Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Synthetic Conjugate Polysaccharide Vaccine Against Haemophilus influenzae Type b

Glycoconjugate vaccines provide effective prophylaxis against bacterial infections. To date, however, no commercial vaccine has been available in which the key carbohydrate antigens are produced synthetically. We describe the large-scale synthesis, pharmaceutical development, and clinical evaluation of a conjugate vaccine composed of a synthetic capsular polysaccharide antigen of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). The vaccine was evaluated in clinical trials in Cuba and showed long-term protective antibody titers that compared favorably to licensed products prepared with the Hib polysaccharide extracted from bacteria. This demonstrates that access to synthetic complex carbohydrate–based vaccines is feasible and provides a basis for further development of similar approaches for other human pathogens.
Group Performance in a Swarm of Simulated Mobile Robots

Division of labour (or task allocation) is considered to be one of the most fundamental fields of research within the context of swarm intelligence and swarm robotics. In this paper, we look at how swarms of simulated mobile robots (i.e. mobile agents) carry out the decision of doing a particular task in an artificial world. In this paper, we present an agent based model wherein groups of mobile agents make decisions based on some simple rules. We, furthermore present an in-depth analysis on the efficiency of the swarm – typically how factors such as the number of robots and the amount of tasks affect the average energy of the swarm (energy efficiency) and how well they are utilized (robot utilization). Our simulation results reveal a number of interesting findings including: (1) the robot utilization decreases with the increase in the number of robots and vice versa, (2) the robot utilization increases with the increase in the amount of task and vice versa, and (3) there exists a swarm size, S, which results in an optimal energy for the swarm. Keywords— Agent based model, division of labor, energy efficiency, mobile agents, robot utilization.  University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh All rights reserved. Manuscript received on 25 October 2015and accepted for publication on 11 November 2015.
Surgical Experience of a Partial Atrioventricular Septal Defect in an Elderly Patient: A Case Report

The following paper describes patch closure (bovine pericardial sheet) of an ostium primum atrial septal defect and mitral valve repair (sutured mitral valve cleft + autologous pericardial annuloplasty + Alfieri’s method) in a 50-year-old man. He had been perfectly well until he was brought to the emergency room because of acute heart failure. Chest radiography revealed right-side heart enlargement. Electrocardiography indicated atrial flutter. Echocardiography revealed a large ostium primum atrial septal defect and moderate mitral regurgitation. The pulmonary-to-systemic blood flow ratio was 3.24. First, cardiologists performed catheter ablation of the cavotricuspid isthmus for atrial flutter. We performed patch closure of an ostium primum atrial septal defect and mitral valve repair after the patient’s heart failure was under control. The patient was discharged 13 days postoperatively in a satisfactory condition without any critical complications.
Accuracy in the recording of pressure ulcers and prevention after implementing an electronic health record in hospital care

Objective: To compare the accuracy in recording of pressure-ulcer prevalence and prevention before and after implementing an electronic health record (EHR) with templates for pressure-ulcer assessment. Methods: All inpatients at the departments of surgery, medicine and geriatrics were inspected for the presence of pressure ulcers, according to the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel—methodology, during 1 day in 2002 (n = 357) and repeated in 2006 (n = 343). The corresponding patient records were audited retrospectively for the presence of documentation on pressure ulcers. Results: In 2002, the prevalence of pressure ulcers obtained by auditing paper-based patient records (n = 413) was 14.3%, compared with 33.3% in physical inspection (n = 357). The largest difference was seen in the geriatric department, where records revealed 22.9% pressure ulcers and skin inspection 59.3%. Four years later, after the implementation of the EHR, there were 20.7% recorded pressure ulcers and 30.0% found by physical examination of patients. The accuracy of the prevalence data had improved most in the geriatric department, where the EHR showed 48.1% and physical examination 43.2% pressure ulcers. Corresponding figures in the surgical department were 22.2% and 14.1%, and in the medical department 29.9% and 10.2%, respectively. The patients received pressure-reducing equipment to a higher degree (51.6%) than documented in the patient record (7.9%) in 2006. Conclusions: The accuracy in pressure-ulcer recording improved in the EHR compared with the paper-based health record. However, there were still deficiencies, which mean that patient records did not serve as a valid source of information on pressure-ulcer prevalence and prevention.
A Cell-Type Specific CD1d Expression Program Modulates Invariant NKT Cell Development and Function1

Invariant NK T (iNKT) cells are a distinct subset of T cells that rapidly produce an array of immunoregulatory cytokines upon activation. Cytokines produced by iNKT cells subsequently transactivate other leukocytes and elicit their respective effector functions. In this way, iNKT cells play a central role in coordinating the development of immune responses in a variety of settings. However, the mechanisms governing the quality of the iNKT cell response elicited remain poorly defined. To address whether changes in the CD1d expression pattern could regulate iNKT cell function, we generated a transgenic (Tg) mouse model in which thymocytes and peripheral T cells express high levels of CD1d (Lck-CD1d Tg+ mice). The expression of CD1d by T cells was sufficient to rescue development of iNKT cells in mice deficient of endogenous CD1d. However, the relative proportions of iNKT cell subsets in Lck-CD1d Tg+ mice were distinctly different from those in wild-type mice, suggesting an altered developmental program. Additionally, iNKT cells were hyporesponsive to antigenic stimulation in vivo. Interestingly, Lck-CD1d Tg+ mice develop liver pathology in the absence of any exogenous manipulation. The results of these studies suggest that changes to the CD1d expression program modulate iNKT cell development and function.
Investigating the Effects of DMSO on PCR Fidelity Using a Restriction Digest-Based Method

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is commonly used in PCR to relieve secondary structures when amplifying high GC templates, but we have little understanding of how it affects PCR fidelity based on its interaction with DNA molecules. To evaluate the possible mutational effects, we developed a restriction digestion-based method to rapidly detect erroneous PCR products and compared our result to normal as well as error-prone PCR conditions. We successfully detected PCR mutations generated by the error-prone condition using three different restriction enzymes. The presence of 2% DMSO in PCR did not appear to affect the yield or the proportion of mutations significantly. Overall, our method is a rapid way to assess the occurrence of mutations in a pool of PCR amplicons and can easily be extended to more sensitive studies.
Long-term follow-up of a randomized controlled trial of observation versus surgery for acute cholecystitis: Non-operative management is an option in some patients

Abstract Background. Cholecystectomy is routinely recommended to prevent recurrent disease after an initial episode of acute cholecystitis. Therefore, randomized controlled trials have mainly focused on the timing of surgery, but many patients scheduled for cholecystectomy have deferred surgery with long periods of symptom-free intervals. Our present aim is to examine the long-term feasibility and safety of observation compared with surgery. Methods. Trial of 64 patients with acute cholecystitis previously randomized to observation or cholecystectomy, which examined outcome in terms of completed randomized treatment and appearance of further symptoms and the need for surgical treatment. Thirty-three patients were randomized to observation and 31 patients to cholecystectomy. Median follow-up was 14 years. Results. Of the 33 patients randomized to observation, 11 (33%) experienced a new event of gallstone-related disease (eight (24.2%) had acute cholecystitis) and 11 (33%) were operated. No significant difference (p = 0.565) was found between the two randomized groups with regard to recurrent disease or complications. Virtually no surgery took place after 5 years of follow-up. The difference in completed randomized treatment between the groups was not significant (p = 0.077). Long-term mortality was equal in those operated and in those observed. Conclusions. Twenty-four percent of the patients experienced recurrent cholecystitis, but escalation of disease severity or increased mortality was not observed. Long-term observation after acute cholecystitis was feasible in two-thirds of the patients as the risk for recurrent disease was negligible after 5 years.
YNU-HPCC at IJCNLP-2017 Task 5: Multi-choice Question Answering in Exams Using an Attention-based LSTM Model

A shared task is a typical question answering task that aims to test how accurately the participants can answer the questions in exams. Typically, for each question, there are four candidate answers, and only one of the answers is correct. The existing methods for such a task usually implement a recurrent neural network (RNN) or long short-term memory (LSTM). However, both RNN and LSTM are biased models in which the words in the tail of a sentence are more dominant than the words in the header. In this paper, we propose the use of an attention-based LSTM (AT-LSTM) model for these tasks. By adding an attention mechanism to the standard LSTM, this model can more easily capture long contextual information.
Performance of Non-Linear Stress-Grading Systems at Non-Sinusoidal Voltages

In this paper, the performance of nonlinear stress-grading systems of high voltage rotating machines under to non-sinusoidal voltages is studied. A lumped circuit model of stress-grading system applied to high voltage stator windings is developed. The model generates the time variation as well as the effective value of the surface electric field and potential distribution along with the power dissipation of the stress-grading system. The performance characteristics of the stress-grading systems are generated under different impulse voltage waveforms with various standard rise times. Impulse waveforms with very short rise time, cause the most concentration of the electric stress and cause the most power loss in the stress-grading system.
Gadolinium-doped iron oxide nanoparticles induced magnetic field hyperthermia combined with radiotherapy increases tumour response by vascular disruption and improved oxygenation

Abstract The gadolinium-doped iron oxide nanoparticles (GdIONP) with greater specific power adsorption rate (SAR) than Fe3O4 was developed and its potential application in tumour therapy and particle tracking were demonstrated in transgenic adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate C1 (TRAMP-C1) tumours. The GdIONPs accumulated in tumour region during the treatment could be clearly tracked and quantified by T2-weighted MR imaging. The therapeutic effects of GdIONP-mediated hyperthermia alone or in combination with radiotherapy (RT) were also evaluated. A significant increase in the tumour growth time was observed following the treatment of thermotherapy (TT) only group (2.5 days), radiation therapy only group (4.5 days), and the combined radio-thermotherapy group (10 days). Immunohistochemical staining revealed a reduced hypoxia region with vascular disruption and extensive tumour necrosis following the combined radio-thermotherapy. These results indicate that GdIONP-mediated hyperthermia can improve the efficacy of RT by its dual functions in high temperature (temperature greater than 45 °C)-mediated thermal ablation and mild-temperature hyperthermia (MTH) (temperature between 39 and 42 °C)-mediated reoxygenation.
Towards Indefinite Gaussian Processes

Gaussian processes (GPs) enable probabilistic kernel-machines with remarkable modeling efficacy and GPML toolbox facilitates a widespread use by practitioners and researchers. Many modern applications demand non-metric (dis)similarities. As a result, Mercer’s condition for positive semidefiniteness is violated. Through a simple text categorization example that involves a KL-divergence based kernel function, we have demonstrated that, despite all the care taken for numerical stability, the current framework is vulnerable to indefiniteness. Learning a spectral transformation is an option to tackle the problem with. However, the need for a general and principled solution towards indefinite Gaussian processes is urgent.
Comparative study on the crowbar protection topologies for a DFIG wind turbine

This paper presents a study on a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG)-based wind energy conversion system (WECS), emphasizing to the grid connection and protection needs. Today, due to the high wind power penetration into the grid, a protection system mounted on the WECS is definitely essential in order to achieve a better performance during dynamic states. In this study, two types of fault were considered. Firstly, a three-phase short-circuit in a transmission line and secondly a voltage dip were examined. Several of the protection schemes have been presented in literature during the last two decades. In this paper, different topologies of the well-known crowbar protection method combined with or without a chopper circuit mounted parallel to a capacitor in the dc link are presented. Herein, a comparative study in terms of current and voltage fluctuations between these protection methods was held and is presented below giving more attention in the sensitivity of power semiconductor devices.
A Study of Low-Profile, Broadside Radiation, Efficient, Electrically Small Antennas Based on Complementary Split Ring Resonators

The designs and performance characteristics of several electrically small antennas based on complementary split ring resonators (CSRRs) are reported. A coaxial-fed monopole is first integrated with a CSRR that is cut from a grounded finite copper disc. The presence of the electrically small CSRR element facilitates a nearly complete impedance match to the source, a nearly broadside radiation pattern, and a high radiation efficiency. The addition of a circular top-hat to the monopole then achieves an ultra-low profile (0.005λ0) design and an improved broadside pattern, while maintaining all other desirable features. Finally, to enrich their potential usefulness, two additional enhancements of these designs were accomplished. One is a further miniaturization that is achieved by introducing a more complex CSRR element, while maintaining a high, 82%, radiation efficiency. The second is a further enhancement of the directivity and front-to-back ratio through the introduction of a slot-modified parasitic disc, while maintaining the original impedance matching, low-profile and electrically small properties. These designs were consummated and their performance characteristics evaluated with the frequency domain ANSYS-ANSOFT High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) and were confirmed independently using the time domain CST Microwave Studio (MWS) simulator. A prototype of the basic system was fabricated and tested; the agreement between the simulated and measured results validates the design principles.
ISSR-Derived Species-Specific SCAR Marker for Rapid and Accurate Authentication of Ocimum tenuiflorum L.

Abstract Ocimum tenuiflorum has been widely used in traditional medicine and has high medicinal value. High volume trade of this potential medicinal plant species led to unscrupulous adulteration of both crude drugs as well as formulations. Morphology-based authentication is difficult in cases of incomplete or damaged samples and in dried herbal materials. In such cases, PCR-based molecular methods may aid in accurate identification. The present study aimed at developing species-specific DNA marker(s) for the authentication of O. tenuiflorum. A species-specific amplicon (279 bp) generated through an inter-simple sequence repeat marker (UBC 835) in all individuals of O. tenuiflorum was cloned, sequenced, and a primer pair was developed (designated as CIM-OT-835F/CIM-OT-835R). The newly developed sequence characterized amplified region marker was validated through PCR amplification in all available seven species of Ocimum, and its specificity for O. tenuiflorum was confirmed with the consistent generation of an amplicon of 177 bp. The developed marker can be used for accurate and rapid identification of the species for certification purposes and will be useful in quality control of medicinal preparations containing this important medicinal species.
Protein Dynamics Control the Kinetics of Initial Electron Transfer in Photosynthesis

The initial electron transfer dynamics during photosynthesis have been studied in Rhodobacter sphaeroides reaction centers from wild type and 14 mutants in which the driving force and the kinetics of charge separation vary over a broad range. Surprisingly, the protein relaxation kinetics, as measured by tryptophan absorbance changes, are invariant in these mutants. By applying a reaction-diffusion model, we can fit the complex electron transfer kinetics of each mutant quantitatively, varying only the driving force. These results indicate that initial photosynthetic charge separation is limited by protein dynamics rather than by a static electron transfer barrier.
Effect of Host Species on RecG Phenotypes in Helicobacter pylori and Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT Recombination is a fundamental mechanism for the generation of genetic variation. Helicobacter pylori strains have different frequencies of intragenomic recombination, arising from deletions and duplications between DNA repeat sequences, as well as intergenomic recombination, facilitated by their natural competence. We identified a gene, hp1523, that influences recombination frequencies in this highly diverse bacterium and demonstrate its importance in maintaining genomic integrity by limiting recombination events. HP1523 shows homology to RecG, an ATP-dependent helicase that in Escherichia coli allows repair of damaged replication forks to proceed without recourse to potentially mutagenic recombination. Cross-species studies done show that hp1523 can complement E. coli recG mutants in trans to the same extent as E. coli recG can, indicating that hp1523 has recG function. The E. coli recG gene only partially complements the hp1523 mutation in H. pylori. Unlike other recG homologs, hp1523 is not involved in DNA repair in H. pylori, although it has the ability to repair DNA when expressed in E. coli. Therefore, host context appears critical in defining the function of recG. The fact that in E. coli recG phenotypes are not constant in other species indicates the diverse roles for conserved recombination genes in prokaryotic evolution.
A Note on Interference in Random Point Sets

The (maximum receiver-centric) interference of a geometric graph (von Rickenbach etal (2005)) is studied. It is shown that, with high probability, the following results hold for a set, V, of n points independently and uniformly distributed in the unit d-cube, for constant dimension d: (1) there exists a connected graph with vertex set V that has interference O((log n)^{1/3}); (2) no connected graph with vertex set V has interference o((log n)^{1/4}); and (3) the minimum spanning tree of $V$ has interference Theta((\log n)^{1/2}).
Correlation of clinical response with homocysteine reduction during therapy with reduced B vitamins in patients with MDD who are positive for MTHFR C677T or A1298C polymorphism: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of reduced B vitamins as monotherapy in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) who were also positive for at least 1 methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphism associated with depression and further test the hypothesis that reduced (metabolized) B vitamins will lower homocysteine in a majority of clinically responding patients. METHODS 330 adult patients with MDD (DSM-5) and positive for either MTHFR C677T or A1298C polymorphism were enrolled in a trial conducted between August 1, 2014, and April 3, 2015. 160 patients received placebo, while 170 received a capsule containing a combination of reduced B vitamins. Plasma homocysteine levels were measured at baseline and week 8. The Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) was used to evaluate efficacy for MDD. RESULTS 159 of 170 vitamin-treated patients and 123 of 160 placebo-treated patients were completers. Of the active treatment group, 131 (82.4%) showed a reduction in homocysteine (for a mean in this subgroup of 25%, P < .001), while 28 (17.6%) showed no significant change. Placebo patients demonstrated a small elevation in homocysteine. Active-treatment patients demonstrated, on average, a 12-point reduction on the MADRS by week 8, and 42% achieved full remission (P < .001). No side effect was significantly different between groups. No patients experienced mania. CONCLUSIONS A combination of reduced B vitamins and micronutrients, when used in the treatment of MDD in patients with MTHFR polymorphism, resulted in a separation from placebo by week 2, and 42% of the treatment arm achieved remission by week 8. Further, clinical improvement correlated with a significant reduction in homocysteine levels in a majority of responders. These results support the homocysteine theory of depression and the safety and therapeutic benefit of reduced B vitamins as monotherapy for MDD, particularly in patients with MTHFR polymorphism. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02709668.
Driver's behaviors and human-machine interactions characterization for the design of an advanced driving assistance system

This paper presents the study of a particular form of human-machine cooperation in order to define and evaluate a system which is able to control the intervehicle distance according to the environment, the driver's behaviors and his/her wish to cooperate with the system. This study highlights the ACC's limits to control the distance headway with the front vehicle in some traffic situations on motorway and A-class road and tries to identify the driver's needs in order to take them into account to design an auto-adaptive cruise control prototype.
Validation of the Italian version of the Stanford Presenteeism Scale in nurses.

AIMS To ascertain the validity and reliability of the Italian version of the Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6). BACKGROUND Presenteeism has been associated with a work productivity reduction, a lower quality of work and an increased risk of developing health disorders. It is particularly high among nurses and needs valid tools to be assessed. METHODS A validation study was carried out from July to September 2014. A three-section tool, made of a demographic form, the Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) was administered to a sample of nurses, enrolled in three Italian hospitals. RESULTS Cronbach's α for the entire sample (229 nurses) was found to be 0.72. A significant negative correlation between SPS and perceived stress scores evidenced the external validity. The factor analysis showed a two-component solution, accounting for 71.2% of the variance. The confirmatory factor analysis showed an adequate fit. CONCLUSION The Italian SPS-6 is a valid and reliable tool for workplace surveys. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT Since the validity and reliability of SPS-6 has been confirmed for the Italian version, we have now a valid tool that can measure the levels of presenteeism among Italian nurses.