Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Explaining the Effect of Education on Health

Higher education (or more years of formal schooling) is widely associated with better health, but the underlying causes of this association are unclear. In this study, we tested our schooling-decision-making model, which posits that formal education fosters intellectual ability, which in turn provides individuals with enduring competencies to support better health-related behaviors. Using data from a field study on formal education in 181 adults in rural Ghana, we examined health-protective behaviors related to HIV/AIDS infection, a critical health issue in Ghana. As expected, individuals with more education practiced more protective health behaviors. Our structural equation modeling analysis showed that cognitive abilities, numeracy, and decision-making abilities increased with exposure to schooling, and that these enhanced abilities (and not HIV/AIDS knowledge) mediated the effects of education on health-protective behavior. Research and policy implications for HIV prevention efforts in sub-Saharan Africa are discussed.
Near-Infrared Coloring via a Contrast-Preserving Mapping Model

Near-infrared gray images captured along with corresponding visible color images have recently proven useful for image restoration and classification. This paper introduces a new coloring method to add colors to near-infrared gray images based on a contrast-preserving mapping model. A naive coloring method directly adds the colors from the visible color image to the near-infrared gray image. However, this method results in an unrealistic image because of the discrepancies in the brightness and image structure between the captured near-infrared gray image and the visible color image. To solve the discrepancy problem, first, we present a new contrast-preserving mapping model to create a new near-infrared gray image with a similar appearance in the luminance plane to the visible color image, while preserving the contrast and details of the captured near-infrared gray image. Then, we develop a method to derive realistic colors that can be added to the newly created near-infrared gray image based on the proposed contrast-preserving mapping model. Experimental results show that the proposed new method not only preserves the local contrast and details of the captured near-infrared gray image, but also transfers the realistic colors from the visible color image to the newly created near-infrared gray image. It is also shown that the proposed near-infrared coloring can be used effectively for noise and haze removal, as well as local contrast enhancement.
Targeting Androgen Receptor Action for Prostate Cancer Treatment: Does the Post-Receptor Level Provide Novel Opportunities?

The standard of care for patients who suffer from non-organ confined prostate cancer (CaP) is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). ADT exploits the reliance of CaP cells on androgen receptor (AR) signaling throughout CaP progression from androgen-stimulated (AS) to castration-recurrent (CR) disease. AR is a member of the nuclear receptor family of ligand-activated transcription factors. Ligand-activated AR relocates from the cytoplasm to the nucleus, where it binds to Androgen Response Elements (AREs) to regulate transcription of target genes that control CaP cell behavior and progression. Current forms of ADT interfere at 2 levels along the AR signaling axis. At the pre-receptor level, ADT limits the availability of ligand for AR, while at the receptor level, ADT interrupts AR-ligand interactions. Both forms of ADT induce remission, but are not curative and, because of extraprostatic actions, are associated with severe side effects. Here, the potential of interference with the molecular regulation of AR-dependent transcription and the action of AR target genes, at the post receptor level, as the foundation for the development of novel, more CaP- specific selective forms of ADT is explored.
Reduced after‐hyperpolarization in rat piriform cortex pyramidal neurons is associated with increased learning capability during operant conditioning

Learning‐related cellular modifications were studied in the rat piriform cortex. Water‐deprived rats were divided to three groups: ‘trained’ rats were trained in a four‐arm maze to discriminate positive cues in pairs of odours, ‘control’ rats were ‘pseudo‐trained’ by random water rewarding, and ‘naive’ rats were water‐deprived only. In one experimental paradigm, the trained group was exposed to extensive training with rats learning to discriminate between 35 and 50 pairs of odours. Piriform cortex pyramidal neurons from ‘trained’, ‘control’ and ‘naive’ rats did not differ in their passive membrane properties and single spike characteristics. However, the after‐hyperpolarizations (AHPs) that follow six‐spike trains were reduced after ‘extensive training’ by 43% and 36% compared with ‘control’ and ‘naive’, respectively. This effect was not observed in the piriform cortex of another group of rats, in which hyperexcitability was induced by chemical kindling. In another experimental paradigm rats were trained only until they demonstrated ‘rule learning’, usually after discriminating between one and two pairs of odours (‘mild training’). In this experiment, a smaller, yet significant, reduction (20%) in AHPs was observed. AHP reduction was apparent in most of the sampled neurons. AHP remained reduced up to 3 days after the last training session. 5 days or more after the last training session, AHP amplitude recovered to pre‐training value and did not differ between ‘trained’ rats and the others. Accordingly, training suspension for 5 days or more resulted in slower learning of novel odours. We suggest that increased neuronal excitability, manifested as reduced AHP, is related to the ability of the cortical network to enter a ‘learning mode’ which creates favourable conditions for enhanced learning capability.
Carrier Frequency Offset Estimation Using ESPRIT for Interleaved OFDMA Uplink Systems

In this paper, a new carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimator based on the system of estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance technique is proposed for interleaved orthogonal frequency division multiple access uplink systems. This new estimator performs better in relatively low signal-to-noise region than a CFO estimator recently proposed by Cao and Yao, and has a much lower computational complexity as well. Simulation results show several performance examples for the proposed CFO estimator which demonstrate the advantages of the proposed estimator over the Cao and Yao's version.
A Survey of Alcohol-Related Problems and their Treatment *

This paper reports on the extent of alcohol problems in a sample of adults aged 18 and over. The survey was of the household type with personal interviews. The area of the survey is very similar in demographic characteristic to the Province of Ontario as a whole. Of the 993 respondents, 15.3% were abstinent, 56.8% were social drinkers, 25.1% reported some dependency symptoms and 2.8% were problem drinkers. Serious dependency, defined as three or more symptoms or problems, was found in 5.5% of drinkers. They were mostly males, in lower social classes, young or middle-aged and with lower incomes. The most commonly reported symptoms were wishing to stop or cut down on drinking, memory loss after drinking and receiving medical warnings about drinking. Very few dependent or problem drinkers had received any treatment for problem drinking, including both formal and informal treatment. The rate of serious dependent or alcoholic drinking is 55 per 1,000 or about twice as high as expected based on liver cirrhosis or alcohol consumption data for the area surveyed. The results strongly suggest that there is a large number of people with serious alcohol problems who are receiving no treatment for them. There is a need for both more treatment efforts and preventive programs.
Taking up Arts and Crafts in Later Life: A Qualitative Study of the Experiential Factors That Encourage Participation in Creative Activities

Background and aim: Creative occupations promote wellbeing among older people, but how people discover creative occupations in later life, or why they intensify their participation in certain creative occupations after retirement, is unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the experiential factors that older women perceive as encouraging their take-up of, and participation in, visual art-making during later life. Method: Twelve older women (aged 61–80 years) were recruited through a magazine for an older readership. Their interview transcripts were subject to interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: A variety of distal and proximal factors appeared to encourage the take-up of art-making in later life. Distal factors included pre-existing craft skills, family role models and positive attitudes to managing change. Proximal factors included the need to fill occupational voids and the sensitive encouragement of husbands and friends. Serendipitous events featured in some accounts. Conclusion: The participants did not uniformly regard themselves as creative. None had participated in the visual arts throughout adulthood. The multiplicity of influences that enabled these older women to participate in art in later life extends previous research findings and may encourage occupational therapists to help clients to regain wellbeing through exploring novel creative arts occupations.
Anxiety and Depression in Brazilian Undergraduate Students: The Role of Sociodemographic Variables, Undergraduate Course Characteristics and Social Skills

The prevalence of anxiety and depression disorders in undergraduate students is high and several variables can be influential. The aim is to verify the predictive value of social skills, sociodemographic variables, and course characteristics for depression and anxiety. A total of 1282 students of a public university, of both sexes and from different years and courses, participated in this study. Screening instruments for depression and anxiety were applied, as well as an instrument investigating social skills and a questionnaire covering socio demographic indicators and course characteristics. The data were analyzed using univariate analysis followed by multiple binary Original Research Article
Cross-national prevalence and risk factors for suicidal ideation, plans and attempts

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide; however, the prevalence and risk factors for the immediate precursors to suicide – suicidal ideation, plans and attempts – are not well-known, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Aims To report on the prevalence and risk factors for suicidal behaviours across 17 countries. Method A total of 84 850 adults were interviewed regarding suicidal behaviours and socio-demographic and psychiatric risk factors. Results The cross-national lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts is 9.2% (s.e.=0.1), 3.1% (s.e.=0.1), and 2.7% (s.e.=0.1). Across all countries, 60% of transitions from ideation to plan and attempt occur within the first year after ideation onset. Consistent cross-national risk factors included being female, younger, less educated, unmarried and having a mental disorder. Interestingly, the strongest diagnostic risk factors were mood disorders in high-income countries but impulse control disorders in low- and middle-income countries. Conclusion There is cross-national variability in the prevalence of suicidal behaviours, but strong consistency in the characteristics and risk factors for these behaviours. These findings have significant implications for the prediction and prevention of suicidal behaviours.
Normal HC11 and ras-transformed mouse mammary cells are resistant to the antiproliferative effects of retinoic acid.

The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of retinoic acid on the growth of the mouse mammary cells HC11 and HC11ras, which are a model for in vitro breast cancer progression. The expression of the two classes (RARs and RXRs) of retinoic acid receptor mRNAs was determined by Northern blot analysis. Receptor functional integrity was determined by testing whether RAR mRNA could be induced by retinoic acid. The effects of a 72-h exposure to 50 M 13-cis retinoic acid on HC11 and HC11ras cell proliferation and HC11 cell differentiation were investigated by flow cytometric cell cycle analysis, and by determination of -casein mRNA expression, respectively. The possibility that retinoic acid would induce the expression of the vitamin D receptor and synergize with vitamin D, a known inhibitor of HC11 cell growth, was also investigated. HC11 cells expressed higher mRNA levels of both RAR a and RAR g when compared to HC11ras cells. In contrast, RAR , as well as RXR a, and g expression was low in both HC11 and HC11ras cells. In addition, RAR mRNA was induced by retinoic acid treatment in both cells. In spite of these observations, no effects were seen on cell proliferation or differentiation upon exposure to retinoic acid. Neither vitamin D receptor induction nor synergy with vitamin D on growth inhibition was observed. We conclude that the RAR expression profile could be related to the transformed state in HC11ras cells and that the retinoic acid resistance observed merits further investigation.
An Audit of VDRL Testing from an STI Clinic in India: Analysing the Present Scenario with Focus on Estimating and Optimizing the Turnaround Time.

BACKGROUND Timeliness of reporting is of utmost importance to limit the spread of syphilis. The present analysis was undertaken to evaluate the turnaround time of syphilis testing (mainly Venereal disease research laboratory /VDRL test) in a sexually transmitted infections (STI) clinic in India; to find out the possible reasons for delay; to describe the trends of clinical indications for syphilis testing from an STI clinic; to assess the frequency of a positive syphilis serology among STI clinic attendees; and to analyse the follow-up rates of VDRL report collection. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two hundred consecutive VDRL requests received at the serology laboratory of a tertiary care health facility from the STI clinic of the linked hospital were prospectively analysed to evaluate the above parameters. RESULTS For the 200 requests audited, the mean absolute turnaround time of VDRL test was 7.46±2.81 days. The mean duration of the pre-laboratory, laboratory and post laboratory phases was 0, 4.69±2.13 and 2.77±2.51 days respectively. The interval from specimen receipt to performance of tests (mean duration=4.25±1.96 days) was the major reason for long VDRL turnaround time. The common indications for syphilis testing in STI clinic attendees were lower abdominal pain (33%), vaginal discharge (26.5%) and genital ulcer disease (9%); and the follow-up rate for report collection was 71%. CONCLUSION Our study highlights the strong need to shift to alternative testing methods, mainly rapid point of care procedures for serodiagnosis of syphilis in order to circumvent the problems of long turnaround time and low patient follow-up rates.
The Changing Clinical Presentation of Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis: The Experience of a Large, Tertiary Care Pediatric Hospital

The authors reviewed the clinical and laboratory data from cases of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) diagnosed at their institution from 2006 to 2008. They assessed and compared presentation of patients with HPS over time at their institution. A total of 118 patients were included in this study. An “olive” was palpated in only 13.6% of cases. This is in contrast to older studies, where more than 50% of the patients were reported to have a palpable “olive” depending on when the study was conducted. In patients from this institution, hypochloremia was present in 23% and alkalosis in 14.4%, which are less frequent than the incidence of these abnormalities in older studies. There was a change in the additional “classical” symptoms, represented by the lower percentage of infants in whom an “olive” was palpated and the lower numbers of patients with severe electrolyte imbalances. The reason for this change appears to be the frequent use of ultrasound.
The Alkaline Phosphatase Levels in the Seminal Plasmaand Sperms of Sub-fertile Patients and Normospermic Men

This study examined 110 semen specimens collected from sub-fertile and Normospermic men after a period of abstinence from 3-5 days. The samples were collected in Fertility Center Laboratories/ Al- Saader Hospital/ Najaf province in the period from November 2009 to May 2010. This study aimed to comparison between the concentrations of the enzyme alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in seminal plasma of different in sub-fertility groups include: Asthenospermia (AS), Oligoasthenospermia (OAS), Azoospermia and Normospermia (NS) to study the effect of ALP levels in the quality of sperm in sub-fertile patients. The results revealed that a significant increase (p 0.05) in ALP enzyme activity
THE ANALYSIS OF GOALS IN COMPLEX ORGANIZATIONS

An understanding of organizational behavior requires close examination of the goals of the organization reflected in operating policies. To reach a first approximation of operative goals, a scheme is proposed which links technology and growth stages to major task areas-capital, legitimization, skills, and coordination-which predict to power structure and thence to limits and range of operative goals. The major illustration of the utility of the scheme is provided by voluntary general hospitals; other voluntary and non-voluntary service organizations are discussed, in these terms, as well as profit-making organizations. SOCIAL scientists have produced a rich body of knowledge about many aspects of large-scale organizations, yet there are comparatively few studies of the goals of these organizations. For a full understanding of organizations and the behavior of their personnel, analysis of organizational goals would seem to be critical. Two things have impeded such analysis. Studies of morale, turnover, informal organization, communication, supervisory practices, etc., have been guided by an over-rationalistic point of
Plasma reactive carbonyl species: Potential risk factor for hypertension

Abstract To study the role of oxidative stress in hypertension and pre-hypertension, this study analysed plasma levels of reactive carbonyl species (RCS) in 1204 Chinese Han adults. Results showed a statistically significant positive correlation (p < 0.001) between blood pressure and plasma RCS levels with or without being adjusted for covariates. Multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR) illustrated that, compared with the lowest quartile of plasma RCS levels, the highest quartile subjects had a 59% and a 130% increase in the risk for developing pre-hypertension and hypertension, respectively. The multi-interaction analysis manifested that the underlying mechanism of the increase of hypertensive risk or pre-hypertensive risk by overweight and unhealthy lifestyles might, at least in part, be through oxidative stress. In conclusion, these findings suggest that oxidative stress, as indicated by plasma RCS levels, are not the necessary consequence of pre-hypertension or hypertension, but reliable risk factors for developing pre-hypertension or hypertension in Chinese Han adults.
Characterization of auditory responses recorded in the caudal medial nidopallium in the freely behaving, awake juvenile zebra finch

The Zebra Finch is a small songbird native to the Australian continent that learns his song during a critical period of development. Tutoring experiments have shown that during an initial sensory phase, juvenile birds listen to their tutors and acquire a long-term memory of the tutor song, called the song template. In an overlapping sensory-motor phase, intact auditory feedback is necessary for juvenile birds to gradually match their own vocalizations to those of the tutor, as revealed by deafening experiments at different stages of song development. This error-correction mechanism is known as the auditory template theory (Konishi, 1965). The brain areas involved in song production and learning have been extensively studied, however, little is known about the mechanisms that underlie template formation or the location in the brain where the template is stored. Recent experimental evidence suggests that the secondary auditory area caudal medial nidopallium (NCM) is critically involved in the acquisition and / or storage of the template. In awake, head-fixed birds, electrophysiological responses recorded in NCM were shown to habituate to repeated presentation of the same auditory stimulus. This habituation was most pronounced in adult animals (compared to juveniles) and appeared to be stimulus specific. In this study we set out to investigate, for the first time, NCM responses in freely behaving awake juvenile zebra finches during a behaviorally relevant paradigm. Using a miniature micro-drive, we recorded NCM responses during singing, and repeated playback of the bird’s own song (BOS) and the tutor’s song (TUT). We found that NCM responses are robustly driven by auditory playbacks and during singing ; firing rates were high during listening and low during singing. We analyzed the firing rate changes to successive motifs of either song, BOS-playback or TUT-playback and observed traces of neural adaptation for successive playbacks of BOS and TUT but observed no changes in firing rates during periods of singing. We investigated whether neurons in NCM were modulated online during the interplay between self-generated vocalizations and the passive auditory perception achieved through intermittent playbacks of BOS and TUT. We found neural adaptation of responses to playback of BOS and TUT motifs to recover due to stimulus switching and due to intermittent singing. Furthermore, firing rates recovered as a function of time passed and switching from one stim-
Access to Affordable Care through Public Libraries

This article presents a study of activity that occurred in public libraries during early implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Data were collected through telephone interviews, using open-ended questions, with 72 public library employees between November 2013 and February 2014. The article is not a comprehensive or statistical study; rather, it demonstrates different ways that librarians were or were not helping people find out about ACA health-care coverage options in large and small libraries across the United States. The research found that library involvement was related to perceived community need and to activities of other groups in the city. Anomalies and various problems suggested during the interviews point to areas for future research.
Mental health status and perceived burden in caregiving spouses of persons with psychotic illness (A study from India)

ABSTRACT Mental illness poses a great deal of burden on other family members, particularly the primary caregiver. In the Indian context for a married person with mental illness, the caregiving burden is usually experienced by the spouse, who is considered to be the ‘natural’ option. This quantitative study used survey methodology to assess caregiving burden in 50 spouses of persons diagnosed with a psychotic illness. Data was collected at a neuro-psychiatric facility in Tiruchirappalli, India. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale and the Burden Assessment Schedule were the instruments administered to assess the mental health status of the spouse and their perceived burden. Findings revealed that the majority of spouses were classified as experiencing ‘severe’ and ‘extremely severe’ in terms of their depression, anxiety and stress levels and ‘high’ in terms of perceived burden. The specific ‘type’ of clinical diagnosis, however, did not differentiate the spouses on the key variables studied. The correlation of these key variables with other background variables has also been examined. The implications of the results of this study for psychosocial intervention have also been discussed in this article.