Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Randomized, Investigator-Blinded, Multicenter Study of Gatifloxacin Versus Amoxicillin/Clavulanate Treatment of Recurrent and Nonresponsive Otitis Media in Children

Background: Decreased susceptibility of pathogens to currently used agents for recurrent otitis media has provided the impetus for identifying new antimicrobial options. Objective: To compare gatifloxacin with amoxicillin/clavulanate in children with recurrent or nonresponsive acute otitis media (AOM). Methods: Included in this multicenter randomized trial were 413 patients, ranging in age from 6 months to 7 years, who had recurrent AOM (at least 3 episodes in the previous 6 months or 4 episodes in the previous 12 months) and/or had failed antibiotic therapy for AOM within 14 days of enrollment. Diagnosis required evidence of acute inflammation and otoscopic findings of middle ear effusion; baseline tympanocentesis was optional and encouraged. Children were randomly assigned (2:1) to 10 days of oral therapy with gatifloxacin suspension (10 mg/kg of body weight once daily) or amoxicillin/clavulanate suspension (45/6.4 mg/kg/d in 2 divided doses). Results: Clinical cure was obtained in 90.2% (222 of 246) of patients in the gatifloxacin group and 84.3% (102 of 121) of those in the amoxicillin/clavulanate group (95% confidence interval, −1.9–12.9) 3–10 days after treatment ended. Gatifloxacin was associated with higher clinical cure rates than was amoxicillin/clavulanate in children younger than 2 years of age (92.0% versus 80.0%, respectively). Cure rates by pretreatment pathogen in the gatifloxacin and amoxicillin/clavulanate groups were 92.1% (35 of 38) versus 88.9% (16 of 18) for Streptococcus pneumoniae infections and 88.2% (30 of 34) versus 92.3% (12 of 13) for Haemophilus influenzae infections, respectively. Sustained clinical cures 3–4 weeks after treatment ended were obtained in 74.4% (183 of 246) of patients treated with gatifloxacin and 72.7% (88 of 121) of those treated with amoxicillin/clavulanate. Adverse events considered drug-related occurred with similar frequency in the 2 groups. Six patients (2.2%) in the gatifloxacin group and 2 patients (1.5%) in the amoxicillin/clavulanate group developed transient symptoms of mild or moderate arthralgia. Conclusions: In this comparative evaluation of fluoroquinolone therapy in children with AOM, gatifloxacin was similar in clinical efficacy to amoxicillin/clavulanate 45/6.4 mg/kg/d for treatment of recurrent/nonresponsive infections.
Enhancing the Rigor of Grounded Theory: Incorporating Reflexivity and Relationality

Some proponents of the grounded theory method appear to treat interview and participant observation data as though they mirror informants’ realities. Others claim that grounded theory incorporates reflexivity. It is claimed in this article that the principal texts on grounded theory do not attend to the effects of interactions between researchers and participants in interview and participant observation contexts. Descriptions of the effects of interactions on interview data and attention to relationships between interviewers and interviewees are necessary for attending to the rigor of grounded theory findings. Therefore, it is argued that reflexivity and relationality, which are defined as attending to the effects of researcher-participant interactions on the construction of data and to power and trust relationships between researchers and participants, should be incorporated into grounded theory.
Subunit-Dependent Modulation of Neuronal Nicotinic Receptors by Zinc

We examined the effect of zinc on rat neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) expressed in Xenopusoocytes as simple heteromers of α2, α3, or α4 and β2 or β4. Coapplication of zinc with low concentrations of acetylcholine (≤EC10) resulted in differential effects depending on receptor subunit composition. The α2β2, α2β4, α3β4, α4β2, and α4β4 receptors exhibited biphasic modulation by zinc, with potentiation of the acetylcholine response occurring at 1–100 μm zinc and inhibition occurring at higher zinc concentrations. In contrast, α3β2 receptors were only inhibited by zinc (IC50 = 97 ± 16 μm). The greatest potentiating effect of zinc was seen with α4β4 receptors that were potentiated to 560 ± 17% of the response to ACh alone, with an EC50 of 22 ± 4 μm zinc. Cadmium, but not nickel, was also able to potentiate α4β4 receptors. Both zinc potentiation of α4β4 receptors and zinc inhibition of α3β2 receptors were voltage independent. The sensitivity of zinc potentiation of α4β4 to diethylpyrocarbonate treatment and alterations in pH suggested the involvement of histidine residues. Zinc continued to inhibit α4β4 and α3β2 after diethylpyrocarbonate treatment. Application of a potentiating zinc concentration increased the response of α4β2 and α4β4 receptors to saturating ACh concentrations. The rate of Ach-induced desensitization of these receptors was unaffected by zinc. Our results reveal zinc potentiation as a new mode of neuronal nAChR modulation.
Impact of modernization on adult body composition on five islands of varying economic development in vanuatu

The Republic of Vanuatu, similar to other South Pacific island nations, is undergoing a rapid health transition as a consequence of modernization. The pace of modernization is uneven across Vanuatu's 63 inhabited islands, resulting in differential impacts on overall body composition and prevalence of obesity among islands, and between men and women. In this study, we investigated (1) how modernization impacts body composition between adult male and female Melanesians living on four islands of varying economic development in Vanuatu, and (2) how body composition differs between adult Melanesians and Polynesians living on rural islands in Vanuatu.
Multiple B cell stimulation by individual antigen‐specific T lymphocytes

Recently, an experimental system has been described which allows for the isolation and antigenic stimulation of individual antigen‐specific helper T lymphocytes in collaboration with a nonlimiting number of primary B lymphocytes. In the studies presented in this report, this system has been employed to determine whether an individual T lymphocyte has the potential to interact with more than a single B lymphocyte, when the B cells are of different antigenic specificities. The results of these studies indicate that an individual influenza virus PR 8‐specific T lymphocyte has the ability to promote antibody responses of both trinitrophenyl (TNP)‐ and PR 8‐specific B lymphocytes in response to the in vitro antigen TNP‐PR 8. Similar results were obtained when T cells specific for the hapten TNP were used in collaboration with TNP‐ and PR 8‐specific B cells. These results demonstrate that an individual T lymphocyte has the potential to collaborate with more than one B lymphocyte, and that these B cells may differ in their antibody receptor for antigen. These results do not rule out a role for idiotype or allotype‐specific T cells in antibody responses but, rather, strongly argue that antigen‐specific T cells are able to independently initiate primary B cell responses of B cells with distinct antibody receptors. In addition, under these conditions, hapten‐specific helper T cells can be readily demonstrated and may facilitate the response of B cells specific for the same or different determinants.
A Power Management Strategy for PV/Battery Hybrid Systems in Islanded Microgrids

In this paper, a power management strategy for PV/battery hybrid systems in islanded microgrids is proposed. The control strategy enables the photovoltaic (PV)/battery unit to operate as a voltage source that employs an adaptive droop control to share the load with other sources while charging the battery. Also, the PV/battery unit can track and supply the maximum PV power to the microgrid as long as there is sufficient load. Otherwise, the hybrid unit will autonomously follow the changing load while storing the excess energy in the battery. The control strategy is designed to modify the PV operating point to match the load autonomously whenever the available PV power is higher than the load and the battery is fully charged. In addition, the battery can provide the operational functions that a separate storage unit may provide in an islanded microgrid, such as regulating voltage and frequency, and supplying deficit power in the microgrid. This is achieved by utilizing multi-loop control and multi-segment adaptive droop control without relying on communications or a state machine. Small-signal models of the proposed control loops are developed to investigate system stability. The system performance is validated using experimental results from a 3-KVA prototype microgrid.
Modeling probability density through ultraspherical polynomial transformations

ABSTRACT We present a method for fitting parametric probability density models using an integrated square error criterion on a continuum of weighted Lebesgue spaces formed by ultraspherical polynomials. This approach is inherently suitable for creating mixture model representations of complex distributions and allows fully autonomous cluster analysis of high-dimensional datasets. The method is also suitable for extremely large sets, allowing post facto model selection and analysis even in the absence of the original data. Furthermore, the fitting procedure only requires the parametric model to be pointwise evaluable, making it trivial to fit user-defined models through a generic algorithm.
A comparative study of the effects of yoga and swimming on pulmonary functions in sedentary subjects

Context: The modality of exercise that is most beneficial and easy to perform has become a topic of research. Yogic exercises are being widely studied; however, postulated benefits of yogic exercises over other exercises must be scientifically explored. Prospective randomized comparative studies involving yoga and other endurance exercises are conspicuous by their absence. Aim: This study was, therefore, designed to assess and compare the effects of yogic training and swimming on pulmonary functions in normal healthy young volunteers. Materials and Methods: 100 volunteers were inducted into the study and randomly divided into two groups: One group underwent 12 weeks training for yogic exercises and other for swimming. The training and data acquisition was done in small cohorts of 10 subjects each. The subjects were assessed by studying their anthropometric parameters and pulmonary function parameters (FVC, FEV1/FVC ratio, PEFR, FEF25-75%, FEF 0.2-1.2 l and MVV) both before and after training. Results: All parameters showed statistically significant improvements after both yoga and swimming. Comparison of these improvements for different parameters statistically analyzed by unpaired t test or Mann Whitney U test depicted a statistically better improvement in FVC, FEF25-75% and MVV with swimming as compared to yogic exercises. Conclusions: The output of this study gives slight edge to swimming as a preferred modality of exercise though either yoga or swimming can be advocated as an exercise prescription as both the modalities cause significant improvement of respiratory health. However, other factors like ability of any exercise regime to keep continued motivation and interest of the trainees must be taken into account for exercise prescription.
Influence of Body Roll on Visually Induced Sensations of Self-Tilt and Rotation

Illusory self-tilt and illusory self-motion (vection) produced by rotation of a 360° visual scene about the subject's roll axis was measured as a function of the presence or absence of actual rotation of the subject during acceleration of the visual scene. Rotation of the subject to a tilt of 15° was at two levels of acceleration (onset) and with or without a delay between initial rotation and subsequent return (washout) to the vertical position. In one set of conditions, visual motion and subject motion were in opposite directions (concordant) and in another set they were in the same direction (discordant). In two control conditions, the subject was rotated while the visual scene remained stationary. For concordant motion the main effect of body rotation was to reduce the time taken by the subject to indicate self-tilt as compared with the response time to visual motion alone. The magnitude of estimated self-tilt was increased by actual body tilt as could be expected from addition of the perceived actual body tilt and the illusory body tilt induced by visual rotation. This effect of augmented body tilt did not persist after the body was returned to the vertical. The magnitude of vection was not markedly influenced by body rotation and washout. For discordant motion of body and the visual scene, subjects were confused and their responses were very variable, suggesting a nonlinear visual-vestibular interaction.
The effect of image compression on automotive optical flow algorithms

Advantageous interconnections of automotive cameras and electronic control units are possible by using IP based technology within the vehicles. Automotive implementation of this kind of technology enables limited data rates. Camera streams have to be compressed for the transmission over such a medium. The image processing algorithms can be applied after a decompression of the camera streams. In this paper we propose a method to compare the effect of different image compression algorithms on the optical flow. It comprises a metric, based on a nearest neighbour method, to compare optical flow fields.
Pulsed HV vacuum breakdown of polished, powder coated, and e-beam treated large area stainless steel electrodes with 0.5 to 7 mm gaps

An investigation of the HV vacuum breakdown between polished, powder coated, and e-beam treated 304L and 316L stainless steel electrodes is described. Tests were performed with 160 ns, 1-cos(/spl omega/t), and 260 ns flat-top voltage pulses of up to 500 kV. The high voltage hold-off for the 160 ns pulse was /spl sim/130 kV/mm for 2 mm gaps for 80-mm diameter polished stainless steel electrodes, and 15% lower for 120-mm polished and e-beam treated electrodes. The longer 260 ns pulse gave 15% lower hold-off for 80-mm electrodes. These electrodes showed voltage hold-off that scaled as the square root of the gap between 0.5 and 7 mm. This total voltage effect has been interpreted in the past as due to accelerated particles. We analyze our data in terms of this mechanism and show that only nanoparticles of molecular size could be responsible. We also discuss how ions or background gas could affect the breakdown thresholds but existing models do not predict square root dependence. We test how extremely fine powers affect hold-off and show that contaminated surfaces have relatively constant reduced breakdown E-fields that intersect the clean-electrode voltage-dependent breakdown at critical gaps defined by the type and quantity of contamination. The hold-off was /spl sim/55 and 65 kV/mm with copper powder on the cathode and anode for 2 to 6.5 mm gaps, respectively, and /spl sim/95 and 75 kV/mm for talc powder on the cathode and anode for gaps <3.5 and 6.5 mm. Optical diagnostics show no difference in the light emission from clean and contaminated electrode breakdown arcs.
Development of rule-based classifiers for rapid stability assessment of wide-area post disturbance records

The paper proposes a systematic scheme for building compact and transparent fuzzy rule-based classifiers for rapid stability assessment; the classifiers are initialized by large accurate decision trees (DTs). The approach starts by selecting strategic monitoring buses where phasor measurement units (PMUs) are placed to capture wide-area response signals in real-time operation. These measurements are processed in the time and frequency domains for extracting selected decision features such as the peak spectral density of the angle, frequency and their dot product evaluated over the grid areas. These so-called wide-area severity indices (WASI) are reliable time-varying stability indicators that form the basis of an effective classification system. Large-size DTs are used to generate initial accurate classification boundaries for decision making as early as 1 s or 2 s after fault clearing. From the DT classification boundaries, fuzzy membership functions (MFs) are developed and the corresponding fuzzy rule base is formulated parsimoniously by eliminating redundant MFs and rules using a similarity measure. The resulting fuzzy-rule classifiers are successfully tested for system-wise and area-wise contingencies based on a large database of detailed simulations of the Hydro-Québec grid and are further confirmed on actual measurements recorded with existing wide-area measurements (WAMS).
A Systematic Comparison of Free and Bound Antibodies Reveals Binding-Related Conformational Changes

To study structural changes that occur in Abs upon Ag binding, we systematically compared free and bound structures of all 141 crystal structures of the 49 Abs that were solved in these two forms. We found that many structural changes occur far from the Ag binding site. Some of them may constitute a mechanism for the recently suggested allosteric effects in Abs. Within the binding site itself, CDR-H3 is the only element that shows significant binding-related conformational changes; however, this occurs in only one third of the Abs. Beyond the binding site, Ag binding is associated with changes in the relative orientation of the H and L chains in both the variable and constant domains. An even larger change occurs in the elbow angle between the variable and the constant domains, and it is significantly larger for binding of big Ags than for binding of small ones. The most consistent and substantial conformational changes occur in a loop in the H chain constant domain. This loop is implicated in the interaction between the H and L chains, is often intrinsically disordered, and is involved in complement binding. Hence, we suggest that it may have a role in Ab function. These findings provide structural insight into the recently proposed allosteric effects in Abs.
Antioxidants are required during the early critical period, but not later, for neuronal survival

Methods for growing primary neuronal cultures rely on the inclusion of antioxidants in the culture medium, but no studies have determined precisely if or when antioxidants are required for neuronal survival, despite the significance this information would have for understanding neurodevelopment and studying oxidative stress. We show that cortical neurons grown in Neurobasal media with B27 supplement required antioxidants for only the first 24 hr post‐explantation, after which the antioxidants could be removed permanently without noticeable loss of neuronal survival over the normal lifespan. Cortical cultures never exposed to antioxidants did not survive. These findings represent a novel method for substantially antioxidant‐free neuronal culture, whereby antioxidants can be removed permanently from the cultures after only 1 day. This method may prove critical for studies of oxidative stress, because B27 antioxidants significantly diminished pro‐oxidative effects of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate and hydrogen peroxide on cortical cultures, even if antioxidants were removed before the oxidizing treatment. Together, these findings suggest a brief window of high vulnerability to reactive oxygen species, and have important implications for studies of oxidative stress and developmental neuroscience. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Dynamic Redistribution of the Activating 2B4/SAP Complex at the Cytotoxic NK Cell Immune Synapse1

The 2B4 molecule (CD244) has been described as a coreceptor in human NK cell activation. However, the behavior of 2B4 during the cytotoxic NK cell immune synapse (NK-IS) formation remains undetermined. In this study, we demonstrate the redistribution of 2B4 and the signaling adaptor molecule, signaling lymphocyte activation molecule-associated protein (SAP), to the cytotoxic NK-IS upon formation of conjugates between resting NK cells and EBV-infected 721.221 human cells. Confocal microscopy showed that 2B4 localized at the central supramolecular activation cluster, surrounded by a peripheral supramolecular activation cluster containing talin within NK cell and ICAM-1 on target cells. Videomicroscopy studies with 2B4-GFP-transfected NK cells revealed that 2B4 redistributed to cytotoxic NK-IS as soon as the cell contact occurred. Simultaneously, a SAP-GFP also clustered at the contact site, where it remained during the interaction period. The 2B4 molecular clusters remained bound to the target cell even after NK cell detachment. These results underscore the function of 2B4 as an adhesion molecule and suggest a relevant role in the initial binding, scanning of target cells, and formation of cytotoxic NK-IS. Finally, these findings are indicative of an important role of the activating 2B4/signaling lymphocyte activation molecule-associated protein complex during the recognition of EBV-infected cells.
Properties of GABAergic Neurons Containing Calcium-Permeable Kainate and AMPA-Receptors

Calcium-permeable kainate and AMPA receptors (CP-KARs and CP-AMPARs), as well as NMDARs, play a pivotal role in plasticity and in regulating neurotransmitter release. Here we visualized in the mature hippocampal neuroglial cultures the neurons expressing CP-AMPARs and CP-KARs. These neurons were visualized by a characteristic fast sustained [Ca2+]i increase in response to the agonist of these receptors, domoic acid (DoA), and a selective agonist of GluK1-containing KARs, ATPA. Neurons from both subpopulations are GABAergic. The subpopulation of neurons expressing CP-AMPARs includes a larger percentage of calbindin-positive neurons (39.4 ± 6.0%) than the subpopulation of neurons expressing CP-KARs (14.2 ± 7.5% of CB+ neurons). In addition, we have shown for the first time that NH4Cl-induced depolarization faster induces an [Ca2+]i elevation in GABAergic neurons expressing CP-KARs and CP-AMPARs than in most glutamatergic neurons. CP-AMPARs antagonist, NASPM, increased the amplitude of the DoA-induced Ca2+ response in GABAergic neurons expressing CP-KARs, indicating that neurons expressing CP-AMPARs innervate GABAergic neurons expressing CP-KARs. We assume that CP-KARs in inhibitory neurons are involved in the mechanism of outstripping GABA release upon hyperexcitation.
Loss of BRCA1 impairs centromeric cohesion and triggers chromosomal instability

In contrast to its well‐known role in the DNA damage response during interphase, the function of BRCA1 in the maintenance of chromosomal stability during mitosis remains to be defined. In this study, we uncover a novel role of BRCA1 in preserving centromere integrity in mitotic human cells. Using immunofluorescence and chromatin immunoprecipitation approaches, we report BRCA1 association with centromeric chromatin during mitosis. BRCA1 depletion impairs centromeric cohesion, leading to an increase in interkinetochore distance and in unpaired sister‐chromatids frequency during prometaphase. Moreover, BRCA1 loss partially decreased accumulation of the Aurora B kinase at the centromere. We found that proper recruitment of the DNMT3b DNA methyltransferase to satellite sequences is BRCA1‐dependent during mitosis, suggesting that DNA hypomethylation contributes to Aurora B mislocalization. BRCA1‐deficient cells exhibited decreased ability to correct improper Aurora B‐dependent chromosome‐spindle attachments and to align chromosomes at metaphase. Finally, we show that BRCA1 disruption promotes merotelic kinetochore attachments that represent a major mechanism of aneuploidy in human cells. In summary, we report here a novel function of BRCA1 in maintaining chromosomal stability through its contribution to the mitotic centromere integrity necessary for faithful segregation of sister‐chromatids during cell division. —Di Paolo, A. , Racca, C. , Calsou, P., and Larminat, F. , Loss of BRCA1 impairs centromeric cohesion and triggers chromosomal instability. FASEB J. 28, 5250–5261 (2014). www.fasebj. org