Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification, Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns and Biofilm Detection of Isolates in Orthopaedic Implant Infections

This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author SB designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol, and wrote the final draft of the manuscript. Author DKK supervised the conduct of the study. Authors SK and NAM managed the experimental process. Authors AB, SN and LB managed the literature searches for the study. Author UN managed the analyses. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. ABSTRACT Background: As orthopaedic implants are being increasingly used, managing the implant-associated infections has become a challenge. The aim of this study was to evaluate the bacteriological profile with antibiotic susceptibility patterns and biofilm detection in orthopaedic implant-associated infections. Study Design: Cross-sectional prospective. The study Methods: The study was conducted on 100 patients having orthopaedic implant infections. Demography and patient parameters were recorded. Microbiological workup by microscopy, culture, antimicrobial susceptibility testing and biofilm detection was conducted as well. Results: 100 cases were analysed out of which 86 cases revealed a positive culture and 14 cases revealed a negative culture. From these culture positive cases, 11 cases were observed as polymicrobial and a total of 97 isolates were recovered. 53 (54.6%) isolates were Gram-positive cocci and 44 (45.4%) were Gram-negative bacilli. The predominant Gram-positive organism observed was Staphylococcus aureus . Among the Gram-negatives, Citrobacter spp. was more prevalent, followed by Acinetobacter spp. 37(38.1%) isolates were found to be multidrug resistant. Gram-positive organisms demonstrated highest susceptibility to Linezolid (100.0%) where as Gram-negative isolates were highly sensitive to Imipenem(88.6%) and Polymyxin-B(93.2%) but showed high resistance towards Cephalosporins. 15.5% of the isolates were strong producers of biofilm. Staphylococcus aureus was the predominant biofilm producer and 57% biofilm producing organisms were multidrug resistant. Conclusion: Orthopaedic implant–associated infection puts a great financial burden on patients as well as on hospital resources and leads to increased morbidity. Appropriate microbiological interventions will help in reducing the magnitude of the problem.
PROTOCOL: Effectiveness of interpersonal psychotherapy in comparison to other psychological and pharmacological interventions for reducing depressive symptoms in women diagnosed with postpartum depression in low and middle‐income countries: A systematic review

Abstract Postpartum Depression (PPD) is highly prevalent among women in low and middle income countries (LMICs). World Heath Organization has recognised interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) as the first line treatment for the postpartum depression. The primary aim of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of IPT alone or in combination with pharmacotherapy or other psychosocial therapies for treating depressive symptoms in women with postpartum depression. The generated evidence from this review will help to inform policies in relation to the treatment of postpartum depression in LMICs.
Measuring biomechanical loads in team sports – from lab to field

ABSTRACT The benefits of differentiating between the physiological and biomechanical load-response pathways in football and other (team) sports have become increasingly recognised. In contrast to physiological loads however, the biomechanical demands of training and competition are still not well understood, primarily due to the difficulty of quantifying biomechanical loads in a field environment. Although musculoskeletal adaptation and injury are known to occur at a tissue level, several biomechanical load metrics are available that quantify loads experienced by the body as a whole, its different structures and the individual tissues that are part of these structures. This paper discusses the distinct aspects and challenges that are associated with measuring biomechanical loads at these different levels in laboratory and/or field contexts. Our hope is that through this paper, sport scientists and practitioners will be able to critically consider the value and limitations of biomechanical load metrics and will keep pursuing new methods to measure these loads within and outside the lab, as a detailed load quantification is essential to better understand the biomechanical load-response pathways that occur in the field.
A Security Framework for Mobile Application Systems: Case of Android Applications.

Smartphones have become a major part of human’s life. And also it has been seen that new mobile applications are built day by day. Currently mobile applications are playing major role in many areas such as banking, social networking, financial apps, entertainment and many more. With this increasing number of applications, security is an important issue. The growth of android market has increased security risk and thus focus should be given to the security. Security is the biggest issue in the field of mobile technology. Therefore, mobile applications need to be assessed and ensure that secure coding practices have been followed during development. Mobile application security breach can lead to fraudulent transactions through mobile applications, confidentiality and revenue loss through communications services misuse. Data that is shared on an unsecured channel is vulnerable to attacks and to stop unauthorized access to this data, there is need to encrypt the data before it is sent to the server. In this research work, different cryptographic algorithms for encrypting data and secure data sharing in mobile applications across communications channels were examined. Simulation methodology was used to investigate a suitable cryptographic algorithm and to design a security framework for mobile applications to solve mobile application security problems. The proposed framework employs the use of Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm for encrypting meter readings data being exchanged between a smart phone and the server. The results obtained from the simulation of the security framework, showed that the four fields namely: Account number, image path, meter number and phone number on which AES encryption was applied were in an unreadable format (ciphertext), implying that the fields have been successfully encrypted. This solution allows application users to transfer (upload readings) data between a smart phone and database server in a secure manner without facing the problem of data attack. Data being uploaded to the server is encrypted before it is transferred and decrypted once it reaches the server side. This solution addresses android application security in the application and network communications layers and data transmission. The research paper ensures information security is guaranteed between an organisation and its customers.
Expansion of the SAAAVE Protocol with Addition of Ultrasound Scans of the Femoral and Carotid Arteries to Prevent Heart Attacks and Strokes

Introduction Heart attacks and strokes are the leading cause of death and disability. Most occur without warning. To prevent heart attacks and strokes in seniors, in this article I propose an expanded SAAAVE program that includes an ultrasound scan of the carotid and femoral artery along with that of the aorta. A positive scan of any of these would trigger a metabolic and cardiac evaluation, allowing early management of systemic arteriosclerosis and preemptive intervention for critical disease of the coronary artery as well as the carotid artery and aorta. Method The carotid artery, femoral artery, and aorta are rapidly scanned. Positive studies are referred for full follow-up examinations and metabolic/cardiac evaluations. Medicare does cover some aortic scans and the indicated follow-up tests and care that result from all scans. Results Medical and interventional management can prevent fatal heart attacks from known coronary artery disease. Intervention for significant carotid disease that is present in 7.5% of seniors could prevent more than 200,000 strokes and save nearly 13 billion dollars annually. Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm has decreased deaths from ruptured aneurysms, and statin therapy for dyslipidemia can reduce future cardiac events. Conclusions This simple, rapid, one-stop screen for seniors has the potential to prevent death and disability from heart attack, stroke, and ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm
Ferrofluid-enabled micro rotary-linear actuator for endoscopic three-dimensional imaging and spectroscopy

This work develops the first tubular microactuator functionalized by ferrofluid that enables both rotational and axial motions in a simultaneous or selective manner for endoscopic imaging and spectroscopy catheter applications. A layer of ferrofluid attracted on the magnetic rotor/slider lifts it off the inner walls of the catheter tube, offering a near friction-less electromagnetic revolution of the rotor and/or its sliding motion along the catheter’s axis controlled by a fluidic pressure. A device prototype coupled with a prism mirror is microfabricated and evaluated to verify the effectiveness of the device design for 3-dimesnional (3D) scanning of a probing laser beam. Measurements show a superior revolving stability along its axis compared to the preceding design without axial motion function. An application of angle-resolved endoscopic Raman spectroscopy is experimentally demonstrated through an ex-vivo test using mouse tissue. The study suggests a promising potential of the microactuator for 3D endoscopic applications with Raman spectroscopy and likely with other modalities including ultrasound and optical coherence tomography.
Performance of crossbred goat kids fed with diets varying in concentrate-to-forage ratio: intake, nutrient utilization, enteric methane emission and body weight changes

ABSTRACT The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of isonitrogenous diets varying in concentrate-to-forage ratio on enteric methane (CH4) emission, nutrient utilization and growth performance in crossbred goat kids. Fifteen Alpine and Beetal crossbred (AxB) kids (3–4 months age) were divided into three groups based on average body weight and treatments were assigned to the three groups randomly. The first group (GP-I) received a total mixed ration (TMR) containing concentrate mixture and berseem fodder in the ratio of 70:30. The TMR of the second (GP-II) and third (GP-III) groups consisted of concentrate mixture and berseem fodder in the ratio of 50:50 and 20:80, respectively. The results of 90 days feeding experiment revealed that the intake of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in GP-I than GP-II and GP-III. Digestibility coefficients of DM and CP were unaffected by the treatments, however neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) digestibility increased significantly in GP-II and GP-III compared to GP-I. The emission of enteric CH4 reduced (p < 0.05) by 34.18% in GP-I in contrast to GP-III. Average daily gain (ADG) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in GP-I (115.99 g/day) compared to GP-II (80.94 g/day) and GP-III (77.42 g/day), however the feed efficiency remained unaltered. It was concluded that increased level of concentrate in TMR reduced methane emission and impacted the growth performance positively in crossbred goat kids.
The Effect of Graded Levels of Crude Glycerin in BRS Capiaçu Grass Silage: Fermentation Profile and Bromatological Composition

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of crude glycerin inclusion levels on BRS Capiacu grass (Pennisetum purpureum) silage on the parameters of fermentation and chemical-bromatological composition. Experimental treatments consisted of BRS Capiacu grass silage with five levels of inclusion of crude glycerin (0, 1, 5, 10 and 15% inclusion in the natural matter) during ensiling. In this study, a completely randomized design was used along with five treatments and six replicates. The inclusion of crude glycerin in BRS capiacu grass silage linearly reduced pH (P<0.01) and effluent losses (P<0.01). For each percentage unit of glycerin addition, there was a reduction of 0.013 pH units and 0.0485% of the effluent losses. There was no effect of crude glycerin on the ammoniacal nitrogen content (P=0.82, an average of 6.65% of the total nitrogen). The variation in the dry matter content between the highest glycerin inclusion dose (15% of natural matter) and the control group (without glycerin) was 30.5%. The crude protein content (P=0.01), ash (P<0.01), neutral detergent fiber (NDF; P<0.01), neutral detergent fiber corrected for ash and crude protein (NDFap; P<0.01) and acid detergent fiber (ADF; P<0.01) linearly reduced with the inclusion of crude glycerin compare to the control group. In the same order, there was a reduction of 0.115%, 0.08%, 1.95%, 1.84% and 1.06%, respectively, for each percentage unit of glycerin added. The addition of crude glycerin in elephant grass silage vs. BRS Capiacu up to 15% of the natural material had improved the fermentation profile and the chemical-bromatological composition.
Broadband cloverleaf Vivaldi antenna with beam tilt characteristics

A miniature broadband Vivaldi antenna with beam tilt characteristics suitable for lower 5G bands is presented in this article. This study is rationalized by adding two symmetric taper slots rotated 90° from the original single slot planar tapered antenna and by means of positive‐intrinsic‐negative diode as the switching component. The extended design with a cloverleaf shape is developed using computer simulation technology microwave studio and fabricated by integrating active MA4AGP907 diodes. The experimental results are validated using PNA network analyzer and an echoic chamber. A wide operating bandwidth (S11 ≤ |−10| dB) from 2 to 5 GHz is exhibited during the simulation of antenna performance as well as during the experimental process. Furthermore, the proposed design achieved beam tilt in three different orientations with the maximum at ϕ equals 0°; 90° and 180° in the XY coordinates at the peak gain of 5.19 dBi. An additional feature of the proposed design is the directivity control when two or three modes are switched simultaneously. With this beam tilt ability, the antenna can be used in the development of fifth generation communication systems where multibeam and directive beam are required.
Automatic Detection of Diabetic Retinopathy with Statistical Method and Bayesian Classifier

Currently, the underlying medical conditions in China lag behind those in urban areas. There are some problems such as lack of resources of primary ophthalmologists and insufficient fundus image of diabetic retinopathy (DR) with markers. To solve the above questions, an automated detection model of diabetic retinopathy based on the statistical method and Naïve Bayesian (NB) classifier is proposed in this paper. Firstly, three sets of texture features are extracted, which are gray-level co-occurrence matrix texture features, different statistical texture features, and gray-level run-length matrix texture features. Secondly, the extracted texture features are used as input of the Naïve Bayesian classifier to classify the fundus images of diabetic retinopathy into three categories. The proposed automatic detection model for diabetic retinopathy is validated by a data set consisting of 568 images from China diabetic retinopathy screening project. The positive predictive accuracy of the system is 93.44%, the sensitivity and specificity are 91.94% and 88.24%, respectively.
Wide Voltage Resonant Converter Using a Variable Winding Turns Ratio

This paper presents a inductor–inductor–capacitor (LLC) resonant converter with variable winding turns to achieve wide voltage operation (100–400 V) and realize soft switching operation over the entire load range. Resonant converters have been developed for consumer power units in computers, power servers, medical equipment, and adaptors due to the advantages of less switching loss and better circuit efficiency. The main disadvantages of the LLC resonant converter are narrow voltage range operation owing to wide switching frequency variation and limited voltage gain. For computer power supplies with hold-up time function, electric vehicle battery chargers, and for power conversion in solar panels, wide input voltage or wide output voltage operation capability is normally demanded for powered electronics. To meet these requirements, the variable winding turns are used in the presented circuit to achieve high- or low-voltage gain when Vin is at low- or high-voltage, respectively. Therefore, the wide voltage operation capability can be implemented in the presented resonant circuit. The variable winding turns are controlled by an alternating current (AC) power switch with two back-to-back metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). A 500-W prototype is implemented and test results are presented to confirm the converter performance.
The 2018 Geothermal Reservoir Stimulation in Espoo/Helsinki, Southern Finland: Seismic Network Anatomy and Data Features

A seismic network was installed in Helsinki, Finland to monitor the response to an ∼6-kilometer-deep geothermal stimulation experiment in 2018. We present initial results of multiple induced earthquake seismogram and ambient wavefield analyses. The used data are from parts of the borehole network deployed by the operating St1 Deep Heat Company, from surface broadband sensors and 100 geophones installed by the Institute of Seismology, University of Helsinki, and from Finnish National Seismic Network stations. Records collected in the urban environment contain many signals associated with anthropogenic activity. This results in time- and frequency-dependent variations of the signal-to-noise ratio of earthquake records from a 260-meter-deep borehole sensor compared to the combined signals of 24 collocated surface array sensors. Manual relocations of ∼500 events indicate three distinct zones of induced earthquake activity that are consistent with the three clusters of seismicity identified by the company. The fault-plane solutions of 14 selected ML 0.6–1.8 events indicate a dominant reverse-faulting style, and the associated SH radiation patterns appear to control the first-order features of the macroseismic report distribution. Beamforming of earthquake data from six arrays suggests heterogeneous medium properties, in particular between the injection site and two arrays to the west and southwest. Ambient-noise cross-correlation functions reconstruct regional surface-wave propagation and path-dependent body-wave propagation. A 1D inversion of the weakly dispersive surface waves reveals average shear-wave velocities around 3.3 km/s below 20 m depth. Consistent features observed in relative velocity change time series and in temporal variations of a proxy for wavefield partitioning likely reflect the medium response to the stimulation. The resolution properties of the obtained data can inform future monitoring strategies and network designs around natural laboratories.
Do welfare benefits compensate for globalization among affluent democracies?

This article examines the nexus of globalization, welfare systems and income inequality, in which a key theme is the assessment of how the distributional consequences of globalization are altered by the welfare benefit programmes of advanced welfare states. Existing literature contends that globalization is one of the principle reasons for the current increases in income inequality in developed economies. However, the distributional effects of globalization can vary across disparate national contexts. The study investigates whether welfare systems successfully compensate those who are displaced by external competition while reducing the income inequalities caused by globalization. For the empirical analysis, both random- and fixed-effects models with cluster-robust standard errors are utilized, as are comprehensive measures of globalization, welfare policy and income inequality. The results from 16 affluent democracies between 1980 and 2010 show that some aspects of globalization were significantly related to increased income inequality; however, the relationship was also significantly moderated by generous welfare benefit programmes. These findings support the argument that welfare systems play a critical role in compensating for the rising income inequalities caused by globalization.
Density-functional tight-binding: basic concepts and applications to molecules and clusters

ABSTRACT The scope of this article is to present an overview of the Density Functional based Tight Binding (DFTB) method and its applications. The paper introduces the basics of DFTB and its standard formulation up to second order. It also addresses methodological developments such as third order expansion, inclusion of non-covalent interactions, schemes to solve the self-interaction error, implementation of long-range short-range separation, treatment of excited states via the time-dependent DFTB scheme, inclusion of DFTB in hybrid high-level/low level schemes (DFT/DFTB or DFTB/MM), fragment decomposition of large systems, large scale potential energy landscape exploration with molecular dynamics in ground or excited states, non-adiabatic dynamics. A number of applications are reviewed, focusing on -(i)- the variety of systems that have been studied such as small molecules, large molecules and biomolecules, bare or functionalized clusters, supported or embedded systems, and -(ii)- properties and processes, such as vibrational spectroscopy, collisions, fragmentation, thermodynamics or non-adiabatic dynamics. Finally outlines and perspectives are given. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Cognitive Impairment in Neuromyelitis Optica

Introduction: There are few studies on cognitive impairment in neuromyelitis optica (NMO). The purpose of this study is to assess the factors that may be related with the frequency and level of cognitive impairment in Turkish NMO patients. Methods: 22 patients with the diagnosis of NMO are evaluated retrospectively. Cognitive function was evaluated with Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological tests (BRB-N), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Addenbrooke Cognitive Evaluation (ACE-R). The groups with and without cognitive impairment were compared according to age, sex, level of education, pathologic findings on cranial MRI, NMO Ig existence and EDSS score. The relation of the clinical, radiological and demographic values and patients’ depression level was evaluated. The specificity and sensitivity of ACE-R test on detecting cognitive impairment were assessed through ACE-R test results. Results: The mean age of the patients was 42.8±10.9. 45.5% (n=10) of the patients had cognitive impairment and 50% (n=11) had depression. The group with cognitive impairment had significantly older age, lower educational status, higher EDSS and BDI scores (p<0.05). The mostly affected cognitive domains were memory impairment, attention and processing dysfunction. When the specificity and sensitivity of ACE-R test on NMO patients were evaluated, diagnostic level of the test was found to be statistically good since it could detect cognitive impairment with a sensitivity of 88% and specificity of 75% on a cut off level of 82.5. Conclusion: In our study, cognitive impairment and depression were detected in approximately half of the patients with BRB-N and BDI tests. It can be concluded that ACE-R test can be used to detect cognitive impairment in NMO patients. Since cognitive impairment and depression are frequent in NMO patients, it is important to assess the patients’ cognitive functions and arrange the treatments to improve their quality of life, .