Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea in adults.

OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA (OSA) is a sleep disorder characterized by intermittent complete and partial airway collapse, resulting in frequent episodes of apnea and hypopnea. The breathing pauses cause acute adverse effects, including oxyhemoglobin desaturation, fluctuations in blood pressure and heart rate, increased sympathetic activity, cortical arousal, and sleep fragmentation. The condition has received increasing attention during the past 3 decades. Until 1981, the only effective treatment for OSA was tracheostomy. The advent of continuous positive air pressure therapy, an effective noninvasive treatment, was a turning point, and clinical interest began to increase in tandem with the accumulation of research linking OSA to cognitive, behavioral, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular morbidities (FIGURE). Findings from large population studies in different countries during the last decade have contributed to a better understanding of the epidemiology of OSA. In most population studies, OSA status has been indicated by the frequency of apnea and hypopnea events per hour of sleep (apnea-hypopnea index) as determined by polysomnography (a continuous overnight recording of sleep, breathing, and cardiac parameters). The apnea-hypopnea index cutpoints of 5, 15, and 30 (with or without daytime sleepiness) are commonly used to indicate mild, moderate, and severe OSA, respectively. These studies have demonstrated that OSA is highly prevalent in adults (TABLE). Approximately 1 in 5 adults has at least mild OSA and 1 in 15 adults has OSA of moderate or worse severity. In the United States, 75% to 80% of OSA cases that could benefit from treatment remain undiagnosed. Associations of OSA with serious morbidity have raised concern that untreated OSA is a substantial but underappreciated public health threat. Primary care physicians are currently being encouraged to be alert to OSA symptoms of disruptive snoring, breathing pauses, and excessive daytime sleepiness in their patients. It is important that physicians also recognize that not all OSA patients are “Pickwickian” (ie, male, obese, sleepy, snoring, and middle-aged), a stereotype that emerged from clinical observations of the highly selective patient populations observed in earlier years. The goal of this article is to review recent findings from populationbased epidemiology studies on risk factors for OSA in adults.
Impact of European Media Education Strategies on Russian Media Education Development.

The article attempts to examine the impact of European media education theories and approaches on Russian media education evolution basing on a comparative analysis of Russian and European media literacy promotion strategies in the historical context. This influence resulted in the appearance and development of socio-cultural models of media education in Russia basing on the cultural studies and critical thinking theories of media education, including the adopting of integrated media education approach in schools and universities.
The association of a probiotic with a prebiotic (Flortec, Bracco) to improve the quality/quantity of spermatozoa in infertile patients with idiopathic oligoasthenoteratospermia: a pilot study

The hypothesis that the assumption of a probiotic associated with a prebiotic (Flortec, Bracco; one sachet contains: Lactobacillus paracasei B21060 5 × 109 cells + arabinogalctan 1243 mg + oligo‐fructosaccharides 700 mg + l‐glutamine 500 mg) could improve the quality and quantity of spermatozoa in idiopathic oligoasthenoteratospermia (iAOT) patients to a larger extent than a control substance (starch) was tested. Forty‐one patients with no chromosomal aberrations were randomized into two groups: 20 received Flortec, one sachet per day for 6 months, whereas 21 received the control substance. The following data were collected: clinical history, scrotal Doppler scans, Y microdeletion, karyotype and cystic fibrosis screens, follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), and prolactin (PRL) levels, and two semen analyses. Both the Flortec and the starch groups underwent two semen analyses and one FSH, LH, T, E2, and PRL measurement in the blood, at the beginning of the study, and after 6 months. The comparisons were carried out using a non‐parametric (Wilcoxon signed rank) test. The side effects were assessed and compared using the chi‐squared test. Group 1 (Flortec) had their sperm count improved: volume of the ejaculate (median from 2.4 to 3.1 mL; p < 0.01), sperm concentration (median: from 15.2 × 106/mL to 28.3 × 106/39 mL; p < 0.01), progressive motility (median: from 16.2 to 42.0%; p < 0.01), and the percentage of typical forms (median: from 7 to 16.3%; p < 0.01); in addition, their FSH, LH, and T levels improved (p < 0.01), while those of E2 and PRL did not. Group 2 (control substance) had no modification in 42 of the parameters studied. There were no side effects in either group. These data showed that Flortec constitutes a safe therapy for improving the volume of the ejaculate and the quality/quantity of spermatozoa in iOAT patients.
Is Efficiency Overrated?

When we buy our daily cup of coffee, sometimes we engage in a social interaction with the barista, and sometimes we are in a rush. Every day we have opportunities to transform potentially impersonal, instrumental exchanges into genuine social interactions, and the happiness literature suggests that we may reap benefits by doing so; in other words, treating a service provider like we would an acquaintance (i.e., weak tie) might make us happier. In the current study, people who had a social interaction with a barista (i.e., smiled, made eye contact, and had a brief conversation) experienced more positive affect than people who were as efficient as possible. Further, we found initial evidence that these effects were mediated by feelings of belonging. These results suggest that, although people are often reluctant to have a genuine social interaction with a stranger, they are happier when they treat a stranger like a weak tie.
Association of ustekinumab and briakinumab with major adverse cardiovascular events

Safety concerns have been raised regarding possible association of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) with use of anti-IL-12/23 biologic agents for the treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis (CPP). Ten MACEs have been recorded in actively-treated patients during the placebo-controlled phase of phase II and III studies compared with zero events in placebo-treated patients, along with a total of 53 MACEs (26 ustekinumab, 27 briakinumab) and five cardiovascular deaths (1 ustekinumab, 4 briakinumab) across all phases of these studies. Two industry-independent meta-analyses of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, monotherapy trials calculated risk for MACEs. One detected statistically significant increase in cardiovascular risk using Peto method (p = 0.04), while the other utilized Mantel-Haenszel fixed-effects model with absolute risk differences as effect measure, but did not achieve significance (p = 0.11). Statistical theory reports that Peto method is more suitable for meta-analyses of studies with baseline event rates of 1% or less and randomization ratios ranging from 1:5 to 1:1 as is the case in these meta-analyses. Potential of anti-IL-12/23 biologic agents to further increase cardiovascular morbidity cannot be excluded and a class effect cannot be denied. Clinicians should screen CPP patients for manageable cardiovascular risk factors before initiating anti-IL-12/23 agents along with intensive monitoring of these patients.
Definitions for Response and Progression in Ovarian Cancer Clinical Trials Incorporating RECIST 1.1 and CA 125 Agreed by the Gynecological Cancer Intergroup (GCIG)

The Gynecological Cancer Intergroup (GCIG) has previously reached consensus regarding the criteria that should be used in clinical trial protocols to define progression-free survival after first-line therapy as well as the criteria to define response to treatment in recurrent disease using the serum marker CA 125 and has specified the situations where these criteria should be used. However, the publications did not include detailed definitions, nor were they written to accommodate the new version of Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria (version 1.1) now available. Thus, we recommend that the definitions described later in detail are incorporated into clinical trial protocols to maintain consistency. The criteria for defining progression are now acceptable in clinical trials of recurrent disease as they have since been validated (Pujade-Lauraine, personal communication, 2010). The GCIG requests that data from all clinical trials using these definitions are made available to GCIG trial centers so that continual validation and improvement can be accomplished. These definitions were developed from analyzing patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy and have not yet been validated in patients receiving molecular targeting agents.
Therapeutic evaluation of “Ayush Tulsi Jiwan Plus” oil for chronic musculoskeletal pain relief

Background: Chronic pain of musculoskeletal origin is a very common symptom and has major effect on the physical, mental, and economic aspects of the patients. There is always a crave among physicians and patients for effective analgesic, curable preparation that can be locally applied. Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of “Ayush Tulsi Jiwan Plus” oil in chronic pain management of musculoskeletal origin. Materials and Methods: Fifty patients of chronic musculoskeletal pain of unknown origin of mild to moderate condition were advised to apply “Ayush Tulsi Jiwan Plus” oil locally twice daily for 6 weeks and examined weekly. After completion of the treatment, the efficacy of the therapy was assessed on the basis of the subjective criteria such as perception of pain, tenderness, swelling, and joint mobility. Results: In this study, mean baseline score versus last visit score of pain (2.84 ± 0.68 vs. 1.33 ± 0.76), tenderness (1.64 ± 0.74 vs. 0.36 ± 0.56), and swelling (0.64 ± 0.85 vs. 0.38 ± 0.66) was significantly decreased, and also clinical improvement was seen in the study participants along with no evidence of adverse drug reactions. Conclusion: The analysis of the overall effect of this “Ayush Tulsi Jiwan Plus” oil preparation was found efficacious and topically safe in chronic pain conditions. However, further study will be required with larger sample size and in heterogeneous population to elicit long-term effect of this polyherbal preparation.
First Molecular Characterization of a Hepatozoon Species (Apicomplexa: Hepatozoidae) Infecting Birds and Description of a New Species Infecting Storm Petrels (Aves: Hydrobatidae)

Abstract: During a survey of blood parasites in a population of Leach's and black storm petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa and Oceanodroma melania) in Mexico, infection by a Hepatozoon species in erythrocytes of several birds was noted. Here we describe the species as Hepatozoon peircei sp. nov. Some species of Hepatozoon described from birds have been identified as lankesterellids when DNA molecular analyses were conducted. However, a sequence of 1,774 bp of the parasite found infecting storm petrels in this study clearly show the parasite is a species of the genus Hepatozoon. This is the first Hepatozoon species infecting birds to be characterized at the molecular level and the first found infecting erythrocytes and not leucocytes.
Globalization, commercialization and individualization: Conflicts and changes in elite athletics

An understanding of the concept of a world sport system is useful to explain how world-wide changes in society and the meaning of sports affect the relations between local, national and international sports organizations and between individual athletes, coaches and officials. The term system is used to accentuate the interconnectedness of different aspects of sport. In Holland, as in many other western countries, the organization of elite sport is in transition from amateurism to commercialism and each sport is changing at a different rate. The many conflicts and problems that at present arise between top athletes, coaches, officials and sports organizations can be explained by an understanding of the changes taking place world-wide in sport. I shall demonstrate that, since the 1970s, it has been necessary for topclass athletes to make more conscious choices in the construction of their sporting careers. In this new situation they have to become more selfconscious and more self-centred. Coaches and officials usually represent only one of the alternative routes to success for the athletes. This leads to conflicts and allegations of disloyalty are common. From September 1997 to September 1998, I had the opportunity to participate in and observe some of these conflicts and problems. During that period I was part of a small team of three, and later (after a disagreement) of two, amateur coaches, which supervised a group of ten women rowers in Amsterdam, who were trying to obtain a place in the Dutch national rowing squad. One of the women got into the squad and won a bronze medal at the World Championships. Two of the others reached the national under-22 squad and another two, who rowed together, would almost certainly have been selected if one of them had not sustained serious injury a few weeks before the final selection. The other five rowers failed in last phases of selections. But all of them were trying again in 1998/99 to get into the national squad. I myself preferred not to be involved again. My aim in this article is to describe some of my experiences and observations, compare them with descriptions of similar events in other sports and to attempt an explanation of them. The explanation will
Bundles of care for resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock and severe brain injury in trauma patients—Translating knowledge into practice

I njuries are a leading cause of death, disability, years of productive lives lost, and health care costs in the United States. Approximately 190,000 people die each year from injuries, and the total medical and work loss costs of injuries exceed $600 billion per year. The 2 leading causes of death after injury are hemorrhagic shock and traumatic brain injury (TBI), in both military and civilian settings, with mortality rates of 30% to 50%. Injured patients treated at designated trauma centers are more likely to survive than those treated at hospitals that are not trauma centers; however, risk-adjustedmortality rates are nearly 50% higher at some trauma centers than at others. Given that designated trauma centers have similar structures and resources, these variations in risk-adjusted patient outcomes are likely explained by variations in clinical practices. Although clinical practice guidelines for the management of hemorrhagic shock and TBI have been developed and disseminated by multiple organizations, adoption of evidence-based practices at trauma centers remains suboptimal. In a study of 5 Level I trauma centers, compliance with 22 commonly
Socioeconomic Factors Influencing Livestock Production among Smallholder Farmers in the Free State Province of South Africa

The study was conducted across the four district municipalities in the Free State province of South Africa. The objective of the study was to determine socioeconomic factors that affected livestock numbers among smallholder cattle and sheep farmers in the Free State province of South Africa. The research was qualitative and quantitative in nature. Proportionate random sampling method was used to collect data. Data between the 2008 and 2012 farming seasons were collected by administering well-structured questionnaires to 250 smallholder cattle and sheep farmers and analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics results indicated that lack of camp systems, drought prevalence, increased feed costs, poor veterinary interventions, insufficient breeding stock, high cost of fuel and transportation, lack of equipment, diseases, stock theft and pilfering, and insufficient grazing land were the prevalent factors that affected cattle and sheep farming in the province. The OLS regression results indicated that the variables that significantly affected livestock numbers were district, household size, livestock numbers in 2008, planted pastures, grazing land condition, grazing land acquisition, service, advice/training, veterinary services, purchase of dosing products and sales per year. The results also indicated that the majority (96.8%) of the smallholder cattle and sheep farmers would like to increase their livestock numbers. It was therefore recommended that extension and veterinary services should be strengthened in the study area. In addition, it was recommended that smallholder livestock farmers should be encouraged to plant pastures to reduce pressure on the natural veld and make forage available throughout the year. Lastly, as a recommendation, government should provide subsidies with distribution policies that will ensure that all smallholder livestock farmers can benefit.
Randomized directed neighborhoods with edge migration in particle swarm optimization

A key feature of particle swarm optimization algorithms is that fitness information shared with individuals in a particle's neighborhood. The kind of neighborhood structure that is used affects the rate at which information is disseminated throughout the population. Existing work has studied global and simple local topologies, as well as more complex, but fixed neighborhood structures. This paper looks at randomly generated, directed graph structures in which information flows in one direction only, and also outgoing edges randomly migrate from one source node to another. Experimental evidence indicates that this random dynamic topology, when used with an inertia weight PSO, performs competitively with some existing methods and outperforms others.
Opiorphin is a master regulator of the hypoxic response in corporal smooth muscle cells

Men with sickle cell disease (SCD) risk developing priapism. Recognizing that SCD is a disease of hypoxia, we investigated the effect of hypoxia on gene expression in corporal smooth muscle (CSM) cells. Rat CSM cells in vitro were treated with CoCl2 or low oxygen tension to mimic hypoxia. Hypoxic conditions increased expression of genes previously associated with priapism in animal models. Variable coding sequence a1 (Vcsa1; the rat opiorphin homologue, sialorphin), hypoxia‐inducible factor 1a (Hif‐1a), and A2B adenosine receptor (a2br) were increased by 10‐, 4‐, and 6‐fold, respectively, by treatment with CoCl2, whereas low oxygen tension caused increases in expression of 3‐, 4‐, and 1.5‐fold, respectively. Sialorphin‐treated CSM cells increased expression of Hif‐1a and a2br by 4‐fold, and vcsa1‐siRNA treatment reduced expression by ~50%. Using a Hif‐1a inhibitor, we demonstrated up‐regulation of a2br by sialorphin is dependent on Hif‐1a, and knockdown of vcsa1 expression with vcsa1‐siRNA demonstrated that hypoxic‐upregulation of Hif‐1a is dependent on vcsa1. In CSM from a SCD mouse, there was 15‐fold up‐regulation of opiorphin at a life stage prior to priapism. We conclude that in CSM, opiorphins are master regulators of the hypoxic response. Opiorphin up‐regulation in response to SCD‐associated hypoxia activates CSM “relaxant” pathways; excessive activation of these pathways results in priapism. —Fu, S. , Tar, M. T. , Melman, A. , Davies, K. P. Opiorphin is a master regulator of the hypoxic response in corporal smooth muscle cells. FASEB J. 28, 3633–3644 (2014). www.fasebj. org
Socioeconomic Status and Language-Learning Motivation: to what extent does the former influence the latter?

While the influence on language-learning motivation of other macro-level factors, such as gender, have been extensively investigated, there has been comparatively little written about an association between socioeconomic status and language-learning. Given the relationship between socio- economic status and mobility (access to foreign travel), and subsequently mobility and language-learning (Carr & Pauwels, 2006; Wright, 1999), deeper exploration of this variable seems equally worthy. Eleven high school teachers were interviewed: four in Scotland, four in Germany and three in France. The three learning contexts were compared, in order to ascertain any differences in the influence of socioeconomic status on language-learning motivation when English was the pupils' mother-tongue, and when English was the pupils' foreign language. Results indicated that in all three contexts, socio-economic status was indeed linked to language-learning via a pupil's mobility. It is hoped that this study will enhance the as yet rather limited work carried out on an association between socio-economic status and language-learning motivation, and encourage a greater focus on this macro-level variable in the future.
Reconsidering Visual Search

The visual search paradigm has had an enormous impact in many fields. A theme running through this literature has been the distinction between preattentive and attentive processing, which I refer to as the two-stage assumption. Under this assumption, slopes of set-size and response time are used to determine whether attention is needed for a given task or not. Even though a lot of findings question this two-stage assumption, it still has enormous influence, determining decisions on whether papers are published or research funded. The results described here show that the two-stage assumption leads to very different conclusions about the operation of attention for identical search tasks based only on changes in response (presence/absence versus Go/No-go responses). Slopes are therefore an ambiguous measure of attentional involvement. Overall, the results suggest that the two-stage model cannot explain all findings on visual search, and they highlight how slopes of response time and set-size should only be used with caution.