Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visceral Leishmaniasis Elimination Programme in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal: Reshaping the Case Finding/Case Management Strategy

Objective We sought to estimate visceral leishmaniasis (VL) burden in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal and document care-seeking behaviour for VL to provide baseline information for monitoring the VL elimination program and identify options for improved case finding and management. Design A cross-sectional study using cluster sampling (clusters being villages) of 4 VL endemic districts was used in order to document all current and existing VL cases over the preceding 12 mo. Extended (in-depth) interviews were conducted in a subsample of households to explore (a) VL-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the population; (b) use of VL care by patients; and (c) delay between onset of symptoms, diagnosis, and start of treatment, as well as treatment interruption. Findings were discussed with national program managers and policy makers to develop improved strategies. Results Screening for VL was done in 18,933 households (106,425 inhabitants). The estimated annual incidence of VL in the endemic districts was on average 22 times higher than the elimination target of less than one case per 10,000 inhabitants in 2015. This incidence varied widely between study sites, from 9.0 to 29.8 per 10,000 inhabitants. The percentage of newly detected cases through the household screening was high in the districts least covered by health-care services (particularly Rajshahi, Bangladesh, 49%; and to a lesser extent Vaishali in Bihar, India, 32.5%), and much lower in districts with greater availability of VL care (Muzaffarpur, India, 3.8%). On average 267 houses had to be visited, i.e., at least three to four working days per health worker, to identify a new VL (ranging from 1,432 houses in Muzaffarpur, India to only 166 houses in Rajshahi, Bangladesh). Knowledge of the disease and its vectors was good in India and Nepal but poor in Bangladesh (Rajshahi) where very little attention has been given to VL over the last decades. Although all socio-demographic indicators showed high levels of poverty, people in India preferred private medical practitioners for the treatment of VL, whereas in Nepal, and even more in Bangladesh, the public health-care sector was preferred. Delays between onset of symptoms and diagnosis as well as start of treatment was high. Reported non-adherence to treatment was particularly high in the more under-served districts and was mainly due to lack of resources. Discussion The findings suggest that (a) house-to-house screening may be useful in highly endemic districts with a poor passive case detection system, but further evidence on case finding adapted to local conditions has to be collected; (b) strengthening the quality of the public health sector is imperative in the three countries, especially in India, with its largely unregulated private-sector provision of VL care.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Memory: Sins and Virtues

Memory plays an important role in everyday life but does not provide an exact and unchanging record of experience: research has documented that memory is a constructive process that is subject to a variety of errors and distortions. Yet these memory " sins " also reflect the operation of adaptive aspects of memory. Memory can thus be characterized as an adaptive constructive process, which plays a functional role in cognition but produces distortions, errors, or illusions as a consequence of doing so.
Delaying the International Spread of Pandemic Influenza

Background The recent emergence of hypervirulent subtypes of avian influenza has underlined the potentially devastating effects of pandemic influenza. Were such a virus to acquire the ability to spread efficiently between humans, control would almost certainly be hampered by limited vaccine supplies unless global spread could be substantially delayed. Moreover, the large increases that have occurred in international air travel might be expected to lead to more rapid global dissemination than in previous pandemics. Methods and Findings To evaluate the potential of local control measures and travel restrictions to impede global dissemination, we developed stochastic models of the international spread of influenza based on extensions of coupled epidemic transmission models. These models have been shown to be capable of accurately forecasting local and global spread of epidemic and pandemic influenza. We show that under most scenarios restrictions on air travel are likely to be of surprisingly little value in delaying epidemics, unless almost all travel ceases very soon after epidemics are detected. Conclusions Interventions to reduce local transmission of influenza are likely to be more effective at reducing the rate of global spread and less vulnerable to implementation delays than air travel restrictions. Nevertheless, under the most plausible scenarios, achievable delays are small compared with the time needed to accumulate substantial vaccine stocks.
Drinking, smoking, and psychological distress in middle and late Life

A limited number of studies have examined the co-occurrence of alcohol use and smoking and their mental health effects in middle and late life. In this study, using the 2008 National Survey of Drug Use and Health, the characteristics of individuals aged 50 and older who abstained from both substances, who used both substances, and who used one or the other substance were examined. Then, the main and interaction effects of drinking and smoking on psychological distress were analyzed. Findings show that smoker-nondrinkers are the most disadvantaged group in terms of sociodemographic and health characteristics, while drinker-nonsmokers are the most advantaged group. When sociodemographic, health, and other factors were controlled, no direct effects of drinking or interaction effect of drinking and smoking were detected for either gender. However, heavy smoking (6+ cigarettes on a typical smoking day) was significantly associated with an elevated level of psychological distress among women. The findings highlight the vulnerability of heavy smoking middle-aged and older women. These women are the most psychologically distressed and may need interventions designed to help them quit smoking, reduce or quit drinking, and alleviate psychological distress.
A Tutorial on Interference Alignment Farzad Talebi

Farzad Talebi Abstract As an inevitable phenomenon in wireless networks, interference has been always an important concern in designing communication networks. There are some conventional interference management approaches which will be mentioned here. The important note about all these approaches is that using them, the sum-capacity of the network will be limited by interference, regardless of the number of users, or the approach itself cannot be generalized for more than two user cases. Interference alignment is a surprising approach with which the sum-capacity of the time-varying interference networks using limited resources e.g. time, frequency, can be increased linearly with the number of users. Some special cases in which interference alignment can be interpreted easily will be presented, and the cases of imperfect or limited channel state information, which is necessary for this approach, will also be provided. Finally, an overview of benefits and challenges of the interference alignment approach will be discussed.
Role of the glycocalyx in regulating access of microparticles to apical plasma membranes of intestinal epithelial cells: implications for microbial attachment and oral vaccine targeting

Transepithelial transport of antigens and pathogens across the epithelial barrier by M cells may be a prerequisite for induction of mucosal immunity in the intestine. Efficient transport of antigens and pathogens requires adherence to M cell apical surfaces. Coupling of antigen-containing particles to the pentameric binding subunit of cholera toxin (CTB) has been proposed as a means for increasing antigen uptake because the CTB receptor, ganglioside GM1, is a glycolipid present in apical membranes of all intestinal epithelial cells. To test the accessibility of enterocyte and M cell membrane glycolipids to ligands in the size ranges of viruses, bacteria, and particulate mucosal vaccines, we analyzed binding of CTB probes of different sizes to rabbit Peyer's patch epithelium. Soluble CTB-fluorescein isothiocyanate (diameter 6.4 nm) bound to apical membranes of all epithelial cells. CTB coupled to 14 nm colloidal gold (final diameter, 28.8 nm) failed to adhere to enterocytes but did adhere to M cells. CTB- coated, fluorescent microparticles (final diameter, 1.13 microns) failed to adhere to enterocytes or M cells in vivo or to well- differentiated Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cells in vitro. However, these particles bound specifically to GM1 on BALB/c 3T3 fibroblasts in vitro and to undifferentiated Caco-2 cells that lacked brush borders and glycocalyx. Measurements of glycocalyx thickness by electron microscopy suggested that a relatively thin (20 nm) glycocalyx was sufficient to prevent access of 1-micron microparticles to glycolipid receptors. Thus, the barrier function of the intestinal epithelial cell glycocalyx may be important in limiting microbial adherence to membrane glycolipids, and in CTB-mediated targeting of vaccines to M cells and the mucosal immune system.
Hybrid structured light for scalable depth sensing

Time multiplexing and spatial neighborhood are two mainstream structured light techniques widely used for 3D shape measurement. In this paper, we explore a way to subtly integrate their advantages for scalable depth sensing. This is realized through a set of elaborate hybrid structured patterns, which consists of three sinusoidal fringe patterns with different initial phases modulated by a pseudo-random speckle signal. For temporally static scenes, a high resolution, high accuracy depth map can be recovered from the latest three frames by the phase-shifting method; for dynamic scenes, a decent depth map can still be recovered from the current single frame by image matching. Since it provides seamless transition between high quality and quick response options, our method validates a new paradigm of scalable depth sensing in practice.
High temperature stabilization of nanocrystalline grain size: Thermodynamic versus kinetic strategies

Data from the literature and our laboratory have been reviewed regarding the maximum homologous temperatures that can be attained by the addition of solute elements that may induce thermodynamic or kinetic (Zener pinning) stabilization of a nanocrystalline grain size (<100 nm) to elevated temperatures. The results of this review suggest that kinetic stabilization by Zener pinning by nanoscale second phases may be the more effective strategy for keeping a nanoscale grain microstructure at the highest homologous temperatures. More research is necessary to confirm this suggestion and to determine the influence of nanoscale grain boundary second phases on the mechanical behavior of the nanocrystalline matrix.
Contribution of Short Coconut Fiber to Pavement Skid Resistance

The use of synthetic and natural fibers in composite materials has been proven to increase strength and reduce required amounts of basic building materials. Previous research has determined that fibers have a high tensile strength and the potential to increase the cohesive and tensile strengths of asphalt mixtures. Additionally, previous research suggests that skid resistance is influenced by changes in the asphalt penetration grade. Short decorticated and pulp coconut fibers were used as additives in this study. Short coconut fibers measuring 0.5-1.25 cm were mixed with pen 60/70 asphalt to yield fiber contents of 0%, 0.75% and 1.5%. The fibrous asphalt was mixed with asphalt-concrete-wearing-course-grade aggregate. The asphalt concrete mixture was molded and compacted with a wheel tracking compactor using an 8.16-ton standard vehicle axle load. Specimens were subsequently tested with a British pendulum tester at temperatures of 26 oC, 30 °C, 35 °C, 40 °C, 45 °C, and 50 °C. Skid resistance decreased with an increase in pavement surface temperature. The inclusion of 0.75% coconut fiber in the asphalt mixture improved skid resistance but did not improve resistance to increased road surface temperatures.
General hospital presentations of non-fatal hanging over a 28-year period: case–control study

Summary Suicide by hanging and self-strangulation (‘hanging’) has become more common. We studied people who presented to hospital during a 28-year study period after using these methods for non-fatal self-harm. Hanging increased greatly in frequency during this time. The male:female ratio was nearly 3:1. Females were distinguished from males by far higher rates of psychiatric care, personality disorder and previous self-harm. Compared with matched individuals who presented with non-fatal self-poisoning, more of those who used hanging had high suicidal intent, fewer used alcohol in association with the act, and more subsequently died by suicide. They represent an important subgroup of those who self-harm, who require especially careful assessment and follow-up.
Isolation of a New Broad-Host-Range IncQ-Like Plasmid, pTC-F14, from the Acidophilic Bacterium Acidithiobacillus caldus and Analysis of the Plasmid Replicon

ABSTRACT A moderately thermophilic (45 to 50°C), highly acidophilic (pH 1.5 to 2.5), chemolithotrophic Acidithiobacillus caldusstrain, f, was isolated from a biooxidation process used to treat nickel ore. Trans-alternating field electrophoresis analysis of total DNA from the A. caldus cells revealed two plasmids of approximately 14 and 45 kb. The 14-kb plasmid, designated pTC-F14, was cloned and shown by replacement of the cloning vector with a kanamycin resistance gene to be capable of autonomous replication inEscherichia coli. Autonomous replication was also demonstrated in Pseudomonas putida andAgrobacterium tumefaciens LBA 4404, which suggested that pTC-F14 is a broad-host-range plasmid. Sequence analysis of the pTC-F14 replicon region revealed five open reading frames and a replicon organization like that of the broad-host-range IncQ plasmids. Three of the open reading frames encoded replication proteins which were most closely related to those of IncQ-like plasmid pTF-FC2 (amino acid sequence identities: RepA, 81%; RepB, 78%; RepC, 74%). However, the two plasmids were fully compatible and pTC-F14 represents a new IncQ-like plasmid replicon. Surprisingly, asymmetrical incompatibility was found with the less closely related IncQ plasmid R300B derivative pKE462 and the IncQ-like plasmid derivative pIE1108. Analysis of the pTC-F14 oriV region revealed five direct repeats consisting of three perfectly conserved 22-bp iterons flanked by iterons of 23 and 21 bp. Plasmid pTC-F14 had a copy number of 12 to 16 copies per chromosome in both E. coli, and A. caldus. The rep gene products of pTC-F14 and pTF-FC2 were unable to functionally complement each other'soriV regions, but replication occurred when the genes for each plasmid's own RepA, RepB, and RepC proteins were provided intrans. Two smaller open reading frames were found between the repB and repA genes of pTC-F14, which encode proteins with high amino acid sequence identity (PasA, 81%; PasB, 72%) to the plasmid addiction system of pTF-FC2. This is the second time a plasmid stability system of this type has been found on an IncQ-like plasmid.
Practical Considerations When Using Fiber Optics for Dissolution Testing

Introduction The UV fiber optics system has emerged in dissolution testing of solid dosage forms as a useful alternative to conventional dissolution tests in both research & development and quality control. The system allows continuous in situ analysis of the drug concentration without the need for sample withdrawal and preparation. Therefore, this technique not only facilitates automation, but also eliminates potential errors in sample preparation. However, the fiber optic analysis itself possesses some sources of error. Several critical parameters, such as interferences with insoluble excipients and changes in hydrodynamics in the dissolution vessel with probe position have been thoroughly addressed by C. Schatz et al. [1]. In the first part of this study, the influence of the orientation of one-sided immersion probes (see figure 1) in the vessel was investigated. Stronger light scattering interferences on the dissolution results could be expected when the open side of the probe faces the flow direction, because the likelihood of insoluble excipients flowing into the light pathway is greater. In the second part of this study, interferences from air bubbles adhering to the immersion probe were evaluated. Without media deaeration, air bubbles might be formed during a dissolution test or while dipping the probe in the media. A prednisolone 5-mg tablet formulation with a low drug to excipient ratio (drug content <4% m/m) was chosen for these studies.
Deriving Conceptual Schema from Domain Ontology: A Web Application Reverse Engineering Approach

The heterogeneous and dynamic nature of components making up a web application, the lack of effective programming mechanisms for implementing basic software engineering principles in it, and undisciplined development processes induced by the high pressure of a very short time-to-market, make web application maintenance a challenging problem. A relevant issue consists of reusing the methodological and technological experience in the sector of traditional software maintenance, and exploring the opportunity of using reverse engineering to support effective web application maintenance. This paper presents reverse engineering approach that help to understand existing undocumented web applications to be maintained or evolved, through the extraction from domain ontology of conceptual schema describing a web application. The advantage of using ontology for conceptual data modelling is the reusability of domain knowledge. As a result of it the conceptual data model will be made faster, easier and with fewer errors than creating conceptual data model in usual way. We demonstrate the value of the approach by providing an implementation that exhibits appropriate characteristics.
Topology and Functional Domains of the Yeast Pore Membrane Protein Pom152p*

Integral membrane proteins associated with the nuclear pore complex (NPC) are likely to play an important role in the biogenesis of this structure. Here we have examined the functional roles of domains of the yeast pore membrane protein Pom152p in establishing its topology and its interactions with other NPC proteins. The topology of Pom152p was evaluated by alkaline extraction, protease protection, and endoglycosidase H sensitivity assays. The results of these experiments suggest that Pom152p contains a single transmembrane segment with its N terminus (amino acid residues 1–175) extending into the nuclear pore and its C terminus (amino acid residues 196–1337) positioned in the lumen of the nuclear envelope. The functional role of these different domains was investigated in mutants that are dependent on Pom152p for viability. The requirement for Pom152p in strains containing mutations allelic to the NPC protein genes NIC96and NUP59 could be alleviated by Pom152p’s N terminus, independent of its integration into the membrane. However, complementation of a mutation in NUP170 required both the N terminus and the transmembrane segment. Furthermore, mutations inNUP188 were rescued only by full-length Pom152p, suggesting that the lumenal structures play an important role in the function of pore-side NPC structures.
Spectral Bandits for Smooth Graph Functions

Smooth functions on graphs have wide applications in manifold and semi-supervised learning. In this paper, we study a bandit problem where the payoffs of arms are smooth on a graph. This framework is suitable for solving online learning problems that involve graphs, such as content-based recommendation. In this problem, each recommended item is a node and its expected rating is similar to its neighbors. The goal is to recommend items that have high expected ratings. We aim for the algorithms where the cumulative regret would not scale poorly with the number of nodes. In particular, we introduce the notion of an effective dimension, which is small in real-world graphs, and propose two algorithms for solving our problem that scale linearly in this dimension. Our experiments on real-world content recommendation problem show that a good estimator of user preferences for thousands of items can be learned from just tens nodes evaluations.
Jess Based On-Demand Multimedia Player with Data Retrieval and Streaming Service

This paper will explore the application of on-demand synchronization, retrieval, and player system for multimedia data such as of text, image, audio, video using Jess Expert System Shell (Jess). The application proposed can play all kinds of media applications with continuous streaming, and concurrency. This application is useful, in areas such as e-learning, distance education, language learning, and especially in applications, where different kinds of multimedia-data is required with synchronization. The knowledge-based system is used as a backbone to play different media formats, as they provide the abilities of autonomous and automatic streaming of services by firing various rules.
Cooperative Communications in Multi­Hop Networking: a Case Study Based on the IEEE 802.11 Protocol

This paper combines multi-hop networking with single-hop cooperative communications. The solution is built upon the standard IEEE 802.11 protocol operating in the ad hoc mode. A simulation based comparison is carried out in order to evaluate the performance gains and benefit of cooperative communications applied to multi-hop networking. Preliminary results indicate that network performance in terms of both throughput and end-to-end delay improves. Additionally, cooperative communications increases robustness against uncertainties in the wireless channel.
Hydrothermal Growth of Vertically Aligned ZnO Nanorods Using a Biocomposite Seed Layer of ZnO Nanoparticles

Well aligned ZnO nanorods have been prepared by a low temperature aqueous chemical growth method, using a biocomposite seed layer of ZnO nanoparticles prepared in starch and cellulose bio polymers. The effect of different concentrations of biocomposite seed layer on the alignment of ZnO nanorods has been investigated. ZnO nanorods grown on a gold-coated glass substrate have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) techniques. These techniques have shown that the ZnO nanorods are well aligned and perpendicular to the substrate, and grown with a high density and uniformity on the substrate. Moreover, ZnO nanorods can be grown with an orientation along the c-axis of the substrate and exhibit a wurtzite crystal structure with a dominant (002) peak in an XRD spectrum and possessed a high crystal quality. A photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy study of the ZnO nanorods has revealed a conventional near band edge ultraviolet emission, along with emission in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum due to defect emission. This study provides an alternative method for the fabrication of well aligned ZnO nanorods. This method can be helpful in improving the performance of devices where alignment plays a significant role.
Detection and quantification of Prymnesium parvum (Haptophyceae) by real‐time PCR

Aims: The ichthyotoxic species Prymnesium parvum (Haptophyceae) is difficult to quantify in a microscopy‐based monitoring programme, because the cells are very small, fragile and their morphology can be distorted by the use of fixatives. In the attempt to overcome these problems, a real‐time PCR‐based method for the rapid and sensitive identification and quantification of P. parvum was developed.