- and U-shapes. Horizontal traces made by worms range in form, but are dominated by branching and variably sinuous to meandering burrows. Crustaceans primarily excavate open burrow systems that possess a range of architectures that are similar to either Thalassinoides or Psilonichnus. Smaller crustaceans, such as amphipods, mix the sediment. Bivalve traces vary in form, but generally preserve evidence of vertically oriented filter or interface-deposit feed- ing from a stationary location, rapid vertical escape, or horizontal grazing. Echinoderms dominantly pre- serve body impressions and motility traces, such as Asteriacites. An important class of biogenic structure, Scolicia and Bichordites, are made by urchins. Finally, sea anemones can generate large, penetrative, conical biogenic structures. Large, open horizontal networks serve as domiciles and deposit-feeding structures for crustaceans, but with worms similar burrow types are used more for passive carnivory and establishing an interface-feeding network. We report that the trace fossil Gyrolithes potentially represents mechanical ramps for shrimp, but is used as a sediment holdfast when made by worms. Finally, Y-shaped burrows are used for filter feeding in shrimp, and interface-deposit feeding in worms. These examples emphasize that inferences of behavior in the rock record are interpretive.
Reply to the comment on "Topological phase in two flavor neutrino oscillations"

In a recent paper, we showed that there is a neat geometric interpretation of two flavor neutrino oscillation formulae, and that the geometric phase involved in the physics of oscillations is restricted to be topological as long as CP is conserved. This paper has been criticised by Bhandari. In the present note, we show that the criticisms are not valid and only reflect his failure to understand some crucial points.
Impact of HIV/AIDS on human and financial capital of farm households in Benin

The pandemic of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) affects the most active population ‐ the young ‐ and weakens the agriculture sector which remains the main economic hub in Benin. However, few studies focused on the impact of this pandemic on agriculture and on farm households’ livelihoods in the country. In order to fill such a gap, this study was initiated to assess the impact of HIV/AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) on farm household’s assets in Benin. The study area covers Klouekanme, Toviklin and Lalo, three municipalities in Southern Benin. Three categories of farm households were identified according to the status of HIV infection: non-affected households (no member with HIV/AIDS or any other chronic illness), affected households with sick member(s) under Cotrimozazole treatment and affected households with sick member(s) under antiretroviral treatment (ARV-households). A total of 120 households were sampled equitably in the 3 categories. The results showed that HIV/AIDS induced significant decrease of the size of all affected households. The pandemic affected significantly the availability of household labour in both CTM and ARV-households. More women as head in CTM-households were observed mainly in the household structure. In both CTM and ARV households, the income was significantly lower than in non-affected households. Despite their limited income, affected households must deal with important health care costs due to the successive episodes of the illness. In conclusion, HIV/AIDS has a huge impact on farm household financial and human capital.
Functional properties of tarhana enriched with whey concentrate

Whey concentrate is often sold as a nutritional supplement and include proteins, minerals, vitamins and other components (low levels of fat and low levels of lactose). Whey concentrates is well known for their high nutritional value and versatile functional properties in food products. The aim of this study was to enrich tarhana by using whey concentrate (WC) instead of yoghurt. Foaming capacity and foam stability, water and oil absorption capacity, emulsifying activity as a functional properties, colour properties and sweetness, body-texture, colour-appearance, mouthfeel, acerbity, homogeneity, consistency and overall acceptability as a sensorial characteristics of tarhana samples were determined. The highest foaming capacity values were obtained with 50% WC substitution, but 50% WC addition gave the lowest foam stability values. Oil absorption capacity and emulsifying activity values of tarhana samples were decreased by increasing WC levels . Tarhana samples containing WC were lighter according to colour values than the control tarhana samples made with yoghurt. Tarhana soup prepared with 12.5% WC addition was similar to the control in homogeneity and overall acceptability.
Ultrabroadband 2 D electronic spectroscopy as a tool for direct visualization of pathways of energy flow

Two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES) has emerged as an incisive tool for mapping out energy relaxation pathways in complex molecular systems by determining correlation maps between the excitation and emission frequencies. Its enhanced spectral as well as temporal resolution offer new insights into coupling and energy transfer between closely-spaced energy states, which are often hidden in a one-dimensional transient spectrum. However, a major drawback of the current 2DES technique is that the spectral window of detection is directly limited to the laser bandwidth used, which leads to an incomplete visualization of the full energy landscape of the system. As a solution to this limitation, we present an ultrabroadband 2DES apparatus utilizing a 8-fs, 185-nm bandwidth supercontinuum that covers the entire visible region. We demonstrate the utility of our setup by measuring the 2D spectra of laser dyes absorbing at different regions of the laser spectrum, and the major light-harvesting complex of spinach.
Effects of age at first access to range area on pecking behaviour and plumage quality of free-range layer chickens

Abstract. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of age on pecking behaviour and plumage quality of free-range laying hens during first access to range. Six hundred 16-week-old layer pullets obtained from a commercial company were housed in a experimental free-range house. The experimental house consisted of a slat-and-litter floor with range area and was divided into three similar pens. The pullets were randomly assigned to a control and two experimental groups according to age at first access to range area. The birds were allowed into the range area for the first time at 18, 20 and 22 weeks of age in the groups of treatment I, treatment II and control, respectively. Pecking behaviour and plumage quality of the birds were measured for 8-week intervals from 24 to 48 weeks of age. Total feather damage significantly increased with age in all groups (P
A fully implicit model of the three-dimensional thermohaline ocean circulation: 685

In this paper, a fully implicit numerical model of the three-dimensional thermohaline ocean circulation is presented. With this numerical model it is possible to follow branches of steady states in parameter space and monitor their linear stability. Also, transient flows can be computed allowing much larger time steps than those possible with explicit schemes. By using recently developed solvers for linear systems of equations and for generalized eigenvalue problems, results for reasonable spatial resolution can be obtained. Bifurcation diagrams and transient flows are computed for typical flows in a single hemispheric basin situation, with focus on (i) the performance of the methodology and (ii) the new type of information which can be obtained on these flows.
A Refinement of the Hofer–Zehnder Theorem on the Existence of Closed Characteristics Near a Hypersurface

The Hofer–Zehnder theorem states that almost every hypersurface in a thickening of a hypersurface S in a symplectic manifold (M, ω) carries a closed characteristic, provided that S bounds a compact submanifold and (M, ω) has finite capacity. It is shown that it is enough to assume that the thickening of S has finite capacity. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification 70H12 (primary), 34C25 (secondary).
Aalborg Universitet Morning blood pressure surge and target organ damage in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients a cross sectional study

Background: Type 2 diabetic patients display significantly higher incidence of cardiovascular (CV) events including stroke compared to non-diabetics. Morning blood pressure surge (MBPS) and blunted systolic night-day (SND) ratio have been associated with CV events in hypertensive patients. No studies have evaluated MBPS in newly diagnosed diabetic patients or studied the association with vascular target organ damage at this early time point of the diabetes disease. Methods: Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was performed in 100 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and 100 age and sex matched controls. MBPS and SND-ratio were calculated. Markers of early vascular target organ damage included pulse wave velocity (PWV), white matter lesions (WML) on brain MRI, and urine albumin/creatinine ratio (UAE). Results: No significant differences in MBPS were found between diabetic patients and controls. Neither MBPS or SND-ratio were associated with PWV, UAE or WML in the diabetic group independently of age, gender and 24-h systolic blood pressure. 40.2 % of diabetic patients and 25.8 % of controls were classified as non-dippers (p = 0.03). Conclusion: MBPS and SND-ratio are not associated with subclinical markers of vascular target organ damage in our study sample of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients.