Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Benefits of fludrocortisone in the treatment of symptomatic vasodepressor carotid sinus syndrome.

OBJECTIVE--To assess treatment with fludrocortisone in vasodepressor carotid sinus syndrome. PATIENTS AND METHODS--Eleven patients, mean (SD) age 83 (5) years, with daily dizzy episodes and a median of five (range two to 20) syncopal episodes over a median of one year were studied. All had vasodepressor carotid sinus syndrome (> 50 mm Hg fall in systolic blood pressure during carotid sinus massage independent of bradycardia). Carotid sinus massage was carried out while the patient was supine and upright (tilt table) before and after 600 micrograms intravenous atropine. Phasic heart rate and blood pressure recordings were monitored throughout. The study was repeated after 100 micrograms of fludrocortisone daily by mouth for two weeks. Patients continued to take fludrocortisone for a six month follow up period. RESULTS--Baseline systolic blood pressure was (mean (SD)) 169 (31) mm Hg and the RR interval was 770 (150) ms. After carotid sinus massage, systolic blood pressure fell to 113 (27) mm Hg (p < 0.01) and RR was 1060 (210) ms (NS). The vasodepressor response was 56 (12) mm Hg. Baseline systolic blood pressure after two weeks of fludrocortisone treatment was 171 (37) mm Hg (NS); but the fall in systolic blood pressure during carotid sinus massage was significantly reduced (32 (14) mm Hg; p < 0.01). At six months follow up, two patients complained of intermittent dizziness and no patients had syncope. CONCLUSION--Fludrocortisone effectively reduces the vasodepressor response and relieves the symptoms of vasodepressor carotid sinus syndrome.
A conceptual architecture with trust consensus to enhance group recommendations

Recommender Systems have been studied and developed as an indispensable technique of the Information Filtering field. A drawback of traditional user-item systems is that most recommenders ignore connections consistent with the real world recommendations. Furthermore, trust-based approaches ignore the group modeling and do not respect the users' individualities in a group recommendation set. In this paper, we propose a conceptual architecture which uses the social trust consensus from users to improve the accuracy of the trust-based recommender systems. It is based on an existent model and integrates user's trust relations and item's factors into a generic latent factor model. One advantage of our model is the possibility to bias the users' similarity computation according to a trust consensus that assists in the formation of groups, such as the group of individuals who share the same content. The proposal represents the first steps towards the development of a group recommender system model. We provide an evaluation of our method with the Epinions dataset and compare our approach against other state-of-the-art techniques.
Stimulus Size Dependence of Information Transfer from Retina to Thalamus

Relay cells in the mammalian lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) are driven primarily by single retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). However, an LGN cell responds typically to less than half of the spikes it receives from the RGC that drives it, and without retinal drive the LGN is silent (Kaplan and Shapley, 1984). Recent studies, which used stimuli restricted to the receptive field (RF) center, show that despite the great loss of spikes, more than half of the information carried by the RGC discharge is typically preserved in the LGN discharge (Sincich et al., 2009), suggesting that the retinal spikes that are deleted by the LGN carry less information than those that are transmitted to the cortex. To determine how LGN relay neurons decide which retinal spikes to respond to, we recorded extracellularly from the cat LGN relay cell spikes together with the slow synaptic (‘S’) potentials that signal the firing of retinal spikes. We investigated the influence of the inhibitory surround of the LGN RF by stimulating the eyes with spots of various sizes, the largest of which covered the center and surround of the LGN relay cell's RF. We found that for stimuli that activated mostly the RF center, each LGN spike delivered more information than the retinal spike, but this difference was reduced as stimulus size increased to cover the RF surround. To evaluate the optimality of the LGN editing of retinal spikes, we created artificial spike trains from the retinal ones by various deletion schemes. We found that single LGN cells transmitted less information than an optimal detector could.
The significance of Suuwassea emilieae (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) for flagellicaudatan intrarelationships and evolution

Synopsis Suuwassea emilieae is a recently described dinosaur taxon discovered in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the western United States and the only non‐diplodocid flagellicaudatan (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) known from North America. It retains sauropod symplesiomorphies that are unexpected in a Late Jurassic taxon and thus sheds light on the evolutionary origins of the Flagellicaudata. Despite being comparatively small, the holotype of Suuwassea demonstrates hallmarks of relatively advanced age. A phylogenetic analysis of 30 taxa and 331 characters retains Suuwassea in a trichotomy with the Diplodocidae (Apatosaurus + (Diplodocus + Barosaurus)) and the Dicraeosauridae (Dicraeosaurus +Amargasaurus). This lack of resolution is probably due to a combination of missing data, character conflict and poor incorporation of specimens referred to diplodocid taxa that differ from their holotype specimens and species holotypes. Middle Jurassic palaeobiogeographical reconstructions conflict with the hypothetical distribution of flagellicaudatans in the Middle and Late Jurassic based on their phylogeny, implying that physical barriers, such as epeiric seas, were not responsible for limiting their initial radiation. The postparietal foramen shared by Suuwassea, Dicraeosaurus, Tornieria and Amargasaurus may correlate to preferred existence in near‐shore, terrestrial environments.
The Frequency of Warfare: an Evolutionary Perspective*

This research stresses the utility of evolutionary theory and comparative methodology for explaining warfare frequency. It is hypothesized that warfare frequency (external war, civil war, rioting, and feuding) is related to sociocultural development as indicated by cross-cultural measures of technology and social differentiation. The hypotheses were supported utilizing data drawn from the Human Relations Area microfilm Files on 132 contemporary and historical societies.
Leaders in Environmental Education: the cascade of influence

Summary This paper argues that one way to augment the personal and professional development of future leaders in environmental education is through mentoring, a process which is well‐documented in other fields but which has received little attention in environmental education. A narrative case is reported based on survey and interview data from three mentor‐mentoree pairs of environmental educators from the USA and Australia. The records reveal similarities in the mentoring relationships, notwithstanding differences in gender, age, working associations and the onset of the relationship. By tracing the ‘cascade of influence’, this research envisions other relationships where the full expression of environmental ethics may require lifestyle provacateurs — mentors who subtly challenge the deeply held belief system of mentorees.
Conditional Deletion of Notch1 and Notch2 Genes in Excitatory Neurons of Postnatal Forebrain Does Not Cause Neurodegeneration or Reduction of Notch mRNAs and Proteins*

Background: Presenilin is essential for neuronal survival in adult brains. Notch is a key mediator of presenilin function in developing brains. Results: Deletion of Notch1/Notch2 in excitatory neurons of the adult cortex does not cause neurodegeneration or reduction of Notch expression. Conclusion: Notch does not mediate presenilin-dependent survival of adult cortical neurons. Significance: Notch expression is undetectable in excitatory neurons of the adult cortex. Activation of Notch signaling requires intramembranous cleavage by γ-secretase to release the intracellular domain. We previously demonstrated that presenilin and nicastrin, components of the γ-secretase complex, are required for neuronal survival in the adult cerebral cortex. Here we investigate whether Notch1 and/or Notch2 are functional targets of presenilin/γ-secretase in promoting survival of excitatory neurons in the adult cerebral cortex by generating Notch1, Notch2, and Notch1/Notch2 conditional knock-out (cKO) mice. Unexpectedly, we did not detect any neuronal degeneration in the adult cerebral cortex of these Notch cKO mice up to ∼2 years of age, whereas conditional inactivation of presenilin or nicastrin using the same αCaMKII-Cre transgenic mouse caused progressive, striking neuronal loss beginning at 4 months of age. More surprisingly, we failed to detect any reduction of Notch1 and Notch2 mRNAs and proteins in the cerebral cortex of Notch1 and Notch2 cKO mice, respectively, even though Cre-mediated genomic deletion of the floxed Notch1 and Notch2 exons clearly took place in the cerebral cortex of these cKO mice. Furthermore, introduction of Cre recombinase into primary cortical cultures prepared from postnatal floxed Notch1/Notch2 pups, where Notch1 and Notch2 are highly expressed, completely eliminated their expression, indicating that the floxed Notch1 and Notch2 alleles can be efficiently inactivated in the presence of Cre. Together, these results demonstrate that Notch1 and Notch2 are not involved in the age-related neurodegeneration caused by loss of presenilin or γ-secretase and suggest that there is no detectable expression of Notch1 and Notch2 in pyramidal neurons of the adult cerebral cortex.
GIS-based road safety evaluation model for cyclist in campus of Higher Education Mega Center

In China, many cities construct Higher Education Mega Centers (HEMC) in large-scale, but HEMC's construction is finished in a short period, many problems have no time to discuss and be left unsolved, especially in road traffic. For example, in these years, there are many road accidental injuries to the students in HEMC; most of them are cyclists, for bicycle is the main traffic vehicle of campus students. This paper summarizes four main factors that influence the cyclist safety in campus: slope gradient, road curvature, the distance approaches to the intersections and other special factors (like rainy day) that contribute to the road risk. By using of S-type function in Fuzzy Mathematics, the forward three main risk factors are quantified and normalized, and a comprehensive safety evaluation model for cyclist is established. The east campus of Sun Yat-sen University in GZ HEMC has been used as an application of the road risk distribution model. With the help of GIS software, all risk values of points in road are interpolated through sample points by DTM function, and the risk DTM is overlaid on the remote sensing image of the same area. Finally a risk distribution map along road for cyclists of campus in sunny days is created, so does in rainy days. Through field based interviews, we can prove that risk distribution map is in accord with realistic bicycle crash locations, it can serve as a basis reference for improving cyclist safety in campus of HEMC, as well as a safety information and guidance for students.
Power optimal allocation in decode-and-forward opportunistic relaying

To combat the bottleneck effect in the relay channels, this paper proposes a simple power-control algorithm for decode-and-forward cooperative networks with opportunistic relay selection. Taking advantage of the existing channel state information, which is a by-product during the process of relay selection, an optimal power allocation factor can be easily figured out. This factor is quantized into a few control bits and then fed back to the source via the existing feedback channel, i.e., the flag packet. Using the channel capacity and outage probability as metrics, the theoretical analysis and Monte-Carlo simulation corroborate that such distributed power allocation between the source and the best relay can effectively boost the system performance. Most importantly, this performance gain comes at almost no price due to just reusing the existing CSI and flag packet.
Improving access to pediatric neurorehabilitation for patients with moderate and severe head injuries

ABSTRACT Introduction: The majority of severely injured children in England have a significant head injury and will be seen in Major Trauma Centers (MTCs). The period following brain injury represents an opportunity to influence recovery of neurological function. The study sought to determine whether children who had sustained a head injury were referred for neurorehabilitation. Method: The study was conducted over one year at one center. Children sustaining a moderate or severe head injury were identified and compared to those referred for neurorehabilitation. Results: A total of 41 patients were identified; 16/41 (39%) were referred for neurorehabilitation. Group comparison revealed significant associations between referral status and age (X2(3) = 8.35, p = 0.039), injury mechanism (X2(1) = 8.12, p = 0.017), injury severity (X2(1) = 21.3, p < 0.000), and imaging findings (X2(1) = 11.71, p = 0.001). Discussion: Data reveal concerns for access to neurorehabilitation. Improved access to neurorehabilitation permitting long-term follow-up is required. The establishment of MTCs provides an opportunity to enact this.
Genetic parameters for growth, reproductive and maternal traits in a multibreed meat sheep population

The genetic parameters for growth, reproductive and maternal traits in a multibreed meat sheep population were estimated by applying the Average Information Restricted Maximum Likelihood method to an animal model. Data from a flock supported by the Programa de Melhoramento Genético de Caprinos e Ovinos de Corte (GENECOC) were used. The traits studied included birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), slaughter weight (SW), yearling weight (YW), weight gain from birth to weaning (GBW), weight gain from weaning to slaughter (GWS), weight gain from weaning to yearling (GWY), age at first lambing (AFL), lambing interval (LI), gestation length (GL), lambing date (LD - number of days between the start of breeding season and lambing), litter weight at birth (LWB) and litter weight at weaning (LWW). The direct heritabilities were 0.35, 0.81, 0.65, 0.49, 0.20, 0.15 and 0.39 for BW, WW, SW, YW, GBW, GWS and GWY, respectively, and 0.04, 0.06, 0.10, 0.05, 0.15 and 0.11 for AFL, LI, GL, LD, LWB and LWW, respectively. Positive genetic correlations were observed among body weights. In contrast, there was a negative genetic correlation between GBW and GWS (-0.49) and GBW and GWY (-0.56). Positive genetic correlations were observed between AFL and LI, LI and GL, and LWB and LWW. These results indicate a strong maternal influence in this herd and the presence of sufficient genetic variation to allow mass selection for growth traits. Additive effects were of little importance for reproductive traits, and other strategies are necessary to improve the performance of these animals.
Successful treatment of Candida krusei infection with caspofungin acetate: A new antifungal agent

ObjectiveSystemic fungal infections have high mortality, and therapy is often toxic. Caspofungin acetate, a new antifungal agent with minimal toxicity, may provide a better alternative to typical therapy for Candida krusei. DesignCase report. SettingMultidisciplinary intensive care unit (ICU) of a community teaching hospital. PatientA 22-yr-old male with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Candida krusei fungemia failed therapy with fluconazole and amphotericin B. InterventionsCaspofungin acetate given intravenously as a 70-mg loading dose, followed up by 50 mg daily along with standard ICU care. ResultsSurvival without toxicity from therapy. ConclusionEfficacy of caspofungin acetate in a patient with life-threatening Candida Krusei infection.
Leadership from two cultural perspectives—a tune or discord: Botswana’s experience

This article provides traditional and teachers’ academic views on school leadership in Botswana. The traditional view is based on the practice used in the kgotla’s system. This is a traditional way of engaging all people in a discussion, which has a community or national focus. The system emanates from the pre‐colonial leadership approach based mainly on the Setswana proverb that ‘kgosi ke kgosi ka batho’. This literally means a leader (king/kgosi) can lead with the support and active participation of those led in the decision‐making processes. The academic view is drawn from teachers’ understanding of school leadership in their context. The problem is that headteachers are generally seen to be the only school leaders and they too seem not to be actively involving teachers in the school decision‐making processes. Their approach is centred in the modern construct of school leadership, which tends to emphasise the importance of a leader. This is in contrast to the Setswana indigenous view, which focuses on group consensus and effort in leading. The study indicates that the two views could be combined to produce a blend of a nationally rich cultural and modern approach to school leadership. The methodology of the study is based on the interpretive paradigm using the interview and the case study as methods. The research suggests that leadership is a concerted effort and effective leadership is possible if the headteacher is de‐centred and the focus is on combining the traditional and modern approaches to develop a ‘tune’ in leadership. Finally it is argued that preparation for school leaders in Botswana should take cognisance of the Setswana culture so that headteachers do not find themselves isolated as a result of their positions but should cooperate with teachers.
Association between retinal thickness of 64 sectors in posterior pole determined by optical coherence tomography and axial length and body height.

PURPOSE We determined a significant correlation between the retinal thickness (RT) in 64 cells or sectors of the posterior pole, and the axial length (AL) and the body height (BH). METHODS A prospective, observational cross-sectional study of 64 right eyes of 64 healthy volunteers (mean age, 26.0 ± 4.5 years; range, 22-39 years). The RT within the central 24° area was measured in the Spectralis spectral domain-optical coherence tomographic (SD-OCT) images. The correlations between the RT and the AL or the BH were determined by linear regression analyses. RESULTS The mean ± SD of the AL was 25.04 ± 1.30 mm, and that of the BH was 167.2 ± 8.5 cm. The RTs of the central four cells around the fovea were not significantly correlated with the AL. The RTs of 54 cells were significantly and negatively associated with the AL (r = -0.25 to -0.56, P < 0.05). In contrast, the RTs of the central to temporal eight cells were significantly and positively correlated with the BH (r = 0.26-0.37, P < 0.05). The RTs of 56 cells were not significantly correlated with the BH. CONCLUSIONS The RT of the posterior retina, except in the fovea, decreased as AL elongated, and those of the central temporal areas were significantly correlated with the BH. Thus, the AL and BH must be considered when the RT is evaluated. The 64-sector analysis on OCT is useful to assess the detailed changes of RT affected by them. (http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index.htm number, UMIN000007154.).
A Simplified Score to Quantify Comorbidity in COPD

Importance Comorbidities are common in COPD, but quantifying their burden is difficult. Currently there is a COPD-specific comorbidity index to predict mortality and another to predict general quality of life. We sought to develop and validate a COPD-specific comorbidity score that reflects comorbidity burden on patient-centered outcomes. Materials and Methods Using the COPDGene study (GOLD II-IV COPD), we developed comorbidity scores to describe patient-centered outcomes employing three techniques: 1) simple count, 2) weighted score, and 3) weighted score based upon statistical selection procedure. We tested associations, area under the Curve (AUC) and calibration statistics to validate scores internally with outcomes of respiratory disease-specific quality of life (St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire, SGRQ), six minute walk distance (6MWD), modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea score and exacerbation risk, ultimately choosing one score for external validation in SPIROMICS. Results Associations between comorbidities and all outcomes were comparable across the three scores. All scores added predictive ability to models including age, gender, race, current smoking status, pack-years smoked and FEV1 (p<0.001 for all comparisons). Area under the curve (AUC) was similar between all three scores across outcomes: SGRQ (range 0·7624–0·7676), MMRC (0·7590–0·7644), 6MWD (0·7531–0·7560) and exacerbation risk (0·6831–0·6919). Because of similar performance, the comorbidity count was used for external validation. In the SPIROMICS cohort, the comorbidity count performed well to predict SGRQ (AUC 0·7891), MMRC (AUC 0·7611), 6MWD (AUC 0·7086), and exacerbation risk (AUC 0·7341). Conclusions Quantifying comorbidity provides a more thorough understanding of the risk for patient-centered outcomes in COPD. A comorbidity count performs well to quantify comorbidity in a diverse population with COPD.
Effects of Getting Married on Offending

In the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, 411 males were followed up from age 8 to age 48. This analysis of the effects of marriage on offending is based on 162 convicted males. The age of marriage was stratified into early (18—21 years), mid-range (22—24 years), and late (25 years or later). Risk factors at age 8—10 were used to calculate propensity scores that predicted the likelihood of getting married. Convictions before and after the age of first marriage were investigated for married males and for unmarried males who were matched on the number of convictions before marriage and on the propensity score. The results showed that getting married was followed by a reduction in offending but only for early (age 18—21) and mid-range (age 22—24) marriages. The analysis was replicated using risk factors at age 18, with the same results.
Results of Biofeedback Therapy Together with Electrical Stimulation in Faecal Incontinence with Myogenic Lesions

Abstract Reports about biofeedback therapy together with electrical stimulation with faecal incontinence are rare. This study is to investigate the effectiveness of biofeedback therapy in faecal incontinence patients with myogenic lesions. Methods: One hundred and twenty-six patients with faecal incontinence caused by myogenic lesions were referred to this programme, comprising three sessions of supervised therapy in hospital followed by 2 months of home exercise. Biofeedback therapy methods that consist of strengthening muscles biofeedback, sensory discrimination biofeedback, synchronizing biofeedback, and electrical stimulation were selected to improve the programme. Clinical scores and outcomes of the anorectal function were assessed before and after the programme, and t test was performed for statistical analysis. Results : Before this programme, there were 19 patients with good clinical scores, 46 patients with fair and 61 patients with poor clinical scores. After therapy, 98 patients achieved good scores, 24 patients fair, and only four patients had poor clinical scores. The squeeze pressure and the sphincter electromyography amplitude were improved significantly, the rectal sensory threshold was decreased significantly, and 80 patients who previously had no external anal sphincter reflex acquired such a reflex. At the two-year follow-up, 60.2% (65/108) of patients maintained the clinical outcomes. Conclusion : biofeedback therapy together with electrical stimulation is an effective method for faecal incontinence in patients with myogenic lesions. Patients should be offered this choice of therapy.