Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical significance of acute-phase brain natriuretic peptide in acute myocardial infarction treated with direct coronary angioplasty.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the relationship between brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) plasma concentration levels and the clinical course, mortality and success of left ventricular remodeling by direct percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction. METHODS One hundred thirty consecutive first-acute myocardial infarction patients were successfully reperfused by direct PCI. BNP plasma concentration levels were assessed at 24 hr from onset, and patients were divided into the high (> or = 290 pg/ml) plasma BNP group (H-BNP group; n = 65) or low (< 290 pg/ml) plasma BNP subset (L-BNP group; n = 65). Left ventriculography was performed in both the acute (following reperfusion therapy) and chronic (20 +/- 8 days after onset) stages to evaluate left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end-diastolic volume index (LVEDVI) and regional wall motion (RWM). Differences between the parameters at the two stages (chronic stage--acute stage) were expressed as delta LVEF, delta LVEDVI, and delta RWM. RESULTS There were significantly more major complications in the H-BNP group than in the L-BNP group. There was significantly higher mortality in the H-BNP group (p < 0.01). Multivariate analysis identified only BNP plasma concentration as an independent predictor of mortality (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in left ventricular function in the acute stage between the groups, but LVEF, LVEDVI, and RWM were all significantly worse in the chronic stage in the H-BNP group compared with the L-BNP group. Moreover, delta LVEF (p < 0.001), delta LVEDVI (p < 0.05), and delta RWM (p < 0.01) were also significantly worse in the H-BNP group. CONCLUSIONS Early-phase BNP plasma concentrations after successful PCI in patients with acute myocardial infarction may be correlated closely with major complications, and may be of prognostic importance. BNP plasma concentration may also be an indicator of left ventricular remodelling.
3D zernike descriptors for content based shape retrieval

Content based 3D shape retrieval for broad domains like the World Wide Web has recently gained considerable attention in Computer Graphics community. One of the main challenges in this context is the mapping of 3D objects into compact canonical representations referred to as descriptors, which serve as search keys during the retrieval process. The descriptors should have certain desirable properties like invariance under scaling, rotation and translation. Very importantly, they should possess descriptive power providing a basis for similarity measure between three-dimensional objects which is close to the human notion of resemblance.In this paper we advocate the usage of so-called 3D Zernike invariants as descriptors for content based 3D shape retrieval. The basis polynomials of this representation facilitate computation of invariants under the above transformations. Some theoretical results have already been summarized in the past from the aspect of pattern recognition and shape analysis. We provide practical analysis of these invariants along with algorithms and computational details. Furthermore, we give a detailed discussion on influence of the algorithm parameters like type and resolution of the conversion into a volumetric function, number of utilized coefficients, etc. As is revealed by our study, the 3D Zernike descriptors are natural extensions of spherical harmonics based descriptors, which are reported to be among the most successful representations at present. We conduct a comparison of 3D Zernike descriptors against these regarding computational aspects and shape retrieval performance.
Live Cell Imaging During Germination Reveals Dynamic Tubular Structures Derived from Protein Storage Vacuoles of Barley Aleurone Cells

The germination of cereal seeds is a rapid developmental process in which the endomembrane system undergoes a series of dynamic morphological changes to mobilize storage compounds. The changing ultrastructure of protein storage vacuoles (PSVs) in the cells of the aleurone layer has been investigated in the past, but generally this involved inferences drawn from static pictures representing different developmental stages. We used live cell imaging in transgenic barley plants expressing a TIP3-GFP fusion protein as a fluorescent PSV marker to follow in real time the spatially and temporally regulated remodeling and reshaping of PSVs during germination. During late-stage germination, we observed thin, tubular structures extending from PSVs in an actin-dependent manner. No extensions were detected following the disruption of actin microfilaments, while microtubules did not appear to be involved in the process. The previously-undetected tubular PSV structures were characterized by complex movements, fusion events and a dynamic morphology. Their function during germination remains unknown, but might be related to the transport of solutes and metabolites.
The intention to leave education early among Irish Junior Certificate Students: Variation by school

Early school-leaving imposes costs on the individual and society, and is linked to factors including gender, family income and parental education, community deprivation, and academic history. In Ireland, the role of the school in shaping patterns of early school-leaving is unclear. Employing the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) from social psychology, variation by school among Junior Certificate students in the intention to leave early was assessed, along with characteristics of the individual school and its students. Twenty Irish second-level schools were selected by systematic random sampling. All students in Junior Certificate year were asked to participate, of whom 68.84% (1131) did. Participants completed a questionnaire on intention to drop out of school, three components of the TPB in relation to school completion, demographic details, and academic results. There was evidence of a within-school culture or group representation of the value of education shaping the students’ intentions around school completion.
Deviant talk in adolescent friendships: A step toward measuring a pathogenic attractor process

Deviant talk in adolescent friendships has been previously found to predict escalations in substance use, delinquency, and violence. The current paper extends past work on deviant talk by examining its dynamic, self-organizing properties. From the direct observations of peer interactions, a simple measure was developed that indicated whether, as an interaction unfolded, deviant talk bouts became longer in duration (indicating an attractor state). Participants included 102 high-risk adolescents and their friends. A time-series of the duration of each successive deviant talk bout over the course of an interaction was created for all dyads. Slope values were derived from the time-series and used as an index of attractor strength. As hypothesized, the attractor index predicted serious authority conflict (arrests, school expulsion) and drug abuse three years later, after controlling for prior problem behavior, family coercion and deviant peer associations. The findings suggest that the process by which adolescents become increasingly absorbed in deviant talk is an important underlying mechanism in the development of serious antisocial behavior.
The Influence of the Wife's Degree of Work Commitment Upon Some Aspects of Family Organization and Dynamics.

The introduction of the variable of work commitment in the analysis helps clarify the nature of the relationship between the wife's working status and different aspects of family structure and dynamics. It has been found that working women with high work commitment (HWC) are more satisfied with their marriage than nonworking women; perceive themselves as generally prevailing in decision-making, as giving in in disagreements less often than their husbands and as having more freedom of behavior in and outside their home. 'On the contrary, women with low work commitment (LWC) perceive by necessity rather than by choice a more "equalitarian" model of family dynamics in which their husbands help them often with many household tasks (while this is not true for HWC women), they jointly compromise in case of disagreements, jointly decide about different family decisions but have a restricted amount of personal freedom in or outside the home.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Depression following Adult, Non-penetrating Traumatic Brain Injury: a Meta-analysis Examining Methodological Variables and Sample Characteristics

Keywords: Traumatic brain injury Major depression Dysthymia Prevalence Meta-analysis Adult Self-report measures Injury severity Post-injury interval a b s t r a c t Background: Depression is one of the most frequently reported psychological problems following TBI, however prevalence estimates vary widely. Methodological and sampling differences may explain some of this variability, but it is not known to what extent. Methods: Data from 99 studies examining the prevalence of clinically diagnosed depression (MDD/ dysthymia) and self-reports of depression (clinically significant cases or depression scale scores) following adult, non-penetrating TBI were analysed, taking into consideration diagnostic criteria, measure, post-injury interval, and injury severity. Results: Overall, 27% of people were diagnosed with MDD/dysthymia following TBI and 38% reported clinically significant levels of depression when assessed with self-report scales. Estimates of MDD/dysthymia varied according to diagnostic criteria (ICD-10: 14%; DSM-IV: 25%; DSM-III: 47%) and injury severity (mild: 16%; severe: 30%). When self-report measures were used, the prevalence of clinically significant cases of depression differed between scales (HADS: 32%; CES-D: 48%) method of administration (phone: 26%; mail 46%), post-injury interval (range: 33–42%), and injury severity (mild: 64%; severe: 39%). Conclusion: Depression is very common after TBI and has the potential to impact on recovery and quality of life. However, the diagnostic criteria, measure, time post-injury and injury severity, all impact on prevalence rates and must therefore be considered for benchmarking purposes.
Indirect methods of estimating maximal oxygen uptake on the rowing ergometer

The aim of the present study was to develop an indirect method of estimating maximal oxygen uptake in oarsmen and oarswomen on the rowing ergometer based on both the submaximal exercises and the commonly used in this sport maximal exercise-type test that simulates rowing the distance of 2000 m. Forty-four oarsmen and 27 oarswomen from both the national team and the direct back-up were enrolled in the investigations. Two exercise tests on the Concept II rowing ergometer were employed: the submaximal test with incremental power output (anaerobic threshold test) and the maximal test, simulating rowing the distance of 2000 m in the shortest possible time (2-km test). During both tests, oxygen uptake and heart rate were recorded and the highest values of these parameters registered during the 2-km test were regarded as the VO2max and HRmax indices, respectively. The linear relation of the oxygen uptake to the power output (W) on the ergometer was detected in both the male (VO2=1.1328+0.0113W) and female (VO2=0.6652+0.0128W) athletes. Comparison of the regression lines demonstrated statistically significant differences between the oarsmen and oarswomen with respect to the intercept and the slope of the lines. Mean values of the directly measured VO2max equaled to 5.480.59 and 3.680.31 l·min -1 in the groups of oarsmen and oarswomen, respectively. The most accurate predicted values of VO2max were obtained based on the linear regression of VO2max against the mean power output (WM) in the 2km test using the following formulas: VO2max (l·min -1 ) in the males = 1.682+0.0097 WM; VO2max (l·min -1 ) in the females = 1.631+0.0088 WM. In the males, the difference between the measured and predicted VO2max (%), correlation coefficient (r), standard estimation error (SEE), and total error (TE%) equaled to 0.124.96 (NS), 0.889 (P<0.001), 0.274, and 4.9, respectively. In the females, these values equaled to 0.435.02 (NS), 0.801 (P<0.001), 0.19 and 4.95, respectively. Based on the submaximal exercises, the relatively accurate predicted values of VO2max were obtained from the linear regression of VO2max against PWC170 using the following formulas: VO2max (l·min -1 ) in the males = 3.2131+0.0076 (PWC170); VO2max (l·min -1 ) in the females = 2.4138+0.0071 (PWC170). In the males, the accuracy of prediction of VO2max was defined by the Reprint request to: Dr Andrzej Klusiewicz, Dept. of Physiology, Institute of Sport, Trylogii 2/16, 01-982 Warsaw, Poland; E-mail: andrzej.klusiewicz@insp.waw. pl
Contributions of principal neocortical neurons to magnetoencephalography and electroencephalography signals

A realistically shaped three‐dimensional single‐neuron model was constructed for each of four principal cell types in the neocortex in order to infer their contributions to magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) signals. For each cell, the soma was stimulated and the resulting intracellular current was used to compute the current dipole Q for the whole cell or separately for the apical and basal dendrites. The magnitude of Q is proportional to the magnetic field and electrical potential far from the neuron. A train of spikes and depolarization shift in an intracellular burst discharge were seen as spikes and an envelope in Q for the layer V and layer II/III pyramidal cells. The stellate cells lacked the envelope. As expected, the pyramidal cells produced a stronger Q than the stellate cells. The spikes produced by the layer V pyramidal cells (n= 4) varied between −0.78 and 2.97 pA m with the majority of the cells showing a current toward the pia (defined as positive). The basal dendrites, however, produced considerable spike currents. The magnitude and direction of dipole moment are in agreement with the distribution of the dendrites. The spikes in Q for the layer V pyramidal cells were produced by the transient sodium conductance and potassium conductance of delayed rectifier type; the conductances distributed along the dendrites were capable of generating spike propagation, which was seen in Q as the tail of a triphasic wave lasting several milliseconds. The envelope was similar in magnitude (−0.41 to −0.90 pA m) across the four layer V pyramidal cells. The spike and envelope for the layer II/III pyramidal cell were 0.47 and −0.29 pA m, respectively; these values agreed well with empirical and theoretical estimates for guinea pig CA3 pyramidal cells. Spikes were stronger for the layer IV spiny stellate (0.27 pA m) than the layer III aspiny stellate cell (0.06 pA m) along their best orientations. The spikes may thus be stronger than has been previously thought. The Q for a population of stellate cells may be weaker than a linear sum of their individual Q values due to their variable dendritic geometry. The burst discharge by pyramidal cells may be detectable with MEG and EEG when 10 000–50 000 cells are synchronously active.
Serum Long-Chain n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, Mercury, and Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death in Men: A Prospective Population-Based Study

Objectives Fish consumption has been associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), especially sudden cardiac death (SCD). Fish is the major source of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid. It is also a major source of methylmercury, which was associated with increased risk of CVD in this study population. Impact of interaction between long-chain n-3 PUFA and methylmercury on the SCD risk is unknown. Methods A total of 1857 men from the prospective, population-based Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor study, aged 42–60 years and free of CVD at baseline in 1984–1989, were studied. Serum long-chain n-3 PUFA was used as the marker for long-chain n-3 PUFA intake and hair mercury as the marker for mercury exposure. Results During the mean follow-up of 20.1 years, 91 SCD events occurred. In the multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models, serum long-chain n-3 PUFA concentration was not associated with the risk of SCD until hair mercury was accounted for; then the hazard ratio (HR) in the highest vs. lowest tertile was 0.54 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.32 to 0.91, p for trend = 0.046]. When the analyses were stratified by hair mercury content, among those with lower hair mercury, each 0.5 percentage unit increase in the serum long-chain n-3 PUFA was associated with HR of 0.77 (95% CI 0.64 to 0.93), whereas no association was seen among those with higher hair mercury (p for interaction = 0.01). Among the individual long-chain n-3 PUFA, docosahexaenoic acid was most strongly associated with the risk. Conclusion High exposure to mercury may reduce the benefits of long-chain n-3 PUFA on SCD.
Intrinsic motivation and the overjustification effect: a failure to replicate

Abstract Two studies were conducted to determine how motivational orientation might mediate occurrence of decreased play effects. The over justification effect was not replicated in either study; the results showed that the choice of alternate tasks available during the free-play period of the experimental procedure affected the time spent on the target activity. In addition, the results suggested that some aspects of intrinsic motivation, such as curiosity and mastery behavior, are more closely related to school performance than other dimensions of motivational orientation.
Perceived violence climate: A new construct and its relationship to workplace physical violence and verbal aggression, and their potential consequences

Abstract Workplace accidents and violence are both potential sources of employee injuries that have been dealt with in entirely separate literatures. In this study we adapted the concept of safety climate from the accident/injury literature to violence in developing the concept of perceived violence climate. A scale was developed to assess perceived violence climate, including items about management attention, concern, and policies designed to keep employees safe from violence. Data were collected from a sample of 198 nurses from a US Hospital. Perceived violence climate was found to correlate significantly with both physical violence and verbal aggression experienced by the nurses, injury from violence, and perceptions of workplace danger. Furthermore, regression analyses showed that climate explained additional variance in psychological strain and perceptions of danger over experienced violence. These results have implications for interventions aimed at producing a good perceived violence climate in order to reduce the incidence of violence and aggression within an organization.
Teaching engineering ethics with sustainability as context

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the engagement and response of students to the teaching of engineering ethics incorporating a macro ethical framework whereby sustainability is viewed as context to professional practice. This involves incorporating a broader conception of engineering than is typically applied in conventional teaching of engineering ethics.Design/methodology/approach – A real life wicked problem case study assignment was developed. Students' understanding and practical application of the concepts were considered. A survey was conducted to gauge students' appreciation of the professional importance and their enjoyment of the subject matter.Findings – It was found that students appreciate and enjoy a macro ethical sustainability informed approach, but find it more challenging to apply in practice.Practical implications – The paper demonstrates an approach to the teaching of engineering ethics using a practical example, which can help broaden engineers' self‐perceived role .
Factors affecting pharmacy engagement and pharmacy customer devotion in community pharmacy: A structural equation modeling approach

Background: The concept of customer engagement and devotion has been applied in various service businesses to keep the customers with business However, a limited number of studies were performed to examine the context of customer engagement and devotion in pharmacy business which focus on the impact of customer perceptions about pharmacists, perceived quality of pharmacy structure, medication price strategy on pharmacy engagement and pharmacy customer devotion in a pharmacy providing pharmaceutical care to the customers. Objective: This study aimed to assess a conceptual model depicting the relationships among customer perceptions about pharmacists, pharmacy quality structure, medication price, customer engagement, and customer devotion. And also aimed to assess and measure if there is a direct or indirect relationship between these factors. Methods: A quantitative study was conducted by using self-administered questionnaires. Two hundred and fifty three customers who regularly visited the pharmacy were randomly recruited from a purposively selected 30 community pharmacies in Bangkok. The survey was completed during February to April 2016. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to assess the direct and indirect relationships between constructs. Results: A total of 253/300 questionnaires were returned for analysis, and the response rate was 84%. Only perceptions about pharmacist in customers receiving professional pharmacy services was statically significant regarding relationship with pharmacy engagement (beta=0.45). Concurrently, the model from empirical data fit with the hypothetical model (p-value = 0.06, adjusted chi-square (CMIN/DF)=1.16, Goodness of Fit Index (GFI)=0.93, Comparatively Fit Index (CFI)=0.99, and Root Mean Square Error Approximation (RMSEA)=0.03). Conclusion: The study confirmed the indirect positive influence of customer perceptions about pharmacist on pharmacy customer devotion in providing pharmacy services via pharmacy engagement It was customer perceptions about pharmacist that influenced customer retention, positive word of mouth and constructive advice to pharmacies, not quality of pharmacy structure and medication price. To create a long term impact on community pharmacy business, pharmacist is the key success factor.
Reversing roles: bringing men into the frame

Abstract The attempt to secure maternity rights has been a major focus of decades of campaigning for women's equality. However, it is of concern that maternity rights might reinforce women's responsibility for childcare. This paper considers how we bring men back into the frame, through a critical assessment of the contrasting approaches in Europe and the US to claims by fathers for parenting rights. It is argued that the goal of equal participation of women in the workplace needs to be matched by equal participation of men in the home. This is only possible if the conception of equality is shaped by a conscious and explicit commitment to the social value of parenthood. Substantive equality can only be genuinely furthered if pregnancy and parenthood are appropriately distinguished. Whereas pregnancy is unique and should be treated as such, a true application of substantive equality requires a ‘levelling up’ option, extending women's parenting rights to fathers.