Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combined Antimicrobial Resistance in Enterococcus faecium Isolated from Chickens

ABSTRACT Nineteen E. faecium strains isolated from chicken caecum samples, collected in slaughterhouses and highly resistant to vancomycin or gentamicin, were coresistant to erythromycin, and/or tetracyclines, and/or streptogramins, and/or avilamycin. Multiple antibiotic resistance was related to the presence in various combinations of aac(6′)-aph(2"), erm(B), emtA, mef(A), tet(L), tet(M), and vanA genes.
Ageing in yeast does not enhance prion generation

The yeast prions [URE3] and [PSI+] are self‐propagating amyloids of Ure2p and Sup35p, respectively. The analogous transmissible spongiform encephalopathies of mammals and other amyloidoses are largely diseases of later life. From normal strains lacking the prions, we isolated old cells and measured the frequency of de novo [URE3] and [PSI+] prion generation. We find no evidence that ageing of yeast increases the frequency of prion occurrence. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Levels of depression and satisfaction with life as indicators of health services consumption

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the correlation between depression, satisfaction with life, and primary healthcare services consumption. Methods: A random sample of primary healthcare clinic patients agreed to complete self-report questionnaires on demographics and physical activity, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Visual Analog Scale for Happiness. Treating physicians completed the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS) for each patient. The relationships among psychometric, medical, the number of visits to health maintenance organization (HMO)-physicians during the previous year was assessed. Results: Positive correlation was found between visits to HMO-physicians and depression severity, as assessed by GDS (p = .049), and between visits/year and illness severity, as measured by CIRS (p < .001). Correlation was also found between depression and number of chronic medications used (p = .005). Physical activity correlated inversely with depression severity (p = .014). Gender and income had no impact on frequency of visits to HMO-physicians, depression, or satisfaction with life. Conclusions: The results indicate that there is a correlation between depression and healthcare service consumption, as represented by number of HMO-physician visits and medication use. Thus, early detection of depression, using tools such as GDS, and early initiation of antidepressive treatment may help to lower the burden on the health system.
Fetal cardiac ventricle volumetry in the second half of gestation assessed by 4D ultrasound using STIC combined with inversion mode

Quantification of fetal heart ventricle volume can aid in the evaluation of functional and anatomical aspects of congenital heart disease. The aim of this study was to establish nomograms for ventricular volume using three‐dimensional (3D) inversion mode ultrasonography with the spatio‐temporal image correlation (STIC) modality and to calculate ejection fraction and stroke volume.
Regional differences in HIV trends in The Gambia: results from sentinel surveillance among pregnant women

Objective: To monitor HIV-1 and HIV-2 trends in The Gambia, West Africa. Methods: In 1993–1995 a nationwide survey among 29 670 pregnant women attending eight antenatal clinics estimated the seroprevalence of HIV-1 at 0.6%, and of HIV-2 at 1.1%. Five years later, sentinel surveillance in pregnant women was established, using unlinked anonymous testing in four clinics. A dried blood spot on filter paper was obtained and tested for HIV antibodies. Results: Between May 2000 and August 2001, 8054 analysable samples were collected at four sites. The prevalence of HIV-1 rose sharply in one rural area from 0.6 to 3.0% (P < 0.0001), but the increase was small and non-significant in two other rural sites and in the urban site. The prevalence of HIV-2 did not change significantly at any of the sites. The overall prevalence of HIV-1 was 1.0% [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8–1.3%], and of HIV-2 0.8% (CI 0.6–1.0%). Site, nationality and higher age were significantly associated with HIV-1 infection, and higher parity and site were significantly associated with HIV-2 infection. Conclusion: Fifteen years after the first case of HIV-1 was described in The Gambia, the epidemic is still at a low level. There is heterogeneity within the country, with one rural area experiencing a fivefold increase in 6 years. The prevalence of HIV-2 in The Gambia is stable.
THE FINDINGS IN THIS REPORT ARE NOT TO BE

The U.S. Army Rangers are a quick strike force capable of deploying within 18 hours to any location in the world. The Rangers most often deploy by parachuting near or onto a hostile airfield at night under intense physical and psychological demands. These demands rival, if not exceed, those of professional athletes. The purpose of this study is to analyze the rates, causes, and types of injuries that occur both in garrison and during deployments in Rangers. In addition, we describe an alternative method of handling these injuries by introducing a sports medicine program similar to a professional athlete setting. Injury data was collected prospectively over a 7-month period in the 2/75 Ranger Battalion, Fort Lewis, Washington. Deployment injury rates were found to be significantly higher than garrison injury rates (28.8/100 Rangers/month, RR = 4.36, 95% CI 2.87, 5.85 and 6.6/100 Rangers/month, respectively). The majority of deployment injuries were traumatic (73%) while garrison injuries were as a result of overuse (71%). The leading causes of injury during deployments were field training (22%), road marching (19%), and fast roping (17%). The leading causes of garrison injuries were related to physical training (PT); running (46%) followed by marching (29%). With the introduction of a sports medicine program, Ranger injuries are treated immediately both in garrison and during deployments and rehab takes place in their own fitness center during PT time or in the intermediate staging base during a deployment. In addition, a "Total Ranger" PT Program is being implemented consisting of 6 performance measures that closely resemble the physical demands of the battlefield. New PT exercises have been designed to reduce the amount of running and marching while improving skills like speed, agility, quickness and overall strength; attributes necessary to be successful in combat. This program, modeled very similarly to a professional or college sports medicine program, is being evaluated to determine if it produces more ready and better performing Rangers.
Neuroprotective effects of a novel translocator protein (18 kDa) ligand, ZBD‐2, against focal cerebral ischemia and NMDA‐induced neurotoxicity

Ligands of the translocator protein (18 kDa) (TSPO) have demonstrated rapid anxiolytic efficacy in stress responses and stress‐related disorders. This protein is involved in the synthesis of endogenous neurosteroids including pregnenolone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and progesterone. These neurosteroids promote γ‐aminobutyric acid‐mediated neurotransmission in the central neural system (CNS). A TSPO ligand, N‐benzyl‐N‐ethyl‐2‐(7,8‐dihydro‐7‐benzyl‐8‐oxo‐2‐phenyl‐9H‐purin‐9‐yl) acetamide (ZBD‐2) was recently synthesized. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the neuroprotective effects of ZBD‐2 and. In cultured cortical neurons, treatment with ZBD‐2 attenuated excitotoxicity induced by N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) exposure. It significantly decreased the number of apoptotic cells by downregulating GluN2B‐containing NMDA receptors (NMDARs), the ratio of Bax/Bcl‐2, and levels of pro‐caspase‐3. Systemic treatment of ZBD‐2 provided significant neuroprotection in mice subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion. These findings provide direct evidence that neuroprotection by ZBD‐2 is partially mediated by inhibiting GluN2B‐containing NMDA receptor‐mediated excitotoxicity.
Intra- and interactive touch on the face

Experiments were performed in which the subjective size of steel balls was judged by the method of absolute magnitude estimation (AME). The balls were rolled actively ("scripting") by the right index finger pad of the subject over the passively receiving areas of the face, namely the forehead, cheek and the vermilion border of the lower lip. These areas were stimulated on the subject's own person (intra-active touch), on another person's face (interactive touch) and by another person upon the face of the subject (interactive touch). Results indicate that size perception appears to be governed primarily by the mechanical characteristics of the stimuli, including the balls and the sites on the face. When the subject's finger was used to script upon another's face, there were significant differences among or between the sites. When another person scripted upon the subject's face there were no significant differences among any of the sites. The results are discussed considering mode of stimulation and tissue mechanics.
Conditioning Pulse Trains in Cochlear Implants: Effects on Loudness Growth

Hypothesis: The addition of a high-rate (5 kpps) conditioning pulse train to the input signal of cochlear implants will result in shallower loudness growth across the dynamic range of cochlear implant patients. Background: High-rate conditioning pulse trains have been shown to increase the dynamic range of sinusoidal stimuli for cochlear implant recipients in a manner consistent with stochastic resonance. This study further characterizes the effects of conditioning stimuli on loudness by examining the loudness growth functions for sinusoidal stimuli both with and without conditioning. Methods: Seven postlingually deafened adults using the Clarion CII cochlear implant participated in this study. The loudness growth functions of each subject were characterized using sinusoidal stimuli, both with and without the presence of a high-rate conditioner. Loudness was measured using magnitude estimation. Results: The loudness growth functions of all seven subjects demonstrate an increase in dynamic range for sinusoidal stimuli with the addition of the conditioning pulse train. Shallower loudness growth is seen across the dynamic range with the addition of a conditioner. This result was shown for loudness growth fitted to exponential, power, and cumulative gaussian functions. Conclusion: The addition of high-rate conditioning pulse trains to sinusoidal stimuli presented to cochlear implant recipients results in larger dynamic ranges, with more gradual increases in loudness growth across the dynamic range. This suggests that signal-processing strategies incorporating conditioning may be clinically useful, requiring less compression of the input signal and leading to less distortion perceived by cochlear implant patients.
Genome Sequence of the Banana Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens PS006

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas fluorescens is a well-known plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR). We report here the first whole-genome sequence of PGPR P. fluorescens evaluated in Colombian banana plants. The genome sequences contains genes involved in plant growth and defense, including bacteriocins, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase, and genes that provide resistance to toxic compounds.
A camera-based system for tracking people in real time

This paper describes a system for real-time tracking of people in video sequences. The input to the system is live or recorded video data acquired by a stationary camera in an environment where the primary moving objects are people. The output consists of trajectories which give the spatio-temporal coordinates of individual persons as they move in the environment. The system uses a new model-based approach to object tracking. It identifies feature points in each video frame, matches feature points across frames to produce feature "paths", then groups short-lived and partially overlapping feature paths into longer living trajectories representing motion of individual persons. The path grouping is based on a novel model-based algorithm for motion clustering. The system runs on an SGI Indy workstation at an average rate of 14 frames a second. The system has numerous applications since various statistics and indicators of human activity can be derived from the motion trajectories. Examples of these indicators described in the paper include people counts, presence and time spent in a region, traffic density maps and directional traffic statistics.
The Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Phosphorylates Sites Having a (Ser/Thr)-Pro Motif and Is Activated by Antibodies to a Region near Its COOH Terminus

The eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E)-binding protein, PHAS-I, was phosphorylated rapidly and stoichiometrically when incubated with [γ-32P]ATP and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) that had been immunoprecipitated with an antibody, mTAb1, directed against a region near the COOH terminus of mTOR. PHAS-I was phosphorylated more slowly by mTOR obtained either by immunoprecipitation with other antibodies or by affinity purification using a rapamycin/FKBP12 resin. Adding mTAb1 to either of these preparations of mTOR increased PHAS-I phosphorylation severalfold, indicating that mTAb1 activates the mTOR protein kinase. mTAb1-activated mTOR phosphorylated Thr36, Thr45, Ser64, Thr69, and Ser82 in PHAS-I. All five of these sites fit a (Ser/Thr)-Pro motif and are dephosphorylated in response to rapamycin in rat adipocytes. Thus, our findings indicate that Pro is a determinant of the mTOR protein kinase specificity and that mTOR contributes to the phosphorylation of PHAS-I in cells.
Establishment of exotic parasitoids of the coffee berry borer Hypothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in Colombia through farmer participatory research

A participatory project was conducted with small-scale coffee growers from Quindío Department, Colombia. In 34 coffee lots in three municipalities, growers implemented an integrated management programme against the coffee berry borer (CBB) Hypothenemus hampei Ferrari, based on improved cultural harvesting and sanitation practices (to remove breeding habitats) and releases of exotic parasitoids. Growers released over 10 million Cephalonomia stephanoderis and 5 million Prorops nasuta (both Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) over 2 years. Populations of the CBB declined from a range of 7–14% infested berries (Quimbaya), 10–13% (Montenegro) and 15–48% (Buenavista) prior to the integrated pest management programme, to an average of 2.1 ± 0.2% infested berries in Químbaya, 3.5 ± 0.2% in Montenegro and 2.8 ± 2.1% in Buenavista, over the following 25 months. Damage to parchment coffee similarly declined during this period. Six months after the final release of parasitoids had been made, we found both parasitoid species established in all three municipalities. However, P. nasuta were recovered more frequently (in 71.4% of lots where they were previously released) compared with C. stephanoderis (recovered in 30.8% of release lots). Average parasitism rates remained low, i.e. 3.7% for P. nasuta and 2.9% for C. stephanoderis. This low rate was probably due to the frequent manual removal of mature berries containing developing parasitoid larvae. In addition, the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana was observed on average on 9.5% adult CBB in Montenegro, compared with mean infection rates of 4.3 and 4.4% in Quimbaya and Buenavista, respectively. Cultural harvesting and sanitation is an important component of CBB control, although it may limit the impact of the pest’s parasitoids.
A convenient circuit model for millimeter-wave substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) corporate feed for dielectric resonator antenna arrays

Millimeter wave and terahertz systems are becoming increasingly important in several commercial scientific and military applications. The wide range of applications in areas such as remote sensing, radio astronomy, plasma diagnostics, and radar and communication systems have demanded low- noise receivers from 30 GHz to over 1THz [1]. At millimeter–wave range of frequencies printed (metallic) planar antennas suffer from conductor and dielectric losses (radiator and feeding structure) that could be significant [2], which degrade the overall antenna radiation efficiency, especially when the number of antenna elements in array arrangement increases. As a low cost high radiation efficiency planar antenna system, substrate-integrated-waveguide (SIW)-fed dielectric resonator (DRA) antenna, is presented in [3], which is a good candidate for millimeter wave applications. In this paper, a generic simple circuit model for 1×M SIW-parallel-fed DRA linear array is presented as a fast method for the analysis and optimization of the larger arrays. This circuit model provides good estimates for the antenna return loss and radiation pattern characteristics. It is based on N-port circuit analysis of the antenna system.
First step to build on index to detect microbial volatile organic compounds emitted by moulds growing on building materials

Nowadays, the detection of moulds hidden in buildings is only possible after degradation of the building materials. In the early 2000s, a new approach is suggested to detect fungal contamination of building materials. This one is based on the determination of the VOC emitted by the moulds, called Microbial-VOC (MVOC). This study was conducted to screen the emission of MVOCs by three different moulds growing on specific materials (shower mat, plasterboard, wood wool). The carbon dioxide, as indicator of biological activity, was also measured. In this paper, the development of an integrated index was considered for a new approach in the detection of hidden moulds. The index will be an algorithm with various variables specific to the moulds (for example: RH, CO2, single VOC and specific VOC pattern…). The goal is to propose an innovative and simple tool working with low cost sensors.
Crossmodal Temporal Processing Acuity in Children with Oral Clefts

Objective: We have previously found that, in children with certain oral clefts, the rate of sequential information processing is significantly impaired in vision and tactile somatosensation but not so clearly in audition. Here, we studied crossmodal functions by investigating temporal processing acuity of cleft children with audiovisual, audiotactile, and visuotactile tasks. Participants: Temporal processing acuity was studied in 10-year-old children, 19 with cleft lip with or without cleft palate and 38 with cleft palate or submucous cleft palate. Design: Children estimated whether brief stimuli of two concurrent three-stimulus sequences, each in a different modality, were simultaneous or not when the stimulus interval varied adaptively. The 8-millisecond stimuli were flashes in vision, tone bursts in audition, and solenoid touches of a finger in somatosensation. Results: The group with cleft lip with or without cleft palate performed better than the group with cleft palate or submucous cleft palate in audiovisual temporal processing acuity, but the group's superiority was not statistically significant in audiotactile or visuotactile temporal processing acuity. Conclusions: Audiovisual crossmodal sequential information processing is probably impaired in some cleft children in the group with cleft palate or submucous cleft palate. Our results suggest further studies on the audiovisual capacities of children with cleft.
Issues in Estimating the Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence

This study examines the potential implications of household interviews on participation bias for estimates of intimate partner violence (IPV). Using a variety of scales, IPV prevalence for the 135 women interviewed in a street-intercept survey was compared with the IPV prevalence of a subsample of these women who reported willingness to participate in a household survey with their partner in another room or when their partner also would be interviewed. A potential self-selection bias showed an 8% to 13% deflated prevalence of moderate to highly abused women and a 8% to 11% inflated prevalence of nonabused women among this subsample who would willingly participate in a household survey. Understanding who is included in household surveys, and who is not, is essential to compute and interpret national prevalence estimates for IPV.
The Role of Microbial Biofilms Consisting on the Contact Lenses in Ocular Infection,Taif, KSA

This study was carried out during 2013, from ophthalmic private clinics, Taif, KSA. All patients understudy were complained from using contact lenses (CLs). Incidence of ocular inflammation due to duration of CLs use, that showed the predominate of ocular inflammation were at 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th , and 5 th days as 37.3, 26.7, 18, 10.7 and 7.3% respectively. Incidence of contact lenses type and inflammation affection, that showed the predominate of cosmetics CLs type were 65.3%, then medical type as 34.7%. The predominate inflammation were in bilateral eyes as 57.3%, then unilateral eye as 42.7% respectively. Incidence of local ocular inflammation signs, that showed the predominate signs of ocular inflammation were redness, lacrimation, itching, F.B. sensation, secretion and edema were 72, 68, 56, 48, 36, and 24% respectively. Incidence of CLs biofilm positive for microbial isolates, total CLs were examined 150, which resulted in 64% positive and 36% negative for microbial isolates respectively. Incidence of CLs biofilm microbial isolates types and species, total CLs were examined 96. The bacteria, fungus and protozoa were resulted in 70.8, 20.9, and 8.3% respectively. The predominant isolates were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marcescens, Staph. aureus, Fusarium spp. , Staph. epidermidis, Candida albicans, Acanthamoeba keratitis and Strept. spp. , as percentage 22.9, 16.7, 14.6, 11.5, 10.4, 9.4, 8.3 and 6.2% respectively.
Tuning in to cochlear hair cells

A major quest in hearing research over the last 35 years or so has been, and continues to be, how mammalian hearing achieves its remarkable frequency selectivity and sensitivity over a large frequency range, down from 20 Hz up to over 100 kHz in some species. Readers of The Journal of Physiology have had a ringside seat over the years enabling them to follow how this quest has led to the current state of the debate, which is focused on the precise role of the outer hair cells in cochlear tuning and amplification (Dallos et al. 2006; Fettiplace, 2006). How did it all begin? Evans (1972) found that auditory nerve fibres in the guinea-pig were much more sharply tuned than the basilar membrane vibrations that had been reported in the same species. He noted that if the physiological condition of the cochlea was in any way compromised the nerve fibres became less sensitive and more broadly tuned, just like the basilar membrane vibrations. To explain his findings Evans proposed a physiologically vulnerable ‘second filter’, situated somewhere between the broad ‘first filter’ of the basilar membrane and the auditory nerve fibres. The search was on to find the whereabouts of this sharply tuned band-pass filter.