Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relative host body condition and food availability influence epidemic dynamics: a Poecilia reticulata-Gyrodactylus turnbulli host-parasite model

SUMMARY Understanding disease transmission is important to species management and human health. Host body condition, nutrition and disease susceptibility interact in a complex manner, and while the individual effects of these variables are well known, our understanding of how they interact and translate to population dynamics is limited. Our objective was to determine whether host relative body condition influences epidemic dynamics, and how this relationship is affected by food availability. Poecilia reticulata (guppies) of roughly similar size were selected and assembled randomly into populations of 10 guppies assigned to 3 different food availability treatments, and the relative condition index (Kn) of each fish was calculated. We infected 1 individual per group (‘source’ fish) with Gyrodactyus turnbulli and counted parasites on each fish every other day for 10 days. Epidemic parameters for each population were analysed using generalized linear models. High host Kn—particularly that of the ‘source’ fish—exerted a positive effect on incidence, peak parasite burden, and the degree of parasite aggregation. Low food availability increased the strength of the associations with peak burden and aggregation. Our findings suggest that host Kn and food availability interact to influence epidemic dynamics, and that the condition of the individual that brings the parasite into the host population has a profound impact on the spread of infection.
Routing in intermittently connected mobile ad hoc networks and delay tolerant networks: overview and challenges

n the last few years, there has been much research activity in mobile, wireless, ad hoc networks (MANET). MANETs are infrastructure-less, and nodes in the networks are constantly moving. In MANETs, nodes can directly communicate with each other if they enter each others' communication range. A node can terminate packets or forward packets (serve as a relay). Thus, a packet traverses an ad hoc network by being relayed from one node to another, until it reaches its destination. As nodes are moving, this becomes a challenging task, since the topology of the network is in constant change. How to find a destination, how to route to that destination, and how to insure robust communication in the face of constant topology change are major challenges in mobile ad hoc networks. Routing in mobile ad hoc networks is a well-studied topic. To accommodate the dynamic topology of mobile ad hoc networks, an abundance of routing protocols have recent-For all these routing protocols, it is implicitly assumed that the network is connected and there is a contemporaneous end-to-end path between any source and destination pair. However, in a physical ad hoc network, the assumption that there is a contemporaneous end-to-end path between any source and destination pair may not be true, as illustrated below. In MANETs, when nodes are in motion, links can be obstructed by intervening objects. When nodes must conserve power, links are shut down periodically. These events result in intermittent connectivity. At any given time, when no path exists between source and destination, network partition is said to occur. Thus, it is perfectly possible that two nodes may never be part of the same connected portion of the network. Figure 1 illustrates the time evolving behavior in intermittent-ABSTRACT Recently there has been much research activity in the emerging area of intermittently connected ad hoc networks and delay/disruption tolerant networks (DTN). There are different types of DTNs, depending on the nature of the network environment. Routing in DTNs is one of the key components in the DTN architecture. Therefore, in the last few years researchers have proposed different routing protocols for different types of DTNs. In this article we capture the state of the art in routing protocols in DTNs. We categorize these routing protocols based on information used. For deter-ministic time evolving networks, three main approaches are discussed: the tree approach, the space and time approach, and the modified shortest …
Reducing postoperative seroma by closing of axillary space.

BACKGROUND Seroma is a common complication after mastectomy. Most postoperative seroma occur at the axilla. Many previous studies had tried to reduce seroma formation after mastectomy by multimodalities. Closing the dead space gave a good result for many previous retrospective studies but limited number of randomized control study. OBJECTIVE To reduce postoperative seroma by closing the axillary space as a randomized control study and to evaluate the incidence of seroma formation at the axilla as a prospective randomized control trial in axillary space closure by suturing a skin flap to the underlying chest wall after MRM. MATERIAL AND METHOD Total consecutive 16 patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer at Rajavithi Hospital by pathologic examination from May 2005 to May 2006 and signed informed consent was obtained in the present study. All patients were randomized after mastectomy before wound closure into the control group or study group. In the control group, the wound was closed conventionally. In the study group, axillary space was closed by suturing the skin flap to the underlying muscle, 3 points at mid axillary line. Patients' characteristics and operative related factors were recorded and compared between the two groups. All patients received ultrasonographic examination at axilla two weeks after discharge. RESULTS There were eight patients in the control group and eight patients in the study group. The patients' characteristic and tumor characteristics were recorded and compared. There was no statistical significance of BMI, tumor size, and hormonal status between the two groups. In the study group, the patients age was significantly higher There was no statistical significance of seroma thickness at the axilla between control group and study group (1.77 +/- 1.00 vs. 1.00 +/- 0.22, p = 0.067). CONCLUSION There was no statistically significant difference of seroma thickness at the axilla between the two groups. Further study with a larger sample size is required.
A Novel Polyvinylidene Fluoride Tree-Like Nanofiber Membrane for Microfiltration

A novel polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) tree-like nanofiber membrane (PVDF-TLNM) was fabricated by adding tetrabutylammonium chloride (TBAC) into a PVDF spinning solution via one-step electrospinning. The structure of the prepared membranes was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and pore size analysis, and the hydrophilic property and microfiltration performance were also evaluated. The results showed that the tree-like nanofiber was composed of trunk fibers and branch fibers with diameters of 100–500 nm and 5–100 nm, respectively. The pore size of PVDF-TLNM (0.36 μm) was smaller than that of a common nanofiber membrane (3.52 μm), and the hydrophilic properties of the membranes were improved significantly. The PVDF-TLNM with a thickness of 30 ± 2 μm showed a satisfactory retention ratio of 99.9% against 0.3 μm polystyrene (PS) particles and a high pure water flux of 2.88 × 104 L·m−2·h−1 under the pressure of 25 psi. This study highlights the potential benefits of this novel PVDF tree-like nanofiber membrane in the membrane field, which can achieve high flux rates at low pressure.
Viewing and participating: Blog visualization and its learning outcomes in blended learning

This study reports on the effects of visualizing blogs on student learning. The research was conducted in a blended-format undergraduate course on English in the workplace for engineering students. In online learning research, visualizing online posts, such as forum and blog entries, has been explored. However, although technical issues have often been emphasized in the literature, the impact of these visualizations on student online behavior and learning outcomes remain unexplored. Phase 1 research executed by the authors revealed that viewing the online performance of other members can function as a self-regulatory mechanism to facilitate the participation of class members. Phase 2 forms the core of this paper. It measured the objective learning outcomes of students under the performance monitoring condition facilitated by a blog visualization tool. In addition, mobile access to blog writing was tested with the aim of increasing access to writing opportunity. Pre- and post-tests in English writing were administered, which revealed a positive change in writing proficiency for two-thirds of the students. This research revealed only the weak utility of mobile access. The study concluded that visualized self and class monitoring could produce higher learning outcomes in the targeted skill when accompanied by a clear and appropriately challenging goal for online participation.
Extended Family and Friendship Support Networks Are Both Protective and Risk Factors for Major Depressive Disorder and Depressive Symptoms Among African-Americans and Black Caribbeans

Abstract This study explores relationships between lifetime and 12-month Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) major depressive disorder (MDD), depressive symptoms, and involvement with family and friends within a national sample of African-American and Black Caribbean adults (n = 5191). MDD was assessed using the DSM-IV World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression subscale and the K6. Findings indicated that among both populations, close supportive ties with family members and friends are associated with lower rates of depression and MDD. For African-Americans, closeness to family members was important for both 12-month and lifetime MDD, and both family and friend closeness were important for depressive symptoms. For Caribbean Blacks, family closeness had more limited associations with outcomes and was directly associated with psychological distress only. Negative interactions with family (conflict, criticisms), however, were associated with higher MDD and depressive symptoms among both African-Americans and Black Caribbeans.
Post-traumatic stress disorder in physically abused adolescents.

OBJECTIVE In an investigation of the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other Axis I psychiatric disorders, and social and behavioral difficulties, 27 physically abused adolescents were compared with 27 nonabused controls who were recruited through random-digit dialing procedures. METHOD The Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnosis (PTSD module), Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, and Youth Self-Report were administered to all subjects; mothers were interviewed regarding their adolescent's behavior using the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children and Child Behavior Checklist. RESULTS The three physically abused adolescents who received a diagnosis of PTSD on the PTSD module of the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnosis reported their PTSD symptoms were in reaction to extrafamilial sexual assaults and not to physical abuse. In contrast, the abused adolescents showed significantly higher prevalence rates of depression, conduct disorder, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, and social deficits. CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that physically abused adolescents may be more at risk for behavioral and social difficulties than for PTSD.
Full-Wave Analysis and Computation of Radiation Characteristics for Reconfigurable Plasma Antennas

A full-wave analytical theory has been developed and numerically solved for finding the radiation characteristics of the plasma column antenna for both guided- and leaky-mode configurations using electric and magnetic field vector potentials and the polarization current method. In the guided mode, the wave propagates through the plasma column axially and is radiated in the endfire direction, while in the leaky mode, the wave leaks along the broadside of the column in the normal direction and is attenuated axially. The radiation regions for these modes are classified by the dispersion (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\omega $ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\beta $ </tex-math></inline-formula>) diagram that determines an axial phase propagation constant as a function of frequency. The analytical radiation characteristic findings are validated computationally using CST-MW Studio software. The effective axial length of the plasma generated inside the tube can be gradually increased or decreased as a function of input power, which, in turn, helps to tune/retune the resonant plasma antenna to the desired frequency. This type of antenna is useful for RADAR and communication systems where a continuous change in frequency could be required.
Bridging Knowledge Gaps in Policy Analysis with Information Visualization

Today’s politicians are confronted with new (digital) ways to tackle complex decision-making problems. In order to make the right decisions profound analysis of the problems and possible solutions has to be performed. Therefore policy analysts need to collaborate with external experts consulted as advisors. Due to different expertises of these stakeholders the whole process may suffer from knowledge gaps. In our approach, we describe a concept to bridge these knowledge gaps by introducing information visualization and visual analytics to the policy analysis domain. Therefore, we refine a standard policy cycle at the stages relevant for the policy analysis. Secondly, we characterize the main stakeholders in the process, and identify knowledge gaps between these roles. Finally, we emphasize the merits of including advanced visualization techniques into the policy analysis process, and describe visualization as a facet bridging the knowledge gaps in a collaborative policy making life-cycle.
Treatment-Seeking Decisions of Women with Acute Myocardial Infarction

ABSTRACT Women who experience symptoms of an acute myocardial infarction (MI) are less likely than men to seek medical attention after the onset of initial symptoms. The purpose of this study was to facilitate a better understanding of the treatment-seeking decisions of women who seek emergency evaluation for symptoms suggestive of MI. A qualitative, semi-structured, feminist, poststructuralist interview approach was used to explore the treatment-seeking decisions of ten women hospitalized for a MI. The oral descriptions were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using the Morse and Field method. Content analysis revealed ten important issues that influenced women's treatment-seeking decisions: associating symptoms with non-cardiac causes, minimizing symptoms, experiencing non-classic symptoms, mass media portrayal, male family member experience, knowledge deficit, family insistence, experiencing increased pain, experiencing difficulty breathing, and having expectations different from realities. Based on their language and subjectivity, participants revealed the power of the meaning of heart disease on treatment-seeking decisions.
Progress in piezotronics and piezo-phototronics of quantum materials

Piezotronic and piezo-phototronic effects reveal promising applications in the third-generation semiconductors with non-centrosymmetric structures. With the size of piezoelectric materials reducing to nanoscale, quantum wave behavior and some interesting quantum effects will appear. This paper aims to offer a summary of the rapid advancements made in piezotronics and piezo-phototronics of quantum materials and present a perspective on their applications. Furthermore, several significant quantum phenomena manipulated by the piezotronic or piezo-phototronic effect are highlighted. The coupling between piezotronics/piezo-phototronics and quantum physics opens up a new avenue for next-generation high-integration, ultra-fast and hypersensitive electronic/optoelectronic systems.
Unveiling Potential Failure Propagation Scenarios in Core Transport Networks

The contemporary society has become more dependent on telecommunication networks. Novel services and technologies supported by such networks, such as cloud computing or e-Health, hold a vital role in modern day living. Large-scale failures are prone to occur, thus being a constant threat to business organizations and individuals. To the best of our knowledge, there are no publicly available reports regarding failure propagation in core transport networks. Furthermore, Software Defined Networking (SDN) is becoming more prevalent in our society and we can envision more SDN-controlled Backbone Transport Networks (BTNs) in the future. For this reason, we investigate the main motivations that could lead to epidemic-like failures in BTNs and SDNTNs. To do so, we enlist the expertise of several research groups with significant background in epidemics, network resiliency, and security. In addition, we consider the experiences of three network providers. Our results illustrate that Dynamic Transport Networks (DTNs) are prone to epidemic-like failures. Moreover, we propose different situations in which a failure can propagate in SDNTNs. We believe that the key findings will aid network engineers and the scientific community to predict this type of disastrous failure scenario and plan adequate survivability strategies.
Optimization of a Fuzzy Controller for a Reactive Navigation

-This paper describes an automatically on-line tuned fuzzy navigation system for an autonomous robot using modular structure to generate the angular and linear speeds according to the sensor data. The goal is to obtain a reactive behavior such as wall-following with the necessary adaptiveness to cope with dynamically changing environment. For this behavior, the learning of the navigation controller is done entirely on-line on an actual miniature robot by the optimization of a fuzzy inference system (FIS) using a back-propagation-like algorithm. The latter is used to minimize a cost function that is made up of a quadratic error term and a weight decay term, which prevents an excessive growth of the weights during a permanent learning. This control technique can be used in two ways. The first one consists to fix the weights after their convergence and then the structure behaves as a classical fuzzy controller with good robustness properties. In the second one, the weights are let free so as to handle either new situations or large modifications in the physical characteristics of the robot. IMACS/IEEE CSCC'99 Proceedings, Pages:5781-5785 Key-words:-Fuzzy control, On-line optimization, Backpropagation algorithm, Reactive navigation, Mobile robot.
Cardiorespiratory effects of warm water immersion in elderly patients with chronic heart failure

Background: Hydrotherapy might be included in the rehabilitation of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), but little is known about the acute cardiorespiratory reaction in warm water. The aim of this study was to assess the acute cardiorespiratory effect of immersion in warm water, in a clinical setting, in elderly patients with CHF compared with healthy age and sex matched persons.
ATP-Binding Site Lesions in FtsE Impair Cell Division

ABSTRACT FtsE and FtsX of Escherichia coli constitute an apparent ABC transporter that localizes to the septal ring. In the absence of FtsEX, cells divide poorly and several membrane proteins essential for cell division are largely absent from the septal ring, including FtsK, FtsQ, FtsI, and FtsN. These observations, together with the fact that ftsE and ftsX are cotranscribed with ftsY, which helps to target some proteins for insertion into the cytoplasmic membrane, suggested that FtsEX might contribute to insertion of division proteins into the membrane. Here we show that this hypothesis is probably wrong, because cells depleted of FtsEX had normal amounts of FtsK, FtsQ, FtsI, and FtsN in the membrane fraction. We also show that FtsX localizes to septal rings in cells that lack FtsE, arguing that FtsX targets the FtsEX complex to the ring. Nevertheless, both proteins had to be present to recruit further Fts proteins to the ring. Mutant FtsE proteins with lesions in the ATP-binding site supported septal ring assembly (when produced together with FtsX), but these rings constricted poorly. This finding implies that FtsEX uses ATP to facilitate constriction rather than assembly of the septal ring. Finally, topology analysis revealed that FtsX has only four transmembrane segments, none of which contains a charged amino acid. This structure is not what one would expect of a substrate-specific transmembrane channel, leading us to suggest that FtsEX is not really a transporter even though it probably has to hydrolyze ATP to support cell division.
Anti-Vasculogenic Effect of Mycophenolic Acid

S Go E, Ballinger S, Klausmeier T. “A Case of A20 Haploinsufficiency (HA20)”, Riley Hospital for Children 13th Pediatric Scholars Day, Indianapolis, IN, May 2016 Go E, Tarvin S. “A case of arthritis and parenchymal lung disease in a pediatric patient”, Academic Pediatric Association, Indianapolis, IN, March 2017 Go E, O’Neil K, Yoder M. “Mycophenolic Acid inhibits endothelial cell migration, proliferation and function in vitro”, 18th International Vasculitis and ANCA Workshop, Tokyo, Japan, March 2017 †Banschbach K, Go E, Tarvin S. “Clinical Outcomes of Juvenile Dermatomyositis Patients Treated with TNF-Inhibitors: A Retrospective Chart Review”, American College of Rheumatology Scientific Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 2017 Go E, Lin Y, Yoder MC, Basile DB. “Abcg2-expressing endothelial cells contribute to kidney postnatal vascular growth and maintenance”, American Society of Nephrology Meeting, San Diego, CA, October 2018 PUBLICATIONS Go, Ellen J.L. ; O’Neil, Kathleen M. The Catastrophic Antiphospholipid Syndrome in Children. Current Opinion in Rheumatology: September 2017 Volume 29 Issue 5 p 516–522. doi:10.1097/BOR.0000000000000426 Aeschlimann FA, Batu ED, Canna SW, Go E, Gül A, Hoffmann P, Leavis HL, Ozen S, Schwartz DM, Stone DL, van Royen-Kerkof A, Kastner DL, Aksentijevich I, Laxer RM. A20 haploinsufficiency (HA20): clinical phenotypes and disease course of patients with a newly recognised NF-kB-mediated autoinflammatory disease. Ann Rheum Dis. 2018 Jan 9. pii: annrheumdis-2017-212403. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2017-212403. PMID: 29317407 Go E, Tarnawsky SP, Shelley WC, Banno K, Lin Y, Gil CH, Blue EK, Haneline LS, O'Neil KM, Yoder MC. Mycophenolic acid induces senescence of vascular precursor cells. PLoS One. 2018 Mar 14;13(3): e0193749. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone. 0193749 PMID:29538431
Co-expression network analysis identifies specific hub genes in association with developmental neuronal remodeling in Drosophila melanogaster

As an evolutionarily conserved mechanism, developmental neuronal remodeling is needed for the proper wiring of the nervous system and is critical for understanding the neurodevelopment mechanisms. Previous studies have shown that during metamorphosis lots of Drosophila melanogaster mushroom body neurons experience stereotypic remodeling. However, the related regulators and downstream executors of pathways are yet unclear, especially studies of transcriptional gene co-expression analysis of nervous systems remain insufficient. In this study, we develop a weighted gene co-expression network (WGCNA) to classify gene modules associated with neuronal remodeling. Moreover, functional and pathway enrichment analysis with protein-protein network construction is applied to detect high informative hub genes in the targeted gene module. Thus, we select a total of five hub genes that play critical roles in neuronal remodeling and identify them with functional enrichment analysis and protein-protein interaction network. Overall, this study provides insight into the underlying molecular mechanism of developmental neuronal remodeling in Drosophila melanogaster.