Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Near-duplicate Fragments in Simultaneously Captured Videos - A Study on Real-time Detection using CBVIR Approach

CBVIR approach to video-based surveillance is discussed. The objective is to detect in real time near-duplicates (e.g. similarly-looking objects) simultaneously appearing in concurrently captured/played videos. A novel method of keypoint matching is proposed, based on keypoint descriptions additionally incorporating visual and geometric contexts. Near-duplicate fragments can be identified by keypoint matching only. The analysis of geometric constraints (a bottleneck of typical CBVIR methods for sub-image retrieval) is not required. When the proposed method is fully implemented, high-speed and good performances can be achieved, as preliminarily shown in proof-of-concept experiments. The method is affine-invariant and employs typical keypoint detectors and descriptors (MSER and SIFT) as the low-level mechanisms.
Trisomy 17p due to a t(8; 17) (p23; p11.2)pat translocation. Case report and review of the literature

We describe a female newborn girl with partial trisomy 17p, which was not detected at the initial cytogenetic investigation, but which later proved to be an unbalanced product of a paternal translocation t(8; 17)(p23;pl 1.2). Comparison with the three previously reported patients suggests a clinically distinct “trisomy 17p syndrome”, i.e. pre‐ and postnatal growth retardation, microcephaly, antimongoloid slanting of palpebral fissures, hypertelorism, long philtrum with thin upper lip, micrognathia and high‐arched palate. Two of the four patients had a heart defect, and psychomotor developmental delay was evident in all four cases. In the present patient, the chromosomal anomaly was only detected after the finding of the autosomal reciprocal translocation in the father. The importance of cytogenetic investigations in parents of a MCA/MR child with apparently normal chromosomes is emphasized.
Point-of-Care Testing in Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract Diabetes mellitus is an excellent case study of the evolution, and successful application, of point-of-care testing. It offers a valuable history of the way in which technology has evolved, and continues to evolve, to meet the needs of patients whilst also providing for a more optimal delivery of care. Diabetes mellitus is also a good exemplar of where test and treatment regimes must operate in complete harmony in order to achieve the greatest benefit. Thus whilst the measurement of blood glucose is central to the screening, diagnosis and management of diabetes, it is in the latter use, largely related to supporting compliance with therapy, that point-of-care testing is of greatest relevance. In addition, there are other tests, more associated with the management of diabetes and early detection of the complications associated with diabetes, that are appropriate to the point-of-care testing modality. This Review will focus on the developments in technology and the harnessing of this innovation to support the delivery of clinical, organisational and economic benefits in the care of patients with diabetes mellitus.
Sex differences in cognitive training effects of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment

Cognitive training has been shown to be effective in improving cognitive functions in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). However, data on factors that may influence training gains including sociodemographic variables such as sex or age is rare. In this study, the impact of sex on cognitive training effects was examined in N = 32 age- and education-matched female (n = 16) and male (n = 16) amnestic MCI patients (total sample: age M = 74.97, SD = 5.21; education M = 13.50, SD = 3.11). Patients participated in a six-week multidomain cognitive training program including 12 sessions each 90 min twice weekly in mixed groups with both women and men. Various cognitive domains were assessed before and after the intervention. Despite comparable baseline performance in women and men, we found significant interaction effects Time × Sex in immediate (p = .04) and delayed verbal episodic memory (p= .045) as well as in working memory (p = .042) favoring the female MCI patients. In contrast, the overall analyses with the total sample did not reveal any significant within-subject effects Time. In conclusion, our results give preliminary evidence for stronger cognitive training improvements of female compared to male MCI patients. More generally, they emphasize the importance of sex-sensitive evaluations of cognitive training effects. Possible underlying mechanisms of the found sex differences are discussed and directions for future research are given.
Design of ground-layer turbulence compensation with a Rayleigh beacon

The adaptive optics instrument for the SOAR 4.1-m telescope will improve the spatial resolution by 2-3 times at visible wavelengths, over a field of 3 arcmin, by sensing and correcting low-altitude turbulence selectively. We will use a Rayleigh laser guide star to accomplish this. We present the laser guide star design with predictions of system performance based on real turbulence statistics and telescope properties, sky coverage and some opto-mechanical aspects of the AO module. Various design trade-offs are discussed.
Pressure dependence of the deuterium isotope effect in the photolysis of formaldehyde by ultraviolet light

Abstract. The pressure dependence of the relative photolysis rate of HCHO vs. HCDO has been investigated for the first time, using a photochemical reactor at the University of Copenhagen. The dissociation of HCHO vs. HCDO using a UVA lamp was measured at total bath gas pressures of 50, 200, 400, 600 and 1030 mbar. The products of formaldehyde photodissociation are either H2 + CO (molecular channel) or HCO + H (radical channel), and a photolysis lamp was chosen to emit light at wavelengths that greatly favor the molecular channel. The isotope effect in the dissociation, kHCHO/kHCDO, was found to depend strongly on pressure, varying from 1.1 + 0.15/−0.1 at 50 mbar to 1.75±0.10 at 1030 mbar. The results can be corrected for radical channel contribution to yield the kinetic isotope effect for the molecular channel; i.e. the KIE in the production of molecular hydrogen. This is done and the results at 1030 mbar are discussed in relation to previous studies at ambient pressure. In the atmosphere the relative importance of the two product channels changes with altitude as a result of changes in pressure and actinic flux. The study demonstrates that the δD of photochemical hydrogen produced from formaldehyde will increase substantially as pressure decreases.
Complex Surgical Site Infections and the Devilish Details of Risk Adjustment: Important Implications for Public Reporting

Objective. To validate the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance (NNIS) risk index as a tool to account for differences in case mix when reporting rates of complex surgical site infection (SSI). Design. Prospective cohort study. Setting. Twenty-four community hospitals in the southeastern United States. Methods. We identified surgical procedures performed between January 1, 2005, and June 30, 2007. The Goodman-Kruskal gamma or G statistic was used to determine the correlation between the NNIS risk index score and the rates of complex SSI (not including superficial incisional SSI). Procedure-specific analyses were performed for SSI after abdominal hysterectomy, cardiothoracic procedures, colon procedures, insertion of a hip prosthesis, insertion of a knee prosthesis, and vascular procedures. Results. A total of 2,257 SSIs were identified during the study period (overall rate, 1.19 SSIs per 100 procedures), of which 1,093 (48.4%) were complex (0.58 complex SSIs per 100 procedures). There were 45 complex SSIs identified following 7,032 abdominal hysterectomies (rate, 0.64 SSIs per 100 procedures); 63 following 5,318 cardiothoracic procedures (1.18 SSIs per 100 procedures); 139 following 5,144 colon procedures (2.70 SSIs per 100 procedures); 63 following 6,639 hip prosthesis insertions (0.94 SSIs per 100 procedures); 73 following 9,658 knee prosthesis insertions (0.76 SSIs per 100 procedures); and 55 following 6,575 vascular procedures (0.84 SSIs per 100 procedures). All 6 procedure-specific rates of complex SSI were significantly correlated with increasing NNIS risk index score (P< .05). Conclusions. Some experts recommend reporting rates of complex SSI to overcome the widely acknowledged detection bias associated with superficial incisional infection. Furthermore, it is necessary to compensate for case-mix differences in patient populations, to ensure that intrahospital comparisons are meaningful. Our results indicate that the NNIS risk index is a reasonable method for the risk stratification of complex SSIs for several commonly performed procedures.
Glucose Tolerance and Insulin Release, A Mathematical Approach: I. Assay of the Beta-cell Response After Oral Glucose Loading

From txshe dose-response relations between glucose and insulin after oral glucose loading, a reproducible parameter for beta-cell response was deduced. The main advantage of this parameter —corrected insulin response, defined as CIR = I · 100/G(G–70)— lies in it independence from the initial or reached glucose level.
Immune Reconstitution Following Allogeneic Peripheral Blood Progenitor Cell Transplantation

Delayed immune reconstitution following allogeneic stem cell transplantation remains a major clinical problem, resulting in significant transplant-related mortality from infectious complications. The recovery of immunity after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is a complex process dependent on a large number of pre- and post-transplant factors. It has been suggested that the use of peripheral blood instead of bone marrow as stem cell source may accelerate immune reconstitution after allogeneic transplantation. Some authors have recently reported a more rapid recovery of the number and function of T and B cells after allogeneic peripheral blood progenitor cell transplant (allo-PBPCT) in comparison with conventional BMT, results which would reflect the high number of lymphocytes infused to the patients. Such a rapid immune recovery could indeed contribute to the apparent therapeutic advantage of PBPCT when compared with BMT. However, there is limited knowledge on this issue and randomized trials are required to prove whether allo-PBPCT is indeed superior to BMT in terms of immune reconstitution post-transplant. A review of some quantitative and functional aspects of immune recovery after allo-PBPCT is presented in this article.
An electron microscopic study of human epidermis after acetone and kerosene administration.

An electron microscopic study has been done on normal human skin exposed either 30 or 90 minutes to two lipid solvents (acetone and kerosene) commonly encountered in occupational situations. After topical corneum and stratum spinosum. Keratinized cells, keratohyalin cells, spinous cells, and their nuclear and cell envelopes were affected in somewhat different ways by the two solvents. Marked intracellular edema of keratinized cells and vacuolation of spinous cells were seen after exposure to acetone, while large lacunae and disappearance of the keratin pattern in keratinized cells and evidence of cytolysis of spinous cells were found only after kerosene exposure. These cytoplasmic and nuclear degenerative changes were more pronounced after 90 minutes' than after 30 minutes' exposure. Many cell membranes were ruptured and ruthenium red localization showed that desmosomes and other functional complexes were often disrupted. Seventy-two hours after discontinuation of the solvent application, a high degree of restoration of the normal ultrastructural pattern was observed in superficial layers, while residual evidence of cell degeneration and evidence of early reactive changes were found in the viable portions of the epidermis.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome: 11 years later--a radiology perspective.

OBJECTIVE Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was a highly virulent atypical pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus that resulted in a pandemic in 2003. Singapore was one of the most severely affected countries, and SARS took a heavy toll on our health care system. The lessons learned during the pandemic have shaped our national contagion response plan and have proved valuable in subsequent epidemics. We describe the lessons learned for the radiology department. CONCLUSION Our experience with SARS has shaped and changed our daily practice of radiology.
The effects of rest breaks, work shift start time, and sleep on the onset of severe injury among workers in the People's Republic of China.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of the duration and timing of rest breaks on traumatic injury risk across a shift in a relatively large sample of hospitalized workers with severe work-related hand injury in the People's Republic of China (PRC). METHODS Hospitalized workers from multiple industries with severe work-related traumatic hand injury were recruited from 11 hospitals in three industrially-developed cities in the PRC: Ningbo, Liuzhou, and Wuxi. Cox regression was used to compare time into the work shift of injury across categories of rest breaks, while evaluating several potential covariates including age, gender, work hours, work start time and duration, injury day and time, duration and quality of last sleep, alertness/sleepiness, job control, and several transient work-related factors. Effect modification by work shift start time was also evaluated. RESULTS With four days of injury, 703 hospitalized workers completed a face-to-face interview. After adjusting for significant covariates, workers with rest breaks of 1-30, 31-60, and >60 minutes were able to work significantly (P<0.001) longer into their work shift without an injury (>5 hours) then those with no rest break. A significant interaction was also observed between rest break status and start time of the work shift. CONCLUSION The results of this study suggest that rest breaks of any duration have a significant effect on delaying the onset of a work-related injury, which is modified by the time of day in which a shift begins.
A critical evaluation of the effect of sorbitol on the ferric-xylenol orange hydroperoxide assay.

Measurement of hydroperoxide concentration by the ferric-xylenol orange assay has the advantages of simplicity, convenience, and inertness to oxygen (Gay, C., et al. (1999) Anal. Biochem. 273, 149-155). However, its sensitivity is limited by the molar absorption coefficients, which are less than 50,000 M(-1) cm(-1) for most hydroperoxides. An earlier report showed that this could be significantly enhanced by the inclusion of 100 mM sorbitol in the assay solution, resulting in an increase of the apparent absorption coefficient for H(2)O(2) from 4.46 x 10(4) to 2.24 x 10(5) M(-1) cm(-1) (Wolff, S. P. (1994) Methods Enzymol. 233, 182-189). It was claimed that the technique was also valid for other hydroperoxides, such as butyl and cumyl. In an attempt to extend this modification to a wider range of hydroperoxides, we have confirmed the enhancement of the assay of H2O2 by sorbitol. However, the sensitivity of the measurements of butyl, cumyl, amino acid, protein, and human blood serum hydroperoxides was only approximately doubled by the inclusion of sorbitol. A mechanism explaining the difference in the assay of H2O2 and the organic hydroperoxides is proposed.
Adaptive digital MPPT control for photovoltaic applications

Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) is often used to increase the energy conversion efficiency for intermittent energy sources. Numerous of research teams work today to improve this type of algorithms. We had developed real-time MPPT controls based on the Extremum Seeking Control principle first implemented on analogical circuit. Today, to be more flexible and adaptive with several structures of power static converters, our new MPPT algorithms are implemented on numerical circuits. Our aim is to obtain high performances. To achieve a high quality matching between sources and loads, our new MPPT control adjusts continually the static converter duty cycle. Transitory effects are immediately detected and new MPP rapidly recovered. In addition, this digital control has an adjustment delay which allows an adaptation to a large power range from high to low points and then a real optimisation. Experimental results validate the global behaviour of this control for photovoltaic systems.
Sexing mouse pups

Data on the early sexing of random-bred albino mice (Mus musculus) is presented. It is shown that accurate sexing of newborn pups cannot be made by anogenital distance measurement unless the proportion of animals falling into the overlap-zones are discarded. However, 8-day-old pups may be sexed by the display of abdominal (inguinal) teats in the females.
PLASTICITY OF PHYSIOOLGY IN LOBELIA: TESTING FOR ADAPTATION AND CONSTRAINT

Abstract Phenotypic plasticity is thought to be a major mechanism allowing sessile organisms such as plants to adapt to environmental heterogeneity. However, the adaptive value of many common plastic responses has not been tested by linking these responses to fitness. Even when plasticity is adaptive, costs of plasticity, such as the energy necessary to maintain regulatory pathways for plastic responses, may constrain its evolution. We used a greenhouse experiment to test whether plastic physiological responses to soil water availability (wet vs. dry conditions) were adaptive and/or costly in the congeneric wildflowers Lobelia cardinalis and L. siphilitica. Eight physiological traits related to carbon and water uptake were measured. Specific leaf area (SLA), photosynthetic rate (A), stomatal conductance (gs), and photosynthetic capacity (Amax) responded plastically to soil water availability in L. cardinalis. Plasticity in Amax was maladaptive, plasticity in A and gs was adaptive, and plasticity in SLA was adaptively neutral. The nature of adaptive plasticity in L. cardinalis, however, differed from previous studies. Lobelia cardinalis plants with more conservative water use, characterized by lower gs, did not have higher fitness under drought conditions. Instead, well‐watered L. cardinalis that had higher gs had higher fitness. Only Amax responded plastically to drought in L. siphilitica, and this response was adaptively neutral. We detected no costs of plasticity for any physiological trait in either L. cardinalis or L. siphilitica, suggesting that the evolution of plasticity in these traits would not be constrained by costs. Physiological responses to drought in plants are presumed to be adaptive, but our data suggest that much of this plasticity can be adaptively neutral or maladaptive.
Infection pattern of the spirurid nematode Protospirura numidica criceticola in the cricetid rodent Akodon azarae on poultry farms of central Argentina

Abstract The nematode Protospirura numidica criceticola infects the stomach of Neotropical cricetid rodents when they ingest infected arthropods. In North America, prevalence values fluctuated, showing marked peaks in desert habitats, while remaining low in humid environments. The infection pattern has not been studied in South American rodents. In this work, yearly infection by P. n. criceticola was analysed in the South American cricetid Akodon azarae seasonally captured from July 1998 to July 2000 and in March 2001 on poultry farms of a humid region of Argentina. Seasonal occurrence of third- and fourth-stage larvae and adults was recorded. Seasonal population and community parameters of the parasite were calculated. The occurrence of larval stages was confirmed for the four seasons. Prevalence fluctuated between 0 and 36% and did not show a seasonal pattern. It was not related to the abundance of A. azarae (rs = 0.37) or to rainfall. In this humid region of Argentina, where food resources are diverse throughout the year, the omnivorous A. azarae may have a variable diet so that infection can occur in the four seasons. Prevalence values were not very high, in accordance with observations in humid habitats of North America. The infection was also characterized by low intensity, abundance and dominance. Only 3.8% of the rodents were parasitized with three or more specimens of the parasite, and that was only in autumn. It is suggested that rodents can not overwinter successfully with a heavy biomass of stomach parasites.
A mems-based gas chromatograph front-end for a miniature spectrometer

A MEMS-based gas chromatograph (GC) front-end for a mass spectrometer has been developed for space applications. The GC uses Molecular Vapor Deposition (MVD) to achieve a uniform coating of the GC column. Particular attention has been paid to the fluidic connections of the MEMS to the external tubing.
Dynamics of the Stratiform Sector of a Tropical Cyclone Rainband

AbstractAirborne Doppler radar documented the stratiform sector of a rainband within the stationary rainband complex of Hurricane Rita. The stratiform rainband sector is a mesoscale feature consisting of nearly uniform precipitation and weak vertical velocities from collapsing convective cells. Upward transport and associated latent heating occur within the stratiform cloud layer in the form of rising radial outflow. Beneath, downward transport is organized into descending radial inflow in response to two regions of latent cooling. In the outer, upper regions of the rainband, sublimational cooling introduces horizontal buoyancy gradients, which produce horizontal vorticity and descending inflow similar to that of the trailing-stratiform region of a mesoscale convective system. Within the zone of heavier stratiform precipitation, melting cooling along the outer rainband edge creates a midlevel horizontal buoyancy gradient across the rainband that drives air farther inward beneath the brightband. The organi.
Cloning and expression in Escherichia coli of Haemophilus influenzae fimbrial genes establishes adherence to oropharyngeal epithelial cells.

In this report the first example of functional expression of a fimbrial gene cluster of a non‐enteric human pathogen in Escherichia coli is described. This is shown for Haemophilus influenzae fimbriae which mediate adherence to oropharyngeal epithelial cells. A genomic library of H.influenzae type b, strain 770235f+bo, was constructed using a cosmid vector and screened with a synthetic oligonucleotide probe derived from the N‐terminal sequence of the fimbrial subunit of H.influenzae. Four cosmid clones were found which hybridized to this oligonucleotide probe. Escherichia coli strains harbouring these clones expressed the H.influenzae fimbriae at their cell surface, as was demonstrated in a whole‐cell ELISA and by immunogold electron microscopy using a monoclonal antibody specific for the H.influenzae fimbriae. Surface expression could be maintained during subcloning until a minimal H.influenzae DNA insert of approximately 8.1 kb was obtained. Escherichia coli strains harbouring the 8.1 kb H. influenzae DNA were able to cause a mannose‐resistant adherence to oropharyngeal epithelial cells and a mannose‐resistant haemagglutination of human AnWj‐positive erythrocytes. The nucleotide sequence of hifA, the gene encoding the major fimbrial subunit, was determined. The predicted amino acid sequence shows a significant homology with a number of E.coli fimbrial subunits.