Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Typhoid Fever in South Africa in an Endemic HIV Setting

Background Typhoid fever remains an important disease in Africa, associated with outbreaks and the emerging multidrug resistant Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi (Salmonella Typhi) haplotype, H58. This study describes the incidence of, and factors associated with mortality due to, typhoid fever in South Africa, where HIV prevalence is high. Methods and Findings Nationwide active laboratory-based surveillance for culture-confirmed typhoid fever was undertaken from 2003–2013. At selected institutions, additional clinical data from patients were collected including age, sex, HIV status, disease severity and outcome. HIV prevalence among typhoid fever patients was compared to national HIV seroprevalence estimates. The national reference laboratory tested Salmonella Typhi isolates for antimicrobial susceptibility and haplotype. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression analyses were conducted determining factors associated with typhoid fever mortality. We identified 855 typhoid fever cases: annual incidence ranged from 0.11 to 0.39 per 100,000 population. Additional clinical data were available for 369 (46.8%) cases presenting to the selected sites. Among typhoid fever patients with known HIV status, 19.3% (29/150) were HIV-infected. In adult females, HIV prevalence in typhoid fever patients was 43.2% (19/44) versus 15.7% national HIV seroprevalence (P < .001); in adult males, 16.3% (7/43) versus 12.3% national HIV seroprevalence (P = .2). H58 represented 11.9% (22/185) of Salmonella Typhi isolates tested. Increased mortality was associated with HIV infection (AOR 10.7; 95% CI 2.3–50.3) and disease severity (AOR 9.8; 95% CI 1.6–60.0) on multivariate analysis. Conclusions Typhoid fever incidence in South Africa was largely unchanged from 2003–2013. Typhoid fever mortality was associated disease severity. HIV infection may be a contributing factor. Interventions mandate improved health care access, including to HIV management programmes as well as patient education. Further studies are necessary to clarify relationships between HIV infection and typhoid fever in adults.
Microbially Mediated Coupling of Fe and N Cycles by Nitrate-Reducing Fe(II)-Oxidizing Bacteria in Littoral Freshwater Sediments

ABSTRACT Nitrate-reducing iron(II)-oxidizing bacteria have been known for approximately 20 years. There has been much debate as to what extent the reduction of nitrate and the oxidation of ferrous iron are coupled via enzymatic pathways or via abiotic processes induced by nitrite formed by heterotrophic denitrification. The aim of the present study was to assess the coupling of nitrate reduction and iron(II) oxidation by monitoring changes in substrate concentrations, as well as in the activity of nitrate-reducing bacteria in natural littoral freshwater sediment, in response to stimulation with nitrate and iron(II). In substrate-amended microcosms, we found that the biotic oxidation of ferrous iron depended on the simultaneous microbial reduction of nitrate. Additionally, the abiotic oxidation of ferrous iron by nitrite in sterilized sediment was not fast enough to explain the iron oxidation rates observed in microbially active sediment. Furthermore, the expression levels of genes coding for enzymes crucial for nitrate reduction were in some setups stimulated by the presence of ferrous iron. These results indicate that there is a direct influence of ferrous iron on bacterial denitrification and support the hypothesis that microbial nitrate reduction is stimulated by biotic iron(II) oxidation. IMPORTANCE The coupling of nitrate reduction and Fe(II) oxidation affects the environment at a local scale, e.g., by changing nutrient or heavy metal mobility in soils due to the formation of Fe(III) minerals, as well as at a global scale, e.g., by the formation of the primary greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Although the coupling of nitrate reduction and Fe(II) oxidation was reported 20 years ago and has been studied intensively since then, the underlying mechanisms still remain unknown. One of the main knowledge gaps is the extent of enzymatic Fe(II) oxidation coupled to nitrate reduction, which has frequently been questioned in the literature. In the present study, we provide evidence for microbially mediated nitrate-reducing Fe(II) oxidation in freshwater sediments. This evidence is based on the rates of nitrate reduction and Fe(II) oxidation determined in microcosm incubations and on the effect of iron on the expression of genes required for denitrification.
EXPLORING THE IMPORTANCE OF FORMANT BANDWIDTHS IN THE PRODUCTION OF THE SINGER ’ S FORMANT

This paper presents some preliminary work in observing the formant frequency bandwidths of the singing voice. It discusses mathematically how the reduction of specific formant bandwidths can increase the level of the singer’s formant and presents some experimental data observing narrow bandwidths as a possible factor in the production of the singer’s formant in a single classically trained bass-baritone subject. Bandwidth information was not calculated directly but inferred from the glottal reflection coefficient and a selective glottal reflection coefficient.
Infants Attribute Value to the Goal-Directed Actions of Self-propelled Objects

Motion is a fundamental source of information for basic human interpretations; it is basic to the fundamental concept of causality and, the present model argues, equally basic to the fundamental concept of intentionality. The model is based on two main assumptions: When an infant perceives an object (1) moving spontaneously and (2) displaying goaldirected action, it will interpret the object as intentional and assign to it the unique properties of the psychological domain. The key property tested was: Do infants attribute value to interactions between intentional objects using criteria specified by the model? We showed infants (average age 52 weeks) computer-generated animations of spontaneously moving balls, using looking time in a standard habituation/dishabituation paradigm. In two positive interactions, one ball either caressed another, or helped it achieve its goal; whereas in two negative interactions, one ball either hit another, or prevented it from achieving its goal. In keeping with predictions of the model, when transferred to a negative condition, infants who had been habituated on a positive condition showed greater dishabituation than those habituated on a negative condition. The results could not be easily explained by the similarity relations among the animations depicting the interactions. The results suggest that well before the age when the child can ascribe mental states or has a theory of mind, it recognizes the goals of self-propelled objects and attributes value to the interactions between them.
SVM-based Harris corner detection for breast mammogram image normal/abnormal classification

The breast mammogram image is one of the most important materials of the Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) system to support diagnosis of breast cancer. In the CAD system, intensity value is a widely used feature for medical image processing. In this paper, we propose develop improved Harris Corner Detection with improved input training data set for Support Vector Machine (SVM) to classify a breast mammogram image as normal or abnormal. In the proposed approach, corner pixels from improved Harris Corner Detection are used as a training input feature for SVM. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach can significantly improve both the accuracy and the performance of computational speed to classify the breast mammogram image as normal or abnormal, when compared with the data set from traditional methods.
Women's body image self‐consciousness during physical intimacy with a partner

In Western cultures, women's bodies are objectified more so than men's, and other writers have noted the multiple ways that such objectification may negatively impact women's lives. As women's sexual desirability is often equated with physical attractiveness and thinness, it is surprising that previous investigations have not included women's body image self‐consciousness during physical intimacy with a partner. In the current set of studies, a 15‐item measure of the construct was developed and shown to have excellent psychometric properties. Approximately one third of college student women indicated experiencing body image self‐consciousness during physical intimacy with a heterosexual partner at least some of the time. Even after statistically controlling for actual body size, measures of general body image, general sexual anxiety, and general well‐being, scores on the new measure were predictive of heterosexual experience, sexual esteem, sexual assertive‐ness, and avoidance of sexual activity. Results are discussed with regard to implications and directions for future research.
Good days and bad days: The lived experience and perceived impact of treatment with cholinesterase inhibitors for Alzheimer’s disease in the United Kingdom

Although heralded as a major breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease the experience and impact of using cholinesterase inhibitors (CHEIs) from the perspective of people with Alzheimer’s disease has not been widely reported. This qualitative study reports the lived experience of CHEI users and the perceived impact of the treatment. The views and experiences of 12 older people referred for memory problems or receiving treatment and 11 associated family carers were obtained using a combination of semi-structured interviews and focus groups. A key theme that emerged from the qualitative analysis was the belief that any new treatment ‘is worth a try’. For some participants the benefits of using CHEIs were ‘difficult to say’. Others reported seeing ‘a difference’, ‘getting no worse’ or no improvement in their symptoms. The study highlights the importance of listening to the voices of people with dementia and their family carers in the management of pharmaceutical treatments and the need to involve (potential) treatment users in defining quality-of-life outcomes in cost-effectiveness studies.
Artwork and music: Innovative approaches to physical assessment

Background: Observation and auditory skills are essential competencies for nursing practice. Research studies reveal that observational abilities are improved with visual training in an art museum and that the standing competence of auscultative skills is inadequate. This study details an innovative strategy to improve nursing students' observational and auscultative abilities. Methods: A pretest–posttest experimental design was used in which 77 students in an accelerated master's entry nursing program were randomized to either receive music auditory training and observation training in a museum and music hall or view a DVD of the music intervention and observation training in a classroom using handheld images and artwork display. Results: Students correctly identified approximately 68% of bowel sounds, 38% of lung sounds and 26% of heart sounds after this 2-h intervention, and significantly improved their observational abilities over time (p < 0.0001) on all measures with few exceptions. In addition, there were no differences between the groups over time for most measures, suggesting that the classroom experience is an effective pedagogy for improving observational skills. Conclusion: The activities of viewing works of art and aural training using music sharpen observational and reasoning skills of nursing students and auscultative interpretive abilities, and hold promise for medical education.
Generalized vs. specific locus of control expectancies of chief executive officers

Hodgkinson (1992) recently advocated in this journal that measures of generalized control expectancies, such as the well known Rotter I-E scale (Rotter, 1966), are not suited to study the relationship between the locus of control beliefs of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) on the one hand and strategic, structural and performance variables on the other hand. According to Hodgkinson (1992) a more specific scale, measuring strategic control expectancies, should be used in future research. We argue and empirically illustrate that such a methodology will not lead to interesting research results in the ‘strategic leadership’ domain. More specifically, measures of firm-specific control expectancies are likely to be influenced by the CEO's perception of the situational context of the firm and are therefore not indicative of fundamental personality differences between CEOs. Consequently, such measures cannot give an answer to the basic research question whether and why the personality of CEOs plays an important role in explaining organizational behavior and performance.
Antioxidative and Antidiabetic Effects of Natural Polyphenols and Isoflavones

Many polyphenols that contain more than two phenolic hydroxyl groups are natural antioxidants and can provide health benefits to humans. These polyphenols include, for example, oleuropein, hydroxytyrosol, catechin, chlorogenic acids, hesperidin, nobiletin, and isoflavones. These have been studied widely because of their strong radical-scavenging and antioxidative effects. These effects may contribute to the prevention of diseases, such as diabetes. Insulin secretion, insulin resistance, and homeostasis are important factors in the onset of diabetes, a disease that is associated with dysfunction of pancreatic β-cells. Oxidative stress is thought to contribute to this dysfunction and the effects of antioxidants on the pathogenesis of diabetes have, therefore, been investigated. Here, we summarize the antioxidative effects of polyphenols from the perspective of their radical-scavenging activities as well as their effects on signal transduction pathways. We also describe the preventative effects of polyphenols on diabetes by referring to recent studies including those reported by us. Appropriate analytical approaches for evaluating antioxidants in studies on the prevention of diabetes are comprehensively reviewed.
Discrete-time local dynamic programming

Optimal control theory is a powerful analytical tool useful for many diverse fields, including biological motor control, where the theory is used to predict characteristics of motor control problems under optimal conditions. However, finding solutions to these control problems can be very dif ficult when examining biological systems, where nonlinearity and stochasticity are typical. In an effort to overcome this dilemma and analyze more realistic problems, we present an algorithm that approximates the solution to the discrete time Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations. As with similar local dynamic programming algorithms, the algorithm approximates a local solution around a nominal trajectory and progressively improves the trajectory and the value function's local esti mate. Using this algorithm, we obtain optimal solutions for a single joint musculo-skeletal system. In particular, we take advantage of this new algorithm to examine solutions with fast and discontinuous dynamics and non-Gaussian noise. These solutions are examined for some of the stereotypical responses of biological systems, such as the tri-phasic muscle activations and bell-shaped velocity profiles. The results are also compared with their deterministic counterparts, emphasizing the need for stochastic solutions.
DUBMOD13: international workshop on data-driven user behavioral modelling and mining from social media

Massive amounts of data are being generated on social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook. These data can be used to better understand people (e.g., personality traits, perceptions, and preferences) and predict their behavior. As a result, a deeper understanding of users and their behavior can benefit a wide range of intelligent applications, such as advertising, social recommender systems, and personalized knowledge management. These applications will also benefit individual users themselves and optimize their experience across a wide variety of domains, such as retail, healthcare, and education. Since mining and understanding user behavior from social media often requires interdisciplinary effort, including machine learning, text mining, human-computer interaction, and social science, our workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from multiple fields to discuss the creation of deeper models of individual users by mining the content that they publish and the social networking behavior that they exhibit.
Construction of quasi-cyclic LDPC codes based on euclidean geometries

A new method for constructing quasi-cyclic (QC) low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes based on the structural properties of Euclidean geometries is presented. The proposed method changes the incidence vectors of some lines in the original Euclidean geometry method to construct much more parity check matrices and results in a large class of QC-LDPC codes with girth of at least 6. Simulations show that some codes in this class have better performance and lower error floor than the original Euclidean geometry codes.
Proteomic remodelling of mitochondrial oxidative pathways in pressure overload-induced heart failure.

AIMS Impairment in mitochondrial energetics is a common observation in animal models of heart failure, the underlying mechanisms of which remain incompletely understood. It was our objective to investigate whether changes in mitochondrial protein levels may explain impairment in mitochondrial oxidative capacity in pressure overload-induced heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS Twenty weeks following aortic constriction, Sprague-Dawley rats developed contractile dysfunction with clinical signs of heart failure. Comparative mitochondrial proteomics using label-free proteome expression analysis (LC-MS/MS) revealed decreased mitochondrial abundance of fatty acid oxidation proteins (six of 11 proteins detected), increased levels of pyruvate dehydrogenase subunits, and upregulation of two tricarboxylic acid cycle proteins. Regulation of mitochondrial electron transport chain subunits was variable, with downregulation of 53% of proteins and upregulation of 25% of proteins. Mitochondrial state 3 respiration was markedly decreased independent of the substrate used (palmitoyl-carnitine -65%, pyruvate -75%, glutamate -75%, dinitrophenol -82%; all P < 0.05), associated with impaired mitochondrial cristae morphology in failing hearts. Perfusion of isolated working failing hearts showed markedly reduced oleate (-68%; P < 0.05) and glucose oxidation (-64%; P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Pressure overload-induced heart failure is characterized by a substantial defect in cardiac oxidative capacity, at least in part due to a mitochondrial defect downstream of substrate-specific pathways. Numerous changes in mitochondrial protein levels have been detected, and the contribution of these to oxidative defects and impaired cardiac energetics in failing hearts is discussed.
Pronucleus formation, DNA synthesis and metaphase entry in porcine oocytes following intracytoplasmic injection of murine spermatozoa

The onset of pronucleus formation and DNA synthesis in porcine oocytes following the injection of porcine or murine sperm was determined in order to obtain insights into species-specific paternal factors that contribute to fertilisation. Similar frequencies of oocytes with female pronuclei were observed after injection with porcine sperm or with murine sperm. In contrast, male pronuclei formed 8-9 h following the injection of porcine sperm, and 6-8 h following the injection of murine sperm. After pronucleus formation maternally derived microtubules were assembled and appeared to move both male and female pronuclei to the oocyte centre. A few porcine oocytes entered metaphase 22 h after the injection of murine sperm, but normal cell division was not observed. The mean time of onset of S-phase in male pronuclei was 9.7 h following porcine sperm injection and 7.4 h following mouse sperm injection. Ultrastructural observation revealed that male pronuclei derived from murine sperm in porcine oocytes are morphologically similar to normal male pronuclei in porcine zygotes. These results suggest that species-specific paternal factors influence the onset of pronucleus formation and DNA synthesis. However, normal nuclear cytoplasmic interactions were observed in porcine S-phase oocytes following murine sperm injection.
Hyper-BCube: A scalable data center network

Mega data centers are being built around the world to provide various cloud computing services. As a result, data center networking has recently been a hot research topic in both academia and industry. A fundamental challenge in this research is the design of the data center network that interconnects the massive number of servers, and provides efficient and fault-tolerant routing service to upper-layer applications. In response to this challenge, the research community have begun exploring novel interconnect topologies including Fat-Tree, DCell, and BCube and etc. Understandably, this research is still in its infancy. The proposed solutions either scale too fast (i.e., double exponentially) or too slow, suffer from performance bottlenecks, or can be quite costly in both routing and construction. In this paper, we propose a cost-effective and gracefully scalable data center interconnect termed Hyper-BCube that combines the advantages of both DCell and BCube architectures while avoiding their limitations. We then propose fault-tolerant and routing mechanisms for Hyper-BCube. Finally, we propose a comprehensive benchmarking environment that can be used for accurately and practically evaluating and testing the proposed data center architecture.
Behavioral Parent Training Skills and Child Behavior: The Utility of Behavioral Descriptions and Reflections

Empirical examination of components of behavioral parent training programs is necessary to inform treatment effectiveness and efficiency; however, comprehensive research on many components is lacking. The current study examined two parenting components utilized in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy by investigating the effects of behavioral descriptions on on-task behavior and the effects of reflections on descriptive speech. Twenty six parent-child dyads, with a child age 3–5, completed five parental-skill conditions. Results suggest that combined skills increased child on-task behavior more than other conditions; and that behavioral description alone increased on-task behavior more than questions. Furthermore, parental questions increased descriptive speech more than other forms of parental attention. These findings provide preliminary support for the utility of specific types of parental attention.
Intensity Guided Depth Upsampling by Residual Interpolation

In this paper, we propose a novel depth upsampling method by residual interpolation (RI) that uses both a low-resolution depth map and a high-resolution intensity image. Our method is an application of the RI to depth upsampling, where the upsampling is performed in a residual domain following its success in the field of image demosaicking. Experimental results demonstrate that our method preserves the sharpness of depth discontinuities and outperforms existing well-known methods such as joint bilateral upsampling and guided filtering.