Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A randomized, prospective field trial of a conjugate vaccine in the protection of infants and young children against invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b disease.

BACKGROUND Haemophilus influenzae type b is the leading cause of invasive bacterial disease in young children. The capsular polysaccharide vaccine does not protect children at greatest risk (those under the age of 18 months), but a polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccine has proved to be more immunogenic in this age group. METHODS We enrolled 114,000 infants in Finland in an open, prospective, randomized trial of a H. influenzae type b capsular polysaccharide-diphtheria toxoid conjugate vaccine (polyribosylribitol phosphate-diphtheria toxoid [PRP-D]). Children born on odd-numbered days were vaccinated at the ages of 3, 4, 6, and 14 to 18 months; those born on even-numbered days formed the control group and received the same vaccine at the age of 24 months. RESULTS After three doses of the vaccine there were 4 cases of verified bacteremic H. influenzae type b disease in the group receiving early vaccination, as compared with 64 cases in the control group, between the ages of approximately 7 and 24 months. The protective efficacy of the vaccine was thus 94 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 83 to 98). No serious adverse effects were reported. The immune response to the conjugate vaccine was characteristic of a T-cell-dependent response when studied in a cohort of 120 infants. The primary immunization series resulted in a geometric mean concentration of anticapsular antibody of 0.53 micrograms per milliliter at the age of seven months, and the fourth dose evoked an anamnestic response, with a mean antibody concentration of 45.22 micrograms per milliliter. CONCLUSIONS A new conjugate vaccine consisting of the capsular polysaccharide of H. influenzae type b covalently linked to a protein carrier (PRP-D), administered to infants beginning at the age of 3 months, is highly effective in protecting young Finnish children (7 to 24 months old) against invasive H. influenzae type b infections.
Quorum sensing and pathogenesis: role of small signalling molecules in bacterial persistence

The pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is associated with its ability to survive inside the human host and the bacteria use a variety of mechanism to evade the host's defence. A clearer understanding of the host pathogen interaction is needed to follow the pathogenicity and virulence. Recent advances in the study of inter and intra-cellular communication in bacteria had prompted us to study the role of quorum sensing in bacterial survival and pathogenicity. The cell cell communication in bacteria (quorum sensing) is mediated through the exchange of small molecules called as autoinducers that allow bacteria to modulate their gene expression in response to change in cell-population density. It is a coordinated response that confers multicellularity to a bacterial population in response to stress from external environment. Quorum sensing molecules are the global regulators and regulate a wide range of physiological processes including biofilm formation, motility, cell differentiation, long-term survival and many others. Many bacterial pathogens require quorum sensing to produce the virulence factors in response to host pathogen interaction. Here, we summarize our current understanding on small molecule signalling and their role in the bacterial persistence. New discoveries in these areas have enriched our knowledge on intracellular signalling and their role in the long-term survival of mycobacteria under nutrient starvation.
Cerebral haemodynamics in pregnancy and pre-eclampsia as assessed by transcranial Doppler ultrasonography.

BACKGROUND Altered cerebral circulation, as reported during normal pregnancy, and in patients with pre-eclampsia, can be associated with changes in cerebral vascular reactivity and/or cerebral autoregulation. The aim of our study was to perform a comparative assessment of cerebral haemodynamics, including vascular reactivity and autoregulation, in pre-eclamptic patients, healthy pregnant women, and healthy non-pregnant women. METHODS Thirty patients with pre-eclampsia were recruited. Age- and height-matched healthy pregnant (n=30) and non-pregnant control (n=30) groups were also recruited. Monitoring included transcranial Doppler ultrasonography, end-tidal carbon dioxide and non-invasive arterial pressure measurement. Cerebral autoregulation was assessed by performing the transient hyperaemic response (THR) test. The cerebrovascular reactivity to carbon dioxide (CRCO(2)) was assessed by measuring middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity (MCAFV) after induced changes in end-tidal carbon dioxide. Estimated cerebral perfusion pressure (eCPP) and critical closing pressure (CrCP) were calculated using established formulae. Statistical analysis included ANOVA with Tukey's pairwise comparisons. RESULTS Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was increased in pre-eclampsia (P<0.05). Mean MCAFV was lower in healthy pregnancy (P<0.05), but in pre-eclampsia it was similar to the non- pregnant group. When compared with the non-pregnant group, mean eCPP was higher in the healthy pregnant and pre-eclamptic groups (P<0.05). There were no meaningful differences in cerebral autoregulation or CRCO(2). CONCLUSIONS Healthy pregnancy increases eCPP, presumably by decreasing CrCP. In pre-eclampsia, eCPP is maintained at the same level as in healthy pregnancy despite an increased MAP. Pre-eclampsia has no significant effect on cerebral autoregulation or CRCO(2).
Chlorogenic acid-enriched extract from Eucommia ulmoides leaves inhibits hepatic lipid accumulation through regulation of cholesterol metabolism in HepG2 cells

Abstract Context: Eucommia ulmoides Oliver (Eucommiaceae) leaf exhibits beneficial lipid-lowering and anti-obesity effects. However, the mechanisms remain unknown. Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the lipid-lowering effects of chlorogenic acid (CGA)-enriched extract from this plant (CAEF) in human hepatoma HepG2 cells, focusing on cholesterol metabolism. Materials and methods: HepG2 cells were treated with CAEF (10, 20, 25, 40, 60, and 80 mg/L), CGA (0.3, 3, 30, 300, and 600 μmol/L), and simvastatin (0.1, 1, 10, 50, and 100 μmol/L) for 24 or 48 h. The cytotoxicity, Oil red O staining, total cholesterol, and triacylglycerol in supernatants were determined. The mRNA expression of genes involved in cholesterol metabolism was determined with RT-PCR. The protein expression of HMG-CoA reductase (HMGCR) was examined by immunocytochemistry and western-blot. Results: The IC50 values were 59.2 mg/L for CAEF, 335.9 μmol/L for CGA, and 10.5 μmol/L for simvastatin. By treating cells with CAEF (25 mg/L), CGA (30 μmol/L), or simvastatin (10 μmol/L) for 48 h, the efflux of total cholesterol and triacylglycerol was increased (CAEF, 4.06- and 31.00-folds; CGA, 2.94- and 2.17-folds; and simvastatin, 3.94- and 24.67-folds), and the cellular lipid droplets were reduced in Oil red O staining. CAEF and CGA increased mRNA expression of ABCA1, CYP7A1, and AMPKα2, while CAEF and simvastatin decreased SREBP2. However, their effects on LXRα mRNA expression were variable. Importantly, all drugs significantly inhibited protein expression of HMGCR at mRNA and protein levels. Discussion and conclusion: CAEF is a promising dietary supplement to prevent obesity and dyslipidemia and the effects appear to be due, at least in part, to regulating cholesterol metabolism through inhibition of HMGCR in HepG2 cells.
Identifying Important Features for Intrusion Detection using Discriminant Analysis and Support Vector Machine

A lightweight network intrusion detection system is more efficient and effective for the real world requirement. Higher performance may result if the insignificant and/or useless features can be eliminated. Discriminant analysis can identify the significance of the examined features. In this paper discriminant analysis and support vector machine are combined to detect network intrusion. Empirical results indicate that using the important feature set extracted from the discriminant analysis can get nearly the same performance as the full feature set. A comparative study of using different feature selection methods is also shown to prove the usefulness of our approach
Can amino acid carbon isotope ratios distinguish primary producers in a mangrove ecosystem?

RATIONALE The relative contribution of carbon from terrestrial vs. marine primary producers to mangrove-based food webs can be challenging to resolve with bulk carbon isotope ratios (δ(13)C). In this study we explore whether patterns of δ(13)C values among amino acids (AAs) can provide an additional tool for resolving terrestrial and marine origins of carbon. METHODS Amino acid carbon isotope ratios (δ(13)C(AA)) were measured for several terrestrial and marine primary producers in a mangrove ecosystem at Spanish Lookout Caye (SLC), Belize, using gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The δ(13)C values of essential amino acids (δ(13)C(EAA)) were measured to determine whether they could be used to differentiate terrestrial and marine producers using linear discriminant analysis. RESULTS Marine and terrestrial producers had distinct patterns of δ(13)C(EAA) values in addition to their differences in bulk δ(13)C values. Microbial mat samples and consumers (Crassostrea rhizophorae, Aratus pisonii, Littoraria sp., Lutjanus griseus) were most similar to marine producers. Patterns of δ(13)C(EAA) values for terrestrial producers were very similar to those described for other terrestrial plants. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that δ(13)C(EAA) values may provide another tool for estimating the contribution of terrestrial and marine sources to detrital foodwebs. Preliminary analyses of consumers indicate significant use of aquatic resources, consistent with other studies of mangrove foodwebs.
Laryngeal vibrations: measurements of the glottic wave. II. Physiologic variations.

Part I of this report on Laryngeal Vibrations, which was published recently in this journal, 3 presented detailed measurements of the glottic wave for the normal vibratory cycle. For this study, a series of normal subjects were photographed with an ultrahigh-speed Fastax camera during controlled episodes of phonation, and these films were subjected to frame-by-frame analysis. selected pictures from typical scenes were enlarged for accurate measurements, and a number of interesting new observations regarding the normal vibratory cycle were recorded. The published data include quantitative information regarding the influence of intensity, pitch, and register on the vibratory pattern. The results were transcribed graphically in norm measures as indicated on Figure 1. The terms "open quotient" and "speed quotient" were employed to describe the relationship between the different phases of the vocal cord movements in each cycle. For a review of the pertinent literature, and for additional details regarding the technique,
Phonon-blocking electron-transmitting structures

We present the concept of phonon-blocking electron-transmitting structures, desirable for high-performance thermoelectric devices, with the measured properties of p-type Bi/sub 2/Te/sub 3//Sb/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ superlattice materials. Transmission electron microscopy data indicate that these superlattices are structurally nearly ideal; this is also supported by the in-plane carrier transport measurements which suggest that superlattices offer higher mobilities compared to alloy films. The cross-plane carrier transport has been evaluated by a transmission line model technique, adapted to measure the electrical conductivities normal to the plane of the thin films. From a phonon-transport point of view, the superlattices offer significantly reduced lattice thermal conductivities compared to that of alloys. Prototypal thermoelements have been prepared with these superlattice films and other reference materials. Peltier-effect differential temperatures in the range of 2 to 4K are inferred across the thermoelements during quasi-steady state current flow. Figure of merit (ZT), from isothermal cross-plane electrical resistivities and adiabatic Peltier voltages, in bulk, thin-film alloys, and superlattice thermoelements were /spl sim/1, /spl sim/0.4, and 1.6 to 3, respectively.
Chemoretina: An alternate approach to retinal prosthesis: Visual stimulation strategy using chemicals

Hereditary degenerative diseases of retina (such as Retinitis pigmentosa and age related macular degeneration), cause photoreceptor cell loss leading to progressive visual impairment. Since there is no medical treatment to reverse / overcome the effects of photoreceptor loss, restoring vision with the aid of a prosthetic seems to be the only option. Different types of prosthesis incorporating different geometries and design of multielectrode arrays have been developed to be surgically placed in and around retina. However patients implanted with these devices have been able to see only flickers of light (or phosphenes). Therefore in the present work we have come up with an alternate strategy of stimulating retina through chemicals: Chemoretina. Briefly, our idea involves stimulating voltage gated sodium channels of retinal bipolar cells using drugs, in a manner analogous to photoreceptor stimulation. This paper illustrates our approach to Chemoretina and current developments so far.
Leukaemia arising in donor cells following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for β thalassaemia demonstrated by immunological, DNA and molecular cytogenetic analysis

Summary Combined DNA analysis, molecular cytogenetic and immunological techniques have been used to identify the donor origin of common acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (cALL) which arose in a male patient with β thalassaemia major, 5 years after an allogeneic bone marrow transplant from his HLA‐matched sister. The necessity of using multiple techniques in this and similar cases is emphasized and the possible mechanisms for the development of donor leukaemia and the leukaemic transformation of donor cells are discussed.
MicroRNA miR‐371a‐3p in serum of patients with germ cell tumours: evaluations for establishing a serum biomarker

As only 60% of the patients with germ cell tumour (GCT) express the classical markers, new markers as for example microRNAs (miRNAs) are required. One promising candidate is miR‐371a‐3p, but data are sparse to date. We measured serum levels of miR‐371a‐3p in GCT patients, in controls, and in cases with other malignancies. We also assessed the expression in other body fluids and we looked to the decline of serum miR‐371a‐3p levels after treatment. miR‐371a‐3p levels were measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction in serum samples of 25 GCT patients, 6 testicular intraepithelial neoplasia (TIN) patients, 20 healthy males and 24 non‐testicular malignancies (NTMs). Testicular vein blood (TVB) was examined in five GCT patients and five controls. Five GCT patients had serial daily measurements after orchiectomy. Five seminal plasma samples, three urine specimens and one pleural effusion fluid were processed likewise. GCT patients had significantly higher miR‐371a‐3p serum levels than controls and NTMs. Serum levels of controls, TINs and NTMs were not significantly different. TVB samples of GCT patients had 65.4‐fold higher serum levels than peripheral blood. Malignant pleural effusion fluid had extremely high levels of miR‐371a‐3p, seminal plasma had strongly elevated levels by comparison with serum levels of controls. In urine of GCT patients, no miR‐371a‐3p expression was detected. Daily measurements after orchiectomy in stage 1 patients revealed a decline by 95% within 24 h. Serum levels of miR‐371a‐3p appear to be a promising specific biomarker of GCTs as is suggested by high serum levels in GCT patients, the rapid return of elevated levels to normal range after treatment, the association of serum levels with tumour bulk, the non‐expression in NTMs and the much higher levels of miR‐371a‐3p in TVB. This potential marker deserves further exploration in a large‐scale clinical study.
Dose–response effects of free fatty acids on amino acid metabolism and ureagenesis

Aim: Free fatty acids (FFAs) are important fuels and have vital protein‐sparing effects, particularly during conditions of metabolic stress and fasting. However, it is uncertain whether these beneficial effects are evident throughout the physiological range or only occur at very high FFA concentrations. It is also unclear whether secondary alterations in hormone levels and ketogenesis play a role. We therefore aimed at describing dose–response relationships between amino acid metabolism and circulating FFA concentrations at clamped hormone levels.
Functional Texture Design and Texturing Processes

Int. J. of Automation Technology submitted 1 Abstract. Various functions can be obtained by applying regular patterns or texture on a surface. Depending on the functions, required dimension of the texture, e.g. pitch, varies in wide range from nanometers for optical function to millimeters for friction. In addition, high aspect ratio of the cross sectional profile or hierarchical structure of micro/nano-structure is required for example to control the wettability. This paper reviews various processes for functionalities including their applications.
Azadirachtin: An Effective Systemic Insecticide for Control of Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae)

ABSTRACT The emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), an invasive pest discovered in North America in 2002, is now well established and threatens ash (Fraxinus spp.) trees throughout the continent. Experiments were conducted to 1) examine the efficacy of an alternative natural pesticide, azadirachtin, to control emerald ash borer, and 2) determine foliar uptake and dissipation patterns after systemic injections of azadirachtin into trunks of small (2.2 cm diameter at breast height [dbh]), uninfested green ash trees. We found no evidence of mortality of adult beetles. In contrast, fewer larvae completed their development at dose levels ≥1.7 mg (AI)/cm dbh and development ceased beyond the second instar at dose levels ≤13.6 mg (AI)/cm dbh. Substantial concentrations (11.2 µg/g dry mass [SD = 7.55]) of azadirachtin were present in leaves within 7 d of treatment. After rapid initial uptake, concentrations in leaves declined logarithmically during the 55 d after injection. A similar pattern was observed in a separate experiment that examined the uptake and translocation of azadirachtin in larger green ash trees (22 cm dbh) treated with 250 mg (AI)/cm dbh with the EcoJect injection system. In another experiment, recently infested plantation green ash trees treated with doses ≥40 mg (AI)/cm dbh had significant reductions in adult emergence ≈1 yr postinjection. Given the inhibition of larval development, reduction of adult emergence, and the occurrence of foliar residues at biologically active concentrations, we conclude that azadirachtin is effective in protecting ash trees from emerald ash borer.
WaterlooClarke: TREC 2015 Temporal Summarization Track

The Temporal Summarization Track looks at providing meaningful summaries of major events and sub-events as they occur. Difficulties arise due to the unique nature of the temporal summarization task in which the corpora is constantly changing along with the known information about the event [1]. This year, the temporal summarization track consists of three tasks, two filtering and summarization tasks and an ontopic summarization task. In the filtering and summarization tasks, relevant content must be extracted from a continuous stream of documents and gradually summarized while maintaining low redundancy, latency and verbosity. In the third task, only the summarization must take place on a corpora filled with many documents related to the event [2]. The overall goal of the track is to provide a sequence of short meaningful sentence length updates over the duration of the events taking into account sentence redundancy and latency. The summaries are scored using an expected latency gain metric (ELG) in which sentences are rewarded for containing handpicked key updates (nuggets) and are penalized for redundancy, latency and verbosity [3]. This track can help users deal with all of the vast information that comes as major events progress through the use of general impersonal updates. Our approach for this track consists of a two step process. The first stage is a data preprocessing stage which extracts the information from the supplied web documents and only retains the information considered necessary for the second stage. The second stage is the filtering and summarization stage used to find and push the relevant sentence length updates. We have applied this methodology to both the second and third task. A total of six different runs have been submitted with all of them being judged. The run scores are comparable to those in 2014, however, with a larger latency gain and lower latency comprehensiveness. The submitted task 2 runs appear to have a slightly better performance than those of task 3. However, there were no apparent differences between the task 2 or the task 3 runs.
Do Stimulant Drugs Improve the Academic Performance of Hyperkinetic Children?

Stimulant drug studies based primarily on measures of teacher opinion have frequently concluded that these drugs improve the achievement of hyperkinetic children. However, a review of those studies using more ob jective measures of academic performance revealed few positive short- term or long-term drug effects on these measures. What few improvements have been noted can be readily attributed to better attention during testing. The major effect of the stimulants appears to be an improvement in classroom manageability rather than academic performance. It would seem that the stimulants are not able to influence those etiologic factors, other than overactivity and inattentiveness, which predispose hyperkinetic children toward school difficulties. Hence, since the goal of pediatric intervention with these children should be to enhance school per formance as well as reducing hyperactive behavior, the two should be independently and objectively monitored. Since stimulant medications fail to improve the academic performance of most of these children, additional educational assistance must be provided.
8 $\times$  448-Gb/s WDM Transmission of 56-GBd PDM 16-QAM OTDM Signals Over 250-km Ultralarge Effective Area Fiber

An 8 × 448-Gb/s polarization-division-multiplexing 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation wavelength-division multiplexing signal with 4-b/s/Hz spectral efficiency is generated using optical time-division multiplexing and real-time field-programmable gate array-based generation of four-level in-phase and quadrature modulator driving signals. Transmission performance over 250-km ultralarge effective area fiber with erbium-doped fiber amplifier-only amplification is investigated.
TAL1/SCL is expressed in endothelial progenitor cells/angioblasts and defines a dorsal-to-ventral gradient of vasculogenesis.

In this study we establish that TAL1/SCL, a member of the helix-loop-helix family of transcription factors, and an important regulator of the hematopoietic lineage in mice, is expressed in the endothelial lineage of avians. The earliest events of vascular development were examined using antibodies to TAL1/SCL, and the QH1 antibody, an established marker of quail endothelial cells. Analyses using double immunofluorescence confocal microscopy show that: (i) TAL1/SCL is expressed by both quail and chicken endothelial cells; (ii) TAL1/SCL expression precedes that of the QH1 epitope; and (iii) TAL1/SCL, but not QH1, expression defines a subpopulation of primordial cells within the splanchnic mesoderm. Collectively these data suggest that TAL1/SCL-positive/QH1-negative cells are angioblasts. Further, using TAL1/SCL expression as a marker of the endothelial lineage, we demonstrate that in addition to the previously described cranial-to-caudal gradient, there is a dorsal-to-ventral progression of vasculogenesis.