Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk factors for and role of OprD protein in increasing minimal inhibitory concentrations of carbapenems in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Purpose. This study examined the risk factors for, and molecular mechanisms underlying, the increase in carbapenem minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Methodology. Consecutive clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa were collected. The MicroScan WalkAway system detected more than fourfold increases in the MICs of carbapenems in P. aeruginosa isolates serially recovered from some patients during their clinical course. The clinical risk factors associated with this increase were examined by multiple logistic regression analysis. Western blot analysis and nucleotide sequencing of the oprD gene of 19 clonally related and paired P. aeruginosa isolates from the same patients were undertaken to examine the mechanisms underlying the increase in MICs. Results. The results showed that prior use of carbapenems (OR, 2.799; 95% CI, 1.088‐7.200; P=0.033) and the use of ventilators or tracheostomies (OR, 2.648; 95% CI, 1.051‐6.671; P=0.039) were risk factors for increased carbapenem MICs. Analysis of the underlying mechanisms revealed that loss of functional OprD protein due to mutation of the oprD gene tended to occur in P. aeruginosa isolates with imipenem MICs of more than 8 &mgr;g ml−1; a reduction in OprD expression was observed in P. aeruginosa isolates with imipenem MICs of 4 or 8 &mgr;g ml−1. This difference in the resistance mechanism was not correlated with the MICs of meropenem. Conclusion. This difference in the resistance mechanism of P. aeruginosa indicates a critical breakpoint at an imipenem MIC of 8 &mgr;g ml−1, in accordance with EUCAST criteria. Reducing carbapenem use will prevent P. aeruginosa clinical isolates from developing resistance to carbapenems.
Intrinsic Novobiocin Resistance in Staphylococcus saprophyticus

ABSTRACT Intrinsic novobiocin resistance in Staphylococcus saprophyticus was associated with expression of a novobiocin-resistant form of the drug target protein (GyrB). Site-directed mutagenesis established that resistance depends upon the presence of two specific amino acid residues in GyrB: a glycine at position 85 and a lysine at position 140.
3D Hand Gesture Recognition Using a Depth and Skeletal Dataset

Hand gesture recognition is recently becoming one of the most attractive field of research in pattern recognition. The objective of this track is to evaluate the performance of recent recognition approaches using a challenging hand gesture dataset containing 14 gestures, performed by 28 participants executing the same gesture with two different numbers of fingers. Two research groups have participated to this track, the accuracy of their recognition algorithms have been evaluated and compared to three other state-of-the-art approaches.
Fast and Wide Range Voltage Conversion in Multisupply Voltage Designs

Multisupply voltage design technique is widely used in modern system-on-chips to tradeoff energy and speed. Level shifters (LSs) allow different voltage domains to be interfaced. In this brief, a new LS is presented for fast and wide range voltage conversion. Because of a novel architecture combined with the use of multithreshold CMOS technique, the proposed circuit guarantees robust voltage shifting from the deep subthreshold to the above-threshold domain while exhibiting fast response and low energy consumption. When implemented in a 90-nm technology node, considering process-voltage-temperature variations, the proposed design reliably converts 100-mV input signals into 1 V output signals. Post-layout simulation results demonstrate that the new LS shows a propagation delay of 16.6 ns, a static power dissipation of 8.7 nW and a total energy per transition of only 77 fJ for a 0.2 V 1-MHz input pulse.
Transportin-SR2 mediates nuclear import of phosphorylated SR proteins

Serine/arginine-rich proteins (SR proteins) are a family of nuclear factors that play important roles in both constitutive and regulated precursor mRNA splicing. The domain rich in arginine/serine (RS) repeats (RS domain) serves as both a nuclear and subnuclear localization signal. We previously identified an importin β family protein, transportin-SR2 (TRN-SR2), that specifically interacts with phosphorylated RS domains. A TRN-SR2 mutant deficient in Ran binding colocalizes with SR proteins in nuclear speckles, suggesting a role of TRN-SR2 in nuclear targeting of SR proteins. Using in vitro import assays, we here show that nuclear import of SR protein fusions requires cytosolic factors, and that the RS domain becomes phosphorylated in the import reaction. Reconstitution of SR protein import by using recombinant transport factors clearly demonstrates that TRN-SR2 is capable of targeting phosphorylated, but not unphosphorylated, SR proteins to the nucleus. Therefore, RS domain phosphorylation is critical for TRN-SR2-mediated nuclear import. Interestingly, we found that the RNA-binding activity of SR proteins confers temperature sensitivity to their nuclear import. Finally, we show that TRN-SR2 interacts with a nucleoporin and is targeted not only to the nuclear envelope but also to nuclear speckles in vitro. Thus, TRN-SR2 may perhaps escort SR protein cargoes to nuclear subdomains.
Oral and Vocal Fold Diadochokinesis in Children

Aim: To establish reference values concerning the results of oral and vocal fold diadochokinesis (DDK) assessment, as well as to analyze the differences among gender and age. Methods: One hundred and fifty Brazilian-Portuguese-speaking children from 8 to 10 years old were assessed. The DDK was assessed through the repetition of ‘pa’, ‘ta’, ‘ka’, ‘pataka’, ‘a’ and ‘i’. Results: As age increased there was a rise in the average DDK rate, a rise in the coefficient of variation of period for syllable ‘ka’ and a rise in the coefficient of variation of the peak intensity for the syllable ‘ta’. The number of utterances per second of ‘ta’ was higher for girls than for boys. In trisyllables, 8-year-old girls presented a lower number of utterances than the other subgroups. As age increased, there was a rise in the average DDK rate of the vowel ‘i’ for girls; there was also a smaller standard deviation and perturbations of the period for this same vowel. Conclusion: Oral and vocal fold DDK reference values were established and differences as to gender and age were observed.
Treatment of patients with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or mantle cell lymphoma with alemtuzumab, alone or in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy

The treatment outcomes for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma have improved since targeted agents such as rituximab were incorporated into chemotherapy regimens [1,2]. However, previous phase III studies with rituximab plus CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone) reported an overall response rate of 82–86% in diffuse large Bcell lymphoma (DLBCL) [2–4]. Thus, approximately 15% of DLBCLs are initially refractory to rituximab-based chemotherapy. Considering that some patients also rapidly relapse after their initial response, a substantial number of patients can become refractory. At present, there is no consensus regarding the optimal treatment option for these refractory patients. Alemtuzumab is a humanized anti-CD52 monoclonal antibody, and CD52 antigen is widely expressed on B-cells and T-cells as well as malignant lymphoid cells [5,6]. Thus, alemtuzumab has been used as a single agent or in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents to treat T-cell lymphoid malignancies such as peripheral T-cell lymphoma and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma [7–9]; it is also used in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) [8,10]. However, the effects of alemtuzumab on DLBCL or mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) have never been reported. The efficacy of alemtuzumab in patients with relapsed CLL suggests that the action of alemtuzumab could be independent of p53 mutations, because p53 mutations are associated with treatment resistance in CLL [11,12]. Because of the relationship of p53 mutations with treatment resistance in various cancers, it is possible that p53 defects are involved in refractory DLBCL or MCL. Furthermore, a previous study reported a possible association of CD52 overexpression with resistance to rituximab in cell lines [13]. This study showed alemtuzumab-induced cell death and the highest expression of CD52 in rituximab-CHOPresistant DLBCL. Although the role of CD52 is still not defined, these results suggested that CD52 might play a role as a complement inhibitor, similar to CD55 and CD59. Considering that resistance to rituximab and a p53 defect may result in refractory B-cell lymphoma, an approach targeting these abnormalities could provide a means toward establishing a treatment strategy for refractory B-cell lymphomas. Thus, we hypothesized that alemtuzumab-containing chemotherapy might be effective in treating patients with DLBCL or MCL refractory to rituximab-containing chemotherapy. We treated 11 patients with DLBCL and one patient with MCL with alemtuzumab-containing chemotherapy as a pilot study between July 2008 and April 2010. Patients were heavily pretreated with combination chemotherapies including rituximab plus CHOP or rituximab plus HyperCVAD (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone)/MA (methotrexate and cytarabine). After we obtained written informed consent from the patients, we administered alemtuzumab combined with DHAP (dexamethasone, cytarabine, and cisplatin) or EPOCH (etoposide, prednisolone,
Flux Distribution in Linear Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Machines Including Longitudinal End Effects

We investigated the longitudinal ends' influence on the flux distribution in a permanent-magnet linear synchronous machine with an analytic model and with numeric finite-element methods. We derived a general analytic expression, on closed form, from a linear reluctance model. The model reveals that the flux in a linear machine differs from that in a rotating machine in several aspects. The longitudinal ends introduce a pairwise coupled flux pattern, which will behave differently in circuits with odd or even numbers of magnets. In linear machines with an even number of magnets the pairwise coupled flux will spread throughout the whole machine, whereas in linear machines with an odd number of magnets it will be transformed into an equally distributed flux in the middle. The latter case will give rise to a nonsymmetric air gap flux distribution, where every second pole has larger flux. We confirmed the pairwise coupled flux and the nonsymmetric air gap distribution predicted by the analytic model by finite-element simulations. We noted additional effects when nonlinear behavior of the steel is taken into account. We conclude that saturation counteracts the pairwise coupled flux pattern at the longitudinal ends. Again, a nonsymmetric air gap flux distribution occurs as the pairwise coupled flux is transformed into an equally coupled flux. The pairwise coupling of the flux and the nonsymmetric air gap flux distribution give rise to a number of secondary effects, which we discuss.
Identification of Dermatophyte Species by 28S Ribosomal DNA Sequencing with a Commercial Kit

ABSTRACT We have shown that dermatophyte species can be easily identified on the basis of a DNA sequence encoding a part of the large-subunit (LSU) rRNA (28S rRNA) by using the MicroSeq D2 LSU rRNA Fungal Sequencing Kit. Two taxa causing distinct dermatophytoses were clearly distinguished among isolates of the Trichophyton mentagrophytes species complex.
Design discovery for social recommendation of Web graphics

To apply social recommendation to image databases, we have developed an clustering algorithm that takes account of both social and content based similarity between image items. Resulting clusters are called "design groups" since it represents visual features appealing to users. The system organizes image items and recommends designs that will appeal to the user. We have applied this technique to a Web graphics database and evaluated its effectiveness by user testing.
Design and implementation of a visual servo system

Robot visual servo system has an important status in robotic research and application, also has a decisive influence on robot intelligence. According to robotic kinematics and dynamics, the method of visual servo controller based on position is adopted in this paper. Binocular camera stereo vision technology and a kind of real-time control card Q8 based on MATLAB are used in motion control. The paper describes the control structure, hardware, software, designs a visual servo system platform and implements the real-time mission that track, capture or access moving targets on the platform.
3D Parylene sheath probes for reliable, long-term neuroprosthetic recordings

Parylene C neural probes with a 3D sheath structure are introduced as a novel interface for long-term intracortical neural recording. 3D sheath structures were assembled from surface micromachined Parylene microchannels by thermoforming the thermoplastic around a solid microwire mold. Multiple Pt electrodes lined the interior and exterior of the sheath. Electrochemical characterization of the electrodes confirmed impedance values (50-250 KΩ at 1 kHz) suitable for neural recordings. A novel insertion approach was developed that temporarily stiffens the neural probes for surgical implantation and optimized in agarose brain tissue model. Sheath probes implanted into rat cortex recorded neural signals for four weeks. To achieve long-term, reliable recordings, the sheath structures will be coated with eluting neurotrophic factors to promote and attract neural ingrowth towards electrode sites.
Direct and inverse radiative transfer solutions for visible and near-infrared hyperspectral imagery

Two reciprocal direct and inverse radiative transfer models dealing with hyperspectral remote sensing in the visible-to-shortwave-infrared spectral domain are described in this paper. The first one, called COMANCHE, considers a flat and heterogeneous ground scene, with bidirectional reflectance effects, and computes spectral radiance hypercubes at the sensor level. Trapping and environment phenomena are take into account through specific optimized Monte Carlo modules. The reciprocal inverse algorithm, called COCHISE, considers a sensor-level hyperspectral image and retrieves the ground spectral reflectance distribution as well as the water vapor content. COCHISE removes the atmospheric and environment effects with the same modeling as COMANCHE, but consider however the Lambertian assumption for the ground reflectance. Both of the models are validated with existing radiative transfer codes (MODTRAN and AMARTIS, for instance), and also using experimental datasets from the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer. The comparisons show very good agreement regarding to the usual uncertainties involved insuche experiment. COCHISE is also applied on a additional dataset acquired by HyMap.
SecHealth: An Efficient Fog Based Sender Initiated Secure Data Transmission of Healthcare Sensors for e-Medical System

Security on sensitive data of the patients is essential in e-medical system where, sensors and the servers use the insecure channels like ZigBee and Internet to exchange their information. An adversary may hamper the communications by mounting various attacks as well as he/she may try to get the sensitive data. Therefore, security system is needed so that it can protect the security attacks. This paper provides a new security protocol, referred as SecHealth when the healthcare sensors transmit their data to a local server known as fog server. In this case, after verifying each other (i.e., sensor and fog server), then only the sensors are able to transmit their data to the local fog server. However, security analysis of the proposed protocol states that it can overcome all the possible known attacks.
Development of a light weight torque limiting M-Drive actuator for hyper-redundant manipulator Float Arm

In order to realize a practical hyper-redundant manipulator, a new lightweight wire driven transmission mechanism, named M-Drive, has been developed. This mechanism not only takes advantage of the lightweight properties of a wire and pulley system but also has a unique torque keeping function. The mechanism keeps the joint solid without compliance and not only allows the joint to deform when in contact with an external torque over a threshold torque, but is also able to maintain that threshold torque while deforming. Furthermore, M-Drive also features automatic wire elongation elimination, the fundamental difficulty of a wire and pulley system. Combining two M-Drive mechanisms in a differential configuration, a 2-DOF coupled drive actuator that maximizes power has also been developed for a proposed gravity compensated hyper-redundant manipulator named Float Arm. Experimental results for the M-Drive mechanism and the differential M-Drive actuator are also included.
Advanced glycosylation end products in patients with diabetic nephropathy.

BACKGROUND Glucose reacts nonenzymatically with proteins in vivo, chemically forming covalently attached glucose-addition products and cross-links between proteins. The excessive accumulation of rearranged late-glucose-addition products, or advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs), is believed to contribute to the chronic complications of diabetes mellitus. METHODS To elucidate the relation of AGEs to diabetic complications, we used a radioreceptor assay to measure serum and tissue AGEs in diabetic (Types I and Type II) and nondiabetic patients with different levels of renal function. Serum AGEs were measured as a low-molecular-weight (less than or equal to 10 kd) peptide fraction and a high-molecular-weight (greater than 10 kd) protein fraction. RESULTS The mean (+/- SD) AGE content of samples of arterial-wall collagen from 9 diabetic patients was significantly higher than that of samples from 18 nondiabetic patients (14.5 +/- 5.2 vs. 3.6 +/- 1.5 AGE units per milligram, P less than 0.001). Moreover, diabetic patients with end-stage renal disease had almost twice as much AGE in tissue as diabetic patients without renal disease (21.3 +/- 2.8 vs. 11.5 +/- 1.9 AGE units per milligram, P less than 0.001). The AGE levels in both serum fractions were elevated in the patients with diabetes, and the levels of AGE peptides correlated directly with serum creatinine (P less than 0.001) and inversely with creatinine clearance (P less than 0.005), suggesting that levels of AGE peptides increased with the severity of diabetic nephropathy. In six patients with diabetes who required hemodialysis, the levels of AGE peptides were five times higher than in eight normal subjects (82.8 +/- 9.4 vs. 15.6 +/- 3.4 AGE units per milliliter, P less than 0.001). In another group of diabetic patients the mean serum creatinine level, which decreased by 75 percent during a session of hemodialysis, whereas the level of AGE peptides decreased by only 24 percent. Serum levels of AGE peptides were normal in two patients with normal serum creatinine levels after renal transplantation. CONCLUSIONS AGEs accumulate at a faster-than-normal rate in arteries and the circulation of patients with diabetes; the increase in circulating AGE peptides parallels the severity of renal functional impairment in diabetic nephropathy.
Mojette transform based LDPC erasure correction codes for distributed storage systems

Mojette Transform (MT) based erasure correction coding possesses extremely efficient encoding/decoding algorithms and demonstrate promising burst erasure recovery performance. MT codes are based on discrete geometry and provide redundancy through creating projections. Projections are made of smaller data structures called bins and are generated from a two dimensional convex-shaped data. For exact data recovery, only a subset of projections are needed by the decoder. We realize that the discrete geometry definition of MT erasure codes corresponds to creating structured/deterministic generator matrices. In this study, we show an alternative Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) code construction methodology through investigating parity check matrices of MT codes which shows sparseness as the blocklength of the code gets large. In a distributed storage setting, we also quantify the repair bandwidth and show that this novel interpretation can be used to facilitate bin-level local repairs.
Evolutionary architecture design for approximate DCT

Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) which has a major role in image and video compression has also a major role in power consumption. Approximate Computing let us trade precision to save power in error resilient applications such as multimedia. Therefore, DCT is a potential candidate for approximation. In this paper, we propose a method for evolutionary design of DCT architecture exploiting the inherent behavior of DCT. Unlike the prior works on DCT approximation, which concentrated mostly on optimizing, replacing, or removing less effective building blocks of DCT, in our proposed method we use the evolutionary method to find new structures for DCT. According to the results, the evolution methods lead to architectures with less area and acceptable accuracy.
La formacion del profesorado novel de secundaria de ciencias y matematicas. Estudio de un caso

Este trabajo presenta un estudio de casos acerca de la formacion del profesorado. El proposito global de la investigacion consiste en conocer y comprender los procesos formativos y los procesos de desarrollo profesional que promueve una actividad de formacion permanente desarrolla con tres grupos de profesores noveles de educacion secundaria, de las especialidades de Fisica y Quimica, Biologia y Geologia y Matematicas. Son tres contextos formativos diferentes que comparten el diseno, con los primeros recursos y estrategias formativas, elaborado y desarrollado por un equipo de formadores que se coordinan compartiendo perspectivas y realizando un analisis conjunto del proceso. El estudio considera tres vertientes fundamentales: el profesorado y su proceso de desarrollo profesional, los formadores y el proceso de formacion, y la propia actividad formativa llevada a cabo. Pretende desvelar las caracteristicas de un proceso formativo concreto, conocer su genesis y su evolucion, indagar en su dinamica y en sus problemas, comprender asi el sentido y el alcance de la actividad formativa, su incidencia en el profesorado participante. En cuanto al profesorado, el estudio se detiene en los factores que constituyen aspectos relevantes para explicar la evolucion que se ha favorecido en su pensamiento y en su quehacer profesional. Tambien se destacan los aspectos que dificultan su desarrollo como docentes, las resistencias y dificultades que afloran durante la actividad. Con respecto al proceso seguido, el analisis se centra en desvelar el sentido de las estrategias utilizadas y su potencialidad para con los propositos de la actividad. En relacion con los formadores, las reflexiones destacan la interaccion con el profesorado, su papel clave para asegurar la coherencia entre los principios y la practica desarrollada. El analisis se realiza desde unos presupuestos teoricos que se presentan en la primera parte del trabajo.