Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The cell wall: a carbohydrate armour for the fungal cell

The cell wall is composed of a polysaccharide‐based three‐dimensional network. Considered for a long time as an inert exoskeleton, the cell wall is now seen as a dynamic structure that is continuously changing as a result of the modification of culture conditions and environmental stresses. Although the cell wall composition varies among fungal species, chemogenomic comparative analysis have led to a better understanding of the genes and mechanisms involved in the construction of the common central core composed of branched β1,3 glucan‐chitin. Because of its essential biological role, unique biochemistry and structural organization and the absence in mammalian cells of most of its constitutive components, the cell wall is an attractive target for the development of new antifungal agents. Genomic as well as drug studies have shown that the death of the fungus can result from inhibition of cell wall polysaccharide synthases. To date, only β1,3 glucan synthase inhibitors have been launched clinically and many more targets remain to be explored.
Force production during maximal effort bend sprinting: Theory vs reality

This study investigated whether the “constant limb force” hypothesis can be applied to bend sprinting on an athletics track and to understand how force production influences performance on the bend compared with the straight. Force and three‐dimensional video analyses were conducted on seven competitive athletes during maximal effort sprinting on the bend (radius 37.72 m) and straight. Left step mean peak vertical and resultant force decreased significantly by 0.37 body weight (BW) and 0.21 BW, respectively, on the bend compared with the straight. Right step force production was not compromised in the same way, and some athletes demonstrated substantial increases in these variables on the bend. More inward impulse during left (39.9 ± 6.5 Ns) than right foot contact (24.7 ± 5.8 Ns) resulted in 1.6° more turning during the left step on the bend. There was a 2.3% decrease in velocity from straight to bend for both steps. The constant limb force hypothesis is not entirely valid for maximal effort sprinting on the bend. Also, the force requirements of bend sprinting are considerably different to straight‐line sprinting and are asymmetrical in nature. Overall, bend‐specific strength and technique training may improve performance during this portion of 200‐ and 400‐m races.
[Study on effect of ginsenoside Rg1 in promoting myocardiac vascular endothelial cell regeneration through induction on bone marrow stem cell's migration and differentiation in rabbits of myocardial infarction].

OBJECTIVE To observe whether ginsenoside Rg1 could reduce the infarcted area and improve the heart function by path of promoting bone marrow stem cells differentiated to vascular endothelial cells (VECs). METHODS Bone marrow was drawn from rabbit's ilium and labelled with red fluorochrome DiI, then it was transferred again into the rabbit's body. The rabbits was then made into myocardiac infarction model. The model rabbits were divided into the control group and the ginsenoside Rgl treated group (treated group). The infracted area at two weeks, and the left ventricular function at one and two weeks after infarction were determined respectively. The DiI positive cell rate of myelogenetic cells in ischmia area and CD31 positive cell rate of VECs were determined by confocal microscopy. Myocardial interstitial granulocyte colony-stimulating factor(GCSF) levels during ischemia and reperfusion period were determined also. RESULTS DiI positive rate of CD31 staining positive cells in the treated group was obviously increased, and the concentration of G-CSF in myocardium interstitial obviously increased, accompanied with obviously improving of heart function and obviously reducing of infarcted area. CONCLUSION Ginsenoside Rgl could stimulate the G-CSF secretion in local myocardiac tissues, thus to induce bone marrow mononuclear cells migrate to myocadial tissue and further differentiate to VECs. The regeneration of endothelium cells show certain direct action in promoting capillary regeneration of infarcted myocardium tissue and maintaining the blood supply.
Comparative evaluation of long-term monotherapies & combination therapies in patients with chronic hepatitis B: A pilot study

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Reduction of viraemia in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection using nucleoside/nucleotide analogues reduces fatal liver disease-related events, but development of resistance in virus presents serious clinical challenge. Therefore, comparative evaluation of prolonged antiviral monotherapy and combination therapies was prospectively studied to assess their influence on viral suppression, rapidity of response, development of drug resistance and surfacing mutants in chronic liver disease (CLD) patients. METHODS A total of 158 (62eAg-ve) chronic hepatitis B patients were prospectively studied for 24 months. Final analysis was performed on patients treated with lamivudine (LAM, n = 28), adefovirdipivoxil (ADV, n = 24), tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF, n = 26), entecavir (ETV, n = 25), LAM + ADV (n = 28) and LAM + TDF (n = 27). Quantitative hepatitis B virus DNA was detected using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Multiple comparisons among drugs and genotypic mutations were analyzed. RESULTS Progressive biochemical and virological response were noted with all the regimens at 24 months except LAM and ADV which were associated with viral breakthrough (VBT) in 46.4 and 25 per cent, respectively. Mutations: rtM204V (39.3%), M204V+L180M (10.7%) while rtA181V (8.1%) and rtN236T (8.3%) were observed with LAM and ADV regimen, respectively. LAM + ADV combination therapy revealed VBT in seven per cent of the cases without mutations whereas TDF, ETV and LAM + TDF therapies neither showed VBT nor mutations. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS LAM was the least potent drug among all therapeutic options followed by ADV. TDF and ETV were genetically stable antivirals with a strong efficacy. Among newer combination therapies, LAM + TDF revealed more efficacy in virological remission and acted as a profound genetic barrier on long term. Hence, newer generation molecules (TDF, ETV) and effective combination therapy should be a certain choice.
Field Adherence to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV-Infected Adults in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Objectives:To estimate adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and its determinants in HIV-infected adults followed in field conditions in Abidjan. Methods:A standardized questionnaire was administered to all consecutive adults on HAART who attended 3 urban HIV outpatient clinics. Patients were asked to self-report their pill intake during the previous 7 days, and, when necessary, to explain the reason(s) why they missed at least 1 intake. The adherence rate was estimated as the number of pills actually taken divided by the number of pills that should have been taken. The association of incomplete adherence (adherence rate <90%) with patients' characteristics was studied using multivariate logistic regression. Results:Three hundred eight patients (male/female ratio: 1:1, mean time on HAART: 22 months) were interviewed. The median self-reported adherence rate was 78% (interquartile range: 65%-90%), with 76% of patients considered as incompletely adherent (adherence rate <90%). The most frequent self-reported reasons for missing at least 1 intake were an antiretroviral drug being out of stock in the clinic pharmacy (28%), the fear of drug side effects (27%), the impossibility of paying the drug's price (20%), and the intervention of traditional practitioners (18%). The only variables significantly independently associated with incomplete adherence were a school level ≥ secondary (odds ratio [OR] = 1.88; P = 0.03) and the absence of a patient's long-term formal commitment to adhere to HAART (OR = 3.08; P = 0.01). Conclusions:These data illustrate the difficulty in obtaining high levels of adherence in field conditions in Abidjan. Sustainable access to treatment should be promoted by combating access barriers such as running out of drugs and costs that are too high.
Deep Neural Frameworks Improve the Accuracy of General Practitioners in the Classification of Pigmented Skin Lesions

Artificial intelligence can be a key tool in the context of assisting in the diagnosis of dermatological conditions, particularly when performed by general practitioners with limited or no access to high resolution optical equipment. This study evaluates the performance of deep convolutional neural networks (DNNs) in the classification of seven pigmented skin lesions. Additionally, it assesses the improvement ratio in the classification performance when utilized by general practitioners. Open-source skin images were downloaded from the ISIC archive. Different DNNs (n=8) were trained based on a random dataset constituted by 8,015 images. A test set of 2,003 images has been used to assess the classifiers performance at low (300 x 224 RGB) and high (600 x 450 RGB) image resolution and aggregated clinical data (age, sex and lesion localization). We have also organized two different contests to compare the DNNs performance to that of general practitioners by means of unassisted image observation. Both at low and high image resolution, the DNNs framework being trained differentiated dermatological images with appreciable performance. In all cases, accuracy has been improved when adding clinical data to the framework. Finally, the lowest accurate DNN outperformed general practitioners. Physicians accuracy was statistically improved when allowed to use the output of this algorithmic framework as guidance. DNNS are proven to be high performers as skin lesion classifiers. The aim is to include these AI tools in the context of general practitioners whilst improving their diagnosis accuracy in a routine clinical scenario when or where the use of high-resolution equipment is not accessible.
The relative effect of vendor variability in CT perfusion results: a method comparison study.

OBJECTIVE There are known interoperator, intraoperator, and intervendor software differences that can influence the reproducibility of quantitative CT perfusion values. The purpose of this study was to determine the relative impact of operator and software differences in CT perfusion variability. MATERIALS AND METHODS CT perfusion imaging data were selected for 11 patients evaluated for suspected ischemic stroke. Three radiologists each independently postprocessed the source data twice, using four different vendor software applications. Results for cerebral blood volume (CBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF), and mean transit time (MTT) were recorded for the lentiform nuclei in both hemispheres. Repeated variables multivariate analysis of variance was used to assess differences in the means of CBV, CBF, and MTT. Bland-Altman analysis was used to assess agreement between pairs of vendors, readers, and read times. RESULTS Choice of vendor software, but not interoperator or intraoperator disagreement, was associated with significant variability (p < 0.001) in CBV, CBF, and MTT. The mean difference in CT perfusion values was greater for pairs of vendors than for pairs of operators. CONCLUSION Different vendor software applications do not generate quantitative perfusion results equivalently. Intervendor difference is, by far, the largest cause of variability in perfusion results relative to interoperator and intraoperator difference. Caution should be exercised when interpreting quantitative CT perfusion results because these values may vary considerably depending on the postprocessing software.
Males with high genetic similarity to females sire more offspring in sperm competition in Peron's tree frog Litoria peronii

Recent work has confirmed that genetic compatibility among mates can be an important determinant of siring success in sperm competition experiments and in free-ranging populations. Most of this work points towards mate choice of less related mates. However, there may also be the potential for mate choice for intermediate or even genetically similar mates to prevent outbreeding depression or hybridization with closely related taxa. We studied relatedness effects on post-copulatory gametic choice and/or sperm competition in an external fertilizer, Peron's tree frog (Litoria peronii), since external fertilizers offer exceptional control in order to test gametic interaction effects on probability of paternity and zygote viability. Sperm competition experiments were done blindly with respect to genetic relatedness among males and females. Thereafter, paternity of offspring was assigned using eight microsatellite loci. Three hybridization trials between L. peronii and a closely related sympatric species Litoria tyleri were also carried out. In the sperm competition trials, males that are more genetically similar to the female achieved higher siring success compared with less genetically similar males. The hybridization trials confirmed that the two species can interbreed and we suggest that the risk of hybridization may contribute to selection benefits for genetically more similar males at fertilization. To our knowledge, this study is the first to show evidence for post-copulatory selection of sperm from genetically more similar individuals within a natural population.
A new power factor correction technique using PFC boost converter

Generally non-linear loads are the main source of harmonics. This paper presents one new control scheme to compensate the harmonic current generated by the diode rectifier so as to achieve a power factor nearer to unity and regulate the DC-bus voltage. This scheme uses one PFC Boost Converter which is connected in shunt with the diode rectifier to compensate the harmonic current drawn by the single phase diode rectifier. The line current command is derived from a dc link voltage regulator and an output power estimator. The hysteresis current controller is used to track the line current command. In absence of diode rectifier (Non-linear Load), the PFC boost converter draws purely sinusoidal current from source. In presence of diode rectifier the PFC boost converter draws current in such a way that the total current drawn from source becomes purely sinusoidal. Merits of the proposed converters include higher power density, simpler control strategy, less harmonic control contents, nearly unity power factor and unidirectional power flow. Optional principle, design analysis and conditions achieving for the proposed converters are described.
Comparison of surgically induced astigmatism following different glaucoma operations

Aim To compare surgically induced astigmatism (SIA) among glaucomatous eyes treated with trabeculectomy (LEC), EX-PRESS® shunt (EXP), ab externo trabeculotomy (exLOT), or microhook ab interno trabeculotomy (μLOT). Subjects and methods Eighty right eyes of 80 subjects who underwent LEC (n=20), EXP (n=20), exLOT (n=20), or μLOT (n=20) were included. The dataset including the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), and keratometry recordings preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively was collected by chart review. The means of the vector magnitude, vector meridian, and arithmetic magnitude of the preoperative and postoperative astigmatism and SIA were calculated. The correlations among the SIA magnitude, postoperative BCVA, and IOP were assessed. Results The mean astigmatic arithmetic magnitudes did not differ significantly (P=0.0732) preoperatively among the four groups, but the magnitude was significantly (P=0.0002) greater in the LEC group than the other groups postoperatively. The mean SIA vectors were calculated to be 1.01 D at 56°, 0.62 D at 74°, 0.23 D at 112°, and 0.12 D at 97° for the LEC, EXP, exLOT, and μLOT groups, respectively. The mean SIA arithmetic magnitudes were significantly (P<0.0001) greater in the LEC group than the other groups. Three months postoperatively, the SIA magnitude was correlated positively with the logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) BCVA (r=0.3538) and negatively with the IOP (r=−0.3265); the logMAR BCVA was correlated negatively with the IOP (r=−0.3105). Conclusion EXP, exLOT, and μLOT induce less corneal astigmatism than LEC in the early postoperative period.
Entre public et privé: Stratégies de l’écrit dans l’Espagne du Siècle d’Or

Résumé L’article se propose d’étudier les pratiques de l’écriture dans l’Espagne de la fin du XVe au milieu du XVIIIe siècle, à travers la relation qui existe entre la fonction des textes et leurs conditions de production, de diffusion et de réception. Les formes de l’écrit résultent des différentes stratégies et objectifs poursuivis, appropriation publique (inscriptions, tables, pamphlets ou graffiti), ou circulation plus restreinte et privée (correspondances, livres de comptes, mémoires, journaux personnels, autobiographies). Cette distinction entre écritures publiques et privées ne doit cependant pas être entendue comme un concept fermé: il importe de mettre en évidence leurs interrelations.
Effects of Carbon Black and the Presence of Static Mechanical Strain on the Swelling of Elastomers in Solvent

The effect of carbon black on the mechanical properties of elastomers is of great interest, because the filler is one of principal ingredients for the manufacturing of rubber products. While fillers can be used to enhance the properties of elastomers, including stress-free swelling resistance in solvent, it is widely known that the introduction of fillers yields significant inelastic responses of elastomers under cyclic mechanical loading, such as stress-softening, hysteresis and permanent set. When a filled elastomer is under mechanical deformation, the filler acts as a strain amplifier in the rubber matrix. Since the matrix local strain has a profound effect on the material's ability to absorb solvent, the study of the effect of carbon black content on the swelling characteristics of elastomeric components exposed to solvent in the presence of mechanical deformation is a prerequisite for durability analysis. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of carbon black content on the swelling of elastomers in solvent in the presence of static mechanical strains: simple extension and simple torsion. Three different types of elastomers are considered: unfilled, filled with 33 phr (parts per hundred) and 66 phr of carbon black. The peculiar role of carbon black on the swelling characteristics of elastomers in solvent in the presence of mechanical strain is explored.
Platelet-Type von Willebrand Disease: New Insights into the Molecular Pathophysiology of a Unique Platelet Defect

Abstract Compared with coagulation factor defects, little attention is given to defects of platelet function as causes of rare bleeding disorders. Platelet-type von Willebrand disease (PT-VWD) is an autosomal dominant bleeding disorder and is unique among platelet disorders because it is characterized by platelet hyperresponsiveness rather than decreased function. The disease is caused by gain-of-function mutations in the platelet GP1BA gene, which codes for the platelet von Willebrand factor (VWF) receptor, GPIbα. Only five mutations (four missense and one deletion) have so far been reported. Affected patients suffer from mild to moderate mucocutaneous bleeding, low VWF activity compared with antigen, decreased high-molecular-weight VWF multimers, variable degree of thrombocytopenia and typically platelet aggregation in response to low concentrations of ristocetin. All reported PT-VWD missense mutations occur within the R-loop of GPIbα and it was speculated that the introduction of short branched chain mutations such as Val in PT-VWD stabilized the extended β-hairpin. Examination of this theory by surveying all the available GPIbα structures showed that a distinct conformation predominates for the R-loop when GPIbα is not bound to VWF-A1 and this provides the framework of a new hypothesis for the molecular basis of PT-VWD. Worldwide efforts to improve diagnosis of PT-VWD continue, and international systematic studies are required to further our understanding of the phenotype and the influence of the hyperresponsive GPIbα beyond hemostasis.
Aspirin resistance detected with aggregometry cannot be explained by cyclooxygenase activity: involvement of other signaling pathway(s) in cardiovascular events of aspirin‐treated patients

Summary. Objectives: Although the concept of aspirin resistance is extensively reported in medical literature, its precise mechanisms and clinical outcomes are largely unknown. In this study, we examined individual thromboxane biosynthesis and platelet aggregation in aspirin‐treated patients, and whether the results of a platelet aggregation test influenced clinical outcomes. Results: Subjects taking 81 mg of aspirin (n = 50) and controls (n = 38) were evaluated for platelet aggregation and platelet cyclooxygenase‐1 (COX‐1) activity by measuring collagen‐induced thromboxane B2 production. For aggregometry, both light transmission (LT) and laser‐light scattering methods were employed to quantitatively evaluate aggregate sizes and numbers. Aspirin treatment resulted in the inhibition of collagen‐induced platelet aggregation, particularly the transition from small to large platelet aggregates. Although platelet COX‐1 activity seemed to be uniformly inhibited in all patients, platelet aggregation studies showed great inter‐individual differences; variation in platelet COX‐1 activity only accounted for 6–20% of the individual aggregations. Factor analysis revealed the existence of a common factor (other than platelet COX‐1) that explained 48.4% of the variations in platelet aggregation induced by collagen, adenosine diphosphate (ADP), and collagen‐related peptide. We then prospectively enrolled 136 aspirin‐treated patients in our study, and we found that being in the upper quartile level of LT, or with large aggregate formation induced by collagen, was an independent risk factor for developing cardiovascular events within 12 months [hazard ratio (HR) = 7.98, P = 0.008 for LT; HR = 7.76, P = 0.007 for large aggregates]. On the other hand, the existence of diabetes mellitus was an independent risk factor for overall outcomes (HR 1.30–11.9, P = 0.015–0.033). Conclusions: Aspirin resistance expressed as unsuppressed platelet COX‐1 activity is a rare condition in an out‐patient population. Other factor(s) affecting collagen‐induced platelet aggregation may influence early outcomes in aspirin‐treated patients.
Spectral Curve Shape Matching Using Derivatives in Hyperspectral Images

Owning to the absorption of radiation by ground materials on specific wavelengths, spectral curve shapes stay relatively stable in hyperspectral images under various conditions and can be used for material identification. Given a reference spectrum, ground materials can be identified by matching the spectral curve shape of the reference spectrum to that of observed spectra. In the past decade, the spectral curve shape matching approach of the Tetracorder system (SCSMT) has been widely used for material identification. However, the SCSMT approach is performed directly on the continuum-removed spectra. It only catches the shape features on a large scale, missing the fine structures on spectral curves. To consider this issue, a new spectral shape matching approach is proposed, which employs the first-order and second-order spectral derivatives to capture the fine structures on spectra. A new metric is designed to balance the contributions of spectral curves, their first-order and second-order derivatives. To evaluate the performance of the proposed approach, it is applied to synthesized spectra as well as to identify oil spills from two practical hyperspectral images. The experimental results show that the proposed approach can improve the detection performance of the SCSMT approach.