Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical relevance of laboratory-reported antibiotic resistance in acute uncomplicated urinary tract infection in primary care.

OBJECTIVES To determine whether patients with an uncomplicated community-acquired urinary tract infection (UTI) and an isolate resistant to trimethoprim had worse clinical outcomes following empirical treatment with trimethoprim 200 mg twice daily for 3 days than did those with a susceptible isolate. PATIENTS AND METHODS This was a prospective cohort study of clinical outcome. We enrolled 497 women (>or=18-70 years) presenting to general practitioner surgeries in Norwich and Gloucester with at least two symptoms of acute (<7 days) uncomplicated UTI. Significant bacteriuria was defined as >or=10(4) cfu/mL from a mid-stream urine (MSU). RESULTS Of enrolled patients 75% (334/448) had significant bacteriuria, and trimethoprim resistance was present in 13.9% (44/317) of isolates. Patients with resistant isolates had a longer median time to symptom resolution (7 versus 4 days, P=0.0002), greater reconsultation to the practice (39% versus 6% in first week, P<0.0001), more subsequent antibiotics (36% versus 4% in first week, P<0.0001) and higher rates of significant bacteriuria at 1 month (42% versus 20% with susceptible isolate, P=0.04). Half of patients reconsulting in the first week had a resistant organism. CONCLUSIONS Patients with uncomplicated UTI caused by trimethoprim-resistant organisms had significantly worse clinical outcomes than those with trimethoprim-susceptible organisms. Nevertheless, trimethoprim resistance was rarer than predicted from routine laboratory submissions and we calculate that 23 women require microbiological investigation to prevent one reconsultation arising from resistance-based treatment failure. We therefore suggest empirical antibiotic treatment in acute, uncomplicated UTIs. If patients reconsult in the first week, we suggest a change of antibiotic treatment with urine culture and susceptibility testing then done. More generally, laboratory resources should concentrate on resistance surveillance to inform empirical antibiotic choice.
Recommendation in social media: recent advances and new frontiers

The pervasive use of social media generates massive data in an unprecedented rate and the information overload problem becomes increasingly severe for social media users. Recommendation has been proven to be effective in mitigating the information overload problem, demonstrated its strength in improving the quality of user experience, and positively impacted the success of social media. New types of data introduced by social media not only provide more information to advance traditional recommender systems but also manifest new research possibilities for recommendation. In this tutorial, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of various recommendation tasks in social media, especially their recent advances and new frontiers. We introduce basic concepts, review state-of-the-art algorithms, and deliberate the emerging challenges and opportunities. Finally we summarize the tutorial with discussions on open issues and challenges about recommendation in social media. Updated information about the tutorial can be found at \url{http://www.public. asu.edu/~jtang20/Recommendation.htm}.
Identification of uhp polypeptides and evidence for their role in exogenous induction of the sugar phosphate transport system of Escherichia coli K-12

Cells of Escherichia coli possess a transport system that catalyzes the accumulation, in unaltered form, of a variety of sugar phosphates. Induction of the transport activity occurs in response to external glucose 6-phosphate and does not require detectable entry of this inducer. To define the genes that encode the Uhp transport system and those that mediate its exogenous induction, transposon insertions were isolated and mapped within a 6.5-kilobase HindIII-BamHI fragment that carries the entire uhp region. The transposon insertions were transferred by homologous recombination onto the chromosome to test their effect on Uhp expression when all genes were present in single copy number. The complementation behavior of plasmids carrying the insertions or subcloned fragments of the region was compared with their polypeptide coding capacity in maxicells. These studies defined three uhp regulatory genes (uhpABC), all of which are necessary for expression of the uhpT gene, which encodes the transporter. The products of uhpB and uhpC are not required when uhpA is present on a multicopy plasmid. The four genes, uhpA, uhpB, uhpC, and uhpT, are transcribed in the same direction, and their products have apparent molecular weights of 25,000, 48,000, 20,000, and 38,000, respectively. The UhpB and UhpT polypeptides are associated with the membrane fraction. These results led to a model of regulation in which the UhpB and UhpC regulatory proteins prevent the ability of UhpA to activate transcription of the uhpT gene under noninducing conditions.
Primary motor cortical metaplasticity induced by priming over the supplementary motor area

Motor cortical plasticity induced by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) sometimes depends on the prior history of neuronal activity. These effects of preceding stimulation on subsequent rTMS‐induced plasticity have been suggested to share a similar mechanism to that of metaplasticity, a homeostatic regulation of synaptic plasticity. To explore metaplasticity in humans, many investigations have used designs in which both priming and conditioning are applied over the primary motor cortex (M1), but the effects of priming stimulation over other motor‐related cortical areas have not been well documented. Since the supplementary motor area (SMA) has anatomical and functional cortico‐cortical connections with M1, here we studied the homeostatic effects of priming stimulation over the SMA on subsequent rTMS‐induced plasticity of M1. For priming and subsequent conditioning, we employed a new rTMS protocol, quadripulse stimulation (QPS), which produces a broad range of motor cortical plasticity depending on the interval of the pulses within a burst. The plastic changes induced by QPS at various intervals were altered by priming stimulation over the SMA, which did not change motor‐evoked potential sizes on its own but specifically modulated the excitatory I‐wave circuits. The data support the view that the homeostatic changes are mediated via mechanisms of metaplasticity and highlight an important interplay between M1 and SMA regarding homeostatic plasticity in humans.
Camera Calibration by a Single Image of Balls: From Conics to the Absolute Conic

In this paper we propose a new flexible technique to calibrate camera’s intrinsic parameters from a single image of balls. Balls are projected onto the image as ellipses, or conics. Each conic provides two constraints on the intrinsic parameters. To estimate all five intrinsic parameters, we need three balls. Ball’s size is arbitrary. Everyone can find a few balls around. It is more flexible than other predesigned calibration objects. Only one image is used, and there is no correspondence problem involved. We propose an algorithm to estimate the camera intrinsic parameters and the relative size and position of each ball optimally and simultaneously from the boundary points of each ball. Experimental results on both synthetic and real images show that the algorithm is effective and robust.
Prevalence of mood disorders and service use among US mothers by race and ethnicity: results from the National Survey of American Life.

OBJECTIVE To describe the rates of mood disorders, the social and demographic correlates of mood disorders, and mental health services utilization among African American, Caribbean black, and non-Hispanic white mothers. METHOD Study data were collected between February 2001 and June 2003 as part of the National Survey of American Life: Coping With Stress in the 21st Century. National household probability samples of African Americans and Caribbean blacks were surveyed using a slightly modified World Mental Health version of the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Participants included 2,019 African American, 799 Caribbean black, and 400 non-Hispanic white mothers 18 years and older (N = 3,218). The main outcomes measured were lifetime and 12-month diagnoses of DSM-IV mood disorders (major depressive episode, dysthymic disorder, bipolar I and II disorders) and mental health services utilization. RESULTS The lifetime prevalence estimate of mood disorders is higher for white mothers (21.67%) than for African American mothers (16.77%) and Caribbean black mothers (16.42%); however, 12-month mood disorder estimates are similar across groups. African American mothers have higher 12-month prevalence estimates of bipolar disorder (2.48%) than white mothers (0.59%) and Caribbean black mothers (1.16%). African American mothers with higher education levels and white mothers who became parents as teenagers are more likely to have a lifetime mood disorder. Less than half (45.8%) of black mothers with a past 12-month mood disorder diagnosis utilized mental health services. Among black mothers with a 12-month diagnosis of bipolar disorder, Caribbean blacks utilized mental health services at higher rates than African Americans. CONCLUSIONS Demographic correlates for mood disorders varied by race and ethnicity. The findings illustrated underutilization of treatment by black mothers, especially African American mothers with bipolar disorder.
An H.264/MPEG-4 audio/visual CODEC LSI with module-wise dynamic voltage/frequency scaling

A single-chip H.264/MPEG-4 audio/visual LSI for mobile applications with a module-wise dynamic voltage/frequency scaling architecture is described. This LSI operates even during the voltage/frequency transition with no performance overhead by using a dynamic de-skewing system and an on-chip voltage regulator with slew-rate control. The IC consumes 90mW in decoding QVGA H.264 video at 15f/s and MPEG-4 AAC LC audio simultaneously.
Exploiting different ways to die.

Major modes of cell death Far from a mere end point, cell death is an essential and highly orchestrated process. Developmental cell death is recognized to play a major role in morphogenesis and tissue sculpting, whereas cell death in mature organisms is essential for tissue homeostasis, wound healing, and elimination of infectious pathogens. Conversely, defective regulation or execution of cell death is also widely recognized as the basis for a spectrum of diseases, including many major human health foes such as diabetes, degenerative disorders, and cancer. Three major types of cell death have been distinguished, all of which contribute to proper development and well-being: apoptosis, autophagy, and necrosis. Apoptosis is an ordered cell death process in which the entire cell is dismantled within the context of membrane-enclosed vesicles that are recognized and engulfed by phagocytes, thereby preventing release of intracellular components from the dying cells. Studies from many organisms, including Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila, and mammals have illustrated that apoptosis is a sophisticated, genetically controlled process integrating a common set of death effectors with a wide range of different stimuli. During development, apoptosis eliminates cells as part of normal morphogenesis, as well as those that incur cellular or genetic damage. In mature organisms, apoptosis ensures proper tissue homeostasis, contributing to normal cell turnover and eliminating both dividing cells with genome damage and cells infected with pathogens, both of which would compromise proper homeostasis. In cells committed to die, proper cell dismantling is carried out by the concerted action of a set of cysteine proteases called caspases. The decision of whether to commit to death is controlled by a large group of regulatory proteins, including the BCL-2 family, inhibitors of apoptosis proteins, and components of death receptor signaling systems. These proteins, in turn, are regulated by the signaling cascades that transduce environmental and cell damage stimuli to the effectors that govern cell fate. The result is preservation of healthy cells, and purging of abnormal, damaged, in
Uma arquitetura otimizada para a detecção de falhas em grades computacionais.

In distributed platforms, fault detection is an essential requirement to a wide range of fault tolerance techniques, such as restoring the state of distributed applications with checkpointing and message logging. However, fault detection often depends on reliable communication between the processing nodes and detection fault modules. Direct communication between the nodes and detection modules is often impossible in hierarchical grid computing platforms. The physical distance between the institutions and resources available on the grid, and thus the requirement of long distance networks connecting them, is another factor that makes direct fault detection in computer grids a challenge. This thesis presents a fault detection architecture for distributed platforms, optimized for usage in hierarchical grids and thus taking into account its restrictions and requirements. The architecture, named GFDA (Grid Fault Detection Architecture), is structured as fault detection modules for faults that affect the computing nodes available on the grid, detection modules for faults that affect the distributed applications, and modules that perform the collection, processing and forwarding of the fault and recovery notifications generated by the detection modules. This thesis presents implementation details, an evaluation of the correctness of the designed architecture, and results obtained through the deployment of parts of the architecture in a simulated cluster that uses virtual machines to simulate computing nodes. Techniques to optimize the quality of the detection fault service are proposed. The results obtained through the usage of such techniques are compared to the results obtained through traditional approaches. Positive results were extracted even under adverse connectivity conditions by using techniques such as the processing of fault and recovery notifications and the introduction of redundant information in the messages exchanged between the detection modules. It is concluded that the GFDA architecture contributes to the establishment of a viable solution for fault detection in a hierarchical grid computing platform that presents connectivity restrictions between the nodes.
Royalties do petróleo e educação: análise da eficiência da alocação

Este estudo avalia os impactos nos indicadores de educacao dos municipios da regiao do norte do estado do Rio de Janeiro, recebedores de vultosos recursos provenientes das rendas da exploracao de petroleo e gas na Bacia de Campos. Em muitos desses municipios, levantam-se hipoteses de que os recursos nao sao revertidos em politicas publicas de grande beneficio social, como e o caso das politicas educacionais. A metodologia deste estudo inclui o levantamento de series historicas de indicadores de educacao e compara a evolucao desse grupo de municipios com um grupo de municipios controle, por meio de regressoes logisticas. Os resultados confirmam a hipotese levantada no trabalho,indicando que as vantagens orcamentarias desses municipios nao temrefletido em melhorias nos indicadores de educacao.
Commentary on RANZCP clinical practice guidelines for the management of schizophrenia and related disorders

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 51(3) focus on familial abuse/neglect, the importance and influence of peer relationships is also critical. Nonetheless, further research is needed to ascertain the appropriate treatment methods. While recent research has delivered promising results using several cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques, unfortunately these studies are underpowered and in some cases lack control groups (Bendall et al., 2013). However, several challenges integral to ensuring quality clinical outcomes for this population are evident. For example, how best to address trauma and schizophrenia simultaneously in clinical settings remains a medical and psychosocial challenge for mental health clinicians. Restricted access to clinical resources necessitates a clinical focus that remains primarily on clinically addressing illness symptomology. This in turn can limit a clinician’s capacity to address other underlying psychosocial issues related to schizophrenia and trauma. Although health and psychiatric comorbidities related to schizophrenia and trauma can be a significant clinical concern, they remain an underexplored area for both mental health research and psychiatric clinical practice. Thus, determining trauma histories of people with psychiatric disorders can be significant in determining clinical pathways for recovery. However, there remain significant challenges in assessing trauma. For example, there is a need for safe interview environments, access to appropriate trauma measurement tools and the provision of welltrained and experienced clinicians. Most significantly, it is imperative to minimise re-traumatisation and to provide psychosocial supports on discharge from the service for consumers.
Discriminant Isomap projection

In this paper we proposed a novel supervised dimensionality reduction method, named Discriminant Isometric projection. The aim is to compact the data points from the same cluster on high-dimension manifold to make them closer in the low-dimension space, and to make the ones from the different cluster further, which is beneficial to preserve the homogeneous characteristics for classification. We compared our method with other three methods for dimensionality reduction over the ORL face dataset and experiments show that Discriminant Isometric projection produces stable performance and good precision.
Perinatal HIV-1 transmission: interaction between zidovudine prophylaxis and mode of delivery in the French Perinatal Cohort.

CONTEXT It is unclear whether elective cesarean delivery may have a protective effect against the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1). OBJECTIVE To investigate whether mode of delivery has an impact on perinatal HIV-1 transmission in the presence of zidovudine prophylaxis. DESIGN A prospective cohort study. SETTING The 85 perinatal centers in the French Perinatal Cohort, from 1985 to 1996. PATIENTS A total of 2834 singleton children born to mothers with HIV-1 infection. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Human immunodeficiency virus 1 infection of the infant. RESULTS No zidovudine was used in 1917 pregnancies and zidovudine prophylaxis was used in 902 pregnancies. Cesarean deliveries were performed in 10.9% on an emergent basis and in 8.3% electively, prior to labor or membrane rupture. In 1917 mothers who did not receive zidovudine, of 1877 with information on mode of delivery, 17.2% transmitted HIV-1 to their child. Risk factors statistically significantly associated with transmission were maternal p24 antigenemia, cervicovaginal infections during pregnancy, amniotic fluid color, and rupture of membranes 4 hours or more before delivery. Mode of delivery was not related to transmission. In 902 mothers receiving zidovudine, transmission was 6.4% in 872 with information on mode of delivery, and elective cesarean delivery (n = 133) was associated with a lower transmission rate than emergent cesarean or vaginal delivery (0.8%, 11.4%, and 6.6%, respectively; P=.002). In a multivariate analysis of all mother-child pairs, including obstetrical risk factors, maternal p24 antigenemia, and zidovudine prophylaxis, interaction between mode of delivery and zidovudine prophylaxis was significant (P=.007). In the multivariate analysis of pregnancies with zidovudine prophylaxis, factors related to transmission rate were maternal p24 antigenemia, amniotic fluid color, and mode of delivery. Adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 1.6 (0.7-3.6) for emergent cesarean delivery and 0.2 (0.0-0.9) for elective cesarean delivery (P = .04) in comparison with vaginal delivery. CONCLUSIONS We observed an interaction between zidovudine prophylaxis and elective cesarean delivery in decreasing transmission of HIV-1 from mother to child. This observation may have clinical implications for prevention.
Mortality of patients hospitalized for active tuberculosis in Israel.

BACKGROUND Pulmonary tuberculosis continues to cause of mortality, particularly in developing countries. Despite modern anti-TB treatment, the elderly and immigrants from TB-endemic countries are at risk. Multidrug resistance has yet to be resolved. OBJECTIVES To determine the mortality rate and predictors of mortality among patients hospitalized with TB in Israel. METHODS We evaluated the medical records of 461 patients with active pulmonary TB who were hospitalized in the respiratory care department during the 5 year period 2000-2004. Data included demographic, clinical, laboratory and radiological findings, drug resistance as well as adverse reactions to anti-TB treatment. RESULTS Three main ethno-geographic groups were observed: 253 patients from the former USSR, 130 from Ethiopia, and 54 of Israeli origin (as well as 24 residents of other countries). Of the 461 patients 65 (13%) died in hospital. The factors that were best predictors of mortality were older age, ischemic heart disease, cachexia, prior corticosteroid treatment, hypoalbuminemia and pleural effusion (P < 0.005 for all). The ethno-geographic factor and the presence of multidrug-resistant bacteria had no significant effect on mortality in our study group. CONCLUSIONS The mortality rate in our study was relatively low, and there was no significant difference between the three ethno-geographic groups.
Screening Candidate Longevity Therapeutics Using Gene-Expression Arrays

Background: We review studies showing that CR acts rapidly, even in late adulthood, to extend health- and lifespan in mice. These rapid physiological effects are closely linked to patterns of gene expression in liver and heart. Non-human primate and human studies suggest that the signal transduction pathways responsible for the lifespan and health effects of caloric restriction (CR) may also be involved in human longevity. Thus, pharmaceuticals capable of mimicking the effects of CR (and other methods of lifespan extension) may have application to human health. Objective: We show that lifespan studies are an inefficient and theoretically problematic way of screening for longevity therapeutics. We review studies suggesting that rapid changes in patterns of gene expression can be used to identify pharmaceuticals capable of mimicking some positive effects of caloric restriction. Results: We present a traditional study of the effects of melatonin, melatonin and pregnenolone, aminoguanidine, aminoguanidine and α-lipoic acid, aminoguanidine, α-lipoic acid, pregnenolone, and coenzyme-Q10 on the lifespan of mice. No treatment extended lifespan. However, because the mice die mostly of cancer, only chemopreventives active against specific cancers can be identified by such studies. The studies were also time-consuming and expensive. We discuss high-density microarray studies of the effectiveness of glucoregulatory drugs and putative cancer chemopreventatives at reproducing the hepatic gene-expression profiles of long-term and short-term CR. We describe the identification of one compound, metformin, which reproduces a subset of the gene-expression and physiological effects of CR. Conclusion: Taken together, our results suggest that gene-expression biomarkers may be superior to lifespan studies for initial screening of candidate longevity therapeutics.