Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deaths due to flash floods in Puerto Rico, January 1992: implications for prevention.

BACKGROUND In January 1992, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico sustained unusually heavy rainfall, which caused flash floods and deaths. METHODS We conducted a descriptive study and a case-control study to determine the circumstances of these deaths and to identify mortality-prevention strategies. We describe the time, place, and circumstances of each death, and compare this information with water-level and rainfall data and the timing of warnings. Using controls selected from the affected population, we estimated the risk of death by age, sex, and vehicle occupancy during the flood. RESULTS Within 7 hours, 23 people died in 17 incidents; 20 of the decedents (87%) were occupants of motor vehicles. The estimated risk of mortality was significantly elevated for motorists (odds ratio = 16, 95% confidence interval: 3.5-144). Being in a vehicle to evacuate a flash flood area was protective; however, being in a vehicle during the flood for other reasons further increased the risk of mortality. Deaths occurred early during the rapid rise of water and before official warnings were issued. CONCLUSION We recommend improving the sensitivity of the warning system and its ability to disseminate appropriate information rapidly. We also recommend educating officials and the public about the risks of driving on flooded roads and in potential flash flood conditions; and about the unique flash flood risks associated with specific topographical features in their region.
Metabolic Responses of Subtropical Microplankton After a Simulated Deep-Water Upwelling Event Suggest a Possible Dominance of Mixotrophy Under Increasing CO2 Levels

In the autumn of 2014, nine large mesocosms were deployed in the oligotrophic subtropical North-Atlantic coastal waters off Gran Canaria (Spain). Their deployment was designed to address the acidification effects of CO2 levels from 400 to 1,400 μatm, on a plankton community experiencing upwelling of nutrient-rich deep water. Among other parameters, chlorophyll a (chl-a), potential respiration (Φ), and biomass in terms of particulate protein (B) were measured in the microplankton community (0.7–50.0 μm) during an oligotrophic phase (Phase I), a phytoplankton-bloom phase (Phase II), and a post-bloom phase (Phase III). Here, we explore the use of the Φ/chl-a ratio in monitoring shifts in the microplankton community composition and its metabolism. Φ/chl-a values below 2.5 μL O2 h−1 (μg chl-a)−1 indicated a community dominated by photoautotrophs. When Φ/chl-a ranged higher, between 2.5 and 7.0 μL O2 h−1 (μg chl-a)−1, it indicated a mixed community of phytoplankton, microzooplankton and heterotrophic prokaryotes. When Φ/chl-a rose above 7.0 μL O2 h−1 (μg chl-a)−1, it indicated a community where microzooplankton proliferated (>10.0 μL O2 h−1 (μg chl-a)−1), because heterotrophic dinoflagellates bloomed. The first derivative of B, as a function of time (dB/dt), indicates the rate of protein build-up when positive and the rate of protein loss, when negative. It revealed that the maximum increase in particulate protein (biomass) occurred between 1 and 2 days before the chl-a peak. A day after this peak, the trough revealed the maximum net biomass loss. This analysis did not detect significant changes in particulate protein, neither in Phase I nor in Phase III. Integral analysis of Φ, chl-a and B, over the duration of each phase, for each mesocosm, reflected a positive relationship between Φ and pCO2 during Phase II [α = 230·10−5 μL O2 h−1 L−1 (μatm CO2)−1 (phase-day)−1, R2 = 0.30] and between chl-a and pCO2 during Phase III [α = 100·10−5 μg chl-a L−1 (μ atmCO2)−1 (phase-day)−1, R2 = 0.84]. At the end of Phase II, a harmful algal species (HAS), Vicicitus globosus, bloomed in the high pCO2 mesocosms. In these mesocosms, microzooplankton did not proliferate, and chl-a retention time in the water column increased. In these V. globosus-disrupted communities, the Φ/chl-a ratio [4.1 ± 1.5 μL O2 h−1 (μg chl-a)−1] was more similar to the Φ/chl-a ratio in a mixed plankton community than to a photoautotroph-dominated one.
Compendium of Measures to Control Chlamydia psittaci Infection Among Humans (Psittacosis) and Pet Birds (Avian Chlamydiosis), 2017

Abstract Psittacosis, also known as parrot fever and ornithosis, is a bacterial infection that can cause severe pneumonia and other serious health problems in humans. It is caused by Chlamydia psittaci. Reclassification of the order Chlamydiales in 1999 into 2 genera (Chlamydia and Chlamydophila) was not wholly accepted or adopted. This resulted in a reversion to the single, original genus Chlamydia, which now encompasses all 9 species including Chlamydia psittaci. During 2003–2014, 112 human cases of psittacosis were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the Nationally Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. While many types of birds can be infected by C psittaci, in general, the literature suggests that human cases can most often occur after exposure to infected parrot-type birds kept as pets, especially cockatiels, parakeets, and conures. In birds, C psittaci infection is referred to as avian chlamydiosis. Infected birds shed the bacteria through feces and nasal discharges, and humans become infected from exposure to these materials. This compendium provides information about psittacosis and avian chlamydiosis to public health officials, physicians, veterinarians, the pet bird industry, and others concerned with controlling these diseases and protecting public health. The recommendations in this compendium provide standardized procedures to control C psittaci infections. This document will be reviewed and revised as necessary, and the most current version replaces all previous versions. This document was last revised in 2010. Major changes in this version include a recommendation for a shorter treatment time for birds with avian chlamydiosis, additional information about diagnostic testing, including genotyping, clearer language associated with personal protective equipment recommended for those caring for confirmed or exposed birds, and incorporating a grading scale with recommendations generally based on the United States Preventive Services Task Force's methods.
New concepts in Salmonella virulence: the importance of reducing the intracellular growth rate in the host

The literature refers to Salmonella enterica as an intracellular bacterial pathogen that proliferates within vacuoles of mammalian cells. However, recent in vivo studies have revealed that the vast majority of infected cells contain very few intracellular bacteria (three to four organisms). Salmonella intracellular growth is also limited in cultured dendritic cells and fibroblasts, two cell types abundant in tissues located underneath the intestinal epithelium. Recently, a Salmonella factor previously known for its role as a negative regulator of intracellular growth has been shown to tightly repress certain pathogen functions upon host colonization and to be critical for virulence. The connection between virulence and the negative control of intracellular growth is further sustained by the fact that some attenuated mutants overgrow in non‐phagocytic cells located in the intestinal lamina propria. These findings are changing our classical view of Salmonella as a fast growing intracellular pathogen and suggest that this pathogen may trigger responses directed to reduce the growth rate within the infected cell. These responses could play a critical role in modulating the delicate balance between disease and persistence.
Correlation among metallothionein expression, intratumoural macrophage infiltration and the risk of metastasis in human cutaneous malignant melanoma

Background The formation of metastases and the efficacy of systemic therapies in cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) depend on the characteristics of the tumour cells and the host immune response. Aberrant expression of metallothionein (MT) has been observed in several types of cancers with poor prognoses.
Self-perception of speech changes in patients with Parkinson's disease following deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus

Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) improves the motor difficulties experienced by patients with Parkinson's disease (PD); however, the effects on speech are variable. In this study, patients rated their current post-surgery speech difficulties using the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) and used the same measure to retrospectively rate their pre-surgery speech. Scores pre- and post-surgery were also available on the UPDRS-III, and the patients' intelligibility was assessed by an independent listener. A control group of non-surgical patients with PD (medical group) also completed the VHI for comparison. VHI scores deteriorated equally in the two groups. However, the variability of the change scores in the surgical group was significantly greater than in the medical group. The correlation between the changes in the VHI and UPDRS scores for the surgical group was not significant. Correlations between the VHI scores and intelligibility were significant both before and after surgery, suggesting that patients accurately perceive their difficulties. The findings confirm the variability in the speech difficulties of patients following STN-DBS. The patients' ability to use the VHI offers a means of assessing the effects of their speech on their quality-of-life, and may be clinically useful post-STN-DBS.
Distributed CSI Acquisition and Coordinated Precoding for TDD Multicell MIMO Systems

Several distributed coordinated precoding methods exist in the downlink multicell multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) literature, many of which assume perfect knowledge of received signal covariance and local effective channels. In this paper, we let the notion of channel state information (CSI) encompass this knowledge of covariances and effective channels. We analyze what local CSI is required in the weighted minimization of the mean square error (WMMSE) algorithm for distributed coordinated precoding, and we study how this required CSI can be obtained in a distributed fashion. Based on pilot-assisted channel estimation, we propose three CSI acquisition methods with different tradeoffs between feedback and signaling, backhaul use, and computational complexity. One of the proposed methods is fully distributed, meaning that it only depends on over-the-air signaling but requires no backhaul, and it results in a fully distributed joint system when coupled with the WMMSE algorithm. Naïvely applying the WMMSE algorithm together with the fully distributed CSI acquisition results in catastrophic performance however; therefore, we propose a robustified WMMSE algorithm (RB-WMMSE) based on the well-known diagonal loading framework. By enforcing properties of the WMMSE solutions with perfect CSI onto the problem with imperfect CSI, the resulting diagonally loaded spatial filters are shown to perform significantly better than the naïve filters. The proposed robust and distributed system is evaluated using numerical simulations and is shown to perform well compared with benchmarks. Under centralized CSI acquisition, the proposed algorithm performs on par with other existing centralized robust WMMSE algorithms. When evaluated in a large-scale fading environment, the performance of the proposed system is promising
Origin of sphinx, a young chimeric RNA gene in Drosophila melanogaster

Non-protein-coding RNA genes play an important role in various biological processes. How new RNA genes originated and whether this process is controlled by similar evolutionary mechanisms for the origin of protein-coding genes remains unclear. A young chimeric RNA gene that we term sphinx (spx) provides the first insight into the early stage of evolution of RNA genes. spx originated as an insertion of a retroposed sequence of the ATP synthase chain F gene at the cytological region 60DB since the divergence of Drosophila melanogaster from its sibling species 2–3 million years ago. This retrosequence, which is located at 102F on the fourth chromosome, recruited a nearby exon and intron, thereby evolving a chimeric gene structure. This molecular process suggests that the mechanism of exon shuffling, which can generate protein-coding genes, also plays a role in the origin of RNA genes. The subsequent evolutionary process of spx has been associated with a high nucleotide substitution rate, possibly driven by a continuous positive Darwinian selection for a novel function, as is shown in its sex- and development-specific alternative splicing. To test whether spx has adapted to different environments, we investigated its population genetic structure in the unique “Evolution Canyon” in Israel, revealing a similar haplotype structure in spx, and thus similar evolutionary forces operating on spx between environments.
A fully integrated VCO at 2 GHz

An integrated voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) at a frequency of 2 GHz is implemented in a f/sub T/= 25 GHz standard bipolar process. The phase noise of the VCO is -136 dBc/Hz at 4.7 MHz frequency offset. The LC-resonator uses vertically coupled on-chip inductors and integrated tuning diodes. Due to the poor performance of integrated resonators on silicon ICs, oscillators with phase noise meeting requirements of wireless applications are difficult to integrate. With fully integrated designs only the standards for cordless phones, for instance DECT, can be achieved. The critical point in the DECT-specification is the emission of the transmitter due to intermodulation in the third adjacent channel, that must be <-47 dBm. This value is measured with an integration bandwidth of 1 MHz centered at the nominal center frequency. With a channel-spacing of 1.728 MHz the third adjacent channel is located 5.184 MHz from the actual transmit channel frequency. The beginning of the integration bandwidth is at an offset frequency of 4.684 MHz related to the nominal frequency of the transmit channel. This is the offset frequency, at which the specification must be met. The resulting noise requirement is -132 dBc/Hz at a offset frequency of 4.684 MHz, when the integration bandwidth and the transmit output power of 25 dBm are taken into account.
Landscape simplification weakens the association between terrestrial producer and consumer diversity in Europe

Land‐use change is one of the primary drivers of species loss, yet little is known about its effect on other components of biodiversity that may be at risk. Here, we ask whether, and to what extent, landscape simplification, measured as the percentage of arable land in the landscape, disrupts the functional and phylogenetic association between primary producers and consumers. Across seven European regions, we inferred the potential associations (functional and phylogenetic) between host plants and butterflies in 561 seminatural grasslands. Local plant diversity showed a strong bottom‐up effect on butterfly diversity in the most complex landscapes, but this effect disappeared in simple landscapes. The functional associations between plant and butterflies are, therefore, the results of processes that act not only locally but are also dependent on the surrounding landscape context. Similarly, landscape simplification reduced the phylogenetic congruence among host plants and butterflies indicating that closely related butterflies become more generalist in the resources used. These processes occurred without any detectable change in species richness of plants or butterflies along the gradient of arable land. The structural properties of ecosystems are experiencing substantial erosion, with potentially pervasive effects on ecosystem functions and future evolutionary trajectories. Loss of interacting species might trigger cascading extinction events and reduce the stability of trophic interactions, as well as influence the longer term resilience of ecosystem functions. This underscores a growing realization that species richness is a crude and insensitive metric and that both functional and phylogenetic associations, measured across multiple trophic levels, are likely to provide additional and deeper insights into the resilience of ecosystems and the functions they provide.
Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism induces browning of white adipose tissue through impairment of autophagy and prevents adipocyte dysfunction in high‐fat‐diet‐fed mice

The mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) controls adipocyte function, but its role in the conversion of white adipose tissue (WAT) into thermogenic fat has not been elucidated. We investigated responses to the MR antagonists spironolactone (spiro; 20 mg/kg/d) and drospirenone (DRSP; 6 mg/kg/d) in C57BL/6 mice fed a high‐fat (HF) diet for 90 d. DRSP and spiro curbed HF diet‐induced impairment in glucose tolerance, and prevented body weight gain and white fat expansion. Notably, either MR antagonist induced up‐regulation of brown adipocyte‐specific transcripts and markedly increased protein levels of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) in visceral and inguinal fat depots when compared with the HF diet group. Positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance spectroscopy confirmed acquisition of brown fat features in WAT. Interestingly, MR antagonists markedly reduced the autophagic rate both in murine preadipocytes in vitro (10‐5 M) and in WAT depots in vivo, with a concomitant increase in UCP1 protein expression. Moreover, the autophagy repressor bafilomycin A1 (10‐8 M) mimicked the effect of MR antagonists, increasing UCP1 protein expression in primary preadipocytes. Hence, we showed that adipocyte MR regulates brown remodeling of WAT through a modulation of autophagy. These results provide a rationale for the use of MR antagonists to prevent the adverse metabolic consequences of adipocyte dysfunction. —Armani, A. , Cinti, F. , Marzolla, V. , Morgan, J., Cranston, G. A. , Antelmi, A. , Carpinelli, G. , Canese, R. , Pagotto, U. , Quarta, C. , Malorni, W. , Matarrese, P., Marconi, M. , Fabbri, A. , Rosano, G. , Cinti, S. , Young, M. J., Caprio, M. Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism induces browning of white adipose tissue through impairment of autophagy and prevents adipocyte dysfunction in high‐fat‐diet‐fed mice. FASEB J. 28, 3745–3757 (2014). www.fasebj. org
Ergonomic Benefits From a Laparoscopic Instrument With Rotatable Handle Piece Depend on the Area of the Operating Field and Working Height

Objective To evaluate the effect of a laparoscopic instrument with a 360° rotatable handle piece (rot-HP) on biomechanical stress and precision in different areas of a simulated operating field at two working heights. Background Surgeons performing laparoscopic procedures are exposed to biomechanical stress and have an increased risk of musculoskeletal complaints. Method Fifty-seven healthy subjects (27 men, median age 26) without experience in laparoscopy performed a precision task in four quadrants (A–D) of the operating field using the rot-HP or a common fixed handle piece (fixed-HP) at an individually adjusted lower or higher working height. Biomechanical stress was assessed by surface EMG, wrist joint angles, and arm postures and precision by the number of mistakes. Results Using the rot-HP reduced muscle activity of the biceps brachii and flexor carpi radialis muscle. An interaction of flexor activity and area of the operating field occurred with the lowest activity in Quadrant C. Wrist joint angles were more neutral using the rot-HP, especially when the lower working height was applied and in Quadrants B and C. However, increased wrist dorsal flexion occurred in Quadrant A while using the rot-HP. Arm postures and precision were less affected. Conclusion The rot-HP allows some reductions of stresses in the arm and hand region, whereas the stress in the shoulder neck region is not modified. Application The instrument’s position and the working height may have to be considered as mediatory factors when describing the effectiveness of an ergonomic handle design for laparoscopic instruments.
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Contrast effects in typicality judgements: A hierarchical Bayesian approach

We examine the in ﬂ uence of contrast categories on the internal graded membership structure of everyday concepts using computational models proposed in the arti ﬁ cial category learning tradition. In particular, the generalized context model (Nosofsky, 1986), which assumes that only members of a given category contribute to the typicality of a category member, is contrasted to the similarity – dissimilarity generalized context model (SD-GCM; Stewart & Brown, 2005), which assumes that members of other categories are also in ﬂ uential in determining typicality. The models are compared in a hierarchical Bayesian framework in their account of the typicality gradient of ﬁ ve animal categories and six artefact categories. For each target category, we consider all possible relevant contrast categories. Three separate issue are examined: (a) whether contrast effects can be found, (b) which categories are responsible for these effects, and (c) whether more than one category in ﬂ uences the typicality. Results indicate that the internal category structure is codetermined by dissimilarity towards potential contrast categories. In most cases, only a single contrast category contributed to the typicality. The present ﬁ ndings suggest that contrast effects might be more widespread than has previously been assumed. Further, they stress the importance of characteristics particular of everyday concepts, which require careful consideration when applying computational models of representation of the arti ﬁ cial category learning tradition to everyday concepts.
Zimelidine attenuates the development of tolerance to morphine-induced antinociception

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate effect of zimelidine (a serotonin reuptake inhibitor) on morphine-induced tolerance in rats. Materials and Methods: Male Wistar albino rats weighing 160–180 g were used in these experiments (n=72). A 3-day cumulative dosing regimen was used for the induction of morphine tolerance. To constitute of morphine tolerance, animals received morphine twice daily for 3 days. After the last dose morphine was injected on the fourth day, morphine tolerance was evaluated. The analgesic effects of zimelidine (15 mg/kg; i.p.) and morphine (5 mg/kg) were considered at 30-min time intervals (0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min) by tail-flick and hot-plate analgesiometer (n=6 in each experimental group). Results: The results showed that zimelidine significantly attenuated the development and expression of morphine tolerance. The maximal antinociceptive effect of zimelidine was obtained at the 60 minutes measurements in the zimelidine group and at the 30 minutes measurements in the morphine tolerant group by the tail-flick and hot-plate tests. Administration of zimelidine with morphine showed additive analgesic effect. Conclusion: In conclusion, our results show that zimelidine reduces the development of tolerance to morphine-induced antinociception in rats.