Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust Incentives for Teams

We show that demanding team incentives to be robust to nonquantifiable uncertainty about the game played by the agents leads to contracts that align the agents' interests. Such contracts have a natural interpretation as team‐based compensation. Under budget balance they reduce to linear contracts, thus identifying profit‐sharing, or equity, as an optimal contract absent a sink or a source of funds. A linear contract also gives the best profit guarantee to an outside residual claimant. These contracts still suffer from the free‐rider problem, but a positive guarantee obtains if and only if the technology known to the contract designer is sufficiently productive.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON THE MICROBIOLOGICAL SAFETY OF FOOD ( ACMSF ) RECENT TRENDS IN LISTERIOSIS IN THE UK

Healthy cattle are the main reservoir of STEC although they are also carried by sheep and other animals. The infectious dose for human infection has been estimated to be <100 bacteria. Transmission to humans occurs through either consumption of contaminated food or water, or exposure to a contaminated environment involving direct or indirect contact with animals or their faeces. The low infectious dose of STEC means that once in the population person-to-person spread is common (3).
Covenantal Nomism Revisited

I have made two large-scale proposals about what we call for convenience "first-century Judaism," which actually covers more than a hundred years on either side of the year 1 CE. The more recent proposal is in a book called Judaism: Practice and Belief, which appeared in 1992, and I shall mention it first. I suggested that there was such a thing as Common Judaism, which included most Jews in the ancient world. Whatever their differences, they shared several practices and beliefs. Common Judaism is defined by a "laundry list" of beliefs and practices running from monotheism through Sabbath observance to sacrifice in the temple in Jerusalem (while it still stood). 2 The other proposal appeared 15 years earlier, in 1977, in a book called Paul and Palestinian Judaism. There I suggested that all the main bodies of Palestinian Jewish literature (except 4 Ezra) between approximately 200 BCE and 200 CE reflect a common understanding of how a religion works. I called this a "pattern of religion" and defined it as how "getting in and staying in" were understood.3 The basis of the
Two-Dimensional Self-Consistent Radio Frequency Plasma Simulations Relevant to the Gaseous Electronics Conference RF Reference Cell

Over the past few years multidimensional self-consistent plasma simulations including complex chemistry have been developed which are promising tools for furthering our understanding of reactive gas plasmas and for reactor design and optimization. These simulations must be benchmarked against experimental data obtained in well-characterized systems such as the Gaseous Electronics Conference (GEC) reference cell. Two-dimensional simulations relevant to the GEC Cell are reviewed in this paper with emphasis on fluid simulations. Important features observed experimentally, such as off-axis maxima in the charge density and hot spots of metastable species density near the electrode edges in capacitively-coupled GEC cells, have been captured by these simulations.
Localized Routing for Proxy Mobile IPv6

Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) is a network based mobility management protocol that enables IP mobility for a host without requiring its participation in any mobility-related signaling. PMIPv6 requires all communications to go through the local mobility anchor. As this can be suboptimal, Localized Routing (LR) allows Mobile Nodes (MNs) attached to the same or different Mobile Access Gateways (MAGs) to route traffic by using localized forwarding or a direct tunnel between the gateways. This document proposes initiation, utilization, and termination mechanisms for localized routing between mobile access gateways within a proxy mobile IPv6 domain. It defines two new signaling messages, Localized Routing Initiation (LRI) and Local Routing Acknowledgment (LRA), that are used to realize this mechanism. [STANDARDS-TRACK]
Drug Use in the Twittersphere: A Qualitative Contextual Analysis of Tweets About Prescription Drugs

Tweets about prescription opioid use may reveal insights into the prescription drug epidemic. We qualitatively assessed 2,100 tweets about prescription opioids utilizing a Twitter Archiving Google Spreadsheet® and determined whether the tweet represented: abuse (i.e., use to get high), not abuse (i.e., use as analgesic), or was not characterizable (e.g., “I need a Percocet”) and whether the connotation was positive (i.e. promote psychoactive or analgesic use), negative (i.e., adverse event), or not characterizable. Abuse was commonly described and the majority of terms (>66%) represented a positive connotation. Twitter can be a resource to observe trends in perceptions about prescription opioid use.
Evolution and complexity of the genes encoding the keratins of human epidermal cells.

The keratins are a family of proteins (Mr = 40-70 K) that form 8-nm intermediate filaments in the cytoplasm of most vertebrate epithelial cells. Each epithelial cell expresses its own subset of keratins, which consists of about 2 to 5 polypeptides. In epidermis, the keratins are especially abundant, comprising 30 to 85 percent of the total protein of these cells. Four major keratins (Mr = 46, 50, 56, and 58 K) are expressed in the basal cells, whereas the larger keratins (60-70 K) are found only in differentiating epidermal cells. We have shown that in human epidermis there are multiple mRNAs for the keratins. These RNAs can be grouped into two distinct classes as judged by their ability to hybridize to one of two separate classes of cloned keratin cDNA sequences. Each of these two classes of sequences is encoded by a multigene family of about 10 genes each, and these two families are coordinately conserved throughout vertebrate evolution [21]. Recently, we have determined the DNA sequence of a cloned cDNA insert that is complementary to greater than 90 percent of the coding region for the 50 K keratin and which shares homology with 46 K keratin mRNA [13]. A comparison of the predicted amino acid sequence of this cytoskeletal keratin with partial sequences of keratins of epidermal appendages, e.g., wool, shows that there is a distinct relation with the fibrous keratins of wool, but little or no relation with the matrix keratins. A comparison of the 50 K keratin sequence with the partial sequences known for other intermediate-filament proteins indicates that the keratins may be the most distantly related of this class of 80- to 100-A filamentous proteins. This is in contrast to the actins and tubulins, which are highly conserved components of vertebrate cytoskeletons. The wide flexibility in the amino acid sequence of intermediate filament proteins suggests that these proteins have evolved to meet subtly different requirements in the cytoskeletal architecture.
A Systematic Review of the Health and Well-Being Benefits of Biodiverse Environments

Recent ecosystem service models have placed biodiversity as a central factor in the processes that link the natural environment to health. While it is recognized that disturbed ecosystems might negatively affect human well-being, it is not clear whether biodiversity is related to or can promote “good” human health and well-being. The aim of this study was to systematically identify, summarize, and synthesize research that had examined whether biodiverse environments are health promoting. The objectives were twofold: (1) to map the interdisciplinary field of enquiry and (2) to assess whether current evidence enables us to characterize the relationship. Due to the heterogeneity of available evidence a narrative synthesis approach was used, which is textual rather than statistical. Extensive searches identified 17 papers that met the inclusion criteria: 15 quantitative and 2 qualitative. The evidence was varied in disciplinary origin, with authors approaching the question using different study designs and methods, and conceptualizations of biodiversity, health, and well-being. There is some evidence to suggest that biodiverse natural environments promote better health through exposure to pleasant environments or the encouragement of health-promoting behaviors. There was also evidence of inverse relationships, particularly at a larger scale (global analyses). However, overall the evidence is inconclusive and fails to identify a specific role for biodiversity in the promotion of better health. High-quality interdisciplinary research is needed to produce a more reliable evidence base. Of particular importance is identifying the specific ecosystem services, goods, and processes through which biodiversity may generate good health and well-being.
Rotavirus Infection Accelerates Type 1 Diabetes in Mice with Established Insulitis

ABSTRACT Infection modulates type 1 diabetes, a common autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of insulin-producing islet β cells in the pancreas. Childhood rotavirus infections have been associated with exacerbations in islet autoimmunity. Nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice develop lymphocytic islet infiltration (insulitis) and then clinical diabetes, whereas NOD8.3 TCR mice, transgenic for a T-cell receptor (TCR) specific for an important islet autoantigen, show more rapid diabetes onset. Oral infection of infant NOD mice with the monkey rotavirus strain RRV delays diabetes development. Here, the effect of RRV infection on diabetes development once insulitis is established was determined. NOD and NOD8.3 TCR mice were inoculated with RRV aged ≥12 and 5 weeks, respectively. Diabetes onset was significantly accelerated in both models (P < 0.024), although RRV infection was asymptomatic and confined to the intestine. The degree of diabetes acceleration was related to the serum antibody titer to RRV. RRV-infected NOD mice showed a possible trend toward increased insulitis development. Infected males showed increased CD8+ T-cell proportions in islets. Levels of β-cell major histocompatibility complex class I expression and islet tumor necrosis factor alpha mRNA were elevated in at least one model. NOD mouse exposure to mouse rotavirus in a natural experiment also accelerated diabetes. Thus, rotavirus infection after β-cell autoimmunity is established affects insulitis and exacerbates diabetes. A possible mechanism involves increased exposure of β cells to immune recognition and activation of autoreactive T cells by proinflammatory cytokines. The timing of infection relative to mouse age and degree of insulitis determines whether diabetes onset is delayed, unaltered, or accelerated.
Hypoxic Hepatitis: Clinical and Hemodynamic Study in 142 Consecutive Cases

The centrilobular liver cell necrosis observed in hypoxic hepatitis is generally attributed to failure of hepatic blood perfusion. Accordingly, this injury of the liver is commonly recognized under the terms “shock liver” or “ischemic hepatitis. ” During a 10-year period, 142 episodes of hypoxic hepatitis were consecutively identified in the intensive care unit of a general hospital, and the clinical, biological, and hemodynamic parameters were prospectively collected on individual files. We conducted the current study to assess retrospectively the role of the hemodynamic mechanisms of tissue hypoxia: ischemia, passive venous congestion, and hypoxemia. Among the 142 episodes of hypoxic hepatitis, 138 were separated in 4 main groups based on clinical features: decompensated congestive heart failure (80 cases), acute cardiac failure (20 cases), exacerbated chronic respiratory failure (19 cases), and toxic/septic shock (19 cases). An elementary hemodynamic evaluation, including blood pressure, central venous pressure, and arterial blood gas analysis, was carried out in every episode and a more complete hemodynamic assessment through pulmonary artery catheterization was performed in 61 episodes.The hemodynamic mechanisms responsible for hypoxic hepatitis were different in the 4 groups. In congestive heart failure and acute heart failure, the hypoxia of the liver resulted from decreased hepatic blood flow (ischemia) due to left-sided heart failure and from venous congestion secondary to right-sided heart failure. In chronic respiratory failure, liver hypoxia was mainly due to profound hypoxemia. In toxic/septic shock, oxygen delivery to the liver was not decreased but oxygen needs were increased, while the liver was unable to use oxygen properly. In all conditions underlying hypoxic hepatitis, except toxic/septic shock, a shock state was observed in only about 50% of the cases. Therefore, the expressions “shock liver” or “ischemic hepatitis” are misleading and should be replaced by the more general term “hypoxic hepatitis. ”
Clonal T‐lymphocytes from untreated hairy‐cell leukaemia patients enhance the growth of BFU‐E

Abstract: The anaemia in hairy cell leukaemia (HCL) has been suggested to be mediated in part by T lymphocytes. Consequently, we have investigated the role of T lymphocytes in this disease by cloning pre‐treatment HCL T lymphocytes and testing their influence on the in vitro growth of BFU‐E from autologous post‐treatment and normal donors T‐lymphocyte depleted peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC‐T). Altogether, 24 CD4+ /CD8‐ and 17 CD4‐/CD8+ T‐lymphocyte clones from 3 different HCL patients were tested. All were found to enhance the growth of BFU‐E, the degree of enhancement being independent of the length of IFN treatment at the time of the post‐treatment sampling. Likewise, no difference in the extent of enhancement was seen between CD4+ /CD8‐ and CD4‐/CD8+ clones, or whether the clones were tested for modulation of BFU‐E from PBMNC‐T of autologous or allogeneic origin. Finally, no differences could be observed between different patients in the extent of clonal enhancement. These findings, which are in line with our previous ones in normal donors, indicate that the T‐lymphocyte function with regard to regulation of the erythropoiesis is normal in HCL, arguing against a T‐lymphocyte mediated suppression of the erythropoiesis in HCL.
Cerebral oximetry values in dialyzed surgical patients: a comparison between hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis

Abstract Background: Cerebral tissue regional oxygen saturation (rSO2) through near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a method for non-invasive monitoring of cerebral tissue oxygenation. However, nowadays there is limited information on the level of cerebral tissue oxygenation in dialyzed end-stage renal disease (ESRD) surgical patients. The aim of this observational study was to evaluate the baseline cerebral rSO2 values, to compare values between hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients and identify risk factors that could predict cerebral tissue oxygenation in these patients. Patients/Methods: Thirty-two ESRD patients (≥18 years old), scheduled to undergo elective minor or major surgery, were enrolled. Patients were allocated in two groups according to dialysis modality. Twenty-three patients were treated with HD and nine were treated with PD. Demographic and clinical characteristics, comorbidities and arterial hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SpO2) of the study population were recorded. Results: Patients who were treated with HD had significant lower baseline rSO2 values compared with PD patients [median, 50% (28–63) vs. 63% (45–69), p = 0.002]. Hierarchical linear regression model analysis showed that preoperative Hb and SpO2 were positive predictive variables (B = 0.353, p = 0.01 and B = 0.375, p = 0.009, respectively) for rSO2. Moreover, dialysis modality was independent predictor for baseline rSO2. The modality of dialysis remained an independent predictor for rSO2 after controlling for the other significant variables (B = 0.291, p = 0.032) and PD was associated with higher baseline values of rSO2. Conclusion: In conclusion, ESRD surgical patients undergoing PD treatment appear to have significantly higher baseline cerebral tissue saturation values compared with HD.
Flexible ureteroscopy for renal stone without preoperative ureteral stenting shows good prognosis

Purpose To clarify the outcome of flexible ureteroscopy (fURS) for management of renal calculi without preoperative stenting. Methods A total of 171 patients who received 176 fURS procedures for unilateral renal stones were reviewed. All procedures were divided into two groups depending on whether they received ureteral stenting preoperatively. Baseline characteristics of patients, stone burden, operation time, stone-free rates, and complications were compared between both groups. Results Successful primary access to the renal pelvis was achieved in 104 of 114 (91.2%) patients without preoperative stenting, while all procedures with preoperative stenting (n = 62) were successfully performed. A total of 156 procedures were included for further data analysis (56 procedures in stenting group and 100 in non-stenting group). No significant differences was found regardless of a preoperative stent placement in terms of stone-free rate (73.2% with stenting vs. 71.0% without, P = 0.854), operative time (70.4 ± 32.8 with stenting vs. 70.2 ± 32.1 without, P = 0.969). Conclusions fURS for management of renal stone without preoperative ureteral stenting are associated with well outcome in short term follow-up. Our study may help patients and doctors to decide if an optional stent is placed or not.
PHYLUCE is a software package for the analysis of conserved genomic loci

Summary Targeted enrichment of conserved and ultraconserved genomic elements allows universal collection of phylogenomic data from hundreds of species at multiple time scales (< 5 Ma to > 300 Ma). Prior to downstream inference, data from these types of targeted enrichment studies must undergo pre-processing to assemble contigs from sequence data; identify targeted, enriched loci from the off-target background data; align enriched contigs representing conserved loci to one another; and prepare and manipulate these alignments for subsequent phylogenomic inference. PHYLUCE is an efficient and easy-to-install software package that accomplishes these tasks across hundreds of taxa and thousands of enriched loci. Availability and Implementation PHYLUCE is written for Python 2.7. PHYLUCE is supported on OSX and Linux (RedHat/CentOS) operating systems. PHYLUCE source code is distributed under a BSD-style license from https://www.github. com/fairclothUlab/phyluce/. PHYLUCE is also available as a package (https://binstar.org/fairclothUlab/phyluce) for the Anaconda Python distribution that installs all dependencies, and users can request a PHYLUCE instance on iPlant Atmosphere (tag: phyluce). The software manual and a tutorial are available from http://phyluce.readthedocs. org/en/latest/ and test data are available from doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare. 1284521. Contact brant@fairclothUlab.org Supplementary information Supplementary Figure 1.
Glypican 4 down-regulation in pluripotent stem cells as a potential strategy to improve differentiation and to impair tumorigenicity of cell transplants

Recent advances in stem cell technologies have opened new avenues for the treatment of a number of diseases still lacking effective therapeutic options. Cell transplantation has emerged as among the most promising clinical intervention for disorders such as injuries, diabetes, liver diseases, neurodegeneration and heart failure (Lee et al., 2013; Forbes and Rosenthal, 2014; Tabar and Studer, 2014). To date much attention is given to the potential application of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) including both embryonic (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) for regenerative medicine (Yamanaka, 2012; Lee et al., 2013; Tabar and Studer, 2014). Owing to their remarkable ability to self-renewal indefinitely and to differentiate into all mature cell types hPSCs appear of great advantage to generate an unlimited number of disease-relevant cells. The benefits/pitfalls associated with the use of hPSCs and their derivatives in cell-based transplantation therapies are currently being evaluated in animal models recapitulating human conditions (Hulot et al., 2014; Isacson, 2015). In vivo studies have begun to provide proof-of-concept for the efficacy of hPSC-based transplantation therapies to treat pathologies such as Parkinson's, Huntington's and retinal diseases in which symptoms are caused by the selective loss of specific cell types (Tabar and Studer, 2014; Isacson, 2015). Interestingly, cell transplantation therapies utilizing hPSC-derived retinal pigment epithelium cells have reached clinical trials for the treatment of macular degeneration.
Acoustic-Wave Velocities and Refractive Indices in an m-Plane GaN Single-Crystal Plate and c-Axis-Oriented ScAlN Films Measured by Brillouin Scattering Techniques

We have experimentally investigated wave velocities and refractive indices in bulk and film samples [a GaN single-crystal plate and c-axis-oriented ScxAl(1-x)N (x = 0.00 - 0.63) films] by Brillouin scattering (BRS). All of the piezoelectrically unstiffened elastic constants and the ordinary refractive index of the GaN single-crystal plate were determined from the reflection-induced ΘA(RIΘA) scattering geometry and the combination of 90R and 180° scattering geometries. The uncertainties of the measured wave velocities were approximately 0.17% (RIΘA) and 2.5% (combination technique). In addition, the longitudinal-wave velocities of ScxAl(1-x)N films propagating in the normal direction were obtained by the combination technique. The maximum uncertainty was approximately 3.3%. The shear-wave velocities and refractive indices of ScxAl(1-x)N films were also investigated by the 90R scattering geometry using velocities measured by high-overtone bulk acoustic resonators. The softening trends of the elasticity were obtained from the measured longitudinal- and shear-wave velocities, although there were large uncertainties in the Brillouin measurement system owing to thermal instability.
An extract of Hydrilla verticillata and associated epiphytes induces avian vacuolar myelinopathy in laboratory mallards

Avian vacuolar myelinopathy (AVM) is a neurological disease affecting bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), American coots (Fulica americana), waterfowl, and other birds in the southeastern United States. The cause of the disease is unknown, but is thought to be a naturally produced toxin. AVM is associated with aquatic macrophytes, most frequently hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata), and researchers have linked the disease to an epiphytic cyanobacterial species associated with the macrophytes. The goal of this study was to develop an extraction protocol for separating the putative toxin from a hydrilla‐cyanobacterial matrix. Hydrilla samples were collected from an AVM‐affected reservoir (J. Strom Thurmond Lake, SC) and confirmed to contain the etiologic agent by mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) bioassay. These samples were then extracted using a solvent series of increasing polarity: hexanes, acetone, and methanol. Control hydrilla samples from a reference reservoir with no history of AVM (Lake Marion, SC) were extracted in parallel. Resulting extracts were administered to mallards by oral gavage. Our findings indicate that the methanol extracts of hydrilla collected from the AVM‐affected site induced the disease in laboratory mallards. This study provides the first data documenting for an “extractable” AVM‐inducing agent. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol, 2009.