Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An evaluation of prompt access to physiotherapy in the management of low back pain in primary care.

BACKGROUND Disability arising from low back pain (LBP) is a growing problem. Current primary care management of LBP has been criticized for its mechanistic basis and for delays in gaining access to specialist advice. Among recent recommendations made for improved management are functional explanatory models, a rehabilitative approach and early access to physical therapy. It is not known if these recommendations can be implemented in mainstream primary care. OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to examine the feasibility, acceptability and component costs of providing a prompt access physiotherapy service for new episodes of LBP in primary care; to describe outcomes and compare them with other published interventions; and to explore the influence of the service on GPs' approach to LBP. METHODS Back pain clinics staffed by a physiotherapist were established in a group of demographically representative practices in a typical UK health authority. Adult patients with a new episode of LBP referred by their GPs were managed in accordance with recent recommendations. Data on pain, disability and well-being were collected at recruitment and some 12 weeks later. Patient diaries and interviews with GPs before and after the study provided qualitative data. Comparative costings were derived from national and local sources. RESULTS A total of 614 patients, representing 3.2% of the adult population, were referred, of whom 522 (85%) were seen at the back pain clinics within 3-4 days, the majority within 72 h. Although this represents less than half the adult patients thought to be presenting to their GPs with LBP, patients exhibited levels of pain and disability comparable with those described in other studies of LBP in primary care. More than 70% of patients required only a single clinic visit and <5% were referred on to specialist orthopaedic or back pain rehabilitation services. At follow-up, levels of improvement were comparable with and time taken off work superior to those seen in other intervention studies of LBP in primary care. Prompt access to physiotherapy in primary care costs less per episode of LBP than conventional management. Qualitative data suggest that patients valued early access to the physiotherapist, particularly for the reassurance provided. Interviews with GPs revealed strong support for the service, in large part based on favourable feedback from patients. CONCLUSIONS For primary care patients with a new episode of LBP referred by their GP, prompt access to a dedicated physiotherapy service is both feasible and acceptable. Comparison with other published interventions suggests that it is also cost-effective and that a typical Primary Care Trust (PCT) would rapidly recoup the cost of additional physiotherapists. However, questions remain about the availability of sufficient physiotherapists to make such a service available nationally. The influence of the service upon GPs' own approach to the management of LBP is likely to be gradual and to come about largely through positive feedback from patients.
Phylogeographic patterns exhibited by Ontario rabies virus variants

A previous study on N gene variation of rabies viruses circulating in Ontario red foxes identified four viral variants. This study confirms the geographical localization of these variants and extends the analysis to the less conserved G gene of these viruses. A greater number of regionally localized variants was revealed and their phylogenetic relationships have been examined. Ongoing surveillance on recent disease outbreaks revealed that variants do not always persist in specific areas. The distribution of these variants did however appear to be influenced by topographical features of the study area likely to affect host animal movements and contacts. The majority of G gene base changes were synonymous and limited glycoprotein sequence variation predominantly to the C-terminal transmembrane and endo-domains. These data are most readily explained by random appearance of genetic viral variants followed by their spread throughout sub-populations of the fox host according to the easiest routes of transmission.
BFIT, a unique acyl-CoA thioesterase induced in thermogenic brown adipose tissue: cloning, organization of the human gene and assessment of a potential link to obesity.

We hypothesized that certain proteins encoded by temperature-responsive genes in brown adipose tissue (BAT) contribute to the remarkable metabolic shifts observed in this tissue, thus prompting a differential mRNA expression analysis to identify candidates involved in this process in mouse BAT. An mRNA species corresponding to a novel partial-length gene was found to be induced 2-3-fold above the control following cold exposure (4 degrees C), and repressed approximately 70% by warm acclimation (33 degrees C, 3 weeks) compared with controls (22 degrees C). The gene displayed robust BAT expression (i.e. approximately 7-100-fold higher than other tissues in controls). The full-length murine gene encodes a 594 amino acid ( approximately 67 kDa) open reading frame with significant homology to the human hypothetical acyl-CoA thioesterase KIAA0707. Based on cold-inducibility of the gene and the presence of two acyl-CoA thioesterase domains, we termed the protein brown-fat-inducible thioesterase (BFIT). Subsequent analyses and cloning efforts revealed the presence of a novel splice variant in humans (termed hBFIT2), encoding the orthologue to the murine BAT gene. BFIT was mapped to syntenic regions of chromosomes 1 (human) and 4 (mouse) associated with body fatness and diet-induced obesity, potentially linking a deficit of BFIT activity with exacerbation of these traits. Consistent with this notion, BFIT mRNA was significantly higher ( approximately 1.6-2-fold) in the BAT of obesity-resistant compared with obesity-prone mice fed a high-fat diet, and was 2.5-fold higher in controls compared with ob/ob mice. Its strong, cold-inducible BAT expression in mice suggests that BFIT supports the transition of this tissue towards increased metabolic activity, probably through alteration of intracellular fatty acyl-CoA concentration.
Black Female Sexual Identity: The Self Defined

The findings of a questionnaire survey distributed to 153 female university students in Barbados and Jamaica in 2008 reveal the attitudes to diverse female sexualities in the Caribbean. The participants in the survey discussed changing beliefs about sexuality in Caribbean society. The findings show that slowly, as a consequence of globalization and the mass media, people are increasingly open-minded about sex. Women are confidently expressing and increasingly asserting themselves as equal partners. There is greater debate in Caribbean society about female same-sex relationships, and deeper awareness of sexual harassment is evident. Nevertheless, for some respondents, the same degrading notions of women as sex objects and promiscuous beings continue to exist. Through the survey, the respondents appear to have created independent sexual self-concepts that counteract racist, sexist, heterosexist, and elitist myths. They describe the ways that Western stereotypes of Black Caribbean women as being promiscuous influence how Caribbean women perceive themselves, make sense of and give meanings to their own sexual identities, practices, and relationships. Participants maintain that they defy attempts to regulate their sexuality.
Development of the mammillothalamic tract in normal and Pax‐6 mutant mice

The mammillary bodies represent important relay stations for one of the major neuronal circuits in the brain: the limbic circuit. Mammillary projections traveling through the principal mammillary tract are established early during development, forming the mammillotegmental bundle, which appears fully developed by embryonic day 15 (E15). The mammillothalamic tract develops later, around E17–E18, forming a compact system of collateral fibers originating from the principal mammillary tract and reaching the thalamus by E20. The Pax‐6 gene is expressed in various regions of the developing brain, among which the border separating the ventral thalamus from the dorsal thalamus, known as the zona limitans intrathalamica, is especially significant. In this report, the development of the efferent mammillary system of fibers was studied in wild type and Pax‐6 mutant mice by using carbocyanine tracers and Golgi preparations. In mutant mice, the mammillotegmental bundle developed normally; however, the mammillothalamic tract was missing. By using anti‐Pax‐6 antibodies in wild type mice, the existence of an immunoreactive cell cluster is described surrounding the bifurcation point of the principal mammillary tract. The results of this study suggest that there is a correlation of these cells with a particular type of Golgi impregnated neuron. J. Comp. Neurol. 419:485–504, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Teachers in the Twenty-first Century: Time to renew the vision

Governments in all parts of the world recognize the value of education to the personal, social and economic health of the community. Once the responsibility to provide basic educational opportunities for all is fulfilled, as it has been in most developed countries, emphasis is placed upon raising standards of teaching, learning and achievement. More recently, calls for investing in lifelong learning across the community have increased. Arguably, attitudes to this should be formed in the years of schooling yet often the measures put in place to drive student progress forward have neglected the needs of teachers themselves - arguably the most important component in engaging the motivation and commitment of students, and in the transmission of knowledge and values. This paper considers the contexts and range of challenges for teachers in the twenty first century and suggests that investment in maintaining their intellectual and emotional selves is key to the educational success of schools in changing times.
When Trying to Win

Males and females solved interesting puzzles in the presence of a same-sex confederate who posed as a second subject doing the same activity. Half the subjects were instructed to compete against each other (i.e., to try to solve the puzzles faster than the other person) while half were simply instructed to work as quickly as they could so as to finish in the allotted time. The results showed a significant main effect in which competition decreased intrinsic motivation. 7his was particularly true for females.
Analysing the career concerns of spiritually oriented people: lessons for contemporary organizations

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to our understanding of the meaning of work. The study is concerned with eliciting work meanings of spiritually oriented individuals with a view of establishing whether there is a common agenda identifiable and whether spirituality influences work behavior. It was found that in spite of their diversity, all research participants desired to express spiritual life purposes of “developing and becoming self”, “unity with others”, “expressing self” and “serving others” in the workplace. A second finding is that they seek to balance these over time. Furthermore it was found that spirituality clearly influences work behavior as research participants make career transitions if they cannot express their spirituality. Lessons are explored for contemporary organizations interested in retaining spiritually oriented employees.
Animal Mindreading: A Defense of Optimistic Agnosticism

We recommend the attitude of optimistic agnosticism toward animal min- dreading: suspending acceptance until tests succeed in overcoming Povinelli's problem, and being optimistic about the feasibility of such tests. Fletcher and Carruthers argue for sufficient reasons to accept animal mindreading; we find their arguments unconvincing. Points they raise against the behavior-reading theory apply equally to mindreading theory, and their claims of greater parsimony are unfounded. Premature acceptance of mindread- ing could inhibit the search for innovative ways to overcome longstanding methodological problems. Optimistic agnosticism, in contrast, encourages the pursuit of approaches that can lead to important insights about animal social cognition. For countless species, the ability to predict the behavior of other animals is vital to wellbeing and reproductive success. The defining question in animal social cognition research is how do animals make such predictions? What are the kinds of represen- tations and psychological mechanisms used by animals that account for their social competencies? On this question, there are two very general and opposing theories in the field, the behavior-reading theory and the mindreading theory. According to the behavior-reading theory of animal social cognition, animals predict the behavior of others by means of cognitive processes that range over non- mentalistic representations of behavioral and environmental cues and relations. Some of these cues and relations can be rather specific (realized by a restricted range of bodily movements and gestures) such as 'torso facing forward' or 'hair bristling'. Others can be more abstract (realized by a wide variety of bodily movements and gestures) such as 'threat display', 'orienting toward an object', or 'manipulating an object in the most efficient way within the constraints of the setting'. What makes these representations of such behavioral and environmental cues and relations non-mentalistic is that the animal can represent them as such without having any understanding of the mental states that may be causing or associated with them in other agents or themselves. Under this very general theory, researchers have put forward a number of specific hypotheses regarding the kinds of cognitive processes that underlie animal social
Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ): indicadores psicométricos e relações com medidas afetivas em amostra idosa

We examined psychometric indicators of the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and their relationship with measures of affective experience, satisfaction with life and depression in the elderly. One hundred and fifty-three elderly people (M = 66.8 years, SD = 5.20, 71.2% female) of an Open University for Seniors responded to the ERQ, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Life Satisfaction Scale and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). Two factors (Cognitive Reappraisal and Emotional Suppression) explained 50.1% of variance; internal consistency and temporal stability were above . 70. There were positive relations between Cognitive Reappraisal and life satisfaction and positive affect; and there were negative relations with depression. Increased use of Cognitive Reappraisal is an indication of emotional health in the elderly.
If you can’t read it then audio read it

Audiobooks are a very popular reading medium for adults. Their use with children as a means of supporting reading has not yet really been investigated to any great extent. Gillie Byrom here describes her study into the use of audiobooks with struggling readers and suggests there is certainly a great deal of potential in these alternative texts.
Working memory and children's developing understanding of mind

Abstract Recent work on the mechanisms underlying children's developing theories of mind have identified information-processing capacity as a factor that contributes to children's developing understanding of false belief (Davis & Pratt, 1995). One hundred children 3 to 5 years of age were given a set of false belief tasks and a measure of working memory. A major goal of the study was to replicate the findings of Davis and Pratt using a wider set of false belief tasks and a different measure of working memory. The present study tested the hypothesis that working memory would predict children's performance on the false belief tasks. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that, when the effects of age were controlled for, working memory accounted for 7.4% of the variance in children's false belief scores. The findings support those of Davis and Pratt, and extend them through the use of another measure of working memory. It is concluded that, while the findings indicate a role for working memory in the dev.
Standardization of the clinical diagnosis of the dementia syndrome and its subtypes in a cross-national study: the Ni-Hon-Sea experience.

BACKGROUND Clinical investigators from Seattle, Honolulu, Tokyo, and Hiroshima participated in two standardization exercises in which data were collected on independent assessments. Exercises were conducted to evaluate the interobserver agreement on clinical diagnoses of dementia and dementia subtypes in a cross-national study of dementia prevalence and incidence rates in the United States and Japan. METHOD Fifteen clinicians from four participating sites assessed the diagnosis of 85 patients based on standardized summaries of clinical and diagnostic test data on each patient. Diagnostic guidelines and conventions were adopted on the basis of group consensus during standardization exercises. RESULTS Using DSM-III-R criteria, generally good levels of agreement for all dementia diagnostic categories occurred in both years. For most measures of diagnostic agreement, improvements were observed between the 1995 and 1996 standardization sessions. Interrater agreement was highest for discrimination between dementia and nondementia (1996 overall kappa, K = .90). The kappa values for dementia subtypes in 1996 ranged from . 5 to . 85, and for all sites combined the value was . 67. For dementia subtypes, percent agreement was highest for vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease, but was less reliable for other types of dementia. CONCLUSIONS Clinicians from different cultures and medical traditions can reliably use the DSM-III-R criteria to classify dementia cases in cross-national research. The interrater agreement on dementia and its subtypes improved after clear-cut guidelines for interpretation of diagnostic criteria were developed and followed.
The Meaning of Work in Israel: Its Nature and Consequences

Introduction Work and Its Meaning through the Ages Macro Socio-Economic Environment Model and Concepts of the Meaning of Work Measurement of the Meaning of Work The Structure of the Meaning of Work Work Centrality Societal Norms Concerning Work Work Attributes Work Goals Defining the Concept of Work Meaning of Work Patterns Consequences of the Meaning of Work The Meaning of Work: Summary and Relevance for Israeli Society Appendix I Appendix II Index
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Smokers: Correlations with External Health Control, Health Expectations, and Shame-Focused Coping Strategies

Cigarette smoking is a major health concern in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. This study explored if LGBT smoking heaviness was predicted by the cognitive strategies of external health control, health expectations, avoidant shame-focused coping, and attack self shame-focused coping. Differences were assessed across LGBT identification and nicotine dependence status. Results indicated external health control significantly predicted heaviness of smoking over and above age and education. Shame-focused coping strategies correlated to heaviness of smoking, external health control, and health expectations. Transgender identity associated to earlier smoking initiation compared to lesbians and gay men. Implications for clinicians and researchers are presented.
Anemia and end-stage renal disease in patients with type 2 diabetes and nephropathy.

BACKGROUND Diabetic nephropathy is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Anemia is common in diabetics with nephropathy; however, the impact of anemia on progression to ESRD has not been carefully examined. METHODS We studied the relationship between baseline hemoglobin concentration (Hb) and progression of diabetic nephropathy to ESRD in 1513 participants enrolled in Reduction in Endpoints in NIDDM with the Angiotensin II Antagonist Losartan study and followed for an average of 3.4 years. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyze the relationship between Hb and ESRD, after adjusting for predictors for ESRD. Analyses were performed with Hb stratified by quartile: first quartile <11.3 g/dL, second quartile 11.3 to 12.5 g/dL, third quartile 12.6 to 13.8 g/dL, and fourth quartile >/=13.8 g/dL (reference) and as a continuous variable. RESULTS Baseline hemoglobin concentration was correlated with subsequent development of ESRD. After adjustment for predictors of ESRD, the hazard ratios for the first, second, and third Hb quartiles were 1.99 (95% CI, 1.34-2.95), 1.61 (95% CI 1.08-2.41), and 1.87 (95% CI 1.25-2.80). With hemoglobin as a continuous variable, the adjusted hazard ratio was 0.90 (95% CI 0.84-0.96, P= 0.0013). The average increase in adjusted relative risk was 11% for each 1 g/dL decrease in hemoglobin concentration. CONCLUSION Our data suggest that even mild anemia, Hb <13.8 g/dL increases risk for progression to ESRD. Hemoglobin is an independent risk factor for progression of nephropathy to ESRD in type 2 diabetes.
Influxed insects as vectors for Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in Danish broiler houses.

The vector potential of flies (Diptera: Brachycera) for spread of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli on 5 Danish broiler farms was evaluated in a longitudinal field study from April to November 2004. First, the prevalence of C. jejuni- and C. coli-positive flies was determined in 2,816 flies captured from farm surroundings. Each individual fly was macerated, preenriched in Bolton broth for 24 h at 42 degrees C, streaked onto modified Campylobater blood-free selective agar and incubated under microaerobic conditions for 48 h at 42 degrees C. Second, the influx of insects to broiler houses was estimated by trapping of insects (n = 5,936) in ventilation vents. In total, 31 flies (28 of which were of the Muscidae family) caught in farm surroundings were Campylobacter spp. -positive (C. jejuni, n = 7; C. coli, n = 23; other Campylobacter spp., n = 1). Musca domestica (L) (house fly) was more frequently (P < 0.0376) positive than other fly species collected. Other positive fly species were Stomoxys calcitrans (L) (stable fly; n = 4), Muscina stabulans (Fallén) (false stable fly; n = 1), Mesembrina meridiana (L) (noon fly; n = 1) and Hydrotaea sp. (black dump fly; n = 1). One Lucilia caesar (L) (green bottle fly) of the Calliphoridae family and 2 flies of unidentified species were also positive. The prevalence of Campylobacter spp. -positive flies varied from 0.0 in April to a peak of 16.3% in July and decreasing to 2.0% in October on a farm with pig production. On 4 broiler farms without other livestock, the prevalence was constantly below 1.0%. The average influx of insects per broiler rotation was estimated to be 30,728 +/- 2,443 SE (range 2,233 to 180,300), of which 21.4% were flies. The influx of insects correlated with the flow (m(3)/h) of ventilation air (P < 0.0078) and with the outdoor temperature (P < 0.0032). We conclude that the influx of large numbers of flies to broiler houses constitutes a considerable risk for infection of broilers with C. jejuni and C. coli.