Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFFECT OF DIETARY SODIUM CHLORIDE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF RENAL GLOMERULAR AND VASCULAR LESIONS IN HYPERTENSIVE RATS

1 The hypothesis that high levels of NaCl in the diet aggravates hypertension‐associated renal vascular lesions was examined in unilaterally nephrectomized deoxycorticosterone acetate treated (DOCA) and two kidney one clip (2K1C) hypertensive rats, as well as normotensive controls. 2 High NaCl diet significantly increased systolic blood pressure (SBP) in DOCA rats, but had little effect on SBP in normal control rats, and did not affect the rise of SBP in 2K1C rats. 3 High NaCl diet was associated with a higher percentage of glomerular lesions and renal arterial and arteriolar lesions in DOCA and 2K1C rats (P<0.05). 4 Thus high NaCl intake exacerbated renal arterial and arteriolar and glomerular lesions in both DOCA and 2KlC hypertensive rats. In 2K1C rats this effect may be in part independent of blood pressure.
Leadership and Learning Climate in a Work Setting

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between transformational and passive-avoidant leadership and learning climate in a work setting. A sample consisting of 1,061 employees from the Norwegian Postal Service completed the multifactor leadership questionnaire and the learning climate questionnaire. Learning climate dimensions used in the analyses were time, autonomy, team style, opportunities to develop, and guidelines. Findings revealed significant positive paths between transformational leadership and opportunities to develop (β .53), autonomy (β .34), guidelines (β .30), and team style (β .29). Further, significant negative associations were found between passive-avoidant leadership and time (β −.42), team style (β −.30), and guidelines (β −.20). In conclusion, the findings indicate that there is a substantial relationship between leadership and perceptions of a context supporting creativity and learning. The results reveal systematically different patterns of relationships between tr.
Increasing the Impact of Thought Leadership in Crisis Communication

I argue that the field of crisis communication must move from a positive to a normative science to improve the practice of crisis communication. Through a positive science approach, our field has described and categorized how organizations currently communicate during a crisis. The evidence is clear that the majority of organizations struggle to communicate effectively during these events. As a result, we are reaching our limits for a positive science approach to crisis communication. Future thought leadership should focus on producing and testing normative theories that provide clear guidance to crisis communicators and society about how to communicate effectively. This transition in thought leadership will allow us to make a significant positive impact on society. This article concludes with an interdisciplinary research agenda for moving from a positive to a normative science in our thought leadership.
The Role of Self-Image Concerns in Discrepancies Between Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem

Four experiments examined the hypothesis that individuals who hold discrepant implicit and explicit self-esteem possess relatively strong self-image concerns. As a result, they may act irrationally when expressing sexual health attitudes. In support of the hypothesis, Experiments 1a and 1b demonstrate that large self-esteem discrepancy participants possess strong implicit self-image ambivalence relative to small self-esteem discrepancy participants. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants who varied in self-esteem discrepancies received either negative or positive (or no) feedback on an intelligence test, and then they were given an opportunity to express implicit and explicit attitudes toward condoms. Large self-esteem discrepancy participants who received a self-threat responded irrationally and expressed relatively strong negative implicit (but not explicit) attitudes toward condoms. However, this detrimental effect was completely reversed following a self-affirmation to large discrepancy participants. The implicit and explicit attitudes toward condoms of small discrepancy participants were unaffected by a self-threat or a self-affirmation.
Segmental Analysis of Macular Layers in Patients With Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment Treated With Perfluoropropane or Silicon Oil.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE To determine possible changes in thickness profiles of retinal layers in patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) treated with perfluoropropane (C3F8) or silicon oil (SiO). PATIENTS AND METHODS Seventy-two eyes of 36 patients were enrolled in this retrospective comparative study. Patients were divided into two groups according to intraocular tamponade: C3F8 or SiO. All study eyes were compared with fellow eyes via spectral-domain optical coherence tomography segment analysis at 6 months postoperatively. Macular layer thicknesses including retinal nerve fiber layer, ganglion cell layer, inner plexiform layer, inner nuclear layer (INL), outer plexiform layer (OPL), outer nuclear layer (ONL), and retinal pigment epithelium were analyzed. RESULTS There was a statistically significant difference between eyes in terms of INL thickness (P = .044) in C3F8 group. Otherwise there was a statistically significant difference between eyes in terms of INL, OPL, and ONL thicknesses (P = .006, P = .048, and P = .004, respectively) in the SiO group. CONCLUSION The findings of the present study show that the tamponade used in RRD surgery can affect the retinal layers differently. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2018;49:41-47. ].
Automatic Liver and Tumor Segmentation of CT and MRI Volumes using Cascaded Fully Convolutional Neural Networks

Automatic segmentation of the liver and hepatic lesions is an important step towards deriving quantitative biomarkers for accurate clinical diagnosis and computer-aided decision support systems. This paper presents a method to automatically segment liver and lesions in CT and MRI abdomen images using cascaded fully convolutional neural networks (CFCNs) enabling the segmentation of a large-scale medical trial or quantitative image analysis. We train and cascade two FCNs for a combined segmentation of the liver and its lesions. In the first step, we train a FCN to segment the liver as ROI input for a second FCN. The second FCN solely segments lesions within the predicted liver ROIs of step 1. CFCN models were trained on an abdominal CT dataset comprising 100 hepatic tumor volumes. Validations on further datasets show that CFCN-based semantic liver and lesion segmentation achieves Dice scores over 94% for liver with computation times below 100s per volume. We further experimentally demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method on an 38 MRI liver tumor volumes and the public 3DIRCAD dataset.
Association between asymptomatic carriage and sporadic (endemic) meningococcal disease in an open community

We analysed a strain collection representative of the overall Neisseria meningitidis population circulating in an open community (46000 inhabitants, Spain) during an endemic period (30 isolates from patients and 191 from throat cultures of healthy individuals) by both phenotypic and molecular techniques. Almost all patient isolates were assigned to three hyper-virulent lineages (ET-5 complex, ET-37 complex and cluster A4) by both multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). In contrast, MEE and PFGE assigned 20% and 15% respectively of carrier isolates to the hyper-virulent clones (4% for both methods together). There was also a higher correlation between PFGE and phenotypes associated with virulent clones. These notable differences between the two molecular methods were further observed in more than half the carrier isolates, suggesting that the associations between these strains were distorted by recombination events. However, almost one-third of total endemic strains from symptom-free carriers and almost all patient strains belonged to clones defined by MEE and PFGE, with no known epidemiological connection. These data indicate low transmission and a weak clonal structure for N. meningitidis.
Design and Governance of Platform Ecosystems - Key Concepts and Issues for Future Research

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of current research in IS on the design and govern-ance of platform ecosystems. To this end, we conduct a literature review of relevant journals and con-ferences. We show that platform ecosystems have been analysed from two different perspectives: tech-nology- and market-oriented. Thereby, most studies take on the viewpoint of the platform owner. Fur-thermore, we summarize key concepts on the design and governance of platform ecosystems that have been discussed in literature. As most relevant concepts we identify the definition of roles, pricing, boundary resources and openness. Based on this analysis, we derive issues for future research: the integration of market- and technology-oriented perspectives, an individual level of analysis to include complementors and end-users and the role of data as boundary resource in platform ecosystems. This paper contributes to the understanding of platform ecosystems in IS literature by structuring existing research with regard to different perspectives and concepts and by providing starting points for future work. In addition, it lays out which concepts practitioners need to consider when designing and gov-erning platform ecosystems.
On instrumenting obfuscated java bytecode with aspects

Code obfuscators are widely used tools for protecting commercial Java software. Advanced obfuscation techniques make de-compiled Java programs not re-compilable, thus greatly raising the barrier of instrumenting Java bytecode for malicious purpose. However, we have found that the aspect-oriented programming language AspectJ can be abused to overcome advanced code obfuscation and to modify obfuscated Java software effectively using its bytecode instrumentation mechanism. This paper describes such issues and reports our experiment results. We argue that the simplicity and very low cost of such malicious aspects make them worth wider attention from the Java and AspectJ community.
Large-Scale Structure –Function Analysis of the Arabidopsis RPM1 Disease Resistance Protein Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.010393.

The Arabidopsis RPM1 gene confers resistance against Pseudomonas syringae expressing either the AvrRpm1 or the AvrB type III effector protein. We present an exhaustive genetic screen for mutants that no longer recognize avrRpm1. Using an inducible avrRpm1 expression system, we identified 110 independent mutations. These mutations represent six complementation groups. None discriminates between avrRpm1 and avrB recognition. We identified 95 rpm1 alleles and present a detailed structure–function analysis of the RPM1 protein. Several rpm1 mutants retain partial function, and we deduce that their residual activity is dependent on the level of avrRpm1 signal. In these mutants, the hypersensitive response remains activated if the signal goes above a certain threshold. Missense mutations in rpm1 are highly enriched in the nucleotide binding domain, suggesting that this region plays a key role either in the hypersensitive response associated with RPM1 activation or in RPM1 stability. Cluster analysis of rpm1 alleles defines functionally important residues that are highly conserved between nucleotide binding site leucine-rich repeat R proteins and those that are unique to RPM1. Regions of RPM1 to which no loss-of-function alleles map may represent domains in which variation is tolerated and may contribute to the evolution of new R gene specificities.
Male Partners’Involvement in Institutional Delivery in Rural Ethiopia: Community Based Survey

Background: The involvement of men in the maternal health programs increases utilization of various reproductive health services. However, the failure to incorporate men in maternal health promotion services has had a serious impact on the health of women and children. This study was aimed to assess male partners’ involvement in promoting institutional delivery of spouse and its associated factors among households who have children of age 0-12 months in Lemo woreda, Southern Ethiopia. Method: Community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 335 households who have children aged 0-12 months selected by multi-stage sampling. Pretested and structured questionnaire via face-to-face interview technique was used for data collection. Data were entered using EPI info version 3.5. 3 statistical software and analyzed using SPSS version 20 statistical package. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the study population in relation to relevant variables. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was also carried out to see the effect of each independent variable on the dependent variable. Results: Male partner’s involvement in promoting institutional delivery was 38.2%. Personal income [AOR: 0.288, 95% CI: . 0116, 0.719] and knowledge of male partners towards institutional delivery [AOR: 2.9, 95% CI: 1.521, 5.51] were positively associated; while perceived cost of delivery service [AOR: 1.79, 95% CI: 1.059, 3.04] was negatively associated with male partners involvement. Conclusion: Male partner’s involvement in promoting institutional delivery was found to be low. Efforts should be made to improve awareness of the male partner’s on institutional delivery through community based health education.
Aortic valve calcification is an independent factor of left ventricular hypertrophy in patients on maintenance haemodialysis.

BACKGROUND Calcification and dysfunction of aortic and mitral valves are frequently found in chronic dialysis patients, but their influence on the development of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is not well defined. METHODS Conventional echocardiography and Doppler measurement of trans-aortic flow velocity were performed in 135 chronic haemodialysis patients, and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and trans-valve pressure gradients were calculated. Average values of systolic, diastolic and pulse pressure (PP), interdialytic weight gain, chronic overhydration (difference between mean post-dialysis and dry weights), plasma calcium, phosphate, haemoglobin, and urea reduction ratio over the year preceding this study were obtained in every patient. RESULTS Aortic valve calcification was present in 105 patients (78%), associated with stenosis in eight (6%); 39 patients (29%) had aortic regurgitation. Mitral annular calcification occurred in 35 (26%) cases and mitral regurgitation in 45 (33%). LVH was observed in 104 patients (77%). Logistic analysis revealed that only aortic valve calcification predicted LVH. LVMI was higher in patients with aortic valve calcification than in those without calcification: (mean+/-SD) 241+/-52 vs 154+/-64 g/m(2), P=0.001. LVMI was not different between patients with normal, calcified, or regurgitating mitral valves. Patients with aortic valve calcification had higher trans-valve peak flow velocities and pressure gradients than those with non-calcified valves: 1.65+/-0.53 vs 1.37+/-0.33 m/s, P=0.01, and 12.1+/-8.9 vs 7.9+/-3.6 mmHg, P=0.01, respectively. The LVMI correlated directly with both variables (r=0.27 and r=0.24, P<0.005). Stepwise linear regression on nine covariates potentially influencing LVMI (age, body mass index, time on dialysis, systolic blood pressure, PP, chronic overhydration, haemoglobin concentration, trans-aortic flow velocity, and urea reduction ratio) showed that LVMI was independently associated with (i) PP, (ii) haemoglobin (inverse correlation), (iii) peak aortic flow velocity, and (iv) chronic overhydration (r=0.502, R(2)=0.252, ANOVA F-ratio=10.19, P<0.0005). CONCLUSION Our findings show that aortic valve calcification is associated with LVH in chronic haemodialysis patients, probably because valve resistance to ventricular outflow is increased as shown by trans-aortic flow velocities and pressure gradients. The effect on LVMI is independent of PP, anaemia, and overhydration.
Truncated nuclear norm minimization for tensor completion

In this paper, a tensor n-mode matrix unfolding truncated nuclear norm is proposed, which is extended from the matrix truncated nuclear norm, to tensor completion problem. The alternating direction method of multipliers is utilized to solve this optimization problem. Meanwhile, the original two-step solution of the matrix truncated nuclear norm is reduced to one step. Employing the intermediate results returned by singular value shrinkage operator, rank information of each tensor unfolding matrix is not required and thus the computational complexity of the devised approach is not demanding. Computer simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Vivência da obesidade e do emagrecimento em mulheres submetidas à cirurgia bariátrica

El presente estudio tuvo por fin investigar en mujeres sometidas a la cirugia bariatrica los aspectos psicologicos relacionados a su condicion de obesa y a su adelgazamiento. El metodo utilizado fue el descriptivo-exploratorio, de abordaje cualitativo. Los datos permitieron, inicialmente, constatar que la obesidad, ademas de comprometer la salud fisica, restringe la vida afectiva y social, pues impone un auto concepto negativo e inhibidor de los vinculos interpersonales. Con el proceso de adelgazamiento despues de la cirugia, se observa una acentuada mejora de las condiciones fisicas y emocionales, las cuales influencian y son influenciadas por la reformulacion positiva del auto concepto. Sin embargo, el adelgazamiento tanto puede acarrear demandas esteticas irrealizables como ciertas vivencias de despersonalizacion, las cuales favorecen la desadaptacion emocional o la ocurrencia de trastornos psiquicos. Por los cambios de identidad que acarrea, la cirugia exige, preventivamente, el acompanamiento y el apoyo psicologico a las mujeres que la realizan.
The Self-Concepts of Bereaved Adolescents

The focus of this study was to investigate adolescent self-concept and the reactions of 42 adolescents whose siblings had died. After completing the OfferSelf-Image Questionnaire for Adolescents (OSIQ), participants were interviewed about bereavement reactions, perceptions of their personal maturity, effects on school work; and relationships with peers. The adolescents' OSIQ scores fit the results for what Offer has termed "niormal adolescents. " However, cluster analysis identified three distinct groups of adolescents clustered according to high, average, and low OSIQ scores. Discriminant analhsis was used to analyze the bereavement reactions of adolescents in these clusters. Perceptions of personal maturi ty, effects on school work and relationships with peers were also examined. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of developmental tasks facing adolescents and potential interventions to assist adolescents in coping successfully with grief.
Agency and structure: the impact of ethnic identity and racism on the health of ethnic minority people

Abstract To understand ethnic inequalities in health, we must take account of the relationship between ethnic minority status, structural disadvantage and agency. So far, the direct effects of racial oppression on health, and the role of ethnicity as identity, which is in part a product of agency, have been ignored. We set out to redress this balance using data from the Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities. Factor analysis suggested that dimensions of ethnic identity were consistent across the various ethnic minority groups. Initially some of these dimensions of ethnic identity appeared to be related to health, but in a multivariate model the factor relating to a racialised identity was the only one that exhibited any relationship with health. These findings suggest that ethnic identity is not related to health. Rather, the multivariate analyses presented here showed strong independent relationships between health and experiences of racism, perceived racial discrimination and class.
Optimal Neutralization of Centruroides noxius Venom Is Understood through a Structural Complex between Two Antibody Fragments and the Cn2 Toxin*

The current trend of using recombinant antibody fragments in research to develop novel antidotes against scorpion stings has achieved excellent results. The polyclonal character of commercial antivenoms, obtained through the immunization of animals and which contain several neutralizing antibodies that recognize different epitopes on the toxins, guarantees the neutralization of the venoms. To avoid the use of animals, we aimed to develop an equivalent recombinant antivenom composed of a few neutralizing single chain antibody fragments (scFvs) that bind to two different epitopes on the scorpion toxins. In this study, we obtained scFv RU1 derived from scFv C1. RU1 showed a good capacity to neutralize the Cn2 toxin and whole venom of the scorpion Centruroides noxius. Previously, we had produced scFv LR, obtained from a different parental fragment (scFv 3F). LR also showed a similar neutralizing capacity. The simultaneous administration of both scFvs resulted in improved protection, which was translated as a rapid recovery of previously poisoned animals. The crystallographic structure of the ternary complex scFv LR-Cn2-scFv RU1 allowed us to identify the areas of interaction of both scFvs with the toxin, which correspond to non-overlapping sites. The epitope recognized by scFv RU1 seems to be related to a greater efficiency in the neutralization of the whole venom. In addition, the structural analysis of the complex helped us to explain the cross-reactivity of these scFvs and how they neutralize the venom.
Acute encephalitis secondary to an ovarian teratoma

pelvis. However, in two case series of adnexal torsions in pregnancy ( n 4 and n 20, respectively), all patients had co-existing ovarian cysts (Hasiakos et al. 2008; Erdemoglu et al. 2010). Because patients usually present with nonspecifi c abdominal symptoms (including iliac fossa pain, vomiting and fever) and have nonspecifi c laboratory results (although infl ammatory markers are oft en raised), diagnosis is diffi cult to make on clinical grounds alone, due to a lack of pathognomonic symptoms or signs. Indeed, Bouguizane and colleagues (2003) were able to make a provisional clinical diagnosis of adnexal torsion diagnosis in 57.8% of their 135 patients. Imaging is usually required to diff erentiate the diagnosis of adnexal torsion from other causes of an acute abdomen such as appendicitis, ectopic pregnancy or urinary tract disorders. Laparoscopy can confi rm diagnosis and permit treatment, and is less invasive than laparotomy (Huchon et al. 2010; Krissi et al. 2001). Both radical and conservative surgical treatments (with preservation of the adnexal structures) have been described, but little data exist on functional ovarian or tubal outcomes (Hockberger and Sternbach 1978; Graif and Itzchak 1988). Th e case reported above presented a clinical conundrum for the treating clinicians because of the atypical presentation. It was only at appendicectomy that the diagnosis – an acutely torted ovary and fallopian tube in the absence of adnexal abnormality – was confi rmed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the fi rst case of adnexal torsion that has been reported in the literature in the presence of uterine fi broids alone. We postulate that in this case, the fi broid uterus, which was enlarged and extending into the abdomen had the same eff ect as a gravid uterus, creating space in the pelvis that allowed the fallopian tube and ovary to tort. We would encourage clinicians to be vigilant to the possibility of adnexal torsion in all women who present with an acute abdomen and uterine enlargement – whether from pregnancy or fi broids.