Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Specific Detection of Unamplified Mycobacterial DNA by Use of Fluorescent Semiconductor Quantum Dots and Magnetic Beads

ABSTRACT Here we present the development of a specific DNA detection method using fluorescent semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and magnetic beads (MBs) for fast detection of Mycobacterium spp. , dispensing with the need for DNA amplification. Two biotinylated oligonucleotide probes were used to recognize and detect specific complementary mycobacterial target DNA through a sandwich hybridization reaction. Cadmium selenite QDs conjugated with streptavidin and species-specific probes were used to produce a fluorescent signal. MBs conjugated with streptavidin and a genus-specific probe were used to isolate and concentrate the DNA targets. The application of the proposed method to isolated bacteria produced the expected result in all cases. The minimum detection limit of the assay was defined as 12.5 ng of DNA diluted in a sample volume of 20 μl. In order to obtain an indication of the method's performance with clinical samples, we applied the optimized assay to the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in DNA isolated from bronchoalveolar lavage specimens from patients with tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in DNA isolated from feces and paraffin-embedded tissues in comparison with culture, Ziehl-Neelsen staining, and real-time PCR. The concordance of these methods compared to the proposed method with regard to positive and negative samples varied between 53.84% and 87.23% and between 84.61% and 100%, respectively. The overall accuracy of the QD assay compared to real-time PCR was 70 to 90% depending on the type of clinical material. The proposed diagnostic assay offers a simple, rapid, specific, and cost-effective method for direct detection and identification of mycobacterial DNA in clinical samples.
Comparison of two dosage regimens of fluoxetine in major depression.

The effect of dose frequency on fluoxetine efficacy and safety was evaluated in a double-blind study in patients with major depressive disorder. The patients received fluoxetine once a day (in the morning) or twice a day (in the morning and at noon). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the mean measures of efficacy, all of which showed significant improvement over baseline (p less than .001). Adverse experience profiles were not significantly different, with nervousness/anxiety predominating in both groups. In the subsequent 48-week open-label study, the percentage of patients reporting adverse experiences decreased greatly.
Mesenchymal Stem Cells Cooperate with Bone Marrow Cells in Therapy of Diabetes

Several recent studies have suggested that the adult bone marrow harbors cells that can influence β‐cell regeneration in diabetic animals. Other reports, however, have contradicted these findings. To address this issue, we used an animal model of type 1 diabetes in which the disease was induced with streptozotocin in mice. Freshly prepared sex‐mismatched bone marrow cells (BMCs) and syngeneic or allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were concomitantly administrated into sublethally irradiated diabetic mice. Blood glucose and serum insulin concentrations rapidly returned to normal levels, accompanied by efficient tissue regeneration after a single injection of a mixture of 106 BMCs per 105 MSCs. Neither BMC nor MSC transplantation was effective alone. Successful treatment of diabetic animals was not due to the reconstitution of the damaged islet cells from the transplant, since no donor‐derived β‐cells were found in the recovered animals, indicating a graft‐initiated endogenous repair process. Moreover, MSC injection caused the disappearance of β‐cell‐specific T lymphocytes from diabetic pancreas. Therefore, we suggest that two aspects of this successful treatment regimen operate in parallel and synergistically in our model. First, BMCs and MSCs induce the regeneration of recipient‐derived pancreatic insulin‐secreting cells. Second, MSCs inhibit T‐cell‐mediated immune responses against newly formed β‐cells, which, in turn, are able to survive in this altered immunological milieu. Thus, the application of this therapy in human patients suffering from diabetes and/or other tissue destructive autoimmune diseases may be feasible.
The Stability of Fixation of First Metatarsal Osteotomies

Five different types of osteotomies for the correction of the hallux valgus deformity were performed on dried human first metatarsal bones. These included the step-cut Mitchell osteotomy, a distal transverse osteotomy, a distal biplanar osteotomy, the Chevron osteotomy, and a basilar osteotomy. Each type of procedure was then fixed using a variety of clinically appropriate techniques including single K-wires, crossed K-wires, a single A-0 cancellous screw, a single A-0 cortical screw, and three different types of sutures. Specimens were placed in a test jig and physiological loads applied with a Materials Testing Systems servohydraulic testing machine (Minneapolis, Minnesota). No difference in stability was observed between the various types of osteotomies, except for the Chevron osteotomy, which did possess greater inherent stability. Fixation by screws or multiple K-wires provided the most stable configuration when compared to other methods. The postoperative regimen following first metatarsal osteotomy should take into account the relative stability of fixation. Cast immobilization and a nonweight-bearing status may be preferable after procedures characterized by less mechanical stability.
The Impact of Human Capital on Economic growth: Case of Tunisia, Morocco, Japan and South KoreaI

Since the early ’90s, the empirical literature on human capital and economic growth is full of conflicting results. Indeed, most theoretical analyzes have confirmed that human capital has a positive and significant effect on growth. This article explores time series causality between human capital (particularly higher education) and growth in four countries economically different, namely Tunisia, Morocco, Japan and South Korea during the period 1960-2012. For this, we use cointegration techniques and Granger causality tests. The results show that cointegration between higher education and economic growth exists only in Japan and South Korea. This finding is explained by the high level of economic growth and human capital of those countries.
INHA: Localization of Mobile Robots Based on Feature Matching with a Single Camera

Challenging problems about mobile robot localization still exist in real-world environments such as lobby or hall. In this paper, a localization method termed INHA (Intuitive Natural landmark-based Homography estimation Algorithm) is proposed. The proposed method is based on a feature matching scheme which only requires a single camera. The feature points are extracted using Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF (ORB) and matched by the RANSAC algorithm. The 3D position of the camera is estimated by an EPnP method. The experimental results showed an average distance error of 1% and driving tests confirmed that the proposed method can be applied in lobby or hall environments.
Orthodontic Retention Patterns in the United Kingdom

Objective To determine whether retention patterns in the UK are influenced by operator gender, age or sphere of practice. Design Postal self-completed questionnaire. Settings Private practice, NHS practice, hospital practice and community practice. Subjects Two hundred and forty orthodontists out of 301 returned their questionnaires (80% response). Method Respondents were asked to report on their retention regimes for a hypothetical crowded class II division I case in the one or more practice settings they worked in. Results Most respondents (61%) worked in more than one practice setting. Vacuum retainers were the most commonly used type in NHS practice and hospital practice while Hawley retainers were frequently used in community practice. Vacuum retainers were also most popular in private practice though often used in conjunction with bonded retainers in both arches, particularly the mandible. Regression analysis revealed that there were no statistically significant associations between retainer preference and gender or age. However, trends were identified that suggested females were less likely to use bonded retainers in the maxilla than males, and older clinicians were more likely to use bonded retainers in the mandible than younger colleagues. Practice setting differences were found to be statistically significant (P⩽0.004) with bonded retainers being more frequently used in private practice. Conclusions Vacuum retainers are popular in NHS, hospital and private practice. Bonded retainers are more commonly used in private practice than in other settings.
Akt phosphorylation and gefitinib efficacy in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND Gefitinib, a specific epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has activity against approximately 10% of unselected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3K)/Akt and Ras/Raf/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), the two main EGFR-signaling pathways, mediate EGFR effects on proliferation and survival. Because activation of these pathways is dependent on the phosphorylation status of the components, we evaluated the association between phosphorylation status of Akt (P-Akt) and MAPK (P-MAPK) and gefitinib activity in patients with advanced NSCLC. METHODS Consecutive patients (n = 106) with NSCLC who had progressed or relapsed on standard therapy received gefitinib (250 mg/day) until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or patient refusal. P-Akt and P-MAPK positivity was determined with immunohistochemistry using tumor tissues obtained before any anticancer treatment. Association of P-Akt and time to progression was determined by univariable and multivariable analyses. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS Of the 103 evaluable patients, 51 (49.5%) had tumors that were positive for P-Akt, and 23 (22.3%) had tumors that were positive for P-MAPK. P-Akt-positivity status was statistically significantly associated with being female (P<.001), with never-smoking history (P =.004), and with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma histology (P =.034). Compared with patients whose tumors were negative for P-Akt, patients whose tumors were positive for P-Akt had a better response rate (26.1% versus 3.9%; P =.003), disease control rate (60.9% versus 23.5%; P<.001), and time to progression (5.5 versus 2.8 months; P =.004). Response rate, disease control rate, and time to progression did not differ according to P-MAPK status. The multivariable analysis showed that P-Akt positivity was associated with a reduced risk of disease progression (hazard ratio = 0.58, 95% confidence interval = 0.35 to 0.94). CONCLUSIONS Patients with P-Akt-positive tumors who received gefitinib had a better response rate, disease control rate, and time to progression than patients with P-Akt-negative tumors, suggesting that gefitinib may be most effective in patients with basal Akt activation.
Meshed Skin Grafts Placed Upside Down Can Take If Desiccation Is Prevented

Background: The role of the wet environment in wound healing has been investigated in various studies. The current study explores the role of the wet wound environment in promoting healing of skin grafts. The authors hypothesized that the survival of skin grafts is dependent not only on the orientation of transplantation but also on the environment into which the skin is transplanted. Methods: This study included 72 full-thickness (2.5 × 2.5-cm) wounds in six Yorkshire pigs. The wounds were grafted with autologous split-thickness skin grafts (meshed or sheet), placed either regularly (dermal side down) or inverted (dermal side up), and treated in a wet or a dry environment. Behavior of the skin grafts and healing were analyzed in histologic specimens collected on days 4, 6, 9, and 12 after wounding. Wound contraction was quantified by photoplanimetry. Results: In the wet environment, not only did inverted meshed skin grafts survive, but also they proliferated to accelerate reepithelialization. In this environment, wounds transplanted with inverted and regular meshed grafts showed no significant difference in reepithelialization rate and contraction. In contrast, in the dry environment, wounds transplanted with inverted meshed grafts showed a significantly lower reepithelialization rate and a higher contraction rate than wounds transplanted with regular grafts. Inverted meshed grafts in a dry environment and inverted sheet grafts did not survive. Conclusion: The wound environment has an important role in the survival and proliferation of skin grafts, as demonstrated by survival of inverted meshed grafts in the wet environment and their contribution to accelerated reepithelialization, equal to the regularly placed grafts.
Social-Ecological Systems Insights for Navigating the Dynamics of the Anthropocene

Social-ecological systems (SES) research offers new theory and evidence to transform sustainable development to better contend with the challenges of the Anthropocene. Four insights from contemporary SES literature on ( a) intertwined SES, ( b) cross-scale dynamics, ( c) systemic tipping points, and ( d) transformational change are explored. Based on these insights, shifts in sustainable development practice are suggested to recognize and govern the complex and codeveloping social and ecological aspects of development challenges. The potential susceptibility of SES to nonlinear systemic reconfigurations is highlighted, as well as the opportunities, agency, and capacities required to foster reconfigurative transformations for sustainable development. SES research proposes the need for diverse values and beliefs that are more in tune with the deep, dynamic connections between social and ecological systems to transform development practice and to support capacities to deal with shocks and surprises. From these perspectives, SES research offers new outlooks, practices, and novel opportunity spaces from which to address the challenges of the Anthropocene.
Refrigeration assisted spot cooling of a high heat density data center

Analytical modeling of two kinds of direct expansion refrigeration cooling evaporator and a secondary liquid cooling fan coil heat exchanger is incorporated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to analyze a high heat density electronic and computer data center installed on a raised floor. Both models incorporate an accurate tube-by-tube thermal hydraulic modeling of the heat exchanger. The refrigeration coil analysis incorporates a multi region heat exchanger analysis for a more precise modeling of two phase refrigerant flow in the evaporator. The single phase secondary loop fan coil heat exchanger modeling uses an effectiveness method for regional modeling of the spot-cooling coil. Using an iterative method, results of the heat exchanger modeling is simultaneously incorporated in the CFD model and an optimal design of spot cooling heat exchanger is developed.
Structure and Function of the Lowe Syndrome Protein OCRL1

Oculocerebrorenal syndrome of Lowe (OCRL) is an X‐linked disorder with the hallmark features of congenital cataracts, mental retardation and Fanconi syndrome of the kidney proximal tubules. OCRL was first described in 1952, and exactly four decades later, the gene responsible was identified and found to encode a protein highly homologous to inositol polyphosphate 5‐phosphatase. This suggested that Lowe syndrome may represent an inborn error of inositol phosphate metabolism, and subsequent studies confirmed that such metabolism is indeed perturbed in Lowe syndrome cells. However, the mechanism by which loss of function of the OCRL1 protein brings about Lowe syndrome remains ill defined. In this review, I will discuss our understanding of OCRL1, including where it is localized, what it interacts with and what its possible functions might be. I will then discuss possible mechanisms by which loss of OCRL1 may bring about cellular defects that manifest themselves in the pathology of Lowe syndrome.
Receptor Revision and Systemic Lupus

Studies over the past 10 years have shown that B cells can undergo secondary heavy‐ or light‐chain immunoglobulin (Ig) rearrangements at various stages of their normal development, a process termed receptor editing. In the bone marrow, this mechanism is important to maintain tolerance because it can extinguish a self‐reactive specificity without having to physically eliminate a potentially autoreactive B cell. In the periphery, secondary rearrangements may also play a role in the diversification and maturation of an immune response, although conclusive evidence for this process is still required. Individuals with systemic autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, show evidence of intricate abnormalities in receptor editing. On the one hand, decreased editing may not eliminate the self‐reactive specificities that emerge during B‐cell development in the bone marrow. Conversely, excessive secondary rearrangements, especially in the periphery where tolerance mechanisms are less effective, can result in the production of autoantibodies by edited B cells. It will be important to assess whether the complex editing defects observed during lupus are a primary susceptibility factor to this disease or if they are secondary to other abnormalities of lymphocyte development in these autoimmune patients.
INFLUENCE OF THE EU INSTRUMENTS ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENCE IN BULGARIA

The European instruments have started acting adequately in Bulgaria since 1991, when the country was accepted as a member of a number of initiatives and pre-accession instruments were introduced. At a later stage commenced the action of the principal European instruments: the framework programs (1998) and structural funds (2003). They intervened the research and education area as real tools in the late 1990 and are acting up to now, being either options from new programing period of Structural funds functioning or as initiatives of new generation Framework programs (Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+, etc.) This article considers the positive effects of these instruments in three directions consecutively: Financially, as a source of additional resources; Science Metrics-wise, as a volume of scientific production, created with their financial support, and evaluation of this production by the world scientific community; Other benefits. The effect of realizations of this instruments has been explored and achieved results have been analyzed as a fundament for further improvement of their effective absorption and bettering the system of research and education.
Web based scoring is useful for validation and harmonisation of scoring criteria within RENEB

Abstract Purpose: To establish a training data set of digital images and to investigate the scoring criteria and dose assessment of the dicentric assay within the European network of biodosimetry (RENEB), a web based scoring inter-comparison was undertaken by 17 RENEB partners. Materials and methods: Two sets of 50 high resolution images were uploaded onto the RENEB website. One set included metaphases after a moderate exposure (1.3 Gy) and the other set consisted of metaphases after a high dose exposure (3.5 Gy). The laboratories used their own calibration curves for estimating doses based on observed aberration frequencies. Results: The dose estimations and 95% confidence limits were compared to the actual doses and the corresponding z-values were satisfactory for the majority; only the dose estimations from two laboratories were too low or too high. The coefficients of variation were 17.6% for the moderate and 11.2% for the high dose. Metaphases with controversial results could be identified for training purposes. Conclusions: Overall, the web based scoring of the two galleries by the 17 laboratories produced very good results. Application of web based scoring for the dicentric assay may therefore be a relevant strategy for an operational biodosimetry assistance network.
Estimating technical efficiency for global e-tailing companies for different regions

Only a few attempts have so far been made to examine the technical efficiency of e-tailing companies. This study estimates the technical efficiency in production of e-tailing companies in the American, European and Asian regions under heterogeneous technologies by applying metafrontier analysis to unbalanced panel data for 47 e-tailing companies during the period 2000-2008. The results show that the technical efficiency exhibits partial discrepancies when both traditional stochastic frontier analysis and metafrontier analysis are used. The average technical efficiency of e-tailing companies in the American region is found to be higher than that in the European region, which is in turn higher than that in the Asian region. However, when using metafrontier analysis, the technical efficiency of the e-tailing companies in the American region is found to be higher than that in the Asian region, which is in turn higher than that in the European region. Thus, we consider it to be a fallacy to suppose that the technical technologies used in the operations of e-tailing companies in the American, European, and Asian regions are identical.
Initial Clinical Experience with Dideoxynucleosides as Single Agents and in Combination Therapy

Several dideoxynucleosides, including 3'-azido-2',3'-dideoxythymidine (zidovudine, azidothymidine, AZT), 2',3'-dideoxycytidine (ddC), and 2',3'-dideoxyinosine (ddI), have been shown to be potent inhibitors of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication in human T cells and macrophages. These compounds undergo anabolic phosphorylation within target cells to a 3'-triphosphate moiety; as triphosphates, they act at the level of HIV DNA polymerase (reverse transcriptase). AZT has been shown to reduce the morbidity and mortality of patients with severe HIV infection and to at least temporarily ameliorate certain cases of HIV-induced dementia. In phase 1 studies, ddC and ddI have been shown to induce immunologic and virologic improvements in patients with AIDS or related disorders; phase 2 studies of ddC and ddI are underway. The use of these drugs can be associated with toxicity. AZT can cause bone marrow toxicity or myositis with prolonged use, ddC can cause peripheral neuropathy at high doses, and ddI can cause sporadic pancreatitis and peripheral neuropathy at high doses. For each compound, however, a therapeutic window exists in which an anti-HIV effect can be attained without short-term toxicity in most patients. Dose-intensity appears to be an important determinant of the toxicity of dideoxynucleosides. Studies are underway to explore how the therapeutic profiles of these compounds may be enhanced by attention to scheduling or through the use of combination therapy.
An LPV modelling and fault diagnosis in wind turbine benchmark system

In order to keep away wind turbines from catastrophic conditions due to sudden breakdowns, it is important to detect faults as soon as possible. For diagnosis, a model-based approach is chosen. There are many works that use this fault detection design, but the majority of them consider this system as a linear time invariant (LTI) model. The objective of this paper is, first, to find an LPV model of the system using the subspace identification technique of linear parameter-varying (LPV). Second, we focus on fault diagnosis based on residual generation which is obtained as a comparison between the measured variable and the estimated one using this LPV model. In this work, a benchmark of a wind turbine case is proposed with six predefined faults (three sensor fault scenarios, two actuator fault scenarios and a system fault scenario).