Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pregnancy: a stress test for life

Purpose of review This review describes how the physiological demands of pregnancy act as a maternal stress test that can predict a woman's health in later life. Pregnancy transiently catapults a woman into a metabolic syndrome that predisposes to vascular endothelial dysfunction. Women who are already predisposed to this phenotype develop gestational hypertension or diabetes mellitus, which re-emerge in later life as the metabolic syndrome returns. Pregnancy can also temporarily unmask sub-clinical disease, which may return in later life when the effects of ageing diminish the limited reserves of a vulnerable organ. Recent findings Recent studies have attempted to assess how gestational syndromes affect the risk for a woman of developing a diverse range of diseases in later life. As well as cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus, pregnancy can reveal a vulnerability to thyroid and pituitary disorders, liver and renal disease, depression, thrombosis and even cancer. Summary Although our knowledge of this phenomenon is incomplete, women who have had gestational syndromes, in particular pregnancy-induced hypertension/preeclampsia or gestational diabetes, should make lifestyle changes that will reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease in later life.
Polymerase chain reaction identification of Salmonella serotypes

Seventy‐seven Salmonella isolates comprising 61 different serotypes were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fingerprinting using two primersets. Primerset L1/G1, amplifying the spacer regions between the 16S and 23S rRNA genes, resulted in simple PCR fingerprints. However, in some cases PCR amplification of different Salmonella serotypes with primerset L1/G1 resulted in identical fingerprint profiles. Fingerprints obtained with the ERIC primerset, that matches the enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence, were more complicated but were serotype‐specific. Consequently, fingerprinting with the ERIC primerset is applicable for typing Salmonella up to the serotype level. Fingerprinting with the L1 and G1 primers requires an additional treatment of the amplification product for accurate typing of salmonellas. Phage typing is not possible with either primerset.
Mathematical Modeling of “Chronic” Infectious Diseases: Unpacking the Black Box

Abstract Background Mathematical models are increasingly used to understand the dynamics of infectious diseases, including “chronic” infections with long generation times. Such models include features that are obscure to most clinicians and decision-makers. Methods Using a model of a hypothetical active case-finding intervention for tuberculosis in India as an example, we illustrate the effects on model results of different choices for model structure, input parameters, and calibration process. Results Using the same underlying data, different transmission models produced different estimates of the projected intervention impact on tuberculosis incidence by 2030 with different corresponding uncertainty ranges. We illustrate the reasons for these differences and present a simple guide for clinicians and decision-makers to evaluate models of infectious diseases. Conclusions Mathematical models of chronic infectious diseases must be understood to properly inform policy decisions. Improved communication between modelers and consumers is critical if model results are to improve the health of populations.
Detection of single photons by rod photoreceptors

Amphibian and mammalian rods can both detect single photons of light even though they differ greatly in physical dimensions, mammalian rods being much smaller in diameter than amphibian rods. To understand the changes in physiology and biochemistry required by such large differences in outer segment geometry, we developed a computational approach, taking into account the spatial organization of the outer segment divided into compartments, together with molecular dynamics simulations of the signaling cascade. We generated simulations of the single-photon response together with intrinsic background fluctuations in toad and mouse rods. Combining this computational approach with electrophysiological data from mouse rods, we determined key biochemical parameters. On average around one phosphodiesterase (PDE) molecule is spontaneously active per mouse compartment, similar to the value for toad, which is unexpected due to the much smaller diameter. A larger number of spontaneously active PDEs decreases dark noise, thereby improving detection of single photons; it also increases cGMP turnover, which accelerates the decay of the light response. These constraints explain the higher PDE density in mammalian compared with amphibian rods that compensates for the much smaller diameter of mammalian disks. We further find that the rate of cGMP hydrolysis by light-activated PDE is diffusion limited, which is not the case for spontaneously activated PDE. As a consequence, in the small outer segment of a mouse rod only a few activated PDEs are sufficient to generate a signal that overcomes noise, which permits a shorter lifetime of activated rhodopsin and greater temporal resolution.
An approach for developing an interoperability mechanism between cloud providers

Due to the presence of numerous cloud service providers, the requirement is emerging for interoperability between them so that companies can choose multiple suppliers to fit their needs. This paper provides an approach to address the problem of cloud interoperability. We aim at facilitating the collaboration among providers by proposing an architecture based on an agent society, to support and ensure the data portability and interoperability. For that, we define a two-phase migration protocol that enables data portability by permitting providers to exchange data regardless of their infrastructure, tools and platforms, according to a specific demand in order to satisfy companies' needs.
An unusual pulmonary disease.

WE WISH to describe a group of 26 cases of unusual pulmonary disease that occurred late in March 1944 in eastern Oklahoma. There is but one proved common factor, namely, every man who contracted the disease had spent some time in an abandoned storm cellar on the military reservation at Camp Gruber, Okla. (tables 1 and 2). The group which was there on March 17 consisted chiefly of men from four squads, two squads from each of two companies. These companies lived in different camp areas, used separate messes and had never previously trained together. The men arrived at the area of the cellar around midnight and remained there until about 8 a. m. , being in the cellar from three minutes to six hours. The morning of March 17 was clear and cold, but the ground was damp from rain of the two previous nights. The cellar was reasonably dry,
Reproductive system, social organization, human disturbance and ecological dominance in native populations of the little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata

The invasive ant species Wasmannia auropunctata displays both ecologically dominant and non‐dominant populations within its native range. Three factors could theoretically explain the ecological dominance of some native populations of W. auropunctata: (i) its clonal reproductive system, through demographic and/or adaptive advantages; (ii) its unicolonial social organization, through lower intraspecific and efficient interspecific competition; (iii) the human disturbance of its native range, through the modification of biotic and abiotic environmental conditions. We used microsatellite markers and behavioural tests to uncover the reproductive modes and social organization of dominant and non‐dominant native populations in natural and human‐modified habitats. Microsatellite and mtDNA data indicated that dominant and non‐dominant native populations (supercolonies as determined by aggression tests) of W. auropunctata did not belong to different evolutionary units. We found that the reproductive system and the social organization are neither necessary nor sufficient to explain W. auropunctata ecological dominance. Dominance rather seems to be set off by unknown ecological factors altered by human activities, as all dominant populations were recorded in human‐modified habitats. The clonal reproductive system found in some populations of W. auropunctata may however indirectly contribute to its ecological dominance by allowing the species to expand its environmental niche, through the fixation over time of specific combinations of divergent male and female genotypes. Unicoloniality may rather promote the range expansion of already dominant populations than actually trigger ecological dominance. The W. auropunctata model illustrates the strong impact of human disturbance on species’ ecological features and the adaptive potential of clonal reproductive systems.
Prevalence and Expression of the Plasmid-Mediated Quinolone Resistance Determinant qnrA1

ABSTRACT Since its discovery, qnrA has been found in most common Enterobacteriaceae. Ciprofloxacin MICs conferred by different qnrA-positive plasmids could range from 0.1 μg/ml to 2 μg/ml in Escherichia coli J53. The reasons for different ciprofloxacin MICs conferred by qnrA have not been fully clarified. Five hundred forty-one consecutive gram-negative clinical strains that were resistant or intermediate to ciprofloxacin and that were isolated in Shanghai in 2005 were screened for qnrA by PCR. For qnrA-positive isolates, the transferability of quinolone resistance was determined by conjugation and mutations within the quinolone resistance-determining region (QRDR) of gyrA and parC. aac(6′)-Ib-cr was detected and qnrA RNA expression was determined using real-time reverse transcription-PCR for transconjugants with different ciprofloxacin MICs. The qnrA gene was detected in 7 of the 541 clinical isolates. Quinolone resistance was transferred in four strains by conjugation. Mutations in the QRDR of gyrA and parC were detected in five qnrA-positive clinical strains with higher ciprofloxacin MICs. Of four qnrA-bearing plasmids in E. coli J53, pHS4 and pHS5 conferred ciprofloxacin MICs of 0.094 to 0.125 μg/ml; pHS3, which harbored the aac(6′)-Ib-cr gene as well, conferred a ciprofloxacin MIC of 0.25 μg/ml, and pHS6, which had both the aac(6′)-Ib-cr gene and a high expression level of qnrA, had a ciprofloxacin MIC of 1.0 μg/ml. The prevalence of qnrA appeared to be higher in Enterobacter cloacae than in other Enterobacteriaceae. The coexistence of qnrA and aac(6′)-Ib-cr in a single plasmid and increased qnrA expression can account for the different levels of ciprofloxacin resistance seen in transconjugants.
Regulation of Polyp-to-Jellyfi

Björn Fuchs,1,5,7 Wei Wang,1,7 Simon Graspeuntner,1 Yizhu Li,1 Santiago Insua,1 Eva-Maria Herbst,1 Philipp Dirksen,1 Anna-Marei Böhm,1 Georg Hemmrich,2 Felix Sommer,4 Tomislav Domazet-Lo so,3 Ulrich C. Klostermeier,2 Friederike Anton-Erxleben,1 Philip Rosenstiel,2 Thomas C.G. Bosch,1 and Konstantin Khalturin1,6,8,* 1Zoologisches Institut, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Am Botanischen Garten 1–9, 24118 Kiel, Germany 2Institut für Klinische Molekularbiologie, Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Schittenhelmstrasse 12, 24105 Kiel, Germany 3Institut RuCer Bo skovi c, Bijeni cka cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia 4Wallenberg Laboratory for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, University of Gothenburg, 413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden 5Leica Microsystems AG, Max Schmidheiny Strasse 201, 9435 Heerbrugg, Switzerland 6Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Saint Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya naberezhnaya 7/9, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Longevity and Efficacy of Bifenthrin Treatment on Desert-Pattern US Military Camouflage Netting Against Mosquitoes in a Hot-Arid Environment

Abstract The current Department of Defense pest management system does not provide adequate protection from arthropod disease vectors to personnel deployed in support of US military operations. We hypothesized that military camouflage netting, ubiquitous around living and working areas in current US military operations in Africa and the Middle East, treated with a residual pesticide such as bifenthrin may reduce the presence of biting insects and improve the military pest management system. In this study, we examined the longevity and efficacy of bifenthrin applied to camouflage netting material at the maximum label rate of 0.03 liter formulation (7.9% AI) per 92.9 m2 against field populations of mosquitoes in southern California in a hot-arid environment similar to regions of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa. We showed that bifenthrin treatment of camouflage netting was effective at reducing mosquito populations, predominantly Psorophora columbiae and Aedes vexans, by an average of up to 46% for 56 days, and could cause as much as 40% mortality in Culex quinquefasciatus in laboratory bioassays for nearly 2 months postapplication. These population reductions could translate to commensurate reductions in risk of exposure to mosquito-borne pathogens, and could potentially be effective against sand flies and filth flies.
Application-specific instruction-set processor for digital front-end processing in wireless communications

—High computational demands and multimodal processing of wireless communication standards rise the need of ﬂexible Software Deﬁned Radio (SDR) platforms. A key part is the Front-End Processor responsible for the computation of different air-interface algorithms at the receiver and transmitter side. In this context, Application Speciﬁc Instruction-set Processor (ASIPs) allow to tradeoff the ﬂexibility of General Purpose Processors against the performance of ASICs. In this paper we present a ﬂexible high performance ASIP for front-end processing that has been designed for the OpenAirInterface Platform using the LISA language. Architectural details are given as well as synthesis results for different target technologies. Besides the runtime performance of the ASIP is analyzed for different air-interface operations.
Decision-Feedback Detection for Free-Space Optical Communications

Free-space optics (FSO) have received increased attention recently for last-mile wireless links. In this paper, we investigate noncoherent detection, i.e. detection assuming the absence of channel state information at the receiver, of on-off keying (OOK) in an FSO system. To partially recover the performance loss associated with conventional symbol-by- symbol noncoherent detection, we consider the application of decision-feedback detection (DFD), in which symbol-by-symbol decisions are made using previous decisions and an observation window of N received statistics. Analytical and simulation results indicate that the performance of a DFD receiver approaches the coherent detection lower bound with increasing window length. Consequently, as the proposed receiver exhibits a complexity independent of N, the conclusion is reached that DFD is an effective approach for noncoherent detection in an FSO system.
Protective Effects of Aerosolized Scopolamine Against Soman-Induced Acute Respiratory Toxicity in Guinea Pigs

The protective efficacy of the antimuscarinic agent scopolamine was evaluated against soman (o-pinacolyl methylphosphonofluoridate [GD])-induced respiratory toxicity in guinea pigs. Anesthetized animals were exposed to GD (841 mg/m3) by microinstillation inhalation exposure and treated 30 seconds later with endotracheally aerosolized scopolamine (0.25 mg/kg) and allowed to recover for 24 hours. Treatment with scopolamine significantly increased survival and reduced clinical signs of toxicity and body weight loss in GD-exposed animals. Analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid showed normalization of GD-induced increased cell death, total cell count, and protein following scopolamine treatment. The BAL fluid acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase levels were also increased by scopolamine treatment. Respiratory dynamics parameters were normalized at 4 and 24 hours post–GD exposure in scopolamine-treated animals. Lung histology showed that scopolamine treatment reduced bronchial epithelial and subepithelial inflammation and multifocal alveolar septal edema. These results suggest that aerosolized scopolamine considerably protects against GD-induced respiratory toxicity.
Approche relationnelle du trouble des conduites en entretien familial : intérêt des thérapies brèves et stratégiques

Les troubles comportementaux representent l'un des motifs de consultation les plus frequents en psychiatrie de l'enfant et de l'adolescent, et constituent toujours pour le clinicien, un probleme complexe. A cote des elements medicaux classiques (diagnostic positif et differentiel, complications, etiologie, evolution, comorbidite.) centres sur le patient lui-meme qui est en l'occurrence un etre en developpement, il doit egalement prendre en compte des aspects relationnels essentiels (familiaux, sociaux, educatifs et parfois judiciaires) qui seront toujours l'objet de negociations. La dimension relationnelle et familiale est au premier plan, puisqu'en entretien, le therapeute recoit le plus souvent l'enfant et au moins l'un de ses parents. La perspective psychopathologique en cherchant a decrire des traits et des mecanismes communs aux troubles des conduites et aux comportements violents, insiste sur l'importance de la problematique narcissique impuissance/toute-puissance et de l'estime de soi. Mais, dans une perspective relationnelle, la famille est vue comme un systeme ouvert, complexe, et auto-organise, ou le comportement est une forme de communication qui comprend une part de contenu (le message) et une part relationnelle (le contexte). Le therapeute peut rechercher les regles qui gouvernent ce systeme ; la therapie consiste alors en ce que le therapeute se conduit d'une maniere telle que celles-ci doivent changer. S'inscrivant dans deux cadres epistemologiques differents, l'approche systemique se distingue de l'approche analytique. L'approche systemique fait apparaitre que toute communication dans un systeme est composee d'un echange d'information et d'un echange synchronique meta-informatif assurant l'equilibre du systeme. Elle montre comment le fait d'agir sur le cadre met au travail le systeme, et comment cette action peut etre dirigee dans un sens constructif et etayant. L'approche analytique, en decrivant les mecanismes du developpement psychique, constitue un savoir essentiel qui permet une lecture fine des enjeux problematiques et des besoins de l'enfant. Ces deux approches se completent. En effet, l'approche psychodynamique constitue une approche diachronique du sujet alors que l'approche communicationnelle travaille sur les aspects synchroniques des relations du sujet a son environnement. Par les positions qu'elles adoptent, les therapies breves et strategiques developpent des methodes d'entretiens medicaux qui mettent la collaboration medecin-famille, au coeur la relation therapeutique ; facteur central de l'alliance therapeutique, dont on connait l'importance pour toute action therapeutique efficace.
Original Article A comparison of techniques for measuring the trace element content of human teeth: laser ablation ICP-MS versus solution ICP-MS of micromilled enamel

Through analysis of their chemical composition, human teeth may serve as retrospective bioindicators of pre- and postnatal nutrition and exposures to environmental pollutants. The research presented here explores the agreement of laser ablation ICP-MS and solution ICP-MS analyses aimed at capturing temporal changes in the trace element composition of enamel. Good agreement was found for LA-ICP-MS and solution ICP-MS samples for Mg, Mn, Zn and Sr (laser ablation concentrations at 80% of the equivalehnt solution values), while fair results were found for Ba (60% agreement). Agreement for Pb was poor (<35%). These findings suggest that LA-ICP-MS can provide adequately accurate concentrations for certain elements used to assess the chemical composition of dental enamel. It also shows that micromilled enamel samples are preferable over standard whole dissolution methods as they are able to capture temporal trends in the uptake of elements. © 2011 Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved
Risk factors for protein-energy malnutrition in pre-school shantytown children in São Paulo, Brazil.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the health and nutritional conditions of people living in a shantytown in the city of São Paulo in order to identify risk factors for infant malnutrition. DESIGN A retrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS Children living in a shantytown was conducted among children less than 72 months of age. METHODS Home visits were made and information was collected regarding the risk factors for malnutrition. RESULTS The prevalence of chronic malnutrition was 41.6% according to Gomez, 36.6% according to Waterlow, and 17.6% according to WHO. Risk factors for malnutrition, according to the weight-for-age index, included birthweight, presence of upper respiratory tract infections, number of pregnancies, number of births, maternal body mass index, birthplace of father, and home building material; according to the weight-for-height index, they included birthweight and maternal age at the time of birth; and according to the height-for-age index, they included the number of prenatal medical visits, birthweight, maternal height, maternal body mass index, father's employment being unregistered, and maternal birthplace. An instrument for identifying children at risk of malnutrition was devised from these major risk factors for future malnutrition, which may then be applied to newly-born children.
Intron Retention May Regulate Expression of Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigen 3 Family Genes

ABSTRACT The nuclear antigen 3 family genes (EBNA-3, EBNA-4, and EBNA-6) of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are important for EBV-induced immortalization and survival of B lymphocytes. However, little is known about how the expression of these genes is regulated. Each of the EBNA-3, EBNA-4, and EBNA-6 genes consists of two exons separated by a small intron. Reverse transcriptase PCR assays revealed that the vast majority of the EBNA-3, EBNA-4, and EBNA-6 mRNA, expressed in transfected and EBV-infected B cells, retained intron sequences. Northern blot and S1 protection assays confirmed that most of the EBNA-3 mRNA contained intron. Examination of deletion mutants of EBNA-3 indicated that the EBNA-3 protein was not necessary for intron retention and that there was no splicing silencing element encoded in the EBNA-3 mRNA. Cell fractionation and RNA gradient analysis revealed that the unspliced EBNA 3 family mRNAs were transported into the cytoplasm and associated with the polysomes. However, Western blot analysis of FLAG-epitope tagged EBNA-3 gave no indication of the presence of splice variant protein forms of EBNA-3. In contrast, transiently transfected cells expressing EBNA-3 revealed a sixfold increase in EBNA-3 protein expression from the genomic EBNA-3 gene compared to EBNA-3 cDNA. These data show that the intronic sequences can influence EBNA-3 protein expression and suggest that intron retention may provide a means for the fine-tuning of expression of the individual EBNA 3 family genes.