Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of alginase on the natural history and antibiotic therapy of experimental endocarditis caused by mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The exopolysaccharide (alginate) of mucoid strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is believed to be an important virulence factor. The ability of an alginate-deploymerizing enzyme (alginase) to modify the polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN)-directed and antibiotic-mediated phagocytosis and killing of mucoid P. aeruginosa was studied both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, pretreatment of a mucoid P. aeruginosa strain (144MR) resulted in a significant enhancement of PMN phagocytosis and killing of the organism (P less than 0.05), to levels similar to that observed with its nonmucoid mate, strain 144NM. Moreover, alginase treatment of the mucoid strain 144MR caused a substantial removal of bacterial cell surface alginate as assessed by immunofluorescence staining with a murine monoclonal antialginate antibody. The experimental endocarditis model was used to evaluate the in vivo effect of alginase in modifying the course of a deep-seated pseudomonal infection caused by mucoid strain 144MR. In right-sided endocarditis, in which PMNs normally mediate spontaneous clearance of the organism from cardiac vegetations (A. S. Bayer, J. Yih, C. Y. Chiu, and C. C. Nast, Chemotherapy 35:278-288, 1989), the presence of the alginate exopolysaccharide on strain 144MR was associated with an inability to reduce intravegetation pseudomonal counts over a 13-day postinfection period; in contrast, right-sided vegetations infected with the nonmucoid strain 144NM underwent significant reductions in bacterial densities over this same time (P less than 0.05). Administration of alginase intravenously (i.v.) (750 enzyme units per day for 7 days) to animals with right-sided endocarditis caused by the mucoid strain 144MR was associated with a significant reduction in intravegetation pseudomonal counts (P less than 0.05), to levels similar to that seen with endocarditis caused by the nonmucoid strain. In left-sided endocarditis caused by mucoid strain 144MR, animals received either no therapy, amikacin (20 or 40 mg/kg twice a day for 7 or 14 days), or amikacin plus alginase (750 U/day [i.v.]). The coadministration of alginase for 14 days with the higher-dose amikacin regimen rendered more left-sided vegetations culture negative than those in animals receiving the antibiotic alone for 7 or 14 days (P = 0.001 and 0.056, respectively). These salutary effects of alginase in vivo were paralleled by the ability of the enzyme to remove the exopolysaccharide from the surface of mucoid pseudomonal cells within cardiac vegetations, as assessed by transmission electron microscopy. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Increased Excitability of Acidified Skeletal Muscle

Generation of the action potentials (AP) necessary to activate skeletal muscle fibers requires that inward membrane currents exceed outward currents and thereby depolarize the fibers to the voltage threshold for AP generation. Excitability therefore depends on both excitatory Na+ currents and inhibitory K+ and Cl− currents. During intensive exercise, active muscle loses K+ and extracellular K+ ([K+]o) increases. Since high [K+]o leads to depolarization and ensuing inactivation of voltage-gated Na+ channels and loss of excitability in isolated muscles, exercise-induced loss of K+ is likely to reduce muscle excitability and thereby contribute to muscle fatigue in vivo. Intensive exercise, however, also leads to muscle acidification, which recently was shown to recover excitability in isolated K+-depressed muscles of the rat. Here we show that in rat soleus muscles at 11 mM K+, the almost complete recovery of compound action potentials and force with muscle acidification (CO2 changed from 5 to 24%) was associated with reduced chloride conductance (1731 ± 151 to 938 ± 64 μS/cm2, P < 0.01) but not with changes in potassium conductance (405 ± 20 to 455 ± 30 μS/cm2, P < 0.16). Furthermore, acidification reduced the rheobase current by 26% at 4 mM K+ and increased the number of excitable fibers at elevated [K+]o. At 11 mM K+ and normal pH, a recovery of excitability and force similar to the observations with muscle acidification could be induced by reducing extracellular Cl− or by blocking the major muscle Cl− channel, ClC-1, with 30 μM 9-AC. It is concluded that recovery of excitability in K+-depressed muscles induced by muscle acidification is related to reduction in the inhibitory Cl− currents, possibly through inhibition of ClC-1 channels, and acidosis thereby reduces the Na+ current needed to generate and propagate an AP. Thus short term regulation of Cl− channels is important for maintenance of excitability in working muscle.
Author's Personal Copy Simultaneous Detection of Iodine and Iodide on Boron Doped Diamond Electrodes

In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: Keywords: Iodine Iodide Iodate Boron doped diamond electrodes Electrochemical detection a b s t r a c t Individual and simultaneous electrochemical detection of iodide and iodine has been performed via cyclic voltammetry on boron doped diamond (BDD) electrodes in a 1 M NaClO 4 (pH 8) solution, representative of typical environmental water conditions. It is feasible to compute accurate calibration curve for both compounds using cyclic voltammetry measurements by determining the peak current intensities as a function of the concentration. A lower detection limit of about 20 mM was obtained for iodide and 10 mM for iodine. Based on the comparison between the peak current intensities reported during the oxidation of KI, it is probable that iodide (I À) is first oxidized in a single step to yield iodine (I 2). The latter is further oxidized to obtain IO 3 À. This technique, however, did not allow for a reasonably accurate detection of iodate (IO 3 À) on a BDD electrode. Iodine is an essential micronutrient, which is part of the thyroid hormones that play a role in the development of brain function and cell growth. Deficiency of iodine can lead to mental retardation, endemic goiter and could be a possible cause of stomach cancer [1,2]. In women, such deficiency can lead to overt hypothyroidism and consequent anovulation, infertility, gesta-tional hypertension, spontaneous first-trimester abortion and stillbirth [3]. Moreover, the radioactive isotope 131 I is a fission product of water nuclear reactors, which if released in natural waters, represents a biological hazard for the environment and a serious threat for global health due to its ability to heavily damage cells [4]. For all the aforementioned reasons, rapid and accurate determination of the most common iodine-containing molecules and ions found in environmental waters such as iodine (I 2), iodide (I À) and iodate (IO 3 À) is critical in fields such as biological and environmental sciences. In recent years, many analytical methods have been developed to detect iodine and iodide such as chemiluminescence [5], titrimetry [6], diffuse reflectance spectro-scopy [7], gas chromatography mass spectrometry [8] or ion chromatography [9]. These techniques, however, often require complex procedures and expensive equipment, making these …
Enable Location-based Services with a Tracking Framework

In order to obtain information and knowledge about moving entities, spatio-temporal data needs to be collected and analyzed. The idea is to establish a generic tracking framework that is able to integrate, combine, process and analyze spatio-temporal data that is obtained from heterogeneous data sources. This framework allows for the establishment of new location-based services for different scenarios in various domains.
Orographic influences in rainfall downscaling

The problem of rainfall downscaling in a mountainous region is discussed, and a simple methodology aimed at introducing spatial heterogeneity induced by orography in downscaling models is proposed. This procedure was calibrated and applied to rainfall data retrieved by the high temporal resolution rain gage network of the Sardinian Hydrological Survey.
Competitive Exclusion in Delayed Chemostat Models with Differential Removal Rates

Competitive exclusion is frequently observed in the chemostat when multiple species compete exploitatively for a single growth-limiting nutrient. However, rigorous mathematical proof for competitive exclusion is very limited, especially for delayed chemostat models with differential removal rates. In this paper, by employing the method of Liapunov functionals and placing two assumptions on the response functions, we prove that competitive exclusion holds under a generic condition for chemostat models with differential removal rates and discrete (also finitely distributed) delays. For delayed chemostat models with a large variety of widely used response functions, including Holling types I, II, and III and even some nonmonotone response functions, our results show that the competition outcome is completely determined by the species' break-even concentrations: it is the species with the lowest break-even concentration that survives in the chemostat and drives other species to extinction.
Children's weighting strategies for word-final stop voicing are not explained by auditory sensitivities.

PURPOSE It has been reported that children and adults weight differently the various acoustic properties of the speech signal that support phonetic decisions. This finding is generally attributed to the fact that the amount of weight assigned to various acoustic properties by adults varies across languages, and that children have not yet discovered the mature weighting strategies of their own native languages. But an alternative explanation exists: Perhaps children's auditory sensitivities for some acoustic properties of speech are poorer than those of adults, and children cannot categorize stimuli based on properties to which they are not keenly sensitive. The purpose of the current study was to test that hypothesis. METHOD Edited-natural, synthetic-formant, and sine wave stimuli were all used, and all were modeled after words with voiced and voiceless final stops. Adults and children (5 and 7 years of age) listened to pairs of stimuli in 5 conditions: 2 involving a temporal property (1 with speech and 1 with nonspeech stimuli) and 3 involving a spectral property (1 with speech and 2 with nonspeech stimuli). An AX discrimination task was used in which a standard stimulus (A) was compared with all other stimuli (X) equal numbers of times (method of constant stimuli). RESULTS Adults and children had similar difference thresholds (i.e., 50% point on the discrimination function) for 2 of the 3 sets of nonspeech stimuli (1 temporal and 1 spectral), but children's thresholds were greater for both sets of speech stimuli. CONCLUSION Results are interpreted as evidence that children's auditory sensitivities are adequate to support weighting strategies similar to those of adults, and so observed differences between children and adults in speech perception cannot be explained by differences in auditory perception. Furthermore, it is concluded that listeners bring expectations to the listening task about the nature of the signals they are hearing based on their experiences with those signals.
Development and validation of multivariable predictive model for thromboembolic events in lymphoma patients

Lymphoma patients are at increased risk of thromboembolic events but thromboprophylaxis in these patients is largely underused. We sought to develop and validate a simple model, based on individual clinical and laboratory patient characteristics that would designate lymphoma patients at risk for thromboembolic event. The study population included 1,820 lymphoma patients who were treated in the Lymphoma Departments at the Clinics of Hematology, Clinical Center of Serbia and Clinical Center Kragujevac. The model was developed using data from a derivation cohort (n = 1,236), and further assessed in the validation cohort (n = 584). Sixty‐five patients (5.3%) in the derivation cohort and 34 (5.8%) patients in the validation cohort developed thromboembolic events. The variables independently associated with risk for thromboembolism were: previous venous and/or arterial events, mediastinal involvement, BMI>30 kg/m2, reduced mobility, extranodal localization, development of neutropenia and hemoglobin level < 100g/L. Based on the risk model score, the population was divided into the following risk categories: low (score 0‐1), intermediate (score 2‐3), and high (score >3). For patients classified at risk (intermediate and high‐risk scores), the model produced negative predictive value of 98.5%, positive predictive value of 25.1%, sensitivity of 75.4%, and specificity of 87.5%. A high‐risk score had positive predictive value of 65.2%. The diagnostic performance measures retained similar values in the validation cohort. Developed prognostic Thrombosis Lymphoma – ThroLy score is more specific for lymphoma patients than any other available score targeting thrombosis in cancer patients. Am. J. Hematol. 91:1014–1019, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Estimation of Molecular Weight Distribution of Elastomers and Polymer Melts through Dynamic Rheometry

This work presents a rheometric molecular weight distribution technique (RMWD) to estimate molecular parameters of low and high poly dispersity samples of elastomers and polymer melts. Samples of polystyrene, polybutadiene, polyethylene and styrene-butadiene rubbers are considered in this study. Important conclusions are obtained concerning the elimination of experimental information with glassy modes that are not relevant for the RMWD technique. A discussion on the calibration of this technique is pre sented involving an interplay with size exclusion chromatography and capil lary rheometry. Estimation of molecular weights Mw and Mn, and polydisper sity Po through rheometry is a promising technique, which when comple mented with rheological theories of polymer melts, may give additional infor mation into the chemical architecture of polymer chains. Correlations between rheological and molecular parameters are also presented.
Through-Wall Multiple Targets Vital Signs Tracking Based on VMD Algorithm

Targets located at the same distance are easily neglected in most through-wall multiple targets detecting applications which use the single-input single-output (SISO) ultra-wideband (UWB) radar system. In this paper, a novel multiple targets vital signs tracking algorithm for through-wall detection using SISO UWB radar has been proposed. Taking advantage of the high-resolution decomposition of the Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) based algorithm, the respiration signals of different targets can be decomposed into different sub-signals, and then, we can track the time-varying respiration signals accurately when human targets located in the same distance. Intensive evaluation has been conducted to show the effectiveness of our scheme with a 0.15 m thick concrete brick wall. Constant, piecewise-constant and time-varying vital signs could be separated and tracked successfully with the proposed VMD based algorithm for two targets, even up to three targets. For the multiple targets’ vital signs tracking issues like urban search and rescue missions, our algorithm has superior capability in most detection applications.
Co-training and Self-training for Word Sense Disambiguation

This paper investigates the application of co-training and self-training to word sense disambiguation. Optimal and empirical parameter selection methods for co-training and self-training are investigated, with various degrees of error reduction. A new method that combines co-training with majority voting is introduced, with the effect of smoothing the bootstrapping learning curves, and improving the average performance.
Partner Selection and the Division of Surplus: Evidence from Ultimatum and Dictator Experiments

We study ultimatum and dictator environments with one-way, unenforceable pre-play communication from the proposer to the recipient, semantically framed as a promise. After observing this promise regarding how much the proposer will offer if selected, in our treatment conditions, recipients choose whether or not to select a particular proposer. We find that offers can increase in the ultimatum game both with non-competitive selection with a single potential proposer, and more so with competition, where the recipient chooses one of two potential proposers, as compared to the no selection baseline. Furthermore, the offer is rejected with higher probability if the promisemade by the selected proposer is higher than the eventual offer. Our dictator environment does not give the power to reject offers, thus selection power carries no benefits in the dictator game. Finally, independent of the game institution or proposer selection mechanism, promises provide credible signals for offers.
1 Mining Closed & Maximal Frequent Itemsets

In this chapter we give an overview of the closed and maximal itemset mining problem. We survey existing methods and focus on Charm and GenMax, both stateof-the-art algorithms that efficiently enumerate all closed and maximal patterns, respectively. Charm and GenMax simultaneously explore both the itemset space and transaction space, and use a number of optimizations to quickly prune away a large portion of the subset search space. We conduct an extensive experimental characterization of GenMax and Charm against other maximal and closed pattern mining methods. We found that the methods have varying performance depending on the database characteristics (mainly the distribution of the closed or maximal frequent patterns by length). We present a systematic and realistic set of experiments showing under which conditions a method is likely to perform well and under what conditions it does not perform well. Overall, both Charm and GenMax deliver excellent
Persistent cell proliferation of terminal end buds precedes radiation-induced rat mammary carcinogenesis.

BACKGROUND The rat model of radiation-induced carcinogenesis is widely used to estimate breast cancer risk, but it is unknown whether mammary terminal end buds (TEBs), the hypothesized target of chemical carcinogens, are also targets of radiation-induced carcinogenesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Female Sprague-Dawley rats were irradiated with X-rays (2 Gy). The morphology, bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-labelling index and pyknotic index of mammary ductal termini were investigated from 6 hours to 8 weeks post-irradiation. RESULTS The irradiated rats showed a significantly smaller decrease in TEB numbers than the controls 4-8 weeks after irradiation. The BrdU-labelling and pyknotic indices initially decreased and increased, respectively, recovered to control levels by 3 days post-irradiation, and remained significantly higher until 8 weeks and 4 weeks post-irradiation, respectively. One case of ductal hyperplasia was observed at 8 weeks. CONCLUSION Irradiation resulted in a persistent proliferation of TEBs, which may be associated with neoplastic transformation via a temporal differentiation arrest.
Use of an Environmental Transmission Electron Microscope for Dynamic in situ Studies of Nano-Structured Materials at the Atomic Scale

urrent research and develop-ment (R&D) that is focused on efficient energy conver-sion and environmental protection technologies relies heavily on advances in the development of new and improved functional nano-materials and nano-devices, such as catalysts, bat-teries, fuel cells, etc. A thorough under-standing of the relationship between the nano-structure (shape, size, surface, inter-face, defects, etc.) of the nano-material system and its performance is vital for applied R&D.High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) has clearly be-come an essential tool for studying nano-structured materials at the atomic scale. With more recent advances in electron optics, HRTEM is now able to detect the atomic structure in nano-materials with a resolution below 0.1 nm and with single atom sensitivity.Standard TEM experiments are per-formed with the sample kept under high-vacuum conditions inside the microscope column. However, such conditions may be inadequate to investigate the active func-tional state of a structure whose proper-ties depend on varying environmental (gas) conditions.
Practices in Wound Healing Studies of Plants

Wounds are the result of injuries to the skin that disrupt the other soft tissue. Healing of a wound is a complex and protracted process of tissue repair and remodeling in response to injury. Various plant products have been used in treatment of wounds over the years. Wound healing herbal extracts promote blood clotting, fight infection, and accelerate the healing of wounds. Phytoconstituents derived from plants need to be identified and screened for antimicrobial activity for management of wounds. The in vitro assays are useful, quick, and relatively inexpensive. Small animals provide a multitude of model choices for various human wound conditions. The study must be conducted after obtaining approval of the Ethics Committee and according to the guidelines for care and use of animals. The prepared formulations of herbal extract can be evaluated by various physicopharmaceutical parameters. The wound healing efficacies of various herbal extracts have been evaluated in excision, incision, dead space, and burn wound models. In vitro and in vivo assays are stepping stones to well-controlled clinical trials of herbal extracts.
CMR-FD: Clustered Multipath Routing with False Destination to increase the Lifetime of Sensor Network

Routing in wireless sensor network is an important task. This has led to number of routing protocol which utilizes the limited resources. Since wireless sensors are powered by batteries, it is very essential to utilize their energy. Under these constraints many methods for conserving the power have been proposed to increase battery life. In this paper we propose a novel way by using clustered multipath routing with false destination (CMR-FD) to increase the lifetime of sensor nodes. It uses multiple paths between source and the destination which is intended to provide a consistent transmission with low energy.
Performance Evaluation of Traffic Permutations for Mesh On-Chip Networks

Networks-on-Chip (NoC) is recently proposed as an alternative to the on-chip bus to meet the increasing requirement of complex communication needs in Systems-onChip (SoC). Using on-chip interconnection networks in place of ad-hoc global wiring, structures the top level wires on a chip and facilitates modular design. The structured network wiring gives well-controlled electrical parameters that eliminate timing iterations and enable the use of highperformance circuits to reduce latency and increase bandwidth. Using a network to replace global wiring has advantages of structure, performance, and modularity. With this approach, system modules (processors, memories, peripherals, etc.) communicate by sending packets to one another over the network. In NoC, nodes are arranged in the topology such that communication between any nodes is possible even though they are not directly connected. Each node is a IP core which can be a DSP, Microprocessor, Memory along with routing function which is responsible for forwarding the data packet to the neighboring node.