Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dual Therapy Treatment Strategies for the Management of Patients Infected with HIV: A Systematic Review of Current Evidence in ARV-Naive or ARV-Experienced, Virologically Suppressed Patients

Objective We reviewed the current literature regarding antiretroviral (ARV)-sparing therapy strategies to determine whether these novel regimens can be considered appropriate alternatives to standard regimens for the initial treatment of ARV-naive patients or as switch therapy for those patients with virologically suppressed HIV infection. Methods A search for studies related to HIV dual therapy published from January 2000 through April 2014 was performed using Biosis, Derwent Drug File, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Medline, Pascal, SciSearch, and TOXNET databases; seven major trial registries, and the abstracts of major conferences. Using predetermined criteria for inclusion, an expert review committee critically reviewed and qualitatively evaluated all identified trials for efficacy and safety results and potential limitations. Results Sixteen studies of dual therapy regimens were critiqued for the ARV-naive population. Studies of a protease inhibitor/ritonavir in combination with the integrase inhibitor raltegravir or the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor lamivudine provided the most definitive evidence supporting a role for dual therapy. In particular, lopinavir/ritonavir or darunavir/ritonavir combined with raltegravir and lopinavir/ritonavir combined with lamivudine demonstrated noninferiority to standard of care triple therapy after 48 weeks of treatment. Thirteen trials were critiqued in ARV-experienced, virologically suppressed patients. The virologic efficacy outcomes were mixed. Although overall data regarding toxicity are limited, when compared with standard triple therapy, certain dual therapy regimens may offer advantages in renal function, bone mineral density, and limb fat changes; however, some dual combinations may elevate lipid or bilirubin levels. Conclusions The potential benefits of dual therapy regimens include reduced toxicity, improved tolerability and adherence, and reduced cost. Although the data reviewed here provide valuable insights into the effectiveness and tolerability of dual therapy regimens, it remains unclear whether these potential benefits can be maintained long-term. Appropriately powered studies with longer follow-up periods are needed to more definitively assess potential toxicity reduction advantages with dual therapy.
A Resilient, Low-Frequency, Small-World Human Brain Functional Network with Highly Connected Association Cortical Hubs

Small-world properties have been demonstrated for many complex networks. Here, we applied the discrete wavelet transform to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) time series, acquired from healthy volunteers in the resting state, to estimate frequency-dependent correlation matrices characterizing functional connectivity between 90 cortical and subcortical regions. After thresholding the wavelet correlation matrices to create undirected graphs of brain functional networks, we found a small-world topology of sparse connections most salient in the low-frequency interval 0.03–0.06 Hz. Global mean path length (2.49) was approximately equivalent to a comparable random network, whereas clustering (0.53) was two times greater; similar parameters have been reported for the network of anatomical connections in the macaque cortex. The human functional network was dominated by a neocortical core of highly connected hubs and had an exponentially truncated power law degree distribution. Hubs included recently evolved regions of the heteromodal association cortex, with long-distance connections to other regions, and more cliquishly connected regions of the unimodal association and primary cortices; paralimbic and limbic regions were topologically more peripheral. The network was more resilient to targeted attack on its hubs than a comparable scale-free network, but about equally resilient to random error. We conclude that correlated, low-frequency oscillations in human fMRI data have a small-world architecture that probably reflects underlying anatomical connectivity of the cortex. Because the major hubs of this network are critical for cognition, its slow dynamics could provide a physiological substrate for segregated and distributed information processing.
Who Prepares for Terrorism?

The National Survey of Disaster Experiences and Preparedness (NSDEP) examined whether households in the United States have engaged in proactive preparedness and avoidance activities since September 11, 2001, and whether the activities reported were done because of terrorism, natural disasters, other reasons, or any combination of reasons. Reported activities were examined by geographic area of exposure to or threat of 9/11, gender, race/ethnic identification, and income. The sample was drawn using random-digit-dialing (RDD) supplemented with surname lists. Data were collected between April 13, 2007, and February 13, 2008. Few households did preparedness and avoidance activities exclusively because of concerns about terrorism. Rather decisions were motivated by a combination of reasons. Residents of New York City and Washington, DC, men, and high-income respondents reported more preparedness activities, whereas low-income respondents, African Americans, and Hispanics reported more avoidance activities.
Task Comparison of the Distortion of Probability Information in Decision Under Risk and an Equivalent Visual

Decision makers typically overweight small probabilities and underweight large probabilities. However, there are recent reports that when probability is presented in the form of relative frequencies, this typical pattern reverses. We tested this hypothesis by comparing decision making in two tasks: In one task, probability was stated numerically, and in the other task, it was conveyed through a visual representation. In the visual task, participants chose whether a “stochastic bullet” should be fired at either a large target for a small reward or a small target for a large reward. Participants’ knowledge of probability in the visual task was the result of extensive practice firing bullets at targets. In the classical numerical task, participants chose between pairs of lotteries with probabilities and rewards matched to the probabilities and rewards in the visual task. We found that participants’ probability-weighting functions were significantly different in the two tasks, but the pattern for the visual task was the typical, not the reversed, pattern.
Framework for Modeling Reordering Heuristics for Asynchronous Backtracking

Dynamic reordering of variables is known to be important for solving constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs). Efforts to apply this principle for improving polynomial space asynchronous backtracking (ABT) started with [A. Armstrong and E.F. Durfee, 1997], using a solution based on synchronization points. [M. -C. Silaghi et al., 2001] shows how to asynchronously enable reordering heuristics in ABT and proposes a general protocol called Asynchronous Backtracking with Reordering (ABTR). In this work we introduce a first framework for modeling heuristics possible with asynchronous backtracking. We also show that ABTR enables heuristics that displace even the agent requesting the reordering, as in the reordering of Dynamic Backtracking. They have not been illustrated in [M. -C. Silaghi et al., 2001]. The most efficient self-reordering heuristic that we introduce and experiment, approx-AWCl, is inspired from Asynchronous Weak-Commitment [M. Yokoo et al., 1998 ] and brings small but significant improvements, comparable to the results in [A. Armstrong and E.F. Durfee, 1997]. We also report that min-domain dynamic ordering heuristics for ABTR are worse than no reordering and better than max-domain (in experiments that also use maintenance of arc consistency).
On distributed and cooperative control design for networks of dynamical systems

In a variety of modern man-made systems, it is desirable to synthesize a cooperative behavior in groups of individual dynamical agents by distributed control laws. Examples include multi-vehicle coordination and formation flight problems, robot cooperation in production lines, as well as power balancing in micro-grids, and many more. As a consequence, distributed and cooperative control has become one of the major research fields within automatic control over the past decade. In this talk, we address output synchronization problems for linear multi-agent systems as well as cooperative disturbance rejection and reference tracking problems for groups of autonomous agents subject to exogenous inputs. Suitable control design methods are presented as a solution to a variety of practically relevant distributed coordination and cooperative control scenarios and illustrated by means of numerical examples. Biographical Information Georg Seyboth is research and teaching assistant at the Institute for Systems Theory and Automatic Control (IST), University of Stuttgart. He studied Engineering Cybernetics at the University of Stuttgart, Germany and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden. He got his Diploma degree from the University of Stuttgart in December 2010 and joined the IST in January 2011. He is Ph.D. student in the Graduate School Simulation Technology (GS SimTech) within the Stuttgart Research Centre for Simulation Technology. His research interests are focused on distributed and cooperative control in homogeneous and heterogeneous networks of dynamical systems.
SOS System Induction Inhibits the Assembly of Chemoreceptor Signaling Clusters in Salmonella enterica

Swarming, a flagellar-driven multicellular form of motility, is associated with bacterial virulence and increased antibiotic resistance. In this work we demonstrate that activation of the SOS response reversibly inhibits swarming motility by preventing the assembly of chemoreceptor-signaling polar arrays. We also show that an increase in the concentration of the RecA protein, generated by SOS system activation, rather than another function of this genetic network impairs chemoreceptor polar cluster formation. Our data provide evidence that the molecular balance between RecA and CheW proteins is crucial to allow polar cluster formation in Salmonella enterica cells. Thus, activation of the SOS response by the presence of a DNA-injuring compound increases the RecA concentration, thereby disturbing the equilibrium between RecA and CheW and resulting in the cessation of swarming. Nevertheless, when the DNA-damage decreases and the SOS response is no longer activated, basal RecA levels and thus polar cluster assembly are reestablished. These results clearly show that bacterial populations moving over surfaces make use of specific mechanisms to avoid contact with DNA-damaging compounds.
Changing Discourses in China Geography: A Narrative Evaluation

Existing literature on the status of the field of China geography has been focused either on what has been written or on the internal advancement of knowledge in the field, without considering its relationship to the broader social context and academic environment. In this study I adopt a contextual approach to analyzing two interrelated issues: (1) the changing position held by China geography in the grand geographic discipline; and (2) the evolution of discourses formulated by China geographers as a result of interactions with the broader academic environment. A systematic survey of research papers published in leading international journals has placed China geography in a peripheral position, with a volume of research output disproportionate to the size and importance of the nation. Nevertheless, several encouraging trends are observed, including the dramatic growth of research output since the 1990s and the broadening of the field beyond physical geography to encompass human geography and urban studies. A narrative investigation of the professional experience of a leading China geographer reveals a process of discourse (re)construction conditioned by both the changing political economy of China and the shifting emphases in the geographic discipline. Four periods of discourse formation are identified in this case study, namely the conception of the Chinese city as the center of change in the 1970s, interpretation of the uniqueness of Chinese urbanism in the 1980s, modeling of spontaneous town-based urbanization and regional development in the 1990s, and, most recently, the use of the notions of space, place, and transnationalism to construct the Chinese diaspora as a geographic system. Discourse formation in China geography can be understood as the consequence both of the rapidly changing material conditions in China and of discursive practices in the geographic discipline. Much needs to be done by China geographers to go beyond the empirical arena of area studies and become more actively engaged in the ongoing theoretical debates in the mainstream of geography and China studies.
Book Reviews : Renate Mayntz: Forschungsmanagement. Steuerungsversuche zwischen Scylla und Charybdis 1985, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. 152 pages

Fourth, the book hardly pays attention to the outcome of the research. The focus is on the managerial process, unrelated to measures of productivity, practical usefulness or innovativeness of the research. Fifth, the book does not claim to provide solutions. According to Mayntz each resolution of tensions within the organization will produce new organizational tensions. Whereas the contingency approach emphasizes that there is no one best way to organize, Mayntz seems to stress that there is no best way to organize. Consequently, the book emphasizes the structural tensions in different organizational structures included in the sample of governmental research organizations (N = 10). Mintzberg’s typology of organizational structures (1979) is used as a general framework for the characterization of the research organizations included in the sample (Chapter two). Three structures varying in size were identified: the small scale simple structure, the medium scale professional bureaucracy and the large scale divisional form. The simple structure has only one leader, the scientific entrepreneur. The leader has a small span of controls, is actively engaged in research and has direct contacts with junior researchers. The central conflict within the simple structure is that the leader has to take into account both the autonomy claims of
Navigating Therapeutic Alliance Ruptures in Cognitive Therapy for Avoidant and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders and Comorbid Axis I Disorders

Cluster C personality disorders are prevalent in outpatient samples, highly comorbid with Axis I disorders, and can worsen the course of Axis I pathology and treatment outcomes. Cognitive therapy for personality disorders (CT-PD) can be a potent treatment, but establishing and navigating the therapeutic alliance can be especially difficult with this population. Successful negotiation of alliance ruptures is important to prevent dropout, maintain patient engagement, and provide corrective feedback that can enhance treatment outcomes. We present examples of alliance ruptures from a clinical trial of CT-PD for Avoidant and Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorders, as well as strategies to address common challenges that therapists encounter. The issues highlighted also apply more broadly to cognitive therapy for other disorders.
On the Inheritance of Intracranial Aneurysms

The familial occurrence of intracranial aneurysms suggests the presence of a genetically determined underlying arteriopathy. The pattern of inheritance in these families usually is not known. Methods A family with seven members with intracranial aneurysms is described and, from the literature before 1994, a total of 238 families with 560 affected members (56% female and 44% male) with intracranial aneurysms not associated with a known heritable disease are reviewed. A segregation analysis was performed on 73 of these families. Results Two members were affected in the great majority of families (79%); five or more members were reported in only eight families (3%). The most common affected kinship was among siblings. Angiographic screening in 12 families detected an intracranial aneurysm in 29% of 51 asymptomatic relatives. Segregation analysis revealed several patterns of inheritance that were consistent with the compiled pedigrees, but no single mendelian model was the overall best fitting, suggesting that genetic heterogeneity may be important. Twenty-two percent of siblings of male probands had an intracranial aneurysm compared with 9% of siblings of female probands (P=.003). Conclusions Genetic heterogeneity may be important in the genetics of intracranial aneurysms. In families with intracranial aneurysms, siblings of an affected male proband may be at a higher risk of developing an aneurysm than siblings of an affected female proband. Screening for intracranial aneurysms in asymptomatic relatives should be considered in families with two or more affected members. In most families, the nature of the underlying arteriopathy remains obscure.
Cortical γ-aminobutyric acid type A-benzodiazepine receptors in recovery from alcohol dependence : Relationship to features of alcohol dependence and cigarette smoking

CONTEXT Adaptations in gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA(A))-benzodiazepine receptors contribute to the neurobiology of human alcohol dependence and withdrawal. OBJECTIVE To study GABA(A)-benzodiazepine receptor adaptations in subjects with alcohol dependence over the first month of sobriety. DESIGN Inpatients who were not receiving medication, were either smokers or nonsmokers, and had alcohol dependence completed 2 iodine I 123-labeled iomazenil single-photon emission computed tomographic scans: 1 scan at a mean +/- SD of 4.9 +/- 2.5 days of sobriety (n = 23) and 1 scan at a mean +/- SD of 29.8 +/- 7.6 days of sobriety (n = 20). Participants in a matched group of healthy subjects (n = 15) completed 1 single-photon emission computed tomographic scan. PARTICIPANTS Men with alcohol dependence (n = 27) and a matched healthy comparison group (n = 15). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES (123)I-iomazenil single-photon emission computed tomographic images were converted to units of distribution volume (regional activity/free (123)I-iomazenil) and were analyzed using voxel-based statistical parametric mapping and regions of interest analyses. The relationships between (123)I-iomazenil distribution volume, clinical features of alcohol dependence, and smoking status were evaluated. RESULTS (123)I-iomazenil uptake was elevated in several cortical regions, with a more prominent increase in nonsmokers with alcohol dependence as compared with smokers with alcohol dependence at 1 week of abstinence from alcohol. No significant differences were observed at 4 weeks of abstinence. At 1 week of abstinence, frontal (123)I-iomazenil uptake correlated with the severity of alcohol withdrawal and the number of days since the last alcoholic drink was consumed. No significant associations were observed for smokers with alcohol dependence. CONCLUSIONS These data demonstrate time-dependent regulation of cortical GABA(A)-benzodiazepine receptors associated with the recovery from alcohol dependence. Higher GABA(A)-benzodiazepine receptor levels during acute withdrawal may reflect a compensation for reduced receptor function, which is thought to contribute to alcohol tolerance and withdrawal. The subsequent decline may reflect "normalization" of GABA(A) receptor function with sobriety. Smoking may attenuate GABA(A) receptor adaptations associated with alcohol dependence and may contribute to the comorbidity between alcoholism and smoking.
Leader-Member Exchange and Employee Creativity: Test of a Multilevel Moderated Mediation Model

Drawing on self-determination and social exchange theories, the study examined the mechanisms through which leader–member exchange (LMX) influences employee creativity. Data were obtained from 367 leader–follower dyads at three manufacturing companies in the People's Republic of China. The results of our study revealed that (a) motivation-oriented psychological empowerment and social exchange-oriented felt obligation fully mediate the relationship between LMX and employee creativity, and (b) work-unit structure moderates the indirect effect of LMX on creativity through psychological empowerment, such that the mediated effect of LMX is stronger in organic than in mechanistic work-unit structure.
Corneal Biomechanics Determination in Healthy Myopic Subjects

Purpose. To determine the corneal biomechanical properties by using the Ocular Response Analyzer™ and to investigate potential factors associated with the corneal biomechanics in healthy myopic subjects. Methods. 135 eyes from 135 healthy myopic subjects were included in this cross-sectional observational study. Cornea hysteresis (CH), corneal resistance factor (CRF), cornea-compensated intraocular pressure (IOPcc), and Goldmann-correlated intraocular pressure (IOPg) were determined with the Reichert Ocular Response Analyzer (ORA). Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to investigate factors associated with corneal biomechanics. Results. The mean CH and CRF were 9.82 ± 1.34 mmHg and 9.64 ± 1.57 mmHg, respectively. In univariate regression analysis, CH was significantly correlated with axial length, refraction, central corneal thickness (CCT), and IOPg (r = −0.27, 0.23, 0.45, and 0.21, resp.; all with p ≤ 0.015), but not with corneal curvature or age; CRF was significantly correlated with CCT and IOPg (r = 0.52 and 0.70, resp.; all with p < 0.001), but not with axial length/refraction, corneal curvature, or age. In multivariate regression analysis, axial length, IOPcc, and CCT were found to be independently associated with CH, while CCT and IOPg were associated with CRF. Conclusions. Both CH and CRF were positively correlated with CCT. Lower CH but not CRF was associated with increasing degree of myopia. Evaluation of corneal biomechanical properties should take CCT and myopic status into consideration.
Cyberbullying Prevalence, Stability, and Risk Factors During Adolescence

Although research on cyberbullying has recently begun to emerge, few researchers have used longitudinal data to explore this phenomenon in Canada. Using 1-year longitudinal data from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children Study conducted by the World Health Organization, we investigated the prevalence and stability and risk factors associated with cyberbullying, cybervictimization, and simultaneous cyberbullying and cybervictimization among 1,972 adolescents. Risk factors associated with cyberbullying included higher levels of antisocial behaviors and fewer prosocial peer influences. Risk factors associated with cybervictimization included being in the transition year for high school, as well as higher levels of traditional victimization and depression. Higher levels of traditional victimization were also associated with simultaneous cyberbullying and cybervictimization. Gender differences and implications of the findings are discussed.