Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Screening of aquatic samples for Vibrio cholerae serotype O1 by a dot-blot method and a latex agglutination test

A dot-blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent method and a latex agglutination test were studied for their abilities to detect Vibrio cholerae serotype O1 in aquatic samples by testing artificially contaminated water as well as samples from natural potential sources. Water samples were preenriched with alkaline peptone and then enriched with Monsur peptone water. For the dot-blot test, enriched cultures of organisms in a small portion of the Monsur peptone water were transferred to a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane with a microfiltration apparatus. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed by using biotin-labeled antibodies and avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex; brown dots developed in the wells that contained serotype O1 vibrios. Latex agglutination tests were performed by mixing 1 drop of the culture in Monsur with 1 drop of reagent coated with monoclonal antibody specific for antigen A. The sensitivities and specificities of the methods were compared with those of the colony-blot method, which identified individual colonies of V. cholerae O1 in mixed bacterial cultures on isolation media. Our results indicate that the dot-blot method is as sensitive as the colony-blot method and is useful for screening for V. cholerae serotype O1 even in specimens that are heavily contaminated with non-O1 vibrios.
Risk factors for Parkinson's disease and impaired olfaction in relatives of patients with Parkinson's disease

Our objective was to assess the association between risk factors for Parkinson's disease (PD) and abnormal olfaction in first‐degree relatives of patients with PD. Factors including lower cigarette smoking and lower caffeine consumption have been associated with increased risk of PD. Idiopathic hyposmia has also been associated with an increased risk of PD. The relationship between risk factors for PD and impaired olfactory function has not been evaluated in relatives of PD patients. We conducted a mail survey of odor identification ability in 173 first‐degree relatives of PD patients using the 40‐item University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT). Respondents also completed a questionnaire inquiring about risk factors for PD including caffeine consumption, tobacco use, exercise, and exposures to heavy metals, well‐water, and pesticides. There was a direct relationship between olfactory performance and lifetime caffeine intake. After adjustment for age, gender, and smoking status, subjects who reported drinking 2 to 3 cups of caffeinated beverages per day (2.6 points higher 95% CI: 0.5, 4.5) and 4 or more cups per day (3.7 points higher, 95% CI: 0.6, 6.7) had significantly better UPSIT scores than those who consumed less than 1 cup per day. There was no significant relationship between olfactory performance and other risk factors. In conclusion, abnormal olfaction is associated with significantly lower lifetime caffeine consumption in first‐degree relatives of PD patients. Further research is warranted to determine whether a history of lower caffeine consumption confers additional risk for the development of PD in hyposmic relatives of PD patients. © 2007 Movement Disorder Society
Second-Generation Antipsychotics and Risk of Cerebrovascular Accidents in the Elderly

Abstract: Concern has been recently raised for risperidone and olanzapine, possibly associated with cerebrovascular events in placebo-controlled trials conducted in elderly subjects with dementia. We investigated the relationship between exposure to second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) and occurrence of cerebrovascular accidents in the elderly. From the regional database of hospital admissions of Lombardy, Italy, we extracted all patients aged 65 or older with cerebrovascular-related outcomes for the year 2002. From the regional database of prescriptions reimbursed by the National Health Service, we extracted all patients aged 65 or older who received antipsychotic prescriptions during 2001. The 2 databases were linked anonymously using the individual patient code. The proportions of cerebrovascular accidents were 3.31% (95% confidence interval, 2.95-3.69) in elderly subjects exclusively exposed to SGAs and 2.37% (95% confidence interval, 2.19-2.57) in elderly subjects exclusively exposed to first-generation antipsychotics. After background group differences were controlled for, exposure to SGAs significantly increased the risk of accidents. The analysis of cerebrovascular events in elderly subjects exposed to each individual SGA, in comparison with exposure to haloperidol, showed a significantly increased risk for risperidone only (adjusted odds ratio, 1.43; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-1.93). These data provide preliminary epidemiological evidence that exposure to SGAs, in comparison with exposure to first-generation antipsychotics, significantly increased the risk of cerebrovascular accidents in the elderly.
Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance in Brazil

This paper aims to investigate the existence of persistence in superior performance in Brazilian stock market funds from 2001 to 2014. In order to do so, we used a sample free of survivorship bias and four different market models to characterize the expected return and risk relationship. In all models we were not able to find evidence consistent with superior performance, indicating performance differences could be more attributed to different exposures to risk factors than superior skill. Some additional evidence was found the momentum factor seems to explain a large part of the funds’ excess returns in both top and bottom deciles.
THE IN VIVO AND IN VITRO METABOLIC PROFILE OF 99MTC-NC100668, A NEW TRACER FOR IMAGING VENOUS THROMBOEMBOLISM: IDENTIFICATION AND BIODISTRIBUTION OF THE PRINCIPAL RADIOLABELED METABOLITE

99mTc-NC100668 [Acetyl-Asn-Gln-Glu-Gln-Val-Ser-Pro-Tyr(3-iodo)-Thr-Leu-Leu-Lys-Gly-NC100194] is a radiopharmaceutical imaging agent being developed to aid the diagnosis of thromboembolism. The stability profile of 99mTc-NC100668 was investigated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) after in vitro exposure to blood and plasma obtained from rat and human, as well as to urine and bile obtained from rat. The metabolic profile of 99mTc-NC100668 exposed to human and rat hepatic S9 (a liver homogenate-rich cytochrome P450) was also studied. The profile of 99mTc-labeled species in plasma, urine, and bile was investigated following i.v. administration of 99mTc-NC100668 to rat. The major species observed in vitro and in vivo consisted of the 99mTc-chelator (NC100194) [N,N-Bis(N-(1,1-dimethyl-2-(hydroxylimino-)propyl)aminoethyl)aminoethylamine] attached to the C-terminal amino acid residue and referred to as 99mTc-complex of Gly-NC100194. The identity of the major metabolite was confirmed by cochromatography with an authentic standard and the genuine metabolite using a second HPLC method. The minor metabolites were sodium pertechnetate (99mTc) and 99mTc-NC100194. In addition, a small number of other species were transiently observed in vitro; they were not investigated further. The biodistribution of the major metabolite was studied in male Wistar rats. The affinity of the major metabolite toward plasma clot was established using a plasma clot-forming assay. A minor uptake of 99mTc-complex of Gly-NC100194 in the plasma clot and a rapid removal from the body were noted. In conclusion, the metabolites of 99mTc-NC100668 are not anticipated to have a negative impact on the ability of the test substance to image blood clots.
An efficient method for changing undergraduate students' addiction to the computer games into the interest of learning

Nowadays computer game, as the product of the modern electronic information technology and internet has become a way of entertainment. However, it also brings many negative impacts that more and more college students addicted to online games. Internet game addiction has already become the prominent mental and physical problem of the contemporary undergraduate students, and it also affects the normal social relation and the teaching in school, which has caused the widespread attention of the education community and the society. This paper based on the related researches, analyzed factors that may lead to the university students being addicted to online games. Furthermore, according to the design concept of the game, proposes some strategies that can increase interest in learning.
The Influence on Seeking Care Because of Neck and Shoulder Disorders from Work-Related Exposures

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of work-related physical and psychosocial factors on seeking care for neck or shoulder disorders among men and women in a general working population. The study population comprised gainfully employed (>17 hours per week) men and women in the municipality of Norrtälje, altogether 392 cases and 1,511 controls. Cases were defined as persons seeking care because of neck or shoulder disorders by any caregiver in the region. The study began in 1994 and continued to 1997. We assessed physical and psychosocial exposures by questionnaires and interviews. The pattern of seeking care for neck or shoulder disorders differed between men and women. Among men, work with vibrating tools [relative risk (RR) = 1.6], not having a fixed salary (RR = 1.9), and low demands in relation to competence (RR = 1.5) were the strongest risk indicators obtained in analyses stratified for age and previous symptoms. Among women, repetitive hand or finger movements (RR = 1.6), constrained sitting (RR = 1.6), not having a fixed salary (RR = 2.0), and solitary work (RR = 1.8) were the strongest risk indicators. A large proportion of the general population was exposed to several of these moderately harmful conditions, and their concomitant effect may explain the high incidence of neck and shoulder disorders in the general working population.
Learning how to Active Learn: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach

Active learning aims to select a small subset of data for annotation such that a classifier learned on the data is highly accurate. This is usually done using heuristic selection methods, however the effectiveness of such methods is limited and moreover, the performance of heuristics varies between datasets. To address these shortcomings, we introduce a novel formulation by reframing the active learning as a reinforcement learning problem and explicitly learning a data selection policy, where the policy takes the role of the active learning heuristic. Importantly, our method allows the selection policy learned using simulation to one language to be transferred to other languages. We demonstrate our method using cross-lingual named entity recognition, observing uniform improvements over traditional active learning algorithms.
Explaining Attitudes Towards Immigration Policies in European Countries: The Role of Human Values

European societies have been experiencing increasing rates of immigration in recent decades. At the same time one can observe a substantial rise in anti-foreigner sentiments. In this study we investigate the effect of human values on attitudes towards immigration. We hypothesise that self-transcendent individuals are more supportive of, and conservative individuals are more adverse to, immigration. We do not expect large differences in the effect of values across contexts. To explain cross-country and cross-time differences we use group threat theory, according to which larger inflows of immigration combined with challenging economic conditions impose a threat on the host society, resulting in more negative attitudes towards immigration. To test our hypotheses we use data from the first three rounds of the European Social Survey (2002–03, 2004–05 and 2006–07) and multilevel analysis. Prior to the interpretation of the results, we guarantee that the concepts display measurement invariance across countries and over time. Our results largely confirm our hypotheses regarding the role that values play in the explanation of anti-immigration attitudes.
High Performance Ethanol Sensor for Control Drunken Driving Based on Flame-made ZnO Nanoparticles

ZnO nanoparticles were produced by FSP using zinc naphthenate as a precursor dissolved in toluene/acetonitrile (80/20 vol%). The phase and crystallite size were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the specific surface area (SSA) of the nanoparticles was measured by nitrogen adsorption (BET analysis). The ZnO particle size and morphologies was further investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealing spheroidal, hexagonal, and rod-like morphologies. The crystallite sizes of ZnO spheroidal and hexagonal particles were in the range of 10-20 nm. ZnO nanorods were found to be ranging from 10-20 nm in width and 20-50 nm in length. Sensing films were produced by mixing the particles into an organic paste composed of terpineol and ethyl cellulose as a vehicle binder. The paste was doctor-bladed onto Al2O3 substrates interdigitated with Au electrodes. The morphology of the sensing films was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The gas sensing of ethanol (25-250 ppm) was studied at 400 degC in dry air. The oxidation of ethanol on the surface of the semiconductor was confirmed by mass spectroscopy (MS). Thick (5 mum) ZnO films showed high sensitivity and fast response times (within seconds). The sensitivity increased and the response time decreased with increasing ethanol concentration. These concentrations (25-250 ppm) were corresponded to be almost in the same range with detection limit of concentration for human breath analyzer. These sensor can be performed an ethanol sensing device that could be employed for control of drunken driving.
Halogen versus high-intensity light-curing of uncoated and pre-coated brackets: a shear bond strength study.

AIM To evaluate the shear bond strengths of adhesive pre-coated brackets (APC) and conventional uncoated brackets (Victory) cured with two different light-curing units: a conventional halogen light (Visilux 2) and a micro-xenon light (Aurys). SETTING Ex vivo study MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty freshly extracted bovine permanent mandibular incisors were randomly assigned to one of four groups, each group consisting of 15 specimens. Two groups (one for each type of bracket) were exposed to the halogen light for 20 seconds and used as controls. The remaining two groups were cured with the micro-xenon light for 2 seconds. After 24 hours, all samples were tested in a shear mode on an Instron Machine. Analysis was by two-way ANOVA with Scheffé's test for comparisons, Kaplan-Meier survival estimates, and Cox model. The Chi-square (chi(2)) test was used to determine significant differences in the ARI scores. RESULTS The mean shear bond strength of the uncoated brackets cured with Visilux 2 was significantly higher than those of all the other groups tested. Both groups cured with Visilux 2 produced significantly higher mean shear bond strengths than those of the corresponding groups cured with Aurys. No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups cured with Aurys. CONCLUSIONS Compared to halogen light-curing, the micro-xenon light enables the clinician to reduce significantly the curing time of both APC and uncoated brackets, and although significantly lower, their shear bond strengths may be clinically acceptable.
Effectiveness of Decision Aids

Increased interest in health care consumerism has created an environment conducive to growth in the use of decision aids (DAs) to support patient decision making. The authors review the research literature published within the past 5 years that assesses the effects of DAs in the areas of screening and treatment. Multiple measures are used to evaluate the effectiveness of DAs, with mixed evidence of impacts. To date, most evidence from screening studies suggests that DAs are effective in increasing knowledge and are acceptable to patients, but patient uptake of screening has been mixed. Among treatment studies, there is some, but limited, evidence showing impact of DAs on immediate and long-term decisional conflict, patient satisfaction, and quality of life. Few studies provide assessment of impact on health outcomes, quality of care, utilization, or costs, all areas likely to be of growing interest to private purchasers, insurers, and public programs.
Acoustic chiasm II: Anatomical basis of binaurality in lateral superior olive of cat

The afferent projections to the lateral superior olive (LSO) were examined with horseradish peroxidase, horseradish peroxidase‐wheat germ agglutinin conjugate, 125I‐wheat germ agglutinin and tritiated leucine autoradiography, anterograde axonal degeneration, and 14C‐2‐deoxyglucose methods.
Intent pattern recognition of lower-limb motion based on mechanical sensors

Based on the regularity nature of lower-limb motion, an intent pattern recognition approach for above-knee prosthesis is proposed in this paper. To remedy the defects of recognizer based on electromyogram U+0028 EMG U+0029, we develop a pure mechanical sensor architecture for intent pattern recognition of lower-limb motion. The sensor system is composed of an accelerometer, a gyroscope mounted on the prosthetic socket, and two pressure sensors mounted under the sole. To compensate the delay in the control of prosthesis, the signals in the stance phase are used to predict the terrain and speed in the swing phase. Specifically, the intent pattern recognizer utilizes intraclass correlation coefficient U+0028 ICC U+0029 according to the Cartesian product of walking speed and terrain. Moreover, the sensor data are fused via Dempster-Shafer U+02BC s theory. And hidden Markov model U+0028 HMM U+0029 is used to recognize the realtime motion state with the reference of the prior step. The proposed method can infer the prosthesis user U+02BC s intent of walking on different terrain, which includes level ground, stair ascent, stair descent, up and down ramp. The experiments demonstrate that the intent pattern recognizer is capable of identifying five typical terrain-modes with the rate of 95.8%. The outcome of this investigation is expected to substantially improve the control performance of powered above-knee prosthesis.
Selective Suppression of IL-12 Production by Chemoattractants

We investigated the ability of chemoattractants to affect IL-12 production by human monocytes and dendritic cells. We found that pretreatment of monocytes with macrophage chemoattractant proteins (MCP-1 to -4), or C5a, but not stromal-derived factor-1, macrophage inflammatory protein-1α, RANTES, or eotaxin, inhibited IL-12 p70 production in response to stimulation with Staphylococcus aureus, Cowan strain 1 (SAC), and IFN-γ. The production of TNF-α and IL-10, however, was minimally affected by any of the chemoattractants. The degree of inhibition of IL-12 p70 production by MCP-1 to -4 was donor dependent and was affected by the autocrine inhibitory effects of IL-10. In contrast, C5a profoundly suppressed IL-12 production in an IL-10-independent fashion. Neither TGF-β1 nor PGE2 was important for the suppression of IL-12 by any of the chemoattractants tested. The accumulation of mRNA for both IL-12 p35 and p40 genes was inhibited by chemokine pretreatment. Interestingly, MCP-1 to -4 and C5a did not suppress IL-12 production by monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DC) stimulated with CD40 ligand and IFN-γ or by SAC and IFN-γ, suggesting that these factors may act at the site of inflammation to suppress IL-12 and IFN-γ production rather than in the lymph node to affect T cell priming. Despite the inability of C5a to inhibit IL-12 production by DCs, the receptor for C5a (CD88) was expressed by these cells, and recombinant C5a induced a Ca2+ flux. Taken together, these results define a range of chemoattractant molecules with the ability to suppress IL-12 production by human monocytes and have broad implications for the regulation of immune responses in vivo.
The role of farmers' market incentives on the fruit and vegetable intake and food security status of supplemental nutrition assistance program participants

152 Introduction.153 Methods.154 Results.158 Discussion.160 Implications for Research and Practice.166 References.168 6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.173 Summary.173 Conclusions.177 APPENDICES.178 xi Appendix A. HEaL Recruitment Script.179 Appendix B. HEaL Survey Tools.187 Appendix C. HEaL Clinic Forms.203 Appendix D. HEaL Interview Guide . 207 Appendix E. DUFB Survey Tools . 209 Appendix F. HEaL Creates Curriculum.214 Appendix G. Co-Author Releases.279 Appendix H. Permission to Reprint.283 CURRICULUM VITAE.285
Cardiac Structural Involvement in Mucopolysaccharidoses

Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) are lysosomal storage disorders due to impaired glycosaminoglycan degradation. Cardiac involvement is present in most patients with MPS although its clinical impact is still undetermined. Cardiovascular abnormalities were evaluated in 39 patients with MPS aged 4–22 years. Valvular lesions and different forms of cardiac involvement were detected. The most common lesion was thickening of the mitral valve with regurgitation or stenosis, regardless of the MPS type. Mitral valve thickening was observed in 23 patients, aortic valve thickening in 11 patients and congestive heart failure in only 1 patient with MPS III. The most severe changes were registered for MPS types I and II. Complete cardiological investigation should be routinely warranted in every patient inflicted with MPS.
Analysis of Damage Tolerance Pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: a Requirement for Rev3 DNA Polymerase in Translesion Synthesis

ABSTRACT The replication of double-stranded plasmids containing a singleN-2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF) adduct located in a short, heteroduplex sequence was analyzed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The strains used were proficient or deficient for the activity of DNA polymerase ζ (REV3 andrev3Δ, respectively) in a mismatch and nucleotide excision repair-defective background (msh2Δ rad10Δ). The plasmid design enabled the determination of the frequency with which translesion synthesis (TLS) and mechanisms avoiding the adduct by using the undamaged, complementary strand (damage avoidance mechanisms) are invoked to complete replication. To this end, a hybridization technique was implemented to probe plasmid DNA isolated from individual yeast transformants by using short, 32P-end-labeled oligonucleotides specific to each strand of the heteroduplex. In both the REV3 and rev3Δ strains, the two strands of an unmodified heteroduplex plasmid were replicated in ∼80% of the transformants, with the remaining 20% having possibly undergone prereplicative MSH2-independent mismatch repair. However, in the presence of the AAF adduct, TLS occurred in only 8% of theREV3 transformants, among which 97% was mostly error free and only 3% resulted in a mutation. All TLS observed in theREV3 strain was abolished in the rev3Δ mutant, providing for the first time in vivo biochemical evidence of a requirement for the Rev3 protein in TLS.
Predicting the helix packing of globular proteins by self‐correcting distance geometry

A new self‐correcting distance geometry method for predicting the three‐dimensional structure of small globular proteins was assessed with a test set of 8 helical proteins. With the knowledge of the amino acid sequence and the helical segments, our completely automated method calculated the correct backbone topology of six proteins. The accuracy of the predicted structures ranged from 2.3 Å to 3.1 Å for the helical segments compared to the experimentally determined structures. For two proteins, the predicted constraints were not restrictive enough to yield a conclusive prediction. The method can be applied to all small globular proteins, provided the secondary structure is known from NMR analysis or can be predicted with high reliability.