Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy and efficiency of new Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis and Bacillus sphaericus formulations against Afrotropical anophelines in Western Kenya

We evaluated the efficacy of new water‐dispersible granular (WDG) formulations of Bacillus thuringienis var. israelensis (Bti; VectoBac®) and B. sphaericus (Bs; VectoLex®, Valent BioScience Corp., Illinois, USA) for the control of larval Anopheles gambiae sensu lato Giles mosquitoes in a malaria‐endemic area around Lake Victoria, Western Kenya. WDG and powder formulations were compared in laboratory bioassays and followed by efficiency and residual effect assessments of both WDG formulations in open field experiments. LC50 and LC95 values for the Bti/Bs strains and their formulations show high susceptibility of A. gambiae sensu stricto under laboratory conditions. The larvae proved more susceptible to Bs than to Bti and the WDG formulations were slightly superior to the powder formulations. High efficiency was also shown in the open field trials, and a minimum dosage of 200 g/ha Bti WDG, representing the LC95 of the laboratory tests, was sufficient to fully suppress emergence of mosquitoes when applied at weekly intervals. Bti WDG did not show a residual effect, irrespective of the concentration applied. The Bs WDG formulation, however, showed significant larval reductions up to 11 days post‐treatment at application doses of either 1 or 5 kg/ha. We conclude that the main malaria vector in our study area is highly susceptible to these microbial control agents. Minimum effective dosages to achieve elimination of the larval population in a given habitat are extremely low and environmental impact is negligible. Microbial products for larval control have therefore great potential within Integrated Vector Management programmes and may augment control efforts against adult vector stages, such as the use of insecticide‐treated bednets, in many parts of Africa.
Fluctuación estacional en la infestación de diversos hospedadores por la mosca del Mediterráneo, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), en la provincia de Buenos Aires

RESUMEN. Se realizU un relevamiento de 11 especies frutales hospedadoras de Ceratitis capitata presentes en un AErea experimental de San Pedro (Buenos Aires, Argentina), con una extensiUn aproximada de 115 ha. Se comparU la abundancia de la poblaciUn de insectos adultos y el nivel de infestaciUn de las especies frutales (inferido a partir del porcentaje de fruta infestada y del nœmero de puparios/kg de fruta) a lo largo de una temporada cAElida, y se analizU el efecto de algunas variables biUticas y abiUticas sobre las fluctuaciones poblacionales. El estudio comprendiU muestreos quincenales realizados entre noviembre de 1999 y mayo de 2000. En los mismos se recolectaron frutos maduros de 20 plantas tomadas al azar. Los periodos de fructificaciUn de las especies presentes ocurrieron en forma escalonada a lo largo de la temporada reproductiva, asegurando a los individuos un suministro de recurso casi ininterrumpido. No obstante, la disponibilidad global de hospedadores no estuvo asociada con las fluctuaciones poblacionales. Probablemente el efecto restrictivo de las bajas temperaturas de invierno impide que la poblaciUn alcance los niveles necesarios para explotar el recurso en forma proporcional a su disponibilidad. Se encontrU un alto grado de asociaciUn entre la abundancia de adultos y los niveles de infestaciUn. En el AErea de estudio, el œnico factor climAEtico que parece tener un efecto sobre estas variables es la temperatura. Las correlaciones de la abundancia de adultos y de los niveles de infestaciUn con la temperatura del perIodo precedente resultaron mAEs altas que con las temperaturas del perIodo corriente, indicando que este factor climAEtico probablemente afecta en forma mAEs intensa a los estadios inmaduros que a los adultos. [Palabras clave: moscas de los frutos, fluctuaciones poblacionales, niveles de infestaciUn]
Efficacy of lamivudine combined with adefovir dipivoxil versus entecavir monotherapy in patients with hepatitis B‐associated decompensated cirrhosis: A meta‐analysis

Whether the combination of lamivudine (LAM) plus adefovir (ADV) de novo is more effective than entecavir (ETV) monotherapy in patients with HBV‐associated decompensated cirrhosis is still controversial. We searched seven randomized controlled trials that included 411 patients in this meta‐analysis. There are 205 and 206 patients in these two groups separately. The pooled risk ratio (RR) and mean difference (MD) were used to assess the treatment effects. ETV monotherapy significantly improved Child–Turcotte–Pugh (CTP) scores (MD = 0.33, 95%CI [0.21–0.44], P < .00001), and was associated with lower rates of serum creatinine increase compared LAM + ADV combination therapy (RR = 4.76, 95%CI [1.11–20.33], P = .04) at 48 weeks. The reduction of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, HBV DNA levels, the rate of ALT normalization, undetectable HBV DNA, HBV e antigen (HBeAg) loss, HBeAg seroconversion and mortality were similar between the two groups. ETV is more effective than LAM + ADV in improving CTP scores at 48 weeks. Both of the LAM + ADV and ETV had similar efficacy in improving virological and biochemical parameters at 48 weeks of follow‐up. Furthermore, use of these agents in decompensated HBV patients was generally safe and well tolerated at 48 weeks. However, the nephrotoxicity of ADV, and the potential adverse effects of ETV should be considered and monitored during prolonged therapy.
CMOS-Compatible Replacement Metal Gate InGaAs-OI FinFET With  $I_{ON}=156~\mu \text{A}/\mu \text{m}$  at  $V_{DD}= 0.5$  V and

We report CMOS-compatible n-channel InGaAson-insulator FinFETs obtained using a replacement metal gate fabrication flow. The fabricated devices feature 12-nm-thick SiN<sub>x</sub> spacers, a scaled high-k/metal gate (capacitance equivalent thickness of ~1.5 nm), raised source and drain doped to ~6 × 10<sup>19</sup>/cm<sup>3</sup>, and fin width scaled down to 15 nm. Very good control of short-channel effects is demonstrated down to a gate length of 50 nm with a minimum subthreshold swing of 92 mV/decade at V<sub>DS</sub> = 0.5 V and a drain-induced barrier lowering of 57 mV/V. An ON-state current (I<sub>ON</sub>) of 156 μA/μm is also reported for a supply voltage of 0.5 V and a fixed OFF-state current of 100 nA/μm. This I<sub>ON</sub> value is the highest reported to date for CMOS-compatible InGaAs devices integrated on Si.
THE EVOLUT İ ON OF OWNERSH İ P , INNOVAT İ ON AND F İ RM PERFORMANCE : EMP İ R İ CAL EV İ DENCE FROM MACEDON İ A

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relatio nship between ownership evolution, innovation activities and firms performa nce using firm-level data on 60 privatised enterprises in Macedonia for the period 2001-2010. To examine the nature of this relationship we will develop a model relating the determinants of ownership and performa nce and apply it to the original dataset collected by the author. Speci fically, the investigation will respond to several questions such as the impac t of ownership structure and innovation activities undertaken by f irms, competition from other firms, sector, location, age, size and other firm characteristics on the firm performance. The main contribution of this empirical work is reflected in the application of new and advanced ec onometric techniques such as two-step GMM kernel and enhanced CUE (GMM) estimations to the analysis of changes in performance resulting fr om the change in ownership in Macedonia. By investigating this relat ionship we provide sufficient evidence to support the view of signific ant ownershipperformance relationship of privatised firms in Mac edonia.
Metalwork from Sardis: The Finds Through 1974

Introduction covers earlier expeditions and finds from as early as 1910; a brief synopsis is given of the Harvard-Cornell Expedition from 1958 to 1974. An explanation of the problems with determining the chronological and geographical distribution of the finds is offered. The Sardis metal industry in history is outlined; literary and archaeological evidence is cited, confirming the metallurgical and manufacturing activities that took place in Sardis as well as the imported metalwork. Individual chapters include literary and epigraphic sources; the catalogue of finds (which includes state of preservation and identifies items that have been subjected to analyses); metalwork from Sardis in Turkish, European and American collections; and chemical and metallurgical analyses of metal objects from Sardis. -- AATA
Outcomes at school age after postnatal dexamethasone therapy for lung disease of prematurity.

BACKGROUND We studied the outcomes at school age in children who had participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of early postnatal dexamethasone therapy (initiated within 12 hours after birth) for the prevention of chronic lung disease of prematurity. METHODS Of the 262 children included in the initial study, 159 lived to school age. Of these children, 146 (72 in the dexamethasone group and 74 in the control group) were included in our study. All the infants had had severe respiratory distress syndrome requiring mechanical ventilation shortly after birth. In the dexamethasone group, 0.25 mg of dexamethasone per kilogram of body weight was given intravenously every 12 hours for one week, and then the dose was tapered. We evaluated the children's growth, neurologic and motor function, cognition, and school performance. RESULTS Children in the dexamethasone group were significantly shorter than the controls (P=0.03 for boys, P=0.01 for girls, and P=0.03 for all children) and had a significantly smaller head circumference (P=0.04). Children in the dexamethasone group had significantly poorer motor skills (P<0.001), motor coordination (P<0.001), and visual-motor integration (P=0.02). As compared with the controls, children in the dexamethasone group also had significantly lower full IQ scores (mean [+/-SD], 78.2+/-15.0 vs. 84.4+/-12.6; P=0.008), verbal IQ scores (84.1+/-13.2 vs. 88.4+/-11.8, P=0.04), and performance IQ scores (76.5+/-14.6 vs. 84.5+/-12.7, P=0.001). The frequency of clinically significant disabilities was higher among children in the dexamethasone group than among controls (28 of 72 [39 percent] vs. 16 of 74 [22 percent], P=0.04). CONCLUSIONS Early postnatal dexamethasone therapy should not be recommended for the routine prevention or treatment of chronic lung disease, because it leads to substantial adverse effects on neuromotor and cognitive function at school age.
Diffusion‐ and perfusion‐weighted MRI response to thrombolysis in stroke

Diffusion‐ and perfusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging provides important pathophysiological information in acute brain ischemia. We performed a prospective study in 19 sub‐6‐hour stroke patients using serial diffusion‐ and perfusion‐weighted imaging before intravenous thrombolysis, with repeat studies, both subacutely and at outcome. For comparison of ischemic lesion evolution and clinical outcome, we used a historical control group of 21 sub‐6‐hour ischemic stroke patients studied serially with diffusion‐ and perfusion‐weighted imaging. The two groups were well matched for the baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and magnetic resonance parameters. Perfusion‐weighted imaging–diffusion‐weighted imaging mismatch was present in 16 of 19 patients treated with tissue plasminogen activator, and 16 of 21 controls. Perfusion‐weighted imaging–diffusion‐weighted imaging mismatch patients treated with tissue plaminogen activator had higher recanalization rates and enhanced reperfusion at day 3 (81% vs 47% in controls), and a greater proportion of severely hypoperfused acute mismatch tissue not progressing to infarction (82% vs −25% in controls). Despite similar baseline diffusion‐weighted imaging lesions, infarct expansion was less in the recombinant tissue plaminogen activator group (14cm3 vs 56cm3 in controls). The positive effect of thrombolysis on lesion growth in mismatch patients translated into a greater improvement in baseline to outcome National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale in the group treated with recombinant tissue plaminogen activator, and a significantly larger proportion of patients treated with recombinant tissue plaminogen activator having a clinically meaningful improvement in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale of ≥7 points. The natural evolution of acute perfusion‐weighted imaging–diffusion‐weighted imaging mismatch tissue may be altered by thrombolysis, with improved stroke outcome. This has implications for the use of diffusion‐ and perfusion‐weighted imaging in selecting and monitoring patients for thrombolytic therapy.
Examining Medication Errors in a Tertiary Hospital

This project examined the accuracy of medication administration by nurses at a large tertiary hospital. Registered nurses were prepared to directly observe medication administration. Observations were made of 1514 doses administered by 30 nurses on 3 units, on day and evening shifts. Few (5%) medication errors were found. The most frequent errors were wrong technique, wrong time, and omission. Results suggest examination of medication policies, assessment of medication administration competency, and targeted in-service education.
Salinity controls on trophic interactions among invertebrates and algae of solar evaporation ponds in the Mojave Desert and relation to shorebird foraging and selenium risk

Three saline evaporation ponds formed by wastewater from a solar energy-generating facility near Harper Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert of California, USA were compared for differences in the communities of benthic and planktonic invertebrates and algae present along with avian visitation and foraging activity. Salinity of the ponds ranged from near 90 to over 200 g L−1 total dissolved solids. During the period of study (1997–1999), the lowest salinity pond averaged 98 g L−1, the intermediate salinity pond 112 g L−1, and the high salinity pond 173 g L−1. Differences in the biological communities, abundance of invertebrates and algae, and avian foraging were examined in relation to these differences in salinity. Only three aquatic invertebrate species were present in substantial numbers, a water boatman (Trichocorixa reticulata), a brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana), and a brine fly (Ephydra gracilis). An abundance of the predator Trichocorixa under low salinity conditions appeared to reduce algae-grazing Artemia, and so released phytoplankton growth, but this was observed only in surveys later in the growth season when populations were mature and had greatest potential for efficient consumption of resources. Brine fly larvae were also fed upon by Trichocorixa and were least abundant in the low salinity pond. At highest salinities where Trichocorixa could not survive, Artemia were abundant and waters were usually clear, becoming dense with phytoplankton only during the winter dormancy of brine shrimp. Intermediate salinity levels supported some water boatmen, often coexisting with dense brine shrimp and phytoplankton populations, and the greatest dry mass of benthic brine fly larvae and pupae. The high salinity pond produced abundant but small Ephydra larvae and pupae, accompanied by reduced emergence success of adult flies. Birds appeared to forage primarily on benthic brine fly larvae and were most successful in the intermediate salinity pond, possibly because lower salinity resulted in loss of this preferred prey to water boatman predation, and high salinity produced prey of poor quality. These observations suggest that reduced salinity may at times mediate a trophic cascade within a simple food chain, where an invertebrate predator may reduce primary consumers and permit enhanced algal density, but the predation control becomes uncoupled as salinity increases. In the case of the ponds studied here, there appeared to be minimal risk associated with selenium poisoning of water birds because Se was not detected in brine fly larvae or pupae and was found only occasionally in low content in the brine shrimp and corixids and mostly in locales where few birds were found feeding.
Etiology and treatment of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

PURPOSE Risk factors and treatment recommendations for community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus are reviewed. SUMMARY A new strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has prompted researchers to examine the factors associated with infections acquired in outpatient settings as opposed to those that develop nosocomially. Infections of the skin, lungs, urinary tract, and bloodstream diagnosed within 24-72 hours of hospitalization and with no risk factors present were categorized as community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) and differentiated from health-care-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus (HA-MRSA) on a molecular basis. Pulsed-field electrophoresis has been instrumental in genotyping the S. aureus organism to identify bacterial isolates. Molecular differences between community- and hospital-associated strains show that the organisms were genetically distinct and had not migrated to other settings. Some studies examining antibiotic resistance indicated a steady increase in the rate of MRSA infections. In addition, results of a 15-year longitudinal study indicated significant increases in CA-MRSA-positive isolates between 1991 and 2004. Race, age, sex, hygiene, living environment, and socioeconomic status have been shown to play a key role in the incidence of CA-MRSA. CONCLUSION Health care providers should recognize how CA-MRSA and HA-MRSA are differentiated and what factors are associated with infections caused by the organisms. This will enable health care providers to quickly identify and initiate appropriate treatment for these infections.
Autophagy in sepsis: Degradation into exhaustion?

ABSTRACT Autophagy is one of the innate immune defense mechanisms against microbial challenges. Previous in vitro and in vivo models of sepsis demonstrated that autophagy was activated initially in sepsis, followed by a subsequent phase of impairment. Autophagy modulation appears to be protective against multiple organ injuries in these murine sepsis models. This is achieved in part by preventing apoptosis, maintaining a balance between the productions of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, and preserving mitochondrial functions. This article aims to discuss the role of autophagy in sepsis and the therapeutic potential of autophagy enhancers.
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy and management of choledocholithiasis.

The advent of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) has led to a reassessment of the approach to the management of choledocholithiasis. In a consecutive series of 418 patients undergoing LC, common bile duct (CBD) stones were suspected pre-operatively in 130 patients. Forty-five of the patients (35%) were found to have CBD stones on either pre-operative endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP; 20) or on operative cholangiography (OC; 25). Common bile duct stones were detected on OC in a further 12 of 288 patients (4.2%) without pre-operative suspicion of choledocholithiasis. Of the total of 57 patients with CBD stones, the duct was cleared by pre-operative ERCP and endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) in 15 patients. In 13 patients, two of whom had had a pre-operative ERCP and ES, duct clearance was achieved by relaxing the sphincter pharmacologically and flushing the CBD via the OC catheter. One patient had an on-table ERCP and ES with successful stone extraction during LC. Eleven patients were converted to open operation with bile duct exploration. Sixteen patients had a postoperative ERCP. In five patients the CBD stones had passed spontaneously in the time between LC and ERCP. Ten patients required ES to clear the duct of stones. One patient had a failed ERCP and is still awaiting a repeat. The remaining patient was scheduled, but did not return for follow-up ERCP. In summary, pre-operative ERCP was indicated in less than 10% of patients in this series. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Collaborating with cardiac sonographers to develop work-related musculoskeletal disorder interventions

Abstract For more than two decades, surveys of imaging technologists, including cardiac sonographers, diagnostic medical sonographers and vascular technologists, have consistently reported high prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal discomfort (WRMSD). Yet, intervention research involving sonographers is limited. In this study, we used a participatory approach to identifying needs and opportunities for developing interventions to reduce sonographers’ exposures to WRMSD risk factors. In this paper, we present some of those needs. We include descriptions of two interventions, targeted for cardiac sonographers, that were developed, through an iterative process, into functional prototypes that were evaluated in pilot tests by practicing sonographers. One of these interventions is now in daily use. We would like other engineers and ergonomists to recognise this area of opportunity to apply their knowledge of biomechanics and design in order to begin to address the high prevalence of WRMSDs in sonographers, by working with sonographers to develop useful and usable interventions. Practitioner Summary: This paper discusses needs, opportunities and methods for working with sonographers in order to develop interventions to reduce their exposure to risk factors for work-related musculoskeletal discomfort. Results from field tests of two novel interventions targeting cardiac sonographers are also presented.
Multi-task Relative Attributes Prediction by Incorporating Local Context and Global Style Information Features

Relative attribute represents the correlation degree of one attribute between an image pair (e.g. one car image has more seat number than the other car image). While appearance highly and directly correlated relative attribute is easy to predict, fine-grained or appearance insensitive relative attribute prediction still remains as a challenging task. To address this challenge, we propose a multi-task trainable deep neural networks by incorporating an object’s both local context and global style information to infer the relative attribute. In particular, we leverage convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to extract feature, followed by a ranking network to score the image pair. In CNNs, we treat features arising from intermediate convolution layers and full connection layers in CNNs as local context and global style information, respectively. Our intuition is that local context corresponds to bottom-to-top localised visual difference and global style information records high-level global subtle difference from a top-to-bottom scope between an image pair. We concatenate them together to escalate overall performance of multi-task relative attribute prediction. Finally, experimental results on 5 publicly available datasets demonstrate that our proposed approach outperforms several other state-of-the-art methods and further achieves comparable results when comparing to very deep networks, like 152-ResNet [19] and inception-v3 [8].
Five Thousands Years of Land Use and Abuse in the Southern Argolid, Greece

O REECE is, in the main, a land of dry and barren mountains, poor in fertile, wellk3watered soil. Still, ancient authors refer repeatedly to the wooded hills and rich bottomlands of a remote past. Whether the disappearance of this lush landscape, if indeed it ever existed, was due to natural or to human causes has been debated with passion since Antiquity. Environmentalists of a pessimistic bent like to cite the eastern Mediterranean as a particularly horrifying example of what callous human disregard for the environment can bring about, while others have attributed the stripping of soil from the mountains to the severe climate of the Pleistocene.