Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Changing Landscape of Malaria Case Management in Uganda: Decades of Struggle with Evolving Malaria Case Management Strategies and Drug Policies

Background: Uganda has some of the highest reported malaria transmission rates in the world. Methods: We reviewed published and un-published reports to provide a historical perspective and evolution of malaria case management strategies/policies in Uganda. Review findings: In the 1990s, uncomplicated malaria treatment was hampered by widespread parasite resistance to chloroquine (CQ) and sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP). Paradoxically, faced with this challenge, the country changed the first-line regimen, in 2000, to CQ+SP and adopted home based management of fever (HBMF) for children < 5 years old. HBMF increased the proportion accessing CQ+SP within 24 hours from 7% in 2001 to 39% in 2003. However, after another policy shift, in 2004, to Artemether-Lumefantrine (AL), HBMF is to date implemented in only 34 of 112 districts. The private sector supports first treatment contact for 40-50% of fevers. However, engaging private sector providers remains challenging. Consequently, by 2011, only 30% of febrile children took AL on the same/next day after symptom onset. In 2011 there was a policy shift from presumptive treatment to parasite-based diagnosis. Following the policy change, the proportion of tests by rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) increased to about 55% compared to 30% by microscopy. However a major challenge remains clinician’s adherence to test results. Reassuringly, AL remains efficacious. In 13 studies conducted between 2002 and 2010, the median PCR corrected day 28 efficacy was 98% (range: 71.9%–100%). However, counterfeit medicines remain a threat and the lack of an effective phamacovigilance system is concerning. A recent study demonstrated that 39% of sampled artemisinin combination therapies were counterfeits. Conclusion: Despite an increase in official development assistance over the last decade, by 2013 there remained gaps in national ambitions for universal access to prompt and effective treatment. A major challenge is the low profile of the national malaria control programme within the ministry of health structure which limits its capacity to coordinate multiple stakeholders. Secondly, there is a need for decentralized planning and implementation with greater involvement of the zonal, district, health facility and community levels. Finally, it will be critical to engage the challenging but very important private sector.
Epidural Morphine Delays the Onset of Tourniquet Pain During Epidural Lidocaine Anesthesia

We conducted a randomized, double-blinded study to examine the onset time of tourniquet pain during epidural lidocaine anesthesia either with or without morphine in the epidural solution. Forty-five patients undergoing knee surgery with a thigh tourniquet were randomly allocated into 3 groups of 15 patients each: epidural morphine (EM; epidural administration of 17 mL of 2% lidocaine plus 2 mg of morphine, followed by IV injection of 0.2 mL of normal saline), IV morphine (IVM; 17 mL of 2% lidocaine plus 0.2 mL of normal saline, followed by IVM 2 mg IV), and control (17 mL of 2% lidocaine plus 0.2 mL of normal saline, followed by 0.2 mL of normal saline IV). The onset time of tourniquet pain was recorded. The level of sensory block was determined by the pinprick method at the occurrence of tourniquet pain. Hemodynamic changes and side effects of EM were also recorded. The onset time of tourniquet pain from both the epidural injection and the tourniquet inflation were significantly longer in the EM group (103 ± 15 min and 80 ± 15 min, respectively) compared with the IVM group (74 ± 12 min and 50 ± 12 min, respectively;P < 0.05) and the Control group (67 ± 9 min and 45 ± 9 min, respectively;P < 0.05). The level of sensory block at the onset of tourniquet pain and hemodynamic changes were not different among the three groups. Only two and three patients in the EM group complained of nausea/vomiting and pruritus, respectively. Respiratory depression was not observed in any patient. We conclude that epidural injection of the mixture of 2 mg of morphine and 2% lidocaine solution delayed the onset of tourniquet pain during epidural lidocaine anesthesia without significant morphine-related side effects.
Obstacle avoidance control for a human-operated mobile robot

Obstacle avoidance is an indispensable function in human-operated mobile robots for providing safe and easy operations. This paper presents a new approach to obstacle avoidance for a human-operated mobile robot in unknown environments. A general type of nonholonomic two-wheeled mobile robot with several distance sensors to detect obstacles is considered. Because the robot cannot move in arbitrary directions due to a nonholonomic constraint, we propose a model reference control approach in which the robot follows a desired trajectory generated by a reference model. The reference model has steering and brake-like functions that are adjusted according to distance sensor information. The stability of the proposed control system is analyzed with a linear model. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by experiments in which several unskilled operators handle the robot in a corridor-like space.
Gestion de la variabilité dans les applications SaaS multi-locataire

Multi-tenancy is a relatively new software architecture principle, generally adopted when a software application is provided as a service (SaaS). Such new principle reduce considerably the application deployment and maintenance costs, as all customers(tenants) share the same instance of such application. However, to attract a significant number of tenants, the application has to be customizable and configurable to meet the varying requirements of individual tenants. In consequence, the SaaS providers are facing an additional concern: managing efficiently the application variability. In this paper, we address variability and try to reduce its management complexity by modeling it and by decoupling its implementation. The modeling is based on OVM, a variability modelling technique, and the implementation decoupling is through the layers of the architecture supporting the application. Our approach is illustrated by relying on a case study from the food industry. MOTS-CLES : SaaS, multi-locataire, variabilite.
Insulin-Dependent Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase/Akt and ERK Signaling Pathways Inhibit TLR3-Mediated Human Bronchial Epithelial Cell Apoptosis

TLR3, one of the TLRs involved in the recognition of infectious pathogens for innate and adaptive immunity, primarily recognizes viral-associated dsRNA. Recognition of dsRNA byproducts released from apoptotic and necrotic cells is a recently proposed mechanism for the amplification of toxicity, suggesting a pivotal participation of TLR3 in viral infection, as well as in lung diseases where apoptosis plays a critical role, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In addition to metabolic control, insulin signaling was postulated to be protective by inhibiting apoptosis. Therefore, we explored the role of insulin signaling in protecting against TLR3-mediated apoptosis of human bronchial epithelial cells. Significant TLR3-mediated apoptosis was induced by polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, a dsRNA analog, via caspase-8–dependent mechanisms. However, insulin efficiently inhibited TLR3/ polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid-induced human bronchial epithelial cell apoptosis via PI3K/Akt and ERK pathways, at least in part, via upregulation of cellular FLIPs and through protein synthesis-independent mechanisms. These results indicate the significance of TLR3-mediated dsRNA-induced apoptosis in the pathogenesis of apoptosis-driven lung disease and provide evidence for a novel protective role of insulin.
Compensation of CVT Increased Error and Its Impacts on Distance Relays

Increased ratio error of capacitor voltage transformers (CVTs) has been recently encountered in several substations in Iran. The results of the performed diagnostic tests indicate that short-circuited capacitor elements, especially in the low-voltage capacitor, have increased the CVT error. In this paper, some simple and effective techniques are suggested to solve this problem. One of the proposed methods to compensate the increased error is utilization of an auxiliary voltage transformer (AVT), which does not require disassembling the CVT. The practical aspects of this method, its effects on the CVT transient response, and the influence of the AVT improper design on the performance of distance relay are scrutinized in this paper. Furthermore, the design requirements of the AVT to avoid distance relay malfunctions due to the AVT ferroresonance are discussed.
Design of a continuous process setup for precipitated calcium carbonate production from steel converter slag.

A mineral carbonation process "slag2PCC" for carbon capture, utilization, and storage is discussed. Ca is extracted from steel slag by an ammonium salt solvent and carbonated with gaseous CO2 after the separation of the residual slag. The solvent is reused after regeneration. The effects of slag properties such as the content of free lime, fractions of Ca, Si, Fe, and V, particle size, and slag storage on the Ca extraction efficiency are studied. Small particles with a high free-lime content and minor fractions of Si and V are the most suitable. To limit the amount of impurities in the process, the slag-to-liquid ratio should remain below a certain value, which depends on the slag composition. Also, the design of a continuous test setup (total volume ∼75 L) is described, which enables quick process variations needed to adapt the system to the varying slag quality. Different precipitated calcium carbonate crystals (calcite and vaterite) are generated in different parts of the setup.
An ecological analysis of incidence of tuberculosis and per capita gross domestic product

To the Editor: In 2006, an estimated 9 million new cases of tuberculosis (TB) emerged worldwide 1. Of these, only 1% occurred in the European Union and North America combined, while Africa and South-East Asia contributed >65%. Among the 22 high-burden countries, 17 were in Africa, 16 of which were in the lowest quartile in terms of per capita gross domestic product (GDP). Since 2001, the fight against poverty has been a major theme in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “Stop TB” strategy. Indeed, poverty “fuels” TB by facilitating transmission through crowded working and living conditions, it may increase the risk of progression to disease through malnutrition, and imposes barriers to accessing health services. The aim of the present analysis …
Human-fall detection from an indoor video surveillance

In this paper, we present a human fall detection method from visual surveillance. In first step, background subtraction is performed using Improved GMM to find the foreground objects. In second step, contour based human template matching is applied to categorize the human or non-human object. It helps to detect fall incident by providing sudden change in generated score after matching. Height-width ratio is computed in third step to decide whether the human shape is changed or not. In fourth step, distance between top and mid centre of rectangle covering human is computed, if it is less than a certain threshold, then human fall is confirmed. Finally, if inactive pose of human is continued till 100 consecutive frames, then an alarm is generated to alert the people at home to provide treatment on time. Experiments have been performed on 21 video sequences having different usual and unusual fall incidents. Experimental results show that proposed system works well efficiently and effectively in real-time for recognizing human fall.
Bronchiolitis hospitalisations in the Netherlands from 1991 to 1999

In order to analyse trends in the bronchiolitis hospitalisations in the Netherlands from 1991 to 1999 for children aged 0–4 years, the national number of bronchiolitis hospitalisations were compared with those of asthma and pneumonia hospitalisations of the same age group. The number of bronchiolitis hospitalisations significantly increased, whereas the number of asthma and pneumonia hospitalisations remained unchanged.
A Metric-First Scheme for MIMO Signal Decoding with Branch Length Threshold

In this paper, we propose a near maximum likelihood (ML) scheme for the decoding of multiple input multiple output systems. Based on the metric-first search method and by employing Schnorr-Euchner enumeration and branch length thresholds, the proposed scheme provides a higher efficiency than other conventional near ML decoding schemes. From simulation results, it is confirmed that the proposed scheme has lower computational complexity than other near ML decoders while maintaining the bit error rate very close to the ML performance. The proposed scheme in addition possesses the capability of allowing flexible tradeoffs between the computational complexity and BER performance.
The Current State and Future of Factor Analysis in Personality Disorder Research

The major debates in the personality disorder (PD) field center on the structure of personality pathology. Factor analysis is designed to elucidate the underlying structure of observed phenomena. Therefore, factor analysis has already played a major role in the debates about the structure of PD, and will continue to be an often-used and indispensable tool moving forward. However, misconceptions about the utility and interpretation of factor analyses abound. The purpose of this article is to provide a conceptual primer on available factor analytic techniques and how they have been applied in PD research, and to highlight novel ways of using factor analysis moving forward. The techniques reviewed include exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory structural equation modeling, multilevel structural equation modeling, and person-specific (i.e., P-technique) factor analysis. Additionally, the notion that exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic approaches lie on an exploratory to confirmatory spectrum is introduced. Examples from the published literature are used to illustrate key points.
SpZ12-1, a negative regulator required for spatial control of the territory-specific CyIIIa gene in the sea urchin embryo.

The CyIIIa cytoskeletal actin gene of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus is activated in late cleavage and expressed exclusively in the aboral ectoderm territory of the embryo. Previous gene transfer studies defined a 2.3 kb cis-regulatory region that is necessary and sufficient for correct temporal and spatial expression of a CyIIIa.CAT fusion gene. In this paper, a negative regulatory element within this region was identified that is required for repression of the CyIIIa gene in skeletogenic mesenchyme cells. The repression mediated by this regulatory element takes place after initial territorial specification. A cDNA clone encoding a DNA-binding protein with twelve Zn fingers (SpZ12-1) was isolated by probing an expression library with this cis-element. Deletion analysis of the SpZ12-1 protein confirmed that a DNA-binding domain is located within the Zn finger region. SpZ12-1 is the only DNA-binding protein in embryo nuclear extract that interacts with the specific cis-target sites required for repression of CyIIIa.CAT in skeletogenic mesenchyme and is likely to be the trans factor that mediates this repression.
Asymptotic values of zero sum repeated games : evolution equations in discrete and continuous time

We consider some discrete and continuous dynamics in a Banach space involving a non expansive operator J and a corresponding family of strictly contracting operators Φ(λ, x) := λJ( 1−λ λ x) for λ ∈]0, 1]. Our motivation comes from the study of two-player zero-sum repeated games, where the value of the n-stage game (resp. the value of the λdiscounted game) satisfies the relation vn = Φ( 1 n , vn−1) (resp. vλ = Φ(λ, vλ)) where J is the Shapley operator of the game. We study the evolution equation u′(t) = J(u(t))− u(t) as well as associated Eulerian schemes, establishing a new exponential formula and a Kobayashi-like inequality for such trajectories. We prove that the solution of the non-autonomous evolution equation u′(t) = Φ(λ(t), u(t))− u(t) has the same asymptotic behavior (even when it diverges) as the sequence vn (resp. as the family vλ) when λ(t) = 1/t (resp. when λ(t) converges slowly enough to 0). This is a short version, omitting most proofs, of the original article [30].
Implantation d'algorithmes spécifiés en virgule flottante dans les DSP virgule fixe

Les contraintes au niveau du cout, de la consommation et du temps de mise sur le marche des applications de traitement numerique du signal exigent la mise en oeuvre de methodologies d'implantation automatique d'algorithmes specifies en virgule flottante au sein d'architectures en virgule fixe. Dans cet article, une nouvelle methodologie d'implantation au sein des processeurs de traitement du signal (DSP) sous contrainte de precision est definie. Par rapport aux methodologies existantes, l'architecture du processeur DSP est entierement prise en compte pour l'optimisation du codage des donnees. Les justifications de la structure de cette methodologie et les differentes etapes la composant sont detaillees.
Regions of Strong Coupling Between Soil Moisture and Precipitation

Previous estimates of land-atmosphere interaction (the impact of soil moisture on precipitation) have been limited by a lack of observational data and by the model dependence of computational estimates. To counter the second limitation, a dozen climate-modeling groups have recently performed the same highly controlled numerical experiment as part of a coordinated comparison project. This allows a multimodel estimation of the regions on Earth where precipitation is affected by soil moisture anomalies during Northern Hemisphere summer. Potential benefits of this estimation may include improved seasonal rainfall forecasts.
Immortalization and characterization of a new canine mammary tumour cell line FR37‐CMT

Here we describe the establishment of a new canine mammary tumour (CMT) cell line, FR37-CMT that does not show dependence on female hormonal signaling to induce tumour xenografts in NOD-SCID mice. FR37-CMT cell line has a stellate or fusiform shape, displays the ability to reorganize the collagen matrix, expresses vimentin, CD44 and shows the loss of E-cadherin which is considered a fundamental event in epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). The up-regulation of ZEB1, the detection of phosphorylated ERK1/2 and the downregulation of DICER1 and miR-200c are also in accordance with the mesenchymal characteristics of FR37-CMT cell line. FR37-CMT shows a higher resistance to cisplatin (IC50 >50 µM) and to doxorubicin (IC50 >5.3 µM) compared with other CMT cell lines. These results support the use of FR37-CMT as a new CMT model that may assist the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying EMT, CMT drug resistance, fostering the development of novel therapies targeting CMT.
Evaluation of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium undergraduate faculty training program.

BACKGROUND Previous research has demonstrated that nursing education has not prepared nurses to provide optimum end-of-life (EOL) care; and yet, care of patients at the EOL is contingent on adequate preparation of nurses. To date, there has not been a unified or organized effort to broadly address the preparation of nurses in EOL care. OBJECTIVE The purpose of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC), a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded project (2000-2004), was to develop and implement a comprehensive national effort to improve EOL care by nurses through a joint collaboration between the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the City of Hope Cancer Center. DESIGN AND SETTING Based on the AACN Peaceful Death document, the ELNEC curriculum focuses on nine EOL core areas. This project is a synthesis of research and knowledge in EOL care and is intended to assist clinical nurses with implementing scientifically based care in practice. Eight national training courses followed the development of the core training curriculum to enhance EOL expertise in faculty in undergraduate nursing programs (five courses) as well as in continuing education programs (three courses). Development of the ELNEC program included detailed teaching materials to integrate EOL content into existing nursing curricula and clinical teaching and extensive follow up evaluation. RESULTS The data revealed significant outcomes in the report of implementation in the nursing curriculum including an increase in the amount of content, perceived effectiveness of new graduates, and of faculty expertise in EOL care, and a broad dissemination of all modules geographically. CONCLUSION This national organized effort is a major step toward preparing nurses in EOL care to improve care of the dying.
Data visualization in environmental proteomics

From raw data to gene expression profiles, from single cultures to complex microbial communities, environmental proteomics works with data of different complexity levels that need to be interpreted in detail or in its entirety. Although data visualization is closely connected with data analysis approaches, this work will solely focus on data visualization. Complementing traditional tools such as bar charts or line graphs, scientists and visualization professionals have been provided sophisticated visualization tools. Many rules and concerns regarding the display of single but also complex data will be reviewed and discussed. Visual approaches such as microcharts, heat maps, stream graphs, and tree maps will be brought to the reader's attention and demonstrated by utilizing real data sets.
The GlnD and GlnK homologues of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) are functionally dissimilar to their nitrogen regulatory system counterparts from enteric bacteria

Glutamine synthetase I (GSI) enzyme activity in Streptomyces coelicolor is controlled post‐translationally by the adenylyltransferase (GlnE) as in enteric bacteria. Although other homologues of the Escherichia coli Ntr system (glnK, coding for a PII family protein; and glnD, coding for an uridylyltransferase) are found in the S. coelicolor genome, the regulation of the GSI activity was found to be different. The functions of glnK and glnD were analysed by specific mutants. Surprisingly, biochemical assay and two‐dimensional PAGE analysis showed that modification of GSI by GlnE occurs normally in all mutant strains, and neither GlnK nor GlnD are required for the regulation of GlnE in response to nitrogen stimuli. Analysis of the post‐translational regulation of GlnK in vivo by two‐dimensional PAGE and mass spectrometry indicated that it is subject to both a reversible and a non‐reversible modification in a direct response to nitrogen availability. The irreversible modification was identified as removal of the first three N‐terminal amino acid residues of the protein, and the reversible modification as adenylylation of the conserved tyro‐sine 51 residue that is known to be uridylylated in E. coli. The glnD insertion mutant expressing only the N‐terminal half of GlnD was capable of adenylylating GlnK, but was unable to perform the reverse deadenylylation reaction in response to excess ammonium. The glnD null mutant completely lacked the ability to adenylylate GlnK. This work provides the first example of a PII protein that is modified by adenylylation, and demonstrates that this reaction is performed by a homologue of GlnD, previously described only as a uridylyltransferase enzyme.