Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Infection Control in Cystic Fibrosis

SUMMARY Over the past 20 years there has been a greater interest in infection control in cystic fibrosis (CF) as patient-to-patient transmission of pathogens has been increasingly demonstrated in this unique patient population. The CF Foundation sponsored a consensus conference to craft recommendations for infection control practices for CF care providers. This review provides a summary of the literature addressing infection control in CF. Burkholderia cepacia complex, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus have all been shown to spread between patients with CF. Standard precautions, transmission-based precautions including contact and droplet precautions, appropriate hand hygiene for health care workers, patients, and their families, and care of respiratory tract equipment to prevent the transmission of infectious agents serve as the foundations of infection control and prevent the acquisition of potential pathogens by patients with CF. The respiratory secretions of all CF patients potentially harbor clinically and epidemiologically important microorganisms, even if they have not yet been detected in cultures from the respiratory tract. CF patients should be educated to contain their secretions and maintain a distance of >3 ft from other CF patients to avoid the transmission of potential pathogens, even if culture results are unavailable or negative. To prevent the acquisition of pathogens from respiratory therapy equipment used in health care settings as well as in the home, such equipment should be cleaned and disinfected. It will be critical to measure the dissemination, implementation, and potential impact of these guidelines to monitor changes in practice and reduction in infections.
A basic‐region helix–loop–helix protein‐encoding gene (devR) involved in the development of Aspergillus nidulans

Basic‐region helix–loop–helix (bHLH) proteins form an interesting class of eukaryotic transcription factors often involved in developmental processes. Here, a so far unknown bHLH protein‐encoding gene of the filamentous ascomycete Aspergillus nidulans was isolated and designated devR for regulator of development. Deletion of devR revealed that the gene is non‐essential for vegetative growth. However, the deletion mutant produced wrinkled colonies, a yellow pigment and did not form conidia on minimal agar plates. Conidiophore development was initiated normally, and colonies produced conidiophores with metulae and phialides. However, the phialides continued to grow filamentously and produced a second conidiophore with a vesicle at its end. The addition of KCl (0.6 M) to the medium suppressed the knock‐out phenotype. The ΔdevR phenotype resembled that of a mutation in the tcsA gene encoding a histidine kinase domain and a response regulator domain. Here, we generated a tcsA deletion mutant. In a ΔtcsA strain, a DevR–Egfp protein fusion was detected in the cytoplasm, whereas in the wild type, the protein fusion was exclusively located in the nuclei, indicating that TcsA is required for nuclear localization of DevR. devR mRNA steady‐state levels were similar in sporulating and vegetatively growing mycelia, and independent of a functional brlA gene. Moreover, under all conditions tested, self‐crossing of the ΔdevR mutant strain was never observed. Taken together, devR encodes a bHLH regulatory protein that is part of the tcsA signal transduction network and required for development under standard growth conditions.
Query-Focused Multi-document Summarization Using Keyword Extraction

This paper proposes a strategy of the summary sentence selection for query-focused multi-document summarization through extracting keywords from relevant document set. It calculates the query related feature and the topic related feature for every word in relevant document set, then obtains the importance of the word by combining the two features. The score of candidate sentence is computed through the importance of words which they contains, and the modified MMR technology is used to adjust the score of the candidate sentence, then the candidate sentence with the highest score is selected as the summary sentence, till the length of the summary is enough. Experimental result shows that our method performs very well in DUC 2005 corpus and DUC 2006 corpus.
Determinants of late outcome after minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass.

AIM Minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) is a reliable method to revascularize the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. However, a more consistent body of knowledge is needed to assess factors influencing long-term outcome. With this study, we retrospectively investigated the long-term determinants of survival and freedom from cardiac morbidity and revascularization in patients who underwent MIDCAB. METHODS From 1997 to 2005, 109 patients underwent MIDCAB. Seventy-five (68.8%) presented isolated LAD disease and 34 (31.2%) multivessel disease. The first 57 patients (53.2%) in the series underwent early postoperative angiographic reinvestigation. All 109 patients were subsequently followed-up at our outpatient clinic. Follow-up (mean 50.7 months, range 3-93) was completed in 100% of cases. RESULTS No in-hospital deaths occurred; 2 patients (1.8%) experienced perioperative myocardial infarction. At early postoperative angiographic reinvestigation, the anastomotic perfect patency rate was 54/57 (94.7%); survival was 100% and 95.8% at 1 and 5 years, respectively. Overall freedom from repeated revascularization was 95.3% and 88.3% at 1 and 5 years respectively; freedom from LAD revascularization was 95.3% and 91.6% at 1 and 5 years, respectively; cardiac event-free survival was 95.3% and 80.8% at 1 and 5 years respectively. At multivariable analysis (Cox regression), women were found to have a higher risk of repeated LAD revascularization (hazard ratio [HR] 30.24; P<0.001); female sex and left ventricular dysfunction were the only predictors affecting long-term cardiac outcome (hazard ratio 29.35; P<0.001 and 5.1; P<0.001), respectively. CONCLUSIONS A key factor in the long-term success of MIDCAB seems to be appropriate patient selection. Special attention should be reserved for female patients, as they appear to have a worse cardiac outcome and a higher probability of repeated revascularization on LAD. MIDCAB may represent a viable option for treating multivessel disease when complete revascularization is unfeasible or a hybrid procedure is envisaged.
A Ligation-Independent Cloning Tobacco Rattle Virus Vector for High-Throughput Virus-Induced Gene Silencing Identifies Roles for NbMADS4-1 and -2 in Floral Development1[W][OA]

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a widely used, powerful technique for reverse genetics. VIGS vectors derived from the Tobacco rattle virus (TRV) are among the most popular for VIGS. We have developed a TRV RNA2 vector that allows the insertion of gene silencing fragments by ligation-independent cloning (LIC). This new vector has several advantages over previous vectors, particularly for applications involving the analysis of large numbers of sequences, since TRV-LIC vectors containing the desired insert are obtained with 100% efficiency. Importantly, this vector allows the high-throughput cloning of silencing fragments without the use of costly enzymes required for recombination, as is the case with GATEWAY-based vectors. We generated a collection of silencing vectors based on 400 tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) expressed sequence tags in this TRV-LIC background. We have used this vector to identify roles for SlMADS1 and its Nicotiana benthamiana homologs, NbMADS4-1 and -2 in flowering. We find that NbMADS4-1 and -2 act nonredundantly in floral development and silencing of either gene results in loss of organ identity. This TRV-LIC vector should be a valuable resource to the plant community.
Strategic Withholding through Production Failures

Anecdotal evidence indicates that electricity producers use production failures to disguise strategic reductions of capacity in order to influence prices, but systematic evidence is lacking. We use an instrumental variable approach and data from the Swedish electricity market to examine such behavior. In a market without strategic withholding, reported production failures should not depend directly on the market price. We show that marginal producers in part base their decision to report a failure on prices, which indicates that production failures are a result of economic incentives as well as of technical problems.
The effects of three alternative treatment strategies after 8 weeks of proton pump inhibitor therapy for GERD in children

Objectives The purpose of this 24-week treatment study was to evaluate the effects of three treatment strategies after 8 weeks of lansoprazole therapy for gastroesophageal reflux disease in children. Design Open-labelled, uncontrolled, prospective study. Setting Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. Methods 37 erosive reflux disease (ERD) and 20 non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) patients were divided into three groups by symptom assessment at 8 weeks: (1) observation without treatment in the ‘symptoms-resolved’ group, (2) ‘on-demand’ treatment for an additional 16 weeks in the ‘symptoms-attenuated’ group and (3) continuous treatment in the ‘symptoms-persistent’ group. Results For ERD, six (100%) out of six patients in the ‘symptoms-resolved’ group remained improved at weeks 16 and 24. Sixteen (72.7%) out of 22 patients in the ‘symptoms-attenuated’ group had improvement of symptoms at 16 weeks, and 18 (81.8%) patients at 24 weeks. Six (66.7%) out of nine patients in the ‘symptoms-persistent’ group remained improved at weeks 16 and 24. For NERD, seven (100%) out of seven patients in the ‘symptoms-resolved’ group remained improved at weeks 16 and 24. Eight (80.0%) out of 10 patients in the ‘symptoms-attenuated’ group remained improved at week 16, and 10 (100.0%) patients at week 24. None out of three patients in the ‘symptoms-persistent’ group remained improved at weeks 16 and 24. Conclusions The selection of each alternative for long-term management according to the results of the assessment of symptoms at week 8 was useful and well tolerated. ‘On-demand’ therapy was equally effective. The 16-week therapy had the same efficacy as the 24-week therapy with regard to long-term lansoprazole treatment.
Stress‐induced visceral hypersensitivity to rectal distension in rats: role of CRF and mast cells

Background: psychological factors have long been implicated in the aetiology of irritable bowel syndrome often associated with abdominal pain. This work was designed to study, in rats, the influence of partial restraint stress on the abdominal cramps induced by rectal distension and to determine the role of corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) and mast cells degranulation in this response. Methods: abdominal contractions were electromyographically recorded. Thirty minutes after stress or intracerebroventricular CRF, rectal distension was performed by inflation of a balloon (0.4–1.2 mL). α‐helical CRF9–41 or doxantrazole were administered centrally (15 min) and intraperitoneally (30 min), respectively, before stress. Histamine release and the number of mast cells were determined in colonic pieces from stressed and control rats. Results: stress and CRF enhanced the number of abdominal cramps evoked by rectal distension without affecting rectal compliance. α‐helical CRF9–41 and doxantrazole antagonized the stress and CRF‐induced enhancement of abdominal cramps. Stress increased the colonic histamine content whereas the number of colonic mast cells was unchanged. Conclusions: stress enhances abdominal contractions in response to rectal distension in rats via pathways involving central CRF and intestinal mast cells.
POWER SPECTRUM ANALYSIS OF SPONTANEOUS FLUCTUATIONS IN THE PHOTOPLETHYSMOGRAPHIC SIGNAL

Direct measurement of variability in the peripheral circulation was performed by means of photoplethysmography, which provides assessment of blood volume in tissue and systolic blood volume increase. Both parameters showed oscillations at a relatively low frequency, about 0.02 Hz, and a relatively high frequency, about 0.3 Hz, which is related to respiration. These frequencies are similar to those found in measurements of heart rate variability--which is also obtained by measuring the photoplethysmographic period variability--but the powers of the different frequencies are different. The low frequency oscillation, which is attributed to the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, is more pronounced in the measurements of tissue blood volume and of systolic blood volume increase than in the measurement of heart rate.
Building the relationships model of firm resources and competitive advantage

Competition principle is to "Select the superior and eliminate the inferior, the survival of the fittest" (citation). Firm resources are the foundation and source of competitive advantage (CA), the competitive advantage is the cornerstone of firm survival and development. This paper argues that the tangible resources (TR) are required, is the foundation of firm survival and development. The intangible resources (IR) are built on the basis of physical resources, the firm capabilities (FC) are built on the basis of tangible and intangible resources. The competitive advantage is built on the basis of firm resources.
The ‘destruction box’ of cyclin A allows B‐type cyclins to be ubiquitinated, but not efficiently destroyed.

The destruction of mitotic cyclins by programmed proteolysis at the end of mitosis is an important element in cell cycle control. This proteolysis depends on a conserved motif of nine residues known as the ‘destruction box’, which is located 40–50 residues from the N‐terminus. The sequences of the A‐ and B‐type destruction boxes are slightly different, which might account for the differences in timing of their destruction. When the cyclin A‐type destruction box was substituted for the normal one in cyclin B1 or B2, however, the resulting constructs were unexpectedly stable, although the converse substitution of B‐type destruction boxes in cyclin A permitted normal degradation. We compared the ubiquitination of various cyclin constructs, and found that whereas mutation of the highly conserved residues in the destruction box strongly reduced the level of ubiquitinated intermediates, the stable destruction box ‘swap’ constructs did form such adducts. Thus, while ubiquitination is probably necessary for cyclin destruction, it is not sufficient. We also found that poly‐ubiquitinated cyclin derivatives are still bound to p34cdc2, which is not detectably ubiquitinated itself, raising the questions of how cyclin and cdc2 dissociate from one another, and at what stage, in the process of degradation.
Localization of Mobile Robot using Particle Filter

Localization is an important topic in mobile robots. It is essential that a mobile robot plans movement and reaches goals. In this paper, we described self-localization technique for mobile robot based on particle filtering in active beacon system. The basic method is to estimate value of position and heading of mobile robot using ultrasonic sensor as particle filter is used to eliminate process and measurement noise. Several variants of the particle filter such as SIR and RPF are introduced. These are discussed and compared with EKF for localization of mobile robot
Effect of Length of Time before Incorporation on Survival of Pathogenic Bacteria Present in Livestock Wastes Applied to Agricultural Soil

ABSTRACT In response to reports that the contamination of food can occur during the on-farm primary phase of food production, we report data that describes a possible cost-effective intervention measure. The effect of time before soil incorporation of livestock wastes spread to land on the rate of decline of zoonotic agents present in the waste was investigated. Fresh livestock wastes were inoculated with laboratory-cultured Salmonella, Listeria, and Campylobacter spp. and Escherichia coli O157 before they were spead onto soil. Incorporation of the spread wastes was either immediate, delayed for 1 week, or did not occur at all. Bacterial decline was monitored over time and found to be significantly more rapid for all waste types when they were left on the soil surface. There were no significant differences in initial bacterial decline rates when wastes were spread in summer or winter. Our results indicate that not incorporating contaminated livestock wastes into soil is a potential intervention measure that may help to limit the spread of zoonotic agents further up the food chain. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to current advice for livestock waste disposal.
Magnetic particle spectroscopy allows precise quantification of nanoparticles after passage through human brain microvascular endothelial cells

Crossing the blood–brain barrier is an urgent requirement for the treatment of brain disorders. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are a promising tool as carriers for therapeutics because of their physical properties, biocompatibility, and their biodegradability. In order to investigate the interaction of nanoparticles with endothelial cell layers in detail, in vitro systems are of great importance. Human brain microvascular endothelial cells are a well-suited blood–brain barrier model. Apart from generating optimal conditions for the barrier-forming cell units, the accurate detection and quantification of SPIONs is a major challenge. For that purpose we use magnetic particle spectroscopy to sensitively and directly quantify the SPION-specific iron content. We could show that SPION concentration depends on incubation time, nanoparticle concentration and location. This model system allows for further investigations on particle uptake and transport at cellular barriers with regard to parameters including particles’ shape, material, size, and coating.
Multi-visit TAMs to Reduce the Post-Bond Test Length of 2.5D-SICs with a Passive Silicon Interposer Base

2.5D Stacked ICs (2.5D-SICs) consist of multiple active dies (or 3D towers of active dies), which are placed side-by-side on top of and interconnected through a passive silicon interposer base which contains Through-Silicon Vias (TSVs). A previously presented post-bond test and Design-for-Test(DfT) strategy for such 2.5D-SICs implements a serial Test Access Mechanism (TAM) for interposer and micro-bump testing. In addition, it tries to identify an as-wide-as-possible set of functional interposer interconnects that can be reused as parallel TAMs to the various dies. In this paper, we extend that approach with the concept of Multi-Visit TAMs, i.e., parallel TAMs which are allowed to visit the same die more than once. For minimal additional hardware costs, the Multi-Visit TAMs succeed significantly more often in identifying a valid parallel TAM and achieve significantly lower test lengths.
Comparison study of harmonic imaging (HI) and fundamental imaging (FI) in fetal echocardiography

Objectives: To directly compare the quality of harmonic imaging (HI) and fundamental imaging (FI) in fetal echocardiography and to determine any difference in image quality between the two modalities. Methods: Fetal echocardiograms were performed with the use of FI and HI in 58 fetuses, image quality and visualization of left and right atria, left and right ventricles, mitral and tricuspid valves, aortic and pulmonary valves, left and right ventricular outflow tracts were evaluated and compared between FI and HI. Results: Mean HI scores were higher than mean FI scores (2.73±0.43 vs 2.16±0.69,P<0.001) for all the cardiovascular structures evaluated. Compared with FI, HI improved the image quality and visualization of fetal cardiac structures in subjects with both good (2.73±0.43 vs 2.88±0.32,P<0.001) and suboptimal (1. 65±0.41 vs 2.58±0.47,P<0.001) echocardiographic windows. The interobserver correlation coefficient for the grading scores was 0.74 (P<0.001). Conclusions: harmonic imaging enhances and improves the image quality of fetal echocardiography; and has important potential role in cardiac imaging in the fetus.
Complications of Emergency Tracheal Intubation: Immediate Airway-related Consequences: Part II

Airway management in the stable, elective operating room patient is typically exceptionally safe. Conversely, the acute deterioration of an intensive care unit or floor patient being rescued by a clinician unfamiliar with the patient's past and current history combined with an incomplete physical examination places the critically ill patient in a precarious, potentially life-threatening position. Emergency airway management in remote locations outside the confines of the operating room is complex and stressful due to immense airway challenges coupled with the high risk of hemodynamic and airway complications. Despite the commonality of difficulties with mask ventilation, laryngoscopy, and tracheal intubation in this population, relatively sparse literature deals with these subjects. Consequences of airway management should be openly discussed as a first step toward improving airway safety. This is the second of 2 reviews, “Complications of Emergency Tracheal Intubation,” and focuses on the immediate airway-related consequences during emergency tracheal intubation in the remote location.
Screening for Mevalonate Biosynthetic Pathway Inhibitors Using Sensitized Bacterial Strains

A simple, optical density-based assay for inhibitors of the mevalonate-dependent pathway for isoprenoid biosynthesis was developed. The assay uses pathway-sensitized Staphylococcus aureus strains and is fully compatible with high-density screening in a 1536-well format. S. aureus strains were constructed in which genes required for mevalonate-dependent isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) synthesis were regulated by an isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)–inducible promoter. Inhibitors of the target enzymes displayed greater antibacterial potency in media containing low concentrations of IPTG, and therefore less induction of mevalonate pathway genes, than in media with high IPTG conditions. This differential growth phenotype was exploited to bias the cell-based screening hits toward specific inhibitors of mevalonate-dependent IPP biosynthesis. Screens were run against strains engineered for regulation of the enzymes HMG-CoA synthase (MvaS) and mevalonate kinase (mvaK1), mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase (mvaD), and phosphomevalonate kinase (mvaK2). The latter three enzymes are regulated as an operon. These assays resulted in the discovery of potent antibacterial hits that were progressed to an active hit-to-lead program. The example presented here demonstrates that a cell sensitization strategy can be successfully applied to a 1.3-million compound high-throughput screen in a high-density 1536-well format.
Malignant Stromal Tumor Consistent with Fibrosarcoma Arising from Meckel's Diverticulum. Clinicopathological Study of an Incidentally Discovered Tumor and Review of the Literature

The authors report a case of a Meckel's diverticulum mesenchymal tumor incidentally discovered in a 69-year-old woman undergoing laparotomy for an ovarian cyst. Histological examination of the tumor revealed a fasciculated proliferation of spindle cells that proved to be immunoreactive to vimentin only; pleomorphism was mild, necrosis extensive and mitotic count high. Because these features were consistent with those of fibrosarcoma, the tumor was classified in the category of gastrointestinal stromal tumors; more specifically, it was considered malignant for the presence of spread beyond the primary site in the form of peritoneal nodules and for the high mitotic count. We have been able to find only one previously reported case of mesenchymal malignant tumor of Meckel's diverticulum classified as fibrosarcoma among the 199 malignant tumors described in the literature. Based on this personal experience and on the review of the literature concerning malignant tumors of Meckel's diverticulum, we discuss both the rarity of these tumors and the importance of removing Meckel's diverticulum every time it is found during laparotomy.