Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mammary candidiasis: A medical condition without scientific evidence?

Many physicians, midwives and lactation consultants still believe that yeasts (particularly Candida spp.) play an important role as an agent of nipple and breast pain despite the absolute absence of scientific proofs to establish such association. In this context, the objective of this study was to investigate the microorganisms involved in sore nipples and/or painful “shooting” breastfeeding by using a variety of microscopy techniques, as well as culture-dependent and–independent identification methods. Initially, 60 women (30 diagnosed as suffering “mammary candidiasis” and 30 with no painful breastfeeding) were recruited to elucidate the role of their pumps on the milk microbial profiles. After realizing the bias introduced by using such devices, manual expression was selected as the collection method for the microbiological analysis of milk samples provided by 529 women with symptoms compatible with “mammary candidiasis”. Nipple swabs and nipple biopsy samples were also collected from the participating women. Results showed that the role played by yeasts in breast and nipple pain is, if any, marginal. In contrast, our results strongly support that coagulase-negative staphylococci and streptococci (mainly from the mitis and salivarius groups) are the agents responsible for such cases. As a consequence, and following the recommendations of the US Library of Medicine for the nomenclature of infectious diseases, the term “mammary candidiasis” or “nipple thrush” should be avoided when referring to such condition and replaced by “subacute mastitis”.
Serious and Violent Juvenile Delinquency: An Update

This essay updates findings set out in Ernstige en gewelddadige jeugddelinquentie: Omvang, oorzaken en interventies [Serious and Violent Juvenile Delinquency: Prevalence, Causes, and Interventions] (2001), edited by Rolf Loeber, N. Wim Slot, and Joseph A. Sergeant. Recent secular changes in the prevalence of antisocial behavior and serious delinquency are either unknown or inclusive. Developmental aspects of sexually delinquent behaviors remain poorly undertood. Similar risk factors explaining delinquency apply to different ethnic groups. The severity of delinquency is positively associated with the presence of mental health disorders, but not all studies agree. Increasing population diversity requires use of measurement instruments that are culturally sensitive and reliable. Similar relationships between family factors and antisocial behavior hold for different ethnic groups. Progress has been made with the construction of screening devices for the identification of high‐risk groups of youths. Advances have been made in implementing and evaluating preventive programs for different age groups, but evaluations of interventions in juvenile institutions and in the justice system remain a high priority.
Minority Cultures and Social Media: Magnifying Garifuna

This paper looks at social media use by the Garifuna people. It explores how they are using social media to create a supraterritorial cyberscape. Despite the claim that global media is marginalising minority cultures and causing global homogenisation, this research found that newer forms of social media are in fact creating virtual cultural cyberscapes that are extending minority cultures. The Garifuna cultural response to social media can be demonstrative of the positive impact of social media minority perspectives. The larger implication, though, is that traditional geographical models of cultural space are becoming obsolete. In this research, a total of 60 Garifuna in locations all across the United States and Honduras were selected for participation. Their access to and use of media were examined.
Improving assessment of learning and for learning

The focus of this article is recent work by the Assessment Reform Group (ARG) on the role of teachers' judgements in the summative use of assessment. A brief overview of the early work of the ARG is followed by discussion of the desirable properties of assessment for summative uses. The work of the ARG's Assessment Systems for the Future project provided evidence and arguments concerning the validity, reliability, impact and cost of tests and of summative assessment by teachers. Whilst there is ample evidence that the teachers' judgements are more valid than, and equally reliable as, tests, there is a danger of unwanted impact on teaching as long as results are used for ‘high stakes’ evaluation of teachers and schools. Implications for policy include an end to the practice of using the results of pupils' summative assessment, however they are derived, as the sole basis for target setting and school accountability.
Mechanism of Endothelial Cell NADPH Oxidase Activation by Angiotensin II

Endothelial cells express a constitutively active phagocyte-type NADPH oxidase whose activity is augmented by agonists such as angiotensin II. We recently reported (Li, J.-M., and Shah, A. M. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 19952–19960) that in contrast to neutrophils a substantial proportion of the NADPH oxidase in unstimulated endothelial cells exists as preassembled intracellular complexes. Here, we investigate the mechanism of angiotensin II-induced endothelial NADPH oxidase activation. Angiotensin II (100 nmol/liter)-induced reactive oxygen species production (as measured by dichlorohydrofluorescein fluorescence or lucigenin chemiluminescence) was completely absent in coronary microvascular endothelial cells isolated from p47 phox knockout mice. Transfection of p47 phox cDNA into p47 phox−/− cells restored the angiotensin II response, whereas transfection of antisense p47 phox cDNA into wild-type cells depleted p47 phox and inhibited the angiotensin II response. In unstimulated human microvascular endothelial cells, there was significant p47 phox -p22 phox complex formation but minimal detectable p47 phox phosphorylation. Angiotensin II induced rapid serine phosphorylation of p47 phox (within 1 min, peaking at ∼15 min), a 1.9 ± 0.1-fold increase in p47 phox -p22 phox complex formation and a 1.6 ± 0.2-fold increase in NADPH-dependent O 2 ⨪ production (p< 0.05). p47 phox was redistributed to “nuclear” and membrane-enriched cell fractions. These data indicate that angiotensin II-stimulated endothelial NADPH oxidase activity is regulated through serine phosphorylation of p47 phox and its enhanced binding to p22 phox .
Identities, Discipline and Routines

This paper analyses how people’s subjectively construed identities are disciplined by, and appropriated from, their talk about organizational routines. Identity work, we argue, is not just an expression of agency but also of power. Based on a study of a UK regional law firm, our research counter-balances understandings of professional lawyers as autonomous knowledge-workers, and emphasizes instead the extent of their subjection to disciplinary processes. It shows that power is intrinsic to discursive constructions of routine processes of organizing. We examine lawyers’ accounts of their time-keeping and billing routine, and how these both fabricated their identities, and how individuals said that they confronted, shifted and perverted organizationally sanctioned systems of meaning. The research contribution of this paper is to examine empirically and to theorize how discourse about routines both disciplines and is a resource for identity work.
A survey on compressive sensing

Compressive sensing (CS) is a novel sampling paradigm that samples signals in a much more efficient way than the established Nyquist Sampling Theorem. CS has recently gained a lot of attention due to its exploitation of signal sparsity. Sparsity, an inherent characteristic of many natural signals, enables the signal to be stored in few samples and subsequently be recovered accurately, courtesy of compressive sensing. This paper gives survey of CS. It gives a brief background on the origin, reviews the basic mathematical foundation. The various reconstruction algorithms are also discussed. Finally, the survey concludes by discussing about the challenges of CS.
Understanding the harm of hate crime

This article provides an overview of the context and content of this issue devoted to hate crime. Working definitions of hate crime and hate speech are situated within the broader context of intergroup relations, prejudice, aggression, and law and social policy. Theory and research from social psychology, criminology, and legal studies are utilized to describe this context. We present summaries of the multidisciplinary contributions to this issue and note how these articles emphasize the origins of hate crime, the harm that it creates, and victims' and society's response to hate crime. They also highlight tensions between the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Finally, we note the interrelationships among these contributions and discuss the policy implications that arise from their analyses.
Assessing the Influence of “Standard” and “Culturally Specific” Risk Factors on the Prevalence and Frequency of Offending

This is an empirical study which uses a multifactorial risk framework to investigate the factors that influence the prevalence and frequency of offending by indigenous Australians (as measured through self-reported arrest rates). The study uses regression modeling of data from the 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey to estimate the effects of a range of individual, family, and community factors on indigenous arrest rates. The study considers a range of explanatory factors and includes both “standard” and “culturally specific” influences. Drawing upon the works of Homel, Lynch, and Herd, Broadhurst, and other Australian researchers, the study investigates the influence of multiple risk factors (including factors such as cultural strength and connection to community) and assesses whether these play a part in explaining the interaction between the indigenous population and the Australian criminal justice system.
Symbiont Interactions in a Tripartite Mutualism: Exploring the Presence and Impact of Antagonism between Two Fungus-Growing Ant Mutualists

Mutualistic associations are shaped by the interplay of cooperation and conflict among the partners involved, and it is becoming increasingly clear that within many mutualisms multiple partners simultaneously engage in beneficial interactions. Consequently, a more complete understanding of the dynamics within multipartite mutualism communities is essential for understanding the origin, specificity, and stability of mutualisms. Fungus-growing ants cultivate fungi for food and maintain antibiotic-producing Pseudonocardia actinobacteria on their cuticle that help defend the cultivar fungus from specialized parasites. Within both ant-fungus and ant-bacterium mutualisms, mixing of genetically distinct strains can lead to antagonistic interactions (i.e., competitive conflict), which may prevent the ants from rearing multiple strains of either of the mutualistic symbionts within individual colonies. The success of different ant-cultivar-bacterium combinations could ultimately be governed by antagonistic interactions between the two mutualists, either as inhibition of the cultivar by Pseudonocardia or vice versa. Here we explore cultivar-Pseudonocardia antagonism by evaluating in vitro interactions between strains of the two mutualists, and find frequent antagonistic interactions both from cultivars towards Pseudonocardia and vice versa. To test whether such in vitro antagonistic interactions affect ant colonies in vivo, we performed sub-colony experiments using species of Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants. We created novel ant-fungus-bacterium pairings in which there was antagonism from one, both, or neither of the ants' microbial mutualists, and evaluated the effect of directional antagonism on cultivar biomass and Pseudonocardia abundance on the cuticle of workers within sub-colonies. Despite the presence of frequent in vitro growth suppression between cultivars and Pseudonocardia, antagonism from Pseudonocardia towards the cultivar did not reduce sub-colony fungus garden biomass, nor did cultivar antagonism towards Pseudonocardia reduce bacteria abundance on the cuticle of sub-colony workers. Our findings suggest that inter-mutualist antagonism does not limit what combinations of cultivar and Pseudonocardia strains Acromyrmex fungus-growing ants can maintain within nests.
The influence of emotional intelligence on academic progress and achievement in UK university students

Previous research has found relationships between higher levels of emotional intelligence (EI) and academic success in both adolescents and adults. This study examines the relationship between overall EI and specific EI competencies in 135 undergraduate psychology students in the UK. EI was measured at the start of a psychology degree course using the Emotional Competence Inventory-University Edition (ECI-U II). Performance was assessed using retention statistics and students’ final average percentage mark (APM) at the end of their degree course. Results showed that there were no differences in overall EI or specific EI competencies in those students who graduated compared to those who failed to graduate. Whilst global EI did not significantly predict final APM, specific EI competencies (conscientiousness, adaptability, empathy, organisational awareness, and building bonds) significantly predicted APM after controlling for gender. Recommendations for the implementation of EI training in higher education institutions are considered.
Risk of arterial thromboembolic events in patients with advanced colorectal cancer receiving bevacizumab.

BACKGROUND Bevacizumab is an antiangiogenic mAb with efficacy against several cancers, but it is associated with risk of arterial thromboembolism (ATE). Further data are needed to determine the safety of bevacizumab. PATIENTS AND METHODS We recorded grade 3, 4, or 5 ATE events and other data (including age, baseline cardiovascular risk factors, history of ATE, and aspirin use) from 471 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer in the MAX (Mitomycin, Avastin, Xeloda) trial of capecitabine monotherapy versus capecitabine with bevacizumab with or without mitomycin C. RESULTS Bevacizumab-treated patients had 12 grade 3, 4, or 5 ATEs (3.8% incidence). ATEs occurred in 2.1% of patients >65 years, 5% of those with a history of ATE, and 5% of those with cardiac risk factors. Age, history of ATE, or vascular risk factors did not increase risk. Aspirin users had a higher incidence than nonusers (8.9% versus 2.7%) but had higher rates of vascular risk factors. CONCLUSIONS Bevacizumab was associated with a modestly higher risk of ATE, but safety was not significantly worse in older patients or patients with a history of ATE or vascular risk factors. The effect of aspirin in preventing ATE in patients receiving bevacizumab could not be determined from this study.
Sex differences in physiological responses to stress and in coronary heart disease: a causal link?

This editorial offers and provides preliminary support for the hypothesis that sex differences exist in physiological responses to acute behavioral stress, which may aid in understanding the enormous sex differences in risk for coronary heart disease. Epidemiological data regarding the differential sex experience of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality are discussed, followed by a meta-analytic review of available psychophysiological data on sex differences in stress-induced cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses. The implications of the meta-analysis for conceptual and methodological issues in psychophysiological research are highlighted.
High Speed, Low complexity, Folded, Polymorphic Wavelet Architecture using Reconfigurable Hardware

The main aim of this paper is to design and implement a high speed, low complexity and polymorphic architecture for reconfigurable folded wavelet filters. 5/3 wavelet results are incorporated into the 9/7 data path which reduces the number of adders compared to other solutions and also allows on the fly switching between the filters. The proposed work is to improve the speed of this reconfigurable architecture. This is accomplished by scheduling. A weight based scheduling algorithm has been used in this paper. This is an analysis method to improve inter task communication as well as data dependencies among tasks which will reduce the overall communication overhead and processing time. I. INTRODUCTION The Discrete Wavelet Transform is used for image compression in many signal processing applications. DWT can be implemented using filter bank structures. Polymorphic DWT architecture enables the dynamic control of allocated resources to get high performance output. Polymorphism is the ability of the architecture to adapt its hardware usage to meet the desired dynamic requirements. The resultant hardware has high throughput and high image reconstruction quality, and low power consumption. This is mainly used in real time image and multimedia processing application such as video surveillance and telemedicine. Most implementations approximate the irrational coefficients to rational values, leading to image reconstruction quality tradeoffs. To overcome this Lagrange Half Band Filter [2] which can be used for the computation of rational coefficients. This method of calculation of rational filter coefficients are more accurate. Biorthogonal filters are used for implementing polymorphic DWT. In biorthogonal filter bank all the filters are finite-impulse response (FIR) filters. Biorthogonal wavelets have symmetric filter coefficients and they have orthogonality property. Symmetric filters have linear phase property which
In-Group Favoritism and Perceived Similarity: A Look at Russians' Perceptions in the Post-Soviet Era

Using social identity theory, belief congruence theory, and optimal distinctiveness theory as frameworks, the authors examined whether perceived threat would moderate the relationship between perceived out-group similarity and group evaluations. Russian undergraduates evaluated Russians, Ukrainians, Moldavians, and Georgians on a number of dimensions. It was expected that when an out-group was seen as a severe threat, perceived similarity would result in in-group bias. However, when an out-group was viewed as nonthreatening, perceived similarity was expected to be negatively related to in-group bias. As hypothesized, although perceived similarity and in-group bias were negatively related for those who felt unthreatened by Georgians, a nonsignificant positive relationship existed for those feeling threatened.
Young women's passionate friendships: a qualitative analysis

Recent research suggests that heterosexual and sexual minority women are more similar to each other in relationship development than they are to men who identify a similar sexual orientation (Diamond, L.M., 2008. Sexual fluidity: understanding women's love and desire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; Glover, J.A., Galliher, R.V., and Lamere, T.G., 2009. Identity development and exploration among sexual minority adolescents: examination of a multidimensional model. Journal of homosexuality, 56, 77–101). The current study adds to this literature by examining past and current passionate friendship experiences of a small sample of heterosexual and sexual minority young adult women through qualitative interviews. Passionate friendships represent a unique relationship category that blurs the lines between friendship and romantic relationship. Five content themes emerged regarding the formation, features, and function of passionate friendships. Implications for future research based on preliminary findings of similarities and differences within this small sample of heterosexual and sexual minority women's passionate friendships are discussed.
Glucose metabolism during bovine preimplantation development: Analysis of gene expression in single oocytes and embryos

Glucose metabolism of the bovine embryo is low during the first cleavages and increases sharply after the major resumption of the genome (8–16 cells). The mRNA level for genes involved in glucose metabolism was tested by RT‐PCR on individual oocytes and embryos at different stages of development. These genes were: glucose transport GLUT‐1, hexokinase (HK), glucose‐6‐phosphate‐dehydrogenase (G6PDH), and glucose‐phosphate‐isomerase (GPI); actin was used as a reference transcript. RT‐PCR results revealed three types of oocytes or embryos: positive with a PCR signal for each transcript considered, nul with no signal for any transcript, and heterogeneous with a PCR signal for some transcripts and none for others. The number of nul and heterogeneous samples was higher for slow than for fast‐cleaving embryos (81% vs. 36%), and the proportion of positive embryos increased significantly at the 16‐cell and morula stages (P < 0.002), suggesting a correlation between mRNA content and developmental capacity. In positive embryos, GLUT‐1 mRNA level was reduced by half during maturation and fertilization. Actin and hexokinase mRNA levels decreased during the first cleavages, but significantly increased at the 16‐cell and morula stages, respectively. GPI transcript remained stable throughout development, whereas there was a significant rise for G6PDH at the 4‐cell stage, perhaps due to a polyadenylation process. Finally, the absence or decrease in intensity of several transcripts at the blastocyst stage suggests suboptimal culture conditions. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 48:216–226, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Recognition of faces of different species: a developmental study between 5 and 8 years of age

There is developmental progression in the ability to recognize human faces (HF) during childhood, accompanied by qualitative differences in what children perceive and remember. The best known example is that of sensitivity to vertical orientation: while there is age-related improvement in recognizing upright faces, upside-down ones show no recognition improvement. It is believed by some investigators to be a sign of developing face-expertise over the first 10 years or so of life. If expertise, based on experience with many individuals, is the basis for the development of the inversion-effect, faces from other species should not induce inversion-effects. In two experiments, we explored the expertise phenomenon by testing recognition of faces of different animal species with children between 5 and 10 years of age. Our results failed to show any developmental changes in the processing of faces of own- and other-species. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Variation in tolerance of rice to long-term stagnant flooding that submerges most of the shoot will aid in breeding tolerant cultivars

Long-term stagnant flooding (SF, 50 cm water depth) is a major problem in rainfed lowland rice. We established a phenotyping protocol and identified tolerant landraces. Genotypes best suited to SF showed moderate elongation of 1.3–2.3 cm d−1 under SF, but semi-dwarf and fast-elongating types are intolerant. Dwarf varieties containing SUB1 are sensitive, but taller varieties with SUB1 are tolerant, suggesting the possibility of combining tolerances to complete submergence and SF. Tolerance of SF is dependent on moderate elongation, high tillering, lesser carbohydrate depletion and higher fertility. Tolerant genotypes identified here will be used for mechanistic studies and in breeding.