Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimating Vaccine Effects on Transmission of Infection from Household Outbreak Data

Summary. This article is concerned with a method for making inferences about various measures of vaccine efficacy. These measures describe reductions in susceptibility and in the potential to transmit infection. The method uses data on household outbreaks; it is based on a model that allows for transmission of infection both from within a household and from the outside. The use of household data is motivated by the hope that these are informative about vaccine‐induced reduction of the potential to transmit infection, as household outbreaks contain some information about the possible source of infection. For illustration, the method is applied to observed data on household outbreaks of smallpox. These data are of the form needed and the number of households is of a size that can be managed in a vaccine trial. It is found that vaccine effects, such as the mean reduction in susceptibility and the mean reduction in the potential to infect others, per infectious contact, can be estimated with precision. However, a more specific parameter reflecting the reduction in infectivity for individuals partially responding to vaccination is not estimated well in the application. An evaluation of the method using artificial data shows that this parameter can be estimated with greater precision when we have outbreak data on a large number of small households.
Tocilizumab for uncontrollable systemic inflammatory response syndrome complicating adult-onset Still disease

Rationale: Adult-onset Still disease (AOSD) is a rare systemic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology characterized by evanescent salmon-pink rash, fever spikes, arthralgia, and lymphadenopathy. AOSD usually has a good prognosis, but it can sometimes be fatal, especially when it is complicated by systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and multiple organ failure. Patient concerns: A previously healthy 26-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for persistent high fever and mild systemic edema. Five days later, the patient presented with dyspnea, hypotension, and anuria. Anasarca developed with massive pleural effusion, ascites, and systemic edema, resulting in an increase of 47 kg in body weight. Diagnoses: The patient was diagnosed as AOSD after infection, malignancy, hematologic disorders, and other autoimmune diseases were excluded. Interventions: We administered tocilizumab, an IL-6 receptor inhibitor, intravenously in addition to cyclosporine, prednisolone, plasma exchange, and continuous hemodiafiltration. Outcomes: The patient's systemic condition improved. After stabilization by all medications, the patient was managed and responded to tocilizumab alone. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first case of severe SIRS complicating AOSD that was successfully treated with an anti- IL-6 receptor antibody. Lessons: SIRS should not be overlooked in a patient with steroid-resistant AOSD and edema. Inhibitors of the IL-6 receptor can be used safely and effectively to control AOSD complicated with severe SIRS.
Performance variation in electrical balance duplexers due to user interaction

A key issue impacting the transmit to receive (TX-RX) isolation in Electrical Balance (EB) Duplexers is dynamic matching of the antenna impedance by the balancing network. Circuit simulations including embedded antenna measurements have been used to investigate the variation in TX-RX isolation due to interaction with the user and the local environment. Simulated results at 847MHz and 1960MHz show user interaction causes over 25dB of variation in the mean isolation over a 20MHz bandwidth. However, in reflective indoor environments, user interaction on average improves TX-RX isolation. This observed performance improvement is a result of reduced antenna radiation efficiency, which makes reflections from objects at longer ranges less significant and thereby reduces frequency domain variation in the antenna reflection coefficient.
Genomic Changes and Gene Expression Profiles Reveal That Established Glioma Cell Lines Are Poorly Representative of Primary Human Gliomas

Genetic aberrations, such as gene amplification, deletions, and loss of heterozygosity, are hallmarks of cancer and are thought to be major contributors to the neoplastic process. Established cancer cell lines have been the primary in vitro and in vivo models for cancer for more than 2 decades; however, few such cell lines have been extensively characterized at the genomic level. Here, we present a high-resolution genome-wide chromosomal alteration and gene expression analyses of five of the most commonly used glioma cell lines and compare the findings with those observed in 83 primary human gliomas. Although genomic alterations known to occur in primary tumors were identified in the cell lines, we also observed several novel recurrent aberrations in the glioma cell lines that are not frequently represented in primary tumors. Additionally, a global gene expression cluster distinct from primary tumors was identified in the glioma cell lines. Our results indicate that established cell lines are generally a poor representation of primary tumor biology, presenting a host of genomic and gene expression changes not observed in primary tissues, although some discrete features of glioma biology were conserved in the established cell lines. Refined maps of genetic alterations and transcriptional divergence from the original tumor type, such as the one presented here, may help serve as a guideline for a more biologically rational and clinically relevant selection of the most appropriate glioma model for a given experiment. (Mol Cancer Res 2008;6(1):21–30)
Spatiotemporal methods for prostate cancer detection by contrast-ultrasound dispersion imaging

Prostate cancer is the most diagnosed form of cancer in men in western countries. The lack of reliable imaging solutions currently restricts treatment options to radical interventions. Reliable imaging of angiogenesis, which correlates with cancer aggressiveness, could enable efficient targeting of biopsies and focal therapies, but the complicated effects of angiogenesis on perfusion have prevented a breakthrough so far. As an alternative, contrast-ultrasound dispersion imaging (CUDI) has been proposed to obtain a better characterization of angiogenenic microvascular changes. CUDI makes use of dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging after an intravenous contrast-agent bolus injection. Dispersion is estimated by spatiotemporal analysis of time-intensity curves (TICs) obtained at each pixel. Here we present an analytical framework for a dispersion analysis by estimation of the spatial TIC similarity. Data preprocessing is improved by a spatial Wiener deconvolution filter, which reduces the effects of the anisotropic spatial ultrasound resolution, and by TIC time windowing. In addition, we propose the TIC correlation coefficient as a new TIC similarity measure. A comparison of the resulting dispersion maps from 7 recordings with histology, obtained after radical prostatectomy, showed an increased spatial similarity in the presence of cancer in all patients. The cancer classification performance of CUDI was superior to all perfusion-related parameters and was improved by spatial filtering and windowing. Although an extended validation is required, these results confirm the promising value of CUDI for prostate cancer detection.
Large-scale 2D electronics based on single-layer MoS2 grown by chemical vapor deposition

2D nanoelectronics based on single-layer MoS2 offers great advantages for both conventional and ubiquitous applications. This paper discusses the large-scale CVD growth of single-layer MoS2 and fabrication of integrated devices and circuits for the first time. Fundamental building blocks of digital electronics, such as inverters and NAND gates, are fabricated to demonstrate its capability for logic applications.
Manganese-Dependent Cleavage of Nonphenolic Lignin Structures by Ceriporiopsis subvermispora in the Absence of Lignin Peroxidase

Many ligninolytic fungi appear to lack lignin peroxidase (LiP), the enzyme generally thought to cleave the major, recalcitrant, nonphenolic structures in lignin. At least one such fungus, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, is nevertheless able to degrade these nonphenolic structures. Experiments showed that wood block cultures and defined liquid medium cultures of C. subvermispora rapidly depolymerized and mineralized a (sup14)C-labeled, polyethylene glycol-linked, high-molecular-weight (beta)-O-4 lignin model compound (model I) that represents the major nonphenolic structure of lignin. The fungus cleaved model I between C(inf(alpha)) and C(inf(beta)) to release benzylic fragments, which were shown in isotope trapping experiments to be major products of model I metabolism. The C(inf(alpha))-C(inf(beta)) cleavage of (beta)-O-4 lignin structures to release benzylic fragments is characteristic of LiP catalysis, but assays of C. subvermispora liquid cultures that were metabolizing model I confirmed that the fungus produced no detectable LiP activity. Three results pointed, instead, to the participation of a different enzyme, manganese peroxidase (MnP), in the degradation of nonphenolic lignin structures by C. subvermispora. (i) The degradation of model I and of exhaustively methylated (nonphenolic), (sup14)C-labeled, synthetic lignin by the fungus in liquid cultures was almost completely inhibited when the Mn concentration of the medium was decreased from 35 (mu)M to approximately 5 (mu)M. (ii) The fungus degraded model I and methylated lignin significantly faster in the presence of Tween 80, a source of unsaturated fatty acids, than it did in the presence of Tween 20, which contains only saturated fatty acids. Previous work has shown that nonphenolic lignin structures are degraded during the MnP-mediated peroxidation of unsaturated lipids. (iii) In experiments with MnP, Mn(II), and unsaturated lipid in vitro, this system mimicked intact C. subvermispora cultures in that it cleaved nonphenolic (beta)-O-4 lignin model compounds between C(inf(alpha)) and C(inf(beta)) to release a benzylic fragment.
Trends and disparities in socioeconomic and behavioural characteristics, life expectancy, and cause-specific mortality of native-born and foreign-born populations in the United States, 1979-2003.

BACKGROUND Immigrants are a growing segment of the US population. In 2003, there were 33.5 million immigrants, accounting for 12% of the total US population. Despite a rapid increase in their numbers, little information exists as to how immigrants' health and mortality profile has changed over time. In this study, we analysed trends in social and behavioural characteristics, life expectancy, and mortality patterns of immigrants and the US-born from 1979 to 2003. METHODS We used national mortality and census data (1979-2003) and 1993 and 2003 National Health Interview Surveys to examine nativity differentials over time in health and social characteristics. Life tables, age-adjusted death rates, and logistic regression were used to examine nativity differentials. RESULTS During 1979-81, immigrants had 2.3 years longer life expectancy than the US-born (76.2 vs 73.9 years). The difference increased to 3.4 years in 1999-2001 (80.0 vs 76.6 years). Nativity differentials in mortality increased over time for major cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory diseases, unintentional injuries, and suicide, with immigrants experiencing generally lower mortality than the US-born in each period. Specifically, in 1999-2001, immigrants had at least 30% lower mortality from lung and oesophageal cancer, COPD, suicide, and HIV/AIDS, but at least 50% higher mortality from stomach and liver cancer than the US-born. Nativity differentials in mortality, health, and behavioural characteristics varied substantially by ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS Growing ethnic heterogeneity of the immigrant population, and its migration selectivity and continuing advantages in behavioural characteristics may partly explain the overall widening health gaps between immigrants and the US-born.
Comparative analysis of two adaptive controls based on geometric principles of identification and the extension of the modified renormalization transformation

In this paper two simple adaptive controllers are outlined that create only temporal and situation-dependent system models. They may be plausible alternatives of the more sophisticated soft computing approaches that aim at the identification of permanent and complete models. In both cases the temporal models can be built up and maintained step-by-step on the basis of slow elimination of fading information by the use of simple updating rules consisting of finite algebraic steps of lucid geometric interpretation, but in quite different manners. Both methods apply simple elimination of the casual algebraic singularities the occurrence of which cannot be evaded in the practice. The operation of the methods is illustrated by the control of a 2-degrees-of-freedom dynamic system as a typical paradigm via simulation
Female choice and pre-existing bias: visual cues during courtship in two
 Schizocosa
 wolf spiders (Araneae: Lycosidae)

Male wolf spiders, Schizocosa ocreata, possess tufts of bristles on the forelegs, which are used in visual courtship displays, but males of a closely related species, S. rovneri, lack tufted forelegs. In studies with live males, female S. ocreata showed receptivity more often to males with larger tufts than to males with smaller or shaved tufts. Male body size and/or shaving of tufts may aVect male courtship behaviour, however, which could influence female receptivity. Manipulated video images of the same courting male were used to control for male behaviour and to test the hypothesis that these tufts influence female choice. Video images of S. ocreata, and images of S. rovneri males (control: without tufts; experimental: with tufts added) were shown to females of both species. Female S. ocreata showed lowered receptivity to a video of a male with tufts removed and equal receptivity to a video of a male with enhanced tufts compared to a control video of a conspecific male with typical tufts. Responses of female S. ocreata to heterospecific video male S. rovneri were significantly lower than to conspecifics. In contrast, female S. rovneri are more receptive to video images of conspecific males with tufts added and heterospecific male S. ocreata than to control images. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that tufts are apomorphic, and that S. rovneri is more basal within the clade than S. ocreata. Since female S. rovneri respond receptively to both conspecific and heterospecific males with tufts and/or active leg waving displays, these results may provide evidence of pre-existing bias and/or sexual selection for a novel trait. 1996 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
A Grammar of the Distinctive Competence Development at the Firm for the Solution of Systemic Problems

Competitiveness results from factors beyond structural conditions and organizational boundaries, such as cooperation. Evidence gathered in credit unions suggests there is a social process in the firm for generating capabilities and economic goods to satisfy the needs established by social structures in charge of resolving market failures and structural deficiencies in the productive system. An exploratory and descriptive multiple case study with longitudinal qualitative data supported by a computer-based Process Tracing method leads to the refinement of a mathematical model of social phenomenon based on a set of decision-making rules of deterministic nature. Two case studies reveal that the firms maintain relations of cooperation and contribution with partners and social structures in their organizational and environmental surroundings every time their economic performance is constrained by competitive problems of systemic nature, for which there is no solution based on mechanisms of market price and state intervention.
HIV-1 strains from India are highly divergent from prototypic African and US/European strains, but are linked to a South African isolate.

OBJECTIVE To gain molecular insights into different HIV-1 strains present in two different states of India, nucleotide sequences derived from the env region of four HIV-1 strains were analysed. DESIGN HIV-1 was isolated from high-risk patients from the states of Maharashtra (city of Bombay) and Goa. The molecular analysis of the env region encompassed all variable domains of the external glycoprotein, gp120. METHODS Genomic DNA from cultured cells infected with each of the four Indian HIV-1 strains independently was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR fragments were cloned and sequenced and a phylogenetic tree constructed. RESULTS All four Indian HIV-1 sequences were closely related to each other. The closest related sequence to them was from a South African isolate, HIV-1NOF, with a homology of 85-87%. In the phylogenetic tree, the Indian and the South African HIV-1 sequences cluster together and constitute a subtype different from the North American/European, Central African, Uganda/Rwanda and Northern Thailand subtypes. Interestingly, the viruses of this subtype are characterized by an additional potential N-glycosylation site C-terminal to the CD4-binding domain. CONCLUSION The low variation between the HIV-1 sequences from randomly chosen individuals from high-risk cohorts in two Indian states suggests a rapid and recent spread of HIV and, possibly, introduction of the virus by the same route, most probably heterosexual transmission. The rapid spread of HIV-1 variants in India, which form a subgroup of their own together with a South African strain, necessitate consideration of these strains in vaccine development.
Correcting Incompatible DN Values and Geometric Errors in Nighttime Lights Time-Series Images

The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime lights imagery has proven to be a powerful remote sensing tool to monitor urbanization and assess socioeconomic activities at large scales. However, the existence of incompatible digital number (DN) values and geometric errors severely limit application of nighttime light image data on multiyear quantitative research. In this paper, we extend and improve previous studies on intercalibrating nighttime lights image data to obtain more compatible and reliable nighttime lights time-series (NLT) image data for China and the U.S. through four steps, namely, intercalibration, geometric correction, steady-increase adjustment, and population data correction. We then use gross domestic product (GDP) data to test the processed NLT image data indirectly and find that sum light (summed DN value of pixels in a nighttime light image) maintains apparent increase trends with relatively large GDP growth rates but does not increase or decrease with relatively small GDP growth rates. As nighttime light is a sensitive indicator for economic activity, the temporally consistent trends between sum light and GDP growth rate imply that brightness of nighttime lights on the ground is correctly represented by the processed NLT image data. Finally, through analyzing the corrected NLT image data from 1992 to 2008, we find that China experienced apparent nighttime lights development in 1992-1997 and 2001-2008, respectively, and the U.S. showed nighttime lights decay in large areas after 2001.
Peripherally driven low‐threshold inhibitory inputs to lamina I local‐circuit and projection neurones: a new circuit for gating pain responses

Spinal lamina I is a key element of the pain processing system which relays peripheral inputs to supraspinal areas. In this study, we focused on signal processing in identified lamina I local‐circuit and projection neurones in their functionally preserved network in an isolated spinal cord preparation. We found that local‐circuit neurones generate spontaneous rhythmic firing, which persists in the presence of blockers of fast synaptic transmission. We describe a novel, low‐threshold, primary afferent‐driven inhibitory input to lamina I neurones, which temporally preceded classical high‐threshold excitatory inputs and may function as a postsynaptic gate controlling pain. One‐third of local‐circuit neurones and two‐thirds of projection neurones responded to substance P application. These results help us understand the role of lamina I neurones in a new circuit for gating pain responses.
Differential polarization time coding for PolDM systems without PMD compensator

Polarization division multiplexed (PolDM) systems have become a popular research field in modern fiber-optic communication systems due to their potential of doubling the spectral efficiency. However, polarization mode dispersion (PMD) is a major obstacle for PolDM systems, especially in long-haul applications. Existing techniques used to compensate for PMD are complicated and expensive to build. We propose a new differential polarization time coding (DPTC) scheme for PolDM systems, which is similar to differential space time coding (DSTC) schemes in wireless systems. Simulation results with optical distance of 2000 km show that DPTC can increase the PMD tolerance significantly with little added complexity.
Nexus of Economic Misery, Interest rate, Exchange rate and Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan

This study investigates the impact of economic misery, exchange rate and interest rate on foreign direct investment (FDI) in case of Pakistan over the period of 1972- 2013. The time series data for all variables is collected from various issues of Economic Surveys of Pakistan, State bank of Pakistan and WDI. This study has used Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Philips Perron (PP) unit root tests for stationarity of the variables and Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) is used for co-integration among the variables of the model. The results show that there is negative and insignificant impact of economic misery and political instability on FDI in Pakistan. Exchange rate has positive and significant relationship with FDI over the selected time period. Exports have a negative and insignificant impact of FDI. Interest rate and GDP has a positive and significant relationship with FDI in case of Pakistan.