Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parental knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with not receiving hepatitis A vaccine in a demonstration project in Butte County, California.

OBJECTIVE To determine hepatitis A vaccination coverage and factors associated with not receiving hepatitis A vaccine among children. METHODS A random cluster sample survey was conducted of parents of children who attended kindergarten in Butte County, California, in 2000. Because of a history of recurrent epidemics, an aggressive hepatitis A vaccination program was ongoing during the time this study was conducted. Receipt of 1 or 2 doses of hepatitis A vaccine was studied. RESULTS Of 896 surveys sent, 648 (72%) were completed. The vaccination coverage for at least 1 dose of hepatitis A vaccine was 398 (62%) and for 2 doses was 272 (42%). Factors associated with not receiving the vaccine included lack of provider recommendation (vs having recommendation; odds ratio [OR]: 7.8; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.9-12.2), not having heard of the vaccine (OR: 2.4; 95% CI: 1.2-4.9), and parent's not perceiving child is likely to get hepatitis A (vs perceiving child might get disease; OR: 2.1; CI: 1.6-2.9). CONCLUSIONS Vaccination coverage among kindergartners did not reach high levels (ie, >90%), despite aggressive vaccination efforts in this community. Lack of provider recommendation and lack of parental awareness of hepatitis A vaccine were the 2 most significant factors associated with failure to receive vaccine. These findings will facilitate the development of vaccination strategies for communities in which hepatitis A vaccination is recommended.
Heritability of autism spectrum disorders: a meta‐analysis of twin studies

Background The etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been recently debated due to emerging findings on the importance of shared environmental influences. However, two recent twin studies do not support this and instead re‐affirm strong genetic effects on the liability to ASD, a finding consistent with previous reports. This study conducts a systematic review and meta‐analysis of all twin studies of ASD published to date and explores the etiology along the continuum of a quantitative measure of ASD. Methods A PubMed Central, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Web of Knowledge structured search conducted online, to identify all twin studies on ASD published to date. Thirteen primary twin studies were identified, seven were included in the meta‐analysis by meeting Systematic Recruitment criterion; correction for selection and ascertainment strategies, and applied prevalences were assessed for these studies. In addition, a quantile DF extremes analysis was carried out on Childhood Autism Spectrum Test scores measured in a population sample of 6,413 twin pairs including affected twins. Results The meta‐analysis correlations for monozygotic twins (MZ) were almost perfect at . 98 (95% Confidence Interval, .96–.99). The dizygotic (DZ) correlation, however, was . 53 (95% CI .44–.60) when ASD prevalence rate was set at 5% (in line with the Broad Phenotype of ASD) and increased to . 67 (95% CI .61–.72) when applying a prevalence rate of 1%. The meta‐analytic heritability estimates were substantial: 64–91%. Shared environmental effects became significant as the prevalence rate decreased from 5–1%: 07–35%. The DF analyses show that for the most part, there is no departure from linearity in heritability. Conclusions We demonstrate that: (a) ASD is due to strong genetic effects; (b) shared environmental effects become significant as a function of lower prevalence rate; (c) previously reported significant shared environmental influences are likely a statistical artefact of overinclusion of concordant DZ twins.
“Death Is Part of the Job” in Long-Term Care Homes

For long-term care (LTC) home staff who work directly with residents, death, dying, and grief are day-to-day experiences in their working life. However, staff are often overlooked for grief and bereavement support. This exploratory research used a qualitative approach to understand LTC staff’s grief and bereavement experience and to identify the perceived support needs of nurses and personal support workers who work in two faith-based non-profit care homes in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Findings indicated that participants’ experiences are complex, shaped by the emotional impact of each loss, the cumulative burden of ongoing grief, an organizational culture in LTC where death is hidden, and the lack of organizational attention to staffs’ support and education needs. Eight recommendations were developed from the findings. It is hoped that this research will assist in the development of organizational policy and procedures, addressing the health and well-being of direct care workers in LTC homes.
Organizational Justice and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Mediated Multifoci Model †

This research explores the differential effects of multifoci organizational justice perceptions on organizational citizenship behavior. Based on data collected from 217 employee—supervisor dyads, our findings clarify the bi-focal nature of distributive and procedural justice, illuminate the mono-focus of interpersonal justice, and support the premise that justice investments yield exponential behavioral responses that are sometimes mediated by the quality of the employee— supervisor relationship.
Accessory (multiple) renal arteries – Differences in frequency according to population, visualizing techniques and stage of morphological development

The aim of this paper is to comprehensively analyze the literature focused on frequency of the presence of the accessory renal arteries in the human body. A systematic analysis of papers has been made. With regard to ethnicity, the incidence of accessory renal arteries fluctuates from 4% in a Malaysian population to 61.5% in a Brazilian population. The frequency is lowest in eastern and southern Asia (from 4% to 18.4%). In some, not ethnically homogenous populations, wide span of occurrence of accessory renal arteries is described (e.g. American – averaging from 18% to 28.8%). A higher frequency of accessory renal arteries was observed in fetuses compared to adults. Moreover, differences in the presence and number of accessory renal arteries reported in different papers are a consequence of type of visualizing technique used in research – especially when computed tomography and anatomical dissection were compared. The increasing number of surgical interventions, especially where laparoscopic methods are concerned, underlines the importance of such knowledge especially to surgeons, interventional radiologists, nephrologists, and vascular surgeons.
The influence of group identification on the adoption of peer group smoking norms

Abstract According to self-categorisation theory, referent informational influence is a process whereby individuals conform to the norms of social groups with which they identify. This paper investigates whether smoking is a stereotypical attribute of particular social groups and how the group normative influence with regard to smoking may affect group members' personal smoking involvement. A sample of young adults (initial W = 3300) was surveyed at 3 six-month intervals after leaving their final year of school. Results showed that particular labels (such as rebels, using illegal drugs and riding motor bikes) were associated with extensive smoking widiin peer groups. An individual's smoking status was found to be strongly related to a favourable smoking norm in the peer group. This relationship was found to be stronger amongst those who strongly identified with their peer group compared with those who were weakly identified. Individuals whose behaviour was discordant with the group norm tended to express weak identification with the group and, over time, to alter their main friendship group to one with norms that are more compatible with their own behaviour
A Note on the Efficiency of Hashing Functions

Hashing functions are considered which store data "randomly" in a fixed size hash table with no auxiliary storage. I t is known that if k out of the N locations have been previously filled randomly, then the expected number of locations which must be looked at until an empty one is found is 1 qk / ( N -k -b 1). I t is shown that there exist nonrandom hashing functions which are more efficient for certain values of k and N. However, it is shown that the 1 + k/ (N k + 1) figure is a "lower bound" on hashing performance in the following sense. If h is any hashing function such that the expected number of trials to insert the (k -b 1)st item into a table of size N is C(k, N) , and if for some k, C(k, N) < 1 + k / ( N k -b 1), then there exists k' < k such that C(k', N) > 1 -b k / ( N -k 41). Finally, it is shown that randomness is a sufficient but not necessary condition for attainment of the 1 4k / ( N -k -41) performance for all k, and a necessary and sufficient condition is given.
Regulation of telomerase by alternate splicing of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) in normal and neoplastic ovary, endometrium and myometrium

Telomerase extends telomeric repeats at the ends of linear chromosomes, thereby prolonging the replicative capacity of cells. To investigate possible regulatory mechanisms of telomerase, we measured telomerase enzyme activity, human telomerase RNA (hTR) and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA in normal and neoplastic ovary, endometrium and myometrium. Telomerase activity was detected in most malignancies and in normal endometrium but not in myometrial leiomyoma, normal myometrium or normal ovary. hTR was expressed in all tissue samples. hTERT mRNA was expressed in many tissue samples, and no tissue sample exhibited telomerase activity without expressing hTERT mRNA. However, the presence of hTR and hTERT mRNA was not sufficient for telomerase activity. Alternate splicing of hTERT produced mRNAs lacking critical reverse transcriptase (RT) motifs in both normal and neoplastic tissues. Only tissues expressing hTERT containing complete A and B RT motifs demonstrated telomerase activity. Finally, several normal ovarian tissues and myometrial leiomyomas lacked telomerase activity despite expressing hTR and hTERT containing complete A and B RT motifs. This was not seen in ovarian and myometrial malignancies, where the expression of hTR and hTERT containing complete A and B RT motifs was sufficient for telomerase activity. We conclude that in ovarian and uterine tissues, the presence of a functional telomerase complex is regulated at multiple levels, including hTERT transcription and alternative splicing of hTERT transcripts. The lack of telomerase activity in several normal but not malignant tissues expressing hTR and hTERT containing complete A and B RT motifs suggests that there are further mechanisms for suppressing telomerase activity downstream of hTERT transcription and mRNA splicing, and these mechanisms have been lost during neoplastic transformation. Int. J. Cancer 85:330–335, 2000. ©2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Technologies and challenges in large‐scale phosphoproteomics

Phosphorylation, the reversible addition of a phosphate group to amino acid side chains of proteins, is a fundamental regulator of protein activity, stability, and molecular interactions. Most cellular processes, such as inter‐ and intracellular signaling, protein synthesis, degradation, and apoptosis, rely on phosphorylation. This PTM is thus involved in many diseases, rendering localization and assessment of extent of phosphorylation of major scientific interest. MS‐based phosphoproteomics, which aims at describing all phosphorylation sites in a specific type of cell, tissue, or organism, has become the main technique for discovery and characterization of phosphoproteins in a nonhypothesis driven fashion. In this review, we describe methods for state‐of‐the‐art MS‐based analysis of protein phosphorylation as well as the strategies employed in large‐scale phosphoproteomic experiments with focus on the various challenges and limitations this field currently faces.
On the Substantive and Predictive Validity Facets of the University Entrance Exam for English Majors

This study examined the substantive and predictive validity facets of the University Entrance Examination for English Major (UEEEM) students. To that aim, 111 English major students were recruited to report their scores on each of the subtests of the test as well as their grade point average. Sequential multiple regressions and factor analysis were used in the analysis of the data. Results acknowledged a 2factor structure underlying the test. Moreover, multiple regression analyses indicated that the presence of a large number of seemingly construct irrelevant items, Arabic, and theology, coupled with items with no unique contribution to variation to the response variable, the General English subtest, has compromised the predictive validity of the test. The paper concludes with the implications it carries for the test ’s stakeholders, particularly its developers and score users. Keyword s: Language Tests; Validity; Substantive; Predictive
Integration of GPS and dead-reckoning navigation systems

Recent developments of the second generation automotive navigation and route guidance systems have posed more restrictive requirements for vehicle positioning accuracy. Only after accurate current vehicle locations are available can appropriate maneuver instructions be generated from the route guidance algorithm. Dead-reckoning systems and GPS are two commonly used techniques for vehicle navigation systems. While both methods suffer from different drawbacks, superior performance can be obtained by combining these two techniques. In this paper we present a vehicle positioning system that integrates both the GPS and the dead-reckoning method. This system uses the GPS signals to adaptively calibrate the dead-reckoning sensors as well as to "rescue" the system from unexpected position errors. On the other hand, the dead-reckoning method, through the use of map-matching algorithm, provides feedbacks for calibrating the GPS position errors. Experimental results using the ZEXEL NavMate Navigation and Route Guidance System demonstrate the effectiveness of the integrated positioning system.
Techniques for operational data warehousing

Traditionally, data warehouses have been used to analyze historical data. Recently, there has been a growing trend to use data warehouses to support real-time decision-making about an enterprise's day-to-day operations. The needs for improved query and update performance are two challenges that arise from this new application of a data warehouse. To address these needs, new data warehouse functionality is needed including: (1) better access to early query results while queries are running and (2) making the information stored in a data warehouse as fresh as possible. For the first problem, we introduce a non-blocking parallel hash ripple join algorithm to support interactive queries in a parallel DBMS. Compared to previous work, our parallel hash ripple join algorithm (1) combines parallelism with sampling to speed convergence, and (2) maintains good performance in the presence of memory overflow. We demonstrate the performance of our approach with a prototype implementation in a parallel DBMS. For the second problem, we propose two techniques to improve the efficiency of immediate materialized view maintenance. We identify two challenges for immediate materialized view maintenance: (1) In parallel RDBMSs, simple single-node updates to base relations can give rise to expensive all-node operations for materialized view maintenance. (2) Immediate materialized view maintenance with transactional consistency, if enforced by generic concurrency control mechanisms, can result in low levels of concurrency and high rates of deadlock. To address the first challenge, we present a comparison of three materialized join view maintenance methods in a parallel RDBMS, which we refer to as the naive, auxiliary relation, and global index methods. The last two methods improve performance at the cost of using more space. To address the second challenge, we extend previous high concurrency locking techniques to apply to materialized view maintenance, and show how this extension can be implemented even in the presence of indices on the materialized view.
Prevalence, Types and Risk Factors for Malnutrition in Displaced Sudanese Children

The nutritional status of 327 under-five children living in Mayoo displacement camp, Khartoum, Sudan, was assessed during May- August 2004. Risk factors for protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) were also studied. According to WHO criteria, a total of 186 (56.1%) children had malnutrition, of these 101(30.1%), 43 (13.1%) and 42 (12.8%) were mildly, moderately and severely malnourished respectively. According to Welcome classification, the commonest type of malnutrition was found to be underweight (38.2%), marasmus, kwashiorkor were detected in (6.4%) and (0.9%) respectively, there was no case of marasmic kwashiorkor in the studied population. Prevalence of vitamin “A” was 9.2% of which 0.9% had night blindness. Age, sex, lack of immunization, lack of breast -feeding, history of fever and history of diarrhoea were tested and were not found be risk factors for malnutrition in this group of children.
Effect of Elevated Atmospheric CO2 and Temperature on the Disease Severity of Rocket Plants Caused by Fusarium Wilt under Phytotron Conditions

The severity of F. oxysporum f.sp. conglutinans on rocket plants grown under simulated climate change conditions has been studied. The rocket plants were cultivated on an infested substrate (4 log CFU g-1) and a non-infested substrate over three cycles. Pots were placed in six phytotrons in order to simulate different environmental conditions: 1) 400–450 ppm CO2, 18–22°C; 2) 800–850 ppm CO2, 18–22°C; 3) 400–450 ppm CO2, 22–26°C, 4) 800–850 ppm CO2, 22–26°C, 5) 400–450 ppm CO2, 26–30°C; 6) 800–850 ppm CO2, 26–30°C. Substrates from the infested and control samples were collected from each phytotron at 0, 60 and 120 days after transplanting. The disease index, microbial abundance, leaf physiological performances, root exudates and variability in the fungal profiles were monitored. The disease index was found to be significantly influenced by higher levels of temperature and CO2. Plate counts showed that fungal and bacterial development was not affected by the different CO2 and temperature levels, but a significant decreasing trend was observed from 0 up to 120 days. Conversely, the F. oxysporum f.sp. conglutinans plate counts did not show any significantly decrease from 0 up to 120 days. The fungal profiles, evaluated by means of polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE), showed a relationship to temperature and CO2 on fungal diversity profiles. Different exudation patterns were observed when the controls and infested plants were compared, and it was found that both CO2 and temperature can influence the release of compounds from the roots of rocket plants. In short, the results show that global climate changes could influence disease incidence, probably through plant-mediated effects, caused by soilborne pathogens.
Epigenetic Regulations in Diabetic Nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a chronic complication of diabetes and the most common cause of end-stage kidney disease. It has been reported that multiple factors are involved in the pathogenesis of DN, while the molecular mechanisms that lead to DN are still not fully understood. Numerous risk factors for the development of diabetic nephropathy have been proposed, including ethnicity and inherited genetic differences. Recently, with the development of high-throughput technologies, there is emerging evidence that suggests the important role of epigenetic mechanisms in the pathogenesis of DN. Epigenetic regulations, including DNA methylation, noncoding RNAs, and histone modifications, play a pivotal role in DN pathogenesis by a second layer of gene regulation. All these findings can contribute to developing novel therapies for DN.
Anorexia nervosa trios: behavioral profiles of individuals with anorexia nervosa and their parents

Background Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with behavioral traits that predate the onset of AN and persist after recovery. We identified patterns of behavioral traits in AN trios (proband plus two biological parents). Method A total of 433 complete trios were collected in the Price Foundation Genetic Study of AN using standardized instruments for eating disorder (ED) symptoms, anxiety, perfectionism, and temperament. We used latent profile analysis and ANOVA to identify and validate patterns of behavioral traits. Results We distinguished three classes with medium to large effect sizes by mothers' and probands' drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, perfectionism, neuroticism, trait anxiety, and harm avoidance. Fathers did not differ significantly across classes. Classes were distinguished by degree of symptomatology rather than qualitative differences. Class 1 (~33%) comprised low symptom probands and mothers with scores in the healthy range. Class 2 (~43%) included probands with marked elevations in drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, neuroticism, trait anxiety, and harm avoidance and mothers with mild anxious/perfectionistic traits. Class 3 (~24%) included probands and mothers with elevations on ED and anxious/perfectionistic traits. Mother–daughter symptom severity was related in classes 1 and 3 only. Trio profiles did not differ significantly by proband clinical status or subtype. Conclusions A key finding is the importance of mother and daughter traits in the identification of temperament and personality patterns in families affected by AN. Mother–daughter pairs with severe ED and anxious/perfectionistic traits may represent a more homogeneous and familial variant of AN that could be of value in genetic studies.
Mercury Hair Concentration among Primary School Children in Malaysia

The main concern regarding mercury exposure is the adverse health effect on the developing nervous system. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine hair mercury levels and their association with socio-demographic characteristics, complaints about mercury poisoning symptoms and the fish consumption pattern among children in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 215 school children aged 11 years old. Hair was collected from the children and the total mercury was analyzed using oxygen combustion–gold amalgamation atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Anthropometric data, a fish consumption questionnaire and mercury poisoning symptoms were collected during a personal interview. The mean hair mercury level among primary school children was 0.63 ± 0.59 µg/g with the geometric mean of 0.47 µg/g. A total of 14% of respondents had hair mercury levels above 1 µg/g. A multiple binary logistic regression analysis outlined that fish consumption of at least one meal per week increased the likelihood of having a high mercury level (odds ratio (OR) 3.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3–10.4). This study confirms the existence of a mercury burden among Malaysian children and the level is high compared to other regional studies. This study provides important baseline data regarding the mercury level among children in Malaysia.
Osteomyelitis: Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment

Osteomyelitis is a common disease with a variety of clinically and microbiologically distinct subsets. Diagnosis should begin with plain radiographs but may include a variety of imaging modalities. Cultures of the surface of ulcers or draining sinuses are often misleading, and bone cultures are necessary to determine the true pathogens of bone infections. The approach to treatment of osteomyelitis is complex, and often requires a multidisciplinary approach, with input from radiologists, vascular and orthopedic surgeons, infectious disease specialists, and wound care and rehabilitation specialists.