Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Incidence of sleep-disordered breathing in an urban adult population: the relative importance of risk factors in the development of sleep-disordered breathing.

CONTEXT Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is both prevalent and associated with serious chronic illness. The incidence of SDB and the effect of risk factors on this incidence are unknown. OBJECTIVE To determine the 5-year incidence of SDB overall and as influenced by risk factors. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Of the 1149 participants in the Cleveland Family Study, those aged 18 years or older, from either case or control families, who had 2 in-home sleep studies 5 years apart. The first had to have been performed before June 30, 1997, and had to have normal results (apnea hypopnea index [AHI] <5). Data included questionnaire information on medical and family history, SDB symptoms; measurement of height, weight, blood pressure, waist and hip circumference, and serum cholesterol concentration; and overnight sleep monitoring. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Apnea hypopnea index, defined as number of apneas and hypopneas per hour of sleep. Sleep-disordered breathing was defined by an AHI of at least 10 (mild to moderate) or of at least 15 (moderate). RESULTS Forty-seven (16%) of 286 eligible participants, (95% confidence interval [CI], 13%-21%) had a second-study AHI of at least 10 and 29 (10%) participants (95% CI, 7%-14%) had a second-study AHI result of at least 15. For the AHI results of at least 15, we estimate that about 2.5% may represent test variability. By ordinal logistic regression analysis, AHI was significantly associated with age (odds ratio [OR] per 10-year increase, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.41-2.27), body mass index (BMI; OR per 1-unit increase, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.10-1.19), sex (OR for men vs women, 4.12; 95% CI, 2.29-7.43), waist-hip ratio (OR per 0.1 unit increase, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.04-2.28), and serum cholesterol concentration (OR per 10-mg/dL [0.25-mmol/L] increase, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.03-1.19). Interactions were noted between age and both sex (P =.003) and BMI (P =.05). The OR for increased AHI per 10-year age increase was 2.41 in women (95% CI, 1.78-3.26) and 1.15 in men (95% CI, 0.78-1.68), with the male vs female OR decreasing from 5.04 (95% CI, 2.19-11.6) at age 30 years to 0.54 (95% CI, 0.15-1.99) at age 60 years. The OR for increased AHI per 1-unit increase in BMI decreased from 1.21 (95% CI, 1.11-1.31) at age 20 years to 1.05 (95% CI, 0.96-1.15) at age 60 years. CONCLUSIONS The 5-year incidence is about 7.5% for moderately severe SDB and 16% (or less) for mild to moderately severe SDB. Incidence of SDB is influenced independently by age, sex, BMI, waist-hip ratio, and serum cholesterol concentration. Predominance in men diminishes with increasing age, and by age 50 years, incidence rates among men and women are similar. The effect of BMI also decreases with age and may be negligible at age 60 years.
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The increasing aging population in the coming decades will result in many complications for society and in particular for the healthcare system due to the shortage of healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities. To remedy this problem, researchers have pursued developing remote monitoring systems and assisted living technologies by utilizing recent advances in sensor and networking technology, as well as in the data mining and machine learning fields. In this article, we report on our fully automated approach for discovering and monitoring patterns of daily activities. Discovering and tracking patterns of daily activities can provide unprecedented opportunities for health monitoring and assisted living applications, especially for older adults and individuals with mental disabilities. Previous approaches usually rely on preselected activities or labeled data to track and monitor daily activities. In this article, we present a fully automated approach by discovering natural activity patterns and their variations in real-life data. We will show how our activity discovery component can be integrated with an activity recognition component to track and monitor various daily activity patterns. We also provide an activity visualization component to allow caregivers to visually observe and examine the activity patterns using a user-friendly interface. We validate our algorithms using real-life data obtained from two apartments during a three-month period.
Ethical and social issues in screening for genetic disease.

Abstract The potential advent of widespread genetic screening raises new and often unanticipated ethical, psychologic and sociomedical problems for which physicians and the public may be unprepared. To focus attention on the problems of stigmatization, confidentiality, and breaches of individual rights to privacy and freedom of choice in childbearing, we have proposed a set of principles for guiding the operation of genetic screening programs. The main principles emphasized include the need for well planned program objectives, involvement of the communities immediately affected by screening, provision of equal access, adequate testing procedures, absence of compulsion, a well defined procedure for obtaining informed consent, safeguards for protecting subjects, open access of communities and individuals to program policies, provision of counseling services, an understanding of the relation of screening to realizable or potential therapies, and well formulated procedures for protecting the rights of individ.
Motivational factors in a push‐pull theory of entrepreneurship

– Entrepreneurial motivations are often defined as fitting into “push” or “pull” categories. To date, research has focused on the factors motivating men and women separately. What is missing from this research is an analysis of the comparative differences in these motivators of men and women, and an exploration of what this means in terms of push‐pull theory. This paper aims to contribute by applying the existing theory on push and pull factors; and using a gender comparative approach to explore the nature of potential gender differences within entrepreneurial motivations. , – This exploratory study uses a gender comparative approach in semi‐structured, face‐to‐face interviews with 75 entrepreneurs (28 women and 47 men). , – Findings suggest that both women and men appeared similarly motivated by a combination of push and pull factors. Three gender differences were found in the incidence of motivations: women were more influenced by a desire for independence; women considered their children as motivators more so than did men; men were influenced more by job dissatisfaction than were women. The discussion focuses on analysing the nature of gender differences rather than merely their incidence. , – A number of further research directions and questions are posed as a way of extending the knowledge in this area. Implications for managers and entrepreneurs are also presented. , – Contributes to push‐pull theory by offering a gender comparative approach to advance theory.
Virus load and neuropathology in the FIV model.

The FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus) induces in cats brain changes presenting similarities with those observed in human immunodeficiency virus infection. This FIV model was used to study the relationship between viral load in brain, in lymphoid organs and central nervous system (CNS) changes during the early and late stages of infection. Early brain changes were analyzed in animals experimentally infected with two different FIV isolates and sacrificed at 7 and 15 days, 1, 2, 6, and 12 months post inoculation (p.i.). Late CNS abnormalities were analyzed in naturally FIV-infected cats referred to the Veterinary School of Nantes. For each animal, one cerebral hemisphere was fixed and examined using routine techniques. The characterization of FIV replicating cells by in situ hybridization was performed on the other half frozen hemisphere on sections performed in the anterior and the median regions of the brain. During the early stages of infection, moderate gliosis with glial nodules and sometimes white matter pallor and meningitis were associated with few infected cells scattered in the brain. Infection was an early event as infected cells could be detected in brain at 7 p.i. For each cat, these findings were found identical in the two analyzed areas. During the late stages, brain lesions and the number of virus replicating cells increased especially in animals with perivascular infiltrates. The multinucleated giant cells encephalitis was never observed and the number of FIV replicating cells scattered in the whole brain was always low. This discrepancy between the number of replicating cells and the brain lesions, corroborates the hypotheses suggesting that brain injuries may be mediated via diffusive factors and amplification processes through cytokine cascades and cell activations.
Silencing leaf sorbitol synthesis alters long-distance partitioning and apple fruit quality

Sorbitol and sucrose are major products of photosynthesis distributed in apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh. cv. “Greensleeves”) that affect quality in fruit. Transgenic apple plants were silenced or up-regulated for sorbitol-6-phosphate dehydrogenase by using the CaMV35S promoter to define the role of sorbitol distribution in fruit development. Transgenic plants with suppressed sorbitol-6-phosphate dehydrogenase compensated by accumulating sucrose and starch in leaves, and morning and midday net carbon assimilation rates were significantly lower. The sorbitol to sucrose ratio in leaves was reduced by ≈90% and in phloem exudates by ≈75%. The fruit accumulated more glucose and less fructose, starch, and malic acid, with no overall differences in weight and firmness. Sorbitol dehydrogenase activity was reduced in silenced fruit, but activities of neutral invertase, vacuolar invertase, cell wall-bound invertase, fructose kinase, and hexokinase were unaffected. Analyses of transcript levels and activity of enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism throughout fruit development revealed significant differences in pathways related to sorbitol transport and breakdown. Together, these results suggest that sorbitol distribution plays a key role in fruit carbon metabolism and affects quality attributes such as sugar–acid balance and starch accumulation.
Issues in Educating Hispanic Students

The education of Hispanic1 students in the United States is at a crisis stage. Although the number of Hispanic students in public schools has increased dramatically in recent decades, Hispanic students as a group show the lowest educational achievement and the highest dropout rate. Poverty, poor health, and other social problems have made it difficult for Hispanics to improve their educational status. Consequently, one of our most pressing national educational priorities has been closing the achievement gap between Hispanic and White students (U.S. Department of Education [USDE], 2000). The focus of this chapter is to examine factors that may contribute to Hispanic students’ success and to address the complex issues created by cultural diversity among Hispanics in relation to their values and beliefs, since any single approach may not address the needs of all Hispanic students. The educational crisis for Hispanic students has been discussed at length at local, state, regional, and national levels, and there are several excellent reports and documents that have highlighted some of the critical problems facing Hispanic students (U.S. Department of Education, 1998, 2000). This chapter summarizes these issues and offers some recommendations to alleviate the problems. The chapter is divided into four major sections. The first section focuses on the educational status of Hispanic students in the United States. The second section discusses factors associated with the underachievement of Hispanic students, including a lack of qualified teachers, inappropriate teaching practices,
Motivations underlying attitudes: Regulatory focus and majority versus minority support

Drawing on regulatory focus theory, the present work examined the motivations underlying intergroup attitudes expressed under conditions of majority versus minority support. In two studies, participants expressed their attitudes towards equality and non-discrimination of foreigners and were informed that the equality and non-discrimination principle was supported by either a majority or a minority. Regulatory focus was assessed as the extent to which participants felt promotion-related and prevention-related emotions when acting either inconsistently or consistently with the egalitarian principle. Results provided evidence supporting the hypothesis that attitudes are related to prevention emotions when supported by a majority, but to promotion emotions when supported by a minority
Link Between Faculty Group: Development and Elementary Student Performance on Standardized Tests

The authors investigated the relationship between perceived effectiveness of elementary school faculty groups as a whole and student performances on standardized tests. Participants included the principal and all teachers, referred to as the faculty group, in 61 elementary schools. Members of the faculty group in each school completed the Group Developmental Questionnaire, an instrument that assesses the developmental level of work groups. The authors obtained data regarding the percentage of 4th-grade students who met the state proficiency standard in citizenship, reading, science, mathematics, and writing in each school. Results suggest that school demographics (staff size, rural or urban location, and district poverty level) significantly influenced student outcomes. In addition, the manner in which faculty members who worked together as a group significantly influenced student outcomes in schools with similar demographic profiles. Findings suggest that if faculty members work together to become more trusting, more cooperative, and work oriented, student learning and performance can be affected positively. Therefore, the authors recommend interventions designed to help faculty groups work together effectively.
Interleukins Affect Equine Endometrial Cell Function: Modulatory Action of Ovarian Steroids

The aim of the present study was to investigate the interaction between ovarian steroids, interleukins and prostaglandins (PG) in equine epithelial and stromal cells in vitro. In Experiment 1, cells were exposed to IL-1α (10 ng/mL), IL-1β (10 ng/mL) or IL-6 (10 ng/mL) for 24 h and cell proliferation was determined using MTT. In Experiment 2, cells were exposed to progesterone (P4; 10−7 M); 17-β estradiol (E2; 10−9 M) or P4+E2 for 24 h and later medium was replaced with a fresh one treated with IL-1α, IL-1β or IL-6 (10 ng/mL, each) for 24 h. The oxytocin (OT; 10−7 M) was used as a positive control. In Experiment 3, cells were exposed to P4 (10−7 M), E2 (10−9 M) or P4+E2 for 24 h and the IL receptor mRNAs transcription was determined using Real-time PCR. Prostaglandins concentration was determined using the direct enzyme immunoassay (EIA) method. Our findings reveal a functional linking between ovarian steroids and IL-stimulated PG secretion by equine endometrial cells. This interaction could be one of the mechanisms responsible for endometrial local orchestrating events during the estrous cycle and early pregnancy.
Anatomical Demonstration of Ocular Dominance Columns in Striate Cortex of the Squirrel Monkey

The squirrel monkey is the only primate reported to lack ocular dominance columns. Nothing anomalous about the visual capacity of squirrel monkeys has been found to explain their missing columns, leading to the suggestion that ocular dominance columns might be “an epiphenomenon, not serving any purpose” (Livingstone et al., 1995). Puzzled by the apparent lack of ocular dominance columns in squirrel monkeys, we made eye injections with transneuronal tracers in four normal squirrel monkeys. An irregular mosaic of columns, averaging 225 μm in width, was found throughout striate cortex. They were double-labeled by placing wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase into the left eye and [3H]proline into the right eye. The tracers labeled opposite sets of interdigitating columns, proving they represent ocular dominance columns. The columns were much clearer in layer IVcα (magno-receiving) than IVcβ (parvo-receiving). In the lateral geniculate body, the parvo laminae showed extensive mixing of ocular inputs, suggesting that increased label spillover contributes to the blurred columns in layer IVcβ. The cytochrome oxidase (CO) patches were organized into distinct rows, but they bore no consistent relationship to the ocular dominance columns. These experiments indicate that ocular dominance columns are less well segregated in squirrel monkeys than macaques, but they are present. This fact is pertinent to a recent study reporting that ocular dominance columns are absent in normal squirrel monkeys, but induced to form by strabismus (Livingstone, 1996).
Physiological Measurement of Crime Scene Investigator Stress

This study aims to identify quantitatively the level of increased stress in civilian crime scene investigators (CSIs) whilst they were performing a variety of tasks as part of their normal duties. Mean above-average resting heart rate was used as the quantitative measure of physiological changes, recorded once a second for 12 CSIs during a working shift of 8 hours over a period of 7 days. Each CSI maintained an activity log of their work which enabled the physiological readings to be aligned to tasks undertaken. As well as physical stress, results show that CSIs undergo psychosocial stress during the examination of routine crime scenes such as domestic burglary and vehicle examination. Increased levels of stress diminished between scene visits. Reasons for increased stress reactivity at routine crime scenes are considered and opportunities for further work discussed. This study demonstrates quantitatively the stress undergone by civilian CSIs and questions the effect this might have on the effective recovery of forensic material from the crime scene as well as the welfare of the CSI.
The diagnostic power of cervico-vaginal fluid prolactin in the diagnosis of premature rupture of membranes

Background Premature rupture of membranes (PROM) is one of the most common complications of pregnancy that has a major impact on pregnancy outcomes. A diagnostic tool that is non-invasive, specific and quick is needed to predict PROM. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic power of the vaginal washing fluid prolactin for the diagnosis of premature rupture of membranes and to determine cut-off values. Methods A total of 114 pregnant women were recruited in this diagnostic trial. The PROM group consisted of 54 pregnant women between 20 and 41 weeks of gestation with diagnosis of confirmed PROM [amniotic fluid pooling (+) and Nitrazine paper test (+) and fernt test (+)]. The control group consisted of 60 pregnant women between 20 and 41 weeks of gestation without any complaint or complication. All patients underwent speculum examination for amniotic fluid pooling, nitrazine paper test, fern test, vaginal washing fluid prolactin sampling. Results Vaginal fluid concentrations of prolactin was significantly different between the two groups (P < 0.001). The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy were 87.03%, 75.0%, 75.80%, 86.53% and 83.33% in detecting PROM by evaluation of vaginal fluid prolactin concentration with a cut-off value of 9.50 µIU/ml, respectively. Conclusions The prolactin levels in the washing fluid of the posterior vaginal fornix in our experience is reliable and non-invasive diagnostic tests of PROM.
The Effects of Directive Communications on Children's Interactive Engagement

This study examined the impact of directive behavior requests on children's participation in communicative exchanges. Two parameters of maternal behavior requests were studied to determine their relationship to children's level of responsiveness. Subjects were 24 two- to three-year-old children with Down syndrome and their mothers. Behavior requests were coded according to their relationship to children's activities and level of developmental difficulty. Children's responses were rated according to how well they complied with their mothers' requests. Results from regression analyses indicated that the quality of children's responses was highly associated with the degree to which their mothers' requests related to their current activity. Further, children produced the highest levels of response when behavior requests were completely related to their current activity and at or below their current developmental level. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for language intervention procedures that are intended to merge communication and learning theories of language acquisition.
The contribution of specific immunoglobulin M antibodies to the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection in children

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic value of specific immunoglobulins G and M in the detection of Helicobacter pylori infection. Methods: Sera from 68 H. pylori-infected children and 35 H. pylori-negative children (aged 1–15 years) were examined using recent-generation serum enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests (Malakit Helicobacter pylori series; Biolab, Limal, Belgium). Results: All of the investigated children had positive values for immunoglobulin G antibodies. However, anti-H. pylori-specific immunoglobulin M could be detected only in 19 (27.9%) of the 68 children. When compared with the 13C-urea breath test, these findings represent sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values of 27.9, 100, 100 and 41.7%, respectively, for the serum ELISA test for the detection of H. pylori-specific immunoglobulin M compared with 100.0, 97.2, 98.5 and 100.0% respectively, for the Malakit for the the detection of specific immunoglobulin G antibodies. Conclusion: Although H. pylori-specific immunoglobulin G has been established as a reliable indicator of active H. pylori infection, using the Malakit for the detection of H. pylori-specific immunoglobulin M does not seem to be of major value in the diagnosis of H. pylori infection in children. European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology 1995, 7:979–983
The Use of the SAVRY and YLS/CMI in Adolescent Court Proceedings: A Case Law Review

Despite the continued growth of adolescent risk assessment tools, we do not know how these tools are being used in adolescent court cases or how this information influences legal decision making. To address this gap, we reviewed 50 Canadian, American, and international adolescent offender cases using the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth or Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory. The results confirm that adolescent risk assessment tools are primarily introduced during sentencing or adult transfer proceedings. Judges identified the specific risk and protective factors of youth in 36.2% and 19.0% of cases, respectively. In terms of legal decision making, the risk assessment was either directly or indirectly referred to in 76.0% of cases; however, judges most often placed some weight on the risk assessment as a part of an enumerated list of other important factors. Although risk assessments were generally considered admissible in these cases, some legal concerns were raised, particularly with the use of risk assessments to guide sentencing decisions.