Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Culture-Negative Infection After Operative Fixation of Fractures

Objectives: (1) Compare the outcomes of patients with orthopaedic trauma with culture-negative infection with those with pathogens identified; (2) identify the incidence of culture-negative infection and describe the common characteristics. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Two level 1 trauma centers. Patients: A total of 391 patients 16 years of age or older who underwent irrigation and debridement for surgical site infection after having undergone fracture fixation were included. Intervention: Patients underwent irrigation and debridement with cultures, and antibiotic therapy was initiated. Main Outcome Measurement: Treatment failure due to unsuccessful eradication of infection and time to union. Results: We found 9% incidence of culture-negative infection. Approximately one-third of patients in both groups went on to have treatment failure (25% of pathogen-specific infections, 38% of culture-negative infections, P = 0.15), and there was no difference between the 2 groups with regard to time to union (22 vs. 24 weeks, P = 0.55). More than one-third of patients required subsequent reconstructive procedure and 5% of patients in each group required amputation to control their infection. There was no difference between the groups with respect to the use of antibiotics before intervention and culture. Conclusion: This study confirms the devastating effect that postoperative infections can have and suggests that, with clinical sign of infection, negative cultures do not portend a better prognosis. These entities should be treated in a similar manner to infections with positive cultures. Furthermore, we believe that future studies should not strictly rely on the presence of positive intraoperative cultures. Consensus as to what constitutes a clinical infection, in the absence of positive cultures, is needed. Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Temporal Trends in Difficult and Failed Tracheal Intubation in a Regional Community Anesthetic Practice

Background: When tracheal intubation is difficult or unachievable before surgery or during an emergent resuscitation, this is a critical safety event. Consensus algorithms and airway devices have been introduced in hopes of reducing such occurrences. However, evidence of improved safety in clinical practice related to their introduction is lacking. Therefore, we selected a large perioperative database spanning 2002 to 2015 to look for changes in annual rates of difficult and failed tracheal intubation. Methods: Difficult (more than three attempts) and failed (unsuccessful, requiring awakening or surgical tracheostomy) intubation rates in patients 18 yr and older were compared between the early and late periods (pre- vs. post-January 2009) and by annual rate join-point analysis. Primary findings from a large, urban hospital were compared with combined observations from 15 smaller facilities. Results: Analysis of 421,581 procedures identified fourfold reductions in both event rates between the early and late periods (difficult: 6.6 of 1,000 vs. 1.6 of 1,000, P < 0.0001; failed: 0.2 of 1,000 vs. 0.06 of 1,000, P < 0.0001), with join-point analysis identifying two significant change points (2006, P = 0.02; 2010, P = 0.03) including a pre-2006 stable period, a steep drop between 2006 and 2010, and gradual decline after 2010. Data from 15 affiliated practices (442,428 procedures) demonstrated similar reductions. Conclusions: In this retrospective assessment spanning 14 yr (2002 to 2015), difficult and failed intubation rates by skilled providers declined significantly at both an urban hospital and a network of smaller affiliated practices. Further investigations are required to validate these findings in other data sets and more clearly identify factors associated with their occurrence as clues to future airway management advancements. Visual Abstract: An online visual overview is available for this article at http://links.lww. com/ALN/B635.
Generalized time sharing: A low-complexity capacity-achieving multiple-access technique

It is shown that the encoding/decoding problem for any asynchronous M-user memoryless multiple-access channel (MAC) can be reduced to corresponding problems for at most 2M-1 single-user memoryless channels. This is done via a method called generalized time sharing that is closely related to a previously developed method called rate-splitting multiple access. These methods reduce the seemingly hard task of finding good multiple-access codes and implementable decoders for such codes to the much better understood task of finding codes and decoders for single-user channels. As a by-product, some interesting properties of the capacity region of M-user asynchronous discrete memoryless channels are derived.
The gut microbiota of the pine weevil is similar across Europe and resembles that of other conifer‐feeding beetles

The pine weevil (Hylobius abietis, Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is an important pest of conifer seedlings in Europe. Despite its economic importance, little is known about the composition of its gut microbial community and the role it plays in mediating the weevil's ability to utilize conifers as a food source. Here, we characterized the gut bacterial communities of different populations of H. abietis across Europe and compared them to those of other beetles that occupy similar ecological niches. We demonstrate that the microbial community of H. abietis is similar at higher taxonomic levels (family and genus) across locations in Europe, with Wolbachia as the dominant microbe, followed by Enterobacteria and Firmicutes. Despite this similarity, we observed consistent differences between countries and locations, but not sexes. Our meta‐analysis demonstrates that the gut bacterial community of the pine weevil is very similar to that of bark beetles that also exploit conifers as a food source. The Enterobacteriaceae symbionts of both host taxa are especially closely related phylogenetically. Conversely, the microbiota of H. abietis is distinct from that of closely related weevils feeding on nonconifer food sources, suggesting that the microbial community of the pine weevil is determined by the environment and may be relevant to host ecology. Furthermore, several H. abietis‐associated members of the Enterobacteriaceae family are known to contain genes involved in terpenoid degradation. As such, we hypothesize that the gut microbial community is important for the utilization of conifer seedlings as a food source, either through the detoxification of plant secondary metabolites or through the supplementation of essential nutrients.
Back to basics : can we improve the OLS CAPM?

We provide empirical evidence of negative effects caused by endogeneity, associated with the estimation of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), in 11 equity markets. We propose the implementation of two methods to estimate this model – Instrumental Variables (IV) and Two-Step Least Squares (2SLS). The results show that the betas obtained by using 2SLS can significantly predict future market returns a higher percentage of times than the OLS and IV approach. The 2SLS estimates also show a higher forecasting power over the future returns of the own stock.
Validation of a microbiological method: the STAR protocol, a five-plate test, for the screening of antibiotic residues in milk

The results of an in-house laboratory validation of a microbiological method for the screening of antibiotic residues in milk are presented. The sensitivity of this five-plate test, called Screening Test for Antibiotic Residues (STAR), was established by the analysis of milk samples spiked with 66 antibiotics at eight different concentrations. Ten different groups of antibiotics were studied: macrolides, aminoglycosides, cephalosporins, penicillins, quinolones, tetracyclines, sulphonamides, lincosamides, phenicolated and miscellaneous drugs. It was shown that 21 antibiotics were detected by the STAR protocol at or below the maximum residue limit (MRL), and that a further 27 drugs could be detected at levels from the MRL up to four times the MRL. The sensitivity of the STAR protocol was at or below the MRL for three macrolides, one tetracycline, two aminoglycosides, some sulphonamides, half of the beta-lactams, quinolones, lincosamides, trimethoprim and baquiloprim. Moreover, the STAR protocol was at least twice as sensitive as conventional methods for macrolides, quinolones and tetracyclines. The other antibiotics had limits of detection between four and 150 times the MRL. Each plate was preferentially sensitive for one or two families of antibacterials: the plate Bacillus cereus for tetracyclines, the plate Escherichia coli for quinolones, the plate Basillus subtilis for aminoglycosides, the plate Kocuria varians for macrolides, and the plate Bacillus stearothermophilus for sulphonamides and beta-lactams. This method has been used routinely on a day-to-day basis to direct the physicochemical confirmation towards one or two families of antibiotics. Considering the high cost of liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry detection analyses, the reduction of the range of antibiotics to test for confirmation is a significant gain in time and money.
Fine structure mapping of the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) gene region of the human X chromosome (Xq26).

The Xq26-q27 region of the X chromosome is interesting, as an unusually large number of genes and anonymous RFLP probes have been mapped in this area. A number of studies have used classical linkage analysis in families to map this region. Here, we use mutant human T-lymphocyte clones known to be deleted for all or part of the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (hprt) gene, to order anonymous probes known to map to Xq26. Fifty-seven T-cell clones were studied, including 44 derived from in vivo mutation and 13 from in vitro irradiated T-lymphocyte cultures. Twenty anonymous probes (DXS10, DXS11, DXS19, DXS37, DXS42, DXS51, DXS53, DXS59, DXS79, DXS86, DXS92, DXS99, DXS100d, DXS102, DXS107, DXS144, DXS172, DXS174, DXS177, and DNF1) were tested for codeletion with the hprt gene by Southern blotting methods. Five of these probes (DXS10, DXS53, DXS79, DXS86 and DXS177) showed codeletion with hprt in some mutants. The mutants established the following unambiguous ordering of the probes relative to the hprt gene: DXS53-DXS79-5'hprt3'-DXS86-DXS10-DXS177 . The centromere appears to map proximal to DXS53. These mappings order several closely linked but previously unordered probes. In addition, these studies indicate that rather large deletions of the functionally haploid X chromosome can occur while still retaining T-cell viability.
Antisense Inhibition of the 2-Oxoglutarate Dehydrogenase Complex in Tomato Demonstrates Its Importance for Plant Respiration and during Leaf Senescence and Fruit Maturation[W][OA]

Here, antisense inhibition of the E1 subunit of the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex in tomato was associated with generally accelerated development. This report reveals the importance of this mitochondrial enzyme in both photosynthetic and respiratory metabolism, highlighting its significance in programs of plant development connected to carbon–nitrogen interactions. Transgenic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants expressing a fragment of the gene encoding the E1 subunit of the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex in the antisense orientation and exhibiting substantial reductions in the activity of this enzyme exhibit a considerably reduced rate of respiration. They were, however, characterized by largely unaltered photosynthetic rates and fruit yields but restricted leaf, stem, and root growth. These lines displayed markedly altered metabolic profiles, including changes in tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates and in the majority of the amino acids but unaltered pyridine nucleotide content both in leaves and during the progression of fruit ripening. Moreover, they displayed a generally accelerated development exhibiting early flowering, accelerated fruit ripening, and a markedly earlier onset of leaf senescence. In addition, transcript and selective hormone profiling of gibberellins and abscisic acid revealed changes only in the former coupled to changes in transcripts encoding enzymes of gibberellin biosynthesis. The data obtained are discussed in the context of the importance of this enzyme in both photosynthetic and respiratory metabolism as well as in programs of plant development connected to carbon–nitrogen interactions.
Enrichment and identification of human 'fetal' epidermal stem cells.

BACKGROUND Human epidermis, a continuously renewing tissue, is maintained throughout life by stem cells that proliferate and replenish worn-out or damaged cells in the tissue. Cultured human epidermal stem cells have great potential in clinical application. However, isolating and culturing a pure population of epidermal stem cells has proven to be challenging. METHODS AND RESULTS We show that p63, a new marker for epidermal stem cells, is expressed in the basal layer of human fetal epidermis using immunohistochemistry, and that keratinocytes with the characteristics of stem cells can be isolated from the epidermis of aborted human fetuses aged >/=20 weeks based on high expression of beta(1) integrins by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Furthermore, the enriched population showed the expression of molecular markers of putative human epidermal stem cells under a confocal microscope and a high colony formation efficiency when it was cultured at a clonal density. Under an electron microscope the sorted stem cells exhibited a high nuclear:cytoplasmic ratio and fewer organelles than the transit amplifying cells. The cultured epidermal stem cells can also be amplified and induced to terminal differentiation by suspension in vitro. CONCLUSIONS Human 'fetal' epidermal stem cells have been successfully isolated and cultured in vitro. The cultured human epidermal stem cells could be used as a tool for studying stem cell biology and testing stem cell therapy.
Reports of Fewer Activity Limitations: Recovery, Survey Fatigue, or Switching Respondent?

Background:Very little is known about the validity and reliability of disability dynamics reported in household surveys, and some researchers argue that measurement error likely plays a large part in reported recovery from disability. Objectives:We assessed the reliability of reported recovery from activity limitations elicited from 2 types of questions. We assessed competing hypotheses explaining reported recoveries from disability: people are less likely to recover from more severe disabilities, switching between self- and proxy-response affects reported recovery, and survey fatigue reduces reported disability. Methods:Using the second panel of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, we estimated kappas for 2 types of questions in the same interview about limitations in activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. We estimated multinomial logit models of consistently reported recovery, consistently reported ongoing limitations, and inconsistent responses. Recovery is a function of severity, switching respondent, measures of survey burden (such as family size), age, and education. Results:Within an interview, we found substantial reliability for both instrumental activities of daily living and activities of daily living limitations (kappa = 0.62 and 0.70, respectively). Sample members with more severe disabilities are less likely to report recovery, which is consistent with accurate reporting. Controlling for severity, the type of respondent affects reported recovery. Measures of survey burden did not affect reports. Conclusion:Researchers can be confident in reports of recovery in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, especially when disability status was self-reported in both interviews. Researchers may also want to control for proxy respondents and switching respondents in their analyses.
West Nile Encephalitis

Abstract: West Nile virus was identified by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as the etiologic agent in four encephalitis fatalities in New York City in the late summer of 1999. Fever and profound muscle weakness were the predominant symptoms. Autopsy disclosed encephalitis in two instances and meningoencephalitis in the remaining two. The inflammation was mostly mononuclear and formed microglial nodules and perivascular clusters in the white and gray matter. The brain stem, particularly the medulla, was involved most extensively. In two brains, cranial nerve roots had endoneural mononuclear inflammtion. In addition, one person had acute pancreatitis. On the basis of our experience, we offer recommendations for the autopsy evaluation of suspected WNV fatalities.
Carbohydrate Transport by the Anaerobic Thermophile Clostridium thermocellum LQRI

Clostridium thermocellum is an anaerobic thermophilic bacterium which degrades cellulose and ferments the resulting glucose, cellobiose, and cellodextrins predominantly to ethanol. However, relatively little information was available on carbohydrate uptake by this bacterium. Washed cells internalized intact oligomers as large as cellopentaose. Since cellobiose and cellodextrin phosphorylase activities were detected in the cytosol and were not associated with cell membranes, phosphorylation of carbohydrates occurred intracellularly. Kinetic studies indicated that cellobiose and larger cellodextrins were taken up by a common uptake system while glucose entered via a separate mechanism. When cells were treated with metabolic inhibitors including iodoacetate and arsenate, the uptake of radiolabeled glucose or cellobiose was reduced by as much as 90%, and this reduction was associated with a 95% decline in intracellular ATP content. A combination of the ionophores nigericin and valinomycin abolished the proton-motive force but only slightly decreased transport and ATP. These results suggested that the two modes of carbohydrate transport in C. thermocellum were ATP dependent. This work is the first demonstration of cellodextrin transport by a cellulolytic bacterium.
PDN Impedance Modeling and Analysis of 3D TSV IC by Using Proposed P/G TSV Array Model Based on Separated P/G TSV and Chip-PDN Models

The impedance of a power-distribution network (PDN) in three-dimensionally stacked chips with multiple through-silicon-via (TSV) connections (a 3D TSV IC) was modeled and analyzed using a power/ground (P/G) TSV array model based on separated P/G TSV and chip-PDN models at frequencies up to 20 GHz. The proposed modeling and analysis methods for the P/G TSV and chip-PDN are fundamental for estimating the PDN impedances of 3D TSV ICs because they are composed of several chip-PDNs and several thousands of P/G TSV connections. Using the proposed P/G TSV array model, we obtained very efficient analyses and estimations of 3D TSV IC PDNs, including the effects of TSV inductance and multiple-TSV inductance, depending on P/G TSV arrangement and the number of stacked chip-PDNs of a 3D TSV IC PDN. Inductances related to TSVs, combined with chip-PDN inductance and capacitance, created high upper peaks of PDN impedance, near 1 GHz. Additionally, the P/G TSV array produced various TSV array inductance effects on stacked chip-PDN impedance, according to their arrangement, and induced high PDN impedance, over 10 GHz.
The use of mixture models for identifying high risks in disease mapping

Conventional approaches for estimating risks in disease mapping or mortality studies are based on Poisson inference. Frequently, overdispersion is present and this extra variability is modelled by introducing random effects. In this paper we compare two computationally simple approaches for incorporating random effects: one based on a non‐parametric mixture model assuming that the population arises from a discrete mixture of Poisson distributions, and the second using a Poisson‐normal mixture model which allows for spatial autocorrelation. The comparison is focused on how well each of these methods identify the regions which have high risks. Such identification is important because policy makers may wish to target regions associated with such extreme risks for financial assistance while epidemiologists may wish to target such regions for further study. The Poisson‐normal mixture model is presented from both a frequentist, or empirical Bayes, and a fully Bayesian point of view. We compare results obtained with the parametric and non‐parametric models specifically in terms of detecting extreme mortality risks, using infant mortality data of British Columbia, Canada, for the period 1981–1985, breast cancer data from Sardinia, for the period 1983–1987, and Scottish lip cancer data for 1975–1980. However, we also investigate the performance of these models in a simulation study. The key finding is that discrete mixture models seem to be able to locate regions which experience high risks; normal mixture models also work well in this regard, and perform substantially better when spatial autocorrelation is present. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Manifestation and Structural Analysis of Civil Awareness:A Case Study of Chengdu City

By and large,civic awareness,which is the premise and basis of civil society,refers to social members' cognitive,emotional,and behavioral tendencies towards civil society.Based on an empirical study of Chengdu citizens' awareness and behaviors,the paper demonstrates the meaning,structure,status and characteristics of civic awareness.And in accordance with Civil Society Diamond,it also builds Civic Awareness Diamond(CAD),i.e.the four-dimensional visual map of civic awareness,analyzing the citizens' awareness of civil rights and obligations,interest in public affairs,identification of civil social value,and intention of participative behaviors.
Dental Restorations for Dinka and Nuer Refugees: A Confluence of Culture and Healing

The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25, and the Self-reporting Questionnaire-24 were used to evaluate distress among 22 Dinka and Nuer refugees to the US before and after complete restoration of four to six lower front teeth that had been extracted during childhood in Sudan. Participants reported significant improvement in levels of distress following full restoration of missing teeth, including symptoms of PTSD. These results illustrate the value of incorporating community perspectives into the selection of health treatment options for newly arriving populations. But they also emphasize the unique situation faced by each refugee population as they embark on a wholly new cultural learning process.
Alcohol: Does It Make You Successful? A Longitudinal Analysis

This thesis analyzes the link between alcohol consumption and labor market outcomes, such as income, employment or hazard rate of leaving unemployment. It does so by using panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) forthe period 2006 until 2010. While cross-sectional methods show a positive relationship between non-abusive alcohol consumption and labor market outcomes, fixed effects methods do not confirm a causal effect of alcohol consumption on labor market outcomes. These results suggest, that the often replicated, cross-sectional finding of a positive relationship between income and alcohol consumption (alcohol income puzzle) is due to selection bias.