Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Staphylococcus

This chapter looks at the treatment of staphylococcal infection that is dependent on the site involved, the severity of infection, and the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the organism causing the infection. It discusses the most serious staphylococcal infections that are caused by coagulase-positive staphylococci and coagulase-negative staphylococci, which may be life threatening. It also describes Staphylococcus aureus as a highly invasive pathogen that spreads hematogenously to many organs and leads to metastatic foci of infection. The chapter investigates coagulase-negative staphylococci, which are generally healthcare-associated infections that require the presence of prosthetic material to gain a foothold and cause infection. It explains staphylococci's quick propensity to develop resistance to antibiotics.
Relationship between Multimorbidity and Quality of Life in a Primary Care Setting: The Mediating Role of Dyspnea

Multimorbidity is known to impair Quality of Life (QoL) in patients in a primary setting. Poor QoL is associated with higher dyspnea perception. How multimorbidity and dyspnea perception are related to QoL needs clarification. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the mediating role of dyspnea perception in the relationship between multimorbidity and QoL in adults with and without airflow obstruction in a primary care setting. Seventeen general practitioners participated in the study: a total of 912 adult patients attending the practitioner’s surgery for a generic consultation completed a preliminary respiratory screening; 566 of them answered a respiratory questionnaire between January and June 2014, and 259 of the latter (148 M, aged 40–88) agreed to go through all the of procedures including spirometry, the IMCA and QoL (SF-36 through Physical Health “PCS” and Mental Health components) questionnaires, evaluation of comorbidities and the mMRC Dyspnea Scale. For screening purpose, a cut-off of FEV1/FVC < 70% was considered a marker of airflow obstruction (AO). Of the sample, 25% showed airflow obstruction (AO). No significant difference in mMRC score regarding the number of comorbidities and the PCS was found between subjects with and without AO. Multimorbidity and PCS were inversely related in subjects with (p < 0.001) and without AO (p < 0.001); mMRC and PCS were inversely related in subjects with (p = 0.001) and without AO (p < 0.001). A mediation analysis showed that the relation between number of comorbidities and PCS was totally mediated by mMRC in subjects with AO and partially in subjects without AO. We conclude that the effect of multimorbidity on PCS is totally mediated by mMRC only in AO. Detecting and monitoring mMRC in a primary care setting may be a useful indicator for evaluating a patient’s global health.
Correlation between Late Second and Third Trimester Placental Thickness Detected by Ultrasound and Gestational Age in Normal and IUGR Pregnancies

Background: Ultrasonography has played a significant part in obstetric care. This has progressed from basic 2-D imaging to Doppler imaging to monitor foetal and maternal circulation, as well as 3-D imaging of foetal anatomy . ). Obstetrical ultrasound has proven crucial in a variety of ways, two in particular being more accurate pregnancy dating and detection of fetal anomalies. The aim of this study is determine to Correlation between late second and third trimester placental thickness detected by ultrasound and gestational age in normal and IUGR pregnancies. Methods: This study was a prospective study that was conducted on100 pregnant women who attended the outpatient clinics or admitted at inpatients wards of Obstetrics and Gynecology department, Tanta University during the period from December 2019 to December 2020. Results In the majority of gestational age groups, the mean placental thickness was lower in group I than that detected in group II (P<0.01) except that detected between 28 and 29 weeks and 29 and 30 weeks, where there was no significant difference between two studied groups regarding placental thickness (P>0.05). In addition, the present study indicated that 26 out of 50 (52%) of newborns in group I had a birth weight below the fifth percentile and 24% of them had a birth weight ranged between 5 th -10 th percentile for gestational age and sex at the time of birth whereas all newborns of group II had a birth weight >10th percentile for gestational age and sex. A comparison of neonates’ birth characteristics and outcomes between two groups showed a statistically significant difference in the birth weight among both studied groups Conclusions: The mean placental thickness was steadily increased with increased gestational age both IUGR and normal fetal weight cases. in addition, In the majority of gestational age groups, the mean placental thickness was lower in IUGR than that their normal weight conterparts.
An in situ observation dataset of soil hydraulic properties and soil moisture in a high and cold mountainous area on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Abstract. Soil hydraulic properties (SHPs) and soil moisture (SM) are fundamental to describing and predicting water and energy cycles at the land surface, and for regulating evapotranspiration, infiltration and runoff. However, information about these soil properties from existing datasets is often scarce and inaccurate for high and cold mountainous areas such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), which hampers our understanding of hydrological and energy cycle processes over large mountainous areas like the QTP. Based on soil profile data at depths of 5 cm and 25 cm from 238 sampling sites, and on soil data from 32 SM monitoring stations at depths of 5 cm, 15 cm, 25 cm, 40 cm, and 60 cm, we have compiled a SHP and SM dataset for a high and cold mountainous area, Northeastern QTP. We used this dataset to explore the large-scale spatial and temporal variability of SHPs and of SM across the study area. Our evaluation of several existing SHP datasets, SM datasets derived from remote-sensing, reanalysis and data assimilation, showed that SHPs (soil texture, bulk density, and soil saturated hydraulic conductivity) in these datasets are biased, and do not capture the spatial variability recorded in the in-situ observations. When comparing with the in-situ SM observations, the SM product derived from remote-sensing was more reliable than the SM product derived from reanalysis data (which had a higher bias), and than the data assimilation product (which did not capture SM temporal variability). The in situ observation dataset presented here provides unique and important information about the SHP variability and long-term SM trends at a large-scale, high and cold mountainous area, and thus offers opportunity for further understanding of water cycle and energy exchange processes over the QTP.
Loss of E-Cadherin Staining Continuity in the Trophoblastic Basal Membrane Correlates with Increased Resistance in Uterine Arteries and Proteinuria in Patients with Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension

Pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), especially when complicated with pre-eclampsia (PE), could be a life-threatening complication of pregnancy. Pre-eclampsia is one of the leading causes of perinatal morbidity and mortality in women. Pre-eclampsia is mainly characterized by hypertension and kidney damage with proteinuria. Abnormal placentation and altered structure of the placental barrier are believed to participate in the pathogenesis of pregnancy-induced hypertension, leading to PE. In the current study, we aimed to analyze the immunohistochemical expression pattern of E-cadherin and p120, two markers of epithelial–mesenchymal transition, in placental samples derived from a group of 55 patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension, including pre-eclampsia and 37 healthy pregnant controls. The results were correlated with the presence of an obtained early uterine artery flow notching during diastole on Doppler ultrasound. We observed a higher frequency of discontinuous E-cadherin staining in the basement membrane of syncytiotrophoblast in patients with PIH/PE compared to controls (p < 0.001, Fisher’s exact test). Moreover, the loss of continuity of E-cadherin expression correlated with the presence of a bilateral early diastolic notch on Doppler ultrasound (p < 0.001, Fisher’s exact test) and the presence of proteinuria (p = 0.013, Fisher’s exact test). These findings suggest that E-cadherin contributes to the integrity of the placental barrier, and its loss could be an immunohistochemical marker of PE.
Triblock Copolymer Micelles with Tunable Surface Charge as Drug Nanocarriers: Synthesis and Physico-Chemical Characterization

Polymeric micelles have gained increasing interest as efficient drug delivery systems for cancer treatment and diagnosis. The aim of the present study was to construct and to evaluate novel polymeric nanosized drug carriers with tunable surface charges. Initially, amphiphilic triblock copolymers with predetermined molar mass characteristics were synthesized by applying controlled polymerization techniques. The copolymers self-assembled in aqueous media into core–shell spherical micelles, comprising a biodegradable hydrophobic poly(D,L-lactide) core, positively charged middle layer of poly((2-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate), and an outer shell of neutral hydrophilic poly(oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate), with various densities of the short polyether side chains. The block copolymer micelles with average diameters of about 70 nm and surface charges varying from strongly positive to neutral were characterized and loaded with the model, natural, hydrophobic drug curcumin. Characteristics such as drug loading efficiency, in-vitro drug release profiles, and stability under physiological conditions were evaluated and discussed in terms of nanocarriers’ composition. As a result, the most promising candidates for potential application in nanomedicine were identified.
Spatial-Temporal Heterogeneity in the Deformation and Damage of Rock Samples: Experimental Study Using Digital Image Correlation Analysis

In situ observations and laboratory experiments showed that slow deformation waves widely exist in geomedia under loading conditions. Slow deformation waves’ behavior exhibits some similarities in media ranging from the scale as large as the Earth’s crust to the scale as small as the laboratory test samples. However, the mechanism underlying their generation has not been clarified yet. In this research an experimental study was performed on small-scale red sandstone samples subjected to uniaxial compression at the displacement rates of 0.1, 0.5, and 1 mm/min. Slow deformation waves under different loading rates were analyzed by speckle photography for microscopic characterization combined with the digital image correlation (DIC) technique. The Luders deformation bands were predominantly observed in the flow channels formed at the stage of macro-elastic deformation. The spatial-temporal heterogeneity of the rock sample surface was quantified, and the deformation waves’ propagation velocities under different loading rates were obtained. The linear relationship between the propagation velocities of slow deformation waves and the loading rates was determined. The research findings shed some new light on the evolutionary characteristics of the slow deformation waves.
Synthesis of nanoparticles of the chitosan-poly((α,β)-DL-aspartic acid) polyelectrolite complex as hydrophilic drug carrier

Abstract In this work, nanoparticles of the chitosan-poly((α,β)-DL-aspartic acid) polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) were synthesized. The purpose is to develop a biodegradable, biocompatible, and non-toxic polymeric platform as a vehicle for the encapsulation of hydrophilic drugs. The ionotropic gelation method, using solutions of chitosan and poly((α,β)-DL-aspartic acid sodium salt), allowed synthesizing particles with diameters of 142.1 ± 2.9 nm determined by DLS, while by FESEM particle diameters in the 60–200 nm range were observed. A preliminary trial showed that encapsulation of isoniazid, a hydrophilic drug to treat tuberculosis, is possible with encapsulation efficiency in the range of 5.3–5.8%. Graphical Abstract
Active fault tolerant control design using switching linear parameter varying controllers with inexact fault‐effect parameters

In this article, a novel active fault‐tolerant control (AFTC) design method is developed by using the switching linear parameter varying (LPV) controller with inexact fault‐effect parameters. The LPV controller is not only considered as a gain‐scheduled controller varying with the operating points, but also an AFTC controller varying with the fault‐effect parameters, which can be obtained via the fault estimator in real‐time. The inexact measurement of fault‐effect parameters is considered for the first time in this article. To cover large parameters variation, a class of switched LPV fault‐tolerant controller is designed to work in the multiple partitioned parameters subregions. The dynamic output feedback controller model is constructed to perform the switched LPV fault‐tolerant control task under the mode‐dependent average dwell time constraint. By using the multiple parameter‐dependent Lyapunov function approach, sufficient conditions with less conservatism are obtained, such that the corresponding closed‐loop systems are globally uniformly exponentially stable and satisfy an upper bound of weighted l2 ‐gain performance indexes. Finally, effectiveness and applicability of the developed approaches are validated via an active magnetic bearing system.
A Numerical Study on Aircraft Noise Mitigation Using Porous Stator Concepts

This manuscript presents the application of a recently developed noise reduction technology, constituted by poro-serrated stator blades on a full-scale aircraft model, in order to reduce rotor-stator interaction noise in the fan stage. This study was carried out using the commercial lattice Boltzmann solver 3DS-SIMULIA PowerFLOW. The simulation combines the airframe of the NASA High-Lift Common Research Model with an upscaled fan stage of the source diagnostic test rig. The poro-serrations on the stator blades have been modeled based on a metal foam with two different porosity values. The results evidence that the poro-serrations induce flow separation on the stator blades, particularly near the fan-stage hub. Consequently, the thrust generated by the modified fan stage is lower and the broadband noise emission at low frequencies is enhanced. Nevertheless, the tonal noise components at the blade-passage frequency and its harmonics are mitigated by up to 9 dB. The poro-serrations with lower porosity achieve a better trade-off between noise emission and thrust penalty. An optimization attempt was carried out by limiting the application of porosity near the tip of the stator blades. The improved leading-edge treatment achieves a total of 1.5 dB in sound power level reduction while the thrust penalty is below 1.5%. This demonstrates that the aerodynamic effects of a leading-edge treatment should be taken into account during the design phase to fully benefit from its noise reduction capability.
Robust, versatile DNA FISH probes for chromosome-specific repeats in Caenorhabditis elegans and Pristionchus pacificus

Repetitive DNA sequences are useful targets for chromosomal fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). We analyzed recent genome assemblies of Caenorhabditis elegans and Pristionchus pacificus to identify tandem repeats with a unique genomic localization. Based on these findings, we designed and validated sets of oligonucleotide probes for each species targeting at least one locus per chromosome. These probes yielded reliable fluorescent signals in different tissues and can easily be combined with immunolocalization of cellular proteins. Synthesis and labeling of these probes are highly cost-effective and require no hands-on labor. The methods presented here can be easily applied in other model and non-model organisms with a sequenced genome.
Mitochondrial Genome Editing to Treat Human Osteoarthritis—A Narrative Review

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a severe, common chronic orthopaedic disorder characterised by a degradation of the articular cartilage with an incidence that increases over years. Despite the availability of various clinical options, none can stop the irreversible progression of the disease to definitely cure OA. Various mutations have been evidenced in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of cartilage cells (chondrocytes) in OA, leading to a dysfunction of the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation processes that significantly contributes to OA cartilage degeneration. The mitochondrial genome, therefore, represents a central, attractive target for therapy in OA, especially using genome editing procedures. In this narrative review article, we present and discuss the current advances and breakthroughs in mitochondrial genome editing as a potential, novel treatment to overcome mtDNA-related disorders such as OA. While still in its infancy and despite a number of challenges that need to be addressed (barriers to effective and site-specific mtDNA editing and repair), such a strategy has strong value to treat human OA in the future, especially using the groundbreaking clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRIPSR)/CRISPR-associated 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) technology and mitochondrial transplantation approaches.
Resilience Is Associated with Less Eating Disorder Symptoms in the NutriNet-Santé Cohort Study

Resilience is a positive psychological trait associated with a lower risk of some physical and mental chronic diseases and could be an important protective factor against eating disorders (EDs). The aim of this study was to assess cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between resilience and ED in a large cohort of French adults. In 2017, a total of 25,000 adults from the NutriNet-Santé cohort completed the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). ED symptoms were measured in 2017 and 2020, with the Sick-Control-One-Fat-Food (SCOFF) questionnaire. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between resilience and EDs were analyzed using logistic regression, controlling for sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics. Cross-sectional analyses showed that more resilient participants exhibited EDs less frequently than did less resilient participants (p < 0.0001). Longitudinal analyses showed that, during the three years of follow up, higher resilience was negatively associated with incident EDs (OR: 0.67, 95%CI: 0.61–0.74), persistent EDs (0.46 (0.42–0.51)), and intermittent EDs (0.66 (0.62–0.71)), compared with no ED. More resilient participants were also less likely to have a persistent ED than to recover from EDs (0.73 (0.65–0.82)). This study showed that resilience was associated with less ED symptoms and a higher chance of recovery.
DIGITAL PLATFORM FOR SMART MAINTENANCE IN LOGISTIC VESSELS

Vanessa da Silva Simoes; (Advisor); (Co-Advisor). Digital Platform for Smart maintenance in Logistic Vessels. Rio de Janeiro, 2018. 60p. Dissertação de mestrado – Departamento de Inteligência Computacional Aplicada, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. This work is based on a business case and data analysis developped during the Hackaton Libra Field Challenge, which occurred between 24 and 27 of September of 2018 regarding technological challenges in the Digital Libra project. The knowledge in data analytics, statistics and artificial intelligence acquired during the BI Master was essencial during the project proposal, development and presentation, and for that reason I decided to choose thise theme for my final project. This work This hackaton was developed by Petrobras, IBP and Fábrica de Startups and Iara was the winner selected by more than 20 managers in Petrobras and partners in the Libra Consortium. In this work I will present the challenges found during the interviews with several segments in Petrobras, the motivation for selecting the maintenance for logictic vessels, the benefits for the companies, the market analysis, and finally the data analysis for clustering boats according to equipment degradation and a dashboard containing accessible information to be shared with managers and maintenance segment.
Development and Experimental Assessment of a Model for the Material Deposition by Laser-Induced Forward Transfer

The potential to deposit minute amounts of material from a donor to an acceptor substrate at precise locations makes laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) a frequently used tool within different research fields, such as materials science and biotechnology. While many different types of LIFT exist, each specialized LIFT application is based on a different underlying transfer mechanism, which affects the to-be-transferred materials in different ways. Thus, a characterization of these mechanisms is necessary to understand their limitations. The most common investigative methods are high-speed imaging and numerical modeling. However, neither of these can, to date, quantify the material deposition. Here, analytical solutions are derived for the contact-based material deposition by LIFT, which are based on a previously observed equilibrium state. Moreover, an analytical solution for the previously unrecognized ejection-based material deposition is proposed, which is detectable by introducing a distance between the donor and acceptor substrates. This secondary mechanism is particularly relevant in large scale production, since each deposition from a donor substrate potentially induces a local distance between the donor and acceptor substrates.
Understanding Proximity Mobile Payments Adoption in South Africa: A Perceived Risk Perspective

Although existing literature claims that consumers are ready for proximity mobile payments, the reality is that adoption is still low in South Africa. Service providers’ attempts to translate this potential into profi t is hindered by consumers’ perception of risks associated with proximity mobile payments. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived risk dimensions as possible inhibitors of proximity mobile payment adoption, as well as to investigate the role of gender diff erences, drawing from the perceived risk and push-pull theories. Using a convenience sample, data was collected from South African smartphone users, from whom 284 valid online surveys were obtained. The standard regression analysis reveals that fi nancial-security and performance risk are predictors of proximity mobile payment adoption, and that product risk is not a signifi cant predictor, at least in the South African context. The fi ndings also reveal that both genders feel more or less the same about the infl uence of risk factors on the adoption of mobile proximity payments, except for performance risk. The results also show that females are more concerned about the performance of proximity mobile payments than males. The study provides tangible insights that service providers and marketers can use to guide application development and communication with consumers. A contribution is also made to the limited empirical research on the infl uence of proximity mobile payment risks on adoption during crisis times.