Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Results of a randomized trial of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in patients with infection and severe granulocytopenia

A study was carried out to investigate the efficacy and toxicity of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in the treatment of infection in 119 severely granulocytopenic patients with hematological malignancies after intensive chemotherapy. Patients were assigned randomly to receive either antibiotics alone (ceftazidime, 2 g, i.v., every 8 h + amikacin 7.5 mg/kg, i.v., every 12 h) or the same antimicrobial regimen plus G-CSF (5 µg/kg/day, s.c). Measurements were clinical improvement, eradication of infection and toxicity. Patients who received antibiotics plus G-CSF had more clinical responses (82 versus 60%), less superinfections (6 versus 20%), less mortality (5 versus 15 patients), less days in hospital (median 10 versus 27) and reduced antibiotic usage compared to patients who received only antibiotics. Hematological recovery (granulocytes > 1.0 × 109/l) was also shorter in these patients (12 versus 23 days). Fungal infections occurred only in the group treated with antibiotics alone. Toxicity secondary to G-CSF was absent. We conclude that the addition of G-CSF to broad spectrum antibiotics is useful in selected patients with severe granulocytopenia after intensive chemotherapy and infection, because it may improve the outcome in these patients.
RNA interference-based therapeutics for human immunodeficiency virus HIV-1 treatment: synthetic siRNA or vector-based shRNA?

Importance of the field: Despite the clinical benefits of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the prospect of life-long antiretroviral treatment poses significant problems, which has spurred interest in developing new drugs and strategies to treat HIV infection and eliminate persistent viral reservoirs. RNAi has emerged as a therapeutic possibility for HIV. Areas covered in this review: We discuss progress in overcoming hurdles to translating transient and stable RNAi enabling technologies to clinical application for HIV; covering the past 2 – 3 years. What the reader will gain: HIV inhibition can be achieved by transfection of chemically or enzymatically synthesized siRNAs or by DNA-based vector systems expressing short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) that are processed intracellularly into siRNA. We compare these approaches, focusing on technical and safety issues that will guide the choice of strategy for clinical use. Take home message: Introduction of synthetic siRNA into cells or its stable endogenous production using vector-driven shRNA have been shown to suppress HIV replication in vitro and, in some instances, in vivo. Each method has advantages and limitations in terms of ease of delivery, duration of silencing, emergence of escape mutants and potential toxicity. Both appear to have potential as future therapeutics for HIV, once the technical and safety issues of each approach are overcome.
Molecular Analysis of Microbial Diversity in Advanced Caries

ABSTRACT Real-time PCR analysis of the total bacterial load in advanced carious lesions has shown that the total load exceeds the number of cultivable bacteria. This suggests that an unresolved complexity exists in bacteria associated with advanced caries. In this report, the profile of the microflora of carious dentine was explored by using DNA extracted from 10 lesions selected on the basis of comparable total microbial load and on the relative abundance of Prevotella spp. Using universal primers for the 16S rRNA gene, PCR amplicons were cloned, and approximately 100 transformants were processed for each lesion. Phylogenetic analysis of 942 edited sequences demonstrated the presence of 75 species or phylotypes in the 10 carious lesions. Up to 31 taxa were represented in each sample. A diverse array of lactobacilli were found to comprise 50% of the species, with prevotellae also abundant, comprising 15% of the species. Other taxa present in a number of lesions or occurring with high abundance included Selenomonas spp. , Dialister spp. , Fusobacterium nucleatum, Eubacterium spp. , members of the Lachnospiraceae family, Olsenella spp. , Bifidobacterium spp. , Propionibacterium sp. , and Pseudoramibacter alactolyticus. The mechanisms by which such diverse patterns of bacteria extend carious lesions, including the aspect of infection of the vital dental pulp, remain unclear.
An improved noise robust localized motion imaging for monitoring HIFU treatment

High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a minimally invasive treatment modality for cancerous tumors. The monitoring of HIFU treatment is extremely important. Localized motion imaging (LMI) is a HIFU monitoring method basing on Harmonic motion method (HMI). It estimates the coagulation length by detecting the change of tissue stiffness. However, the previous LMI is not robust to noise, thus two techniques are employed to improve its noise robustness in this study. First, dynamic cross correlation window (DCCW) is used to obtain vibration amplitude with noise suppression. Second, vibration-frequency band pass filter (VBPF) is employed to calculate the amount of vibration with expected frequency. The qualitative evaluation indicates that the two techniques are able to suppress the affection of noise on the vibration amplitude and vibration amount, respectively. Furthermore, the quantitative comparison demonstrates that the improved LMI is able to give higher accuracy of coagulation length estimation than the previous LMI, and it reduces the root mean square error (RMSE) from 2.52 to 1.84 mm. In this article, an improved noise robust LMI is proposed for monitoring HIFU treatment.
What influences the home range size of free-roaming domestic dogs?

SUMMARY In many regions of the world domestic dogs are free roaming and live in close relationship with humans. These free-roaming domestic dogs (FRDD) can cause public health problems such as dog bites and transmission of infectious diseases. To effectively control diseases transmitted by FRDD, knowledge on the dogs’ behaviour is required. To identify predictors of home range (HR) size, we collected global positioning system data from 135 FRDD living in eight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Northern Australia. The core HR size ranged from 0·17 to 2·33 ha and the extended HR size from 0·86 to 40·46 ha. Using a linear mixed effect model with a Restricted Maximum Likelihood approach, the dog's sex and reproductive status were identified as predictors of roaming. Non-castrated males had the largest HRs, followed by neutered females. Also, FRDDs were found to roam further during the pre- than the post-wet season. These findings have implications for infectious disease spread. Identification of risk groups for disease spread within a population allows for more targeted disease response and surveillance. Further investigation of predictors of roaming in other FRDD populations worldwide would increase the external validity of such studies.
A compact multiband NRI-TL metamaterial-loaded planar antenna for heart failure monitoring

A compact, planar antenna is proposed, which uses negative-refractive-index transmission-line (NRI-TL) metamaterial loading in order to achieve multiband operation with orthogonal pattern diversity in different bands. The antenna occupies a small footprint, which is a key requirement for its future use in a heart failure monitoring system. It is shown that by employing two metamaterial unit cells as the main radiators, this produces a dipolar mode at 1.43 GHz and 1.92 GHz and an orthogonal folded monopole mode at 4.18 GHz. The associated -10 dB bandwidths around each of these frequencies are 24 MHz, 57 MHz and 372 MHz, while the corresponding gain and radiation efficiency are 0.82 dBi (71%), 1.27 dBi (75%) and 2.13 dBi (90%), respectively. The total size of the antenna is 30 × 36 × 1.59 mm3, while the height of each radiating arm is only 5 mm.
Improved PKI Solution for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Due to unreliable wireless media, dynamic network topology and lack of infrastructure of mobile ad hoc network, it is very vulnerable to security threats and can be attacked more easily. Mobile ad hoc network security is becoming the problem which restricted it to be applied in actual world. The infrastructure-less nature and network dynamics of mobile ad hoc networks make the conventional PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) less suitable. In this paper, we present these challenges in detail, identify the requirements for such solutions, and propose an improved PKI solution for mobile ad hoc networks.
High-throughput transfection and engineering of primary cells and cultured cell lines – an invaluable tool for research as well as drug development

The manipulation of eukaryotic cells by introducing nucleic acids and other substrates using chemical, physical or viral methods is one of the ground-breaking tools in the life sciences. Changes in the molecular equipment of a cell induced by introducing different molecules not only enable the dissection of signal transduction and metabolic pathways, but also allow the exploitation of engineered cells as bio-factories for the production of proteins in the processes of target research and drug development. In addition to the application of engineered cells for modern cell-based assays, medically relevant engineered cells can be used in clinical settings for adoptive immunotherapy or gene therapy. With the advent of methods exploiting RNA interference (RNAi), gene identification and functional validation in eukaryotic cells have clearly become one of the most exciting methods in life sciences during the past few years. To accelerate research and development in these areas, high-quality, high-throughput approaches (i.e., using sample formats of at least 96 wells) for cell engineering are needed with increasing demand. Recent developments, especially in the field of electroporation, now allow the efficient, high-throughput engineering of virtually any cell type, including primary cells, many of which were previously considered difficult or even impossible to transfect. Primary cells freshly isolated from native tissues are gaining more and more interest, as data obtained with these cells are considered to be of higher physiological relevance than data obtained with immortalized cell lines that have been cultured for extensive periods. In this review, the various methods for cell engineering (with focus on higher eukaryotic cells) are summarized and their impact for high-throughput applications in research and drug development is discussed.
“Critical literacy seems really interesting, but why talk about menstruation?” A critical literacy approach to teaching and learning about menstruation

ii Acknowledgements:. iii List of Figures . viii Chapter One: Introduction . 1 The research approach . 2 Who am I? 5 What is in this thesis? 6 Chapter Two: Theoretical Framework: Feminist Poststructuralism and Critical Literacy . 9 Introduction . 9 Poststructuralism . 10 Language . 10 Discourse . 13 Subjectivity . 17 Power . 21 Positioning . 24 Agency . 27 Feminist poststructuralism . 32 Critical theory . 34 Critical literacy . 36 Conclusion . 41
Operation Schemes of Smart Distribution Networks With Distributed Energy Resources for Loss Reduction and Service Restoration

The integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) into the future Smart Distribution Network (SDN) has challenging issues regarding the successful development of smart grids. The SDN offers new opportunities in the improvement of the efficiency of power distribution networks. The DERs will be distributed in the existing distribution networks, interconnected in customer areas and operated on its own schedule without communication to the control center of the existing distribution system. The DER units have both positive and negative effects regarding SDN operations. With the appropriate operation of the DER units in the SDN, losses can be reduced during normal operations and they can support local loads during abnormal conditions. Thus, the positive effects of the DER units need to be enabled in the SDN by adopting advanced operation schemes. In this paper, the smart control functions for the DER units in the SDN are defined and classified. In addition, the integration schemes for the SDN with DER units are introduced. The proposed operation strategies will be implemented into the Korean Smart Distribution Management System (KSDMS) as operation schemes used for loss reduction and service restoration. A sample case study shows the effectiveness of the proposed operation schemes to achieve smart operation functions for the SDN with DER units.
Ecological and Genetic Determinants of Pepino Mosaic Virus Emergence

ABSTRACT Virus emergence is a complex phenomenon, which generally involves spread to a new host from a wild host, followed by adaptation to the new host. Although viruses account for the largest fraction of emerging crop pathogens, knowledge about their emergence is incomplete. We address here the question of whether Pepino Mosaic Virus (PepMV) emergence as a major tomato pathogen worldwide could have involved spread from wild to cultivated plant species and host adaptation. For this, we surveyed natural populations of wild tomatoes in southern Peru for PepMV infection. PepMV incidence, genetic variation, population structure, and accumulation in various hosts were analyzed. PepMV incidence in wild tomatoes was high, and a strain not yet reported in domestic tomato was characterized. This strain had a wide host range within the Solanaceae, multiplying efficiently in most assayed Solanum species and being adapted to wild tomato hosts. Conversely, PepMV isolates from tomato crops showed evidence of adaptation to domestic tomato, possibly traded against adaptation to wild tomatoes. Phylogenetic reconstructions indicated that the most probable ancestral sequence came from a wild Solanum species. A high incidence of PepMV in wild tomato relatives would favor virus spread to crops and its efficient multiplication in different Solanum species, including tomato, allowing its establishment as an epidemic pathogen. Later, adaptation to tomato, traded off against adaptation to other Solanum species, would isolate tomato populations from those in other hosts. IMPORTANCE Virus emergence is a complex phenomenon involving multiple ecological and genetic factors and is considered to involve three phases: virus encounter with the new host, virus adaptation to the new host, and changes in the epidemiological dynamics. We analyze here if this was the case in the recent emergence of Pepino Mosaic Virus (PepMV) in tomato crops worldwide. We characterized a new strain of PepMV infecting wild tomato populations in Peru. Comparison of this strain with PepMV isolates from tomato crops, plus phylogenetic reconstructions, supports a scenario in which PepMV would have spread to crops from wild tomato relatives, followed by adaptation to the new host and eventually leading to population isolation. Our data, which derive from the analysis of field isolates rather than from experimental evolution approaches, significantly contribute to understanding of plant virus emergence, which is necessary for its anticipation and prevention.
A Data-Driven Fault Diagnosis Methodology in Three-Phase Inverters for PMSM Drive Systems

Permanent magnet synchronous motor and power electronics-based three-phase inverter are the major components in the modern industrial electric drive system, such as electrical actuators in an all-electric subsea Christmas tree. Inverters are the weakest components in the drive system, and power switches are the most vulnerable components in inverters. Fault detection and diagnosis of inverters are extremely necessary for improving drive system reliability. Motivated by solving the uncertainty problem in fault diagnosis of inverters, which is caused by various reasons, such as bias and noise of sensors, this paper proposes a Bayesian network-based data-driven fault diagnosis methodology of three-phase inverters. Two output line-to-line voltages for different fault modes are measured, the signal features are extracted using fast Fourier transform, the dimensions of samples are reduced using principal component analysis, and the faults are detected and diagnosed using Bayesian networks. Simulated and experimental data are used to train the fault diagnosis model, as well as validate the proposed fault diagnosis methodology.
Detection of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli isolated using molecular approaches.

Escherichia coli strains are among the major bacterial causes of diarrheal illness. There are now seven classes of diarrheagenic E. coli (DEC), namely enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), diarrhea-associated hemolytic E. coli (DHEC) and Cytolethal Distending Toxin (CDT)-producing E. coli. Due to the need for costly and labor-intensive diagnostic procedures, identification of DEC is difficult at standard laboratories. Therefore, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) or dot blot has been used for genetic detection of DEC of 25 E. coli isolates from different sources. Amplification of eae (277 bp), bfp (266 bp), stx1 (154 bp), EAST (94 bp), stx2 (698 bp) and elt (450 bp) genes of a single product in separate reactions was produced. PCR showed ability to amplify and detected genes of the most common important categories of diarrheagenic E. coli isolates of different sources, it is possible implementation of this technique to diagnosis water, foodborne outbreaks related to E. coli. Dots blot and sequence analysis used to confirm the results of PCR.
Efficacy of weaning protocol in medical intensive care unit of tertiary care center.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of the protocol-directed weaning from a mechanical ventilator compared to physician-directed weaning. MATERIAL AND METHOD A comparative study between retrospective studies of physician-directed weaning as controls (N = 198) reviewed from July 2000 to July 2002 and the prospective studies of protocol-directed weaning as intervention (N = 196) enrolled from October 2002 to October 2003 in the medical ICU of Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital, tertiary care center of northern Thailand. Study results were concluded by Fisher's exact test. RESULTS Baseline characteristics data of both groups including sex, age, illness severity which demonstrated by APACHE II score and PaO2/FiO2 ratio, causes of respiratory failure and mode of mechanical ventilation used were similar. The duration of mechanical ventilation before weaning was 5.89 +/- 3.71 days in the protocol-directed group and 7.41 +/- 5.54 days in the physician-directed group (p < 0.05). Weaning duration in the protocol-directed group was significantly shorter than the physician-directed group (14.58 +/- 16. 98 hours VS 47.09 +/- 38.23 hours; p < 0.05). Kaplan-Meire analysis demonstrated that patients in the protocol-directed group had significantly shorter durations of mechanical ventilation compared to patients in the physician-directed group (p = 0.001, log-rank test). The ICU LOS was significantly shorter in the protocol-directed group (7.91 +/- 4.71 vs 11.53 +/- 7.80 days; p < 0.05). The 28 days mortality rate and the incidence of hospital acquired pneumonia seemed to be less in the protocol-directed group (4.60% vs 6.10% and 5.60% vs 10.10% consecutively) and reintubation rate seemed to be higher in the protocol-directed group (6.1% vs 4.5%) than the physician-directed group but differences were not significant (p > 0. 05). CONCLUSION Protocol-directed weaning proved to have more efficacy in weaning patients from a ventilator than physician-directed weaning in terms of weaning duration and ICU length of stay without a deteriorating effect to the patients.
In vitro activity and post-antibiotic effects of colistin in combination with other antimicrobials against colistin-resistant KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae bloodstream isolates.

OBJECTIVES Combination therapy is recommended for the treatment of KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPC-Kp), but the optimal regimen for colistin-resistant strains is unknown. We compared the synergistic activity and post-antibiotic effect (PAE) of colistin in combination with other antimicrobials against colistin-susceptible and -resistant KPC-Kp bloodstream isolates. METHODS The genotypes of nine colistin-susceptible and eight colistin-resistant KPC-Kp bloodstream isolates were analysed using PCR and amplicon sequencing. Combinations of colistin, meropenem, tigecycline, rifampicin and teicoplanin were then screened using the Etest, a chequerboard assay and time-kill studies. Synergistic combinations were also analysed with respect to the PAE in time-kill curves and the PAE at clinically achievable concentrations. RESULTS Insertional inactivation of the PhoQ/PhoB two-component regulatory system by mgrB-IS5 was identified in 6/8 (75%) colistin-resistant KPC-Kp. Colistin/rifampicin combinations resulted in no interactions [fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) indices 1.5-2] for colistin-susceptible strains, but were uniformly synergistic (FIC indices 0.1-0.4) against colistin-resistant KPC-Kp. Time-kill kinetic analysis, at clinically achievable fixed concentrations of rifampicin and colistin, confirmed synergy and produced persistent growth inhibition (3 h) of colistin-resistant KPC-Kp strains exposed to colistin/rifampicin or colistin/rifampicin/tigecycline combinations. CONCLUSIONS Combinations of colistin plus rifampicin, and less frequently tigecycline, exhibited synergistic activity in vitro against colistin-resistant KPC-Kp strains.
There and Back Again: A General Approach to Learning Sparse Models

We propose a simple and efficient approach to learning sparse models. Our approach consists of (1) projecting the data into a lower dimensional space, (2) learning a dense model in the lower dimensional space, and then (3) recovering the sparse model in the original space via compressive sensing. We apply this approach to Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF), tensor decomposition and linear classification—showing that it obtains 10× compression with negligible loss in accuracy on real data, and obtains up to 5× speedups. Our main theoretical contribution is to show the following result for NMF: if the original factors are sparse, then their projections are the sparsest solutions to the projected NMF problem. This explains why our method works for NMF and shows an interesting new property of random projections: they can preserve the solutions of non-convex optimization problems such as NMF.
Mismatch and Assimilation

Income disparity across countries has been large and widening over time. We develop a tractable model where factor requirements in production technology do not necessarily match a country's factor input profile. Appropriate assimilation of frontier technologies balances such multi-dimensional factor input-technology mismatch, thus mitigating the efficiency loss. This yields a new measure for endogenous TFP, entailing a novel trade-off between a country's income level and income growth that depends critically on the assimilation ability and the factor input mismatch. Our baseline model accounts for 80%-92% of the global income variation over the past 50 years. The widening of mismatch and heterogeneity in the assimilation ability account for 41% and 20% of the global growth variation, whereas physical capital accounts for about one third with human capital largely inconsequential. In particular, about 30% of the output growth in miracle Asian economies comes from narrowing the gap arisen from mismatch, and 94% of the growth stagnation in trapped African economies due to the widening mismatch. A country may fall into a middle-income trap after a factor advantage reversal that changes the pattern of mismatch.