Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Overexpression of the Transcription Factor AP37 in Rice Improves Grain Yield under Drought Conditions1[W][OA]

Transcription factors with an APETELA2 (AP2) domain have been implicated in various cellular processes involved in plant development and stress responses. Of the 139 AP2 genes predicted in rice (Oryza sativa), we identified 42 genes in our current study that are induced by one or more stress conditions, including drought, high salinity, low temperature, and abscisic acid. Phylogenic analysis of these 42 stress-inducible AP2 genes revealed the presence of six subgroups (I–VI) with distinct signature motifs. Two genes, AP37 and AP59, representing subgroups I and II, respectively, were functionally characterized. Both genes were found to be induced upon 2 h of exposure to drought and high-salinity conditions but to differ in their expression profile upon exposure to low temperature and abscisic acid. The overexpression of AP37 and AP59 in rice under the control of the constitutive promoter OsCc1 increased the tolerance to drought and high salinity at the vegetative stage. Increased tolerance to low temperatures was observed only in OsCc1:AP37 plants. More importantly, the OsCc1:AP37 plants showed significantly enhanced drought tolerance in the field, which increased grain yield by 16% to 57% over controls under severe drought conditions, yet exhibited no significant difference under normal growth conditions. In contrast, grain yield in OsCc1:AP59 plants in the field was reduced by 23% to 43% compared with controls under both normal and drought stress conditions. Microarray experiments identified 10 and 38 genes that are up-regulated by AP37 and AP59, respectively, in addition to 37 genes that are commonly induced by both factors. Our results suggest that the AP37 gene has the potential to improve drought tolerance in rice without causing undesirable growth phenotypes.
Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books

Linguistic and cultural changes are revealed through the analyses of words appearing in books. We constructed a corpus of digitized texts containing about 4% of all books ever printed. Analysis of this corpus enables us to investigate cultural trends quantitatively. We survey the vast terrain of ‘culturomics,’ focusing on linguistic and cultural phenomena that were reflected in the English language between 1800 and 2000. We show how this approach can provide insights about fields as diverse as lexicography, the evolution of grammar, collective memory, the adoption of technology, the pursuit of fame, censorship, and historical epidemiology. Culturomics extends the boundaries of rigorous quantitative inquiry to a wide array of new phenomena spanning the social sciences and the humanities.
Application of Machine Learning to Support Self-Management of Asthma with mHealth

While there have been several efforts to use mHealth technologies to support asthma management, none so far offer personalised algorithms that can provide real-time feedback and tailored advice to patients based on their monitoring. This work employed a publicly available mHealth dataset, the Asthma Mobile Health Study (AMHS), and applied machine learning techniques to develop early warning algorithms to enhance asthma self-management. The AMHS consisted of longitudinal data from 5,875 patients, including 13,614 weekly surveys and 75,795 daily surveys. We applied several well-known supervised learning algorithms (classification) to differentiate stable and unstable periods and found that both logistic regression and naïve Bayes-based classifiers provided high accuracy (AUC > 0.87). We found features related to the use of quick-relief puffs, night symptoms, frequency of data entry, and day symptoms (in descending order of importance) as the most useful features to detect early evidence of loss of control. We found no additional value of using peak flow readings to improve population level early warning algorithms.
A projection-based method of fault detection for linear discrete time-varying systems

This article is aimed at the development of a residual generator by making use of an arbitrary linear combination of measurement output estimation error sequence. First, Gramian matrix-based criteria are proposed to measure the influences of an unknown input and a fault on the residual. Then, the design of the residual generator is formulated into a sensitivity/robustness ratio maximisation problem. It is shown that the optimal solution is not unique and one of them can be derived by directly applying an orthogonal projection of the measurement output and, with the aid of an innovation analysis, a more generalised residual generator is also obtained. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the obtained residual generators in state space description also provide optimal observer-based fault detection filters for the linear discrete time-varying systems subject to l 2-norm bounded unknown inputs or stochastic noise sequences. To show the effectiveness of the proposed method, a numerical example is given.
Influence of centrifugation and hindlimb suspension on testosterone and corticosterone excretion in rats.

BACKGROUND Alterations in mass loading have been shown to stimulate the pituitary-gonadal and pituitary-adrenal axes resulting in changes in testosterone (T) and corticosterone (B) production which may account for the previously reported variations in muscle mass under these conditions. HYPOTHESIS Centrifugation and hindlimb suspension will induce opposing effects on testosterone and corticosterone excretion. METHODS Effects of mass loading (centrifugation at -2Gx) and unloading (hindlimb suspension, HLS) on excreted T and B levels, and testicular mass were examined in Sprague-Dawley rats. For 12 d, 16 (8 controls and 8 centrifuged) rats and 20 (10 unsuspended controls and 10 suspended) rats were studied during the centrifugation and suspension portions of the study, respectively. Following the completion of each study, testicular mass was measured. RESULTS Absolute testicular mass was not different, following 12 d of centrifugation. Excreted T was elevated between days 1 and 6 of centrifugation. Excreted B levels were elevated for the first 4 d of centrifugation. Suspension reduced absolute and relative testicular mass. Excreted T levels were reduced from days 3-12 of suspension, while excreted B levels were only elevated on the first day of suspension. CONCLUSIONS Centrifugation stimulated an increase in T excretion despite a lack of a change in absolute testicular mass. Conversely, suspension resulted in a reduction in T excretion which may have been associated with a decrease in absolute testicular mass. The centrifugation-induced increase in T excretion is consistent with previously reported increases in lean body mass following centrifugation, while the HLS-induced reduction in T excretion correlates with previously reported decreases in lean body mass following suspension.
Course and predictors of rehospitalization in adolescent anorexia nervosa in a multisite study.

OBJECTIVE The course and clinical predictors of rehospitalization were studied in a large sample of adolescent patients with anorexia nervosa who had been treated at five European sites and been followed-up. METHOD Two-hundred and twelve adolescent patients first admitted for in-patient treatment, aged 10-18 (Mean 14.9) years and 94.8% female, were followed-up for an average of 8.3 years after first admission at sites in (former East and West Berlin, Zurich, Sofia, and Bucharest). Clinical history data were collected by use of standardized item-sheets at first admission. Semi-structured interviews including ratings of eating pathology and psychosocial outcome were performed at follow-up. RESULTS About 44.8% (95/212) of the patients required at least one readmission. Rates of rehospitalization were significantly higher at the Eastern sites (Sofia and Bucharest). Significant predictors of readmission were paternal alcoholism, history of anorexia nervosa in the family, eating disorder in infancy, periodic overactivity, lower weight increase at first admission, and lower BMI at first discharge. In a model of logistic regression analysis, five variables (paternal alcoholism, eating disorder in infancy, periodic overactivity, low weight increase during first admission, and low BMI at first discharge) correctly classified 69% of the participants into cases with single or repeated admissions. Patients with repeated admissions had a less favorable long term outcome and had higher rates of persisting psychopathology at follow-up. CONCLUSION Rehospitalization reflects the chronic course in a sizable proportion of adolescent patients with anorexia nervosa. Family psychopathology may have an effect both in terms of genetic vulnerability and environmental stress leading to unfavorable courses. The strong effect of insufficient weight gain during first admission and lower BMI at first discharge emphasizes the importance of adequate interventions. Readmissions carry the risk for later poor psychosocial and psychiatric outcomes.
Evaluation of LTE 700 and DVB-T Electromagnetic Compatibility in Adjacent Frequency Bands

The 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference allocated the 694–790 MHz (700 MHz) band for the mobile service on a co-primary basis with other services in Region 1 (Europe, Africa, the Middle East). However, countries of Region 1 will also be able to continue the use of these frequencies for their digital terrestrial television services, if necessary. This allocation will be effective immediately after the WRC-15. The objective of this paper is to assess the electromagnetic compatibility of Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) operating below 694 MHz and mobile broadband (LTE) operating in 700 MHz band. The study contains an assumption of a preferred frequency division duplex (FDD) channelling arrangement which contains confined 2×30MHz block: 703–733 MHz (uplink) and 758–788MHz (downlink). The model consists of two elements, a LTE network and a DVB-T system. An adjacent channel scenario was analyzed in this paper: possible impact of LTE user equipment (uplink) to DVB-T receiver. The Minimum Coupling Loss method and Monte Carlo simulation within SEAMCAT software was used for interference analysis. The Minimum Coupling Loss method was chosen to calculate worst case (most conservative scenario) in order to understand most critical points of these two systems. The Monte Carlo simulations show more relaxed electromagnetic compatibility scenario. During simulations more appropriate propagation model was used (Recommendation ITU-R P.1546), which allows to analyse also non line of sight radio propagation conditions. The results obtained provide the minimum coupling distance required between LTE and DVB-T in the 700 MHz band to maintain the necessary performance level of the DVB-T system.
Bile duct injuries during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Factors that influence the results of treatment.

Objective: To analyze the treatment of bile duct injuries during laparoscopic cholecystectomy to discern the factors affecting outcome. Design: An analysis of the treatment of 88 patients with laparoscopic bile duct injuries. Setting: A university hospital. Patients: Eighty-eight patients with major bile duct injuries following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Main Outcome Measures: Success of treatment, morbidity rate, mortality rate, and length of illness. Results: Operations to repair bile duct injuries were unsuccessful in 27 (96%) of 28 procedures when cholangiograms were not obtained preoperatively, and they were unsuccessful in 69% when cholangiographic data were incomplete. In some cases, lack of complete cholangiographic information led to an inappropriate and harmful operation. When cholangiographic data were complete, the first repair was successful in 16 (84%) of 19 patients. A primary end-to-end repair over a T tube (13 patients) was unsuccessful in every case in which the duct had been divided. Direct closure of a partial defect in the duct was successful in four of seven patients. Fifty-four (63%) of 84 Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomies were successful. Factors responsible for the unsuccessful outcomes were the following: incomplete excision of the scarred duct, use of nonabsorbable suture material, use of two-layer anastomosis, and failure to eradicate subhepatic infection before the attempted repair. Dilatation and stenting was uniformly unsuccessful as primary treatment (three patients) and was successful in only seven of 26 patients following a previous operative repair. Patients first treated by the primary surgeon had an average length of illness of 222 days (P Conclusions: Surgeons who specialize in the repair of bile duct injuries achieve much better results than those with less experience. The worse results of other surgeons could be attributed in many instances to specific correctable errors. Nonsurgical treatment was usually unsuccessful and substantially increased the duration of disability. (Arch Surg. 1995;130:1123-1129)
Incremental cost-effectiveness of supplementary immunization activities to prevent neonatal tetanus in Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness of supplementary immunization activities to prevent neonatal tetanus in the Loralai district of Pakistan. The supplemental immunization activities were carried out in two phases during 2001-03. METHODS A state-transition model was used to estimate the effect of routine vaccination with tetanus toxoid as well as vaccination with tetanus toxoid during supplementary immunization activities. The model follows each woman in the target population from birth until the end of her childbearing years, using age-specific fertility data and vaccination history to determine the number of births at risk for neonatal tetanus. Recently published data on the incidence of neonatal tetanus from Loralai were used to determine the number of cases occurring with and without supplementary immunization activities. Data on the costs of the activities were collected from the UNICEF office in Balochistan and from the Provincial Health Department. FINDINGS Using base-case assumptions we estimated that the supplementary immunization activities would prevent 280 cases of neonatal tetanus and 224 deaths from neonatal tetanus between 2001 and 2034. Implementation of the supplementary activities was relatively inexpensive. The cost per tetanus toxoid dose delivered was 0.40 U.S. dollars. In the base-case analysis the cost per death averted was 117.00 U.S. dollars (95% confidence interval (CI) = 78-205 U.S. dollars) and the cost per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted was 3.61 U.S. dollars (95% Cl = 2.43-6.39 U.S. dollars). CONCLUSION Compared with similar analyses of other interventions, the cost per DALY averted is a favourable cost-effectiveness ratio. However, if routine diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccination coverage in the Loralai district had been higher (at a coverage rate of about 80%) the cost-effectiveness of the intervention would have been even more favourable, at 2.65 U.S. dollars per DALY averted.
Sex- and age-related mouse toxicity and disposition of the amino acid antitumor agent, acivicin.

Studies of acivicin [(alpha S,5S)-alpha-amino-3-chloro-2-isoxazoline-5-acetic acid, AT-125] plasma levels in ICR, B6D2F1 and CD2F1 mice after single dose i.p. administration showed that total body clearance of drug by male mice was ca. twice the clearance by females of the same strain. Clearance was also greater in older (22-25 g) than in younger (15-18 g) ICR mice. Testosterone pretreatment increased the clearance of acivicin by ICR female mice to that of males. Sex- and age-related differences in pharmacokinetics were more pronounced than strain differences. Excretion studies showed that 53 to 82% of doses were recovered unchanged in the urine with no significant differences between sexes in urinary recovery. In tissue distribution studies in ICR mice, the tissue/plasma concentration ratios at each sampling time were similar for both sexes in all tissues analyzed except kidney (male range: 7-22; female range: 1.5-2.5) and muscle (male range: 5-9; female range: 0.8-1.4). Testosterone pretreatment of females increased the kidney/plasma concentration ratio of acivicin to that of males. Acivicin was also shown to be more toxic (as indicated by LD50) to female than to male mice of the B6D2F1 and CD2F1 strains, in agreement with previous studies in ICR mice. The disposition data suggest that the sex- and age-dependent toxicity of acivicin in mice is due to differences in pharmacokinetics which, in turn, may be related to renal excretion mechanisms.
Isolation of an ampicillin-resistant, non-beta-lactamase-producing strain of Haemophilus influenzae

A 79-year-old female developed endocarditis and meningitis due to an ampicillin-resistant, non-beta-lactamase-producing strain of Haemophilus influenzae. Carbenicillin and gentamicin therapy resulted in bacteriological and clinical cure. The mechanism of resistance of ampicillin-resistant, non-beta-lactamase-producing strains of H. influenzae is unknown.
Application of Butterfly Pea ( Clitoria ternatea Linn ) extract as an indicator of acid-base titration

Flowers of butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea Linn) contain anthocyanins. The color of anthocyaninschange according to the pH solution.The aim of this study is to determine the application of butterfly pea extract as an indicator of acid-base titration. The results showed that the butterfly pea extract has the refraction index from 1.382+ 0.25 to 1.390+ 0.30, specific gravity from 0.975 + 0.20 to 0.993+ 0.25, maximum wavelength at 572and 614 nm, and discoloration from violet to blue at pH 4, blue to green at pH 9, and green to yellow at pH 12. We concluded that the butterfly peaextract can be applied as an indicator of acid-base titration.
Interaction of Leishmania donovani Promastigotes with Human Phagocytes

Leishmania donovani is an important intracellular protozoal pathogen of humans, which resides solely within mononuclear phagocytes. Phase-contrast microscopy and cinemicroscopy were used to examine the interaction of L. donovani promastigotes with human phagocytes to characterize and quantitate the sequence of events that results in leishmanial infection.
High-Pitch Coronary CT Angiography at 70 kVp Adopting a Protocol of Low Injection Speed and Low Volume of Contrast Medium

Objective To evaluate the feasibility and image quality (IQ) of prospectively high-pitch coronary CT angiography (CCTA) with low contrast medium injection rate at 70 kVp. Materials and Methods One hundred and four patients with suspected coronary artery disease (body mass index < 26 kg/m2, sinus rhythm and heart rate < 70 beats/min) were prospectively enrolled and randomly divided into two groups. In group A and group B, 28 mL and 40 mL of 370 mgI/mL iodinated contrast media was administrated at a flow rate of 3.5 and 5 mL/s, respectively. CT values, noise, signal-to-noise ratio, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the proximal segments of coronary arteries and subjective IQ were evaluated. Results The CT values and noise in group A were significantly lower than those in group B (434–485 Hounsfield units [HU] vs. 772–851 HU, all p < 0.001; 17.8–22.3 vs. 23.3–26.4, all p < 0.005). The CNRs of the right coronary artery and left main artery showed no statistical difference between the two groups (42.1 ± 13.8 vs. 36.8 ± 16.0, p = 0.074; 38.7 ± 10.6 vs. 38.1 ± 17.0, p = 0.819). No statistical difference was observed between the two groups in IQ scores (3.04 ± 0.75 vs. 3.0 ± 0.79, p = 0.526) and diagnostic ratio (96.1% [50/52] vs. 94.2% [49/52], p = 0.647). Conclusion Prospective high-pitch CCTA at 70 kVp with 28 mL of contrast media and injection rate of 3.5 mL/s could provide diagnostic IQ for normal-weight patients with heart rate of < 70 beats/min.
Automating the correction of flow integration drift during whole-body plethysmography

Prolonged measurement of total body volume variations (deltaVb) with whole-body, flow-based plethysmography (WBP) results in a drift of the signal due to changes in temperature and humidity inside the plethysmograph and to numerical integration of the flow to obtain deltaVb. This drift has been previously corrected with the application of a wavelet- based filter using visual inspection of the signal to select the optimal filter level (Uva et al. Front. Physiol. 6:411, 2016), thus introducing potential operator bias. To exclude the latter we compared this approach with a newly developed automatic method based on (1) correction for actual changes in temperature and humidity inside the plethysmograph (algorithm TH) and (2) automatic selection of the wavelet filter level based on comparison between deltaVb and intra-thoracic and abdominal pressure variations measured simultaneously (algorithm WAV). The Pearson's correlation coefficient between deltaVb and the changes in volume of the chest wall (deltaVcw) simultaneously obtained by optoelectronic plethysmography (OEP) was calculated after correction of deltaVb with TH and WAV applied separately, TH and WAV applied consecutively (TH+WAV), manual selection of a wavelet filter based on visual inspection (MAN) or no correction (CTRL). The correlation between deltaVb and deltaVcw increased marginally with WAV, TH+WAV and MAN compared to CTRL (P < 0.01). Conversely, TH alone yielded a lower correlation (P < 0.01). It follows that while the automated wavelet filter level selection method (WAV) represents an effective, operator-independent method for the correction of deltaVb, whether or not it is combined with specific correction for changes in thermodynamic conditions inside the plethysmograph, the manual method (MAN) yields satisfactory results without the constraints of intra-thoracic and abdominal pressure measurement.
Surface Immunoglobulin D as a Functional Receptor for a Subclass of B Lymphocytes

The appearance of immunoglobulin D"" (IgD) in addition to IgM on the surface of the majority of human (van Boxel et al. 1972, Rowe et al. 1973) and murine (Abney et al. 1974, Melcher et al. 1974) B lymphocytes, as well as the failure to find IgD as a secreted product in the mouse, has led to the conclusion that surface IgD (sIgD) must contribute a receptor function that B celis bearing only sIgM lack. Definition of this receptor function of sIgD has, however, proven elusive. While sIgD and sIgM on the same cell seem to share idiotype (Salsano et al. 1974, Fu et al. 1975) and specificity (Pemis et al. 1974) and hence should express the same binding affinity for antigen, the advantage of having two receptor classes with the same binding site on the same cell is far from apparent. One is forced to conclude that the IgD isotyp>e appeared in evolution to supplement the receptor role played by sIgM, and that any advantage sIgD might possess is related to properties of its constant region. The primary question then is; can one identify a receptor function involved in the triggering of B lymphocytes for which sIgD is required, either because it has an activity which IgM does not or because B lymphocyte activation requires the coordinated