Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical utility of the polymerase chain reaction to diagnose Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection

&NA; The diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection currently relies on serological methods which may be slow to produce diagnostic results and may be inconvenient for both the clinician and the patient. This study was designed to assess whether or not the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a useful additional diagnostic method. Comparison was therefore made with serology as it is routinely practiced. PCR was used to examine for the presence of M. pneumoniae DNA in throat swab specimens obtained from 99 hospitalized patients investigated for a range of respiratory pathogens including M. pneumoniae. PCR detected M. pneumoniae DNA in 24 adults and 25 children, which is significantly more than the 32 patients found to be antibody positive by the particle agglutination test (p = 0.001). M. pneumoniae DNA was not detected in any of the throat swabs from 32 apparently healthy volunteers. PCR inhibitors were not detected in any of the samples tested. Significantly more children (88%) than adults (38%) were found to be anti‐mycoplasma antibody‐positive (p < 0.0001). Routine clinical practice was reflected in the fact that 56 patients (57%) had indeterminate serological results because only single sera were obtained. The sensitivity and specificity of PCR were assessed to be 92% and 98% respectively, using a combination of serological and clinical data as the benchmark. PCR appears to have advantages over serological testing, both with respect to accuracy and convenience of single specimen testing. The poor performance of serological tests in adults makes PCR especially useful in this age group.
MRI segmentation using multifractal analysis and MRF models

In this paper, we demonstrate the interest of the multifractal analysis for removing the ambiguities due to the intensity overlap, and we propose a brain tissue segmentation method from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images, which is based on Markov Random Field (MRF) models. The brain tissue segmentation consists in separating the encephalon into the three main brain tissues: grey matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The classical MRF model uses the intensity and the neighbourhood information, which is not robust enough to solve problems, such as partial volume effects. Therefore, we propose to use the multifractal analysis, which can provide information on the intensity variations of brain tissues. This knowledge is modelled and then incorporated into a MRF model. This technique has been successfully applied to real MRI images. The contribution of the multifractal analysis is proved by comparison with a classical MRF segmentation using simulated data.
A Decision-Tree Model for Predicting Extubation Outcome in Elderly Patients After a Successful Spontaneous Breathing Trial

BACKGROUND: The commonly used single tests, based on a 1-time measurement of a physiologic variable, are often poorly predictive of tracheal extubation outcome because they examine only a single aspect of physiological function that affects the extubation outcome. We hypothesized that the construction of a decision-tree model, which includes multiple variables and considers the changes of these variables, may more accurately predict successful extubation. METHODS: This was a prospective observational study. From 2007 to 2008, 113 elderly patients in the medical intensive care unit on ventilation for >48 hours were enrolled. All patients underwent a 60-minute spontaneous breathing trial (SBT) [positive end-expiratory pressure of 5 cm H2O; automatic tube compensation, 100%]. Patients tolerating the trial were extubated immediately. The mouth occlusion pressure (P0.1), rapid shallow breathing index (RSBI,) and their combination (P0.1 × RSBI) were recorded at the first, 30th, and 60th minute of the SBT. The changes in RSBI, which were determined at the 30th and 60th minute of the SBT (&Dgr;RSBI30, &Dgr;RSBI60), were assessed as the ratio (of RSBI30 or RSBI60) to RSBI at the first minute of the SBT. RESULTS: Twenty-two patients (19.5%) failed the SBT and were not included in the analysis, and 91 tolerated the trial and were extubated. At 48 hours, 73 (80.2%) remained extubated (successful extubation), and 18 (19.8%) required reintubation (extubation failure). Although the&Dgr;RSBI30 was significantly higher in the extubation failure patients (118% ± 34%) than that in the successful extubation patients (93% ± 35%, P = 0.01), the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated that this index, with the threshold of <98%, presented poor performance in predicting successful extubation with area under the ROC curve (AUC) of only 0.76. The classification and regression-tree analysis selected 3 variables (P0.1 × RSBI30, RSBI1, &Dgr;RSBI30) and began with P0.1 × RSBI30. For patients with P0.1 × RSBI-30 >474 cmH2O*breaths/min/L, &Dgr;RSBI30 >98% defined a group including all failure patients but no success patients, whereas &Dgr;RSBI30 ⩽98% included all success patients with no failure patients. For patients with P0.1 × RSBI30 ⩽474 cm H2O*breaths/min/L, the combination of both a P0.1 × RSBI30 >328 cm H2O*breaths/min/L and RSBI1 >112 breaths/min/L also defined a group including all success patients but no failure patients. Indeed, the diagnostic accuracy (DA) of the tree model, which was 89.1% with only the P0.1 × RSBI30 included, increased to 94.5% when both the P0.1 × RSBI30 and ▵RSBI30 were included. The final tree model with the inclusion of all 3 discriminators could capture the successful extubation with diagnostic accuracy of 96.7%, AUC of 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.87 to 0.98). CONCLUSION: If the current tree model is confirmed by a prospective study with a larger sample size, it would be useful in guiding physicians making extubation decisions in elderly medical intensive care unit patients.
ADP-ribosylation factor machinery mediates endocytosis in plant cells

Endocytosis is crucial for various cellular functions and development of multicellular organisms. In mammals and yeast, ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) GTPases, key components of vesicle formation, and their regulators ARF-guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) and ARF-GTPase-activating protein (GAPs) mediate endocytosis. A similar role has not been established in plants, mainly because of the lack of the canonical ARF and ARF-GEF components that are involved in endocytosis in other eukaryotes. In this study, we revealed a regulatory mechanism of endocytosis in plants based on ARF GTPase activity. We identified that ARF-GEF GNOM and ARF-GAP VASCULAR NETWORK DEFECTIVE 3 (VAN3), both of which are involved in polar auxin transport-dependent morphogenesis, localize at the plasma membranes as well as in intracellular structures. Variable angle epifluorescence microscopy revealed that GNOM and VAN3 localize to partially overlapping discrete foci at the plasma membranes that are regularly associated with the endocytic vesicle coat clathrin. Genetic studies revealed that GNOM and VAN3 activities are required for endocytosis and internalization of plasma membrane proteins, including PIN-FORMED auxin transporters. These findings identified ARF GTPase-based regulatory mechanisms for endocytosis in plants. GNOM and VAN3 previously were proposed to function solely at the recycling endosomes and trans-Golgi networks, respectively. Therefore our findings uncovered an additional cellular function of these prominent developmental regulators.
Mechanistic Studies on the Inactivation of the Proteasome by Lactacystin in Cultured Cells*

The natural product lactacystin exerts its cellular antiproliferative effects through a mechanism involving acylation and inhibition of the proteasome, a cytosolic proteinase complex that is an essential component of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway for intracellular protein degradation. In vitro, lactacystin does not react with the proteasome; rather, it undergoes a spontaneous conversion (lactonization) to the active proteasome inhibitor, clasto-lactacystin β-lactone. We show here that when the β-lactone is added to mammalian cells in culture, it rapidly enters the cells, where it can react with the sulfhydryl of glutathione to form a thioester adduct that is both structurally and functionally analogous to lactacystin. We call this adduct lactathione, and like lactacystin, it does not react with the proteasome, but can undergo lactonization to yield back the active β-lactone. We have studied the kinetics of this reaction under appropriate in vitro conditions as well as the kinetics of lactathione accumulation and proteasome inhibition in cells treated with lactacystin or β-lactone. The results indicate that only the β-lactone (not lactacystin) can enter cells and suggest that the formation of lactathione serves to concentrate the inhibitor inside cells, providing a reservoir for prolonged release of the active β-lactone.
Chloramphenicol Is a Substrate for a Novel Nitroreductase Pathway in Haemophilus influenzae

ABSTRACT The p-nitroaromatic antibiotic chloramphenicol has been used extensively to treat life-threatening infections due to Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis; its mechanism of action is the inhibition of protein synthesis. We found that during incubation with H. influenzae cells and lysates, chloramphenicol is converted to a 4-aminophenyl allylic alcohol that lacks antibacterial activity. The allylic alcohol moiety undergoes facile re-addition of water to restore the 1,3-diol, as well as further dehydration driven by the aromatic amine to form the iminoquinone. Several Neisseria species and most chloramphenicol-susceptible Haemophilus species, but not Escherichia coli or other gram-negative or gram-positive bacteria we examined, were also found to metabolize chloramphenicol. The products of chloramphenicol metabolism by species other than H. influenzae have not yet been characterized. The strains reducing the antibiotic were chloramphenicol susceptible, indicating that the pathway does not appear to mediate chloramphenicol resistance. The role of this novel nitroreductase pathway in the physiology of H. influenzae and Neisseria species is unknown. Further understanding of the H. influenzae chloramphenicol reduction pathway will contribute to our knowledge of the diversity of prokaryotic nitroreductase mechanisms.
侧群细胞与肺癌肿瘤干细胞

侧群（side population, SP）细胞是一小群能够将染料Hoechst 33342排出从而在流式细胞图上呈现Hoechst 33342低染的细胞，研究者已在多种肿瘤组织和细胞系中检测出了SP细胞并验证这些SP细胞具有强干细胞活性。 现有试验结果证实多种肺癌组织和肺癌肿瘤细胞系中也存在具有类干细胞特性的SP细胞，这些SP细胞的鉴别与分离对于肺癌肿瘤干细胞的研究有何意义？ 本文将整合现有研究资料就这一问题进行阶段性综述。
Digital watermarking for digital images using wavelet transform

The field of digital watermarking has recently seen vast interests covering theoretical studies, novel techniques, attacks and analysis. This is due to the fact that over the last 15 years, the watermarking community has focused on developing and introducing new techniques for watermark embedding and detection. Analysis of these techniques leads to methods for attack and development of countermeasures which then used to discover faults and limitations in applications, encouraging the development of better ones. In this paper, comprehensive overview of digital watermarking are discussed. This includes the general model, types, applications and future trends of current implementations. The proposed technique is described and analyzed. The paper concludes with future plans of the chosen method in digital watermarking.
Initial clinical experience with intracardiac echocardiography in guiding balloon mitral valvuloplasty: Technique, safety, utility, and limitations

The objective of this study was to examine the feasibility and technique of intracardiac echocardiography during percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty. Echocardiographic imaging is commonly used during mitral valvuloplasty. Intracardiac echocardiography is a newer technology that may provide superior imaging during complex valvular interventions. Intracardiac echocardiography and transthoracic echocardiography were performed in 19 patients undergoing percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty. Intracardiac ultrasound images were obtained via the femoral vein in all patients. Imaging projections and catheter locations that were useful for the performance of mitral valvuloplasty were defined. Intracardiac echocardiography guided transseptal puncture, augmented the assessment of valve apparatus deformity, facilitated balloon positioning across the mitral valve, and permitted postprocedural valvular assessment including identification of mitral regurgitation with color Doppler. Intracardiac echocardiography provided essential imaging guidance and procedural monitoring during percutaneous mitral valvuloplasty. Cathet Cardiovasc Interv 2004;63:385–394. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
MSK2 and MSK1 mediate the mitogen‐ and stress‐induced phosphorylation of histone H3 and HMG‐14

Cells respond to mitogenic or stress stimuli by the rapid induction of immediate‐early (IE) genes, which occurs concomitantly with the phosphorylation of histone H3 and the high‐mobility‐group protein HMG‐14. In mammalian cells this response is mediated via ERK and p38 MAP kinase pathways, but the identity of the downstream kinase that phosphorylates histone H3 has been contentious. One study, based on Coffin–Lowry cells defective in RSK2, reported that RSK2 was the histone H3 kinase, while a second study, based on the efficiency of RSKs and MSKs as in vitro histone H3 kinases, and their relative susceptibility to kinase inhibitors, suggested that MSKs were responsible. We show here that the histone H3 phosphorylation response is normal in Coffin–Lowry cells. Further more, we show that histone H3 and HMG‐14 phosphorylation is severely reduced or abolished in mice lacking MSK1 and MSK2. We also show that, despite this, histone H3 acetylation is unimpaired in these cells and that IE genes can be induced, although at a reduced efficiency. We conclude that MSKs are the major kinases for histone H3 and HMG‐14 in response to mitogenic and stress stimuli in fibroblasts.
ADIOS LDA: When Grammar Induction Meets Topic Modeling

We explore the interplay between grammar induction and topic modeling approaches to unsupervised text processing. These two methods complement each other since one allows for the identification of local structures centered around certain key terms, while the other generates a document wide context of expressed topics. This approach allows us to access and identify semantic structures that would be otherwise hardly discovered by using only one of the two aforementioned methods. Using our approach, we are able to provide a deeper understanding of the topic structure by examining inferred information structures characteristic of given topics as well as capture differences in word usage that would be hard by using standard disambiguation methods. We perform our exploration on an extensive corpus of blog posts centered around the surveillance discussion, where we focus on the debate around the Snowden affair. We show how our approach can be used for (semi-) automated content classification and the extraction of semantic features from large textual corpora.
A face in the crowd.

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Survey and Analysis of Medium Access Control Protocols for Wireless Sensor Network Ms

Wireless sensor networks are appealing to researchers due to their wide range of application in several fields such as military settings, critical infrastructure protection, target detection and tracking, environmental monitoring, industrial process monitoring etc. Communication among wireless sensor nodes is usually achieved by means of a unique channel. It is the characteristic of this channel that only a single node can transmit a message at any given time. Therefore, shared access of the channel requires the establishment of a MAC protocol among the sensor nodes. The objective of the MAC protocol is to regulate access to the shared wireless medium. For sensor nodes that are battery powered, it is sometimes difficulty or impractical to charge or replace exhausted battery. So the medium access protocol (MAC) for wireless sensor network must be energy efficient. In this paper, we outline the sensor network properties that are crucial for the design of MAC layer protocols. Then, describe four MAC protocols proposed for sensor networks emphasizing their strengths and weaknesses and compared those protocols. Analysis of power consumption and latency performance for these four MAC protocol is also shown in this report.
ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES IN EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE AND JOB SATISFACTION WITH MEDIATING EFFECT OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

This study attempts to examine the impact of Human Resource (HR) practices on employees’ satisfaction and performance through mediating role of employees’ engagement. The study collects data from 181 employees of three leading banks of Multan city (Pakistan) namely: Habib Bank, Faysal Bank, and Allied Bank. The findings of the present study reveal that training and empowerment of the workers contributes more in employees’ work performance and their job satisfaction than that of rewards/incentives. However, rewards/incentives are significantly (P < 0.01) related with the employees’ engagement in organizational activities. Overall, HR practices (training, rewards and empowerment) are significantly (P < 0.01) related with employees’ engagement and confirm the assumptions of Baron and Kenny (1986) for mediation analysis. The results of the study are gleaned by using the direct path way and multiple regression to investigate the impact of HR practices on mediating variable (employees’ engagement) and mediating variable on both dependent variables (employees’ satisfaction and employees’ performance). The results of the study confirm that proposed hypotheses are statistically significant (P < 0.01) and indicate that employees’ engagement partially mediates the relationship between HR practices and both employees’ satisfaction and employees’ performance outcomes. *The authors are, respectively, Ph.D. Scholar at the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore; Assistant Professor at the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore; and Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Work, University of the Punjab, Lahore (Pakistan). Corresponding author e-mail: khalil.iscs@pu.edu. pk 82 Pakistan Economic and Social Review
Short Proximal Femoral Nail Fixation for Trochanteric Fractures

Purpose. To review outcomes of 100 patients who underwent short proximal femoral nailing for stable and unstable intertrochanteric fractures. Methods. Records of 62 men and 38 women aged 56 to 83 (mean, 67) years who underwent short proximal femoral nailing for stable peritrochanteric A1 (n=36), unstable peritrochanteric A2 (n=40), and unstable intertrochanteric A3 (n=24) fractures were reviewed. Results. 80 patients achieved anatomic reduction. At the one-year follow-up, 90% of the patients had good or excellent outcomes, and 50% had returned to their pre-injury functional level. One patient with avascular necrosis noted at 20 months and another patient with non-union/pseudarthrosis underwent a revision bipolar arthroplasty. Two patients had a Z effect and one a reverse Z effect. Six patients with osteoporosis had superior migration of the nail with varus collapse. Two patients had cutting out of the screw, but the fractures eventually healed. Ten patients had shortening of <2 cm. Seven patients had lateral thigh discomfort attributed to irritation of the protruding screws against the tensor fascia lata, and 5 of them underwent screw removal. None had fractures of the femoral shaft or trochanter or experienced nail breakage. Conclusion. The short proximal femoral nail is a superior implant for stable and unstable intertrochanteric fractures in terms of operating time, surgical exposure, blood loss, and complications, especially for patients with relatively small femora.
Kritische succesfactoren voor de inzet van Big Data: is groot wel anders?

1.1 Achtergrond Veel traditionele data zijn door de toegenomen digitalisering van de maatschappij getransformeerd in zogenaamde ‘Big Data’ (Gartner, 2013; McAfee & Brynjolfsson, 2012; Minelli et al., 2013; Sathi, 2012; Zikopoulos et al., 2012). Sommigen zien big data als een hype2, gestimuleerd door de IT-sector, anderen zijn van mening dat gebruik van big data noodzakelijk is voor organisaties om concurrerend te kunnen blijven. Feit is dat big data een overload aan informatie genereert (Chen, Chiang & Storey, 2012), hetgeen door organisaties moet worden opgelost.
Learning About and From a Distribution of Program Impacts Using Multisite Trials

The present article provides a synthesis of the conceptual and statistical issues involved in using multisite randomized trials to learn about and from a distribution of heterogeneous program impacts across individuals and/or program sites. Learning about such a distribution involves estimating its mean value, detecting and quantifying its variation, and estimating site-specific impacts. Learning from such a distribution involves studying the factors that predict or explain impact variation. Part I of the article introduces the concepts and issues involved. Part II focuses on estimating the mean and variation of impacts of program assignment. Part III extends the discussion to variation in the impacts of program participation. Part IV considers how to use multisite trials to study moderators of program impacts (individual-level or site-level factors that influence these impacts) and mediators of program impacts (individual-level or site-level “mechanisms” that produce these impacts).
Long‐term effects of perinatal exposure to low doses of cadmium on the prostate of adult male rats

Developmental toxicity caused by environmental exposure to heavy metals during the perinatal period has raised questions about offspring health. Cadmium (Cd) is an endocrine‐disrupting chemical with the potential to interfere with morphogenesis and susceptibility to diseases in reproductive organs. Taking into account that in the rat prostate morphogenesis occurs during the perinatal period, and that pregnant females absorb and retain more dietary Cd than their non‐pregnant counterparts, it is important to understand the effects of perinatal Cd exposure on the adult rat prostate. Therefore this study investigated the effects of gestational and lactational Cd exposure on adult offspring rat prostate histopathology. Pregnant rats (n = 20) were divided into two groups: Control (treated with aqueous solution of sodium acetate 10 mg/l) and treated (treated with aqueous solution of cadmium acetate 10 mg/l) administered in the drinking water. After weaning, male offspring from different litters (n = 10) received food and water ‘ad libitum’. The animals were euthanized at postnatal day 90 (PND90), the ventral prostates (VPs) were removed, weighed and examined histopathologically. Blood was collected for the measurement of testosterone (T) levels. Immunohistochemistry for androgen receptor (AR) and Ki67, and a TUNEL assay were performed. There were no differences in T levels, cell proliferation and apoptosis indexes, or AR immunostaining between the experimental groups. Stromal inflammatory foci and multifocal inflammation increased significantly in the treated group. These changes were associated with inflammatory reactive epithelial atypia and stromal fibrillar rearrangement. In conclusion, VP was permanently affected by perinatal Cd exposition, with increased incidence of inflammatory disorders with ageing.