Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of a commercial competitive exclusion product on the selection of enrofloxacin resistance in commensal E. coli in broilers

ABSTRACT The effect of a competitive exclusion product (Aviguard®) on the selection of fluoroquinolone resistance in poultry was assessed in vivo in the absence or presence of fluoroquinolone treatment. Two experiments using a controlled seeder-sentinel animal model (2 seeders: 4 sentinels per group) with one-day-old chicks were used. For both experiments, as soon as the chicks were hatched, the birds of two groups were administered Aviguard® and two groups were left untreated. Three days later, all groups were inoculated with an enrofloxacin-susceptible commensal E. coli strain. Five days after hatching, two birds per group were inoculated with either a bacteriologically fit or a bacteriologically non-fit enrofloxacin-resistant commensal E. coli strain. In experiment 2, all groups were orally treated for three consecutive days (days 8–10) with enrofloxacin. Throughout the experiments, faecal excretion of all inoculated E. coli strains was determined on days 2, 5, 8, 11, 18 and 23 by selective plating (via spiral plater). Linear mixed models were used to assess the effect of Aviguard® on the selection of fluoroquinolone resistance. The use of Aviguard® (P < 0.01) reduced the excretion of enrofloxacin-resistant E. coli when no enrofloxacin treatment was administered. However, this beneficial effect disappeared (P = 0.37) when the birds were treated with enrofloxacin. Similarly, bacterial fitness of the enrofloxacin-resistant E. coli strain used for inoculation had an effect (P < 0.01) on the selection of enrofloxacin resistance when no treatment was administered, whereas this effect was no longer present when enrofloxacin was administered (P = 0.70). Thus, enrofloxacin treatment cancelled the beneficial effects from administrating Aviguard® in one-day-old broiler chicks and resulted in an enrofloxacin-resistant flora. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS The effect of Aviguard® on the selection of enrofloxacin resistance was assessed in vivo. Without enrofloxacin, Aviguard® reduced the selection of enrofloxacin resistance. When enrofloxacin was administered, it cancelled the beneficial effect of Aviguard®.
Spondylodiscitis in Paediatric Patients: The Importance of Early Diagnosis and Prolonged Therapy

Background: Spondylodiscitis (SD), the concurrent infection of a vertebral disc and the adjacent vertebral bodies, is a very severe disease that can lead to death or cause spinal deformities, segmental instabilities, and chronic pain, which significantly reduces the quality of life for affected patients. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential in order to reduce the risk of negative outcomes. The two cases of SD that are described in this paper might be useful for informing paediatric approaches to children with SD. Case presentation: The cases that are reported here are about two children of approximately 2 and 3 years of age, in whom SD involving the L4–L5 and L3–L4 interspaces, had a subacute or chronic course. The clinical manifestations were mild, fever was absent, and the lumbar pain lasted for a long time and was the predominant symptom. Moreover, laboratory tests were in the normal range or only slightly abnormal, as were the standard radiographs of the lumbar spine. In both of the cases, SD confirmation was obtained through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and MRI was also used to evaluate the response to therapy. In both of our patients, tuberculosis was excluded based on tuberculin skin testing and the Quantiferon TBgold tests being negative. This finding led to the prescription of a broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy, including a drug that was potentially effective against Staphylococcus aureus (Sa). The strict monitoring of the spinal damage with MRI avoided the need for aspirations or biopsies; invasive procedures that are ethically acceptable in pediatric age only in a few selected cases, when the empirical antibiotic is associated with a worsening of spinal damage; or the vertebral osteomyelitis lesion mimics a tumoral lesion. Conclusions: Although rare, SD represents an important disease in children. In toddlers and preschool children, it can have a subacute or chronic course, in which only back pain, irritability, and walking difficulties are the signs and symptoms of the disease. MRI remains the best method for confirming the diagnosis and for evaluating therapy efficacy. Antibiotics are the drugs of choice. Although the duration has not been established, antibiotics should be administered for several weeks.
Lmo2 expression defines tumor cell identity during T‐cell leukemogenesis

The impact of LMO2 expression on cell lineage decisions during T‐cell leukemogenesis remains largely elusive. Using genetic lineage tracing, we have explored the potential of LMO2 in dictating a T‐cell malignant phenotype. We first initiated LMO2 expression in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and maintained its expression in all hematopoietic cells. These mice develop exclusively aggressive human‐like T‐ALL. In order to uncover a potential exclusive reprogramming effect of LMO2 in murine hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, we next showed that transient LMO2 expression is sufficient for oncogenic function and induction of T‐ALL. The resulting T‐ALLs lacked LMO2 and its target‐gene expression, and histologically, transcriptionally, and genetically similar to human LMO2‐driven T‐ALL. We next found that during T‐ALL development, secondary genomic alterations take place within the thymus. However, the permissiveness for development of T‐ALL seems to be associated with wider windows of differentiation than previously appreciated. Restricted Cre‐mediated activation of Lmo2 at different stages of B‐cell development induces systematically and unexpectedly T‐ALL that closely resembled those of their natural counterparts. Together, these results provide a novel paradigm for the generation of tumor T cells through reprogramming in vivo and could be relevant to improve the response of T‐ALL to current therapies.
Optimisation of Railway Switches and Crossings

Methods for simulation-based optimisation of the design of railway turnouts (switches & crossings, S&C) are developed and demonstrated. Building on knowledge of dynamic wheel–rail interaction in turnouts, it is investigated how rail profile degradation can be reduced by the optimisation of geometry and component stiffness of the track superstructure. It is assumed that reduced rail profile degradation will reduce the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of turnouts. In order to obtain robust optimised designs that perform well in situ, the influence of spread in traffic parameters, such as wheel profile and wheel–rail friction coefficient, is accounted for in the optimisations. For this purpose, studies of the correlation between wheel profile characteristics and damage in S&C are performed to allow for an efficient parameter sampling using the Latin Hypercube Sampling method. Track gauge optimisation in the switch panel is performed using a multi-objective optimisation approach to highlight the design trade-off in performance between different traffic routes and moves. The objective is to minimise rail and wheel wear as estimated by the energy dissipation in the wheel‒rail contacts. As track gauge widening affects the switch rail design, the switch rail geometry is linked to the gauge widening in the parameterisation. It is found that gauge configurations with a large maximum gauge widening for the straight stock rail are optimal for both the through and diverging routes, while the results for the curved stock rail show a more significant route dependence. A method for the optimisation of switch rail profile geometry is presented, where the geometry parameterisation is inspired by a manufacturing process for switch rails. It is found that increased profile height and increased profile shoulder protuberance are preferred to reduce the energy dissipation and wheel‒rail contact pressures when a nominal S1002 wheel profile is used as input. It is concluded that accurate constraints on allowable switch rail loading need to be established to determine the feasible design space for switch rail geometry optimisation. A method for the optimisation of crossing geometry is also introduced. The rail cross-sections are optimised for minimum wheel‒rail contact pressure. Further, the longitudinal height profiles of the wing rails and crossing nose are optimised to minimise an estimate of the accumulated damage in the transition zone. The optimisation is computationally efficient which makes it possible to account for very large samples of wheel profiles. An investigation and demonstration of the constraints imposed on the crossing design by the spread in profile and lateral displacement of passing wheels is presented. Supplementary to the optimisation studies is the comparison of simulation results to field measurement data to evaluate and validate the accuracy of the utilised model of dynamic vehicle‒track interaction, as well as a demonstration of a methodology that simulates rail profile degradation for a given mixed traffic situation.
Evaluation of rutting potential and skid resistance of hot mix asphalt incorporating electric arc furnace steel slag and copper mine tailing

In order to promote the use of waste materials in road construction, this paper presents the laboratory results of a study investigating the rutting potential and skid resistance of hot mix asphalt incorporating electric arc furnace (EAF) steel slag and copper mine tailings. To achieve this objective, four different mixes incorporating copper mine tailings and EAF steel slag in different proportions are investigated. The aggregates are blended with the optimum bitumen content of PG(76-22) and 80/100 bitumen binders. The rutting potential of all the mixes is evaluated by the asphalt pavement analyzer (APA), while the skid resistance is measured by the British Pendulum Skid Resistance Tester. The results show that the mix with 20% copper mine tailing and 80% EAF steel slag has the highest skid number, mean texture depth and the least rut depth. It is also observed that the rate of rutting decreased with loading cycles and 70 to 80% of the rut depth is attained at 4000 cycles using the APA.
Comparison of common-mode voltage in three-phase quasi-Z-source inverters using different shoot-through implementation methods

In Z-source family inverters, shoot-through (ST) states are applied as a part of passive state in each switching cycle. The distribution of ST intervals along a switching period affects the system parameters as total harmonic distortion (THD), switching loss and common-mode voltage (CMV). In this paper, ST methods in a three-phase quasi-Z-source inverter (q-ZSI) are compared due to the CMV level. High-frequency harmonics of CMV cause leakage current flow in a transformerless grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system. Through the comparison of the ST methods, the method with minimum CMV is identified. The experimental results are presented for a low voltage q-ZSI prototype.
AERO-OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPRESSIBLE, SUBSONIC TURBULENT BOUNDARY LAYERS

An extensive experimental study of optical aberrations due to propagation through fully-developed turbulent boundary layers at high subsonic Mach numbers was performed. Time-resolved, high- bandwidth, direct optical measurements of the dynamic aberrations were made using a Malley probe. The probe was used to obtain the convective speeds of the optically-significant turbulence structures and to measure the optical path differences. Measurements were made over a range of boundary layer thicknesses and Mach numbers. Optical distortions were found to scale linearly with boundary layer thickness and freestream density, and to go as the square of the freestream Mach number.
Dual-Band Dual-Polarized Full-Wave Rectenna Based on Differential Field Sampling

A dual-band rectenna for radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting is presented in this letter. The proposed antenna has two concentric square patches electrically connected with a small microstrip line connection. Four ports are located in the inner patch. The configuration of the ports enables a differential field sampling scheme and dual polarization. The antenna operates for the WiFi frequency bands of 2.4 and 5.5 GHz with 7.52 and 7.26 dBi gain, respectively, for each frequency. A full-wave Greinacher voltage doubler rectifier for each polarization has been employed for RF-to-dc conversion. The proposed novel topology utilizes the differential field sampling for each polarization and quadruples the overall output voltage by the rectification process. The differential output voltage source from the rectenna can directly act as a power source as typically electronics require differential source for their operation.
Phase-shift modulation technique for 5-level packed U-cell (PUC5) inverter

In this paper a phase shift pulse width modulation (PS-PWM) is designed and implemented on the five level packed U-cell inverter (PUC5) to achieve better harmonic performance. Therefore, the PUC5 configuration and switching states are studied in details to design the PS-PWM technique properly in order to maintain the main feature of PUC5 inverter, which is sensor-less voltage balancing of the auxiliary capacitor. Such balanced voltage helps producing five identical voltage levels at the output. Moreover, PS-PWM enhances the performance of voltage balancing at all modulation indexes and makes the dynamic response faster with shorter time constant to reach the steady state reference voltage. Also the other advantages of PS-PWM will be accessible on this type of converter including lower switching losses and harmonic pollution results in using smaller size of harmonic filters in comparison with level sift modulation. Simulation results are demonstrated and discussed to validate the acceptable performance of the designed modulation technique.
Cascades Neural Network based Segmentation of Fluorescence Microscopy Cell Nuclei

The visual extraction of cellular, nuclear and tissue components from medical images is very vital in the diagnosis routine of different health related abnormalities and diseases. The objective of this work is to modify and efficiently combine different image processing methods supported by cascaded artificial neural networks in an automated system to perform segmentation analysis of medical microscopy images to extract nuclei located in either simple or complex clusters. The proposed system is applied on a publicly available data sets of microscopy nuclei cells. A GUI is designed and presented in this work to ease the analysis and screening of these images. The proposed system shows promising performance and reduced computational time cost. It is hoped that thus system and the corresponding GUI will construct platform base for several biomedical studies in the field of cellular imaging where further complex investigations and modelling of microscopy images could take place.
Barriers and facilitators to implementing the commission on cancer's distress screening program standard

Abstract Objective Many cancer centers struggle to implement standardized distress screening despite the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer 2012 mandate for a distress screening program standard of care by 2015. This paper presents outcomes for the first cohort of participants (n = 36) of a Screening for Psychosocial Distress Program (SPDP), a 2-year training program designed to assist clinicians in implementing routine distress screening as mandated by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. Specifically, participants’ success with distress screening implementation, institutional barriers and facilitators to implementation, and the role of the SPDP are described. Method This research followed a longitudinal pre- and posttest mixed methods design. An investigator-developed questionnaire collected qualitative (distress screening goals, institutional barriers and facilitators, facilitators associated with participation in the SPDP) and quantitative (level of goal achievement) data at 6, 12, and 24 months of participation in the SPDP. Conventional content analysis was applied to qualitative data. Mixed methods data analysis in Dedoose evaluated (1) types and number of distress screening goals, barriers, and facilitators, and (2) goal achievement at 6, 12, and 24 months of participation. Result Ninety-five percent of distress screening implementation goals were completed after 2 years of participation. Most common institutional barriers to distress screening implementation were “lack of staff,” “competing demands,” and “staff turn-over. ” Most common institutional facilitators were “buy-in,” “institutional support,” and “recognition of participants’ expertise. ” The number of reported facilitators associated with SPDP participation was higher than the number associated with any institutional factor, and increased over time of participation. Significance of results Participating in training programs to implement distress screening may facilitate successful achievement of the Commission on Cancer's distress screening standard, and benefits seem to increase with time of participation. Training programs are needed to promote facilitators and overcome barriers to distress screening.
Paid and unpaid working hours among Swedish men and women in relation to depressive symptom trajectories: results from four waves of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health

Background Long working hours and unpaid work are possible risk factors for depressive symptoms. However, little is known about how working hours influence the course of depressive symptoms. This study examined the influence of paid, unpaid working hours and total working hours on depressive symptoms trajectories. Methods The study was based on data from four waves of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH 2008–2014). We applied group-based trajectory modelling in order to identify trajectories of depressive symptoms and studied paid and unpaid working hours and total working hours as risk factors. Results Six trajectory groups were identified with symptoms: ‘very low stable’, ‘low stable’, ‘doubtful increasing’, ‘high decreasing’, ‘mild decreasing’ and ‘high stable’. More time spent on unpaid work was associated with the ‘low stable’ (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.30) and the ‘high stable (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.65) symptom trajectories compared with being in the ‘very low stable’ symptom group. In addition, more total working hours was associated with a higher probability of having ‘high decreasing’ (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.48) and ‘high stable’ (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.47) symptoms, when adjusting for sex, age, civil status and socioeconomic status. The results, however, differed somewhat for men and women. More unpaid working hours was more clearly associated with higher symptom trajectories among women. More total working hours was associated with ‘high stable’ symptoms among women only. Conclusions This study supported heterogeneous individual patterns of depressive symptoms over time among the Swedish working population. The results also indicate that a higher burden of unpaid work and longer total working hours, which indicate a double burden from paid and unpaid work, may be associated with higher depressive symptom trajectories, especially among women.
The Structural Basis of IKs Ion-Channel Activation: Mechanistic Insights from Molecular Simulations

Relating ion-channel (iCh) structural dynamics to physiological function remains a challenge. Current experimental and computational techniques have limited ability to explore this relationship in atomistic detail over physiological timescales. A framework associating iCh structure to function is necessary for elucidating normal and disease mechanisms. We formulated a modeling schema that overcomes the limitations of current methods through applications of Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning (ML). Using this approach, we studied molecular processes that underlie human IKs voltage mediated gating. IKs malfunction underlies many debilitating and life-threatening diseases. Molecular components of IKs that underlie its electrophysiological function include KCNQ1 (pore forming tetramer) and KCNE1 (auxiliary subunit). Simulations, using the IKs structure-function model, reproduced experimentally recorded saturation of gating charge displacement at positive membrane voltages, two-step voltage sensor (VS) movement shown by fluorescence, iCh gating statistics, and current-voltage (I-V) relationship. New mechanistic insights include - (1) pore energy profile determines iCh subconductance (SC), (2) entire protein structure, not limited to the pore, contributes to pore energy and channel SC, (3) interactions with KCNE1 result in two distinct VS movements, causing gating charge saturation at positive membrane voltages and current activation delay, and (4) flexible coupling between VS and pore permits pore opening at lower VS positions, resulting in sequential gating. The new modeling approach is applicable to atomistic scale studies of other proteins on timescales of physiological function.
Distance Metric Facilitated Transportation between Heterogeneous Domains

Lacking training examples is one of the main obstacles to learning systems. Transfer learning aims to extract and utilize useful information from related datasets and assists the current task effectively. Most existing methods restrict tasks connection on the same feature sets, or require aligned examples cross domains, even cannot take full advantage of the limited label information. In this paper, we focus on transferring between heterogeneous domains, i.e., those with different feature spaces, and propose the Metric Transporation on HEterogeneous REpresentations (MapHere) approach. In particular, an asymmetric transformation map is first learned to compensate the cross-domain feature difference based on linkage relationship between objects; then the inner-domain discrepancy is further reduced with learned optimal transportation. Note that both source domain and cross-domain relationship are fully utilized in MapHere, which helps improve target classification task a lot. Experiments on synthetic dataset validate the importance of the ''metric facilitated'' consideration, while results on real-world image and text classification also show the superiority of the proposed MapHere approach.
SWIFF: Space weather integrated forecasting framework

SWIFF is a project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission to study the mathematical-physics models that form the basis for space weather forecasting. The phenomena of space weather span a tremendous scale of densities and temperature with scales ranging 10 orders of magnitude in space and time. Additionally even in local regions there are concurrent processes developing at the electron, ion and global scales strongly interacting with each other. The fundamental challenge in modelling space weather is the need to address multiple physics and multiple scales. Here we present our approach to take existing expertise in fluid and kinetic models to produce an integrated mathematical approach and software infrastructure that allows fluid and kinetic processes to be modelled together. SWIFF aims also at using this new infrastructure to model specific coupled processes at the Solar Corona, in the interplanetary space and in the interaction at the Earth magnetosphere.