Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

The natural history of tuberculosis begins with the inhalation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis organisms; a period of bacterial replication and dissemination ensues, followed by immunologic containment of viable bacilli. The result of this process is asymptomatic latent tuberculosis infection, which is defined as a state of persistent bacterial viability, immune control, and no evidence of clinically manifested active tuberculosis. 1 Currently, it is not possible to directly diagnose M. tuberculosis infection in humans; therefore, latent tuberculosis infection is diagnosed by response to in vivo or in vitro stimulation by M. tuberculosis antigens with the use of the tuberculin skin test or interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs). Studies suggest that active tuberculosis will develop in 5 to 15% of persons with latent infection during their lifetimes 2 (and a higher percentage if the persons are immunocompromised); thus, persons with latent infection serve, according to Osler, as the “seedbeds” of tuberculosis in the community. 3 This article will review the pathogenesis, epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection. It will address critical gaps in the understanding of this complex condition and propose the necessary research agenda.
Injury and illness epidemiology in soccer – effects of global geographical differences – a call for standardized and consistent research studies

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. While injuries and illnesses can affect the players’ health and performance, they can also have a major economic impact on teams. Moreover, several studies have shown the favourable association between higher player availability and team success. Therefore, injury prevention could directly impact clubs’ financial balance and teams’ performance via increased player availability. To be able to develop effective methods of injury prevention, it is vital to first determine the scope and the degree of the problem: the mechanisms and types of injuries, their frequency and severity, etc. According to the most widely known prevention model, systematic injury surveillance is the first and most fundamental step towards injury prevention. Since epidemiological studies have shown that injuries and illnesses in soccer players differ from region to region, it is important to establish a specific injuries and illness database in order to guide specific preventive actions. Since Asia is the largest continent, with the highest number of soccer players, and in the light of the long-term research on injuries performed in UEFA clubs, the authors of the present article present the AFC surveillance. Some methodological issues related to this prospective design study are discussed. The definition of injury and illness and the methods to track players’ exposure are described along with the potential challenges related to such a vast scale study. This article is also a call for action to have consistent and standardized epidemiological studies on soccer injuries and illnesses, with the aim to improve their prevention.
Design and implementation of cloud offloading framework among devices for web applications

Nowadays, cloud computing has become a common computing infrastructure. As the computing paradigm has been shifted to cloud computing, devices can utilize computing resource any-where/any-time/any-device. Many research papers in mobile cloud called `cloud offloading' which migrates a device's workload to a server or to the other device have been proposed. However, previous cloud offloading methods are mainly focusing on the cloud offloading between a device and a server. Furthermore, these proposed methods are difficult to be commercialized because the proposed methods were very complex - difficulty of partitioning application tasks and maintaining execution status sync between a device and a server in the cloud. In this paper, I proposed the framework for cloud offloading based on the web application standard - HTML5 specification - for web applications among devices. In HTML5 specification, there is the method for the parallel execution of the task named `Web Worker' and the method for the communication among browsers name `WebRTC'. Utilizing the property of this specification, I proposed a seamless method to do the cloud offloading for parallelized tasks of the web applications among devices. Based on proposed method, a device can seamlessly migrate a part of web application workload with the Web Worker to other devices with a little modification of web applications. As a result, I can successfully build the environment where a device which has a HTML5 browser such as a mobile phone and a smart TV can share the workload among them in various situations - out-of-battery, good network connection.
Analysis of traffic data from a hybrid satellite-terrestrial network

Satellite data networks provide broadband access for areas not served by traditional broadband technologies. In this paper, we describe a collection of traffic data (billing records and tcpdump traces) from a satellite Internet service provider in China. We use the billing records to investigate the uploaded and downloaded traffic volume and the aggregate user behavior. We examine daily and weekly cycles and effects of holidays on traffic patterns. Analysis of the tcpdump traces indicates that Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) accounts for the majority of data transfers. The analysis also includes the detection of anomalies such as invalid TCP flag combinations, port scans, and anomalies in traffic volume.
Immunodominance among herpes simplex virus-specific CD8 T cells expressing a tissue-specific homing receptor

The study of immunodominance within microbe-specific CD8 T cell responses has been challenging. We used a previously undescribed approach to create unbiased panels of CD8 cytotoxic T lymphocyte clones specific for herpes simplex virus type 2, a pathogen with a complex genome encoding at least 85 polypeptides. Circulating herpes simplex virus type 2-specific cells were enriched and cloned after sorting for expression of the skin homing-associated receptor, cutaneous lymphocyte-associated antigen, bypassing restimulation with antigen. The specificity of the resultant cytotoxic clones was determined. Clonal frequencies were compared with each other and with the total number of cytotoxic clones. For each subject within the homing receptor-positive compartment, the CD8 cytotoxic response was dominated by T cells specific for only a few peptides. Previously undescribed antigens and epitopes in viral tegument, capsid, or scaffold proteins were immunodominant in some subjects. Clone enumeration analyses were confirmed in some subjects with dominance studies by using herpes simplex mutants, vaccinia recombinants, and/or enzyme-linked immune spots. We conclude that among circulating cells expressing a homing-associated receptor, during chronic herpes type 2 infection, the CD8 T cell response becomes quite focused despite the presence of many potential antigenic peptides.
Parallel Implementation of Stochastic Iteration Algorithms

The paper examines the parallel implementation of iteration type global illumination algorithms. The steps of iteration depend on each other, thus their parallel implementation is not as straightforward as for random walks. This paper solves the interdependency problem by applying stochastic iteration. In this framework two fundamental questions are investigated: how many processors can be efficiently used in an algorithm and how often the processors should exchange their information. These questions are answered by a theoretical model and also by simulations.
Evaluation of role 2 (R2) medical resources in the Afghanistan combat theater: Initial review of the joint trauma system R2 registry

BACKGROUND A Role 2 registry (R2R) was developed in 2008 by the US Joint Trauma System (JTS). The purpose of this project was to undertake a preliminary review of the R2R to understand combat trauma epidemiology and related interventions at these facilities to guide training and optimal use of forward surgical capability in the future. METHODS A retrospective review of available JTS R2R records; the registry is a convenience sample entered voluntarily by members of the R2 units. Patients were classified according to basic demographics, affiliation, region where treatment was provided, mechanism of injury, type of injury, time and method of transport from point of injury (POI) to R2 facility, interventions at R2, and survival. Analysis included trauma patients aged ≥18 years or older wounded in year 2008 to 2014, and treated in Afghanistan. RESULTS A total of 15,404 patients wounded and treated in R2 were included in the R2R from February 2008 to September 2014; 12,849 patients met inclusion criteria. The predominant patient affiliations included US Forces, 4,676 (36.4%); Afghan Forces, 4,549 (35.4%); and Afghan civilians, 2,178 (17.0%). Overall, battle injuries predominated (9,792 [76.2%]). Type of injury included penetrating, 7,665 (59.7%); blunt, 4,026 (31.3%); and other, 633 (4.9%). Primary mechanism of injury included explosion, 5,320 (41.4%); gunshot wounds, 3,082 (24.0%); and crash, 1,209 (9.4%). Of 12,849 patients who arrived at R2, 167 (1.3%) were dead; of 12,682 patients who were alive upon arrival, 342 (2.7%) died at R2. CONCLUSION This evaluation of the R2R describes the patient profiles of and common injuries treated in a sample of R2 facilities in Afghanistan. Ongoing and detailed analysis of R2R information may provide evidence-based guidance to military planners and medical leaders to best prepare teams and allocate R2 resources in future operations. Given the limitations of the data set, conclusions must be interpreted in context of other available data and analyses, not in isolation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Epidemiologic study, level IV.
Level of chronic life stress predicts clinical outcome in irritable bowel syndrome.

BACKGROUND Life stress contributes to symptom onset and exacerbation in the majority of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional dyspepsia (FD); research evidence is conflicting, however, as to the strength of these effects. AIMS To test prospectively the relation of chronic life stress threat to subsequent symptom intensity over time. PATIENTS One hundred and seventeen consecutive outpatients satisfying the modified Rome criteria for IBS (66% with one or more concurrent FD syndromes) participated. METHODS The life stress and symptom intensity measures were determined from interview data collected independently at entry, and at six and 16 months; these measures assessed the potency of chronic life stress threat during the prior six months or more, and the severity and frequency of IBS and FD symptoms during the following two weeks. RESULTS Chronic life stress threat was a powerful predictor of subsequent symptom intensity, explaining 97% of the variance on this measure over 16 months. No patient exposed to even one chronic highly threatening stressor improved clinically (by 50%) over the 16 months; all patients who improved did so in the absence of such a stressor. CONCLUSION The level of chronic life stress threat predicts the clinical outcome in most patients with IBS/FD.
Brain temperature and its fundamental properties: a review for clinical neuroscientists

Brain temperature, as an independent therapeutic target variable, has received increasingly intense clinical attention. To date, brain hypothermia represents the most potent neuroprotectant in laboratory studies. Although the impact of brain temperature is prevalent in a number of common human diseases including: head trauma, stroke, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, mood disorders, headaches, and neurodegenerative disorders, it is evident and well recognized that the therapeutic application of induced hypothermia is limited to a few highly selected clinical conditions such as cardiac arrest and hypoxic ischemic neonatal encephalopathy. Efforts to understand the fundamental aspects of brain temperature regulation are therefore critical for the development of safe, effective, and pragmatic clinical treatments for patients with brain injuries. Although centrally-mediated mechanisms to maintain a stable body temperature are relatively well established, very little is clinically known about brain temperature's spatial and temporal distribution, its physiological and pathological fluctuations, and the mechanism underlying brain thermal homeostasis. The human brain, a metabolically “expensive” organ with intense heat production, is sensitive to fluctuations in temperature with regards to its functional activity and energy efficiency. In this review, we discuss several critical aspects concerning the fundamental properties of brain temperature from a clinical perspective.
In Vivo Pharmacokinetic Studies of Albendazole Nanoparticulate Oral Formulations for Improved Bioavailability

ABSTRACT During the last 10 years, the formulation of drugs as nanocrystals has rapidly evolved into a mature drug delivery strategy, with currently five products on the market. The major characteristic of these systems is the rapid dissolution velocity, enabling bioavailability enhancement after oral administration. Albendazole, a lipophilic anthelmintic drug, belongs to biopharmaceutical classification system type II: low aqueous solubility and bioavailability and high permeability. This study describes the bioefficacy of an albendazole nanosuspension tablet achieved by high-pressure homogenization. The aim was to obtain a stable nanosuspension with an increased drug saturation solubility and dissolution velocity. Pharmacokinetics of optimized albendazole nanosuspensions after oral administration to rats was studied. Bioavailability of albendazole nanosuspensions were 2–3-fold compared with that of market product. These results indicate the potential of nanosuspension in improvement of oral bioavailabil.
Interaction between Volatile Organic Compounds and Functional Monomers in Molecularly Imprinted Materials

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been playing an increasingly important role in volatile organic compounds (VOC) sensing for air quality control. The unique feature of these materials is their biomimetic molecular recognition functionality. Theoretical chemistry can advance our ability to design and synthesize new MIPs with specific functions, providing valuable insight into the system at the atomistic level, and therefore are able to explain microscopic behavior. In this work, we have studied the interaction of pyridine, as a recognition element, with methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, in a pre-polymerization step in the formation of a specific molecularly imprinted polymer. Quantum chemistry calculations were performed at the M052X/6-311++g(d,p) level. The binding characteristics of the imprinted polymer were examinated in detail. Ethylene glycol dimethacrylate is proposed as the cross-linker, and chloroform as the solvent. In addition, we investigate adsorption of toluene and benzene in the MIP structure. The aim is to test whether the model is able to recognize pyridine among these similar species and to explore the theoretical sensitivity range of these materials towards pyridine and other VOCs. Another test of the model is its ability to exhibit preferential adsorption of toluene over benzene, as has been observed experimentally in similar systems. The performed quantum chemistry calculations reproduce the preferential adsorption of pyridine over toluene and benzene, as well as the preferential adsorption of toluene over benzene.
Incremental Social Learning in Particle Swarms

Incremental social learning (ISL) was proposed as a way to improve the scalability of systems composed of multiple learning agents. In this paper, we show that ISL can be very useful to improve the performance of population-based optimization algorithms. Our study focuses on two particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms: a) the incremental particle swarm optimizer (IPSO), which is a PSO algorithm with a growing population size in which the initial position of new particles is biased toward the best-so-far solution, and b) the incremental particle swarm optimizer with local search (IPSOLS), in which solutions are further improved through a local search procedure. We first derive analytically the probability density function induced by the proposed initialization rule applied to new particles. Then, we compare the performance of IPSO and IPSOLS on a set of benchmark functions with that of other PSO algorithms (with and without local search) and a random restart local search algorithm. Finally, we measure the benefits of using incremental social learning on PSO algorithms by running IPSO and IPSOLS on problems with different fitness distance correlations.
Scalable Learning of Bayesian Network Classifiers

Ever increasing data quantity makes ever more urgent the need for highly scalable learners that have good classification performance. Therefore, an out-of-core learner with excellent time and space complexity, along with high expressivity (that is, capacity to learn very complex multivariate probability distributions) is extremely desirable. This paper presents such a learner. We propose an extension to the k-dependence Bayesian classifier (KDB) that discriminatively selects a sub-model of a full KDB classifier. It requires only one additional pass through the training data, making it a three-pass learner. Our extensive experimental evaluation on 16 large data sets reveals that this out-of-core algorithm achieves competitive classification performance, and substantially better training and classification time than state-of-the-art in-core learners such as random forest and linear and non-linear logistic regression.
Worldview implications of believing in free will and/or determinism: politics, morality, and punitiveness.

OBJECTIVE We used the FAD-Plus to investigate the association of free will belief (FWB) with political orientation, moral attitudes, and punitiveness. Other goals included (a) confirming the independence of believing in free will and determinism and (b) contrasting scientific determinism with fatalistic determinism. METHOD Three studies were conducted via online questionnaires. Studies 1 and 3 recruited undergraduate students: Study 1, N = 220, M(age) = 20.96; Study 3, N = 161, M(age) = 20.2. Study 2 participants were recruited from a broader community sample: N = 253, M(age) = 34.29. RESULTS Studies 1 and 2 found that FWB is associated with traditional conservative attitudes, including authoritarianism, religiosity, and belief in a just world. Study 2 replicated this pattern but narrowed the religiosity link to the intrinsic style. In Study 3, FWB was associated with binding moral foundations and retributive punishment of hypothetical criminals. CONCLUSIONS Belief in free will is associated with a conservative worldview, including such facets as authoritarianism, religiosity, punitiveness, and moralistic standards for judging self and others. The common element appears to be a strong sense of personal responsibility. Evidence for distinct correlates of scientific and fatalistic determinism reinforces the need for treating them separately.
Substantial need for early diagnosis, rehabilitation and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

INTRODUCTION Our goal was to estimate the number of individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the Capital Region of Denmark and the need of resources required to implement the regional management programme for COPD. MATERIAL AND METHODS We examined a total of 45,970 participants from the Copenhagen General Population Study (CGPS) using spirometry and a questionnaire. RESULTS The prevalence of spirometrically defined COPD among individuals older than 40 years of age was 15%, corresponding to 120,000 citizens in the Region. The number of individuals with moderate COPD (forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1): 50-80% of predicted value) was estimated to approx. 51,000 (6.4%), whereas at least 10,000 (1.3%) were expected to have severe or very severe COPD (FEV1 < 50% of predicted value). Our estimates indicate that more than 26,000 individuals with moderate, severe or very severe COPD in the Region are smokers and that more than 19,000 qualify for physical training. We estimated that approx. 4,000 individuals with severe COPD were not treated with any inhaled medication. CONCLUSION The Capital Region of Denmark needs to allocate substantial resources into early detection, rehabilitation and medical treatment of individuals with COPD in order to comply with the intentions of the Region's own management programme for COPD. FUNDING The present analyses were sponsored by a grant from the Danish Ministry of Health. The CGPS was supported by the Copenhagen County Foundation, the Danish Medical Research Council and the Boserup Foundation. TRIAL REGISTRATION not relevant.
Effects of titania nanotubes with or without bovine serum albumin loaded on human gingival fibroblasts

Modifying the surface of the transmucosal area is a key research area because this process positively affects the three functions of implants: attachment to soft tissue, inhibiting bacterial biofilm adhesion, and the preservation of the crestal bone. To exploit the potential of titania nanotube arrays (TNTs) with or without using bovine serum albumin (BSA) to modify the surface of a dental implant in contact with the transmucosal area, BSA was loaded into TNTs that were fabricated by anodizing Ti sheets; the physical characteristics of these arrays, including their morphology, chemical composition, surface roughness, contact angle, and surface free energy (SFE), were assessed. The effect of Ti surfaces with TNTs or TNTs-BSA on human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs) was determined by analyzing cell morphology, early adhesion, proliferation, type I collagen (COL-1) gene expression, and the extracellular secretion of COL-1. The results indicate that early HGF adhesion and spreading behavior is positively correlated with surface characteristics, including hydrophilicity, SFE, and surface roughness. Additionally, TNT surfaces not only promoted early HGF adhesion, but also promoted COL-1 secretion. BSA-loaded TNT surfaces promoted early HGF adhesion, while suppressing late proliferation and COL-1 secretion. Therefore, TNT-modified smooth surfaces are expected to be applicable for uses involving the transmucosal area. Further study is required to determine whether BSA-loaded TNT surfaces actually affect closed loop formation of connective tissue because BSA coating actions in vivo are very rapid.
Inotropic Infusions During Hospitalization Clinical Use of Inotropic Therapy for Heart Failure : Looking Backward or Forward ? Part I :

Inotropic Infusions During Hospitalization Clinical Use of Inotropic Therapy for Heart Failure: Looking Backward or Forward? Part I: Print ISSN: 0009-7322. Online ISSN: 1524-4539 Copyright © 2003 American Heart Association, Inc. All rights reserved. is published by the American Heart Association, 7272 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75231 Circulation doi: 10.1161/01.CIR. 0000078348.44634. BA 2003;108:367-372 Circulation. http://circ.ahajournals. org/content/108/3/367 World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is located on the