Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neonatal haemorrhagic conjunctivitis: a specific sign of chlamydial infection.

OBJECTIVE To review the bacteriological causes and clinical features of acute neonatal conjunctivitis in a local paediatric centre. DESIGN Retrospective review. SETTING Paediatric unit of a regional hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS All neonates who presented to Tuen Mun Hospital from 1 January 1996 to 31 December 2002 with persistent eye discharge and a positive eye swab culture. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Clinical features of neonates with chlamydial and non-chlamydial conjunctivitis. RESULTS Of 90 neonates with positive eye swab or conjunctival scraping cultures, Chlamydia trachomatis was the second most common (n=19, 21%) cause of acute neonatal conjunctivitis after Staphylococcus aureus (n=32, 36%). All of the neonates with chlamydial conjunctivitis were delivered vaginally: two of them had concomitant chlamydial pneumonia. Neisseria gonorrhoeae conjunctivitis was rare (n=1, 1%). None of the mothers of neonates with Chlamydia had any history of sexually transmitted disease. The timing of presentation, gestational age, birth weight, and sex of the neonates did not suggest a risk of chlamydial infection. Nonetheless haemorrhagic eye discharge had a specificity of 100% and positive predictive value of 100% for chlamydial infection. There were no adverse ophthalmological consequences or complications of pyloric stenosis in any neonate following treatment with oral erythromycin. CONCLUSIONS Haemorrhagic eye discharge is a highly specific sign of neonatal chlamydial conjunctivitis. Early and prompt treatment with oral erythromycin is safe and effective.
HIV-1 genome is often defective in PBMCs and rectal tissues after long-term HAART as a result of APOBEC3 editing and correlates with the size of reservoirs.

OBJECTIVES Precise characterization of viruses present in reservoirs in long-term pretreated patients will be a major issue to consider in the context of viral eradication. We assessed the frequency of defective viruses present in cellular reservoirs. METHODS Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and rectal biopsy samples were compared between five patients on successful long-term highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) (>7 years without blips) and five untreated patients. Molecular cloning and sequencing of the reverse transcriptase region were used to detect the presence of and quantify in-frame stop codons in HIV quasi-species. The relationship between the size of the reservoir and the frequency of defective genomes was assessed. RESULTS Defective genomes were systematically detected in all patients on long-term HAART in both compartments (PBMCs and rectal tissues), with a higher level of defective genomes per sample compared with PBMCs of untreated patients. A high level of defective genomes was correlated with a small size of HIV proviral DNA. Regarding the nucleotide context, guanine (G) to adenine (A) substitution at tryptophan positions was responsible for the appearance of 89% of all in-frame stop codons in the context of G-to-A hypermutation, likely reflecting APOBEC3 footprints on the viral genome. CONCLUSIONS We propose a scenario whereby defective genomes accumulate during HAART treatment, eventually reaching a viral extinction threshold. In the context of viral eradication, measurement of the relative amounts of defective and non-defective viruses (by molecular cloning and ultradeep sequencing) should be used as a new criterion for eradicating HIV.
Market Structure, Ownership, and the Provision of Residential Electricity: Evidence from the United States at Mid-Century

Economists have long been interested in the implications of private versus public ownership for the provision of services and consumer prices. Empirically, the challenge is to disentangle the eect of ownership from other determinants of prices. In this paper, we use detailed historical data on retail electricity in the United States to identify the eect
An E ffi cient Impulse Response Matching Estimator for Rational Expectations Models

This paper proposes an efficient estimator for rational expectations models that consists in mapping the impulse responses from the data to the structural coefficients of the model. The data-based impulse responses are estimated by local projections, which are robust to misspecification, and provide an estimate of the impulse responses' variance-covariance matrix. This matrix is then used to obtain the asymptotically optimal minimum chi-square estimator of the structural coefficients. We show how our method relates to existing estimation methods, including maximum likelihood, generalized method of moments, limited information impulse response matching from an estimated VAR, and minimum distance estimation from an estimated VAR. Our method only entails linear projection techniques for its implementation and can be applied broadly to systems and in other situations. As an example of its general applicability, we show how to estimate mixed autoregressive-moving average specifications. Additional Monte Carlo experiments and an application to a standard New Keynesian monetary model illustrate the many benefits of our approach. * The views expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City or of the Federal Reserve System. We thank
Nephrin Is Expressed on the Surface of Insulin Vesicles and Facilitates Glucose-Stimulated Insulin Release

OBJECTIVE Nephrin, an immunoglobulin-like protein essential for the function of the glomerular podocyte and regulated in diabetic nephropathy, is also expressed in pancreatic β-cells, where its function remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate whether diabetes modulates nephrin expression in human pancreatic islets and to explore the role of nephrin in β-cell function. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Nephrin expression in human pancreas and in MIN6 insulinoma cells was studied by Western blot, PCR, confocal microscopy, subcellular fractionation, and immunogold labeling. Islets from diabetic (n = 5) and nondiabetic (n = 7) patients were compared. Stable transfection and siRNA knockdown in MIN-6 cells/human islets were used to study nephrin function in vitro and in vivo after transplantation in diabetic immunodeficient mice. Live imaging of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-nephrin–transfected cells was used to study nephrin endocytosis. RESULTS Nephrin was found at the plasma membrane and on insulin vesicles. Nephrin expression was decreased in islets from diabetic patients when compared with nondiabetic control subjects. Nephrin transfection in MIN-6 cells/pseudoislets resulted in higher glucose-stimulated insulin release in vitro and in vivo after transplantation into immunodeficient diabetic mice. Nephrin gene silencing abolished stimulated insulin release. Confocal imaging of GFP-nephrin–transfected cells revealed nephrin endocytosis upon glucose stimulation. Actin stabilization prevented nephrin trafficking as well as nephrin-positive effect on insulin release. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that nephrin is an active component of insulin vesicle machinery that may affect vesicle-actin interaction and mobilization to the plasma membrane. Development of drugs targeting nephrin may represent a novel approach to treat diabetes.
A program visualization tool for program comprehension

At the beginning stage of programming education, comprehending program logics plays a more important role than capturing knowledge of a specific program language. In this paper, the authors describe an outline of a visualization tool that animates the actions of a program by adding simple annotations to the variables defined in a program, and show several ideas to improve the usability of this tool. The authors also discuss the effectiveness of program visualization.
Protein S-nitrosylation: specificity and identification strategies in plants

The role of nitric oxide (NO) as a major regulator of plant physiological functions has become increasingly evident. To further improve our understanding of its role, within the last few years plant biologists have begun to embrace the exciting opportunity of investigating protein S-nitrosylation, a major reversible NO-dependent post-translational modification (PTM) targeting specific Cys residues and widely studied in animals. Thanks to the development of dedicated proteomic approaches, in particular the use of the biotin switch technique (BST) combined with mass spectrometry, hundreds of plant protein candidates for S-nitrosylation have been identified. Functional studies focused on specific proteins provided preliminary comprehensive views of how this PTM impacts the structure and function of proteins and, more generally, of how NO might regulate biological plant processes. The aim of this review is to detail the basic principle of protein S-nitrosylation, to provide information on the biochemical and structural features of the S-nitrosylation sites and to describe the proteomic strategies adopted to investigate this PTM in plants. Limits of the current approaches and tomorrow's challenges are also discussed.
Assessing Positive Orientation With the Implicit Association Test

Positive orientation (PO) is a basic predisposition that consists in a positive outlook toward oneself, one’s life, and one’s future, which is associated to many desirable outcomes connected to health and to the general quality of life. We performed a lexical study for identifying a set of markers of PO, developed an Implicit Association Test (the PO-IAT), and investigated its psychometric properties. The PO-IAT proved to be a reliable measure with a clear pattern of convergent validity, both with respect to self-report scales connected to PO and with respect to an indirect measure of self-esteem. A secondary aim of our studies was to validate a new brief adjective scale to assess PO, the POAS. Our results show that both the PO-IAT and the self-reported PO predict the frequency of depressive symptoms and of self-perceived intelligence.
Parallelization of radiation transport on unstructured triangular grids with spatial decomposition a

Parallel computing can be of critical importance to the deterministic solution of radiation transport equations, especially with respect to solving the transport process within highly variable media with complex geometries. We propose an approach that extends the Alternating Direction of Transport Sweeps (ADTS) method of M. Yavus and E.D. Larson to unstructured triangular grids, using the Recursive Spectral Bisection (RSB) algorithm to partition our domain and OpenMP to implement the parallelism on shared memory computers. Our results, using a neutron transport test case, show that the ADTS method with the RSB algorithm leads to a significant increase in the parallel convergence rate, resulting in improved parallel efficiency, and thus improved turnaround time. We emphasize that excellent parallel efficiency is possible using domain decomposition and an SPMD-OpenMP implementation.
Validation of parameter importance by regression

This article employs regression techniques in order to gauge the relative importance of causal factors affecting the emergent behaviour of a hybrid dynamical system simulating human behaviour. Extending our previous work, in which the relative importance of causal factors was determined on the basis of classification into two discrete clusters, the target characteristic attribute of the simulation is now represented by a non-negative real number. This enables us to represent the dominant simulation state with higher sensitivity and apply various regression methods: Neural network - Multi-layer perceptron regressor, Radial basis function regressor and M5P regression tree.
PENGARUH MELATONIN TERHADAP JUMLAH LEUKOSIT PADA TIKUS WISTAR MODEL SEPSIS

Latar Belakang Melatonin merupakan radikal bebas yang sering digunakan sebagai antioksidan. Melatonin berperan dalam meningkatkan respon imun, dan membantu proses sitoprotektif. Dalam beberapa model hewan, melatonin telah diidentifikasi untuk membantu melawan infeksi yang disebabkan bakteri, virus, dan parasit dengan melalui berbagai mekanisme, seperti immunomodulasi atau aktivitas antioksidan. Melatonin dapat mengurangi kadar sitokin inflamasi, stress oksidatif dan disfungsi mitokondria. Melatonin merupakan salah satu obat yang dikembangkan sebagai terapi sepsis. Tujuan Mengetahui pengaruh melatonin terhadap jumlah leukosit pada tikus wistar model sepsis dan memperoleh informasi melatonin dapat menurunkan jumlah leukosit. Metode Penelitian ini adalah penelitian eksperimental dengan rancangan randomized control grup pre post test . Sampel adalah 12 ekor tikus wistar jantan dengan kriteria tertentu, dibagi secara acak menjadi 2 kelompok. Kelompok I diberi injeksi intraperitoneal lipopolisakarida (LPS) dan tidak diberi melatonin sebagai kelompok kontrol, sedangkan kelompok II diberi injeksi intraperitoneal lipopolisakarida (LPS) sebagai kelompok perlakuan dan diberi melatonin via sonde oral sebagai kelompok perlakuan. Setelah adaptasi tikus selama seminggu, pada hari ke 8 tikus diambil darahnya melalui pembuluh darah retroorbita. Uji statistik menggunakan uji paired t-test, independent t-test dan Mann Whitney Test. Hasil Pada uji independent test didapatkan nilai rerata jumlah leukosit pada kelompok kontrol lebih tinggi dibanding kelompok perlakuan. Pada uji paired t-test kelompok kontrol mengalami perubahan yang signifikan (p<0,05) dibandingkan dengan kelompok perlakuan yang menunjukkan hasil yang tidak bermakna. Pada uji Mann Whitney Test didapatkan hasil kelompok kontrol selisih pre– post1 dan post 2 mengalami peningkatan yang signifikan. Sedangkan pada kelompok perlakuan selisih pre LPS – post1 dan post2 (p<0,05) mengalami penurunan yang signifikan. Kesimpulan Pemberian melatonin tidak menyebabkan penurunan jumlah leukosit yang signifikan.
Cooperative manipulation with least number of robots via robust caging

One problem in multi-robot cooperative manipulation is redundancy. Too many robots are waste of hardware and increase control complexity. This paper solves the problem of redundancy by robust caging. Robust caging calculates caging positions from translational immobilization with respect to translational constraints and rotational constraints. On the one hand, robust caging helps to reduce the necessary number of robots in cooperation. On the other hand, the initial positions of necessary robots in robust caging are optimized to offer large robustness to control errors. Our proposal with robust caging is implemented to transport target objects over slopes. The algorithm can choose least number of robots with respect to shape of target objects and requirements of robustness. At the same time, each robot may endure as much as 256 ms time step and 1 cm control error, showing the superiority of robust caging.
Hippocampus-Mediated Activation of Superficial and Deep Layer Neurons in the Medial Entorhinal Cortex of the Isolated Guinea Pig Brain

The entorhinal cortex (EC) is regarded as the structure that regulates information flow to and from the hippocampus. It is commonly assumed that superficial and deep EC neurons project to and receive from the hippocampal formation, respectively. Anatomical evidences suggest that both the hippocampal output and deep EC neurons also project to superficial EC layers. To functionally characterize the interlaminar synaptic EC circuit entrained the by hippocampal output, we performed simultaneous intracellular recordings and laminar profile analysis in the medial EC (m-EC) of the in vitro isolated guinea pig brain after polysynaptic hippocampal activation by lateral olfactory tract (LOT) stimulation. Optical imaging of voltage-generated signals confirmed that the LOT-evoked hippocampus-mediated response is restricted to the m-EC. The hippocampal output generated an extracellular current sink in layers V–VI, coupled with an EPSP in deep neurons. Deep neuron firing was terminated by a biphasic IPSP. The earliest response observed in superficial layer neurons was characterized by a feedforward IPSP of circa 100 ms (–69 ± 1.3 mV reversal potential) abolished by local application of 1 mm bicuculline. The feedforward IPSP was followed by a delayed EPSP blocked by AP-5 (100 μm), presumably mediated by deep-to-superficial m-EC connections. Our findings demonstrate that superficial m-EC cells are inhibited by the hippocampal output via a feedforward pathway that prevents activity reverberation in the hippocampal–EC–hippocampal loop. We propose that such inhibition could serve as a protective mechanism to prevent epileptic hyperexcitability.
Clustering Description Extraction Based on Statistical Machine Learning

Clustering description problem is one of key issues of the traditional document clustering algorithm. The traditional document algorithm can cluster the objects, but it can not give concept description for the clustered results. Document clustering description is a problem of labeling the clustered results of document collection clustering. It can help users determine whether one of the clusters is relevant to users' information requirement. Therefore, labeling a clustered set of documents is an important and challenging work in document clustering applications. To resolve the problem of the weak readability of the traditional document clustering results, a method of automatic labeling documents clusters based on machine learning is put forward. Experimental results show that the method based on SVM will provide users with more concise and comprehensive document clustering results. It also reflects the linear trend of clustering description problem.
God Images and Resilience: A Study of Vietnamese Immigrants

This article examines the relationship between resilience and the God images of Vietnamese immigrants living in Canada. In earlier literature, little attention was paid to the way that these immigrants may have used spiritual components as resources in helping them endure struggle and become resilient (i.e., well-adapted, resourceful, and filled with a sense of purpose). In the current study, we examined the above link using an object relations’ perspective on God images and hypothesized that a more positive God image would be related to greater resilience. One hundred twenty-nine participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Questionnaire on God Image (QGI), and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Correlation and regression analyses showed that positive God images (e.g., those characterized by love, comfort, protection, and trust) were not only positively associated with a higher degree of resilience but also helped predict resilience among the Vietnamese immigrants we surveyed. We discuss various cultural implications of these findings for theory, research, and practice and make recommendations for future research.
The Role of Carbohydrates in Infection Strategies of Enteric Pathogens

Enteric pathogens cause considerable public health concerns worldwide including tropical regions. Here, we review the roles of carbohydrates in the infection strategies of various enteric pathogens including viruses, bacteria and protozoa, which infect the epithelial lining of the human and animal intestine. At host cell entry, enteric viruses, including norovirus, recognize mainly histo-blood group antigens. At the initial step of bacterial infections, carbohydrates also function as receptors for attachment. Here, we describe the function of carbohydrates in infection by Salmonella enterica and several bacterial species that produce a variety of fimbrial adhesions. During invasion by enteropathogenic protozoa, apicomplexan parasites utilize sialic acids or sulfated glycans. Carbohydrates serve as receptors for infection by these microbes; however, their usage of carbohydrates varies depending on the microbe. On the surface of the mucosal tissues of the gastrointestinal tract, various carbohydrate moieties are present and play a crucial role in infection, representing the site of infection or route of access for most microbes. During the infection and/or invasion process of the microbes, carbohydrates function as receptors for various microbes, but they can also function as a barrier to infection. One approach to develop effective prophylactic and therapeutic antimicrobial agents is to modify the drug structure. Another approach is to modify the mode of inhibition of infection depending on the individual pathogen by using and mimicking the interactions with carbohydrates. In addition, similarities in mode of infection may also be utilized. Our findings will be useful in the development of new drugs for the treatment of enteric pathogens.
Learning to be Lazy: Exploiting Redundancy in a Novel Task to Minimize Movement-Related Effort

A key issue in motor control is to understand how the motor system chooses a solution from the multiple solutions that exist to achieve any particular task goal. One hypothesis is that redundancy may be resolved by minimizing movement-related costs. However, testing this prediction in motor learning has been problematic in simple laboratory tasks, like reaching, because the motor system already has extensive prior knowledge about redundancy in these tasks. Here, we used a novel task where healthy human participants performed finger movements to guide a computer cursor to different targets on the screen. Through training, all participants learned to perform successful goal-directed movements. Our findings showed that subjects did not develop a single inverse map from target to hand posture. Instead, they learned to use distinct hand postures to get to a single target, using a strategy in which the final hand posture at the target depended on the starting hand posture. Furthermore, postures chosen also depended upon the information content of visual feedback, with precise visual feedback resulting in postures that minimized movement-related costs. These results reinforce the idea that redundancy is exploited to minimize movement-related costs and that feedback plays a critical role in modulating this ability to effectively take advantage of the abundance of degrees of freedom.
Adult Limbal Neurosphere Cells: A Potential Autologous Cell Resource for Retinal Cell Generation

The Corneal limbus is a readily accessible region at the front of the eye, separating the cornea and sclera. Neural colonies (neurospheres) can be generated from adult corneal limbus in vitro. We have previously shown that these neurospheres originate from neural crest stem/progenitor cells and that they can differentiate into functional neurons in vitro. The aim of this study was to investigate whether mouse and human limbal neurosphere cells (LNS) could differentiate towards a retinal lineage both in vivo and in vitro following exposure to a developing retinal microenvironment. In this article we show that LNS can be generated from adult mice and aged humans (up to 97 years) using a serum free culture assay. Following culture with developing mouse retinal cells, we detected retinal progenitor cell markers, mature retinal/neuronal markers and sensory cilia in the majority of mouse LNS experiments. After transplantation into the sub-retinal space of neonatal mice, mouse LNS cells expressed photoreceptor specific markers, but no incorporation into host retinal tissue was seen. Human LNS cells also expressed retinal progenitor markers at the transcription level but mature retinal markers were not observed in vitro or in vivo. This data highlights that mouse corneal limbal stromal progenitor cells can transdifferentiate towards a retinal lineage. Complete differentiation is likely to require more comprehensive regulation; however, the accessibility and plasticity of LNS makes them an attractive cell resource for future study and ultimately therapeutic application.