Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fertility Desires among Men and Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Nairobi Slums: A Mixed Methods Study

Objectives Fertility desires require new understanding in a context of expanding access to antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper studies the fertility desires and their rationales, of slum-dwelling Kenyan men and women living with HIV/AIDS who know their serostatus, but have different antiretroviral therapy treatment statuses. It addresses two research questions: How do people living with HIV/AIDS consider their future fertility? What factors contribute to an explanation of fertility desires among people living with HIV/AIDS. Methods A mixed methods study (survey [n = 513] and in-depth interviews [n = 41]) with adults living with HIV/AIDS living in Nairobi slums was conducted in 2010. Regression analyses assess independent relationships between fertility desires and socio-demographic factors. Analyses of in-depth interviews are used to interpret the statistical analyses of fertility desires. Results Our analyses show that fertility desires are complex and ambivalent, reflecting tensions between familial and societal pressures to have children versus pressures for HIV (re-)infection prevention. More than a third (34%) of men and women living with HIV expressed future fertility desires; however, this is significantly lower than in the general population. Factors independently associated with desiring a child among people living with HIV/AIDS were age, sex, number of surviving children, social support and household wealth of the respondent. Discussion Increasing access to ART is changing the context of future childbearing for people living with HIV/AIDS. Prevailing values mean that, for many people living with HIV/AIDS, having children is seen as necessary for a “normal” and healthy adult life. However, the social rewards of childbearing conflict with moral imperatives of HIV prevention, presenting dilemmas about the “proper” reproductive behaviour of people living with HIV/AIDS. The health policy and service delivery implications of these findings are explored.
Chemical properties of two mucoids from bovine cervical mucin.

buffer, pH 5-8, I = 0.1. The mucin gives an intractable gel in this solvent and at best a semi-opaque gel at a concen- tration of about 0.5 % was induced with difficulty to form suitable boundaries. Electrophoresis was carried out for from 3 to 5 hr. at 15 mA. A study ofthe phenomenon of flow-birefringence in solutions of macromolecules can yield information relevant to the size, shape and flexibility of the molecules in solution. Essentially this involves observation of the optical properties of a solution under shear, conveniently in a concentric-cylinder viscometer having a transparent base, fitted to a vertical optical bench. Consider a small segment of the annulus with the inner or outer cylinder rotating at constant speed: the flow lines will be along the annulus in a horizontal plane, the direc- tion of the velocity gradient will lie radially across the annulus, also horizontally, and the line of sight will be vertical and at right angles to both. A schematic diagram of a suitable apparatus is given by Glover & Suffolk (1957). Two factors are involved in the phenomenon of flow-birefringence: the optical and the hydro-dynanic. (1) Optical A birefringent body possesses different refractive light polarized in two directions at right angles. Linearly polarized light passed normally through a body, in general, emerges elliptically polarized, cannot be extinguished by rotation of an analyser. If the direction of polarization of incident is coin-cident to, the it and can be extinguished an by examining The the neutral and
Spelling-Sound Consistency and Regularity Effects in Word Naming

The present study addressed two questions regarding the computation of phonological representations from print. The first was whether spelling-sound regularity or spelling-sound consistency best characterizes the difficulty associated with naming a word. Clear evidence was obtained for an effect of word-body consistency. There was only a small influence on pronunciation that may be attributable to the use of knowledge about how letters are typically pronounced regardless of context. The second question was whether there is an interaction of frequency with regularity and consistency when frequency and neighborhood characteristics are not confounded. Only a weak interaction was observed in the latency data, although a significant interaction was observed in the error data. Simulations of the data by the DRC model (Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993) and the Plaut, McClelland, Seidenberg, and Patterson (1996) model are presented, and the implications of the results for these models is discussed.
An empirical analysis of the interrelations among the export of red wine from France, Italy and Spain

This paper deals with an empirical analysis of international trade data from EUROSTAT where the export of red wine from France, Italy and Spain - to Belgium, Denmark, Japan, The Netherlands, UK and USA - is investigated. Using monthly data from 1993:1 to 1998:12, trade flows, measured in quantities of red wine, from France, Italy and Spain to the before-mentioned countries are compared. The wine trade flows are modelled in a VAR (vector autoregression) framework in order to perform tests of causality. From obvious reasons red wines from the Southern European countries are expected to be close substitutes - at least concerning the receiving countries - which is tested, including price effects and political incidents as the French nuclear testings at Muroroa in 1995. The analysis reveals that, generally, the French wine exports not influenced by Italian or Spanish wines, whereas wine export from Italy seems more sensitive towards the competitors at the export markets. Concerning a negative influence on French wine export from the nuclear testing this seems to have been the case for Denmark, Japan and (probably) the UK.
Aesthetics and e-assessment: the interplay of emotional design and learner performance

The purpose of this study has been to examine the impacts of aesthetic design on learner experience in an e-assessment environment, specifically on cognitive load and task performance. Sixty-six postsecondary students were randomly assigned to one of two aesthetic design configurations of the e-assessment environment: (1) an environment with low consideration to aesthetic design (i.e., designed to provide the utility and usability necessary to complete the tasks), and (2) the same environment (i.e., identical utility, task objectives, and task media) designed with several aesthetic enhancements to heighten the learner experience. Findings suggest that aesthetic design significantly decreased participant cognitive load and increased participant satisfaction, willingness to continue use, voluntary self-assessment time, and task performance. Qualitative data support these findings. The results of this study provide practical insights for designers exploring the valuable relationship between aesthetic design and the learner experience.
The role of the precuneus in metaphor comprehension: evidence from an fMRI study in people with schizophrenia and healthy participants

Comprehension of conventional and novel metaphors involves traditional language-related cortical regions as well as non-language related regions. While semantic processing is crucial for understanding metaphors, it is not sufficient. Recently the precuneus has been identified as a region that mediates complex and highly integrated tasks, including retrieval of episodic memory and mental imagery. Although the understanding of non-literal language is relatively easy for healthy individuals, people with schizophrenia exhibit deficits in this domain. The present study aims to examine whether people with schizophrenia differentially recruit the precuneus, extending to the superior parietal (SP) cortex (SPL), to support their deficit in metaphor comprehension. We also examine interregional associations between the precuneus/SPL and language-related brain regions. Twelve people with schizophrenia and twelve healthy controls were scanned while silently reading literal word pairs, conventional metaphors, and novel metaphors. People with schizophrenia showed reduced comprehension of both conventional and novel metaphors. Analysis of functional connectivity found that the correlations between activation in the left precuneus/SPL and activation in the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (PSTS) were significant for both literal word pairs and novel metaphors, and significant correlations were found between activation in the right precuneus/SPL and activation in the right PSTS for the three types of semantic relations. These results were found in the schizophrenia group alone. Furthermore, relative to controls, people with schizophrenia demonstrated increased activation in the right precuneus/SPL. Our results may suggest that individuals with schizophrenia use mental imagery to support comprehension of both literal and metaphoric language. In particular, our findings indicate over-integration of language and non-language brain regions during more effortful processes of novel metaphor comprehension.
The Relationship Between Sightsinging Accuracy and Error Detection in Junior High Singers

The purpose of this study was to compare junior high students' sightsinging accuracy with their ability to perceive errors in recorded examples. Junior high choir students (N − 75) individually taped themselves while sightsinging counterbalanced examples of notation and solfege syllables. Subsequently, an error-detection task was designed based on the most common student errors and using the same examples. Students listened to the sung examples, then looked at the notation and circled any errors. Analyses of correct responses among high-scoring, medium-scoring, and low-scoring sightsingers revealed no significant differences between sightsinging from notation or syllables, although unskilled singers scored higher using syllables. The relationship between sightsinging (performance) and error detection (perception) was different for high- and medium-scoring sightsingers than for low-scoring | sightsingers. For high- and medium-scoring sightsingers, there were no significant differences between sightsinging and error detection, while low-scoring sightsingers were signifi-I canity more accurate on error-detection tasks. An analysis of data across specific intervals I revealed a trend toward more accurate descending patterns.
Nearby Optical Galaxies: Selection of the Sample and Identification of Groups

In this paper we describe the Nearby Optical Galaxy (NOG) sample, which is a complete, distance-limited (cz ≤ 6000 km s-1) and magnitude-limited (B ≤ 14) sample of ~7000 optical galaxies. The sample covers (8.27 sr) of the sky (|b| > 20°) and appears to have a good completeness in redshift (97%). We select the sample on the basis of homogenized corrected total blue magnitudes in order to minimize systematic effects in galaxy sampling. We identify the groups in this sample by means of both the hierarchical and the percolation "friends-of-friends" methods. The resulting catalogs of loose groups appear to be similar and are among the largest catalogs of groups currently available. Most of the NOG galaxies (~60%) are found to be members of galaxy pairs (~580 pairs for a total of ~15% of objects) or groups with at least three members (~500 groups for a total of ~45% of objects). About 40% of galaxies are left ungrouped (field galaxies). We illustrate the main features of the NOG galaxy distribution. Compared to previous optical and IRAS galaxy samples, the NOG provides a denser sampling of the galaxy distribution in the nearby universe. Given its large sky coverage, the identification of groups, and its high-density sampling, the NOG is suited to the analysis of the galaxy density field of the nearby universe, especially on small scales.
Contextual Factors Surrounding Conflict Resolution while Dating: Results from a National Study.

This research uses a national representative sample of persons who date and examines the processes surrounding the use and receipt of rational, verbally aggressive, and physically aggressive tactics in disputes. It also addresses whether verbal and physical aggression vary by gender, age, social classs, and alcohol consumption. The results show that women are at least as likely as men to engage in physical disputes. The young, lower class, and those who drink before a conflict are also more prone to physical aggression. The context surrounding aggressive incidents reveals that verbal aggression may be the seed of physical aggression, and that aggressive as well as nonaggressive behavior is reciprocated in kind.
Improving working memory performance in brain-injured patients using hypnotic suggestion

Working memory impairment is prevalent in brain injured patients across lesion aetiologies and severities. Unfortunately, rehabilitation efforts for this impairment have hitherto yielded small or no effects. Here we show in a randomized actively controlled trial that working memory performance can be effectively restored by suggesting to hypnotized patients that they have regained their pre-injury level of working memory functioning. Following four 1-h sessions, 27 patients had a medium-sized improvement relative to 22 active controls (Bayes factors of 342 and 37.5 on the two aggregate outcome measures) and a very large improvement relative to 19 passive controls (Bayes factor = 1.7 × 1013). This was a long-term effect as revealed by no deterioration following a 6.7 week no-contact period (Bayes factors = 7.1 and 1.3 in favour of no change). To control for participant-specific effects, the active control group was crossed over to the working memory suggestion and showed superior improvement. By the end of the study, both groups reached a performance level at or above the healthy population mean with standardized mean differences between 1.55 and 2.03 relative to the passive control group. We conclude that, if framed correctly, hypnotic suggestion can effectively improve working memory following acquired brain injury. The speed and consistency with which this improvement occurred, indicate that there may be a residual capacity for normal information processing in the injured brain.
Rimonabant, a Cannabinoid Receptor Type 1 Inverse Agonist, Inhibits Hepatocyte Lipogenesis by Activating Liver Kinase B1 and AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Axis Downstream of Gαi/o Inhibition

Liver X receptor-α (LXRα) and its target sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c) play key roles in hepatic lipogenesis. Rimonabant, an inverse agonist of cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), has been studied as an antiobesity drug. In view of the link between CB1 and energy metabolism, this study investigated the effect of rimonabant on LXRα-mediated lipogenesis in hepatocytes and the underlying basis. Rimonabant treatment inhibited CYP7A1-LXRα response element gene transactivation and an increase in LXRα mRNA level by the LXRα agonist N-(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)-N-[4-[2,2,2-trifluoro-1-hydroxy-1-(trifluoromethyl)ethyl]phenyl]-benzenesulfonamide (T0901317) in HepG2 cells. Rimonabant consistently attenuated the activation of SREBP-1c and its target gene induction. The reversal by CB1 agonists on rimonabant's repression of SREBP-1c supported the role of CB1 in this effect. Rimonabant inhibited the activation of SREBP-1c presumably via Gαi/o inhibition, as did pertussis toxin. Adenylyl cyclase activator forskolin or 8-bromo-cAMP treatment mimicked the action of rimonabant, suggesting that Gαi/o inhibition causes repression of SREBP-1c by increasing the cAMP level. Knockdown or chemical inhibition of protein kinase A (PKA) prevented the inhibition of LXRα by rimonabant, supporting the fact that an increase in cAMP content and PKA activation, which catalyzes LXRα inhibitory phosphorylation, might be responsible for the antilipogenic effect. In addition, rimonabant activated liver kinase B1 (LKB1), resulting in the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase responsible for LXRα repression. Moreover, PKA inhibition prevented the activation of LKB1, supporting the fact that PKA regulates LKB1. In conclusion, rimonabant has an antilipogenic effect in hepatocytes by inhibiting LXRα-dependent SREBP-1c induction, as mediated by an increase in PKA activity and PKA-mediated LKB1 activation downstream of CB1-coupled Gαi/o inhibition.
Emotion During Pregnancy and Delivery as a Function of Repression-Sensitization and Number of Childbirths

Two hundred pregnant women were asked, before and after child delivery, to fill out a questionnaire about their feelings during pregnancy and childbirth. A day after delivery, they filled out the revised repression-sensitization (R-S) scale (Byrne, Barry, and Nelson, 1963). Results of the study showed four factors in the women's feelings during pregnancy and child delivery: (1) feelings of pain and anxiety during pregnancy, as well as evaluation of the pain they had suffered during delivery; (2) anxiety in the labor room; (3) fear of giving birth to a defective child: and (4) pain in the labor room. Repressors scored lower on the first three-factors than sensitizers; no significant differences were found between them in the fourth factor. Repressors also indicated that the birth pangs would influence them to postpone their next pregnancy to a lesser extent than did sensitizers. However, both indicated the same actual length of waiting time till their next pregnancy. A possible difference in time perspective between the two groups was suggested to explain this apparent inconsistency. Results also showed that primiparae scored lower on the first factor and higher on the fourth factor than did multiparae.
The Outcome of a Supported Employment Scheme for High-Functioning Adults with Autism or Asperger Syndrome

The article describes the outcome of a 2 year supported employment project for high-functioning adults with autism. Thirty individuals with a diagnosis of autism or Asperger syndrome living within the London area took part in the scheme. The control group comprised 20 individuals of similar intellectual and linguistic ability,and previous employment history, living in metropolitan areas out-side London. Over the course of the project significantly more of the supported group than the controls found work; job levels were higher; they were in work for a greater percentage of the time; and they received significantly higher wages. Thirteen different employers (mostly multinational companies) were involved during the course of the project and several were willing to take more than one employee because of their positive experience of employing someone with autism. Although existing resources within the disability employment service hadnot previously been able to provide effective job finding and support services for this group, the current scheme demonstrated that, with specialist input, supported employment can be very effective. Moreover the costs, although initially high, reduced significantly over time. One of the most expensive and time-consuming aspects of the scheme, but one that appeared to be crucial for success, was the need for close liaison with employers in order to explore appropriate job opportunities and to match these carefully to the skills and abilities of individual clients. However, although some elements of the scheme can continue to be supported through government funding, no financial provision is available for this initial and essential stage of job finding. If programmes of this kind are to continue to provide help for individuals with autism, it is crucial that such funding is provided.
Critical roles of isoleucine-364 and adjacent residues in a hydrophobic gate control of phospholipid transport by the mammalian P4-ATPase ATP8A2

Significance Membranes of eukaryotic cells retain an essential asymmetric distribution of phospholipids in the two leaflets, which depends on the translocation by P4-ATPases (flippases) of specific phospholipids across the lipid bilayer. Severe diseases result from flippase mutations. Flippases are closely related to ion pumps like Na+,K+-ATPase and Ca2+-ATPase, yet the large size of the lipid substrate compared with inorganic cations raises the fundamental issue of how the flippases accomplish lipid transport. We characterized the mammalian flippase ATP8A2, applying mutagenesis and specific functional assays in combination with computational studies. We identify a unique putative lipid transport pathway through the flippase protein and propose a plausible translocation mechanism, which is both distinct from and related to the well-characterized cation transport mechanisms. P4-ATPases (flippases) translocate specific phospholipids such as phosphatidylserine from the exoplasmic leaflet of the cell membrane to the cytosolic leaflet, upholding an essential membrane asymmetry. The mechanism of flipping this giant substrate has remained an enigma. We have investigated the importance of amino acid residues in transmembrane segment M4 of mammalian P4-ATPase ATP8A2 by mutagenesis. In the related ion pumps Na+,K+-ATPase and Ca2+-ATPase, M4 moves during the enzyme cycle, carrying along the ion bound to a glutamate. In ATP8A2, the corresponding residue is an isoleucine, which recently was found mutated in patients with cerebellar ataxia, mental retardation, and dysequilibrium syndrome. Our analyses of the lipid substrate concentration dependence of the overall and partial reactions of the enzyme cycle in mutants indicate that, during the transport across the membrane, the phosphatidylserine head group passes near isoleucine-364 (I364) and that I364 is critical to the release of the transported lipid into the cytosolic leaflet. Another M4 residue, N359, is involved in recognition of the lipid substrate on the exoplasmic side. Our functional studies are supported by structural homology modeling and molecular dynamics simulations, suggesting that I364 and adjacent hydrophobic residues function as a hydrophobic gate that separates the entry and exit sites of the lipid and directs sequential formation and annihilation of water-filled cavities, thereby enabling transport of the hydrophilic phospholipid head group in a groove outlined by the transmembrane segments M1, M2, M4, and M6, with the hydrocarbon chains following passively, still in the membrane lipid phase.
Reduced-rank widely linear precoding in Massive MIMO systems with I/Q imbalance

We present reduced-rank widely linear precoding algorithms for Massive MIMO systems with I/Q imbalance (IQI). With a large number of transmit antennas, the imperfection I/Q branches at the transmitter has a significant impact on the downlink performance. We develop linear precoding techniques using an equivalent real-valued model to mitigate IQI and multiuser interference. In order to reduce the computational complexity required by the matrix inverse, a widely linear reduced-rank precoding strategy based on the Krylov subspace (KS) is devised. Simulation results show that the proposed methods work well under IQI, and the KS precoding algorithm performs almost as well as the full-rank precoder while requiring much lower complexity.