Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of TEM-1 β-Lactamase-Producing Kingella kingae Clinical Isolates

ABSTRACT Kingella kingae is a human pathogen that causes pediatric osteoarticular infections and infective endocarditis in children and adults. The bacterium is usually susceptible to β-lactam antibiotics, although β-lactam resistance has been reported in rare isolates. This study was conducted to identify β-lactam-resistant strains and to characterize the resistance mechanism. Screening of a set of 90 K. kingae clinical isolates obtained from different geographic locations revealed high-level resistance to penicillins among 25% of the strains isolated from Minnesota and Iceland. These strains produced TEM-1 β-lactamase and were shown to contain additional ≥50-kb plasmids. Ion Torrent sequencing of extrachromosomal DNA from a β-lactamase-producing strain confirmed the plasmid location of the blaTEM gene. An identical plasmid pattern was demonstrated by multiplex PCR in all β-lactamase producers. The porin gene's fragments were analyzed to investigate the relatedness of bacterial strains. Phylogenetic analysis revealed 27 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the por gene fragment, resulting in two major clusters with 11 allele types forming bacterial-strain subclusters. β-Lactamase producers were grouped together based on por genotyping. Our results suggest that the β-lactamase-producing strains likely originate from a single plasmid-bearing K. kingae isolate that traveled from Europe to the United States, or vice versa. This study highlights the prevalence of penicillin resistance among K. kingae strains in some regions and emphasizes the importance of surveillance for antibiotic resistance of the pathogen.
Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) and Frontline Employees’ Service-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Foodservice Context: Exploring the Moderating Role of Work Status

ABSTRACT This study identified the direct and indirect effect of leader–member exchange (LMX) on frontline employees’ service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors (SOCB) targeting customers and co-workers in the foodservice context. Service-role ambiguity was proposed as a partial mediator in the conceptual model. The moderating effect of work status was also explored in this study. Data were collected from 452 frontline employees, working in 31 different foodservice establishments. All five proposed hypotheses were supported, highlighting the effect of LMX on service role clarity (or ambiguity) and the SOCB. A multiple-group structural equation modeling analysis showed that the effect of LMX on SOCB was higher among part-time employees, compared to full-time employees. One implication of the study findings is that part-time employees should also be treated as a valuable asset to the foodservice organization.
Modelling long memory volatility in the Bitcoin market: Evidence of persistence and structural breaks

Motivated by the emergence of Bitcoin as a speculative financial investment, the purpose of this paper is to examine the persistence in the level and volatility of Bitcoin price, accounting for the impact of structural breaks. Using parametric and semiparametric techniques, we find strong evidence in favour of a permanency of the shocks and lack of mean reversion in the level series. We also reveal evidence of structural changes in the dynamics of Bitcoin. After accounting for the structural breaks in the level series, evidence of mean reversion is uncovered in some cases. Further analyses show evidence of a long memory in the two measures of volatility (absolute and the squared returns), whereas some cases of short memory are revealed in the squared returns series in particular. Practical implications are discussed on the inefficiency in the Bitcoin market and its importance for Bitcoin users and investors.
Centrally fat‐saturated three‐dimensional magnetic resonance angiography of the abdomen using selective central fat‐saturation of k‐space

To assess the usefulness of centrally fat‐saturated three‐dimensional magnetic resonance (MR) angiography of the abdomen using an elliptical centric view order and selective placement of fat‐saturation pulses in the central 30% portion of the k‐space in terms of fat signal reduction, image contrast of post‐contrast images, and breath‐holding time.
Mechanisms of cytotoxicity of eugenol in human osteoblastic cells in vitro.

AIM To evaluate the mechanisms of cytotoxicity of eugenol in human osteoblastic cells in vitro. METHODOLOGY Cytotoxicity and cell proliferation assays were performed to elucidate the toxic effects of eugenol on the human osteoblastic cell line U2OS. Furthermore, the effects of antioxidants catalase (scavenger of H2O2), superoxide dismutase (SOD, an extracellular superoxide free radical scavenger) and N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC, a cell-permeable glutathione precursor) were added to discover the possible mechanisms of eugenol-induced cytotoxicity. Paired Student's t-test was applied for the statistical analysis of the results. RESULTS Eugenol demonstrated a cytotoxic effect to U2OS cells in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05). The 50% inhibition concentration of eugenol was approximately 0.75 mmol L(-1). Eugenol also inhibited cell proliferation during a 4-day culture period (P < 0.05). Addition of NAC extracellularly protected the cells from eugenol-induced cytotoxicity (P < 0.05). Neither, SOD nor catalase provided any protective effects on eugenol-induced cytotoxicity (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The levels of eugenol tested inhibited growth and proliferation of U2OS cells. Eugenol has significant potential for periapical toxicity. These inhibitory effects were associated with glutathione levels.
An observational study on sport-induced modulation of negative attitude towards disability

The present study investigates whether sport activities involving children with a disability can reduce negative attitudes towards disability in children without disability. We compared the effect of being schoolmate or member of the same football team whereby a child with disability was member of the class/team or not. This lead to four groups that were assessed both at the beginning and at the end of the school year. Two measures were collected: an ad-hoc questionnaire and an Implicit Association Test. The two assessments were designed to measure explicit and implicit attitudes towards children with disabilities. Results suggested that sport activities over one school year reduced more (p < .001) the implicit negative attitude towards disability (Mean = -.17, sd = .10) than the contact with the classmate in the school context (Mean = -.03, sd = .14), possibly due to their team building characteristic.
XM: Association Testing on the X‐Chromosome in Case‐Control Samples With Related Individuals

Genetic variants on the X‐chromosome could potentially play an important role in some complex traits. However, development of methods for detecting association with X‐linked markers has lagged behind that for autosomal markers. We propose methods for case‐control association testing with X‐chromosome markers in samples with related individuals. Our method, XM , appropriately adjusts for both correlation among relatives and male‐female allele copy number differences. Features of XM include: (1) it is applicable to and computationally feasible for completely general combinations of family and case‐control designs; (2) it allows for both unaffected controls and controls of unknown phenotype to be included in the same analysis; (3) it can incorporate phenotype information on relatives with missing genotype data; and (4) it adjusts for sex‐specific trait prevalence values. We propose two other tests, Xχ and XW , which can also be useful in certain contexts. We derive the best linear unbiased estimator of allele frequency, and its variance, for X‐linked markers. In simulation studies with related individuals, we demonstrate the power and validity of the proposed methods. We apply the methods to X‐chromosome association analysis of (1) asthma in a Hutterite sample and (2) alcohol dependence in the GAW 14 COGA data. In analysis (1), we demonstrate computational feasibility of XM and the applicability of our robust variance estimator. In analysis (2), we detect significant association, after Bonferroni correction, between alcohol dependence and single nucleotide polymorphism rs979606 in the monoamine oxidases A gene, where this gene has previously been found to be associated with substance abuse and antisocial behavior.
Acoustic local positioning system using an iOS device

This work benefits from the capability of the iPhone's or iPad's microphone to acquire high-frequency sound for accurate acoustic code identification. Although the maximum theoretical value for the frequency response of the built-in iOS device microphone is 20 kHz, emissions with frequencies close to 22 kHz have been experimentally detected. The frequencies used in this work are in the range from 18 to 22 kHz, which are high enough to be inaudible for almost every people but low enough to be generated by standard sound hardware. The aim of this work is to develop an inexpensive indoor positioning system where the user gets its location by using an iOS device's microphone. For this purpose a third-generation iPad is used for high-frequency sound data acquisition and neither external acquisition system nor ultrasonic microphone are required. The capability of iOS devices to acquire acoustic signals in the vicinity of 20 kHz has been successfully demonstrated. This fact allows the use of this kind of device for acoustic code detection and accurate positioning by means of multilateration.
Low Communication FMM-Accelerated FFT on GPUs

Communication-avoiding algorithms have been a subject of growing interest in the last decade due to the growth of distributed memory systems and the disproportionate increase of computational throughput to communication bandwidth. For distributed 1D FFTs, communication costs quickly dominate execution time as all industry-standard implementations perform three all-to-all transpositions of the data. In this work, we reformulate an existing algorithm that employs the Fast Multipole Method to reduce the communication requirements to approximately a single all-to-all transpose. We present a detailed and clear implementation strategy that relies heavily on existing library primitives, demonstrate that our strategy achieves consistent speed-ups between 1. 3$\times$ and 2. 2$\times$ against cuFFTXT on up to eight NVIDIA Tesla P100 GPUs, and develop an accurate compute model to analyze the performance and dependencies of the algorithm.
Health-related quality of life after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: impacts of bleeding severity, computerized tomography findings, surgery, vasospasm, and neurological grade.

OBJECT Based on the results of earlier studies it is agreed that the significance of aneurysm location and surgery for neuropsychological impairments after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is secondary to the effects of the bleeding itself. Therefore, the present study was performed to evaluate whether bleeding, acute clinical course, and surgery have persistent effects on health-related quality of life (QOL) after SAH. METHODS A series of 116 patients was examined for 4 to 5 years (mean 52.2 months) after aneurysmal SAH by means of a QOL questionnaire. Eighty-six patients (74.1%) had undergone surgery early (< or = 72 hours post-SAH). There were 77 women (66.4%) and 39 men (33.6%) in the study group, and the mean age of the patients was 50.3+/-13.3 years (range 30-69 years). Patients who had undergone surgery for a left-sided middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysm complained of significantly more impairments in social contact, communication, and cognition than those treated for a right-sided MCA aneurysm. No other effects of aneurysm location (including the anterior communicating artery) emerged. Multiple aneurysms, intraoperative aneurysm rupture, and partial resection of the gyrus rectus had no adverse effects on later daily life. Only temporary clipping was associated with increased complaints in some QOL areas. Disturbances of the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid and the presence of intraventricular hemorrhage led to more impairments in daily life. Specific effects of the anatomical pattern of the bleeding could be identified, but no adverse effects of vasospasm were found. Multivariate analyses revealed, in particular, that patient age and admission neurological status (Hunt and Hess grade) are substantial predictors of the psychosocial sequelae of SAH. CONCLUSIONS In contrast to the mild effects of aneurysm surgery, patient's age, initial neurological state on admission, and the bleeding pattern substantially influence late QOL after SAH.
A p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor arrests active alveolar bone loss in a rat periodontitis model.

BACKGROUND Gram-negative bacterial species, such as Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, contain lipopolysaccharide (LPS) that initiates the innate immune system, resulting in inflammatory alveolar bone loss. LPS activates Toll-like receptors on membrane surfaces, stimulating many intracellular signaling cascades, including the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). Activation of p38 signaling mediates inflammatory cytokine expression, contributing toward osteoclastogenesis and bone loss. The aim of this study was to determine whether the novel, orally active p38 MAPK inhibitor SD282 could arrest progression of LPS-induced alveolar bone destruction in rats. METHODS Three groups of female Sprague-Dawley rats received LPS injections to the palatal molar gingiva three times per week for 4 weeks to establish periodontitis. From weeks 5 through 8, two groups received the drug SD282 (N = 14) or 1% polyethylene glycol drug vehicle (N = 14) via oral gavage in addition to LPS injections. The third group continued to receive only LPS injections (N = 8). Microcomputed tomography was used to measure volumetric alveolar bone loss, expressed as bone volume fraction (BVF). Expression of interleukin (IL)-1 and -6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) was assessed by immunohistochemistry, and osteoclasts were enumerated by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining. RESULTS By 4 weeks, severe alveolar bone resorption was seen in LPS-injected animals. Administration of SD282 significantly blocked additional volumetric bone loss in the LPS-only versus LPS + SD282 groups (0.37 +/- 0.01 BVF versus 0.43 +/- 0.01 BVF; P < 0.01). Significant reductions in IL-1beta (P < 0.01 ), TNF-alpha (P < 0.05), and osteoclast formation (P < 0.01) occurred in the presence of SD282. CONCLUSIONS An orally active p38 MAPK inhibitor reduced LPS-induced inflammatory cytokine expression, osteoclastogenesis, and alveolar bone loss in rats. Within the limits of the current study, SD282 arrested periodontal disease progression, thus highlighting the therapeutic potential of this novel class of inhibitors.
Serum Procalcitonin: An Independent Predictor of Clinical Outcome in Health Care-Associated Pneumonia

Background: Early prediction of the clinical outcomes for health care-associated pneumonia (HCAP) patients is challenging. Objectives: This is the first study to evaluate procalcitonin (PCT) as a predictor of outcomes in HCAP patients. Methods: We conducted an observational study based on data for HCAP patients prospectively collected between 2011 and 2014. Outcome variables were intensive care unit (ICU) admission and 30-day mortality. PCT was categorized into three groups: <0.5, 0.5-2.0, and >2.0 ng/ml. We analysed multiple variables including age, sex, comorbidities, clinical findings, and PCT group to assess their association with outcomes. Results: Of 245 HCAP patients, 99 (40.4%) were admitted to an ICU and 44 (18.0%) died within 30 days. The median PCT level was significantly higher in the ICU admission (1.19 vs. 0.4 ng/ml; p < 0.001) and 30-day mortality (3.3 vs. 0.4 ng/ml; p < 0.001) groups. In multivariate analysis, high PCT (>2.0 ng/ml) was strongly associated with ICU admission [odds ratio 3.734, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.753-7.951; p = 0.001] and 30-day mortality (hazard ratio 2.254, 95% CI 1.250-5.340; p = 0.035). In receiver operating characteristic analysis, PCT had a poor discrimination power regarding ICU admission [0.695 of the area under the curve (AUC)] and a fair discrimination power regarding 30-day mortality in HCAP patients (0.768 of the AUC). Conclusions: High PCT on admission was strongly associated with ICU admission and 30-day mortality in HCAP patients. However, application of PCT alone seems to be limited to predicting outcomes.
Towards power and sample size calculations for the comparison of two groups of patients with item response theory models

Evaluation of patient‐reported outcomes (PRO) is increasingly performed in health sciences. PRO differs from other measurements because such patient characteristics cannot be directly observed. Item response theory (IRT) is an attractive way for PRO analysis. However, in the framework of IRT, sample size justification is rarely provided or ignores the fact that PRO measures are latent variables with the use of formulas developed for observed variables. It might therefore be inappropriate and might provide inadequately sized studies. The objective was to develop valid sample size methodology for the comparison of PRO in two groups of patients using IRT. The proposed approach takes into account questionnaire's items parameters, the difference of the latent variables means, and its variance whose derivation is approximated using Cramer–Rao bound (CRB). We also computed the associated power. We realized a simulation study taking into account sample size, number of items, and value of the group effect. We compared power obtained from CRB with the one obtained from simulations (SIM) and with the power based on observed variables (OBS). For a given sample size, powers using CRB and SIM were similar and always lower than OBS. We observed a strong impact of the number of items for CRB and SIM, the power increasing with the questionnaire's length but not for OBS. In the context of latent variables, it seems important to use an adapted sample size formula because the formula developed for observed variables seems to be inadequate and leads to an underestimated study size. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effectiveness of human cytochrome P450 3A4 present in liposomal and microsomal nanoparticles in formation of covalent DNA adducts by ellipticine.

OBJECTIVES Ellipticine is an anticancer agent that functions through multiple mechanisms participating in cell cycle arrest and initiation of apoptosis. This drug forms covalent DNA adducts after its enzymatic activation with cytochrome P450 (CYP), which is one of the most important ellipticine DNA-damaging mechanisms of its cytotoxic effects. The improvements of cancer treatment are the major challenge in oncology research. Nanotransporters (nanoparticles) are promising approaches to target tumor cells, frequently leading to improve drug therapeutic index. Ellipticine has already been prepared in nanoparticle forms. However, since its anticancer efficiency depends on the CYP3A4-mediated metabolism in cancer cells, the aim of our research is to develop nanoparticles containing this enzyme that can be transported to tumor cells, thereby potentiating ellipticine cytotoxicity. METHODS The CYP3A4 enzyme encapsulated into two nanoparticle forms, liposomes and microsomes, was tested to activate ellipticine to its reactive species forming covalent DNA adducts. Ellipticine-derived DNA adducts were determined by the 32P-postlabeling method. RESULTS The CYP3A4 enzyme both in the liposome and microsome nanoparticle forms was efficient to activate ellipticine to species forming DNA adducts. Two DNA adducts, which are formed from ellipticine metabolites 12-hydroxy- and 13-hydroxyellipticine generated by its oxidation by CYP3A4, were formed by both CYP3A4 nanoparticle systems. A higher effectiveness of CYP3A4 in microsomal than in liposomal nanoparticles to form ellipticine-DNA adducts was found. CONCLUSION Further testing in a suitable cancer cell model is encouraged to investigate whether the DNA-damaging effects of ellipticine after its activation by CYP3A4 nanoparticle forms are appropriate for active targeting of this enzyme to specific cancer cells.
Inflation targeting in emerging economies : an empirical assessment

This doctoral thesis consists of three chapters which are focused on the analysis of monetary policy in emerging economies. In particular, Chapter 2 measures the output cost of disinflation; namely, the sacrifice ratio (SR) for emerging economies with and without Inflation Targeting (IT). Three alternative approaches are adopted: first, disinflationary episodes are identified for individual countries. Second, aggregate supply curves are estimated. Third, a structural VAR model is employed. The results suggest that for countries where the process of disinflation has been accompanied by the implementation of IT, lower and more stable levels of inflation can be achieved. Furthermore, sacrifice ratios have increased as the level of inflation decreases. In Chapter 3, the main determinants of monetary policy in Mexico and Israel are analysed. To this end, reaction functions for each country in terms of forward-looking rules are estimated. The results generally suggest that when setting monetary policy, central banks in these countries look beyond just inflation and output. Moreover, movements in the exchange rate seem to play an important role especially in the case of Israel where there is not a clear commitment to price stability. Chapter 4 investigates the impact of exchange rate behaviour on domestic investment in the Mexican Manufacturing Industry within the context of IT. Standard investment equations are utilised to analyse the role of the level and volatility of exchange rates on investment. The results support the view that a depreciation of the exchange rate has a positive effect through the export channel. Volatility also matters and its effect is mainly observed in those sectors that rely more on exports. Differences are observed within different competitive markets.
Cell Image Decomposition Based on G-Space and PDE

Base on G-Space and partial differential equation, a novel method is proposed for cell image decomposition in this paper. The Vese-Osher (VO) model and Mumford-Shah-G(MSG) model based on G-Space and PDE are introduced for real texture image extraction. An image f can be decomposed into a cartoon part u and a noise/texture part v in both two models. The experimental results show the contrast effects in these two models for cell image decomposition. As the basis research for cell image recognition, this image decomposition approach is proved available and effective by the experimental results.