Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Peculiar Role of Holes and Electrons in the Degradation of CdTe Thin Films

For the first time, the degradation rate of the electrical parameters in thin-film solar cells based on CdS/CdTe materials is simulated numerically using the Analysis of Microelectronics and Photonic Structures (AMPS-1D) program. This time-dependent approach attributes the defect generation rate to the excess carrier concentration profile. The degradation rate is analyzed for the devices stressed under the open-circuit, short-circuit, illumination, and dark conditions. Illuminated open-circuited devices showed a faster degradation rate than the short-circuited and dark-rested ones. This instability was mostly driven by the loss in the fill factor relevant to the increased series resistance. A separate analysis of the degradation behavior arisen from the holes and electrons indicates that the holes degrade the device slightly stronger than the electrons. In the CdTe thin films, the drift mobility of the holes is an order of magnitude lower than that of the electrons, which allows a longer interaction of the holes with the semiconductor lattice. Starting from the simplest device structure, e.g., Gloeckler model, the calculations are extended to the defect increment at the very thin layers placed at the front and back regions of the device. Both layers caused an almost similar degradation trend but a slightly faster rate when the thin defective layer was placed at the junction. This time-dependent approach can be extended to simulate the degradation behavior of the electrical parameters in other thin-film devices, such as CIGS and CZTS materials, under the different stress conditions leading to the different defect distribution across the device thickness.
The Effectiveness of Patient-Delivered Partner Therapy and Chlamydial and Gonococcal Reinfection in San Francisco

Background: Patient-delivered partner therapy (PDPT) has been evaluated in randomized trials. No analysis has examined the impact of PDPT once implemented programmatically. Methods: We examined the association between receiving PDPT and Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae reinfection within 1 year in patients diagnosed at San Francisco City Clinic between October 31, 2005 and March 31, 2008. Propensity score modeling was used to control for the difference between persons who did and did not receive PDPT. Results: There was no significant difference between patients who received PDPT and those that did not in the crude cumulative risk for repeat infection with C. trachomatis or N. gonorrhoeae. Using propensity score analysis, the adjusted relative risk was 0.99 (0.86–1.14) for chlamydial reinfection and 0.90 (0.72–1.11) for gonococcal reinfection. Further analysis looking at men who have sex with men, men who have sex with women, and females showed no significant reductions in relative risk of reinfection for C. trachomatis or N. gonorrhoeae in these sub populations. Conclusions: Continued evaluation of PDPT on reinfection rates in real world settings as well as cost-effectiveness analyses of PDPT are needed to assess this alternative method of partner treatment.
Effect of sodium hyaluronate on mucociliary clearance after functional endoscopic sinus surgery.

BACKGROUND To determine the effect of intranasal sodium hyaluronate on mucociliary clearance time following functional endoscopic sinus surgery in patients with nasal polyposis. STUDY DESIGN Randomized, controlled, blinded study. METHODS Thirty-six patients with grade II nasal polyposis undergoing functional endoscopic sinus surgery received intranasal sodium hyaluronate 9 mg twice daily or saline for 30 days commencing on the second day after surgery. Ciliary mucous transport time was assessed using charcoal powder and saccharin administered during rhinoscopy. Other outcomes included changes in symptoms, endoscopic appearance of the nasal mucosa, and tolerability. RESULTS Patients receiving sodium hyaluronate had a significantly faster mucociliary clearance time at 1 month compared with controls (14.3 +/- 2.5 vs. 23.6 +/- 3.3 minutes; p = 0.000). Furthermore, sodium hyaluronate recipients experienced a lower incidence of rhinorrhea, less nasal obstruction and a lower incidence of exudate on endoscopy than control subjects at 1 month (all p < 0.05). Sodium hyaluronate was well tolerated in patients following functional endoscopic sinus surgery. CONCLUSION The use of intranasal sodium hyaluronate in patients undergoing functional endoscopic sinus surgery for nasal polyposis augmented the improvement in mucociliary clearance observed following this procedure and improved several clinical and endoscopic parameters. These data provide encouraging evidence of the beneficial effects of sodium hyaluronate in the care of patients undergoing functional endoscopic sinus surgery with which to continue the development of the product for this indication.
Changes in mitochondrial perilipin 3 and perilipin 5 protein content in rat skeletal muscle following endurance training and acute stimulated contraction

What is the central question of this study? The aim was to determine whether mitochondrial protein content of perilipin 3 (PLIN3) and perilipin 5 (PLIN5) is increased following endurance training and whether mitochondrial PLIN5 protein is increased to a greater extent in endurance‐trained rats when compared with sedentary rats following acute contraction. What is the main finding and its importance? Mitochondrial PLIN3 but not PLIN5 protein was increased in endurance‐trained compared with sedentary rats, suggesting a mitochondrial role for PLIN3 due to chronic exercise. Contrary to our hypothesis, acute mitochondrial PLIN5 protein was similar in both sedentary and endurance‐trained rats.
New emerging roles of CD133 in cancer stem cell: Signaling pathway and miRNA regulation

Cancer stem cells (CSC) are rare immortal cells within a tumor that are able to initiate tumor progression, development, and resistance. Advances studies show that, like normal stem cells, CSCs can be both self‐renewed and given rise to many cell types, therefore form tumors. A number of cell surface markers, such as CD44, CD24, and CD133 are frequently used to identify CSCs. CD133, a transmembrane glycoprotein, either alone or in collaboration with other markers, has been mainly considered to identify CSCs from different solid tumors. However, the exactness of CD133 as a cancer stem cell biomarker has not been approved yet. The clinical importance of CD133 is as a CSC marker in many cancers. Also, it contributes to shorter survival, tumor progression, and tumor recurrence. The expression of CD133 is controlled by many extracellular or intracellular factors, such as tumor microenvironment, epigenetic factors, signaling pathways, and miRNAs. In this study, it was attempted to determine: 1) CD133 function; 2) the role of CD133 in cancer; 3) CD133 regulation; 4) the therapeutic role of CD133 in cancers.
Structure, Shift in Redox Potential and Li-Ion Diffusion Behavior in Tavorite LiFe1−xVxPO4F Solid-Solution Cathodes

Solid-solution Li-ion cathode materials transform through a single-phase reaction thus leading to a long-term structural stability and improved cyclability. In this work, a two- to single-phase Li+-extraction/insertion mechanism is studied through tuning the stoichiometry of transition-metal Fe/V cations to trigger a transition in the chemical reactivity path. Tavorite triclinic-structured LiFe1−xVxPO4F (x = 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, 1) solid-solution powders were prepared by a facile one-step solid-state method from hydrothermal-synthesized and commercial raw materials. The broad shape of cyclic voltammetry (CV) peaks, sloping charge/discharge profiles and sloping open-circuit voltage (OCV) profiles were observed in LiFe1−xVxPO4F solid-solution cathodes while 0 < x < 1. These confirm strongly a single-phase behavior which is different from the two-phase behavior in the end-members (x = 0 or 1). The electronegativity of M (M = Fe1−xVx) for the redox potential of Fe2+/3+ couple or the M–O4F2 bond length for the V3+/4+ couple plays respectively a dominant role in LiFe1−xVxPO4F solid-solution cathodes.
Validation Methodology for Expert-Annotated Datasets: Event Annotation Case Study

Event detection is still a difficult task due to the complexity and the ambiguity of such entities. On the one hand, we observe a low inter-annotator agreement among experts when annotating events, disregarding the multitude of existing annotation guidelines and their numerous revisions. On the other hand, event extraction systems have a lower measured performance in terms of F1-score compared to other types of entities such as people or locations. In this paper we study the consistency and completeness of expert-annotated datasets for events and time expressions. We propose a data-agnostic validation methodology of such datasets in terms of consistency and completeness. Furthermore, we combine the power of crowds and machines to correct and extend expert-annotated datasets of events. We show the benefit of using crowd-annotated events to train and evaluate a state-of-the-art event extraction system. Our results show that the crowd-annotated events increase the performance of the system by at least 5.3%.
Joint Modeling of Piezoelectric Transducers and Power Conversion Circuits for Energy Harvesting Applications

In this paper, we describe a reliable modeling technique for piezoelectric transducers and a procedure for fast model parameters identification using inexpensive hardware and standard laboratory equipment. This technique is suitable for evaluating the performance of actively controlled power conversion circuits with custom input vibrations in the early phases of design. Direct measurements were taken on commercial Q220-A4-303YB cantilevered piezoelectric transducers from Piezo Systems with tip masses between 7 and 16 g and with two types of synchronized switch energy harvesters. The model describes, with a good degree of accuracy, both the response of the transducers to vibrations and their behavior with nonlinear power conversion circuits, including also the damping effects associated with the use of synchronized switch techniques.
Multiplexed single-cell RNA-seq via transient barcoding for simultaneous expression profiling of various drug perturbations

The authors developed a method for analyzing single cells under various conditions by tagging cells with small fragments of DNA. The development of high-throughput single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has enabled access to information about gene expression in individual cells and insights into new biological areas. Although the interest in scRNA-seq has rapidly grown in recent years, the existing methods are plagued by many challenges when performing scRNA-seq on multiple samples. To simultaneously analyze multiple samples with scRNA-seq, we developed a universal sample barcoding method through transient transfection with short barcode oligonucleotides. By conducting a species-mixing experiment, we have validated the accuracy of our method and confirmed the ability to identify multiplets and negatives. Samples from a 48-plex drug treatment experiment were pooled and analyzed by a single run of Drop-Seq. This revealed unique transcriptome responses for each drug and target-specific gene expression signatures at the single-cell level. Our cost-effective method is widely applicable for the single-cell profiling of multiple experimental conditions, enabling the widespread adoption of scRNA-seq for various applications.
Narrative change in Gloria Films: Comparing various processes of therapeutic innovation

Abstract Aims: The present study focuses on the analysis of novelty emergence in classic Gloria Films with Rogers, Perls, and Ellis to understand how the same client formulated her own problem and if and how change occurred in those three sessions. Method: The Innovative Moments Coding System was applied to track innovative moments (IMs) and their themes. Results: The session with Rogers showed more diversity in disclosed problems and themes of IMs, as well as a higher proportion of reflection IMs. The session with Perls demonstrated a high proportion of protest IMs. The session with Ellis showed less innovation than other sessions. The changes found were based mostly on reflection and protest IMs in three sessions. Conclusion: Narrative innovations occurred in the three single sessions. The type of dominant innovation is consistent with the therapeutic model and the IMs model. The exploration of the IMs’ themes allowed a more precise identification of Gloria's new narrative positions and their development throughout those sessions.
Expression Signatures of Cisplatin- and Trametinib-Treated Early-Stage Medaka Melanomas

Small aquarium fish models provide useful systems not only for a better understanding of the molecular basis of many human diseases, but also for first-line screening to identify new drug candidates. For testing new chemical substances, current strategies mostly rely on easy to perform and efficient embryonic screens. Cancer, however, is a disease that develops mainly during juvenile and adult stage. Long-term treatment and the challenge to monitor changes in tumor phenotype make testing of large chemical libraries in juvenile and adult animals cost prohibitive. We hypothesized that changes in the gene expression profile should occur early during anti-tumor treatment, and the disease-associated transcriptional change should provide a reliable readout that can be utilized to evaluate drug-induced effects. For the current study, we used a previously established medaka melanoma model. As proof of principle, we showed that exposure of melanoma developing fish to the drugs cisplatin or trametinib, known cancer therapies, for a period of seven days is sufficient to detect treatment-induced changes in gene expression. By examining whole body transcriptome responses we provide a novel route toward gene panels that recapitulate anti-tumor outcomes thus allowing a screening of thousands of drugs using a whole-body vertebrate model. Our results suggest that using disease-associated transcriptional change to screen therapeutic molecules in small fish model is viable and may be applied to pre-clinical research and development stages in new drug discovery.
Tolosa-Hunt syndrome: Focus on MRI Diagnosis

Experience with modern neuroimaging techniques, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, in the diagnosis of Tolosa-Hunt syndrome (THS) is reviewed. Conventional CT scan remains normal in about two-thirds of these patients. In the reported 22 patients meeting the IHS criteria for a THS diagnosis on whom an MRI study was performed, MRI revealed a convex enlargement of the symptomatic cavernous sinus by an abnormal tissue isointense with gray matter on short TR/TE images and isohypointense on long TR/TE images. This abnormal tissue markedly increases in signal intensity after contrast injection. MRI seems also to be the ideal technique to follow progressive resolution of the abnormal tissue after steroids. Therefore, normal MRI would probably exclude THS, whereas in the appropriate clinical setting of steroid-responsive painful ophthalmoplegia, MRI showing the cavernous sinus abnormality described here suggests a diagnosis of THS. From these data, we propose that the fourth IHS criterion for THS diagnosis, “Exclusion of other causative lesions by neuroimaging and (not compulsory) carotid angiogram” should be changed to “Finding by MRI of specific cavernous sinus abnormalities (with the characteristics described herein) which slowly resolve with steroid treatment”.
The Transmission of the US Stock Market Crash of 2008 to the European Stock Markets: An Applied Time Series Investigation

This study investigates the direction and magnitude of the financial links between the European stock markets and the U.S. stock market before, during, and after the stock market crash of 2008, with an emphasis on the Central European countries. Our dataset consists of daily data for the S&P 500 and the EURO STOXX 50 indexes from January 2000 to May 2013, and also a new index which has been defined to measure the Central European countries stock market prices. The results show that there is an immediate response of the European markets to a price change in the U.S. stock market while the reverse relationship takes longer to develop. After the financial crisis, the bilateral relationship happens in a shorter period of time. We show that although the Central European stock markets are segmented from the U.S. market before the crisis, they become linked during the crisis and stay connected even after the crisis. Also, the quantitative results of the study show a significantly higher impact of the U.S. stock market on the Europe stock markets during the recent financial crisis, while this effect is decreasing after the crisis.
A randomized trial of roxithromycin in patients with acute leukemia and bone marrow transplant recipients receiving fluoroquinolone prophylaxis

Fluoroquinolone prophylaxis in patients with profound neutropenia may be useful for preventing gram-negative bacterial infection, but it is ineffective against gram-positive bacterial infections in the bloodstream, particularly those caused by streptococci and coagulase-negative staphylococci, which appear to have emerged as significant causes of morbidity, decreased treatment efficacy, and the increased costs of empiric antimicrobial therapy. In a prospective, randomized, open trial, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of oral roxithromycin (150 mg twice daily) as additional antibacterial prophylaxis in 131 adult patients with acute leukemia and bone marrow transplant recipients receiving oral ofloxacin. In comparison with patients given ofloxacin alone, fewer patients receiving ofloxacin plus roxithromycin developed bacteremia caused by viridans group streptococci (incidence, 9 versus 0%; P = 0.03), while the incidence of bacteremia caused by other organisms, the incidence of febrile episodes from any cause, the risk of infection-associated complications (including prolonged or secondary fever, pneumonia, septic shock, need for mechanical ventilation, and/or infection-related death), and antimicrobial usage for therapy were comparable between both groups. Adverse events possibly related to the study drugs were slightly more common among the patients receiving the combination treatment (P = 0.05). Although effective for the prevention of streptococcal bacteremia, the addition of roxithromycin to a fluoroquinolone should not be used routinely as a prophylactic regimen in patients with profound neutropenia, but it might be considered and may be useful for cancer patients with a particularly high risk of streptococcal infection and related complications.
The EU in the refugee crisis : how national and European identity influence public opinion on immigration policies and threat perception

The current refugee crisis embodies the most challenging political issue facing the European Union and divides citizens into halves. While some favor national control over the situation, others demand a common approach that comparts the responsibility due to European wide regulations. Previous research has consistently emphasized the relation between a citizen’s identity and his political viewpoints in comparable debates. This paper aims to test whether the influence from national and European attachments on public opinions is applicable in the context of the refugee crisis. With the help of an online questionnaire data was gathered and a multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the theorized relations. Findings indicated that the higher the national identity, the more likely was opposition toward European immigration policies and rejection of projects to help refugees. Identification with Europe compensated these effects and had the strongest influence on people with a dual identity, consisting of a strong identification with their nation as well as with Europe. This study stresses the potential for future research that could lead to more insights into the role of the relationship between the two identities in political conflicts at EU level.
[Coryneform bacteria: their clinical significance and resistance patterns during a three-year study].

We report data concerning our experience during three years (1998-2001) about isolation, identification and susceptibility towards antimicrobial agents of coryneform bacteria in infections of hospitalized/at risk patients. We isolated 54 Corynebacterium spp. , with prevalence of C. striatum (8 strains) and C. amycolatum (7 strains), and 1 strain of Oerskovia spp. and 1 strain of Actinomyces neuii. 31 strains were isolated from the "exit-site" and 6 from peritoneal fluid of CAPD patients. Vancomycin and teicoplanin were always "in vitro" efficacious. Resistance rates towards other antibiotics were the following: 11% for minocycline, 12.5% for tetracycline, 20% for gentamicin and netilmicin, 61% for erythromycin and chloramphenicol, 66% for penicillin.
A non-cooperative game for faster convergence in cooperative coevolution for multi-objective optimization

Cooperative coevolution is an approach for evolving solutions from different populations which are evaluated based on how well they perform together. The advantage of cooperative coevolutionary algorithms is the decomposition of the problem which allows us to learn different parts of the problem instead of the whole problem at once. However, previous research within the field of global optimization has shown that cooperative coevolutionary algorithms are biased towards equilibrium states. Since studies concerning cooperative coevolutionary algorithms used for solving multi-objective optimization problems were initiated, no attention has been paid to this issue. In this paper, we show empirical evidence of the existence of these problems within the multi-objective optimization field and present a novel cooperative coevolution framework which, through the use of the concept of Nash equilibrium, alleviates some of those optimization-related pathologies present in cooperative coevolutionary algorithms. We compare our proposed algorithm with respect to two algorithms that make use of the cooperative coevolutionary model to multi-objective optimization, NSCCGA (that makes use of Potter's coevolutionary model) and GCEA (a game theory based coevolutionary algorithm). The computational effort required by each algorithm (measured in terms of the number of fitness function evaluations) is also analyzed. Our preliminary results indicate that the proposed framework clearly outperforms the results of the aforementioned algorithms when using the Deb-Thiele- Laumanns-Zitzler (DTLZ) and the Zitzler-Deb-Thiele (ZDT) test suites.
Modified Fixed-Ratio Isobologram Method for Studying In Vitro Interactions between Atovaquone and Proguanil or Dihydroartemisinin against Drug-Resistant Strains of Plasmodium falciparum

ABSTRACT A modified fixed-ratio isobologram method for studying the in vitro interactions between antiplasmodial drugs is described. This method was used to examine the interactions between atovaquone, proguanil, and dihydroartemisinin. The interaction between atovaquone and proguanil was synergistic against atovaquone-sensitive strains K1 and T996; however, there was a loss of synergy against atovaquone-resistant strain NGATV01 isolated after Malarone (the combination of atovaquone and proguanil) treatment failure. While the interaction between atovaquone and dihydroartemisinin was indifferent against isolate NGATV01, the interaction displayed indifference tending toward antagonism against the atovaquone-sensitive strains tested. The relevance of in vitro interactions to in vivo treatment is discussed.