Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Habitat Restoration—Do We Know What We’re Doing?

The term “habitat restoration” appears frequently in conservation and landscape management documents but is often poorly articulated. There is a need to move to a clearer and more systematic approach to habitat restoration that considers appropriate goals linked to target species or suites of species, as well as the ecological, financial, and social constraints on what is possible. Recommendations for particular courses of action need to be prioritized so that restoration activities can achieve the best result possible within these constraints. There is unlikely to be a generic set of recommendations that is applicable everywhere because actions need to be matched to the particulars of site and situation. However, there is a generic set of questions that can be asked, which can help guide the process of deciding which restoration actions are most important and contribute most to the reestablishment of desirable habitat characteristics within a given project area.
A Rapid Method for Determination of Some Phenolic Acids in Brazilian Tropical Fruits of Mangaba ( Hancornia speciosa Gomes ) and Umbu ( Spondias tuberosa Arruda Camara ) by UPLC

A rapid chromatographic method for the determination of six phenolic acids (chlorogenic, ferulic, gallic, p-coumaric, protocatechuic and vanillic acids) by ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), was developed and applied for Brazilian tropical fruits mangaba (Hancornia speciosa Gomes) and umbu (Spondias tuberosa Arruda Camara). A multivariate statistical experimental design was employed to optimize analytical conditions (solvent A, solvent B concentrations and flow rates). Samples were cleaned-up by solid-phase extraction (SPE) with different solvents (methanol and acetone) employing SPE cartridges (amine and octadecyl-silane). The method using dihydrogen potassium phosphate 5 mmoL as solvent A and 8% acetonitrile as solvent B presented limits of detection varying from 14 to 94 ng.mL, limits of quantification from 39 to 277 ng.mL-1 with 2 μL of injection volume while total run time for all six compounds was only 9.6 minutes. Higher recovery was obtained by extraction with methanol-acetone of 69.51% to 72.59% for protocatechuic acid and 69.58% to 126.31% for the chlorogenic acid. The concentrations of chlorogenic, p-coumaric and ferulic acids in mangaba extracts were 113.4, 32.1 and 1.5 μg. g-1, respectively while concentrations of chlorogenic, protocatechuic, gallic, vanillic, ferulic and p-coumaric acids present in umbu fruit were 118.9, 141.3, 3.5, 2.5, 2.2 and 1.8 μg. g-1, respectively.
Development and evaluation of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from pulmonary specimens

Abstract Background: The diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis is still a major challenge. Using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR), one can detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in clinical samples within a few hours. However, single gene targets may result in false negativity due to the absence of target DNA in some M. tuberculosis isolates. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a multiplex PCR (M-PCR) using IS6110 and devR primers for the detection of M. tuberculosis in sputum samples. Methods: Sputum samples were collected from: (1) 200 confirmed cases of tuberculosis; (2) 100 suspected cases of tuberculosis diagnosed on the basis of clinical and radiological findings; (3) 200 non-tubercular patients suffering from respiratory diseases other than tuberculosis, in whom tuberculosis had been excluded. All 500 sputum samples were subjected to PCR using IS6110 primers, and M-PCR using IS6110 and devR primers; results were compared with conventional techniques. Results: It was found that M-PCR was 97.5% successful in detecting the presence of tuberculosis in the confirmed tuberculosis group as compared to 84.5% by IS6110-based PCR. In the suspected tuberculosis group, M-PCR could detect 45% of cases as compared to 40% by IS6110-based PCR. Overall, the specificities of both the PCR and M-PCR were found to be 96.5%. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the M-PCR assay is more sensitive than the IS6110-based PCR for the detection of M. tuberculosis in sputum specimens and could be applied in situations of highly suspected tuberculosis when all others tests including IS6110 PCR are negative.
A Semi-Automated Segmentation Framework for MRI Based Brain Tumor Segmentation Using Regularized Nonnegative Matrix Factorization

Segmentation plays an important role in the clinical management of brain tumors. Clinical practice would benefit from accurate and automated volumetric delineation of the tumor and its subcompartments. We present a semi-automated framework for brain tumor segmentation based on regularized nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF). L1-regularization is incorporated into the NMF objective function to promote spatial consistency and sparseness of the tissue abundance maps. The pathological sources are initialized through user-defined voxel selection. Knowledge about the spatial location of the selected voxels is combined with tissue adjacency constraints in a post-processing step to enhance segmentation quality. The method is applied to the BRATS 2013 Leaderboard dataset, consisting of publicly available multi-sequence MRI data of brain tumor patients. Our method performs well in comparison with state-of-the-art, in particular for the enhancing tumor region, for which we reach the highest Dice score among all participants.
Identification and functional analysis of two U3 binding sites on yeast pre‐ribosomal RNA.

It has long been known that U3 can be isolated hydrogen bonded to pre‐ribosomal RNAs, but the sites of interaction are poorly characterized. Here we show that yeast U3 can be cross‐linked to 35S pre‐rRNA both in deproteinized extracts and in living cells. The sites of cross‐linking were localized to the 5′ external transcribed spacer (ETS) and then identified at the nucleotide level. Two regions of U3 near the 5′ end are cross‐linked to pre‐rRNA in vivo and in vitro; the evolutionarily conserved box A region and a 10 nucleotide (nt) sequence with perfect complementarity to an ETS sequence. Two in vivo cross‐links are detected in the ETS, at +470, within the region complementary to U3, and at +655, close to the cleavage site at the 5′ end of 18S rRNA. A tagged rDNA construct was used to follow the effects of mutations in the ETS in vivo. A small deletion around the +470 cross‐linking site in the ETS prevents the synthesis of 18S rRNA. This region is homologous to the site of vertebrate ETS cleavage. We propose that this site may be evolutionarily conserved to direct the assembly of a pre‐rRNA processing complex required for the cleavages that generate 18S rRNA.
Pituitary regulation of preovulatory estrogen secretion in the rat.

The factors stimulating estrogen secretion in the preovulatory phase and an attempt to explain the mechanism of termination of estrogen secretion are discussed. Female Wistar rats, hypophysectomized at 1 p.m. in proestrus, were injected with rat pituitary extracts. Ovarian venous blood was collected and the estrogen activity of the plasma was measured. The estrogen secretion was minimized within 3 hours after hypophysectomy. The rat pituitary extract caused an 11-fold increase of estrogen concentration in the ovarian venous blood within 1 hour. Either LH or FSH alone was able to restore the estrogen secretion: LH took 1 hour to reach maximal response, FSH 2 hours. In the 1-hour test, the minimal effective dose for LH appeared to be less than . 25 mcg per rat, for FSH, 2.5 mcg per rat. The total ability of the two preparations to produce estrogen appeared to be the same. 10 I.U. of prolactin slightly stimulated estrogen secretion, but 20 mU of ACTH was quite negative. These results demonstrate the pituitary gonadotropin dependency of estrogen secretion from the ovary having ripened follicles. It also showed that the ovary, after completion of ovulatory surge of LH, abolished its reactivity to the pituitary extract containing sufficient amount of substances in promoting estrogen secretion. Either LH or FSH was able to terminate estrogen secretion even at minute doses as small as 10 mcg. This shows that both FSH and LH provide a dual effect on ovarian estrogen secretion at the preovulatory stage, promotion and suppression. Promotion is an acute and direct action of hormones on steroidogenesis and suppression probably a delayed and indirect action of ovulation-inducing hormone, the release of which initiates the differentiation of estrogen-forming cells towards ovulation unfavorable to estrogen synthesis.
Characteristics of abnormal menstrual cycle and polycystic ovary syndrome in community and hospital populations.

BACKGROUND Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is considered to be the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. The involvement of an abnormal menstrual cycle in the etiology of PCOS remains unclear. We aimed to analyze the characteristics of abnormal menstrual cycles and their association with PCOS in community and hospital patient populations. METHODS Women with PCOS identified from 2111 permanent female residents in the community of Beijing and 506 outpatients obtained from the reproductive clinic of Peking University Third Hospital were recruited for this study, comprising the PCOS community group and the PCOS hospital group, respectively. Each group was further divided into four subgroups according to the length of menstrual cycles: <21 days; 21-34 days; 35-60 days; and >60 days. Women in each group were interviewed using a questionnaire to assess factors including age, age of menarche, menstrual cycle history, related family history, and modified Ferriman-Gallwey (mF-G) score. All women received transvaginal ultrasound scan and had fasting blood samples taken for endocrine evaluation. A two-tailed P value of <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS In the community population, the prevalence of abnormal menstrual cycle was 27.19% (574/2111). The prevalence of PCOS in the community was 6.11% (129/2111) according to Rotterdam criteria. In the community group, the most common menstrual cycle length was 35-60 days, whereas for the hospital group, it was >60 days. In both the community and hospital groups, the most common phenotype of PCOS was that of Oligo/amenorrhea+PCO+ hyperandrogenism (HA) (O+P+H) (P=0.000). With increasing cycle length of 35-60 days to >60 days, the percentages of Oligo/amenorrhea+PCO (O+P) and O+P+H were found to significantly decrease in the community group and significantly increase in the hospital group (P=0.000 for each). In the hospital group, as the menstrual cycle length increased from 35-60 days to >60 days, the rate of spontaneous abortion increased significantly (P=0.000), meanwhile the rate of poorly-secreted endometrium and abnormal endometrial hyperplasia increased significantly (P=0.000). CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of PCOS in the Beijing community of women was 6.11%. Oligo/amenorrhea was the most common type of abnormal menstrual cycle and may be an indicator for PCOS and endometrial lesions. Gynecologists should seek relevant medical information from women in the community to promptly diagnose PCOS and then follow up patients for potential development of subsequent complications.
Cloud auditing for storage services in CRM System

Abstract-Distributed storage engages customers to distantly store their records and admire the on interest first class cloud applications without the heaviness of neighbourhood equipment and programming management. Despite the way that the beneficiaries are clear, such management is similarly surrendering customers' physical responsibility for farmout data, which inflexibly postures new security perils toward the exactness of the information in cloud. To state this new issue and also finish an ensured and reliable conveyed stockpiling administration, we propose in this paper a versatile spread stockpiling uprightness assessing framework, using the homomorphic token and eradication coded data for Customer Relationship Management (CRM for short) System. The proposed arrangement grants customers to review the dispersed stockpiling with particularly trivial correspondence and handling cost. The inspecting outcomeconfirms strong dispersed stockpiling rightness guarantee, and also at the same time achieves snappy data botch limitation, i.e., the recognizing evidence of getting out of hand server. Taking the cloud information is in dynamic in nature, the suggested arrangement further sponsorships secure and viable component operations on farm out data, including square change, cancellation, and attach. Examination exhibits the suggested arrangement is incredibly capable, poisonous data modification strike, and much server conniving assaults.
An Update on Therapeutic Drug Monitoring for Antiretroviral Drugs

There is an increasing uptake of TDM of antiretroviral drugs, particularly in Europe. There is consensus that current antiretroviral drugs meet most of the criteria of drugs that can be considered as candidates for a TDM strategy. This review examines the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationship for protease inibitors and non nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, give an overview of the published randomised clinical trials and then summarises the scenarios for use of TDM. Finally the development of the inhibitory quotient (IQ) concept is discussed.
Mining Online Social Network Data for Biomedical Research: A Comparison of Clinicians’ and Patients’ Perceptions About Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Treatments

Background While only one drug is known to slow the progress of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), numerous drugs can be used to treat its symptoms. However, very few randomized controlled trials have assessed the efficacy, safety, and side effects of these drugs. Due to this lack of randomized controlled trials, consensus among clinicians on how to treat the wide range of ALS symptoms and the efficacy of these treatments is low. Given the lack of clinical trials data, the wide range of reported symptoms, and the low consensus among clinicians on how to treat those symptoms, data on the prevalence and efficacy of treatments from a patient’s perspective could help advance the understanding of the symptomatic treatment of ALS. Objective To compare clinicians’ and patients’ perspectives on the symptomatic treatment of ALS by comparing data from a traditional survey study of clinicians with data from a patient social network. Methods We used a survey of clinicians’ perceptions by Forshew and Bromberg as our primary data source and adjusted the data from PatientsLikeMe to allow for comparisons. We first extracted the 14 symptoms and associated top four treatments listed by Forshew and Bromberg. We then searched the PatientsLikeMe database for the same symptom–treatment pairs. The PatientsLikeMe data are structured and thus no preprocessing of the data was required. Results After we eliminated pairs with a small sample, 15 symptom–treatment pairs remained. All treatments identified as useful were prescription drugs. We found similarities and discrepancies between clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions of treatment prevalence and efficacy. In 7 of the 15 pairs, the differences between the two groups were above 10%. In 3 pairs the differences were above 20%. Lorazepam to treat anxiety and quinine to treat muscle cramps were among the symptom–treatment pairs with high concordance between clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions. Conversely, amitriptyline to treat labile emotional effect and oxybutynin to treat urinary urgency displayed low agreement between clinicians and patients. Conclusions Assessing and comparing the efficacy of the symptomatic treatment of a complex and rare disease such as ALS is not easy and needs to take both clinicians’ and patients’ perspectives into consideration. Drawing a reliable profile of treatment efficacy requires taking into consideration many interacting aspects (eg, disease stage and severity of symptoms) that were not covered in the present study. Nevertheless, pilot studies such as this one can pave the way for more robust studies by helping researchers anticipate and compensate for limitations in their data sources and study design.
Financial monitoring policies of microfinance institutions in Accra : policy formulation and implementation challenges

Although numerous articles have been published globally on microfinance (MF), essentially highlighting the need to regulate microfinance institutions (MFIs), none of these, to the knowledge of the researcher, specifically explore in profundity the formulation process of financial monitoring policies (FMPs), their implementation, and the challenges MFIs encounter in implementing these policies. The wave of distressed and failing of MFIs in Ghana and the loss of hard-earned thrift deposits of the poor, therefore demand for this investigation. This study consequently viaducts the gap and contributes to the debate by reviewing the specific financial policies pertaining to MFIs, their formulation, implementation of such policies, and the challenges MFIs encounter relating to those policies. Also introduced into the MF research arena, is the concept of implementation theory to move knowledge frontier forward. Further, the outcome will be of particular relevance to all emerging economies who view MFls as praxis for poverty alleviation, employment creation and addressing inequality. The study adopted a mixed research approach, with both qualitative and quantitative data gathered from a sample of 65 MFIs in Accra through a self-administered, Likert-scaled questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS version 24.0, with results presented in frequency tables, figures, correlation tables, and cross-tabulations. The findings reveal that FMPs exist for MFIs in Ghana – Accra, particularly. However, regulation formulation is shown to be lopsided, with implementation of FMPs, and monitoring and supervision thereof, also found to be deficient. The results further indicate that using minimum capital as a tool to ensuring efficiency in the sector, is a major obstacle to overcome to create an impetus for regulatory non-compliance. Based on the findings, the research recommends consideration by policymakers and MFI monitoring units to create a semi-autonomous institution, the National Microfinance Promotion Authority, to regulate and supervise the MFIs in Ghana. It is also recommended that research focus be shifted to policy implementation regarding MF operations.
Environmental Disparities Present a Challenge for Diabetes Prevention and Management Efforts in Dallas County

The State of Texas is home to nearly 2 million men, women and children with diabetes, over half a million of which reside in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) region. Recognizing the rising need to identify the disparities in implementing the diabetes prevention and management efforts and adopting the healthy life style in high diabetes prevalence areas in Dallas County, we explored the potential of Geographic Information System (GIS) methodology to analyze the data at zip code level from Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council (DFWHC) Research Foundation's data registry. The objectives of this research were to identify the zip codes with the highest prevalence of diabetes in Dallas County and to analyze the disparities that may relate to the higher diabetes prevalence. The process revealed the zip codes with the highest prevalence of diabetes and the disparities possibly influencing the higher prevalence. The results showed that the zip codes with the highest prevalence of diabetes had very few fresh food and supermarkets, food banks, parks, sidewalks and hospitals and clustered medical clinics, indicating that addressing these disparities may be a promising strategy for decreasing the prevalence of diabetes in these diabetes clusters in Dallas County. The strength of this research is DFWHC research Foundation's comprehensive data registry which allowed us to analyze the patient data up to the zip code level to identify the high diabetes prevalence areas. Our results have significance in the realm of public health and health care. With the identification of the contributing disparities in the high diabetes prevalence in Dallas County, public health efforts and resources can be more efficiently targeted and focused for prevention and management. Also in the future, we support improvements in health care data-sharing in order to improve coordinate care between different health care providers to prevent diabetes at an early stage and provide coordinated care at treatment and management stage. 152 Enviromental Disparities Present a Challenge for Diabetes Prevention and Management Efforts in Dallas County Theresa Mendoza et al Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, Volume 7, Issue 5 2014
Nonconventional Interactions between Photoreceptor Axons in the Butterfly Lamina Ganglionaris

Abstract Butterflies have nine photoreceptors within each ommatidium which have been named from their positional orientation across the rhabdom. Within all ommatidia examined, there are four morphologically discrete receptor types: 1. Two dorsal-ventrally aligned cells - the vertical receptors; 2. two anterior-posteriorly aligned cells - the horizontal receptors; 3. four diagonally aligned cells -the diagonal receptors; 4. one basally occuring bilobed cell - the basal receptor. The nine retinula cell axons pass through the basement membrane and enter an optic cartridge of the lamina ganglionaris as a single bundle. The organization of these axons within their cartridge has been investigated in the nymphalid-type butterfly Agraulis vanillae. Prior to entry into the optic cartridge, the axonal bundle undergoes a 90° positional rotation. Retinula axons become grouped into three regions: a dorsal triad and a ventral triad of three axons, one horizontal and two diagonal retinula cells each; a central group composed of two vertical retinula cells, the basal cell, and 4 -5 lamina monopolar cells. Retinula axons of the triads appear to be coupled by bulbous cytoplasm ic projections. Two types of coupling appear to occur: 1. Within each triad, the horizontal retinula cell axon is coupled to both diagonal axons. 2. The horizontal retinula cell axon of one triad is coupled to the horizontal cell of the adjacent triad. Because of the 90° repositioning of the ommatidial axon bundle, specific cell types from one ommatidium appear to be linked to retinula cells of ommatidia immediately above or below them. These nonconventional receptor cell interactions are described and a possible function in receptor coupling suggested.
Restriction or Impetus? An Empirical Study of Entrepreneurial Social Responsibility of SMEs in Western China

When it comes to strategic management, corporate social responsibility has been playing an increasingly important role in recent years. The fulfillment of social responsibilities helps maintain good social network and adds value to enterprises, but also incurs high cost and distracts management. Those prior findings were mainly based on the study of mature enterprises, while researches based on small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs) are relatively less. This paper, using hierarchical regression analysis, finds the relationship between social responsibility fulfillment of SMEs and their entrepreneurial performance. Data from 200 employees of SMEs in western China suggest that social responsibility fulfillment of SMEs has positive effect on entrepreneurial performance. Further, different types of responsibilities influence the entrepreneurial performance to varying degrees. The findings from this study provide several suggestions for SMEs in western China to cope with their social responsibility appropriately.