Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Infections with viridans group streptococci in children with cancer

Infection with viridans group streptococci (VGS) causes morbidity and mortality in children with cancer. Incidence of these infections has increased over time. Neutropenic patients with acute myeloid leukemia and those receiving high‐dose cytarabine or undergoing stem cell transplantation are at highest risk. One‐third of infected patients develop a shock syndrome despite prompt antibiotic therapy. Host defense mechanisms contribute substantially to colonization and tissue damage, but the origin of the shock syndrome is not well understood. VGS infection may be accompanied by neurological complications, myocarditis, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Routine systemic antimicrobial prophylaxis against VGS infection has not been proven effective. Current recommendations include appropriate antibiotic therapy and intensive supportive care. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2007;49:774–780. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Self‐reported impact of dysphonia in a primary care population: An epidemiological study

This study's objectives are to 1) to assess the prevalence of dysphonia in the primary care community, 2) evaluate the severity of dysphonia, 3) explore potential risk factors for dysphonia, 4) examine the treatment of dysphonic patients, and 5) assess treatment‐related barriers. The hypotheses are that 1) dysphonia is common in the primary care community, 2) it adversely impacts patients' quality of life (QOL), and 3) patients are underevaluated and experience obstacles with respect to seeking treatment.
Assessment of the relationship of basal serum antimullerian antimullerian antimullerian hormone levels with oocyte quality and pregnancy outcomes in patients undergoing ICSI

Received: 26 July 2014 Accepted: 23 November 2014 Abstract Background: Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is constantly secreted during menstrual cycles and may offer several advantages over traditional biomarkers of ovarian reserve. Objective: To assess the relationship of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) values, which are used to evaluate ovary reserves, with oocyte and embryo quality and with ART outcomes in patients undergoing intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was performed using 50 women undergoing ICSI in IVF center of Zeynep Kamil Women's and Children's Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey. All patients received the long protocol. Follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, estradiol, and AMH levels were measured and antral follicle counts were obtained on the 3 day of menstruation. A cut-off value based on the number of oocytes was determined for AMH, and women were evaluated after being divided into two groups as bad responders and good responders, according to their AMH levels. Results: Twelve (27.3%) women were in bad responders group and 32 (72.7%) women were in good responders group. AMH measurements were statistically significantly different between the two groups (p<0.01). Based on this significance, the researchers used ROC analysis to estimate a cut-off point for AMH. The researchers detected the good responders with an AMH level 1.90 or above, with 87.50% sensitivity, 66.67% specificity, 87.50% positive prediction, and 66.67% negative prediction (AUC=0.777, p<0.01). Conclusion: Basal AMH levels can be used as an indicator to determine the ovarian response in women undergoing ICSI. AMH can be used to predict the number of mature oocytes that can be collected during treatment and the number of oocytes that can be fertilized. However, AMH is not a valuable tool to evaluate oocyte quality, the development of high-quality embryos, or pregnancy conception.
Patterns of Sentence Comprehension in Aphasia: A Consideration of Three Hypotheses

Three hypotheses concerning the functional source of aphasic patients' difficulty comprehending semantically reversible sentences were tested using declarative sentences in active and passive voice and sentences with center-embedded relative clauses. Each of the three hypotheses is predicated on relative patterns of impairment and sparing of patient performance on these (and other) sentence types, yet the three hypotheses make somewhat different predictions about performance patterns across these types. Results from 5 Broca's aphasic patients were not consistent with the predictions of the linguistically motivated Trace Deletion Hypothesis or of a hypothesis based on an impairment involving grammatical morphemes. The hypothesis that aphasic comprehension impairments reflect a general limitation of working memory capacity was given partial support by the ordinal pattern of difficulty for a mixed group of 10 patients, but failed to account for patterns obtained from individual patients. Results are interpreted as having relevance for methodological as well as theoretical aspects of research on aphasic sentence comprehension.
Dopamine overdose hypothesis: Evidence and clinical implications

About a half a century has passed since dopamine was identified as a neurotransmitter, and it has been several decades since it was established that people with Parkinson's disease receive motor symptom relief from oral levodopa. Despite the evidence that levodopa can reduce motor symptoms, there has been a developing body of literature that dopaminergic therapy can improve cognitive functions in some patients but make them worse in others. Over the past two decades, several laboratories have shown that dopaminergic medications can impair the action of intact neural structures and impair the behaviors associated with these structures. In this review, we consider the evidence that has accumulated in the areas of reversal learning, motor sequence learning, and other cognitive tasks. The purported inverted‐U shaped relationship between dopamine levels and performance is complex and includes many contributory factors. The regional striatal topography of nigrostriatal denervation is a critical factor, as supported by multimodal neuroimaging studies. A patient's individual genotype will determine the relative baseline position on this inverted‐U curve. Dopaminergic pharmacotherapy and individual gene polymorphisms can affect the mesolimbic and prefrontal cortical dopaminergic functions in a comparable, inverted‐U dose‐response relationship. Depending on these factors, a patient can respond positively or negatively to levodopa when performing reversal learning and motor sequence learning tasks. These tasks may continue to be relevant as our society moves to increased technological demands of a digital world that requires newly learned motor sequences and adaptive behaviors to manage daily life activities. © 2013 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
TIME-TO-COLLISION AND COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEMS

An important issue in developing Collision Avoidance Systems (CASs) is to define a proper warning strategy, that warns the driver only when he or she is really in danger and immediate action is required. The results of several studies point to the direct use of Time-To- Collision (TTC) as a cue for decision-making in traffic. Therefore, TTC could be an adequate criterion for activating a CAS. First tests indicate that drivers prefer TTC-based warning strategies. Recently, some studies on driver behaviour in fog enable a more precise definition of CAS-critical situations and relevant criterion values for TTC. TTC values in the range of 4.5 to 5 appear to be the most suitable. Special attention should be given to visibility conditions between 40 and 120 meter, since in that range driving speeds are found much too high to stop in time for an unexpected obstacle. (A) For the covering abstract of the report see IRRD 874607.
Comparative Inhibition of β-Lactamases by Novel β-Lactam Compounds

The β-lactamase-inhibiting activity of CP-45,899, 3,3-dimethyl-7-oxo-4-thia-1-azabicylo(3,2,0)heptane-2-carboxylic acid, 4,4-dioxide [2S-(2α,5α)], was investigated and compared with the β-lactamase-inhibiting activity of clavulanic acid and dicloxacillin. CP-45,899 was an effective inhibitor of Staphylococcus aureus β-lactamase and of those β-lactamases of gram-negative bacteria which are primarily active against penicillins or equally active against penicillins and cephalosporins. The reaction of CP-45,899 with β-lactamases was a concentration- and time-dependent event. CP-45,899 acted as a competitive inhibitor of plasmid-mediated S. aureus, Escherichia coli, and Shigella sonnei β-lactamases and inducible Klebsiella β-lactamase. CP-45,899 was a poor inhibitor of inducible or constitutive chromosomally mediated β-lactamases of indole-positive Proteus, Citrobacter, and Enterobacter. CP-45,899 had lower kinetic constants for inhibition of hydrolysis than did clavulanic acid against many of the β-lactamases which both inhibited.
Satellite Observations of El Niño Impacts on Eurasian Spring Vegetation Greenness during the Period 1982-2015

As Earth’s most influential naturally-recurring sea and atmospheric oscillation, ENSO results in widespread changes in the climate system not only over much of the tropics and subtropics, but also in high latitudes via atmospheric teleconnections. In the present study, the linkages between springtime vegetation greenness over Eurasia and El Nino are investigated based on two long-term normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) datasets from 1982 to 2015, and possible physical mechanisms for the teleconnections are explored. Results from the Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) analyses consistently suggest that the spatial patterns of NDVI, with “negative-positive-negative” values, have closer connections to El Nino. In particular, East Russia is identified as the key region with the strongest negative influences from Eastern Pacific (EP) El Nino on spring vegetation growth. During EP El Nino years, suppressed convection over the Bay of Bengal (BoB) may excite a Rossby wave from the BoB to the Far East. East Russia is located in the west of a large cyclone anomaly accompanied by the strong North and Northwesterly wind anomalies and the transport of cold air from Siberia. As a result, surface air temperature decreases significantly over East Russia and thus inhibits the vegetation growth during spring in the EP El Nino years.
P21ras Oncogene Protein Selectively Increases Low‐voltage‐activated Ca2+ Current Density in Embryonic Chick Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons

p21ras protein resembles the α subunit of trimeric G‐proteins, which regulate ion channel function. We now report a modulation of Ca2+ channels in vertebrate sensory neurons by p21ras in addition to its role in cell growth and differentiation. Quantitative microinjection of oncogenic p21‐H‐ras into embryonic chick dorsal root ganglion neurons was performed. After 4 h the current density of the low‐voltage‐activated (LVA; T‐type) Ca2+ channels was increased. However, in contrast to trimeric G‐proteins, which inhibit high‐voltage‐activated (HVA) Ca2+ channels in chick dorsal root ganglion neurons, p21ras did not significantly affect HVA Ca2+ currents. To study the time course of p21ras action, guanosine triphosphate‐preloaded p21ras was added to the patch pipette. Full‐length ras was effective only after a delay of 20 ‐30 min. C‐terminal modification by cellular enzymes is required to activate full‐length ras, and can account for the observed delay. Unexpectedly, C‐terminal‐truncated p2lras, which was found to be inactive in biological assays, enhanced LVA Ca2+ currents within minutes. This suggests a G‐protein‐like modulation of the LVA Ca2+ channel by p21ras. In an early phase of neuronal differentiation, dorsal root ganglion neurons express only LVA Ca2+ currents. The regulatory role of p21ras on LVA channels may therefore be particularly important during differentiation.
How Do Patients Respond to Violation of Their Information Privacy?

The introduction of electronic medical records (EMRs) can expose patients to the risk of infringement of their privacy. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between patients' concerns about information privacy and their protective responses. A questionnaire survey conducted in a Taiwanese hospital revealed that, regarding information privacy, patients' concerns about the collection of information about themselves, the secondary use of this information and the possibility of errors in the recorded information were associated with their information privacy-protective responses, while concern for unauthorised access to their information by other staff in the medical facility was not. Medical facilities should devote every effort to alleviate patients' concerns about the invasion of their information privacy to avoid eroding the reputation of medical facilities and impeding the promotion of EMRs.
γδ T cells and immunity to human malaria in endemic regions.

Malaria, caused by the mosquito borne parasite Plasmodium spp is responsible for around 200 million cases each year, resulting in over 600,000 deaths, with nearly half of the world population at risk. The lack of our proper understanding of the immunology of clinical malaria has been damaging to the attempts to make reliable vaccines against this disease. Severe clinical manifestations of malaria are often observed in young children or adults experiencing their first exposure to the malaria parasite. In endemic areas, antibody mediated protection from clinical malaria (but not sterile immunity against infection) is acquired only after repeated exposures to the parasite over many years. Though various components of the innate and adaptive immune system likely contribute, the core mechanisms behind development of clinical immunity to severe malaria still remain unknown.
Extensive analysis of lymphocyte subsets in normal subjects by three-color immunofluorescence.

In the present work, 30 normal controls were studied with 11 combinations of 3 monoclonal antibodies in order to define CD20, CD4, CD8, CD16 and CD56 subsets as well as their activation status. Our results indicated that among B cells, CD5- cells predominated (about 92%), the minor CD5+ fraction showed variations between individuals but sometimes was as high as 20% in B cells; the CD45RA+CD29- subset (naive cells) accounted for 31.56 +/- 10.03% in CD4 cells, as compared to CD4+CD29+CD45RA- (memory cells) (46.54 +/- 10.35%), while CD4+CD29+CD45RA+ (transition cells between naive and memory state) represented 9.6 +/- 5.3% as compared to double-negatives (12.3 +/- 5.24%). Some uncertainties persist in defining CD8 subsets. NK CD8 cells accounted for about 20% of total CD8 according to CD16 and CD56 expression. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes could be delineated by S6F1 (76.22 +/- 11.28% within CD8 cells), though this marker appeared to be expressed by both cytotoxic and NK cells. Phenotypic definition of suppressive CD8 cells remains uncertain despite the fact that suppressor activity was found among CD8 lymphocytes expressing CD11b and probably CD57. NK cells coexpressed CD16 and CD56 markers in about 5% of all lymphocytes, while NK cells expressing CD16 alone accounted about 6%. Exclusive expression of CD56 was found in about 5%. Finally, while activated cells characterized by DR expression represented about 4% of CD4 and 9% of CD8 cells, CD25 appeared to be poorly represented among CD4, CD8 and CD20. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A Comparative Analysis of Alcohol Consumption Pattern Among Global University Students

Most studies on alcohol consumption of college students are conducted in the US. Others are done comparing overseas Chinese with the Caucasian or among students from Mainland China. This is a comparative analysis of students in the US, Europe and Hong Kong to ascertain their consumption pattern of alcohol and the differences in perception on alcohol usage. Survey instrument was used to collect data for this study. Overall, US and European students are far more likely to consume alcoholic beverages in comparison to Hong Kong Chinese students. US and European students were more likely to consume alcoholic beverages as they progressed through each year of their University education.
Pleasant music improves visual attention in patients with unilateral neglect after stroke

Objective: To investigate whether listening to pleasant music improves visual attention to and awareness of contralesional stimuli in patients with unilateral neglect after stroke. Methods: A within-subject design was used with 19 participants with unilateral neglect following a right hemisphere stroke. Participants were tested in three conditions (pleasant music, unpleasant music and white noise) within 1 week. All musical pieces were chosen by the participants. In each condition, participants were asked to complete three sub-tests of the Behavioural Inattention Test (the Star Cancellation Test, the Line Bisection Test and the Picture Scanning test) and a visual exploration task with everyday scenes. Eye movements in the visual exploration task were recorded simultaneously. Mood and arousal induced by different auditory stimuli were assessed using visual analogue scales, heart rate and galvanic skin response. Results: Compared with unpleasant music and white noise, participants rated their moods as more positive and arousal as higher with pleasant music, but also showed significant improvement on all tasks and eye movement data, except the Line Bisection Test. Conclusion: The findings suggest that pleasant music can improve visual attention in patients with unilateral neglect after stroke. Additional research using randomized controlled trials is required to validate these findings.
Practical Optimization of EMI Reduction in Spread Spectrum Clock Generators With Application to Switching DC/DC Converters

We here consider the most common technique used in spread spectrum clock generators that is the frequency modulation of a timing signal by means of a triangularly shaped waveform. As a first step, we develop a reliable mathematical model of a spectrum analyzer, which allows us to compute the power spectrum as measured by this instrument for any signal put at its input. This is particularly important when considering spread spectrum clocking methods for electromagnetic interference reduction, since international regulations impose constraints on the peak of the spectrum of interfering signals as measured by this instrument. Thanks to the developed mathematical tool, we are able to theoretically prove that the maximum peak reduction of the measured spectrum is achieved for a well-defined frequency of the triangular driving signal. This is in contrast with what one can obtain by optimizing the theoretical power density spectrum, where the minimum interference is ideally obtained when the triangular signal has a vanishing frequency. The results are confirmed by measurements on two commercial dc/dc switching converters.
Security-Aware and Privacy-Preserving D2D Communications in 5G

Device-to-device communication is a promising technology that can offload heavy traffic in 5G networks. However, due to its open nature, there are several security issues. The LTE-A standard introduces security and protection mechanisms, which include mutual authentication between the UEs and the eNB. Unfortunately, D2D communications still face various threats: jamming, data modification, free-riding, and privacy violation. In this article, we first give an architecture for an LTE-D2D system and its application scenarios with various security threats and requirements. Then we investigate privacy concerns in terms of location privacy, identity privacy, and data privacy. Afterward, we propose security solutions from aspects of application-layer security and physical-layer security, respectively. Further, we propose two frameworks for cross-application-physical-layer security methods. Finally, the challenges and future research directions are presented.
Ideas in American Policing Translating Police Research into Practice

Ideas in American Policing presents commentary and insight from leading criminologists on issues of interest to scholars, practitioners, and policy makers. The papers published in this series are from the Police Foundation lecture series of the same name. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Police Foundation. The full series is available online at http://www.policefoundation. org/docs/library.html.
Effectiveness of Computer-based College Teaching: A Meta-analysis of Findings

This review used Glass’ (1976) meta-analytic techniques to integrate findings from 59 independent evaluations of computer-based college teaching. The meta-analysis showed that computer-based instruction made small but significant contributions to the course achievement of college students and also produced positive, but again small, effects on the attitudes of students toward instruction and toward the subject matter they were studying. Computer-assisted instruction also reduced substantially the amount of time needed for instruction. In general, the meta-analysis found little relationship between study findings and design features of the experiments, settings for the studies, or manner and date of publication of the findings.
Identification and Characterization of BmNPV m6A Sites and Their Possible Roles During Viral Infection

Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is one of the most serious pathogens and causes serious economic losses in sericulture. At present, there is no epigenetic modification of BmNPV transcripts, especially of m6A, and this modification mediates diverse cellular and viral functions. This study showed that m6A modifications are widespread in BmNPV transcripts in virally infected cells and the identified m6A peaks with a conserved RRACH sequence. m6A sites predominantly appear in the coding sequences (CDS) and the 3′-end of CDS. About 37% of viral genes with m6A sites deleted from the viral genome did not produce any infectious virions in KOV-transfected cells. Among the viral genes related to replication and proliferation, ie-1 mRNA was identified with a higher m6A level than other viral genes. The m6A sites in the ie-1 mRNA may be negatively related to the protein expression. Viral replication was markedly inhibited in cells overexpressed with BmYTHDF3 in a dose-dependent manner, and a contrary effect was found in si-BmYTHDF3-transfected cells. Collectively, the identification of putative m6A modification in BmNPV transcripts provides a foundation for comprehensively understanding the viral infection, replication, and pathobiology in silkworms.
Systematic Review on Secular Trends and Determinants of Age at Menarche

Department of Science, Ayesha Sadeeqa Post Graduates Girls College, Rajanpur; Pakistan E-mail: nicewaqar83@yahoo.com waqarhq@yahoo.com Tel. : +92 3330683844 Adolescent girls when face bleeding from vagina for the first time; is known as menarche that influence lateral life. This review summarizes the findings of important associated environmental factors and reasons in determining the secular trends as well as for exact age of menarche in different ethnicities. The databases of Pubmed and Google Scholar were searched out for 1260 articles using the key words; “adolescent girls; age at menarche; association; environmental factors”. All retrieved articles were screened and finally 77 articles were taken into account to study the secular trend and influence of environment factors on the age at menarche. The detailed review of such studies confirmed that menarcheal age in girls had trend to decline; even age of menarche <12 years. The relationship of environment factors with age at menarche has been found controversial during the literature search. The occurrence of changes in birth weight, weight at childhood, adolescent height and socioeconomic status have affect the mean age at menarche but to know the valid marker responsible for such secular change is still a question in solving the problem.