Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microbial composition of enigmatic bird parasites: Wolbachia and Spiroplasma are the most important bacterial associates of quill mites (Acariformes: Syringophilidae)

The microbiome is an integral component of many animal species, potentially affecting behavior, physiology, and other biological properties. Despite this importance, bacterial communities remain vastly understudied in many groups of invertebrates, including mites. Quill mites (Acariformes: Syringophilidae) are a poorly known group of permanent bird ectoparasites that occupy quills of feathers and feed on bird subcutaneous tissue and fluids. Most of the known species have strongly female‐biased sex ratio, and it was hypothesized that this is caused by endosymbiotic bacteria. Previously, Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Foggie) and a high diversity of Wolbachia strains were detected in quill mites via targeted PCR screens. Here, we use an unbiased 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing approach to determine other bacteria that potentially impact quill mite biology.
Delivery of Compassionate Mental Health Care in a Digital Technology–Driven Age: Scoping Review

Background Compassion is a vital component to the achievement of positive health outcomes, particularly in mental health care. The rise of digital technologies may influence the delivery of compassionate care, and thus this relationship between compassion and digital health care needs to be better understood. Objective This scoping review aimed to identify existing digital technologies being used by patients and health professionals in the delivery of mental health care, understand how digital technologies are being used in the delivery of compassionate mental health care, and determine the facilitators of and barriers to digital technology use among patients and health professionals in the delivery of compassionate mental health care. Methods We conducted this scoping review through a search of Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), MEDLINE In-Process and EPub Ahead of Print, PsycINFO, and Web of Science for articles published from 1990 to 2019. Results Of the 4472 articles screened, 37 articles were included for data extraction. Telemedicine was the most widely used technology by mental health professionals. Digital technologies were described as facilitating compassionate care and were classified using a conceptual model to identify each digital intersection with compassionate care. Facilitators of and barriers to providing compassionate care through digital technology were identified, including increased safety for providers, health care professional perceptions and abilities, and the use of picture-in-picture feedback to evaluate social cues. Conclusions Implementing digital technology into mental health care can improve the current delivery of compassionate care and create novel ways to provide compassion. However, as this is a new area of study, mental health professionals and organizations alike should be mindful that compassionate human-centered care is maintained in the delivery of digital health care. Future research could develop tools to facilitate and evaluate the enactment of compassion within digital health care.
Early warning system for meteorological risk in Lisbon municipality: Description and quality evaluation

The current work describes and evaluates an early warning system for meteorological risk in Lisbon that has been functioning in SMPC since February 2008. The system aims to integrate multiple sources of information and facilitate cross checking observations, forecasts and warnings, allowing for an efficient and timely evaluation of the alert level to issue. Currently, it comprises hourly weather and tide level forecasts and automated warnings for Lisbon city, given by MM5 and WRF models running at IST. Results show MM5 performing better than WRF except for warm weather. The overall skill of the warning system is 40% with some false alarm ratios, mainly for forecasts with more than 3 days in advance. This is a reasonable characteristic for early warning since a potentially problematic situation can be anticipated and checked avoiding unnecessary economic expenditures if the warnings do not persist.
Human Eye Tracking Using Particle Filters

In this paper, an effective method for human eye tracking and also decreasing the current challenges and problems in its algorithms has been proposed. In this method, firstly face has been detected and segmented from the remaining parts to make the searching area, in tracking stage, narrower and processing speed higher. Then eye area is determined and eye pupils are detected in the specified area. In the proposed method, to support tracking in eyes closure state, corner detection has been additionally used. Experimental results were considered on a variety of images with existence head and face rotation, make up and eyes closure show the ability of this method in human eye tracking.
Successful High-Dosage Monotherapy of Tigecycline in a Multidrug-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae Pneumonia–Septicemia Model in Rats

Background: Recent scientific reports on the use of high dose tigecycline monotherapy as a “drug of last resort” warrant further research into the use of this regimen for the treatment of severe multidrug-resistant, Gram-negative bacterial infections. In the current study, the therapeutic efficacy of tigecycline monotherapy was investigated and compared to meropenem monotherapy in a newly developed rat model of fatal lobar pneumonia–septicemia. Methods: A Klebsiella pneumoniae producing extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) and an isogenic variant producing K. pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) were used in the study. Both strains were tested for their in vitro antibiotic susceptibility and used to induce pneumonia–septicemia in rats, which was characterized using disease progression parameters. Therapy with tigecycline or meropenem was initiated at the moment that rats suffered from progressive infection and was administered 12-hourly over 10 days. The pharmacokinetics of meropenem were determined in infected rats. Results: In rats with ESBL pneumonia–septicemia, the minimum dosage of meropenem achieving survival of all rats was 25 mg/kg/day. However, in rats with KPC pneumonia–septicemia, this meropenem dosage was unsuccessful. In contrast, all rats with KPC pneumonia–septicemia were successfully cured by administration of high-dose tigecycline monotherapy of 25 mg/kg/day (i.e., the minimum tigecycline dosage achieving 100% survival of rats with ESBL pneumonia–septicemia in a previous study). Conclusions: The current study supports recent literature recommending high-dose tigecycline as a last resort regimen for the treatment of severe multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. The use of ESBL- and KPC-producing K. pneumoniae strains in the current rat model of pneumonia–septicemia enables further investigation, helping provide supporting data for follow-up clinical trials in patients suffering from severe multidrug-resistant bacterial respiratory infections.
Voluntary movements cause beta oscillations increase and broadband slope decrease in the subthalamic nucleus of parkinsonian patients

Periodic features of local field potentials (LFP) are extensively studied to establish the pathophysiological features contributing to Parkinson's disease (PD). Pathological LFP synchronization in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) was assumed to link with motor signs of PD. Commonly, the association between oscillations and clinical signs is studied while the patients are at rest. However, changes in LFPs during movement may reflect particular traits of motor processing in the basal ganglia under PD. Recently, the aperiodic 1/f broadband component of LFP spectra has attracted the attention of researchers because it may provide meaningful information about the neural activity in the brain. Here, we compared LFP signals in the STN of parkinsonian patients at rest and during hand movements occasionally followed by leg movements using two approaches, one of which accounts for the aperiodic features of LFP spectra. Using both methods, a significant increase was observed in synchronization in the low beta range during sequent leg but not hand movements. For either movement, there was a significant increase in gamma range synchronization using uncorrected power spectra and a significant decrease in the slope of the aperiodic component for the 1/f‐corrected method. These findings may support the claim that the 1/f slope possibly reflects the excitatory/inhibitory projections ratio in the recording site. Only the difference in the slope correlated significantly with motor signs of PD. These data show that the slope of aperiodic component may be a useful measure that is sensitive to the specific state and its changes in the brain.
Early life factors for endometriosis: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND Despite its high prevalence and health burden, many aspects of endometriosis remain unclear, including risk factors and the underlying biological mechanisms. Exposures during early life, including in utero, are thought to play an important role in the subsequent onset of the condition. To date, however, much of the evidence from studies on early life exposures and diagnosed endometriosis appears mixed and difficult to assess. OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE This study aims to provide a systematic review of the epidemiologic evidence on early life factors associated with the subsequent diagnosis of endometriosis. In utero and early life exposures have previously been linked to a range of adult health outcomes, including infertility. SEARCH METHODS A systematic review of case-control, cross-sectional and cohort studies was conducted using the search terms 'endometriosis'[MeSH] AND ('risk factors'[MeSH] OR 'protective factors'[MeSH]) AND ('in utero', 'fetal', 'neonatal, 'perinatal', 'developmental origins', 'early life', 'childhood' OR 'life course') in Embase, PubMed and Scopus databases. The review included articles published in English until 10 June 2018 with original data from studies with diagnosed endometriosis. The quality of primary studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale by both authors independently. Due to the degree of inconsistency in the measurements and study methods, a qualitative assessment of findings was undertaken rather than meta-analysis. OUTCOMES The search retrieved 70 records without duplicates that contained 20 records on human case-control, cross-sectional or cohort studies, from which 11 papers/studies were selected based on their assessment score. The majority of studies found that women born with low birthweight (<2.5 kg or <5.5 lb) were more likely to be diagnosed with endometriosis. For other early life factors, the evidence is mixed or limited, with further research needed on the association of endometriosis with preterm birth, in utero exposure to diethylstilbestrol and to maternal smoking, passive smoking in early life, and infant formula feeding (compared with breastfeeding). WIDER IMPLICATIONS While the weight of evidence points to low birthweight as a risk factor for diagnosis of endometriosis, future research is warranted on this and other key early life exposures where the findings are mixed to provide more robust evidence and for insights on potential causal pathways. Such research, however, needs to address current methodological issues, such as the use of prospective data from large population-based studies, better diagnostic methods to confirm disease free status, more consistent definitions of variables and consideration of potential biological mechanisms to guide the analyses. The improvements will advance the future synthesis of evidence to support clinically relevant risk assessment for a more timely diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis.
Manganese, Zinc and Chloride Content of Milk of West African Dwarf Goats as Influenced by Stage of Lactation

The manganese, Zinc and chloride content in milk of West African dwarf (WAD) goats as influenced by stage of lactation was assessed using three WAD does aged 18 months of age, weighing from 19 to 20 Kg. They were kept for lactation studies lasting for two 10-weeks periods. Individual milk samples were taken from each animal daily for the first seven days (colostrums), from day one after parturition and once per week for 10 weeks. The samples collected were thereafter assayed chemically for Mn, Zn and Cl. Colostrum was much higher in its content of Mn (0.24±0.02 mg/L), Zn (14.40±0.19 mg/L) and Cl (237.14±14.0 mg / 100 mL) compared with the mature milk which contained Mn (0.12±0.01 mg/L), Zn (4.40±0.15 mg/L) and Cl (192.70±2.2 mg/100 mL). The three elements decreased highly significantly (P<0.01) with stage of lactation. The decreasing trends were neither linear nor quadratic (P>0.05). In conclusion, the content of these minerals in milk of goat was highly dependent on the stage of lactation.
DYNAMIC ADDRESS ROUTING FOR SCALABLE AD HOC NETWORKS

With today’s rapidly improving link-layer technology, and the widespread adoption of wireless networking, the creation of large-scale ad hoc networks could be construed as all but inevitable. Current ad hoc protocol suites do not scale to work efficiently in networks of more than a few hundred nodes. We believe the main reason behind the lack of scalability is that current protocols use flat and static addressing. In this paper, we provide an initial design of a routing layer based on dynamic addressing by providing a separation between address and identity. Each node has a unique permanent identifier and a transient routing address, which indicates its location in the network at any given time. We propose mechanisms to implement dynamic addressing efficiently. Our initial design suggests that dynamic addressing is a promising approach and worth further examination.
BROKER LESS SYSTEM SECURITY WITH ENCRYPTION BASED ON UNIQUENESS

The proposed system presents a useful platform for delivering data from Publisher to Subscriber in an anonymous fashion in distributed network. We present scalable solutions for confidentiality, integrity, and authentication for the systems. We present new approach to provide confidentiality guarantee, So we would like to encrypt messages so that only interested subscribers can read the message. In this worst case, for n clients, there can be 2n subgroups
Mcl1 protein levels and Caspase‐7 executioner protease control axial organizer cells survival

Organizing centers are groups of specialized cells that secrete morphogens, thereby influencing development of their neighboring territories. Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death reported to limit the size of organizers. Little is known about the identity of intracellular signals driving organizer cell death. Here we investigated in Xenopus the role of both the anti‐apoptotic protein Myeloid‐cell‐leukemia 1 (Mcl1) and the cysteine proteases Caspase‐3 and Caspase‐7 in formation of the axial organizing center—the notochord—that derives from the Spemann organizer, and participates in the induction and patterning of the neuroepithelium.
Detection of prions in skin punch biopsies of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease patients

Prion real‐time quaking‐induced conversion (RT‐QuIC) is an ultrasensitive assay detecting pathological aggregates of misfolded prion protein in biospecimens. We studied 71 punch biopsy skin samples of 35 patients with Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD), including five assessed in vitam. The results confirmed the high value of skin prion RT‐QuIC for CJD diagnosis (89% sensitivity and 100% specificity) and support its use in clinical practice. Preliminary data based on a limited number of cases suggest that prion‐seeding activity in the skin varies according to the prion strain, being higher in sporadic CJD subtypes linked to the V2 strain (VV2 and MV2K) than in typical CJDMM1.
DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF POWER EFFICIENT CLOCKED PAIR SHARED FLIP FLOP

— In this paper, we examine the problems in the CDN of the flip flop & design an improved CDN oriented Flip-flop which is Clocked Pair Shared Flip Flop (CPSFF). Clock Division Network (CDN)’S plays an important role in the flip flop design and it’s the major element in the flip –flop for producing the logical outputs it’s much important to design the CDN with low power and area. Power consumption is the main traffic jam of system performance. Low power flip-flops which plays a vital role for the design of low-power digital systems. Flip flops and latches consume a large amount of power due to redundant transitions and clocking system. In addition, the energy consumed by low skew clock distribution network is steadily increasing and becoming a larger fraction of the chip power. Almost, 30% - 60% of total power dissipation in a system is due to flip flops and clock distribution network. In order to achieve a design that is both high performances while also being power efficient, careful attention must be paid to the design of flip flops and latches. We survey a set of flip flops designed for low power and High performance.
Modulation of the In Vivo Inflammatory Response by Pro- Versus Anti-Inflammatory Intervertebral Disc Treatments

Inflammation is central in intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration/regeneration mechanisms, and its balance is crucial to maintain tissue homeostasis. This work investigates the modulation of local and systemic inflammatory response associated with IVD degeneration/herniation by administration of PRO- versus ANTI-inflammatory treatments. Chitosan/poly-γ-glutamic acid nanocomplexes, known as pro-inflammatory (PRO), and soluble diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (ANTI), were intradiscally administered in a rat IVD injury model, 24 h after lesion. Two weeks after administration, a reduction of disc height accompanied by hernia formation was observed. In the PRO-inflammatory treated group, IL-1β, IL-6 and COX-2 IVD gene expression were upregulated, and loss of nucleus pulposus (NP) structure and composition was observed. Systemically, lower T-cell frequency was observed in the lymph nodes (LN) and spleen (SP) of the PRO group, together with an increase in CD4+ T cells subset in the blood (BL) and LN. In contrast, the ANTI-group had higher proteoglycans/collagen ratio and collagen type 2 content in the NP, while an increase in the frequency of myeloid cells, M1 macrophages and activated macrophages (MHCII+) was observed at the systemic level. Overall, this study illustrates the dynamics of local and systemic inflammatory and immune cell responses associated with intradiscal therapies, which will contribute to designing more successful immunomodulatory treatments for IVD degeneration.
Soluble Dietary Fiber Reduces Feeding Intolerance in Severe Acute Pancreatitis: A Randomized Study.

BACKGROUND Feeding intolerance of enteral nutrition (EN) frequently occurs in patients with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) because of intestinal motility disorders. Soluble dietary fiber (SDF) modulates the intestinal motility. The present study examined whether SDF can improve intestinal motility and permeability, and thereby reduce feeding intolerance, in patients with SAP. METHODS This study was a single-blind, randomized, controlled, single-center trial. Forty-nine patients with SAP were included. The control and SDF groups received the same EN solution via a nasojejunal tube. The SDF group additionally received 20-g/d polydextrose. The primary outcome was the time to reach the energy goal. Follow-up was continued for 28 days after admission or until discharge from the hospital. RESULTS Among 49 randomized patients, 46 patients (n = 22, control group; n = 24, SDF group) were included in the intent-to-treat analysis. The time to reach the energy goal was 7.00 (6.00, 8.25) days and 5.00 (4.25, 6.00) days in the control and SDF groups, respectively (P < 0.001). The rates of feeding intolerance were significantly reduced in the SDF group (59.09% vs 25.00%, P < .05). SDF was associated with decreases in the incidence of abdominal distension (72.73% vs 29.17%, P < .01), diarrhea (40.91% vs 8.33%, P < .05), and constipation (72.73% vs 12.50%, P < .001). The time to first flatus and first defecation were significantly shorter in the SDF group (P < .001). The intestinal mucosal barrier function and levels of gastrointestinal hormone were improved by SDF, as evidenced by significantly reduced blood levels of diamine oxidase, D-lactic acid, endotoxin, and vasoactive intestinal peptide (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS SDF shortens the time to reach the energy goal during EN and improves intestinal permeability and motility disorders, thus reducing the incidence of feeding intolerance in SAP patients.
Single Face Detection Based on Skin Color and Edge Detection

— In this paper a method is proposed for human faces detection in color images. Most of the current facial detection systems are based on learning algorithms to scan the whole image so as to identify the human face. However, such systems are subject to problems of pose variation, scale variation, illumination changes, among others. Rather than being dependent on illumination, the proposed detection method uses face outer edge and the skin tone which may appear in the tested color image. The first stage in the introduced method involves enhancement of the image; it is a vital stage particularly if the image has been obtained under unconstrained illumination condition. The next step involves segmentation of the skin in HSV space. The hole filling algorithm is used to refine the skin segmentation results. In order to ensure that all non-face regions are removed from candidate faces, the input image edges and skin tone are fused. Primitive shape features of the candidate’s face are used in the confirmation process to verify the segmented candidate facial region. Some of the merits of the proposed method include detection of faces of different sizes, pose variation as well as faces that are making varied expressions under different illumination conditions.