Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Behaviour against β-lactams in Aeromonas spp. isolated from extraintestinal infections

The role of Aeromonas spp. in a variety of human illnesses has been well documented during the last decades. The spectrum of infectious diseases caused by Aeromonas species includes gastrointestinal and extraintestinal infections. Aeromonas gastrointestinal infections are generally self-limiting and antibiotic therapy is unnecessary. However, for gastrointestinal infections in immunocompromised patients and extraintestinal infections, it is necessary to implement an appropriate antibiotic treatment. Since the early 1990’s, an increase in antimicrobial resistance of Aeromonas spp. has been observed worldwide. s-lactam antibiotics are currently the most commonly used antibiotics in developing areas because of their cost, safety and selectivity in the treatment of infections caused by bacterial pathogens. Our results support the hypotheses that it is possible that the therapeutic failures of s-lactams in the treatment of infections caused by Aeromonas spp. could be associated with the inoculum effect, the expression of inducible s-lactamases and the emergence of derepressed mutants in vivo.
Leptin is not the Critical Signal for Kisspeptin or Luteinising Hormone Restoration During Exit from Negative Energy Balance

Low levels of the adipocyte hormone leptin are considered to be the key signal contributing to inhibited gonadotrophin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) release and reproductive acyclicity during negative energy balance. Hypoleptinaemia‐induced inhibition of GnRH may be initiated with upstream inhibition of the secretagogue kisspeptin (Kiss1) because GnRH neurones do not express leptin receptors. The present study aimed to determine whether eliminating the hypoleptinaemia associated with caloric restriction (CR), by restoring leptin to normal basal levels, could reverse the suppression of the reproductive neuroendocrine axis. Fifty percent CR resulted in significant suppression of anteroventral periventricular Kiss1 mRNA, arcuate nucleus (ARH) Kiss1 and neurokinin B (NKB) mRNA levels and serum luteinising hormone (LH). Restoring leptin to normal basal levels did not restore Kiss1 or NKB mRNA or LH levels. Surprisingly, leptin did not activate expression of phosphorylated signal‐transducer and activator of transcription‐3 in ARC Kiss1 neurones, indicating that these neurones may not relay leptin signalling to GnRH neurones. Previous work in fasting models showing restoration of LH used a pharmacological dose of leptin. Therefore, in a 48‐h fast study, replacement of leptin to pharmacological levels was compared with replacement of leptin to normal basal levels. Maintaining leptin at normal basal levels during the fast did not prevent inhibition of LH. By contrast, pharmacological levels of leptin did maintain LH at control values. These results suggest that, although leptin may be a permissive signal for reproductive function, hypoleptinaemia is unlikely to be the critical signal responsible for ARC Kiss1 and LH inhibition during negative energy balance.
Government Ownership and Corporate Governance: Evidence from the EU

The ongoing global financial crisis has led to the largest increase in state intervention since the Great Depression. Direct government ownership in publicly-traded corporations has increased dramatically since 2008. How will this increase in public ownership affect the governance of these erstwhile private companies? We examine the impact of government ownership on corporate governance using a sample of firms from the European Union, a region that is relatively familiar with active government participation. Our main finding is that government ownership is associated with lower governance quality. We further show that while government intervention is negatively related to governance quality in civil law countries, it is positively related to governance quality in common law countries. Finally, we find that the preferential voting rights of golden shares are especially damaging to governance quality.
Dynamics of muscle microcirculatory and blood–myocyte O2 flux during contractions

The O2 requirements of contracting skeletal muscle may increase 100‐fold above rest. In 1919, August Krogh’s brilliant insights recognized the capillary as the principal site for this increased blood–myocyte O2 flux. Based on the premise that most capillaries did not sustain RBC flux at rest, Krogh proposed that capillary recruitment [i.e. initiation of red blood cell (RBC) flux in previously non‐flowing capillaries] increased the capillary surface area available for O2 flux and reduced mean capillary‐to‐mitochondrial diffusion distances. More modern experimental approaches reveal that most muscle capillaries may support RBC flux at rest. Thus, rather than contraction‐induced capillary recruitment per se, increased RBC flux and haematocrit within already‐flowing capillaries probably elevate perfusive and diffusive O2 conductances and hence blood–myocyte O2 flux. Additional surface area for O2 exchange is recruited but, crucially, this may occur along the length of already‐flowing capillaries (i.e. longitudinal recruitment). Today, the capillary is still considered the principal site for O2 and substrate delivery to contracting skeletal muscle. Indeed, the presence of very low intramyocyte O2 partial pressures (PO2s) and the absence of intramyocyte PO2 gradients, whilst refuting the relevance of diffusion distances, place an even greater importance on capillary hemodynamics. This emergent picture calls for a paradigm‐shift in our understanding of the function of capillaries by de‐emphasizing de novo‘capillary recruitment’. Diseases such as heart failure impair blood–myocyte O2 flux, in part, by decreasing the proportion of RBC‐flowing capillaries. Knowledge of capillary function in healthy muscle is requisite for identification of pathology and efficient design of therapeutic treatments.
Intensive care unit length of stay: Recent changes and future challenges

ObjectiveTo compare case-mix adjusted intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay for critically ill patients with a variety of medical and surgical diagnoses during a 5-yr interval. DesignNonrandomized cohort study. SettingA total of 42 ICUs at 40 US hospitals during 1988–1990 and 285 ICUs at 161 US hospitals during 1993–1996. PatientsA total of 17,105 consecutive ICU admissions during 1988–1990 and 38,888 consecutive ICU admissions during 1993–1996. Measurements and Main ResultsWe used patient demographic and clinical characteristics to compare observed and predicted ICU length of stay and hospital mortality. Outcomes for patients studied during 1993–1996 were predicted using multivariable models that were developed and cross-validated using the 1988–1990 database. The mean observed hospital length of stay decreased by 3 days (from 14.8 days during 1988–1990 to 11.8 days during 1993–1996), but the mean observed ICU length of stay remained similar (4.70 vs. 4.53 days). After adjusting for patient and institutional differences, the mean predicted 1993–1996 ICU stay was 4.64 days. Thus, the mean-adjusted ICU stay decreased by 0.11 days during this 5-yr interval (T-statistic, 4.35;p < .001). The adjusted mean ICU length of stay was not changed for patients with 49 (75%) of the 65 ICU admission diagnoses. In contrast, the mean observed hospital length of stay was significantly shorter for 47 (72%) of the 65 admission diagnoses, and no ICU admission diagnosis was associated with a longer hospital stay. Aggregate risk-adjusted hospital mortality during 1993–1996 (12.35%) was not significantly different during 1988–1990 (12.27%, p = .54). ConclusionsFor patients admitted to ICUs, the pressures associated with a decrease in hospital length of stay do not seem to have influenced the duration of ICU stay. Because of the high cost of intensive care, reduction in ICU stay may become a target for future cost-cutting efforts.
Reliability of a Medication Adherence Measure in an Outpatient Setting

Background:Reliable approaches for measuring antihypertensive medication compliance in the outpatient setting are not readily available. The objective of the current study was to determine the reliability of the Hill-Bone Compliance Scale among elderly hypertensive patients. Methods:We conducted a cross-sectional survey of community-dwelling patients attending the hypertension section of the Internal Medicine Clinic in a large multispecialty group practice. Participants (n = 239) completed a self-administered questionnaire consisting of demographic questions and the Hill-Bone Compliance to High Blood Pressure Therapy Scale, which includes a nine-item medication compliance subscale. Results:The mean age of respondents was 69 years; 51% of patients were men, 73% were white, 86% had at least a high school education, and 61% were married. The Cronbach alpha was 0.68 for the medication compliance subscale. All nine items of the medication compliance subscale maintained higher correlations with their own subscale total than with the salt intake and appointment keeping subscale totals. After adjusting for other demographic variables, the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of perfect medication compliance as reported on the medication compliance subscale was 1.71 (0.95–3.07) for participants 65 years of age and older versus those younger than 65 years of age, 2.53 (1.37–4.66) for whites versus nonwhites, 1.27 (0.73–2.20) for males versus females, 1.30 (0.73–2.29) for married versus unmarried participants, and 1.63 (0.74–3.62) for those with at least a high school education versus those with less education. Conclusion:The medication compliance subscale of the Hill-Bone Compliance Scale appears reliable and may be a useful tool for detecting noncompliant patients in outpatient settings.
The New York State Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Demonstration Project: Introduction and Overview

Objective: To determine the feasibility of universal newborn hearing screening, including intervention of identified infants, in the state of New York. Design: The New York State Department of Health issued a request for proposals that invited regional perinatal centers to apply for funding to implement universal newborn hearing screening. Hospitals were free to choose their own protocols but were to use physiologically based measures to screen infants for possible hearing loss. Criteria for passing the screening measures were common across sites. Infants failing the screening were to have diagnostic testing. Identified infants were to be followed by the state's Early Intervention Program and its associated Infant‐Child Health Assessment Program. Results: Seven regional perinatal centers (eight hospitals) representing the various regions of the state were funded for 3 yr to implement universal newborn hearing screening and follow‐up of identified infants. Detailed data analysis was performed for inpatient, outpatient, and intervention outcome measures and for the various protocols. Most of the outcome measures were analyzed in terms of year of program operation, nursery type, and geographic region of the state. Conclusions: Universal newborn hearing screening was feasible in regional perinatal centers across the state of New York. The average ages of identification of hearing loss, hearing aid fitting, and enrollment in early intervention were less than those reported in published studies where universal newborn hearing screening was not in place.
Neutrosophic Tangent Similarity Measure and Its Application to Multiple Attribute Decision Making

Department of Mathematics, West Bengal State University, Barasat, North 24 Paraganas, Berunanpukuria, P.O. Malikapur, North 24 Parganas, Pincode: 700126, West Bengal, India. E mail:kalyanmathematic@gmail.com 2Department of Mathematics, Nandalal Ghosh B.T. College, Panpur, PO-Narayanpur, and District: North 24 Parganas, Pin Code: 743126, West Bengal, India. Email: sura_pati@yahoo.co.in, Corresponding author’s email address: sura_pati@yahoo.co.in
Penicillin in the Treatment of 84 Cases of Leptospirosis in Malaya

Conflicting opinions are held as to the therapeutic value of penicillin in leptospirosis. Highly optimistic views were expressed by Smith (1949) about the bactericidal and bacteriostatic action of penicillin on leptospirre. He emphasised that penicillin should be administered within the first four days, during the septicremic stage, and before toxic nephritis developed. Fairburn & Semple (1956), however, treated 21 cases of leptospirosis with 2,400,000 units of penicillin daily and concluded that penicillin was of no value in the treatment of this disease. Trimble (1957) appeared to hold similar views. Doherty (1955) studied 111 cases of early leptospirosis due to a variety of serotypes and found that the duration of the fever was significantly shorter in the 45 cases who had received more than 800,000 units of penicillin daily. Varfolomeeva (1951) treated 47 cases of leptospirosis without jaundice, the majority due to Leptospira grippotyphosa, with a total daily dose of 360,000 units of penicillin for four to five days and obtained a complete cure if treatment was begun before the fourth day of disease and modification of the illness when treatment was started between the fourth and seventh day. Referring to penicillin in leptospirosis, Broom (1953) noted that physicians very often recorded clinical improvement after its administration. Many individual cases and small series of the infection have been reported, and when the time of commencement of penicillin therapy and the dosage were comparable the results on the whole have corresponded with those of Doherty. Obviously, detailed knowledge of the natural course of the infection in humans due to each serotype would be of great value in assessing the efficacy of any therapeutic agent. What is of even greater importance in this assessment of the therapeutic value of penicillin in leptospirosis is the size
Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of a 60-GHz Off-Body Propagation Model

A fast computation and accurate analytical model for off-body propagation is derived in this paper. The paper discusses the off-body model propagation from an external source to a receiver located on the body. The model is developed for normal incident plane wave by describing the human body with a circular cylinder. We show that the total received electric field around the human body can be written as a creeping wave in the shadow region and as a geometrical optics result for the lit region. It is also shown that at 60 GHz, the shadow boundary width is negligible. The model shows perfect agreement with the experimental results conducted on a perfectly conducting cylinder. Measurements of the creeping wave path gain have been also conducted on a real body to assess the validity of the cylinder assumption. The results have shown a path gain of about 5 dB/cm for the TM case and 3 dB/cm for the TE case. The standard deviation between the measurements and the cylindrical model is about 3.5 dB for both TM and TE cases.
Haunted by the past: Evidence for dormant stage banks of microparasites and epibionts of Daphnia

Microparasites and epibionts have important implications for the ecology and evolution of their zooplankton host populations. Many parasites and epibionts produce resistant spores that infect new hosts upon intake. We explored the hypothesis that these spores build up dormant stage banks that remain infective for several years (decades). In laboratory experiments, we exposed Daphnia magna to sediments taken from different depths in sediment cores from four different shallow water bodies. All samples analyzed contained infective stages of epibionts, suggesting that dormant stage banks remain infective for decades. Microparasite infections from old sediments were only obtained in one of the four ponds studied. We found mainly the bacterium Pasteuria ramosa but also a yet undescribed microsporidium. We discuss the implications of long‐lasting spore banks for the disease dynamics and coevolution in the Daphnia‐microparasite system.
Persistence of DNA adducts, hypermutation and acquisition of cellular resistance to alkylating agents in glioblastoma

ABSTRACT Glioblastoma is a lethal form of brain tumour usually treated by surgical resection followed by radiotherapy and an alkylating chemotherapeutic agent. Key to the success of this multimodal approach is maintaining apoptotic sensitivity of tumour cells to the alkylating agent. This initial treatment likely establishes conditions contributing to development of drug resistance as alkylating agents form the O6-methylguanine adduct. This activates the mismatch repair (MMR) process inducing apoptosis and mutagenesis. This review describes key juxtaposed drivers in the balance between alkylation induced mutagenesis and apoptosis. Mutations in MMR genes are the probable drivers for alkylation based drug resistance. Critical to this interaction are the dose-response and temporal interactions between adduct formation and MMR mutations. The precision in dose interval, dose-responses and temporal relationships dictate a role for alkylating agents in either promoting experimental tumour formation or inducing tumour cell death with chemotherapy. Importantly, this resultant loss of chemotherapeutic selective pressure provides opportunity to explore novel therapeutics and appropriate combinations to minimise alkylation based drug resistance and tumour relapse.
Balancing Lymphedema Risk: Exercise Versus Deconditioning for Breast Cancer Survivors

Lymphedema, a common and feared negative effect of breast cancer treatment, is generally described by arm swelling and dysfunction. Risk averse clinical recommendations guided survivors to avoid the use of the affected arm. This may lead to deconditioning and, ironically, the very outcome women seek to avoid. Recently published studies run counter to these guidelines.
Club Drug Use, Sexual Behavior, and HIV Seroconversion: A Qualitative Study of Motivations

This qualitative study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse examines phenomenological meanings surrounding motivations for club drug use in a sample of HIV seroconverted and seronegative gay and bisexual men. Grounded in the cognitive escape model (CEM), this study sought to clarify the synergistic relationship between club drug use, risky sexual behavior, and seroconversion. Sixteen seropositive participants were drawn from a large-scale (n = 450), longitudinal, mixed-method investigation of club drug use among gay and bisexual men in New York City from 2001–2004 and matched with 16 seronegative participants for race/ethnicity, most-frequently used substance, and educational level. Total sample size consisted of 32 participants. Sample size consisted of 13 (41%) Black/African-American, 12 (37.5%) White/Caucasian, 5 (15.5%) Hispanic/Latino, and 2 (6%) mixed/other race/ethnicity participants. Findings suggest behavioral outcomes of club drug use and HIV seroconversion result from complex interactions between physical, emotional, and social motivations.
Association of low serum fetuin A levels with poor arteriovenous access patency in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis.

BACKGROUND Fetuin A, a predictor of mortality in dialysis patients, is associated with vascular calcification and atherosclerosis in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Whether it predicts arteriovenous (AV) access patency is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the association between fetuin A and AV access patency in HD patients. STUDY DESIGN Prospective observational study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS 238 prevalent HD patients (127 women and 111 men; mean age, 60 ± 12 years) were followed up for AV access patency for 32 months. PREDICTORS Tertiles of baseline circulating fetuin A levels, corresponding to 0.15-0.25, 0.26-0.32, and 0.33-0.51 g/L. OUTCOME The major outcome was loss of unassisted AV access patency, defined as AV access thrombosis or need for intervention. MEASUREMENTS Fetuin A and other markers of inflammation. RESULTS 100 patients had loss of AV access patency (42%) on follow-up. Patients in the lowest fetuin A tertile had the worst AV access patency (log-rank test, χ(2) = 8.68; P = 0.01). Using Cox proportional hazards regression with patients in the lowest fetuin A tertile as reference, patients in the intermediate tertile had an HR of 0.49 (95% CI, 0.29-0.82), whereas those in the highest fetuin A tertile had an HR of 0.43 (95% CI, 0.25-0.75) for loss of AV access patency. Similarly, considering patients using AV fistulas or grafts separately, patients in the highest fetuin A tertile had less risk of losing AV access patency than patients in the other tertiles (HR, 0.40 [95% CI, 0.19-0.84] for patients with AV fistulas and HR, 0.25 [95% CI, 0.10-0.65] for patients with AV grafts). LIMITATIONS Focus on the patency of prevalent rather than new AV access in maintenance hemodialysis patients. CONCLUSIONS Fetuin A deficiency is associated with a higher risk of loss of AV access patency in either native AV fistulas or AV grafts in HD patients.
The influence of the length of the calibration period and observation frequency on predictive uncertainty in time series modeling of groundwater dynamics

The influence of the length of the calibration period and observation frequency on the predictive uncertainty in time series modeling of groundwater dynamics is investigated. Studied series are from deltaic regions with predominantly shallow groundwater tables in a temperate maritime climate where heads vary due to precipitation and evaporation. Response times vary over a wide range from ∼60 to ∼1200 days. A Transfer Function‐Noise model is calibrated with the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to both synthetic series and measured series of heads. The model fit and uncertainty are evaluated for various calibration periods and observation frequencies. It is often assumed that the required length of the calibration period is related to the response time of the system. In this study, no strong relationship was observed. Results indicate, however, that the required length of the calibration period is related to the decay time of the noise. Furthermore, the length of the calibration period was much more important than the total number of observations. For the measured series, the credible intervals could commonly be reduced to ∼10% of the measured head range and the prediction intervals to ∼50% of the measured head range with calibration periods of 20 years with approximately two observations per month.