Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
T-cell reconstitution after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: assessment by measurement of the sjTREC/βTREC ratio and thymic naïve T cells

The immune reconstitution after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation comprises thymus-dependent and thymus-independent pathways. We wanted to improve the understanding of this complex process using two different measurements at definite checkpoints of T-cell neogenesis. We therefore assessed the thymus-dependent pathway by combining measurements of single joint T-cell receptor excision circles (sjTREC) and β T-cell receptor excision circles (βTREC) in an improved quantitative light-cycler hybridization polymerase chain reaction assay. In a subgroup of patients, we additionally assessed the proliferation kinetics of the CD31+ thymic naïve cell population, which corresponds to recent thymic emigrants by six-color immunostaining. After the establishment of normal values in 22 healthy volunteers, we applied our polymerase chain reaction to 66 patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at a median age of 44 years. It took more than 2 years after transplant to restore the pre-transplant thymic proliferation capacity. Only one third of the patients in our longitudinal study reached age-adjusted normal values for both sjTREC and βTREC at a median follow-up of 558 days, with acute graft-versus-host disease being the most prominent negative factor by univariate analysis. We observed several patterns of sjTREC and βTREC recovery suggesting different mechanisms of thymic damage in individual patients. In a comparison of CD31+ thymic naïve cells between volunteers and patients after transplant we found a significantly higher peak proliferation rate within the latter population in the first year after transplantation. The combination of measurements of sjTREC and βTREC by our simplified polymerase chain reaction assay provides insight about the stage of T-cell development affected by different types of damage and may help to choose the correct therapeutic intervention. Besides the sole thymic T-cell neogenesis, proliferation within the CD31+ thymic naïve cell compartment contributed to the replenishment of the naïve T-cell pool after transplantation.
ICT Adoption and Usage in Africa: Towards an Efficiency Assessment

During the last two decades, most developing countries (including African nations) have demonstrated a significant improvement in information and communication technology (ICT) adoption and usage. A non-parametric slacks-based measure model of data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied in this study to investigate the relative efficiency of ICT adoption and usage in 40 African countries with respect to the utilization of existing socio-economic, infrastructure, and political input factors. Recent data acquired from different sources, such as the World Bank and International Communication Union, are applied to identify the benchmark. Results indicate that Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius, and Gambia are relatively efficient in terms of ICT adoption and usage. Furthermore, this work adopted the Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes model of DEA to discuss the output projection of inefficient countries.
l1-optimal robust iterative learning controller design

In this paper we consider the robust iterative learning control (ILC) design problem for SISO discrete-time linear plants subject to unknown, bounded disturbances. Using the supervector formulation of ILC, we apply a Youla parameterization to pose a MIMO l1-optimal control problem. The problem is analyzed for three situations: (1) the case of arbitrary ILC controllers that use current iteration tracking error (CITE), but without explicit integrating action in iteration, (2) the case of arbitrary ILC controllers with CITE and with explicit integrating action in iteration, and (3) the case of ILC controllers without CITE but that force an integral action in iteration. Analysis of these cases shows that the best ILC controller for this problem when using a non-CITE ILC algorithm is a standard Arimoto-style update law, with the learning gain chosen to be the system inverse. Further, such an algorithm will always be worse than a CITE-based algorithm. It is also found that a trade-off exists between asymptotic tracking of reference trajectories and rejection of unknown-bounded disturbances and that ILC does not help alleviate this trade-off. Finally, the analysis reinforces results in the literature noting that for SISO discrete-time linear systems, first-order ILC algorithms can always do as well as higher-order ILC algorithms.
Exception handling in the software lifecycle

Exception handling is a structuring technique that facilitates the design of systems by encapsulating the process of error recovery. Traditional methods deal with exceptions at late design and implementation phases, hence losing the context of error detection and recovery, and the correlation between exceptions and their handlers. The proposed approach emphasises the separation of treatments of requirements-related, design-related, and implementation-related exceptions during the software lifecycle, by specifying the exceptions and their handlers in the context where faults are identified. The description of exceptional behaviour is supported by a co-operative object-oriented approach that allows the representation of collaborative behaviour between objects at different phases of the software development. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated in terms of a benchmark case study.
Risk of Disease in Siblings of Patients with Hereditary Hemochromatosis

Background: Parents of hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) homozygote patients, who are predominantly HH heterozygotes, have been found to have an increased risk of colonic neoplasia, diabetes, stroke death, stomach cancer and leukemia. The health histories of siblings of HH patients are reported. Methods: Individuals homozygous for HH were mailed questionnaires concerning the health histories of their siblings. Spouses of the HH homozygotes were asked to complete accompanying questionnaires concerning their siblings. The frequencies of serious illness and, when specified, each reported disease were determined by zygosity, odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals estimated. Results: Data were available for 279 siblings known to be HH homozygotes (HHs), and 1,265 other siblings of HH patients, who are predominantly hemochromatosis heterozygotes (HHhet). Controls consisted of 1,338 spouse siblings in whom only the general population prevalence of HH homozygosity and heterozygosity existed. Odds ratios comparing HH strata to controls were elevated for serious illness (1.12 in HHhet, 1.71 in HHs), diabetes (0.78, 2.45), arthritis (2.10, 1.69), and hepatoma (1.06, 11.96). Conclusions: There was a significant trend for increased risk of serious illness among siblings of HH patients with increasing exposure to the HH gene, especially for diabetes, arthritis and hepatoma.
Emerging roles for folate and related B-vitamins in brain health across the lifecycle

Nutrition plays a fundamental role in supporting the structural and functional development of the human brain from conception, throughout early infancy and extending into later life. A growing body of evidence suggests that folate and the metabolically related B-vitamins are essential for brain health across all age groups, owing to their specific roles in C1 metabolism and particularly in the production of S-adenosylmethionine, a universal methyl donor essential for the production of neurotransmitters. Emerging, though not entirely consistent, evidence suggests that maternal folate status throughout pregnancy may influence neurodevelopment and behaviour of the offspring. Furthermore optimal B-vitamin status is associated with better cognitive health in ageing. Of note, a recent clinical trial provided evidence that supplementation with folic acid and related B-vitamins over a 2-year-period reduced global and regional brain atrophy, as measured by MRI scan in older adults. In terms of potential mechanisms, the effects of these B-vitamins on cognitive health may be independent or may be mediated by nutrient–nutrient and/or relevant gene–nutrient interactions. Furthermore, a new area of research suggests that the in utero environment influences health in later life. Folate, an important cofactor in C1 metabolism, is indirectly involved in DNA methylation, which in turn is considered to be one of the epigenetic mechanisms that may underlie fetal programming and brain development. The present review will explore the evidence that supports a role for folate and the related B-vitamins in brain health across the lifecycle, and potential mechanisms to explain such effects.
Concomitant therapy achieved the best eradication rate for Helicobacter pylori among various treatment strategies.

AIM To compare the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication rate of clarithromycin-based triple therapy, metronidazole-based triple therapy, sequential therapy and concomitant therapy. METHODS A total of 680 patients infected with H. pylori were divided into 4 groups and each group was treated with a different eradication therapy. Clarithromycin-based triple therapy was applied to the first group [rabeprazole, amoxicillin and clarithromycin (PAC) group: proton pump inhibitor (PPI), amoxicillin, clarithromycin], whereas the second group was treated with metronidazole-based triple therapy [rabeprazole, amoxicillin and metronidazole (PAM) group: PPI, amoxicillin, metronidazole]. The third group was treated with rabeprazole and amoxicillin, followed by rabeprazole, clarithromycin and metronidazole (sequential group). The final group was simultaneously treated with rabeprazole, amoxicillin clarithromycin and metronidazole (concomitant therapy group). In the case of a failure to eradicate H. pylori, second-line quadruple and third-line eradication therapies were administered. RESULTS The per protocol (PP) analysis was performed on 143, 139, 141 and 143 patients in the PAC, PAM, sequential and concomitant groups, respectively. We excluded patients who did not receive a C(13)-urea breath test (22, 20, 23 and 22 patients, respectively) and patients with less than an 80% compliance level (5, 11, 6 and 5 patients, respectively). The eradication rates were 76.2% (109/143) in the PAC group, 84.2% (117/139) in the PAM group, 84.4% (119/141) in the sequential group and 94.4% (135/143) in the concomitant group (P = 0.0002). All 14 patients who failed second-line therapy were treated with third-line eradication therapy. Among these 14 patients, 6 infections were successfully eradicated with the third-line therapy. Both PP and intention-to-treat analysis showed an eradication rate of 42.9% (6/14). In the PAC group, 3 of 4 patients were successfully cured (3/4, 75%); 2 of 2 patients in the PAM group (2/2, 100%) and 1 of 5 patients in the sequential group (1/5, 20%) were also cured. In the concomitant group, all 3 patients failed (0/3, 0%). CONCLUSION The eradication rate for the concomitant therapy was much higher than those of the standard triple therapy or sequential therapy (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT01922765).
Organic shoppers’ involvement in organic foods: self and identity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how identities drive customer values, attitudes toward organic foods and satisfaction, all of which influence world or mouth (WOM). Design/methodology/approach Questionnaire surveys were administered to the purchasers of organic foods. In total, 512 completed responses were obtained for data analysis. Findings Strongly defined social identity and role identity are significant antecedents of consumers’ health consciousness and socially responsible consumer behavior (SRCB). This finding explains why organic shoppers value their health and the environment (i.e. self- and others-oriented values). Additionally, health consciousness and SRCB significantly influence attitudes toward organic foods. The study reveals that attitudes toward organic foods positively influence organic shoppers’ satisfaction, and their satisfaction increases positive WOM. Finally, the moderating effects of involvement and mass media are examined. When organic shoppers are strongly involved with organic foods, their health consciousness has a more positive effect on their attitudes toward organic foods. However, organic shoppers’ involvement did not moderate the effect of SRCB on attitudes toward organic foods. Likewise, the mass media did not moderate the effect of health consciousness and SRCB on attitudes toward organic foods. Originality/value This study incorporates critical factors such as the antecedents of the customer values to develop a comprehensive model for understanding of organic shoppers’ consumption of organic foods.
A Novel Role for Arabidopsis Mitochondrial ABC Transporter ATM3 in Molybdenum Cofactor Biosynthesis[W][OA]

A mitochondrial ATP binding cassette transporter in Arabidopsis is found to play an important role in molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis. This transporter is involved in exporting cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate from the mitochondrion to the cytosol, where it is converted to molybdenum cofactor in a three-step process. The molybdenum cofactor (Moco) is a prosthetic group required by a number of enzymes, such as nitrate reductase, sulfite oxidase, xanthine dehydrogenase, and aldehyde oxidase. Its biosynthesis in eukaryotes can be divided into four steps, of which the last three are proposed to occur in the cytosol. Here, we report that the mitochondrial ABC transporter ATM3, previously implicated in the maturation of extramitochondrial iron-sulfur proteins, has a crucial role also in Moco biosynthesis. In ATM3 insertion mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana, the activities of nitrate reductase and sulfite oxidase were decreased to ∼50%, whereas the activities of xanthine dehydrogenase and aldehyde oxidase, whose activities also depend on iron-sulfur clusters, were virtually undetectable. Moreover, atm3 mutants accumulated cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate, the first intermediate of Moco biosynthesis, but showed decreased amounts of Moco. Specific antibodies against the Moco biosynthesis proteins CNX2 and CNX3 showed that the first step of Moco biosynthesis is localized in the mitochondrial matrix. Together with the observation that cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate accumulated in purified mitochondria, particularly in atm3 mutants, our data suggest that mitochondria and the ABC transporter ATM3 have a novel role in the biosynthesis of Moco.
CARRYING HABITS INTO OLD AGE: PRESCRIPTION DRUG USE WITHOUT MEDICAL ADVICE BY OLDER AMERICAN ADULTS

To the Editor: We were pleased to see an article by Rosenthal et al. about tramadol/acetaminophen use specifically in older persons. As the authors discuss, there are few studies on osteoarthritis in this age group. We also agree with the study’s endpoints that follow the Osteoarthritis Society’s research guidelines for evaluating pain, function, and the patient’s global assessment, although we have some concerns regarding the methodology of this study as well as the generalizability of the results outlined by the authors. First, a primary eligibility criterion for enrollment was the current use of a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agent, which several expert consensus panels generally consider to be second-line therapy for osteoarthritis. These consensus panels all agree that acetaminophen alone is considered to be first-line therapy. The study’s intervention was to add tramadol/acetaminophen. By using an intervention that combines tramadol with acetaminophen, it is impossible to differentiate the effect of tramadol from acetaminophen. A multiarm study including acetaminophen only and tramadol only would have been more clinically useful. In addition, we suspect that this study is not generalizable to the typical geriatric osteoarthritis population. The exclusion criteria outlined by the authors essentially limit participants in the study to a functional, physically fit, and mentally intact patient population. These criteria do not come close to representing the often cognitively impaired, frail, and medically complex patient base that geriatricians see. Although the authors need to be commended for studying the elderly, their exclusion criteria make the study group more representative of a typical younger patient population. Additionally, the exclusion criteria are so extensive that we suspect that many people needed to be screened to find the rare older person who met their eligibility criteria, but the authors failed to include this information in the manuscript. We are anxiously awaiting effectiveness and safety studies in a frail geriatric population. Given these concerns, we find that this article provides little insight or guidance for geriatricians in managing pain in a typical population. We urge researchers to continue to study older persons and to perform effectiveness studies more consistently.
Characterisation of CS Aerosol used in Mask Test Facilities

Abstract : CS aerosol (o-chlorobenzylidene malonitrile) is a low to moderate toxicity irritant used by Australian Defence Force for respiratory protection training. It is classified as a hazardous substance with an occupational exposure limit of 0.39 mg/m3 (STEL-C). Currently the ADF has no means of measuring the concentration of CS aerosol used within the Mask Test Facilities (MTF) during CBRN training. Driven by the health concern associated with CS exposure to personnel in MTF, this study aimed to: (i) characterise the physico-chemical properties of CS aerosol; (ii) validate the use of a commercial off-the-shelf equipment to monitor CS aerosol concentrations, and (iii) quantify CS levels in MTF. The CS aerosol was identified as a poly-disperse, uni-modal aerosol with a dominant peak at 0.26 micrometers. The COTS optical photometer DustTrak, (TSI Inc Model 8520) was validated to accurately measure CS aerosol concentration. As anticipated, the CS levels in the MTF exceeded the concentrations that unprotected individuals could safely operate in by a factor of up to 40. However, protected individuals wearing a correctly fitted full face respirator are in compliance with the OH&S standards for respiratory protection.
The Efficacy of Procurement Staff Professionalism in the Implementation of Preference and Reservation Policy in the Professional Regulatory Bodies in Kenya

World Bank economic surveys have indicated that Kenya spends heavily on public procurement with losses attributed to poor procurement regulations implementation being approximated at 20% per year. According to PPOA annual report of 2015, poor procurement practices like non-compliance to PPDA regulations have been identified as a challenge to the procurement process. This study sought to evaluate effect of procurement staff professionalism on implementation of preference and reservation policy in the public sector in Kenya. The study used a descriptive survey as the study research design. The target population comprised of 116 managers drawn from the following departments in the 29 professional societies operating in Kenya; ICT department, Human Resource department, procurement department and finance department. A census was conducted on all 116 respondents. The study used descriptive statistics such frequency distributions, percentages, frequency tables and pie charts to summarize and relate variables obtained from the administered questionnaires and inferential statistics of correlation and regression to show the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The results of the study showed that procurement staff professionalism positively and significantly influenced implementation of preference and reservation procurement policy in the professional regulatory bodies in Kenya. The study recommended that in order to improve implementation of preference and reservation procurement policy, professional regulatory bodies in Kenya should pay attention to indicators of procurement staff professionalism such as professional competency, procurement staff skills, procurement staff integrity, procurement staff code of conduct and procurement staff knowledge on procurement regulation. Keywords – Procurement; Professionalism; Implementation; Regulatory Bodies.
Decentralisation and conflict in Uganda

Political economists have long debated the relationship between decentralisation and conflict, with much discussion about how and what functions of government should be decentralised to the local level. There has been little discussion, however, about two key aspects of decentralisation: first, to which levels of local government power should be decentralised, and second, on what basis new decentralised districts should be created. In order to understand the relationship between these two aspects of decentralisation and conflict I investigate here the case of Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Movement (NRM) government embarked on a radical decentralisation programme upon coming into power in 1986. I argue here that Uganda's decentralisation programme, while helping to reduce national-level conflict, has nonetheless replaced it with local-level conflict. This process has taken place in two ways. First, the concentration of local power at the district level has led to struggles over district leadership positions. Second, the huge expansion in the number of new districts has led to local-level conflict by altering relations between local ethnic groups.
Extended Dynamical Equations of the Period Vectors of Crystals under Constant External Stress to Many-body Interactions

Since crystals are made of periodic structures in space, predicting their three period vectors starting from any values based on the inside interactions is a basic theoretical physics problem. For the general situation where crystals are under constant external stress, we derived dynamical equations of the period vectors in the framework of Newtonian dynamics, for pair potentials recently (doi:/10.1139/cjp-2014-0518). The derived dynamical equations show that the period vectors are driven by the imbalance between the internal and external stresses. This presents a physical process where when the external stress changes, the crystal structure changes accordingly, since the original internal stress can not balance the external stress. The internal stress has both a full kinetic energy term and a full interaction term. It is extended to many-body interactions in this paper. As a result, all conclusions in the pair-potential case also apply for many-body potentials.