Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sexually Transmitted Infection Trends Among Gay or Bisexual Men From a Clinic-Based Sentinel Surveillance System in British Columbia, Canada

Introduction We described trends for sexually transmitted infections (STI) among gay/bisexual men in British Columbia, Canada, using a sentinel site surveillance approach. Methods Using data from an electronic charting system, we included gay/bisexual men who visited high-volume STI clinics from 2000 to 2013. Diagnosis rates and incidence density were calculated for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV, hepatitis C, genital herpes, and genital warts. Incidence density was estimated among repeat testers who converted from a negative to positive test result. We also conducted Poisson regression analysis to determine factors that were associated with increased incidence rates. Results A total of 47,170 visits were identified for gay/bisexual men during our time frame. The median age was 34 years (interquartile range, 27–43 years), and most clients were seen in Vancouver. Although trends for most STI were stable, diagnoses of gonorrhea and syphilis have risen steadily in recent years. Coinfection with HIV was associated with higher gonorrhea and syphilis rates in the Poisson regression model. In addition, visiting a Vancouver clinic and younger age were associated with increased incidence. Conclusions Our clinic-based sentinel surveillance system found increasing trends for gonorrhea and syphilis among gay/bisexual men but not for other STI in British Columbia. Further investigation is required to explore the syndemic effects of syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV. This new platform will be a valuable tool for ongoing monitoring of STI and targeting prevention efforts.
The Post-embryonic Development of the Tracheal System in Drosophila melanogaster

The fate of the tracheal system is traced from the first larval instar to the adult stage. The basic larval pattern conforms to that shown for other Diptera Cyclorrhapha (Whitten, 1955), and is identical in all three instars. According to previous accounts the adult system directly replaces the larval: the larval system is partly shed, partly histolysed, and the adult system arises from imaginal cell clusters independently of the preceding larval system. In contrast, it is shown here that in the cephalic, thoracic, and anterior abdominal region there is a definite continuity in the tracheal system, from larval, through pupal to the adult stage, whereas in the posterior abdominal region the larval system is histolysed, and the adult system is independent of it in origin. Moreover, in the pupal stage this region is tracheated by tracheae arising from the anterior abdominal region and belonging to a distinct pupal system. Moulting of the tracheal linings is complete at the first and second larval ecdyses, but incomplete at the third larval-pupal and pupal-adult ecdyses. In consequence, in both pupal and adult systems there are tracheae which are secreted around preexisting tracheae, others formed as new ‘branch’ tracheae, and those which have been carried over from the previous instar. In the adult the newly formed tracheae of the posterior abdominal region fall into a fourth category. Most of the adult thoracic air sacs correspond to new ‘branch’ tracheae of other instars. The pre-pupal moult and instar are discussed with reference to the tracheal system and tentative suggestions are made concerning the true nature of the pre-pupal cuticle. There is no pre-pupal tracheal system. Events traced for Drosophila would seem to be general for Cyclorrhapha, both Acalypterae and Calypterae. The separate fates of the anterior and posterior abdom inal systems, in contrast with the straightforward development in Dipterc Nematocera, would appear to mark a distinct step in the evolution of the system in Diptera.
Extracellular Alkaline Amylase from a Bacillus Species

A selective medium was used to isolate a bacterium (Bacillus species NRRL B-3881) that produced extracellular alkaline amylase in an alkaline medium (pH 9.5). Maximal enzyme yield was obtained in an aerated medium after 21 hr at 36 C. The enzyme was purified 18-fold by ultrafiltration and ammonium sulfate precipitation. Three active isoenzymes (one major and two minor) of alkaline amylase were detected by disc electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel. The enzyme was only 12% inactivated by 20 mm ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid after 1 hr at pH 9.2 and 32 C. The optimal temperature was 50 C at pH 9.2, and the optimal pH was 9.2 at 50 C. The enzyme was stable between pH 7.5 and 10. It had an endomechanism of substrate encounter. The products produced from amylose and amylopectin had the β-configuration. Cyclomaltoheptaose was hydrolyzed to maltotriose, maltose, and glucose. The main final product produced from amylose and amylopectin was β-maltose; the other final products were maltotriose and small quantities of glucose and maltotetraose. The predominant product at early stages of hydrolysis was maltotetraose; other products were maltose through maltonanaose.
Supply Chain Performance Evaluation Based on DEA

This paper introduced the characteristics and importance of the supply chain efficiency evaluation briefly,and summarized the basic principle and model of data envelopment analysis. Then we use the C2 R and C 2GS2 model to make a comparative analysis,the example indicated that this method can appraise effectively in relative scale benefit and the technical validity between different supply chain system,the Non-DEA effective factors are identified,and the measure for improvement is suggested by making projective analysis on the production frontier surface.
Salivary transcriptomic biomarkers for detection of resectable pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Lack of detection technology for early pancreatic cancer invariably leads to a typical clinical presentation of incurable disease at initial diagnosis. New strategies and biomarkers for early detection are sorely needed. In this study, we have conducted a prospective sample collection and retrospective blinded validation to evaluate the performance and translational utilities of salivary transcriptomic biomarkers for the noninvasive detection of resectable pancreatic cancer. METHODS The Affymetrix HG U133 Plus 2.0 Array (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA) was used to profile transcriptomes and discover altered gene expression in saliva supernatant. Biomarkers discovered from the microarray study were subjected to clinical validation using an independent sample set of 30 pancreatic cancer patients, 30 chronic pancreatitis patients, and 30 healthy controls. RESULTS Twelve messenger RNA biomarkers were discovered and validated. The logistic regression model with the combination of 4 messenger RNA biomarkers (KRAS, MBD3L2, ACRV1, and DPM1) could differentiate pancreatic cancer patients from noncancer subjects (chronic pancreatitis and healthy control), yielding a receiver operating characteristic plot, area under the curve value of 0.971 with 90.0% sensitivity and 95.0% specificity. CONCLUSIONS The salivary biomarkers possess discriminatory power for the detection of resectable pancreatic cancer, with high specificity and sensitivity. This report provides the proof of concept of salivary biomarkers for the noninvasive detection of a systemic cancer and paves the way for prediction model validation study followed by pivotal clinical validation.
School Boards in Canada: Outworn Relics of the Past or Champions of Local Democracy?

Within the context of an apparent transnational agenda of accountability, standardization, and increased government control of public education in many countries, including Canada, a growing number of constituencies question the legitimacy of school boards and argue for their elimination. Herein the authors report results of their pan Canadian study on the extent to which school board insiders (school board trustees, provincial school board association executive directors and school district superintendents) perceive this transnational agenda to have impacted public school governance in Canada in two specific areas of interest: (a) the relevance of school boards; and (b) the nature of school board members’ connection with their constituents.
Regulation of the expression of the SV40 T‐antigen coding gene under the control of an rDNA promoter

We have constructed a hybrid gene in which the SV40 T‐antigen coding gene is driven by a mouse rDNA promoter and we have compared its expression to that of an SV40 T‐antigen coding gene under the control of its own promoter. The comparison has been carried out in microinjected cells, in transfected cells, and in stable cell lines carrying the respective T‐antigen coding genes in an integrated form. These cell lines were derived from ts AF8 cells, a mutant which is temperature sensitive for RNA polymerase II activity. The hybrid gene clearly expresses T‐antigen, albeit less efficiently than when the T antigen coding gene is under the control of the SV40‐promoter. We also show that the expression of T‐antigen by the hybrid gene is 50% inhibited by an antibody against RNA polymerase I. In tsAF8 cells carrying the hybrid gene, T‐antigen is still expressed at the restrictive temperature (where RNA polymerase II is inactive) at a level again about 50% of controls. However, our findings also confirm those of Smale and Tjian (Mol. Cell. Biol. 5:352, 1985) that such hybrid genes are in part transcribed by RNA polymerase II and generate abnormal transcripts.
Active Robotic Mapping through Deep Reinforcement Learning

We propose an approach to learning agents for active robotic mapping, where the goal is to map the environment as quickly as possible. The agent learns to map efficiently in simulated environments by receiving rewards corresponding to how fast it constructs an accurate map. In contrast to prior work, this approach learns an exploration policy based on a user-specified prior over environment configurations and sensor model, allowing it to specialize to the specifications. We evaluate the approach through a simulated Disaster Mapping scenario and find that it achieves performance slightly better than a near-optimal myopic exploration scheme, suggesting that it could be useful in more complicated problem scenarios.
Intraspinal Therapy for the Treatment of Chronic Pain: A Review of the Literature Between 1990 and 2005 and Suggested Protocol for Its Rational and Safe Use

The administration of intrathecal drugs has been shown to be efficacious in the treatment of both cancer pain and noncancer pain in patients who do not respond well to conventional treatment, in those who are unable to tolerate side‐effects of opioids, and in those who constantly require significant increases in drug dosing. Although morphine represents the “drug of choice” for intrathecal administration, the use of alternative drugs (e.g., bupivacaine, clonidine, and hydromorphone) appears promising for intrathecal therapy of pain in patients who are unresponsive to morphine, those who cannot tolerate its side‐effects, and those patients with neuropathic pain. This study analyzes results of studies published from 1990 to 2005 in order to evaluate the efficacy of intraspinal therapy.
Surplus Zinc Is Handled by Zym1 Metallothionein and Zhf Endoplasmic Reticulum Transporter in Schizosaccharomyces pombe *

Homeostatic mechanisms prevent the accumulation of free zinc in the cytoplasm, raising questions regarding where surplus zinc is stored and how it is delivered to and from these stores. A genetic screen for zinc hypersensitivity inSchizosaccharomyces pombe identified a missense mutation truncating Zhf, an endoplasmic reticulum transporter. These cells were ∼5-fold more zinc-sensitive than other independent mutants. The targeted disruption of zhf prevented growth on low zinc medium and caused hypersensitivity to elevated zinc/cobalt but resistance to cadmium. The exposure to elevated zinc but not copper also promotes the accumulation of transcripts encoding a metallothionein designated Zym1. The Sty1 pathway is required for maximal zym1 expression but is not obligatory for zinc perception. The targeted disruption of zym1impaired cadmium tolerance but only slightly impaired zinc tolerance, whereas zym1 overexpression substantially rescued zinc hypersensitivity of zhf− cells. Four equivalents of zinc were displaced from Zym1 by up to 12 equivalents ofp-(hydroxymercuri)phenylsulphonate. Zym1 thiols react rapidly with 5,5′-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) compared with bacterial zinc metallothionein (6.8 and 0.2 × 10−4s−1, respectively). Zym1 is unlike known fungal metallothioneins that are induced by and sequester copper but not zinc. Less zinc but normal cadmium was accumulated by zym1Δ, consistent with zinc sequestration by Zym1 in vivo.
The cell sorting process of Xenopus gastrula cells progresses in a stepwise fashion involving concentrification and polarization

Animal pole cells (AC) and vegetal pole cells (VC) dissociated from early Xenopus gastrulae were intermingled, and the cell sorting process occurring within the aggregate was analyzed. The overall process of cell sorting was found to morphologically consist of two steps, “concentrification” and “polarization”, as designated here. First, AC and VC clusters emerged at random positions in the aggregate, and the individual clusters gradually assembled themselves by 5 hours in culture (5 hC), forming a concentric arrangement, in which the AC cluster was enveloped by the VC cluster. This concentrification step is essentially consistent with the descriptions in earlier studies. As the next step, the AC and VC clusters moved up and down from 7.5 to 12 hC, resulting in the vertical polarization, namely, a serial array just like in vivo. Immunohistochemical analyses showed that AC expressed both C- and E-cadherins, while VC only expressed C-cadherin, as in vivo, suggesting the normal participation of cadherin system. On the other hand, the actin localization showed that the actin bundles accumulated at the edge of the AC cluster until the concentrification was completed, and gradually decreased during the polarization step. Another important finding was that AC cluster could generate cartilage tissues during the long-term (7 days) culture, evidence for a healthy inductive interaction between the AC and VC. Taken together, the present experimental system allows the AC and VC to be viable and grow into an embryo-like organization.
Diagnosis of Depression in Alcohol Dependence: Changes in Prevalence with Drinking Status

Background Depression and alcohol dependence are frequently found to co-exist but the relationship between these disorders requires further elucidation. This study tested several hypotheses related to the relevance of whether the diagnosis of depression was made before admission or after detoxification in the current episode for those with alcohol dependence. Method The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS) was administered to obtain Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) on 82 randomly selected alcohol dependent in-patients. Alcohol-related (Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ), alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems), socio-demographic variables and treatment for depression were assessed. Results For the episode of drinking which led to admission, a diagnosis of major depression was found in the majority of patients (67%). Once detoxification from alcohol took place, only the minority (13%) met criteria for major depression. Conclusions It is suggested that depression is largely associated with the episode of drinking which led to admission in patients who are dependent on alcohol and may be due to the effect of chronic alcohol intoxication. Socio-demographic and alcohol-related characteristics appear to bear little relation to the presence of depression. Clinicians exercise appropriate judgement in not prescribing antidepressant treatments to patients whose depression may remit with abstinence from alcohol.
Improving the efficiency of CSMA using reservations by interruptions

This paper proposes a new carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) protocol, called CSMA with reservations by interruptions (CSMA/RI). This new protocol uses a novel approach to reserve capacity for multiple users. The performance of the new protocol is studied by simulations under realistic (long range dependent) traffic conditions and compared with CSMA/CD as well as with its work conserving G/D/1 queue. It is demonstrated that CSMA/RI always offers better performance than CSMA/CD and under certain realistic assumptions regarding packet size, the performance of CSMA/RI can be very close to that of its G/D/1 benchmark.
A fast and precise eye-diagram estimation method for a channel of a pair of differential microstrip lines on PCB with arbitrary terminations

In this paper, we propose a fast and precise eye-diagram estimation method for a channel of a pair of differential microstrip lines on PCBs with arbitrary source and load terminations. The voltage transfer function of a channel is investigated as a quick measure of the signal integrity of a channel and the DDJ and eye-opening voltage values are precisely estimated by using a modified peak distortion analysis. The efficiency and the accuracy of the proposed eye-diagram estimation method were successfully verified through HSPICE simulations.
공공투자사업 입찰에서의 낙찰자 결정요인 분석 (Analysis on Determinants of Winner in Public Procurement Auction)

Korean Abstract: 본 연구에서는 가용한 입찰 및 낙찰 자료를 활용하여 다양한 입찰제도의 성과를 분석하여 입찰제도에 대한 이해를 제고하고자 한다. 공공시설 조달의 경우, 최적의 사업시행자를 선택하기 위해 입찰제도를 활용하고 있지만 그 평가는 가격요소에만 국한되어 있지 않다. 최근의 경매이론은 가격요소와 더불어 비가격요소를 동시에 고려하여 평가점수를 산정한 후 낙찰자를 선정하는 다차원 경매제도(multi-dimensional auction)를 설명하려는 시도를 하고 있다. 다차원 경매 입찰제도하에서 평가점수체계를 보완해 비가격요소와 가격요소의 평가 배점을 조정해 나가는 것이 PQ 후 가격경쟁방식보다 상대적으로 우월함이 이론적으로 나타난다. 하지만 현실에서 평가 배점을 조정하는 방식을 최적화하여 운용하는 데에는 한계가 존재한다. (이하 생략). English Abstract: The present study tries to identify determinants of winner in public procurement auction. In most public procurement auction systems, such as turkey, qualification, and BTL (build-transfer-lease), evaluation of a bid is not limited to price factor, rather applied to non-price factor. Recently multi-dimension auction theory has been developed to analyze those auction systems. Theoretically, scoring auction which evaluates price and non-price factors at the same time turns out to be superior to price competition after pre-qualification. However there is explicit limit to apply this result to practical operation.Qualification is one of multi-dimension procurement auction systems in Korea, which covers projects less than 30 Billion KRW. Empirical result shows that price factor is the main determinant of winner in qualification. However, current qualification system is criticized since non-price factor has negligible effect in determining winner while score in price factor tends to be given randomly. This fact indicates that improvement of current qualification system should be needed.In the case of turnkey, both price factor and non-price factor have significant effect on determining winner. Under turnkey system, collusion among bidders are possible and several collusion cases have been detected. If weight of score on price factor were increased, then possibility of collusion would be decreased. As score in non-price factor is given by qualitative evaluation of evaluators, decreasing weight of score on non-price factor could enhance transparency and fairness in evaluation process.Under BTL evaluation system, both price factor and non-price factor are determinants of winner or of preferred bidder. Interestingly, score in price factor and that in non-price factor are positively correlated, which indicates that a bidder with high score in price factor tends to get high score in non-price factor in bidding stage.This study provides empirical results on multi-dimension procurement auction and explains bidding behavior during bidding process. Further research should focus on linking bidding behavior in a certain procurement system with purpose of that system.
The Policy Uses and “Policy Validity” of Value-Added and Other Teacher Quality Measures

In order to improve the quality of the nation’s teachers, the public education system has long relied on requirements and rewards for formal teacher education, experience, and other traits—the “credentials strategy. ” However, policymakers and some prominent educators are increasingly embracing a radical overhaul—an “accountability strategy”— that largely ignores these traits and instead rewards teachers’ measured contributions to student results. In this chapter, I review evidence about the statistical validity of a variety of teacher quality measures. I also argue that this alone is not enough to determine how and when teacher quality measures should be used. Instead, I outline the criterion of “policy validity,” which is determined by statistical validity as well as the specific functions that the teacher quality measures serve in the education system and the costs of producing both the measures and the underlying teacher qualities they represent. Based on this framework and the most recent value-added-based research, I find that neither the traditional credentials strategy nor a simple value-added-based accountability strategy is likely to best address the teacher quality problem. Instead, as in the private sector, a valid policy approach requires using multiple strategies and measures that provide signals of teacher effectiveness and formative and summative assessments that facilitate and encourage improvement. Specifically, the evidence suggests that teachers be rewarded not for their graduate degrees, but for a combination of experience, certain types of professional development, and teacher and school performance. More generally, improving the quality of teachers will require a comprehensive strategy that few current or proposed policies provide. Acknowledgements: Many of the studies from which the ideas in this chapter have grown were funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). In addition to this support, I gratefully acknowledge comments by Robert Floden, Drew Gitomer, David Monk, and Tim Sass and participants in research presentations at the 2007 Educational Testing Service Invitational Conference in San Francisco and at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The views expressed here are solely those of the author who is of course responsible for all remaining errors.
Processing of Pro-atrial Natriuretic Peptide by Corin in Cardiac Myocytes*

Corin is a type II transmembrane serine protease abundantly expressed in the heart. In a previous study using transfected 293 cells, we showed that corin converted pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (pro-ANP) to atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), suggesting that corin is likely the pro-ANP convertase. Because other serine proteases such as thrombin and kallikrein had previously also been shown to cleave pro-ANP in vitro, it remained to demonstrate that corin is indeed the endogenous pro-ANP convertase in cardiomyocytes. In this study, we examined pro-ANP processing in a murine cardiac muscle cell line, HL-5. Northern analysis showed that corin mRNA was present in HL-5 cells. In HL-5 cells transfected with a plasmid expressing pro-ANP, recombinant pro-ANP was converted to mature ANP as determined by Western analysis, indicating the presence of the endogenous pro-ANP convertase in these cells. The processed recombinant ANP was shown to be active in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based cGMP assay in baby hamster kidney cells. The processing of recombinant pro-ANP in HL-5 cells was highly sequence-specific, because mutation R98A, but not mutations R101A and R102A, in pro-ANP prevented the conversion of pro-ANP to ANP. Expression of recombinant wild-type corin enhanced the processing of pro-ANP in HL-5 cells. In contrast, overexpression of active site mutant corin S985A or transfection of oligonucleotide small interfering RNA duplexes directed against the mouse corin gene completely inhibited the processing of recombinant pro-ANP in HL-5 cells. These results indicate that corin is the physiological pro-ANP convertase in cardiac myocytes.