Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterising the space–time structure of rainfall in the Sahel with a view to estimating IDAF curves

Intensity–duration–area–frequency (IDAF) curves are increasingly demanded for characterising the severity of storms and for designing hydraulic structures. Their computation requires inferring areal rainfall distributions over the range of space scales and timescales that are the most relevant for hydrological studies at catchment scale. In this study, IDAF curves are computed for the first time in West Africa, based on the data provided by the AMMA-CATCH Niger network, composed of 30 recording rain gauges having operated since 1990 over a 16 000 km 2 area in south-western Niger. The IDAF curves are obtained by separately considering the time (intensity–duration–frequency, IDF) and space (areal reduction factor, ARF) components of the extreme rainfall distribution. Annual maximum intensities are extracted for resolutions between 1 and 24 h in time and from point (rain gauge) to 2500 km 2 in space. The IDF model used is based on the concept of scale invariance (simple scaling) which allows the normalisation of the different temporal resolutions of maxima series to which a global generalised extreme value (GEV) is fitted. This parsimonious framework allows one to use the concept of dynamic scaling to describe the ARF. The results show that coupling a simple scaling in space and time with a dynamical scaling that relates to space and time allows one to satisfactorily model the effect of space–time aggregation on the distribution of extreme rainfall.
Metaldehyde Poisoning of Companion Animals: A Three-year Retrospective Study

Abstract Introduction: Intentional and accidental poisoning of animals is often caused by readily available commercial pesticides, such as the molluscicide metaldehyde. A retrospective analysis of suspected metaldehyde poisonings between 2014 and 2016 in Italy was conducted. Material and Methods: Biological matrices were collected for toxicological analyses in the course of routine Institute activity. A total of 183 organs from dogs and cats and 49 pieces of bait, here specificall y poisoned food used to lure animals, were analysed and the presence of metaldehyde was confirmed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Results: A high content of metaldehyde was demonstrated in the analysed samples from dogs and cats: 50 (27.3%) animals were found positive for metaldehyde intoxication together with 17 pieces of bait. Conclusion: The study emphasised the need for the control of metaldehyde use by the veterinary service.
Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii and Toxocara canis in a human rural population of Southern Rio Grande do Sul

ABSTRACT Due to the growing population of pets, especially homeless dogs and cats, zoonoses still represent a significant public health problem. Toxoplasma gondii and Toxocara spp. are epidemiologically important zoonotic agents as they are etiological factors of human toxoplasmosis and toxocariasis, respectively. These parasites remain neglected even though they are substantially prevalent in rural areas. The aim of this study was to investigate T. gondii and T. canis seroprevalence and risk factors of seropositivity in a rural population in Pelotas municipality, Brazil. The study participants (n=344) were patients of a Basic Healthcare Unit (BHU) located in Cerrito Alegre. Blood samples were collected and tested for T. gondii antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence and T. canis antibodies by an indirect ELISA that targets an excreted-secreted antigen (TES). T. gondii seropositivity was 53.2%, with higher titers (1:256 - 1:1,024) in individuals who habitually eat pork, beef, or chicken, while T. canis seropositivity was 71.8% and concomitant T. gondii and T. canis seropositivity was 38.3%. Among the seropositivity risk factors assessed, only habitual undercooked meat consumption was significant (p = 0.046; OR = 3.7) for T. gondii and none of them were associated with T. canis seropositivity. Both parasites have a high prevalence in rural areas, which reinforces the need to invest in rural community education and health.
Variability of Different Yield Contributing Parameters and Yield of Some Okra ( Abelmoschus esculentus ) Accessions

In order to assess the variability of yield contributing characters of 50 okra accessions and their interrelation effects on the yield of green pod a field experiment was undertaken at the Horticulture Farm of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from February, 2002 to May, 2002. A wide range of variation was observed in case of weight of green pod per plant (105- 281g), days to first flowering (40-52days) and weight of individual green pod (14-26g). Moderate variation for length of green pod (12-19cm), number of green pods per plant (6-11) and yield of green pod (4-13 t/ha), lesser variation for percent of dry matter content (5-8%), number of ridges per green pod (5-9) and diameter of green pod (1-2cm) was observed. The highest genotypic coefficient of variation was observed in case of yield of green pod (GCV= 23.22%) followed by weight of green pod per plant (22.24%), weight of individual green pod (18.68%), number of ridges per green pod (13.49%), number of green pod per plant (10.84%), dry matter content of green pod (10.48%), diameter of green pod (6.90%) and length of green pod (6.24%). These characters suggested the existence of justifiable genetic distance among different cultivars. Correlation coefficient indicated that yield of green pod had highly significant positive association with weight of green pod per plant and weight of individual green pod. Path coefficient analysis showed that the weight of green pod per plant and weight of individual green pod were directly contributed towards the yield of green pod. Key words: Okra, accession, variability, yield.
Health Related Quality of Life in Asthma : A Systematic Review

Asthma is considered as one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. It is a problem across the globe, and affects estimated 300 million people. As a result of serious physical, social and psychological complications, asthma can reduce health related quality of life. Objective: The aim of this review paper is to systematically identify the barriers of measuring and improving Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) among bronchial asthmatic patients by reviewing the past and present literature and summarize the interventions required to improve the HRQoL among such patients in developed and developing countries including Pakistan. Methods: A total of 45 studies were retrieved from databases related to Health Related Quality of Life among asthmatic patients using different search engines such as PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct. Conclusion: The review concluded that there is a need for an integrative understanding of barriers leading to poor HRQoL among asthmatics as core element to highlight gaps in current asthma management. Improvement in management of asthma by introducing well -structured pharmaceutical care delivery in the healthcare facilities can contribute towards better patient knowledge and management and can ultimately improve health-related quality of life of asthma patients.
Learning Sparse Representation With Variational Auto-Encoder for Anomaly Detection

Anomaly detection has a wide range of applications in security area such as network monitoring and smart city/campus construction. It has become an active research issue of great concern in recent years. However, most algorithms of the existing studies are powerless for large-scale and high-dimensional data, and the intermediate data extracted by some methods that can handle high-dimensional data will consume lots of storage space. In this paper, we propose a novel sparse representation framework that learns dictionaries based on the latent space of variational auto-encoder. For large-scale data sets, it can play the role of dimensionality reduction to obtain hidden information, and extract more high-level features than hand-crafted features. At the same time, for the storage of normal information, the space cost can be greatly reduced. To verify the versatility and performance of the proposed learning algorithm, we have experimented on different types of anomaly detection tasks, including KDD-CUP data set for network intrusion detection, Mnist data set for image anomaly detection, and UCSD pedestrian’s data set for abnormal event detection in surveillance videos. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms competing algorithms in all kinds of anomaly detection tasks.
Association of Genes in the High-Density Lipoprotein Metabolic Pathway with Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy in Asian Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose To assess the association of genes in the high-density lipoprotein metabolic pathway (HDLMP) with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) and the genetic difference in the HDLMP between PCV and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods We performed a literature search in EMBASE, PubMed, and Web of Science for genetic studies on 7 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 5 genes in the HDLMP including cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP), hepatic lipase (LIPC), lipoprotein lipase (LPL), ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1), and ATP-binding cassette transporter G1 (ABCG1) in PCV. All studies were published before September 30, 2017, without language restriction. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of each polymorphism were estimated. We also compared the association profiles between PCV and AMD and performed a sensitivity analysis. Results Our result is based on 43 articles. After excluding duplicates and articles without complete information, 7 studies were applicable to meta-analysis. 7 polymorphisms were meta-analyzed: CETP rs2303790/rs3764261, LIPC rs10468017/rs493258, LPL rs12678919, ABCA1 rs1883025, and ABCG1 rs57137919. We found that in Asian population, CETP rs3764261 (T allele; OR = 1.46; 95% CI: 1.28–1.665, P < 0.01), CETP rs2303790 (G allele; OR = 1.57; 95% CI: 1.258–1.96, P < 0.01), and ABCG1 rs57137919 (A allele; OR = 1.168; 95% CI: 1.016–1.343, P < 0.01) were significantly associated with PCV, and ABCG1 rs57137919 (A allele; OR = 1.208, 95% CI: 1.035–1.411, P < 0.01) has different effects in PCV and AMD. The other 4 polymorphisms in LIPC/LPL/ABCA1 had no significant association with PCV (P > 0.05). The sensitivity analysis validated the significance of our analysis. Conclusions Our study revealed 7 polymorphisms in 5 genes. Among them, CETP (rs3764261/rs2303790) and ABCG1 (rs57137919) were the major susceptibility genes for PCV in Asian population and ABCG1 (rs57137919) showed allelic diversity between PCV and AMD. Since the size for PCV and AMD was small, we need to study these genes genotyping in larger samples.
Bakterien- undPilzgenom-Nachweis PCR/NAT: Auswertung des Ringversuchs November 2018 von INSTAND e.V. zur externen Qualitätskontrolle molekularbiologischer Nachweisverfahren in der bakteriologischen Diagnostik

This contribution provides an analysis report of the recent proficiency testing scheme “Bacterial and Fungal Genome Detection (PCR/NAT)”. Udo Reischl Martin Ehrenschwender It summarizes some benchmarks and the overall assessment of results reported by all of the participating laboratories. Andreas Hiergeist A highly desired scheme for external quality assessment schemes (EQAS) of molecular diagnostic methods in the field of medical microbiology Matthias Maaß was activated in 2002 by the German Society of Hygiene and MicrobiMichael Baier ology (DGHM) and is now organized by INSTAND e.V. , Düsseldorf, GerDimitrios Frangoulidis many. This segment of the INSTAND e.V. proficiency testing program is open for diagnostic laboratories worldwide. The concept of this EQAS Gregor Grass scheme, which is in accordance to the German RiLiBÄK, part B3, is Heiner von Buttlar based on two validation rounds per year (spring and autumn) and a Holger Scholz permanently expanding coverage of relevant bacterial or fungal pathogens. Volker Fingerle Briefly, next to “simply negative” samples the corresponding sets of QC specimensmay contain some strong-positive samples, samples spiked Andreas Sing 5 Roger Dumke with clinical variants or species closely related to the target organisms. Further information as well as the statistically documented and disIngrid Reiter-Owona cussed results of the past rounds of this proficiency testing scheme Agnes Anders “Bacterial and Fungal Genome Detection (PCR/NAT)” can be found at the homepage of INSTAND e.V. (https://www.instand-ev.de). Although the preferred language of these documents is German, we are aiming 1 Institute for Clinical Microbiology and Hygiene, to provide at least a brief discussion of the results and some key issues in English and keep the tables in a bilingual style. University Hospital Regensburg, Germany 2 Labor Dr. Heidrich und Kollegen MVZ GmbH, Hamburg, Germany 3 Institute of Microbiology, University Hospital of the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany 4 Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich, Germany 5 Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety, Oberschleissheim, Germany 6 Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Technical University Dresden, Germany 7 Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology 20/29 GMS Zeitschrift zur Förderung der Qualitätssicherung in medizinischen Laboratorien 2019, Vol. 10, ISSN 1869-4241 Report This is the English version. The German version starts at p. 1. OPEN ACCESS
A decade of climate change experiments on marine organisms: procedures, patterns and problems

The first decade of the new millennium saw a flurry of experiments to establish a mechanistic understanding of how climate change might transform the global biota, including marine organisms. However, the biophysical properties of the marine environment impose challenges to experiments, which can weaken their inference space. To facilitate strengthening the experimental evidence for possible ecological consequences of climate change, we reviewed the physical, biological and procedural scope of 110 marine climate change experiments published between 2000 and 2009. We found that 65% of these experiments only tested a single climate change factor (warming or acidification), 54% targeted temperate organisms, 58% were restricted to a single species and 73% to benthic invertebrates. In addition, 49% of the reviewed experiments had issues with the experimental design, principally related to replication of the main test‐factors (temperature or pH), and only 11% included field assessments of processes or associated patterns. Guiding future research by this inventory of current strengths and weaknesses will expand the overall inference space of marine climate change experiments. Specifically, increased effort is required in five areas: (i) the combined effects of concurrent climate and non‐climate stressors; (ii) responses of a broader range of species, particularly from tropical and polar regions as well as primary producers, pelagic invertebrates, and fish; (iii) species interactions and responses of species assemblages, (iv) reducing pseudo‐replication in controlled experiments; and (v) increasing realism in experiments through broad‐scale observations and field experiments. Attention in these areas will improve the generality and accuracy of our understanding of climate change as a driver of biological change in marine ecosystems.
Can image quality features predict visual change blindness?

This study concerns the prediction of a striking perceptual failure known as change blindness, which affects our ability to notice certain types of differences between visual stimuli (e.g. change in the colour or position of an object). We draw a parallel with the subjective image fidelity assessment task, which also consists of determining differences between images. Here, we look at whether the features extracted by recent suprathreshold indices can effectively predict the difficulty of a change detection task. Both linear and nonlinear feature pooling approaches are tested and validated on two databases. Results indicate that image quality features show promise when it comes to predicting detection times.
The effects of respiratory functions on disease activity, functionality, spinal mobility and quality of life in patients with ankylosing spondylitis

We aimed to determine the relationship between the pulmonary functions with disease activity, functionality, spinal mobility and quality of life in patients with ankylosing spondyilitis (AS). PATIENTS AND METHOD: 52 patients (44 male, 8 female) who were diagnosed as AS in Þiþli Etfal Education and Research Hospital physical medicine and rehabilitation policlinics according to the Modified New York criteria, participated in our study. The demographic characteristics and smoking habbits were questioned, the chest expansion was measured. The functional activity, disease activity, spinal mobility measurement were evaluated by BASFI, BASDAI,BASMI (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis functional, disease activity, metrology ýndex),and the life quality was evaluated by life quality spesific to the disease (ASQOL). The respiratory functions were measured by spirometry. 52 patients in 31 patients restrictive, and in 1 patient mixed pattern pulmonary involvement were detected. There was no determined no significant difference between who detected and not detected restrictive lung disease regarding age, gender, body mass index, lung expansion (LE), history of smoking (p>0.005). Pulmonary function tests results and LE of smoker and no smoker patients were similar. While LE was found to be positively correlated with FEV1 and FVC (p
POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE INCREASE IN VAT ON POOR HOUSEHOLDS IN BOTSWANA

In this article, we examine the potential impact of the increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) on Household Consumption in Botswana. The paper derives motivation from the recent increase in VAT from 10% to 12%. The increase was necessitated by among others the need to find alternative ways of financing the 2010/11 budget deficit in light of the difficult revenue situation faced by Botswana following the global economic meltdown, with real GDP declining by 4.6% in 2009 as a result. Notwithstanding the elasticity of demand and supply, generally an increase in VAT is likely to increase prices of consumption goods and services, as suppliers ordinarily shift the tax to consumers. Given that low income groups have a higher marginal propensity to consume, it is highly likely that poor households will be more affected than other sections of the population. For middle to upper income classes, the effect may be negligible given that they have degrees of freedom to adjust their consumption patterns in response to the increase in VAT.
Myxoid Liposarcoma: Prognostic Factors and Metastatic Pattern in a Series of 148 Patients Treated at a Single Institution

Objectives The authors reported a retrospective study on myxoid liposarcomas (MLs), evaluating factors that may influence overall survival (OS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), metastasis-free survival (MFS), and analyzing the metastatic pattern. Methods 148 MLs were analyzed. The sites of metastases were investigated. Results Margins (p = 0.002), grading (p = 0,0479), and metastasis (p < 0,0001) were significant risk factors affecting overall survival (OS). Type of presentation (p = 0.0243), grading (p = 0,0055), margin (p = 0.0001), and local recurrence (0.0437) were risk factors on metastasis-free survival (MFS). Authors did not observe statistically significant risk factors for local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and reported 55% extrapulmonary metastases and 45% pulmonary metastases. Conclusion Margins, grading, presentation, local recurrence, and metastasis were prognostic factors. Extrapulmonary metastases were more frequent in myxoid liposarcoma.
Effects of Fescue Toxicosis on Bovine Acrosomal Integrity and Semen Cryopreservation

Little research exists concerning the effects of fescue toxicosis on bovine male reproduction. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of toxic tall fescue consumption on acrosomal integrity of beef bulls. Semen was collected and fixed from bulls that were either fed a ration containing toxic (E+) or nontoxic (E-) tall fescue seed or grazing toxic (E+) or nontoxic (E-) tall fescue pasture. Beef bulls in 2011 (n = 14), 2012 (n = 21), 2013 (n = 12), and 2014 (n = 25), having passed a breeding soundness exam (BSE), were blocked and allotted to one of two treatments. Blood samples were collected to determine serum prolactin (PRL) concentrations. Semen samples were collected via electro-ejaculation and evaluated using a computerized sperm quality analyzer specific for bull semen. Semen was fixed in neutral buffered formalin and stored at room temperature (RT) until further analysis. Fluorescent-labeled peanut agglutinin (PNA) was used to evaluate sperm acrosomal integrity. For acrosome assessment, fixed spermatozoa were incubated with PNA-Alexa Fluor 594, counterstained with DAPI, airdried onto microscope slides, photographed under fluorescence microscopy, and counted manually. Four staining patterns were observed following the exposure of spermatozoa to PNA-Alexa Fluor 594. Analysis revealed significant TRT effects for staining patterns 2
Detection of Human Papillomavirus L1 Gene DNA Fragments in Postmortem Blood and Spleen after Gardasil® Vaccination-A Case Report

A same-nested PCR was used to re-amplify the amplicon of a hypervariable region of the HPV-16 L1 gene DNA in the postmortem blood and splenic tissue obtained at autopsy of a formerly healthy teenage girl who suffered a sudden unexpected death in sleep 6 months after 3 intramuscular injections of a quadrivalent HPV vaccine, Gardasil? A full autopsy analysis revealed no cause of death. The HPV-16 gene DNA detected in the postmortem materials was similar to the HPV-16 gene DNA fragments in Gardasil? in that both were in non-B-conformation, requiring nondegenerate GP6 and MY11 primers to re-amplify the PCR amplicon for detection and to generate a template useful for direct DNA sequencing. A sequence excised from the base-calling DNA sequencing electropherogram was analyzed by Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) alignment and a 45 - 60 base sequence fully matched with a standard hypervariable region of the HPV-16 L1 gene retrieved from the National Center for Biotechnology Information database validated the correct genotyping for HPV- 16 L1 gene DNA. These naked non-proliferating HPV- 16 L1 gene DNA fragments appeared to be in the macrophages of the postmortem blood and spleen, and were protected from degradation by binding firmly to the particulate aluminum adjuvant used in vaccine formulation. The significance of these HPV DNA fragments of a vaccine origin found in post-mortem materials is not clear and warrants further investigation.
Patient navigator facilitated text messaging intervention improves linkage to care in viral hepatitis b: A pilot study

Background: Despite the high prevalence of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in Asian Americans and other ethnic groups, a majority of these populations remains unscreened and unprotected. A large percentage of those who are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) are not linked to care owing to a poor health care access. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of mobile text messaging in engaging individuals with hepatitis B or at risk for it, and to assess their acceptance of text messaging interventions.