Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator on Selected Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Disease and Left Ventricle Structure and Function in Chronic Kidney Disease

Background. Cardiovascular morbidity and mortality are very high in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of continuous erythropoietin receptor activator (CERA) on selected biomarkers of cardiovascular disease, left ventricle structure, and function in CKD. Material and Methods. Peripheral blood was collected from 25 CKD patients before and after CERA treatment and 20 healthy subjects. In serum samples, we assessed inflammatory markers (IL-1β, TNF-RI, TNF-RII, sFas, sFasL, MMP-9, TIMP-1, and TGF-β1), endothelial dysfunction markers (sE-selectin, sICAM-1, and sVCAM-1), and volume-related marker (NT-proBNP). All subjects underwent echocardiography and were evaluated for selected biochemical parameters (Hb, creatinine, and CRP). Results. Evaluated biomarkers and echocardiographic parameters of left ventricle structure were significantly increased but left ventricle EF was significantly decreased in CKD patients compared to controls. After CERA treatment, we observed a significant increase of Hb and left ventricle EF and a significant decrease of NT-proBNP and MMP-9. There was a significant negative correlation between Hb and TNF-RI, sICAM-1, and IL-1β. Conclusions. Our results indicate that selected biomarkers related to cardiovascular risk are significantly increased in CKD patients compared to controls. CERA treatment has anti-inflammatory action, diminishes endothelial dysfunction, and improves left ventricle function in these patients.
Systematic review of topical treatments for fungal infections of the skin and nails of the feet

Abstract Objective: To identify and synthesise the evidence for efficacy and cost effectiveness of topical treatments for superficial fungal infections of the skin and nails of the feet. Design: Systematic review. Interventions: Topical treatments for superficial fungal infections. Main outcome measures: Cure confirmed by culture and microscopy for skin and by culture for nails in patients with clinically diagnosed fungal infections. Results: Of 126 trials identified in 121 papers, 72 (57.1%) met the inclusion criteria. Placebo controlled trials yielded pooled relative risks of failure to cureskin infections: allylamines (0.30, 95% confidence interval 0.24 to 0.38); azoles (0.54, 0.42 to 0.68); undecenoic acid (0.28, 0.11 to 0.74); and tolnaftate (0.46, 0.17 to 1.22). Although meta-analysis of 11 trials comparing allylamines and azoles showed a relative risk of failure to cure of 0.88 (0.78 to 0.99) in favour of allylamines, there was evidenceof language bias. Seven reports in English favoured allylamines (0.79, 0.69 to 0.91), butfour reports in foreign languages showed no difference between the two drugs (1.01, 0.90 to 1.13). Neither trial of nail infections showed significant differences between alternative topical treatments. Conclusions: Allylamines, azoles, and undecenoic acid were efficacious in placebo controlled trials. There are sufficient comparative trials to judge relative efficacy only between allylamines and azoles. Allylamines cure slightly more infections than azoles but are much more expensive than azoles. The most cost effective strategy is first to treat with azoles or undecenoic acid and to use allylamines only if that fails. Key messages About 15% of the population have fungal infections of the skin or nails of the foot Topical allylamines—available only on prescription—cure slightly more infections of the skin of the foot than topical azoles or undecenoic acid, both of which are available over the counter No significant differences in efficacy between individual allylamines or individual azoles were found Allylamines cost more than over the counter preparations and their few extra cures are expensive, with a marginal cost per cure that is more than five times as high as that of azoles Topical allylamines are therefore best reserved for athlete's foot that does not respond to initial treatment with azoles or undecenoic acid
Predictors of institutional delivery in Sodo town, Southern Ethiopia

Background Women are more liable to die during or following delivery than during pregnancy but use of both delivery services and post-partum care is low. Objective To find out the prevalence and predictors of institutional delivery in Wolaita Sodo (Sodo) town, southern Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was used to look at 844 women who had given birth in the previous five years in Sodo town. The study employed a multistage-sampling scheme. Codes were given for all identified women in selected kebeles (neighbourhoods) and a simple random-sampling technique was used after generating random numbers using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). SPSS was then used to carry out binary- and multiple logistic regressions. A 95% CI for the odds ratio was applied to judge the presence of relationships between variables. Results The prevalence of institutional delivery-service utilisation in Sodo town was 62.2%. Husband educational status, parity, number of antenatal clinic visits, perceived quality of care and knowledge regarding pregnancy danger signs were independent predictors of utilisation of institutional delivery services. Conclusion Institutional delivery service utilisation in Sodo town was much higher than the national figure. Findings in this study showed that promotion of antenatal care, involvement of men in maternal healthcare, provision of health education regarding the danger signs of pregnancy and improvement of service quality are recommended in order to sustain or even improve the current level of utilisation in the town.
Hepatopulmonary syndrome following portopulmonary hypertension

Portopulmonary hypertension (PPHTN) and hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) are distinct clinical entities that may accompany liver disease. While PPHTN and HPS have been infrequently described as occurring in the same patient, to the present authors’ knowledge, the order of occurrence has always been the initial onset of HPS, with pulmonary hypertension developing either concurrently or subsequently. In some instances, liver transplantation has been undertaken for HPS, followed by resolution of the HPS and subsequent development of pulmonary hypertension. The current case study presents a patient with hepatitis C-related cirrhosis in whom PPTHN developed initially, followed 2 yrs later by the development of the HPS. The current authors speculate that progressive imbalance in favour of endogenous vasodilators over vasoconstrictive factors led to normalisation of the pulmonary artery pressures.
A fix for fixation? Rerepresenting and abstracting as creative processes in the design of information systems

Abstract Fixation prevents the associations that are bridges to new designs. The inability to see alternative solutions, or even to see how to map known solutions onto current problems, is a particularly acute problem in the design of software-intensive systems. Here, we explored two related ways of liberating fixated thinking: abstracting and rerepresenting. Although both techniques helped designers generate original ideas, not all the added ideas fit the problem constraints. We discuss ways the results might be used to generate reflective design aids that help designers to first generate original ideas and later prune them.
Linear regression for head pose analysis

Extensive research has been conducted to estimate and analyze head poses for various applications. Most existing methods tend to detect facial features and locate landmarks on a face for pose estimation. However, the sensitivity to occlusion of some face parts with key features and uncontrolled illumination of face images make the facial feature detection vulnerable. In this paper, we propose a framework for pose estimation without the need of face features or landmarks detection. Specifically, we formulate the pose estimation as a linear regression applied to the pose space. This method is based on the assumption that pose space cannot be linearly approximated in the pose subspace. The experimental results strongly support this assumption. In cases where the database does not obtain various poses in the intraclass, we propose to generate those poses through a 3D reconstruction and projection method. The experiment conducted on the CMU MultiPIE and IMM Face database has shown the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Ageism Affects the Future Time Perspective of Older Adults

These studies tested whether ageism affects the future time perspective (FTP) of older adults. Ageism occurs when someone is classified as “old” and is judged or treated differently as a result. To mimic this, we recruited participants (aged 50+) from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. We made their age salient, exposed them to negative aging stereotypes, and asked them to complete Carstensen and Lang’s (1996) FTP Scale. Across multiple studies, participants assigned to the ageism conditions rated their futures as having fewer opportunities. This effect was mediated by mood and did not occur for younger adult participants. In addition, as the personal experiences of older adults with ageism increased, their perception of futures opportunities decreased. Thus, ageism reduces the future opportunities older adults see for themselves.
Radiation characteristics of a meander-line dipole antenna

A simple analytical method is proposed for calculation of the vertically polarized and horizontally polarized relative power densities of a meander-line dipole (MLD) antenna. A sinusoidal distribution of current that drops to zero at both ends of the dipole is assumed. Results obtained using this method are in good agreement with results computed using the Numerical Electromagnetic Code [1]. The MLD antenna has some cross-polarization, which, for a constant antenna length, can be minimized by increasing the number of meander sections. The gain of the antenna is calculated as a function of antenna length with the number of meander sections as a parameter. The gain for the MLD antenna is greater than that for a straight-wire dipole of the same length.
Spectroscopic Survey of 1.4 GHz and 24 μm Sources in the Spitzer First Look Survey with WIYN Hydra

We present an optical spectroscopic survey of 24 μm and 1.4 GHz sources, detected in the Spitzer extragalactic First Look Survey (FLS), using the multifiber spectrograph, Hydra, on the WIYN telescope. We have obtained spectra for 772 sources, with flux densities above 0.15 mJy in the infrared and 0.09 mJy in the radio. The redshifts measured in this survey are mostly in the range 0 < z < 0.4, with a distribution peaking at z ~ 0.2. Detailed spectral analysis of our sources reveals that the majority are emission-line star-forming galaxies, with star formation rates in the range 0.2-200 M☉ yr-1. The rates estimated from the Hα line fluxes are found to be on average consistent with those derived from the 1.4 GHz luminosities. For these star-forming systems, we find that the 24 μm and 1.4 GHz flux densities follow an infrared-radio correlation, which can be characterized by a value of q24 = 0.83, with a 1 σ scatter of 0.31. Our WIYN Hydra database of spectra nicely complements those obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in the region at lower redshift, as well as the MMT Hectospec survey by Papovich et al. in 2006, and brings the redshift completeness to 70% for sources brighter than 2 mJy at 24 μm. Applying the classical 1/Vmax method, we derive new 24 μm and 1.4 GHz luminosity functions, using all known redshifts in the FLS. We find evidence for evolution in both the 1.4 GHz and 24 μm luminosity functions in the redshift range 0 < z < 1. The redshift catalog and spectra presented in this paper are available at the Spitzer FLS Web site.
Experiencing risk, surveillance, and prosumption: health and physical education students’ perceptions of digitised health and physical activity data

ABSTRACT Digital technologies are now considered important in shaping young people's engagement in and with health and physical activity. Recent discussions show that the use of digital technologies to track health and fitness may over-emphasize the linear understanding of the body and health generally underpinned by Western health ideologies such as healthism. Other studies have shown the increased use of digital technologies in teaching Health and Physical Education (HPE) and as a means to enhance health and increase physical activity. Despite the opportunities and risks apparent in these studies, little is known about how HPE students make choices, negotiate, and resist or embrace the digitalisation of physical activity, exercise, and more broadly health. This study examines HPE students’ meaning making of risk and surveillance associated with the self-digitisation of exercise. The study further investigates how the concept of ‘prosumption’; the production, curation and consumption of self-data within the context of digitised health and physical activity, is understood. Based on the findings, we have constructed a typology of prosumers that can be used as a pedagogical device to illustrate the various kinds of subject positions students take up with digital technology in health and physical activity. This study extends the current understanding of prosumers by identifying the ‘ambivalent prosumer’. The results provide insights that have direct pedagogical implications in HPE teacher education specifically in the areas of knowledge production and consumption of knowledge through digital technology in health and physical activity.
Air-Filled Substrate Integrated Waveguide for Low-Loss and High Power-Handling Millimeter-Wave Substrate Integrated Circuits

An air-filled substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) made of a multilayer printed circuit board process is proposed in this paper. It is of particular interest for millimeter-wave applications that generally require low cost and low-loss performance and excellent power-handling capability. This three-layered air-filled SIW allows for substantial loss reduction and power-handling capability enhancement. The top and bottom layers may make use of a low-cost standard substrate such as FR-4 on which baseband or digital circuits can be implemented so to obtain a very compact, high-performance, low-cost, and self-packaged millimeter-wave integrated system. Over Ka-band (U-band), it is shown that the air-filled SIW compared to its dielectric-filled counterparts based on Rogers substrates RT/Duroid 5880 and also 6002 reduces losses by a mean value of 0.068 dB/cm (0.098 dB/cm) and 0.104 dB/cm (0.152 dB/cm), increases average power-handling capability by 8 dB (6 dB) and 7.5 dB (5.7 dB), and quality factor by 2.7 (2.8) and 3.6 (3.8) times, respectively. The peak power-handling capability of the proposed structure is also studied. A wideband transition is presented to facilitate interconnects of the proposed air-filled SIW with dielectric-filled SIW. Design steps of this transition are detailed and its bandwidth limitation due to fabrication tolerances is theoretically examined and established. For validation purposes, a back-to-back transition operating over the Ka-band is fabricated. It achieves a return loss of better than 15 dB and an insertion loss of 0.6 ±0.2 dB ( 0.3 ±0.1 dB for the transition) from 27 to 40 GHz. Finally, two elementary circuits, namely, the T-junction and 90 ° hybrid coupler based on the air-filled SIW, are also demonstrated.
Fireworks-Related Limb Injury in a Nigerian Neonate

Aims: We report an unusual case of firework blast injury to the trunk and left lower limb in a oneweek-old neonate and reviewed relevant literatures. Study Design: Case report. Presentation of Case: Different types of injuries could be sustained following explosives used for fireworks during festivities. Fireworks-related blast injury to the limb in a neonate following accidental explosion is a rare finding in the literature and it can be associated with grave morbidity and mortality. Our index patient though survived but had accompanying morbidities. Discussion: As fireworks-related limb injuries result in significant morbidity, public education regarding the proper use of fireworks would help in preventing the incidence of these injuries. Conclusion: Advocacy for a strict legislation and enforcement to regulate its use in Nigeria would be the panacea.
What Do Students Remember About Introductory Psychology, Years Later?

A course in introductory psychology (Intro Psych) has potential to cultivate valuable knowledge and skills, especially for first-year students. The present research is a first step at understanding this potential by surveying college seniors who took Intro Psych during their first year. We aimed to discover students’ perspectives on what they learned, a sense of how much they actually retained, and whether students’ course experiences predicted their academic behaviors as seniors. When asked what they learned from the course that helped them in other courses and in life, both majors and nonmajors described how Intro Psych shaped their study skills, knowledge, and perspectives on the social world. In a retest of items from their first midterm, students showed high performance (70% correct) compared to previous studies, with psychology students (majors and minors) showing better performance than nonpsychology students (81% vs. 69%), d = . 74. Finally, we found that students’ performance on a multiphase term project in Intro Psych predicted their self-reported project management skills as seniors (r = .32, p < .001). Students’ enjoyment of the course, measured by their evaluations of the instructors, predicted self-reported project management skills (r(148) = . 294, p < . 001) and also later study skills (r(148) = . 266, p < . 001). Together, these findings support the importance of Intro Psych and highlight the need to further clarify and expand our knowledge of its long-term impact.
Correlates of hyperdiversity in southern African ice plants (Aizoaceae)

The exceptionally high plant diversity of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) comprises a combination of ancient lineages and young radiations. A previous phylogenetic study of Aizoaceae subfamily Ruschioideae dated the radiation of this clade of > 1500 species in the GCFR to 3.8–8.7 Mya, establishing it as a flagship example of a diversification event triggered by the onset of a summer-arid climate in the region. However, a more recent analysis found an older age for the Ruschioideae lineage (17 Mya), suggesting that the group may in fact have originated much before the aridification of the region 10–15 Mya. Here, we reassess the tempo of radiation of ice plants by using the most complete generic-level phylogenetic tree for Aizoaceae to date, a revised calibration age and a new dating method. Our estimates of the age of the clade are even younger than initially thought (stem age 1.13–6.49 Mya), supporting the hypothesis that the radiation post-dates the establishment of an arid environment in the GCFR and firmly placing the radiation among the fastest in angiosperms (diversification rate of 4.4 species per million years). We also statistically examine environmental and morphological correlates of richness in ice plants and find that diversity is strongly linked with precipitation, temperature, topographic complexity and the evolution of highly succulent leaves and wide-band tracheids.
Deep Whole-Genome Sequencing to Detect Mixed Infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Mixed infection by multiple Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) strains is associated with poor treatment outcome of tuberculosis (TB). Traditional genotyping methods have been used to detect mixed infections of MTB, however, their sensitivity and resolution are limited. Deep whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has been proved highly sensitive and discriminative for studying population heterogeneity of MTB. Here, we developed a phylogenetic-based method to detect MTB mixed infections using WGS data. We collected published WGS data of 782 global MTB strains from public database. We called homogeneous and heterogeneous single nucleotide variations (SNVs) of individual strains by mapping short reads to the ancestral MTB reference genome. We constructed a phylogenomic database based on 68,639 homogeneous SNVs of 652 MTB strains. Mixed infections were determined if multiple evolutionary paths were identified by mapping the SNVs of individual samples to the phylogenomic database. By simulation, our method could specifically detect mixed infections when the sequencing depth of minor strains was as low as 1× coverage, and when the genomic distance of two mixed strains was as small as 16 SNVs. By applying our methods to all 782 samples, we detected 47 mixed infections and 45 of them were caused by locally endemic strains. The results indicate that our method is highly sensitive and discriminative for identifying mixed infections from deep WGS data of MTB isolates.
THE ULTRASTRUCTURE OF THE PELLICLE COMPLEX OF EUGLENA GRACILIS

The pellicle complex of E. gracilis is composed of the cell membrane, the ridge and groove with the notch, four fibrils, and the subpellicular ER. The cell membrane is of unit membrane configuration and covers the outside of the cell, the cytostome, the gullet, and the reservoir. The notch of the pellicle complex has always a close topographic relationship to two particular fibrils, as well as the subpellicular ER. The gullet is that region between the reservoir and the cytostome which, in addition to longitudinal fibrils, is surrounded by a single row of circular fibrils. The circumference of the cytostome has twenty large pellicular ridges alternating with small pellicular ridges. Alternating tall and small pellicular ridges cover the entire cell during division.
The impact of interactive visual simulations on learning statistics

In previous studies non-interactive visual simulations in learning tasks have improved learners' conceptual understanding of statistical principles. To explore the impact of interactive visual simulations on conceptual understanding of statistical principles, an online tutorial where students could either manipulate or only observe changes of statistical graphs was developed. Overall, the tutorial supports students in learning statistical concepts immediately after working with the tutorial and two weeks after. In addition, if students could manipulate the graphs on their own, they were faster. Implications and opportunities for further investigations of interactive simulations are discussed.
Design of fault-tolerant on-board network

An $(n,k,r)$-network is a triple $N=(G,in,out)$ where $G=(V,E)$ is a graph and $in,out$ are integral functions defined on $V$ called input and output functions, such that for any $v \inV$, $in(v)+out(v)+ deg(v)\leq2r$ with $deg(v)$ the degree of $v$ in the graph $G$. The total number of inputs is $in(V)=\sum_v\inVin(v)=n$, and the total number of outputs is $out(V)=\sum_v\inVout(v)=n+k$. An $(n,k,r)$-network is valid, if for any faulty output function $out'$ (that is such that $out'(v) \leqout(v)$ for any $v \inV$, and $out'(V) = n$), there are $n$ edge-disjoint paths in $G$ such that each vertex $v\inV$ is the initial vertex of $in(v)$ paths and the terminal vertex of $out'(v)$ paths. We investigate the design problem of determining the minimum number of vertices in a valid $(n,k,r)$-network and of constructing minimum $(n,k,r)$-networks, or at least valid $(n,k,r)$-networks with a number of vertices close to the optimal value. We first show $\frac3n+k2r-2+ \frac3r^2k \leq\calN(n,k,r)\leq\left\lceil\frack+22r-2\right\rceil\fracn2$. We prove a better upper bound when $r\geqk/2$: $\calN(n,k,r) \leq\fracr-2+k/2r^2-2r+k/2 n + O(1)$. Finally, we give the exact value of $\calN(n,k,r)$ when $k\leq6$ and exhibit the corresponding networks.