Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evolving Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Infectious Diseases Testing

Abstract Background Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are poised to transform infectious disease testing. Uniquely, infectious disease testing is technologically diverse spaces in laboratory medicine, where multiple platforms and approaches may be required to support clinical decision-making. Despite advances in laboratory informatics, the vast array of infectious disease data is constrained by human analytical limitations. Machine learning can exploit multiple data streams, including but not limited to laboratory information and overcome human limitations to provide physicians with predictive and actionable results. As a quickly evolving area of computer science, laboratory professionals should become aware of AI/ML applications for infectious disease testing as more platforms are become commercially available. Content In this review we: (a) define both AI/ML, (b) provide an overview of common ML approaches used in laboratory medicine, (c) describe the current AI/ML landscape as it relates infectious disease testing, and (d) discuss the future evolution AI/ML for infectious disease testing in both laboratory and point-of-care applications. Summary The review provides an important educational overview of AI/ML technique in the context of infectious disease testing. This includes supervised ML approaches, which are frequently used in laboratory medicine applications including infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, sepsis, hepatitis, malaria, meningitis, Lyme disease, and tuberculosis. We also apply the concept of “data fusion” describing the future of laboratory testing where multiple data streams are integrated by AI/ML to provide actionable clinical knowledge.
Characteristics of patients diagnosed with cervical cancer in Brazil: preliminary results of the prospective cohort EVITA study (EVA001/LACOG 0215)

Objectives Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide. Epidemiological and quality of life (QoL) data in patients with cervical cancer from low- and middle-income countries are scarce. We aimed to describe sociodemographic and clinicopathological characteristics and quality of life of patients with cervical cancer at diagnosis in Brazil. Methods EVITA is a prospective cohort study of newly diagnosed patients with cervical cancer from May 2016 to December 2017, stages I–IVB, from 16 Brazilian sites representing the five Brazilian regions. At baseline, medical evaluation was performed and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-CX24/C30 questionnaires were administered. Results A total of 631 patients were included. Mean±SD age was 49.3±13.9 years; skin color was non-white in 65.3%, and 68.0% had ≤8 years of formal education. In total, 85.1% of patients had a Pap smear. The main reasons reported by patients for not having a Pap smear were: lack of interest (46.9%), shame or embarrassment (19.7%), lack of knowledge (19.7%), and difficulty with access (9.1%). Most patients were diagnosed with locally advanced or metastatic disease (FIGO clinical stage II–IV in 81.8%– stage II in 35.2%, stage III in 36.1%, and stage IV in 10.5%). Patients with clinical stage III–IV had worse physical functioning and role functioning. Conclusions Cervical cancer in Brazil is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. Most patients have low formal education and are unemployed. Lack of interest was identified as a main reason for not having a screening test, and limited access was reported as a reason by <10% of the patients. Awareness campaigns must be a governmental priority, specially focused on the needy population, along with wide access to treatment.
Mitigation of Multi-path Interference in UAS Datalinks

The use of radio frequency links by unmanned aircraft systems of all sizes is commonplace for command and control as well as for payload functionality. Simple link budget analysis incorporating antenna gain and free-space path-loss is insufficient to ensure reliable communications with a remote air-vehicle that might, for operational or safety reasons, require frequent interactions with the ground control station. While frequency, power, modulation and antenna polarisation vary between systems, nearly all will suffer from multi-path signal degradation. Of the various multi-path models, the two- ray interference model shows significant destructive interference effects in otherwise clear line-of-sight conditions for a range of unmanned aircraft system mission profiles.
Locust density shapes energy metabolism and oxidative stress resulting in divergence of flight traits

Significance Migratory locusts display striking phenotypical plasticity. Gregarious locusts at high density can migrate long distances and cause huge economic losses of crops. By contrast, solitary locusts at low density have limited ability in long-distance flight. However, the mechanisms underlying such flight capacity variation are poorly understood. Here, we found that the flight muscle of solitary locusts has a higher catabolic capacity that is associated with greater reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation during high-velocity flights. By contrast, a relatively lower catabolic capacity in gregarious locusts is associated with lower ROS generation during long-distance flights. This finding uncovers the metabolic mechanism of locust flight trait alteration in response to density changes and enhances our understanding of the biological processes enabling locust migration. Flight ability is essential for the enormous diversity and evolutionary success of insects. The migratory locusts exhibit flight capacity plasticity in gregarious and solitary individuals closely linked with different density experiences. However, the differential mechanisms underlying flight traits of locusts are largely unexplored. Here, we investigated the variation of flight capacity by using behavioral, physiological, and multiomics approaches. Behavioral assays showed that solitary locusts possess high initial flight speeds and short-term flight, whereas gregarious locusts can fly for a longer distance at a relatively lower speed. Metabolome–transcriptome analysis revealed that solitary locusts have more active flight muscle energy metabolism than gregarious locusts, whereas gregarious locusts show less evidence of reactive oxygen species production during flight. The repression of metabolic activity by RNA interference markedly reduced the initial flight speed of solitary locusts. Elevating the oxidative stress by paraquat injection remarkably inhibited the long-distance flight of gregarious locusts. In respective crowding and isolation treatments, energy metabolic profiles and flight traits of solitary and gregarious locusts were reversed, indicating that the differentiation of flight capacity depended on density and can be reshaped rapidly. The density-dependent flight traits of locusts were attributed to the plasticity of energy metabolism and degree of oxidative stress production but not energy storage. The findings provided insights into the mechanism underlying the trade-off between velocity and sustainability in animal locomotion and movement.
Finding a breather for Oryza sativa: Understanding hormone signalling pathways involved in rice plants to submergence stress.

During the course of evolution, different ecotypes of rice (Oryza sativa L.) have evolved distinct strategies to cope with submergence stress. Such contrasting responses are mediated by plant hormones that are principle regulators of growth, development and responses to various biotic and abiotic stresses. These hormones act cooperatively and show extensive crosstalk which is mediated by key regulatory genes that serve as nodes of molecular communication. The presence or absence of such genes leads to significant changes in hormone signalling pathways and hence, governs the type of response that the plant will exhibit. As flooding is one of the leading causes of crop loss across all the major rice-producing countries, it is crucial to deeply understand the molecular nexus governing the response to submergence to produce flood resilient varieties. This review focuses on the hormonal signalling pathways that mediate two contrasting responses of the rice plant to submergence stress namely, rapid internode elongation to escape flood waters and quiescence response that enables the plant to survive under complete submergence. The significance of several key genes such as Sub1A-1, SLR1, SD1 and SK1/SK2, in defining the ultimate response to submergence has also been discussed.
Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection: Addressing systematic overcorrection for restriction of range.

This paper systematically revisits prior meta-analytic conclusions about the criterion-related validity of personnel selection procedures, and particularly the effect of range restriction corrections on those validity estimates. Corrections for range restriction in meta-analyses of predictor-criterion relationships in personnel selection contexts typically involve the use of an artifact distribution. After outlining and critiquing five approaches that have commonly been used to create and apply range restriction artifact distributions, we conclude that each has significant issues that often result in substantial overcorrection and that therefore the validity of many selection procedures for predicting job performance has been substantially overestimated. Revisiting prior meta-analytic conclusions produces revised validity estimates. Key findings are that most of the same selection procedures that ranked high in prior summaries remain high in rank, but with mean validity estimates reduced by . 10-. 20 points. Structured interviews emerged as the top-ranked selection procedure. We also pair validity estimates with information about mean Black-White subgroup differences per selection procedure, providing information about validity-diversity tradeoffs. We conclude that our selection procedures remain useful, but selection predictor-criterion relationships are considerably lower than previously thought. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Differential effects of environmental climatic variables on parasite abundances in blue tit nests during a decade

Abstract Models on climate change have predicted an increase of temperature over the earth's surface with potential drastic effects on living organisms. We analyzed the relationships between climatic conditions (temperature, rainfall, and wind speed) and the abundance of blood‐sucking flying insects (biting midges and blackflies) and nest‐dwelling ectoparasites (mites, fleas, and blowflies) collected from blue tit nests during bird breeding seasons for a period of 10 years. Average temperature, rainfall, and wind speed showed significant differences among years. Temperature and wind speed increased during the period of study while rainfall decreased. Biting midge, blackfly, and blowfly abundances increased across years but not flea and mite abundances. Hatching date decreased and brood size increased across years. Independently of year variation, parasites were related to climatic variables. For example, biting midge, blowfly, mite, and flea abundances were positive and significantly related to average temperature. We also found a positive and significant relationship between abundances of Haemoproteus infections and biting midge abundances during the first year of life of birds out of nests. However, abundance and prevalence of Lankesterella infections in yearlings were positive and significantly related to mite abundances during the year of birth of birds. Leucocytozoon and Lankesterella infections were also significantly related to climatic variables and Haemoproteus and Lankesterella infections increased across years. In addition, body condition of adult females and males were negatively related to flea larvae and blowfly abundance respectively. Nestling body condition was also negatively related to biting midge abundance. Changes in climatic conditions across years could therefore affect several parasites of birds but also to birds themselves.
Application of shallow seismic methods to engineering, environmental and groundwater investigations

During the last two decades, various seismic methods have been developed and widely used to study the shallow subsurface for different purposes. This paper presents a number of examples illustrating the application of shallow seismic methods to engineering, environmental and groundwater-related investigations. The purpose of the presentation is to demonstrate what kind of information can be obtained and what kind of problems can be solved using shallow seismics. The applications considered include the following cases: - high-resolution reflection surveys for mapping recent faulting at construction sites and for studying aquifer structure in a region suffering from insufficient water supply; - refraction surveys for detecting a shallow salt layer in sinkhole areas and for estimating the thickness of a Roman assault ramp at an archeological site; - shear wave survey for site effect evaluation for seismic risk assessment at a bridge construction site in a seismically active area. The considered examples show that the results of shallow seismic surveys can provide important information for the solution of various problems related to studying the upper part of the geological section.
Late effects in survivors of high‐risk neuroblastoma following stem cell transplant with and without total body irradiation

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in children. Those with high‐risk disease are treated with multimodal therapy, including high‐dose chemotherapy, stem cell transplant, radiation, and immunotherapy that have led to multiple long‐term complications in survivors. In the late 1990s, consolidation therapy involved myeloablative conditioning including total body irradiation (TBI) with autologous stem cell rescue. Recognizing the significant long‐term toxicities of exposure to TBI, more contemporary treatment protocols have removed this from conditioning regimens. This study examines an expanded cohort of 48 high‐risk neuroblastoma patients to identify differences in the late effect profiles for those treated with TBI and those treated without TBI.
Knowledge Transfusion to SME’s From External Sources: Economical Considerations

The article addresses the issues of knowledge management (KM) from the external knowledge points of view. External knowledge and its effective use can help an organization overcome many difficulties at various stages of its life cycle. The underlying challenge is to define what external-knowledge form or shape an organization should use to improve the likelihood of business success. The initial findings and the conclusion indicate the tendency for start-up companies to emphasize tacit knowledge more in order to help overcome business barriers.
Exploring Drug Metabolism by the Gut Microbiota: Modes of Metabolism and Experimental Approaches

Increasing evidence uncovers the involvement of gut microbiota in the metabolism of numerous pharmaceutical drugs. The human gut microbiome harbors 10–100 trillion symbiotic gut microbial bacteria that use drugs as substrates for enzymatic processes to alter host metabolism. Thus, microbiota-mediated drug metabolism can change the conventional drug action course and cause inter-individual differences in efficacy and toxicity, making it vital for drug discovery and development. This review focuses on drug biotransformation pathways and discusses different models for evaluating the role of gut microbiota in drug metabolism. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This review emphasizes the importance of gut microbiota and different modes of drug metabolism mediated by them. It provides information on in vivo, in vitro, ex vivo, in silico and multi-omics approaches for identifying the role of gut microbiota in metabolism. Further, it highlights the significance of gut microbiota-mediated metabolism in the process of new drug discovery and development as a rationale for safe and efficacious drug therapy.
First Report of Culicoides Biting Midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) Attacking People in Italy, With the Description of Extreme Larval Breeding Sites and Diurnal Activity of Culicoides riethi

Abstract Biting midges of the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) play a paramount role in medical and veterinary entomology worldwide, particularly as vectors of pathogens which cause animal diseases. Biting midges are also infamous for the nuisance they provoke to people involved in outdoor activities. Nonetheless, attacks to man by midges from any Culicoides species have not been reported in Italy. An entomological investigation was performed following repeated attacks to man in a nature park near Rome (central Italy). The study area is a natural degassing zone, characterized by widespread hazardous gas emissions of CO2 and H2S, with several water bodies including permanent lakes, ponds, and pools. The biting midge C. riethi Kieffer, 1914 was very active during daytime in the period April–June. The species has been identified as responsible for attacks on people in the area. An in-depth analysis of the extreme environmental conditions revealed the ability of larvae to thrive in several water bodies, characterized by an extremely low pH and a high concentration of sulfates. Graphical Abstract View of the area from WBb (white lake top right) to WBd with reported the pH value of each water body (WB), the presence/absence and density of Culicoides riethi larvae and Hydroglyphus geminus along the pH gradient. Larval density is highest where pH levels do not allow the development of its possible predator.
The presence of oxygenated lipids in plant defense in response to biotic stress: a metabolomics appraisal

ABSTRACT Recent lipid-based findings suggest more direct roles for fatty acids and their degradation products in inducing/modulating various aspects of plant defense, e.g. as signaling molecules following stress responses that may regulate plant innate immunity. The synthesis of oxylipins is a highly dynamic process and occurs in both a developmentally regulated mode and in response to abiotic and biotic stresses. This mini-review summarizes the occurrence of free – and oxygenated fatty acid derivatives in plants as part of an orchestrated metabolic defense against pathogen attack. Oxygenated C18 derived polyunsaturated fatty acids were identified by untargeted metabolomics studies of a number of different plant-microbe pathosystems and may serve as potential biomarkers of oxidative stress. Untargeted metabolomics in combination with targeted lipidomics, can uncover previously unrecognized aspects of lipid mobilization during plant defense.
Revisiting Lorentz violation in Hořava gravity

In the context of Horava gravity, the most promising known scenarios to recover Lorentz invariance at low energy are the possibilities that (1) the renormalization group flow of the system leads to emergent infrared Lorentz invariance, and (2) that supersymmetry protects infrared Lorentz invariance. A third scenario proposes that a classically Lorentz invariant matter sector with controlled quantum corrections may simply co-exist with Horava gravity under certain conditions. However, for non-projectable Horava gravity in 3+1 dimensions it is known that, in the absence of additional structures, this mechanism is spoiled by unexpected power-law divergences. We confirm this same result in the projectable version of the theory by employing the recently found gauge-fixing term that renders the shift and graviton propagators regular. We show that the problem persists for all dimensions $D\geq 3$, and that the degree of fine tuning in squared sound speeds between a U(1) gauge field and a scalar field increases with $D$. In particular, this difference in the zero external momentum limit is proportional to $\Lambda^{D-1}$ for $D\geq 3$, where $\Lambda$ is the ultraviolet momentum cutoff for loop integrals, while the power-law divergences are absent for $D=1$ and $D=2$. These results suggest that not only the gravity sector but also the matter sector should exhibit a transition to Lifshitz scaling above some scale, and that there should not be a large separation between the transition scales in the gravity and matter sectors. We close with a discussion of other more promising scenarios, including emergent Lorentz invariance from supersymmetry/strong dynamics, and pointing out challenges where they exist.
'The Employees are All Equal...But Some are More Equal than Others': Altruism, Opportunism and Discrimination in Family SMEs

This article provides empirical evidence to support the Agency Theory as applied to small and medium-sized family firms. The research, conducted on a sample of SMEs (N = 88), has investigated the main elements of the Agency Theory ( type of contract, agent autonomy, mechanisms of resource distribution, the match between job assignment and worker skills, the overall level of perceived organizational justice), using a qualitative method. The literature suggests that altruism of the Principal as a parent and widespread opportunistic behavior by the Agent are confirmed phenomena typical of family SMEs. In addition, the research highlights the implications in terms of agency costs and perceived organizational justice on the part of employees who are not members of the family
Writing change: affirmative action as a tool for newspaper transformation at the

This study explores the use of affirmative action as a tool for transformation in the mainstream English-language press in South Africa through a case study at The Durban Post. It seeks to understand the extent to which the newspaper has transformed its staff, coverage and readership in the eyes of its reporters and editors. Additionally, this paper investigates staff views on the implementation of affirmative action in their workspace and this policy’s potential to impact on transformation. Observation, interviews and document analysis were used for data collection. This study finds that though The Durban Post’s staff has transformed to some extent, the majority of staff members interviewed feel that the paper has yet to achieve significant transformation of coverage, readership and power structure, due to societal and internal systemic factors.
A practical three-layer energy management framework for future distribution systems

The distribution system operators (DSOs) need a practical and realistic strategy to tackle the possible challenges in modern distribution systems. This paper proposes a three-layer energy management framework to efficiently take advantage of smart customers and prevent overloading in daily operations. A central energy management system (CEMS) contacts several local energy management systems (LEMSs) at the first layer using Ethernet. Also, each LEMS is in touch with several customers at the middle layer through an RF mesh network. Finally, a local controller controls all smart devices in each customer's location using a WiFi network at the third layer. The communication at the first, second, and third layers is architected according to IEEE 2030.5, Modbus IP, and Modbus protocol, respectively. The proposed framework is implemented on a modified IEEE 123-bus unbalanced test system with 16 LEMS for a daily operation. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can reduce the peak load and energy cost by 20% and 13.6%, respectively. Moreover, there is no need for administrative action from the DSO and all the processes initiated by the demand side.