Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of microorganisms associated with feline gingivostomatitis

Objectives Feline gingivostomatitis (FGS) is a painful chronic inflammatory disease of the oral cavity. The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of detection of certain common feline bacteria and viruses to determine any potential associations with FGS. Methods A multicentre case-control study design was conducted. In total, 72 control cats and 32 cats with FGS were included in the study. Oral swabs were cultured for bacterial identification and a PCR assay was carried out to examine the infection of feline calicivirus (FCV), feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1), Chlamydia felis, Mycoplasma felis and Bordetella bronchiseptica. Results There was a significant difference in age distribution between the control and the FGS group. Based on a PCR assay, the positive rate of FCV was significantly higher in FGS cats than control animals. For other infectious pathogens, including FHV-1, C felis and M felis, there was no significant difference. Bacterial culture of oral swabs revealed that Pasteurella multocida was most frequently detected, but the detection rate was significantly lower in FGS cats. In FGS cats, the incidence of Enterococcus faecalis and anaerobic bacteria were more frequently isolated than in control cats. Conclusions and relevance This study indicates that the positive rate of FCV was significantly higher in cats with FGS, and the microflora of the oral cavity of cats with FGS might be disrupted, although additional studies are required to compare the oral microbiome in cats of a variety of ages.
Differential Evolution With a New Encoding Mechanism for Optimizing Wind Farm Layout

This paper presents a differential evolution algorithm with a new encoding mechanism for efficiently solving the optimal layout of the wind farm, with the aim of maximizing the power output. In the modeling of the wind farm, the wake effects among different wind turbines are considered and the Weibull distribution is employed to estimate the wind speed distribution. In the process of evolution, a new encoding mechanism for the locations of wind turbines is designed based on the characteristics of the wind farm layout. This encoding mechanism is the first attempt to treat the location of each wind turbine as an individual. As a result, the whole population represents a layout. Compared with the traditional encoding, the advantages of this encoding mechanism are twofold: 1) the dimension of the search space is reduced to two, and 2) a crucial parameter (i.e., the population size) is eliminated. In addition, differential evolution serves as the search engine and the caching technique is adopted to enhance the computational efficiency. The comparative analysis between the proposed method and seven other state-of-the-art methods is conducted based on two wind scenarios. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method is able to obtain the best overall performance, in terms of the power output and execution time.
Single area power system voltage and frequency control using V2G scheme

This paper discusses the detailed effect of the vehicle-to-grid V2G system on terminal voltages and the active power regulation in a single area power system. In addition, the effect of plug-in electric vehicle (EVs) is studied on the system frequency. A single area power system is used to measure the effectiveness of the proposed V2G scheme. A comparison between the system with and without proposed V2G schemes is carried out showing the positive effect of the presence of the V2G schemes on system frequency, terminal voltage and the active power. MATLAB /SIMULINK software package is used as a test environment.
University of Southern Denmark Validation of the Peripheral Ultrasound-guided Vascular Access Rating Scale

Evidence-based standards in proficiency are needed for ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous access. In this study, we explored the validity of the Peripheral Ultrasound-Guided Vascular Access (P-UGVA) Rating Scale. We recruited 3 groups of physicians (5 novices, 5 intermediates, and 5 experts) of increasing proficiency in peripheral ultrasoundguided intravenous access. All participants performed 3 peripheral ultrasound-guided intravenous accesses on three different patients. Performance was video-recorded by 3 cameras and the ultrasound image. Synchronized and anonymized split-screen film clips were rated using the P-UGVA rating scale by 2 assessors, which also assessed overall performance on a 1–5 Likert-scale. Evidence of validity was explored using the contemporary validity framework by Messick (content, response process, internal structure, relations to other variables, and consequences). Content and response process was ensured in the development of the rating scale and validity study. Internal consistency of the PUGVA rating scale was excellent and sufficient high for certification purposes (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.91). Proficiency groups were successfully discriminated by the UPGIVA rating scale (P = .029, one-way ANOVA), and the P-UGVA rating scale scores also correlated strongly with the overall performance evaluations (rho=0.87, P< .001, Pearson correlation). We calculated a pass/fail score of 29, which lead to a theoretical false positive rate of 26.5% and false negative rate of 8.5%. We present validity evidence for the P-UGVA rating scale and an evidence-based standard in proficiency for ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous access. Abbreviation: P-UGVA = peripheral ultrasound-guided vascular access.
Calculated attributes of synonym sets

The goal of formalization, proposed in this paper, is to bring together, as near as possible, the theoretic linguistic problem of synonym conception and the computer linguistic methods based generally on empirical intuitive unjustified factors. Using the word vector representation we have proposed the geometric approach to mathematical modeling of synonym set (synset). The word embedding is based on the neural networks (Skip-gram, CBOW), developed and realized as word2vec program by T. Mikolov. The standard cosine similarity is used as the distance between word-vectors. Several geometric characteristics of the synset words are introduced: the interior of synset, the synset word rank and centrality. These notions are intended to select the most significant synset words, i.e. the words which senses are the nearest to the sense of a synset. Some experiments with proposed notions, based on RusVectores resources, are represented. A brief description of this work can be viewed in slides this https URL
Tianshengyuan-1 (TSY-1) regulates cellular Telomerase activity by methylation of TERT promoter

Telomere and Telomerase have recently been explored as anti-aging and anti-cancer drug targets with only limited success. Previously we showed that the Chinese herbal medicine Tianshengyuan-1 (TSY-1), an agent used to treat bone marrow deficiency, has a profound effect on stimulating Telomerase activity in hematopoietic cells. Here, the mechanism of TSY-1 on cellular Telomerase activity was further investigated using HL60, a promyelocytic leukemia cell line, normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. TSY-1 increases Telomerase activity in normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells and CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells with innately low Telomerase activity but decreases Telomerase activity in HL60 cells with high intrinsic Telomerase activity, both in a dose-response manner. Gene profiling analysis identified Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) as the potential target gene associated with the TSY-1 effect, which was verified by both RT-PCR and western blot analysis. The β-galactosidase reporter staining assay showed that the effect of TSY-1 on Telomerase activity correlates with cell senescence. TSY-1 induced hypomethylation within TERT core promoter in HL60 cells but induced hypermethylation within TERT core promoter in normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells and CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells. TSY-1 appears to affect the Telomerase activity in different cell lines differently and the effect is associated with TERT expression, possibly via the methylation of TERT promoter.
Predicting Acute Kidney Injury Among Burn Patients in the 21st Century: A Classification and Regression Tree Analysis

Historically, acute kidney injury (AKI) carried a deadly prognosis in the burn population. The aim of this study is to provide a modern description of AKI in the burn population and to develop a prediction tool for identifying patients at risk for late AKI. A large multi-institutional database, the Glue Grant's Trauma-Related Database, was used to characterize AKI in a cohort of critically ill burn patients. The authors defined AKI according to the RIFLE criteria and categorized AKI as early, late, or progressive. They then used Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis to create a decision tree with data obtained from the first 48 hours of admission to predict which subset of patients would develop late AKI. The accuracy of this decision tree was tested in a separate, single-institution cohort of burn patients who met the same criteria for entry into the Glue Grant study. Of the 220 total patients analyzed from the Glue Grant cohort, 49 (22.2%) developed early AKI, 39 (17.7%) developed late AKI, and 16 (7.2%) developed progressive AKI. The group with progressive AKI was statistically older, with more comorbidities and with the worst survival when compared with those with early or late AKI. Using CART analysis, a decision tree was developed with an overall accuracy of 80% for the development of late AKI for the Glue Grant dataset. The authors then tested this decision tree on a smaller dataset from our own institution to validate this tool and found it to be 73% accurate. AKI is common in severe burns with notable differences between early, late, and progressive AKI. In addition, CART analysis provided a predictive model for early identification of patients at highest risk for developing late AKI with proven clinical accuracy.
High-Throughput Phenotyping to Detect Drought Tolerance QTL in Wild Barley Introgression Lines

Drought is one of the most severe stresses, endangering crop yields worldwide. In order to select drought tolerant genotypes, access to exotic germplasm and efficient phenotyping protocols are needed. In this study the high-throughput phenotyping platform “The Plant Accelerator”, Adelaide, Australia, was used to screen a set of 47 juvenile (six week old) wild barley introgression lines (S42ILs) for drought stress responses. The kinetics of growth development was evaluated under early drought stress and well watered treatments. High correlation (r = 0.98) between image based biomass estimates and actual biomass was demonstrated, and the suitability of the system to accurately and non-destructively estimate biomass was validated. Subsequently, quantitative trait loci (QTL) were located, which contributed to the genetic control of growth under drought stress. In total, 44 QTL for eleven out of 14 investigated traits were mapped, which for example controlled growth rate and water use efficiency. The correspondence of those QTL with QTL previously identified in field trials is shown. For instance, six out of eight QTL controlling plant height were also found in previous field and glasshouse studies with the same introgression lines. This indicates that phenotyping juvenile plants may assist in predicting adult plant performance. In addition, favorable wild barley alleles for growth and biomass parameters were detected, for instance, a QTL that increased biomass by approximately 36%. In particular, introgression line S42IL-121 revealed improved growth under drought stress compared to the control Scarlett. The introgression line showed a similar behavior in previous field experiments, indicating that S42IL-121 may be an attractive donor for breeding of drought tolerant barley cultivars.
GPU Accelerated Sub-Sampled Newton's Method

First order methods, which solely rely on gradient information, are commonly used in diverse machine learning (ML) and data analysis (DA) applications. This is attributed to the simplicity of their implementations, as well as low per-iteration computational/storage costs. However, they suffer from significant disadvantages; most notably, their performance degrades with increasing problem ill-conditioning. Furthermore, they often involve a large number of hyper-parameters, and are notoriously sensitive to parameters such as the step-size. By incorporating additional information from the Hessian, second-order methods, have been shown to be resilient to many such adversarial effects. However, these advantages of using curvature information come at the cost of higher per-iteration costs, which in \enquote{big data} regimes, can be computationally prohibitive. In this paper, we show that, contrary to conventional belief, second-order methods, when implemented appropriately, can be more efficient than first-order alternatives in many large-scale ML/ DA applications. In particular, in convex settings, we consider variants of classical Newton\textsf{'}s method in which the Hessian and/or the gradient are randomly sub-sampled. We show that by effectively leveraging the power of GPUs, such randomized Newton-type algorithms can be significantly accelerated, and can easily outperform state of the art implementations of existing techniques in popular ML/ DA software packages such as TensorFlow. Additionally these randomized methods incur a small memory overhead compared to first-order methods. In particular, we show that for million-dimensional problems, our GPU accelerated sub-sampled Newton\textsf{'}s method achieves a higher test accuracy in milliseconds as compared with tens of seconds for first order alternatives.
Augmented Reality for Science Education

1 Introduction Augmented reality (AR) holds great promise as a learning tool. So far, however, most research has looked at the technology itself – and AR has been used primarily for commercial purposes. As a learning tool, AR supports an inquiry-based approach to science education with a high level of student involvement. The AR-sci-project [1] (Augmented Reality for SCIence education) addresses the issue of applying augmented reality in developing innovative science education and enhancing the quality of science teaching and learning. AR-sci is an ongoing, international project funded by ERASMUS+. AR-sci is aimed at developing augmented reality (AR) for educational purposes, specifically for science education, and in particular for lower secondary school. The poster presents the project and in particular the findings from stage 1 (see overview of project in figure 1 below). The research activities in stage 1 are aimed at securing project direction and usefulness – to secure that the project builds on solid ground and existing knowledge in the field, you could say. A central part of this is done through a framework which will serve both as a guideline in designing AR-prototypes in the project (" showcase " content), and in providing support for teachers and students as designers and producers of AR in the next stages of the project. Furthermore, the framework might have a wider potential to be used to analyse various kinds of educational use of AR applications. The framework is developed based on rich qualitative data from expert teachers, researchers and designers from the four participating countries Denmark, Norway, UK and Spain.
Linking Working Capital Policy Towards Financial Performance of Small Medium Enterprise (SME) in Malaysia

Despite the fact that working capital management (WCM) is vital to businesses of any size that operated in developed and emerging countries, WCM is of particular importance to the small business firms operating in emerging markets. The importance of WCM to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) stems from the limited financial resources available and heavily reliance of SMEs on WCM as a main source of finance. This study aims to provide empirical evidence on the effects of working capital investment policy on firm’s financial performance for a sample of 103 small and medium-sized firms listed with the SME Corporation of Malaysia. Data for the period from 2008 to 2013 are analysed to examine if investment policy improves firms’ return on total asset. By using correlation and pooled ordinary least square regression, the result provides a significant relationship between the level of aggressiveness of investment policy and SME’s financial performance. The findings of this study not only contribute to the scant WCM literature in Malaysia but throw light on the importance of efficient WCM to the policy makers and regulators in motivating and encouraging relevant parties to pay more attention on working capital through improving investors’ awareness and improving transparency.
Epidemiological and Clinical Features of 308 Hospitalized Patients with Novel 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Infection in China during the First Pandemic Wave

Objectives: To investigate the epidemiological and clinical features of 308 hospitalized patients suffering from infection with novel H1N1 influenza virus in China from May to August 2009, and to examine the effects of oseltamivir treatment for mild cases. Methods: Information on H1N1 influenza patients confirmed by real-time RT-PCR assay was gathered and analyzed from an influenza surveillance system, including demographic features, clinical symptoms and signs, therapeutic regimen, and duration of fever and virus shedding. Results: The clinical course of infected individuals appeared mild. Mainly young adults were affected. Most cases had low or mid-level fever, cough, headache, rhinorrhoea, and sore throat. Few patients had vomiting (1.3%) and diarrhea (3.9%). Oseltamivir treatment did not shorten the duration of fever. Furthermore, early oseltamivir treatment as well as early conventional supportive treatment without antiviral drugs contributed to a reduction in the duration of virus shedding. Conclusions: In the first pandemic wave, novel H1N1 virus caused disease primarily in adults, causing mild febrile illness. Mildly ill patients cleared the virus rapidly even in the absence of oseltamivir treatment.
Simplification to single-tablet regimen of elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, tenofovir DF from multi-tablet ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor plus coformulated emtricitabine and tenofovir DF regimens: week 96 results of STRATEGY-PI

Background: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) simplification to a single-tablet regimen can benefit HIV-1-infected, virologically suppressed, individuals on ART composed of multiple pills. Objective: We assessed long-term efficacy and safety of switching to co-formulated elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (E/C/F/TDF) from multi-tablet ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor (PI + RTV) plus F/TDF (TVD) regimens. Methods: STRATEGY-PI was a 96-week, phase 3b, randomized (2:1), open-label, non-inferiority study examining the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of switching to E/C/F/TDF from PI + RTV + TVD regimens in virologically suppressed individuals (HIV-1 RNA <50 copies/mL). Participants were randomized to switch to E/C/F/TDF (switch group) or to continue their PI + RTV + TVD regimens (no-switch group). Eligibility criteria included no resistance to F/TDF or history of virologic failure, and estimated creatinine clearance ≥70 mL/min. Results: At week 96, 87% (252/290) of switch and 70% (97/139) of no-switch participants maintained HIV-1 RNA <50 copies/mL (difference: 17%, 95% CI 8.7–26.0%, p < 0.001). Superiority of the switch to E/C/F/TDF vs. no-switch was due to a smaller proportion of both virologic failures (switch, 1% [3/290]; no-switch, 6% [8/139]) and discontinuations for non-virologic reasons (switch, 11% [31/290]; no-switch, 24% [33/139]). No treatment-emergent resistance was observed in switch subjects with virologic failure. Discontinuation rates from adverse events were 3% in both groups (9/293, switch; 4/140, no-switch). Switching from PI + RTV + TVD to E/C/F/TDF was associated with significant improvements in patient-reported outcomes related to gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea and bloating). Conclusion: E/C/F/TDF is a safe, effective long-term alternative to multi-tablet PI + RTV + TVD-based regimens in virologically suppressed, HIV-1-infected adults, and improves patient-reported gastrointestinal symptoms.
Fate of microglia during HIV‐1 infection: From activation to senescence?

Microglia support productive human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1) infection and disturbed microglial function could contribute to the development of HIV‐associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Better understanding of how HIV‐1 infection and viral protein exposure modulate microglial function during the course of infection could lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets for both the eradication of HIV‐1 reservoir and treatment of neurocognitive deficits. This review first describes microglial origins and function in the normal central nervous system (CNS), and the changes that occur during aging. We then critically discuss how HIV‐1 infection and exposure to viral proteins such as Tat and gp120 affect various aspects of microglial homeostasis including activation, cellular metabolism and cell cycle regulation, through pathways implicated in cellular stress responses including p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor κB (NF‐κB). We thus propose that the functions of human microglia evolve during both healthy and pathological aging. Aging‐associated dysfunction of microglia comprises phenotypes resembling cellular senescence, which could contribute to cognitive impairments observed in various neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, microglia seems to develop characteristics that could be related to cellular senescence post‐HIV‐1 infection and after exposure to HIV‐1 viral proteins. However, despite its potential role as a component of HAND and likely other neurocognitive disorders, microglia senescence has not been well characterized and should be the focus of future studies, which could have high translational relevance. GLIA 2017;65:431–446
Biomechanical analysis of the posterior pedicle screw and the lateral mass screw on the atlas

Posterior screw fixation is commonly used for posterior fusion of atlantoaxial complexes.However,there are few biomechanics studies of the technique.Finite element(FE) models of screw fixation into the atlas via the posterior arch and the lateral mass were used to simulate and investigate the biomechanical properties of the interface between the screw and the vertebra for various screw lengths and vertebral strengths.As the screw length decreases,the maximum von Mises stress and the maximum equivalent strain at the interfaces increase for both methods.Because of the longer cortical screw path,transpedi cular screw fixation in the atlas gives a better stability than lateral mass screw fixation.The current FE model provides useful for biomechanical studies and clinical application of the posterior screw fixation technique.