Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Involvement of oxygen-sensitive pyruvate formate-lyase in mixed-acid fermentation by Streptococcus mutans under strictly anaerobic conditions

Streptococcus mutans JC2 produced formate, acetate, ethanol, and lactate when suspensions were incubated with an excess of galactose or mannitol under strictly anaerobic conditions. The galactose- or mannitol-grown cell suspensions produced more formate, acetate, and ethanol than the glucose-grown cells even when incubated with glucose. The levels of lactate dehydrogenase and fructose 1,6-bisphosphate were not significantly different in these cells, but the level of pyruvate formate-lyase was higher in the galactose- or mannitol-grown cells, and that of triose phosphate was lower in the galactose-grown cells. This suggests that the regulation of pyruvate formate-lyase may play a major role in the change of the fermentation patterns. The cells of S. mutans grown on glucose produced a significant amount of volatile products even in the presence of excess glucose under strictly anaerobic conditions. However, when the anaerobically grown cells were exposed to air, only lactate was produced from glucose. When cells were anaerobically grown on mannitol and then exposed to air for 2 min, only trace amounts of fermentation products were formed from mannitol under anaerobic conditions. It was found that the pyruvate formate-lyase in the cells was inactivated by exposure of the cells to air.
Consultations for women's health problems: factors influencing women's choice of sex of general practitioner.

AIM This study set out to examine the degree to which women choose to visit a woman doctor for women's health problems and the determinants of this choice. The differences between women and men doctors with regard to treating women's health problems were also studied. METHOD Data from the Dutch national survey of general practice were used. All group practices with both women and men general practitioners were selected. Analyses were restricted to consultations among women aged 15-65 years about menstruation, the menopause, vaginal discharge, breast examination and cervical smear tests. RESULts. Given the size of their female practice population, women doctors saw considerably more women with women's health problems than did their male colleagues. Women were more likely to consult a woman general practitioner if she was more available (that is, working longer hours), and younger women were more likely than older women to choose women general practitioners. Sex differences in the treatment of women's health problems were small and mainly related to the verbal part of the consultation: counselling and providing information. The doctors' availability and their certainty about the working diagnosis explained differences in the verbal aspects of consultations. Women general practitioners had longer consultations than their male colleagues mainly because more health problems were presented per consultation. CONCLUSION In order to increase the possibility of patients choosing women general practitioners, policy should be directed towards the education of more women general practitioners and women general practitioners should be encouraged to work more days a week.
Intermittent hypoxia in eggs of Ambystoma maculatum: embryonic development and egg capsule conductance

SUMMARY The spotted salamander Ambystoma maculatum breeds in shallow freshwater pools and imbeds its eggs within a common outer jelly matrix that can limit oxygen availability. The eggs are impregnated with the unicellular alga Oophilia amblystomatis, which produces oxygen during the day but consumes oxygen at night. This daily cycle of algal oxygen production drives a diurnal fluctuation of oxygen partial pressure (PO2) within the eggs, the magnitude of which depends on the distance of an egg from the exterior of the jelly matrix and on the ambient PO2 of the pond. We subjected A. maculatum eggs to fluctuating oxygen levels with a variable minimum PO2 and an invariable maximum, to simulate natural conditions, and measured differences in developmental rate, day and stage at hatching, and egg capsule conductance (GO2). Lower minimum PO2 slowed development and resulted in delayed, yet developmentally premature hatching. GO2 increased in all treatments throughout development, but PO2 had no detectable effect on the increase. Intermittent hypoxia caused comparable but less pronounced developmental delays than chronic hypoxia and failed to elicit the measurable change in GO2 seen in ambystomatid salamander eggs exposed to chronic hypoxia.
A spectral method for halo particle definition in intense mismatched beams

An advanced spectral analysis of a mismatched charged particle beam propagating through a periodic focusing transport lattice is utilized in particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. It is found that the betatron frequency distribution function of a mismatched space-charge-dominated beam has a bump-on-tail structure attributed to the beam halo particles. Based on this observation, a new spectral method for halo particle definition is proposed that provides the opportunity to carry out a quantitative analysis of halo particle production by a beam mismatch. In addition, it is shown that the spectral analysis of the mismatch relaxation process provides important insights into the emittance growth attributed to the halo formation and the core relaxation processes. Finally, the spectral method is applied to the problem of space-charge transport limits.
A 3.7 kW on-board charger based on modular circuit design

In this paper a 3.7 kW On-board charger (OBC) for electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles is proposed. With regard to standardization, cost reduction and to increase the volume of produced devices, the OBC is derived from a fully modular circuit and control structure. The two-stage circuit arrangement consists of an isolated full bridge ZVS resonant converter and an interleaved boost converter for power factor correction (PFC). The proposed charger has a volume of less than 4 liters and a weight of 3 kg. The experimental result indicates an efficiency of more than 95 percent over the full battery voltage range at an input voltage of 230 Vac. The output voltage for full load and best efficiency varies from 315-395 V.
Inhibition of Epidural Scar Formation After Lumbar Laminectomy in the Rat

Study Design An animal model of laminectomy in rats was used to study scar tissue formation around the spinal cord. Dexamethasone, in controlled-release form, was tested in this system for its ability to decrease fibrous tissue formation. Objectives The results were evaluated to determine whether dexamethasone in a biodegradable controlledrelease vehicle could be used to limit scar tissue formation around the spinal cord after laminectomy Summary of Background Data Steroids can delay the formation of scar tissue. Continued treatment with dexamethasone results in various unacceptable side effects. Use of biodegradable controlled-release vehicles to deliver drugs may allow for prolonged low-dose treatment, concentrated at the surgical site, thereby avoiding side effects. Methods Forty-four Sprague Dawley rats underwent laminectomies and were treated with dexamethasone in one of two controlled-release vehicles or with vehicle alone. After 4 weeks, the rats were killed and histologic sections prepared from the spines were examined and graded by a pathologist. In addition, the dexamethasone preparations were introduced into Hunt-Schilling wound chambers, which were implanted in rats. Four weeks after implantation, the wound chambers were removed and the tissue inside was assayed for DNA and protein content. Results Dexamethasone acetate (Decadron, MSD, West Point, PA) significantly reduced the density of the scar tissue undermining the laminas. Steroids embedded in polymer did not change the scar formation in the back, but did decrease protein and DNA values in wound chamber tissues. Conclusions Long-term release of small amounts of steroid from the polymer poly-carboxy-phenoxypropane does not appear to reduce scar at laminectomy sites but does decrease the protein:DNA ratio in wound chambers. In contrast, Decadron does not significantly alter the biochemistry of wound chamber tissue but does reduce scar in the back.
An evaluation of self-administration of auditory cueing to improve gait in people with Parkinson’s disease

Objective: To evaluate a self-administration of auditory cueing on gait difficulties in people with Parkinson’s disease over a one-week period. Design: Single group pre and post test. Setting: Research lab, community. Participants: Twenty-one individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Interventions: Self-application of an auditory pacer set at a rate 25% faster than preferred cadence. Main outcome measures: Self-selected gait speed, cadence, stride length, and double support time with and without the pacer at the initial visit and after one week of pacer use. Results: During the initial visit, the auditory pacer improved gait speed (79.57 (18.13) cm/s vs. 94.02 (22.61) cm/s, P<0.0005), cadence (102.88 (11.34) step/min vs. 109.22 (10.23) steps/min, P=0.036) and stride length (94.33 (21.31) cm vs. 103.5 (22.65) cm, P =0.012). After one week, preferred gait speed was faster than the initial preferred speed (79.57 (18.13) vs. 95.20 (22.23) cm/s, P<0.0005). Stride length was significantly increased (94.33 (21.31) vs. 107.67 (20.01) cm, P =0.001). Double support time was decreased from 21.73 (5.23) to 18.94 (3.59)% gait cycle, P =0.016. Conclusion: Gait performance in people with Parkinson’s disease improved significantly after walking with the auditory pacer for one week.
From which level of competition in clubs are adolescents at greater risk of injury compared with outside-of-clubs athletes? A school-based study

ABSTRACT Objectives: Sport practice is a key factor in a person’s physical and mental health but, for adolescent athletes, some injuries lead to health problems in the long term. The literature provides multiple factors for understanding injury but does not give information about injury risk related to each level of play in a large sample of multisport athletes. This study investigates this relationship in 14- to 19-year-old adolescents. Methods: The survey on adolescents and health was conducted in classrooms of France, from February to March 2015. Only sports players were included in the analyses (n = 986). The levels of play were divided into five categories: outside of a club/no competition, club player/no competition, club player/local level, club player/state level and club player/national and higher level. A three-step binary logistic regression analysis with age, sex, type of sport, weekly hours of exposure, and level of play was used. Results: During the past year, 48.1% of the adolescents were injured. Age and sex were not risk factors. The injury risk associated with the increases in level of play is higher than those related to the hours of exposure per week or the type of sport. In clubs, adolescents who do not compete or play at a local level showed no evidence of greater injury risk whereas state-level and national- and higher-level athletes were at greater risk than outside-of-club players (OR = 2.18, 95%CI = 1.13–3.94 and OR = 3.89, 95%CI = 2.07–7.31, respectively). Conclusion: Adolescents who play sports in clubs are clearly more exposed to injury than those who play outside of a club, mainly from state level. Age and sex are not related to injury. Future epidemiological studies should control adolescents’ level of play. Special attention should be accorded to the injury risk of athletes playing at these levels of competition.
Transgenic Mice Expressing Dominant-negative Osmotic-response Element-binding Protein (OREBP) in Lens Exhibit Fiber Cell Elongation Defect Associated with Increased DNA Breaks*

Osmotic-response element-binding protein (OREBP), also known as TonEBP or NFAT5, is thought to be responsible for the induction of osmolyte-accumulating genes when cells are under hypertonic stress. Recent studies suggest that OREBP also plays a role in water reabsorption in the kidney, T-cell proliferation, and embryonic development. We developed transgenic mice that express the dominant-negative OREBP (OREBPdn) specifically in the lens because our earlier studies showed that it is particularly sensitive to osmotic stress. The transgenic mice developed nuclear cataract soon after birth, suggesting defects in lens development. The developing transgenic lenses showed incomplete elongation of fiber cells and formation of vacuoles. This is accompanied by evidence of DNA strand breaks, activation of p53, and induction of checkpoint kinase, suggesting that the developing fiber cells lacking OREBP are in a similar physiological state as cells experiencing hypertonic stress. These results indicate that OREBP-mediated accumulation of osmolytes is essential during elongation of the lens fiber cells.
Developing a Statewide Emergency Medical Services Database Linked to Hospital Outcomes: A Feasibility Study

Abstract Background. Statewide emergency medical services (EMS) data linked to outcomes are critical for promoting high-quality emergency care; however, many states do not have such a resource. Objective. To demonstrate the feasibility of creating such a statewide database using a one-month pilot sample. Methods. This was a prospective cohort study of all EMS patient encounters throughout Oregon during May 2008. Eighty-three National EMS Information System (NEMSIS) variables were obtained from EMS agencies via electronic or paper charts. We reformatted raw data, mapped NEMSIS fields, entered hard-copy records, and uploaded data files to a statewide electronic medical records platform. Records from transport and nontransport (first-responder) agencies caring for the same patients were matched using probabilistic linkage, then linked to three statewide outcome databases (Oregon Hospital Discharge Database [OHDD], Oregon Trauma Registry [OTR], and Oregon Department of Transportation [ODOT] Crash File) using similar methodology. We estimated population-adjusted case ascertainment by county and used descriptive statistics to characterize the process. Results. During the one-month period, we collected 27,474 EMS records in 36 (100%) counties from 106 (77%) licensed transport agencies and 10 nontransport agencies, representing 20,673 persons. There were 3,302 admission record matches, 285 trauma registry matches, and 392 crash record matches. Overall, 3,979 hospital outcomes were matched to EMS records for 80 (75%) transport and six (60%) first-responder agencies. Median per-agency match rates were 16.3% for OHDD (interquartile range [IQR] 8.3–22.2%, range 0–56.5%), 0.9% for OTR (IQR 0–2.5%, range 0–60.0%), and 1.6% for ODOT (IQR 0–3.5%, range 0–23.1%). Conclusion. Developing a statewide EMS database linked to hospital outcomes is feasible. The processes used in this study and match rate estimates may provide a template for other states to follow, enhancing opportunities for outcomes-based EMS research and EMS quality assurance efforts.
Preponderance of hepatitis B virus genotype B contributes to a better prognosis of chronic HBV infection in Okinawa, Japan

The present study was designed to examine the distribution of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes among patients at various stages of chronic liver disease type B in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, where the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen is the highest in Japan despite the lowest mortality rate from primary liver cancer. Serum samples from 227 HBV carriers were determined for HBV genotype by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)‐restriction fragment length polymorphism. Five of 227 sera were negative for HBV DNA by nested PCR and were excluded from the genotype analysis. Genotype B was predominant in asymptomatic carriers (45/67, 67%), whereas genotype C was predominant in chronic liver disease: 49% (50/103) in patients with chronic hepatitis, 63% (20/32) in patients with cirrhosis, and 60% (12/20) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The distribution of genotype B decreased with increasing liver disease severity. However, this tendency was seen among patients aged less than 50 years old, whereas the prevalence of genotype B was similar among carriers with various liver diseases who were older than age 50. In conclusion, HBV genotype B was prevalent and less frequent among patients with advanced liver disease, particularly in patients aged less than 50 years. These findings suggest that the preponderance of genotype B is responsible for the low mortality rate of primary liver cancer associated with HBV seen in Okinawa Prefecture, despite having the highest HBV carrier rate in Japanese. J. Med. Virol. 67:484–489, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Parents' Self-Identified Stressors and Coping Strategies During Adolescents' Spinal Surgery Experiences

Spinal fusion surgery for idiopathic scoliosis during adolescence is a tremendous stressor for parents. This study investigated parents' pre- and postoperative stressors and their coping strategies. Ninety-two parents identified their predominant stressor and completed the Ways of Coping Questionnaire during their adolescent's preoperative clinic visit and 77 completed this procedure 4 days postoperatively. Results showed that primary stressors were parental role loss (28.26%), possibility of poor surgical outcomes (28.26%), and uncertainty about successful recovery (27.17%) preoperatively, and concerns about pain (32.47%) and parental role loss (32.47%) postoperatively. The greatest increase from pre- to postoperative periods occurred in concerns about pain. Parents used both emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies with significant increases postoperatively in confrontive coping, planful problem solving, and positive reappraisal and significant decreases in self-control and seeking social support. Providers should target interventions to alleviate stress and bolster coping for parents.
The A34R glycoprotein gene is required for induction of specialized actin-containing microvilli and efficient cell-to-cell transmission of vaccinia virus

The mechanisms allowing vaccinia virus to spread from cell to cell are incompletely understood. The A34R gene of vaccinia virus encodes a glycoprotein that is localized in the outer membranes of extracellular virions. The small-plaque phenotype of an A34R deletion mutant was similar to that of mutants with deletions in other envelope genes that fail to produce extracellular vaccinia virions. Transmission electron microscopy, however, revealed that the A34R mutant produced numerous extracellular particles that were labeled with antibodies to other outer-envelope proteins and with protein A-colloidal gold. Fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy indicated that expression of the A34R protein was necessary for detection of vaccinia virus-induced actin tails, which provide motility to the intracellular enveloped form of vaccinia virus, and of virus-tipped specialized microvilli that project from the cell. The ability of vaccinia virus-infected cells to form syncytia after a brief exposure to a pH below 6, known as fusion from within, failed to occur in the absence of expression of the A34R protein; nevertheless, purified A34R- virions were capable of mediating low-pH-induced fusion from without. The present study provides genetic and microscopic evidence for the involvement of a specific viral protein in the formation or stability of actin-containing microvilli and for a role of these structures in cell-to-cell spread rather than in formation of extracellular virions.
A SURVEY OF MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES APPLIED FOR BREAST CANCER PREDICTION

In this paper, A survey of the literature of the past five years involving Machine Learning (ML) algorithms applied to Breast Cancer disease diagnosis is performed. In order for future breast cancer diagnosis to overcome the current limitations and address the issues of breast cancer diagnosis, it is clear that more intelligence need to be deployed in a system, so that an intelligent system can be developed to diagnose the disease with accuracy. This paper focuses on the learning perspectives of different systems, that provides not only an overview of the most common techniques encountered in disease diagnosis, but also manages to classify each paper in terms of solutions in predicting the disease. The authors also classify each paper in terms of how diagnosis/prediction has been determined using different machine learning techniques. This paper presents a survey about the research that had been carried out in predicting/diagnosing the breast cancer using different machine learning techniques.
A Bayesian Nonparametric Model Coupled with a Markov Random Field for Change Detection in Heterogeneous Remote Sensing Images

In recent years, remote sensing of the Earth surface using images acquired from aircraft or satellites has gained a lot of attention. The acquisition technology has been evolving fast and, as a consequence, many different kinds of sensors (e.g., optical, radar, multispectral, and hyperspectral) are now available to capture different features of the observed scene. One of the main objectives of remote sensing is to monitor changes on the Earth surface. Change detection has been thoroughly studied in the case of images acquired by the same sensors (mainly optical or radar sensors). However, due to the diversity and complementarity of the images, change detection between images acquired with different kinds of sensors (sometimes referred to as heterogeneous sensors) is clearly an interesting problem. A statistical model and a change detection strategy were recently introduced in [J. Prendes, M. Chabert, F. Pascal, A. Giros, and J.-Y. Tourneret, Proceedings of the IEEE Inter- national Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Florence, Italy, 2014; IEEE Trans. Image Process. , 24 (2015), pp. 799-812] to deal with images captured by heterogeneous sensors. The main idea of the suggested strategy was to model the objects contained in an analysis window by mixtures of distributions. The manifold defined by these mixtures was then learned using training data belonging to unchanged areas. The changes were finally detected by thresholding an appropriate distance to the estimated manifold. This paper goes a step further by introducing a Bayesian nonparametric framework allowing us to deal with an unknown number of objects in analysis windows without specifying an upper bound for this number. A Markov random field is also introduced to account for the spatial correlation between neighboring pixels. The proposed change detector is validated using different sets of synthetic and real images (including pairs of optical images and pairs of optical and radar images) showing a significant improvement when compared to existing algorithms.
A comparison of discrete-time models for model predictive control of induction motor drives

System modeling and variables estimation are two important task in direct control strategies. In those schemes, the system performance is strongly related with the accuracy of the discrete-time model, especially for time-varying systems, e.g., high-performance motor drive applications. This investigation presents a numerical comparison between several discrete-time models of the induction machine (IM) used in model predictive control (MPC) schemes. The accuracy of each model is evaluated numerically for different speed operation points. The results serve as a preliminary validation to select an accurate discretization method for MPC drive applications.