Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Awareness of tuberculosis among nurses

Background: Tuberculosis is a leading infectious killer disease worldwide. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment on the part of the health care providers is essential for TB control. Their knowledge, attitude and practice have an impact on the tuberculosis patients regarding compliance to treatment and follow up. There are limited studies in India assessing the knowledge of nursing professionals regarding TB transmission, prevention and control. This study seeks to assess the same. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at SRM Medical College and Research Centre, Potheri, Kanchipuram district. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was given to 224 nursing staff. The responses were then analyzed. Results: A high proportion (71.80%) of awareness was found regarding the causation of TB by bacterium, air-borne method of spread and over-crowding being a significant risk factor. A lesser proportion of the participants were aware that TB does not spread by breast feeding (54.9%) or hand shaking (33%) and that ATT should be continued during pregnancy. Levels of knowledge on the preventable nature of TB infection (56%) and the availability of ATT were also found to be low. Conclusions: This study indicates the need for addressing the gaps regarding the knowledge and transmission of TB among the nursing care professionals. Nursing professionals still are in need of continuing educational programs regarding treatment and control of TB. Improved knowledge on TB will thus contribute to effective TB control and in the long term, will help India achieve the goal of End TB.
Interaction of the herbicide glyphosate with its target enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate 3-phosphate synthase in atomic detail.

Biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids in plants, many bacteria, and microbes relies on the enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate 3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase, a prime target for drugs and herbicides. We have identified the interaction of EPSP synthase with one of its two substrates (shikimate 3-phosphate) and with the widely used herbicide glyphosate by x-ray crystallography. The two-domain enzyme closes on ligand binding, thereby forming the active site in the interdomain cleft. Glyphosate appears to occupy the binding site of the second substrate of EPSP synthase (phosphoenol pyruvate), mimicking an intermediate state of the ternary enzyme.substrates complex. The elucidation of the active site of EPSP synthase and especially of the binding pattern of glyphosate provides a valuable roadmap for engineering new herbicides and herbicide-resistant crops, as well as new antibiotic and antiparasitic drugs.
Poor nutritional status on admission predicts poor outcomes after stroke: observational data from the FOOD trial.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Previous studies suggest that undernourished patients with acute stroke do badly. The data, however, are not robust. We aimed to reliably assess the importance of baseline nutritional status as an independent predictor of long-term outcome after stroke in a large prospective cohort enrolled in the Feed Or Ordinary Diet (FOOD) trial, a multicenter randomized trial evaluating various feeding policies. METHODS Patients admitted to hospital with a recent stroke were enrolled in the FOOD trial. Data on nutritional status and other clinical predictors of outcome were collected at trial entry. At 6 months, the coordinating center collected data on survival and functional status (modified Rankin Scale). Outcome assessment was done by researchers blinded to baseline assessments and treatment allocation. RESULTS Between November 1996 and November 2001, 3012 patients were enrolled, and 2955 (98%) were followed up. Of the 275 undernourished patients, 102 (37%) were dead by final follow-up compared with only 445 (20%) of 2194 patients of normal nutritional status (odds ratio [OR], 2.32; 95% CI, 1.78 to 3.02). After adjustment for age, prestroke functional state, and stroke severity, this relationship, although weakened, still held (OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.34 to 2.47). Undernourished patients were more likely to develop pneumonia, other infections, and gastrointestinal bleeding during their hospital admission than other patients. CONCLUSIONS These data provide reliable evidence that nutritional status early after stroke is independently associated with long-term outcome. It supports the rationale for the FOOD trial, which continues to recruit and aims to estimate the effect of different feeding regimes on outcome after stroke and thus determine whether the association observed in this study is likely to be causal.
When Do Countries Implement Structural Reforms?

This chapter’s objective is to investigate which factors—macroeconomic, policy-related, or institutional—foster the implementation of structural reforms. We therefore look at episodes of structural reforms over three decades across forty OECD and EU countries and link them to these factors. Our results suggest that structural reforms implementation is more likely during deep recessions and when unemployment rates are high. Moreover, the further it is distant from best practice, the more likely a country is to implement reforms. External pressures, such as being subject to a financial assistance programme, or being part of the European Single Market facilitated pro-competitive reforms. Low interest rates tend to promote rather than discourage structural reforms, while there seems no clear link between fiscal policy and reforms. Moreover, reforms in product markets tend to increase the likelihood of labour market reforms following suit. Many robustness checks have been carried out confirming our main results.
ATVB In Focus Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms: Pathophysiological Mechanisms and Clinical Implications

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) affects approximately 5% of elderly men and is responsible for a significant number of deaths in Western Countries. At present surgery by open or endovascular means is the only widely used therapy for this condition. In this review we examine the risk factors, serum, and genetic associations of AAA. Epidemiology studies suggest that smoking cessation and control of cholesterol and blood pressure should reduce the number of patients developing AAA. Natural history studies suggest that smoking cessation should reduce the rate of progression of AAA. Clear level 1 evidence for drug treatments of AAA are presently lacking; however, animal and human in vitro studies suggest that medication targeted at reducing inflammation and proteolysis are most likely to be beneficial, with limited data to support the use of statins, Angiotensin II inhibitors, and macrolides. Work has commenced in understanding which patients, identified by clinical, serum, and genotype, are more at risk of AAA progression and thus should be selected out for aggressive treatment. Well designed large multicenter randomized controlled trials are required to examine the medical treatment of AAA. (Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2006;26:2605-2613.)
Urological Infections Due to Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria: What We Need to Know?

Purpose Recent epidemiological data have confirmed the increasing problem of antimicrobial resistance not only for hospitalized, healthcare-associated patients, but also for outpatients. In particular, the progressive increase in resistance to broad-spectrum antibiotics, such as third-generation cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones or carbapenems in Enterobacteriaceae, is an alarming situation for all urologists and general practitioners. Here, we aimed to review the epidemiological data of multidrug-resistant bacteria in the urological setting, in order to summarize all diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations to use in everyday clinical practice. Methods We collected all recent publications from Medline and Cochrane Library from January 2000 to December 2013. Moreover, data from the abstracts presented at the EAU and AUA Congresses during the last 5 years have also been analyzed. All papers were evaluated by an expert panel on urological infections on behalf of the Italian Urological Association (SIU). Results Fluoroquinolone and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria prevalence is normally very high in the lower urinary tract infection patients. In particular, multidrug-resistant bacteria prevalence in urological practice contributes to infectious morbidity increasing the financial costs to healthcare system. The expert panel on urological infections on behalf of the Italian Urological Association formulated new diagnostic pathway and therapeutic protocol in patients affected by urological tract infections due to multidrug-resistant bacteria. Conclusions The recent emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens is an alarming public health issue also in urological practice with socioeconomic importance. Our practice should be revised on the basis of these new acquisitions.
Kir2.4: A Novel K+ Inward Rectifier Channel Associated with Motoneurons of Cranial Nerve Nuclei

Members of the Kir2 subfamily of inwardly rectifying K+ channels characterized by their strong current rectification are widely expressed both in the periphery and in the CNS in mammals. We have cloned from rat brain a fourth subfamily member, designated Kir2.4 (IRK4), which shares 53–63% similarity to Kir2.1, Kir2.2, or Kir2.3 on the amino acid level. In situhybridization analysis identifies Kir2.4 as the most restricted of all Kir subunits in the brain. Kir2.4 transcripts are expressed predominantly in motoneurons of cranial nerve motor nuclei within the general somatic and special visceral motor cell column and thus are uniquely related to a functional system. Heterologous expression of Kir2.4 in Xenopus oocytes and mammalian cells gives rise to low-conductance channels (15 pS), with an affinity to the channel blockers Ba2+ (Ki = 390 μm) and Cs+(Ki = 8.06 mm) 30–50-fold lower than in other Kir channels. Low Ba2+ sensitivity allows dissection of Kir2.4 currents from other Kir conductances in hypoglossal motoneurons (HMs) in rat brainstem slices. The finding that Ba2+-mediated block of Kir2.4 in HMs evokes tonic activity and increases the frequency of induced spike discharge indicates that Kir2.4 channels are of major importance in controlling excitability of motoneurons in situ.
Combining low-dose or metronomic chemotherapy with anticancer vaccines

Therapeutic vaccination is regarded as a promising strategy against multiple hematological malignancies including lymphoma. However, this approach alone possesses limited potential for the treatment of established tumors. As several anticancer regimens relies on the combination of multiple drugs, it is reasonable to predict that also cancer vaccination will be most effective in the context of multimodal approaches. In particular, low-dose or metronomic chemotherapy could be coupled to anticancer vaccines to improve the efficacy of this immunotherapeutic interventions. This review summarizes recent findings in support of the use of anticancer vaccines combined with low-dose or metronomic chemotherapy for the treatment and management of lymphoid malignancies.
Speaker Recognition Based on LS-SVM

In this paper, a novely method for speaker system is proposed. The least square support vector machine (LS-SVM) based on the quadratic equality constraints is analyzed firstly. A speaker recognition system is then designed based on LS-SVM. The Mel frequency ceptral coefficients (MFCCs) are adopted as the speaker speech feature parameters in the system. The MFCC feature parameters are trained and tested independently using the Gaussian radius basis function. We evaluate the LS-SVM system using the voice sets of similarly pronouncing speakers in the same recording conditions. The training time and equal error rate between LS-SVM and conventional SVM in the experiments are compared. The results show that the speaker recognition based on LS-SVM has less computational complexity, shorter training time than the speaker recognition based on the conventional SVM. In order to test the recognition system, we use the VQ and GMM model. The results show LS-SVM has high right recognition rate and adaptability for speaker recognition.
Tighter WCET Estimates by Procedure Cloning

Embedded software spends most of its execution time in loops. To allow a precise static WCET analysis, each loop iteration should, in theory, be represented by an individual calling context. However, due to the enormous analysis times of real-world applications, this approach is not feasible and requires a reduction of the analysis complexity by limiting the number of considered contexts. This restricted timing analysis results in imprecise WCET estimates. In particular, data-dependent loops with iteration counts depending on function parameters cannot be precisely analyzed. In order to reduce the number of contexts that must be implicitly considered, causing an increase in analysis time, we apply the standard compiler optimization procedure cloning which improves the program’s predictability by making loops explicit and thus allowing a precise annotation of loop bounds. The result is a tight WCET estimation within a reduced analysis time. Our results indicate that reductions of the WCET between 12% and 95% were achieved for real-world benchmarks. In contrast, the reduction of the simulated program execution time remained marginal with only 3%. As will be also shown, this optimization only produces a small overhead for the WCET analysis.
Extraction of logical rules to describe students' learning behavior

E-learning offers a new context for education where large amounts of information describing the continuum of the teaching-learning interactions are endlessly generated and ubiquitously available. But raw information by itself may be of no help to any of the e-learning actors. The use of Data Mining methods to extract knowledge from this information can, therefore, be an adequate approach to follow in order to use the obtained knowledge to fit the educational proposal to the students' needs and requirements. In this brief study we use an extension of Fuzzy Inductive Reasoning methodology to extract comprehensible, actionable and reasonable set of rules describing the students' learning behavior. The obtained rules can be used to improve the system understanding and to provide valuable information to tutors about the course performance. The extraction rules model presented in this research is applied to a real virtual campus graduate course of the Center of Studies in Communication and Educational Technologies (CECTE, as Spanish acronym).
Identification of a 34-kD polypeptide as a light chain of microtubule- associated protein-1 (MAP-1) and its association with a MAP-1 peptide that binds to microtubules

We examined the association of a 34-kD light chain component to the heavy chains of MAP-1 using a monoclonal antibody that specifically binds the 34-kD component and labels neuronal microtubules in a specific and saturable manner. Immunoprecipitation of MAP-1 heavy chains together with the 34-kD component by the antibody indicates that the 34-kD polypeptide forms a complex with MAP-1 heavy chains. Both major isoforms of MAP-1 heavy chains (MAP-1A and MAP-1B) were found in the immunoprecipitate. Digestion of MAP-1 with alpha-chymotrypsin and analysis of the chymotryptic peptides reveals a 120-kD fragment of the MAP-1 heavy chain that binds to microtubules and is precipitable with the 34-kD light chain antibody, suggesting that the 34-kD light chain also binds to this domain of the molecule. Since microtubules that contain the 120-kD fragment lack the long lateral projections characteristic of microtubules with intact MAP-1, the 34-kD light chains may be localized at or near the microtubule surface.
Differential expression of heat shock protein 105 in melanoma and melanocytic naevi

The objective of this study is to assess the expression of heat shock protein 105 (HSP105) in melanoma and benign melanocytic lesions. The expression of HSP105 in 62 human melanoma samples – 46 primary and 16 metastatic lesions – and 42 melanocytic naevi samples, was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Western blotting was performed on melanoma cell lines, melanoma tissues with matched normal skin and melanocytic naevi. The Mann–Whitney test was used for statistical analysis and significance was considered to be P less than 0.05. Seventy-four per cent of the primary melanoma lesions and 88% of the metastatic lesions overexpressed HSP105 by immunohistochemistry. The majority of melanocytic lesions (95%) were negative (P<0.05). Western blotting detected high expression of HSP105 in melanoma cell lines and tissues. The expression of HSP105 was related to the invasiveness of the lesions. Melanocytic naevi expressed HSP105 at a level that was similar to that of normal skin. Our results show that high expression of HSP105 is associated with malignant melanoma especially advanced and metastatic lesions. The results suggest that HSP105 analysis may be a helpful tool as a poor prognostic indicator and as a diagnostic aid in problematic lesions; in addition, melanoma can be included in the growing list of tumours overexpressing HSP105 to be targeted for potential HSP105-based therapeutic strategies.
An improved morphable model for 3D face synthesis

We present several improvements on the conventional morphable model. Despite having realistic results and modeling automatically in 3D face synthesis, the model construction depends on the unstable optical flow algorithm; the model is not fitting for complex illumination and the model matching procedure is time consuming. To improve the morphable model for 3D face synthesis, several measures are taken in this work. Firstly, the mesh resampling method is used to overcome the key problem of model construction, the pixel-to-pixel alignments of prototypic faces. Secondly, based on the mesh resampling data we construct a multi-resolution model to accelerate the model matching procedure and improve the stability of matching convergence. Thirdly, a multi-lights model is proposed to evaluate or simulate the illumination of the input facial image. The experimental results show that these improvements of the morphable model have good performance in 3D face synthesis.
Investigation of Printed Helical Antenna Using Varied Materials for Ultra-wide band Frequency

This paper investigates the design of a strip helical antenna for ultra-wideband communication with circular polarization at different frequencies and materials. Unlike the conventional axial-mode helical antenna which is designed using a traditional metallic wire that makes the antenna size large, the strip helical antenna is designed using the metallic strip. As a result, the circular polarization without an impedance matching is achieved. The newly designed strip is printed on a substrate then rolled into a helix shape to achieve circular polarization without an impedance matching and that the proposed antenna can be used for potential applications in wideband and ultrawideband wireless communication. The antenna design parameters and the simulated results are achieved using the commercial software CST. The helical antenna is designed at different operating frequencies which are 10 GHz, 5.8 GHz, and 5.6 GHz for different materials. The gain achieved is between 7 dB to 14 dB for using Teflon, and fast-film materials at different operating frequencies. While the maximum achieved bandwidth is 2.5 GHz by using fast-film material at 10 GHz operating frequency which makes it suitable for usage in many wideband applications.
Fueling protein–DNA interactions inside porous nanocontainers

Vesicle encapsulation offers a biologically relevant environment for many soluble proteins and nucleic acids and an optimal immobilization medium for single-molecule fluorescence assays. Furthermore, the confinement of biomolecules within small volumes opens up new avenues to unique experimental configurations. Nevertheless, the vesicles' impermeability, even toward ions and other small molecules such as ATP, hinders more general applications. We therefore developed methods to induce pores into vesicles. Porous vesicles were then used to modulate the interaction between Escherichia coli RecA proteins and ssDNA by changing the extravesicular nucleotides. Repetitive binding and dissociation of the same RecA filament on the DNA was observed with a rebinding rate two orders of magnitude greater than in the absence of confinement, suggesting a previously unreported nucleation pathway for RecA filament. This method provides a biofriendly and simple alternative to surface tethering that is ideal for the study of transient and weakly interacting biological complexes.
PRECLINICAL EXAMINATION OF FIRST and SECOND GENERATION PHOTOSENSITIZERS USED IN PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY

Numerous photosensitizers with absorption peaks spanning the 600-800 nm "therapeutic window" have been and continue to be synthesized. Structural modifications of the dyes can then be made in order to improve tumor deliverability and retention. Chemical alterations can also enhance the yields of light generated reactive oxygen species. Utilization of lipoproteins, emulsions and antibody conjugates can enhance the selectivity of drug localization. Most cell types and subcellular structures are highly photosensitive and biochemical analysis indicates that cellular target sites associated with PDT correlate with photosensitizer location. In vivo data suggest that vascular and direct tumor cell damage as well as systemic and local immunological reactions are involved in PDT responsiveness. Additional mechanistic, synthetic and developmental studies are required in order to fully appreciate the potentials of PDT. However, continued enthusiasm and support for basic PDT research (as observed during the past 8 years) will depend to a large extent on the outcome of the current clinical trials.
Density-weighted Nyström Method for Computing Large Kernel Eigen-systems

The Nyström method is a well-known sampling-based technique for approximating the eigen-system of large kernel matrices. However, the chosen samples in the Nyström method are all assumed to be of equal importance, which deviates from the integral equation that defines the kernel eigenfunctions. Motivated from this observation, we extend the Nyström method to a more general, density-weighted version. We show that by introducing the probability density function as a natural weighting scheme, the approximation of the eigen-system can be greatly improved. An efficient algorithm is proposed to enforce such weighting in practice, which has the same complexity as the original Nyström method and hence notably cheaper than several other alternatives. Experiments on kernel principal component analysis, spectral clustering and image segmentation all demonstrate the encouraging performance of our algorithm.