Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Network Analysis of the Chronic Hepatitis C Virome Defines Hypervariable Region 1 Evolutionary Phenotypes in the Context of Humoral Immune Responses

ABSTRACT Hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) of hepatitis C virus (HCV) comprises the first 27 N-terminal amino acid residues of E2. It is classically seen as the most heterogeneous region of the HCV genome. In this study, we assessed HVR1 evolution by using ultradeep pyrosequencing for a cohort of treatment-naive, chronically infected patients over a short, 16-week period. Organization of the sequence set into connected components that represented single nucleotide substitution events revealed a network dominated by highly connected, centrally positioned master sequences. HVR1 phenotypes were observed to be under strong purifying (stationary) and strong positive (antigenic drift) selection pressures, which were coincident with advancing patient age and cirrhosis of the liver. It followed that stationary viromes were dominated by a single HVR1 variant surrounded by minor variants comprised from conservative single amino acid substitution events. We present evidence to suggest that neutralization antibody efficacy was diminished for stationary-virome HVR1 variants. Our results identify the HVR1 network structure during chronic infection as the preferential dominance of a single variant within a narrow sequence space. IMPORTANCE HCV infection is often asymptomatic, and chronic infection is generally well established in advance of initial diagnosis and subsequent treatment. HVR1 can undergo rapid sequence evolution during acute infection, and the variant pool is typically seen to diverge away from ancestral sequences as infection progresses from the acute to the chronic phase. In this report, we describe HVR1 viromes in chronically infected patients that are defined by a dominant epitope located centrally within a narrow variant pool. Our findings suggest that weakened humoral immune activity, as a consequence of persistent chronic infection, allows for the acquisition and maintenance of host-specific adaptive mutations at HVR1 that reflect virus fitness.
An efficient voltage-mode class-D power amplifier for digital transmitters with delta-sigma modulation

A high efficiency voltage-mode class-D power amplifier for digital transmitters with delta-sigma modulation is demonstrated using a 0.13-µm 1.2-V silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS technology. To minimize the overlap of ON time of both the PMOS and the NMOS transistors, a shoot-through current reduction technique was employed. Distortion induced by parasitic inductance was mitigated with integrated on-chip capacitors. The amplifier was tested with periodic signals, envelope delta-sigma modulation (EDSM) signals, and band-pass delta-sigma modulation (BPDSM) signals at 800MHz. Peak drain efficiencies of 75, 62, and 55% were obtained for these inputs, together with ACPR of −60dBc for EDSM EDGE signals and −43dBc for BPDSM CDMA signals.
The Incidence of Hypertensive Crisis in a Tertiary Hospital

: Hypertension is the most widespread disease nowadays and one of the most common causes of visits and emergencies with significant acute and chronic morbidity. The aim of the study to asses the incidence of the hypertensive crisis. The mean age of patients was 58.4 (±13.2) years. 63% of patients were males and 37% females. 27 (24.3%) of patients manifested stage I hypertension, 39 (35.1%) stage II and 45 (40.5%) stage III (fig. 1). The complaints most frequently attributed to high BP were headache (42.5%), dyspnea (27.8%), chest pain (19.2%), dizziness (35.1%), vomiting (8.6%), epist axis (3.7%) and neurologic deficit (4.2%). Hypertensive crisis was observed in36 patients (32.4%) and all were classified as hypertensive urgencies. Complications were observed in 43 (38.7%) of patients with hypertensive crisis. Hypertensive crisisis a clinical entity associated with high morbidity in the emergency room. Adequate control of blood pressure is crucial to prevent permanent damage to organs.
Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Clinical and Radiologic Features

Study Design A prospective, randomized study of patients with symptomatic lumbar spinal stensosis. Objectives Evaluation of clinical and radiologic characteristics and relationship Summary of Background Data The diagnosis of lumbar spinal stenosis is frequently used and represents a wide variety of patients with more or less well defined spinal disorders. Methods One hundred patients who met inclusion criterie were consecutively salacted from a neurology department and examined clinically and radiologically with plain radiography, myelography, and computed tomographic imaging. Results Duration of complaints was long, and multilevel, bilateral afflictions were common. The dominating symptoms were sciatica, neurogenic claudication, and low back pain. The clinical findings were modest. Narrowness in the spinal canal was demonstrated radiologically with signs of compression on nerve roots, centrally and/or laterally. The radiologic findings were more extensive than expected from the clinical symptom and signs. In most patients the sagittal diameter of the spinal canal increased on flexion and decreased on extension of the spine. An exception was demonstrated in 33 patients where extension increased the diameter, usually at one level. Radiologic subgroups stenosis were found, but their clinical relationship could hardly be identified. No definite association between the degree of narrowing and clinical symptoms was found. Conclusions A clinical picture is demonstrated in 100 patients with symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis. Different types of stenosis are found radiologically, but their clinical relationships are not identified. The radiologic changes were more extensive than expected from the clinical picture, and the degree of narrowing did not correspond to the degree of clinical affiliction.
Implementation of enterprise reuse

Reuse, software reuse and code reuse are three terms that are often misused and confused by the general practitioner. Reuse is has been tossed around since 1994 where many organizations jumped all over the reuse bandwagon without much success. Software reuse goals and practices are not new, but full scale success has been hard to find. That being said, effective reuse of knowledge, processes, and software has been proven to increase productivity and quality of the IT organization. This session will review the basic theory and research that went into building a world class organization focusing on reusable services. The current methodology and integration framework will be discussed as well as case study results presented.
Population and plant community dynamics involving garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) in a Minnesota Oak Woodland: a four year study1

Abstract Garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb.) Cavara & Grande, a European biennial, has become common in many Midwestern and eastern North American forests. Researchers have sometimes documented a two-year (two-point) population cycle in which the vegetative and reproductive phases alternate in abundance. However, little research has been conducted on the scale dependence of the two-point cycle and the extent to which the cycle is dependent on the density of A. petiolata. In addition to this interest in A. petiolata's population dynamics, researchers have investigated A. petiolata's effects on other plant species, often concluding that it displaces native herbs and inhibits tree seedling growth and survival through the production of allelochemicals. In order to examine both the population dynamics of A. petiolata and its possible effects on North American native plants, we conducted a four year study in which we monitored A. petiolata in a 6.2 ha portion of a Minnesota oak (Quercus) woodland at two spatial scales (0.5 m2, 400 m2). We also conducted an indoor seedling pot study to investigate whether any soil inhibitory effects associated with A. petiolata may be exacerbated under drought conditions. We found that a two-point cycle was not sustained during the four year study throughout the entire study site. However, the two-point cycle was exhibited in high A. petiolata density areas in the study site, providing support for the hypothesis that the cycle is driven by competition between first-year (rosette) and second-year (stem) plants. Both the monitoring study and the pot experiment yielded little evidence that A. petiolata is a major agent of ecological change in the woodland. Rather, the data indicate that over the four years of this study A. petiolata and the other plant species in the woodland we studied are changing in abundance largely independent of one another.
[Effect of temperature on energy budget of Taiwanese red tilapia hybrid (Oreochromis niloticus x O. mossambicus)].

The energy budget of Taiwanese red tilapia hybrid (Oreochromis niloticus x O. massambicus) with a body weight of 25.33-26.23 g was measured at salinity 14 and at water temperature 22, 28 and 34 degrees C in July-August 1996. The results showed that its specific growth rate, conversion efficiency and maximum food consumption were significantly affected by temperature, and reached peaks of 1.79, 60.01% and 2.59% B.W. d-1 at 28 degrees C. The effect of temperature on the absorption efficiency was not significant, with an average absorption efficiency 64.58%. The effect of temperature on the proportions of food energy allocated to each component of the energy budget was significant. The ratio of growth energy was the highest(26.4%) at temperature 28 degrees C, and that of metabolism energy was 37.23%.
IT infrastructure management and standards

Information system development is often connected to functional requirements and business processes in an organization. The development of the basic information technology infrastructure (IT infrastructure) is therefore easily forgotten. However, a reliable infrastructure is the key to successful operations. As business requirements, the flexibility of the IT infrastructure becomes important. We argue that standards play a key role in development of an IT infrastructure that is flexible and adapts to future business needs.
Advanced presentation of gallbladder cancer: epidemioclinicopathological study to evaluate the risk factors and assess the outcome.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the risk factors and assess the short-term prognosis and independent prognostic factors of cases of gallbladder cancer. METHODS A retrospective analysis of the data of 52 patients of gallbladder cancer was done. Clinical presentation, laboratory investigations, treatment given, operative findings and histopathological findings were reviewed. RESULTS Forty-four patients were unresectable at presentation. A 2-year survival rate for early gallbladder cancer was 100% while it was only 29.2% in the advanced stage group. CONCLUSION The overall 2-year survival rate was 39.58%. The TNM stage was the most important factor affecting the survival.
EFFECTS OF PHENOTHIAZINES ON PROTECTIVE SYSTEMS AGAINST POLYCYCLIC HYDROCARBONS.

A study was initiated to find compounds which have the capacity to induce high levels of activity of microsomal systems detoxifying polycycic hydrocarbons. Of a large number of chemicals and dietary constituents, only phenothiazine and several of its derivatives were found to be potent inducers of an increased benzpyrene hydroyxlase activity. These phenothiazines also protected rats against adrenal necrosis following a massive oral dose of 7 , 12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA). Related hetero cyclic compounds in which the nitrogen or sulfur atoms of the phenothiazine ring are replaced had considerably weaker or no inducing capacity.
Inheritance of Resistance to Aphis glycines in Soybean P746 from China

ABSTRACT The soybean aphid (Aphis glycines Matsumura) is one of the most serious pests of soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merrill) worldwide. Aphid resistance genes have been identified. However, little is known about genes for resistance to Chinese soybean aphid strains. The objective of this study was to identify the type of aphid resistance in the soybean cultivar P746 and to determine the inheritance of the resistance. In choice and no-choice tests, significant differences in the average number of aphids and the damage index were observed between P746 and the susceptible cultivar Dongnong 47 11 d and 21 d after aphid infestation. F2 plants and their F2:3 families were tested to identify the mode of inheritance of resistance. The 240 F2 plants segregated into 178 resistant and 62 susceptible plants, which matched an expected 3:1 ratio for inheritance of a single dominant trait. Segregation among F2:3 families also matched a 1:2:1 ratio. These results indicated that a single, dominant gene mediated aphid resistance in P746. This information will be useful to soybean breeders developing antibiosis-resistant soybean cultivars.
The burden of asthma in Australia

In 1997, 27% of Australian children had current wheeze, and this is increasing by 1.4% per year. The prevalence of wheeze among adults is lower and appears to be stable. The prevalence of persistent asthma (wheezing episodes with abnormal airway function between episodes) in children has increased from 5% to 9% in the past 20 years. In adults, the prevalence is 5%–6%. Up to 80% of adults with persistent asthma have abnormal lung function. Asthma deaths in Australia have fallen 28% since peaking in 1989, but the mortality rate is still twice that of England.
A brain-specific cytochrome P450 responsible for the majority of deltamethrin resistance in the QTC279 strain of Tribolium castaneum

Cytochrome P450-mediated detoxification is one of the most important mechanisms involved in insecticide resistance. However, the molecular basis of this mechanism and the physiological functions of P450s associated with insecticide resistance remain largely unknown. Here, we exploited the functional genomics and reverse genetic approaches to identify and characterize a P450 gene responsible for the majority of deltamethrin resistance observed in the QTC279 strain of Tribolium castaneum. We used recently completed whole-genome sequence of T. castaneum to prepare custom microarrays and identified a P450 gene, CYP6BQ9, which showed more than a 200-fold higher expression in the deltamethrin-resistant QTC279 strain when compared with its expression in the deltamethrin-susceptible Lab-S strain. Functional studies using both double-strand RNA (dsRNA)-mediated knockdown in the expression of CYP6BQ9 and transgenic expression of CYP6BQ9 in Drosophila melanogaster showed that CYP6BQ9 confers deltamethrin resistance. Furthermore, CYP6BQ9 enzyme expressed in baculovirus metabolizes deltamethrin to 4-hydroxy deltamethrin. Strikingly, we also found that unlike many P450 genes involved in insecticide resistance that were reported previously, CYP6BQ9 is predominantly expressed in the brain, a part of the central nervous system (CNS) containing voltage-gated sodium channels targeted by deltamethrin. Taken together, the current studies on the brain-specific insect P450 involved in deltamethrin resistance shed new light on the understanding of the molecular basis and evolution of insecticide resistance.
A Study of the Human Heart as a Multiple Dipole Electrical Source: I. Normal Adult Male Subjects

A model for the electrical activity of the heart during depolarization, in which the ventricles were represented by 12 dipoles and the thorax by an inhomogeneous conductor, was evaluated. Potentials measured at 126 locations on the thoracic surface were used to determine the dipole strengths as a function of time for 58 normal sedentary subjects. Most of the dipole strengths had the form of a single pulse in time, the dipole onset sequence being consistent with the depolarization sequence found by others. Dipole activities (DA), obtained for each dipole by time integration of its strength, varied considerably between subjects. However, much of this variation arose from a systematic decrease of DAs with age. The separate DAs were summed to obtain the DAs of the septum and left and right ventricular free walls. The proportions of the summed DAs agreed with the cardiac component weights found by others. When the variation with the subject's age was removed, the total DA fluctuated by ±13% (standard deviation of the mean) in this series.
Plasmid characterization of Salmonella typhimurium transmitted from animals to humans

The transmission of pathogenic bacteria from animals to humans is widely studied because of its public health importance. In this study, we show the transmission of Salmonella typhimurium from cattle which had received no growth-promoting antibiotics to humans who had direct contact with the ill animals. On one cattle farm, the veterinarian attending the sick animals became ill, and two other individuals living on the farm later developed salmonellosis. The strains isolated from both humans and animals at one farm were identical as to antibiotic susceptibility and phage type, and they were specifically traced by the presence of a common 24-megadalton plasmid. Restriction enzyme digests of this plasmid from both human and animal strains were identical. At another farm, tetracycline-resistant S. typhimurium strains possessing a different profile (eight plasmids) were isolated from both animals and humans. The tetracycline-resistant clone was also isolated from animals at a third farm, but with animals and humans having no known contact with those of the other two farms.
Optimization of Thermal Aware VLSI Non-Slicing Floorplanning Using Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm-Harmony Search Algorithm

Floorplanning is a prominent area in the Very Large-Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuit design automation, because it influences the performance, size, yield and reliability of the VLSI chips. It is the process of estimating the positions and shapes of the modules. A high packing density, small feature size and high clock frequency make the Integrated Circuit (IC) to dissipate large amount of heat. So, in this paper, a methodology is presented to distribute the temperature of the module on the layout while simultaneously optimizing the total area and wirelength by using a hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization-Harmony Search (HPSOHS) algorithm. This hybrid algorithm employs diversification technique (PSO) to obtain global optima and intensification strategy (HS) to achieve the best solution at the local level and Modified Corner List algorithm (MCL) for floorplan representation. A thermal modelling tool called hotspot tool is integrated with the proposed algorithm to obtain the temperature at the block level. The proposed algorithm is illustrated using Microelectronics Centre of North Carolina (MCNC) benchmark circuits. The results obtained are compared with the solutions derived from other stochastic algorithms and the proposed algorithm provides better solution.
Premature bullous pulmonary damage in AIDS: CT diagnosis.

The computed tomographic (CT) scans of 55 patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) were reviewed for evidence of pulmonary bullous damage. Although the average age of patients in this series was only 37 years, 42% (23 of 55) had CT evidence of pulmonary bullous changes. In contrast, the frequency of bullous changes detected at CT in a comparable number of immuno-compromised patients with acute leukemia was 16% (eight of 50) (P less than .01). CT findings of bullous damage included bullae or cystic spaces, areas of low attenuation, and vascular disruption. A visual scoring system was used to grade CT scans according to the percentage of lung demonstrating bullous change. Of the 23 AIDS patients with CT evidence of pulmonary bullous damage, 16 (70%) had one or more documented pulmonary infections, while three (13%) had no prior history of lung infection (P less than .05). Spontaneous pneumothorax was a complication of pulmonary bullous damage in three patients. Destruction of pulmonary parenchyma in patients with AIDS may represent the response of the lung to repeated infection.
A wireless channel capacity model for quality of service

A key issue in supporting quality of service (QoS) over wireless networks is to estimate the wireless channel capacity that varies randomly with time and space. In this paper, we propose a new model named effective channel capacity to predict the available channel capacity during any given time interval with the required degree of confidence. By leveraging large deviations techniques, we relate the fading channel capacity with the theory of effective bandwidth and establish a connection between the theory of effective bandwidth and information theory. We derive a set of algorithms and apply them to Nakagami-m fading channels. Consequently, our results provide a foundation for the performance analysis of upper layer algorithms and protocols for QoS provisioning over wireless networks
Next generation inline minority carrier lifetime metrology on multicrystalline silicon bricks for PV

In this paper the novel method MDP (microwave detected photoconductivity) [1–4] will be introduced to the field of contact less inline metrology at bricks. By the application of a widely advanced microwave detection technique, it is now possible to map minority carrier lifetime and photoconductivity simultaneously, with a so far unsurpassed combination of spatial resolution, sensitivity, and measurement speed. Beside these two parameters the iron concentration can be detected and analyzing the photoconductivity at steady state in comparison with the minority carrier lifetime, a lot of additional information can be derived. This paper will show first examples of minority carrier lifetime and photoconductivity maps, along with resistivity linescans and iron concentration maps of whole bricks measured inline. Furthermore simulations will be provided. Solving the transport equations for electrons and holes during the measurement at bricks, it can be proven that the measured effective lifetime deviates only lightly from the actual bulk lifetime. Furthermore it becomes clear that a steady state generation is more suited for brick measurements than non-steady state methods.
Leptin is reduced in lean subjects with type 2 diabetes in bangladesh.

Although leptin levels are increased in obesity (1), obese subjects with type 2 diabetes display reduced leptin (2–4), which may be due to altered fat distribution (5). This study examined whether leptin levels are also reduced in lean subjects with type 2 diabetes. Fifty nonobese Bangladeshi women with type 2 diabetes (aged 37.2 ± 1.3 years) were selected randomly from the Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM) outpatient department (28 were on diet and exercise, and 22 were on oral hypoglycemic agents; HbA …