Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk Factors for HIV Infection in Injection Drug Users and Evidence for Onward Transmission of HIV to Their Sexual Partners in Chennai, India

Objectives:Determining HIV prevalence in injection drug users (IDUs) and their regular sex partners in Chennai, India. Methods:A total of 226 IDUs and their regular sex partners were enrolled during April-July 2003. After informed consent was obtained, a semistructured questionnaire was administered and serum was tested for HIV antibody. Results:The HIV seroprevalence was 30% (68/226) in IDUs and 5% in their regular sex partners (11/226). While in 25% of couples only the male partner was HIV positive, 5% of the couples were concordant for HIV infection and 70% were HIV negative. Fifty-seven percent of the HIV-positive IDUs and 45% of the HIV-infected women thought that they had “no chance” or “very little chance” of getting HIV, reflecting low HIV risk perception. More than 20% IDUs reported borrowing or lending of injection equipment. In univariate analyses “sex” and “condom use” with sex workers had no bearing but “more than twice a day injecting frequency,” “history of incarceration,” “tattoos,” “recruitment from northern part of the city,” and ever-injecting drugs in drug-selling places had significant association with HIV infection in IDUs. In an adjusted model, the odds of HIV infection were 2 times higher among IDUs who had ever injected drugs in drug-selling places and 6 times higher in those who were recruited from the northern part of central Chennai. Conclusion:Reducing sharing of injection equipment and unsafe tattooing through targeted and environmental interventions, increasing HIV risk perception, and promoting safer sex practices among IDUs and their sex partners are urgent program needs.
Blood lactate and oxygen debt after exhaustive work at different oxygen tensions.

Summary On the International High Expedition to Chile Edwards (1936) found that the maximum lactate concentration after exhaustive work was much lower than at sea level. In the present experiments with acute changes of the oxygen tension in the inspired air the following results were found. 1) At a decreased oxygen tension the capacity for work was lowered, but the maximum lactate concentration was, practically, the same or —in one type of work—higher than in normal air. Also the oxygen debt was practically the same as in normal air. 2) In pure oxygen the capacity for work was increased but the maximal blood lactate concentration was practically the same as in normal air. 3) A lowering of the alkaline reserve by ingestion of NH4C1 corresponding to the decrease found at altitudes from 3.7 to 6.0 km had no effect on the capacity for work or on the maximum blood lactate concentration and oxygen debt after exhaustive work. According to these results it seems doubtful that the failing ability to accumulate large amounts of lactic acid at high altitudes is the effect of a useful acclimatization, but that it is due rather to a progressive weakening of the subjects making them less able to perform anaerobic work.
A miniature optical humidity sensor

A miniature optical humidity sensor based on a polymer infiltrated photonic crystal fiber interferometer (PCFI) is reported for the first time. Compared to previously reported PCFI based humidity sensors, the sensitivity is improved by infiltrating the microholes of the PCF with a hygroscopic polymer. The sensor shows a high sensitivity to relative humidity (RH) variations with a change in its reflected power of about 12 dB for a humidity change of 84 %RH. The sensor demonstrated has the advantage of a very compact length of 1 mm and along with the end-type probe configuration makes this sensor suitable for monitoring humidity in microenvironments.
Septicemia caused by Streptococcus canis in a human

We describe a case of septicemia due to Streptococcus canis in a 77-year-old man. The organism was presumably transmitted from a domestic animal. Ulcers of the lower limbs were the likely portals of entry. The differentiation between Streptococcus canis and Streptococcus dysgalactiae was based on biochemical properties and DNA macrorestriction analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.
The design of an ADC on a FPGA used for the control of a switched mode power supply

The following paper describes the design and implementation of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) using an FPGA circuit - Artix 7, manufactured by Xilinx inc. The ADC implemented is intended to be part of a digital control circuit for a DC-DC inverter. All blocks of the control circuit will be part of the FPGA circuit. The method described requires two successive conversions, namely voltage-to-time and time-to-digital. Both conversions will be presented in terms of design, physical implementation and experimental results. Various ways to improve the accuracy of the resulting conversion will be discussed.
Incremental model identification of reaction and mass transfer kinetics in a liquid-liquid reaction system – An experimental study

Due to the efficient product separation and catalyst immobilization, multi-phase catalytic systems are attractive for industrial applications. Nevertheless, it is usually difficult to decouple reaction and mass transfer kinetics such that the experimental determination of reaction kinetics is masked by mass transfer effects. A novel incremental identification methodology tailored to homogeneous reaction systems and extended to multi-phase systems in previous works allows for the decoupling of reaction kinetics and mass transfer and thus avoids the uncertainty in reaction kinetics identification by construction. While the method has been demonstrated in a simulation case study before, it is applied in a real experimental study of a multiphase system thoroughly for the first time.
Vacuolar H+‐ATPase inhibitors overcome Bcl‐xL‐mediated chemoresistance through restoration of a caspase‐independent apoptotic pathway

The anti‐apoptotic oncoproteins Bcl‐2 and Bcl‐xL play crucial roles in tumorigenesis and chemoresistance, and are thus therapeutic cancer targets. We searched for small molecules that disturbed the anti‐apoptotic function of Bcl‐2 or Bcl‐xL, and found vacuolar H+‐ATPase (V‐ATPase) inhibitors, such as bafilomycin A1 (BMA), that showed such activity. Bcl‐xL‐overexpressing Ms‐1 cells displayed resistance to anticancer drugs, but underwent apoptosis following treatment with a combination of V‐ATPase inhibitors at doses similar to those that caused inhibitory activities of V‐ATPase. We investigated the apoptosis mechanism induced by cotreatment of Bcl‐xL‐overexpressing Ms‐1 cells with BMA as a V‐ATPase inhibitor and taxol (TXL) as an anticancer drug. With BMA, TXL triggered mitochondrial membrane potential loss and cytochrome c release, whereas downstream caspase activation was not observed. In contrast, pronounced nuclear translocation of mitochondrial apoptosis‐inducing factor and endonuclease G, known as effectors of caspase‐independent apoptosis, was observed with BMA and TXL cotreatment. Moreover, depletion of apoptosis‐inducing factor and endonuclease G using each siRNA significantly rescued cells from BMA‐ and TXL‐induced apoptosis. Hence, the apoptosis‐inducing factor‐ and endonuclease G‐dependent pathway was critical for apoptosis induction by BMA and TXL cotreatment. Our data suggest that V‐ATPase inhibitors could not only suppress anti‐apoptotic Bcl‐2 nor Bcl‐xL but could also facilitate the caspase‐independent apoptotic pathway. V‐ATPase inhibition will be a promising therapeutic approach for Bcl‐2‐ or Bcl‐xL‐overexpressing malignancies. (Cancer Sci 2009)
ASPECTOS ORGANIZACIONAIS INTERNOS E AS PRÁTICAS ESTRATÉGICAS PERPETRADAS POR MÉDIAS EMPRESAS: proposições decorrentes de um estudo longitudinal multicaso

A associação entre aspectos organizacionais internos e vantagem competitiva é central à teoria dos recursos. Como no campo da estratégia em geral, boa parte das pesquisas empíricas da teoria dos recursos é conduzida com organizações de grande porte. Considerando-se que especificidades relativas ao porte podem demandar construções teóricas específicas, objetiva-se neste artigo analisar o comportamento estratégico de empresas de médio porte pela via dos seus aspectos organizacionais internos. As análises conectam aspectos organizacionais internos às práticas estratégicas perpetradas pelas empresas. Trata-se de estudo longitudinal multicaso, em que se exploram dados de três incorporadoras imobiliárias familiares. A busca por elementos comuns aos casos permitiu a detecção de quatro ocorrências internas principais e seis práticas estratégicas correntes. Os resultados sugerem a importância de levar em conta as peculiaridades relativas ao porte para compreender o comportamento estratégico. No fim do trabalho, apresentam-se quatro proposições substantivas que, associando estratégia, aspectos internos e características do porte organizacional, oferecem possibilidades explicativas para o comportamento estratégico das empresas estudadas.
Competency in Neonatal Endotracheal Intubation: Mission Impossible?

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Program Requirements (PRs) for Pediatrics require that residents be able to competently perform neonatal endotracheal intubation (NET). 1 In this issue of Pediatrics, DeMeo et al2 defined competency as a 75% likelihood of intubation success; only a minority of residents (23%) were able to achieve competency during the study period. Four cumulative NET successes were needed to achieve competency; the median number of NET opportunities for their subjects, however, was 3 (range: 1–13). There are 2 lists of procedures in the current version of the PRs. The first list requires residents to “competently perform,” and the second list requires “competent understanding. ” During the PR revision process, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Residency Review Committee initially recommended that NET be moved to the second list of procedures. However, feedback from the pediatric community overwhelmingly urged the committee to move NET back to the first list. Advocates for preserving NET as a skill noted that some pediatricians will practice in remote areas, where they could be solely responsible for NET. Responding to the pediatric community, NET was moved … Address correspondence to Joseph Gilhooly, MD, 1900 SW River Dr, Unit 701, Portland, OR 97201. E-mail: gilhooly{at}ohsu.edu
When Do Non-Regenerative Two-Hop Relaying Networks Require a Global Phase Reference?

We consider a distributed wireless multiuser network with non-regenerative relays, where the gain factors are computed from channel estimates. They are to be chosen such that multiple signal paths add up coherently at the destinations ('distributed coherent beamforming'). In the presence of channel estimation errors, coherency is generally destroyed because the gain factors cannot be computed correctly. In this work, the channel estimates are assumed to be noiseless, but exhibit phase errors due to random and unknown local oscillator (LO) phases at the terminals. Without global phase reference at the nodes, the phase errors depend on the direction in which the individual point-to-point channels are measured. In some cases, coherency is completely destroyed while in others the system performance is not affected. We will still call the latter cases 'coherent', even if perfect channel state information (CSI) is not available. Based on this observation we derive a framework to determine which nodes in a two-hop network require a global phase reference in order to allow for coherent distributed beamforming. We consider four traffic patterns that differ in the utilization of the direct link and discuss all combinations of directions in which the single-hop channel matrices can be estimated.
Early gastric cancer: diagnosis, pathology, treatment techniques and treatment outcomes

Recent improvements in endoscopic techniques and technologies and an increased understanding and recognition of the importance of early gastric cancer (EGC) will result in increases in the detection and diagnosis of precancerous or early cancerous lesions. The incidences of nodal metastasis of intramucosal and submucosal EGC are 3 and 20%, respectively. Therefore, major surgery may be inappropriate in many of these patients, and many cases of EGC may be treated by endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR). EMR was first introduced in Japan 20 years ago. Most EMR have been performed by the so-called ‘strip biopsy’ or EMR-C methods. However, we have sometimes experienced local recurrence in cases that had been resected in multiple fragments by these methods. To obtain ‘complete resection’, we developed the endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) technique using a special endoscopic knife, the insulation-tipped diathermic knife (IT knife). The rate of complete resection, i.e. cut margin free from cancer and one-piece resection, was remarkably higher for the IT knife technique than conventional EMR. ESD cases are increasing rapidly in Japan. EMR including ESD is a good method for patients with gastric cancer to preserve the stomach. For EMR, it is necessary to find EGC. Both diagnosis and treatment are important, and scientific data regarding lymph node metastasis and clinicopathological features are required.
Ancient mitochondrial DNA from Malaysian hair samples: Some indications of Southeast Asian population movements

The late Pleistocene and early Holocene population history of Southeast Asia is not well‐known. Our study provides new data on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula, and through an extensive comparison to the known mtDNA diversity in Southeast and East Asia, provides some new insights into the origins and historical geography of certain mtDNA lineages in the region. We extracted DNA from hair samples (dating back 100 years) preserved in the Duckworth Collection and belonging to two Peninsular Malaysian individuals identified as “Negrito. ” Ancient DNA was analyzed by sequencing hypervariable region I (HVS‐I) of the mtDNA control region and the mtDNA region V length polymorphism. The results show that the maternal lineages of these individuals belong to a recently defined haplogroup B sub‐branch called B4c2. A comparison of mitochondrial haplotypes and haplogroups with those of 10,349 East Asian individuals indicates their very restricted geographical distribution (southwestern China, Southeast Asia Peninsula, and Indonesia). Recalculation of the B4c2 age across all of East Asia (∼13,000 years) and in different subregions/populations suggests its rapid diffusion in Southeast Asia between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Neolithic expansion of the Holocene. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 18:654–667, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A prospective study of effects of weight cycling on cardiovascular risk factors.

BACKGROUND The possible adverse health effects of weight cycling (weight loss followed by weight regain) have been the subject of recent concern. To determine whether such weight cycling negatively influences cardiovascular risk factors, 153 overweight individuals were followed up prospectively through a 30-month weight loss and maintenance program. METHODS Subjects were divided into seven groups according to their weight-change patterns during this 30-month study (steady weight loss of different magnitudes, weight gain, no change in weight, and different weight-cycling patterns). These weight-change groups were compared with regard to lipid levels, blood pressure measurements, waist-to-hip ratio, and percent body fat at 0, 6, 12, 18, and 30 months. RESULTS No adverse effects of weight cycling on any of the cardiovascular risk factors were observed. Subjects who initially lost 9.0 kg or more and then regained it did not differ from those who had no change in weight with regard to any cardiovascular risk factor at month 30. Subjects who gained weight during the 30-month interval increased their risk factors, those who lost weight decreased their risk factors in proportion to the magnitude of weight loss, and, in general, cardiovascular risk factors at month 30 were related to the net weight loss achieved and not the route taken to achieve the weight loss. CONCLUSIONS This study showed no negative effects of weight cycling on cardiovascular risk factors and confirmed previous findings of positive effects of weight loss on risk factors. Therefore, overweight individuals should be encouraged to lose weight and then maintain their weight loss.
Differential effects of acute and chronic fluoxetine administration on the spontaneous activity of dopaminergic neurones in the ventral tegmental area

1 Electrophysiological techniques were used to study the effects of fluoxetine and citalopram on the basal activity of dopaminergic neurones in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra, pars compacta (SNc) of rats 2 Acute i.v. injection of fluoxetine (20–1280 μg kg−1) caused a dose‐dependent inhibition of the firing rate of VTA dopaminergic neurones, but did not affect the activity of dopaminergic cells in the SNc. Citalopram (20–1280 μg kg−1, i.v.) inhibited the firing rate of dopaminergic neurones in the VTA, but its effect (maximal inhibition: 14 ±7%) was less pronounced than that of fluoxetine (maximal inhibition: 34 ±7%) 3 Pretreatment with mesulergine (80 μg kg−1, i.v.), a 5‐hydroxytryptamine2C/2B (5‐HT2C/2B) receptor antagonist, blocked the inhibitory effect of fluoxetine on VTA dopaminergic cells. Selective lesions of 5‐hydroxytryptaminergic neurones by the neurotoxin, 5,7‐dihydroxytryptamine (5,7‐DHT), abolished the fluoxetine‐induced reduction of VTA dopaminergic activity 4 In a series of experiments, fluoxetine (10 mg kg−1, i.p.) was administered once daily for 21 consecutive days. Acute i.v. administration of fluoxetine (20–1280 μg kg−1, 72 h after the last i.p. injection) did not cause any change in the basal firing rate of VTA dopaminergic neurones in treated rats, whereas it induced the typical inhibitory effect in control animals. A group of rats chronically treated with fluoxetine, received i.v. w‐chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP; 10–320 μg kg−1), a 5‐HT2C/2B receptor agonist. This drug significantly inhibited VTA dopaminergic function in control rats, but did not modify the basal activity of dopaminergic cells in animals given chronic fluoxetine 5 It is concluded that fluoxetine inhibits dopaminergic function in the VTA by enhancing the synaptic levels of 5‐HT, which possibly acts through the 5‐HT2C/2B receptor subtype. Repeated treatment with fluoxetine induces tolerance to its inhibitory effect on dopaminergic activity, possibly as a consequence of down‐regulation of 5‐HT2C/2B receptors. The effects of fluoxetine on VTA dopaminergic cell activity might be relevant for its therapeutic actions and may explain the origin of the reported cases of akathisia.
Weighted composition operators on spaces and classes of analytic functions

Sean F y φ dos funciones analiticas en el disco unidad D, con φ(D) ⊂ D. Para una funcion f analitica en el disco unidad, el operador de composicion ponderado se define como TF,φ =F(f◦φ). En esta tesis estudiamos tres aspectos diferentes de estas aplicaciones: como transformaciones en una clase no lineal de funciones analiticas, como operadores entre espacios de Banach definidos axiomaticamente, y tambien consideramos los semigrupos de operadores de composicion. En el Capitulo 3 caracterizamos los simbolos {F, φ} tales que la transformacion TF,φ preserva la clase P de funciones anal iticas en el disco unidad con parte real positiva y normalizadas de tal manera que f(0) = 1. Daremos tres condiciones equivalentes a TF,φ(P) ⊂ P: una en terminos de funciones test, una anal itica, y una geometrica. El resto del capitulo esta dedicado a discutir el equilibrio entre el comportamiento de F y el de φ, y al estudio de los puntos fijos de la transformacion. En el Capitulo 4 introducimos la familia de espacios de norma mixta, que sera un ejemplo para los espacios de Banach definidos axiomaticamente del Capitulo 6. Daremos propiedades de crecimiento de las funciones en estos espacios, y caracterizaremos completamente las inclusiones entre espacios de la familia. En el Capitulo 5 estudiamos los semigrupos de operadores de composicion en los espacios de norma mixta definidos en el capitulo anterior. Un semigrupo es una familia de operadores de composicion (ponderados, con peso F ≡ 1) {Cφt = Ct} tales que C0 es el operador identidad y Ct+s = Ct ◦ Cs. Caracterizamos los simbolos {φt} tales que el semigrupo que induce es fuertemente continuo en los espacios de norma mixta, es decir, tales que los operadores estan acotados en el espacio y para cada f en el espacio lim ∥Ctf − f∥ = 0. t→0 En el capitulo final estudiamos los operadores de composicion ponderados que actuan en espacios generales de Banach de funciones anal iticas. Pediremos que los espacios cumplan algunos axiomas naturales y caracterizaremos los operadores acotados que son operadores de composicion ponderados y su invertibilidad en dichos espacios. Daremos varios ejemplos de espacios que no satisfacen los axiomas, para comprobar los requerimientos minimos en el espacio para que el operador de composicion ponderado tenga las propiedades que nos interesan.
Presynaptic Control of Striatal Glutamatergic Neurotransmission by Adenosine A1–A2A Receptor Heteromers

The functional role of heteromers of G-protein-coupled receptors is a matter of debate. In the present study, we demonstrate that heteromerization of adenosine A1 receptors (A1Rs) and A2A receptors (A2ARs) allows adenosine to exert a fine-tuning modulation of glutamatergic neurotransmission. By means of coimmunoprecipitation, bioluminescence and time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer techniques, we showed the existence of A1R–A2AR heteromers in the cell surface of cotransfected cells. Immunogold detection and coimmunoprecipitation experiments indicated that A1R and A2AR are colocalized in the same striatal glutamatergic nerve terminals. Radioligand-binding experiments in cotransfected cells and rat striatum showed that a main biochemical characteristic of the A1R–A2AR heteromer is the ability of A2AR activation to reduce the affinity of the A1R for agonists. This provides a switch mechanism by which low and high concentrations of adenosine inhibit and stimulate, respectively, glutamate release. Furthermore, it is also shown that A1R–A2AR heteromers constitute a unique target for caffeine and that chronic caffeine treatment leads to modifications in the function of the A1R–A2AR heteromer that could underlie the strong tolerance to the psychomotor effects of caffeine.
Aplicação de Computação em Névoa na Internet das Coisas para Cidades Inteligentes: da Teoria à Prática

The fog computing concept aims at taking cloud services closer to the clients to optimize resources and increase network performance, since the current centralized model might not be able to handle the demands typical from the Internet of Things. In this paper, we present a generic model for the deployment of fog computing, which can be used as reference for real use cases. We have set up a testbed to demonstrate the feasibility of our model and present results from a performance analysis study that highlights when the use fog computing is viable, based on factors and peculiarities of each use case.