Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lessons from Studies of Symbiobacterium thermophilum, a Unique Syntrophic Bacterium

Symbiobacterium thermophilum is a syntrophic bacterium whose growth depends on coculture with a cognate Bacillus sp. We have been studying the unique features of S. thermophilum in terms of taxonomy, ecology, genome biology, and physiology. Here we overview current knowledge of this bacterium. Although S. thermophilum shows several physiological properties of Gram-negative bacteria, 16S rRNA gene-based phylogeny indicated that it represents a distinct lineage of Gram-positive bacteria with deep branching between the clades for the high-G+C (Actinobacteria) and the low-G+C (Firmicutes) groups. Ecological study has revealed that S. thermophilum and its relatives are widely distributed in the natural environment, including soil, animal intestines and seawater. A whole genome sequencing study uncovered its unusual features, which overall indicate that this bacterium is a member of Firmicutes despite of its high G+C content (68.7%). The genome appeared to retain fully the genes for primary metabolism, except for carbonic anhydrase. We discovered that carbon dioxide is a marked inducer of the mono-growth of S. thermophilum, and speculated that this is due to a lack of carbonic anhydrase. The lines of evidence suggest that S. thermophilum requires additional conditions for full growth, including not only the supply of an unknown positive factor but also the elimination of oxygen and self-growth inhibitory substances. We conclude that the role of the cognate Bacillus is to establish a complex environment suitable for the growth of S. thermophilum, which is achieved by supplying and removing multiple factors. Understandings of this type of mutualism should provide new insight into microbial physiology as well as the issue of uncultivability.
Heart Compromise and Detection of Dengue Virus-Like Particles in Cardiac Tissue of Experimentally Infected Murine Model

The involvement of the myocardium in human cases of dengue has been reported, but the mechanism leading to myocarditis, one of the most commonly observed pathologies, remains unclear. In this study, BALB/c mice were infected with different strains of non-neuroadapted dengue virus serotype 2 and morphological analysis of heart were performed by transmission electron microscopy. For detection and quantification of the Viral RNA, Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase PCR assay was performed. Our analyses showed involvement of heart in DENV infection. DENV-like particles were observed inside endothelial cells and cardiomyocytes. DENV RNA was detected in 15 heart and four serum samples. In three samples, we observed titers higher than that of the inocula.
Comparison of ankle arthrometry to stress ultrasound imaging in the assessment of ankle laxity in healthy adults.

PURPOSE/BACKGROUND Ultrasonography (US) may aid the assessment of the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) injury after lateral ankle sprains by allowing the clinician to visualize and measure talocrural laxity. Comparison of US against another objective method of ankle laxity assessment, such as ankle arthrometry (AA), is needed. The purpose was to evaluate the relationship between the ATFL length measurements measured from stress US images to the inversion and anterior drawer displacement measured with AA in healthy subjects. METHODS This descriptive laboratory study included 26 ankles from healthy subjects. The apparent length of the ATFL was measured using US during anterior drawer (USAD) and inversion (USINV) stress and the translation of the talocrural joint was measured using AA during anterior drawer (AAAD) and inversion (AAINV) stress. Percent change in length for USAD and USINV were quantified. Intraclass correlation coefficients and pearson product moment correlations Bland-Altman limits of agreement were calculated between relevant variables. RESULTS USAD and USINV percent change in length were positively correlated (r = .76). Bland Altman analysis revealed a mean difference of 5.38 mm (95% CI: -3.5 to 12 mm) with the AAAD producing higher values than the USAD. No significant correlations were found between the US and AA variables, however the absolute AAAD and AAINV variables were also positively correlated (r = .61). CONCLUSIONS The US and AA variables were not directly correlated when measuring inversion and anterior laxity in healthy ankles. Differences between the devices that may affect this include different rates of joint loading, patient position and method of assessing laxity. The AA results demonstrated greater anterior displacement. Results may differ in ankle injured subjects who may demonstrate increases in anteroposterior and inversion laxity. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 2b. Exploratory study in healthy cohort.
Generating Natural Answers by Incorporating Copying and Retrieving Mechanisms in Sequence-to-Sequence Learning

Generating answer with natural language sentence is very important in real-world question answering systems, which needs to obtain a right answer as well as a coherent natural response. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end question answering system called COREQA in sequence-to-sequence learning, which incorporates copying and retrieving mechanisms to generate natural answers within an encoder-decoder framework. Specifically, in COREQA, the semantic units (words, phrases and entities) in a natural answer are dynamically predicted from the vocabulary, copied from the given question and/or retrieved from the corresponding knowledge base jointly. Our empirical study on both synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrates the efficiency of COREQA, which is able to generate correct, coherent and natural answers for knowledge inquired questions.
Australian police management education and research: a comment from “outside the cave”

Examines police management education and research practices from an observer’s perspective. Believes that with changes in management education and research practices police managers should be able to respond better to the issues they face. Highlights the anti‐intellectual subculture and the emphasis on practice and experience within the Australian police education proglrams. Supports the change to an organisation which values theory, reflection and critique. A more holistic approach to management is required. The choices of research methodology should be considered more in the quest for more valid and useful information.
Effect of initial bacteria concentration on hydrogen gas production from cheese whey powder solution by thermophilic dark fermentation

Dark fermentative hydrogen gas production from cheese whey powder solution was realized at 55°C. Experiments were performed at different initial biomass concentrations varying between 0.48 and 2.86 g L−1 with a constant initial substrate concentration of 26 ± 2 g total sugar (TS) per liter. The highest cumulative hydrogen evolution (633 mL, 30°C), hydrogen yield (1.56 mol H2 mol−1 glucose), and H2 formation rate (3.45 mL h−1) were obtained with 1.92 g L−1 biomass concentration. The specific H2 production rate decreased with increasing biomasss concentration from the highest value (47.7 mL g−1 h−1) at 0.48 g L−1 biomass concentration. Total volatile fatty acid concentration varied beetween 10 and 14 g L−1 with the highest level of 14.2 g L−1 at biomass concentration of 0.48 g L−1 and initial TS content of 28.4 g L−1. The experimental data were correlated with the Gompertz equation and the constants were determined. The most suitable initial biomass to substrate ratio yielding the highest H2 yield and formation rate was 0.082 g biomass per gram of TS. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 28: 931–936, 2012
Head Injury and Pulmonary Embolism: A Retrospective Report Based on the Pennsylvania Trauma Outcomes Study

OBJECTIVEWe retrospectively examined the database of the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation to determine the risk of pulmonary embolism in adult patients sustaining isolated head trauma or multiple injuries, including head trauma, to answer two questions: What is the incidence of symptomatic pulmonary embolism during hospitalization in a trauma center in patients who have sustained a head injury? Are patients with head injuries more at risk for pulmonary embolism than trauma patients without head injuries? METHODSWe determined the total number of adult submissions per year to the Pennsylvania Trauma Outcomes Study from 1992 to 1996. Age, sex, Glasgow Coma Scale score, Abbreviated Injury Score for head injury, Injury Severity Score, intensive care unit days, hospital days, and the presence or absence of head injury, spinal injury, pelvic fractures, and/or femur fractures were recorded. Statistical techniques to evaluate their correlation with the incidence of pulmonary embolism included &khgr;2 testing, linear regression analysis, Kendall analysis, and logistic regression analysis. RESULTSThe average incidence of symptomatic pulmonary embolism in head-injured patients occurring during their acute hospital stay was 0.38%. This rate was not significantly greater than the 0.27% incidence of pulmonary embolism in patients without head injury. Factors that significantly increased this incidence were age greater than 45 years, Injury Severity Score greater than 15, male sex, and the presence of pelvic or femur fractures or of spinal cord injury. CONCLUSIONWe found no evidence that head injury is a significant independent risk factor for development of symptomatic pulmonary embolism during the acute hospitalization of the trauma patient.
A stroma targeted therapy enhances castration effects in a transplantable rat prostate cancer model

Castration results in a major involution of the normal prostate gland. This process is initiated by effects in the prostate stroma and vasculature. Castration‐induced regression of androgen sensitive prostate tumors is however less prominent and hypothetically this could be related to a limited stromal/vascular response. We therefore used animal tumor models to explore the importance of stroma and vascular effects, and if castration effects could be enhanced by a simultaneous therapy targeting the tumor stroma.
Research Topic Evolution in "Bioinformatics"

Bioinformatics has grown about thirty years. Especially in the past ten years, the field developed in leaps and bounds and emerged many research works. Whether as a novice, or a famous scholar, would like to be able to glimpse the research situation of this field, and get an intuitive and quantified understanding. This article aims to use new machine learning techniques to mine the literatures in the field of bioinformatics and discover the important research topics, to quantify the evolution of these themes and show the trend.
Silicon (100) surfaces modified by osmium bipyridine complexes

Tethered osmium bypiridine-pyridine complexes [Os(bpy)2Clpy-R] were prepared from chemically modified non-oxidized silicon (100) electrodes. Pyridinyl groups at the distal end of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs)-modified silicon surfaces were used to coordinatively bind a representative osmium bipyridil complex precursor [Os(bpy)2Cl2]. SAMs presenting the putative osmium ligand were prepared by a step-wise procedure using ‘click’ reactions of acetylene-terminated alkyl monolayers and isonicotinic acid azide derivatives. The redox properties of the modified Si(100) electrodes were characterized using cyclic voltammetry.
BAFF and BAFF-R of peripheral blood and spleen mononuclear cells in idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura

BAFF (B-cell activating factor belonging to the TNF family) is an essential component of B-cell homeostasis, and is required for the normal survival and development of B cells. To further explore the role of this cytokine in the pathogenesis of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), BAFF/BAFF-R (one of receptors of BAFF) expression levels were determined and the correlation between the clinical parameters and the BAFF expression levels was analyzed. A total of 57 patients with ITP were enrolled and 25 age and sex-matched healthy volunteers served as controls. Serum was obtained from 41 patients with ITP and 22 healthy volunteers and was analyzed with a commercial human soluble BAFF (sBAFF) ELISA kit. BAFF and BAFF-R mRNA expression of peripheral blood (PB) (n = 42) and splenocytes (SP) (n = 8) mononuclear cells (MNC) were determined by real-time quantitative PCR. The SPMNC of normal controls came from three hereditary spherocytosis patients who underwent splenectomy. The untreated patients with ITP had higher serum BAFF levels (Median 1430 pg/ml, Range: 534–5787 pg/ml) than those of normal controls (Median 1120 pg/ml, Range: 640–2376 pg/ml, p = 0.006) and treated ITP group (Median 662 pg/ml, Range 267–1265 pg/ml, p = 0.000). On the other hand, serum BAFF levels of treated patients with ITP were lower than those of normal controls (p = 0.001). There was a weak correlation (the Pearson correlation coefficient is − 0.242) between platelet count and BAFF (p = 0.064). However, BAFF levels did not correlate with platelet associated immunoglobulin or immunoglobulin levels. Moreover, the serum BAFF levels were not statistically different between acute and chronic ITP (p = 0.841). PBMNC of ITP had higher BAFF but not BAFF-R mRNA expression than that of normal controls. BAFF mRNA expression of SPMNC had a positive correlation with BAFF-R in ITP patients but not in PBMNC of normal controls and untreated ITP patients. The BAFF-R mRNA expression of SPMNC was shown to be 15.29 times higher than that of PBMNC in ITP. BAFF might contribute to autoimmunity and disease development in ITP. However, BAFF serum level must be carefully considered as a surrogate marker of disease activity in ITP.
The rms-flux relation in accreting objects: not a simple “volume control” - A response to Koen 2016

The light curves of a diverse range of accreting objects show characteristic linear relationships between the short-term rms amplitude of variability and the flux as measured on longer time-scales. This behaviour is thought to be imprinted on the light curves by accretion rate fluctuations on different time-scales, propagating and coupling together through the accretion flow. Recently, a simple mathematical interpretation has been proposed for the rms-flux relation, where short-term variations are modulated by a single slower process. Here we show that this model was already considered and ruled out by another publication on the grounds that it did not produce the observed broad time-scale dependence of the rms-flux relation and associated lognormal flux distribution. We demonstrate the problems with the model via mathematical arguments and a case-study of Cyg X-1 data compared with numerical simulations. We also highlight another conclusion of our original work, which is that a linear rms-flux relation is easy to produce using a variety of models with positively skewed flux distributions. Observing such a relation in a non-accreting object (e.g. in solar flares) does not necessarily imply a phenomenological connection with the behaviour of accretion flows, unless the relation is seen over a similarly broad range of time-scales.
Communication Technology Use for Work at Home during Off-job Time and Work-Family Conflict: the Roles of Family Support and Psychological Detachment

This article studies the influence of communication technology use for work at home during off-job time on work-family conflict based on work-family border theory, and highlights the roles of psychological detachment and family support. Based on 423 samples, we use regression analysis to test hypotheses. The results show that communication technology use for work at home during off-job time is positively related to employee’s work-family conflict, including time-based conflict and strain-based conflict. Besides, family support moderates the impact of communication technology use for work at home on employee’s work-family conflict. Furthermore, psychological detachment mediates the moderating effect of family support on the relationship between communication technology use for work at home and employee’s work-family conflict. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future studies are discussed.
The treatment of chronic depression, part 3: psychosocial functioning before and after treatment with sertraline or imipramine.

BACKGROUND Previous research has suggested that depressed patients, and particularly chronically depressed patients, have significant impairments in many areas of their lives. While previous studies suggested that these "psychosocial" impairments improve following pharmacologic treatment, no large scale definitive study using multiple measures of psychosocial functioning has been reported. METHOD We assessed multiple domains of psychosocial functioning using interviewer-rated and self-report measures within the context of a 12-week acute treatment trial of sertraline and imipramine for patients with chronic depression (double depression and chronic major depression). We also compared the psychosocial functioning data of this sample before and after treatment with normative data available from published community samples. RESULTS Chronically depressed patients manifested severe impairments in psychosocial functioning at baseline. After treatment with sertraline or imipramine, psychosocial functioning improved significantly. Significant improvements appeared relatively early in treatment (week 4). Despite these highly significant improvements in functioning during acute treatment, the study sample as a whole did not achieve levels of psychosocial functioning comparable to a comparator nondepressed community sample. However, patients who reached full symptomatic response (remission) during acute treatment did have levels of psychosocial functioning in most areas at endpoint that approached or equaled those of community samples. CONCLUSION These results indicate that successful antidepressant treatment with sertraline or imipramine can alleviate the severe psychosocial impairments found in chronic depression.
Integrated circuits design for neural recording sensor interface

Neural signal recording is attracting more and more attention, as it provides an necessary approach to read brain activities, understand the brain operation and restore the lost motor function of the body. One of the most important modules in the neural recording system is the sensor interface IC, which captures, amplifies, filters, and digitizes the weak neural signal. In order to preserve free movement of the subject under testing and minimize the risk of infection, the sensor interface IC is usually implanted under the skin or skull with wireless transmission. The nature of the neural signal and its recording scenarios impose rigid design specifications to the sensor interface IC, such as low noise, low power, low cut-off frequency and minimum chip size. Many designs have been reported recently to tackle these challenges in neural recording system. In this paper, design techniques for neural recording sensor interface IC will be introduced, including the design of system architecture and neural amplifier. Methods to realize low power, low noise and low cut-off frequency are investigated. In addition, the methods to achieve system power and area optimization are also discussed.
Safe electrode operation in universal electronic ballasts

This paper presents a design methodology of resonant circuits for magnetically-controlled electronic ballasts, focusing on their performance when driving a set of T5 tubular fluorescents lamps. Data collected from fluorescent lamp manufacturers and the Sum of Squares (SoS) technique are both used to set a design methodology suitable for the power range of the selected T5 lamps. Experimental results for a set of T5 fluorescent lamps are presented in order to validate this design.
Markov model for steady-state simulations of power systems with renewable energy generators accessing

A model based on the Markov chain is proposed in this paper, which simulates steady-state variables of power systems to study the impact of the penetration of renewable energy generators (REGs). In this model, the power outputs of REGs are characterized by continuous time Markov chain (CTMC). In conjunction with the relationship between REGs' outputs and steady state variables, how these variables fluctuate with the stochastic outputs of REGs can be observed, which can be used to assess the influence of a REGs' connection scheme in the process of power source planning. Simulation studies are carried out on a 4-machine 11-bus power system to assess the impact of wind farms, examining the fluctuations of bus-voltage magnitudes and ramp requirements of synchronous machines. Simulation results have shown that the proposed model can efficiently solve the problem and fully consider the stochastic output of REGs.
The Changing Face of Accelerated Second Bachelor's Degree Students

Although accelerated second bachelor's degree programs have existed for more than 30 years, few studies have tracked the changing student profile over time. This study compared demographics and academic performance of accelerated students enrolled during 1997 to 2003 with those enrolled during 2004 to 2006 at a small, rural, public mid-Atlantic university. Recently enrolled students were older, more diverse in gender and ethnicity, held multiple degrees, and had a significant time delay since their first degree. Modifications in educational strategies, support services, and curricular design, as well as suggestions for future research are proposed.
Expanding access to high-cost medicines through the E2 access program in Thailand: effects on utilisation, health outcomes and cost using an interrupted time-series analysis

Objective In 2008, the Thai government introduced the ‘high-cost medicines E2 access program’ as a part of the National List of Essential Medicines to increase patient access to medicines, improve clinical outcomes and make medicines more affordable. Our objective was to examine whether the ‘high-cost medicines E2 access program’ achieved its goals. Design Interrupted time-series design study. Setting 3 tertiary hospitals in different regions of Thailand, January 2006 to December 2012. Participants Patients with target acute and chronic disease diagnoses who newly met E2 program criteria for selected study medicines. Intervention High-cost medicines E2 access program. Main outcomes measures Level and trend changes over time in the proportions of eligible patients who received the indicated E2 medicines and who improved clinically, as well as in costs of treatment. Results A total of 2024 patients were included in utilisation analyses and 1375 patients with selected acute diseases contributed to analyses of clinical outcome. After 1 year of the E2 program implementation, the percentage of eligible patients receiving the indicated E2 program medicines increased significantly (relative change 12.7% (95% CI 4.4% to 21.0%), especially among those insured by the government's universal coverage scheme (relative change 19.9% (95% CI 9.5% to 30.5%)). The increase in the proportion of clinically improved patients with acute conditions was not significant (relative change 6.2% (95% CI −1.9% to 15.1%)). Quarterly healthcare costs per patient dropped significantly (relative change −13.5% (95% CI −26.9% to −1.7%)). Conclusions In the study hospitals, the E2 access program seems to have facilitated patient access to specialty medicines, may have contributed to improved health outcomes, and decreased treatment costs. Routine monitoring is needed to assess effects of expanding the programme, including effects on quality of care and financial sustainability.