Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A review of the effects of nicotine on schizophrenia and antipsychotic medications.

OBJECTIVE Research on the impact of nicotine on schizophrenia and antipsychotic medications was reviewed to determine ways to improve treatment planning for patients with schizophrenia who smoke and to evaluate smoking cessation programs for this population. METHODS All major research databases were searched. The review focuses on reports published since 1990. RESULTS Smoking improves processing of auditory stimuli (sensory gating) by patients with schizophrenia and may lessen negative symptoms by increasing dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and the prefrontal and frontal cortex. Use of traditional antipsychotics may result in patients' smoking more, whereas patients taking atypical antipsychotics may smoke less. Patients who smoke metabolize antipsychotics faster than nonsmoking patients. Smoking cessation programs for outpatients with schizophrenia report a success rate of about 12 percent after six months. No studies of cessation programs for chronically ill inpatients with schizophrenia have been published. Several hospitals have implemented smoking bans with equivocal results. CONCLUSIONS Nicotine affects both schizophrenia and antipsychotic medications. Neurobiological and psychosocial factors reinforce the high use of nicotine by patients with schizophrenia
Microbial Bioburden of Orthokeratology Contact Lens Care System

Objective: To assess the bioburden in an orthokeratology contact lens (OK) care system (defined by microbial identification from OK case fluid) and to identify the risk factors causing high bioburden for pediatric OK wearers in southern Taiwan. Methods: A prospective study for the investigation of bioburden in the OK care system was performed in a tertiary medical center in southern Taiwan. Microbial isolates from the case fluids soaking OKs were analyzed, and pathogenicity was determined. Age, gender, OK experiences, and contact lens care habits were considered the potential risk factors of microbial bioburden (colony-forming units per milliliter) for causal analysis. Results: Forty-one OK wearers (20 female and 21 male subjects) participated in this study. The mean age was 12.7 years, and the mean OK-wearing experience was 3.5 years. A total of 86 microbial strains were isolated from 38 culture-positive specimens. Frequently reported pathogens in contact lens–related microbial keratitis were less common in the current study, but still present, including 4 strains (5%) of Serratia marcescens, 1 strain (1%) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and 1 strain (1%) of Staphylococcus aureus. Microbial bioburden of the OK care system was significantly higher (P<0.05) in male subjects. Conclusions: The contamination rate of the OK care system was high, and many isolated microorganisms had potential pathogenicity. Reinforcement of proper contact lens care and education should be mandatory for OK wearers, particularly for male subjects, to decrease the risk of high bioburden of the OK care system.
Crowdsourcing for Classification using Correlated Crowds

Using diverse ideas, opinions and resources in the form of crowdsourcing is being used increasingly to classify objects. However, the method is by its very nature, prone to the unreliable nature of human responses and to the notion of correlated user responses owing to several factors of commonality among the crowd. This correlation among the crowd workers could be attributed to several factors such as geographical origin, social connectivity and skill set availability. In such an environment, it becomes critical to be able to analyze the output of the crowd optimally to minimize the misclassification probability of the classifier. The task of this work is to make an elaborate study of a neural network based classifier used for binary classification problems. The work aims at evaluating the performance of the classifier and also on obtaining optimization strategies to facilitate faster computation.
Psidium guajava L . ) Enzyme assisted extraction of lycopene in guava pulp ( Psidium guajava L . )

Lycopene is a carotenoid with known benefits on human health and of wide use in pharmaceutical and food industry. The objective of this research was to evaluate the extraction of lycopene in guava pulp assisted by the enzyme pectinase. Parameters such as enzyme concentration and incubation time were evaluated. The results indicated that the enzyme improved the extraction of lycopene from guava pulp. An increase in lycopene yield of 38.65% was obtained, with a pectinase concentration of 0.02% (v/w of substrate) after 45 min of incubation, at 28°C and pH of 4.5. Under these conditions, the concentration of lycopen extracted was 40,08 ug/g fresh material. Pectinase treatment increases the bioavailability of lycopene in guava pulp, offering an interesting alternative in extraction processes of such important antioxidant.
Evaluating AIDS Prevention Interventions Using Behavioral and Biological Outcome Measures

Objective: To begin a dialogue on the role of behavioral and biological outcome measures in evaluating the effectiveness of behavior change interventions to reduce the risk of transmitting and acquiring HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Methods: A selective review of the literature was undertaken to identify issues and problems associated with the use of behavioral and biological outcome measures. In particular, the article considers the validity of self‐reports and the theoretical relationships between behavioral and biological measures. Results: Available data suggest that when proper care is taken, behavioral self‐reports are valid. Similarly, sensitive and specific diagnostic tests are available, particularly for bacterial STDs. However, even when diagnostic tests and behavioral self‐reports provide valid data, one should not expect a simple relationship between behavioral and biological measures. Conclusion: Both behavioral and biological measures are important outcomes for studying the efficacy and effectiveness of behavior‐change interventions. However, one measure cannot substitute for or validate the other, and neither serves as a true surrogate for HIV prevalence or incidence. Therefore, it is important to better understand the relationship among STDs, HIV, and self‐reported condom use. To do this, it will first be necessary to assess correct as well as consistent condom use.
Structural Covariance Network as an Endophenotype in Alzheimer’s Disease-Susceptible Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms and the Correlations With Cognitive Outcomes

The cognitive manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are related to brain network degeneration, and genetic differences may mediate network degeneration. Several AD-susceptible loci have been reported to involve amyloid or tau cascades; however, their relationships with gray matter (GM) volume and cognitive outcomes have yet to be established. We hypothesized that single-nucleotide polymorphism genotype groups may interact with apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4) status or independently exert an effect on cognitive outcomes. We also hypothesized that GM structural covariance networks (SCNs) may serve as an endophenotype of the genetic effect, which, in turn, may be related to neurobehavior test scores. Gray matter SCNs were constructed in 324 patients with AD using T1 magnetic resonance imaging with independent component analysis (ICA). We assessed the effects of 15 genetic loci (rs9349407, rs3865444, rs670139, rs744373, rs3851179, rs11136000, rs3764650, rs610932, rs6887649, rs7849530, rs4866650, rs3765728, rs34011, rs6656401, and rs597668) using additive, recessive, and dominant models on cognitive outcomes. Statistical analysis was performed to explore the independent role of each locus, interactions with ApoE4 status, and relationships to GM ICA network intensity score. For outcome measures, we used the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI) total score, and short-term memory (STM) subscores, adjusted for the covariates of education, disease duration, and age. Clinically, the CD2AP G allele showed a protective role in MMSE, CASI total, and CASI-STM scores independently or via interactions with non-ApoE4 status, while the CR1 A genotype group was associated with lower STM subscores independent of ApoE4 status. Three loci showed synergic interactions with ApoE4: BIN 1, MS4A6A, and FTMT. Of the 15 meaningful ICA components, 5 SCNs (anterior and posterior hippocampus, right temporal, left thalamus, default mode network) showed relationships with general cognitive performance, in which only the ApoE4 and MS4A6A genotype groups were independently related to the hippocampus network. The genetic loci MS4A6A, BIN1, CLU, CR1, BIN1, PICALM, and FGF1 influenced the networks independently or in synergy. This study suggests that AD-susceptible loci may each exert clinical significance independently through interactions with ApoE4 status or through SCNs as an endophenotype and that this effect is associated with the cognitive outcomes.
SPECTRUM OF PEDIATRIC INFLAMMATORY BRAIN DISEASE Autoimmune-mediated pediatric inflammatory brain disease is an umbrella term encompassing a illiams

Purpose of review Autoimmune-mediated inflammatory brain diseases represent a rapidly evolving area of medicine. The expanding spectrum of disease challenges providers as they strive to accurately diagnosis and treat children presenting with new onset neuropsychiatric deficits. This review examines recently published studies on primary central nervous system vasculitis and autoimmune encephalitis and utilizes key distinguishing features to guide a diagnostic approach.
Transplantation of conditionally immortalized hepatocytes to treat hepatic encephalopathy

Transplantation of hepatocytes has been shown to provide metabolic support during liver failure in experimental models. The potential clinical application of hepatocyte transplantation, however, is limited by the need for readily available, well‐characterized cells, and a worldwide shortage of donor organs. A clonal hepatocyte cell line that could be grown economically in vitro and would exhibit a differentiated, nontransformed phenotype following transplantation would be an attractive solution to this problem. To test this alternative, primary Lewis rat hepatocytes were conditionally immortalized by retroviral transduction with a thermolabile mutant Simian virus 40 (SV40) large T antigen. The cloned immortalized cells proliferate in culture at 33 degrees C and stop growing at 37 degrees C to 39 degrees C. Transplanted into normal livers, these hepatocytes integrate normally into liver cords. When transplanted into the spleens of portacaval‐shunted rats, they protect recipients from hyperammonemia‐induced hepatic encephalopathy. The cells engrafted in the spleen exhibit normal morphology, secrete bile, and express albumin messenger RNA. The protection from hyperammonemia is reversed by splenectomy. These studies show that hepatocytes can be conditionally immortalized, expanded in culture, and are capable of providing metabolic support in chronic liver insufficiency. Safeguards that could make these cells clinically useful can be accomplished using currently available technology.
Bernoulli On the Geometric Ergodicity of Hamiltonian Monte

We establish general conditions under which Markov chains produced by the Hamiltonian Monte Carlo method will and will not be geometrically ergodic. We consider implementations with both position-independent and position-dependent integration times. In the former case we find that the conditions for geometric ergodicity are essentially a gradient of the log-density which asymptotically points towards the centre of the space and grows no faster than linearly. In an idealised scenario in which the integration time is allowed to change in different regions of the space, we show that geometric ergodicity can be recovered for a much broader class of tail behaviours, leading to some guidelines for the choice of this free parameter in practice.
Analysis of Antibacterial Effectiveness of Red Ginger Extract (Zingiber Officinale Var Rubrum) Compared to White Ginger Extract (Zingiber Officinale Var. Amarum) In Mouth Cavity Bacterial Streptococcus Mutans (In-Vitro)

Ginger has an active compound of phenol, flavonoids, terpenoids and essential oils that can inhibit microbial growth. Streptococcus mutans bacteria play an important role in the development of dental caries. To know the Antibacterial Effectiveness Analysis of Red Ginger Extract (Zingiber Officinale Var. Rubrum) Compared to White Ginger Extract (Zingiber Officinale Var. Amarum) In Mouth Cavity Bacterial Streptococcus Mutans (In-Vitro). Type of research used is laboratory experimental. The sample is a red Ginger extract (Zingiber officinale var. Rubrum) and white ginger extract (Zingiber officinale var. Amarum) and Bacteria used areStreptococcus mutans using the inhibitory test method. The highest average value of the highest group is shown in red ginger extract 60% of 15.90 mm, 40% by 14.73 mm and 20% by 12.70 mm. For White Ginger extract 60% by 11.90 mm, 40% by 11.15 mm, and 20% by 10.08 mm. Based on the normality test, Mann-Whitney test and T-test obtained p value <0.05 which means there is significant difference between inhibition between treatment group and overall measurement. Red Ginger Extract(Zingiber officinale var. Rubrum) and White Ginger Extract (Zingiber officinale var. Amarum) has an antibacterial effect onStreptococcus mutans. Red ginger extract at concentration of 60% has greater antibacterial effect inhibiting Streptococcus mutans compared to white ginger extract. Based on the results of the study the higher concentration of red ginger extract and white ginger the greater the inhibitory power diameter against Streptococcus mutans. Clinical article (J Int Dent Med Res 2018; 11(2): pp. 676-681)
Identification of an Operon Required for Ferrichrome Iron Utilization in Vibrio cholerae

ABSTRACT Mutagenesis of Vibrio cholerae with TnphoA, followed by screening for fusions that were activated under low-iron conditions, led to the identification of seven independent fusion strains, each of which was deficient in the ability to utilize ferrichrome as a sole iron source for growth in a plate bioassay and had an insertion in genes encoding products homologous toEscherichia coli FhuA or FhuD. Expression of the gene fusions was independent of IrgB but regulated by Fur. We report here a map of the operon and the predicted amino acid sequence of FhuA, based on the nucleotide sequence. Unlike those of the E. coli fhuoperon, the V. cholerae ferrichrome utilization genes are located adjacent and opposite in orientation to a gene encoding an ATP-binding cassette transporter homolog, but this gene, if disrupted, does not affect the utilization of ferrichrome in vitro.
A Study on Efficient Transfer Learning for Reinforcement Learning Using Sparse Coding

By applying the knowledge previously obtained by reinforcement learning to new tasks, transfer learning has been successful in achieving efficient learning, rather than re-learning knowledge about action policies from scratch. However, in the case of applying transfer learning to reinforcement learning, it is not easy to determine which and how much the obtained knowledge should be transferred. With this background, in this study, we propose a novel method that enables to decide the knowledge and to determine the ratio of transference by adopting sparse coding in transfer learning. The transferred knowledge is represented as a linear combination of the accumulated knowledge by means of sparse coding. In the experiments, we have adopted colored mazes as tasks and confirmed that our proposed method significantly improved in terms of jumpstart and of the reduction of the total learning cost, compared with normal Q-learning.
Pain related-visual imagery is associated with distress in chronic pain sufferers.

BACKGROUND Chronic pain patients often describe their pain in ways that suggest vivid mental images, with some reporting images relating to their pain. Despite these clinical observations, there are few studies describing the nature and consequences of these images. This study examined whether mental imagery of pain is associated with levels of reported distress, cognitions, disability or pain severity. METHOD In a postal survey, 83 adult chronic pain patients indicated whether or not they experienced mental images of their pain. They also completed standardized measures of depression, anxiety, cognitions, disability and pain severity. Those reporting images were compared to those not reporting images on their responses to the other variables. RESULTS People with pain imagery reported significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression and catastrophizing than patients who did not report such images. No differences were found on measures of physical disability. DISCUSSION Mental images of pain appear to be associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression and catastrophizing. It is possible that these images play a role in maintaining such difficulties. For these patients, imagery may provide a route via which clinicians can work with patients to help them reinterpret or respond more flexibly to their pain.
Dabigatran vs. placebo in patients with acute coronary syndromes on dual antiplatelet therapy: a randomized, double-blind, phase II trial.

AIM After an acute coronary syndrome, patients remain at risk of recurrent ischaemic events, despite contemporary treatment, including aspirin and clopidogrel. We evaluated the safety and indicators of efficacy of the novel oral direct thrombin inhibitor dabigatran. METHODS AND RESULTS In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation trial, 1861 patients (99.2% on dual antiplatelet treatment) in 161 centres were enrolled at mean 7.5 days (SD 3.8) after an ST-elevation (60%) or non-ST-elevation (40%) myocardial infarction and randomized to twice daily treatment with dabigatran 50 mg (n = 369), 75 mg (n = 368), 110 mg (n = 406), 150 mg (n = 347), or placebo (n = 371). Primary outcome was the composite of major or clinically relevant minor bleeding during the 6-month treatment period. There were 96 primary outcome events and, compared with placebo, a dose-dependent increase with dabigatran, hazard ratio (HR) 1.77 (95% confidence intervals 0.70, 4.50) for 50 mg; HR 2.17 (0.88, 5.31) for 75 mg; HR 3.92 (1.72, 8.95) for 110 mg; and HR 4.27 (1.86, 9.81) for 150 mg. Compared with placebo, D-dimer concentrations were reduced in all dabigatran dose groups by an average of 37 and 45% at weeks 1 and 4, respectively (P< 0.001). Fourteen (3.8%) patients died, had a myocardial infarction or stroke in the placebo group compared with 17 (4.6%) in 50 mg, 18 (4.9%) in 75 mg, 12 (3.0%) in 110 mg, and 12 (3.5%) in the 150 mg dabigatran groups. CONCLUSIONS Dabigatran, in addition to dual antiplatelet therapy, was associated with a dose-dependent increase in bleeding events and significantly reduced coagulation activity in patients with a recent myocardial infarction.
The palliative index: predicting outcomes of emergent surgery in patients with cancer.

BACKGROUND The role of emergent palliative surgery in the setting of advanced malignancy remains a subject of controversy. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to identify clinical predictors of outcome in patients with cancer who undergo nonelective abdominal surgery. SETTING/SUBJECTS Individuals who underwent urgent and emergent abdominal operations between 2006 and 2010 at a tertiary cancer center were identified. MEASUREMENTS Analyses were performed to identify predictors of 30-day morbidity and mortality as well as overall survival (OS). A risk score was derived from predictors of OS. RESULTS Of 143 patients, 93 (65%) had active disease (AD; defined as evidence of malignancy at time of surgery). Thirty-day morbidity and mortality were 36.4% and 9.8%, respectively. Independent predictors of 30-day mortality included ASA score >3 (p=0.009) and albumin <2.8 (p=0.040). Median OS was 5.4 months in patients with AD and was not reached in patients without AD (p<0.001). Independent predictors of decreased OS included AD; ASA >3; creatinine >1.3; and a tumor-related indication (i.e., bleeding, obstructing, or perforating tumor). A risk or palliative index (PI) score stratified patients into groups with discreet outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Although AD did not predict 30-day morbidity, it was the dominant independent predictor of postoperative OS. In cancer patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery, outcome is anticipated by disease status and other independent predictors of OS.
A Role for the Mouse 12/15-Lipoxygenase Pathway in Promoting Epithelial Wound Healing and Host Defense*

The surface of the eye actively suppresses inflammation while maintaining a remarkable capacity for epithelial wound repair. Our understanding of mechanisms that balance inflammatory/reparative responses to provide effective host defense while preserving tissue function is limited, in particular, in the cornea. Lipoxin A4 (LXA4) and docosahexaenoic acid-derived neuroprotectin D1 (NPD1) are lipid autacoids formed by 12/15-lipoxygenase (LOX) pathways that exhibit anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties. Here, we demonstrate that mouse corneas generate endogenous LXA4 and NPD1. 12/15-LOX (Alox15) and LXA4 receptor mRNA expression as well as LXA4 formation were abrogated by epithelial removal and restored during wound healing. Amplification of these pathways by topical treatment with LXA4 or NPD1 (1 μg) increased the rate of re-epithelialization (65–90%, n = 6–10, p < 0.03) and attenuated the sequelae of thermal injury. In contrast, the proinflammatory eicosanoids, LTB4 and 12R-hydroxyeicosatrienoic acid, had no impact on corneal re-epithelialization. Epithelial removal induced a temporally defined influx of neutrophils into the stroma as well as formation of the proinflammatory chemokine KC. Topical treatment with LXA4 and NPD1 significantly increased PMNs in the cornea while abrogating KC formation by 60%. More importantly, Alox15-deficient mice exhibited a defect in both corneal re-epithelialization and neutrophil recruitment that correlated with a 43% reduction in endogenous LXA4 formation. Collectively, these results identify a novel action for the mouse 12/15-LOX (Alox15) and its products, LXA4 and NPD1, in wound healing that is distinct from their well established anti-inflammatory properties.
Flow Based Intrusion Detection System Using Multistage Neural Network

With the rapid expansion of computer networks during the past decade, security has become a crucial issue for computer systems. And to keep security at highest level, there is an increasing need for effective security monitors such as Network Intrusion Detection System to prevent such illicit. In the recent years many researchers focus their hard work on this field using different approaches to build dependable intrusion detection systems. One of these approaches is Flow-based intrusion detection systems that rely on aggregated network traffic flows. In this paper, Multistage Neural Network intrusion detection system based on aggregated flow data is proposed for detecting and classifying attacks in network traffic. The proposed system detects significant changes in the traffic that could be a possible attack in the first stage of neural network, while the second stage has the ability to recognize an attack, to differentiate one attack from another i.e. classifying attack, and the most important, to detect new attacks with high detection rate and low false negative. Two different neural network structures with the use of different training algorithms have been used in our proposed Intrusion Detection System. The experimental results show that the designed system is promising in terms of accuracy and low probability of false alarms, where the overall accuracy classification rate average is equal to 99.25%.