Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sharpening the image.

Images that have been scanned or digital images that have been reduced or manipulated in someway can often become soft or somewhat fuzzy looking. There are a number of ways to improve the sharpness of an image. The most often-used and easiest method is the Photoshop filter Unsharp Mask. This is a quick fix for many images when used with a light hand. The problem with using this method is that the filter can change the image colors as it increases the contrast of the dark and light edges. Additionally any JPG artifacts in the image can be enhanced to the point of becoming a distraction. Here are a few other methods to try when sharpening your image. Note that all sharpening should be applied after all image manipulation is completed. This is especially true if the image will be reduced in size. Reducing an imageʼs size will often soften the image. Luminosity Sharpening Here is an Unsharp Mask modification trick to try. Use the Fade command, but instead of fading the filter, apply a Luminosity Bend Mode. This is a permanent filter effect and should be applied to a copy of the original image, in case you change your mind about using this technique.
Distribution of Salmonella enteritidis phage types in Canada

SUMMARY The distribution of Salmonella enteritidis phage types in Canada is described; 606 of 674 strains examined were of human origin. Typable strains of all sources, constituted 99·6% (671/674) of all strains examined, and were representative of 15 different phage types. Five phage types (8, 13, 4, 13a and 1) accounted for 92·4% of the total. Phage type 8 consistently showed the highest incidence in human (69·96%) and non-human (72·05%) sources and appeared to be the most common in North America. Phage type 4, the most prevalent in the UK, is infrequent in Canada (38/674). The distribution of phage types showed regional variation among infrequent phage types, whereas the common type, 8, was observed in different frequencies in all provinces. Examination of 29 outbreaks of S. enteritidis representing 254 isolates for humans revealed 5 different phage types, the highest number of outbreaks (11) were type 8. A study of these outbreaks and the animal-host-associations of the common phage types, 8 and 13, indicated that contaminated poultry appeared to be the most common source of human infection in Canada.
Taxonomic status of the Davis Mountains cottontail, Sylvilagus robustus, revealed by amplified fragment length polymorphism

Abstract The Davis Mountains cottontail, Sylvilagus robustus, is morphologically different from the eastern cottontail, S. floridanus, but previous genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA data did not recover 2 genetically distinct groups. Our study used a nuclear DNA fingerprinting technique, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), to test the hypothesis that S. robustus is genetically distinct from S. floridanus. We tentatively considered any individual collected at an elevation >1,400 m as S. robustus and later confirmed our identifications with morphological or genetic data, or both. Principal component and discriminant function analyses of 6 previously published cranial measurements confirmed morphological distinctiveness. For genetic analyses we analyzed 273 AFLP fragments from 20 individuals of S. robustus and compared them to 16 S. floridanus, 4 S. audubonii, and 1 S. obscurus. Results from phylogenetic and population genetic analyses suggest a significant lack of gene flow between the 2 species. Together, these data support recognition of S. robustus as a separate species.
Safety and Pharmacokinetics of Intravaginal Rings Delivering Tenofovir in Pig-Tailed Macaques

ABSTRACT Antiretroviral-based microbicides applied topically to the vagina may play an important role in protecting women from HIV infection. Incorporation of the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor tenofovir (TFV) into intravaginal rings (IVRs) for sustained mucosal delivery may lead to increased microbicide product adherence and efficacy compared with those of conventional vaginal formulations. Formulations of a novel “pod IVR” platform spanning a range of IVR drug loadings and daily release rates of TFV were evaluated in a pig-tailed macaque model. The rings were safe and exhibited sustained release at controlled rates over 28 days. Vaginal secretion TFV levels were independent of IVR drug loading and were able to be varied over 1.5 log units by changing the ring configuration. Mean TFV levels in vaginal secretions were 72.4 ± 109 μg ml−1 (slow releasing) and 1.84 ± 1.97 mg ml−1 (fast releasing). The mean TFV vaginal tissue concentration from the slow-releasing IVRs was 76.4 ± 54.8 μg g−1 and remained at steady state 7 days after IVR removal, consistent with the long intracellular half-life of TFV. Intracellular tenofovir diphosphate (TFV-DP), the active moiety in defining efficacy, was measured in vaginal lymphocytes collected in the study using the fast-releasing IVR formulation. Mean intracellular TFV-DP levels of 446 ± 150 fmol/106 cells fall within a range that may be protective of simian-human immunodeficiency virus strain SF162p3 (SHIVSF162p3) infection in nonhuman primates. These data suggest that TFV-releasing IVRs based on the pod design have potential for the prevention of transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and merit further clinical investigation.
Cellular, Biochemical, and Molecular Changes during Encystment of Free-Living Amoebae

ABSTRACT Free-living amoebae are protozoa found in soil and water. Among them, some are pathogenic and many have been described as potential reservoirs of pathogenic bacteria. Their cell cycle is divided into at least two forms, the trophozoite and the cyst, and the differentiation process is named encystment. As cysts are more resistant to disinfection treatments than trophozoites, many studies focused on encystment, but until recently, little was known about cellular, biochemical, and molecular modifications operating during this process. Important signals and signaling pathways at play during encystment, as well as cell responses at the molecular level, have been described. This review summarizes our knowledge and focuses on new findings.
QT prolongation of the antipsychotic risperidone is predominantly related to its 9‐hydroxy metabolite paliperidone

A dose‐dependent increase in risk of sudden cardiac death for the antipsychotic drug risperidone was reported. However, few reports have so far addressed QT prolongation associated with the use of risperidone or its major active metabolite, which is also used as a separate antipsychotic drug, paliperidone.
The role of tax incentives in promotion of innovation activity in the Russian Federation

The article deals with the taxation, as a tool for development and promotion of innovation. A coefficient characterizing the cost-effectiveness of tax incentives as the ratio of individual indicators of innovation activity of the recipients and the benefits of tax expenditures is proposed. As an innovative activity indicators are selected volume of innovative products, the cost of technological innovation, the value of fixed assets, investments in fixed assets, the number of active patents. The evaluation of the effectiveness of tax incentives on the basis of data on innovation activity and tax revenue from industries that are leaders in innovation is carried out. It is shown that the growth rate of falling budget revenues outpaced the growth rates that characterize the innovative activity of the taxpayer, indicating a lack of efficacy provided tax incentives. Obtained reasons of tax benefits inefficiency: a low level of innovative activity in the Russian Federation, the low demand for tax incentives from the taxpayers related to the problems of their application, the lack of intellectual property market development in the Russian Federation as a whole, as well as the lack of attention to the design of innovative performance in the enterprises. The following are suggested ways of stimulating effect of tax benefits: early identification and registration of results of intellectual activity in the organization, a comprehensive inclusion of all aspects of innovation in the current financial and economic activities of the organization; proper design innovation from the standpoint of accounting and taxation.
Chinese medicine users in the United States. Part II: Preferred aspects of care.

OBJECTIVES While a limited amount of data describe who seeks Chinese medicine care and for what conditions, there have been few attempts to explain what users think the care does for them, or why they value and "like" the care. This article presents such data via an analysis of a sample of 460 handwritten stories collected as part of a mixed quantitative qualitative survey of 6 acupuncture clinics in 5 states. RESULTS Quantitative data collected in this survey (Part I) showed that respondents were highly satisfied with their Chinese medicine care. The qualitative analysis found that respondents valued relief of presenting complaints as well as expanded effects of care including improvements in physiological and psychosocial adaptivity. In addition, respondents reported enjoying a close relationship with their Chinese medicine practitioner, learning new things, and feeling more able to guide their own lives and care for themselves. While these factors mesh well with Chinese medicine theory, respondents did not reveal familiarity with that theory. Instead, their language and experiences indicate familiarity with an holistic model of healthcare--and they seem to have experienced Chinese medicine care as holistic care. CONCLUSIONS This finding matters because it shows that respondents are not seeking an 'exotic' kind of healthcare, but are utilizing a homegrown, if nonmainstream, model of healthcare. The finding also matters because it shows that an holistic health delivery model is not only feasible, but currently exists in the United States: how Chinese medicine practitioners are trained, and how they subsequently deliver their care, could serve as a model for American healthcare reform.
The Basic Documentation for Psycho‐Oncology (PO‐Bado): An innovative tool to combine screening for psychological distress and patient support at cancer diagnosis

The Basic Documentation for Psycho‐Oncology (PO‐Bado) is a semi‐directive instrument for assessing psychosocial difficulties in cancer patients. It is based on subjective status and not on degree of symptom severity. Our objectives were to assess whether use of the PO‐Bado during post‐cancer‐diagnosis consultations improves the quality of communication by establishing a supportive relationship between nurses and patients and to assess nurses' satisfaction of their communication skills.
Hepatitis C virus infection in living color

Epidemiological studies indicate that overweight and obesity are associated with increased cancer risk. To study how obesity augments cancer risk and development, we focused on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the common form of liver cancer whose occurrence and progression are the most strongly affected by obesity among all cancers. We now demonstrate that either dietary or genetic obesity is a potent bona fide liver tumor promoter in mice. Obesity-promoted HCC development was dependent on enhanced production of the tumorpromoting cytokines IL-6 and TNF, which cause hepatic inflammation and activation of the oncogenic transcription factor STAT3. The chronic inflammatory response caused by obesity and enhanced production of IL-6 and TNF may also increase the risk of other cancers.
Polarity propagation of financial terms for market trend analyses using news articles

The purpose of our research is to estimate positive-negative scores of new financial terms, and to find the feature vector of a document useful for the stock price prediction. We propose a new technology to calculate a new word's positive-negative score from existing words' scores. First, we assigned a numerical vector to a word appeared in financial news documents using word2vec algorithm, and defined the feature vectors of the documents. Then, we analyzed the stock price trends and sentiment scores which can be evaluated from the textual data of Yahoo! finance board using these feature vectors. As a result of comparison with other traditional methods, the proposal method could forecast in higher accuracy about the stock price trends and the sentiment scores.
3 Implant Retained Auricular Prostheses

Reconstruction of a facial defect is a complex modality either surgically or prosthetically, depending on the site, size, etiology, severity, age, and the patient’s expectation. The loss of an auricle, in the presence of an auditory canal, affects hearing, because the auricle gathers sound and directs it into the canal. The auricle acts as a resonator to slightly amplify lower frequency sounds and helps to localize sounds, especially in conjunction with the other ear. (Wright et al., 2008 Karakoca et al., 2010, Toljanic et al., 2005)
Phenolic compounds and antioxidants capacity of sweet lupine derivatives-wheat Flour mixtures and the effects on diabetic rats

The aim of this research was to study the chemical and nutritional properties of sweet lupine seeds (lupine flour and fiber) at concentrations (5, 10 and 15 % as a substitution of wheat flour) and effects of its addition on diabetic Rats. Lupine flour showed higher levels of moisture, crude protein, ash, crude fat and dietary fiber than the wheat flour. Conversely, wheat flour showed higher levels of starch. The lupine flour showed higher levels of total phenolic and total flavonoids than the wheat flour. Conversely, wheat flour showed higher levels of total flavonols. Results clearly indicate that lupine flour exhibited higher antioxidant activity with Diphenyl-P-Picryl Hydrazyl (DPPH) and 2, 2-Azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic Acid (ABTS) than the wheat flour. Forty eight male albino rats were divided into two main groups (negative control \ 6 rats & Alloxan injected \ 42 rats). After hyperglycemic confirmation, they divided into seven subgroups (6/group); and fed on basal diet only (positive control) or basal diet with 5, 10 and 15% of lupine flour and 5, 10 and 15% of lupine fiber respectively. Diabetic rats fed on neither lupine flour nor fiber increased significantly in body weight gain like normal control group. Also, elevated glucose, cholesterol and total lipids of injected groups modulated significantly after treatments comparing with positive one. Finally, the addition of lupine flour or fiber reduced blood glucose, total cholesterol and total lipids in diabetic rats; it could be used successfully as hypoglycemic agents in feeding diabetic patients. Keywords: Lupine; Wheat flour; Nutrition Value; Diabetic Rats; Cholesterols; Glucose and Total lipids.
Polymorphic Variation in Susceptibility and Metabolism of Triclosan-Resistant Mutants of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae Clinical Strains Obtained after Exposure to Biocides and Antibiotics

ABSTRACT Exposure to biocides may result in cross-resistance to other antimicrobials. Changes in biocide and antibiotic susceptibilities, metabolism, and fitness costs were studied here in biocide-selected Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae mutants. E. coli and K. pneumoniae mutants with various degrees of triclosan susceptibility were obtained after exposure to triclosan (TRI), benzalkonium chloride (BKC), chlorhexidine (CHX) or sodium hypochlorite (SHC), and ampicillin or ciprofloxacin. Alterations in antimicrobial susceptibility and metabolism in mutants were tested using Phenotype MicroArrays. The expression of AcrAB pump and global regulators (SoxR, MarA, and RamA) was measured by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR), and the central part of the fabI gene was sequenced. The fitness costs of resistance were assessed by a comparison of relative growth rates. Triclosan-resistant (TRIr) and triclosan-hypersusceptible (TRIhs) mutants of E. coli and K. pneumoniae were obtained after selection with biocides and/or antibiotics. E. coli TRIr mutants, including those with mutations in the fabI gene or in the expression of acrB, acrF, and marA, exhibited changes in susceptibility to TRI, CHX, and antibiotics. TRIr mutants for which the TRI MIC was high presented improved metabolism of carboxylic acids, amino acids, and carbohydrates. In TRIr mutants, resistance to one antimicrobial provoked hypersusceptibility to another one(s). TRIr mutants had fitness costs, particularly marA-overexpressing (E. coli) or ramA-overexpressing (K. pneumoniae) mutants. TRI, BKC, and CIP exposure frequently yielded TRIr mutants exhibiting alterations in AraC-like global regulators (MarA, SoxR, and RamA), AcrAB-TolC, and/or FabI, and influencing antimicrobial susceptibility, fitness, and metabolism. These various phenotypes suggest a trade-off of different selective processes shaping the evolution toward antibiotic/biocide resistance and influencing other adaptive traits.
Seeker: Autonomous maze-navigating and ball-potting robot

This paper presents the design and fabrication of autonomous maze-navigating and ball-potting robot for National Engineering Robotics Competition (NERC), 2012. The robot navigates through a given maze; determines the color of the boxes present at predefined locations throughout the maze and pot golf balls of respective colors in them. For navigating through the maze, without colliding with the walls, a positional Integral-controller has been designed by root locus method. In order to be efficiently implementable in a low-cost PIC18f4620 microcontroller, the robot's navigation algorithm primarily builds on the technique of linearization of Sharp IR sensor. The robot then uses this information in its novel granular control algorithm, effectively maintaining the robot in the center of the corridor throughout its motion. A self-made color sensor with discrete components helps in differentiating between the color of the boxes. Experimental results show that the robot executes its tasks at a speed of 70cm/s without experiencing any collision with the walls. Such robots find their application in industrial pick-and-place tasks.
Long-Term Persistence of a Discotheque-Associated Invasive Neisseria meningitidis Group C Strain as Proven by Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis and porA Gene Sequencing

ABSTRACT A cluster of a Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C strain causing invasive disease was investigated. Five out of seven cases were associated with a particular discotheque. The strains were indistinguishable, as revealed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and sequencing of variable regions of the porA gene, but caused strikingly different clinical presentations during 5 months.
Empowerment and occupational engagement among people with psychiatric disabilities

Abstract Background: Empowerment is essential in the rehabilitation process for people with psychiatric disabilities and knowledge about factors that may play a key role within this process would be valuable for further development of the day centre services. Objective: The present study investigates day centre attendees’ perceptions of empowerment. The aim was to investigate which factors show the strongest relationships to empowerment when considering occupational engagement, client satisfaction with day centres, and health-related and socio-demographic factors as correlates. Methods: 123 Swedish day centre attendees participated in a cross-sectional study by completing questionnaires regarding empowerment and the targeted correlates. Data were analysed with non-parametric statistics. Results: Empowerment was shown to be significantly correlated with occupational engagement and client satisfaction and also with self-rated health and symptoms rated by a research assistant. The strongest indicator for belonging to the group with the highest ratings on empowerment was self-rated health, followed by occupational engagement and symptom severity. Implications: Occupational engagement added to the beneficial influence of self-rated health on empowerment. Enabling occupational engagement in meaningful activities and providing occupations that can generate client satisfaction is an important focus for day centres in order to assist the attendees’ rehabilitation process so that it promotes empowerment.
Diagnostic accuracy of the Ottawa Ankle and Midfoot Rules: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Objective To review the diagnostic accuracy of the Ottawa Ankle and Midfoot Rules and explore if clinical features and/or methodological quality of the study influence diagnostic accuracy estimates. Design Systematic review with meta-analysis. Data sources MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus and Cochrane Library. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Primary diagnostic studies reporting the accuracy of the Rules in people with ankle and/or midfoot injury were retrieved. Diagnostic accuracy estimates, overall and for subgroups (patient’s age, profession of the assessor and setting of application), were made. Sensitivity analyses included studies with a low risk of bias and studies where all patients received radiographs. Results 66 studies were included. Ankle and Midfoot Rules presented similar accuracies, which were homogeneous and high for sensitivity and negative likelihood ratios and poor and heterogeneous for specificity and positive likelihood ratios (mean, 95% CI pooled sensitivity of Ankle Rules: 99.4%, 97.9% to 99.8%; specificity: 35.3%, 28.8% to 42.3%). Sensitivity of the Ankle Rules was higher in adults than in children, but the profession of the assessor did not appear to influence accuracy. Specificity was higher for Midfoot than for Ankle Rules. There were not enough studies to allow comparison according to setting of application. Studies with a low risk of bias and where all patients received radiographs provided lower accuracy estimates. Specificity heterogeneity was not explained by assessor training, use of imaging in all patients and low risk of bias. Conclusions Study features and the methodological quality influence estimates of the diagnostic accuracy of the Ottawa Ankle and Midfoot Rules.
Responses of Algae and Bacteria to Nutrient Additions in Bottled Lake Water

Surface water of Lake Yunoko, a small eutrophic lake in central Japan, was bottled, enriched with glucose and/or mineral nutrients, and incubated for five days in the surface layer of that lake. Bacteria reacted promptly to the addition of glucose. When, however, an ample amount of glucose was added to the lake water, certain mineral nutrients, possibly nitrogen, became secondarily limiting to the growth of bacteria. Although mineral nutrients alone stimulated the growth of algae, the stimulatory effect was far greater when both glucose and mineral nutrients were enriched.