Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of performance feedback on tracheal suctioning knowledge and skills: randomized controlled trial.

AIM This paper is a report of a study to determine whether individualized performance feedback improved nurses' and physiotherapists' knowledge and practice of tracheal suctioning. BACKGROUND Nurses' knowledge and practice of tracheal suctioning is often deficient. Whilst teaching has been shown to improve suctioning knowledge and practice, this is not sustained over time. METHOD Ninety-five qualified healthcare professionals (nurses and physiotherapists) in two acute hospitals were randomly allocated to receive either individualized performance feedback or no additional feedback after a standardized lecture and practical demonstration of tracheal suctioning. Randomization was stratified by profession, seniority and site. Data were collected in 2005 in a clinical setting involving patients and a simulation setting. The outcome measures were knowledge and practice of tracheal suctioning, assessed by self-completion questionnaire and structured observation. RESULTS In both settings, intervention groups performed statistically significantly better in terms of knowledge (P = 0.014) and practice (P = 0.037) at final follow-up. Those who received performance feedback had statistically significantly higher knowledge (P = 0.004) and practice (P < 0.01) scores than the control group. For practice, there was also a relationship between professions (P < 0.01), with physiotherapists performing better than nurses overall, and an interaction between group and setting (P < 0.01), with performance feedback showing a stronger positive effect in the simulation setting. CONCLUSION Retention of knowledge and tracheal suctioning practice is improved when training is followed up by tailored feedback on performance. Further research would shed light on how long such improvements are sustained, and whether the improvements seen in a simulated setting can be generalized to clinical settings.
Social skills correlates of depressed mood in normal young adolescents

Abstract Objective: To explore the relationship between social skills and depressive symptoms in a normal young adolescent population. Method: An all male group of 85 schoolchildren, in the first year of secondary school, completed self-report instruments to measure the constructs of depression and of social skills. The Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS) and the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) were the instruments used. Result. Regression analysis of the factor scores on the MESSY and the total score on the DSRS revealed a significant, negative relationship. This was particularly so for the jealousy/withdrawal factor (Factor V) on the MESSY (f = 27.323; p < 0.001) Conclusion: The data provide support for the social skills deficit model of depression and indicate the possible role of fostering pro-social behaviours and promoting social skills enhancement in the vulnerable young adolescent.
Women's Quest for Economic Equality.

It may seem to the casual observer that women have made striking gains in their quest for equality with men since the early 1960s. But have they really improved their lot? Are they really better off economically? In this clear, compact, and controversial book Victor Fuchs makes plain that except for women who are young, white, unmarried, and well educated, today's women have not gained economically at all relative to men. He shows that although women are earning a lot more, they have much less leisure time than they used to while men have more; the decline of marriage has made women more dependent on their own income, and their share of financial responsibility for children has grown.Scrutinizing this relative lack of progress and the reasons for the persistence of occupational segregation, the infamous wage gap, and the unequal responsibility for housework and childcare, Fuchs shows that the standard explanations discrimination and exploitation by employers are not the most important causes. Women's weaker economic position results primarily from conflicts between career and family, conflicts that are stronger for women than for men. Fuchs assembles many different kinds of evidence to suggest that, on average, women feel a stronger desire for children than men do, and have a greater concern for their welfare after they are born. This desire and concern create an economic disadvantage for women, even women who never marry and never have children. "
Comprehensive Proteomic Analysis of Influenza Virus Polymerase Complex Reveals a Novel Association with Mitochondrial Proteins and RNA Polymerase Accessory Factors

ABSTRACT The trimeric RNA polymerase complex (3P, for PA-PB1-PB2) of influenza A virus (IAV) is an important viral determinant of pathogenicity and host range restriction. Specific interactions of the polymerase complex with host proteins may be determining factors in both of these characteristics and play important roles in the viral life cycle. To investigate this question, we performed a comprehensive proteomic analysis of human host proteins associated with the polymerase of the well-characterized H5N1 Vietnam/1203/04 isolate. We identified over 400 proteins by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), of which over 300 were found to bind to the PA subunit alone. The most intriguing and novel finding was the large number of mitochondrial proteins (∼20%) that associated with the PA subunit. These proteins mediate molecular transport across the mitochondrial membrane or regulate membrane potential and may in concert with the identified mitochondrion-associated apoptosis inducing factor (AIFM1) have roles in the induction of apoptosis upon association with PA. Additionally, we identified host factors that associated with the PA-PB1 (68 proteins) and/or the 3P complex (34 proteins) including proteins that have roles in innate antiviral signaling (e.g., ZAPS or HaxI) or are cellular RNA polymerase accessory factors (e.g., polymerase I transcript release factor [PTRF] or Supt5H). IAV strain-specific host factor binding to the polymerase was not observed in our analysis. Overall, this study has shed light into the complex contributions of the IAV polymerase to host cell pathogenicity and allows for direct investigations into the biological significance of these newly described interactions.
The Prostate 68 : 1531 ^ 1545 ( 2008 ) Proteomic Profilingof the Effectof Prostate-Specific

BACKGROUND. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a well-known biomarker for diagnosis and management of prostate cancer. PSA has been shown to have anti-angiogenic activity. We used the emerging proteomic research technology to identify proteins in prostate cancer cells whose expression is regulated by enzymatically active PSA. METHODS. Differentially expressed proteins in PC-3M cells treated with PSA were analyzed by 2D-DIGE analysis and identified by HPLC–MS/MS and SEQUEST data mining. Biological network analysis was carried out using MetaCore integrated software designed for functional analysis of experimental data. Gene expression data for several regulated proteins were confirmed by real-time, quantitative PCR. RESULTS. A total of 41 proteins were significantly (P< 0.05) changed in abundance in PC-3M cells in response to PSA treatment. Proteins from 26 gel-spots were identified. Many of the down-regulated proteins including N8 gene product long isoform, laminin receptor, vimentin, DJ-1 and Hsp60 are known to be involved in tumor progression. DISCUSSION. The relevance of the level of PSA in prostate tissue microenvironment and its relation to tumor progression has not been elucidated. PSA has been shown to down-regulate several proteins that are known to have involvement in tumor progression. This suggests that normal physiological levels of PSA in prostate tissue microenvironment may be promoting non-angiogenic environment and its down-regulation may promote tumor growth. Prostate 68: 1531–1545, 2008. # 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Time Series Prediction Using Robust Radial Basis Function with Two-Stage Learning Rule

The radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is a well known method for many kinds of application, including function approximation, classification, and prediction. However, the traditional RBFNN is not robust for the training data which contains outliers. In this paper, we propose a two-stage learning rule for RBFNN to eliminate the influence of outliers. The concept of the Chebyshev theorem for detecting outlier is adopted to filter out the potential outliers in the first stage, and the M-estimator is used for dealing with the insignificant outliers in the second stage. The experimental results show that the proposed method can reduce the prediction error compared with other methods. Furthermore, even though fifty percent of all observations are the outliers this method still has a good performance.
Multimodal Signal Comparison with the Aim of Video Content and Quality Monitoring for IPTV Application

In the present study the video content and quality monitoring issue is studied. For this purpose, the contents and qualities of two video streams must be compared with each other. It is clear that achieving to a monitoring system will be possible by utilizing multimodal information from the video streams. Therefore, simultaneous evaluation of the image and audio signals is vital. This comparative study for image signal is based on the extraction of useful features such as texture using Gabor filter. In order to create differences between two video streams in terms of content, some frames are added to or eliminated from the original video. Moreover, distortions such as blurring, packet loss and adding three types of noises are done as attacks to the original videos in order to make difference in terms of quality. Three types of additive noises such as Gaussian, Poisson and Speckel are used to produce noisy images for the purpose of comparing with the original ones. The audio signals of the two compared video streams are evaluated using PESQ similarity measurement. Finally, these parameters are characterized on the basis of some statistical standard image quality matrices like SNR, Correlation coefficient and SSIM. The results illustrate that the proposed method is effective and highly reliable against various kinds of noises.
Does Altruism Matter on Online Group Buying? Perspectives from Egotistic and Altruistic Behavior

The purpose of this study is to examine altruistic behavior (altruism) and egotistic behavior (reciprocity and reputation) regarding online group repurchasing intention. Data collected from 282 online group shoppers in an online shopping store provided support for the proposed model. The findings of the study shows that altruism is relevant to online group buying, and trust and satisfaction have significantly positive effects on online group repurchasing intention. The results emphasize that altruism, reciprocity, and reputation of motivations are significantly positive predictors of trust. Altruism and reciprocity have significantly positive effects on satisfaction, whereas reputation does not. The contribution of this study draws attention to the altruistic value of electronic commerce, by theorizing and validating the effects of altruistic and egotistic behavior on online group repurchasing intention. This paper presents a discussion on altruistic behavior (altruism) and egotistic behavior (reciprocity and reputation) regarding online group repurchasing intention and suggestions for future research.
DIFFUSE X-RAY EMISSION IN GLOBULAR CLUSTER CORES

The unresolved X-ray emission in the cores of 10 globular clusters hosting millisecond pulsars is investigated. Subtraction of the known resolved point sources leads to detectable levels of unresolved emission in the core region of M28, NGC 6440, M62, and NGC 6752. The X-ray luminosities in the 0.3–8 keV energy band of this emission component were found to lie in the range ∼1.5 × 1031erg s−1 (NGC 6752) to ∼2.2 × 1032 erg s−1 (M28). The lowest limiting luminosity for X-ray source detections amongst these four clusters was 1.1 × 1030 erg s−1 for NGC 6752. The spectrum of the unresolved emission can be fit equally well by a power law, a thermal bremsstrahlung model, a blackbody plus power law, or a thermal bremsstrahlung model plus blackbody component. The unresolved emission is considered to arise from the cumulative contribution of active binaries, cataclysmic variables, and faint millisecond pulsars with their associated pulsar wind nebulae. In examining the available X-ray data, no evidence for any pulsar wind nebular emission in globular clusters is found. It is shown that the X-ray luminosity contribution of a faint source population based on an extrapolation of the luminosity function of detected point sources is compatible with the unresolved X-ray emission in the cores of NGC 6440 and NGC 6752. Adopting the same slope for the luminosity function for M62 as for NGC 6440 and NGC 6752 leads to a similar result for M62. For M28, the contribution from faint sources in the core can attain a level comparable with the observed value if a steeper slope is adopted. The characteristics on the faint source population as constrained by the properties of the unresolved X-ray emission are briefly discussed.
Statin Discontinuation after Achieving a Target Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Level in Type 2 Diabetic Patients without Cardiovascular Disease: A Randomized Controlled Study

Background This study investigated the rate of relapse of dyslipidemia and the factors which could predict relapse following a short-term statin discontinuation after achieving a target low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level in type 2 diabetic patients without cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods Ninety-nine subjects on rosuvastatin treatment and whose LDL-C level was lower than 100 mg/dL were randomly assigned to discontinue or maintain statin treatment at a 2:1 ratio. The subjects were followed-up after 10 weeks. A relapse of dyslipidemia was defined as a reascent of LDL-C level to greater than 100 mg/dL. Results The statin discontinuation group had a significant rate of relapse compared to the maintenance group (79% vs. 3%, respectively). Pretreatment and baseline lipid levels, their ratios, and hemoglobin A1c level were significantly different between the relapse and nonrelapse groups. The pretreatment and baseline lipid profiles and their ratios were independently associated with relapse. The pretreatment LDL-C level was the most useful parameter for predicting a relapse, with a cutoff of 123 mg/dL. During the follow-up period, no CVD event was noted. Conclusion The relapse rate of dyslipidemia was high when statins were discontinued in type 2 diabetic patients without CVD. Statin discontinuation should be considered carefully based on the pretreatment lipid profiles of patients.
Short-term manipulation of plasma free fatty acids does not change skeletal muscle concentrations of ceramide and glucosylceramide in lean and overweight subjects.

CONTEXT Increased plasma free fatty acid (FFA) concentrations may be in part responsible for the increased levels of ceramide in skeletal muscle of obese subjects. OBJECTIVE We studied the effect of lowering and increasing plasma FFA levels on muscle ceramide and glucosylceramide concentrations in lean and obese subjects. DESIGN Plasma FFAs were either increased or decreased for 6 h by infusing a lipid emulsion or using Acipimox, respectively. Muscle biopsies were performed before and after the intervention for measurements of ceramide and glucosylceramide. STUDY SUBJECTS Eight lean [body mass index 21.9 (range, 19.6-24.6) kg/m2] and six overweight/obese [body mass index 34.4 (27.8-42.5) kg/m2] subjects without type 2 diabetes mellitus participated in the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Differences in muscle ceramide and glucosylceramide upon manipulation of plasma FFAs were measured. RESULTS There were no differences in muscle ceramide and glucosylceramide between lean and obese subjects, respectively. Increasing or decreasing plasma FFAs for 6 h had no effect on ceramide [high FFAs: 24 (19-25) vs. 24 (22-27) pmol/mg muscle, P=0.46; and 22 (20-28) vs. 24 (18-26) pmol/mg muscle, P=0.89 in lean and obese, respectively; low FFAs: 26 (24-35) vs. 23 (18-27) pmol/mg muscle, P=0.17 and 24 (15-44) vs. 24 (19-42) pmol/mg muscle, P=0.6 in lean and obese, respectively] and glucosylceramide [high FFAs: 2.0 (1.7-4.3) vs. 3.4 (2.1-4.6) pmol/mg muscle, P=0.17; and 3.0 (1.3-6.7) vs. 2.6 (1.2-3.9) pmol/mg muscle, P=0.89 in lean and obese, respectively; low FFAs: 2.2 (1.0-4.4) vs. 1.7 (1.4-3.0) pmol/mg muscle, P=0.92; and 6.6 (1.0-25.0) vs. 4.3 (1.3-7.6) pmol/mg muscle, P=0.7 in lean and obese, respectively] concentrations in skeletal muscle. CONCLUSION Short-term manipulation of plasma FFAs has no effect on ceramide and glucosylceramide concentrations in skeletal muscle from lean and obese subjects.
Intraarticular Rupture Pattern of the ACL

To date, the intraarticular rupture pattern of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) has not been reported. The ACL is a complex structure consisting of two functionally synergistic structures: the anteromedial (AM) and posterolateral (PL) bundle. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the intraarticular rupture pattern of the ACL with regard to its two functional bundles. We examined ACL rupture patterns with regard to the integrity of AM and PL bundle in 121 consecutive patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery within 120 days after injury. The intraarticular pattern was observed by one experienced surgeon. In 25% of the patients a partial rupture of the ACL was found, whereas in the remaining 75% a complete rupture of AM and PL bundles was seen. A partial rupture could only be detected by careful dissection of the ligament. In 44% of all patients the AM and PL bundles did not rupture at the same location. In 12% of the patients the PL bundle showed no signs of rupture. When performing ACL reconstruction, care should be taken when dissecting down the ACL remnants to evaluate intact fiber bundles of the ACL.Level of Evidence: Level IV, diagnostic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Examining the Effects of Healthcare Technology on Operational Cost

The cost of healthcare in the United States is rising at a rate much above the inflation rate. Healthcare providers, businesspeople, politicians, consumers, and other stakeholders are all looking for ways to at least slow the rise of healthcare cost and, preferably, actually reduce it. Organizations in other industries have used information technology (IT) to help reduce the cost of their operations. The stakeholders in the healthcare industry have taken note of the effects of IT in the organizations in other industries and have advocated a move to more IT investment in the healthcare industry. This study examines some early IT investments by single hospital systems to determine if integrated IT applications help reduce cost relative to other hospitals that have not made such investments. The findings from this study are encouraging as IT seems to reduce total operational costs in adopting hospitals.
SOLUTION PROPERTIES AND ERROR BOUNDS FOR SEMI-INFINITE COMPLEMENTARITY PROBLEMS

In this paper, we deal with the semi-infinite complementarity problems (SICP), in which several important issues are covered, such as solvability, semismoothness of residual functions, and error bounds. In particular, we characterize the solution set by investigating the relationship between SICP and the classical complementarity problem. Furthermore, we show that the SICP can be equivalently reformulated as a typical semi-infinite min-max programming problem by employing NCP functions. Finally, we study the concept of error bounds and introduce its two variants, $\varepsilon$-error bounds and weak error bounds, where the concept of weak error bounds is highly desirable in that the solution set is not restricted to be nonempty.
The Innate Immune System and Aging: What is the Contribution to Immunosenescence ?

The immune system plays an important role in the defence against various threats to health, such as pathogens, cancer cells or modified-self proteins. With aging there is a decrease in the immune response, called immunosenescence, concomitantly with the increase in some age-related diseases such as infections, autoimmune disorders, chronic inflamma- tory diseases and cancer. The immune response is traditionally divided between innate and adaptive immune responses. Accumulating evidence suggests that immunosenescence is not only restricted to the adaptive but also affects the innate immune system. Assessment of innate immune system functions revealed that it is also susceptible to age-related dysregulation. Furthermore, it is becoming clear that the sustained function of innate cells is indispensable for the ade- quate functioning of the adaptive immune response. This review will describe the changes in the innate immune response with aging and the recent discoveries, which may shed new light on its contribution to immunosenescence.
Longitudinal Effects of Group Music Instruction on Literacy Skills in Low-Income Children

Children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds tend to fall progressively further behind their higher-income peers over the course of their academic careers. Music training has been associated with enhanced language and learning skills, suggesting that music programs could play a role in helping low-income children to stay on track academically. Using a controlled, longitudinal design, the impact of group music instruction on English reading ability was assessed in 42 low-income Spanish-English bilingual children aged 6–9 years in Los Angeles. After one year, children who received music training retained their age-normed level of reading performance while a matched control group's performance deteriorated, consistent with expected declines in this population. While the extent of change is modest, outcomes nonetheless provide evidence that music programs may have value in helping to counteract the negative effects of low-socioeconomic status on child literacy development.
Negotiating male gatekeeper violence in team-based research on Bangladeshi migrant women in Malaysia

Abstract While the field of migration studies is expanding to understand the nuanced experiences of women across Asia, there has been little discussion of how these studies were conducted. This article draws on the reflective accounts of three researchers on a team project investigating the lived experiences of female Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia. While the research aims centred on understanding the lives of the Bangladeshi migrant women, the team spent a significant amount of time negotiating male gatekeeper violence in the field. The article further describes the researchers’ experiences of sexual harassment and intimidation, and explores these through the complex locations of the migrant workers and the female researchers in the field site. In addition, the article deals with the way in which the team’s feminist research sensibilities were challenged in the context of negotiating that violence. The ethical dilemma of continuing the research in the face of persistent violence was dealt with by discussing approaches employed in managing the violence. Analysing male gatekeeper violence in the field, allowed for conversations around the intersection of migration and masculinities. This auto-ethnography reveals methodological concerns for female researchers and exposes the negotiated nature of the front line of migration research.