Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low Dose Intradermal Vaccination Is Superior to High Dose Intramuscular Vaccination for Hepatitis B in Unresponsive Hemodialysis Patients

After two intramuscular (IM) vaccination protocols (40 μg at 0, 1, 2, and 6 months), patients who were unresponsive to hepatitis B vaccination were collected from three HD centers. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of intradermal (ID) and repeated IM vaccination protocols. Thirty-three of 639 HD patients were found to be unresponsive. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups: one to receive 80 μg ID and the other 160 μg IM vaccination protocol. Both ID (p = 0.000) and IM (p = 0.03) groups disclosed statistically significant seroconversion rates six months after the last vaccination dose. The seroconversion rate was 94.1% in the ID and 50% in the IM groups—showing a significant improvement in the ID group (p = 0.011). A low-dose ID is superior to standard IM vaccination protocol and also more cost-effective in unresponsive HD patients.
Sparse Exploratory Factor Analysis Journal Item

Sparse principal component analysis is a very active research area in the last decade. It produces component loadings with many zero entries which facilitates their interpretation and helps avoid redundant variables. The classic factor analysis is another popular dimension reduction technique which shares similar interpretation problems and could greatly benefit from sparse solutions. Unfortunately, there are very few works considering sparse versions of the classic factor analysis. Our goal is to contribute further in this direction. We revisit the most popular procedures for exploratory factor analysis, maximum likelihood and least squares. Sparse factor loadings are obtained for them by, first, adopting a special re-parameterization and, second, by introducing additional `1-norm penalties into the standard factor analysis problems. As a result we propose sparse versions of the major factor analysis procedures. We illustrate the developed algorithms on well known psychometric problems. Our sparse solutions are critically compared to ones obtained by other existing methods.
Tilburg University Giving in the face of risk

Decisions about how to share resources with others often need to be taken under uncertainty regarding its allocational consequences. Although risk preferences are likely important, existing research is silent about how social and risk preferences interact in such situations. In this paper we provide experimental evidence on this question. In a first experiment givers are not exposed to risk while beneficiaries’ final earnings may be larger or smaller than the allocation itself, depending on the realized state of the world. In a second experiment, risk affects the earnings of givers but not of beneficiaries. We find that individuals’ risk preferences are predictive for giving in The research documented in this paper was partly financed by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (project number 11429) and also received financial support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) (project number 400-09-451). Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11166-017-9270-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Arno Riedl a.riedl@maastrichtuniversity.nl Elena Cettolin e.cettolin@uvt.nl Giang Tran giang.tran@maastrichtuniversity.nl 1 Department of Economics, Tilburg School of Economics and Management, Tilburg University, P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands 2 CESifo, IZA, Netspar, Department of Economics (AE1), School of Economics and Business, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands 3 Department of Economics (AE1), School of Economics and Business, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands 96 J Risk Uncertain (2017) 55:95–118 both experiments. Increased risk exposure of beneficiaries tends to decrease giving whereas increased risk exposure of givers has no effect. We propose a simple nonlinear generalization of a model allowing for other-regarding preferences, ex-post and ex-ante fairness, and risk aversion. We find some support for it in our data when risk is on the beneficiaries’ side but less so when risk is on the givers’ side. Our results point to the importance of the further development of models of social preferences that also incorporate risk preferences.
Disrupting Surfaces of Nef Required for Downregulation of CD4 and for Enhancement of Virion Infectivity Attenuates Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Replication In Vivo

ABSTRACT The multifunctional simian and human immunodeficiency virus (SIV and HIV) Nef proteins are important for virulence. We studied the importance of selected Nef functions using an SIV Nef with mutations in two regions that are required for CD4 downregulation. This Nef mutant is defective for downregulating CD4 and, in addition, for enhancing SIV infectivity and induction of SIV replication from infected quiescent peripheral blood mononuclear cells, but not for other known functions, including downregulation of class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) cell surface expression. Replication of SIV containing this Nef variant in rhesus monkeys was attenuated early during infection. Subsequent increases in viral load coincided with selection of reversions and second-site compensatory changes in Nef. Our results indicate that the surfaces of Nef that mediate CD4 downregulation and the enhancement of virion infectivity are critical for SIV replication in vivo. Furthermore, these findings indicate that class I MHC downregulation by Nef is not sufficient for SIV virulence early in infection.
High Performance Graph ConvolutionaI Networks with Applications in Testability Analysis

Applications of deep learning to electronic design automation (EDA) have recently begun to emerge, although they have mainly been limited to processing of regular structured data such as images. However, many EDA problems require processing irregular structures, and it can be non-trivial to manually extract important features in such cases. In this paper, a high performance graph convolutional network (GCN) model is proposed for the purpose of processing irregular graph representations of logic circuits. A GCN classifier is firstly trained to predict observation point candidates in a netlist. The GCN classifier is then used as part of an iterative process to propose observation point insertion based on the classification results. Experimental results show the proposed GCN model has superior accuracy to classical machine learning models on difficult-to-observation nodes prediction. Compared with commercial testability analysis tools, the proposed observation point insertion flow achieves similar fault coverage with an 11% reduction in observation points and a 6% reduction in test pattern count.
Microdeletion/duplication at 15q13.2q13.3 among individuals with features of autism and other neuropsychiatric disorders

Background: Segmental duplications at breakpoints (BP4–BP5) of chromosome 15q13.2q13. 3 mediate a recurrent genomic imbalance syndrome associated with mental retardation, epilepsy, and/or electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities. Patients: DNA samples from 1445 unrelated patients submitted consecutively for clinical array comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) testing at Children’s Hospital Boston and DNA samples from 1441 individuals with autism from 751 families in the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) repository. Results: We report the clinical features of five patients with a BP4–BP5 deletion, three with a BP4–BP5 duplication, and two with an overlapping but smaller duplication identified by whole genome high resolution oligonucleotide array CGH. These BP4–BP5 deletion cases exhibit minor dysmorphic features, significant expressive language deficits, and a spectrum of neuropsychiatric impairments that include autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety disorder, and mood disorder. Cognitive impairment varied from moderate mental retardation to normal IQ with learning disability. BP4–BP5 covers ∼1.5 Mb (chr15:28.719–30.298 Mb) and includes six reference genes and 1 miRNA gene, while the smaller duplications cover ∼500 kb (chr15:28.902–29.404 Mb) and contain three reference genes and one miRNA gene. The BP4–BP5 deletion and duplication events span CHRNA7, a candidate gene for seizures. However, none of these individuals reported here have epilepsy, although two have an abnormal EEG. Conclusions: The phenotype of chromosome 15q13.2q13. 3 BP4–BP5 microdeletion/duplication syndrome may include features of autism spectrum disorder, a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders, and cognitive impairment. Recognition of this broader phenotype has implications for clinical diagnostic testing and efforts to understand the underlying aetiology of this syndrome.
Hemodynamic and Humoral Effects of the New Renin Inhibitor Enalkiren in Normal Humans

The effect of the renin inhibitor enalkiren (Abbott- 64662) was evaluated in eight normal volunteer subjects on a standardized sodium diet (100 mmol/day) by measurement of various components of the renin-angiotensin system and drug levels in plasma. On day 1, vehicle and doses of 0.001, 0.003, and 0.01 mg/kg i.v. were administered within 2 minutes at 90-minute intervals. On day 2, vehicle and doses of 0.01, 0.03, and 0.1 mg/kg i.v. were given. With the higher doses, blood pressure tended to decrease slightly with no change in heart rate. Plasma renin activity and plasma angiotensin-(l-8)octapeptide (angiotensin II) fell markedly in a dose-dependent manner. Inhibition of plasma renin activity was maximal 5 minutes after administration of the drug and persisted 90 minutes after the doses of 0.03 and 0.1 mg/kg. Not surprisingly, there was a close correlation between plasma renin activity and plasma angiotensin II levels (r = 0.81, n = 28, p < 0.001). In contrast, active and total renin measured directly by monoclonal antibodies rose in dose-related fashion in response to renin inhibition. Pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated using the plasma drug concentrations obtained up to 6 hours after the 0.1 mg/kg dose. By means of a two-compartment model, plasma mean half-life of the drug was estimated at 1.60±0.43 hours.
THE EFFECT OF NITROGEN MANAGEMENT AND PADDOCK HISTORY ON BARLEY GROWTH AND YIELD

A field experiment was conducted at four adjacent sites on the marginal cropping soil Tokomaru silt loam to study the influence of nitrogen management and paddock history on growth and yield of barley (cv. Magnum). TheN treatments were no-N (control), 60 kg N/ha applied at sowing, O.S. 3, O.S. 6 or split between O.S. 3 and O.S. 6 and a higher rate determined by soil test results (70-90 kg N/ha depending on site) applied at sowing. Site histories were immediately out of pasture and previously cropped with barley for 1, 2 and 3 years. Crop N status was monitored by nitrate test strip. Control plot yield decreased almost linearly from 5.78 t/ha out of pasture to 3.55 t/ha on the site previously cropped for three years. This indicated that regular cropping without N fertiliser on this soil could substantially reduce the yield of barley. Application of N significantly increased yield over control at all sites. Average yield on nitrogen plots were maintained for the first two years cropping (7 .09 and 6.86 t/ha respectively) then declined rapidly for the third and fourth years of cropping (5.90 and 5.94 t/ha respectively). Plots receiving the high N rate based on soil test results were also unable to maintain yield as cropping history increased. The yield decline could have been caused by other factors not related to N or possibly the soil test underestimated the N rate required to maintain yield. Maintaining adequate N toward later stages of growth was found to be important as soil fertility reduced. Effect of Non tiller dynamic and ear production are discussed. The sap nitrate test was a better indicator of crop response to the soil N status than soil tests and so it may have potential for assisting the nitrogen management of crops. Additional
Correlation of matrix metalloproteinase levels with the grade of proliferative vitreoretinopathy in the subretinal fluid and vitreous during rhegmatogenous retinal detachment

Purpose: We investigated the activity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‐2 and ‐9 and their latent pro‐forms (proMMP‐2, ‐9), and protein levels of MMP‐1, ‐3, ‐8 and tissue inhibitor of MMPs (TIMP)‐1 in the subretinal fluid (SRF) and vitreous of patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). Potential correlations with proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) grade were determined.
Trypanosoma cruzi infection of squirrel monkeys: comparison of blood smear examination, commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and polymerase chain reaction analysis as screening tests for evaluation of monkey-related injuries.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Wild-caught New World monkeys (NWM) from Central or South America are often infected with Trypanosoma species, including T. cruzi. In humans, T. cruzi causes Chagas' disease. Even in closed monkey colonies, T. cruzi can be propagated by blood-to-blood exposure, sexual activity, and transplacental transmission. Animal handlers and laboratory staff who deal with blood and tissues from infected NWM are at riskfor acquiring Chagas' disease via accidental exposure. METHODS We screened 162 blood samples from wild-caught Saimiri sp. monkeys for Trypanosoma species infections by use of blood smear examination, ELISA, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. Blood samples from 19 employees with recent history of monkey-associated injuries also were tested. RESULTS Six percent (10/162) of the monkey samples were T. cruzi positive on the basis of blood smear examination results, 10.4% (17/162) were positive by ELISA results, and 26.5% (43/162) were positive by PCR results. Other organisms identified by PCR analysis included T. rangeli in two animals, Plasmodium spp. in two animals (P. malariae confirmed by PCR results) and microfilariae in one animal (morphologically, Mansonella perstans). Evidence of trypanosome infection was not found in the 19 employee samples on the basis of results of any of the three aforementioned tests. CONCLUSIONS Close attention must be paid to worker safety where wild-caught NWM are used. The PCR analysis has a clear advantage over conventional techniques (ELISA, blood smear) for screening NWM for trypanosome infections during quarantine and after employee injury.
Remodelling of Lipid Rafts during In vitro Capacitation and Acrosome Reaction of Ram Spermatozoa

Background: Lipid rafts are often known as Detergent-Resistant Microdomains (DRMs). We report for the first time the presence of two lipid raft markers, caveolin-1 and ganglioside GM1, on the ram sperm surface, and the effect of in vitro capacitation and acrosome reaction on these marker distributions, the protein content and lipid composition of DRM and non-DRM fractions. Methods: Caveolin-1 and ganglioside GM1 were evidenced by immunocytochemical and fluorescence analysis, respectively. DRM and non-DRM fractions were separated by an OptiPrepTM density gradient. Cholesterol by fluorometry, GM1 by peroxidase reaction, protein content by spectrophotometry, and fatty acid profiling by gas chromatography were determined. Results: Caveolin-1 was evidenced at the acrosome of 59.2 ± 4.3% fresh spermatozoa, and the proportion of stained cells increased (P<0.05) after capacitation. GM1 was detected at the post-acrosome and tail of all spermatozoa, and no change was found after capacitation. Cholesterol and GM1 were distributed all along the gradient, with a peak in DRM fractions. A higher proportion (P<0.001) of saturated fatty acids was found in DRM fractions, confirmed by the unsaturation index and a higher lipid/protein ratio. In vitro capacitation induced a decrease in the content of saturated fatty acids in both DRM (P<0.001) and non-DRM (P<0.01) fractions. Polyunsaturated fatty acids increased in DRMs after the acrosome reaction. All treatments resulted in lower content of cholesterol and proteins in DRM (P<0.01) and non-DRM fractions (P<0.001), and a higherGM1 content in DRMs (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Lipid raft-like microdomains were isolated in a discrete region of the gradient. Their high content of saturated fatty acids confers a highly ordered environment. Their composition is modified during in vitro capacitation and acrosome reaction. General significance: These results represent the first characterization of ram sperm DRM, and may contribute to a better understanding of the sperm fertilizing potential acquisition mechanism.
Ca2+ cycling between sarcoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria in rabbit cardiac myocytes.

1. Shortening and intracellular Ca2+ (Ca2+i) transients were measured in isolated rabbit ventricular myocytes during paired contractures induced by rapid application of 10 mM caffeine. 2. Caffeine‐induced contractures relax despite maintained presence of caffeine. In control solution, a second phasic caffeine contracture failed to appear, unless the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) was refilled by a series of electrically stimulated twitches during the interval between caffeine exposures. 3. The relaxation of caffeine‐induced contractures in 0 Na(+)‐0 Ca2+ solution has previously been shown to rely on mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and sarcolemmal Ca2(+)‐ATPase. Thus, a second caffeine contracture (T2) while still in 0 Na(+)‐0 Ca2+ was greatly reduced compared to the first one (T1). However, the amplitude of T2 increased exponentially with the time interval, attaining a maximum of approximately 50% of T1 for an interval of 180‐300 s, with a time constant (tau) of 41.2 s. Similar results were found for Ca2+i transients (tau = 45 s). 4. Inhibition of the mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake by the oxidative phosphorylation uncoupler, FCCP during T1 dramatically depressed T2. On the other hand, inhibition of the sarcolemmal Ca2(+)‐ATPase (by increasing extracellular Ca2+ concentration, [Ca2+]o) resulted in increase of T2. Spermine inclusion during T1 also increased T2, possibly by an increase of mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake. 5. We conclude that Ca2+ taken up by mitochondria during the decline of T1 moves back to the SR after caffeine is removed, with a tau approximately 40 s. 6. Partial intracellular Na+ depletion by prolonged (3 min) perfusion with 0 Na(+)‐0 Ca2+ solution before T1 (a) accelerated relaxation and [Ca2+]i decline during T1, and (b) slowed, but did not abolish, the recovery of T2 as the interval was increased. This effect was particularly pronounced when choline was used instead of Li+ as the Na+ substitute. 7. We further conclude that the mitochondrial Na(+)‐Ca2+ antiporter influences the rate of net Ca2+ uptake by mitochondria and is also important in Ca2+ efflux from mitochondria during rest.
The trade-off between absorptive capacity and appropriability of the returns to innovation effort

A key concept in the economics of innovation is the 'public good' nature of knowledge. This generates a tension between incentivizing knowledge production by allowing knowledge creators appropriate the economic benefits and encouraging its diffusion to enhance the social return to knowledge creation. Where firms operate in localities that are characterized by greater entrepreneurship, there may be lower incentives to engage in research and development. This would result from a higher risk of knowledge spillovers to local start-ups and/or that employees may exploit new knowledge in spin-out firms. It has also been suggested in the literature that greater local entrepreneurial activity may lower profits for incumbent firms, through greater competition and/or the leakage of commercially valuable new knowledge. This paper presents a novel conceptual perspective on this tension and empirically tests it. Using Swedish firmlevel data and county-level data on new start-ups, this paper estimates the effect on R&D activity of local rates of business start-ups. It finds that greater numbers of new start-ups in a metropolitan area reduces firm-level R&D expenditure. However, this relationship is not linear, so that at higher levels of new firm formation in a region, firm-level R&D expenditure falls at a diminishing rate. This suggests that the effect of local entrepreneurship on a business' R&D decisions is conditioned by the extent of that entrepreneurship.
R-MADDPG for Partially Observable Environments and Limited Communication

There are several real-world tasks that would benefit from applying multiagent reinforcement learning (MARL) algorithms, including the coordination among self-driving cars. The real world has challenging conditions for multiagent learning systems, such as its partial observable and nonstationary nature. Moreover, if agents must share a limited resource (e.g. network bandwidth) they must all learn how to coordinate resource use. This paper introduces a deep recurrent multiagent actor-critic framework (R-MADDPG) for handling multiagent coordination under partial observable set-tings and limited communication. We investigate recurrency effects on performance and communication use of a team of agents. We demonstrate that the resulting framework learns time dependencies for sharing missing observations, handling resource limitations, and developing different communication patterns among agents.
Probiotics for Preventing Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in Mechanically Ventilated Patients: A Meta-Analysis with Trial Sequential Analysis

Background and Objective: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is still an important cause of morbidity and mortality in mechanically ventilated patients. The efficacy of the probiotics for preventing VAP is still controversial. Present study was conducted to comprehensively evaluate the effect of probiotics on VAP prevention in mechanically ventilated patients. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and CENTRAL were searched up to September 2016. Eligible trials designed with randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing probiotics with control in mechanically ventilated patients were included. Risk ratios (RRs) and mean differences (MDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated with fixed or random effects models. Trial sequential analysis (TSA) was performed using TSA 0.9beta software. Results: Thirteen RCTs (N = 1969) were included. Overall, probiotics were associated with reduced incidence of VAP (RR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.60–0.89; P = 0.002), which was confirmed by TSA (TSA adjusted 95% CI = 0.55–0.96). However, no significant difference was observed in 90-day mortality (RR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.72–1.37; P = 0.99), overall mortality (RR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.70–1.02; P = 0.09), 28-day mortality (RR = 1.06, 95% CI = 0.72–1.57; P = 0.99), intensive care unit (ICU) mortality (RR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.74–1.27; P = 0.82), hospital mortality (RR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.65–1.02; P = 0.07), diarrhea (RR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.83–1.19; P = 0.92), length of ICU stay (MD = −2.40 days, 95% CI = −6.75 to 1.95; P = 0.28), length of hospital stay (MD = −1.34 days, 95% CI = −6.21 to 3.54; P = 0.59), and duration of mechanical ventilation (MD = −3.32 days, 95% CI = −6.74 to 0.09; P = 0.06). Conclusions: In this meta-analysis, we found that probiotics could reduce the incidence of VAP in mechanically ventilated patients. It seems likely that probiotics provide clinical benefits for mechanically ventilated patients.