Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sacolene in cholera: a double blind randomized controlled trial.

Methylated casein (Sacolene), a diarrhoea remedy used in Europe, has shown an antisecretory effect in cholera-induced secretion in animals and benefit in diarrhoea in humans. In this placebo controlled trial Sacolene was evaluated in 78 male adults with severe cholera who, after initial i.v. therapy received Sacolene or placebo, 4 g at start and 2 g 4 hourly until cessation of diarrhoea, along with oral rehydration therapy and repeat i.v. therapy if indicated. No antibiotics were given during the study. The purging rate and diarrhoea duration were similar in the 2 groups. The proportion of patients requiring repeat courses of i.v. therapy in the study group was 46% compared with 69% in controls (i.e. reduced by 23%, p = 0.04). While the severity of purging was not reduced, the proportion of patients requiring repeat i.v. therapy was reduced by Sacolene therapy. The latter finding may indicate some benefit from Sacolene in cholera, though this requires confirmation.
The Relevance of Political Stability on FDI: A VAR Analysis and ARDL Models for Selected Small, Developed, and Instability Threatened Economies

This paper studies the relevance of political stability on foreign direct investment (FDI) and the relevance of FDI on economic growth, in three panels. The first panel contains 11 very small economies; the second contains five well-developed and politically stable economies with highly positive FDI net inflows, while the third is a panel with economies that are prone to political violence or targeted by the terrorist attacks. We employ a Granger causality test and implement a vector autoregressive (VAR) framework within the panel setting. In order to test the sensitivity of the results and avoid robust errors, we employ an ARDL model for each of the countries within every panel. Based upon our results, we conclude that there is a long-term relationship between political stability and FDI for the panel of small economies, while we find no empiric evidence of such a relationship for both panels of larger and more developed economies. Similarly to the original hypothesis of Lucas (1990), we find that FDI outflows tend to go towards politically less stable countries. On the other hand, the empiric methodology employed did not find such conclusive evidence in the panels of politically more developed countries or in the small economies that this paper observes.
Phasor measurements impact on the a priori data filtration and power systems state estimation

An effective method of remote metering data validation is the a priori filtration applied in conjunction with the conventional state estimation procedure. The a priori filtration aimed to the gross remote measurement error detection is applied before the state estimation procedure. The phasor measurements unit implementation significantly improves the efficiency of a priori filtration and further state estimation. Even the partial equipment of power system with the phasor measurement units allows the power systems state information quality improvement.
Classification of Human Physical Activities from On-body Accelerometers - A Markov Modeling Approach

Several applications demanding the development of small networks of on-body sensors, such as motion sensors, are currently investigated. Accelerometers are a popular choice as motion sensors: the reason is partly in their capability of extracting information that can be used to automatically infer the physical activity the human subject is involved, beside their role in feeding estimators of biomechanical parameters. Automatic classification of human physical activities is highly attractive for pervasive computing systems, whereas contextual awareness may ease the human-machine interaction, and in biomedicine, whereas wearable sensor systems are proposed for long-term monitoring of physiological and biomechanical parameters. This paper is concerned with the machine learning algorithms needed to perform the classification task. Hidden Markov Model (HMM) classifiers are studied by contrasting them with Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) classifiers. HMMs incorporate the statistical information available on movement dynamics into the classification process, without discarding the time history of previous outcomes, as GMMs do. In this work, rather than considering them as models for single motor activities, we apply HMMs as models suitable for sequences of chained activities. An example of the benefits of the statistical leverage by HMMs is illustrated and discussed by analyzing a dataset of accelerometer time series.
Interaction of thimerosal with proteins—ethylmercury adduct formation of human serum albumin and β-lactoglobulin A

The interaction of thimerosal, an ethylmercury-containing bactericide and fungicide used as preservative in vaccines and other drugs, with free thiols in proteins has been investigated using gradient reversed phase liquid chromatography (LC) with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) detection. As model proteins, β-lactoglobulin A (18.4 kDa) from bovine milk and human serum albumin (66.5 kDa) have been used. Physiological conditions upon an intravenous injection of thimerosal-containing drugs were mimicked. The formation of ethylmercury–protein adducts was proved and the identification of the binding site of ethylmercury, a free thiol residue in the peptide T13 was achieved after tryptic digestion of β-lactoglobulin A.
Insulin therapy and quality of life. A review

Three central goals in the treatment of diabetes mellitus are (1) the avoidance of hyperglycaemia to prevent the development or progression of diabetes complications over time, (2) the avoidance of hypoglycaemia and (3) the maintenance or achievement of good quality of life. Insulin is the most powerful agent that can be used to control blood glucose levels. This article reviews the studies that have investigated the effects of different types of insulin and insulin delivery techniques on quality of life of patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. First, the concept of ‘quality of life’ (QoL) is defined and different ways of measuring QoL are explained. Secondly, the effects of different aspects of insulin therapy on QoL are reviewed: (1) the phenomenon of ‘psychological insulin resistance’; (2) the effects of different types of insulin: regular insulin versus short‐acting insulin analogues, long‐acting insulin analogues or biphasic mixtures; (3) multiple daily injections versus pump therapy.
The V3-directed immune response in natural human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection is predominantly directed against a variable, discontinuous epitope presented by the gp120 V3 domain

The specific binding of antibodies to the V3 loop in sera from human immunodeficiency type 1 (HIV-1)-infected individuals was investigated. Different V3 structures were analyzed as full-length loops or by pepscan. Our data show that on full-length V3 loops, both variable regions on either side of the tip of the loop (GPGRAF) contribute to a common epitope for type-specific antibodies. Type-specific antibodies bound strongly and at high titers to native V3 loops but negligibly once the loop was denatured. In contrast to the type-specific, discontinuous epitope, the linear, conserved epitopes presented by the full-length V3 loop, the tip, the amino-terminal base, and the carboxy-terminal base were not accessible to serum antibody. When the V3 sequences were analyzed with linear peptides, antibodies bound preferentially to peptides containing the conserved GPGRAF sequence. Thus, two different specificities of V3-directed antibodies were detected in patient sera. Unlike group-specific antibodies directed against GPGRAF peptides, lack of type-specific antibodies directed against the discontinuous epitope was correlated with viral escape from autologous neutralization. Our data suggest that the full-length conformation of the V3 loop is accessible predominantly to highly type-specific antibodies present in sera from HIV-1-infected individuals. These antibodies are directed against discontinuous V3 epitopes, not against conserved linear V3 targets. The implications of these findings for viral escape and blockade of infection with V3-based vaccines are discussed.
Acute tetrodotoxin‐induced neurotoxicity after ingestion of puffer fish

This study documents the effects of puffer‐fish poisoning on peripheral nerve. Excitability measurements investigated membrane properties of sensory and motor axons in four patients. The median nerve was stimulated at the wrist, with compound muscle potentials recorded from abductor pollicis brevis and compound sensory potentials from digit 2. Stimulus–responses, strength–duration time constant (τSD), threshold electrotonus, and current–threshold relations were recorded. The urine of each patient tested positive for tetrodotoxin. Compared with controls, axons were of higher threshold, compound muscle action potentials and compound sensory nerve action potentials were reduced in amplitude, latency was prolonged, and τSD was reduced. In recovery cycles, refractoriness, superexcitability, and late subexcitability were decreased. Threshold electrotonus of motor axons exhibited distinctive abnormalities with less threshold decline than normal on depolarization and greater threshold increase on hyperpolarization (p < 0.0005 for each patient). The changes in excitability were reproduced in a mathematical model by reducing sodium (Na+) permeabilities by a factor of two. This study confirms that the neurotoxic effects of puffer‐fish poisoning can be explained by tetrodotoxin blockade of Na+ channels. It demonstrates the ability of noninvasive nerve excitability studies to detect Na+ channel blockade in vivo and also the utility of mathematical modeling to aid interpretation of altered excitability properties in disease. Ann Neurol 2005;57:339–348
Analysis of Efficacy of UVGI Inactivation of Airborne Organisms Using Eulerian and Lagrangian Approaches

Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is increasingly used in health care facilities to kill airborne bacteria and control the spread of airborne infection among occupants. The most widely used form of UVGI is the passive upper-room lamps that generate a horizontal layer irradiance field above the occupied zone. In this study, the efficacy of killing airborne bacteria by upper-room UVGI in a test room is investigated by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The killing of airborne bacteria is dependant on the dose the bacteria receive and their susceptibility. In order to calculate the dose, the trajectory of each of the bacteria needs to be predicted. The common practice in CFD is that the flow field is solved using an Eulerian reference system and the particle trajectory is calculated using a Lagrangian reference system from which the particle dose is derived. This approach gives very accurate and detailed information on the history and behavior of each organism. However, in typical experimental procedures, the samples are usually collected when the numbers of the bacteria killed, ventilated, or remaining viable in the room reach steady state and the bacteria killing mechanism is considered as a group activity. This makes comparison of the CFD prediction with experimental data difficult—the Lagrangian reference system is not suitable when the steady-state information regarding the overall behavior of the bacteria in a room at any moment is of interest. In this study, a new approach is proposed to estimate the bacteria inactivation rate in the Eulerian system. For each room condition, both the Lagrangian and Eulerian approaches are utilized to evaluate the UVGI efficacy. The predicted results with the Eulerian approach are compared with available experimental measurements.
Compact in-line triplet SIW bandpass filter using etched GCPW line resonator

This paper presents a novel compact in-line triplet substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) bandpass filter. The filter is composed of two SIW cavity resonators and an etched one-half wavelength grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) line resonator. The GCPW line resonator is etched between two SIW cavity resonators to obtain more compact size. A transmission zero on the upper stopband is created by the cross coupling, which allows the filter implementation in in-line with sharp upper cut-off skirts. Finally, a compact third-order 15 dB return loss filter with a fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 7% at 5.5GHz is designed, fabricated and measured. The experimental results show good agreement between the simulated and measured results.
Effect of click stimuli and speech bursts on cortical processing

Late latency responses (LLR) are components of auditory evoked potential (AEP) responses that are found between 50 and 250 milliseconds from the time of stimulation and reflect the responses of the auditory cortex. LLR may be used for threshold estimation as well as to diagnose certain auditory deviations. In view of hardly any studies done on the comparison of LLR with different speech burst stimuli and click stimuli, this study was designed. A total of 12 (24 ears) normal hearing sensitivity subjects were included with no otologic or neurologic symptoms. LLR was recorded with speech burst stimuli /pa/, /ta/, /ka/ and click. All the components of LLR were elicited in all the participants with the click stimuli. Among speech burst stimuli, /ta/ stimulus was better than /pa/ and /ka/ stimuli in eliciting all the components of LLR. This difference could be attributed to the spectral energy present in the click stimuli. The difference in latencies when burst stimuli were used can be attributed to spectral differences, duration of stimulus and bandwidth. It can be concluded that the speech burst stimuli can be used to elicit cortical LLR, but responses will be more accurate with click stimuli. The result of this demonstrates the effect of stimulus variation on the LLR response pattern. LLR may be used to objectively measure differences in neural encoding and perception of spectrally different speech sounds.
Stimulation through the T Cell Receptor Induces Cbl Association with Crk Proteins and the Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Protein C3G (*)

We and others have recently identified Cbl, the protein product of the c-cbl protooncogene, as an early tyrosine kinase substrate upon T cell activation and have shown that Cbl forms in vivo complexes with Src family tyrosine kinases, Grb2 adaptor protein, and the p85 subunit of PI-3 kinase. Here we show that Cbl associates with all three forms of the human Crk protein, predominantly CrkL, following T cell receptor activation of Jurkat T cells. Association between Cbl and Crk proteins was confirmed in normal human peripheral blood-derived T cells. In vitro, Cbl was able to interact with the Crk SH2 domain but not the SH3 domain. A phosphopeptide corresponding to a potential Crk SH2 domain-binding motif in Cbl (pYDVP) specifically inhibited binding between Cbl and Crk SH2 domain. Anti-Cbl antibody completely immunodepleted the CrkL-associated 120kDa phosphotyrosyl polypeptide, suggesting that the recently described p130-related Crk-associated p116 of T cells may be Cbl. Consistent with this possibility, the 4F4 antibody used to characterize the p116 polypeptide cross-reacted with Cbl protein when it was resolved on one- or two-dimensional gels. CrkL was constitutively associated with a substantial amount of the guanine nucleotide exchange protein C3G, and a fraction of the C3G protein was coimmunoprecipitated with Cbl in activated Jurkat T cells. These results suggest the possibility that Cbl may participate in a signaling pathway that regulates guanine nucleotide exchange on small G-proteins in T cells.
Engaging the Consumer through Event Marketing: Linking Attendees with the Sponsor, Community, and Brand

ABSTRACT With an on-site study at a sponsored event, we construct and test competing models to examine the relationship among event attendees, sponsorship, community involvement, and the title sponsor's brand with respect to purchase intentions. We show that an attendee's enthusiasm and activeness in the area of the sponsored event and knowledge of the sponsor's products positively influence the attendee's desire that a sponsor be involved with the community. Then, we show that attendees who are more community-minded have a more positive opinion of the sponsor as a result of their event experience; a better opinion of the sponsor contributes to increased intentions to purchase the sponsor's products. Results from this framework indicate that event marketing, in conjunction with consumers who are enthusiastic, active, and knowledgeable about the sponsor and event, serves as a valuable lever to engage the consumer.
Lower skin capillary density, normal endothelial function and higher blood pressure in children born preterm

Abstract. Bonamy A‐KE, Martin H, Jörneskog G, Norman M (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden). Lower skin capillary density, normal endothelial function and higher blood pressure in children born preterm. J Intern Med 2007; 262: 635–642.
Advanced Classification and Rules-Based Evaluation of Motion, Visual and Biosignal Data for Patient Fall Incident Detection

The monitoring of human physiological data, in both normal and abnormal situations of activity, is interesting for the purpose of emergency event detection, especially in the case of elderly people living on their own. Several techniques have been proposed for identifying such distress situations using either motion, audio or video data from the monitored subject and the surrounding environment. This paper aims to present an integrated patient fall detection system that may be used for patient activity recognition and emergency treatment. Visual data captured from the user's environment, using overhead cameras among with motion and physiological data collected from the subject's body are utilized. Appropriate tracking techniques are applied to the aforementioned visual perceptual component enabling the trajectory tracking of the subjects, while acceleration data from the sensors can indicate a fall incident. Trajectory information and subject's visual location can verify fall and indicate an emergency event, whereas the interpretation of biosignals like electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood oxygen saturation (SPO2) can indicate the severity of the incident with the help of rules-based evaluation. The paper includes also the assessment of several classifiers and meta-classifiers in terms of accuracy in detecting falls and a user based evaluation.
Fast high lutetium content scintillators as candidates for APD-based phoswich detectors with depth-of-interaction (DOI)

The recent introduction of several new fast, high light yield versions of generic cerium-doped lutetium silicates (LSO, LGSO, LYSO.) has widened the list of potential candidates for phoswich detectors dedicated to medical imaging applications. Furthermore, digital signal processing methods based on adaptive filter theory now provide powerful approaches for crystal identification, even with scintillators having small decay time differences (¿¿). The LabPET¿ digital signal processing technology was used to investigate the crystal identification performance of phoswich scintillator pairs with decay times in the range of 32 to 77 ns. The scintillator initial photon emission rate 70 was found to directly impact the identification error rate, particularly for fast phoswich crystal pairs with small A¿. Overall, error rates of less than 10% were measured for phoswich pairs with ¿¿ > 5 ns and less than 1 % for ¿¿ > 20 ns, which is fully adequate for typical PET imaging applications.
ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN CHRONOTYPE, SLEEP QUALITY, SUICIDALITY, AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN PATIENTS WITH MAJOR DEPRESSION AND HEALTHY CONTROLS

Research interest concerning associations between sleep characteristics and suicidality in psychopathology has been growing. However, possible linkages of suicidality to sleep characteristics in terms of sleep quality and chronotypes among depressive patients have not been well documented. In the current study, the authors investigated the possible effects of sleep quality and chronotype on the severity of depressive symptoms and suicide risk in patients with depressive disorder and healthy controls. The study was conducted on 80 patients clinically diagnosed with major depression and 80 healthy subjects who were demographically matched with the patient group. All participants completed a questionnaire package containing self-report measures, including the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), and Suicide Ideation Scale (SIS), and subjects were interviewed with the suicidality section of the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Results are as follows: (a) logistic regression analyses revealed that poor sleep quality and depression symptom severity significantly predicted onset of major depression; (b) morningness-type circadian rhythm may play as a significant relief factor after onset of major depression; (c) sleep variables of chronotype and sleep quality did not significantly predict suicide ideation after controlling for depressive symptoms in the major depression group; and (d) suicide ideation and poor sleep quality were antecedents of depression symptom severity in patients with major depression, and in healthy controls. Findings are discussed under the theoretical assumptions concerning possible relations between chronotype, sleep quality, depression, and suicidality. (Author correspondence: dryavuzselvi@yahoo.com)
Development of a Templated Grain Growth System for Texturing Piezoelectric Ceramics

High strain actuation can be obtained from crystallographically textured piezoelectric ceramics. Single crystal piezoelectrics demonstrate high strain because crystal orientation can be controlled - the perfect lattice simplifies crystal orientation. Single crystals actuate better than typical ceramics, but are expensive. Highly textured ceramics offer an alternative path to easily aligned crystals. The crystallites in textured ceramics are crystallographically oriented. Textured ceramics are expected to provide improved properties, with lower processing costs. NexTech Materials is developing textured piezoelectrics via Templated Grain Growth. In this process, anisotropic template particles are oriented in a fine matrix. During heat treatment, the templates grow, resulting in a textured polycrystal.
Genetic basis of tetracycline resistance in urogenital bacteria

The distributions of the nucleotide sequences related to the tetracycline resistance determinants Tet K, Tet L, Tet M, and Tet O were studied by dot blot hybridization with randomly chosen clinical urogenital tract isolates of viridans group streptococci, Streptococcus agalactiae, Enterococcus faecalis, Gardnerella vaginalis, Lactobacillus spp. , Fusobacterium nucleatum, Peptostreptococcus spp. , and Veillonella parvula. Among the Peptostreptococcus spp. , 79% of the isolates hybridized with one (64%) or more (36%) of the probes for Tet K (27%), Tet L (30%), Tet M (75%) and Tet O (13%). Of the viridans group streptococci, 82% of the strains hybridized with one (34%) or more (66%) of the four probes. The distribution of the four determinants in this group was as follows: Tet K, 36%; Tet L, 31%; Tet M, 43%; Tet O, 61%. Twenty-nine percent of the enterococci and forty-six percent of the group B streptococci hybridized with the probes; however, the Tet K, Tet L, and Tet O determinants were found in only a few strains, while the Tet M determinant predominated. A total of 29% of the F. nucleatum isolates, 55% of the G. vaginalis isolates, and 26% of the V. parvula isolates hybridized with the Tet M determinant. In contrast, 43% of the Lactobacillus spp. hybridized with the Tet O determinant. The data indicate that tetracycline resistance determinants are common to many of the microorganisms isolated from the urogenital tract.