Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Cohort Study of Morbidity, Mortality and Health Seeking Behavior following Rural Health Center Visits by Children under 12 in Southwestern Uganda

Background Children discharged from hospitals in developing countries are at high risk of morbidity and mortality. However, few data describe these outcomes among children seen and discharged from rural outpatient centers. Objective The objective of this exploratory study was to identify predictors of immediate and follow-up morbidity and mortality among children visiting a rural health center in Uganda. Methods Subjects 0–12 years of age seeking care with a caregiver were consecutively enrolled from a single rural health center in Southwestern Uganda. Baseline variables were collected by research nurses and outcomes of referral, admission or death were recorded (immediate events). Death, hospital admission and health seeking occurring during the 30 days following the clinic visit were also determined (follow-up events). Univariate logistic regression was performed to identify baseline variables associated with immediate outcome and follow-up outcomes. Results Over the four-month recruitment period 717 subjects were enrolled. There were 85 (11.9%) immediate events (10.1% were admitted, 2.2% were referred, none died). Forty-seven (7.8%) events occurred within 30 days after the visit (7.3% sought care from a health provider, 1.5% were admitted and 0.5% died). Variables associated with immediate events included living more than 30 minutes from the health center, age older than 5 years, having received an antimalarial prior to the visit, having seen a community health worker prior to the visit, elevated respiratory rate or temperature, and depressed weight-for-age z score or decreased oxygen saturation. These variables were not associated with follow-up events. Conclusions Sick-child visits at a rural health center in South Western Uganda were associated with rates of mortality and subsequent admission of less than 2% in the period following the sick child visits. Other types of health seeking behavior occurred in approximately 7% of subjects during this same period. Several variables were associated with immediate events but there were no reliable predictors of follow-up events, possibly due to low statistical power.
Economic Transition: What Can Be Learned from China's Experience?

The last decade of this century has witnessed the transition of the formerly centrally planned economies of Europe and Asia to market economies, a process affecting some 1.7 billion people in 28 countries. While much agreement exists on the sorts of reform measures required, disagreement exists over their sequencing. The economic and social performance of these transition economies has varied considerably and for a variety of reasons, however China’s performance, in particular, has been outstanding. The paper reviews the reform measures required for economic transition, and alternative sequencing approaches to these reforms. It conducts an overview of the performance of the transition economies, with focus placed upon the experience of the Chinese economy. An analysis of China’s approach to economic reform, its key components, major outcomes and outstanding issues are discussed. Key lessons to be derived for other transition economies from China’s experience are also presented.
LPS-induced lung inflammation is linked to increased epithelial permeability: role of MLCK

The respiratory system is directly exposed to low levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), present as a contaminant on airborne particles. In cystic fibrosis, the prevailing data identify structural changes of the airway epithelium, as well as tight junction dilatation. This study was aimed at determining the contribution of myosin light chain kinase to maintaining airway epithelium barrier integrity in the lung inflammatory response to LPS in rats. The effects of the selective myosin light chain kinase inhibitor, 5-iodonaphthalene-1-sulphonyl-homopiperazine (ML-7), were evaluated: 1) on pulmonary inflammation and airway epithelium barrier permeability alterations induced by intra-tracheal LPS from Pseudomonas aeruginosa; and 2) on levels of the phosphorylated form of the myosin light chain, which is increased in a human airway epithelial cell line (NCI-H292) and tracheal tissue after LPS exposure. The results show that LPS increased airway epithelium barrier paracellular permeability and lung inflammation, and that pre-treatment with ML-7 inhibited both effects. This effect of ML-7 was associated with the inhibition of phosphorylated myosin light chain in both NCI-H292 cells and tracheal tissue. The data, obtained using in vivo and in vitro approaches, demonstrate a key role for myosin light chain kinase in lung inflammation, and suggest that myosin light chain kinase could be a potential target for novel drugs intended for relief of lung injury.
Infection Status of Zoonotic Trematode Metacercariae in Fishes from Vientiane Municipality and Champasak Province in Lao PDR

The infection status of fishborne zoonotic trematode (FZT) metacercariae was investigated in fishes from 2 localities of Lao PDR. Total 157 freshwater fishes (17 species) were collected in local markets of Vientiane Municipality and Champasak Province in December 2010 and July 2011, and each fish was examined by the artificial digestion method. Total 6 species of FZT metacercariae, i.e., Opisthorchis viverrini, Haplorchis taichui, Haplorchis yokogawai, Haplorchis pumilio, Centrocestus formosanus, and Procerovum varium, were detected in fishes from Vientiane Municipality. The metacercariae of O. viverrini were detected in 50 (49.5%) out of 101 fishes (6 species), and their average number was 154 per fish infected. The remaining 5 species of heterophyid metacercariae were detected in 36.8%, 65.8%, 9.4%, 23.9%, and 5.1% fishes examined, and their average densities were 12, 1,038, 4, 15, and 13 per infected fish, respectively. In fishes from Champasak Province, 3 species of FZT metacercariae, i.e., O. viverrini, H. taichui, and H. yokogawai, were detected. Only 2 O. viverrini metacercariae were found in only 1 Barbonymus schwanefeldi. The metacercariae of H. taichui and H. yokogawai were detected in 60.0% and 50.0% of fishes examined, and their average densities were 47 and 28 per fish infected. By the present study, it has been confirmed that several species of FZT metacercariae are prevalent in fishes from Vientiane Municipality, with P. varium being a new member of FZT in Lao PDR. In comparison, FZT metacercariae are less prevalent in fishes from Champasak Province.
Anatomical Network Analysis Shows Decoupling of Modular Lability and Complexity in the Evolution of the Primate Skull

Modularity and complexity go hand in hand in the evolution of the skull of primates. Because analyses of these two parameters often use different approaches, we do not know yet how modularity evolves within, or as a consequence of, an also-evolving complex organization. Here we use a novel network theory-based approach (Anatomical Network Analysis) to assess how the organization of skull bones constrains the co-evolution of modularity and complexity among primates. We used the pattern of bone contacts modeled as networks to identify connectivity modules and quantify morphological complexity. We analyzed whether modularity and complexity evolved coordinately in the skull of primates. Specifically, we tested Herbert Simon’s general theory of near-decomposability, which states that modularity promotes the evolution of complexity. We found that the skulls of extant primates divide into one conserved cranial module and up to three labile facial modules, whose composition varies among primates. Despite changes in modularity, statistical analyses reject a positive feedback between modularity and complexity. Our results suggest a decoupling of complexity and modularity that translates to varying levels of constraint on the morphological evolvability of the primate skull. This study has methodological and conceptual implications for grasping the constraints that underlie the developmental and functional integration of the skull of humans and other primates.
Curcumin Analog DM-1 in Monotherapy or Combinatory Treatment with Dacarbazine as a Strategy to Inhibit In Vivo Melanoma Progression

Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive form of skin cancer with a high mortality rate if not discovered in early stages. Although a limited number of treatment options for melanoma currently exist, patients with a more aggressive form of this cancer frequently decline treatment. DM-1 is a sodium phenolate and curcumin analog with proven anticancer, anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic properties. In this paper, the DM-1 compound showed in vivo antitumor activity alone or in combination with chemotherapeutic DTIC in B16F10 melanoma-bearing mice. Beneficial effects such as melanoma tumor burden reduction with pyknotic nuclei, decreased nuclei/cytoplasmic ratio and nuclear degradation occurred after DM-1 treatment. No toxicological changes were observed in the liver, kidneys, spleen and lungs after DM-1 monotherapy or DTIC combined therapy. DTIC+DM-1 treatment induced the recovery of anemia arising from melanoma and immunomodulation. Both DM-1 treatment alone and in combination with DTIC induced apoptosis with the cleavage of caspase-3, -8 and -9. Furthermore, melanoma tumors treated with DM-1 showed a preferential apoptotic intrinsic pathway by decreasing Bcl-2/Bax ratio. Considering the chemoresistance exhibited by melanoma towards conventional chemotherapy drugs, DM-1 compound in monotherapy or in combination therapy provides a promising improvement in melanoma treatment with a reduction of side effects.
Correlation of C-X-C chemokine receptor 2 upregulation with poor prognosis and recurrence in human glioma

C-X-C chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2), a member of the G-protein-coupled receptor family, is an interleukin-8 receptor and results in the activation of neutrophils. To date, CXCR2 has been identified with many cell events, including inflammation, neovascularization, metastasis, and cell carcinogenesis. This study aimed to investigate alterations in the expression of CXCR2 in patients with brain gliomas and relationships with pathological grades and clinicopathological characteristics. Brain tissue specimens from 60 patients with glioma and 15 patients undergoing surgery for epilepsy (controls) were detected using streptavidin-perosidase immunohistochemistry. Western blotting was used to evaluate CXCR2 protein levels with fresh tissues derived from glioma cases or controls. Correlations between CXCR2 expression and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed using SPSS software. The results showed high-grade gliomas with high CXCR2 expression as compared with normal tissues. The expression of CXCR2 was significantly related to high grades and recurrence of tumor but not to age or sex. During an in vitro wound healing assay, U251 migration was reduced when the CXCR2-specific inhibitor SB225002 was applied. Our results suggested that the high expression of CXCR2 in gliomas was closely correlated to the degree of malignancy and recurrence and that CXCR2 inhibition decreased the migration of glioma cells. Therefore, CXCR2 may serve as a potential therapeutic target for the recurrence and migration of gliomas.
Labor Productivity: Structural Change and Cyclical Dynamics

A longstanding issue in empirical economics is the behavior of average labor productivity over the business cycle. This paper provides new insights into the cyclicality of aggregate labor productivity by examining the cyclical behavior of productivity at the plant level as well as the role of reallocation across plants over the cycle. We find that plant-level productivity is even more procyclical than aggregate productivity, because short-run reallocation yields a countercyclical contribution to labor productivity. At the plant level, we find that cyclicality of productivity varies systematically with long-run employment growth. Over the course of the cycle, plants that are long-run downsizers exhibit significantly greater procyclicality of productivity than do long-run upsizers. When we control for the direction of a cyclical shock, we find that the fall in productivity from an adverse cyclical shock for long-run downsizers is significantly larger in magnitude than is the fall in productivity from an equivalent adverse cyclical shock for long-run upsizers. We argue that these findings raise questions about one of the most popular explanations of procyclical productivity: changing factor utilization over the cycle.
Osterix Controls Cementoblast Differentiation through Downregulation of Wnt-signaling via Enhancing DKK1 Expression

Osterix (Osx), a transcriptional factor essential for osteogenesis, is also critical for in vivo cellular cementum formation. However, the molecular mechanism by which Osx regulates cementoblasts is largely unknown. In this study, we initially demonstrated that overexpression of Osx in a cementoblast cell line upregulated the expression of markers vital to cementogenesis such as osteopontin (OPN), osteocalcin (OCN), and bone sialoprotein (BSP) at both mRNA and protein levels, and enhanced alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. Unexpectedly, we demonstrated a sharp increase in the expression of DKK1 (a potent canonical Wnt antagonist), and a great reduction in protein levels of β-catenin and its nuclear translocation by overexpression of Osx. Further, transient transfection of Osx reduced protein levels of TCF1 (a target transcription factor of β-catenin), which were partially reversed by an addition of DKK1. We also demonstrated that activation of canonical Wnt signaling by LiCl or Wnt3a significantly enhanced levels of TCF1 and suppressed the expression of OPN, OCN, and BSP, as well as ALP activity and formation of extracellular mineralized nodules. Importantly, we confirmed that there were a sharp reduction in DKK1 and a concurrent increase in β-catenin in Osx cKO mice (crossing between the Osx loxP and 2.3 Col 1-Cre lines), in agreement with the in vitro data. Thus, we conclude that the key role of Osx in control of cementoblast proliferation and differentiation is to maintain a low level of Wnt-β-catenin via direct up-regulation of DKK1.
The effectiveness of homogenous ensemble classifiers for Turkish and English texts

Text categorization has become more and more popular and important problem day by day because of the large proliferation of documents in many fields. To come up with this problem, several machine learning techniques are used for categorization such as naîve Bayes, support vector machines, artificial neural networks, etc. In this study, we concentrate on ensemble of multiple classifiers instead of using only a single one. We perform a comparative analysis of the impact of the ensemble techniques for text categorization domain. To carry out this, the same type of base classifiers but diversified training sets are used which is referred as homogenous ensembles. In order to diversify the training dataset, various ensemble algorithms are utilized such as Bagging, Boosting, Random Subspace and Random Forest. Multivariate Bernoulli Naîve Bayes is preferred as a base classifier due to its superior classification performance compared to the success of the other single classifiers. A wide range of comparative and extensive empirical studies are conducted on four widely-used datasets in text categorization domain in both Turkish and English. Finally, the effectiveness of ensemble algorithms is discussed.
Comments on “ The Implications of Rule 26 ( g ) on the Use of Technology-Assisted Review ”

Approaches to technology-assisted review (“TAR”) and its validation—presented as “obligations” under Federal Rule 26(g) in a recent article by Karl Schieneman and Thomas C. Gricks III—could, if prescribed, impair the effectiveness of TAR and increase its expense, thereby compromising a primary objective of Rule 26(g): to ensure a reasonable production at a proportionate cost. Extraordinary culling efforts to enrich the collection are likely to eliminate large amounts of responsive information, while affording only the illusion of improved review or validation effectiveness. In addition, empirical evidence shows that the use of random selection for seed or training sets is inferior to keyword selection, and substantially inferior to the use of active learning—non-random selection determined by a machine-learning algorithm. Finally, exclusive focus on a particular statistical test, applied to a single phase of a review effort, does not provide adequate assurance of a reasonable production, and may be unduly burdensome. Validation should consider all available evidence concerning the effectiveness of the end-to-end review process, including prior scientific evaluation of the TAR method, its proper application by qualified individuals, and proportionate post hoc sampling for confirmation purposes. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT . 285
The takahe ― a relict of the Pleistocene grassland avifauna of New Zealand

Notornis mantelli est une espece menacee, autrefois largement repartie en Nouvelle-Zelande, actuellement restreinte au Fiordland et peut-etre aux Nelson et Ruahine ranges. On tente d'expliquer le declin en examinant les exigences quant a l'habitat
Driving safety for work : a study investigating aberrant driving behaviours within a fleet setting

This study reports on the utilisation of the Manchester Driving Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) and the Driving Attitude Questionnaire (DAQ) to examine the self-reported aberrant driving behaviours and safety attitudes of a sample of Australian fleet drivers (N = 443). Surveys were posted to drivers who agreed to participate in the study. Univariate analyses of the subscales revealed that participants were least concerned about speeding, followed by risky overtaking manoeuvres, while attitudes regarding the seriousness of close following and drink driving were significantly higher. In regards to behaviours, participants were most likely to report engaging in speeding and aggressive violations, and least likely to report making driving errors. Importantly, additional bi-variate analyses revealed that individuals who engaged in regular speeding behaviours and reported risky overtaking manoeuvres were most likely to incur demerit point losses. The results indicate that fleet interventions designed to improve road safety may benefit from focusing on attempting to reduce speeding infringements and the possible "speeding culture" that may exist within the fleet industry. This paper will further outline the major findings of the study, highlight the limitations and provide direction for future fleet safety research.
Using TCP models to understand bandwidth assurance in a Differentiated Services network

In this paper, a comprehensive analytical model to predict the bandwidth achieved by aggregates of TCP flows in a DiffServ network is presented. The model predicts achieved bandwidth in three different cases: an over-provisioned network, an under-provisioned network, and a near-provisioned network. In developing the model, we ensure that all parameters are measurable using standard tools and information available from routers and network management tools in today's networks. Simulation was used to establish the validity of the model and understand its scope of applicability and limitations. Using the model, we explain why achieved excess bandwidth is based on factors such as RTT, packet size, and CIR. Finally, we present a novel extension of the model to predict the bandwidth of TCP flows in a Diffserv network with multiple congested nodes.
Genotoxicity Studies of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) in the Brain of Mice

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) are excessively used and represent one of the top five most commonly used nanoparticles worldwide. Recently, various studies referred to their toxic potential on various organs using different treatment route. Male Swiss Webster mice were orally administrated TiO2NPs (500 mg/kg b.w.) daily for five consecutive days and then animals were sacrificed at 24 h, 7 days, or 14 days after the last treatment. The present results report that exposure to TiO2NPs produces mild to moderate changes in the cytoarchitecture of brain tissue in a time dependent manner. Moreover, Comet assay revealed the apoptotic DNA fragmentation, while PCR-SSCP pattern and direct sequencing showed point mutation of Presenilin 1 gene at exon 5, gene linked to inherited forms of the Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, from these findings, the present study concluded that TiO2NPs is genotoxic and mutagenic to brain tissue which in turn might lead to Alzheimer's disease incidence.
Solving the Goddard problem with thrust and dynamic pressure constraints using saturation functions

Abstract This paper addresses the well-known Goddard problem in the formulation of Seywald and Cliff with the objective to maximize the altitude of a vertically ascending rocket subject to dynamic pressure and thrust constraints. The Goddard problem is used to propose a new method to systematically incorporate the constraints into the system dynamics by means of saturation functions. This procedure results in an unconstrained and penalized optimal control problem which strictly satisfies the constraints. The approach requires no knowledge of the switching structure of the optimal solution and avoids the explicit consideration of singular arcs. A collocation method is used to solve the BVPs derived from the optimality conditions and demonstrates the applicability of the method to constrained optimal control problems.
An Investigation of Information Sharing and seeking Behaviors in Virtual Communities

User participations in virtual communities include both information seeking and sharing behaviors to varying degrees. The intentions to share and to seek information may have different motivations. However, existing studies rarely analyze the intentions for both types of behaviors. This study explicates the antecedents of the two types of usage intentions – intentions to share and intentions to seek – using a model that integrates social, community, and individual factors. The model is validated using a survey of 502 online investors of the most popular online stock message board in South Korea. The results show that the sense of belonging, entertainment value, and perceived usefulness influence both the intentions to share and seek. In addition, reputation seeking enhances the intention to post while perceived knowledge reduces the intention to seek.
Implications for multicultural counseling training: Motivation, implicit race bias, empathy, and attribution bias

Multicultural competency is the crux of training mental health practitioners in order to promote clinical skills, awareness, and knowledge when working with clients of diverse backgrounds; research integrating automatic beliefs about race is limited. Implicit race bias is integrated into the present study to better explain practitioners’ multicultural competencies, motivation to respond without prejudice, empathy, and attribution of client concerns. Participants responded to 1 of 2 vignettes that controlled for client race (i.e., African American, European American). Analyses revealed that client race is an important factor for culturally sensitive conceptualization of clients’ presenting concerns. Attribution of client responsibility for the cause of the problem is directly related to the relationship between implicit race bias and practitioner level of experience. Post hoc analyses revealed that implicit race bias and motivation to respond without bias significantly influence multiculturally competent case conceptualization. However, implicit race bias did not significantly predict ethnocultural empathy, or significantly relate to a number of the variables in the study. Implications of these results for counseling practice, training, and research are discussed.