Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and correlates of bacterial vaginosis among young women of reproductive age in Mysore, India.

PURPOSE Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common cause of abnormal vaginal discharge among women of childbearing age and is associated with STI/HIV and adverse birth outcomes. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and correlates of BV among young women of reproductive age in Mysore, India. METHODS Between October 2005 and December 2006, 898 sexually active women of 15-30 years of age were enrolled from two reproductive health clinics in Mysore. The women underwent an interview followed by physical examination, HSV-2 serologic testing, endocervical culture for Neisseria gonorrhoeae , and vaginal swabs for diagnosis of BV, Trichomonas vaginalis infection and candidiasis. Statistical analyses included conventional descriptive statistics and multivariable analysis using logistic regression. RESULTS Of the 898 women, 391 (43.5%) were diagnosed with >or=1 endogenous reproductive tract infection and 157 (17.4%) with >or=1 sexually transmitted infection. Only 863 women had Gram-stained vaginal smears available, out of which 165 (19.1, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 16.3%-22.2%) were found to have BV and 133 (15.4, 95% CI: 12.9%-18.3%) were in the 'intermediate' stage. BV was related to concurrent infections with T. vaginalis (odds ratio [OR]=4.07, 95% CI: 2.45-6.72) and HSV-2 seropositivity (OR=2.22, 95% CI: 1.39-3.53). CONCLUSIONS In this population, the prevalence of BV at 19% was relatively low. Coinfection with T. vaginalis , however, was common. BV was independently associated with concurrent T. vaginalis infection and partner's alcohol use. Muslim women had reduced odds of BV as compared to non-Muslim women. Further research is needed to understand the role of T. vaginalis infection in the pathogenesis of BV and the sociocultural context surrounding the condition in India.
Snowpack Density Retrieval Using Fully Polarimetric TerraSAR-X Data in the Himalayas

This paper focuses on the development of a novel algorithm for deriving snowpack density over the snow-covered region of the Himalayas. The analysis utilizes fully polarimetric TerraSAR-X synthetic aperture radar data sets, field observations, and other ancillary information for the retrieval of snowpack density. The algorithm involves the development of a new generalized hybrid decomposition model. The generalized volume scattering parameter from the decomposition model is inverted for snow density estimation. A few field data measurements’ campaigns were carried out, within near-real time of satellite passing over the area, to collect various parameters such as temperature, water content, and the density of the snowpack at varying depths. These field observations are further used for validation of the results obtained from the inversion algorithm. It is also found that the model-estimated snowpack density is highly congruent with the field-measured snowpack density. The mean absolute error of snowpack density, root-mean-square error, and index of agreement are found to be 9.9 kg/<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{m}^{3}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, 10 kg/<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{m}^{3}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and 0.96, respectively, which are well within the acceptable range.
The enzyme that adds poly(A) to mRNAs is a classical poly(A) polymerase

Virtually all mRNAs in eucaryotes end in a poly(A) tail. This tail is added posttranscriptionally. In this report, we demonstrate that the enzyme that catalyzes this modification is identical with an activity first identified 30 years ago, the function of which was previously unknown. This enzyme, poly(A) polymerase, lacks any intrinsic specificity for its mRNA substrate but gains specificity by interacting with distinct molecules: a poly(A) polymerase from calf thymus, when combined with specificity factor(s) from cultured human cells, specifically and efficiently polyadenylates only appropriate mRNA substrates. Our results thus demonstrate that this polymerase is responsible for the addition of poly(A) to mRNAs and that its interaction with specificity factors is conserved.
Lexically-driven perceptual adjustments of vowel categories

We investigated the plasticity of vowel categories in a perceptual learning paradigm in which listeners are encouraged to use lexical knowledge to adjust their interpretation of ambiguous speech sounds. We tested whether this kind of learning occurs for vowels, and whether it generalises to the perception of other vowels. In Experiments 1 and 2, Dutch listeners were exposed during a lexical decision task to ambiguous vowels, midway between [i] and [e], in lexical contexts biasing interpretation of those vowels either towards /i/ or towards /e/. The effect of this exposure was tested in a subsequent phonetic-categorisation task. Lexically-driven perceptual adjustments were observed: Listeners exposed to the ambiguous vowels in /i/-biased contexts identified more sounds on an [i]-[e] test continuum as /i/ than those who heard the ambiguous vowels in /e/-biased contexts. Generalisation to other contrasts was weak and occurred more strongly for a distant vowel contrast (/#/ vs. /n/,) than for a near contrast (/+/ vs. /'/). In Experiment 3, spectral filters based on the difference between the exposure [i] and [e] sounds were applied to test stimuli from all three of the contrasts. Identification data of these filtered stimuli suggest that generalisation of learning across vowels does not depend on overall spectral similarity between exposure and test vowel contrasts.
An investigation of social and other factors which influence evaluations of educational courses

This thesis examines factors, which influence responses on “paper and pencil” evaluations, commonly used with training programmes. A series of ten studies investigated evaluations of a wide range of courses, some taught by the researcher. It was emphasised, evaluations should take into account the educational variables of type of training, type of student and course content. Open ended evaluations were found to be influenced by a desire to react in a socially desirable manner. This interpretation was supported by student’s responses on a questionnaire. The value of open ended evaluations as a probing mechanism was emphasised. Activity measure evaluations were found to relate more closely to the effort involved in the task than the to merits of a particular aspect of a course. Likert style structured rating scales were subject to a ‘halo effect’. Students also tended to answer using the favourable end of scales regardless of their real feelings. Combining two evaluation techniques was found to have a dramatic effect on response rate on open ended evaluations and thus validity. In addition response patterns produced conflicting findings between open ended and Likert style scales. It is suggested the way people complete evaluation forms is partly a reflection of the impact of a range of influences, not formerly linked by research methods texts to evaluation form. It was stressed the educational aims of any evaluation should be established before methods of evaluation are decided.
Birth Order and Sibling Gender Ratio of a Clinical Sample Effectiveness of Mindfulness-based Group Therapy Compared to the Usual Opioid Dependence Treatment

Objective: This study investigated the effectiveness of mindfulness-based group therapy (MBGT) compared to the usual opioid dependence treatment (TAU). Thirty outpatients meeting the DSM-IV-TR criteria for opioid dependence from Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS) were randomly assigned into experimental (Mindfulness-Based Group Therapy) and control groups (the Usual Treatment). The experimental group undertook eight weeks of intervention, but the control group received the usual treatment according to the INCAS program. Methods: The Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Addiction Sevier Index (ASI) were administered at pre-treatment and post-treatment assessment periods. Thirteen patients from the experimental group and 15 from the control group completed post-test assessments. Results: The results of MANCOVA revealed an increase in mean scores in observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging, non-reacting, and decrease in mean scores of alcohol and opium in MBGT patient group. Conclusion: The effectiveness of MBGT, compared to the usual treatment, was discussed in this paper as a selective protocol in the health care setting for substance use disorders. According to a national epidemiologic study conducted by Ministry of Health (33), there are more than 1.2 million opioid dependents living across the country who use drugs usually smuggled into the country from Afghanistan. Currently, opioid maintenance treatment programs and short-term medically assisted withdrawal are delivered through a network of more than 2500 certified addiction treatment professionals at the national level. Although delivering psychosocial services in combination with medical management was emphasized in national methadone protocol (26), there is a scarcity of evidence in evidence-based psychosocial intervention for improving medical treatment outcomes. Mindfulness is a technique comprised of meditation and a specific mental tendency toward experience that encourages an awareness of the present-moment experience. This awareness is non-evaluative and minimizes over-involvement with thoughts and emotions (28). In contrast to opioid maintenance treatment which has proved less effective in reducing the stress-induced craving (21), new approaches of psychotherapy that focus on mindfulness and acceptance might hypothetically enhance anti-craving properties of opioid maintenance treatment through
The Ewe’s Reproductive Performance, Growth Rate and Carcass Quality of Lambs Kept in a Barn vs Those Kept under an Overhead Shelter

A herd of polish lowland local sheep was divided into two equal groups: the first group was kept under an overhead shelter, and the second group was kept in a warm barn. The effect of maintenance on ewe’s reproductive performance, survival as well as the growth rate of lambs, and their carcasses quality was investigated. The lack of differences in fertility and prolificacy of ewes as well as in the survival and growth rate between the groups confirmed a good adaptation of Żelaźnieńska sheep to low temperature. Harsh environmental conditions did not cause a significant decrease of the body weight growth; however, they brought in an (insignificant) reduction of subcutaneous fat thickness and meatiness of the loin part of a lamb’s body. The fat content of carcasses obtained from lambs reared under the overhead shelter was significantly lower, with no differences of meat and bones contribution between the groups.
Identity-Based Remote Data Integrity Checking With Perfect Data Privacy Preserving for Cloud Storage

Remote data integrity checking (RDIC) enables a data storage server, say a cloud server, to prove to a verifier that it is actually storing a data owner’s data honestly. To date, a number of RDIC protocols have been proposed in the literature, but most of the constructions suffer from the issue of a complex key management, that is, they rely on the expensive public key infrastructure (PKI), which might hinder the deployment of RDIC in practice. In this paper, we propose a new construction of identity-based (ID-based) RDIC protocol by making use of key-homomorphic cryptographic primitive to reduce the system complexity and the cost for establishing and managing the public key authentication framework in PKI-based RDIC schemes. We formalize ID-based RDIC and its security model, including security against a malicious cloud server and zero knowledge privacy against a third party verifier. The proposed ID-based RDIC protocol leaks no information of the stored data to the verifier during the RDIC process. The new construction is proven secure against the malicious server in the generic group model and achieves zero knowledge privacy against a verifier. Extensive security analysis and implementation results demonstrate that the proposed protocol is provably secure and practical in the real-world applications.
Enterprise Risk Management Integrated framework for Cloud Computing

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT---------------------------------------------------- The emergence of cloud computing is a fundamental shift towards new on-demand business models together with new implementation models for the applications portfolio, the infrastructure, and the data, as they are provisioned as virtual services using the cloud. These technological and commercial changes have an impact on current working practices. Businesses need to understand the impact of the new combinations of technology layers, and how they work together. A crucial part of this is analyzing and assessing the risks involved. In the evolution of computing technology, information processing has moved from mainframes to personal computers to server-centric computing to the Web. Today, many organizations are seriously considering adopting cloud computing, the next major milestone in technology and business collaboration. A supercharged version of delivering hosted services over the Internet, cloud computing potentially enables organizations to increase their business model capabilities and their ability to meet computing resource demands while avoiding significant investments in infrastructure, training, personnel, and software. In fall 2010, a Google executive testified before a U.S. congressional subcommittee that more than three million businesses worldwide were customers of its cloud service offerings. As with any new opportunity, cloud computing entails commensurate risks. It brings to organizations a different dimension of collaboration and human interaction
Comparative evaluation of shaping ability of V-Taper 2H, ProTaper Next, and HyFlex CM in curved canals using cone-beam computed tomography: An in vitro Study

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the canal transportation and canal centering ability in the preparation of curved root canals after instrumentation with V-Taper 2H, ProTaper Next (PN), and Hyflex CM files using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Materials and Methods: Thirty mesiobuccal canals of mandibular molars with an angle of curvature ranging from 20 to 40 were divided according to the instrument used in canal preparation into three groups of ten samples each: V-Taper 2H (Group 1), PN (Group 2), and Hyflex CM (Group 3). The teeth were instrumented according to manufacturer's guidelines up to 30 no. apical preparation. Canals were scanned using a CBCT scanner before and after preparation to evaluate the transportation and centering ratio at 3 mm, 6 mm, and 9 mm from the apex. The amount of transportation and centering ability was assessed. The three groups were statistically compared with analysis of variance and post hoc Tukey test. Results: All instruments maintained the original canal curvature with significant differences between the different files. Data suggested that V-Taper 2H files presented the best outcomes for both the variables evaluated. V-Taper 2H files caused lesser transportation and remained better centered in the canal than PN and Hyflex CM files. However, it was seen that PN caused less transportation in apical level than Hyflex CM. Conclusion: The canal preparation with V-Taper 2H showed lesser transportation and better centering ability than PN and Hyflex CM.
Safety and efficacy of nevirapine- and efavirenz-based antiretroviral treatment in adults treated for TB-HIV co-infection in Botswana.

BACKGROUND The safety and efficacy of nevirapine (NVP) and efavirenz (EFV) based highly active antiretroviral treatment (ART) with concurrent anti-tuberculosis treatment in sub-Saharan Africa has not been well established. METHODS We performed a retrospective study comparing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected adults exposed and not exposed to tuberculosis (TB) treatment with similar baseline HIV-1 RNA levels who were started on ART as part of Botswana's ART Programme. ART regimens, HIV-1 RNA, CD4+ cell count, and liver function tests were reviewed for 12 months following ART initiation. RESULTS Among 155 patients on ART only and 155 exposed to TB treatment, there was no difference in virologic or immunologic response throughout the first year of ART. Furthermore, there remained no differences in virologic or immunologic outcomes when NVP and EFV groups were stratified by TB treatment exposure status. While more hepatotoxic events occurred in the group exposed to TB treatment than in those not exposed (9% vs. 3%, P = 0.05), there was no difference between patients treated with NVP and those treated with EFV. CONCLUSIONS Patients co-infected with HIV and TB in Botswana can be treated effectively with either NVP- or EFV-based ART and TB treatment. As hepatotoxic events were more common in the group exposed to TB treatment, liver function tests should be monitored closely.
Novel Mode of Microbial Energy Metabolism: Organic Carbon Oxidation Coupled to Dissimilatory Reduction of Iron or Manganese

A dissimilatory Fe(III)- and Mn(IV)-reducing microorganism was isolated from freshwater sediments of the Potomac River, Maryland. The isolate, designated GS-15, grew in defined anaerobic medium with acetate as the sole electron donor and Fe(III), Mn(IV), or nitrate as the sole electron acceptor. GS-15 oxidized acetate to carbon dioxide with the concomitant reduction of amorphic Fe(III) oxide to magnetite (Fe3O4). When Fe(III) citrate replaced amorphic Fe(III) oxide as the electron acceptor, GS-15 grew faster and reduced all of the added Fe(III) to Fe(II). GS-15 reduced a natural amorphic Fe(III) oxide but did not significantly reduce highly crystalline Fe(III) forms. Fe(III) was reduced optimally at pH 6.7 to 7 and at 30 to 35°C. Ethanol, butyrate, and propionate could also serve as electron donors for Fe(III) reduction. A variety of other organic compounds and hydrogen could not. MnO2 was completely reduced to Mn(II), which precipitated as rhodochrosite (MnCO3). Nitrate was reduced to ammonia. Oxygen could not serve as an electron acceptor, and it inhibited growth with the other electron acceptors. This is the first demonstration that microorganisms can completely oxidize organic compounds with Fe(III) or Mn(IV) as the sole electron acceptor and that oxidation of organic matter coupled to dissimilatory Fe(III) or Mn(IV) reduction can yield energy for microbial growth. GS-15 provides a model for how enzymatically catalyzed reactions can be quantitatively significant mechanisms for the reduction of iron and manganese in anaerobic environments.
A cooperative diversity scheme based on quadrature signaling

A bandwidth and energy efficient cooperative diversity scheme based on quadrature signaling is proposed. The quadrature signaling is achieved by transmitting in the in-phase and quadrature components of QPSK modulation. The diversity gain and the bit error rate of the proposed cooperative diversity scheme improve with the inter-user channel quality. It is shown that the proposed scheme can achieve a diversity order of two for high inter-user signal-to-noise ratios, if the cooperating users are located within a region that permits successful cooperation. The cooperative region corresponding to a specified bit error rate is defined and derived
Match Between Classroom Dimensions and Students’ Anthropometry

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate mismatch between students and classroom furniture dimensions and evaluate the improvement in implementing the European furniture standard. Background: In Portugal, school furniture does not meet any national ergonomic criteria, so it cannot fit students’ anthropometric measures. Method: A total of 893 students belonging to third (7th through 9th grades) and secondary (10th through 12th grades) cycles participated in the study. Anthropometric measurements of the students were gathered in several physical education classes. The furniture dimensions were measured for two models of tables and seats. Several two-way equations for match criteria based on published studies were applied to data. Results: The percentage of students who match with classroom furniture dimensions is low (24% and 44% between table and students, 4% and 9% between seat and students at 7th and 12th grades, respectively). Table is high for the third cycle, seat is high for both cycles, and seat depth fits well to students. No significant relationship was found between ergonomic mismatch and prevalence of pain. Conclusion: For each cycle, at least two different sizes indicated in the European standard should be available to students, considering the large variability in body dimensions within each cycle. The match criteria used gives a large percentage of students without pain in a mismatch situation. Application: Future measures applying to secondary schools should revise the decision of selecting a single size of classroom furniture and improve the implementation of the European standard. New criteria for ergonomic mismatch are needed that more closely model the responses about discomfort/pain.
Allergenicity of natural rubber latex gloves

The concentrations of proteins, allergens and rubber chemicals are essential parameters of the allergenicity of NRL gloves. To date, a standardized method has been given only for analysis of the protein concentration (DIN EN 455‐3), and not for the concentrations of allergens and rubber chemicals. In the present study, we investigated 11 brands of surgical gloves currently available on the German market. Additionally 1 glove, not subjected to final leaching procedures, was added for comparison purposes. Protein concentrations were analysed by different methods in different laboratories. Allergen concentrations were assayed by prick tests in NRL‐allergic volunteers and by RAST inhibition methods. Rubber chemicals were analysed by HPTLC and GC. The protein concentrations analysed by the Lowry method in the 2 laboratories gave concordant results, but the correlations between protein and allergen concentrations were low. The protein concentration analysed by HPLC correlated with the allergen concentration, and gave better information on the allergenicity of the gloves. The development of standardized methods for allergen analysis in the assessment routine is necessary, due to significant discrepancy between protein and allergen levels of some gloves. Thiurams were not found in any of the gloves, though carbamates were present in all gloves tested. Our data indicate that washing procedures have little or no effect on the concentration of rubber chemicals.