Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The prevalence, serogroup distribution and risk factors of meningococcal carriage in adolescents and young adults in Turkey

ABSTRACT The serogroup epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD), which varies considerably by geographic region and immunization schedule, changes continuously. Meningococcal carriage data are crucial for assessing IMD epidemiology and designing f potential vaccination strategies. Meningococcal seroepidemiology in Turkey differs from that in other countries: serogroups W and B are the predominant strains for IMD during childhood, whereas no serogroup C cases were identified over the last 10 y and no adolescent peak for IMD was found. There is a lack of data on meningococcal carriage that represents the whole population. The aims of this multicenter study (12 cities in Turkey) were to evaluate the prevalence of Neisseria meningitidis carriage, the serogroup distribution and the related risk factors (educational status, living in a dormitory or student house, being a household contact with Hajj pilgrims, smoking, completion of military service, attending bars/clubs) in 1518 adolescents and young adults aged 10–24 y. The presence of N. meningitidis DNA was tested, and a serogroup analysis was performed using polymerase chain reaction. The overall meningococcal carriage rate was 6.3% (n = 96) in the study population. A serogroup distribution of the 96 N. meningitidis strains isolated from the nasopharyngeal specimens revealed serogroup A in 5 specimens (5.2%), serogroup B in 9 specimens (9.4%), serogroup W in 64 specimens (66.6%), and serogroup Y in 4 specimens (4.2%); 14 were classified as non-grouped (14.4%). No serogroup C cases were detected. The nasopharyngeal meningococcal carriage rate was 5% in the 10–14 age group, 6.4% in the 15–17 age-group, and 4.7% in the 18–20 age group; the highest carriage rate was found in the 21–24 age group (9.1%), which was significantly higher than those of the other age groups (p < 0.05). The highest carriage rate was found in 17-year-old adolescents (11%). The carriage rate was higher among the participants who had had close contact with Hajj/Umrah pilgrims (p < 0.01) or a history of upper respiratory tract infections over the past 3 months (p < 0.05). The nasopharyngeal carriage rate was 6.3% among adolescents and young adults in Turkey and was similar to the recent rates observed in the same age groups in other countries. The most prevalent serogroup was W, and no serogroup C cases were found. In conclusion, the present study found that meningococcal carriage reaches its peak level by age 17, the highest carriage rate was found in 21 - to 24 - year-olds and the majority of the carriage cases were due to serogroup W. Adolescents and young adult carriers seem to be a potential reservoir for the disease, and further immunization strategies, including adolescent immunization, may play a role in the control of IMD.
False Positive Diagnosis in Conventional and Liquid-Based Cervical Specimens

OBJECTIVE To examine conventional and liquid-based cervical smears falsely diagnosed as malignant at our institution and to investigate, through cytologic-histologic correlation, factors influencing false positive diagnoses. STUDY DESIGN Cervical cytologic diagnoses of malignancy from May 1, 1995, to April 30, 2001, were retrieved through a computer search. A retrospective review of hospital records and pathology reports was performed. Cases identified as false positives were reviewed and correlated with histologic follow-up specimens. RESULTS A group of 68 patients with malignancy reported on cervical smears and with histologic follow-up was identified. Conventional smears numbered 32 (47%); the remaining 36 (53%) were liquid-based samples. Of the total, 7 false positive cases (10.3%) were identified in 4 conventional and 3 liquid-based preparations. Cytologic diagnosis in these cases was squamous cell carcinoma in 5 and adenocarcinoma in 2. On histologic follow-up, all 7 patients were ultimately found to have high grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs) without invasion. Review of the original slides confirmed most, or all, of the following features in all cases: major cellular pleomorphism, extensive cytoplasmic keratinization, intense nuclear pyknosis, background necrosis and severe atrophy. CONCLUSION There was no significant difference in rates of false positive diagnoses between conventional (12.5%) and liquid-based (8.3%) samples. The chief reason for overdiagnosis in this series was the capacity of HSIL to exfoliate cells mimicking invasive malignancy, particularly when keratinized and especially in an atrophic milieu. The other cause of false positivity was superimposition of inflammation and atypical reparative change on a background of HSIL, which then suggested invasion.
The BOID architecture: conflicts between beliefs, obligations, intentions and desires

In this paper we introduce the so-called Beliefs-Obligations-Intentions-Desires or BOID architecture. It contains feedback loops to consider all effects of actions before committing to them, and mechanisms to resolve conflicts between the outputs of its four components. Agent types such as realistic or social agents correspond to specific types of conflict resolution embedded in the BOID archecture.
Modeling web quality-of-experience on cellular networks

Recent studies have shown that web browsing is one of the most prominent cellular applications. It is therefore important for cellular network operators to understand how radio network characteristics (such as signal strength, handovers, load, etc.) influence users' web browsing Quality-of-Experience (web QoE). Understanding the relationship between web QoE and network characteristics is a pre-requisite for cellular network operators to detect when and where degraded network conditions actually impact web QoE. Unfortunately, cellular network operators do not have access to detailed server-side or client-side logs to directly measure web QoE metrics, such as abandonment rate and session length. In this paper, we first devise a machine-learning-based mechanism to infer web QoE metrics from network traces accurately. We then present a large-scale study characterizing the impact of network characteristics on web QoE using a month-long anonymized dataset collected from a major cellular network provider. Our results show that improving signal-to-noise ratio, decreasing load and reducing handovers can improve user experience. We find that web QoE is very sensitive to inter-radio-access-technology (IRAT) handovers. We further find that higher radio data link rate does not necessarily lead to better web QoE. Since many network characteristics are interrelated, we also use machine learning to accurately model the influence of radio network characteristics on user experience metrics. This model can be used by cellular network operators to prioritize the improvement of network factors that most influence web QoE.
Mobile Mixed Reality for Experiential Learning and Simulation in Medical and Health Sciences Education

New accessible learning methods delivered through mobile mixed reality are becoming possible in education, shifting pedagogy from the use of two dimensional images and videos to facilitating learning via interactive mobile environments. This is especially important in medical and health education, where the required knowledge acquisition is typically much more experiential, self-directed, and hands-on than in many other disciplines. Presented are insights obtained from the implementation and testing of two mobile mixed reality interventions across two Australian higher education classrooms in medicine and health sciences, concentrating on student perceptions of mobile mixed reality for learning physiology and anatomy in a face-to-face medical and health science classroom and skills acquisition in airways management focusing on direct laryngoscopy with foreign body removal in a distance paramedic science classroom. This is unique because most studies focus on a single discipline, focusing on either skills or the learner experience and a single delivery modality rather than linking cross-discipline knowledge acquisition and the development of a student’s tangible skills across multimodal classrooms. Outcomes are presented from post-intervention student interviews and discipline academic observation, which highlight improvements in learner motivation and skills, but also demonstrated pedagogical challenges to overcome with mobile mixed reality learning.
Draft Genome Sequence of Aeromonas hydrophila Strain Ae25, Isolated from a Septicemic Moribund Koi Carp (Cyprinus carpio) in Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT Motile aeromonad septicemia caused by mesophilic strains of Aeromonas hydrophila is a widespread problem in cultured freshwater fish. We announce here the draft genome sequence of the multidrug-resistant A. hydrophila strain Ae25, isolated from a koi carp (Cyprinus carpio) with motile aeromonad septicemia that was collected from an ornamental fish-breeding farm in Sri Lanka.
American Journal of Epidemiology Original Contribution Air Pollution and Hospitalization for Headache in Chile

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The authors performed a time-series analysis to test the association between air pollution and daily numbers of hospitalizations for headache in 7 Chilean urban centers during the period 2001–2005. Results were adjusted for day of the week and humidex. Three categories of headache—migraine, headache with cause specified, and headache not otherwise specified—were all associated with air pollution. Relative risks for migraine associated with interquartile-range increases in specific air pollutants were as follows: 1.15) for a 37.79-lg/m 3 increase in particulate matter less than 10 lm in aerodynamic diameter (PM 10). There was no significant effect modification by age, sex, or season. The authors conclude that air pollution appears to increase the risk of headache in Santiago Province. If the relation is causal, the morbidity associated with headache should be considered when estimating the burden of illness and costs associated with poor air quality. Acute and chronic exposure to urban air pollution in North America and Europe has been associated with increased respiratory symptoms, reduced lung function, and hospitalization and death from cardiac and respiratory diseases (1–5). Headache is an important cause of morbidity in modern society. There are many self-reported triggers for migraines, including weather, fatigue, stress, food, menstruation, and infections (6, 7). There have been few studies of the effect of air pollution on headache. A daily diary study of 32 headache sufferers in Turin, Italy, revealed that the severity and frequency of headache was related to numbers of days with increased carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide levels (8). Reported headache was more common in a neighborhood with a pulp mill than in one without one (9). Among 29 women aged 19–27 years who were studied in an environmental chamber, headache, eye irritation, and nasal irritation were significantly worse (P < 0.05) when the women were exposed to ozone at 60–80 ppb as compared with <2 ppb (10). Between 1992 and 2000, the daily number of headache-related visits to an Ottawa, Canada, hospital emergency department increased by 4.9% (95% confidence interval: 1.2, 8.8) with each 3.9-ppb increase in sulfur dioxide level, lagged by 2 days (11). The same author also reported an increase in headache-related visits in Montreal, Canada, associated with increases in nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide levels (12). We studied the association between gaseous and particulate air pollution and hospitalization for headache in San-tiago …
Dysfunctional proinflammatory high-density lipoproteins confer increased risk of atherosclerosis in women with systemic lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVE Women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have an increased risk of atherosclerosis. Identification of at-risk patients and the etiology underlying atherosclerosis in SLE remain elusive. The antioxidant capacity of normal high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) is lost during inflammation, and these dysfunctional HDLs might predispose individuals to atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to determine whether dysfunctional proinflammatory HDL (piHDL) is associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in SLE. METHODS Carotid artery ultrasound was performed in 276 women with SLE to identify carotid plaques and measure intima-media thickness (IMT). The antioxidant function of HDL was measured as the change in oxidation of low-density lipoprotein after the addition of HDL cholesterol. Two antiinflammatory HDL components, paraoxonase 1 and apolipoprotein A-I, were also measured. RESULTS Among the SLE patients, 48.2% were determined to have piHDL on carotid ultrasound, while 86.7% of patients with plaque had piHDL compared with 40.7% of those without plaque (P<0.001). Patients with piHDL also had a higher IMT (P<0.001). After multivariate analysis, the only factors found to be significantly associated with plaque were the presence of piHDL (odds ratio [OR] 16.1, P<0.001), older age (OR 1.2, P<0.001), hypertension (OR 3.0, P=0.04), dyslipidemia (OR 3.4, P=0.04), and mixed racial background (OR 8.3, P=0.04). Factors associated with IMT measurements in the highest quartile were the presence of piHDL (OR 2.5, P=0.02), older age (OR 1.1, P<0.001), a higher body mass index (OR 1.07, P=0.04), a cumulative lifetime prednisone dose>or=20 gm (OR 2.9, P=0.04), and African American race (OR 8.3, P=0.001). CONCLUSION Dysfunctional piHDL greatly increases the risk of developing subclinical atherosclerosis in SLE. The presence of piHDL was associated with an increased prevalence of carotid plaque and with a higher IMT. Therefore, determination of piHDL may help identify patients at risk for atherosclerosis.
Structural determinants for EB1-mediated recruitment of APC and spectraplakins to the microtubule plus end

EB1 is a member of a conserved protein family that localizes to growing microtubule plus ends. EB1 proteins also recruit cell polarity and signaling molecules to microtubule tips. However, the mechanism by which EB1 recognizes cargo is unknown. Here, we have defined a repeat sequence in adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) that binds to EB1's COOH-terminal domain and identified a similar sequence in members of the microtubule actin cross-linking factor (MACF) family of spectraplakins. We show that MACFs directly bind EB1 and exhibit EB1-dependent plus end tracking in vivo. To understand how EB1 recognizes APC and MACFs, we solved the crystal structure of the EB1 COOH-terminal domain. The structure reveals a novel homodimeric fold comprised of a coiled coil and four-helix bundle motif. Mutational analysis reveals that the cargo binding site for MACFs maps to a cluster of conserved residues at the junction between the coiled coil and four-helix bundle. These results provide a structural understanding of how EB1 binds two regulators of microtubule-based cell polarity.
Starvation and Critical Race Analyzers for Ada

Starvation and critical race analysis tools for Ada designs are described. These tools are part of a temporal analysis toolset that includes an operational specification language, a language interpreter, and a deadlock analyzer for Ada. The starvation analyzer is based on a set-theoretic model of starvation. It uses a proof tree produced by the deadlock analyzer to define the possible computation space of the design. A preprocessing phase of the starvation tool optimizes the analysis so that the resulting analysis is efficient. Unlike livelock analysis in state machines, the starvation analyzer does not require a priori specification of home states to discern liveness. The critical race analysis tool provides semiautomatic proof of critical races by identifying nondeterministic rendezvous (races) from the proof tree generated by the deadlock analyzer, and then assisting the human operator in identifying which of these constitute critical races. Several design examples are used to demonstrate the capabilities of the two analysis methods. >
Client – Side Pharming Attacks Detection using Authoritative Domain Name Servers

Pharming attacks can be performed at the client-side or into the internet. In pharming attack, attackers need not targeting individual user. If pharming is performed by modifying the DNS entries, than it will be affecting to all users who is accessing the web page through that DNS. We propose an approach to protect user at client-side from pharming attacks by comparing IP addresses, using information provided by local DNS server and a list of IP's provided by the domain's Authenticated Name Servers which are the most trusted DNS servers for a domain. General Terms DNS security, DNS queries, DNS Poisoning, Pharming attacks
Conflict Identification and Resolution in Heterogeneous Datasets: A Comprehensive Survey

Data Integration has become the vital necessities of today’s interconnected world. Information is scattered everywhere and to retain the strategic advantage, it becomes mandatory for organizations to obtain as much information as possible. Hence combining the scattered data sources to obtain information becomes the only solution. Data integration is posed by several challenges including the basic nature (heterogeneity) of the data. This paper describes the basic elements of a data integration system and emphasizes on the data fusion phase which forms the core functionality of the architecture. The problems occurring during data fusion (conflicts) are discussed and it also provides a comprehensive survey of the techniques used to resolve conflicts. Functionalities lacking in the current system and future research directions are discussed in detail.
Nongynecologic cytology utilizing the ThinPrep Processor.

OBJECTIVE To assess the utility of the ThinPrep Processor (TP) for nongynecologic cytology. STUDY DESIGN We reviewed the number of unsatisfactory specimens from the esophagus, common bile duct, hepatic duct, pancreas, gastric, bronchial wang, vertebra, submandibular area and neck over a one-year period, before and after TP implementation. For a one-year period after TP implementation, the cytologic diagnoses of selected TP specimens with corresponding surgical tissue diagnoses were compared, and the TP slides were reviewed in discrepant cases. RESULTS The number of unsatisfactory specimens was reduced from 17% to 1% after TP implementations. The cytologic diagnoses of 145 TP specimens were in agreement with surgical tissue diagnoses. However, in 43 cases the cytology and tissue diagnoses were discordant. On review of 26 of the discrepant cases, the majority of TP slides were cellular, with good nuclear and cytoplasmic detail. Discrepancies resulted from sampling errors in 19 cases and TP interpretation errors in 7 cases. CONCLUSION In our laboratory, TP is a reliable processor for nongynecologic specimens.
Periodontal treatment in patients with chronic kidney disease: a pilot study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE This pilot cohort study evaluated the effect of periodontal treatment on renal function, metabolic markers and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) in patients with pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) presenting chronic periodontitis. MATERIAL AND METHODS Twenty-six patients with CKD and severe chronic periodontitis were selected. Periodontal parameters included plaque index, bleeding on probing, probing pocket depth and clinical attachment level. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), triglycerides, total cholesterol, albumin and ADMA levels were evaluated at baseline, 90 and 180 d after periodontal therapy. eGFR was evaluated by the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation. RESULTS All periodontal clinical parameters significantly improved (p < 0.05) 180 d after periodontal therapy. There was a significant improvement on the median values (25%; 75% percentiles) of eGFR from 34.6 (27; 44.7) mL/min/1.73 m2 on baseline to 37.6 (29.7; 57) mL/min/1.73 m2 on day 90, and to 37.6 (28.6; 56) mL/min/1.73 m2 (p < 0.05) on day 180. ADMA levels significantly reduced 180 d after periodontal treatment. No significant differences were observed at the median values of metabolic markers comparing baseline and 180 d after periodontal treatment. CONCLUSIONS The results point to a link of kidney disease with endothelium dysfunction and periodontitis, suggesting that periodontal treatment may be beneficial to the course of CKD.
Pneumocephalus associated with epidural and spinal anesthesia for labor

AbstractHeadache resulting from dural puncture in epidural and spinal anesthesia is usually secondary to a CSF leak. Pneumocephalus may also occur in this setting but has not been well-characterized. Although the risk factors for a CSF leak and pneumocephalus may overlap, their rates, clinical features, and treatments may be different. Our retrospective review of 182 patients with acute headache in the antepartum, peripartum, and postpartum settings yielded a 5:1 ratio of postdural puncture headache to pneumocephalus. The 3 patients with pneumocephalus had the defining characteristic of thunderclap headache during anesthesia. Early diagnosis is helpful as treatment with supplemental oxygen may hasten recovery. Pneumocephalus should be considered as a possible etiology of thunderclap headache in the setting of epidural and spinal anesthesia.
Fiber length, thermal, mechanical, and dynamic mechanical properties of injection-molded glass-fiber/polyamide 6,6: plasticization effect

Unreinforced- and glass fiber-reinforced-polyamide 6,6 specimens were subjected to dry, 50% RH, and wet conditions. FLD study showed that more fiber degradation occurred during processing of the composites with higher fiber loading. TGA results revealed that about 2% and 5% levels of moisture have been absorbed by the specimens subjected to 50% RH and wet conditions, respectively. From DSC results, with moisture uptake, there were no significance changes in the melting temperature, crystallization temperature, and enthalpy of crystalline; however, degree of crystallinity and enthalpy of melting decreased. Tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength, and flexural modulus decreased with moisture uptake, while tensile strain and flexural displacement increased. DMA study showed that tan delta at room temperature and tan delta maxima increased with moisture absorption, while temperatures at maximum tan delta in α- and β-transition regions decreased.