jimnoneill/paper-to-field-training huggingface dataset:
Synergy of Daptomycin with Oxacillin and Other β-Lactams against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Field: Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics (Life Sciences)

ABSTRACT We previously observed marked synergy between daptomycin and both rifampin and ampicillin against vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Because the synergy between daptomycin and ampicillin was observed for 100% of VRE strains with high-level ampicillin resistance (ampicillin MIC of ≥128 μg/ml), we looked for synergy between daptomycin and other β-lactams against 18 strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) by employing a time-kill method using Mueller-Hinton broth supplemented to 50 mg of Ca 2+ /liter. All strains were resistant to oxacillin (16 of 18 strains were resistant at drug concentrations of ≥256 μg/ml), and all strains were susceptible to daptomycin (the MIC at which 90% of the tested isolates were inhibited was 1 μg/ml). Daptomycin was tested at concentrations of 2, 1, 0.5, 0.25, 0.125, and 0.0625 μg/ml alone or in combination with oxacillin at a fixed concentration of 32 μg/ml. Synergy was found for all 18 strains with daptomycin at one-half the MIC in combination with 32 μg of oxacillin/ml, and synergy was found for 11 of 18 strains (61%) with daptomycin at one-fourth the MIC or less in combination with oxacillin. At 24 h, the daptomycin-oxacillin combination with daptomycin at one-half the MIC showed bactericidal activity against all 18 strains, and the combination with one-fourth the daptomycin MIC showed bactericidal activity against 9 of 18 strains. We also used a novel screening method to look for synergy between daptomycin and other β-lactams. In this approach, daptomycin was incorporated into Ca 2+ -supplemented Mueller-Hinton agar at subinhibitory concentrations, and synergy was screened by comparing test antibiotic Kirby-Bauer disks on agar with and without daptomycin. By this method, daptomycin with ampicillin-sulbactam, ticarcillin-clavulanate, or piperacillin-tazobactam showed synergy comparable to or greater than daptomycin with oxacillin. For seven of the eight strains tested, time-kill studies confirmed synergy between daptomycin and ampicillin-sulbactam with ampicillin in the range of 2 to 8 μg/ml. The combination of daptomycin and β-lactams may be useful for the treatment of MRSA infection, but further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms and to determine the in vivo efficacy of the combination.
Focused ultrasound–mediated blood-brain barrier opening in Alzheimer’s disease: long-term safety, imaging, and cognitive outcomes

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

OBJECTIVE MRI-guided low-intensity focused ultrasound (FUS) has been shown to reversibly open the blood-brain barrier (BBB), with the potential to deliver therapeutic agents noninvasively to target brain regions in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative conditions. Previously, the authors reported the short-term safety and feasibility of FUS BBB opening of the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex (EC) in patients with AD. Given the need to treat larger brain regions beyond the hippocampus and EC, brain volumes and locations treated with FUS have now expanded. To evaluate any potential adverse consequences of BBB opening on disease progression, the authors report safety, imaging, and clinical outcomes among participants with mild AD at 6–12 months after FUS treatment targeted to the hippocampus, frontal lobe, and parietal lobe. METHODS In this open-label trial, participants with mild AD underwent MRI-guided FUS sonication to open the BBB in β-amyloid positive regions of the hippocampus, EC, frontal lobe, and parietal lobe. Participants underwent 3 separate FUS treatment sessions performed 2 weeks apart. Outcome assessments included safety, imaging, neurological, cognitive, and florbetaben β-amyloid PET. RESULTS Ten participants (range 55–76 years old) completed 30 separate FUS treatments at 2 participating institutions, with 6–12 months of follow-up. All participants had immediate BBB opening after FUS and BBB closure within 24–48 hours. All FUS treatments were well tolerated, with no serious adverse events related to the procedure. All 10 participants had a minimum of 6 months of follow-up, and 7 participants had a follow-up out to 1 year. Changes in the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale–cognitive and Mini-Mental State Examination scores were comparable to those in controls from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. PET scans demonstrated an average β-amyloid plaque of 14% in the Centiloid scale in the FUS-treated regions. CONCLUSIONS This study is the largest cohort of participants with mild AD who received FUS treatment, and has the longest follow-up to date. Safety was demonstrated in conjunction with reversible and repeated BBB opening in multiple cortical and deep brain locations, with a concomitant reduction of β-amyloid. There was no apparent cognitive worsening beyond expectations up to 1 year after FUS treatment, suggesting that the BBB opening treatment in multiple brain regions did not adversely influence AD progression. Further studies are needed to determine the clinical significance of these findings. FUS offers a unique opportunity to decrease amyloid plaque burden as well as the potential to deliver targeted therapeutics to multiple brain regions in patients with neurodegenerative disorders.
Increasing the Robustness of the Photometric Method of Ellipsometry

Field: Physics and Astronomy (Physical Sciences)

The technique for increasing the robustness of the photometric method of ellipsometry according to Malus law is considered. The parameters of the polarization ellipse by the ordinary least squares method and the Fourier method are calculated. The data processing procedure using the bootstrap method is described. The spread of the measured parameters of the polarization ellipses is calculated. The stability and reliability of the obtained results is appreciated. The increase in the robustness of the photometric method is confirmed.
Hydrogen isotopes in leaf and tree-ring organic matter as potential indicators of drought-induced tree mortality

Field: Environmental Science (Physical Sciences)

The oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition (δ O, δ H) of plant tissues integrates hydrological, physiological, and metabolic functions differently, which may allow disentangling reasons of tree mortality. To test this, we performed a greenhouse study and determined predisposing fertilization and lethal drought effects on δ O and δ H values of plant water and organic matter (OM) in leaf and woody tissues of living and dead saplings of five European tree species. Additionally, we measured physiological and metabolic traits. Compared to controls, drought reduced leaf gas-exchange, predawn water potential, and stem starch concentrations and increased δ O and δ H values of leaf and twig water in all tested species. These drought-induced changes generally caused an H-enrichment in leaf and tree-ring OM, but a low and heterogenous δ O response. δ H values of tree-ring OM were correlated with those of leaf and twig water across treatments and species. In contrast, the predisposing fertilization had generally no significant effect on any isotopic, physiological, and metabolic traits. We propose that the H-enrichment in the dying trees is related to (i) the plant water isotopic composition, (ii) metabolic processes shaping leaf non-structural carbohydrates , (iii) the use of carbon reserves for growth, and (iv) species-specific physiological adjustments. This stress imprint on δ H but not on δ O suggests that the further could be used as a proxy to understand mechanisms of drought-induced tree mortality.
Effects of Luminance and Color on Apparent Motion

Field: Neuroscience (Life Sciences)

The present study explored the effects of luminance, color, and distance on apparent motion direction of some repeated stimuli of alternating colors. Two experiments were performed to specify what affects apparent motion direction when the stroboscopic alternative is between proximity and similarity in color. In Exp. 1 the influence of luminance on apparent motion was systematically studied with seven different background luminance values. Analysis pointed out that apparent motion direction depends on the discriminability among the disks, in relation also to the background values. A formula to predict the apparent motion direction from luminance values was proposed. In Exp. 2 the influence of hue on apparent motion was studied. Stimuli with equiluminant disks on different backgrounds were used. Analysis pointed out that the stroboscopic unification was based mainly on proximity and that discriminability between the disks was rather poor, especially when apparent motion occurred also on an equiluminant background, as already pointed out by Ramachandran and Gregory in 1978. A different influence on apparent motion of the red-blue and red-green disks, as opposed to that of the blue-green ones, was also noted.
Effects of MSCs transplantation on cardiac function and expression of bcl-2 and caspase-3 mRNA in the post-AMI rats

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

Objective To study the mechanism of MSCs transplantation treating myocardial infarction by observing the change of cardiac function and apoptosis related protein bcl-2 and caspase-3mRNA before and after MSCs transplantation.Methods A total of 40 SD rats(female/male=1:1) were randomly divided into four groups which were Control Group,Sham-operation Group,MI Group and Transplant Group.In MI Group and Transplant Group,descending anterior branches were ligated to make MI models.Derived bone marrow from rats,then isolate and expand to culture MSCs.Before ligature,the cardiac function of 4 groups rats were tested by ultrasonic cardiogram.After ligature,immediately give multi-dot injection of MSCs around myocardial infarction area only for the rats in Transplant Group,while injecting the same dosage of nutrient solution in MI Group and Sham-operation Group,and no injection for Control Group.Then after 8 weeks,test the cardiac function of rats separately and derive myocardium around infraction area to test the expressions of bcl-2 and caspase-3mRNA by RT-PCR.Results Before ligature,there was no significantdifference in cardiac function index among 4 groups(P0.05),while after transplant of MSCs,LVESD and LVEDD of MI Group were obviously higher than those of the other 3 groups(P0.05),and Transplant Group was significantly higher than Control Group and Sham-operation Group(P0.05).However between Control Group and Sham-operation Group,there was no significant difference(P0.05).EF of MI Group was significantly lower than that of the other 3 groups(P0.05),Transplant Group was obviously lower than Control Group and Sham-operation Group(P0.05),and there was no significant difference between Control Group and Sham-operation Group(P0.05).Expression of bcl-2mRNA was less in Control Group and Sham-operation Group,but increasing in MI Group with significant difference(P0.05),while expression of bcl-2mRNA was much higher in Transplant Group(P0.05) than that of MI Group.In Control Group and Sham-operation Group,expression of caspase-3mRNA was lower,but in MI Group it was higher(P0.05),The expression of caspase-3mRNA in Transplant Group was nuch less than that of MI Group(P0.05),but it was higher than that of Control Group and Sham-operation Group(P0.05).Conclusion After MSCs transplant,cardiac function was improved and myocardial apoptosis was inhibited.
ChemInform Abstract: NMR and X‐Ray Studies of Penta‐ and Hexaborane Alkyl Derivatives Involving (3.3.1) and (3.3.2) Ring Systems.

Field: Chemistry (Physical Sciences)

Abstract The structure of the boron bridge substituted nido‐pentaborane (III) (space group P1, Z=4) reveals that the 9‐borabicyclononane fragment retains its chair‐chair conformation.
Effects of Electrostatic Septum Alignment on Particle Loss During Slow Extraction at CERN SPS

Field: Physics and Astronomy (Physical Sciences)

Slow extraction is an intrinsically lossy process that splits the beam with an electrostatic septum (ES), employing a thin-wire array to delimit the high electric field region that deflects the beam into the extraction channel. At CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) the ES is over 16 m long and composed of 5 separate units containing separate wire-arrays that can be moved independently. The tanks are all mounted on a single support structure that can move the ensemble coherently. As a result, the large number of positional degrees of freedom complicates the alignment procedure in operation. Obtaining and maintaining accurate alignment of the ES with the beam is therefore crucial for minimising beam loss. In this paper, we investigate the alignment procedure for different operational scenarios using particle tracking simulations to understand the beam loss along the extraction straight as a function of the relative positions of each of the 5 separate ES units. An important aspect of the study was to understand the required alignment tolerance to achieve optimum extraction efficiency for a given configuration of wire-array thicknesses.
A Review on Developing an Arcade Game Machine and an Arcade Game using Raspberry Pi and Pygame

Field: Computer Science (Physical Sciences)

In this paper, we will discuss and review the steps involved in developing an arcade game machine from ground-up along with designing and developing an arcade game to run on it.We will also discuss the choice of hardware and the development tools used for developing our system.In-game physics will also be incorporated using the PyODE engine and Pygame libraries.We will also compare Easel and Pygame as game development libraries and will determine which would be the most appropriate for our project.
Effect of asiaticoside on endothelial cells in hypoxia‑induced pulmonary hypertension

Field: Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics (Life Sciences)

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a chronic progre-ssive disease with limited treatment options. The exact etiology and pathogenesis of PH remain to be elucidated, however there is novel evidence that implicates abnormal endothelial cells (ECs) apoptosis and dysfunction of ECs to be involved in the initiation of PH. Asiaticoside (AS) is a saponin monomer extracted from a medicinal plant called Centella asiatica, which had a preventing effect of hypoxia‑induced pulmonary hypertension (hypoxic PH) by blocking transforming growth factor‑β1/SMAD family member 2/3 signaling in our previous study. The present study demonstrated that AS can prevent the development of hypoxic PH and reverse the established hypoxic PH. AS may activate the nitric oxide (NO)‑mediated signals by enhancing the phosphorylation of serine/threonine‑specific protein kinase/eNOS, thus promoting NO production, and prevent ECs from hypoxia‑induced apoptosis. All these findings imply that AS may be a potential therapeutic option for hypoxic PH patients due to its effect on the vitality and function of endothelial cells.
Early seedling growth and morphogenesis in the xantha1 mutant of sunflower with alteration of chloroplast biogenesis

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences (Life Sciences)

In the xantha1 (xan1) mutant of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), the effects on organ anatomy and seedling growth did correlate to the alteration of chloroplast biogenesis. The xan1 seedlings grown under 165 µmol(photon) m−2 s−1 revealed a severely altered chloroplast ultrastructure in cotyledons and leaves. Cross-sections or clarified tissues of the xan1 cotyledons did not show evident alterations with respect to normal cotyledons suggesting that the impairment of chloroplast biogenesis has negligible consequences on embryonic leaves. By contrast, the analysis of xan1 leaves showed that the defects in chloroplast biogenesis were correlated to a drastic reduction of organ size and to a clear enhancement of the trichome growth. The differentiation of palisade and spongy parenchyma in cotyledons and leaves of the xan1 mutant was normal but both organs displayed a drastic reduction in the plastid number with respect to wild type. In addition, xan1 hypocotyls showed a reduced development of the main vascular bundles in comparison with normal seedlings and an undersized central cylinder of the primary root. The exogenous supply of sucrose was not sufficient to revert in vitro the deficit of xan1 growth and the constraints in morphogenetic processes.
Digital tools against COVID-19: Framing the ethical challenges and how to address them

Field: Health Professions (Health Sciences)

Data collection and processing via digital public health technologies are being promoted worldwide by governments and private companies as strategic remedies for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic and loosening lockdown measures. However, the ethical and legal boundaries of deploying digital tools for disease surveillance and control purposes are unclear, and a rapidly evolving debate has emerged globally around the promises and risks of mobilizing digital tools for public health. To help scientists and policymakers navigate technological and ethical uncertainty, we present a typology of the primary digital public health applications currently in use. Namely: proximity and contact tracing, symptom monitoring, quarantine control, and flow modeling. For each, we discuss context-specific risks, cross-sectional issues, and ethical concerns. Finally, in recognition of the need for practical guidance, we propose a navigation aid for policymakers made up of ten steps for the ethical use of digital public health tools.
Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for head and neck cancers

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

Abstract Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) has been correlated with prognosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma as well as with changes in normal tissues. These studies implement different software, either commercial or in-house, and different scan protocols. Thus, the generalizability of the results is not confirmed. To assist in the standardization of quantitative metrics to confirm the generalizability of these previous studies, this data descriptor delineates in detail the DCE-MRI digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) files with DICOM radiation therapy (RT) structure sets and digital reference objects (DROs), as well as, relevant clinical data that encompass a data set that can be used by all software for comparing quantitative metrics. Variable flip angle (VFA) with six flip angles and DCE-MRI scans with a temporal resolution of 5.5 s were acquired in the axial direction on a 3T MR scanner with a field of view of 25.6 cm, slice thickness of 4 mm, and 256×256 matrix size.
Reaching a Consensus in a Dynamically Changing Environment: A Graphical Approach

Field: Mathematics (Physical Sciences)

This paper presents new graph-theoretic results appropriate for the analysis of a variety of consensus problems cast in dynamically changing environments. The concepts of rooted, strongly rooted, and neighbor-shared are defined, and conditions are derived for compositions of sequences of directed graphs to be of these types. The graph of a stochastic matrix is defined, and it is shown that under certain conditions the graph of a Sarymsakov matrix and a rooted graph are one and the same. As an illustration of the use of the concepts developed in this paper, graphtheoretic conditions are obtained which address the convergence question for the leaderless version of the widely studied Vicsek consensus problem.
Segmentation of ribs in digital chest radiographs

Field: Computer Science (Physical Sciences)

Ribs and clavicles in posterior-anterior (PA) digital chest radiographs often overlap with lung abnormalities such as nodules, and cause missing of these abnormalities, it is therefore necessary to remove or reduce the ribs in chest radiographs. The purpose of this study was to develop a fully automated algorithm to segment ribs within lung area in digital radiography (DR) for removal of the ribs. The rib segmentation algorithm consists of three steps. Firstly, a radiograph was pre-processed for contrast adjustment and noise removal; second, generalized Hough transform was employed to localize the lower boundary of the ribs. In the third step, a novel bilateral dynamic programming algorithm was used to accurately segment the upper and lower boundaries of ribs simultaneously. The width of the ribs and the smoothness of the rib boundaries were incorporated in the cost function of the bilateral dynamic programming for obtaining consistent results for the upper and lower boundaries. Our database consisted of 93 DR images, including, respectively, 23 and 70 images acquired with a DR system from Shanghai United-Imaging Healthcare Co. and from GE Healthcare Co. The rib localization algorithm achieved a sensitivity of 98.2% with 0.1 false positives per image. The accuracy of the detected ribs was further evaluated subjectively in 3 levels: "1", good; "2", acceptable; "3", poor. The percentages of good, acceptable, and poor segmentation results were 91.1%, 7.2%, and 1.7%, respectively. Our algorithm can obtain good segmentation results for ribs in chest radiography and would be useful for rib reduction in our future study.
NEUROSYPHILIS AND LATE SYPHILIS OF SKIN, MUCOUS MEMBRANES AND BONES

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

One of the tenets held over from the early days of syphilology which is still frequently accepted and taught is the belief that patients with late syphilis of the skin, mucous membrane or bone seldom have neurosyphilis. It is commonly believed that these manifestations of the disease are allergic in origin and influence the immunity reaction so as to protect the neuraxis against involvement by the Spirochaeta pallida. Except so-called "precocious tertiary" lesions of the skin, which are on the borderline between those of early and those of late syphilis, and acute syphilis of the bone, which may occur as a phase of early syphilis, these benign tertiary manifestations as a rule appear after the tenth year of the infection. However, as a result of the discovery that a large number of patients with early syphilis show changes in their spinal fluid due to neuraxis involvement, modern syphilologists agree that
The Effect of Financial Compensation and Conflict on The Performance of Employees of The Loading and Unloading Warehouse at PT. Cahaya Indah Sangsurya in Pekanbaru

Field: Business, Management and Accounting (Social Sciences)

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of financial compensation and conflict on the performance of the loading and unloading warehouse employees at PT Cahaya Indah Sangsurya in Pekanbaru. The population in this study were all employees of the loading and unloading warehouse who worked at PT Cahaya Indah Sangsurya Pekanbaru totaling 42 (forty-two) respondents. In this study, because the population was small (limited), it was not possible to use a sample, so the researchers took the same number of samples as the population or called a census, namely all loading and unloading employees at PT Cahaya Indah Sangsurya Pekanbaru totaling 42 (four two) respondents. The power-gathering method used in this research is field research, which is carried out by conducting direct visits to the institutions that are the object of obtaining primary and secondary data. Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that financial compensation and work conflict affect the performance of employees at PT Cahaya Indah Sangsurya Pekanbaru. The better the value of financial compensation and the lower the value of work conflict, the higher the value of employee performance.