Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mass treatment with single-dose azithromycin for yaws.

BACKGROUND Mass treatment with azithromycin is a central component of the new World Health Organization (WHO) strategy to eradicate yaws. Empirical data on the effectiveness of the strategy are required as a prerequisite for worldwide implementation of the plan. METHODS We performed repeated clinical surveys for active yaws, serologic surveys for latent yaws, and molecular analyses to determine the cause of skin ulcers and identify macrolide-resistant mutations before and 6 and 12 months after mass treatment with azithromycin on a Papua New Guinean island on which yaws was endemic. Primary-outcome indicators were the prevalence of serologically confirmed active infectious yaws in the entire population and the prevalence of latent yaws with high-titer seroreactivity in a subgroup of children 1 to 15 years of age. RESULTS At baseline, 13,302 of 16,092 residents (82.7%) received one oral dose of azithromycin. The prevalence of active infectious yaws was reduced from 2.4% before mass treatment to 0.3% at 12 months (difference, 2.1 percentage points; P<0.001). The prevalence of high-titer latent yaws among children was reduced from 18.3% to 6.5% (difference, 11.8 percentage points; P<0.001) with a near-absence of high-titer seroreactivity in children 1 to 5 years of age. Adverse events identified within 1 week after administration of the medication occurred in approximately 17% of the participants, included nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, and were mild in severity. No evidence of emergence of resistance to macrolides against Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue was seen. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of active and latent yaws infection fell rapidly and substantially 12 months after high-coverage mass treatment with azithromycin, with the reduction perhaps aided by subsequent activities to identify and treat new cases of yaws. Our results support the WHO strategy for the eradication of yaws. (Funded by Newcrest Mining and International SOS; YESA-13 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01955252.).
Functional identification of activity‐regulated, high‐affinity glutamine transport in hippocampal neurons inhibited by riluzole

Glutamine (Gln) is considered the preferred precursor for the neurotransmitter pool of glutamate (Glu), the major excitatory transmitter in the mammalian CNS. Here, an activity‐regulated, high‐affinity Gln transport system is described in developing and mature neuron‐enriched hippocampal cultures that is potently inhibited by riluzole (IC50 1.3 ± 0.5 μM), an anti‐glutamatergic drug, and is blocked by low concentrations of 2‐(methylamino)isobutyrate (MeAIB), a system A transport inhibitor. K+‐stimulated MeAIB transport displays an affinity (Km) for MeAIB of 37 ± 1.2 μM, saturates at ~ 200 μM, is dependent on extracellular Ca2+, and is blocked by inhibition of voltage‐gated Ca2+ channels. Spontaneous MeAIB transport is also dependent on extracellullar Ca2+ and voltage‐gated calcium channels, but is also blocked by the Na+ channel blocker tetrodotoxin, by Glu receptor antagonists, and by GABA indicating its dependence on intact neural circuits driven by endogenous glutamatergic activity. The transport of MeAIB itself does not rely on Ca2+, but on Na+ ions, and is pH sensitive. Activity‐regulated, riluzole‐sensitive spontaneous and K+‐stimulated transport is minimal at 7–8 days in vitro, coordinately induced during the next 2 weeks and is maximally expressed by days in vitro > 20; the known period for maturation of the Glu/Gln cycle and regulated pre‐synaptic Glu release. Competition analyses with various amino acids indicate that Gln is the most likely physiological substrate. Activity‐regulated Gln/MeAIB transport is not observed in astrocytes. The functional identification of activity‐regulated, high‐affinity, riluzole‐sensitive Gln/MeAIB transport in hippocampal neurons may have important ramifications in the neurobiology of activity‐stimulated pre‐synaptic Glu release, the Glu/Gln cycle between astrocytes and neurons, and neuronal Glu‐induced excitotoxicity.
Assessment of the Infraspinatus Spinal Stretch Reflex in the Normal, Athletic, and Multidirectionally Unstable Shoulder*

To examine neural aspects of motor control in the glenohumeral joint, this study evaluates utilization of an innate spinal segmental pathway, the spinal stretch reflex, as an investigational tool that reflects neural circuitry. The purpose of this study was to determine if this reflex could be evoked from the infraspinatus muscle, if the testing apparatus and protocol for elicitation were reliable, and if the reflex response varies between groups of subjects and therefore could be useful clinically. These reflex characteristics were evaluated in the infraspinatus muscle, since rotator cuff muscle activity in subjects with glenohumeral instability exhibits differences in electromyographic activity and coordination patterns, implicating its role in dynamic stability. Normal shoulders were compared with athletic shoulders and shoulders with multidirectional instability. The spinal stretch reflex was elicited in a controlled and reliable manner. Shoulders with multidirectional instability exhibited a more-prominent spinal stretch reflex response than normal shoulders, whereas athletic shoulders exhibited a more-quiescent spinal stretch reflex response. As the spinal stretch reflex probably plays a role in motor control, variation in this reflex profile may reflect some differences in development that contribute to the variable expression of dynamic glenohumeral stability. This study suggests that the spinal stretch reflex profile may be a useful clinical tool to assist in discriminating between the normal and pathologic state. This information may also be useful in the evaluation of new treatment approaches exploiting spinal cord plasticity and spinal stretch reflex mutability through neuromuscular training.
Microfluidic system for enhanced cardiac tissue formation

Abstract Hereby a microfluidic system for cell cultivation is presented in which human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes were cultivated under perfusion. Besides micro-perfusion this system is also capable to produce well-defined oxygen contents, apply defined forces and has excellent imaging characteristics. Cardiomyocytes attach to the surface, start spontaneous beating and stay functional for up to 14 days under perfusion. The cell motion was subsequently analysed using an adapted video analysis script to calculate beating rate, beating direction and contraction or relaxation speed.
Dynamics of MBD2 deposition across methylated DNA regions during malignant transformation of human mammary epithelial cells

DNA methylation is thought to induce transcriptional silencing through the combination of two mechanisms: the repulsion of transcriptional activators unable to bind their target sites when methylated, and the recruitment of transcriptional repressors with specific affinity for methylated DNA. The Methyl CpG Binding Domain proteins MeCP2, MBD1 and MBD2 belong to the latter category. Here, we present MBD2 ChIPseq data obtained from the endogenous MBD2 in an isogenic cellular model of oncogenic transformation of human mammary cells. In immortalized (HMEC-hTERT) or transformed (HMLER) cells, MBD2 was found in a large proportion of methylated regions and associated with transcriptional silencing. A redistribution of MBD2 on methylated DNA occurred during oncogenic transformation, frequently independently of local DNA methylation changes. Genes downregulated during HMEC-hTERT transformation preferentially gained MBD2 on their promoter. Furthermore, depletion of MBD2 induced an upregulation of MBD2-bound genes methylated at their promoter regions, in HMLER cells. Among the 3,160 genes downregulated in transformed cells, 380 genes were methylated at their promoter regions in both cell lines, specifically associated by MBD2 in HMLER cells, and upregulated upon MBD2 depletion in HMLER. The transcriptional MBD2-dependent downregulation occurring during oncogenic transformation was also observed in two additional models of mammary cell transformation. Thus, the dynamics of MBD2 deposition across methylated DNA regions was associated with the oncogenic transformation of human mammary cells.
Cognitive function analysis for human-centered automation of safety-critical systems

The Cognitive Function Analysis is a methodology supported by a mediating tool for the human-centered automation of safety-critical systems [4]. It is based on a socio-cognitive model linking the artifact being designed, the user’s activity, the task to be performed, and the organizational environment. Cognitive functions can be allocated to humans or machines. They are characterized by their role, context definition and associated resources. The methodology is supported by active design documents as mediating representations of the amfact, the interaction description and cognitive function descriptors being designed, redesigned and used as usability criteria to evahrate the distribution of cognitive functions among humans and machines. This methodolo,y enhances usercentered and participatory design, and traceability of design decisions. It was successfully tested on three main applications in the aeronautics domain. One of them is presented.
Gas sensors using ordered macroporous oxide nanostructures

Detection and monitoring of harmful and toxic gases have gained increased interest in relation to worldwide environmental issues. Semiconducting metal oxide gas sensors have been considered promising for the facile remote detection of gases and vapors over the past decades. However, their sensing performance is still a challenge to meet the demands for practical applications where excellent sensitivity, selectivity, stability, and response/recovery rate are imperative. Therefore, sensing materials with novel architectures and fabrication processes have been pursued with a flurry of research activity. In particular, the preparation of ordered macroporous metal oxide nanostructures is regarded as an intriguing candidate wherein ordered aperture sizes in the range from 50 nm to 1.5 μm can increase the chemical diffusion rate and considerably strengthen the performance stability and repeatability. This review highlights the recent advances in the fabrication of ordered macroporous nanostructures with different dimensions and compositions, discusses the sensing behavior evolution governed by structural layouts, hierarchy, doping, and heterojunctions, as well as considering their general principles and future prospects. This would provide a clear scale for others to tune the sensing performance of porous materials in terms of specific components and structural designs.
AIS Electronic

Software development in organizations is evolving and increasingly taking a socio-technical hue. While empirical research guided by common sense reasoning has informed researchers and the software community in the past, the increasing social character of software development provides us with the context and the motivation to provide theoretical underpinnings to our empirical work. In this paper we s ample three theoretical domains that could serve our empirical research efforts: social capital, organizational learning and knowledge based view of the firm. We illustrate the utility of these theoretical perspectives by articulating a research model that captures the IT value created by software development teams practicing different methodologies.
Carbon‐Based Sunlight Absorbers in Solar‐Driven Steam Generation Devices

Carbon‐based sunlight absorbers in solar‐driven steam generation have recently attracted much attention due to the possibility of huge applications of low‐cost steam for medical sterilization or sanitization, seawater desalination, chemical distillation, and water purification. In this minireview, recent developments in carbon‐based sunlight absorbers in solar‐driven steam generation systems are reviewed, including graphene, graphite, carbon nanotubes, other carbon materials, and carbon‐based composite materials, highlighting important contributions worldwide that promise low‐cost, efficient, robust, reusable, chemically stable, and excellent broadband solar absorption. Furthermore, the crucial challenges associated with employing carbon materials in this field are emphasized.
The relationship between coronary angioplasty procedure volume and major complications.

OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship between the volume of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) procedures performed in a cardiac catheterization laboratory and major complications after adjusting for case mix and to evaluate the applicability of current guidelines for minimum laboratory volume. DESIGN Cohort study using the 1992 and 1993 registries of the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions. SETTING Forty-eight cardiac catheterization laboratories from throughout the United States and Canada. PATIENTS All 19 594 consecutive patients without an acute myocardial infarction (MI) undergoing a first coronary balloon angioplasty. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Emergency bypass surgery, MI, or in-hospital death. RESULTS There was a significant decrease in the rates of in-hospital mortality (P = .04), emergency bypass surgery (P < .001), MI (P - .001), and major complications (defined as one or more of these outcomes; P < .001) with increasing cardiac catheterization laboratory volume. After adjustment for case mix using multivariable analysis, these associations persisted, although the association with mortality was no longer statistically significant. There was no significant difference in outcomes in laboratories performing at least 200 vs fewer than 200 procedures per year, the currently recommended minimum laboratory volume (odds ratio [OR] for major complications, 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.53 to 1.25). However, a statistically significant decrease in major complications was observed in laboratories performing more than 400 procedures per year (adjusted OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.46 to 0.96; P = .03; and OR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.78; P = .001) when laboratories performing 400 through 599 procedures and at least 600 procedures per year, respectively, are compared with those performing fewer than 200 per year. CONCLUSIONS An inverse association between cardiac catheterization laboratory procedure volume and major complications during PTCA exists independent of differences in patients' risk profiles. Our data suggest that the currently recommended minimum laboratory volume may be too low to distinguish higher-risk from lower-risk laboratories.
Development of Lightweight Aluminum-Titanium Alloys for Aerospace Applications

Aluminum (Al) and Titanium (Ti) based lightweight alloys have been a topic of discussion and research for a few decades now. Resulting alloys with hard intermetallic phases in Al-Ti binary system have good microstructural and mechanical properties including low densities, high specific strength, better resistance against oxidation and corrosion which are highly desirable in aerospace industry. Such an alloy system was studied in our research. Powder metallurgy (PM) was used as processing route because of its economical and easy operation. Samples were prepared using metallic powders of Aluminum (Al) and Titanium (Ti) with varying compositions of 95 at. % Al-Ti, 90 at. % Al-Ti and 88 at. % Al-10 at. % Ti-2 at. % SiC. After compaction, pressureless sintering was carried out at 620°C for several hours in Argon atmosphere followed by annealing resulting in a reasonably dense Al-Ti alloy. Microstructure and phase composition of alloy was analyzed by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. Hardness was evaluated by Vickers micro indentation test. An increase in hardness was observed. Sample containing reinforcement particles (SiC) demonstrated highest value of hardness.
The GLARE Survey – II. Faint z≈ 6 Lyα line emitters in the HUDF

The galaxy population at z≈ 6 has been the subject of intense study in recent years, culminating in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) – the deepest imaging survey yet. A large number of high-redshift galaxy candidates have been identified within the HUDF, but until now analysis of their properties has been hampered by the difficulty of obtaining spectroscopic redshifts for these faint galaxies. Our ‘Gemini Lyman-Alpha at Reionization Era’ (GLARE) project has been designed to undertake spectroscopic follow-up of faint (z′ 5.5, and a further nine possible line emitters with detections at lower significance. We also place tight constraints on the equivalent width of Lyα emission for a further ten i′-drop galaxies and examine the equivalent width distribution of this faint spectroscopic sample of z≈ 6 galaxies. We find that the fraction of galaxies with little or no emission is similar to that at z≈ 3, but that the z≈ 6 population has a tail of sources with high rest-frame equivalent widths. Possible explanations for this effect include a tendency towards stronger line emission in faint sources, which may arise from extreme youth or low metallicity in the Lyman-break population at high redshift, or possibly a top-heavy initial mass function.
Match-time covariance for descriptors

Local descriptor methods are widely used in computer vision to compare local regions of images. These descriptors are often extracted relative to an estimated scale and rotation to provide invariance up to similarity transformations. The estimation of rotation and scale in local neighborhoods (also known as steering) is an imperfect process, however, and can produce errors downstream. In this paper, we propose an alternative to steering that we refer to as match-time covariance (MTC). MTC is a general strategy for descriptor design that simultaneously provides invariance in local neighborhood matches together with the associated aligning transformations. We also provide a general framework for endowing existing descriptors with similarity invariance through MTC. The framework, Similarity-MTC, is simple and dramatically improves accuracy. Finally, we propose NCC-S, a highly effective descriptor based on classic normalized cross-correlation, designed for fast execution in the Similarity-MTC framework. The surprising effectiveness of this very simple descriptor suggests that MTC offers fruitful research directions for image matching previously not accessible in the steering based paradigm.
An infrastructure for multiprocessor run-time adaptation

Runtimeadaptationanddynamicrecon gurationallowasystemtodynamicallyswapinthemostappropriateimple-mentationofitscomp onentsbasedoncurrentorexp ecteduse,andtoselectivelyupgradecomp onentswithbug,secu-rity,orp erformance xeswithoutdown-time.Hot-swappingistheactofreplacinganactivesystemcomp onent'sim-plementationwithanewordi erentimplemenwhilemaintainingavailabilityofthecomp onent'sfunctionalit.Thispap erdescrib esamechanism tohot-swapsoftwarecom-p onentswithintheK421op eratingsystem.Wehavusedthiscapabilitytoimprovep erformanceunderaarietofconditions.K42isaresearchop eratingsystemforcache-coherentsharedmemorymultipro cessorsdesignedtoachievego o dscalabilityonawiderangeofworkloads.InK42,eachvir-tualandphysicalresource,e.g.,op en le,memoryregion,pagetable,ismanagedbyseparate, ne-granularit,ob jectinstances.Eachob jectinstancemayb ecustomized(di er-entsub-class). Thismo delprovidesthestandardsoftwareengineeringb ene ts,butmoreimp ortantly:1)allowsp er-formancecustomizationonanob ject-by-ob jectbasisand2)allows,onamultipro cessor,indep endentaccessestob edirectedtoindep endentinstancesandpro ceedinparallelthuseliminatingsharedmemoryaccessesandsynchroniza-tion,whicharefundamentalbarrierstomultipro cessorp er-formance.Anop eratingsystemisaparticularlydemandingenvi-ronmentasitneedstosatisfymultipleconcurrenclientswhoseresourcedemandsmayb eato dds.Forexample,multipleclientsmaysimultaneouslyaccessa lewithdif-ferentusagepatterns.Supp ortingmultipro cessorspresentsadditionalchallengesforop eratingsystems,andoftenimple-mentationsthatarerequiredforscalablep erformancehaveworseunipro cessorb ehavior.Toprovideb othunipro cessorandmultipro cessorcomp o-nentswithinasingleob jectmo del,K42'sob jectsareim-1http://www.research. ibm.com/K42
Safe drilling angles and depths for plate-screw fixation of the clavicle: avoidance of inadvertent iatrogenic subclavian neurovascular bundle injury.

BACKGROUND Plate fixation is frequently used to repair clavicle fractures, but over drilling can cause subclavian neurovascular bundle damage. The aims of this study were to investigate the anatomic relationship between the clavicle and subclavian neurovascular bundle and to determine safe drilling angles and depths. METHODS Twenty-six healthy subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging. Coronal and sagittal images of the periclavicular region including the whole clavicle and nearby vital anatomic structures were obtained. The clavicle was divided into three sections: section I: between the sternoclavicular joint and point N (where the subclavian neurovascular bundle coursed below the midaxial level of the clavicle); section II: from N to the projection point of the coracoid process to the clavicle (CP'); and section III: from CP' to the acromioclavicular joint. Dangerous drilling depths and angles were determined for each section. RESULTS In section I, the safe drilling angle was >59.7 degrees cephalad and >95.3 degrees caudad, while safe drilling depth was <17.0 +/- 2.4 mm. Corresponding values in section II were <1.2 degrees caudad and >142.4 degrees caudad. Safe drilling depth was no more than 36.2 mm +/- 12.4 mm. Depth and direction limitations were not assessed for section III, because the neurovascular bundle coursed well below the level of the coracoid process. CONCLUSIONS We have used magnetic resonance imaging to determine safe drilling directions and depth for plate-screw fixation of the clavicle. On confirmation, these findings could be used in the clinical setting to reduce the risk of inadvertent iatrogenic subclavian neurovascular bundle injury during surgical clavicle fracture repair.
Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery Versus Conventional Transanal Excision for Patients With Early Rectal Cancer

Objective:To compare transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEMS) with conventional transanal excision (TAE) in terms of the quality of resection, local recurrence, and survival rates in patients with stage I rectal cancer. Background:Although TEMS is often considered a superior surgical technique to TAE, it is poorly suited for excising tumors in the lower third of the rectum. Such tumors may confer a worse prognosis. Methods:We retrospectively reviewed information on all patients with stage pT1 and pT2 rectal adenocarcinoma who underwent local excision from 1997 through mid-2006. We excluded patients with node-positive, metastatic, recurrent, previously irradiated, or snare-excised tumors. Results:Our study included 42 TEMS and 129 TAE patients. We found no significant differences in patient characteristics, adjuvant therapy, tumor stage, or adverse histopathologic features. In the TAE group, 52 (40%) of tumors were <5 cm from the anal verge (AV); in the TEMS group, only 1 (2%) (P = 0.0001). Surgical margins were less often positive in the TEMS group (2%) than in the TAE group (16%) (P = 0.017). For patients with tumors ≥5 cm from the AV, the estimated 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate was similar between the TEMS group (84.1%) and the TAE group (76.1%) (P = 0.651). But within the TAE group, the estimated 5-year DFS rate was better for patients with tumors ≥5 cm from the AV (76.1%) vs. <5 cm from the AV (60.5%) (P = 0.029). In our multivariate analysis, the tumor distance from the anal verge, the resection margin status, the T stage, and the use of adjuvant therapy—but not the surgical technique (i.e., TEMS or TAE) itself—were independent predictors of local recurrence and DFS. Conclusions:The quality of resection is better with TEMS than with TAE. However, the apparently better oncologic outcomes with TEMS can be partly explained by case selection of lower-risk tumors of the upper rectum.