Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hessian Measures III

Abstract In this paper, we continue previous investigations into the theory of Hessian measures. We extend our weak continuity result to the case of mixed k -Hessian measures associated with k -tuples of k -convex functions, on domains in Euclidean n -space, k =1,2,…, n . Applications are given to capacity, quasicontinuity, and the Dirichlet problem, with inhomogeneous terms, continuous with respect to capacity or combinations of Dirac measures.
Serum prolidase activity and oxidative stress markers in pregnancies with intrauterine growth restricted infants

Aim: To compare the levels of serum prolidase activity and oxidative stress markers, including total oxidative status (TOS), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), oxidative stress index (OSI), and total free sulfhydryl (–SH) in healthy pregnant women and pregnant women with intrauterine growth restricted infants.
Glycemic Control in Critical Care: Current Benefits and Future Needs

Recent literature has redefined the prevalence of hyperglycemia according to narrower ranges of serum glucose and in relation to the rising epidemic of diabetes mellitus (DM) in the world. DM affects more than 170 million individuals worldwide, and approximately 18 million in the United States alone (approximately 6.3% of population). Furthermore, age-adjusted mortality among adults with diabetes is twice that of those without the disease. Several factors cause postoperative hyperglycemia as a stress response. Response to surgery varies between diabetic versus nondiabetic patients. Initial investigations showed favorable clinical outcomes when tight perioperative serum glucose was controlled with insulin therapy. The incidence of complications also varied between surgical and medical critically ill patients. Finally, the impact of various types of anesthesia on the stress response to surgery is still at the cusp of investigations. This chapter will start with an overview of hormonal changes as a stress response to surgery, and then examine the body of evidence documenting perioperative complications associated with hyperglycemia. Evidence will be contrasted to the favorable effects of perioperative euglycemia.
A Long-Term Cultivation of an Anaerobic Methane-Oxidizing Microbial Community from Deep-Sea Methane-Seep Sediment Using a Continuous-Flow Bioreactor

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in marine sediments is an important global methane sink, but the physiological characteristics of AOM-associated microorganisms remain poorly understood. Here we report the cultivation of an AOM microbial community from deep-sea methane-seep sediment using a continuous-flow bioreactor with polyurethane sponges, called the down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) bioreactor. We anaerobically incubated deep-sea methane-seep sediment collected from the Nankai Trough, Japan, for 2,013 days in the bioreactor at 10°C. Following incubation, an active AOM activity was confirmed by a tracer experiment using 13C-labeled methane. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that phylogenetically diverse Archaea and Bacteria grew in the bioreactor. After 2,013 days of incubation, the predominant archaeal components were anaerobic methanotroph (ANME)-2a, Deep-Sea Archaeal Group, and Marine Benthic Group-D, and Gammaproteobacteria was the dominant bacterial lineage. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis showed that ANME-1 and -2a, and most ANME-2c cells occurred without close physical interaction with potential bacterial partners. Our data demonstrate that the DHS bioreactor system is a useful system for cultivating fastidious methane-seep-associated sedimentary microorganisms.
International comparisons of infant mortality and related factors: United States and Europe, 2010.

OBJECTIVES This report investigates the reasons for the United States' high infant mortality rate when compared with European countries. Specifically, the report measures the impact on infant mortality differences of two major factors: the percentage of preterm births and gestational age-specific infant mortality rates. METHODS Infant mortality and preterm birth data are compared between the United States and European countries. The percent contribution of the two factors to infant mortality differences is computed using the Kitagawa method, with Sweden as the reference country. RESULTS In 2010, the U.S. infant mortality rate was 6.1 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, and the United States ranked 26th in infant mortality among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. After excluding births at less than 24 weeks of gestation to ensure international comparability, the U.S. infant mortality rate was 4.2, still higher than for most European countries and about twice the rates for Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. U.S. infant mortality rates for very preterm infants (24-31 weeks of gestation) compared favorably with most European rates. However, the U.S. mortality rate for infants at 32-36 weeks was second-highest, and the rate for infants at 37 weeks of gestation or more was highest, among the countries studied. About 39% of the United States' higher infant mortality rate when compared with that of Sweden was due to a higher percentage of preterm births, while 47% was due to a higher infant mortality rate at 37 weeks of gestation or more. If the United States could reduce these two factors to Sweden's levels, the U.S. infant mortality rate would fall by 43%, with nearly 7,300 infant deaths averted annually.
Characterization of Herpes Simplex Virus-Containing Organelles by Subcellular Fractionation: Role for Organelle Acidification in Assembly of Infectious Particles

ABSTRACT The cytoplasmic compartments occupied by exocytosing herpes simplex virus (HSV) are poorly defined. It is unclear which organelles contain the majority of trafficking virions and which are occupied by virions on a productive rather than defective assembly pathway. These problems are compounded by the fact that HSV-infected cells produce virus continuously over many hours. All stages in viral assembly and export therefore coexist, making it impossible to determine the sequence of events and their kinetics. To address these problems, we have established assays to monitor the presence of capsids and enveloped virions in cell extracts and prepared HSV-containing organelles from normally infected cells and from cells undergoing a single synchronized wave of viral egress. We find that, in both cases, HSV particles exit the nucleus and accumulate in organelles which cofractionate with thetrans-Golgi network (TGN) and endosomes. In addition to carrying enveloped infectious virions in their lumen, HSV-bearing organelles also displayed nonenveloped capsids attached to their cytoplasmic surface. Neutralization of organellar pH by chloroquine or bafilomycin A resulted in the accumulation of noninfectious enveloped particles. We conclude that the organelles of the TGN/endocytic network play a key role in the assembly and trafficking of infectious HSV.
Effect of High-Dose Intravenous Dexamethasone on Postlumbar Discectomy Pain

Study Design. A prospective, randomized triple-blind clinical trial. Objective. To evaluate the effect of 40 and 80 mg intravenous (IV) dexamethasone versus placebo to reduce postlumbar diskectomy pain. Summary of Background Data. Lumbar discectomy is a procedure to ablate radicular and low pack pain (LBP) in select patients. Unfortunately, some patients have radicular pain for several days after successful surgery, possibly caused by nerve root inflammation. Methods. A total of 61 patients with single-level herniated lumbar disc at L4–L5 or L5–S1 were randomly assigned to 3 groups. After the skin incision, group 1 received 40 mg, group 2 received 80 mg IV dexamethasone, and group 3 received placebo. All patients also received 50 mg ranitidine IV at the same time. Preoperative and postoperative radicular and LBP were evaluated using the visual analog scale. Morphine was administered and recorded as a sole pain-killer during hospital admission if indicated. Collected data were analyzed using the 1-way analysis of variance test. Results. A total of 61 consecutive patients entered the study. There were 19 patients who received 40 mg dexamethasone IV (group 1), 20 received 80 mg (group 2), and 22 received placebo (group 3). Preoperative data, including age, sex, level of disc herniation, and radicular and LBP, were statistically matched among groups. Postoperative LBP was decreased in all groups equally. Based on the visual analog scale, mean radicular pain was significantly decreased 4.26 points in group 1, 4.15 points in group 2 versus 2.73 points in group 3 (P = 0.006). Mean total morphine used was also significantly lower in group 1 versus group 3 (5.26 vs. 9 mg P = 0.012). Conclusion. Intraoperative IV injection of 40 mg dexamethasone could effectively reduce postoperative radicular leg pain and narcotics usage in patients with single-level herniated lumbar disc.
Molecular Analysis of Malassezia Microflora on the Skin of Atopic Dermatitis Patients and Healthy Subjects

ABSTRACT Members of the genus Malassezia, lipophilic yeasts, are considered to be one of the exacerbating factors in atopic dermatitis (AD). We examined variation in cutaneous colonization by Malassezia species in AD patients and compared it with variation in healthy subjects. Samples were collected by applying transparent dressings to the skin lesions of AD patients. DNA was extracted directly from the dressings and amplified in a specific nested PCR assay. Malassezia-specific DNA was detected in all samples obtained from 32 AD patients. In particular,Malassezia globosa and M. restrictawere detected in approximately 90% of the AD patients andM. furfur and M. sympodialiswere detected in approximately 40% of the cases. The detection rate was not dependent on the type of skin lesion. In healthy subjects,Malassezia DNA was detected in 78% of the samples, among which M. globosa, M. restricta, and M. sympodialis were detected at frequencies ranging from 44 to 61%, with M. furfur at 11%. The diversity of Malasseziaspecies found in AD patients was greater (2.7 species detected in each individual) than that found in healthy subjects (1.8 species per individual). Our results suggest that M. furfur,M. globosa, M. restricta, andM. sympodialis are common inhabitants of the skin of both AD patients and healthy subjects, while the skin microflora of AD patients shows more diversity than that of healthy subjects. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the use of a nested PCR as an alternative to fungal culture for analysis of the distribution of cutaneous Malassezia spp.
First description of monogenean parasites in Lake Tanganyika: the cichlid Simochromis diagramma (Teleostei, Cichlidae) harbours a high diversity of Gyrodactylus species (Platyhelminthes, Monogenea)

SUMMARY Lake Tanganyika harbours the most diverse endemic cichlid fish assemblage of Africa, but its monogenean fish parasites have not been investigated. Here we report, for the first time, on the Gyrodactylus parasites in this hotspot of fish biodiversity. Haptor morphometrics and nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences revealed 3 new species on Zambian Simochromis diagramma: Gyrodactylus sturmbaueri n. sp. , G. thysi n. sp. and G. zimbae n. sp. Their distinct morphology and strong genetic differentiation suggest that they belong to distant lineages within the genus Gyrodactylus, and phylogenetic reconstructions suggest affinities with other genera of gyrodactylids. Additional U-shaped haptoral plates in G. thysi n. sp. and a second large spine-like structure in the male copulatory organ of G. zimbae seem to represent new features for the genus. Such large diversity on a single host species can probably be explained by host-switching events during the course of evolution, in agreement with the generally accepted concept that ecological transfer is an important aspect of gyrodactylid speciation. Additional parasitological surveys on other host species, covering a broader phylogenetic and geographical range, should clarify the evolutionary history of Gyrodactylidae on cichlids in the African Great Lake and other parts of Africa.
Social Perception Problems in Learning Disabled Youth

This investigation attempted to determine whether or not the gap in social perceptual ability between learning disabled and non-learning-disabled groups would decrease with age. The Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity and The Four Factor Tests of Social Intelligence were administered to 30 students with learning disabilities and 30 students without learning disabilities. The ages of the students were 11, 14, and 17 years. Although social perceptual ability was found to improve with age for both groups, the proportionate differences between the groups remained constant through age 17.
State HCV Incidence and Policies Related to HCV Preventive and Treatment Services for Persons Who Inject Drugs — United States, 2015–2016

Hepatitis C is associated with more deaths in the United States than 60 other infectious diseases reported to CDC combined. Despite curative hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapies and known preventive measures to interrupt transmission, new HCV infections have increased in recent years (1,2). Injection drug use is the primary risk factor for new HCV infections (2). One potential strategy to decrease the prevalence of HCV is to create and strengthen public health laws and policies aimed specifically at reducing transmission risks among persons who inject drugs. To evaluate factors affecting access to HCV preventive and treatment services, CDC assessed state laws governing access to safe injection equipment and Medicaid policies related to sobriety requirements for approval of HCV treatment for persons who inject drugs. Acute HCV incidence rates were obtained from CDC's National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS). States were categorized based on analysis of laws related to access to clean needles and syringes and Medicaid HCV treatment policies associated with sobriety requirements. In 2015, HCV incidence remained high in the United States, with rates in 17 states exceeding the national average. Three states were determined to have state laws and Medicaid policies capable of comprehensively preventing and treating HCV among persons who inject drugs. Opportunities exist for states to adopt laws and policies that could help increase access to HCV preventive and treatment services reducing the number of persons at risk for HCV transmission and disease.
Release of endogenous dopamine in cultured mesencephalic neurons: influence of dopaminergic agonists and glucocorticoid antagonists

Several electrochemical techniques allow the measurement of dopamine release in freely moving animals and brain slices. In this report, we applied one of these techniques, coulometry, coupled to high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), to the study of dopamine release in primary cultures of embryonic mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons. Between day 9 and 33 of culture, concentrations of dopamine, above the detection threshold, were found in the incubation buffer (Krebs ringer buffer, KRB). Concentrations of dopamine in the incubation buffer reflected neuronal release as they were: (i) positively correlated with the number of tyrosine hydroxylase‐positive dopamine neurons in the culture; (ii) tetrodotoxin (TTX) sensitive and Ca2+ dependent; (iii) increased by a depolarizing stimulus, e.g. K+ (20 m m), or by the indirect dopamine agonists amphetamine and cocaine; (iv) decreased by a hyperpolarizing stimulus, e.g. the dopamine D2‐like receptor agonist quinpirole. Dopamine release in this model was also sensitive to the manipulation of glucocorticoids, potent modulators of dopamine release in vivo. Long‐term treatment of the cell cultures with RU 39305, a selective antagonist of glucocorticoid receptors (GR), but not with spironolactone, a selective antagonist of mineralocorticoid receptors (MR), dose‐dependently decreased K+‐stimulated dopamine release. In conclusion, these results demonstrate an in vitro model that allows the studying of the release of endogenous dopamine in cell cultures and the effects of glucocorticoid hormones on the release dynamics.
Towards self-optimizing memory management

Systems today are application driven. Increasing application sizes re-iterate the importance of memory management and increasing application complexity stresses the need for self-management. At the same time, different memory requirements of different applications require that optimizations for memory management be done from a complete system perspective. In the view of this, the goal of this thesis is to take a step towards self-optimizing memory management at all the different levels of the memory hierarchy. This thesis makes three main contributions to the memory management system. First, it undertakes a thorough characterization study for the TLBs and proposes a novel prefetching mechanism that is simple, powerful and adapts to the applications. Second, it presents a dynamic memory allocator that tunes itself to the applications. Finally, towards the goal of developing a self-optimizing VMM, it finds the important VMM parameters that govern the system performance, relates the influence of these parameters to the application/OS characteristics, and provides a solid motivation to set these parameters dynamically.
Theiler's virus replication in brain macrophages cultured in vitro

Infection of the mouse with Theiler's virus is one of the best animal models for the study of multiple sclerosis, a chronic demyelinating disease of the human central nervous system. The identification of the virus target cell(s) is fundamental to an understanding of the viral persistence as well as the inflammation and demyelination observed in the chronic phase of the disease. This paper reports that a small fraction of brain macrophages grown in vitro can be efficiently infected with Theiler's virus without significant cytolytic effect. Viral replication as well as continuous production of infectivity were observed in these cultures.
Quantitation of relative fitness and great adaptability of clonal populations of RNA viruses

We describe a sensitive, internally controlled method for comparing the genetic adaptability and relative fitness of virus populations in constant or changing host environments. Certain monoclonal antibody-resistant mutants of vesicular stomatitis virus can compete equally during serial passages in mixtures with the parental wild-type clone from which they were derived. These genetically marked "surrogate wild-type" neutral mutants, when mixed with wild-type virus, allow reliable measurement of changes in virus fitness and of virus adaptation to different host environments. Quantitative fitness vector plots demonstrate graphically that even clones of an RNA virus are composed of complex variant populations (quasispecies). Variants of greater fitness (competitive replication ability) were selected within very few passages of virus clones in new host cells or animals. Even clones which were well adapted to BHK21 cells gained further fitness during repeated passages in BHK21 cells.
Development of Circumventricular Organs in the Mirror of Zebrafish Enhancer-Trap Transgenics

The circumventricular organs (CVOs) are small structures lining the cavities of brain ventricular system. They are associated with the semitransparent regions of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Hence it is thought that CVOs mediate biochemical signaling and cell exchange between the brain and systemic blood. Their classification is still controversial and development not fully understood largely due to an absence of tissue-specific molecular markers. In a search for molecular determinants of CVOs we studied the green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression pattern in several zebrafish enhancer trap transgenics including Gateways (ET33-E20) that has been instrumental in defining the development of choroid plexus. In Gateways the GFP is expressed in regions of the developing brain outside the choroid plexus, which remain to be characterized. The neuroanatomical and histological analysis suggested that some previously unassigned domains of GFP expression may correspond to at least six other CVOs–the organum vasculosum laminae terminalis (OVLT), subfornical organ (SFO), paraventricular organ (PVO), pineal (epiphysis), area postrema (AP) and median eminence (ME). Two other CVOs, parapineal and subcommissural organ (SCO) were detected in other enhancer-trap transgenics. Hence enhancer-trap transgenic lines could be instrumental for developmental studies of CVOs in zebrafish and understanding of the molecular mechanism of disease such a hydrocephalus in human. Their future analysis may shed light on general and specific molecular mechanisms that regulate development of CVOs.
Minu, Startu and All that: Pitfalls in Estimating the Sensitivity of a Worker's Wage to Aggregate Unemployment

In this paper we show that panel estimates of tenure specific sensitivity to the business cycle of wages is subject to serious pitfalls. Three canonical variates used in the literature – the minimum unemployment rate during a worker’s time at the firm (min u), the unemployment rate at the start of her tenure (Su) and the current unemployment rate interacted with a new hire dummy (δu) – can all be significant and "correctly" signed even when each worker in the firm receives the same wage, regardless of tenure (equal treatment). In matched data the problem can be resolved by the inclusion in the panel of firm-year interaction dummies. In unmatched data where this is not possible, we propose a solution for min u and Su based on Solon, Barsky and Parker's (1994) two step method. Our proposed solution method is however suboptimal because it removes a lot of potentially informative variation in average wages. Unfortunately δu cannot be identified in unmatched data because a differential wage response to unemployment of new hires and incumbents will appear under both equal treatment and unequal treatment.
Factors affecting employee productivity in the UAE construction industry

Productivity rates of construction trades is the basis for accurately estimating time and costs required to complete a project. This research aims at developing a regression model for predicting changes in productivity, when the underlying factors affecting productivity are varied. These factors were broadly categorised as general work environment, organisational work policies, group dynamics and interpersonal relationships and personal competence of the employees as applicable in United Arab Emirates (UAE). The most significant factors amongst these were determined through surveys using the Severity Index and the Chi Square computations for significance. The factors were regrouped into factors that afforded practical variation at site and productivity data was collected using different combination of the most significant factors of Timing, Supervision, Group Dynamics, Control by Procedures, Climate and Material Availability. Construction activities such as Excavation, Formwork, Reinforcement, Concreting, Block work, Plaster and Tiling have been studied and the increase or decrease in productivity obtained was compared to the actual site average productivity; then analysed statistically using the MINITAB software, and linear regression models established. Validation is underway at other sites, but early field data on one site, indicate that the regression models arrived at - were capable of predicting productivity changes within ±15%.