Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antimicrobial Resistance in Respiratory Tract Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolates: Results of the Canadian Respiratory Organism Susceptibility Study, 1997 to 2002

ABSTRACT A total of 6,991 unique patient isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae were collected from October 1997 to June 2002 from 25 medical centers in 9 of the 10 Canadian provinces. Among these isolates, 20.2% were penicillin nonsusceptible, with 14.6% being penicillin intermediate (MIC, 0.12 to 1 μg/ml) and 5.6% being penicillin resistant (MIC, ≥2 μg/ml). The proportion of high-level penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae isolates increased from 2.4 to 13.8% over the last 3 years of the study, and the proportion of multidrug-resistant S. pneumoniae isolates increased from 2.7 to 8.8% over the 5-year period. Resistant rates (intermediate and resistant) among non-β-lactam agents were as follows: macrolides, 9.6 to 9.9%; clindamycin, 3.8%; doxycycline, 5.5%; chloramphenicol, 3.9%; and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 19.0%. Rates of resistance to non-β-lactam agents were higher among penicillin-resistant strains than among penicillin-susceptible strains. No resistance to vancomycin or linezolid was observed; however, 0.1% intermediate resistance to quinupristin-dalfopristin was observed. The rate of macrolide resistance (intermediate and resistant) increased from 7.9 to 11.1% over the 5 years. For the fluoroquinolones, the order of activity based on the MICs at which 50% of isolates are inhibited (MIC50s) and the MIC90s was gemifloxacin > clinafloxacin > trovafloxacin > moxifloxacin > grepafloxacin > gatifloxacin > levofloxacin > ciprofloxacin. The investigational compounds ABT-773 (MIC90, 0.008 μg/ml), ABT-492 (MIC90, 0.015 μg/ml), GAR-936 (tigecycline; MIC90, 0.06 μg/ml), and BMS284756 (garenoxacin; MIC90, 0.06 μg/ml) displayed excellent activities. Despite decreases in the rates of antibiotic consumption in Canada over the 5-year period, the rates of both high-level penicillin-resistant and multidrug-resistant S. pneumoniae isolates are increasing in Canada.
Revisiting caveolin trafficking: the end of the caveosome

In this issue, a study by Hayer et al. (2010. J. Cell Biol. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201003086) provides insights into the trafficking of caveolins, the major membrane proteins of caveolae. As well as providing evidence for ubiquitin-mediated endosomal sorting and degradation of caveolin in multivesicular bodies (MVBs), the new findings question the existence of a unique organelle proposed nine years ago, the caveosome.
Categorization of Very Short Documents

Categorization of very short documents has become an important research topic in the field of text mining. Twitter status updates and market research data form an interesting corpus of documents that are in most cases less than 20 words long. Short documents have one major characteristic that differentiate them from traditional longer documents: each word occurs usually only once per document. This is called the TF=1 challenge. In this paper we conduct a comprehensive performance comparison of the current feature weighting and categorization approaches using corpora of very short documents. In addition, we propose a novel feature weighting approach called Fragment Length Weighted Category Distribution that takes the challenges of short documents into consideration. The proposed approach is based on previous work on Bi-Normal Separation and on short document categorization using a Naive Bayes classifier. We compare the performance of the proposed approach against several traditional approaches including Chi-Squared, Mutual Information, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and Residual Inverse Document Frequency. We also compare the performance of a Support Vector Machine classifier against other classification approaches such as k-Nearest Neighbors and Naive Bayes classifiers.
Leukocyte Telomere Length in Alzheimer's Disease Patients with a Different Rate of Progression.

BACKGROUND Age and short leukocyte telomeres have been associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Inflammation is involved in AD and it is suggested that anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 (IL-10) may partly antagonize these processes. OBJECTIVE The aim is to correlate telomere length (TL) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with AD to disease progression rate. Moreover, we evaluated whether TL was associated with IL-10 production by unstimulated or amyloid-β (Aβ)-stimulated PBMC. METHODS We enrolled 31 late-onset AD and 20 age-matched healthy elderly (HE). After a two-year follow-up period, patients were retrospectively evaluated as slow-progressing (ADS) (Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) decline over the two years of follow-up ≤3 points) or fast progressing AD (ADF) (MMSE decline ≥5 points). TL was measured by flow cytometry and in vitro IL-10 production by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS TL (mean±SD) for HE, ADS, and ADF was 2.3±0.1, 2.0±0.1, and 2.5±0.1 Kb, respectively. ADS showed a shorter TL compared to HE (p = 0.034) and to ADF (p = 0.005). MMSE decline correlated with TL in AD (R2 = 0.284; p = 0.008). We found a significant difference in IL-10 production between unstimulated and Aβ-stimulated PBMC from ADS (40.7±13.7 versus 59.0±27.0; p = 0.004) but not from ADF (39.7±14.4 versus 42.2±22.4). HE showed a trend toward significance (47.1±25.4 versus 55.3±27.9; p = 0.10). CONCLUSION PBMC from ADF may be characterized by an impaired response induced by Aβ and by a reduced proliferative response responsible for the longer telomeres. TL might be a contributing factor in predicting the rate of AD progression.
Intraday Serial Correlation,Volatility, and Jump: Evidence from China's Stock Market

In this article, we investigate the relationships among intraday serial correlation, jump-robust volatility, positive and negative jumps based on Shanghai composite index high frequency data. We implement variance ratio test to quantify intraday serial correlation. We also measure the continuous part of realized volatility using jump-robust MedRV estimator and disentangle positive and negative jumps using Realized Downside Risk Measure and Realized Upside Potential Measure proposed by Bi et al., (2013). We find that intraday serial correlation are positively correlated with jump-robust volatility and negatively correlated with negative jumps which confirm the LeBaron effect.
Assessment of Eustachian tube function before and after cleft palate repair

Background: The incidence of hearing loss is higher in children with cleft lip and/or cleft palate. The etiologic basis for middle ear pathology and hearing loss in patients with Cleft palate is considered to be Eustachian tube dysfunction due to functional obstruction. Aim: To assess the Eustachian tube function before and after cleft palate repair. Methodology: A longitudinal study was conducted in the department of Otorhinolaryngology, at Kirupananda Variyar Medical College during the period of October 2012 to October 2014. A total of 50 patients with cleft palate were examined. Tympanometric analysis was done to study subjects before and after cleft palate repair. The patients underwent surgery for cleft palate repair. The parametric variables measured before and after palatoplasty were analysed using paired ‘t’ test and for all non parametric variables Man-Whitney ‘U’ test was applied for analysis. Results: The compliance of middle ear, middle ear pressure and middle ear reflex showed a statistic ally significant improvement in both the ears after the surgical correction for cleft palate. After the cleft palate repair the tympanogram showed that the type A graph among the patients were increased and type B and C graph were decreased and this difference was found to be statistically significant (p<.05). Conclusion: An overall hearing profile for the children with cleft lip and palate should be conducted before 5 years and early intervention is recommended as hearing loss in childhood could affect speech and language development as well as scholastic performance.
Clinical Evaluation of International Consensus Diagnostic Criteria for Type 1 Autoimmune Pancreatitis in Comparison With Japanese Diagnostic Criteria 2011

Objectives The objective of this study was to evaluate the International Consensus Diagnostic Criteria (ICDC) for type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) in comparison with the Japanese criteria 2011 (JPS2011). Methods We retrospectively investigated the usefulness of ICDC in comparison with JPS2011 in 64 patients with AIP and 90 patients with pancreatic cancer. Results The sensitivity and specificity of ICDC for AIP were 98.4% (63/64) and 100% (90/90), respectively. The sensitivities and specificities of ductal imaging, serology, other organ involvement, and pancreatic histology were 74.1%, 89.1%, 53.1%, and 26.1% and 94.7%, 94.5%, 100%, and 100%, respectively. On the other hand, the sensitivities and specificities of JPS2011 for AIP were 84.4% (54/64) and 100% (90/90), respectively. The condition of all the 10 patients who were deniable or possible under the JPS2011 could be diagnosed as definitive AIP under the ICDC. The sensitivities and specificities of Japanese criteria 2006, Asian Diagnostic Criteria, and HISORt criteria were 80.6%, 84.4%, and 92.2% and 95.8%, 87.8%, and 100%, respectively. Conclusions The sensitivity and specificity of ICDC are higher than those of previous criteria. The JPS2011 is easy to handle for general practice, and specificity is very high. However, the sensitivity of JPS2011 is lower than that of ICDC, and improvement of sensitivity is to be hoped in the future.
Specificity of Systemic Sclerosis Classification Criteria

To the Editor: As the steering committee of the American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism project that developed the 2013 criteria for the classification of systemic sclerosis (SSc)1,2, we read with interest the publication of Hoffmann-Vold, et al 3. Using data from the Norwegian Systemic Connective Tissue Disease and Vasculitis Registry, Hoffmann-Vold, et al ’s report clearly supported the new criteria as having excellent sensitivity (96%) for SSc. The study was unique in that the authors had access to a large database of subjects with mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) that was used to calculate specificity of the criteria for that particular illness. They reported a specificity of … Address correspondence to Dr. M. Baron, Jewish General Hospital, A-725, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1E2, Canada. E-mail: mbaron{at}rhu.jgh. mcgill.ca
Motivating Migrants: A Field Experiment on Financial Decision-Making in Transnational Households

We randomly assigned male migrant workers in Qatar invitations to a motivational workshop aimed at improving financial habits and encouraging joint decision-making with spouses back home in India. 13-17 months later, we surveyed migrants and wives to estimate intent-to-treat impacts in their transnational households. Wives of treated migrants changed their financial practices, and became more likely to seek out financial education themselves. Treated migrants and their wives became more likely to make joint decisions on money matters. Treatment effects on financial outcomes show potential heterogeneity, with those with lower prior savings saving differentially more than those with higher prior savings.
Predictability and adult-child cue weighting differences in speech perception

In this experiment, we tested the hypothesis that adult-child differences in cue weighting are influenced by adult-child differences in knowledge of (a) the relative predictability of wordinitial vs. word-final consonants, and (b) of the relationship between predictability and acoustic salience/distinctiveness. We tested our hypothesis using synthetic speech continua with formant transitions varying from /edi/ to /ebi/, which listeners were encouraged to hear as either “Abe E/Ade E” (VC#V context) or as “A bee/A dee” (V#CV context). We tested the extent to which changes in formant transitions influence /d/ vs. /b/ categorisation. Results show that adults were more influenced by transitions cueing word-initial consonants (less predictable in English) than by transitions cueing word-final consonants (more predictable in English), whereas children showed a more balanced pattern, with marginally more influence of transitions cueing word-final consonants. Results are consistent with the view that adults have learned more about the relative predictability of word-initial vs. word-final consonants and have learned that acoustic cues to the less-predictable initial consonants are more distinctive. They therefore weight these cues more heavily than less-distinctive, more contextually predictable, word-final cues.
Hip flexion range of motion and physical function in hip osteoarthritis: mediating effects of hip extensor strength and pain.

OBJECTIVE Hip flexion range of motion (ROM), hip extensor strength (torque production), and hip pain are important correlates of physical function in individuals with hip osteoarthritis (OA). However, the relationships among these variables remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine whether hip extensor strength and hip pain mediate the association between hip flexion ROM and physical function. METHODS Participants were 100 adults (mean age 62 years) with radiographically confirmed hip OA. Passive hip flexion ROM was measured using a digital inclinometer, and isometric hip extensor strength was measured using a force transducer. Self-report measures of physical function and pain were assessed by the Short Form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire, and physical performance was assessed by the gait speed, step test, and stair climb test. RESULTS Multiple mediation analyses, adjusted for demographic and anthropometric measures, revealed that the association between hip flexion ROM and SF-36 physical function scores was fully mediated by SF-36 bodily pain scores and hip extensor strength. Hip extensor strength mediated the hip flexion effects on gait speed and step test performance, while the SF-36 bodily pain scores mediated the hip flexion stair performance association. CONCLUSION In individuals with symptomatic hip OA, hip pain and hip extensor strength mediated the influence of hip flexion ROM on physical function. These results suggest that interventions to improve the range of hip motion may be clinically indicated.
Investigation of Asymmetric Phase Errors of an Optimized Dual-Mode Primary Feed on the Cross Polarization of Offset Reflector Antennas

An analytic dual-mode primary feed is first modeled to illuminate offset reflector antennas to reduce their cross polarization. The feed is linearly polarized and includes the dominant TE11 and higher order TE21 modes. The phase error is then applied to the primary feed to investigate its impact on the cross polarization of offset reflector antennas. Two cases are studied in terms of which of the above-mentioned modes will be affected by the phase errors. The phase errors applying to the resultant dual-mode feed are studied as the first case. The second case includes the effect of phase error only on the higher order TE21 mode resulting in different phase center locations for each mode. Asymmetric right-left phase patterns are used to conduct the study. Both linear and quadratic phase variations are studied. A broad range of focal-length-to-diameter (f/D) ratios from 0.5 to 1.1 are considered to investigate the reduced cross polarization properties in the presence of phase errors. It is shown that the reflector cross polarization increases drastically in the presence of the phase errors. In particular, the boresight-null cross polarization will no longer exist when the phase center location of the second mode is displaced from that of the dominant mode.
Lack of photoprotection against UVB-induced erythema by immediate pigmentation induced by 382 nm radiation.

Immediate pigment darkening (IPD) was induced on the backs of 11 human volunteers of skin types III and IV by exposing the skin to UVA radiation (382 nm). The minimum erythema dose (MED) of UVB radiation was also determined by exposing sites to graduated doses of 304 nm radiation. The order of exposure of distinct anatomic areas was as follow: UVB followed by IPD induction; IPD induction followed by UVB; IPD induction followed 3 h later by UVB; and UVB only. Erythema responses induced by UVB were graded by inspection 24 h later and the MEDs in the 4 areas were compared. The induction of IPD before UVB exposure caused no significant change in the MED compared to sites receiving UVB only, or receiving UVA radiation after UVB, confirming that the IPD reaction does not protect against UVB-induced erythema. There was also no evidence of photorecovery, i.e., an increase in the MED of UVB resulting from exposure to longer wavelength, UV or visible radiation following UVB exposure.
Etude expérimentale de propriétés non-classique de la lumière; interférences à un seul photon

Ce memoire decrit plusieurs experiences pour lesquelles la quantification du champ electromagnetique joue un role essentiel dans la description theorique et la comprehension physique des phenomenes observes. En particulier, la necessite de cette quantification apparait a travers la mise en evidence d'un etat d'un champ tres proche d'un etat de Fock, dans lequel un seul quantum est excite (etat a un seul photon). Un etat a un seul photon peut etre caracterise en utilisant deux photomultiplicateurs places de part et d'autre d'une lame semi-reflechissante : la probabilite d'observer deux photodetections pendant un temps w doit etre beaucoup plus petite que le produit des probabilites de photodetections simples pendant le meme temps. Cette propriete "non-classique", que nous designons par le terme d'anticorrelation, est mise en evidence experimentalement pour une cascade radiative du Calcium, en utilisant des techniques de comptages rapides. Nous avons ensuite realise une experience d'interferences, avec la lumiere ayant permis d'observer l'effet d'anticorrelation. En utilisant un interferometre de Mach-Zehnder regle au voisinage de la teinte plate, le contraste mesure des franges d'interferences a ete superieur a 98%, en parfait accord avec les performances calculees de l'interferometre. Nous presentons enfin deux autres experiences, qui illustrent de facon plus generale la notion d'interference a un photon : une experience de battements quantiques dans une cascade radiative excitee de facon continue, et un effet d'interference apparaissant dans la fluorescence d'un systeme de deux atomes, obtenus par photodissociation d'une molecule Ca2 par une impulsion laser.
Classification of patients and nursing workload in intensive care: comparison between instruments.

Objectives To evaluate the mean nursing workload obtained through the Nursing Activities Score (NAS) and extract the degree of dependency of patients using Perroca's Patient Classification System (PCS). Methods Prospective study conducted at the intensive care unit of a private hospital that is a center of reference in oncology. The instruments were applied daily in a sample of 40 patients with a minimum stay of 24 hours. Results Two hundred and seventy-seven measurements were performed with the instruments. The NAS mean was 69.8% (± 24.1%) and Perroca's Patient Classification System score was 22.7% (± 4.2%). The hours of care found by averaging NAS were almost twice those estimated by Perroca's, showing a difference of 7.3 hours. Conclusion The direct instrument NAS was more appropriate to measure nursing workload when compared to Perroca's indirect instrument in the studied intensive care unit.
State practice environments and the supply of physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and certified nurse-midwives.

BACKGROUND Most proposals to increase access to primary care in the United States emphasize increasing the proportion of generalist physicians. Another approach is to increase the number of physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and certified nurse-midwives. METHODS We analyzed variations in the regulation of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified nurse-midwives in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Using a 100-point scoring system, we assigned numerical values to specific characteristics of the practice environment in each state for each group of practitioners, awarding a maximum of 20 points for legal status, 40 points for reimbursement for services, and 40 points for the authority to write prescriptions. We calculated coefficients for the correlation of summary measures of these values within states with estimates of the supply of practitioners per 100,000 population. RESULTS There was wide variation among states in both practice-environment scores and practitioner-to-population ratios for all three groups of practitioners. We found positive correlations within states between the supply of physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and certified nurse-midwives and the practice-environment score for the state (Spearman rank-correlation coefficients, 0.63 [P < 0.001], 0.41 [P = 0.003], and 0.51 [P < 0.001], respectively). Positive associations were also found in the states between the supply of generalist physicians and the supply of physician assistants (r = 0.54, P < 0.001) and nurse practitioners (r = 0.35, P = 0.014). Nevertheless, in the 17 states with the greatest shortages of primary care physicians, favorable practice-environment scores were still associated with higher practitioner-to-population ratios for physician assistants (r = 0.68, P = 0.003), nurse practitioners (r = 0.54, P = 0.026), and certified nurse-midwives (r = 0.42, P = 0.09). CONCLUSIONS State regulation of physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and certified nurse-midwives varies widely. Favorable practice environments are strongly associated with a larger supply of these practitioners.
A Role for Calcitonin Gene‐Related Peptide in Protection Against Gastric Ulceration

ObjectiveThe goal of this investigation was to determine the role of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in gastric mucosal resistance to ulceration. Summary Background DataCGRP is a 37-amino acid peptide found in the peripheral ends of afferent gastric neurons. CGRP is known to inhibit acid secretion, stimulate mucosal blood flow, and stimulate release of somatostatin. MethodsThe release of CGRP in response to intragastric and intra-arterial administration of capsaicin in the isolated, vascularly perfused rat stomach was measured by radioimmunoassay. The molecular forms of CGRP released were analyzed by gel filtration chromatography. The effect of intravenous CGRP or intragastric capsaicin on gastric ulceration induced by 100 mmol/L HCI and indomethacin was studied in intact and endogenous CGRP-depleted rats. ResultsIntra-arterial capsaicin (concentration range, 10−7 to 10−5 mol/L) stimulated a prompt and sustained release of immunoreactive CGRP, of which 84% coeluted with rat 1–37 CGRP I by gel filtration. Intragastric capsaicin (range, 10−5 to 10−4 mol/L) failed to release CGRP into the vascular perfusate. In intact rats, intragastric capsaicin (10−6 mol/L) or intravenous CGRP I (10 μg/kg/hr) reduced the number and area of mucosal lesions caused by HCI and indomethacin compared with the findings in control rats. Rats depleted of endogenous CGRP were more susceptible to gastric ulceration than were normal rats. Intragastric capsaicin failed to protect the mucosa of CGRP-depleted rats, whereas exogenous intravenous CGRP was effective. ConclusionsThese data support the hypothesis that CGRP released from gastric enteric neurons mediates gastric mucosal resistance to ulceration by noxious agents.