Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
False susceptibility of enterococci to aminoglycosides with blood-enriched Mueller-Hinton agar for disk susceptibility testing

Disk diffusion susceptibility tests for enterococci are frequently modified by adding 5% sheep blood (SB) to Mueller-Hinton agar; the performance standards from the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards sanction this addition. Susceptibility testing of aminoglycoside antibiotics is not recommended for enterococci; in actual practice, however, some laboratories do include aminoglycoside antibiotics routinely, and others may test upon request or in selected situations. In examining 50 clinical isolates of enterococci, SB-enriched Mueller-Hinton agar frequently gave enlarged zone sizes that falsely indicated susceptibility (72% for gentamicin and tobramycin), with the average increase in zone size being 6.3 and 7.6 mm, respectively. Comparison agar dilution MICs demonstrated uniform resistance, with or without added SB. The effect was shown to be caused by heme in concentrations as low as 0.03 micrograms/ml, which, when combined with aminoglycoside antibiotics, caused a synergistic growth inhibition of the enterococci, resulting in larger aminoglycoside antibiotic zones. We postulate that the heme effect is related to a catalytic cleavage of intracellular H2O2 and resultant lipid peroxidation. No other organism or antimicrobial agent tested demonstrated a similar effect, although other investigators have shown a similar phenomenon with the broad-spectrum cephalosporins. Because enterococci grow well and give accurate susceptibility results on Mueller-Hinton agar without SB supplementation and because of the spectrum of definable problems with a number of antimicrobial agents, we recommend that enterococci routinely be tested without SB.
SMOOTHED ACTION VALUE FUNCTIONS

State-action value functions (i.e., Q-values) are ubiquitous in reinforcement learning (RL), giving rise to popular algorithms such as SARSA and Q-learning. We propose a new notion of action value defined by a Gaussian smoothed version of the expected Q-value. We show that such smoothed Q-values still satisfy a Bellman equation, making them learnable from experience sampled from an environment. Moreover, the gradients of expected reward with respect to the mean and covariance of a parameterized Gaussian policy can be recovered from the gradient and Hessian of the smoothed Q-value function. Based on these relationships we develop new algorithms for training a Gaussian policy directly from a learned smoothed Q-value approximator. Our approach is amenable to proximal optimization techniques by augmenting the objective with a penalty on KLdivergence from a previous policy. We find that the ability to learn both a mean and covariance during training allows this approach to achieve much better results on standard continuous control benchmarks.
The effectiveness of transforaminal epidural steroid injection in patients with radicular low back pain due to lumbar disc herniation two years after treatment.

BACKGROUND AND AIM The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the therapeutic effect of transforaminal epidural steroid injection in patients with chronic low back pain and radicular leg pain due to lumbar disc herniation. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study included 80 patients (32 female and 48 male; mean age: 45.8 years [range: 25-65 years]) that received fluoroscopically guided transforaminal epidural steroid injections for chronic radicular low back pain due to lumbar disc herniation. All of the patients had diagnostic MRI findings and did not respond to conservative treatment. All injections were performed by the same physician at the interventional pain unit of a tertiary hospital. The effectiveness of transforaminal epidural steroid injections was assessed via a standardized telephone questionnaire administered 2 years after the first injection. RESULTS Mean duration of radicular low back pain was 24.50 ± 18.25 months. Most of the epidural injections were administered at the L5 and S1 levels. The most effective post-injection period was the first 5.11 ± 3.07 months. Mean duration of injection effect was 12.46 ± 7.24 months. The response rate to the epidural steroid injections was 72%. CONCLUSIONS There was negative correlation between the duration of treatment effect and the duration of pre-treatment symptoms. Additionally, clinical improvement of radicular low back pain increased significantly as the duration of pre-treatment symptoms decreased. Based on the present findings, we think that transforaminal epidural steroid injections can be used as an alternative treatment for managing chronic radicular low back pain.
The antioxidant activities of natural sweeteners, mogrosides, from fruits of Siraitia grosvenori

To search for antioxidant agents from natural resources, in this paper the in vitro antioxidant activities of two natural sweeteners, mogroside V and 11-oxo-mogroside V isolated from the fruits of Siraitia grosvenori, were determined using chemiluminescence (CL). The results showed that these sweet glycosides, having cucurbitane triterpenoid aglycon, exhibited significant inhibitory effects on reactive oxygen species (, H2O2 and •OH) and DNA oxidative damage. 11-oxo-mogroside V showed a higher scavenging effect on (concentration at which 50% of chemiluminescence intensity is inhibited [EC50]=4.79 µg/ml) and H2O2 (EC50=16.52 µg/ml) than those of mogroside V. However, mogroside V was more effective in scavenging •OH, with EC50=48.44 µg/ml compared with that of 11-oxo-mogroside V (EC50=146.17 µg/ml). Further, 11-oxo-mogroside V exhibited a remarkable inhibitory effect on •OH-induced DNA damage with EC50=3.09 µg/ml.
A multiple-frequency hydrophone calibration technique.

A method is described for comparing the sensitivity of two hydrophones over the frequency range 1-15 MHz. This technique forms the basis for the dissemination of national ultrasonic standards in the U.K. over this frequency range. A reference hydrophone is placed in an ultrasonic field and then the device being calibrated is substituted and the two output voltages are compared. This substitution method utilizes a broadband ultrasonic field produced by nonlinear propagation. Thus it is possible to cover the whole frequency range with a single measurement on each hydrophone. The overall uncertainty in the intercomparison of two hydrophones increases from +/- 4.2% at 1 MHz to +/- 8.2% at 15 MHz (95% confidence level). The method has been compared with discrete-frequency substitution, time-delay spectrometry, and absolute calibrations using the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) Primary Standard Laser Interferometer. Various designs and sizes of hydrophones were compared, and agreement was within the combined random uncertainties for all the comparisons.
A double-domain image encryption using hyper chaos

This paper proposes a novel encryption scheme for digital image during transmission, in both frequency and spatial-domain using hyper digital chaos. In frequency-domain, both of the magnitude and phase spectra of the image are encrypted, in which a huge key space is created due to hyper digital chaos. After that, additional spatial-domain encryption is implemented for security enhancement. It is proved that, the multiple-level chaotic encryption improves the security and efficiency in digital image encryption.
Facial Acanthosis Nigricans: A Morphological Marker of Metabolic Syndrome

Introduction: Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is a frequently encountered entity. Facial AN (FAN) is a subset of AN which is being increasingly recognized. Recently, reports hypothesizing the association of FAN with features of metabolic syndrome have been published. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to study the clinicodemographic profile of patients with FAN, and to assess the correlation of hypertension, increased waist–hip ratio (WHR), increased body mass index (BMI), type 2 diabetes mellitus, deranged lipid profile, serum insulin, and impaired oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) (parameters of metabolic syndrome) in these patients, as well as to determine the most significant predictor (highest relative risk) of development of FAN. Methods: A multicentric case–control study was conducted (123 cases in each group) over a period of 2 years. Data were obtained on the basis of history, examination, and relevant laboratory investigations. Statistical analysis was done using Statistica version 6 (StatSoft Inc., 2001, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA), SPSS statistics version 17 (SPSS Inc., 2008, Illinois, Chicago, USA), and GraphPad Prism version 5 (GraphPad Software Inc., 2007, San Diego, California, USA). Results: Mean age of the patients with FAN was 38.83 ± 8.62 years. Mean age of onset of the disease was 30.93 ± 8.18 years. The most common site of face involved was the forehead and temporal region. The most common pigmentation was brown-black. Male sex, positive OGTT, increased WHR, and increased BMI were most significantly related to FAN. Smoking was found to have a protective effect against the development of FAN. Conclusion: Here, we document a significant association between male patients with positive OGTT, increased WHR, and BMI and FAN. Thus, we propose that FAN could be considered a morphological marker of metabolic syndrome.
Assessment of the qualitative variation in bacterial microflora among compartments of the intestinal tract of dogs by use of a molecular fingerprinting technique.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the qualitative variation in bacterial microflora among compartments of the intestinal tract of dogs by use of a molecular fingerprinting technique. ANIMALS 14 dogs (similarly housed and fed identical diets). PROCEDURE Samples of intestinal contents were collected from the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, colon, and rectum of each dog. Bacterial DNA was extracted from the samples, and the variable V6 to V8 region of 16S ribosomal DNA (gene coding for 16S ribosomal RNA) was amplified by use of universal bacterial primers; polymerase chain reaction amplicons were separated via denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Similarity indices of DGGE banding patterns were used to assess variation in the bacterial microflora among different compartments of the intestine within and among dogs. Bacterial diversity was assessed by calculating the Simpson diversity index, the Shannon-Weaver diversity index, and evenness. RESULTS DGGE profiles indicated marked differences in bacterial composition of intestinal compartments among dogs (range of similarity, 25.6% to 36.6%) and considerable variation among compartments within individual dogs (range of similarity, 36.7% to 579%). Similarities between neighboring intestinal compartments were significantly greater than those between non-neighboring compartments. Diversity indices for the colon and rectum were significantly higher than those of the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that the different intestinal compartments of individual dogs appear to host different bacterial populations, and these compartmental populations vary among dogs. In dogs, fecal sample analysis may not yield accurate information regarding the composition of bacterial populations in compartments of the gastrointestinal tract.
Diagnostic impact of the genetic variability of the hepatitis B virus surface antigen gene

The genetic variability of hepatitis B virus (HBV) represents a challenge for the sensitivity of immunologic and molecular based assays. Genotyping studies show that the genetic diversity of HBV is very high even in industrialized countries. The analytical sensitivity of HBsAg and anti‐HBs assays may be dependent on HBV genotype or subtype and could possibly lead to false negative results in samples with low‐level HBsAg. It is possible that the recognition of genotypes E and F may be impaired. Immunoassays based on polyclonal capture antibody show the highest sensitivity for the recognition of recombinant mutants or serum samples harboring mutant forms of HBsAg. However, they do not guarantee full sensitivity, especially for the detection of the G145R mutation and amino acid insertions or substitutions in positions 120–123. Detection of HBsAg needs to be improved by the introduction of new HBsAg assays able to recognize so far described S gene mutants and with a lower detection threshold than current immunoassays in order to detect smallest amounts of HBsAg in low level carriers. There is also a need for more complete epidemiological data on the prevalence of HBsAg mutants especially for G145R and assays for the (differential) screening of mutants need to be developed and evaluated. J. Med. Virol. 78:S59–S65, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Education, cognitive function, and severity of neuropathology in Alzheimer disease

Background: Education may modulate the degree to which the neuropathology of Alzheimer disease (AD) is expressed as impaired cognitive performance. Methods: We studied 2,051 participants age 65+ years at 27 AD Centers who died and underwent autopsy. All took the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) within 2 years before death. Braak & Braak stage, neuritic plaque density, and Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease and National Institute on Aging (NIA)/Reagan diagnostic classifications quantified AD neuropathologic severity. Multivariate analyses modeled MMSE in relation to education and neuropathologic severity, adjusting for age at death, Lewy body pathology, and vascular dementia. Results: Higher education was associated with higher MMSE scores when AD neuropathology was absent or mild. But with more advanced neuropathology, differences in MMSE scores among education levels were attenuated. For example, among patients without AD by NIA/Reagan criteria, fitted MMSE scores ranged from 19.6 for patients with less than high school education to 25.9 with education beyond high school. But among patients with neuropathologically advanced AD, the range of scores by education was only 7.1 to 8.6. Conclusions: We found no evidence of larger education-related differences in cognitive function when Alzheimer disease (AD) neuropathology was more advanced. Higher Mini-Mental State Examination scores among more educated persons with mild or no AD may reflect better test-taking skills or cognitive reserve, but these advantages may ultimately be overwhelmed by AD neuropathology.
Translational research on early language development: Current challenges and future directions

There is a pressing need for the early and accurate identification of young children at risk for language and other developmental disabilities and the provision of timely, age-appropriate intervention, as mandated by Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Research has shown that early intervention is effective for many language impaired children in different etiological groups, and can reduce the functional impact of persistent disorders on children and their families. Yet, the accurate identification of infants and toddlers at risk for language impairment remains elusive, especially for late-talking children without obvious genetic or neurological conditions. In this paper, the need for translational research on basic processes in early language development in typical and atypical populations and the contextual factors that affect them are discussed, along with current challenges and future directions for its successful implementation. Implications of this research for clinical evidence-based practice are also considered.Partial support during the writing of this paper was provided by NIH Grant RO1HD044068. I am grateful to Dante Cicchetti for his thoughtful feedback on a prior version of this paper.
Uncertainty Breeds Decreasing Impatience: The Role of Risk Preferences in Time Discounting

Future events are uncertain by their very nature. Therefore, people's risk preferences are likely to play a role in the valuation of allegedly guaranteed future outcomes. We show that future uncertainty conjointly with people's proneness to nonlinear probability weighting generates a unifying framework for explaining many anomalies in intertemporal choice, such as hyperbolic discounting and subadditivity of discount factors. Moreover, our approach implies that higher uncertainty of future prospects increases the hyperbolicity of discount rates, suggesting that institutional deficiencies such as lack of contract enforcement, may be a source of hyperbolic discounting behavior. Based on an experiment with monetary incentives, we show that people's risk taking behavior is indeed a significant determinant of their time discounting behavior: Greater departures from linear probability weighting predict a stronger decline in impatience on the level of individual behavior.
Ischemic Preconditioning Improves Energy State and Transplantation Survival in Obese Zucker Rat Livers

Livers from obese donors often have fatty infiltrates and are more susceptible to ischemia-reperfusion injury and subsequent graft dysfunction. This often leads to the exclusion of organs from obese donors. We investigated whether ischemic preconditioning (IP, 10 min ischemia, 10 min reperfusion) preserves cellular metabolism in livers from obese Zucker rats during cold ischemia. Liver samples (−IP and +IP) were collected from obese and control lean rats at different time points of cold ischemia (CI) and analyzed by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H- and 31P-MRS) to assess whether IP improves hepatic cellular metabolism. IP significantly improved high energy metabolism in IP livers from obese rats when compared with obese controls during the first hours of CI. At 4 h of cold storage, obese IP livers were not different from control lean non-IP livers. The beneficial metabolic effect of IP on livers form obese rats, however, was absent at 8 h of reperfusion. In contrast, in livers from lean rats, IP resulted in improved high-energy metabolism during the entire observation period of 8 h. In a later part of the study, IP of liver grafts from obese rats before 4 h of cold storage improved recipient survival after graft transplantation. IP of liver grafts from obese rats before 4 h of CI increases 24-h survival of recipient animals from 25% to 88%.
Incomplete oblique projections method for solving regularized least-squares problems in image reconstruction

In this paper we improve on the incomplete oblique projections (IOP) method introduced previously by the authors for solving inconsistent linear systems, when applied to image reconstruction problems. That method uses IOP onto the set of solutions of the augmented system Ax−r=b, and converges to a weighted least-squares solution of the system Ax=b. In image reconstruction problems, systems are usually inconsistent and very often rank-deficient because of the underlying discretized model. Here we have considered a regularized least-squares objective function that can be used in many ways such as incorporating blobs or nearest-neighbor interactions among adjacent pixels, aiming at smoothing the image. Thus, the oblique incomplete projections algorithm has been modified for solving this regularized model. The theoretical properties of the new algorithm are analyzed and numerical experiments are presented showing that the new approach improves the quality of the reconstructed images.
The Rate and Risk Factors for Anemia among Pregnant Mothers in Jerteh Terengganu, Malaysia

Background: Antenatal mothers with anemia are high risk to varieties of health implications as well as to their off springs. Many studies show a high mortality and morbidity related to anemia in pregnancy. Methods: This cross-sectional study was designed to determine factors associated with anemia amongst forty seven antenatal mothers attending Antenatal Clinic at Klinik Kesihatan Kuala Besut, Terengganu in November 2009. Systematic random sampling was applied and information gathered based on patients’ medical records and through face-to-face interviewed by using a structured questionnaire. Results: The mean age of respondents was 28.3 year-old. More than half of mothers were multigravidas. Of 47 respondents, 57.4% (95% CI: 43.0, 72.0) was anemic. The proportion of anemia was high for grand multigravidas mother (66.7%), those at third trimester of pregnancy (70.4%), did antenatal booking at first trimester (65.4%), poor haematinic compliance (76.5%), not taking any medication (60.5%), those with no co-morbid illnesses (60.0%), mothers with high education level (71.4%) and those with satisfactory monthly income (61.5%). The proportion of anemia was 58.3% and 57.1% for mothers with last child birth spacing of two years or less and more than two years accordingly. There was a significant association of haematinic compliance with the anemia (OR: 4.571; 95% CI: 1.068, 19.573). Conclusions: Antenatal mothers in this area have a substantial proportion of anemia despite of freely and routinely prescription of haematinic at primary health care centers. Poor haematinic compliance was a significant risk factor. Health education programs regarding haematinic compliance and adequate intake of iron rich diet during pregnancy need to be strengthened to curb this problem. *Corresponding author: NH Nik Rosmawati, Environmental Health Unit, Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Science, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia, E-mail: rosmawati@kk.usm. my Received May 03, 2012; Accepted May 24, 2012; Published May 26, 2012 Citation: Nik Rosmawati NH, Mohd Nazri S, Mohd Ismail I (2012) The Rate and Risk Factors for Anemia among Pregnant Mothers in Jerteh Terengganu, Malaysia. J Community Med Health Educ 2:150. doi:10.4172/2161-0711.1000150 Copyright: © 2012 Nik Rosmawati NH, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Effects of Resalination on Intestinal Glucose Transport in Chickens Adapted to Low Na+ Intakes

In chickens, we have shown that intestinal absorption of glucose via apical SGLT1 and basolateral GLUT2 transport systems is affected by dietary Na+; low‐Na+ adapted birds show a dramatic reduction of glucose transporters in both membranes in the rectum, an intermediate response in the ileum and no effects in the jejunum. We have now studied the effect of resalination of low‐Na+ adapted chickens on glucose kinetics across SGLT1 (using α‐methyl‐D‐glucoside as substrate) and GLUT2 (using D‐glucose) and on the specific binding of phlorizin and cytochalasin B, respectively. Twelve‐week‐old male Leghorn chickens were fed wheat and barley with drinking water containing either 150 mM NaCl (high‐Na+ group) or 0.015 mM (low‐Na+ group) for 14 days (serum aldosterone: 242 ± 6 pg ml‐1 in the low‐Na+ and 46 ± 4 pg ml‐1 in the high‐Na+ group). On day 14, the low‐Na+ group was either resalinated with an oral dose of NaCl (9 g (kg body wt)‐1) or switched to the high‐Na+ condition, for 1 week. Serum aldosterone measured 4 h, 1 day and 7 days after the change in NaCl intake fell to between 30 and 39 pg ml‐1. The changes in apical α‐methyl‐D‐glucoside and basolateral D‐glucose transport observed in the ileum and rectum of low‐Na+ adapted animals were completely reversed by resalination within 4 h of NaCl administration to the level of values observed for high‐Na+ adapted birds. The good correlation between the α‐methyl‐D‐glucoside and D‐glucose Vmax and the SGLT1 and GLUT2 density, respectively, supports the view that the increase in apical and basolateral hexose transport found in the ileum and rectum of both groups of resalinated birds is due to an increase in the number of protein transporters. The rapid changes in the number of glucose transporters observed suggest that the target of the regulatory signal(s) involved are the mature enterocytes present in the villi rather than the developing enterocytes in the crypt.