Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pharmacotherapy for pneumococcal infections: an update

Introduction: The management of pneumococcal diseases still places a significant burden on medical and economic resources. The subjects at greatest risk of pneumococcal infections are children. Areas covered: The aim of this review is to analyse the best current therapeutic approach to pneumococcal resistance, taking into account the level of susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae, and the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of different antibiotics in the various pneumococcal diseases. Expert opinion: Antibiotic treatment of a number of pneumococcal diseases remains difficult or impossible due to the presence of strains resistant to commonly used antibiotics. In children the problem is significantly more important than in adults due to the reduced number of licenced drugs for subjects in the first years of life. The new conjugate pneumococcal vaccines containing 10 (PCV10) and 13 serotypes (PCV13), which include most of the recently emerging strains, might reduce the incidence of pneumococcal infections and the circulation of resistant pathogens. However, it is likely that optimal results will only be reached after the development of effective vaccines based on conserved proteins that are capable of preventing all pneumococcal infections, regardless of the serotype of the causative organism.
Dynamic Transfer Control of Components of Complex Software System Based on Multi-agent

As a novel software paradigm, complex software system has been paid more attention to in recent years. For improving the distributed application of components on the internet, dynamic transfer control of components is a question with practical significance in complex software system. A new control law based on multi-agent is presented, which can effectively make the agents (components) reach the desired target. In this model, swarm-intelligence is applied to design the control law. Through monitoring and evaluating environment by agents, the weight network between agents is adjusted, which guarantee achieving higher efficiency of components movement. The simulations are made in the end to demonstrate the results.
Fas ligand is not constitutively expressed in low‐grade B‐cell lymphoma and B‐lymphoblastoid cells

The Fas ligand (FasL) pathway is one of the two major effector mechanisms of T‐cell‐mediated cell death. FasL expression by extralymphatic tissues is thought to maintain a status of immunity. Accordingly, it has been proposed that tumor cells express FasL as a mechanism of immunologic escape. However, data regarding FasL expression in normal or neoplastic tissues remain controversial. In the present study, we investigated the expression of FasL in normal peripheral blood B lymphocytes or malignant cells of the B‐lymphocyte lineage to elucidate a possible immunologic counterattack mechanism. FasL gene expression was analyzed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction in two non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) entities: the highly aggressive Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) and indolent NHL chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). FasL expression was found to be consistently negative in all BL cell lines and purified samples from patients with CLL. FasL is not constitutively expressed in normal peripheral blood or neoplastic B lymphocytes making the Fas counterattack, as described for gastrointestinal cancer, unlikely as a mechanism of immunologic escape of lymphoma cells.
Cell-specific respiratory activity of aquatic bacteria studied with the tetrazolium reduction method, cyto-clear slides, and image analysis

We present an improvement of the INT [2-(p-iodophenyl)-3-(p-nitrophenyl)-5-phenyltetrazolium chloride)] reduction method using Cyto-Clear slides, the fluorochrome DAPI (4(prm1),6(prm1)-diamidino-2 phenylindole), and an image analysis system. With this method we were able to simultaneously measure cell dimensions and formazan crystals as indicators of the respiratory activity of single bacteria. The method was tested on a natural bacterioplankton community of an oligotrophic high mountain lake (Gossenkollesee, Tyrolean Alps, Austria, 2,417 m above sea level) in midwinter ((symbl)1-m-thick ice and snow layer; dissolved organic carbon, 0.51 mg liter(sup-1); water temperature, 2(deg)C). About 25% of planktonic bacteria were respiratorily active, and a complex pattern of bacterial morphologies and specific respiratory activities was observed during a time series of INT incubation. Rod-shaped bacteria with cell lengths of between 1.6 and 4.8 (mu)m already showed visible activity after 0.5 h of INT incubation. Small cells (rods and cocci) in the size fraction <1.6 (mu)m and long filamentous bacteria (up to 120 (mu)m) were visibly active only after a 2-h incubation period. After 8 h of incubation, more than 90% of all cells between 3.2 and 6.4 (mu)m in cell length were respiratorily active, whereas only 5% of cells <1.6 (mu)m and 50% of filamentous bacteria contained formazan grains. We could distinguish five major bacterial phenotypes that showed distinct activity patterns with respect to incubation period and numbers and sizes of formazan crystals. There was no correlation between the total formazan volume per active cell and bacterial cell volume, and for any size class of active bacteria, total formazan volumes varied by about 2 orders of magnitude after 8 h of incubation. This indicates that cell-specific activity is extremely variable and is not related to size and that a small portion of all cells may account for the overall activity.
Cutting Edge: Ligation of the Glucocorticoid-Induced TNF Receptor Enhances Autoreactive CD4+ T Cell Activation and Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis1

The glucocorticoid-induced TNFR (GITR) is expressed at high levels on resting CD4+CD25+ T regulatory (TR) cells and regulates their suppressive phenotype. Accordingly, we show that anti-GITR mAb treatment of SJL mice with proteolipid protein 139–151-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis significantly exacerbated clinical disease severity and CNS inflammation, and induced elevated levels of Ag-specific T cell proliferation and cytokine production. Interestingly, prior depletion of TR cells failed to result in exacerbated experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis suggesting alternative targets for the anti-GITR mAb treatment. Importantly, naive CD4+CD25− T cells up-regulated GITR expression in an activation-dependent manner and anti-GITR mAb treatment enhanced the level of CD4+ T cell activation, proliferation, and cytokine production in the absence of TR cells both in vivo and in vitro. Taken together, these findings suggest a dual functional role for GITR as GITR cross-linking both inactivates TR cells and increases CD4+CD25− T cell effector function, thus enhancing T cell immunity.
[Clinical studies on the loudness of tinnitus].

It is very important to evaluate the loudness of tinnitus adequately for the appropriate treat ment.The loudness balance test and masking test are commonly used for the evaluation of tinnitus loudness. In this report, the subjective loudness level of tinnitus was compared with the loudness level of tinnitus measured by the above two tests and also with the pure tone threshold in 211 patients with tinnitus.The subjective loudness of tinnitus in these cases was classified into five degrees (very soft (0) to very loud(4)). Thus the subjective loudness level measured by these two tests was expressed by two levels which were the audiometer level and the sensation level.The following results were obtained:1) The tinnitus loudness expressed by the sensation level in these two tests is not useful when the tinnitus loudness is compared in the individual cases. Because the loudness of tinnitus is often estimated much smaller by the influence of recruitment and the technical error of these tests in the 5 dB step measurement method is large.2) The tinnitus loudness expressed by the audiometer level changed almost in parallel with the pure tone threshold. Therefore, it is speculated that the tinnitus loudness, expressed by the audiometer level can not be the true tinnitus loudness level.3) The subjective loudness of the tinnitus seems to be increased with the deterioration of the pure tone threshold.4) From these results, both the loudness balance and masking tests are thought to be unsuitable for evaluating the tinnitus loudness. A more appropriated method should be made to evaluate tinnitus loudess adequately.
Resource allocation for downlink multicell OFDMA systems by interference limitation

In this paper we want to maximize sum throughput of two interfering cells. ICI has been shown to be the predominant performance-limiting factor in wireless cellular networks and we propose a scheme that intercell interference in each subcarrier doesn't exceed a specific threshold. In this respect, a new problem entitled as "sum throughput maximization with intercell interference limitation" has been defined. Three subclasses of the problem are presented and solved analytically, which assist in developing three types of resource allocation algorithms: a) optimum resource allocation algorithm by exhaustive search based on the optimum power allocation problem solution, b) distributed resource allocation algorithm based on the single cell problem solution, and c) centralized resource allocation algorithm based on the joint multicell problem solution. Simulation results illustrate the performance improvements of the proposed schemes in comparison to the schemes with no intercell interference consideration.
Performance assessment of MPPT algorithms for vehicle integrated solar systems

Photovoltaic systems have been a prominent option as an additional energy source for vehicles. Maximum power point trackers (MPPTs) should be used to increase efficiency and power output of solar panels under changing environmental factors. There are several different algorithms in the literature developed for maximum power point tracking. However, energy performances of MPPT algorithms are not clarified for vehicle applications that cause rapid changes of environmental factors. In this study, three popular MPPT algorithms, i.e. P&O, IC and OC, are compared at real ambient conditions by couples. For comparison, PV modules are mounted on a moving platform designed to simulate insulation received by solar systems on a moving vehicle. Experimental results obtained from comparison of algorithms by a motion loop are presented and discussed.
Effect of pore size in substrate and diffusion of enzyme on hydrolysis of cellulosic materials with cellulases

The effect of cellulase size on hydrolysis was studied by comparing the behavior of crosslinked cellulase (CC) with normal cellulase (FC). The average molecular weight of the CC was at least three times the molecular weight of the FC. The amounts of each enzyme were adjusted so that the degree of solubilization after 2 h was the same. The degree of solubilization of Avicel with CC was higher than that with FC in the late stage of reaction. The degree of solubilization of pretreated lignocelluloses was much greater than that of Avicel, but the degree of solubilization with CC was lower than that with FC at all times during the reaction. The degree of solubilization of artificial lignified Avicel was higher with FC than with CC, but the degree of solubilization of de‐lignified the artificial lignified Avicel was lower with FC than with CC. The degree of solubilization of amorphous celloulose with FC was the same as that with CC at all times during the reaction. These behaviors are examined by the hypothesis that when small pores dominate, the smaller enzyme components diffuse into the pores and become inactive since synergism with the larger components is no longer possible, whereas, when larger pores dominate, the entire enzyme can diffuse in and therefore the available surface area is increased. This hypothesis is supported by direct measurement of the pore size in two of the substrates and by diffusion inside Avicel of only smaller molecular cellulase component.
Wearable audio journal and mobile application to capture automatic thoughts in patients undergoing cognitive behavioral therapy

By replacing the hand-written 'thought records', used by Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) patients, with a Wearable audio journal that works in tandem with a smartphone, we can help patients capture their automatic thoughts at the moment of its occurrence and facilitate in the posterior analysis of the data along with the therapist. Speech provides richer clues about the emotional state of mind of the patient and thus could possibly help in better therapy.
[Effectiveness of epicondylitis bandages from the biomechanical viewpoint--an experimental study].

QUESTIONS During extension of the elbow joint (test measurement) and extension of the wrist (control measurement), maximal bandage pressure is desired on the extensor group of the forearm, especially of the M. extensor carpl radialis brevis (ECRB). Do the various commercial epicondylitis bandages produce a mechanical effect on the extensor group of the forearm and how do the maximal pressures of these bandages behave in direct comparison? Are the pressures produced clinically relevant? METHODS Eleven different epicondylitis bandage constructions were examined for their biomechanical effects. The exerted pressure was measured continously during the above-mentioned movements. A fist-closing strength of ca. 30 N was maintained for the necessary pre-stressing of the forearm muscles. RESULTS Strap-type bandages were the only bandages to produce adequately high pressures. Bands applied at pressures which approach those of the straps led to obstruction in bloodflow. Stocking designs showed no effect in respect to our study. CONCLUSION Bandages which apply pressure to relieve the tendon insertion of the extensor muscles must, from a technical standpoint, be of a strap construction in order to build up adequate pressures to be effective.
Algorithm for Calculating the Noncentral Chi-Square Distribution

This article presents a new algorithm for evaluating the noncentral chi-square distribution based on Parl's (1980) method of Neumann series expansion. It is applicable to both even and odd degrees of freedom, unlike most prior work, which has been directed at the even cases. Convergence tests and procedures for detection of loss of precision are given. The overall method is extremely simple to program, accurate to many decimal places where applicable, and efficient over a wide range of parameters. The method is reliable provided the proper expansion is chosen based on the parameters.
Derivazione con approccio meccanico-statistico della risposta idrologica di reticoli frattali

La risposta idrologica di una rete idrografica e stata qui ricavata sulla base di un approccio meccanico-statistico e nell’ipotesi che detta rete possa riguardarsi come un oggetto frattale. In ipotesi di distribuzione uniforme della lunghezza delle aste e di velocita costante e condizionando il risultato alla conoscenza della lunghezza totale invariante del reticolo idrografico, la funzione di risposta ottenuta e una legge di Weibull con parametro di forma pari alla dimensione frattale topologica Dt e con parametro di scala anch'esso funzione di Dt. Il significato idrologico di tale dimensione frattale viene cosi ad essere fortemente evidenziato. Il modello proposto e ben supportato dal fatto che l’applicazione di criteri generali (minimo picco, massima entropia, minimo lavoro) conducono a valori di Dt variabili fra 1.4 ed 1.6, intervallo questo riscontrato in natura. Mutuamente, viene a rafforzarsi l’idea che i reticoli idrografici si modellano nel rispetto di detti criteri generali.
The Landing Error Scoring System as a Screening Tool for an Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury-Prevention Program in Elite-Youth Soccer Athletes.

CONTEXT Identifying neuromuscular screening factors for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is a critical step toward large-scale deployment of effective ACL injury-prevention programs. The Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) is a valid and reliable clinical assessment of jump-landing biomechanics. OBJECTIVE To investigate the ability of the LESS to identify individuals at risk for ACL injury in an elite-youth soccer population. DESIGN Cohort study. SETTING Field-based functional movement screening performed at soccer practice facilities. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS A total of 829 elite-youth soccer athletes (348 boys, 481 girls; age = 13.9 ± 1.8 years, age range = 11 to 18 years), of whom 25% (n = 207) were less than 13 years of age. INTERVENTION(S) Baseline preseason testing for all participants consisted of a jump-landing task (3 trials). Participants were followed prospectively throughout their soccer seasons for diagnosis of ACL injuries (1217 athlete-seasons of follow-up). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Landings were scored for "errors" in technique using the LESS. We used receiver operator characteristic curves to determine a cutpoint on the LESS. Sensitivity and specificity of the LESS in predicting ACL injury were assessed. RESULTS Seven participants sustained ACL injuries during the follow-up period; the mechanism of injury was noncontact or indirect contact for all injuries. Uninjured participants had lower LESS scores (4.43 ± 1.71) than injured participants (6.24 ± 1.75; t1215 = -2.784, P = .005). The receiver operator characteristic curve analyses suggested that 5 was the optimal cutpoint for the LESS, generating a sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of 64%. CONCLUSIONS Despite sample-size limitations, the LESS showed potential as a screening tool to determine ACL injury risk in elite-youth soccer athletes.
End-to-end Adversarial Learning for Generative Conversational Agents

This paper presents a new adversarial learning method for generative conversational agents (GCA) besides a new model of GCA. Similar to previous works on adversarial learning for dialogue generation, our method assumes the GCA as a generator that aims at fooling a discriminator that labels dialogues as human-generated or machine-generated; however, in our approach, the discriminator performs token-level classification, i.e. it indicates whether the current token was generated by humans or machines. To do so, the discriminator also receives the context utterances (the dialogue history) and the incomplete answer up to the current token as input. This new approach makes possible the end-to-end training by backpropagation. A self-conversation process enables to produce a set of generated data with more diversity for the adversarial training. This approach improves the performance on questions not related to the training data. Experimental results with human and adversarial evaluations show that the adversarial method yields significant performance gains over the usual teacher forcing training.
Impact de la signalisation constitutive du récepteur de la prolactine sur la physiopathologie mammaire

Le lien entre la prolactine (PRL) et la tumorigenese mammaire est soutenu par de nombreux arguments experimentaux, cliniques et epidemiologiques. Cependant, aucune mutation des genes de la PRL ou de son recepteur (PRLR) n'a jamais ete identifiee dans le contexte du cancer du sein. En 2008, notre Laboratoire a identifie le premier polymorphisme gain-de-fonction du PRLR chez des patients presentant une forme rare de tumeur mammaire benigne (polyadenomatose mammaire). En effet, la seule substitution de l'isoleucine 146 par une leucine dans le domaine extracellulaire du PRLR lui confere une activite de signalisation basale plus elevee que le PRLR sauvage. Dans le cadre de ma these, nous avons essaye de determiner experimentalement quelles pouvaient etre les consequences de l'expression d'un PRLR constitutivement active dans une cellule mammaire saine ou tumorale. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilise deux approches complementaires. D'une part, nous avons genere deux modeles de souris knock-in ayant integre une seule copie du PRLR humain, mute (I146L) ou sauvage (en controle). Nous avons ensuite analyse les phenotypes mammaires de ces souris a differents âges. Nous n'avons observe aucun developpement tumoral, indiquant que le PRLR-I146L n'est pas un oncogene. Neanmoins, les glandes mammaires des souris âgees presentent certaines anomalies histologiques suggerant une interference possible du PRLR mute avec la differenciation mammaire. L'analyse des ces phenotypes doit etre poursuivie pour en determiner l'ampleur exacte et les mecanismes potentiels. D'autre part, nous avons realise une etude in vitro en utilisant des cellules tumorales mammaires humaines. Une etude parallele au Laboratoire ayant permis de montrer que la substitution I146D conduisait a une activite constitutive plus forte que le polymorphisme naturel I146L, nous avons genere des clones stables de deux lignees tumorales mammaires humaines exprimant le PRLR-I146D. Malgre une signalisation constitutive demontree, l'expression de ce PRLR mute ne procure aucun avantage selectif aux cellules tumorales en termes de proliferation, ni ne modifie leur phenotype histologique (Zhang, Cherifi et al, en revision). En conclusion, notre travail a permis de montrer que la seule expression d'un variant gain-de-fonction du PRLR est insuffisante pour transformer une cellule mammaire saine, ou pour favoriser la proliferation de cellules mammaires tumorales.
Improving Predictive Models of Software Quality Using an Evolutionary Computational Approach

Predictive models can be used to identify components as potentially problematic for future maintenance. Source code metrics can be used as input features to classifiers, however, there exist a large number of structural measures that capture different aspects of coupling, cohesion, inheritance, complexity and size. Feature selection is the process of identifying a subset of attributes that improves a classifier's performance. The focus of this study is to explore the efficacy of a genetic algorithm as a method of improving a classifier's ability to identify problematic components.
Myocardial ischemia due to vasospasm of small coronary arteries detected by methylergometrine maleate stress myocardial scintigraphy

Background: Recently, several case reports have implicated vasospasm of small coronary arteries in vasospastic angina pectoris. Vasospasm of small coronary arteries was also considered from angiographic findings in patients with atypical chest pain. In Syrian hamster, vasospasm in small coronary arteries was considered to be the cause of dilated cardiomyopathy.
Transfer of intestinal microbiota from lean donors increases insulin sensitivity in individuals with metabolic syndrome.

Alterations in intestinal microbiota are associated with obesity and insulin resistance. We studied the effects of infusing intestinal microbiota from lean donors to male recipients with metabolic syndrome on the recipients' microbiota composition and glucose metabolism. Subjects were assigned randomly to groups that were given small intestinal infusions of allogenic or autologous microbiota. Six weeks after infusion of microbiota from lean donors, insulin sensitivity of recipients increased (median rate of glucose disappearance changed from 26.2 to 45.3 μmol/kg/min; P < .05) along with levels of butyrate-producing intestinal microbiota. Intestinal microbiota might be developed as therapeutic agents to increase insulin sensitivity in humans; www.trialregister. nl; registered at the Dutch Trial Register (NTR1776).