Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and Correlates of HIV and HCV Infection Among Amphetamine-Type Stimulant Users in 6 Provinces in China

Background: China has experienced an epidemic of amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) use in recent years. The present study explored the status and correlates of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among ATS users in China. Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional study of HIV and HCV status and associated behaviors among ATS users was conducted in 6 provinces from September 2009 to December 2010. Socioeconomic/behavioral risk factors were measured. Blood samples were collected to test for HIV and HCV antibodies. Results: Of the 1327 ATS users, the prevalence of HIV and exposure to HCV were 4.5% and 43.5%, respectively, with large geographic variations (0%–20.3% and 8.6%–67.1%, respectively). HIV infection was independently associated with living in Yunnan province [adjusted odds ratio = 15.8; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.0 to 125.1), polydrug use (adjusted odds ratio = 2.6; 95% CI: 1.3 to 5.4), increased frequency of sexual behavior (adjusted odds ratio = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.1 to 4.1), history of sex with sexually transmitted infection–positive persons (adjusted odds ratio = 11.4; 95% CI: 1.3 to 98.9), and HCV infection (adjusted odds ratio = 2.8; 95% CI: 1.2 to 6.7). HCV was associated with study site, marital status, unemployment (adjusted odds ratio = 1.8; 95% CI: 1.3 to 2.4), a longer duration of ATS use, and history of injection use of ATS (adjusted odds ratio = 13.3; 95% CI: 1.5 to 116.1). Conclusions: The prevalence of HIV was high among ATS users in Yunnan province but quite rare elsewhere, and the prevalence of exposure to HCV was high in 6 provinces. Risk factors emphasize the need for new prevention strategies toward this population at risk in China.
Similarity indices of meteo-climatic gauging stations for missing data handling: definition and comparison with the MICE method

The meteo-climatic datasets are at the basis of a great deal of studies on environmental state and its consequent management. In this frame, the completeness of meteo-climatic datasets is required for accurate and reliable analysis. Unfortunately, completeness is a rare in practice and, consequently, a preliminary treatment for filling in all gaps is needed. In this work, two intuitive and easy procedures for handling missing data are presented based on the “similarity station” concept. Finally, a comparison between the proposed methods and the Multiple Imputation Chained Equations, which is the state of the art in the field of missing data handling, has been carried out.
Production of AAV is technically involved , and accommodates only relatively small DNA inserts

__________________________________________________________________________________________________ Correspondence: Andrius Kazlauskas, Tel: (617) 912-2517; Fax (617) 912-0111; E-mail: kazlauskas@vision.eri. harvard.edu Abbreviations: ARMD, age-related macular degeneration; C.F. U. , Colony forming unit; ERG, retino-electrogram; PDE, phosphodiesterase; RPE, retinal pigment epithelial; PDR, proliferative diabetic retinopathy; PDGF, platelet-derived growth factor; PVR, proliferative vitreoretinopathy; RCV, replication competent virus; RP, retinitis pigmentosa; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor
Psychometric properties of a Persian‐language version of the Beck Depression Inventory ‐ Second edition: BDI‐II‐PERSIAN

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is perhaps the most commonly used screening instrument for depression in the general population. We examined the psychometric properties of a Persian‐language version of the second edition of this instrument (BDI‐II) [Beck et al., 1996] in an Iranian college‐student sample. In a sample of 125 student volunteers from two Iranian universities, we compared mean item scores on the BDI‐II‐Persian with those on the English‐language version administered to North American college students, and assessed internal consistency and test‐retest reliability of the BDI‐II‐Persian and its concurrent validity against a measure of negative automatic thoughts in depression, the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire [Hollon and Kendall, 1980]. We also examined the factor structure of the BDI‐II‐Persian through comparing the fit of various proposed models to the data using confirmatory factor analysis. The BDI‐II‐Persian had high internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.87) and acceptable test‐retest reliability (r=0.74). The instrument correlated strongly with the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire. In factor analysis, models with strongly correlated affective‐cognitive and somatic‐vegetative factors provided a better fit than models with one global factor. These data support the reliability and concurrent validity of the BDI‐II‐Persian as a measure of depressive symptoms in nonclinical samples. Depression and Anxiety 21:185–192, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Bulk Data Movement for Climate Dataset: Efficient Data Transfer Management with Dynamic Transfer Adjustment

Many scientific applications and experiments, such as high energy and nuclear physics, astrophysics, climate observation and modeling, combustion, nano-scale material sciences, and computational biology, generate extreme volumes of data with a large number of files. These data sources are distributed among national and international data repositories, and are shared by large numbers of geographically distributed scientists. A large portion of data is frequently accessed, and a large volume of data is moved from one place to another for analysis and storage. One challenging issue in such efforts is the limited network capacity for moving large datasets to explore and manage. The Bulk Data Mover (BDM), a data transfer management tool in the Earth System Grid (ESG) community, has been managing the massive dataset transfers efficiently with the pre-configured transfer properties in the environment where the network bandwidth is limited. Dynamic transfer adjustment was studied to enhance the BDM to handle significant end-to-end performance changes in the dynamic network environment as well as to control the data transfers for the desired transfer performance. We describe the results from the BDM transfer management for the climate datasets. We also describe the transfer estimation model and results from the dynamic transfer adjustment.
Incidence and Clinical Predictors of Nonresponse to Hepatitis B Vaccination among Patients Receiving Hemodialysis: Importance of Obesity

Objectives The objectives of this study were to quantify the incidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine nonresponse and identify clinical characteristics associated with vaccine nonresponse. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted among patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) receiving the HBV vaccine. Study inclusion criteria were age 18 years and older, receipt of HD treatment for ≥1 month, receipt of ≥1 dose of HBV vaccine, availability of anti-HB surface antibody (anti-HBs) laboratory values ≥2 weeks after last HBV vaccine, and prevaccine anti-HBs value <10 mIU/mL. Clinical data were abstracted from patients’ medical records. The outcome of interest was vaccine nonresponse, defined as anti-HBs values <10 IU/mL. Multivariate regression was used to determine variables independently associated with vaccine nonresponse. Kaplan-Meier estimates were constructed for determining HBV vaccine response retention. Results Of the 119 patients evaluated, nonresponse was observed in 58%. Mean age at first vaccination for vaccine responders and nonresponders was 58.8 ± 16.5 and 65.9 ± 14.1 (P = 0.01), respectively. Variables independently associated with nonresponse were age 58 years and older (adjusted relative risk, 95% confidence interval 1.62, 1.06–2.46; P = 0.02) and body mass index ≥36.4 kg/m2 (adjusted relative risk, 95% confidence interval 1.66, 1.34–2.07; P < 0.01). Among the 50 patients who achieved an initial vaccine response, 26% were not able to maintain vaccine response upon subsequent anti-HBs measurement. The probability of retaining vaccine response over time was significantly modified by body mass index ≥25 kg/m2. Conclusions The frequency of nonresponse to the HBV vaccine was high among patients undergoing HD. The clinical covariates most predictive of vaccine nonresponse were advanced age at the time of vaccination and excess body weight.
Quadriceps muscle endurance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

The purpose of this study was to compare quadriceps muscle strength (maximal voluntary contraction, MVC), endurance (TLIM), and dynamic work capacity (WLIM) in 89 patients (57 men and 32 women) with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to 31 healthy controls (20 men and 11 women). Compared with the healthy subjects, COPD patients demonstrated statistically significant (P < 0.05) lower values for MVC, TLIM and WLIM. The MVC was 20–30% lower, whereas TLIM and WLIM were 70–80% lower in the patients. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that pulmonary function variables contributed only partially to the explanation of variance in MVC, TLIM, and WLIM. Our results indicate that in patients with COPD, quadriceps muscle endurance and dynamic work capacity are impaired to a greater extent than is quadriceps muscle strength. For rehabilitation purposes, the findings may lead to more specific exercise programs, further enhancing rehabilitation outcomes in terms of functional abilities and social participation. Muscle Nerve 29: 267–274, 2004
Characterization of sams Genes of Amoeba proteus and the Endosymbiotic X-Bacteria

Abstract As a result of harboring obligatory bacterial endosymbionts, the xD strain of Amoeba proteus no longer produces its own S-adenosylmethionine synthetase (SAMS). When symbiont-free D amoebae are infected with symbionts (X-bacteria), the amount of amoeba SAMS decreases to a negligible level within four weeks, but about 47% of the SAMS activity, which apparently comes from another source, is still detected. Complete nucleotide sequences of sams genes of D and xD amoebae are presented and show that there are no differences between the two. Long-established xD amoebae contain an intact sams gene and thus the loss of xD amoeba's SAMS is not due to the loss of the gene itself. The open reading frame of the amoeba's sams gene has 1,281 nucleotides, encoding SAMS of 426 amino acids with a mass of 48 kDa and pI of 6.5. The amino acid sequence of amoeba SAMS is longer than the SAMS of other organisms by having an extra internal stretch of 28 amino acids. The 5′-flanking region of amoeba sams contains consensus-binding sites for several transcription factors that are related to the regulation of sams genes in E. coli and yeast. The complete nucleotide sequence of the symbiont's sams gene is also presented. The open reading frame of X-bacteria sams is 1,146 nucleotides long, encoding SAMS of 381 amino acids with a mass of 41 kDa and pI of 6.0. The X-bacteria SAMS has 45% sequence identity with that of A. proteus.
Simultaneous Determination of Biological Marker Compounds in Ostericum koreanum by HPLC Method and Discrimination by Principal Component Analysis

An analytical method for the simultaneous determination of four biological marker compounds including bisabolangelone, oxypeucedanin, imperatorin, and isoimperatorin extracted from Ostericum koreanum has been developed by HPLC-UV detection at a wavelength 254 nm. Moreover, biological active compounds have been identified by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). In ESI-MS/MS spectra, these compounds produced several characteristic ions through collisional-induced dissociation, enabling to clarify these compounds. HPLC chromatographic separation was successfully achieved with a Develosil RPAQUEOUS C 30 (4.6 × 250 mm, 5 μm) column and a mobile phase of acetonitrile-water (60:40, v/v). This developed analytical method was validated with specificity, selectivity, accuracy and precision. The method was deemed satisfactory by inter- and intra-day validation and exhibited both high accuracy and precision (relative standard deviation < 9.2%). Overall limits of quantitation and detection were approximately 0.03-0.05 μg/mL at a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 3 and were about 0.10-0.25 μg/mL at a S/N of 10. In addition, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on the analytical data of 14 different Ostericum koreanum samples in order to classify samples collected from different regions. This method has been successfully applied to quality control of Ostericum koreanum extracts.
Cell-Specific Determinants of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ Function in Adipocytes and Macrophages

ABSTRACT The nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator activator receptor γ (PPARγ) is the target of antidiabetic thiazolidinedione drugs, which improve insulin resistance but have side effects that limit widespread use. PPARγ is required for adipocyte differentiation, but it is also expressed in other cell types, notably macrophages, where it influences atherosclerosis, insulin resistance, and inflammation. A central question is whether PPARγ binding in macrophages occurs at genomic locations the same as or different from those in adipocytes. Here, utilizing chromatin immunoprecipitation and high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq), we demonstrate that PPARγ cistromes in mouse adipocytes and macrophages are predominantly cell type specific. In thioglycolate-elicited macrophages, PPARγ colocalizes with the hematopoietic transcription factor PU.1 in areas of open chromatin and histone acetylation, near a distinct set of immune genes in addition to a number of metabolic genes shared with adipocytes. In adipocytes, the macrophage-unique binding regions are marked with repressive histone modifications, typically associated with local chromatin compaction and gene silencing. PPARγ, when introduced into preadipocytes, bound only to regions depleted of repressive histone modifications, where it increased DNA accessibility, enhanced histone acetylation, and induced gene expression. Thus, the cell specificity of PPARγ function is regulated by cell-specific transcription factors, chromatin accessibility, and histone marks. Our data support the existence of an epigenomic hierarchy in which PPARγ binding to cell-specific sites not marked by repressive marks opens chromatin and leads to local activation marks, including histone acetylation.
PROTECTION FIRST THEN FACILITATION: A MANIPULATIVE PARASITE MODULATES THE VULNERABILITY TO PREDATION OF ITS INTERMEDIATE HOST ACCORDING TO ITS OWN DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE

Many trophically transmitted parasites with complex life cycles manipulate their intermediate host behavior in ways facilitating their transmission to final host by predation. This facilitation generally results from lowering host's antipredatory defenses when the parasite is infective to the final host. However, a recent theoretical model predicts that an optimal parasitic strategy would be to protect the intermediate host from predation when noninfective, before switching to facilitation when the infective stage is reached. We tested this hypothesis in the fish acanthocephalan parasite Pomphorhynchus laevis using the amphipod Gammarus pulex as intermediate host. Gammarids parasitized by noninfective stage of P. laevis (acanthella) hid significantly more under refuges than uninfected ones. In addition, acanthella‐infected gammarids were less predated upon by trout than uninfected ones. As predicted, a switch toward decreased antipredatory behavior of G. pulex and enhanced vulnerability to predation was found when P. laevis reached the stage infective to its final host. The parasites appear to be able to exploit plasticity in host antipredatory responses, and shift the host optimal response toward their own optimal balance.
Clinical Usefulness of Recombinant Activated Factor VII in Patients with Liver Failure Undergoing Invasive Procedures

Objective: To evaluate the use of recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) in patients with liver failure undergoing invasive procedures. Methods: An OVID/MEDUNE and PubMed search (1997-June 2011) was performed to identify literature on the use of rFVIIa to reduce bleeding risk in patients with liver failure undergoing invasive procedures. Study Selection and Data Extraction: English-language data evaluating the efficacy of rFVIIa to reverse coagulopathies prior to invasive procedures in patients with liver disease were included. Data Synthesis: Following administration of rFVIIa, prothrombin time (PT) and international normalized ratio (INR) response is within 30 minutes. Doses ranging from 20 to 120 μg/kg have been studied, with a reduction in PT seen in a dose-dependent manner. One study in patients with no bleeding administered 5, 20, and 80 μg/kg sequentially during a 24-day period. All doses provided reversal of prolonged PT within 10 minutes, and the duration was dose-dependent. In a study of 15 patients with fulminant liver failure, requiring intracranial pressure monitor placement, a rFVIIa dose of 40 μg/kg was compared to fresh frozen plasma. In patients who received rFVIIa, the PT and INR normalized, compared to none of the patients in the fresh frozen plasma group. Conclusions: Retrospective and prospective data demonstrate that rFVIIa effectively reverses elevated PT and INR, reducing the risk of bleeding and safely facilitating invasive procedures. Based on available data, a dose of 20-40 μg/kg 30 minutes prior to an invasive procedure should be considered in patients with acute or chronic liver failure at risk for bleeding complications. A major limitation of rFVIIa use is the high cost of therapy. A prospective, randomized trial could help determine the appropriate dose of rFVIIa, timing of dose in relationship to procedure, and usefulness of subsequent doses.
Specific immunotherapy and biological treatments for occupational allergy

Purpose of reviewOccupational allergy represents a substantial health, social, and financial burden for the society. Its management is a complex task that, in selected cases, may also include allergen-specific immunotherapy. The purpose of this article is to review clinical data on allergen immunotherapy and biological treatments applied to occupational allergy in 2013. Recent findingsImmunotherapy in occupational allergic diseases has been scarcely used, and only for a few sensitizers, such as latex, flour, and Hymenoptera venom, partly due to the lack of standardized extracts. The recent use of the molecular diagnosis can improve the indication and selection of suitable allergens for preparing new standardized and powerful extracts for immunotherapy. Some recent reports suggest a beneficial role of treatment with omalizumab in workers with occupational asthma who continue to be exposed to the causal agent. SummaryAlthough scarce, available data suggest that immunotherapy and biological treatments may allow allergic workers to continue their work activity, but further studies are needed to standardize extracts and to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these treatments, when exposure at the workplace cannot be avoided.
American Journal of Physiology: Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology

Editorial Board: S. A. ADIBI P. BASS T. BERGLINDH H. J. BINDER H. G. BOHLEN C. -C. CHOU H. J. COOKE W. C. DE GROAT M, DONOWITZ M. J. EVANS M. J. FAVUS J. G. FORTE J. D. GARDNER M. G. GEOKAS D. N. GRANGER R, J. GROSZMANN S. J. HENNING S. J. HERSEY U. HOPFER K. A. HUBEL N. KAPLOWITZ 0. KOLDOVSKi’ R. LESTER L. M. LICHTENBERGER T. E. MACHEN G. M, MAKHLOUF H. MURER J. D. OSTROW D. W. POWELL R. C. ROSE S. M. SABESIN D. SCHACHTER H. P. SCHEDL G. A. SCHEELE I. SCHULZ A. P. SHEPHERD, JR. Ye-F. SHIAU A, H. SOLL T. E. SOLOMON J. G. SPENNEY J, WATKINS W. A. WEEMS N. W. WEISBRODT J. A. WILLIAMS De L, WINGATE E. M. WRIGHT
Comparing the effectiveness of peer instruction to individual learning during a chromatography course

Peer instruction has been recognized as an instructional method having a positive impact on learning compared to traditional lectures in science. This method has been widely supported by the socio-constructivist approach to learning giving a positive role to interaction between peers in the construction of knowledge. As far as we know, no study has been conducted from the socio-cognitive approach which suggests that individuals working alone perform better than those interacting with others in groups. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine whether peer instruction improves learning when compared with an individual learning method that does not require any interaction with peers. After being randomly divided into either a peer instruction or an individual learning condition in a chromatography course, students had to answer to a series of multiple-choice questions using clickers at the beginning (pre-test) and end of (post-test) the session. Results revealed that the percentage of correct answers increased similarly from the pre- to the post-test in both conditions. Nevertheless, students perceived the peer instruction method as being more satisfying, engaging and useful than the individual learning method. The findings revealed that peer instruction provides subjective benefits, but failed to demonstrate a greater learning gain.
Learning to Multi-Task by Active Sampling

One of the long-standing challenges in Artificial Intelligence for learning goal-directed behavior is to build a single agent which can solve multiple tasks. Recent progress in multi-task learning for goal-directed sequential problems has been in the form of distillation based learning wherein a student network learns from multiple task-specific expert networks by mimicking the task-specific policies of the expert networks. While such approaches offer a promising solution to the multi-task learning problem, they require supervision from large expert networks which require extensive data and computation time for training. In this work, we propose an efficient multi-task learning framework which solves multiple goal-directed tasks in an on-line setup without the need for expert supervision. Our work uses active learning principles to achieve multi-task learning by sampling the harder tasks more than the easier ones. We propose three distinct models under our active sampling framework. An adaptive method with extremely competitive multi-tasking performance. A UCB-based meta-learner which casts the problem of picking the next task to train on as a multi-armed bandit problem. A meta-learning method that casts the next-task picking problem as a full Reinforcement Learning problem and uses actor critic methods for optimizing the multi-tasking performance directly. We demonstrate results in the Atari 2600 domain on seven multi-tasking instances: three 6-task instances, one 8-task instance, two 12-task instances and one 21-task instance.
Short Article: Superior Discrimination between Similar Stimuli after Simultaneous Exposure

Human participants received unsupervised exposure to difficult-to-discriminate chequerboard stimuli (e.g., AX and BX), before learning a discrimination between them. Experiment 1 demonstrated that prior exposure enhanced later discrimination and that intermixed exposure (AX, BX, AX, BX …) resulted in better subsequent discrimination than did blocked exposure (CY, CY … DY, DY …). Experiment 2 showed that simultaneous exposure to two similar stimuli (AX–BX, BX–AX …) facilitated the later acquisition of a successive discrimination, more than successive exposure (AX–AX, BX–BX …). These results parallel those observed by Mundy, Honey, and Dwyer (2007) who used pictures of human faces as stimuli and establish the generality of the fact that simultaneous exposure produces a particularly marked perceptual learning effect.