Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the taxonomic status of Barbronia wuttkei ( Kutschera , 2004 ) n . comb . – a leech species ( Hirudinea : Salifidae ) from a German aquarium

Barbronia wuttkei (Kutschera, 2004) was described as Erpobdella wuttkei, allegedly showing typical characteristics of the genus Erpobdella (fam. Erpobdellidae). Investigations on two specimens of this leech, obtained from the author, revealed that the description is inaccurate and partly wrong. Results of morphological, anatomical and molecular phylogenetic analyses clearly place it in the genus Barbronia (fam. Salifidae). Since available morphological, anatomical and molecular data do not permit a clear and unambiguous synonimization with any of the hitherto described Barbronia species, we propose to retain it as a nominal species of this genus.
Phage-Derived Peptidoglycan Degrading Enzymes: Challenges and Future Prospects for In Vivo Therapy

Peptidoglycan degrading enzymes are of increasing interest as antibacterial agents, especially against multi-drug resistant pathogens. Herein we present a review about the biological features of virion-associated lysins and endolysins, phage-derived enzymes that have naturally evolved to compromise the bacterial peptidoglycan from without and from within, respectively. These natural features may determine the adaptability of the enzymes to kill bacteria in different environments. Endolysins are by far the most studied group of peptidoglycan-degrading enzymes, with several studies showing that they can exhibit potent antibacterial activity under specific conditions. However, the lytic activity of most endolysins seems to be significantly reduced when tested against actively growing bacteria, something that may be related to fact that these enzymes are naturally designed to degrade the peptidoglycan from within dead cells. This may negatively impact the efficacy of the endolysin in treating some infections in vivo. Here, we present a critical view of the methods commonly used to evaluate in vitro and in vivo the antibacterial performance of PG-degrading enzymes, focusing on the major hurdles concerning in vitro-to-in vivo translation.
Metabolic Costs and Physiological Consequences of Acclimation to Aluminum in uvenile Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus rn @ 1 : Acclimation Specificity , Resting Physiology , Feeding , and Growth Rod W .

juvenile rainbow trout (Oncsrhynchus mykiss, 5-1 3 g) became acclimated (i.e., increased their resistance to lethal Al levels, 162 pg-h-', pH 5.2) after only 5 d when exposed to sublethal Al (38 pg.b-') in acidified soft water ( ~ a + = 85, ca2+ = 28 , U E ~ L ~ , pH 5.2). Acclimation was associated with reduced ionoregulatosy and respiratory disturbances during lethal Al challenge and was maintained for at least 34 d. Acclimation was relatively specific to AB because no consistently improved resistance to lethal Cu (32 pg.b-', pH 5.2) was observed. Exposure to sublethal acid alone (pH 5.2) did not result in acclimation to lethal [H+] (pH 4.0) and caused a pronounced reduction in whole-body Fda+ and Cl-. Sublethal acid + Al resulted in a more rapid loss of ions than sublethal acid alone over the first 10 61, but both groups subsequently recovered ionoregulatory status after 34 d. Exposure to sublethal acid alone had a negligible effect on feeding or growth. However, growth was impaired by 29% in AB-exposed trout, primarily the result of reduced appetite during the first 10 d. Decreased growth must be considered one of the costs of acclimation during chronic sublethal exposure to Al.
The genome-wide rate and spectrum of spontaneous mutations differ between haploid and diploid yeast

Significance Organisms vary in the number of genome copies per cell: ploidy. By altering how DNA is replicated and repaired, ploidy may determine the number and types of mutations that arise, affecting how evolution proceeds. We sequenced the genomes of >200 replicate lines of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) with one versus two genome copies (haploid versus diploid) after accumulation of thousands of new mutations. Haploids were more susceptible to single-nucleotide mutations, particularly for DNA replicated later in the cell cycle, whereas large changes to genome structure were more common in diploids. Haploid and diploid populations will therefore have access to distinct kinds of genetic variation, contributing to differences in their evolutionary potential. By altering the dynamics of DNA replication and repair, alternative ploidy states may experience different rates and types of new mutations, leading to divergent evolutionary outcomes. We report a direct comparison of the genome-wide spectrum of spontaneous mutations arising in haploids and diploids following a mutation-accumulation experiment in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Characterizing the number, types, locations, and effects of thousands of mutations revealed that haploids were more prone to single-nucleotide mutations (SNMs) and mitochondrial mutations, while larger structural changes were more common in diploids. Mutations were more likely to be detrimental in diploids, even after accounting for the large impact of structural changes, contrary to the prediction that mutations would have weaker effects, due to masking, in diploids. Haploidy is expected to reduce the opportunity for conservative DNA repair involving homologous chromosomes, increasing the insertion-deletion rate, but we found little support for this idea. Instead, haploids were more susceptible to SNMs in late-replicating genomic regions, resulting in a ploidy difference in the spectrum of substitutions. In diploids, we detect mutation rate variation among chromosomes in association with centromere location, a finding that is supported by published polymorphism data. Diploids are not simply doubled haploids; instead, our results predict that the spectrum of spontaneous mutations will substantially shape the dynamics of genome evolution in haploid and diploid populations.
High Level Antibody Response to Pandemic Influenza H1N1/09 Virus Is Associated With Interferon-Induced Transmembrane Protein-3 rs12252-CC in Young Adults

Background: The C allele of the interferon-induced transmembrane protein-3 (IFITM3) SNP rs12252, a common allele in South East Asia and China, is strongly associated with severe influenza infection. However, despite the high occurrence of rs12252-CC genotype in Chinese population (~25%), severe influenza infection is rare. The aim of study is to determine whether rs12252-CC individuals have pre-existing antibody responses to previous seasonal influenza infections. Cohort and Method: A total 99 young healthy volunteers (18–20 years) were recruited and received an influenza seasonal Vaccination [A/Switzerland/9715293/2013(H3N2), A/California/7/2009 (pdm09H1N1) and B/Jeep/3073/2013-like virus (Flu-B)]. Plasma and gDNA was isolated from each volunteer before, and 14, 28, 180, 360, and 540 days after vaccination. Additionally, 68 elderlies (>65 years) were also recruited as a control group to compare the levels of antibodies at baseline between the young adults and the elderly. For each sample IFITM3 rs12252 genotype was determined and antibody levels in response to pdmH1N1, H3N2 and Influenza B infection were measured for each time point. Results: We found a significantly higher level of pre-existing antibodies to pandemic influenza H1N1/09 virus (pdm09H1N1) but not to H3N2 or FluB in CC donors in comparison with CT/TT donors prior to vaccination. No impact of IFITM3 genotype in boosting influenza specific antibodies in young adults within 1 year after receiving seasonal influenza vaccination was observed. In addition, there was no difference in pdm09H1N1 specific antibody levels observed in the elderly cohort between volunteers carrying different IFITM3 genotypes. Higher levels of antibodies to pdmH1N1 were observed in elderly CC carriers when compared to the young CC carriers, but this trend was not replicated in TT carriers. Conclusion: IFITM3-rs12252 CC carriers exhibit a high level of pre-existing immunity to pdm09H1N1 compared to TT carriers in the young cohort. This suggests that compensatory mechanisms exist which might contribute to viral control in patients carrying the rs12252-CC genotype who do not become sick after flu infection. However, such a potential compensatory effect appears to be lost overtime, as evidenced in the elderly cohort. If this compensatory mechanism is lost, it may make the CC carrying elderly more susceptible to severe influenza infection.
People with Lobster - Claw Syndrome: A Study of Oligodactyly Sufferers and their Communication Experiences in the Village of Ulutaue, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Oligodactyly is the multiple malformation of hands and feet since birth. This study pertains to how 15 people suffering from Oligodactyly in the Village of Ulutaue, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, have constructed the meaning of their ailments and how they have communicated with people without disabilities around them in their daily lives.The study is based on a social construction perspective and a symbolic interactionist perspective, with the research method of in-depth interviews. Based on their accounts, we have developed a typology of Oligodactyly sufferers, meaning construction and themes related to their communication experiences. They considered their suffering in terms of having a different body, a body cursed by God, and the body as God’s bounty. The sufferers have been abandoned and discriminated against by their immediate families as well as people outside their families. The way nondisabled people treated them created difficulties for them to survive within society and to be free from their existing agony. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016. v7n1s1p136
Worst-Case to Average Case Reductions for the Distance to a Code

Algebraic proof systems reduce computational problems to problems about estimating the distance of a sequence of functions [EQUATION], given as oracles, from a linear error correcting code V. The soundness of such systems relies on methods that act "locally" on u and map it to a single function u* that is, roughly, as far from V as are u1, . , uk. Motivated by these applications to efficient proof systems, we study a natural worst-case to average-case reduction of distance for linear spaces, and show several general cases in which the following statement holds: If some member of a linear space U = span(u1, ., uk) is Δ-far from (all elements) of V in relative Hamming distance, then nearly all elements of U are (1 − ϵ)Δ-far from V; the value of ϵ depends only on the distance of the code V and approaches 0 as that distance approaches 1. Our results improve on the previous state-of-the-art which showed that nearly all elements of U are 1/2Δ-far from V [Rothblum, Vadhan and Wigderson, STOC 2013]. When V is a Reed-Solomon (RS) code, as is often the case for algebraic proof systems, we show how to boost distance via a new "local" transformation that may be useful elsewhere. Relying on the affine-invariance of V, we map a vector u to a random linear combination of affine transformations of u, and show this process amplifies distance from V. Assuming V is an RS code with sufficiently large distance, this amplification process converts a function u that is somewhat far from V to one that is (1 − ϵ)-far from V; as above, ϵ depends only on the distance of V and approaches 0 as the distance of V approaches 1. We give two concrete application of these techniques. First, we revisit the axis-parallel low-degree test for bivariate polynomials of [Polischuk-Spielman, STOC 1994] and prove a "list-decoding" type result for it, when the degree of one axis is extremely small. This result is similar to the recent list-decoding-regime result of [Chiesa, Manohar and Shinkar, RANDOM 2017] but is proved using different techniques, and allows the degree in one axis to be arbitrarily large. Second, we improve the soundness analysis of the recent RS proximity testing protocol of [Ben-Sasson et al., ICALP 2018] and extend it to the "list-decoding" regime, bringing it closer to the Johnson bound.
Large-Margin Classification in Hyperbolic Space

Representing data in hyperbolic space can effectively capture latent hierarchical relationships. To enable accurate classification of points in hyperbolic space while respecting their hyperbolic geometry, we introduce hyperbolic SVM, a hyperbolic formulation of support vector machine classifiers, and describe its theoretical connection to the Euclidean counterpart. We also generalize Euclidean kernel SVM to hyperbolic space, allowing nonlinear hyperbolic decision boundaries and providing a geometric interpretation for a certain class of indefinite kernels. Hyperbolic SVM improves classification accuracy in simulation and in real-world problems involving complex networks and word embeddings. Our work enables end-to-end analyses based on the inherent hyperbolic geometry of the data without resorting to ill-fitting tools developed for Euclidean space.
Consensus in Gestational Diabetes MELLITUS: Looking for the Holy Grail

The world’s pre-eminent diabetes, obstetric, endocrine, and health organizations advocate a plethora of diverse algorithms for the screening, diagnosis, management, and follow-up of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Additionally, there are regional recommendations of local health societies. Several of these proposals for GDM are contentious because some of them were developed from unscientific studies, based on expert-opinion, catered to preserve resources, and subjectively modified for convenience. Due to the wide variety of choices available, the approach to GDM can be extremely diverse even within the same hospital. This lack of consensus creates major problems in addressing prevalence, complications, efficacy of treatment, and follow-up of GDM. Moreover, it becomes nearly impossible to compare the numerous studies. Furthermore, the lack of consensus confuses the health care providers of obstetric health who look to the experts for guidance. Therefore, a clear, objective, “evidence-based” global approach, which is simple, easy to follow, and validated by corroborative research, is crucial. We contend that, despite decades of research, a single acceptable global guideline is not yet on the horizon.
Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices for Complex Mood Disorders in Primary Care Safety Net Clinics

Introduction: Use quality improvement methods to implement evidence-based practices for bipolar depression and treatment-resistant depression in 6 Federally Qualified Health Centers. Method: Following qualitative needs assessments, implementation teams comprised of front-line providers, patients, and content experts identified, adapted, and adopted evidence-based practices. With external facilitation, onsite clinical champions led the deployment of the evidence-based practices. Evaluation data were collected from 104 patients with probable bipolar disorder or treatment-resistant depression via chart review and an interactive voice response telephone system. Results: Five practices were implemented: (a) screening for bipolar disorder, (b) telepsychiatric consultation, (c) prescribing guidelines, (d) online cognitive−behavioral therapy, and (e) online peer support. Implementation outcomes were as follows: (a) 15% of eligible patients were screened for bipolar disorder (interclinic range = 3%−70%), (b) few engaged in online psychotherapy or peer support, (c) 38% received telepsychiatric consultation (interclinic range = 0%−83%), and (d) 64% of patients with a consult were prescribed the recommended medication. Clinical outcomes were as follows: Of those screening at high risk or very high risk, 67% and 69%, respectively, were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. A third (32%) of patients were prescribed a new mood stabilizer, and 28% were prescribed a new antidepressant. Clinical response (50% reduction in depression symptoms), was observed in 21% of patients at 3-month follow-up. Discussion: Quality improvement processes resulted in the implementation and evaluation of 5 detection and treatment processes. Though varying by site, screening improved detection and a substantial number of patients received consultations and medication adjustments; however, symptom improvement was modest.
Outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) in Abruzzi region, central‐Italy

Abstract Here we report and characterize a porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) outbreak which occurred in a swine fattening farm in the province of Teramo, Abruzzi region (central Italy), in January 2016. PED virus (PEDV) identification was determined by real‐time RT‐PCR performed on RNAs purified from fecal samples collected from two symptomatic pigs. Whole genome sequence (PEDV 1842/2016) was also obtained by next generation sequencing straight from RNA purified from one fecal sample. Genome comparison with extant global PEDV strains revealed a high nucleotide identity with recently reported European and American S‐INDEL PEDVs. Efficient sequencing, share of genomic data combined with the implementation of epidemiological tools would be the ideal approach for study and analysis of transboundary infectious diseases as PED.
Effect of antipsychotics on community structure in functional brain networks

Schizophrenia, a mental disorder that is characterized by abnormal social behaviour and failure to distinguish one’s own thoughts and ideas from reality, has been associated with structural abnormalities in the architecture of functional brain networks. In this article, we (1) investigate whether mesoscale network properties give relevant information to distinguish groups of patients from controls in different scenarios and (2) use this lens to examine network effects of different antipsychotic treatments. Using various methods of network analysis, we examine the effect of two classical therapeutic antipsychotics—Aripiprazole and Sulpiride—on the architecture of functional brain networks of both controls (i.e., a set of people who were deemed to be healthy) and patients (who were diagnosed with schizophrenia). We compare community structures of functional brain networks of different individuals using mesoscopic response functions, which measure how community structure changes across different scales of a network. Our approach does a reasonably good job of distinguishing patients from controls, and the distinction is sharper for patients and controls who have been treated with Aripiprazole. Unexpectedly, we find that this increased separation between patients and controls is associated with a change in the control group, as the functional brain networks of the patient group appear to be predominantly unaffected by this drug. This suggests that Aripiprazole has a significant and measurable effect on community structure in healthy individuals but not in individuals who are diagnosed with schizophrenia, something that conflicts with the naive assumption that the drug alters the mesoscale network properties of the patients (rather than the controls). By contrast, we are less successful at separating the networks of patients from those of controls when the subjects have been given the drug Sulpiride. Taken together, in our results, we observe differences in the effects of the drugs (and a placebo) on community structure in patients and controls and also that this effect differs across groups. From a network-science perspective, we thereby demonstrate that different types of antipsychotic drugs selectively affect mesoscale properties of brain networks, providing support that structures such as communities are meaningful functional units in the brain.
On the Origins of Memes by Means of Fringe Web Communities

Internet memes are increasingly used to sway and manipulate public opinion. This prompts the need to study their propagation, evolution, and influence across the Web. In this paper, we detect and measure the propagation of memes across multiple Web communities, using a processing pipeline based on perceptual hashing and clustering techniques, and a dataset of 160M images from 2.6B posts gathered from Twitter, Reddit, 4chan's Politically Incorrect board (/pol/), and Gab, over the course of 13 months. We group the images posted on fringe Web communities (/pol/, Gab, and The_Donald subreddit) into clusters, annotate them using meme metadata obtained from Know Your Meme, and also map images from mainstream communities (Twitter and Reddit) to the clusters. Our analysis provides an assessment of the popularity and diversity of memes in the context of each community, showing, e.g., that racist memes are extremely common in fringe Web communities. We also find a substantial number of politics-related memes on both mainstream and fringe Web communities, supporting media reports that memes might be used to enhance or harm politicians. Finally, we use Hawkes processes to model the interplay between Web communities and quantify their reciprocal influence, finding that /pol/ substantially influences the meme ecosystem with the number of memes it produces, while The_Donald has a higher success rate in pushing them to other communities.
Adjacent-Categories Mokken Models for Rater-Mediated Assessments

Molenaar extended Mokken’s original probabilistic-nonparametric scaling models for use with polytomous data. These polytomous extensions of Mokken’s original scaling procedure have facilitated the use of Mokken scale analysis as an approach to exploring fundamental measurement properties across a variety of domains in which polytomous ratings are used, including rater-mediated educational assessments. Because their underlying item step response functions (i.e., category response functions) are defined using cumulative probabilities, polytomous Mokken models can be classified as cumulative models based on the classifications of polytomous item response theory models proposed by several scholars. In order to permit a closer conceptual alignment with educational performance assessments, this study presents an adjacent-categories variation on the polytomous monotone homogeneity and double monotonicity models. Data from a large-scale rater-mediated writing assessment are used to illustrate the adjacent-categories approach, and results are compared with the original formulations. Major findings suggest that the adjacent-categories models provide additional diagnostic information related to individual raters’ use of rating scale categories that is not observed under the original formulation. Implications are discussed in terms of methods for evaluating rating quality.
Functional outcome of arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using semitendinosus autograft – A prospective study

Materials and Methods: A prospective study was done from 2013 to 2015 to analyze the post-operative outcome of Arthroscopic Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with Semitendinosus autograft. Conclusion: We conclude that Anterior Cruciate Ligament reconstruction with quadrupled semitendinosus graft has good functional results and high success rate.
Neural Factor Graph Models for Cross-lingual Morphological Tagging

Morphological analysis involves predicting the syntactic traits of a word (e.g. POS: Noun, Case: Acc, Gender: Fem). Previous work in morphological tagging improves performance for low-resource languages (LRLs) through cross-lingual training with a high-resource language (HRL) from the same family, but is limited by the strict, often false, assumption that tag sets exactly overlap between the HRL and LRL. In this paper we propose a method for cross-lingual morphological tagging that aims to improve information sharing between languages by relaxing this assumption. The proposed model uses factorial conditional random fields with neural network potentials, making it possible to (1) utilize the expressive power of neural network representations to smooth over superficial differences in the surface forms, (2) model pairwise and transitive relationships between tags, and (3) accurately generate tag sets that are unseen or rare in the training data. Experiments on four languages from the Universal Dependencies Treebank demonstrate superior tagging accuracies over existing cross-lingual approaches.