Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
One Hundred Seventy-Nine Consecutive Bariatric Operations after Introduction of Protocol Inspired by the Principles of Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS®) in Bariatric Surgery

Background Obese patients are a very large high-risk group for complications after surgical procedures. In this group, optimized perioperative care and a faster recovery to full activity can contribute to a decreased rate of postoperative complications. The introduction of ERAS®-based protocol is now even more important in bariatric surgery centers. The results of our study support the idea of implementation of ERAS®-based protocol in this special group of patients. Material/Methods This analysis included 170 patients (62 male/108 female, mean BMI 46.7 kg/m2) who had undergone laparoscopic bariatric surgery, and whose perioperative care was conducted according to a protocol inspired by ERAS® principles. Examined factors included oral nutrition tolerance, time until mobilization after surgery, requirements for opioids, duration of hospitalization, and readmission rate. Results During the first 24 postoperative hours, oral administration of liquid nutrition was tolerated by 162 (95.3%) patients and 163 (95.8%) were fully mobile. In 44 (25.8%) patients it was necessary to administer opioids to relieve pain. Intravenous liquid supply was discontinued within 24 hours in 145 (85.3%) patients. The complication rate was 10.5% (mainly rhabdomyolysis and impaired passage of gastric contents). The average time of hospitalization was 2.9 days and the readmission rate was 1.7%. Conclusions The introduction of an ERAS® principles-inspired protocol in our center proved technically possible and safe for our patients, and allowed for reduced hospitalization times without increased rate of complications or readmissions.
Searching for an Enhanced Predictive Tool for Mutagenicity

The Multiple Computer Automated Structure Evaluation (MCASE) program was used to evaluate the mutagenic potential of organic compounds. The experimental Ames test mutagenic activities for 2513 chemicals were collected from various literature sources. All chemicals have experimental results in one or more Salmonella tester strains. A general mutagenicity data set and fifteen individual Salmonella test strain data sets were compiled. Analysis of the learning sets by the MCASE program resulted in the derivation of good correlations between chemical structure and mutagenic activity. Significant improvement was obtained as more data was added to the learning databases when compared with the results of our previous reports. Several biophores were identified as being responsible for the mutagenic activity of the majority of active chemicals in each individual mutagenicity module. It was shown that the multiple-database mutagenicity model showed a clear advantage over normally used single-database models. The expertise produced by this analysis can be used to predict the mutagenic potential of new compounds.
The impact of paliperidone palmitate long-acting injection on hospital admissions in a mental health setting

We screened 216 patients in a retrospective observational investigator-initiated study, of whom 45.37% patients (n=98) were retained after the inclusion criteria were applied. These patients had been prescribed paliperidone palmitate long-acting injection (PPLAI) with diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar affective disorder. We investigated whether PPLAI has an effect on the frequency and length of admissions to mental health inpatient units, the number of contacts with Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Teams (CRHTT) and frequency of home visits by the CRHTT per patient, over 6 years, split using a ‘mirror image’ method. In total, 85% of patients continued PPLAI for 1 year, 60% for 2 years and 47% for 3 years. In the sample of patients who continued with PPLAI for 3 years (n=48), the mean number of hospital admissions decreased from 1.03 to 0.35 per patient (P=0.001). The mean number of bed days decreased significantly from 53 to 24 bed days (P=0.0001). The median values showed similar significant differences. There were numerical differences but nonsignificant results between CRHTT’s number of contacts and length of episodes across the study period. Our results indicate that PPLAI has been shown to be effective in the reduction of hospital admissions, relapse rates and length of inpatient stay.
The Development of a Code for Australian Psychologists

Section 35(1)(c) of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act (2009) requires the newly formed Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) “to develop or approve standards, codes and guidelines. ” In 2010 the PsyBA decided to initially adopt the Australian Psychological Society's (APS) Code of Ethics (2007) and develop a new code in the future with the involvement of key stakeholders without deciding what the nature of this code will be. The PsyBA now has to decide exactly how it will proceed in future. My aim in this article is to examine the options available to the PsyBA by exploring the definition and function of codes; presenting a history of the APS Code; and considering approaches that had been followed in Europe, Israel, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Asymptomatic embolization predicts stroke and TIA risk in patients with carotid artery stenosis.

Background and Purpose—Improved methods of identifying patients at high risk of thromboembolism would allow improved targeting of therapy. One such situation is carotid artery stenosis. This is associated with an increased risk of stroke, which can be reduced by carotid endarterectomy. However, the risk-benefit ratio is low in patients with tight asymptomatic stenosis and moderate symptomatic stenosis. Most stroke in patients with carotid stenosis is believed to be embolic. Therefore, the detection of asymptomatic cerebral emboli using Doppler ultrasound may allow identification of a high-risk group. Methods—Transcranial Doppler ultrasound was used to record for 1 hour the ipsilateral middle cerebral artery in 111 patients with >60% carotid artery stenosis (69 symptomatic, 42 asymptomatic). The Doppler audio signal was recorded onto digital audio tape for later analysis for embolic signals (ES) by an individual blinded to clinical details. In 67 subjects the relationship between ES and angiographically de.
Biochemical Analysis of Myelin Proteins in a Novel Neurological Mutant: The Taiep Rat

Abstract: Hemispheres, spinal cords, and sciatic nerves were taken from taiep, carrier, and control rats at ages ranging from 1 day to 16 months. Absolute myelin yields from CNS taiep tissues peaked at ∼2 months and then decreased until they reached a low but stable level. Myelin yield from the affected hemispheres expressed as a percentage of age‐matched controls decreased continuously from 2 weeks until it reached a stable level of ∼10–15%. The same was true for the spinal cords, but here the myelin yield reached a plateau at a slightly higher percentage of 20–25%. In comparison with control rats, isolated CNS myelin fractions from the affected rats had a greater content of high molecular weight proteins. Western blot analyses of CNS homogenates revealed that myelin basic protein (MBP), proteolipid protein, and 2′,3′‐cyclic nucleotide 3′‐phosphodiesterase were all present but decreased to levels generally consistent with the deficiencies of myelin. However myelin‐associated glycoprotein (MAG) levels always were reduced much more than those of the other three myelin proteins, and at younger ages the apparent molecular weight for MAG was increased in the mutants. Western blot analyses of sciatic nerve homogenates showed that the levels of MBP, MAG, and P0 were not significantly different in control and mutant animals. These results suggested an early hypomyelination of the CNS, with peak levels of myelin at 2 months, followed by a prolonged period of myelin loss, until a very low but stable myelin level was reached. The consistently greater loss of MAG, in comparison with other CNS myelin proteins, is different from most other hypomyelinating mutants in which MAG is relatively preserved in comparison with the proteins of compact myelin. This might be due to microtubular abnormalities in the taiep mutant interfering with transport of myelin proteins and having the greatest effect on MAG because of its most distal location in the periaxonal oligodendroglial membranes.
Examining the Rhetoric: A Comparison of How Sustainability and Young Children's Participation and Agency are Framed in Australian and Swedish Early Childhood Education Curricula

This article scrutinises the ways in which young children are described and supported as active participants for change within the Australian and Swedish national steering documents for early childhood education. A critical theory lens was applied, in combination with document analysis that looked for concepts related to environment and sustainability – i.e. the environmental, social, economic and political dimension of development, human place in nature, and environmental stewardship. Concepts concerned with critical thinking and children as active participants for change were used as specific dimensions of curriculum interpretation. The analyses show that, while both the Australian and Swedish curricula deal with content connected to environmental, social and cognitive dimensions, there is limited or no discussion of the political dimensions of human development, such as children as active citizens with political agency. In other words, children are not recognised as competent beings or agents of change for sustainability within these early childhood curriculum frameworks. Hence, these supposedly contemporary early childhood education documents lack curricular leadership to support children to contribute their voices and actions to civic and public spheres of participation as equal citizens.
Cardiac output monitoring: basic science and clinical application

Derangements in the circulation are a common feature of sepsis, trauma, major surgery and other critical illnesses. Detailed evaluation of the circulation is therefore an essential aspect of the clinical management of such patients. The use of cardiac output monitoring technology is an increasingly important aspect of evaluating patients in the operating theatre, critical care unit and elsewhere. There are now a number of different technologies available for this purpose, which use a diverse range of physiological principles. A detailed understanding of the physiological principles applied by such technology is essential for safe and effective use in clinical practice. The aim of this article is to describe the physiological principles used to measure cardiac output and their application in various monitors in common clinical use.
Comparison of touch and speech-enabled IVR systems in low literacy users

This paper addresses the feasibility of using the telephone as a tool for information access in the technology challenged and illiterate communities of Southern Africa. We did a case study of the OpenPhone system in the context of caregivers for HIV/AIDS infected children in Botswana. The aim was to design an IVR system for delivering care-giving health information in Setswana using a normal telephone. The study compares DTMF and speech-enabled IVR systems. The targeted users are predominantly females, ranging from semi-literate to illiterate adults but who are nevertheless numerically literate. We found that obscured socio-cultural circumstances of the users instigated their choice of DTMF over the speech-enabled IVR modality and this in turn led to elevated levels of both acceptance and rapid learnability towards the users' technology of choice.
The price of empowerment: Land titling and female inclusion in urban Tanzania

While multiple studies have shown that a woman’s control over land is positively associated with bargaining power outcomes, few have succeeded in highlighting successful methods for increasing this control. We report on a policy experiment in an unplanned settlement in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that provided access to formal land titles to informal settlers at randomized prices, with additional price discounts conditional on designating a woman as owner or co-owner of the land in question. Results show that the household’s are highly responsive to price incentives, as households o↵ered a small conditional discount are roughly 30% more likely to co-title their land. Despite these large di↵erences, households o↵ered conditional discounts are just as likely to purchase a formal land title as those o↵ered general discounts. We discuss the implications of these results for the expected bargaining power impacts of the intervention. ⇤World Bank †University of Oxford ‡Center for Global Development §We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Department for International Development, UK government, through the International Growth Centre (IGC) (http://www.theigc.org/), specifically via the IGC Research Award “Economic Impact of Urban Property Rights and Tanzania: The Role of Infrastructure” led by the Department of International Development, University of Oxford.
Inositol Polyphosphate 5-Phosphatases 1 and 2 Are Required for Regulating Seedling Growth1[C][W][OA]

Signals can be perceived and amplified at the cell membrane by receptors coupled to the production of a variety of second messengers, including myoinositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P3]. The myoinositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatases (5PTases; EC 3.1.3.56) comprise a large protein family that hydrolyzes 5-phosphates from a variety of myoinositol phosphate (InsP) and phosphoinositide phosphate (PtdInsP) substrates. Arabidopsis thaliana has 15 genes encoding 5PTases. Biochemical analyses of a subgroup of 5PTase enzymes suggest that these enzymes have both overlapping and unique substrate preferences. Ectopic expression of these genes in transgenic plants can reduce Ins(1,4,5)P3 levels and alter abscisic acid (ABA) signaling. To further explore the function of 5PTases in signaling, we have identified and characterized T-DNA insertional mutants for 5PTase1 and 5PTase2 and produced a double mutant. When grown in the dark, the seeds from these mutants germinate faster than wild-type seeds and the mutant seedlings have longer hypocotyls than wild-type seedlings. Seeds from these mutant lines also demonstrate an increase in sensitivity to ABA. These changes in early seedling growth are accompanied by mass increases in Ins(1,4,5)P3, but not by changes in endogenous ABA content. By labeling the endogenous myoinositol pool in 5ptase1 and 5ptase2 mutants, we detected increases in Ins(1,4,5)P3 and a decrease in PtdIns, PtdIns(4)P, and phosphatidylinositol (4,5) bisphosphate. Taken together, these data indicate that the At5PTase1 and At5PTase2 genes have nonredundant roles in hydrolyzing inositol second-messenger substrates and that regulation of Ins(1,4,5)P3 levels is important during germination and early seedling development.
Reduction of Conductance-Based Models with Slow Synapses to Neural Nets

The method of averaging and a detailed bifurcation calculation are used to reduce a system of synaptically coupled neurons to a Hopfield type continuous time neural network. Due to some special properties of the bifurcation, explicit averaging is not required and the reduction becomes a simple algebraic problem. The resultant calculations show one how to derive a new type of squashing function whose properties are directly related to the detailed ionic mechanisms of the membrane. Frequency encoding as opposed to amplitude encoding emerges in a natural fashion from the theory. The full system and the reduced system are numerically compared.
Childhood Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy is a rare condition in children. In this article, we report our experience in the management of 10 cases of childhood chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy in a single center, in the era of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), genetic microarray, and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy disease activity status. Robust neurophysiologic abnormalities were present in all cases and both MRI and lumbar puncture were useful adjuncts in diagnosis. Genetic microarray is a simple technique useful in excluding the most common hereditary demyelinating neuropathy. Intravenous immunoglobulin was an effective first-line therapy in most cases, with refractory cases responding to corticosteroids and rituximab. We found the chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy disease activity status useful for assessing outcome at final follow-up, whereas the modified Rankin score was better for assessing peak motor disability.
Ideology, Moral Cosmology, and Community in the United States

We propose an ideological/cosmological model to complement the three answers that have been offered to the Community Question: contentions that community is now lost, saved, or liberated. We hypothesize that the U.S. education system inculcates an individualistic ideology that disposes highly educated people to a weaker sense of community. We also hypothesize that the theologically modernist moral cosmology is inherently individualistic relative to the religiously orthodox cosmology and inclines those holding it to feel less of a sense of community. Through analyses of national survey data on people's feelings of community from their town or city, neighbors, friends, place of worship, co‐workers or fellow students, ethnic group members, and people met on the web, we find strong confirmation for both hypotheses. Education and moral cosmology are each more consistent predictors of people's sense of community across a range of communities than most of the variables in the conventional answers to the Community Question.
Critically appraising qualitative research for systematic reviews: defusing the methodological cluster bombs.

This article examines the place of qualitative research within systematic reviews as evidence for policy, discusses the critical appraisal process as applied to qualitative research, and gives illustrative examples of sound qualitative studies from the health policy field. A checklist is a useful tool for the quality evaluation of qualitative research, facilitating comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of different studies, and should stimulate debate between reviewers as part of the broader critical appraisal process. Critical appraisal must be central to research syntheses, thus enabling reviewers to make only good-quality qualitative evidence accessible for policy makers and practitioners.
A Flexible Directory Query Language for the Efficient Processing of Service Composition Queries

Service composition is a major challenge in an open environment populated by large numbers of heterogeneous services. In such a setting, the efficient interaction of directory-based service discovery with service composition engines is crucial. In this article we present a Java-based directory that offers special functionality enabling effective service composition. In order to optimize the interaction of the directory with different service composition algorithms exploiting application-specific heuristics, the directory supports user-defined selection and ranking functions written in a declarative query language. Inside the directory queries are transformed and compiled to JVM bytecode which is dynamically linked into the directory. The compiled query enables a best-first search of matching directory entries, efficiently pruning the search space.
A new method for direct preparation of tin dioxide nanocomposite materials

In the current work, a novel combustion method is demonstrated for the direct synthesis of nanocomposite materials. Specifically doped tin dioxide (SnO_2) powders were selected for the demonstration studies due to the key role SnO_2 plays in semiconductor gas sensors and the strong sensitivity of doped SnO_2 to nanocomposite properties. The synthesis approach combines solid and gas-phase precursors to stage the decomposition and particle nucleation processes. A range of synthesis conditions and four material systems were examined in the study: gold–tin dioxide, palladium–tin dioxide, copper–tin dioxide, and aluminum–tin dioxide. Several additive precursors were considered including four metal acetates and two pure metals. The nanocomposite materials produced were examined for morphology, phase, composition, and lattice spacing using transmission and scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffractometry, and energy-dispersive spectroscopy. The results using the combustion synthesis approach indicate good control of the nanocomposite properties, such as the average SnO_2 crystallite size, which ranged from 5.8 to 17 nm.
Regulatory Focus Scale (RFS): Development of a scale to record dispositional regulatory focus.

This article presents the Regulatory Focus Scale (RFS), an instrument comprising 10 items to record promotion orientation and prevention orientation, in accordance with regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998). In Study 1 (n = 130), 33 newly-constructed items were specified to record dispositional regulatory focus. They were administered along with the Regulatory Strength Measure (RSM) and items of various dimensions of the Schwartz values questionnaire (Schwartz Portrait Questionnaire, SPQ). Using distribution and factor analyses (exploratory und confirmatory), 10 new items were put together to create the RFS. Promotion orientation factors were named Openness to New Things and Autonomy, whereas prevention orientation factors were termed Orientation to the Expectations of Others and Sense of Obligation. There were only low correlations between the RFS and the results of the RSM, but very clear correlations between the RFS and the SPQ. In Study 2, using an independent sample (n = 200), it was possible.
‘A mockery of equality’: an exploratory investigation into disabled activists’ views of the Paralympic Games

This article offers an exploratory analysis of the opinions of disabled activists towards the Paralympic Games. With the use of a qualitative online survey, the work focuses on the perceptions of disabled individuals (n = 32) who are not Paralympic athletes but are affiliated to the disability rights group, the United Kingdom Disabled People’s Council. Working on the premise that the views of disabled activists have been excluded from Paralympic sports discourse to date, the results illustrate a nuanced yet negative view of the Games to contrast with an existing, yet overly positive, academic narrative. Participants were particularly cynical of the portrayal and production of the Games and its Paralympic athletes as they perceived that the wider population of disabled people is misrepresented. The overwhelming perception in this preliminary analysis suggests that the Paralympic Games can be counterproductive to disability rights beyond sport.