Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Candida osteomyelitis: analysis of 207 pediatric and adult cases (1970-2011).

BACKGROUND The epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, management, and outcome of Candida osteomyelitis are not well understood. METHODS Cases of Candida osteomyelitis from 1970 through 2011 were reviewed. Underlying conditions, microbiology, mechanisms of infection, clinical manifestations, antifungal therapy, and outcome were studied in 207 evaluable cases. RESULTS Median age was 30 years (range, ≤ 1 month to 88 years) with a >2:1 male:female ratio. Most patients (90%) were not neutropenic. Localizing pain, tenderness, and/or edema were present in 90% of patients. Mechanisms of bone infection followed a pattern of hematogenous dissemination (67%), direct inoculation (25%), and contiguous infection (9%). Coinciding with hematogenous infection, most patients had ≥2 infected bones. When analyzed by age, the most common distribution of infected sites for adults was vertebra (odds ratio [OR], 0.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], .04-.25), rib, and sternum; for pediatric patients (≤18 years) the pattern was femur (OR, 20.6; 95% CI, 8.4-48.1), humerus, then vertebra/ribs. Non-albicans Candida species caused 35% of cases. Bacteria were recovered concomitantly from 12% of cases, underscoring the need for biopsy and/or culture. Candida septic arthritis occurred concomitantly in 21%. Combined surgery and antifungal therapy were used in 48% of cases. The overall complete response rate of Candida osteomyelitis of 32% reflects the difficulty in treating this infection. Relapsed infection, possibly related to inadequate duration of therapy, occurred among 32% who ultimately achieved complete response. CONCLUSIONS Candida osteomyelitis is being reported with increasing frequency. Localizing symptoms are usually present. Vertebrae are the most common sites in adults vs femora in children. Timely diagnosis of Candida osteomyelitis with extended courses of 6-12 months of antifungal therapy, and surgical intervention, when indicated, may improve outcome.
ENHANCING THE NETWORK SECURITY USING AMALGAM GAMES

This paper presents a new modeling method to enhance the network security using game theory. Reconnaissance is applied as a game strategy to obtain more information about the enemy’s strategic intentions. To model the framework and analyze to defend the network attacks using various game nets. The game issues are solved with the help of game theory concepts. The course of action for a player in multi-player game environment with the mixed strategy is determined. Finally, the Nash equilibrium is computed and best-response strategies for the players (administrator and attacker) are found. It proves how the strategies are realistic and how the administrators can use these results to enhance the security of their network .
Stop paying executives for performance

For chief executives and other senior leaders, it is not unusual for 60-80% of their pay to be tied to performance – whether performance is measured by quarterly earnings, stock prices, or something else. And yet from a review of the research on incentives and motivation, it is wholly unclear why such a large proportion of these executives’ compensation packages would need to be variable. First, the nature of their work is unsuited to performance-based pay. As the incoming Chief Executive of Deutsche Bank, John Cryan, recently said in an interview: “I have no idea why I was offered a contract with a bonus in it because I promise you I will not work any harder or any less hard in any year, in any day because someone is going to pay me more or less. ” But moreover, as we will show, performance-based pay can actually have dangerous outcomes for companies that implement it.
The activity of thyme essential oil against Acinetobacter spp.

AbstractThe aim of this work was to investigate the antimicrobial properties of thyme essential oil against clinical multiresistant strains of Acinetobacter spp. The antibacterial activity of oil was tested against standard and clinical bacterial strains of Acinetobacter genus. The agar diffusion method was used to check the inhibition of microbial growth at various concentrations of the oil from Thymus vulgaris. Susceptibility testing to antibiotics and chemotherapeutics was prepared using the disc-diffusion method. Identification of bacterial strains was carried out with the Vitek system and confirmed by PCR for Acinetobacter baumanii gyrB gene. The results of experiments showed that the oil from T. vulgaris exhibited an extremely strong activity against all of the clinical strains of Acinetobacter. Thyme oil demonstrated a very good efficacy against multiresistant strains of tested bacteria. Essential oils seems to be an excellent alternative for synthetic preparations and that is reason for an extensive assessment of their antimicrobial activity.
Texture Measures for Automatic Classification of Pulmonary Disease

The complete pattern recognition problem is considered for the practical solution to a current significant medical question. Automated screening of chest radiographs for the detection of textural type abnormalities is approached from the view of: 1) preprocessing for standardization and data reduction; 2) feature extraction of characteristic measures (feature selection by optimization of classification accuracy); and 3) overall classification using training and test sets of selected chest radiographs.
PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF CLOTRIMAZOLE NANOSTRUCTURED LIPID CARRIER FOR TOPICAL DELIVERY

The purpose of this study was to prepare Clotrimazole loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (CM-NLC) effective for topical delivery of clotrimazole (CM) by hot homogenization method. Stearic acid as solid lipid, Oliec acid as Liquid lipid, combination of four types of surfactants: Tween 80, Poloxamer-188, Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) and Lecithin were used to stabilize NLC dispersion. CM-NLC were characterized by laser diffraction and all the NLC dispersions exhibited average size between 200 and 300 nm. Transmission electron microscopy studies showed that the CM-NLC formulation had a spherical shape. All the formulations had high entrapment efficiency. DSC analysis showed that CM was dispersed in NLC in an amorphous state. The penetration of Clotrimazole from the CM-NLC formulations into cadaver skins was evaluated in vitro using Franz diffusion cell. The CM-NLC formulations could significantly increase the accumulative uptake of CM in skin over the marketed gel and showed a significantly enhanced skin targeting effect. These results indicate that the studied CM-NLC formulation with skin targeting may be a promising carrier for topical delivery of clotrimazole (CM).
0.13μm SiGe BiCMOS technology for mm-wave applications

This paper presents a complete 0.13 mum SiGe BiCMOS technology fully dedicated to millimeter-wave applications, including a high-speed (230/280GHz fT/fMAX) and medium voltage SiGe HBT, thick-copper back-end designed for high performance transmission lines and inductors, 2fF/mum2 high-linearity MIM capacitor and complementary double gate oxide MOS transistors.
Threshold-voltage variations effects on the reliability of nano-scale CMOS logic gates

The reliability of nano-scale devices and circuits has received revived attention in recent years. This paper focuses on the reliability at the gate level considering the variations of devices parameters. In particular, this study aims to quantify the effects of threshold voltage variations on the reliability of nanometer-scale CMOS logic gates. The reliability is quantified in terms of the probability-of-failure of individual gates, which is obtained from extensive Monte Carlo simulations of CMOS gates. The study considers the NAND-2 and Majority-3 gates at 90 nm and 22 nm, and compares the effects of threshold voltage variations on the reliability of each gate. The results show a clear dependency pattern of reliability on the gate's input combinations.
Proteomic analysis of plasma from Portuguese patients with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

In ALS, the identification of abnormal proteins in biological fluids might be useful for the understanding of the ethiopathogenesis of the disease. Furthermore, it can provide biomarkers useful for diagnosis, to monitor disease progression and to study the effect of drugs. Plasma is a suitable fluid for screening such targets since blood collection is a relatively simple procedure. In this study, proteomic techniques consisting of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) have been used for the analysis of plasma from a group of Portuguese familial ALS (FALS) patients not carrying SOD1 mutations, age-matched healthy controls, sporadic ALS patients and controls with other muscular disorders. Most relevant was the finding in the FALS patients of an isoform of vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) at pI 5.2, identified as GC2 by liquid chromatography electrospray ionization-TOF MS. GC2 was absent from the healthy controls. Concomitantly, decrease of more acidic isoforms of DBP was observed for the FALS patients. The results suggested that the GC2 polymorphism of DBP could constitute a risk factor for ALS.
Reduced basal ganglia volume associated with the gene for Huntington's disease in asymptomatic at‐risk persons

Article abstract –Previous investigations using linear CT measures found no evidence of caudate atrophy in asymptomatic persons who have the DNA haplotype linked to the Huntington's disease (HD) gene. We measured volumes of the caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus on MRIs of 10 gene marker-positive and 18 gene marker-negative asymptomatic at-risk persons. The volumes of all basal ganglia structures were significantly reduced in the marker-positive group, even after controlling for age, total brain volume, and minor neurologic signs. Discriminant function analysis using basal ganglia volumes and age as predictor variables correctly identified genetic status in 86% of subjects. These results indicate that basal ganglia volume is reduced before individuals become symptomatic with HD.
Oxaliplatin with biweekly, low dose leucovorin and bolus and continuous infusion 5-fluorouracil (Modified FOLFOX 4) as first-line therapy for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE To determine the activity and toxicities of low dose leucovorin (LV) plus fluorouracil (5-FU) regimen, combined with oxaliplatin every two weeks (modified FOLFOX 4), as a first-line therapy for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between March 2001 and August 2003, fifty-five patients were enrolled in this study. Patients were treated with oxaliplatin 85 mg/m(2) as a 2-hour infusion at days 1 plus LV 20 mg/m(2) over 10 minutes, followed by 5-FU bolusa 400 mg/m(2) bolus and 22 hour continuous infusion of 600 mg/m(2) 5-FU at day 1 approximately 2. This treatment was repeated in 2 week intervals. RESULTS The objective response rate was 40% on an intent-to-treatment analysis. Three patients (6%) demonstrated a complete response and nineteen patients (38%) showed a partial response. Sixteen patients (32%) showed a stable disease and eleven patients (22%) progressed during the course of the treatment. The median time to progression and overall survival time were as 6.6 months (95% CI: 4.98 approximately 8.02 months) and the median overall survival time was 17.0 months (95% CI: 9.15 approximately 24.85 months) from the start of the chemotherapy, respectively. A total of 275 cycles were analyzed for toxicity. Major hematologic toxicities included grade 1 approximately 2 anemia (23.5%), neutropenia (25.3%) and thrombocytopenia (10.6%). There were only 2 cycles of neutropenic fever. The most common non-hematologic toxicities were grade 1 approximately 2 nausea/vomiting (10.9%), diarrhea (9.1%) and grade 1 neuropathy (18.0%). There was no treatment related death. CONCLUSION The modified folfox 4 regimen is safe and effective regimen as a first-line therapy in advanced colorectal cancer patients.
Design of a Prediction-Accuracy-Enhanced Continuous-Time MPC for Disturbed Systems via a Disturbance Observer

This paper addresses the prediction accuracy enhancement problem in the context of continuous-time model predictive control (MPC) by using a disturbance observer. The disturbance estimation is introduced in the output prediction to correct the errors caused by disturbances and uncertainties, which eventually leads to the desired offset-free tracking performance. Due to such a different design philosophy, the computational burden of the proposed method will be significantly reduced as compared with the existing offset-free MPCs for disturbed systems. Another promising feature of the proposed method lies in its nominal performance recovery property. The workability of the proposed method is validated by its application to a dc-dc buck converter system.
MANAGING DISCONTINUOUS CHANGE: A SIMULATION STUDY OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Established firms face the challenge of managing entrepreneurial strategies in order to respond effectively to major environmental changes. This paper uses a simulation methodology to explore the effectiveness of several entrepreneurial strategies in established organizations when they are faced with a fundamental restructuring of their environment. The simulated organizations are characterized by high and low levels of entrepreneurial activity and three types of entrepreneurial strategies: fixed, imitative, and adaptive. The behavior of these organizations is guided by the assumptions of an organizational learning model. The results of the simulation indicate that, given the assumptions of a learning model, there are several lessons that established organizations should consider in managing entrepreneurial strategy. First, there are important organizational implications under different levels of ambiguity. Second, lessons learned from past experience can often result in learning traps when the environment changes. Finally, conceptualizing organizations as characterized by different entrepreneurial strategies and different levels of entrepreneurship provides a theoretically useful description of differential outcomes in terms of performance, growth, and the probability of failure.
SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR FATIGUE ASSESSEMENT OF SHIP STRUCTURES

Comparison of simplified procedures for fatigue assessment of ship structural details, used by classification societies, is presented. The basics of typical fatigue design approaches are described. In order to illustrate the capabilities and differences of the procedures, comparative study is performed on a bulk carrier built in Croatian shipyard in Split. Fatigue damage is calculated for a few longitudinals in connection with transverse structural elements. Longitudinals are located in the hopper tank, topside tank and double bottom of the bulk carrier. Fatigue damage of critical details is calculated applying current rules and guidelines of the classification societies Bureau Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd and Lloyd's Register of Shipping. The effect of a few input parameters on fatigue life is studied in a parameter variation including the shape parameter of the Weibull long-term stress distribution, structural misalignment and the effect of corrosion.
The BDD-Nexar Collective : A Large-Scale , Crowsourced , Dataset of Driving Scenes Vashisht Madhavan

In recent years, the meteoric rise of deep learning has catalyzed significant progress in algorithms for visual perception tasks. One particularly popular application of deep neural networks is in the domain of autonomous driving, which is now at the forefront of many research e↵orts in industry and academia. Despite the plethora of work devoted to learning from unlabeled data, deep networks still require large amounts of labeled examples to learn e↵ective representations. Additionally, deep learning research for autonomous driving is hamstrung by the lack of large, publicly available datasets. To this end, we present the BDD-Nexar dataset, a large-scale collection of urban driving scenes. Our dataset is comprised of high-quality video sequences taken from multiple vehicles, across three major cities in the United States: San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles. Along with the GPS, IMU, and time data attached to each video sequence, we present 5,000 images with pixel-level and instance-level semantic labels, as well as 10,000 images with bounding box annotations. Although the size of our dataset is comparable to that of contemporary datasets, we exceed previous e↵orts in terms of scene variability, content, and complexity. Through our in-depth analysis, we verify our dataset as a challenging and extensive benchmark for computer vision research for autonomous driving.
Cycle-converter based on six-phase zero circuit with high input power factor

This paper presents the method of increasing the input power factor and the output voltage fundamental harmonic of cycle-converter based on six-phase zero circuit and proposed to be used in a power generation systems on an aerial vehicle. The increase of the output voltage fundamental harmonic is achieved by introducing the complicated control law. The complicated control law assumes the artificial introduction of components that are multiple of third harmonic by summation the sine wave signal with the triangle wave signal that have three-tuple frequency of fundamental harmonic. The article presents the comparison analysis of circuits with sine wave control law and complicated control law as well.
Solving Constraint Optimization Problems from CLP-Style Specifications Using Heuristic Search Techniques

Presents a framework for efficiently solving logic formulations of combinatorial optimization problems using heuristic search techniques. In order to integrate cost, lower-bound and upper-bound specifications with conventional logic programming languages, we augment a constraint logic programming (CLP) language with embedded constructs for specifying the cost function and with a few higher-order predicates for specifying the lower and upper bound functions. We illustrate how this simple extension vastly enhances the ease with which optimization problems involving combinations of Min and Max can be specified in the extended language CLP* and we show that CSLDNF (Constraint SLD resolution with Negation as Failure) resolution schemes are not efficient for solving optimization problems specified in this language. Therefore, we describe how any problem specified using CLP* can be converted into an implicit AND/OR graph, and present an algorithm called GenSolve which can branch-and-bound using upper and lower bound estimates, thus exploiting the full pruning power of heuristic search techniques. A technical analysis of GenSolve is provided. We also provide experimental results comparing various control strategies for solving CLP* programs.
The complex relationship between CD4 count, HIV viral load, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole prophylaxis, and skin-and-soft-tissue infection risk in patients with HIV: insights from a causal diagram and simulation study

SUMMARY Skin and soft tissue infection (SSTIs) due to Staphylococcus aureus, particularly community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA), are common in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected populations in the United States. Studies have differed as to the importance of epidemiological and immunological factors in this relationship, and have employed conflicting strategies for variable selection in multivariate analyses. Developments in causal inference methods in epidemiology have emerged in the last decade to clarify relationships between variables and identify appropriate variables to include in and exclude from multivariate analysis. In this paper, we develop a causal diagram to clarify the pathways linking CA-MRSA and HIV. We focus on the role played by trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) prophylaxis, prescribed to many severely immunocompromised HIV patients and potentially protective against SSTIs, which both mediates and moderates the relationship between immunological parameters and SSTI risk. We demonstrate, using simulated data, that statistical models may yield biased results if they do not account for how HIV viral load may also be a marker of adherence to TMP-SMX prophylaxis. We conclude with a proposed causal model that includes both the epidemiological as well as immunological factors that may explain the increased risk of initial and recurrent SSTI risk in HIV-infected populations.
Prognosis of oral pre-malignant lesions: significance of clinical, histopathological, and molecular biological characteristics.

The concept of a two-step process of cancer development in the oral mucosa, i.e., the initial presence of a precursor subsequently developing into cancer, is well-established. Oral leukoplakia is the best-known precursor lesion. The evidence that oral leukoplakias are pre-malignant is mainly derived from follow-up studies showing that between < 1 and 18% of oral pre-malignant lesions will develop into oral cancer; it has been shown that certain clinical sub-types of leukoplakia are at a higher risk for malignant transformation than others. The presence of epithelial dysplasia may be even more important in predicting malignant development than the clinical characteristics. Three major problems, however, are attached to the importance of epithelial dysplasia in predicting malignant development: (1) The diagnosis is essentially subjective, (2) it seems that not all lesions exhibiting dysplasia will eventually become malignant and some may even regress, and (3) carcinoma can develop from lesions in which epithelial dysplasia was not diagnosed in previous biopsies. There is, therefore, a substantial need to improve the histologic assessment of epithelial dysplasia or, since epithelial dysplasia does not seem to be invariably associated with or even a necessary prerequisite for malignant development, it may be necessary to develop other methods for predicting the malignant potential of pre-malignant lesions. As a consequence of these problems, numerous attempts have been made to relate biological characteristics to the malignant potential of leukoplakias. Molecular biological markers have been suggested to be of value in the diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of leukoplakias. Markers of epithelial differentiation and, more recently, genomic markers could potentially be good candidates for improving the prognostic evaluation of precursors of oral cancer. As yet, one or a panel of molecular markers has not been determined that allows for a prognostic prediction of oral pre-cancer which is any more reliable than dysplasia recording. However, these new markers could be considered complementary to conventional prognostic evaluation.