Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Small ribonucleic acids of Escherichia coli. II. Noncoordinate accumulation during stringent control.

Abstract The accumulation of small RNAs (4 to 6 S) in Escherichia coli during amino acid starvation has been studied by 10% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and two-dimensional fingerprint analysis. In CP78, a stringent (rel+) strain, RNA labeled with 32PO43- during amino acid starvation has a gel electrophoresis pattern that is very different from that of nonstarved cells. However, in CP79, a relaxed (rel-) mutant, RNA labeled during starvation has a gel pattern similar to normal. During starvation of the stringent strain, 32PO43- labeling of 5 S RNA, 4.5 S RNA, and most tRNAs is reduced to about 5% normal. The accumulation of an unstable molecule containing dihydrouracil, with an electrophoretic mobility similar to that of 6 S RNA, is also reduced. In contrast, 6 S RNA (which is stable) and an unstable molecule with GTP at its 5' end are much less severely reduced, if at all. Thus the accumulation of these molecules during stringent control is noncoordinate and the inhibition of accumulation is not necessarily correlated with metabolic stability. When cells of the stringent strain are treated with the antibiotic trimethoprim, an undermethylated form of tRNALeu1 appears as the most highly labeled single species of the small RNAs. Trimethoprim treatment reduces both the level of bulk tRNA labeling and the extent of tRNA methylation. These effects of trimethoprim are inhibited by the addition of methionine to the medium. The various RNA molecules are labeled with different kinetics. In short labeling periods the GTP-starting unstable molecule is one of the most highly labeled species. From radioactivity pulse-chase experiments under normal and starvation conditions it was found that amino acid starvation does not seem to affect the stability of the RNAs.
The role of smoking and alcohol intake in the development of high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions among high‐risk HPV‐positive women

Background. Infection with human papillomavirus is considered a necessary factor in developing high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions of the cervix. However, most human papillomavirus positive women do not develop high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions and other factors may be important for this transition. The objective of the present study was to examine if smoking and alcohol intake are associated with the risk of developing high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions in women positive for high‐risk human papillomavirus types. Methods. We used baseline information on exposures on 548 high‐risk human papillomavirus positive women with normal cytology, comparing 94 women who developed high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions with 454 women who remained cytologically normal. Logistic regression was applied for statistical analysis. Results. Compared with never smokers, the odds ratio for high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions among current smokers was 1.99 (95% CI: 1.21–3.28). Among current smokers, number of cigarettes, years of smoking, and early age at smoking initiation were associated with increased risk. However, when modeled simultaneously, it seemed that smoking duration and age at smoking initiation were more associated with risk of high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions than amount of smoking. Alcohol intake was not associated with risk of high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions among these women. Conclusion. Smoking is associated with an increased risk of developing high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions in women who are infected with oncogenic human papillomavirus.
The cost of Border disease infection in a commercial flock

The performance of a flock of 203 crossbred ewes on a lowland farm was examined. Before lambing the ewes were run in two groups (A and B). Group A (124 ewes) produced significantly fewer marketable lambs as a consequence of neonatal and later losses. The associated clinical features were consistent with Border disease infection and the presence of the virus was demonstrated. These features were not evident in the progeny of group B (79 ewes). The market sale returns of both groups of sheep were compared and the flock performance was contrasted with that of the two previous years. The outbreak of Border disease resulted in a potential reduction of income in excess of 20 per cent. Such a loss supports the necessity for an effective control strategy for Border disease.
Improving Staff Nurse Satisfaction and Nurse Turnover: Use of a Closed-Unit Staffing Model

Historically, compulsory nurse floating was considered a reasonable, justifiable solution to meeting hospital staffing demands. Floating is so commonplace that its impact on staff is often overlooked or is given little significance. Although offering more education or financial incentives might make floating more palatable to staff, it does not address the real issueVeffective staffing. In addition, centralized staffing plans that require mandatory floating ignore the evidence demonstrating the positive relationship between nurse autonomy and decision making. In 2007, at Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, Colorado, intensive care unit (ICU) nurses in aggregate were being floated an average of 68 times per month to areas outside of their assigned unit. That year, only 27% of ICU staff responded favorably to the hospital’s satisfaction survey question BI feel satisfied with the organization’s commitment to retain staff,[ identifying the frequency of floating as the top factor contributing to low satisfaction scores. Focus groups revealed floating as the primary factor driving nurses to consider leaving the organization. The negative trend in ICU RN turnover served as additional data leading the management team to determine that immediate intervention was necessary.
Low-dose oral contraceptive-induced acute myocardial infarction

Abstract Objectives: Since their introduction, oral contraceptives (OCs) have been associated with risk to both the venous and the arterial systems. Studies have shown that OC use is associated with a risk of venous thromboembolism, ischaemic stroke and acute myocardial infarction (MI). MI is rarely seen in patients using OCs, particularly in the absence of clinical risk factors or smoking. Case: We report a case of acute inferior MI in a 20-year-old non-smoker who had used a low-dose OC (3 mg drospirenone and 30 μg ethinyl estradiol) for 1 month. As far as we know, this is the youngest case of acute MI associated with a low-dose OC. Conclusion: Low-dose OCs may also be responsible for acute MI even in a very young female without any cardiovascular risk factors. Therefore, the clinicians should be aware of this mortal events during follow-up of the patient using OCs.
Population Dynamics of Apple Maggot (Diptera: Tephritidae) in South Central Pennsylvania

Abstract The apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh), was monitored with baited yellow panels and red spheres in commercial orchards, abandoned orchards, and unsprayed backyard apple trees in 1998 and 1999. Apple maggot adults were captured in all apple habitats, but the capture levels in the abandoned orchards and unsprayed backyard trees tended to be higher than in the commercial orchards. Peak capture occurred between mid-July and late August in both years. Emergence cages seeded with infested fruits were used to investigate bivoltinism, which was observed in both years.
Oesophageal carcinoma associated with corrosive injury—prevention and treatment by oesophageal resection

Six patients (5 from Kuala Lumpur and 1 from Singapore), who had a history of corrosive injury in late adolescence and early adult life, developed oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The association between corrosion and carcinoma was probably causal in 5 women who developed oesophageal cancer 25–50 years after corrosive injury and coincidental in a 35‐year‐old man with a recent history of corrosive ingestion. The 5 patients from Kuala Lumpur were among a series of 49 patients treated over a 10‐year period for dysphagia from corrosive injury. Excluding the patient with coincidental association, the 4 patients with corrosive‐induced carcinoma represent an 8 per cent incidence of malignancy in the series of 49 patients. Reference is made to the safety of oesophageal resection in 28 patients with associated carcinoma. Oesophageal resection during reconstructive surgery for severe corrosive stricture would have a preventive role in corrosive induced carcinoma. However, these cases suggest that patients with relatively mild corrosive injury not requiring reconstructive surgery are also at risk of oesophageal carcinoma. An awareness of this risk should lead to earlier diagnosis of carcinoma and an increase in the number of curative resections.
Dynamic Access Control Policy based on Blockchain and Machine Learning for the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is now destroying the barriers between the real and digital worlds. However, one of the huge problems that can slow down the development of this global wave, or even stop it, concerns security and privacy requirements. The criticality of these latter comes especially from the fact that the smart objects may contain very intimate information or even may be responsible for protecting people’s lives. In this paper, the focus is on access control in the IoT context by proposing a dynamic and fully distributed security policy. Our proposal will be based, on one hand, on the concept of the blockchain to ensure the distributed aspect strongly recommended in the IoT; and on the other hand on machine learning algorithms, particularly on reinforcement learning category, in order to provide a dynamic, optimized and self-adjusted security policy.
Impact of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy and Immunologic Status on Hepatitis C Virus Quasispecies Diversity in Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Hepatitis C Virus-Coinfected Patients

ABSTRACT This study analyzes the effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and thus immunologic status, on hepatitis C virus (HCV) load and quasispecies diversity in patients coinfected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and HCV. Three cohorts of coinfected patients were analyzed retrospectively over a period of 7 to 10 months: group A was antiretroviral drug naïve at baseline and then on HAART for the remainder of the study, group B did not receive antiretroviral therapy at any point, and group C was on HAART for the entire study. HCV quasispecies diversity was analyzed by sequencing hypervariable region 1. In a longitudinal analysis, there was no significant change from baseline in any immunologic, virologic, or quasispecies parameter in any of the three groups. However, in comparison to groups A and B, group C had significantly higher CD4+- and CD8+-cell counts, a trend toward a higher HCV load, and significantly increased number of HCV clones, entropy, genetic distance, and ratio of nonsynonymous substitutions per nonsynonymous site to synonymous substitutions per synonymous site (Ka /Ks ). In addition, CD4+-cell count was positively correlated with HCV load, genetic distance, and Ka . Interestingly, patients infected with HCV genotype 2 or 3 had a significantly higher CD4+-cell count, HCV load, genetic distance, and Ka /Ks than those infected with genotype 1. These results suggest that there is no immediate effect of HAART on HCV but that, with prolonged HAART, immune restoration results in an increase in HCV load and quasispecies diversity.
Investigation and Management of a Rhizomucor Outbreak in a Pediatric Cancer Hospital in Egypt

We describe an outbreak of mucormycosis in a pediatric oncology hospital during December 2010 and the measures taken to stop it. The outbreak began with two consecutive cases of laboratory‐documented mucormycosis infections within 1 week. Investigations to track the source were conducted immediately. Air plate cultures from machines and ducts supplying patients’ rooms revealed the growth of Rhizomucor. Of five affected patients, all had acute leukemia and three were histopathologically proven. All patients were treated with liposomal amphotericin B after mucormycosis was diagnosed. Posaconazole was used as a secondary prophylaxis in one case. Three patients died. Pediatr Blood Cancer © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Long‐term Induction of Haem Oxygenase‐1 (HSP‐32) in Astrocytes and Microglia Following Transient Focal Brain Ischaemia in the Rat

Haem oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) is a stress protein and a rate‐limiting enzyme in haem degradation, generating ferrous iron, carbon monoxide and bile pigments. HO‐1 has been suggested to be protective against oxidative stress. In the normal rodent brain the enzyme is localized in selected neuron populations, but heat shock, glutathione depletion in vivo and oxidative stress in vitro induce HO‐1 predominantly in glial cells. We studied HO‐1 expression in the brain following transient occlusion of the middle cerebral artery, and found increased mRNA levels in the ischaemic region from 4 h to 7 days after 90 min of ischaemia. The mRNA levels peaked at 12 h, and were localized perifocally. HO‐1‐immunoreactive astrocytes and microglial cells were seen in the perifocal area, in the ipsilateral and occasionally in the contralateral hippocampus. Some perifocal neurons were also HO‐14mmunoreactive. In the infarcted area HO‐1‐positive microglia/macrophages were detected in double‐labelling experiments. A microassay measuring the conversion of [14C]haem to [14C]bilirubin showed a two‐fold increase in haem oxygenase activity in the infarcted core. These observations show a long‐term induction of HO‐1 protein and its activity following ischaemia‐reperfusion brain injury, and indicate increased capacity for haem degradation and the generation of biologically active bile products, carbon monoxide and iron in astrocytes and some microglia/macrophages during focal brain ischaemia.
The Correlation Between Surface Measurement of Head and Neck Posture and the Anatomic Position of the Upper Cervical Vertebrae

Study Design. Repeated measurements were made of surface postural angles registering the relative positions of the head and neck in photographs and of angles of the upper cervical vertebrae recorded in lateral cephalometric radiographs in the same subjects. For all registrations, subjects assumed the natural head rest position. Objectives. To examine the correlation between external measurement of head and neck posture and the anatomic positions of the upper four cervical vertebrae. Summary of Background Data. Interpretation of surface cervical posture measurement is confounded by lack of knowledge about the extent of the underlying compensatory adjustments among the upper cervical vertebrae that may accompany variation in head and neck posture. The correlation between surface measurement and postural characteristics of the upper cervical spine has not been reported to date. Methods. The association between a set of angles describing the anatomic position of the four upper cervical vertebrae on lateral cephalometric radiographs and a surface measurement of head and neck posture, the craniovertebral angle, was studied in 34 young adult women aged between 17.2 and 30.5 years, mean age, 24.5 years. Anatomic positions of the upper four cervical vertebrae were expressed by angles relative to the true vertical or horizontal. Surface angles registering head and neck position for each subject were obtained from photographs recorded on two occasions. Results. No strong correlation could be established between the angles taken from the lateral cephalometric radiographs measuring the extent of upper cervical lordosis, orientation of the atlas, vertebral inclination, or odontoid process tilt and surface angles recording head and neck position. This finding was attributed principally to the much greater positional variability demonstrated within the upper cervical spine when compared with the surface measurements of head and neck position. Conclusion. Anatomic alignment of the upper cervical vertebrae cannot be inferred from variation in surface measurement of head and neck posture. This is the case even in those people identified with more extreme head and neck postural tendencies.
Assessing the Multi-faceted Nature of Test Anxiety Among Secondary School Students: An English Version of the German Test Anxiety Questionnaire: PAF-E

ABSTRACT The current study concerns the validation of an English version of the German Test Anxiety Inventory, namely the PAF-E. This questionnaire is a multi-faceted measure of test anxiety designed to detect normative test anxiety levels and in consequence meet the need of consultancy. Construct and criterion validity of (PAF-E) were examined with a sample of 96 secondary students (Mage = 12.8, SD = 0.67; 55% girls) from an international school in Berlin (Germany) and 399 secondary students (Mage = 13.4, SD = 0.80; 56% girls) from Montréal (Canada). Both samples completed the PAF-E and related constructs, such as school-related self-efficacy, inhibitory test anxiety, achievement motivation, and the Big Five. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the four-factor-structure (worry, emotionality, interfering thoughts, lack of confidence) of the original German Test Anxiety Inventory (PAF). Each subscale consists of five items with a total of 20 questions. Cronbach's alpha, ranging from.71 to.82 among Germans and.77 to.87 among Canadians as well as the re-test reliability (from.80 to.85 among Canadians) were sufficient. The differential patterns of correlations between other constructs and the indices of test anxiety indicate good construct validity.
Hematopoietic stem cell and marrow stromal cell for spinal cord injury in mice

We compared the effects of hematopoietic stem cell and marrow stromal cell transplantation for spinal cord injury in mice. From green fluorescent protein transgenic mouse bone marrow, lineage-negative, c-kit- and Sca-1-positive cells were sorted as hematopoietic stem cells and plastic-adherent cells were cultured as marrow stromal cells. One week after injury, hematopoietic stem cells or marrow stromal cells were injected into the lesioned site. Functional recovery was assessed and immunohistochemistry was performed. In the hematopoietic stem cell group, a portion of green fluorescent protein-positive cells expressed glial marker. In the marrow stem cell group, a number of green fluorescent protein and fibronectin-double positive cells were observed. No significant difference was observed in the recovery between both groups. Both hematopoietic stem cells and marrow stromal cells have the potential to restore the injured spinal cord and to promote functional recovery.
Memristor-based arbiter Physically Unclonable Function (APUF) with multiple response bits

The memristor, short for memory resistor, is the fourth fundamental passive circuit element, whereby it can remember the resistance based on the last applied voltage. The memristor is used in the Physically Unclonable Function (PUF), which has potential for hardware security. To improve the performance of the memristor-based arbiter PUF, two modifications were made on the design, which are extracting multiple response bits from various stages in the delay paths in order to increase resistance against attacks, and using the SR latch rather than the D flip-flop as the arbiter because of better input-to-output path symmetry in the SR latch to minimize repsonse bias as well as circuit size and overhead. The proposed memristor-based APUF were simulated with two, three, and four memristors per stage. The memristor-based APUF performance were analyzed in terms of uniqueness, uniformity, and bit-aliasing, where the average values obtained were 49.32%, 53.21%, and 53.21%, respectively. The proposed memristor-based APUF performs well as expected.
Clinical and radiological improvement of periodontal disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus treated with alendronate: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Alendronate (ALN) is an aminobisphosphonate commonly used for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. We studied the effect of ALN on bone loss prevention in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with periodontal disease. METHODS In a controlled double-blind, randomized study we evaluated prospectively diabetic patients paired by gender and years since diagnosis for 6 months. The study included 40 patients (20 men and 20 women), 50 to 60 years old, with more than 5 years since diagnosis of diabetes and established periodontitis. They were randomly allocated to alendronate (10 mg/daily) or placebo treatment for 6 months. The endpoints of treatment were: the distance between the alveolar bone border and the cemento-enamel-junction (CEJ) evaluated by means of digital radiographic imaging, a biochemical marker of bone resorption (urine N-telopeptide) (Ntx), and periodontal parameters. Metabolic control was assessed at baseline and after 6 months. RESULTS Baseline and 6-month glycated hemoglobin levels were similar in both groups. Alendronate induced a significant decrease in NTx at 6 months (P = 0.006). Periodontal parameters improved in both groups. However, they were significantly better for the ALN treated group. Alveolar bone border-CEJ distance increased in the placebo, but decreased in the ALN group (P = 0.0003). CONCLUSIONS In type-2 diabetic patients, alendronate induced more improvement in alveolar bone crest height than control therapy. No differences in urinary N-telopeptide or glycated hemoglobin were observed in this short-term randomized controlled pilot trial.
Functional image-guided surgery of intracranial tumors located in or near the sensorimotor cortex.

OBJECT The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of noninvasive preoperative functional imaging data used in an interactive fashion in the operating room. The authors describe a method of registering preoperative functional magnetic resonance (fMR) imaging localization of sensorimotor cortex with a frameless stereotactic surgical navigation device. METHODS The day before surgery, patients underwent blood oxygen level-dependent fMR imaging while performing a finger-tapping motor paradigm. Immediately afterward an anatomical stereotactic MR image was acquired. Raw fMR imaging data were analyzed offline at a separate workstation, and the resulting functional maps were registered to a high-resolution anatomical scan. The fused functional-anatomical images were then downloaded onto a surgical navigation computer via an ethernet connection. At surgery, the brain was exposed in the standard fashion, and the sensorimotor cortex was identified by direct cortical stimulation, the use of somatosensory evoked potentials, or both. This localization was then compared with that predicted by the registered fMR study. Thirteen procedures were performed in 12 patients. The mean registration error was 2.2 mm. The predicted location of motor and/or sensory cortex matched that found on intraoperative mapping in all 12 patients tested. Maximal tumor resection was accomplished in each case and no new permanent neurological deficits resulted. CONCLUSIONS Compared with conventional brain mapping techniques, fMR image-guided surgery may allow for smaller brain exposures, localization of the language cortex with the patient under general anesthesia, and the mapping of multiple functional sites. The scanning equipment used in this method may be more readily available than for other functional imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography or magnetoencephalography.