Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel Psychoactive Substances in Young Adults with and without Psychiatric Comorbidities

Objective. Comorbidities between psychiatric diseases and consumption of traditional substances of abuse (alcohol, cannabis, opioids, and cocaine) are common. Nevertheless, there is no data regarding the use of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in the psychiatric population. The purpose of this multicentre survey is to investigate the consumption of a wide variety of psychoactive substances in a young psychiatric sample and in a paired sample of healthy subjects. Methods. A questionnaire has been administered, in different Italian cities, to 206 psychiatric patients aged 18 to 26 years and to a sample of 2615 healthy subjects matched for sex, gender, and living status. Results. Alcohol consumption was more frequent in the healthy young population compared to age-matched subjects suffering from mental illness (79.5% versus 70.7%; P < 0.003). Conversely, cocaine and NPS use was significantly more common in the psychiatric population (cocaine 8.7% versus 4.6%; P = 0.002) (NPS 9.8% versus 3%; P < 0.001). Conclusions. The use of novel psychoactive substances in a young psychiatric population appears to be a frequent phenomenon, probably still underestimated. Therefore, careful and constant monitoring and accurate evaluations of possible clinical effects related to their use are necessary.
bcl-2 expression in primary malignancies of the skin.

BACKGROUND AND DESIGN Basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and malignant melanoma (MM) are the three most common malignant neoplasms that arise in the skin. Deregulation of oncogene function not infrequently leads to an increased rate of cellular proliferation. However, the expansion of malignant cells can also occur if programmed cell death is inhibited. The oncogene bcl-2 participates in the regulation of apoptosis (programmed cell death). In view of this, we determined the presence and possible role of bcl-2 in primary cutaneous malignancies. Routine paraffin sections of formalin-fixed BCCs, SCCs, MMs (primary and metastatic), actinic keratoses, and SCCs in situ were labeled with anti-bcl-2 monoclonal antibody using a biotin-avidin-immunoperoxidase procedure. RESULTS Twenty-three BCCs were examined and all expressed cytoplasmic bcl-2. Two of 20 SCCs were positive. One of these had patchy, diffuse staining, and the other stained in only small foci. None of eight SCCs in situ and none of eight actinic keratoses expressed bcl-2. Sixteen of 18 MMs expressed bcl-2. CONCLUSIONS The bcl-2 gene product has been found to inhibit apoptosis. Our preliminary results suggest that the expression of bcl-2 is present quite consistently in BCCs and MMs, but not in SCCs or precursor lesions. The expression (or lack thereof) of bcl-2 may reflect the difference in the regulation of cell turnover between these tumors, or histogenetic differences.
Isoform-selective Effects of Isoflurane on Voltage-gated Na+ Channels

Background:Voltage-gated Na+ channels modulate membrane excitability in excitable tissues. Inhibition of Na+ channels has been implicated in the effects of volatile anesthetics on both nervous and peripheral excitable tissues. The authors investigated isoform-selective effects of isoflurane on the major Na+ channel isoforms expressed in excitable tissues. Methods:Rat Nav1.2, Nav1.4, or Nav1.5 α subunits heterologously expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells were analyzed by whole cell voltage clamp recording. The effects of isoflurane on Na+ current activation, inactivation, and recovery from inactivation were analyzed. Results:The cardiac isoform Nav1.5 activated at more negative potentials (peak INa at −30 mV) than the neuronal Nav1.2 (0 mV) or skeletal muscle Nav1.4 (−10 mV) isoforms. Isoflurane reversibly inhibited all three isoforms in a concentration- and voltage-dependent manner at clinical concentrations (IC50 = 0.70, 0.61, and 0.45 mm, respectively, for Nav1.2, Nav1.4, and Nav1.5 from a physiologic holding potential of −70 mV). Inhibition was greater from a holding potential of −70 mV than from −100 mV, especially for Nav1.4 and Nav1.5. Isoflurane enhanced inactivation of all three isoforms due to a hyperpolarizing shift in the voltage dependence of steady state fast inactivation. Inhibition of Nav1.4 and Nav1.5 by isoflurane was attributed primarily to enhanced inactivation, whereas inhibition of Nav1.2, which had a more positive V1/2 of inactivation, was due primarily to tonic block. Conclusions:Two principal mechanisms contribute to Na+ channel inhibition by isoflurane: enhanced inactivation due to a hyperpolarizing shift in the voltage dependence of steady state fast inactivation (Nav1.5 ≈ Nav1.4 > Nav1.2) and tonic block (Nav1.2 > Nav1.4 ≈ Nav1.5). These novel mechanistic differences observed between isoforms suggest a potential pharmacologic basis for discrimination between Na+ channel isoforms to enhance anesthetic specificity.
Towards a typology of occasional truancy: an operationalisation study of occasional truancy in secondary education in Flanders

Abstract The negative consequences of truancy for individuals, schools, communities and society in the short and long term are well documented. However, empirical research on truancy often takes only the frequency of the absence into account. As a consequence, truancy research has been dominated by the comparison of characteristics of truants with characteristics of non-truants. The purpose of the present study is to provide insight into the conceptual understanding of truancy by exploring different types of truant behaviour. Latent profile analysis was used to examine different types of truancy by using a nationally representative sample of 739 truants (age 14–21) in secondary education in Flanders (the Dutch speaking part of Belgium). Six key indicators were employed to identify latent classes: the duration of the absence, the parental knowledge of the absence, the location of the absence, individual vs. group absence, the time of the decision to go truant and the premeditated nature of the absence. Three classes of truant youth were identified: homestayers, traditional truants, and condoned social truants. In addition, multinomial regression revealed social differences between the three truancy classes. Our findings suggest that truant behaviour consists of interrelated forms of truancy that have specific social characteristics. In the discussion we demonstrate how studying different forms of truants can be important for understanding how truant behaviour can be identified and prevented.
Learning non-linear transform with discriminative and minimum information loss priors

This paper proposes a novel approach for learning discriminative and sparse representations. It consists of utilizing two different models. A predefined number of non-linear transform models are used in the learning stage, and one sparsifying transform model is used at test time. The non-linear transform models have discriminative and minimum information loss priors. A novel measure related to the discriminative prior is proposed and defined on the support intersection for the transform representations. The minimum information loss prior is expressed as a constraint on the conditioning and the expected coherence of the transform matrix. An equivalence between the non-linear models and the sparsifying model is shown only when the measure that is used to define the discriminative prior goes to zero. An approximation of the measure used in the discriminative prior is addressed, connecting it to a similarity concentration. To quantify the discriminative properties of the transform representation, we introduce another measure and present its bounds. Reflecting the discriminative quality of the transform representation we name it as discrimination power. To support and validate the theoretical analysis a practical learning algorithm is presented. We evaluate the advantages and the potential of the proposed algorithm by a computer simulation. A favorable performance is shown considering the execution time, the quality of the representation, measured by the discrimination power and the recognition accuracy in comparison with the state-of-the-art methods of the same category.
A Maximum Likelihood Approach For Selecting Sets of Alternatives

We consider the problem of selecting a subset of alternatives given noisy evaluations of the relative strength of different alternatives. We wish to select a k-subset (for a given k) that provides a maximum likelihood estimate for one of several objectives, e.g., containing the strongest alternative. Although this problem is NP-hard, we show that when the noise level is sufficiently high, intuitive methods provide the optimal solution. We thus generalize classical results about singling out one alternative and identifying the hidden ranking of alternatives by strength. Extensive experiments show that our methods perform well in practical settings.
Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Our objective was to study nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as a relevant risk factor associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with and without cirrhosis. HCC is a common cancer worldwide that predominantly involves patients with hepatic cirrhosis. HCC has recently been linked to NAFLD, the hepatic manifestation of obesity and related metabolic disorders. This association is alarming due to the high prevalence of NAFLD globally, which may contribute to the rising incidence of HCC. A 31-year-old female with a history of dyslipidemia, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus presented with abdominal pain that persisted for six months. The pain was associated with gastrointestinal symptoms and weight loss. She was drug-free and a nonalcoholic and a nonsmoker. The physical examination was unremarkable. The abdominal exam showed a soft and non-tender abdomen, with no organomegaly or ascites. The laboratory evaluation was unremarkable. The imaging studies showed a hypodense lesion in the right hepatic lobe with strong arterial enhancement. Subsequently, the patient underwent a liver biopsy. The histopathology results were consistent with HCC. The patient underwent an uneventful segment VI liver resection and tumor-free margins were achieved. In our patient, NAFLD was designated as an independent etiology for HCC, without cirrhosis. Our patient recovered well and has been disease free for over a year. HCC may complicate non-cirrhotic NAFLD with mild or absent fibrosis, greatly expanding the population potentially at higher risk of HCC. These results provide new targets for surveillance, prevention, early recognition, and effective treatment of HCC associated with NAFLD.
Competition-Based Dynamic Pricing in Online Retailing: A Methodology Validated with Field Experiments

A retailer following a competition-based dynamic pricing strategy tracks competitors' price changes and then must answer the following questions: (1) Should we respond? (2) If so, respond to whom? (3) How much of a response? (4) And on which products? The answers require unbiased measures of price elasticity as well as accurate estimates of competitor significance and the extent to which consumers compare prices across retailers. There are two key challenges to quantify these factors empirically: first, the endogeneity associated with almost any type of observational data, where prices are correlated with demand shocks observable to pricing managers but not to researchers, and second, the absence of competitor sales information, which prevents efficient estimation of a full consumer-choice model. We address the first issue by conducting a field experiment with randomized prices. We resolve the second issue by exploiting the retailer's own and competitors' stockouts as a source of variation to the consumer choice set, in addition to variations in competitors' prices. We estimate an empirical model capturing consumer choices among substitutable products from multiple retailers. Based on the estimates, we propose a best-response pricing strategy that takes into account consumer choice behavior, competitors' actions, and supply parameters (procurement costs, margin target, and manufacturer price restrictions). We test our algorithm through a carefully controlled live experiment that lasts five weeks. The experiment documents an 11 percent revenue increase while maintaining a margin above a retailer-specified target.
A 10-year single-centre experience in percutaneous interventions for multi-stage treatment of hypoplastic left heart syndrome

Abstract Objectives The purpose of this paper is to report our 10 years of experience of interventional treatment of patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and to focus on the frequency, type, and results of percutaneous interventions during all the stages of palliation, considering the different techniques, devices, and complications. Background Constant progress in surgical treatment of congenital heart defects in the last decade has significantly improved the prognosis for children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. However, morbidity and mortality remain relatively high. Modern interventional procedures complement or occasionally replace surgical treatment. Methods Between January, 2001 and December, 2010, 161 percutaneous interventions were performed in 88 patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Patients were divided into four groups: (a) before the first surgical treatment including hybrid approach, (b) after first-stage Norwood operation, (c) after second-stage bidirectional Glenn operation, and (d) after third-stage Fontan operation. Results Percutaneous interventions resulted in statistically significant changes in pulmonary artery pressures, vessel diameters, and O2 saturation. Complications occurred in 4.3% of interventions and were related mainly to stent implantation in stenosed pulmonary arteries. Conclusions Percutaneous interventions may result in haemodynamic stability and reduction in the number of operations. They may result in significant changes in pulmonary artery pressures, vessel diameters, O2 saturation, with a low rate of complications, which are mainly related to stent implantation in the pulmonary arteries.
A trust model for E-commerce in South Africa

In this paper, the relative importance of trust and usability of e-commerce in South Africa is discussed. In order to investigate these issues, a heuristic evaluation and an empirical evaluation were conducted on a number of South African e-commerce sites. A comprehensive set of e-commerce design guidelines was compiled, which was used to conduct a heuristic evaluation of the selected e-commerce sites. The results of the heuristic evaluation indicated that a number of usability problems exist on the selected sites. The empirical evaluation results also identified a number of usability problems on the selected sites. A correlation analysis between the two sets of results was used to identify a number of e-commerce design guidelines that are of specific relevance to the South African e-commerce market. This paper proposes a trust model for e-commerce in South Africa, based on the guidelines that were identified as being significant for e-commerce in South Africa.
Residential Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds and Asthma

We critically analysed the literature concerning exposure to volatile organic compounds and asthma. Observational studies have consistently found a relation between volatile organic compounds and indicators of asthma, such as symptoms, peak flows, and objectively measured bronchial reactivity. In contrast, interventional studies have generally failed to find a relation between exposure to residential levels of formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds and asthma. One hypothesis to explain the discrepancy in findings between interventional and observational studies is that the effect size is small requiring relatively large numbers of study subjects, common in observational studies but often not feasible in interventional studies. Another hypothesis is that longer duration of exposure is important, a common circumstance in observational studies where the home environment is the exposure setting. In contrast, duration of exposure in interventional studies is usually of minutes‐to‐hours in a chamber. Finally, the observed association in observational studies could be confounded by a factor which is a determinant of asthma and is also associated with exposure to volatile organic compounds.
The Use of Disruptive Tactics in Protest as a Trade-Off: The Role of Social Movement Claims

Abstract:In protest, activists sometimes turn to disruptive and violent tactics to meet their goals. Doing so, however, can also undermine support for their claims. We argue that how protestors weigh this trade-off depends on their targets and the extent to which their claims appeal to diverse constituencies, which then factors greatly into their choice of protest tactics. We complement past work that suggests that forces of professionalization and counterpressure alter activists’ tendency to use violent and disruptive tactics. With data on over 23,000 protest events in the United States between 1960 and 1995, we find that protest events characterized by broadly resonating claims are more likely to employ tactics that are disruptive but nonviolent. By contrast, events espousing narrower claims are more likely to employ disruptive tactics that are also violent. Moreover, when governmental entities are targeted, protests are less likely to witness the use of both violent and nonviolent disruptive tactics. We discuss the implications of our results for social movement theory and the dynamics of collective violence.
Health literacy skills in rural and urban populations.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether health literacy is lower in rural populations. METHOD We analyzed health, prose, document, and quantitative literacy from the National Assessment of Adult Literacy study. Metropolitan Statistical Area designated participants as rural or urban. RESULTS Rural populations had lower literacy levels for all literacy types (P<0.001 for each). After adjusting for known confounders, there was no longer a difference in health or prose literacy (P>0.05). However, rural populations had higher document (P=0.04) and quantitative (P=0.01) literacy. CONCLUSION Health literacy is lower in the rural population although this difference is explained by known confounders.
Standards in school toilets--a questionnaire survey.

BACKGROUND Children often say they have problems with their toilets in school. Educationalists and health workers need to be aware of potential difficulties, to try and improve these facilities for school children. The objective of this study was to assess the perception children have of the toilet facilities in their schools and whether or not this influences their use of them. METHODS An interviewer-administered questionnaire was given to children attending community audiology clinics and their parents. RESULTS Eighty-seven children from 65 schools were surveyed. Poorly maintained and unhygienic facilities were described to which access was restricted. A significant proportion of children were bullied or teased. Forty per cent would never open their bowels using the toilets in school. CONCLUSION The same standards for toilet facilities in the workplace should apply to schools. Substandard facilities may contribute to the suppression of the 'call to stool', leading to chronic constipation. Infectious illnesses may be more easily spread.
Functional Tooth Regeneration Using a Bioengineered Tooth Unit as a Mature Organ Replacement Regenerative Therapy

Donor organ transplantation is currently an essential therapeutic approach to the replacement of a dysfunctional organ as a result of disease, injury or aging in vivo. Recent progress in the area of regenerative therapy has the potential to lead to bioengineered mature organ replacement in the future. In this proof of concept study, we here report a further development in this regard in which a bioengineered tooth unit comprising mature tooth, periodontal ligament and alveolar bone, was successfully transplanted into a properly-sized bony hole in the alveolar bone through bone integration by recipient bone remodeling in a murine transplantation model system. The bioengineered tooth unit restored enough the alveolar bone in a vertical direction into an extensive bone defect of murine lower jaw. Engrafted bioengineered tooth displayed physiological tooth functions such as mastication, periodontal ligament function for bone remodeling and responsiveness to noxious stimulations. This study thus represents a substantial advance and demonstrates the real potential for bioengineered mature organ replacement as a next generation regenerative therapy.
Naïve and Memory Cell Turnover as Drivers of CCR5-to-CXCR4 Tropism Switch in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1: Implications for Therapy

ABSTRACT Early human immunodeficiency virus infection is characterized by the predominance of CCR5-tropic (R5) virus. However, in many individuals CXCR4-tropic (X4) virus appears in late infection. The reasons for this phenotypic switch are unclear. The patterns of chemokine receptor expression suggest that X4 and R5 viruses have a preferential tropism for naïve and memory T cells, respectively. Since memory cells divide approximately 10 times as often as naïve cells in uninfected individuals, a tropism for memory cells in early infection may provide an advantage. However, with disease progression both naïve and memory cell division frequencies increase, and at low CD4 counts, the naïve cell division frequency approaches that of memory cells. This may provide a basis for the phenotypic switch from R5 to X4 virus observed in late infection. We show that a model of infection using observed values for cell turnover supports this mechanism. The phenotypic switch from R5 to X4 virus occurs at low CD4 counts and is accompanied by a rapid rise in viral load and drop in CD4 count. Thus, low CD4 counts are both a cause and an effect of X4 virus dominance. We also investigate the effects of different antiviral strategies. Surprisingly, these results suggest that both conventional antiretroviral regimens and CCR5 receptor-blocking drugs will promote R5 virus over X4 virus.
APACHE II, POSSUM, and ASA scores and the risk of perioperative complications in patients with colorectal disease.

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to assess the role of the ASA, POSSUM and APACHE II score systems for predicting the complications in patients undergoing surgery for colorectal diseases. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed 539 patients undergoing colorectal surgery between January 1996 and December 2006. The accuracy of ASA, POSSUM and APACHE II score systems for predicting perioperative complications has been analysed. RESULTS Total postoperative morbidity was 15%, overall perioperative mortality was 1.5%. APACHE II and POSSUM predicted with the same accuracy the perioperative complications (0.65 and 0.68, respectively), while ASA score system revealed a poorer predicting accuracy (0.56). POSSUM predicted death rate more accurately compared to the APACHE II classification (1.6% vs. 10.4%). CONCLUSIONS APACHE II and POSSUM score systems may be useful tools helping surgeons to identify patient groups at high risk for complications. The ASA classification resulted less accurate, probably because related to the anesthesiologist's knowledge.