Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hive

Collectives gather online around challenges they face, but frequently fail to envision shared outcomes to act on together. Prior work has developed systems for improving collective ideation and design by exposing people to each others' ideas and encouraging them to intermix those ideas. However, organizational behavior research has demonstrated that intermixing ideas does not result in meaningful engagement with those ideas. In this paper, we introduce a new class of collective design system that intermixes people instead of ideas: instead of receiving mere exposure to others' ideas, participants engage deeply with other members of the collective who represent those ideas, increasing engagement and influence. We thus present Hive: a system that organizes a collective into small teams, then intermixes people by rotating team membership over time. At a technical level, Hive must balance two competing forces: (1) networks are better at connecting diverse perspectives when network efficiency is high, but (2) moving people diminishes tie strength within teams. Hive balances these two needs through network rotation: an optimization algorithm that computes who should move where, and when. A controlled study compared network rotation to alternative rotation systems which maximize only tie strength or network efficiency, finding that network rotation produced higher-rated proposals. Hive has been deployed by Mozilla for a real-world open design drive to improve Firefox accessibility.
Slip rate of the Altyn Tagh Fault revealed by OSL dating of river terraces , the Aksay segment

The slip rate of Altyn Tagh Fault (ATF) was studied near the Aksay segment (39°24.572 ́N, 94°16.012 ́E), China, based on dating the terraces of a river passing through the ATF. Two river terrace risers were offset by the ATF and the fault displacements were recorded. Average slip rate of the Aksay segment of the ATF was estimated using the offset of terrace risers divided by the corresponding ages. The ages of the terraces were determined by optical dating of the loess deposited on the river terrace. Our results demonstrated that: (1) The optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages of loess can be used to constrain the terrace ages in the study area. (2) The average slip rate of the Aksay segment of the ATF in the last 6 ka is about 12±1 mm/yr, given specific geomorphic assumptions discussed in the text. (3) In this situation, rather than the lower terrace age, the upper terrace age should be used in slip rate calculation as it is closer to the riser offset duration.
A longitudinal study on the persistence of Livestock Associated-MRSA in swine herds

In recent years, a new type of MRSA, now called livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA), belonging to the clonal complex (CC) 398, has globally emerged in swine world wide. Aim of this study was to gain more insight into the persistence of LA-MRSA in different types of pig farms over a period of two years. To investigate this, 15 MRSA-positive herds from a previous study were selected; an additional pig farm was selected because this one was found to be positive with a human MRSA-strain. Starting in September 2009, five dust samples were collected every two months. Samples were analysed for MRSA and spa-typing was done to confirm that MRSA isolates belonged to CC398 and to gain insight into persistence of strains within a farm. Three herds were positive on all sampling occasions and were consistently contaminated with LA-MRSA. In the remaining herds, occasionally no positive dust samples were found at some sampling moments. The predominating spa -types were t011 and t108. A maximum of 5 different spa-types were found in two herds, with 3 different spa-types present in one sampling, indicating multiple introductions. These results show that LA-MRSA remains present on a pig farm over a long period. Most likely, transmission within the herd occurs after initial introduction, and an endemic situation seems to be the endpoint. The relatively low sensitivity of dust sampling compared to sampling of animals, the small sample size and lack of strict standardization of dust sampling might explain occasional negative samplings in overall positive herds. However, a true change of a positive MRSA-status to a negative status, followed by re-introduction cannot be ruled out in our study design.
A PAC Framework for Aggregating Agents' Judgments

Specifying the objective function that an AI system should pursue can be challenging. Especially when the decisions to be made by the system have a moral component, input from multiple stakeholders is often required. We consider approaches that query them about their judgments in individual examples, and then aggregate these judgments into a general policy. We propose a formal learning-theoretic framework for this setting. We then give general results on how to translate classical results from PAC learning into results in our framework. Subsequently, we show that in some settings, better results can be obtained by working directly in our framework. Finally, we discuss how our model can be extended in a variety of ways for future research.
In vitro investigation of the inhibitory effect of fucoidan on ɑ-glucoisidase enzyme activity

Introduction. Diabetes mellitus, a dysglycaemic disorder is causing a huge financial budget to society, government agencies and individuals every year. Diabetic patients are at the risk of long-term macro– and microvascular damages. Current therapies for diabetes include lifestyle modification and pharmacological interventions. However, conventional oral anti– hyperglycemic drugs produce a range of side effects such as hypoglycemia; therefore safer and more effective medications are required to manage diabetes and prevent the long-term complications. Fucoidan represents a large class of highly sulfated and water-soluble polysaccharides presents in all of the brown algae. Its antidiabetic effect has been reported in the literature. The objective of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effects of three different types of fucoidan on the activity of intestinal enzyme, ɑ-glucosidase, which is involved in the facilitation of glucose absorption. Methods. α–glucosidase enzyme was extracted from the rat–intestinal acetone powder. The enzyme activity of α–glucosidase was determined using an enzyme substrate 4-Nitrophenyl β-D-glucuronide (PNPG) and enzyme extract. The enzyme kinetics of α–glucosidase was performed using different concentrations of substrate. The calculation of Vmax and Km were carried out based on Lineweaver–Burk plot. The inhibitory effect of three different types of fucoidan (Undaria pinnatifida, Fucus vesiculosus, Fucus synergy) was investigated. The stock solution containing 1000 μg ml of fucoidan was prepared. Different concentrations of fucoidan solutions were prepared by serially diluting the stock solution. Acarbose and Milli– Q water were used as positive control and negative control respectively. In enzyme assay, a reaction mixture contained enzyme extract, substrate and fucoidan. Results and discussion. The activity of extracted α–glucosidase was found to be 0.0381 U ml. The Vmax and Km values were 0.2885 μg min -1 and 8.8339 μg ml respectively. In the inhibitory assay, the maximum percentage of inhibition of acarbose was 61.11%. In contrast, the maximum inhibitory effects of fucoidan extracted from Fucus synergy was 7.57%, followed by the extracts of Fucus vesiculosus (6.14%) and Undaria pinnatifida (3.30%). Conclusion. Three different types of fucoidan investigated in the current study had negligible inhibitory effect on the activity of on α–glucosidase enzyme. Chapter 1 Literature Review
Acute Phase Proteins, Lipid Profile and Proinflammatory Cytokines in Healthy and Bronchopneumonic Water Buffalo Calves

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of Acute Phase Proteins (APP), lipid profiles and proinflammatory cytokines in healthy and bronchopneumonic water buffalo calves. Therefore, sixty water buffalo calves (9±1 month old, 175±15 kg) were divided into two equal groups, the first group represented healthy, control, calves whereas calves of the second group were affected with bronchopneumonia. Total leukocytic and differential counts were determined. Serum total protein, albumin, Triacylglyceol (TAG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), High Density Lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), Total cholesterol, Alanine Amino Transferase (ALT), Aspartate Amino Transferase (AST), Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP), Fibrinogen (Fb), Haptaglobin (Hp), Serum Amyloid A (SAA), Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α), Interleukins (IL1β, IL-12) and Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) were also determined. In addition, Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) was collected and analyzed. The present findings indicated that, total leukocytic and neutrophils counts were significantly (p
Multiple-Wearable-Sensor-Based Gait Classification and Analysis in Patients with Neurological Disorders

The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the placement of multiple wearable sensors for the purpose of analyzing and classifying the gaits of patients with neurological disorders. Seven inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors were placed at seven locations: the lower back (L5) and both sides of the thigh, distal tibia (shank), and foot. The 20 subjects selected to participate in this study were separated into two groups: stroke patients (11) and patients with neurological disorders other than stroke (brain concussion, spinal injury, or brain hemorrhage) (9). The temporal parameters of gait were calculated using a wearable device, and various features and sensor configurations were examined to establish the ideal accuracy for classifying different groups. A comparison of the various methods and features for classifying the three groups revealed that a combination of time domain and gait temporal feature-based classification with the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) algorithm outperformed the other methods of feature-based classification. The classification results of different sensor placements revealed that the sensor placed on the shank achieved higher accuracy than the other sensor placements (L5, foot, and thigh). The placement-based classification of the shank sensor achieved 89.13% testing accuracy with the Decision Tree (DT) classifier algorithm. The results of this study indicate that the wearable IMU device is capable of differentiating between the gait patterns of healthy patients, patients with stroke, and patients with other neurological disorders. Moreover, the most favorable results were reported for the classification that used the combination of time domain and gait temporal features as the model input and the shank location for sensor placement.
Acute Peritoneal Dialysis System for Neonates with Acute Kidney Injury Requiring Renal Replacement Therapy: A Case Series

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in critically ill neonates, and peritoneal dialysis (PD) can be a lifesaving option. In China, however, much of the equipment for PD in neonates is not available. We describe results with a novel system for PD, which has been developed locally to improve access to therapy and care for critically ill neonates requiring PD in China. Methods: The system comprises a 14-gauge single-lumen central venous catheter serving as a PD catheter, inserted by Seldinger technique, with an adapted twin bag PD system. Ten neonates with AKI were treated using the novel PD system. Results: The 10 patients ranged in age from 1 day to 22 days, with bodyweights between 700 g and 3,300 g. Average time to renal function recovery was between 14 and 96 hours. Complications related to the novel PD system included leak (n = 1), catheter displacement (n = 1), and catheter obstruction (n = 1). There were no complications related to insertion, no cases of peritonitis or exit-site infection, and no subsequent hernias. A comparison of costs indicated that the novel PD system is less expensive than conventional systems involving open insertion of Tenckhoff catheters. Conclusions: Peritoneal dialysis using the novel PD system is simple, safe, and effective for suitable neonates with AKI in China.
GPSuc: Global Prediction of Generic and Species-specific Succinylation Sites by aggregating multiple sequence features

Lysine succinylation is one of the dominant post-translational modification of the protein that contributes to many biological processes including cell cycle, growth and signal transduction pathways. Identification of succinylation sites is an important step for understanding the function of proteins. The complicated sequence patterns of protein succinylation revealed by proteomic studies highlight the necessity of developing effective species-specific in silico strategies for global prediction succinylation sites. Here we have developed the generic and nine species-specific succinylation site classifiers through aggregating multiple complementary features. We optimized the consecutive features using the Wilcoxon-rank feature selection scheme. The final feature vectors were trained by a random forest (RF) classifier. With an integration of RF scores via logistic regression, the resulting predictor termed GPSuc achieved better performance than other existing generic and species-specific succinylation site predictors. To reveal the mechanism of succinylation and assist hypothesis-driven experimental design, our predictor serves as a valuable resource. To provide a promising performance in large-scale datasets, a web application was developed at http://kurata14.bio. kyutech.ac. jp/GPSuc/.
Prognostic and clinical significance of metastasis-associated gene 1 overexpression in solid cancers

Background: In the past 2 decades, metastasis-associated gene 1 (MTA1) has attracted attention for its close association with cancer progression and its roles in chromatin remodeling processes, making it a central gene in cancer. The present meta-analysis was performed to assess MTA1 expression in solid tumors. Materials and methods: This analysis identified studies that evaluated the relationship between MTA1 expression and clinical characteristics or prognosis of patients with solid tumors via the PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase electronic databases. Fixed-effect and random-effect meta-analytical techniques were used to correlate MTA1 expression with outcome measures. The outcome variables are shown as odds ratio (OR) or hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Analysis of 40 cohort studies involving 4564 cancer patients revealed a significant association of MTA1 overexpression with tumor patient age (>50 vs. <50 years: combined OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.57–0.94), tumor grade (G3/4 vs. G1/2: combined OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.48–2.53), tumor size (>3 cm vs. <3 cm: combined OR 2.35, 95% CI 1.73–3.19), T stage (T3/4 vs. T1/2: combined OR 2.11, 95% CI 1.74–2.56), lymph node metastasis (yes vs. no: combined OR 2.92, 95% CI 2.26–3.75), distant metastasis (yes vs. no: combined OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.42–3.59), TNM stage (III/IV vs. I/II: combined OR 2.50, 95% CI 1.84–3.38), vascular invasion (yes vs. no: combined OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.92–3.56), and poor overall survival time (HR 1.83; 95% CI: 1.53–2.20; P = .000). Conclusions: Our analyses demonstrate that MTA1 was an effective predictor of a worse prognosis in tumor patients. Moreover, MTA1 may play important role in tumor progression and outcome, and targeting MTA1 may be a new strategy for anti-cancer therapy.
Diversity in patterns of coital contact of mosquitoes: A scanning electron microscopic study

Specimens, representative of each of the major taxa of mosquitoes, were fixed in copula and the external genitalia examined by scanning electron microscopy. The periphery of the basin‐like everted aedeagus of Aedus aegypti precisely matches that of the everted atrial membrane of the female. These structures are appressed during coitus and sealed by pressure of the paraprocts, aedeagal pouch and proctiger. When everted, the aedeagus of male Culex pipiens reveals a ridged dome that surrounds the genital opening. This dome seals itself laterally into a gutter formed by pad‐like extensions of the female's genital lips and is sealed dorsally by pressure of the aedeagal apodeme. The aedeagus of another culicine species, Wyeomyia smithii, bears the gonopore at the apex of a spined tube. This tube is inserted between the female's genital lips and is sealed within the genital atrium. The aedeagus of the toxorhynchitine species Toxorhynchitis brevipalpus is immobile and is inserted deep within the genital atrium of the female where it is sealed by pressure of the atrial walls. Males of each of these mosquitoes deliver a mixture of semen and sperm to the copulatory bursa of the female. After withdrawal of the aedeagus, sperm is transferred to the spermathecae.
Implications of deranged activated partial thromboplastin time for anaesthesia and surgery

Bleeding during and after surgery ranges from trivial to fatal. Bleeding is in part determined by the patient's coagulation status. The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends a pre‐operative clotting test for patients with a history of abnormal bleeding. Anaesthetists are familiar with the prothrombin time assay, used to monitor warfarin effect, but anaesthetists may be less familiar with the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), which tests the function of the ‘intrinsic’ clotting pathway. The activated partial thromboplastin time may be prolonged due to contamination, anticoagulant therapy, clotting factor deficiencies, lupus anticoagulant or acquired inhibitors of specific clotting factors. A prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time should lead to: further testing to exclude heparin contamination or therapy, mixing studies to identify factor deficiencies and if necessary dynamic studies, such as the dilute Russell's viper venom time and the Actin FS‐activated partial thromboplastin time, to identify direct factor inhibitors. These tests identify abnormalities and their implications for bleeding, helping anaesthetists and haematologists to manage haemostasis for individual patients.
5-Diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate (5-IP7) regulates phosphate release from acidocalcisomes and yeast vacuoles

Acidocalcisomes of Trypanosoma brucei and the acidocalcisome-like vacuoles of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are acidic calcium compartments that store polyphosphate (polyP). Both organelles possess a phosphate–sodium symporter (TbPho91 and Pho91p in T. brucei and yeast, respectively), but the roles of these transporters in growth and orthophosphate (Pi) transport are unclear. We found here that Tbpho91−/− trypanosomes have a lower growth rate under phosphate starvation and contain larger acidocalcisomes that have increased Pi content. Heterologous expression of TbPHO91 in Xenopus oocytes followed by two-electrode voltage clamp recordings disclosed that myo-inositol polyphosphates stimulate both sodium-dependent depolarization of the oocyte membrane potential and Pi conductance. Deletion of the SPX domain in TbPho91 abolished this stimulation. Inositol pyrophosphates such as 5-diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate generated outward currents in Na+/Pi-loaded giant vacuoles prepared from WT or from TbPHO91-expressing pho91Δ strains but not from the pho91Δ yeast strains or from the pho91Δ strains expressing PHO91 or TbPHO91 with mutated SPX domains. Our results indicate that TbPho91 and Pho91p are responsible for vacuolar Pi and Na+ efflux and that myo-inositol polyphosphates stimulate the Na+/Pi symporter activities through their SPX domains.
Processing algorithms for three-dimensional data compression of ultrasonic radio frequency signals

Ultrasonic systems are widely used in imaging applications for non-destructive evaluation, quality assurance and medical diagnosis. These applications require large volumes of data to be processed, stored and/or transmitted in real-time. Therefore it is essential to compress the acquired ultrasonic radio frequency (RF) signal without inadvertently degrading desirable signal features. In this paper, two algorithms for ultrasonic signal compression are analysed based on: sub-band elimination using discrete wavelet transform; and decimation/interpolation using time-shift property of Fourier transform. Both algorithms offer high signal reconstruction quality with a peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) between 36 to 39 dB for minimum 80% compression. The computational loads and signal reconstruction quality are examined in order to determine the best compression method in terms of the choice of DWT kernel, sub-band decomposition architecture and computational efficiency. Furthermore, for compressing a large amount of volumetric information, three-dimensional (3D) compression algorithms are designed by utilising the temporal and spatial correlation properties of the ultrasonic RF signals. The performance analysis indicates that the 3D compression algorithm presented in this paper offers an overall 3D compression ratio of 95% with a minimum PSNR of 27 dB.
Survival after diagnosis of hypertension in cats attending primary care practice in the United Kingdom

Background Hypertension is common in older cats. There is limited evidence for predictors of survival after diagnosis. Hypothesis/Objectives Investigate blood pressure assessment (BPA) and hypertension diagnosis in cats attending UK primary care practices (PCPs) and factors that influence survival. Animals Cats (347 889) attending 244 UK PCPs enrolled in the VetCompass program between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2013. Cats identified as hypertensive (282) were included in descriptive and survival analyses. Methods All electronic patient records (EPRs) were searched to identify cats that potentially had received BPA. EPRs were read in detail to identify those that had BPA. The proportion that received BPA was evaluated using a stratified analysis and the incidence of hypertension estimated. A retrospective cohort study was used to investigate survival after diagnosis (Cox proportional hazard model). Results Estimated incidence risk was 19.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17.5‐21.6) from the estimated 1.34% (1.30%‐1.38%) of cats that received BPA. Few cats had BPA more than once after diagnosis (median, 1; interquartile range [IQR], 0‐3), with only 9.9% of diagnosed hypertensive cats having urine protein:creatinine ratio determined. Cats diagnosed as a result of monitoring of pre‐existing disease had improved survival (hazard ratio [HR], 0.58; 95% CI, 0.37‐0.89; P = .01) compared to cats diagnosed after clinical signs were recognized. Cats that had an amlodipine dose change had improved survival (HR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.36‐0.87; P = .01) compared to those with no dose change. Conclusions and clinical importance These data suggest improved blood pressure monitoring in clinical practice may decrease the morbidity associated with hypertension.