Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity among lactococci isolated from traditional Pecorino Sardo cheese

Twenty‐nine Lactococcus lactis isolates from one traditional 24 h‐old Pecorino Sardo cheese were characterized phenotypically, technologically and genotypically in order to assess the biodiversity within this wild microbial population. Two DNA‐based techniques, plasmid profiling and PFGE, were used for the genetic typing of the isolates. All 29 isolates were characterized at strain level and eight different genotypes were recognized. In addition, by combining the results from plasmid profile analysis and PFGE, it was possible to identify closely related isolates probably belonging to the same clonal lineage. The dominant biotype was identified in the 24 h‐old cheese, as were the strains believed to act as starters for the curd. Atypical lactococci, able to grow in 6·5% NaCl, were isolated. The results suggest that wild bacterial populations should be preserved in order to protect the traditional raw milk cheeses, and to select new starter strains for the dairy industry.
Stem cells in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: state of the art

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating incurable neurodegenerative disease that targets motor neurons, manifesting as a linear decline in muscular function and leading to death within 2 – 5 years of diagnosis. The vast majority of ALS cases are sporadic, the aetiopathology of which is incompletely understood. Recent data have implicated the microenvironment of the motor neuron as a primary target of the pathophysiology. Any experimental therapeutic approach to ALS is very difficult because of some peculiarities of the disease, such as the unknown origin, the spatial diffusion of motor neuron loss and the paucity of animal models. Despite such daunting challenges, in experimental models a number of potential benefits of stem cells in ALS therapy have been demonstrated: by providing non-compromised supporting cells such as astrocytes, microglia or growth factor-excreting cells, onset can be delayed and survival increased. Moreover, in animal models of acute or chronic motor neuron injury, neural stem cells implanted into the spinal cord have been shown to differentiate into motor neurons, with some evidence of axonal sprouting and formation of nerumuscular junctions with host muscle. Here we summarise and discuss current preclinical and clinical evidence regarding stem cells application in ALS, particularly focusing on methodological issues.
Trends in the Incidence of Cervical Cancer in Jordan, 2000–2013

OBJECTIVES To determine the incidence of cervical cancer in Jordan and assess its trend in over a 14-year period (2000-2013). METHODS This descriptive study was based on secondary analysis of cervical cancer data that are registered in the Jordan Cancer Registry (JCR). RESULTS A total of 591 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in Jordan during the period 2000-2013. The age at diagnosis ranged between 15 and 97 years, with a median of 50 years. The average age standardized rate (ASR) was 2.0/100,000 women. The incidence of cervical cancer started to decrease after 2006 but it remained relatively constant between 2008 and 2013. Over the 14-year period, ASR for cervical cancer decreased by 28.6% from 2.1 per 100,000 women in 2000 to 1.5 per 100,000 women in 2013. About 46.5% of the cases were of squamous cell carcinoma morphology. Early cancer constituted about 60% of the cases, regional cases constituted 9.6%, and distant metastatic cases constituted 10.7%. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of cervical cancer in Jordan is low compared to regional estimates and remained relatively constant between 2008 and 2013. Implementation of screening measures could lead to better case finding, early diagnosis, and prevention of cervical cancer.
Identifying a Set of ‘Core’ Journals in Occupational Health, Part 2: Lists Derived by Bibliometric Techniques

I n 2010, an article was published in the Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health (AEOH) that proposed a set of core journals in the field of Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH). 1 Part 1 highlighted EOH journal titles that have repeatedly appeared in articles published by other authors, and as such, was intended as a guide for those looking for a manageable starting point given the plethora of published material available in contemporary academia. A ‘core’ list of 13 English-language periodicals was identified and scored based on how often a particular journal was being referred to in the published works of others. The current article, Part 2, proposes a ‘core’ journal list identified by way of bibliometric measures, such as citation counts and impact factors. ‘Pecking order’ lists have always held a certain fascination,2 and the rise of bibliometric measures for quantitatively determining such lists has not gone unnoticed in EOH. George Lundberg once said that ‘everyone loves a number,’3 and it is perhaps for these reasons that performance indicators such as the journal impact factor have risen to prominence in recent years. Garfield was responsible for creating the impact factor to help his company, the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) choose what periodicals to include in the Science Citation Index R © (SCI R ©). 4 The calculation itself is fairly straightforward, with the number of citations received by a journal in a given year being divided by the number of ‘citable’ items published by that same journal in the prior 2-year period.5 For a long while the SCI R © was the predominant citation database, although competitors have emerged in recent years. Although the pros and cons of various citation databases have been extensively debated in recent years,6–8 the Web of Science R © (WOS R ©) by Thomson Reuters and Scopus TM by Elsevier appear to be the most commonly used.
Austronesian Historical Linguistics and Culture History

About one sixth of the world's languages are Austronesian (AN), but it is their cultural and biological diversity and their predominantly insular distribution, and not their numbers, that have made the Austronesian-speaking peoples of great interest to anthropologists. In western Melanesia, for instance, there are many small, culturally and biologically heterogeneous communities living in sustained intensive contact with speakers of non-AN languages and with each other. In Polynesia, on the other hand, sister populations have diverged in isolation. "Islands as laboratories" has long been a popular catchcry among scholars working in Polynesia (69, 108, 113, 161, 179-181, 195, 227, 228). For those searching for principles of change or seeking to reconstruct events of culture history, each isolated Polynesian island or island group has the value of being a relatively independent witness to the effects of variables such as geography, technology, population size, and time on a common ancestral base. Although it lacks the elegant simplicity of its Polynesian part, the wider AN-speaking region provides extremely rich material for culture historians and typologists. Perhaps 5000--6000 years ago Proto Austronesian (PAN) was spoken, almost certainly somewhere in East or Southeast Asia, by a neolithic population (7, 8, 236). Some AN speakers became the world's first efficient long distance navigators (7, 153, 206) and over several millennia the family
Cartografiando la pedofilia: eficacia de los tratamientos y estrategias futuras

ResumenPara orientar el trabajo de los profesionales de la salud mental que trabajan con pedofilos se necesitan evaluacionesclinicas rigurosas que aporten evidencias de la eficacia de las intervenciones psicoterapeuticas y/o psicofarmacologicas.Con ese proposito, se revisan aqui distintos hallazgos obtenidos hasta hoy en el tratamiento de los pedofilos. Aunque loshallazgos son incipientes, la literatura cientifica sugiere ciertas anomalias en el neurodesarrollo asociadas a tal parafilia.Tambien hay evidencia empirica que avala la eficacia del abordaje multimodal que combina los tratamientos cognitivo-conductuales usados con medidas psicosociales y/o juridicas. Los avances que puedan producirse en la explicacionetiologica de la pedofilia ayudaran en el futuro a adoptar programas de prevencion y tratamiento mas eficaces.
Electron Injection Studies of Radiation Induced Positive Charge in MOS Devices

Avalanche injection and internal photo-emission techniques have been used to study the capture of electrons by positive charges introduced into the oxide layers of MOS capacitors. These two techniques have been used to study the positive charge in Al gate and poly-Si gate capacitors. The electron capture crosssection of this charge has been found to depend on the composition of the interface; positive charge at the Si interface tends to have a coulombic electron capture cross-section (~ 4×10-13cm2), while that at the alumninum interface has a non-coulombic electron capture crosssection (¿ 10-14cm2). The location of the positive charge induced by radiation under positive or negative bias has been determined in a completely non-destructive manner by photocurrent-voltage experiments. It has been found that under a positive irradiation bias, positive space charge accumulates within ~ 50 A of the Si-SiO2 interface, while under a negative bias, the space charge is within ~ 50 Å of the Al-SiO2 interface. In both cases there is evidence for some charge at the other interface introduced by the irradiation.
Galectin‐9, a Novel Prognostic Factor with Antimetastatic Potential in Breast Cancer

Abstract: Galectin‐9, a member of the β‐galactoside‐binding animal lectin family, is involved in various cellular biological events, including aggregation and apoptosis, adhesion of cancer cells, and dendritic cell maturation. We recently reported the relationship between galectin‐9 expression in tumor tissue and distant metastasis in breast cancer. Tumors in 42 of the 84 patients were galectin‐9‐positive, and tumors in 19 of the 21 patients with distant metastasis were galectin‐9‐negative, assessed by immunohistochemistry. The cumulative distant metastasis‐free survival ratio for galectin‐9‐positive patients was better than for the galectin‐9‐negative group (p < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis revealed that galectin‐9 status influenced distant metastasis independent of and much more than lymph node metastasis. MCF‐7 subclones with a high level of galectin‐9 expression formed tight clusters during proliferation in vitro, whereas a subclone (K10) with the lowest level of galectin‐9 expression did not. However, K10 cells stably transfected with a galectin‐9 expression vector aggregated in nude mice as well as in culture. Ectopic expression of galectin‐9 also reduced MCF‐7 cell adhesion to extracellular matrix proteins.
The afferent and sympathetic components of the lumbar spinal outflow to the colon and pelvic organs in the cat. I. The hypogastric nerve

The cell bodies of the lumbar sensory and sympathetic pre‐ and postganglionic neurons that project to the pelvic organs in the hypogastric nerve of the cat have been labeled retrogradely with horseradish peroxidase applied to the central end of their cut axons. The numbers, segmental distribution, location, and size of these labeled somata have been determined quantitatively. Afferent and preganglionic cell bodies were located bilaterally in dorsal root ganglia and spinal cord segments L3–L5, with the maximum numbers in L4. Very few cells lay rostral to L3. Afferent cell bodies were generally very small in cross‐sectional area relative to the entire population in the dorsal root ganglia. Most of the preganglionic cell bodies lay clustered just medial to the region of the intermediolateral column and extended caudally well beyond its usual limit in the upper part of L4. These neurons were, on the average, larger than the cells of the intermediolateral column itself, with the largest cells lying in the most medial positions. Most of the post‐ganglionic somata were in the ipsilateral distal lobe of the inferior mesenteric ganglion, while some (usually < 10%) lay in accessory ganglia along the lumbar splanchnic nerves and in paravertebral ganglia L3–L5. Postganglionic somata in the inferior mesenteric ganglion were larger than both labeled and unlabeled ganglion cells in the paravertebral ganglia. From the data, it is estimated that about 1,300 afferent neurons, about 1,700 preganglionic neurons, and about 17,000 postganglionic neurons project in each hypogastric nerve in the cat.
Nonclassicality of a photon-subtracted Gaussian field

We investigate the nonclassicality of a photon-subtracted Gaussian field, which was produced in a recent experiment, using negativity of the Wigner function and the nonexistence of well-behaved positive P function. We obtain the condition to see negativity of the Wigner function for the case including the mixed Gaussian incoming field, the threshold photodetection and the inefficient homodyne measurement. We show how similar the photon-subtracted state is to a superposition of coherent states.
New insights into the role of indole-3-acetic acid in the virulence of Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi.

Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is a widespread phytohormone among plant-associated bacteria, including the tumour-inducing pathogen of woody hosts, Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi. A phylogenetic analysis of the iaaM/iaaH operon, which is involved in the biosynthesis of IAA, showed that one of the two operons encoded by Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi NCPPB 3335, iaaM-1/iaaH-1, is horizontally transferred among bacteria belonging to the Pseudomonas syringae complex. We also show that biosynthesis of the phytohormone, virulence and full fitness of this olive pathogen depend only on the functionality of the iaaM-1/iaaH-1 operon. In contrast, the iaaM-2/iaaH-2 operon, which carries a 22-nt insertion in the iaaM-2 gene, does not contribute to the production of IAA by this bacterium. A residual amount of IAA was detected in the culture supernatants of a double mutant affected in both iaaM/iaaH operons, suggesting that a different pathway might also contribute to the total pool of the phytohormone produced by this pathogen. Additionally, we show that exogenously added IAA negatively and positively regulates the expression of genes related to the type III and type VI secretion systems, respectively. Together, these results suggest a role of IAA as a signalling molecule in this pathogen.
Counting and integrating readout for direct conversion X-ray imaging concept, realization and first prototype measurements

A novel signal processing concept for X-ray imaging with directly converting pixelated semiconductor sensors is presented. The novelty of this approach compared to existing concepts is the combination of charge integration and single photon counting in every single pixel. Simultaneous operation of both signal processing chains extends the dynamic range beyond the limits of the individual schemes and allows determination of the mean photon energy. Medical applications such as X-ray computed tomography can benefit from this additional spectral information through improved contrast and the ability to determine the hardening of the tube spectrum due to attenuation by the scanned object. A prototype chip in 0.35-micrometer technology was successfully tested. The pixel electronics are designed using a low-noise differential current mode logic and provide configurable feedback modes, leakage current compensation and various test circuits. This paper will discuss measurement results of the prototype structures and give details on the circuit design
Race, Gender, and Colorectal Cancer Screening

Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in asymptomatic, average-risk populations can reduce mortality and incidence of CRC. The United States Preventive Services Task Force, the American Cancer Society, and the Multi-Society Task Force all recommend initiation of screening at the age of 50 yr for men and women of all races, with an identical menu of screening options. However, there are important differences in risk based on gender, race, and ethnicity. These differences could influence the timing of initiation of screening, and the most optimal form of screening test. This commentary discusses the basis for these differences, and proposes that we should consider customization of screening based on gender, race, and ethnicity.
Low vagal activity as mediating mechanism for the relationship between personality factors and gastric symptoms in functional dyspepsia.

&NA; Low vagal tone may represent a mediating mechanism for relationships between personality and symptoms of functional dyspepsia (FD) through a mechanism of antral hypomotility. Twenty‐one patients with FD and seventeen healthy controls completed a series of personality tests before vagal and sympathetic activity, antral motility, and abdominal symptoms were assessed in response to a laboratory task. Functional dyspepsia patients had lower scores on vagal tone (p = .054) and motility index (p = .011) in addition to the expected higher scores on epigastric discomfort (p = .002). Psychological factors explained a substantial amount of the variance in vagal activity, antral motility, and reported symptoms. Symptoms were predicted by trait anxiety (STAI‐TR), depression (BDI), and neuroticism (EPQ‐N). Poor vagal tone was related to neuroticism (EPQ‐N). Poor motility was best explained by task‐related state dysphoria (SACL‐STR).
Introducing weighted approaches to study network brain dynamics from EEG epilepsy measurements: The EigenBrain algorithm

It is fairly established that dynamic recordings of functional activity maps can naturally and efficiently be represented by functional connectivity networks. In this article we study weighted and fully-connected brain networks, created from electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements that concern patients with focal and generalized epilepsy. We introduce a totally new methodology that has never been utilized before and that investigates weighted and fully-connected networks, which includes eigen-decomposition analysis, feature extraction and quantitative comparisons among entire graph datasets. Our goal is to establish epileptic seizure detection/prediction rules, by identifying repetitive EEG activity in patients before and after each seizure onset. In the present paper we treat each brain network as a weighted and full adjacency matrix, without cutting, binarizing or ignoring any values. In this way, it is the first time that the full structure of the connectivity weighing profile is exploited. Also apart from graph theory approaches, mathematical models such as eigen-decomposition analysis are used in our research, in order to study and analyze brain networks. Finally, we present and discuss the results and conclusions of our new method, which are in line with earlier EEG epilepsy findings and demonstrate a standard EEG behavior in both the postictal and preictal period.
New Spectrally and Energy Efficient Flexible TDD Based Air Interface for 5G Small Cells

In this paper we introduce a new flexible time division duplexing based radio interface for future 5G small cell communications. We describe the benefits of the new design to achieve high energy efficiency, high spectral efficiency and low latency at the same time. We also compare our reference design against LTE-A assuming rank 8 DL SU-MIMO transmission and show that we our design can achieve more than 29% lower total overhead and up to 90% lower round trip time.
Towards a web-based knowledge management system for cardiovascular disease

The objective of this paper is to examine the efficacy of the knowledge management (KM) paradigm for a Web-based patient administration system (PAS) for cardiovascular disease (CVD). We discuss the role of contemporary information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the management of electrocardiographic information and how this can act as a foundation for a KM-based system
Moving towards non-orthogonal multiple access in next-generation wireless access networks

Existing wireless networks have predominantly adopted orthogonal multiple access (OMA) such as OFDMA as the underlying multiple access technology. To further improve spectrum efficiency in next-generation wireless networks, however, a promising direction is to shift to non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). To address the new technical challenges brought forth by NOMA, in this paper we investigate the problem of scheduling multiple NOMA users in the same resource block previously dedicated to a single user in OFDMA. Unlike related work that relies on the ideal link capacity model for profiling the performance gain of NOMA, we start by implementing a more practical NOMA simulator to investigate problems such as modulation/coding scheme (MCS) selection, power allocation, and error propagation along with transmission scheduling. We formulate an optimization problem for transmission scheduling with the goal of providing proportional fairness to the set of users served by a base station. We then propose a method to integrate physical-layer simulation into a meta-heuristic search algorithm for solving the joint optimization problem. Evaluation results show that the proposed scheduling algorithm can effectively solve the problem in the target scenario and NOMA can achieve significant performance benefits over OMA, thus motivating further investigation along this direction.
Impacto de las Intervenciones Cambiarias sobre el Nivel y la Volatilidad de la Tasa de Cambio en Colombia

Este trabajo evalua los determinantes de las compras de divisas y su impacto sobre la tasa de cambio nominal en Colombia durante 2000-2008. Estimaciones Tobit muestran que el Banco Central compro divisas para compensar las reevaluaciones frente al dia anterior y para corregir tendencias "excesivas", cuando se redujo la presion inflacionaria y cuando el Banco Central tuvo una posicion acreedora neta. La estimacion de un modelo E-GARCH muestra que las compras de divisas devaluaron la tasa de cambio y redujeron su volatilidad, tanto en el corto (1 dia) como en el mediano plazo (1 mes, 3 meses y 6 meses). Las posibles contradicciones macroeconomicas no fueron suficientemente fuertes como para afectar la funcion de reaccion de las autoridades o el impacto de las intervenciones. El trabajo utiliza metodologias que permiten evaluar la estabilidad de los parametros de la ecuacion de media y de volatilidad para el modelo E-GARCH en forma simultanea.
Measuring Outcome in Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Trials: Recommendations From the Traumatic Brain Injury Clinical Trials Network

Background:Traumatic brain injury (TBI) involves several aspects of a patient's condition, including physical, mental, emotional, cognitive, social, and functional changes. Therefore, a clinical trial with individuals with TBI should consider outcome measures that reflect their global status. Methods:We present the work of the National Institute of Child Health and Development–sponsored Traumatic Brain Injury Clinical Trials Network Outcome Measures subcommittee and its choice of outcome measures for a phase III clinical trial of patients with complicated mild to severe TBI. Results:On the basis of theoretical and practical considerations, the subcommittee recommended the adoption of a core of 9 measures that cover 2 different areas of recovery: functional and cognitive. These measures are the Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale; the Controlled Oral Word Association Test; the Trail Making Test, Parts A and B; the California Verbal Learning Test–II; the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–III Digit Span subtest; the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–III Processing Speed Index; and the Stroop Color-Word Matching Test, Parts 1 and 2. Conclusions:The statistical methods proposed to analyze these measures using a global test procedure, along with research and methodological and regulatory issues involved with the use of multiple outcomes in a clinical trial, are discussed.