Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of performance metrics for the measurement of universal coverage for maternal care in Mexico

This study provides evidence for those working in the maternal health metrics and health system performance fields, as well as those interested in achieving universal and effective health care coverage. Based on the perspective of continuity of health care and applying quasi-experimental methods to analyse the cross-sectional 2009 National Demographic Dynamics Survey (n = 14 414 women), we estimated the middle-term effects of Mexico's new public health insurance scheme, Seguro Popular de Salud (SPS) (vs women without health insurance) on seven indicators related to maternal health care (according to official guidelines): (a) access to skilled antenatal care (ANC); (b) timely ANC; (c) frequent ANC; (d) adequate content of ANC; (e) institutional delivery; (f) postnatal consultation and (g) access to standardized comprehensive antenatal and postnatal care (or the intersection of the seven process indicators). Our results show that 94% of all pregnancies were attended by trained health personnel. However, comprehensive access to ANC declines steeply in both groups as we move along the maternal healthcare continuum. The percentage of institutional deliveries providing timely, frequent and adequate content of ANC reached 70% among SPS women (vs 64.7% in the uninsured), and only 57.4% of SPS-affiliated women received standardized comprehensive care (vs 53.7% in the uninsured group). In Mexico, access to comprehensive antenatal and postnatal care as defined by Mexican guidelines (in accordance to WHO recommendations) is far from optimal. Even though a positive influence of SPS on maternal care was documented, important challenges still remain. Our results identified key bottlenecks of the maternal healthcare continuum that should be addressed by policy makers through a combination of supply side interventions and interventions directed to social determinants of access to health care.
LSTM: A Search Space Odyssey

Several variants of the long short-term memory (LSTM) architecture for recurrent neural networks have been proposed since its inception in 1995. In recent years, these networks have become the state-of-the-art models for a variety of machine learning problems. This has led to a renewed interest in understanding the role and utility of various computational components of typical LSTM variants. In this paper, we present the first large-scale analysis of eight LSTM variants on three representative tasks: speech recognition, handwriting recognition, and polyphonic music modeling. The hyperparameters of all LSTM variants for each task were optimized separately using random search, and their importance was assessed using the powerful functional ANalysis Of VAriance framework. In total, we summarize the results of 5400 experimental runs ( $\approx 15$ years of CPU time), which makes our study the largest of its kind on LSTM networks. Our results show that none of the variants can improve upon the standard LSTM architecture significantly, and demonstrate the forget gate and the output activation function to be its most critical components. We further observe that the studied hyperparameters are virtually independent and derive guidelines for their efficient adjustment.
Prenatal cocaine exposure and its impact on cognitive functions of offspring: a pathophysiological insight

Abstract It is estimated that approximately 0.5%–3% of fetuses are prenatally exposed to cocaine (COC). The neurodevelopmental implications of this exposure are numerous and include motor skill impairments, alterations of social function, predisposition to anxiety, and memory function and attention deficits; these implications are commonly observed in experimental studies and ultimately affect both learning and IQ. According to previous studies, the clinical manifestations of prenatal COC exposure seem to persist at least until adolescence. The pathophysiological cellular processes that underlie these impairments include dysfunctional myelination, disrupted dendritic architecture, and synaptic alterations. On a molecular level, various neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, catecholamines, and γ-aminobutyric acid seem to participate in this process. Finally, prenatal COC abuse has been also associated with functional changes in the hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis that mediate neuroendocrine responses. The purpose of this review is to summarize the neurodevelopmental consequences of prenatal COC abuse, to describe the pathophysiological pathways that underlie these consequences, and to provide implications for future research in the field.
Sulodexide and Alzheimer’s Disease: A Preliminary Prospective Study

The purpose of this prospective study is to determine the relative incidence of Alzheimer’s disease in patients treated for at least three years, with sulodexide (n = 46, 76.48 ± 7.02 years old) or acenocoumarol (n = 47, 78.21 ± 6.66 years old) in order to prevent primary and secondary venous thromboembolism and atherothrombotic disease. In the sulodexide group, there was an apparent prevention of cognitive and behavioural impairment (relative incidence: 2.02) compared with acenocoumarol group (relative incidence: 4.86). The favourable results in sulodexide group may be related to their pharmacodynamic actions of inhibition of PAI-1, which may interfere with the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, and to the role of glutathione and PAI-1 in the β-amyloid system in the brain.
Factors influencing the seasonal life history of the pitcher‐plant mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii

Abstract. 1. The effects of resource levels, thermal microclimate, and seasonal oviposition patterns on fecundity and survivorship in the pitcher‐plant mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii (Coq.), were examined at a northern Wisconsin bog over the course of 2 years. Wyeomyia smithii are bivoltine at this locality, thereby enabling the study of summer and overwintering generations separately.
The Activating Transcription Factor 3 (Atf3) Homozygous Knockout Mice Exhibit Enhanced Conditioned Fear and Down Regulation of Hippocampal GELSOLIN

The genetic and molecular basis underlying fear memory formation is a key theme in anxiety disorder research. Because activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) is induced under stress conditions and is highly expressed in the hippocampus, we hypothesize that ATF3 plays a role in fear memory formation. We used fear conditioning and various other paradigms to test Atf3 knockout mice and study the role of ATF3 in processing fear memory. The results demonstrated that the lack of ATF3 specifically enhanced the expression of fear memory, which was indicated by a higher incidence of the freeze response after fear conditioning, whereas the occurrence of spatial memory including Morris Water Maze and radial arm maze remained unchanged. The enhanced freezing behavior and normal spatial memory of the Atf3 knockout mice resembles the fear response and numbing symptoms often exhibited by patients affected with posttraumatic stress disorder. Additionally, we determined that after fear conditioning, dendritic spine density was increased, and expression of Gelsolin, the gene encoding a severing protein for actin polymerization, was down-regulated in the bilateral hippocampi of the Atf3 knockout mice. Taken together, our results suggest that ATF3 may suppress fear memory formation in mice directly or indirectly through mechanisms involving modulation of actin polymerization.
Impact of Insurance Status on the Prognosis of Acute Lower Limb Ischemia

The objective of this study was to investigate if the insurance status of patients impacted the treatment options and prognosis in acute limb ischemia (ALI). A retrospective chart review was performed at a single university tertiary care center using ICD-9 codes for the diagnosis and procedure for ALI from January 2000 to January 2011. A total of 96 patients were diagnosed with ALI, comprising of 66 males and 30 females with a mean age of 56 years (range was 19 - 80 years). Time to presentation and prognosis (rate and level of amputation) were analyzed using insurance status as the independent variable. Patients covered under commercial insurance were compared to patients with Medicare and Medicaid and to patients without any insurance coverage. Statistical analysis was performed using the proportion z test to evaluate differences among the groups investigated. A “p” value of ≤0.05 was considered significant. In this study, ALI occurred more commonly in African Americans (p = 0.0029) and in patients without insurance coverage regardless of race (p = 0.0034). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hypertension (HTN), and acute renal failure (ARF) were significantly higher in the uninsured group, compared to the insured group (p = 0.0005, 0.0055, and 0.0034, respectively). The time to hospital admission was significantly longer in uninsured patients compared to the insured group (p = 0.0449). The rates of major amputation above the ankle were 46% in patients with commercial insurance, 62% in the government insurance (Medicare and Medicaid) group, and 51% in the uninsured group. There was no significant difference in major versus minor amputation in patients with commercial insurances. However, the rates of major amputation were significantly higher than the rates of minor amputation in both Medicare and Medicaid and uninsured patients (p = 0.005, and <0.0001, respectively). With respect to acute lower limb ischemia, African Americans presented more frequently and were more likely to be uninsured. The incidences of COPD, HTN, and ARF were significantly higher in uninsured patients. The majority of the amputations in Medicare and Medicaid and uninsured populations were likely above the ankle. Results suggest that government insurance coverage does not prevent major amputation in patients with ALI.
Epileptogenesis following experimentally induced traumatic brain injury – a systematic review

Abstract Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a complex neurotrauma in civilian life and the battlefield with a broad spectrum of symptoms, long-term neuropsychological disability, as well as mortality worldwide. Posttraumatic epilepsy (PTE) is a common outcome of TBI with unknown mechanisms, followed by posttraumatic epileptogenesis. There are numerous rodent models of TBI available with varying pathomechanisms of head injury similar to human TBI, but there is no evidence for an adequate TBI model that can properly mimic all aspects of clinical TBI and the first successive spontaneous focal seizures follow a single episode of neurotrauma with respect to epileptogenesis. This review aims to provide current information regarding the various experimental animal models of TBI relevant to clinical TBI. Mossy fiber sprouting, loss of dentate hilar neurons along with recurrent seizures, and epileptic discharge similar to human PTE have been studied in fluid percussion injury, weight-drop injury, and cortical impact models, but further refinement of animal models and functional test is warranted to better understand the underlying pathophysiology of posttraumatic epileptogenesis. A multifaceted research approach in TBI model may lead to exploration of the potential treatment measures, which are a major challenge to the research community and drug developers. With respect to clinical setting, proper patient data collection, improved clinical trials with advancement in drug delivery strategies, blood-brain barrier permeability, and proper monitoring of level and effects of target drug are also important.
The lateral calcaneal artery as an alternative recipient vessel option for heel and lateral foot reconstruction

Clinical outcomes of consecutive use of the lateral calcaneal artery (LCA) as a recipient vessel for microsurgical reconstruction have not been reported. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and safety of the LCA as a recipient vessel for microsurgical foot reconstruction based on anatomical study of CT angiography and clinical results of using this vessel as the recipient.
Materials evaluation of high temperature electrical wires for aerospace applications

The electrical resistivities of typical AWG20-Class3 and AWG18-Class27 Ni-coated Cu wires were monitored at 400 �C for times up to 5500 hours; the resistivities increased by 6.9% and 2.3%, respectively. Microstructural analysis of the thermally aged wires revealed evidence of Ni-Cu interdiffusion. Diffusion experiments were performed on Ni-Cu metal foils in the range 400 to 600 �C; Ni-Cu compositional profiles across the Ni-Cu interface were collected by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry. Ni-Cu interdiffusivities determined by the Boltzmann-Matano method were typically 2.5�10-17 m2s-1;calculated activation energies for Ni-Cu interdiffusion were between 79.4 and 89.8 kJ? mol-1. Analysis of the available Ni-Cu interdiffusion data suggested a dependence on grain size of the Cu foils used. A concentric-circle, diffusion-resistivity model was developed. Using the experimentally determined Ni-Cu interdiffusion data, it was possible to accurately predict the resistivity of a Ni-coated Cu wire at 400 �C as a function of time. It is predicted that the resistivity of the AWG20-Class3 wire would increase by 10% after annealing for 48,000 hours at 400 �C; in contrast, heating an AWG18-Class27 wire for a much longer time of 140,000 hours would incur the same increase in its resistivity. Low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) with a formulation of 11ZnO-10MoO3 (NSZM) were prepared with additions of 0.5 to 2.0 wt% B2O3 via the mixed oxide route. The NSZM samples were sintered at 850-950�C to over 96% of theoretical density with co-existence of both ZnMoO4 and Zn3Mo2O9 phases. With increasing the addition of B2O3 to NSZM the relative permittivity, dielectric strength and thermal conductivity increased. NSZM prepared with 1.0 wt% B2O3 exhibited a relative permittivity of 11.1, dielectric strength of 17.6 kV? mm-1, linear thermal expansion of 4.7 ppm? K-1and thermal conductivity of 1.3 W? m-1? K-1. The LTCC material is a possible candidate for insulating applications because of its low dielectric constant and adequate dielectric strength.LTCC insulation films were applied to Ni disc substrates by dip coating; the suspensions contained 5 to 20 vol% NSZM ceramic powders, 1.0 wt% B2O3, a polyvinyl butyral (PVB) based binder system, plus solvents and organic additives. A microstructural study of the LTCC films revealed that the insulation thickness varied from 4.3 to 47.3 �m with the ceramic content of starting suspension. The dielectric strength of these films was in the range 24.2 to 43.7 kV? mm-1. These results showed that dip coating is a promising method for applying the LTCC insulation to Ni-based metal substrates. LTCC-insulated wires were manufactured by withdrawing Ni-coated Cu conductors from the suspension, containing 15 vol% ceramic powders, followed by co-firing at 500 �C. The LTCC-coated wire exhibited an insulation thickness of 40.3 �m and a breakdown voltage of 798 V. These results suggest that the LTCC-coated wire is a possible candidate for use in high temperature machine windings.
The Determinants Of Resource-Providing Contracts: Case-Study Of The Polish Dairy Sector

Growth in the agri-food sector in developing and transition countries is typically impeded by major imperfections in both input and output markets. Providing resources to farmers as part of an interlinked market contract is one way of overcoming these market imperfections. This paper identifies the factors that determine access to these types of contracts for smallholders. The econometric analysis uses data from a unique survey of Polish dairy farm households during transition. The main conclusions are that competition and FDI in the processing sector are major driving forces for the spread of resource-providing contracts.
Oxidation resistant Ru containing Ni base single crystal superalloys

Abstract Oxidation resistant fourth and fifth generation Ni base superalloys were developed. The fourth generation superalloys TMS-138A were modified by increasing the content of Al and Cr and deceasing Mo. Designed alloys were cast as single crystal and examined in cyclic and isothermal exposures at 1100°C and creep rupture test. Under high temperature/low stress condition, 0·5 wt-% of Al addition was effective to improve the oxidation resistance but degrade creep property. Cr addition and Mo and W reduction were effective to improve the oxidation resistance and display creep property almost equal to the original TMS-138A. The fourth generation superalloy TMS-138 and fifth generation superalloy TMS-173 were also modified. By adding Cr and removing Mo and W, their oxidation resistances were dramatically improved. Thus it was found that it is possible to improve the oxidation resistance of Ru containing SC superalloys with keeping the high temperature strength by the increase in Cr and decrease in Mo and W.
Rapid Detection of HSV from Cytologic Specimens Collected into ThinPrep Fixative

OBJECTIVE Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality in neonates. A diagnosis of HSV on cervical cytologic studies could lead to a cesarean section, with an increase in the risk of maternal morbidity. The identification of viral lesions in sexually active women has medical and social implications. There have been reports of false positive diagnoses of HSV in patients with altered endocervical cells and with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3. We evaluated a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay to detect HSV-1 and HSV-2 in routinely collected cervical cytology specimens in ThinPrep fixative (Cytyc Corp., Marlborough, Massachussets, U.S.A.). STUDY DESIGN DNA was extracted from five cases that demonstrated cytologic changes suggestive of an HSV infection. PCR amplification with subsequent gel electrophoresis was performed to detect the presence of HSV. RESULTS HSV DNA was detected in three of five cases that were cytologically diagnosed as suspicious or strongly suspicious for HSV infection. CONCLUSION The combination of the ThinPrep liquid-based method for cervical cytology with PCR allows prompt confirmation of the diagnosis of HSV without sacrificing the diagnostic morphology on the slide.
On the elastic field and image force of dislocations in anisotropic solids and its application to GaN nanostructures

The determination of the elastic field and image force of dislocation in anisotropic media is a nontrivial problem. This work revisits Eshelby’s sextic anisotropic elasticity theory to obtain the stress field of a screw dislocation in an infinite anisotropic solid. The image force of a dislocation in an anisotropic nanowire is then derived by using the concept of ‘image dislocation’. Moreover, this work proposes to study the image force of nanorods by approximating the three-dimensional shape effect as a height-dependent shape function, which could be obtained through curve fitting of the finite element data. The analytical solution is applied to analyse image forces on different dislocations in GaN nanorods oriented along polar (c-axis) and nonpolar (a, m-axis) directions. The result shows the dislocation dissipation could be more effective in a-GaN but less in m-GaN by comparing with the standard growth of c-GaN. The approach developed in this work is applicable to other material systems. Therefore, it could contribute to a wide range of nanostructure design and fabrication for dislocation-free devices.
Use of Immunohistochemistry to Demonstrate In Vivo Expression of the Burkholderia mallei Virulence Factor BpaB During Experimental Glanders

Burkholderia mallei causes the highly contagious and debilitating zoonosis glanders, which infects via inhalation or percutaneous inoculation and often culminates in life-threatening pneumonia and sepsis. In humans, glanders is difficult to diagnose and requires prolonged antibiotic therapy with low success rates. No vaccine exists to protect against B. mallei, and there is concern regarding its use as a bioweapon. The authors previously identified the protein BpaB as a potential target for devising therapies due to its role in adherence to host cells and the formation of biofilms in vitro and its contribution to pathogenicity in a mouse model of glanders. In the present study, the authors developed an immunostaining approach to probe tissues of experimentally infected animals and demonstrated that BpaB is produced exclusively in vivo by wild-type B. mallei in target organs from mice and marmosets. They detected the expression of BpaB by B. mallei both extracellularly and within macrophages, neutrophils, and epithelial cells in respiratory tissues (7/10 marmoset; 2/2 mouse). The authors also noted the intracellular expression of BpaB by B. mallei in macrophages in the regional lymph nodes of mice (2/2 tissues) and MALT of marmosets (4/5 tissues). It is interesting that B. mallei bacteria infecting distal organs did not express BpaB (2/2 mice; 3/3 marmosets), suggesting that the protein is not necessary for bacterial fitness in these anatomic locations. These findings underscore the value of BpaB as a target for developing medical countermeasures and provide insight into its role in pathogenesis.
How to catch the patch? A dendrometer study of the radial increment through successive cambia in the mangrove Avicennia.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Successive vascular cambia are involved in the secondary growth of at least 200 woody species from >30 plant families. In the mangrove Avicennia these successive cambia are organized in patches, creating stems with non-concentric xylem tissue surrounded by internal phloem tissue. Little is known about radial growth and tree stem dynamics in trees with this type of anatomy. This study aims to (1) clarify the process of secondary growth of Avicennia trees by studying its patchiness; and (2) study the radial increment of Avicennia stems, both temporary and permanent, in relation to local climatic and environmental conditions. A test is made of the hypothesis that patchy radial growth and stem dynamics enable Avicennia trees to better survive conditions of extreme physiological drought. Methods Stem variations were monitored by automatic point dendrometers at four different positions around and along the stem of two Avicennia marina trees in the mangrove forest of Gazi Bay (Kenya) during 1 year. KEY RESULTS Patchiness was found in the radial growth and shrinkage and swelling patterns of Avicennia stems. It was, however, potentially rather than systematically present, i.e. stems reacted either concentrically or patchily to environment triggers, and it was fresh water availability and not tidal inundation that affected radial increment. CONCLUSIONS It is concluded that the ability to develop successive cambia in a patchy way enables Avicennia trees to adapt to changes in the prevailing environmental conditions, enhancing its survival in the highly dynamic mangrove environment. Limited water could be used in a more directive way, investing all the attainable resources in only some locations of the tree stem so that at least at these locations there is enough water to, for example, overcome vessel embolisms or create new cells. As these locations change with time, the overall functioning of the tree can be maintained.
Shallow parsing for recognizing threats in Dutch tweets

In this paper, we investigate the recognition of threats in Dutch tweets. As tweets often display irregular grammatical form and deviant orthography, analysis by standard means is problematic. Therefore, we have implemented a new shallow parsing mechanism which is driven by handcrafted rules. Experimental results are encouraging, with an F-measure of about 40% on a random sample of Dutch tweets. Moreover, the error analysis shows some clear avenues for further improvement.