Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between Th1 and Th2 cytokine serum levels and immune response to Hepatitis B vaccination among Egyptian health care workers

ABSTRACT Hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination leads to both humoral and cellular immune responses and results in protecting levels of specific antibodies. The immune response to the vaccine and production of T-helper 1 (Th1) and Th2 cytokines vary among the individuals. Thus we aimed to investigate the relationship between Th1/Th2 cytokine serum levels and antibody production after HBV vaccination, hoping to improve the effectiveness of vaccination. A total of 90 health care workers had been vaccinated with triple doses of HB vaccine at 0, 1, and 6 months intervals. Two months after the third dose, anti-HBs titer, interferon gamma (INF-γ), and interleukin (IL)-13 serum levels were measured. There were 16 low-responders (anti-HBs = 10–150 IU/L), 41 moderate-responders (anti-HBs> 150< 1000 IU/L), and 33 high-responders (anti-HBs = 1000 IU/L). IFN-γ and IL-13 serum levels showed significant positive correlation with anti-HBs titer. We concluded that, decreased serum level of IFN-γ (Th1 cytokine) and IL-13 (Th2 cytokine) was associated with diminished production of anti-HBs antibodies after HB vaccination, suggesting that IFN-γ and IL-13 could play a significant role in the immune response to HB vaccination and could be used as vaccine adjuvants.
Design and Verification of Model-based Nonlinear Controller for Fluidic Soft Actuators

Soft actuators are of great interests in recent years due to inherent compliance and adaptability. However, most of current studies focus on the physical actuation phenomenon and their manufaction, few results can be found on the modeling and closed-loop control due to their complicated elastic deformation. This work studies physical modeling, parameter identification, and nonlinear robust backstepping control for fluidic soft bending actuators governed by high-speed on-off solenoid valves. A second-order transfer function is used to describe the dynamic behavior from driving pneumatic pressure to soft actuator bending angle, and the model parameters are identified by with different operating frequencies. The nonlinear dynamical model of pneumatic valves is also built and identified by using least square method. Based on the identified high-order model, a robust backstepping control algorithm is designed for soft actuator to deal with nonlinearities and parameter uncertainties. Experimental results show that the closed-loop stability is guaranteed and the good tracking performance is achieved by the proposed method.
The Impact of Non-Neurotropic Influenza Strains on the Brain: A Role for Microglial Priming?

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the great influenza pandemic of 1918. The “Spanish Flu”, as it came to be known, was one of the deadliest and most widespread in modern history, with fatalities estimated in the tens of millions ([Kristensson, 2006][1]). In the wake of the pandemic, an
Prospective Single Arm Study on the Effect of Ilaprazole in Patients with Heartburn but No Reflux Esophagitis

Purpose Patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease without esophagitis show varying responses to proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). The aim of this study was to objectively evaluate the effect of a new PPI, ilaprazole, on patients with heartburn but without reflux esophagitis. Materials and Methods This prospective study was performed on 20 patients with heartburn but without reflux esophagitis. All patients underwent upper endoscopy and 24-hr combined multichannel intraluminal impedance and pH esophageal monitoring (MII-pH). They were then treated with ilaprazole (20 mg) once daily for 4 weeks. The GerdQ questionnaire, histologic findings, and inflammatory biomarkers were used for assessment before and after ilaprazole. Results Among the 20 patients, 13 (65%) showed GerdQ score ≥8. Based on MII-pH results, patients were classified as true nonerosive reflux disease (n=2), hypersensitive esophagus (n=10), and functional heartburn (n=8). After treatment, patients showed a statistically significant improvement in GerdQ score (p<0.001). Among histopathologic findings, basal cell hyperplasia, papillary elongation, and infiltration of intraepithelial T lymphocytes improved significantly (p=0.008, p=0.021, and p=0.008; respectively). Expression of TNF-α, IL-8, TRPV1, and MCP-1 decreased marginally after treatment (p=0.049, p=0.046, p=0.045, and p=0.042; respectively). Conclusion Daily ilaprazole (20 mg) is efficacious in improving symptom scores, histopathologic findings, and inflammatory biomarkers in patients with heartburn but no reflux esophagitis.
Trends in Clinical Characteristics and Short-Term Outcome of HIV-Infected Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in South India

Background: Limited information is available on changing trends in HIV positive patients treated with first-line antiretroviral therapy from India. Methods: The clinical characteristics and short-term outcome were compared between a retrospective group enrolled between January 2006 and March 2007 (06-07 group—100 patients) and a prospective group enrolled between February 2011 and March 2012 (10-12 group—85 patients). Results: Median age was 36 and 38 years in 06-07 and 10-12 groups, respectively. Median baseline CD4 count was 146 cells/mL3 in the 10-12 group, and it was not significantly different from that of 06-07 group. Tuberculosis was diagnosed 3 times more commonly in the 10-12 group. The retention proportion at the end of 10 months was 68% in the 10-12 group when compared to that of 59% in the 06-07 group. Conclusion: There was a trend toward improved outcome over the period of time, but the attrition rate remained high.
Small-Signal Stability Analysis and Performance Evaluation of Microgrids Under Distributed Control

Advantages of distributed control have been extensively discussed, while its impacts on microgrid performance and stability, especially in the case of communication latency, have not been explicitly studied or fully understood. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a generalized theoretical framework for small-signal stability analysis and performance evaluation for microgrids using distributed control. The proposed framework synthesizes generator and load frequency-domain characteristics, primary and secondary control loops, as well as the communication latency into a frequency-domain representation which is further evaluated by the generalized Nyquist theorem. In addition, various parameters and their impacts on microgrid dynamic performance are investigated and summarized into guidelines to help better design the system. Case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Efficient Egocentric Visual Perception Combining Eye-tracking, a Software Retina and Deep Learning

We present ongoing work to harness biological approaches to achieving highly efficient egocentric perception by combining the space- variant imaging architecture of the mammalian retina with Deep Learn- ing methods. By pre-processing images collected by means of eye-tracking glasses to control the fixation locations of a software retina model, we demonstrate that we can reduce the input to a DCNN by a factor of 3, reduce the required number of training epochs and obtain over 98% clas- sification rates when training and validating the system on a database of over 26,000 images of 9 object classes.
Interplay of PhoP and DevR response regulators defines expression of the dormancy regulon in virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The DevR response regulator of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an established regulator of the dormancy response in mycobacteria and can also be activated during aerobic growth conditions in avirulent strains, suggesting a complex regulatory system. Previously, we reported culture medium–specific aerobic induction of the DevR regulon genes in avirulent M. tuberculosis H37Ra that was absent in the virulent H37Rv strain. To understand the underlying basis of this differential response, we have investigated aerobic expression of the Rv3134c-devR-devS operon using M. tuberculosis H37Ra and H37Rv devR overexpression strains, designated as LIX48 and LIX50, respectively. Overexpression of DevR led to the up-regulation of a large number of DevR regulon genes in aerobic cultures of LIX48, but not in LIX50. To ascertain the involvement of PhoP response regulator, also known to co-regulate a subset of DevR regulon genes, we complemented the naturally occurring mutant phoPRa gene of LIX48 with the WT phoPRv gene. PhoPRv dampened the induced expression of the DevR regulon by >70–80%, implicating PhoP in the negative regulation of devR expression. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays confirmed phosphorylation-independent binding of PhoPRv to the Rv3134c promoter and further revealed that DevR and PhoPRv proteins exhibit differential DNA binding properties to the target DNA. Through co-incubations with DNA, ELISA, and protein complementation assays, we demonstrate that DevR forms a heterodimer with PhoPRv but not with the mutant PhoPRa protein. The study puts forward a new possible mechanism for coordinated expression of the dormancy regulon, having implications in growth adaptations critical for development of latency.
Lung Microbiome Is Influenced by the Environment and Asthmatic Status in an Equine Model of Asthma

&NA; There is evidence that the lung microbiome differs between patients with asthma and healthy humans, but the effect of environmental conditions and medication is unknown and difficult to study. Equine asthma is a naturally occurring chronic airway disease characterized by reversible airway inflammation and bronchoconstriction upon exposure to inhaled antigens. In the present study, we evaluated the effect that environmental conditions and disease status have on pulmonary, nasal, and oral microbiomes. Six asthmatic and six healthy horses were studied while at pasture (“low antigen exposure”), as well as when being housed indoors and fed good‐quality hay (“moderate exposure”) and poor‐quality hay (“high exposure”). At each time point, lung function was recorded; BAL, oral, and nasal rinses were collected; and 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed. Asthmatic horses developed airway obstruction and inflammation under moderate and high antigen exposure conditions, whereas nonasthmatic horses showed mild inflammation under high antigen exposure, without bronchoconstriction. Lung, oral, and nasal communities clustered by environmental condition, but only lung communities were different between healthy and asthmatic horses. The association between asthma and lung microbiome was strongest in horses under moderate antigen exposure. Pulmonary, oral, and nasal microbiomes are influenced by environmental conditions, but only the pulmonary microbiome differs between horses with and without asthma. This difference, seen mainly when airway inflammation was present in horses with asthma but not in control animals, suggests that the altered lung microbiome in asthma might not be inherent but coincident with inflammation.
Monitoring the Smart Grid Incorporating Turbines and Vehicles

In contrast to the traditional filtering approaches, this paper presents a message passing algorithm for multi-area interconnected power systems. The interconnected power system incorporating the thermal turbines and electrical vehicles is expressed as a state-space framework. The phasor measurement units are used to obtain the system state information. After receiving the sensing information at the energy management systems, the factor graph based message passing algorithm is developed. This algorithm can estimate the system states in a distributed way considering the Baysian network. Simulation result shows that the developed scheme can be well estimated the system states.
Effects of dexmedetomidine hydrochloride on hemodynamics, postoperative analgesia and cognition in cesarean section

The present study aims to investigate the effects of dexmedetomidine hydrochloride (Dex) on hemodynamics, postoperative analgesia and cognition in cesarean section. One hundred and two pregnant women who underwent cesarean section were selected from August 2016 to July 2017 in People's Hospital of Zhangqiu District and randomly divided into control group and observation group. Control group was anesthetized with bupivacaine hydrochloride, and morphine + ropivacaine hydrochloride were given postoperatively. Observation group received intraoperative anesthesia with bupivacaine hydrochloride and Dex, and Dex + ropivacaine hydrochloride were given for postoperative analgesia. Hemodynamic factors were compared between the two groups. Postoperative Ramsay sedation score, the incidence of adverse reactions and the incidence of transient neurological syndrome (TNS) were compared between the two groups. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scoring were performed to evaluate the cognitive function of the two groups. The mean arterial pressure (MAP) and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores of the observation group after anesthesia were significantly lower than those of control group (P<0.05). The Ramsay sedation score of the observation group was significantly better than that of control group at different time-points after surgery (P<0.05). Incidence of postoperative agitation in observation group was significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.05). Incidence of TNS in observation group was significantly lower than that in control group during 1 week after surgery (P<0.05). MoCA and MMSE scores of the observation group were better than that of control group at 1 day after operation (P<0.05). The use of Dex anesthesia in cesarean section can achieve more stable hemodynamic conditions during perioperative period and more obvious analgesic effect after operation. It also reduced the incidence of postoperative TNS and cognitive dysfunction, and had important clinical significance.
Demographic and clinical factors associated with different antidepressant treatments: a retrospective cohort study design in a UK psychiatric healthcare setting

Objective To investigate the demographic and clinical factors associated with antidepressant use for depressive disorder in a psychiatric healthcare setting using a retrospective cohort study design. Setting Data were extracted from a de-identified data resource sourced from the electronic health records of a London mental health service. Relative risk ratios (RRRs) were obtained from multinomial logistic regression analysis to ascertain the probability of receiving common antidepressant treatments relative to sertraline. Participants Patients were included if they received mental healthcare and a diagnosis of depression with antidepressant treatment between March and August 2015 and exposures were measured over the preceding 12 months. Results Older age was associated with increased use of all antidepressants compared with sertraline, except for negative associations with fluoxetine (RRR 0.98; 95% CI 0.96 to 0.98) and a combination of two selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (0.98; 95% CI 0.96 to 0.99), and no significant association with escitalopram. Male gender was associated with increased use of mirtazapine compared with sertraline (2.57; 95% CI 1.85 to 3.57). Previous antidepressant, antipsychotic and mood stabiliser use were associated with newer antidepressant use (ie, selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, mirtazapine or a combination of both), while affective symptoms were associated with reduced use of citalopram (0.58; 95% CI 0.27 to 0.83) and fluoxetine (0.42; 95% CI 0.22 to 0.72) and somatic symptoms were associated with increased use of mirtazapine (1.60; 95% CI 1.00 to 2.75) relative to sertraline. In patients older than 25 years, past benzodiazepine use was associated with a combination of SSRIs (2.97; 95% CI 1.32 to 6.68), mirtazapine (1.94; 95% CI 1.20 to 3.16) and venlafaxine (1.87; 95% CI 1.04 to 3.34), while past suicide attempts were associated with increased use of fluoxetine (2.06; 95% CI 1.10 to 3.87) relative to sertraline. Conclusion There were several factors associated with different antidepressant receipt in psychiatric healthcare. In patients aged >25, those on fluoxetine were more likely to have past suicide attempt, while past use of antidepressant and non-antidepressant use was also associated with use of new generation antidepressants, potentially reflecting perceived treatment resistance.
Anxiety after stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE To update the evidence surrounding the presence of anxiety after stroke. DATA SOURCES A search was conducted in EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, AMED and CINAHL in May 2015 and repeated in April 2017. STUDY SELECTION Clinical diagnosis of stroke and assessed for anxiety symptoms on a rating scale in the first year after stroke. DATA EXTRACTION One reviewer screened and identified studies against the inclusion criteria. A second reviewer conducted a random check of approximately 10% of titles and abstracts. Two authors independently performed the final full-text review. DATA SYNTHESIS Overall pooled prevalence of anxiety disorders was 29.3% ((95% confidence interval 24.8-33.8%), (I2 = 97%, p < 0.00001)) during the first year. Frequency 0-2 weeks post-stroke was 36.7%, 2 weeks to 3 months 24.1%, and 3-12 months 23.8%. There was a statistically high heterogeneity in this estimate (I2 = 97%, p < 0.00001). CONCLUSION Anxiety is common during the first year post-stroke. Since anxiety significantly influences quality of life and is a predictor for depression, it may be worth considering further routine screening post-stroke.
The chemistry of disks around T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be stars.

Context Infrared and (sub-)mm observations of disks around T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be stars point to a chemical differentiation between both types of disks, with a lower detection rate of molecules in disks around hotter stars. Aims To investigate the underlying causes of the chemical differentiation indicated by observations we perform a comparative study of the chemistry of T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be disks. This is one of the first studies to compare chemistry in the outer regions of these two types of disks. Methods We developed a model to compute the chemical composition of a generic protoplanetary disk, with particular attention to the photochemistry, and applied it to a T Tauri and a Herbig Ae/Be disk. We compiled cross sections and computed photodissociation and photoionization rates at each location in the disk by solving the FUV radiative transfer in a 1+1D approach using the Meudon PDR code and adopting observed stellar spectra. Results The warmer disk temperatures and higher ultraviolet flux of Herbig stars compared to T Tauri stars induce some differences in the disk chemistry. In the hot inner regions, H2O, and simple organic molecules like C2H2, HCN, and CH4 are predicted to be very abundant in T Tauri disks and even more in Herbig Ae/Be disks, in contrast with infrared observations that find a much lower detection rate of water and simple organics toward disks around hotter stars. In the outer regions, the model indicates that the molecules typically observed in disks, like HCN, CN, C2H, H2CO, CS, SO, and HCO+, do not have drastic abundance differences between T Tauri and Herbig Ae disks. Some species produced under the action of photochemistry, like C2H and CN, are predicted to have slightly lower abundances around Herbig Ae stars due to a narrowing of the photochemically active layer. Observations indeed suggest that these radicals are somewhat less abundant in Herbig Ae disks, although in any case the inferred abundance differences are small, of a factor of a few at most. A clear chemical differentiation between both types of disks concerns ices. Owing to the warmer temperatures of Herbig Ae disks, one expects snowlines lying farther away from the star and a lower mass of ices compared to T Tauri disks. Conclusions The global chemical behavior of T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be disks is quite similar. The main differences are driven by the warmer temperatures of the latter, which result in a larger reservoir or water and simple organics in the inner regions and a lower mass of ices in the outer disk.
Boundary-Based Optimization Strategy for Fragment-Type Isolation Structure Designs

Fragment-type structures are potential for acquiring high isolation for a compact MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) system. A novel boundary-based median filtering operator is proposed to increase the number of optimized candidates. For example. , fragment-type isolation structures of a compact MIMO PIFAs (planar inverted-F antennas) system operating at 2.345GHz-2.36GHz and having a center-to-center interval of 15mm are designed. Comparison results show that more alternative designs could be found at the expense of searching speed, and both better front-back-ratio and wider impedance bandwidth are observed.
Efficacy and safety of certolizumab pegol in combination with methotrexate in methotrexate-inadequate responder Chinese patients with active rheumatoid arthritis: 24-week results from a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy and safety of certolizumab pegol (CZP) in combination with methotrexate (MTX) in Chinese patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and an inadequate response to MTX. METHODS This 24-week, phase 3, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted in 30 centres across China. A total of 430 patients were randomised 3:1 to receive CZP 200 mg every 2 weeks (loading dose: 400 mg CZP at Weeks 0, 2 and 4) plus MTX or placebo (PBO) plus MTX. The primary endpoint was ACR20 response at Week 24, for which the superiority of CZP+MTX over PBO+MTX was evaluated. Additional parameters for clinical efficacy, health outcomes, immunogenicity and safety were assessed. RESULTS At Week 24, 54.8% of CZP+MTX patients and 23.9% of PBO+MTX patients achieved ACR20 (odds ratio: 3.9, p<0.001). CZP+MTX patients also achieved greater improvements in HAQ-DI, higher ACR50/70 responses and higher DAS28(ESR) remission rate at Week 24. Rapid onset of response to CZP+MTX was observed as early as Week 1 for most of the clinical, functional and patient-reported outcomes. Incidences of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were similar between treatment arms. Serious TEAEs were reported by 6.3% of CZP+MTX patients and 2.7% of PBO+MTX patients. No new safety signals were observed. CONCLUSIONS CZP in combination with MTX showed an acceptable safety profile, a rapid onset of response and sustained effects in reducing the signs and symptoms of RA and improving physical function in Chinese patients with RA and an inadequate response to MTX.