Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Slime Forming Staphylococcus epidermidis Isolated From Orthopedic Prosthesis Infections And Its Sensitivity To Antibiotics

Staphylococcus epidermidis (S.epidermidis) is a frequent cause of infections of indwelling medical devices especially those with orthopedic implants. S.epidermidis grows on medical devices as an adherent biofilm consisting of cells enmeshed in a sticky, extracelluar slime that is firmly attached to the underlying surface. The slim matrix makes S.epidermidis biofilm highly resistant to antibiotics and host defenses and nearly impossible to eradicate. The aim of the study is to determine importance of slime formation in S. epidermidis orthopedic prosthesis infections and to investigate if slime formation has an effect on its antibiotics sensitivity. 80 coagulase negative staphylococcus strains (CoNS) were isolated from 200 tissue specimens of patients with orthopedic prothesis infections. Out of these 80 CoNS, 52 (65%) strains were S.epidermidis. Isolated S. epidermidis were plated on Congo red agar and subjected to PCR to detect icaA & icaD genes to identify and confirm slime producing strains respectively. All biofilm producing strains were subjected to MIC and MBEC using Calgary Biofilm Device(CBD). 36 (69%) S. epidermidis strains were slime (biofilm) producers and 16 (31%)strains were non slime (non biofilm) producers by CRA, while by PCR 39(75%) strains of S. epidermidis were biofilm producers and 13 (25%) strains were non biofilm producers. The results also revealed that the minimal biofilm eradication concentrations (MBECs) were higher than the corresponding conventionally determined MICs for all antibiotics tested. MIC 50 and MBEC 50 for vancomycin, were 2 μg/ml versus 8 μg/ml, gentamycin, 1 μg/ml versus 32 μg/ml, oxacillin, 4 μg/ml versus 16 μg/ml, erythromycin, 8 μg/ml versus 64 μg/ml, ciprofloxacin, 0.5 μg/ml versus 2 μg/ml and cephalothin 4 μg/ml versus 16 μg/ml. MIC90 and MBEC90 for vancomycin were 4 μg/ml versus16 μg/ml, gentamycin, 16 μg/ml versus 128 μg/ml, oxacillin, 8 μg/ml versus 128 μg/ml, erythromycin, 16 μg/ml versus 128 μg/ml, ciprofloxacin, 4 μg/ml versus 8 μg/ml and cephalothin 32 μg/ml and 128 μg/ml. The results of the present study confirm that ica genes can be considered a virulence marker in the pathogenesis of implant associated orthopedic infection by S. epidermidis. This study also demonstrates marked differences between the results of susceptibility testing performed according to standard NCCLS guidelines and testing based on biofilm susceptibility testing.
Identification of DNA gyrase Subunit a Mutations Associated with Ciprofloxacin Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Nasal Infection in Kurdistan-Iran

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin are useful drugs against infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus and mutations in DNA gyrase which control bacterial DNA topology, can be one of the reason of occurrence resistance to this class of antibiotics. Therefore finding new mutations and study of the quinolone interaction with mutated GyrA can provide important issues for explanation resistance. In this study 5 ciprofloxacin resistance Staphylococcus aureus isolated among 50 collected S.aureus strains. By PCR testing, gyrA genes in resistance strains was amplified and nucleotide sequencing was done. Nucleotide sequences translate to amino acid sequences then by blastp homology between each GyrA mutant and reference GyrA were compared and mutations were recognized, at last molecular docking were done for GyrA protein and ciprofloxacin, based on free energy of binding decide if the mutations are responsible of resistance or not. The results show glutamic acid and threonine adjacent to each other in common positions 21-22, 32-33, 65-66, 84-85, 101-102, 106-107, 128-129 and 138-139 in all 5 strains were inserted . In order to finding association between mutations and ciprofloxacin resistance molecular docking by Molegro Virtual Docker 5.5 was done. Free energy of binding between reference GyrA- ciprofloxacin and mutant GyrA- ciprofloxacin were -92.3477 and -73.1642 respectively. We conclude different mutations can be affected structure of GyrA and make ciprofloxacin resistance. Finding these kinds of mutations are important and preventing them is indispensable.
Risk sharing among economic sectors

We investigate risk sharing channels across different economic sectors to quantify to what extent they contribute offsetting idiosyncratic shocks. We examine the two most relevant channels of smoothing among OECD and EU countries: the international investment income and the savings channels. We find that the households' share in net foreign asset income has a significant role in risk sharing. This surprising result is strictly related to the accumulation of households' foreign asset holdings. On the contrary, governments' cross-border holdings produce a dis-smoothing effect and this might be imputable to the holding of EU countries' assets. This outcome is reversed for the new EU countries in the post Global Financial Crisis (GFC) period. With regard to the savings channel, we find that governments significantly contribute to risk sharing, and more significantly after the inception of the GFC. Moreover, the dividend smoothing theory reconciles with the risk-sharing findings since corporations (in particular non financial) significantly smooth shocks through their savings, however their contribution to risk sharing is weak in the post-GFC era.
Wave-Current Blockage: Reduced Forces for the Re-Assessment of Ageing Space-Frame Offshore Structures

This paper summarises extensive research work on the accurate calculation of extreme loads from waves and current on space-frame offshore structures. Although relevant to new builds, improved prediction of extreme loads is also key to the re-assessment of old and ageing offshore platforms. Current blockage is a field effect. Due to the presence of the rest of the structure, the flow velocity on each structural member is reduced on average leading to smaller overall loads. The first model to account for this ‘current blockage’ was first by Taylor [1], and incorporated into standard industry practice (API, DNV and ISO). This is a simple improvement to the original Morison equation (Morison et al. [2]), which predicts forces using the undisturbed open ocean flow properties. New work shows that unsteady large waves on top of a steady current introduces additional blockage, interpreted as wave-current blockage. Large-scale laboratory experiments have been used to validate numerical force calculations. This paper describes a numerical Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model of a porous block with embedded Morison drag and inertia stresses distributed over the enclosed volume of the space-frame as a global representation. At a local member scale, the standard Morison equation is used, but on the local flow. This local flow speed is reduced because of overall interaction between the structural members interpreted as resulting from a distributed array of obstacle. Since the Morison equation is semi-empirical, drag and inertia coefficients are still required, consistent with present industry practice. This new method should be useful for assessing the overall structural load resistance and integrity in extreme wave and current conditions when survivability is in question. Results are presented from recent large-scale experiments on a scaled (1:80) jacket model in the Kelvin Hydrodynamics Laboratory in Glasgow. These tests cover force measurements on both a jacket (stiff, statically-responding) and the same model restrained on springs to mimic structural dynamics (the first mode of a deep-water jacket, the second mode of a compliant tower or the first mode of a jack-up). For a jacket structure under all range of wave and current conditions, only a single pair of values of Morison drag and inertia coefficients is required to reproduce the complete total force-time histories on the jacket model. This is in contrast to the present industry practice whereby different Morison drag coefficients are required in order to fit the measured peak forces over the wide range of cases considered. For the dynamic tests, we find that the relative velocity formulation of the Morison equation for space-frame structures is valid for dynamically sensitive structures. All of these effects can be captured using our numerical porous block model.
Nonlocal Andreev transport through an interacting quantum dot

We investigate sub-gap transport through a single-level quantum dot tunnel coupled to one superconducting and two normal-conducting leads. Despite the tendency of a large charging energy to suppress the equilibrium proximity effect, a finite Andreev current through the dot can be achieved in non-equilibrium situations. We propose two schemes to identify non-local Andreev transport. In one of them, the presence of strong Coulomb interaction leads to negative values of the non-local conductance as a clear signal of non-local Andreev transport.
EFFECTS OF OCCLUSAL LOADS IN THE GENESIS OF NON-CARIOUS CERVICAL LESIONS – A FINITE ELEMENT STUDY

Aim of the study This study investigated the magnitude and distribution of stress in a maxillary first premolar subjected to normal and heavy occlusal loads, that were directed vertically and horizontally, using Finite Element Analysis. Material and methods A virtual 3D model of a maxillary first premolar was created using the CT images of a 14 year-old patient and the physical and mechanical properties of the dental tissues used in other studies. We obtained 8 scenarios for the vertical loading and 8 scenarios for the horizontal loading. Results The magnitude and distribution of stress were the least favorable in the case of the heavy horizontal loading applied on the intact tooth. Conclusions Our study showed that the intact tooth was the most affected by stress regardless of the loading applied.
First year student expectations: Results from a university-wide student survey

Although much has been written on the first-year experience of students at higher education institutions, less attention has been directed to the expectations of students when they enter an institution for the first time. This paper provides additional insights into the expectations of students at an Australian university and highlights areas in which students’ expectations may not necessarily align with the realities of common university practices. By providing opportunities for students to articulate their expectations, staff are able to use the responses for a constructive dialogue and work towards a more positive alignment between perceived expectations and levels of student satisfaction with their experience.
Seroprevalence study of IgG antibodies to toxoplasma, and risk factors for toxoplasma infestation among pregnant women in Alkhoms state, Libya

Background: Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan that is distributed worldwide. Objective of the study: Seroprevalence study of IgG antibodies to toxoplasma, and risk factors for toxoplasma infestation among pregnant women in Alkhoms state, Libya. Results and conclusion: The study was conducted in Al-Khoms city, Libya from February 2013 to September 2013. Serum specimens were subjected to Toxoplasma IgG ELISA test. Out of 361 pregnant women investigated, 142(39.3%) were positive for IgG ELISA. The risk of toxoplasmosis among pregnant women was significantly greater among women in the older age group. There was no significant differences between working women and house wife women concerning seropositivity to toxoplasma. However there was a significant differences between those living in rural areas and those living in urban areas. Also there was a significant differences between women consuming sheep and cow meat and those consuming other types of meat. The method and degree of meat cooking have an effect on seropositivity to Toxoplasma gondii and the results indicated that, cooking using stove decrease the percentage of seropositivity to Toxoplasma gondii , compared with cooking using barbecue. Also pregnant women consuming undercooked meat showed higher percentage of seropositivity to Toxoplasma gondii than those eating well cooked meat, but the difference was not highly significant because in Libyan nutritional habits raw or under cooked meat is not usually consumed. The results of the current study showed nonsignificant difference in seropositivity to Toxoplasma gondii , due to place of consumed animal slaughter. The effect of dealing with domestic animals on seropositivity to Toxoplasma gondii among women proved that, contact with cats was found to be a significant risk factor for toxoplasma infection. Seroprevalence was found to be changed according to usage of different drinking water sources in the current study, and the highest prevalence of seropositivity to Toxoplasma gondii were in women using rain water and well water respectively. Meanwhile the lowest prevalence was in women using general network water.
THE ROLE OF AEROSOL PARTICLES ON PRECIPITATION AND ICE PHASE PROCESSES: NUMERICAL STUDIES WITH A HIGH RESOLVED 3D CLOUD MODEL USING DETAILED (BIN) MICROPHYSICS

A three-dimensional (3D) cloud model with detailed microphysics is used to study the role of aerosol particles (AP) on the ice phase processes and preci pitation formation in mixed phase clouds. The model couples the dynamics of the NCAR Clark-Hall cloud scale model (Clark and Hall, 1991) with the detailed scavengin g model (DESCAM) of Flossmann and Pruppacher (1988) and the ice ph ase module of Leroy et al. (2007). The microphysics follows the evolution of AP, drop, and ice crystal spectra each with 39 bins. Aerosol mass in drops an d ice crystals is also predicted. The first simulated case is a deep convective cloud with a large anvil, sampled during the CRYSTALFACE campaign on July 2002 18 th (Heymsfield et al., 2005). Our model ( DESCAM-3D) is able to simulate the cloud in good agreement with the measurements in 10 km. Conc erning the role of AP, the simulations clearly show that changes in AP concentration in the boundary layer affects s ignificantly the dynamical evolution of the cloud a nd thus have an impact on the microphysical characteristics of the cloud even at high altitudes. The second case is a medium convective case over the Cévennes’ foothills in fall 2004 (Cha pon et al., 2007). Once again, DESCAM-3D simulates a realistic cloud field with radar reflectivities, rain accumul ation and spectra in agreement with the radar and d is rometer observations. As precipitation formation proceeds v ia mixed phase processes, the impact of pollution i n terms of AP number on both the warm and on the cold processes i studied.
MORPHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENTS OF THE RADIAL NERVE ARE INTENSITY-DEPENDENT

Introduccion: La adaptacion de los nervios perifericos es fundamental para el aumento de fuerza. Sin embargo, la informacion sobre el efecto de la intensidad sobre la morfologia del nervio es escasa. Objetivo: Comparar el efecto de diferentes intensidades de entrenamiento de resistencia en las estructuras del nervio radial. Metodos: Las ratas se dividieron en tres grupos: control (GC) y entrenamiento con 50% (GF1) y con 75% (GF2) del peso corporal del animal. El analisis morfologico del nervio se hizo con microscopia optica y electronica de transmision. Se aplicaron la prueba ANOVA de una via y la prueba post hoc de Tukey y el nivel de significacion se fijo en p ≤ 0,05. Resultados: Los grupos de entrenamiento tuvieron aumento de la fuerza con respecto al grupo control (p ≤ 0,05). Todos los componentes medidos del nervio (area media y diametro de las fibras de mielina y axones, area media y espesor de la vaina de mielina, neurofilamentos y microtubulos) fueron mayores en GF2 en comparacion con los otros grupos (p ≤ 0,05). Conclusion: Los resultados mostraron mayores cambios morfologicos en el nervio radial despues de las cargas mas pesadas. Esto puede ser importante para terapias de rehabilitacion, entrenamiento y progresion.
Disease-Specific Survival of Type I and Type II Epithelial Ovarian Cancers—Stage Challenges Categorical Assignments of Indolence & Aggressiveness

Epithelial ovarian cancers (EOC) consist of several sub-types based on histology, clinical, molecular and epidemiological features that are termed “histo-types”, which can be categorized into less aggressive Type I and more aggressive Type II malignancies. This investigation evaluated the disease-specific survival (DSS) of women with Type I and II EOC using histo-type, grade, and stage. A total of 47,789 EOC cases were identified in the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data. Survival analysis and log rank test were performed to identify a 2-tiered classification (grade 1 vs. grade 2 & 3) for serous EOC. DSS of early stage serous EOC for grade 2 was significantly different from grade 3 indicating that a 2-tier classification for serous EOC applied only to late stage. DSS of Type I EOC was much better than Type II. However, DSS was 33–52% lower with late stage Type I than with early stage Type I indicating that Type I ovarian cancers should not be considered indolent. Early stage Type II EOC had much better DSS than late stage Type II stressing that stage has a large role in survival of both Type I and II EOC.
Temporal, spatial, and taxonomic patterns of crustacean zooplankton variability in unmanipulated north‐temperate lakes

We quantified the spatial and temporal variability of crustacean zooplankton abundance at annual time steps with 261 lake‐years of data from 22 lakes in three regions of central North America. None of these lakes had been experimentally manipulated. Using a nested three‐way analysis of variance, we apportioned variance among years, regions, lakes, and their interactions for 10 functional groups and 4 larger taxonomic aggregates. We proposed that relative variation in the abundance of zooplankton would be greatest among regions and lakes and least among years. We also explored how variability differed among functional groups and changed with taxonomic aggregation. Spatial sources of variation dominated the analysis, but a large interaction between lakes and years indicated that time cannot be ignored. Regional variation was half that found among lakes. Relative variance components differed widely among functional groups, which indicates that species will differ in their response to environmental controls and sensitivity to perturbation. Total explained variation also differed widely among zooplankton and decreased with increasing aggregation of taxa. Whether choosing ecological indicators or designing experiments and monitoring programs, these results clearly show that large‐scale temporal and spatial variability will be an important consideration.
Preliminary Evidence That CD38 Moderates the Association of Neuroticism on Amygdala-Subgenual Cingulate Connectivity

CD38 genetic variation has been associated with autism spectrum disorders and social anxiety disorder, which may result from CD38’s regulation of oxytocin secretion. Converging evidence has found that the rs3796863 A-allele contributes to increased social sensitivity compared to the CC genotype. The current study examined the moderating role of CD38 genetic variants (rs3796863 and rs6449182) that have been associated with enhanced (or reduced) social sensitivity on neural activation related to neuroticism, which is commonly elevated in individuals with social anxiety and depression. Adults (n = 72) with varying levels of social anxiety and depression provided biological samples for DNA extraction, completed a measure of neuroticism, and participated in a standardized emotion processing task (affect matching) while undergoing fMRI. A significant interaction effect was found for rs3796863 x neuroticism that predicted right amygdala-subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) functional connectivity. Simple slopes analyses showed a positive association between neuroticism and right amygdala-sgACC connectivity among rs3796863 A-allele carriers. Findings suggest that the more socially sensitive rs3796863 A-allele may partially explain the relationship between a known risk factor (i.e. neuroticism) and promising biomarker (i.e. amygdala-sgACC connectivity) in the development and maintenance of social anxiety and depression.
Dissipative hydrodynamics with higher-form symmetry

We give an overview of the current understanding of the coupled water— and sugar flows in plants with special emphasis on the leaves. We introduce the Münch mechanism and discuss the particularities of osmotically driven flow in the phloem and the consequences for the allometry of the vasculature. This is first done in the context of the entire tree, where we discuss the optimum radius for the phloem tubes, and later for a single needle, where we give a more detailed solution of the osmotic flow profile, allowing us to understand the constraints on needle sizes. We then discuss recent results from microscopy of cross sections along the midvein of a birch leaf, allowing us to measure how the number and radius of the sieve elements depend on the distance from the petiole and compare this to the available area and the minor vein endings in the entire leaf. We finally discuss the pre-phloem water flow in the leaf, i.e. the coupled water/sugar transport from the mesophyll via the bundle sheath into the sieve tubes. We review the distinct sugar loading mechanisms with special emphasis on active symplasmic loading (‘polymer trapping’), where one needs to compute water and sugar flow through extremely narrow channels.
Geometric and Operational Features of Horizontal Curves with Specific Regard to Skidding Proneness

(1) Run-off-road (ROR) crashes are a crucial issue worldwide, resulting in a disproportionate number of traffic deaths. In safety research, macro-level analysis on large datasets is usually conducted by linking explanatory variables to ROR crash frequency/severity. Micro-analysis approaches, like the one used in this study, are instead less frequent. (2) A comprehensive Italian Fatal + Injury (FI) crash dataset was filtered to identify two-way two-lane rural road curves on the national road network on which more than one ROR FI crash (i.e., at least two crashes) in the observation period of four years had occurred. The typical features of the ROR FI crashes and the recurrent geometric (characteristics of tangents and curves) and operational features (inferred speeds, acceleration/decelerations) of the crash sites were reconstructed. (3) The main contributory factors in ROR FI crashes are: wet pavements, speeding, and distraction. Sites with a relevant history of ROR FI crashes present recurrent safety issues such as inadequate horizontal curve coordination, an insufficient tangent length for decelerating, and inferred operating speeds comparable/higher than the inferred design speeds. (4) Based on findings, some practical suggestions for road safety management and maintenance are proposed through specific indicators and countermeasures (speed, perception, and friction related).
Incidence of Hypertension and Risk Factor Assessment among Sedentary and Labour Population of Punjab

The present study was undertaken to determine the incidence and intensity of hypertension in sedentary and labour population of Punjab. 1000 subjects were studied and they were divided into two groups i.e. group A (sedentary class) and group B (labour class). All the cases were in the age group between 35 to 55 years. On comparative evaluation, hypertension increased with age, sedentary life style, smoking, non vegetarian diet, BMI and male gender. In this study, it was found that the incidence of hypertension is higher in sedentary group of people as compared to labourers which is due to the fact that decreased physical activity is directly related to high blood pressure.