Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic Tonsillitis Bacteriology in Egyptian Children Including Antimicrobial Susceptibility

Objective: This s tudy was conducted to analyze the underlying bacterial pathogen s in tons illar disease among Egyptian children, to investigate whether there is any difference bet ween tons illar surface a n d d e e p tis sue cultures in patients who underwent tons illectomy for recurrent tons illit is a n d a lso to s tudy the incidence of beta lactamase producing bacteria (âLPB) and Oxacillin res is tant s trains . Methods : Specimens were c o lle c t e d over a period of three months from different tons illar s ites of 72 patients –their ages ranging from 5 to 12 y e ars suffering from recurrent tons illitis and undergoing tons illectomy. Aerobic bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility were carried out through s tandard procedures . Results : Sixty-five tons ils had pos itive aerobic isolates while the remaining seven cases had normal flora (9.7%). The total number of pos itive isolates in both surface and core cultures were 152. S. aureus was the mos t common aerobic organism (56.9%) isolated from both surface and core of excised to n s ils . Most of S. aureus isolates (95%) had sLactamase activity, whereas only 11% was Oxacillin res is ta n t S . aureus (ORSA). H. influenzae was isolated in (44.6%) of cases , mos tly as core cultu re s with 58% of them showing s-Lactamase activity. GAâHS had an incidence of 38.5%, mos tly as surface cultu re s with 26% of them showing sLactamase activity. Streptococcus pneumoniae were isolated in 20% of cases , mos tly surface isolates . Klebsiella pneumoniae were identified in the core of 5 cases (7.7%). There was a noticeable difference between surface and core cultures regard in g a ll t ypes of bacteria except S.aureus . Fifty percent discrepancy between the two s ites was found. Co n c lus ion: S. aureus is the main offending pathogen respons ible for chronic tons illitis nowadays . H. influenzae an d GAâHS had a near equal incidence. Due to the difference between the isolates from tons illar surfac e a n d c o re , the practice of surface tons illar swab may be mis leading. Tons illar disease may s tem from the bacteria wit h in t he subs tance of the tons ils rather than the bacteria identified on the surface.
Novel predator-prey interactions: Is resistance futile?

Premise: Prey species may possess inappropriate behavioural, morphological, and/or physiological responses to introduced, novel predators. Thus, introduced predators may exert strong selection on prey species. Organisms: Black-capped vireo, Vireo atricapilla, and the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. Data: Behavioural response of and time-energy budget for parental vireo defence against nest predation by fire ants. Field site: Fort Hood, Texas, an 88,500-hectare US military installation. Results: Fire ants usually attacked vireo nests near midnight as parents slept. All attacked nests – whether with eggs or nestlings – failed. However, adults defended their nests vigorously. Nest defence was prolonged, with a mean duration of 7.7 ± 1.5 hours (25 times longer than that against native snake predators). Compared with brooding or incubation, nest defence is energetically expensive, depleting an estimated 59% of fat stores. Conclusions: Fire ants are effective nest predators on this low-nesting bird species. The behavioural response of vireos to this novel predator is wholly inappropriate, with no benefits and considerable costs. Besides the energetic costs, defence results in numerous bites and venomous stings. Vireos ought to abandon their nests when first attacked by fire ants.
The assembly mechanism of the pore-forming toxin ClyA from Escherichia coli

Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) are a widespread class of bacterial and eukaryotic virulence factors that exhibit toxicity by penetration of target cell membranes. All PFTs share the conversion from a soluble, monomeric form to an oligomeric, membrane-embedded complex upon activation. According to the secondary structure elements that form the membrane-spanning region, they are classified as α-PFTs and β-PFTs. The α-PFT Cytolysin A (ClyA) is present in several strains of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica and causes their cytolytic phenotype. ClyA is the first and up to now only α-PFT with known high-resolution crystal structures of both the monomer and the assembled pore complex. The soluble monomer and a subunit (protomer) of the ring-shaped, oligomeric pore complex exhibit major structural differences. The head domain of the monomer (residues 160 – 205) made up of a short β-hairpin (the β-tongue) and two flanking short α-helices is completely restructured upon membrane insertion forming an elongation of the neighboring long α-helices C and F of the tail domain. The N-terminal α-helix A that is part of the fivehelix bundle of the tail domain in the monomer swings around by 180°, elongating the flanking α-helix B and leaving a four-helix bundle in the protomer. These conversions result in an elongation of the molecule from 10 nm to 13.5 nm, the formation of the intersubunit interface of the protomer along the tail domain and membrane protrusion of the N-terminal part of α-helix A. A detailed mechanism of the monomer-to-pore transition consistent with kinetic data of ClyA assembly induced by detergent (unimolecular rate-limiting step of the conformational transition, Eifler et al., 2006) has been proposed (Mueller et al., 2009). The aim of this thesis was to trap and characterize transient intermediates of the conformational transition by site-directed mutagenesis to obtain further insights into the monomer-to-pore transition mechanism of ClyA. Three different strategies were applied to generate trapped assembly intermediates: (i) rigidification of loops flanking the β-tongue by substitution of glycines at positions 180, 184, 201, and 205 (proposed hinge points for swinging-out movement upon membrane insertion) by alanines, valines, or prolines, (ii) covalent attachment of the β-tongue or α-helix A to the tail domain by engineered disulfide bonds, and (iii) inhibition of the protomer-to-pore assembly by introduction of repulsive charges at the intersubunit
The Latest Status and Distribution of Fishes in Upper Tigris River and Two New Records for Turkish Freshwaters

The fishes of the upper basin of the Tigris River have been surveyed between June 2006 and November 2015. During this survey 40 fish species were determined belonging to 10 families (Cyprinidae, Nemacheilidae, Sisoridae, Siluridae, Heteropneustidae, Bagridae, Salmonidae, Mugilidae, Poeciliidae, Mastacembelidae). One species was not fully identified and currently reported as Squalius sp. Oxynoemacheilus kurdistanicus and O. chomanicus are new records for Turkish inland waters.
Reasons for culling of Holstein dairy cows in Neishaboor area in northeastern Iran

Summary This study was designed to determine the culling rates of 23 Holstein dairy herds (with an average size of 180 cows per herd) in Neyshabur area in northeastern Iran over a period of three years from 2001 to 2003. The average annual culling rate was 13.1%, (98.5% involuntary and 1.5% voluntary). Of the total disposals (1612 cows), 53.48% were culled by the end of five years of age. Poor fertility was the most important reason for culling (34.9% of disposals), followed by digestive disorders (12.6%), alimentary problems (10.85%), mastitis (9.6%) and lameness (8.3%). More detailed epidemiological studies are needed to plan and implement healthcare programs. These programs targeted toward diseases that lead to culling would be prerequisite for a profitable farming.
Stomatal control of transpiration: Examination of Monteith's Formulation of canopy resistance

The stomatal response to air humidity has been recently reinterpreted in the sense that stomata seem to respond to the rate of transpiration rather to air humidity per se. Monteith suggested that the relation between canopy stomatal resistance rs and canopy transpiration E can be written as rs/rsn=1/(1 − E/Ex), where rsn is a notional minimum canopy resistance, obtained by extrapolation to zero transpiration, and Ex is a notional maximum transpiration rate, obtained by extrapolation to infinite resistance. The exact significance and possible values of these parameters have not been specified yet. In this study we show that this apparently new relation can be inferred from the common Jarvis‐type models, in which canopy stomatal resistance is expressed in the form of a minimal resistance multiplied by a product of independent stress functions (each one representing the influence of one factor). This is made possible by replacing leaf water potential in the corresponding stress function by its dependence on transpiration and soil water potential. The matching of the two formulations (Monteith and Jarvis) allows one to express the two parameters rsn and Ex in terms of the functions and parameters making up the Jarvis‐type models; rsn appears to depend upon solar radiation and soil water potential: it represents the canopy stomatal resistance when the leaf water potential is equal to the soil water potential, all other conditions being equal. Ex depends upon soil water potential and represents the maximum flux of water which can be extracted from the soil by the canopy.
Influence of Breastfeeding Practices on Nutritional Status of Children among Tea Garden Workers

Results: Prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting was 61.5%, 65.6% and 33.8% respectively. Delayed initiation breastfeeding, prelacteal feeding, deprivation of colostrum, not exclusively breastfeeding for six months and improper complementary feeding were significant risk factors for underweight. Stunting was significantly more among children who were not exclusively breastfed and with improper complementary feeding. Prelacteal feeding and colostrum deprivation were significant risk factors for wasting.
Ependymin Peptide Mimetics That Assuage Ischemic Damage Increase Gene Expression of the Anti-Oxidative Enzyme SOD

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS.4 LIST OF FIGURES.5 LIST OF TABLES.6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.7 BACKGROUND.8 THESIS PURPOSE.21 MATERIALS AND METHODS.23 RESULTS.39 DISCUSSION.59 BIBLIOGRAPHY.65
Deep Learning 3D Shapes Using Alt-az Anisotropic 2-Sphere Convolution

The ground-breaking performance obtained by deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for image processing tasks is inspiring research efforts attempt-ing to extend it for 3D geometric tasks. One of the main challenge in applying CNNs to 3D shape analysis is how to deﬁne a natural convolution operator on non-euclidean surfaces. In this paper, we present a method for applying deep learning to 3D surfaces using their spherical descriptors and alt-az anisotropic convolution on 2-sphere. A cascade set of geodesic disk ﬁlters rotate on the 2-sphere and collect spherical patterns and so to extract geometric features for various 3D shape analysis tasks. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that our proposed method has the possibility to bridge the gap between 2D images and 3D shapes with the desired rotation equivariance/invariance, and its effectiveness is evaluated in applications of non-rigid/ rigid shape classiﬁcation and shape retrieval
Single-ion interferences when using magnetic microparticles for phosphorus removal in aquatic ecosystems

espanolLa adsorcion especifica del fosfato (P) sobre particulas, fuertemente magnetizables, de hierro carbonilo (Fe), y su posterior retirada del medio usando tecnicas de Separacion Magnetica de Alto Gradiente (HGMS), bajo condiciones de flujo continuo, esta siendo considerada como una herramienta prometedora para restaurar ecosistemas acuaticos eutrofizados. Un estudio previo puso de manifiesto la existencia de interferencias quimicas en aguas naturales, reduciendo, asi, la eficiencia en la retirada del P pero ese estudio no pudo explicar el efecto directo que tenia cada ion en la eficiencia en la retirada del P (de Vicente et al., 2011). En base a esto, en este trabajo hemos evaluado el efecto individual de algunos de los iones mayoritarios presentes en las aguas naturales tales como el sulfato (SO2–4 ) y el calcio (Ca2+) asi como los acido humicos (HA) y la silice (Si), en la adsorcion del P sobre las particulas magneticas de Fe. Los resultados han mostrado que los HA (usado como un indicador del DOC) y el Si decrecen significativamente la adsorcion del P por las particulas magneticas de Fe. En particular, la eficiencia en la retirada del P decrecio a un 12% y un 22% cuando las concentraciones de HA y Si eran de 35.5 mg HAL–1 y 10 mg Si L–1, respectivamente. Por el contrario, los iones SO2– 4 y Ca2+ no reducen significativamente la retirada del P por la adsorcion sobre las particulas magneticas de Fe. Por todo ello, se recomienda que antes de usar las particulas magneticas para restaurar ecosistemas acuaticos eutrofizados es esencial hacer un analisis quimico del agua del lago para poder determinar la dosis mas adecuada de Fe y conseguir, asi, la mayor eficiencia en la retirada del P. EnglishThe specific adsorption of phosphate (P) on strongly magnetisable carbonyl iron (Fe) particles and their subsequent removal by in-flow High Gradient Magnetic Separation (HGMS) is considered a promising tool for restoring eutrophied waters. A previous study showed the existence of chemical interferences in natural waters without considering the influence of specific major ions on the P removal efficiency (de Vicente et al., 2011). Therefore, in this manuscript, we assess the single-effect of some of the major ions present in natural waters, including sulphate (SO2−4 ), calcium (Ca2+), humic acid (HA, as an indicator of Dissolved Organic Carbon, DOC), and reactive silicate (Si), on P adsorption to magnetic Fe particles in artificial lake water. The results showed that HA and Si significantly decreased the effectiveness of P adsorption by magnetic Fe particles. In particular, P removal efficiency decreased to 12% and 22% when HA and Si concentrations were 35.5 mg HA L–1 and 10 mg Si L–1, respectively. By contrast, SO2–4 and Ca2+ did not significantly reduce P removal. We recommend chemically analysing the lake water and determining the Fe dosage that obtains the highest P removal before using magnetic particles for the restoration of aquatic ecosystems in a whole-lake application.
The Changing Face of Synthetic Cannabinoids in Texas

ABSTRACT This article describes the characteristics of individuals who used synthetic cannabinoids and the changes in the user population over time. Data sources include treatment admissions with a primary problem with synthetic cannabinoids reported to the Texas treatment dataset, synthetic cannabinoid exposures reported to the Texas Poison Center Network, and items identified in the National Forensic Laboratory Information System in 2009–2016. Statistically significant trends were identified for race/ethnicity, gender, age, education level, employment status, homelessness, criminal justice problems, use of other substances, lag time between first use and time to treatment, exposure site, chronicity, reason for exposure, and the most common types of cannabinoids. Comparisons were made between the years and the variables in the datasets. Findings suggest that the characteristics of synthetic cannabinoid users and the varieties of these drugs in Texas have changed over time. Data to link individual cases with the changing results of toxicological analysis are needed, as well as targeted prevention and treatment efforts for an aging population who may be at risk of homelessness and also have co-morbid substance use and psychiatric problems.
Foliar application of Azospirillum brasilense in soybean and seed physiological quality

Bacteria of the Azospirillum genus have considerable potential for application in agricultural systems, either in co-inoculation and foliar application to increase crop yields, due to its role in the production of phytohormones. The objective of this research was to evaluate the yield and quality of soybean seeds produced under the effect of different doses of Azospirillum brasilense bacteria applied to the leaves. Seeds of four soybean cultivars (Anta 82 RR®, BRS Favorita RR®, BRS 780 RR® and BRS 820 RR®) were produced in the 2013/2014 crop year in Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil, with application of six doses of inoculants based on A. brasilense (0, 300, 400, 500, 600 and 700 mL ha-1) of the strains, AbV5 and AbV6. Besides the yield, the mass of a thousand seeds, moisture content, germination, emergence at 7 and 15 days after sowing, emergence speed index, accelerated aging, strength, viability and mechanical damage were evaluated by tetrazolium and the hypochlorite test. Regardless of the soybean cultivar, application of up to 700 mLha-1 of A. brasilense innoculant at v3 stage (second open trefoil) of the plants, the yield, physiological potential and seeds were not affected. Key words: Glycine max (L.) Merrill, growth promoting bacteria, emergency, viability, vigor.
Utilisation of chickpea protein isolates for production of peptides with angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory activity

Chickpea protein isolates and the protease alcalase were used for the production of protein hydrolysates that inhibit angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE). The highest degree of inhibition was found in a hydrolysate obtained by 30min of treatment with alcalase. This hydrolysate was used as starting material for the purification of ACE-inhibitory peptides. After Biogel P2 gel filtration chromatography and HPLC C 18 reverse phase chromatography, four peptides with ACE-inhibitory activity were purified. Two of them were competitive inhibitors of ACE, while the other two were uncompetitive inhibitors. These results show that chickpea proteins are a good source of ACE-inhibitory peptides when hydrolysed with the protease alcalase. Dans cette etude, des hydrolysats de proteines de pois chiches et la protease alcalase sont utilises pour la production de peptides biactifs qui inhibent l'enzyme convertissant l'angiotensine I (ACE). Le degre d'inhibition le plus eleve est observe dans un hydrolysat obtenu apres 30mn de traitement par l'alcalase. Cet hydrolysat est utilise pour la purification de peptides inhibiteurs d'ACE. Deux peptides purifies montrent une activite inhibitrice competitive et deux autres non competitive.
Gr upSM Tumors of the Eye and Ocular Adnexa in Cats and Dogs

Objective: The present study aimed to determine the frequency of canine and feline ophthalmic tumors, as well as to characterize the affected population, based on 287 cases of ophthalmic tumors from the Lisbon region, Portugal. Procedures: A retrospective study (2001-2013) involving 214 canine and 73 feline ophthalmic tumors was conducted. Clinical data including species, breed, age, gender, affected ophthalmic structures, surgical treatment and histopathological diagnosis were analysed. Statistical analysis was performed using R-Statistics® and Microsoft Office Excel 2007®. Results: Considering the canine population, 69.6% of the ophthalmic tumors were benign while 84.9% of feline ophthalmic tumors were malignant. In both species, the eyelids were the ocular adnexal structure most affected by neoplasms, which represented 65.4% of canine adnexal tumors and 34.2% of feline adnexal tumors. Regarding dogs, 64.3% of the eyelid neoplasms corresponded to meibomian gland tumors. Concerning the ocular globe, the structure most affected by neoplasms was the uvea for both dogs (45.5%) and cats (48.4%). In cats, iridal tumors comprised 80% of the uveal tumors. Epithelioma (22.4%) and adenoma (15.4%) of the meibomian glands were the most frequent ophthalmic tumors in dogs, while diffuse iris melanoma (11.0%) and squamous cell carcinoma of the eyelids (13.7%) were the most common in cats. Beatriz Silva1, Maria C Peleteiro1, Hugo Pissarra1, Jorge Correia1 and Esmeralda Delgado1* 1Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health (CIISA), Portugal *Corresponding author: Esmeralda Delgado, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, ULisboa, (FMV-UL), Avenida da Universidade Técnica, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal, Phone: 00351 213652893 Fax: 00351 213652822, E-mail: esmeralda@fmv.ulisboa. pt Published Date: November 07, 2016
Evaluation of the Effect of Rural Road Condition on Agricultural Produce Transportation

Road condition affects the operations and costs of vehicles that use the infrastructure. Various models of vehicle operating cost provide an indication of the effects of road roughness on fuel consumption, additional damage to a vehicle, and tire wear. These models do not include the effect of road conditions on the condition of and potential damage to transported freight. Such potential damages are mitigated through the use of improved vehicle technologies or packaging. In agricultural transportation, packaging often is not a solution because the use of older vehicle technology on mostly rural roads with lower levels of riding quality is a main contributor to the problem. This paper evaluates quantified effects of the riding quality on low-volume roads on the level of damage to tomatoes in California. The paper is partly based on a study that focused on vehicle–pavement interaction and its effects on the broader California economy. Vehicle responses to road conditions were measured during operations on a range of rural routes. Laboratory experiments were developed to replicate the dominant vibrations of the trucks and to measure the stresses that tomatoes typically undergo at these vibration levels. The damage and failure levels for the tomatoes during transportation were determined, and these damage levels were used to calculate typical costs to agricultural suppliers that are due to road conditions. The problem thus could be quantified and input data provided for a cost–benefit evaluation of the potential maintenance and improvement of various routes used to transport tomatoes.
Team SWEEPer: Joint Sentence Extraction and Fact Checking with Pointer Networks

Many tasks such as question answering and reading comprehension rely on information extracted from unreliable sources. These systems would thus benefit from knowing whether a statement from an unreliable source is correct. We present experiments on the FEVER (Fact Extraction and VERification) task, a shared task that involves selecting sentences from Wikipedia and predicting whether a claim is supported by those sentences, refuted, or there is not enough information. Fact checking is a task that benefits from not only asserting or disputing the veracity of a claim but also finding evidence for that position. As these tasks are dependent on each other, an ideal model would consider the veracity of the claim when finding evidence and also find only the evidence that is relevant. We thus jointly model sentence extraction and verification on the FEVER shared task. Among all participants, we ranked 5th on the blind test set (prior to any additional human evaluation of the evidence).