Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of land use/land cover changes in the Debre-Mewi watershed at the upper catchment of the Blue Nile Basin, Northwest Ethiopia

Changes in land use/cover at the Debre-Mewi Watershed in northwest Ethiopia were analyzed over a period of 51 years (1957-2008). The changes were measured through interpretation of aerial photos taken in 1957 and 1982, and a Landsat image of 2008, supported by focus group discussions and repeated field visits. Based on the image analysis, four major land use/cover classes (natural forest, shrub, grazing, and cultivated land) were identified for the period 1957 to 1982. In addition to the four land use/cover types, areas covered by Eucalyptus plantation forest and rock outcrop were observed on the 2008 image. In the three consecutive periods, the natural forest cover accounted for 4.48, 1.30 and 0.37%; shrub land cover 6.10, 6.01 and 2.39%; grazing land 18.39, 14.86 and 11.14%; and cultivated land 71.04, 77.83 and 81.51% of the total area (543.82 ha) of the watershed, respectively. Areas under Eucalyptus plantation and rock out crop accounted for 1.28 and 3.30%, respectively, of the total area of the watershed in 2008. Within the last 51 years, the natural forest cover declined by 91.74%, the shrub land by 60.79%, and the grazing land by 39.47%, whereas the cultivated land increased by 14.75%. Between 1957 and 1982, and 1982 and 2008, the largest proportion of the natural forest land (49.21 and 39.63%), shrub land (79.99 and 49.80%), and grazing land (56.83 and 17.04%) were converted to cultivated land use. The implications of these changes suggest that the land use/cover changes have skewed to the rampant conversion of areas once covered with vegetation to cultivation without adequate use of soil and water conservation and rehabilitation practices.
Advances in Radioimmunotherapy in the Age of Molecular Engineering and Pretargeting

Now that radioimmunotherapy is an approved method for the treatment of certain types of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, investigators are turning to new approaches to further improve radionuclide targeting in hopes of expanding the use of this technology. A number of innovative recombinant proteins have been developed with more favorable pharmacokinetic and targeting properties than standard whole IgG, which conceivably could improve the therapeutic index for cancer treatment. Pretargeting methods also are coming of age, with preclinical and early clinical studies in a variety of cancers illustrating how this alternative approach can enhance the therapeutic window several-fold of what has been possible with directly radiolabeled IgG. This review will discuss some of these promising new developments.
EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS Who Are Long-term Travelers ?

TRAVELER ARRIVALS WORLDwide exceeded 800 million in 2005. Today’s mobile populations and global economies lead to extended stays for many travelers. For long-term travelers visiting malaria-endemic countries, recommendations for prevention have been difficult to standardize due to the diversity of long-term travelers and their itineraries, the variation in quality of and access to medical care, the limited data on malaria incidence in travelers overseas, and the lack of controlled studies on long-term safety and efficacy of antimalarial agents. Further complicating the recommendations are the evolution in the intensity of transmission and resistance patterns of the malaria parasites, the seasonality of transmission, and the wide range of international guidelines and travelers’ beliefs and expectations.
[Simultaneous repair of complete cleft lip and palatein infancy-preliminary observation (271 cases report)].

OBJECTIVE To Verify the safety and reliability of one-stage repair of complete cleft Lip and palate in infancy and to obtain the primary result. METHODS The simultaneous repair of complete cleft Lip and palate in infants 3 to 12 months of age were performed in 271 cases. The deformities include 185 cases of typical complete unilateral clefts and 75 cases of complete bilateral clefts, and other 11 atypical cleft infants. The preoperative orthopedic treatment for wide alveolar cleft was undertaken in 24 infants and the lip appearance and speech outcome were evaluated in 116 children by 1 to 4 years' postoperative follow-up. RESULTS All infants, except for dyspnea in 2 babies, palatal fistula formation in 6 cases and temporary wound hemorrhage in 5 infants, were recovered without complications. After orthopedic treatment, the width of the alveolar cleft was reduced 6.1 mm in average. The evaluation showed that 93.1% of children had got good or excellent lip appearance. And the acceptable or excellent speech was found in 94.8% children. CONCLUSIONS Simultaneous repair of complete cleft lip and palate in infancy is safety and reliable. The preoperative orthopedic procedure is able to reduce the wide alveolar cleft and to achieve alignment of alveolar segments. The acceptable and or excellent lip appearance and speech function could be obtained in this one-stage operative procedure in infants.
Iron-sulfur cluster disassembly in the FNR protein of Escherichia coli by O2: [4Fe-4S] to [2Fe-2S] conversion with loss of biological activity.

The transcription factor FNR (fumarate nitrate reduction) requires the presence of an iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster for its function as a global transcription regulator in Escherichia coli when oxygen becomes scarce. To define the oxidation state and type of Fe-S cluster present in the active form of FNR, we have studied anaerobically purified FNR with Mössbauer spectroscopy. Our data showed that this form of FNR contained a [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster (delta = 0.45 mm/s; DeltaEQ = 1.22 mm/s) and that the [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster was rapidly destroyed on exposure of FNR to air. Under these conditions, the yellow-green active form of FNR turned deep red; analysis of sulfide indicated that 70% of the labile sulfide was still present, suggesting that the Fe-S cluster had been converted into a different form. Little [3Fe-4S] cluster was, however, detected by EPR. According to Mössbauer spectroscopy, the [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster was converted in about 60% yield to a [2Fe-2S]2+ cluster (delta = 0.28 mm/s; DeltaEQ = 0.58 mm/s) following 17 min of exposure to air. The [2Fe-2S]2+ cluster form of FNR was much more stable to oxygen, but was unable to sustain biological activity (e.g., DNA binding). However, DNA binding and the absorption spectrum characteristic of the [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster could be largely restored from the [2Fe-2S]2+ form when Cys, Fe, DTT, and the NifS protein were added. It has yet to be determined whether the form of FNR containing the [2Fe-2S]2+ cluster has any biological significance, e.g., as an in vivo intermediate that is more rapidly converted to the active form than the apoprotein.
Validation of Hot Water and Lactic Acid Sprays for the Reduction of Enteric Pathogens on the Surface of Beef Carcasses

A nonpathogenic Escherichia coli Biotype 1 strain was transformed to produce a green fluorescing protein (GFP), which also expressed ampicillin resistance properties (100 μg/l), at the Food Microbiology Laboratory at Texas A&M University (College Station, TX). This marker organism was designed to represent possible contamination of a carcass with enteric pathogens of fecal origin such as Salmonella or E. coli O157:H7. This indicator organism demonstrated identical thermal and acid resistance to E. coli O157:H7
Clinical correlates of rectal gonococcal and chlamydial infections

As few studies have compared the clinical features of rectal gonorrhoea in men who have sex with men with or without concurrent chlamydial infection, this longitudinal study was undertaken to address this issue. The cohort consisted of 129 men with rectal gonorrhoea, 34 of whom had concurrent chlamydiae. Symptoms of proctitis in men with rectal gonorrhoea with or without concurrent chlamydial infection were significantly higher than in men with isolated chlamydial infection (27% versus 10% [χ2 = 17.55; P<0.0001]). There was, however, no significant difference in the prevalence of symptoms between those with rectal gonorrhoea only (28%) and those with concurrent chlamydiae (23%); χ2 = 0.11; P>0.05). The median prepatent period or rectal gonorrhoea (21 men) was 5.0 days (interquartile range 11.0 days).
Molecular mechanisms of Ebola pathogenesis

Ebola viruses (EBOVs) and Marburg viruses (MARVs) are among the deadliest human viruses, as highlighted by the recent and widespread Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, which was the largest and longest epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in history, resulting in significant loss of life and disruptions across multiple continents. Although the number of cases has nearly reached its nadir, a recent cluster of 5 cases in Guinea on March 17, 2016, has extended the enhanced surveillance period to June 15, 2016. New, enhanced 90‐d surveillance windows replaced the 42‐d surveillance window to ensure the rapid detection of new cases that may arise from a missed transmission chain, reintroduction from an animal reservoir, or more important, reemergence of the virus that has persisted in an EVD survivor. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of EBOV pathogenesis, describe vaccine and therapeutic candidates in clinical trials, and discuss mechanisms of viral persistence and long‐term health sequelae for EVD survivors.
Comparing Attitudes to Climate Change in the Media using sentiment analysis based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation

News media typically present biased accounts of news stories, and different publications present different angles on the same event. In this research, we investigate how different publications differ in their approach to stories about climate change, by examining the sentiment and topics presented. To understand these attitudes, we find sentiment targets by combining Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) with SentiWordNet, a general sentiment lexicon. Using LDA, we generate topics containing keywords which represent the sentiment targets, and then annotate the data using SentiWordNet before regrouping the articles based on topic similarity. Preliminary analysis identifies clearly different attitudes on the same issue presented in different news sources. Ongoing work is investigating how systematic these attitudes are between different publications, and how these may change over time.
Optimal reliable strategy of virtual power plant in energy and frequency control markets

Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is a new entity in power systems which possesses or manages a group of DGs, Energy Storage devices and curtailable loads. This paper presents a novel approach for optimum operation of a VPP in both energy and secondary frequency control (SFC) markets; considering reliability worth of DGs. DGs in the VPP can operate both in peak shaving or standby mode. Operating the DG in peak shaving mode will reduce the VPP's cost while standby operation of the DG may reduce the customers' interruption cost. The reliability worth and the energy cost evaluations are needed to determine whether DG should be operated in peak shaving mode or as standby power. By applying the Monte Carlo simulation method the effect of reliability worth is taken into account precisely. A combined cost function is proposed and solved using linear programming method. The proposed approach in this paper determines the optimum hourly operating strategy of the DG. It creates a single operating profile from a composite of the parameters characterizing each distributed energy resource (DER) in the VPP. Based on this decision, the VPP bids to the market.
Recombinational Telomere Elongation Promoted by DNA Circles

ABSTRACT Yeast mutants lacking telomerase are capable of maintaining telomeres by an alternate mechanism that depends on homologous recombination. We show here, by using Kluyveromyces lactis cells containing two types of telomeric repeats, that recombinational telomere elongation generates a repeating pattern common in most or all telomeres in survivors that retain both repeat types. We propose that these patterns arise from small circles of telomeric DNA being used as templates for rolling-circle gene conversion and that the sequence from the lengthened telomere is spread to other telomeres by additional, more typical gene conversion events. Consistent with this, artificially constructed circles of DNA containing telomeric repeats form long tandem arrays at telomeres when transformed into K. lactis cells. Mixing experiments done with two species of telomeric circles indicated that all of the integrated copies of the transforming sequence arise from a single original circular molecule.
Repositório ISCTE-IUL

— This paper presents a measurement system that can be used to monitor the usage of walker assistive devices. The forces applied on the legs of the walker device are measured using low cost force sensing resistors and a light detection and ranging device is used to evaluate several gait kinematic parameters, such as, walking speed and walking stride length. To evaluate the right usage of the walker device two walker indexes, one related with the applied forces and the other related with walker gait phases, are introduced. The measurement system includes wireless communication capabilities that enable a local and remote supervision of the measuring data.
Parental influence on childhood obesity: A review

The issue of childhood obesity is expanding at an accelerated rate compared to previous generations. Both medical and societal conesquences have arisen from this predicament in children and adults. The significance of parental influence as a factor is of key interest in developing possible prevention programs. Three major categories of focus are parental control, attitudes, and behavior in association with childhood overweight and obesity. This comprehendsive systematic and evidence-based review summarizes currently published results, as well as addresses gaps and flaws which should be included in future research on pediatric obesity and parental influence.
Evidence for Chewing Insect-Specific Molecular Events Distinct from a General Wound Response in Leaves

The timing of transcript accumulation of several wound-induced genes is different in insect-damaged and mechanically damaged leaves. Transcripts for the proteinase inhibitor II and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase genes accumulate more rapidly in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) leaves chewed on by caterpillars than in leaves damaged mechanically. The timing of maximum transcript accumulation was not affected by the degree of damage inflicted by the insect larvae. When applied to a mechanical wound site, regurgitant isolated from Manduca sexta larvae causes transcript accumulation profiles to shift to parallel those in insect-damaged tissue. Whether obtained from larvae fed either potato leaves or a nonplant diet, insect regurgitant fed through the petiole of detached leaves also induces accumulation of these transcripts. The transcript accumulation-inducing activity of regurgitant is enhanced by heating at 100[deg]C. Our data suggest that a heat-stable, insect-derived elicitor functions to induce the rapid accumulation of transcripts that may be involved in plant defense against herbivores. Distinct signal transduction pathways that can distinguish between insect damage and abiotic damage might therefore exist in plants.
Instructions for use Title Pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha is a key inhibitory factor for lactose synthesis pathway inlactating mammary epithelial cells

Title Pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha is a key inhibitory factor for lactose synthesis pathway in lactating mammary epithelial cells Author(s) Kobayashi, Ken; Kuki, Chinatsu; Oyama, Shoko; Kumura, Haruto Citation Experimental cell research, 340(2): 295-304 Issue Date 2016-01-16 Doc URL http://hdl.handle. net/2115/63261 Right © [2015],Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Type article (author version)
NEST: An esa open source Toolbox for scientific exploitation of SAR data

The Next ESA SAR Toolbox (NEST) is a free and open source toolbox suite for reading, processing, analysis and visualization of SAR data. The toolbox is developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) under the GNU GPL license. The toolbox supports the exploitation of SAR data from ESA's space-borne SAR missions (ERS-1&2, ENVISAT), and also of other space-borne sensors (e.g., TerraSAR-X, RADARSAT 1&2, COSMO-SkyMed, JERS-1, ALOS PALSAR). The input data is SAR data processed to Level-1 or higher. NEST provides basic and advanced tools for SAR user community, such as an absolute calibration, automatic coregistration of detected and complex products, multilooking, speckle filtering, external precise obit ingestion, geocoding, mosaicking and a Product Library Metadata Database, etc. In addition to this basic processing toolset, NEST offers a collection of routines for oil spill and ship detection, and wind field estimation. Finally, a fully integrated and featured InSAR processor is being implemented into NEST.
An Efficient Algorithms for Gray-to-Binary Permutation on Hypercubes

Abstract Both Gray code and binary code are frequently used in mapping arrays into hypercube architectures. While the former is preferred when communication between adjacent array elements is needed, the latter is preferred for FFT-type communication. When different phases of computations have different types of communication patterns, the need arises to remap the data. We give a nearly optimal algorithm for permuting data from a Gray code mapping to a binary code mapping on a hypercube with communication restricted to one input and one output channel per node at a time. Our algorithm improves over the best previously known algorithm (J. Parallel Distrib. Comput. 4, 2 (Apr. 1987), 133-172) by nearly a factor of two and is optimal to within a factor of n(n − 1) with respect to data transfer time on an n-cube. The expected speedup is confirmed by measurements on an Intel iPSCI2 hypercube.
Collapse of valence transition in Yb0.8Y0.2InCu4: pressure-induced weak ferromagnetism.

We investigated the magnetization of Yb0.8Y0. 2InCu4 as a function of temperature down to 0.6 K, pressure up to 1.2 GPa, and magnetic field up to 9 T. The valence transition temperature of Yb0.8Y0. 2InCu4 is lowered with applying pressure. At 0.8 GPa, collapse of the valence transition and ferromagnetic ordering occur almost simultaneously. The ferromagnetic phase at 1.2 GPa is characterized by a low Curie temperature of 1.7 K and an extremely small ordered moment of 0.05 micro(B) per Yb. Some effect of screening the ordered moment may play a key role in the ferromagnetism and the valence transition.
Dynamic Analysis under Uniformly Distributed Moving Masses of Rectangular Plate with General Boundary Conditions

The problem of the flexural vibrations of a rectangular plate having arbitrary supports at both ends is investigated. The solution technique which is suitable for all variants of classical boundary conditions involves using the generalized two-dimensional integral transform to reduce the fourth order partial differential equation governing the vibration of the plate to a second order ordinary differential equation which is then treated with the modified asymptotic method of Struble. The closed form solutions are obtained and numerical analyses in plotted curves are presented. It is also deduced that for the same natural frequency, the critical speed for the system traversed by uniformly distributed moving forces at constant speed is greater than that of the uniformly distributed moving mass problem for both clamped-clamped and simple-clamped end conditions. Hence resonance is reached earlier in the uniformly distributed moving mass system. Furthermore, for both structural parameters considered, the response amplitude of the moving distributed mass system is higher than that of the moving distributed force system. Thus, it is established that the moving distributed force solution is not an upper bound for an accurate solution of the moving distributed mass problem.
Lessons to be learned — Langerhans' cell histiocytosis

Langerhans' cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a neoplastic disease due to uncontrolled proliferation of Langerhans' cells (LCs); damage to organs involved appears to be due to the various cytokines secreted. The true cause of LCH remains a mystery. LCH can present at any age; there is female predominance and the skin is often the first site to be involved. Scaly papules, vesicles, purpuric nodules, plaques and ulcers are the main diverse presentations typically found on the scalp, flexures (including the perineum), crease below the breast, palms, soles and nails. The patient described here is a 35-year-old Saudi Arabian woman with a vulval ulcer that had been misdiagnosed as an infective lesion 11 months before the correct diagnosis of LCH was made by means of biopsy examination. Diffuse infiltration of LCs with large pale reniform/convoluted nuclei and abundant amphophilic cytoplasm in the company of neutrophils, eosinophils, lymphocytes and plasma cells were observed on light microscopy. Immunohistochemical staining, indicating S100 protein positivity in LCs and the demonstration of Birbeck granules by means of electron microscopy, confirmed the diagnosis. The `skin-only' LCH may later progress to involve other organs; alternatively skin lesions may be part of the multisystem, disseminated disease. There is need for careful follow-up of all LCH patients, as the course of the disease cannot be reliably predicted from either the clinical presentation or histology of the lesion. In many cases the prognosis is good, there being limited involvement that does not progress. Surgery or local steroids might suffice as therapy. However, for severely symptomatic disease, in which there are complications associated with dysfunction (or failure) of vital organs such as the liver, lungs, and central nervous system, the use of a variety of immunosuppressive treatments — and the recently described 2-chloro-2-deoxyadenosine (2CdA) (cladribine) — have been suggested; however, the type and extent of disease that will respond to this therapy has not yet been clarified. Solid laboratory research and rigorous clinical trials are required for more effective and less toxic therapies for patients with progressive LCH.
Regulation of Notch signaling and endocytosis by the Lgl neoplastic tumor suppressor

The evolutionarily conserved neoplastic tumor suppressor protein, Lethal (2) giant larvae (Lgl), plays roles in cell polarity and tissue growth via regulation of the Hippo pathway. In our recent study, we showed that in the developing Drosophila eye epithelium, depletion of Lgl leads to increased ligand-dependent Notch signaling. lgl mutant tissue also exhibits an accumulation of early endosomes, recycling endosomes, early-multivesicular body markers and acidic vesicles. We showed that elevated Notch signaling in lgl − tissue can be rescued by feeding larvae the vesicle de-acidifying drug chloroquine, revealing that Lgl attenuates Notch signaling by limiting vesicle acidification. Strikingly, chloroquine also rescued the lgl − overgrowth phenotype, suggesting that the Hippo pathway defects were also rescued. In this extraview, we provide additional data on the regulation of Notch signaling and endocytosis by Lgl, and discuss possible mechanisms by which Lgl depletion contributes to signaling pathway defects and tumorigenesis.