Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automated ribotyping differentiates vibrio parahaemolyticus O3:K6 strains associated with a Texas outbreak from other clinical strains.

Automated ribotyping with a Qualicon Riboprinter was used to determine whether clinical isolates of Vibrio parahaemolyticus O3:K6 recovered during two U.S. outbreaks of oyster-associated gastroenteritis in 1998 were related to each other and to a previously identified highly virulent Asian clone of this serotype. The patterns produced using the restriction enzymes Eco RI and Pst I suggest that the outbreak in the Northeastern United States was caused by a single strain closely related to the Asian clone. In contrast, it appears that multiple strains were involved in the Texas outbreak and that the predominant type was genetically distinct from the Northeastern and Asian clone.
Multivariate data classification using PolSOM

Polar self-organizing map (PolSOM), a novel data visualization algorithm, projects data on a polar map with two variables, radius and angle, which represent data weight and feature respectively. Compared with self-organizing map (SOM), which is a traditional method for dimensionality reduction and data classification, PolSOM visualizes not only the inter-neuron distance, but also the differences among clusters in terms of weight and feature. PolSOM sets each neuron as a benchmark to group the similar data together, and reflects the data characteristic by their polar coordinates. In this paper, two multivariate data sets are provided to demonstrate the performance of PolSOM. All simulations are compared with SOM and ViSOM.
EFFECTS OF LINEZOLID ON HOSPITAL LENGTH OF STAY COMPARED WITH VANCOMYCIN IN TREATMENT OF METHICILLIN-RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS INFECTIONS

Objectives: This study was designed to estimate the effects of treatment with linezolid as compared with vancomycin, on the distribution of length of stay (LOS) for hospitalized patients with methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections. Treatment with intravenous–oral linezolid may allow some patients to be discharged earlier than would treatment with intravenous vancomycin. Methods: The analysis is based on the intention-to-treat sample from a randomized multinational phase 3 clinical trial of 460 patients showing that the treatments had equal efficacy. Given the nature of the LOS data, some censoring, and some imbalances between treatment groups, multivariate survival analysis was indicated. Cox proportional hazards assumptions were tested and failed, and accelerated failure time models were tested for best fit. The log-logistic model was selected and used as the basis for estimating the overall treatment effect on LOS. Two methods for multivariate corrections to the survivorship functions allowed more thorough description of the treatment effect on the distribution of LOS, including multivariate-adjusted Kaplan-Meier curves. Results: The average reduction in LOS associated with linezolid treatment, based on the log-logistic model after correction for covariate effects, was 18.1\% (p = .041) or 2.53 days at the median. This was consistent with differences at the medians of the adjusted survivorship functions, which were 2 or 3 days depending on the method used. Treatment-based differences exist at each decile of LOS and consistently favor linezolid. Estimated mean reduction in LOS due to linezolid was 1.62 days in both methods. Conclusions: In this study sample, linezolid treatment resulted in statistically significantly shorter hospital LOS as compared with vancomycin treatment. Appropriate use of multivariate survival analysis allows better examination of the nature of the treatment effect on LOS, which may be important for economic analysis.
Genome Sequence of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis MB20 bv. equi Isolated from a Pectoral Abscess of an Oldenburg Horse in California

ABSTRACT The genome of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis MB20 bv. equi was sequenced using the Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM) platform, and showed a size of 2,363,089 bp, with 2,365 coding sequences and a GC content of 52.1%. These results will serve as a basis for further studies on the pathogenicity of C. pseudotuberculosis bv. equi.
PREVENÇÃO E TRATAMENTO DAS MUCOSITES ORAIS: UMA REVISÃO SISTEMÁTICA

A proposta deste estudo foi realizar uma revisao sistematica da literatura, sobre mucosite oral (MO) em pacientes submetidos a radioterapia e quimioterapia para tratamento de tumores na regiao de cabeca e pescoco, de modo a levantar evidencias cientificas sobre prevencao e tratamento destas complicacoes. Os procedimentos metodologicos foram baseados nas recomendacoes da Cochrane Collaboration . Apos a realizacao da busca nas bases de dados, obteve-se 3203 artigos, destes, 22 foram selecionados. Sete reportaram a terapia com Laser, tres artigos avaliaram o uso do Mel, dois sobre o uso de Palifermin®, alem de estudos sobre o Actovegin® endovenoso, enxaguatorios bucais a base de calendula, fenilbutirato, clorexidina e cloreto de cetil-piridino. Outros abordaram o uso da radioterapia pela manha, a crioterapia, o suco de aloe vera, o papel do Lactobacillus Brevis , do maleato de irsogladina e do fator de crescimento epidermico. Os resultados obtidos nesta investigacao apontam que a terapia com laser de baixa potencia ainda e a mais indicada na prevencao e tratamento da mucosite oral. Entretanto, ainda e necessaria a continuidade dos estudos que visam responder a tematica, visto que, quanto maior for o esforco nessa area, maiores serao as chances de reduzir o numero de individuos acometidos pela MO.
Social support and sense of life in patients with anxiety disorders - preliminary report.

OBJECTIVES Verification of the level of social support perception and sense of life in patients with anxiety disorder and healthy people; evaluation of the relationship between these variables. METHODS The Social Support Questionnaire short version (F-SozU K-22) by G. Sommer and T. Fydrich and the Life Attitude Profile (LAP-R) by G.T. Reker were used. RESULTS Social support and its dimensions prove to be significantly lower in patients with anxiety disorders. Healthy individuals have a higher sense of purpose, greater internal coherence, control of life, personal sense and balance of life attitudes, and lower intensity of existential emptiness. Higher emotional support and older age increase the level of sense of life in people with anxiety disorders. CONCLUSIONS For preventive and therapeutic purposes, it is important to develop and sustain the internal resources of the individual (sense of life and age-related experience). In patients with neurotic disorders, it also seems essential to use psychotherapy aimed at changing the patterns of personality that impede them from building social support networks. This is due to the fact that anxiety disorders are often characterized by lower confidence, avoidance of interpersonal relationships, falsified perception of social support, leading thus to distorted interpretation of supportive actions.
A phase 2, single‐arm study of ramucirumab in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma with disease progression on or intolerance to tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy

Multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have antitumor activity in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Resistance to these agents develops frequently, and their use is often limited by intolerance. Ramucirumab is a recombinant human monoclonal antibody directed against human vascular endothelial growth factor receptor‐2. For this study, the authors investigated the clinical efficacy and safety of ramucirumab in patients with TKI‐resistant/intolerant mRCC.
Multiscale Granger causality analysis by à trous wavelet transform

Since interactions in neural systems occur across multiple temporal scales, it is likely that information flow will exhibit a multiscale structure, thus requiring a multiscale generalization of classical causality analysis like Granger's approach. However, the computation of multiscale measures of information dynamics is complicated by theoretical and practical issues such as filtering and undersampling: to overcome these problems, we propose a wavelet-based approach for multiscale Granger causality analysis, which is characterized by the following properties: (i) only the candidate driver variable is wavelet transformed (ii) the decomposition is performed using the à trous wavelet transform with cubic B-spline filter. We measure the causality, at a given scale, by including the wavelet coefficients of the driver times series, at that scale, in the regression model of the target. To validate our method, we apply it to public scalp EEG signals, and we find that the condition of closed eyes, at rest, is characterized by an enhanced Granger causality among channels at slow scales w.r. t. eye open condition, whilst the standard Granger causality is not significantly different in the two conditions.
Instruments for evalutation of altered states of consciousness

In recent years an increase of interest concerning the altered states of consciousness was observed. In particular literature provided a wide amount of contribution about the scales for measurement of level of responsivity. Our aim is to describe the principale scales used in diagnosis of Disorder of Consciousness (DOC) trying to illustrate administation procedures, specifically assessed aspects, modality of stimulation, reliability, and validity. We divided them in four main different groups: the first one in which descriptive scales are included, that is those scales basically used after a clinical observation; the second group which concerns scales requiring defined stimulation sets; in the third group we considered the scale which refer to diagnostic criteria stated by the Aspen Work Group (Giacino et al., 2002); whilst in the fourth group we describe a battery aimed to assess patients with severe cognitive deficits which are not yet evaluable with neuropsychological tests.
Compensation of the Antenna Polarization Misalignment in the RSSI Estimation

The diffusion of wireless sensor networks has allowed the development of a plethora of indoor localization algorithms based on these technologies. Also if several radio signal features have been exploited in order to estimate the position, the Received Signal Strength (RSS) is probably the most used. RSS depends, in addition to the distance, also on multipath transmission, barriers and non-idealities of antenna. Differences between ideal and real omnidirectional transmission patterns or polarization angle misalignment can strongly affect the RSS value impairing the following localization algorithm. In this paper, an algorithm to compensate the dependence of the RSS on the angle among the antennas is proposed and tested. The experimental results prove the goodness of the approach and the possibility of using this algorithm to minimize the dependence of RSS from the tilting angle among the nodes of a localization sensor network.
Ocular injuries in the Armed Forces.

Most ophthalmologists in their everyday practice undoubtedly frequently see lesions of the eye that are directly or indirectly due to trauma. In treating these conditions one is apt to think of them as individual problems, yet many cases have a common background of failure in preventive measures that might have lessened the possibility of injury and of inadequate or improper treatment once the eye had been traumatized. All of us think of the combat phases of war as injury on a man-made epidemic basis. In many respects this is true, but in this mechanized age, with the employmentof many chemical and physical methods in the nation's economy as well as mechanized devices, trauma in its various forms is an everyday experience. During World War II approximately 80 per cent of the cases of blindness that occurred could be directly attributed to various types of trauma. Although I have
THE RELEVANCE OF SECONDNESS TO THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE DIALOGICAL SELF

The semiotic self has been defined as a continuous process of meaning generation whereby multiple particular identities are integrated through an internal dialogue which evolves along time. Thought is construed as an internal conversation of the self of the present which stands for the self of the past to address the self of a future moment, in a similar way as it addresses others. We present an exploratory qualitative research aimed at observing an enactment of the internal conversation of ten participants at a workshop of psychodrama. The procedure is based on the empty chair technique created by J. L. Moreno. Participants were placed in a situation of strong personal doubt in order to stimulate reflective thought. The analysis focuses on the interaction of different inner voices, and it applies Peirce's phenomenological categories. The consciousness of a resistance (the category of Secondness) constitutes the self and is logically related to the emergence of distinct multiple identities. As a conclusion, we argue that the capacity to tolerate self-contradiction fosters the semiotic development of the self as an interpretive agency.
Prediction of Temperature Rise in Water-Cooling DC Busbar Through Coupled Force and Natural Convection Thermal-Fluid Analysis

This paper describes the coupled force and natural convection analysis technique to calculate the increase in temperature of the international thermonuclear experimental reactor poloidal field converter water-cooling dc busbar. The increase in temperature of the busbar is due to Joule's losses and heat dissipation by cooling water and air convection. Joule's loss is calculated by the 3-D eddy-current field analysis and used as the input for the thermal fluid analysis. Energy conservation equation is coded and the primary natural convection coefficient on the external surface of the dc busbar is calculated. An interactive procedure is proposed to predict the busbar operation behavior. Two sets of computational fluid dynamics analysis are presented to calculate the temperature distribution of the dc busbar, cooling water, and air. One is to solve the force convection heat transfer problem inside the busbar cooling water channel with the primary equivalent natural convection coefficient calculated in energy conservation equation. The other is to solve the natural convection behavior on the dc busbar external wall with the equivalent force convection coefficient on the busbar internal cooling channel. The final temperature distribution result is determined by the two heat convection coefficient difference between these two simulations. The accuracy of the technique developed is verified by comparing the measured and the simulated temperature in a prototype thermal test, which proves the high efficiency and accuracy of the proposed approach in the design of water-cooling dc busbar.
A Simplified Geometric Channel Model for Mobile-to-Mobile Communications

In Mobile-to-Mobile (M2M) communications, the communicating nodes are surrounded by scatterers and equipped with low elevation antennas. This paper proposes a simple 2-D geometric scattering model for M2M chan- nels. The model is also applicable in cellular systems when we employ low height base station antennas. In our ap- proach, the scatterers are uniformly distributed in ellipses with arbitrary size and orientation around each communi- cating node. We provide simple formulas for the calcula- tion of the angular spread and delay variation of the propagating signal. Simulation results verify the accuracy of the model. In order to validate the generalization of the approach, we compare it against notable models in the literature. As an application example, we investigate the impact of scatterer distribution and separation between mobiles on the angle and time of arrival statistics of the multipaths.
Endocrinological Responses to a New Interactive HMI for a Straddle-type Vehicle: A Pilot Study

This paper hypothesized that a straddle-type vehicle (e.g., a motorcycle) would be a suitable platform for haptic human-machine interactions that elicits affective responses or positive modulations of human emotion. Based on this idea, a new human-machine interface (HMI) for a straddle-type vehicle was proposed for haptically interacting with a rider, together with other visual (design), tactile (texture and heat), and auditory features (sound). We investigated endocrine changes after playing a riding simulator with either new interactive HMI or typical HMI. The results showed, in comparison with the typical HMI, a significant decrease of salivary cortisol level was found after riding the interactive HMI. Salivary testosterone also tended to be reduced after riding the interactive HMI, with significant reduce in salivary DHEA. The results demonstrated that haptic interaction from a vehicle, as we hypothesized, can endocrinologically influence a rider and then may mitigate rider's stress and aggression.
Inventing the People: Civil Society Participation and the Enhabitation of the EU

‘The political world of make-believe mingles with the real world in strange ways, for the make-believe world may often mold the real one. In order to be viable, in order to serve its purpose, whatever that purpose may be, a fiction must bear some resemblance to fact. If it strays too far from fact, the willing suspension of disbelief collapses. And conversely it may collapse if it strays too far from the fiction that we want them to resemble. Because fictions are necessary, because we cannot live without them, we often take pains to prevent their collapse by moving the facts to fit the fiction, by making our world conform more closely to what we want it to be. We sometimes call it. Quite appropriately, reform or reformation, when the fiction takes command and reshapes reality. ’
The effect of enzyme replacement therapy on bone crisis and bone pain in patients with type 1 Gaucher disease

The effect of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) on bone crisis and bone pain was investigated in patients with Gaucher disease (GD) type 1 followed over 4 years. Data from the International Collaborative Gaucher Group Gaucher Registry were used. Only patients with bone crisis and/or bone pain data for 1 year prior to ERT, and for each of 3 years after the start of ERT, were included. Bone crises were reported in 17% of patients during the year before starting ERT. The frequencies of bone crises decreased to 5%, <1% and 3% for 1, 2, and 3 years after initiation of treatment, respectively (p < 0.0001). Bone pain followed a similar pattern of response. Bone pain was reported in 49% of patients the year before treatment and decreased to 30% in the first year, 29% in the second year, and 30% in the third year of ERT (p < 0.0001). ERT is associated with a reduction in bone crisis and bone pain in patients with GD type 1 . This study shows that significant improvements in symptoms of skeletal disease are achievable clinical outcomes and treatment goals in GD type 1.
Contralateral versus ipsilateral rTMS of temporoparietal cortex for the treatment of chronic unilateral tinnitus: comparative study

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) applied over left temporoparietal cortex has been reported to have a long‐term therapeutic effect on tinnitus. We compare the impact of 1 and 25 Hz rTMS delivered either contralateral or ipsilateral to symptoms in 62 patients with unilateral chronic tinnitus.
Experimental and theoretical study on the wavelength response of a computer-generated waveguide hologram

We demonstrate the use of a computer generated waveguide hologram for optical coupling of an InP waveguide to a single-mode optical fiber. Experiments reveal that the waveguide hologram can be used as a band-pass, optical wavelength filter with possible applications in wavelength division multiplexing. Computer simulations show that further improvement of the filtering characteristics is possible by properly choosing the hologram parameters.
360 Panorama Cloning on Sphere

In this paper, we address a novel problem of cloning a patch of the source spherical panoramic image to the target spherical panoramic image, which we call 360 panorama cloning. Considering the sphere geometry constraint embedded in spherical panoramic images, we develop a coordinate-based method that directly clones in the spherical domain. Our method neither differentiates the polar regions and equatorial regions, nor identifies the boundaries in the unrolled planar-formatted panorama. We discuss in depth two unique issues in panorama cloning, i.e. preserving the patch's orientation, and handling the large-patch cloning (covering over 180 field of view) which may suffer from discoloration artifacts. As experimental results demonstrate, our method is able to get visually pleasing cloning results and achieve real time cloning performance.
Retinal cell type‐specific prevention of ischemia‐induced damages by LPS‐TLR4 signaling through microglia

Reprogramming of toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) by brief ischemia or lipopolysacharide (LPS) contributes to superintending tolerance against destructive ischemia in brain. However, beneficial roles of TLR4 signaling in ischemic retina are not well known. This study demonstrated that preconditioning with LPS 48 h prior to the retinal ischemia prevents the cellular damage in morphology with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and functions of retina with electroretinogram (ERG), while post‐ischemia treatment deteriorated it. The preventive effects of LPS preconditioning showed the cell type‐specificity of retinal cells. There was complete rescue of ganglion cells, partial rescue of bipolar and photoreceptor cells or no rescue of amacrine cells, respectively. LPS treatment caused the proliferation and migration of retinal microglia and its preconditioning prevented the ischemia‐induced microglial activation. Preventive actions from cell damages following LPS preconditioning prior to retinal ischemia were abolished in TLR4 knock‐out mice, and by pre‐treatments with anti‐TLR4 antibody or minocycline, a microglia inhibitor, which themselves had no effects on the retinal ischemia‐induced damages or microglia activation. Thus, this study revealed that TLR4 mediates the LPS preconditioning‐induced preventive effects through microglial activation in the retinal ischemia model.
Human-computer cloud for decision support in tourism: Approach and architecture

Tourism is one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing economic sectors, where on-the-fly information and decision support are more actual than ever. Tourist decision support systems today leverage a variety of technologies both machine-driven (GIS or knowledge-based inference) and human-driven (recommendation systems). This paper applies a novel concept of human-computer cloud as an architectural approach to building decision support systems in tourism (both from the tourist's perspective, and from destination management organization's perspective). This concept serves as a unifying basis for using human-based resources, allowing to virtualize them much like “ordinary” computing resources. Particularly, the paper identifies the list of typical decision support tasks in tourism domain, and then maps them to a multi-tiered conceptual architecture of cloud services. The proposed architecture is illustrated by the discussion of two scenarios — one for tourist perspective and one for destination management organization.