Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimization and Comparison of Different Methods and Factors for Efficient Transformation of Brucella abortus RB51strain

Background: The development of protective vaccines for Brucella spp. has been hampered by the difficulty in transformation of Brucella cells with foreign DNA for genetic manipulation. It seems that the formation of Brucella spheroplasts would increase the efficiency of transformation. The aim of this study was to devise an efficient method for the transformation of Brucella spp. Materials and Methods: At first, spheroplast of Brucella was prepared by glycine and ampicillin induction and transformed using optimized protocols of CaCl2, electroporation, and lipofection methods. Then, the efficacy of transformation was compared between the three-mentioned methods. Results: Ampicillin-induced spheroplasts from early-log phase culture of brucella when incubated in a medium-containing 0.2 M sucrose during cell recovery had higher transformation efficiency in three different methods. Comparison of the transformation efficiency of Brucella abortus RB51 using the CaCl2, lipofection, and electroporation methods revealed that the transformation efficiency with the lipofection method was significantly higher than with other two methods (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Lipofection method by lipofectamine 2000 on ampicillin-induced spheroplasts can be a suitable approach for Brucella transformation.
Pharmacology and Therapy

Chloroquine (CQ) and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) are the challenging drugs used for COVID-19. Several studies show its beneficial, however, both medications can prolong the QTc interval and increase the risk of patients for torsades de pointes and death. The Tisdale score is identified to have successfully predicted the at-risk population of side effects of these drugs. This study aim to evaluate the QT prolongation caused by the administration of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients and the association with the treatment outcomes based on their Tisdale score. We conducted an observational study on 213 hospitalized patients with confirmed or suspect COVID-19 in 6 referral hospitals in Indonesia. All baseline demographic such as age and gender, RT-PCR test result, severity of disease, history of cardiovascular disease (myocardial infarction, heart failure, hypertension), serum kalium level at baseline, and the use of medication associated with risk QTc interval prolongation were collected. The Tisdale risk score was used for predicting high-risk patients for QT corrected (QTc) interval prolongation. Out of 213 patients who were treated with CQ/ HCQ, there were 60 (28.2%) patients had QTc interval prolongation, included 43 patients (20.2%) who had normal QTc interval at baseline and at the end of treatment had prolong interval; or 17 patients (8.0%) who had QTc interval more than 470 msec at baseline and QTc interval prolongation was worsen at the end of treatment. Several factors, including age more than 50 years, COVID-19 confirm PCR, and had comorbidity heart failure, were statistically significant associated with QTc interval prolongation. The high-risk score of Tisdale score have increased risk significantly on QTc interval prolongation (RR: 2.15, 95%CI 1.07-4.32) and associated with risk of death (RR: 3.50, 95%CI 1.34-9.13) compared to low-risk score. Our findings showed that the treatment of CQ/HCQ in COVID-19 patients is associated with QTc prolongation. The Tisdale score can be used as a valuable tool to predict the COVID-19 patients’ outcome after treatment of these QTc-prolonging drugs.
Long-term efficacy and safety of once-daily mesalazine granules for the treatment of active ulcerative colitis

: In 1977, 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) was discovered as a therapeutically active moiety of sulfasalazine (SASP) and was launched for topical and oral therapy of ulcerative colitis (UC) in 1984. As a first-step, delivery systems had to be developed to protect 5-ASA against absorption in the upper gastrointestinal tract, resulting in different and competing strategies (azo compounds, controlled release, and pH-dependent release). In a second step, at the beginning of the new century, coinciding with the expiration of patent protection for the first 5-ASA formulations, two component composite release mechanisms (pH-dependent and controlled release) were developed. Furthermore, the drug was formulated as granules instead of tablets, allowing higher unit strengths compared with tablets. Neither Salofalk Granu-Stix ® , nor MMX 5-ASA, nor Pentasa ® granules have initially been developed for once-daily (OD) dosing. A review of the achievements of 20 years of 5-ASA development has demonstrated that 5-ASA has equal efficacy compared with SASP at best, that there are no measurable differences in efficacy between various 5-ASA preparations, and that in a group of patients tolerating SASP, adverse event profiles of SASP and 5-ASA did not differ significantly, with SASP being the far cheaper substance. Therefore, drug adherence came into focus as a new goal for improving UC therapy. Although adherence is a complex and multifactorial construct, a simple dosing schedule may contribute to higher drug adherence and better efficacy of treatment. Simultaneously, the US 5-ASA market, estimated to be worth US$1.4 billion, is expected to grow continuously. Naturally, this very competitive market is not only driven by scientific progress but also by commercial interests. Thus, patents for minor changes to the formulation may serve as protection against drug companies trying to launch generic versions. Randomized controlled trials performed on OD dosing in induction of remission have demonstrated that OD administration of 5-ASA is as effective as conventional dosing in mild to moderate active UC. The three 5-ASA products MMX, Salofalk ® , and Pentasa ® employed in those studies so far have not shown differences in efficacy between OD and conventional dosing. No differences regarding safety outcomes have been detected between OD and conventional dosing, including incidence of adverse events, serious adverse events, or withdrawal from treatment due to an adverse event. Although the majority of patients prefer OD dosing to conventional dosing, it was not possible to detect differences in adherence between OD and multiple dose regimens in the clinical trial setting. Well-designed and controlled large-scale community-based studies are necessary to further investigate and prove the point of improved long-term adherence and treatment efficacy in OD dosing.
THE BROADER IMPACT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD DIARRHEA

How does stunting or a high burden of diarrhea in early childhood result in less schooling and poorer performance in school? One possibility is that chronic malnutrition—manifested by stunting— results in deficiencies of nutrients critical to brain development. Even more so than length and weight measures, the MAL-ED study found that head circumference measures were most linked with cognitive scores at age 2. (15) Repeat diarrheal infec-tions—by damaging the wall of the intestine and by causing chronic inflammation—can also reduce the ability of the gut to absorb critical nutrients, such as zinc, iron, and fatty acids, as well as micro-nutrients that are crucial to the development of the brain during the first two critical years of life. (16-18) This may explain why some studies showed that diarrhea alone—even without malnutrition—affect-ed performance on intelligence tests.
Importing Political Polarization? The Electoral Consequences of Rising Trade Exposure

Has rising import competition contributed to the polarization of U.S. politics? Analyzing outcomes from the 2002 and 2010 congressional elections and the 2000, 2008, and 2016 presidential elections, we detect an ideological realignment that is centered in trade-exposed local labor markets and that commences prior to the divisive 2016 U.S. presidential election. Exploiting the exogenous component of rising trade with China and classifying legislator ideologies by congressional voting records, we find strong evidence that congressional districts exposed to larger increases in import penetration disproportionately removed moderate representatives from office in the 2000s. Trade-exposed districts with an initial majority white population or initially in Republican hands became substantially more likely to elect a conservative Republican, while trade-exposed districts with an initial majority-minority population or initially in Democratic hands also become more likely to elect a liberal Democrat. In presidential elections, counties with greater trade exposure shifted towards the Republican candidate. We interpret these results as supporting a political economy literature that connects adverse economic conditions to support for nativist or extreme politicians.
The Interface of Language, Vision, and Action: Eye Movements and the Visual World

F. Ferreira, J.M. Henderson, Introduction to the Integration of Language, Vision and Action. J.M. Henderson, F. Ferreira, Scene Perception for Psycholinguists. K. Rayner, S.P. Liversedge, Visual and Linguistic Processing During Eye Fixations in Reading. D.E. Irwin, Fixation Location Duration as Indices of Cognitive Processing. J.M. Findlay, Eye Scanning and Visual Search. M.J. Spivey, D.C. Richardson, S.A. Fitneva, Thinking Outside the Brain: Spatial Indices to Visual and Linguistic Information. A.S. Meyer, F. Lethaus, The Use of Eye Tracking in Studies of Sentence Generation. Z.M. Griffin, Why Look? Reasons for Eye Movements Related to Language Production. K. Bock, D.E. Irwin, D.J. Davidson, Putting First Things First. M.K. Tanenhaus, C.G. Chambers, J.E. Hanna, Referential Domains in Spoken Language Comprehension: Using Eye Movements to Bridge the Product and Action Traditions. J. Trueswell, L. Gleitman, Children's Eye Movements During Listening:Developmental Evidence for a Constraint-Based Theory of Sentence Processing. G.T. M. Altmann, Y. Kamide, Now You See It, Now You Don't: Mediating the Mapping between Language and the Visual World.
Self-assembly of single-crystal ZnO nanorod arrays on flexible activated carbon fibers substrates and the superior photocatalytic degradation activity

Against the background of an ever-growing body of literature that documents educational differentials in different forms of political participation, scholars have started to study whether education itself becomes the object of intergroup behavior. Informed by social identity theory and self-categorization theory, we examine whether making educational categories and the associated status differences salient affects people’s prospective political participation. Two large survey experiments carried out in samples from Flanders (Belgium; N = 1,097) and the United States ( N = 629) were used to assess categorization effects of education on people’s willingness to participate in deliberative political-participation initiatives. In general, our results indicated that rendering educational categories salient increased educational differentials in prospective political participation in a way that is disadvantageous to the less educated. We elaborate on the implications of our findings.
PHYSICS OF LIQUIDS AND LIQUID SYSTEMS, BIOPHYSICS AND MEDICAL PHYSICS

The DNA double helix is a polyanionic macromolecule that is neutralized in water solutions by metal ions (counterions). The property of counterions to stabilize the water network (positive hydration) or to make it friable (negative hydration) is important in terms of the physical mechanisms of stabilization of the DNA double helix. In the present research, the effects of positive hydration of Na counterions and negative hydration of K and Cs counterions incorporated into the hydration shell of the DNA double helix have been studied using molecular dynamics simulations. The results have shown that the dynamics of the hydration shell of counterions depends on the region of the double helix: minor groove, major groove, and outside the macromolecule. The longest average residence time has been observed for water molecules contacting with the counterions localized in the minor groove of the double helix (about 50 ps for Na and lower than 10 ps for K and Cs). The estimated potentials of the mean force for the hydration shells of counterions show that the water molecules are constrained too strongly, and the effect of negative hydration for K and Cs counterions has not been observed in the simulations. The analysis has shown that the effects of counterion hydration can be described more accurately with water models having lower dipole moments.
Ultraviolet radiation and primary productivity in temperate aquatic environments of Patagonia (Argentina)

Numerous studies carried out since the discovery of the ozone “hole” over the Antarctic continent have motivated photobiological research to determine the potential effects of increased solar ultraviolet radiation – UV-B (280-315 nm) on organisms and ecosystems. Since then, the amount of literature on UVR (280-400 nm) effects has increased a lot especially that concerned with the effects of UVR on photosynthesis of aquatic organisms. The studies have shown that UVR wavelengths – both UV-A (315-400 nm) and UV-B, even at their natural ambient levels, generally cause a reduction in photosynthetic rates, which in turn may reduce primary production of aquatic ecosystems. In fact, extensive research has been done in several aquatic ecosystems of the World, mainly in the Antarctic Ocean, to evaluate the overall impact of solar UVR on phytoplankton organisms. Zie: Summary
Revealable Functional Commitments: How to Partially Reveal a Secret Function

A revealable functional commitment allows a prover to commit to a secret polynomial size function f . Later, the prover has the ability to (1) prove that y = f ( x ) for public x, y and (2) open a small window into f ’s machinery, via an encoded set of constraints - all without divulging any other information about f . In this way, revealable functional commitments allow the operator of a proprietary function to prove desired predicate about the function. For example, a government can commit to a bail decision algorithm, and prove that the same algo-rithm is being used for all defendants. They can also quell concerns about bias, and increase transparency processes by revealing windows into what their function does - while keeping most of their function secret to prevent exploitation. To build a revealable functional commitment, we introduce a proof of reveal , to show that a set of constraints, combined with a set of guarantees about those constraints, is consistent with a committed secret function. We show that combining a algebraic holomorphic proof (AHP), a proof of function relation (PFR) [4], and a proof of reveal yields a secure revealable functional commitment scheme. Additionally, we construct proof of reveals for two popular PFR-equipped AHPs, and obtain two instantiations of revealable functional commitments. Towards that end, we also develop interactive protocols that prove properties of committed polynomials, which may have independent value.
Enteric Illness Outbreaks Reported Through the National Outbreak Reporting System—United States, 2009–2019

Background. The National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) captures data on foodborne, waterborne, and enteric illness outbreaks in the United States. This study describes enteric illness outbreaks reported during 11 years of surveillance. Methods. We extracted finalized reports from NORS for outbreaks occurring during 2009–2019. Outbreaks were included if caused by an enteric etiology or if any patients reported diarrhea, vomiting, bloody stools, or unspecified acute gastroenteritis. Results. A total of 38 395 outbreaks met inclusion criteria, increasing from 1932 in 2009 to 3889 in 2019. Outbreaks were most commonly transmitted through person-to-person contact (n = 23 812; 62%) and contaminated food (n = 9234; 24%). Norovirus was the most commonly reported etiology, reported in 22 820 (59%) outbreaks, followed by Salmonella (n = 2449; 6%) and Shigella (n = 1171; 3%). Norovirus outbreaks were significantly larger, with a median of 22 illnesses per outbreak, than outbreaks caused by the other most common outbreak etiologies ( P < .0001, all comparisons). Hospitalization rates were higher in outbreaks caused by Salmonella and Escherichia coli outbreaks (20.9% and 22.8%, respectively) than those caused by norovirus (2%). Case fatality rate was highest in E. coli outbreaks (0.5%) and lowest in Shigella and Campylobacter outbreaks (0.02%). Conclusions. Norovirus caused the most outbreaks and outbreak-associated illness, hospitalizations, and deaths. However, persons in E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks were more likely to be hospitalized or die. Outbreak surveillance through NORS provides the relative contributions of each mode of transmission and etiology for reported enteric illness outbreaks, which can guide targeted interventions.
autism spectrum disorders in children of parents with inflammatory bowel disease – a nationwide cohort study in Denmark

Purpose: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may share genetic and environmental risk factors. We examined whether parental IBD is associated with an increased risk of ASD in offspring. Methods: We conducted a registry-based nationwide cohort study including children born alive in Denmark from January 1, 1994 to December 31, 2009, with follow-up throughout 2010. IBD in parents and ASD in offspring were identified using inpatient and outpatient hospital diagnoses. We computed risk of ASD and crude and adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using Cox proportional-hazards regression. We evaluated the risk of ASD according to maternal and paternal IBD, and separately for maternal and paternal Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Children with parents free of IBD were the comparison cohort. Results: We identified 1,005,330 children during the study period. Among them, 11,888 (1.2%) had a parent with IBD and 8,087 (0.8%) had a diagnosis of ASD during up to 17 years of follow-up. The 10-year risks of ASD were 0.7% among children of parents with IBD and 0.9% among children of parents without IBD. The aIRR for ASD among children with parental IBD was 0.8 (95% CI: 0.6–1.0), and results were similar regardless of parent of IBD origin or whether a parent had CD or UC. The estimates were similar for different ASD subtypes. Conclusion: We found no evidence of an increased risk of ASD among children born to parents with IBD.
Technology and the Task Content of Jobs across the Development Spectrum ECONOMIC

The tasks workers perform on the job are informative about the direction and the impact of technological change. We harmonize occupational task content measures between two worker-level surveys, which separately cover developing and developed countries. Developing countries use routine-cognitive tasks and routine-manual tasks more intensively than developed countries, but less intensively use non-routine analytical tasks and non-routine interpersonal tasks. This is partly because developing countries have more workers in occupations with high routine contents and fewer workers in occupations with high non-routine contents. More important, a given occupation has more routine contents and less non-routine contents in developing countries than in developed countries. Since 2006, occupations with high non-routine contents gained employment relative to those with high routine contents in most countries, regardless of their income level or initial task intensity, indicating the global reaches of the technological change that reduces the demand for occupations with high routine contents.
The Problem Of Annual Occurrences Of Floods In Accra: An Integration Of Hydrological, Economic And Political Perspectives

Accra, the capital city of Ghana, like many cities in Africa (especially Sub-Saharan Africa) is vulnerable to natural hazards and disasters. The cause of natural disasters and hazards in Ghana has been mainly from water through flooding or stormy rain or drought, and bush fires. The occurrences of floods in Accra have become an annual event with severe consequences mostly felt by the urban poor. We present a brief discussion on the annual occurrences of floods in Accra, Ghana by adopting an integrated approach including hydrological, economic and political perspectives. The social and economic damage costs of floods in Accra and Ghana are presented and analyzed. Case study of recent types and causes of floods in Accra are presented. The weaknesses in the responses to the management of floods in Accra and Ghana are indicated. We also argue that for measures taken in dealing with the annual occurrences of floods in Accra to be effective, the hydrological, economic and political perspectives have to be integrated. The first measure should target the flood-prone areas and these should be “proactive” measures rather than “reactive” measures. Further, the impacts of floods are not evenly distributed with the worse affected areas and people being the slums and urban poor respectively. We conclude by making some recommendations to help improve the intervention options and protection measures available to policy makers in ensuring that Accra becomes a flood-free city and also highlights areas for future research.
School Climate and Teachers’ Commitment: A Case Study of Malaysia

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationships, between school climate and teachers’ commitment. The study investigates the predictability of key dimensions of school climate in related to collegial leadership, professional teacher behaviour, achievement press and institutional vulnerability towards teacher commitment. The population of this study consisted of teachers from 5 National Primary Schools [NPS] in the Island of Penang, Malaysia. Quantitative data was collected using two [Organisational Climate Index (OCI) and Teachers Organisational Commitment (TOC)] adopted instruments which were modified to form the Questionnaire for this study and its validity and reliability was established. The data were analyzed to determine the overall openness of school climate in selected National primary schools in Penang, Malaysia and to find out the commitment level of their teachers. The study found that the level of school climate openness and overall teachers’ commitment of the selected 5 primary school is high. As for correlation between school climate dimensions, the result shows that there is a positive correlation with teachers’ commitment. The regression analysis showed that only professional teacher behaviour made a significant contribution to teachers’ commitment.