Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of Airborne Molds, Endotoxins, and Glucans in Homes in New Orleans after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

ABSTRACT In August and September 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused breeches in the New Orleans, LA, levee system, resulting in catastrophic flooding. The city remained flooded for several weeks, leading to extraordinary mold growth in homes. To characterize the potential risks of mold exposures, we measured airborne molds and markers of molds and bacteria in New Orleans area homes. In October 2005, we collected air samples from 5 mildly water-damaged houses, 15 moderately to heavily water-damaged houses, and 11 outdoor locations. The air filters were analyzed for culturable fungi, spores, (1→3,1→6)-β-d-glucans, and endotoxins. Culturable fungi were significantly higher in the moderately/heavily water-damaged houses (geometric mean = 67,000 CFU/m3) than in the mildly water-damaged houses (geometric mean = 3,700 CFU/m3) (P = 0.02). The predominant molds found were Aspergillus niger, Penicillium spp. , Trichoderma, and Paecilomyces. The indoor and outdoor geometric means for endotoxins were 22.3 endotoxin units (EU)/m3 and 10.5 EU/m3, respectively, and for (1→3,1→6)-β-d-glucans were 1.7 μg/m3 and 0.9 μg/m3, respectively. In the moderately/heavily water-damaged houses, the geometric means were 31.3 EU/m3 for endotoxins and 1.8 μg/m3 for (1→3,1→6)-β-d-glucans. Molds, endotoxins, and fungal glucans were detected in the environment after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in New Orleans at concentrations that have been associated with health effects. The species and concentrations were different from those previously reported for non-water-damaged buildings in the southeastern United States.
Reduced alveolar-capillary membrane diffusing capacity in chronic heart failure. Its pathophysiological relevance and relationship to exercise performance.

BACKGROUND The pulmonary diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) is reduced in chronic heart failure (CHF) and is an independent predictor of peak exercise oxygen uptake. The pathophysiological basis for this remains unknown. The aim of this study was to partition DLCO into its membrane conductance (DM) and capillary blood volume components (Vc) and to assess if alveolar-capillary membrane function correlated with functional status, exercise capacity, and pulmonary vascular resistance. METHODS AND RESULTS The classic Roughton and Forster method of measuring single-breath DLCO at varying alveolar oxygen concentrations was used to determine DM and Vc in 15 normal subjects and 50 patients with CHF. All performed symptom-limited maximal bicycle exercise tests with respiratory gas analysis; 15 CHF patients underwent right heart catheterization. DLCO was significantly reduced in CHF patients compared with normal subjects, predominantly because of a reduction in DM (7.0 +/- 2.6 versus 12.9 +/- 3.8 versus 20.0 +/- 6.1 mmol.min-1.kPa-1 in New York Heart Association class III, class II, and normal subjects, respectively, P < .0001), even when the reduction in lung volumes was accounted for by the division of DM by the effective alveolar volume. The Vc component of DLCO was not impaired. DM significantly correlated with maximal exercise oxygen uptake (r = .72, P < .0001) and inversely correlated with pulmonary vascular resistance (r = .65, P < .01) in CHF. CONCLUSIONS Reduced alveolar-capillary membrane diffusing capacity is the major component of impaired pulmonary gas transfer in CHF, correlating with maximal exercise capacity and functional status. DM may be a useful marker for the alveolar-capillary barrier damage induced by raised pulmonary capillary pressure.
Prevalence of Unruptured Cerebral Aneurysms in Chinese Adults Aged 35 to 75 Years

BACKGROUND The reported prevalence of unruptured cerebral aneurysms (UCAs) varies widely. OBJECTIVE To measure the prevalence of UCAs by using 3-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography in adults aged 35 to 75 years. DESIGN Cross-sectional study done between June 2007 and June 2011. SETTING Two communities chosen at random from 2 districts (1 urban and 1 suburban) in Shanghai, China. PARTICIPANTS 4813 adults aged 35 to 75 years. MEASUREMENTS Three-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography, interpreted by 3 observers blinded to the participants' information, was used to identify the location and size of UCAs and to estimate the overall, age-specific, and sex-specific prevalence. RESULTS 369 UCAs were found in 336 participants (130 men and 206 women); 4477 participants had no evidence of UCAs. The prevalence was 7.0% overall (95% CI, 6.3% to 7.7%), with 5.5% for men (CI, 4.6% to 6.4%) and 8.4% for women (CI, 7.3% to 9.5%). The overall prevalence of UCAs was higher in women than in men (P < 0.001) and peaked at ages 55 to 64 years in men and women. The UCAs were mostly located in the internal carotid artery (81%), and 90.2% had a maximum diameter less than 5 mm. Mean diameter was larger in women than in men (3.7 mm vs. 3.2 mm; P < 0.009). LIMITATION Participants were from 2 communities selected from 2 districts in Shanghai, and adults older than 75 years were not studied. CONCLUSION The overall prevalence of UCAs was 7.0% in Chinese adults aged 35 to 75 years, and most lesions had a diameter less than 5 mm. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE National Natural Science Foundation of China.
A citation analysis of systematic review and meta‐analysis published in Chinese journals

Background The numbers of systematic reviews (SRs) and meta‐analyses (MAs) published in China have dramatically increased in recent years. Comprehensive analysis of their citation status may prove beneficial to the production and integration of high quality research, thereby increasing the quality of medical policy‐making, research, and clinical practice.
Clinimetric Testing of Three Self-report Outcome Measures for Low Back Pain Patients in Brazil: Which One Is the Best?

Study Design. Translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and clinimetric testing of self-report outcome measures. Objective. The aims of this investigation were to perform the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) into Brazilian-Portuguese and to perform a head-to-head comparison of the clinimetric properties of the Brazilian-Portuguese versions of the PSFS, the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) and the Functional Rating Index (FRI). Summary of Background Data. To date, there is no Brazilian-Portuguese version of the PSFS available and no head-to-head comparison of the Brazilian-Portuguese versions of the PSFS, RMDQ, and FRI has been undertaken. Methods. The PSFS was translated and adapted into Brazilian-Portuguese. The PSFS, the RMDQ, and the FRI were administered to 99 patients with low back pain to evaluate internal consistency, reproducibility, ceiling and floor effects, construct validity, internal and external responsiveness. To fully test the construct validity and external responsiveness of these measures, it was necessary to cross-culturally adapt the Pain Numerical Rating Scale and the Global Perceived Effect Scale. Results. All measures demonstrated high levels of internal consistency (Cronbach's α range = 0.88–0.90) and reproducibility (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient2,1 range = 0.85–0.94). High correlations among the disability-related measures were observed (Pearson's r ranging from 0.51 to 0.71). No ceiling or floor effects were detected. The PSFS was consistently more responsive than the other measures in both the internal responsiveness and external responsiveness analyses. Conclusion. The results from this study demonstrate that the Brazilian-Portuguese versions of the RMDQ, the FRI and the PSFS have similar clinimetric properties to each other and to the original English versions. Of allthe measures tested in this study the PSFS seems the most responsive. These measures will enable international comparisons to be performed, and encourage researchers to include Portuguese speakers in their clinical trials.
Serum adiponectin levels in gestational diabetes mellitus

Introduction: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is defined as any degree of glucose intolerance with onset or first recognition during pregnancy. [1] Pregnancy is a unique situation in which there is a physiological temporary increase in insulin resistance (IR). The mechanisms responsible for the gestational-induced IR are not completely understood. The current study was undertaken to compare adiponectin levels during 24–28 weeks period of gestation in drug-naive newly diagnosed GDM women with a cohort of normoglycemic pregnant women. Subjects and Methods: A total of 47 pregnant women in the age group of 18–40 years were included in this cross-sectional study, of which 13 were GDM cases and 34 were normoglycemic controls. Serum adiponectin level was analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The mean adiponectin level was 16.92 ng/ml (standard deviation [SD] = 2.78) and 19.38 ng/ml (SD = 2.71) in case and control groups, respectively, and the difference was found to be statistically significant (P = 0.008). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated decreased serum adiponectin levels in women with GDM when compared with age- and body mass index-matched euglycemic pregnant women.
TGF-beta1, TNF-alpha and cytochrome c in human astrocytic tumors: a short-term follow up and correlation with survival.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the association of signals of apoptosis namely, TGF-beta1, TNF-alpha and cytochrome c release in cytoplasm with survival rate to determine the potential use of such parameters as predictive markers for patients with astrocytomas. DESIGN AND METHODS We measured TGF-beta1, TNF-alpha and cytoplasmic cytochrome c in 30 astrocytic tumors Grade II, III and IV. RESULTS We found that TNF-alpha and cytochrome c release in Grade IV tends to be significantly lower than those in Grade II, whereas TGF-beta1 did not significantly change in the different grades. Patients with astrocytic tumors having elevated cytochrome c showed a better survival rate compared to those with less release. There is neither a correlation shown between TNF-alpha and cytochrome c release nor between TNF-alpha and patient survival. TGF-beta1 was positively correlated with cytochrome c release. Patients showing such correlation had increased survival rate over 18 months follow up period. CONCLUSION These data suggest that TGF-beta1 and cytochrome c may be useful prognostic markers that help patients' stratification and in adjusting the disciplines of therapy.
Meal timing during alternate day fasting: Impact on body weight and cardiovascular disease risk in obese adults

Alternate day fasting (ADF; 24‐h feeding/24‐h 25% energy intake at lunchtime), is effective for weight loss, but diet tolerability is questionable. Moving the fast day meal to dinnertime, or dividing it into smaller meals, may improve tolerability. Accordingly, this study compared the effects of ADF with three meal times on body weight and heart disease risk.
Unusual Naturally Occurring Humoral and Cellular Mutated Epitopes of Hepatitis B Virus in a Chronically Infected Argentine Patient with Anti-HBs Antibodies

ABSTRACT Serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was extracted from a chronically infected patient with cocirculation of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-HBs antibodies. Direct PCR and clone-derived sequences of the S and overlapped P genes were obtained. DNA sequences and phylogenetic analysis ascribed this isolate to genotype A (serotype adw2). Five of six HBV DNA clones exhibited point mutations inside and outside the major hydrophilic region, while the sixth clone exhibited a genotype A “wild-type” amino acid sequence. Observed replacements included both humoral and/or cellular (major histocompatibility complex class I [MHC-I] and MHC-II) HBV mutated epitopes, such as S45A, P46H, L49H, C107R, T125A, M133K, I152F, P153T, T161S, G185E, A194T, G202R, and I213L. None of these mutants were individually present within a given clone. The I213L replacement was the only one observed in the five clones carrying nonsynonymous mutations in the S gene. Some of the amino acid substitutions are reportedly known to be responsible for the emergence of immune escape mutants. C107R replacement prevents disulfide bonding, thus disrupting the first loop of the HBsAg. Circulation of some of these mutants may represent a potential risk for the community, since neither current hepatitis B vaccines nor hyperimmune hepatitis B immune globulin are effectively prevent the liver disease thereto associated. Moreover, some of the recorded HBsAg variants may influence the accuracy of the results obtained with currently used diagnostic tests.
Who Will Be There to Nurse?: Retention of Nurses Nearing Retirement

Aims: To determine the impact on nursing work-force supply of delaying retirement. Background Data: The nursing workforce is aging, and the Baby Boomer generation is nearing retirement age. This potential loss of experienced nurses is likely to exacerbate current nursing shortages. Methods: An analysis of loss rates of nurses in New South Wales (Australia) is provided using 2 different retirement ages—58 and 65 years. Supply numbers were used and then “aged” to determine the impact of retirement on workforce numbers. The impact of potential retention strategies on the numbers who could be retained were determined if 100% of 50- to 55-year-old nurses was retained, 75% of those 56 to 60 years, and 50% of those 61 to 65 years. Results: By the year 2004, approximately 4139 nurses (registered and enrolled) will be lost through retirement at age 65 years. However, retirement at age 58 years sees 7328 lost by 2004. Potentially 2139 nurses in this age spectrum could be retained if strategies are focused on delaying retirement. Conclusions: Delaying the retirement of nurses could provide a significant human resource, not only in terms of absolute numbers but more importantly, in terms of experience and expertise. However, retention of this portion of the workforce may require different strategies than for younger members of the workforce. The needs of this segment of the nursing workforce may require nurse administrators to consider different approaches to nursing work and work allocation.
Low complexity robust coordinated beamforming in multicell network with channel uncertainties

Multicell coordinated beamforming, where multiple base stations (BSs) collaborate with each other in the beam-vectors design to mitigate the intercell interference (ICI), has been a subject of great attention recently. With perfect channel information available at the base stations, we first present a fast converging algorithm that solves the weighted sum rate maximization (WSRM) problem. Then, the assumption is relaxed to the case where the error vectors in the channel estimates are assumed to lie in an uncertainty set bounded by an ellipsoid. We propose a linear beamforming across a set of coordinated cells only with limiting backhaul signaling. This robust beamforming method allows that all existing (perfect Channel state information (CSI)) beamforming algorithms can be also usable in imperfect CSI condition with only adding an extra step that used for computing worst-case CSI. Indeed in proposed algorithm, beam vectors first computed based on estimated CSI, and then worst-case CSI is computed, beam vectors recomputed again and this process is repeated alternatively until convergence occurs. We evaluate robust beam design through simulation and observe that the proposed strategies has sufficient robust in front of channel uncertainties.
Dagger: The Slovak morphological classifier

This paper proposes a classifier, based on hidden Markov model that can be used for solving the problem of part-of-speech tagging of the Slavic languages, such as Slovak, Czech or Polish. These languages are highly inflectional and morphologically rich and have a very large vocabulary. The probability matrices of the classical hidden Markov model are linearly interpolated with additional probability matrices that are calculated using a suffix-based word clustering function. The search space is restricted by a morphological dictionary.
Thalidomide-based multidisciplinary treatment for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective analysis.

AIM To evaluate the efficacy of thalidomide in combination with other therapies to treat patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients with HCC who were treated with thalidomide for at least two months. The medical records of patients with HCC who were treated at our institution between April 2003 and March 2008 were reviewed. Image studies performed before and after treatment, tumor response, overall survival, and the decrease in α-fetoprotein (AFP) levels were evaluated. RESULTS A total of 53 patients with HCC received either 100 or 200 mg/d of thalidomide. The patient population consisted of 9 women and 44 men with a median age of 61 years. Thirty patients (56.6%) were classified as Child-Pugh A, and 12 patients (22.6%) were classified as Child-Pugh B. Twenty-six patients had portal vein thrombosis (49.1%), and 25 patients had extrahepatic metastasis (47.1%). The median duration of thalidomide treatment was 6.0 mo. Six of the 53 patients achieved a confirmed response (11.3%), one achieved a complete response (1.9%) and 5 achieved a partial response (9.4%). The disease control rate (CR + PR + SD) was 28.3% (95% CI: 17.8-42.4), and the median overall survival rate was 10.5 mo. The 1- and 2-year survival rates were 45% and 20%, respectively. Only one complete response patient showed an improved overall survival rate of 66.8 mo. Sixteen patients (30.2%) showed more than a 50% decrease in their serum AFP levels from baseline, indicating a better response rate (31.3%), disease control rate (43.8%), and overall survival time (20.7 mo). The therapy was well tolerated, and no significant toxicities were observed. CONCLUSION Thalidomide was found to be safe for advanced HCC patients, demonstrating anti-tumor activity including response, survival, and AFP decreases of greater than 50% from baseline.
Gene expression of porcine blastocysts from gilts fed organic or inorganic selenium and pyridoxine.

In this study, we determined how maternal dietary supplementation with pyridoxine combined with different sources of selenium (Se) affected global gene expression of porcine expanded blastocysts (PEB) during pregnancy. Eighteen gilts were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental diets (n=6 per treatment): i) basal diet without supplemental Se or pyridoxine (CONT); ii) CONT+0.3 mg/kg of Na-selenite and 10 mg/kg of HCl-pyridoxine (MSeB610); and iii) CONT+0.3 mg/kg of Se-enriched yeast and 10 mg/kg of HCl-pyridoxine (OSeB610). All gilts were inseminated at their fifth post-pubertal estrus and killed 5 days later for embryo harvesting. A porcine embryo-specific microarray was used to detect differentially gene expression between MSeB610 vs CONT, OSeB610 vs CONT, and OSeB610 vs MSeB610. CONT gilts had lower whole blood Se and erythrocyte pyridoxal-5-P concentrations than supplemented gilts (P<0.05). No treatment effect was observed on blood plasma Se-glutathione peroxidase activity (P=0.57). There were 10, 247, and 96 differentially expressed genes for MSeB610 vs CONT, OSeB610 vs CONT, and OSeB610 vs MSeB610 respectively. No specific biological process was associated with MSeB610 vs CONT. However, for OSeB610 vs CONT, upregulated genes were related with global protein synthesis but not to selenoproteins. The stimulation of some genes related with monooxygenase and thioredoxin families was confirmed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. In conclusion, OSeB610 affects PEB metabolism more markedly than MSeB610. Neither Se sources with pyridoxine influenced the Se-glutathione peroxidase metabolic pathway in the PEB, but OSeB610 selectively stimulated genes involved with antioxidant defense.
Monensin level during grain adaptation and finishing performance in cattle.

Two finishing trials were conducted to measure the response of cattle adjusting to high-concentrate diets to dietary monensin level. In trial 1, 54 individually fed Hereford-Angus steers (312 kg), previously fed a two-thirds corn silage: one-third corncob-based diet, were allotted in a 2 X 3 factorial arrangement of treatment with tylosin (0, 11 mg/kg) and monesin (0, 11, 33 mg/kg) fed during a 28-d, grain-adaptation period (fed 75% concentrate for 6 d and then fed 95% concentrate). After 28 d, all steers were continued on their respective levels of tylosin and 33 mg/kg monensin for the remaining 119 d. Daily intake patterns indicated digestive upset in all treatments during adjustment to the 95%-concentrate diet. Blood samples taken during the first 28 d revealed no differences in acid-base status in response to monensin level; however, all steers exhibited reduced (P less than .01) pH and HCO3 and increased (P less than .01) lactate after 4 d on a 75%-concentrate diet. In the initial 28 d, intake decreased (linear P less than .05) as the level of monensin increased. In the total finishing period, however, increasing the level of monensin fed during grain adaptation decreased (linear P less than .05) intake and tended to decrease (linear P = .20) gain with no effect on feed efficiency. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Mutual Information Analysis on Spatial Modulation Multiple Antenna System

Spatial modulation (SM) is a recently proposed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) architecture that exploits the space domain for information transmission. In this paper, SM systems with continuous amplitude-phase modulation (APM) and the corresponding maximum likelihood (ML) active transmit antenna detector are considered. We introduced a method to compute the theoretical transition probability matrix and the mutual information of the ML antenna detector. For SM multiple-input single-output (MISO) system, we derive the error probability and the mutual information of the antenna detector in closed-form. For multiple receive antenna SM system, the union bound of error probability and the lower bound of antenna detection mutual information are proposed. The analytical results are verified by numerical simulation over Rayleigh fading channels. We investigate systems with different number of antennas and APM symbol input distributions to evaluate the performance of SM. The joint APM and antenna detection mutual information of SM systems is compared to the capacity of vertical Bell Labs layered space-time (V-BLAST) spatial multiplexing MIMO scheme. Our research gives achievable transmission rates of SM-MISO/MIMO systems and can be a guideline for suitable application scenarios.
Mycobacterium smegmatis Has Two Pyrazinamidase Enzymes, PncA and PzaA

ABSTRACT The Mycobacterium smegmatis pncA gene, encoding nicotinamidase/pyrazinamidase, was identified. While it was similar to counterparts from other mycobacteria, the M. smegmatis PncA had little homology to the other M. smegmatispyrazinamidase/nicotinamidase, encoded by the pzaA gene. Transformation of Mycobacterium bovis strain BCG withM. smegmatis pncA or pzaA conferred susceptibility to pyrazinamide.
Hybrid chat and task dialogue for more engaging HRI using reinforcement learning

Most of today's task-based spoken dialogue systems perform poorly if the user goal is not within the system's task domain. On the other hand, chatbots cannot perform tasks involving robot actions but are able to deal with unforeseen user input. To overcome the limitations of each of these separate approaches and be able to exploit their strengths, we present and evaluate a fully autonomous robotic system using a novel combination of task-based and chat-style dialogue in order to enhance the user experience with human-robot dialogue systems. We employ Reinforcement Learning (RL) to create a scalable and extensible approach to combining chat and task-based dialogue for multimodal systems. In an evaluation with real users, the combined system was rated as significantly more “pleasant” and better met the users' expectations in a hybrid task+chat condition, compared to the task-only condition, without suffering any significant loss in task completion.