Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Natural cycle as first approach in aged patients with elevated follicle-stimulating hormone undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection: A pilot study

Background. Poor ovarian response to standard in vitro fertilization–embryo transfer (IVF-ET) protocols or different regimens of treatment, as consequence of a diminished ovarian reserve, correlates strictly with patient age, elevated follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and reduced antral follicle count. The aim of the present pilot study was to evaluate the outcome of patients with poor prognostic features undergoing IVF-ET with natural cycles as a first approach and not as a consequence of a previous failure treatment. Materials and methods. Eighteen aged patients (mean ± standard deviation 40.2 ± 0.7 years, range 37–43 years) with elevated serum FSH and reduced antral follicle count underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) after spontaneous ovulation. Results. A total of 26 natural cycles with ICSI were analyzed. Pregnancy was observed in three patients, of which two were ongoing as assessed by fetal heart beat at ultrasound scan performed 4–5 weeks after ET. Conclusion. The overall pregnancy rates achieved (11.5% per cycle, 20.0% per ET) are comparable with those of conventional IVF-ET in aged patients, and not impaired by a single embryo transferred. Better embryo quality, as a consequence of natural selection of oocytes, better endometrium receptivity and monthly repeatability of the procedure, can balance the relatively low chance to perform ET.
A Longitudinal Examination of Secondary Traumatic Stress among Law Enforcement

Abstract Current research on secondary traumatic stress (STS) has been drawn from cross-sectional data. To determine how STS manifests over time, we conducted a three-year, longitudinal panel survey of investigators at a federal law enforcement agency. We measured STS scores, coping styles, perceptions of the work environment, and subject demographics. We found that STS scores are fairly stable over time. A variety of both positive and negative coping mechanisms, as well as characteristics about the work environment, were found to impact STS. In particular, coping with denial more often in the previous year was related to higher STS scores a year later, while higher scores indicating supervisory support were related to lower STS one year later. Deputy demographic variables were unrelated to STS.
Individual and group determinants of employee absenteeism: Test of a causal model

This study examined whether an employee's level of absenteeism was affected by age, organizational tenure, perceptions of interactional justice, affective and continuance commitment, and the perceived absence norm in the employees' work unit or department. One hundred and sixty-six nursing and food services employees in a mid-size chronic care hospital provided attitudinal and perceptual data on an employee survey. Absence data (absence frequency and total days absent) were collected during the 12-month period immediately following an employee survey. Hypothesized relations between the various individual- and group-level factors and employee absenteeism were specified in a structural model and tested using LISREL 7 (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1989). General support was found for the study hypotheses.
Search for the Rare Decays

The KTeV E799 experiment has conducted a search for the rare decays K L → π 0 π 0 µ + µ − and K L → π 0 π 0 X 0 → π 0 π 0 µ + µ − , where the X 0 is a possible new neutral boson that was reported by the HyperCP experiment with a mass of (214.3 ± 0.5) MeV/ c 2 . We ﬁnd no evidence for either decay. We obtain upper limits of Br( K L → π 0 π 0 X 0 → π 0 π 0 µ + µ − ) < 1 . 0 × 10 − 10 and Br( K L → π 0 π 0 µ + µ − ) < 9 . 2 × 10 − 11 at the 90% conﬁdence level. This result rules out the pseudoscalar X 0 as an explanation of the HyperCP result under the scenario that the ¯ d s X 0 coupling is completely real.
Glatiramer Acetate (Copaxone) Modulates Platelet Activation and Inhibits Thrombin-Induced Calcium Influx: Possible Role of Copaxone in Targeting Platelets during Autoimmune Neuroinflammation

Background Glatiramer acetate (GA, Copaxone, Copolymer-1) is an FDA approved drug for the treatment of MS and it is very effective in suppressing neuroinflammation in experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE), an animal model of MS. Although this drug was designed to inhibit pathogenic T cells, the exact mechanism of EAE/MS suppression by GA is still not well understood. Previously we presented evidence that platelets become activated and promote neuroinflammation in EAE, suggesting a possible pathogenic role of platelets in MS and EAE. We hypothesized that GA could inhibit neuroinflammation by affecting not only immune cells but also platelets. Methodology/Principal Findings We investigated the effect of GA on the activation of human platelets in vitro: calcium influx, platelet aggregation and expression of activation markers. Our results in human platelets were confirmed by in-vitro and in-vivo studies of modulation of functions of platelets in mouse model. We found that GA inhibited thrombin-induced calcium influx in human and mouse platelets. GA also decreased thrombin-induced CD31, CD62P, CD63, and active form of αIIbβ3 integrin surface expression and formation of platelet aggregates for both mouse and human platelets, and prolonged the bleeding time in mice by 2.7-fold. In addition, we found that GA decreased the extent of macrophage activation induced by co-culture of macrophages with platelets. Conclusions GA inhibited the activation of platelets, which suggests a new mechanism of GA action in suppression of EAE/MS by targeting platelets and possibly preventing their interaction with immune cells such as macrophages. Furthermore, the reduction in platelet activation by GA may have additional cardiovascular benefits to prevent thrombosis.
Workforce Diversity: Downsizing in the NYPD and its Effect on Minority Integration

Workforce downsizing (ie, the reduction or elimination of positions) may have a significant positive or negative impact on minority employment and the level of diversity that exists within a public agency. This study examines the impact that downsizing has had on the employment of minority police officers and civilians, and levels of diversity in the New York City Police Department (NYDP) from 2000 to 2012 as the agency has reduced its workforce. The findings show that minority integration has increased despite the workforce downsizing. As the NYPD reduced the number of police and civilian positions since 2000, the number of minorities the agency hired increased, while the number of White employees declined, contributing to an increase in the level of workforce diversity.
Phenotype‐directed analysis of genotype in early‐onset, familial breast cancers

&NA; Considerable heterogeneity of morphology and disease outcome exists within breast cancers (BC), which likely reflects variable molecular pathogeneses within this broad clinical group. Aim: To evaluate the underlying genomic alterations associated with familial, early‐onset BC (EOBC) phenotypes, in order to improve the management of this disease. Methods: Using hierarchical clustering of morphological and immunophenotypical parameters, 116 EOBC were stratified into six groups. Conventional and array‐based comparative genomic hybridisation was used to analyse the genomic alterations. Results: Specific areas of genomic imbalance were associated with individual phenotypes. The largest phenotypical group was high grade, oestrogen receptor and HER‐2 negative. This group contained the majority of BRCA1 germline mutation‐associated tumours and commonly showed loss of chromosomal regions 5cent‐5q13, 5q14–22 and 4q28–32. High mitotic rate, an important indicator of tumour cell proliferation and poor prognosis, was associated with gain of 19p, mapped within 7 Mb of the telomere. This region contains the candidate oncogene CDC34, the protein product of which is involved in ubiquitin‐mediated degradation of the cyclin‐dependent kinase inhibitor, p27Kip1. Conclusion: Phenotype‐based analysis can be used to determine the genetic changes important in subtypes of BC. Further, the different morphological phenotypes could act as a cost‐effective surrogate for genotypical stratification to facilitate optimal management of this disease.
The Relationship Between Life Satisfaction and Emotional Experience in 21 European Countries

In the current study, the relationship between life satisfaction (LS) and the affective components of subjective well-being (SWB) was examined in a sample of 40,487 people across 21 European countries using data from the European Social Survey. After running multilevel confirmatory factor analyses in order to establish the measurement invariance of the constructs across the countries, the individual-level dataset was linked to available country-level aggregate personality traits, cultural values, and human development index (HDI). Results from hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis showed that LS is best predicted by positive and negative affect (PA and NA, respectively), but may also be predicted by the degree of mixed emotions (ME). At the country level, national mean scores of Extraversion and Neuroticism moderated the relationship between LS and ME in different directions, whereas neither of the two personality traits had a significant impact on the relationship of LS to PA and NA. Survival/self-expression and the HDI ranking influenced the LS-PA and LS-ME relationships, whereas individualism/collectivism did not. Our research indicates that in addition to analyzing separate effects of NA and PA, it is also important to consider emotional complexity in SWB research, whereas these analyses need to take into account the moderating effect of cultural aspects, such as survival/self-expression values and countries’ level of development. Our findings also emphasize the importance of employing representative samples, as the age variance of participants can have a profound impact on results.
Participation and progression in mass higher education: policy and the FHE interface

This article surveys the relationship between the further and higher education sectors in the UK context of mass higher education. The commitment to increase participation rates has highlighted the policy framework of post-school education particularly with regard to participation and progression. Although recent policies have encouraged the FE sector, often in collaboration with partners from higher education, to play a key role in widening participation and particularly the development of alternative progression routes, we conclude that the boundaries between the two, still separate, sectors continue to cause problems for many without A-level qualifications. Two dimensions are explored. The first is the rising importance of higher education provision in further education colleges as a means of widening access. Contrasting experiences in Scotland and England are discussed and related to different patterns of provision and progression. The second is the development of alternative progression routes and th.
“My Life? There Is Not Much to Tell”: On Voice, Silence and Agency in Interviews With First-Generation Mizrahi Jewish Women Immigrants to Israel

From early 1980s, a large body of feminist literature has been attempting to account for and explain the particular mix of fragmented speech and multiple silences characteristic of interviews with subaltern subjects.The authors offer an epistemological challenge to these orthodoxies on two levels. First, the authors challenge the very premise that views the accounts produced by marginalized research participants as failures that need to be overcome through methodological strategies, proposing instead to understand silence and fragmentation as part of the process through which they develop their sense of self and agency. Second, the authors insist that both the micro interview setting and the macro, sociohistorical contexts must be considered and analyzed within the same framework that positions the research participant at the center. The authors illustrate these arguments through the case study of multiply marginalized Jewish women who immigrated to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s from North Africa and Asia.
STUDIES ON SPOROZOITE-INDUCED AND CHRONIC INFECTIONS WITH PLASMODIUM FRAGILE IN MACACA MULATTA AND NEW WORLD MONKEYS

Plasmodium fragile continues to be investigated because of its biologic similarities to the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Two strains of P. fragile are available for study; one strain is able to infect mosquitoes, whereas the other strain is transmissible only by blood inoculation. The Sri Lanka strain of P. fragile was transmitted to Macaca mulatta, Macaca fascicularis, Aotus lemurinus griseimembra, Aotus nancymaae, Aotus vociferans, and Saimiri boliviensis monkeys via sporozoites that developed to maturity only in Anopheles dirus mosquitoes. The prepatent periods ranged from 12 to 35 days for macaques and from 15 to 30 days for New World monkeys after intravenous injection of sporozoites. Eight rhesus monkeys were infected with the Nilgiri strain and followed for 482 days. Parasitemia in 6 animals persisted at relatively high density through the period of observation. Erythrocyte, hematocrit, and hemoglobin values reached their lowest levels 3 wk after infection and slowly recovered; however, the values did not approach preinfection levels as long as parasitemia persisted in the monkeys. The mean corpuscular volume and corpuscular hemoglobin concentration reached their peak and lowest values, respectively, at day 38 and then returned to the preinfection level. The mean corpuscular hemoglobin value decreased to its lowest level at day 87 and then returned to preinfection level.
The composition of the minority population as a threat: Can real economic and cultural threats explain xenophobia?

This article sets out to develop a classical theme of empirical research within group threat theory, namely the argument that the size of the minority population threatens the majority population. To be able to clarify the mixed empirical results within this version of group threat theory, the article focuses on the composition of the immigrant population. The article tests both objective sources of cultural threats (linguistic composition and the Muslim population) and economic threats (the proportion of working-class individuals and the unemployed among the immigrant population). The study concludes that, first, the composition of the immigrant population is of utter importance for the size argument to be valid for cultural threats (proportion of Muslim population), whereas for economic threats it does not matter. Second, compositional economic threats matter strongly to the group that genuinely competes for scarce resources – the working class is more xenophobic when the immigrant working class is large. Third, the study brings some clarity with regard to the cultural composition of the immigrant population: it is shown that the relationship between Muslims and European majority populations mirrors the relationship between whites and African-Americans in the US.
Exercise participation after diagnosis of breast cancer: trends and effects on mood and quality of life

Individuals treated for cancer often experience higher levels of emotional distress than the general population. Previous research has shown that exercise can have an ameliorating effect on these problems. This 12‐month prospective longitudinal study investigated mood, quality of life, cancer‐related symptoms, and exercise behavior of 69 women who had completed treatment for Stage 0–2 breast cancer. We studied the natural progression of exercise participation after cancer treatment. Effects on mood, quality of life, and cancer‐related symptoms were assessed after controlling for demographic variables, disease variables, social support, and baseline values to test the hypothesis that women who exercised were more likely to report better mood, higher quality of life, and fewer cancer‐related symptoms. Results indicated that women did not increase their exercise participation over time and that overall mean minutes of exercise participation were below recommended levels. Baseline demographic predictors of exercise participation included younger age, having a spouse or partner, increased time since diagnosis, higher social support, and higher depression. Exercise participation was associated with improved physical functioning, but not overall mood or cancer‐related symptoms. We discuss implications of these findings towards the well‐being of breast cancer survivors. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Should parenting programmes to improve children's life chances address child behaviour, reading skills, or both? Rationale for the Helping Children Achieve trial

Behaviour problems and poor literacy levels are each independently associated with a lower quality of life in childhood, and carry forward to predict much poorer outcomes in adulthood. Longitudinal surveys show that the dimensions of parenting that influence child behaviour and child literacy differ. The aspects of parenting that promote good behaviour concern the quality of the relationship, for example giving warmth and encouragement while calmly enforcing clear limits. In contrast, the aspects that promote literacy are regular reading with the child in a manner that is sensitive to their ability level. To help children with difficulties, there are many evidence-based parenting programmes to improve parent–child relationship quality, but very few address literacy. This paper reviews evidence on these issues, illustrated by our own previous preventive trials that combined a parenting programme addressing relationships (Incredible Years; IY) with a new parenting programme addressing literacy (Supporting Parents on Kids Education; SPOKES). Because this combination improved both child behaviour and literacy, a new randomized controlled trial called Helping Children Achieve is underway to disentangle the mode of action of each component by comparing the effects of: (1) a relationship programme alone (IY); with (2) a literacy programme alone (SPOKES); (3) both combined; and (4) an information helpline (control group). The results are not yet known but should answer whether programmes that target relationships also improve child literacy, and whether programmes that target literacy also improve behaviour. The findings will inform strategies to reduce social inequality and help young children achieve their potential.
The romance of human resource management and business performance, and the case for big science

It is often assumed that research over the last decade has established an effect of human resource management (HRM) practices on organizational performance. Our critical assessment of existing studies finds that, although collectively they have opened up a promising line of inquiry, their methodological limitations make such a conclusion premature. We argue that future progress depends on using stronger research methods and design that, in turn, will require large-scale long-term research at a level of magnitude that probably can only be achieved through partnerships between research, practitioner and government communities. We conclude that progress so far justifies investment in such big science.
Career management in information technology: a case study

Examines career management, development and performance as proposed in the career management research by Noe, which was defined for studying individual career management. Reviews the organizational career management program and the outcomes of organizational development and performance. Applies the Noe model to measure outcomes and determine if there is a direct relationship between career management programs, performance and development. The study involved three different organizations in the IT sector and HRPs as the respondents. A questionnaire was developed using Burack’s career management audit, and selected measures from various sources for development and performance. The results do not prove that the relationships exist. However, recommendations for future study involve performance as a precursor to career management and development. Recommendations for organizations include a review of career paths, development moves, retirement planning, and a research oriented human resources database.
Cosmopolitanism: Concept and Measurement

ABSTRACT The authors describe the development and validation of a short 6-item, reliable, valid self-report scale to measure cosmopolitanism. Cosmopolitanism is a concept in which people have an inclination to learn about groups other than their own. The concept has been in existence since time immemorial but has gained significance with the two-decade-old process of globalization. More research on this could help marketers develop products/services and marketing tools that are more suitable and acceptable to the marketplace. Four studies are reported using 11 individual interviews and 701 surveys, which helped the authors develop, purify, and validate the six-item measurement Likert-type scale containing one dimension.
The significance of alcohol for violence and accidents.

For almost all types of accidents and violence, there is a causal relationship with alcohol intoxication or alcohol abuse. Alcohol may have significance as a risk factor for the perpetrator (culprit, car driver, etc.), as well as for the victim. This is especially clear in cases of violence and assault. Younger males are overrepresented in much of the data that shows causal relationships. A clear dose-response association can be seen in many accident cases concerning both accident risk and severity. The correlation is not as clear in cases of violence. However, the causal relationships between alcohol and accidents or violence may be difficult to evaluate. Factors such as the abuse of other drugs, unemployment, and other sociodemographic factors must be taken into account. The populations studied are often selected, e.g., from emergency departments, pathology units (postmortem data), or related to those epidemiological studies based on interviews. There is often a lack of relevant control data.
Efficient convolutional neural networks for pixelwise classification on heterogeneous hardware systems

With recent advances in high-throughput Electron Microscopy (EM) imaging it is now possible to image an entire nervous system of organisms like Drosophila melanogaster. One of the bottlenecks to reconstruct a connectome from these large volumes (≈ 100 TiB) is the pixel-wise prediction of membranes. The time it would typically take to process such a volume using a convolutional neural network (CNN) with a sliding window approach is in the order of years on a current GPU. With sliding windows, however, a lot of redundant computations are carried out. In this paper, we present an extension to the Caffe library to increase throughput by predicting many pixels at once. On a sliding window network successfully used for membrane classification, we show that our method achieves a speedup of up to 57×, maintaining identical prediction results.