Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immune Memory After Respiratory Infection With Streptococcus pneumoniae Is Revealed by in vitro Stimulation of Murine Splenocytes With Inactivated Pneumococcal Whole Cells: Evidence of Early Recall Responses by Transcriptomic Analysis

The in vitro stimulation of immune system cells with live or killed bacteria is essential for understanding the host response to pathogens. In the present study, we propose a model combining transcriptomic and cytokine assays on murine splenocytes to describe the immune recall in the days following pneumococcal lung infection. Mice were sacrificed at days 1, 2, 4, and 7 after Streptococcus pneumoniae (TIGR4 serotype 4) intranasal infection and splenocytes were cultured in the presence or absence of the same inactivated bacterial strain to access the transcriptomic and cytokine profiles. The stimulation of splenocytes from infected mice led to a higher number of differentially expressed genes than the infection or stimulation alone, resulting in the enrichment of 40 unique blood transcription modules, including many pathways related to adaptive immunity and cytokines. Together with transcriptomic data, cytokines levels suggested the presence of a recall immune response promoting both innate and adaptive immunity, stronger from the fourth day after infection. Dimensionality reduction and feature selection identified key variables of this recall response and the genes associated with the increase in cytokine concentrations. This model could study the immune responses involved in pneumococcal infection and possibly monitor vaccine immune response and experimental therapies efficacy in future studies.
The Roof Rat, Rattus rattus, in Virginia

Abstract - We collected a single specimen of Rattus rattus (Roof Rat) in Highland County, VA, a previously unknown locality for the species. We collected ecto- and endoparasites, including the louse Polyplax spinulosa, the tick Dermacentor variabilis (American Dog Tick), and the nematode Aspicularis americana. which we archived along with the host voucher specimen. Sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene confirmed the rodent species identification based on comparisons to R. rattus sequences available in the GenBank database. Herein we review specimen records of Roof Rats and Rattus norvegicus (Brown Rat). Both species have a deep history in Virginia, but Roof Rats appear to have declined in coastal cities, while Brown Rats have become more common in those areas. Roof Rats apparently persist in rural relictual populations such as that identified in Highland County.
Pharmacist-Managed Diabetes Programs: Improving Treatment Adherence and Patient Outcomes

Abstract The health and economic burden of diabetes mellitus across the United States and the world is such that effective care is crucial to improving outcomes, including macro and microvascular complications, and lowering health care costs. Pharmacists are well placed within communities to provide the critical care necessary for patients with diabetes and have a unique skillset that has demonstrated clear benefits in clinical and non-clinical outcomes. Here, we will provide a narrative review of the literature including the role of the pharmacist in different care models, outcomes associated with pharmacist care, and future directions and opportunities for pharmacist-managed diabetes.
K-CDFs: A Nonparametric Clustering Algorithm via Cumulative Distribution Function

ABSTRACT We propose a novel partitioning clustering procedure based on the cumulative distribution function (CDF), called K-CDFs. For univariate data, the K-CDFs represent the cluster centers by empirical CDFs and assign each observation to the closest center measured by the Cram r-von Mises distance. The procedure is nonparametric and does not require assumptions on cluster distributions imposed by mixture models. A projection technique is used to generalize the K-CDFs for univariate data to an arbitrary dimension. The proposed procedure has several appealing properties. It is robust to heavy-tailed data, is not sensitive to the data dimensions, does not require moment conditions on data and can effectively detect linearly nonseparable clusters. To implement the K-CDFs, we propose two kinds of algorithms: a greedy algorithm as the classical Lloyd’s algorithm and a spectral relaxation algorithm. We illustrate the finite sample performance of the proposed algorithms through simulation experiments and empirical analyses of several real datasets. Supplementary files for this article are available online.
The Haptomonad Stage of Crithidia acanthocephali in Apis mellifera Hindgut

Crithidia acanthocephali is a trypanosomatid species that was initially described in the digestive tract of Hemiptera. However, this parasite was recently detected in honey bee colonies in Spain, raising the question as to whether bees can act as true hosts for this species. To address this issue, worker bees were experimentally infected with choanomastigotes from the early stationary growth phase and after 12 days, their hindgut was extracted for analysis by light microscopy and TEM. Although no cellular lesions were observed in the honey bee’s tissue, trypanosomatids had differentiated and adopted a haptomonad morphology, transforming their flagella into an attachment pad. This structure allows the protozoa to remain attached to the gut walls via hemidesmosomes-such as junctions. The impact of this species on honey bee health, as well as the pathogenic mechanisms involved, remains unknown. Nevertheless, these results suggest that insect trypanosomatids may have a broader range of hosts than initially thought.
THE EFFECT OF A NITRO-ASPIRINE ON APOPTOSIS OF NEUTROPHIL GRANULOCYTES

Apoptosis of neutrophil granulocytes is a critical event in the resolution of inflammation. Neutrophils have a short lifespan which can be modulated by aspirin. In this work we studied the effect of a nitroaspirin (NCX4016) on apoptosis of inflammatory granulocytes. This aspirin analogue has been synthesized to reduce the side effects of aspirin in the gastrointestinal tract. Inflammatory granulocytes have been isolated from polyvinyl sponges implanted under the skin of Albino Oxford (AO) rats. Inflammatory cells that were isolated 20 hours later were about 95% neutrophil granulocytes. The cells were cultivated 24h with different concentrations of NCX4016 ranging from 0.25 μM to 500 μM. After that period, apoptosis of neutrophils was assessed by morphological criteria, as well as by flow cytometry (after staining the cells with propidium iodide). We found that NCX4016 at concentrations from 50 to 500 μM induced the apoptosis of rat inflammatory granulocytes in a dose-dependent manner. However, at concentrations from 1 μM to 10 μM it inhibited apoptosis. In conclusion, our results suggest that anti-inflammatory properties of the NO-aspirin are additionally potentiated by the proapoptotic effect on granulocytes, which could be a novel mechanism of their action.
Preoperative preparation and premedication of bariatric surgical patient

ABSTRACT The prevalence of obesity has tripled worldwide over the past four decades. The United States has the highest rates of obesity, with 88% of the population being overweight and 36% obese. The UK has the sixth highest prevalence of obesity. The problem of obesity is not isolated to the developed world and has increasingly become an issue in the developing world as well. Obesity carries an increased risk of many serious diseases and health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, sleep apnea, and certain cancers. Our ability to take care of this population safely throughout the perioperative period begins with a thorough and in-depth preoperative assessment and meticulous preparation. The preoperative assessment begins with being able to identify patients who suffer from obesity by using diagnostic criteria and, furthermore, being able to identify patients whose obesity is causing pathologic and physiologic changes. A detailed and thorough anesthesia assessment should be performed, and the anesthesia plan individualized and tailored to the specific patient's risk factors and comorbidities. The important components of the preoperative anesthesia assessment and patient preparation in the patient suffering from obesity include history and physical examination, airway assessment, medical comorbidities evaluation, functional status determination, risk assessment, preoperative testing, current weight loss medication, and review of any prior weight loss surgeries and their implications on the upcoming anesthetic. The preoperative evaluation of this population should occur with sufficient time before the planned operation to allow for modifications of the preoperative management without needing to delay surgery as the perioperative management of patients suffering from obesity presents significant practical and organizational challenges.
Perspectives on Converting Keratin-Containing Wastes Into Biofertilizers for Sustainable Agriculture

Keratin-containing wastes become pollution to the environment if they are not treated properly. On the other hand, these wastes can be converted into value-added products applicable to many fields. Organic fertilizers and biofertilizers are important for sustainable agriculture by providing nutrients to enhance the growth speed of the plant and production. Keratin-containing wastes, therefore, will be an important resource to produce organic fertilizers. Many microorganisms exhibit capabilities to degrade keratins making them attractive to convert keratin-containing wastes into valuable products. In this review, the progress in microbial degradation of keratins is summarized. In addition, perspectives in converting keratin into bio- and organic fertilizers for agriculture are described. With proper treatment, feather wastes which are rich in keratin can be converted into high-value fertilizers to serve as nutrients for plants, reduce environmental pressure and improve the quality of the soil for sustainable agriculture.
Antecedents of facades of conformity: when can employees “be themselves”?

PurposeAn individual engages in a façade of conformity by attempting to appear to embrace their organization's values when, in truth, they do not. While numerous studies investigate the negative outcomes associated with facades of conformity, fewer studies consider its antecedents. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the association between diversity-related influences – including individuals' beliefs, other unit members' beliefs, unit gender diversity and unit racial diversity – and individuals' propensities to engage in a façade of conformity.Design/methodology/approachThis paper administered an online survey to 2,122 employees nested within 151 units located at a hospital site located in the southeastern United States. Hierarchical linear modeling and relative weights analyses were used to test the study hypotheses which aimed to determine how objective diversity and perceptions associated with diversity increase or diminish facades of conformity.FindingsIn this paper individuals' and other unit members' beliefs that their organization values diversity were negatively associated with facades of conformity; however, there was a positive association between unit gender diversity and facades of conformity. There were no statistically significant associations involving unit racial diversity or interactive effects. Overall, the results indicate that it is less likely that employees will engage in façades of conformity when diversity is valued within organizations.Originality/valueBy further expanding understanding of the concept of façades of conformity within the humanities and social sciences literature, this study highlight the importance of allowing and encouraging employees to “be themselves. ”
Phytolith Assemblages as a Promising Tool for Quantitative Canopy Coverage Reconstruction in Subtropical Forests, China

This study investigates the reliability of phytolith assemblage analysis for characterizing subtropical vegetation and explores the potential for using these modern phytolith–vegetation relationships for paleoenvironmental interpretation in southeastern China. The samples were collected from five common subtropical vegetation communities in the Daiyun Mountains, southeastern China, with the above-ground vegetation recorded at each plot. Constrained ordination analysis was used to determine the most important factor governing the variations in phytolith assemblages that could be quantitatively reconstructed with weighted averaging partial least squares regression (WAPLS). The relationship between modern phytolith assemblages and the parent vegetation, as well as production, dispersal, and taphonomic processes, was discussed. Results demonstrated that the main subtropical biomes in southeastern China could be well distinguished by soil phytolith assemblages. In particular, the overall amount of tree coverage was well represented by topsoil phytolith assemblages. Grass silica short cell phytoliths (GSSCP) tended to occur in higher proportions in open habitats (shrub-meadow) at higher elevations, whereas non-grass phytolith morphotypes attained higher frequencies under mixed and broadleaf forests at lower elevations. Human-induced deforestation might increase the frequency of GSSCP within the bulk phytolith assemblage. Our results constitute the primary phytolith reference data for the subtropical zone in southeastern Asia where vegetation change during the Holocene period, particularly forest shifts, anthropogenic deforestation, and early agriculture are poorly documented.
DOES HEAT STRESS INFLUENCE ANIMAL PERFORMANCE?

In tropical and subtropical regions, high environmental temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation and thermal stress are the most crucial constraints on animal welfare, health, survival ability, reproduction and productive performance. Animal welfare is an imperative worry for farmers, customers and stakeholders in the production process. Therefore, the aim of this review was to point out to the impact of heat stress on animal performance. The risky impacts of heat stress on animal growth, production, reproduction and immune status will be anticipating growing to be one of the forthcoming issues due to the continuous increase of the environmental temperature. Heat stress appears if there is dissimilarity between internal body heat release and its dissipation. High producing animals are more vulnerable to heat stress owing to the negative genetic association between production and heat tolerance. In addition, selection procedures for milk production reduce the thermoregulatory competence of the dairy animal. So, the researchers trying to alleviate and reduce this hazard effect by selecting for high tolerant genetic makeup with crossbreeding.
Distributed Finite-Time Fault-Tolerant Control for Heterogeneous Vehicular Platoon With Saturation

This paper investigates the distributed fault-tolerant control problem for the heterogeneous vehicular platoon system (HVPS) suffering from actuator faults, saturation, and external disturbances. Firstly, an exponential spacing policy is developed to tackle the string stability (SS) and traffic flow stability issues when the actuator faults occur. Then, a nonlinear observer is developed to estimate the saturation approximation error, bias fault, and external disturbances. Moreover, to achieve the SS of the whole system in finite-time and fault tolerance ability, a distributed adaptive fault-tolerant control scheme based on bidirectional-leader information flow topology is proposed. Adaptive estimation laws are also involved to estimate and update the unknown parameters, in which the effect of actuator saturation can be compensated. Finally, the SS in finite-time and traffic flow stability of the closed-loop system are proved, respectively. Experiment results and comparisons demonstrate the feasibly and advantages of the method.
Performance of Xpert HIV-1 viral load test in Senegal: a country of high circulation of CRF02_AG

Introduction the introduction of the point-of-care in HIV-1 viral load quantification appears to be a complementary strategy to the existing conventional system of the acceleration plan for the achievement of the three 90s in Senegal. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the Xpert® HIV-1 viral load in the context of circulation of non-B, non-C subtypes. Methods two hundred samples, were tested on Xpert® HIV-1 Viral Load using 1 ml of plasma in comparison to 600 μl on Abbott Real-time HIV-1 assay. The difference between viral load values was considered significant for Dlog <0.5 log copies/ml. Results a good correlation (r=0.985) was noted and confirmed using passing-bablok regression (slope 1.048; 95% CI: 1.036 to 1.069) for 188 samples with samples. A mean difference of 0.0075 log10 copies/ml for a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.002 log10 copies/ml to 0.013 log10 copies/ml was obtained. Sensitivity and specificity were respectively 93.6% and 93.5% at the threshold of 1.6 log10 copies/ml and 100% and 99% at the threshold of 3.0 log10 copies/ml. Conclusion these results show that Xpert® HIV-1 Viral Load has excellent performance. In Senegal, and can be used for HIV viral load monitoring.
EVALUATION OF THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF SOME NATIVE TREE BROWSES AS FEED FOR RUMINANT IN NORTH EGYPT

The objectives of the current study were to evaluate the chemical composition, gas and methane production, metabolizable (ME) and Net energy (NE), organic matter digestibility (OMD), short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and microbial protein (MP) synthesis of nine native browse plants (Ficus carica, Olive, Prosopis Juliflora, Acacia saligna, Acacia nilotica, Tamarix Athel, Thymelaea hirsute, AtriplexNumararia and Atriplex Halimus) estimated by in vitro gas production technique, and to determine the relationships among chemical composition, ME, OMD, gas and methane production of these plants. The results that the studied browse species resulted in good nutritional per performance due to uniqueness of their nutrient composition and nutrient profile, also they have low and safe levels of anti-nutritional factors and relatively high degradability which qualify them as suitable feed supplements to low quality basal diets for ruminants.
Methods of Generating Emotional Movements and Methods of Transmitting Behavioral Intentions: A Perspective on Human-Coexistence Robots

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and discuss the following two functions that are considered to be important in human-coexistence robots and human-symbiotic robots: the method of generating emotional movements, and the method of transmitting behavioral intentions. The generation of emotional movements is to design the bodily movements of robots so that humans can feel specific emotions. Specifically, the application of Laban movement analysis, the development from the circumplex model of affect, and the imitation of human movements are discussed. However, a general technique has not yet been established to modify any robot movement so that it contains a specific emotion. The transmission of behavioral intentions is about allowing the surrounding humans to understand the behavioral intentions of robots. Specifically, informative motions in arm manipulation and the transmission of the movement intentions of robots are discussed. In the former, the target position in the reaching motion, the physical characteristics in the handover motion, and the landing distance in the throwing motion are examined, but there are still few research cases. In the latter, no groundbreaking method has been proposed that is fundamentally different from earlier studies. Further research and development are expected in the near future.
First Metabolomic Signature of Blood-Brain Barrier Opening Induced by Microbubble-Assisted Ultrasound

Microbubble (MB)-assisted ultrasound (US) is a promising physical method to increase non-invasively, transiently, and precisely the permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to therapeutic molecules. Previous preclinical studies established the innocuity of this procedure using complementary analytical strategies including transcriptomics, histology, brain imaging, and behavioral tests. This cross-sectional study using rats aimed to investigate the metabolic processes following acoustically-mediated BBB opening in vivo using multimodal and multimatrices metabolomics approaches. After intravenous injection of MBs, the right striata were exposed to 1-MHz sinusoidal US waves at 0.6 MPa peak negative pressure with a burst length of 10 ms, for 30 s. Then, the striata, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), blood serum, and urine were collected during sacrifice in three experimental groups at 3 h, 2 days, and 1 week after BBB opening (BBBO) and were compared to a control group where no US was applied. A well-established analytical workflow using nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry and non-targeted and targeted high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry were performed on biological tissues and fluids. In our experimental conditions, a reversible BBBO was observed in the striatum without physical damage or a change in rodent weight and behavior. Cerebral, peri-cerebral, and peripheral metabolomes displayed specific and sequential metabolic kinetics. The blood serum metabolome was more impacted in terms of the number of perturbated metabolisms than in the CSF, the striatum, and the urine. In addition, perturbations of arginine and arginine-related metabolisms were detected in all matrices after BBBO, suggesting activation of vasomotor processes and bioenergetic supply. The exploration of the tryptophan metabolism revealed a transient vascular inflammation and a perturbation of serotoninergic neurotransmission in the striatum. For the first time, we characterized the metabolic signature following the acoustically-mediated BBBO within the striatum and its surrounding biological compartments.
Learning Buffer Management Policies for Shared Memory Switches

Today’s network switches often use on-chip shared memory to improve buffer efficiency and absorb bursty traffic. Current buffer management practices usually rely on simple heuristics and have unrealistic assumptions about the traffic pattern, since developing a buffer management policy suited for every scenario is infeasible. We show that modern machine learning techniques can be of essential help to learn efficient policies automatically.In this paper, we propose Neural Dynamic Threshold (NDT) that uses deep reinforcement learning (RL) to learn buffer management policies without human instructions except for a high-level objective. To tackle the high complexity and scale of the buffer management problem, we develop two domain-specific techniques upon off-the-shelf deep RL solutions. First, we design a scalable RL model by leveraging the permutation symmetry of the switch ports. Second, we use a two-level control mechanism to achieve efficient training and decision-making. The buffer allocation is directly controlled by a low-level heuristic during the decision interval, while the RL agent only decides the high-level control factor according to the traffic density. Testbed and simulation experiments demonstrate that NDT generalizes well and outperforms hand-tuned heuristic policies even on workloads for which it was not explicitly trained.