Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does ART prevent HIV transmission among MSM?

Objective:To review the evidence for antiretroviral ‘treatment as prevention’ for HIV transmission among MSM. Methods:We reviewed studies that assess the biological plausibility that virally suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces HIV infectiousness via anal intercourse and the epidemiologic evidence of whether ART has played a role in attenuating HIV incidence among MSM. Results:Although ART treatment among MSM is likely to provide some preventive benefit, it is unknown whether it will reduce HIV infectiousness via anal intercourse to the same extent as via penile–vaginal intercourse. Additional research is needed on the pharmacokinetic properties of specific antiretroviral agents in the gastrointestinal tract. Estimates of risk behaviors and the incidence of HIV among MSM before and after the introduction and expansion of ART suggest that the population-level protective benefits of ART may be attenuated by a number of factors, most notably, continuing or increasing frequency of condomless anal intercourse and incidence of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Additional studies are needed on the impact of ART on HIV sexual risk behaviors and transmission among MSM outside of developed countries in North America, western Europe, and Australia. Conclusion:The benefits of treatment as prevention for MSM are highly plausible, but not certain. In the face of these unknowns, treatment guidelines for earlier ART initiation should be considered within a combination prevention strategy that includes earlier diagnosis, expanded STI treatment, and structural and behavioral interventions.
Integración y Uso Docente de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en la Escuela Rural de la Provincia de Granada: Estudio Descriptivo

Se presenta en este artículo una investigación subvencionada por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España (AP2007–00294), y realizada con 59 docentes de los colegios públicos rurales de la provincia de Granada, en donde se analiza, mediante el empleo del método de encuesta estandarizada, y desde la perspectiva principal de la formación docente, el tipo de uso que hacen de las TIC los profesores de este entorno, tanto dentro como fuera del aula de clase, comprobando que, en conclusión, estas tecnologías han desbancado a la radio y a la televisión como principal recurso didáctico en estos centros educativos en particular, si bien, su principal utilización se restringe todavía a la elaboración de apuntes, materiales de clase, presentaciones visuales de PowerPoint, etc.
'Investing in the future': residential aged care staff experiences of working with nursing students in a 'community of practice'.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This paper aims to discuss the implementation of a 'community of practice' model of clinical teaching into four residential aged care facilities. BACKGROUND There is increasing international evidence that aged care is a burgeoning health issue, particularly in developed countries. Recruitment and retention of nurses is problematic in residential aged care. Nursing students maintain negative perceptions of aged care and dislike clinical placements in that area. Additionally, supporting students in residential aged care is difficult considering the staffing mix of skilled/unskilled staff. Innovative educational strategies are needed to manage the increasing shortages of clinical placements for nursing students in all clinical areas. STUDY DESIGN Staff experiences were elicited through four focus groups onsite at the residential aged care facility where students had been placed, one year after implementation of a 'communities of practice' clinical model. Data analysis used a qualitative, thematic approach. RESULTS The staff in the residential aged care facilities expressed that work was involved in supporting students in the workplace, but that the additional workload was a valuable investment. CONCLUSIONS Staff in residential aged care see working with students as a local investment, where students' fresh eyes, recent knowledge and questioning behaviours are a worthy investment of staff time and effort. Staff also valued the investment in the future, where working with students now creates future nurses sensitive to aged care issues. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE In a 'communities of practice' model of clinical experience for students, there are benefits for staff as well as students. The implementation of this clinical model in residential aged care was relatively low in cost, a benefit in this sector and has the potential to address the critical issues of recruitment and retention.
Age and education effects and norms on a cognitive test battery from a population-based cohort: The Monongahela–Youghiogheny Healthy Aging Team

Objectives: Performance on cognitive tests can be affected by age, education, and also selection bias. We examined the distribution of scores on several cognitive screening tests by age and educational levels in a population-based cohort. Method: An age-stratified random sample of individuals aged 65+ years was drawn from the electoral rolls of an urban US community. Those obtaining age and education-corrected scores ≥21/30 on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were designated as cognitively normal or only mildly impaired, and underwent a full assessment including a battery of neuropsychological tests. Participants were also rated on the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale. The distribution of neuropsychological test scores within demographic strata, among those receiving a CDR of 0 (no dementia), are reported here as cognitive test norms. After combining individual test scores into cognitive domain composite scores, multiple linear regression models were used to examine associations of cognitive test performance with age and education. Results: In this cognitively normal sample of older adults, younger age and higher education were associated with better performance in all cognitive domains. Age and education together explained 22% of the variation of memory, and less of executive function, language, attention, and visuospatial function. Conclusion: Older age and lesser education are differentially associated with worse neuropsychological test performance in cognitively normal older adult representatives of the community at large. The distribution of scores in these participants can serve as population-based norms for these tests, and can be especially useful to clinicians and researchers assessing older adults outside specialty clinic settings.
ADAM17 Mediates MMP9 Expression in Lung Epithelial Cells

The purposes were to study the role of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling in matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) expression in A549 cells and to investigate the effects of lentivirus-mediated RNAi targeting of the disintegrin and metalloproteinase 17 (ADAM17) gene on LPS-induced MMP9 expression. MMP9 expression induced by LPS in A549 cells was significantly increased in a dose- and time-dependent manner (p<0.05). Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) and a TNFR1 blocking peptide (TNFR1BP) significantly inhibited LPS-induced MMP9 expression in A549 cells (p<0.05). TNFR1BP significantly inhibited LPS-induced TNF-α production (p<0.05). Both PDTC and TNFR1BP significantly inhibited the phosphorylation of IκBα and expression of phosphorylation p65 protein in response to LPS (p<0.05), and the level of IκBα in the cytoplasm was significantly increased (p<0.05). Lentivirus mediated RNA interference (RNAi) significantly inhibited ADAM17 expression in A549 cells. Lentivirus-mediated RNAi targeting of ADAM17 significantly inhibited TNF-α production in the supernatants (p<0.05), whereas the level of TNF-α in the cells was increased (p<0.05). Lentiviral ADAM17 RNAi inhibited MMP9 expression, IκBα phosphorylation and the expression of phosphorylation p65 protein in response to LPS (p<0.05). PDTC significantly inhibited the expression of MMP9 and the phosphorylation of IκBα, as well as the expression of phosphorylation p65 protein in response to TNF-α (p<0.05). Lentiviral RNAi targeting of ADAM17 down-regulates LPS-induced MMP9 expression in lung epithelial cells via inhibition of TNF-α/NF-κB signaling.
Simplified Direct Box Shear Test on Granular Materials and Its Application to Rockfill Materials.

ABSTRACT This paper gives a description of a new “simplified” direct box shear test apparatus in both small and large sizes, and the test results obtained by the new apparatus. In the new apparatus, there is no upper shear box as used in the standard direct box shear test. A loading plate is directly placed on the sample in the lower shear box and pulled horizontally by a flexible rope or chain. By doing this, the effect of frictional forces between the sample and the internal surfaces of the upper shear box induced in the standard direct box shear test during dilatancy is naturally eliminated. The test using the new apparatus is similar to a frictional test on usual materials. A number of tests are performed on glass beads, Toyoura sand and crushed sand using the new small-sized apparatus and on three kinds of granular materials including rockfill materials (the maximum grain size: 150 mm) using the new large-sized apparatus. The test results from the new apparatus agree well with those from standard direct box shear tests in which the effect of frictional forces is reduced, and are near to those from triaxial compression tests. It takes only about 30 minutes to test even the rockfill materials with the new apparatus, including the time to set the specimen.
Trajectories of growth among children who have coronary events as adults.

BACKGROUND Low birth weight is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. It is uncertain how postnatal growth affects disease risk. METHODS We studied 8760 people born in Helsinki from 1934 through 1944. Childhood growth had been recorded. A total of 357 men and 87 women had been admitted to the hospital with coronary heart disease or had died from the disease. Coronary risk factors were measured in a subset of 2003 people. RESULTS The mean body size of children who had coronary events as adults was below average at birth. At two years of age the children were thin; subsequently, their body-mass index (BMI) increased relative to that of other children and had reached average values by 11 years of age. In simultaneous regressions, the hazard ratios associated with a 1 SD increase in BMI were 0.76 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.66 to 0.87; P<0.001) at 2 years and 1.14 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.00 to 1.31; P=0.05) at 11 years among the boys. The corresponding figures for the girls were 0.62 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.46 to 0.82; P=0.001) and 1.35 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.02 to 1.78; P=0.04). Low BMI at 2 years of age and increased BMI from 2 to 11 years of age were also associated with raised fasting insulin concentrations (P<0.001 for both). CONCLUSIONS On average, adults who had a coronary event had been small at birth and thin at two years of age and thereafter put on weight rapidly. This pattern of growth during childhood was associated with insulin resistance in later life. The risk of coronary events was more strongly related to the tempo of childhood gain in BMI than to the BMI attained at any particular age.
Sequence Stratigraphy of Ramp-Setting Strand Plain Successions: The Gallup Sandstone, New Mexico

The Gallup Sandstone of northwestern New Mexico is a northeastward-prograding clastic wedge of late Turonian to earliest Coniacian (Late Cretaceous) age that pinches out about in the middle of the San Juan basin. Paleoenvironmental and sequence stratigraphic studies indicate that the Gallup is dominated by strand plain successions (tongues) that prograded across a gently dipping ramp during repeated episodes of relative sea level fall. These episodes were superimposed on a long-term (about 1.2 m.y.) phase of relative sea level rise that controlled the overall forestepping and aggradational stacking pattern of the tongues. The total stratigraphic rise of all six Gallup tongues is about 120 m. The Gallup is divided into chronostratigraphically significant packages that are bounded by mappable surfaces of erosion and their downdip conformities. Outcrop studies present incontrovertible evidence, for at least three of the Gallup tongues, that two concurrent erosional surfaces formed during sea level falls in this ramp setting. The lower erosion surface forms a sharp base of the shoreface and is referred to as a regressive surface of marine erosion. This erosion surface generally correlates with conformities both updip and downdip. The upper surface commonly juxtaposes estuarine and fluvial sandstone on truncated shoreface successions and is referred to as a regressive surface of subaerial erosion. We consider this upper surface to be the sequence boundary. The strata between these two erosion surfaces belong to the falling stage systems tract. The sequence boundary climbs stratigraphic section (relative to the base of overlying shale) from landward to seaward and becomes a conformity near the position of the lowstand shoreline.
Notes on the compressibility of clays

The consolidation of an argillaceous sediment may be simply described as the process by which it is compressed from a mud into a clay and finally, if the weight of the overburden is sufficient, into a shale.1 This process is of importance in the interpretation of geological structure, and on a smaller scale it has an application in the design of foundations for engineering structures, since the weight of a structure founded on clay will cause settlements due to consolidation, and the magnitude of these settlements must be know. The practical aspects of consolidation have been considered in several papers in geological and engineering literature. In the present paper we shall be concerned with a quantitative study of the process of consolidation in argillaceous sediments, and the objects of our investigation will be as follows: (1) to examine the compressibility of a number of different types of clay, as demonstrated in laboratory consolidation tests; (2) to present field data on the compressibility of clays in nature; (3) to compare the ture compressibility of clays in nature with that found in the laboratory tests. The first experimental work on consolidation was published by K. Terzaghi in 1921 and 1923. This was collected together and considerably expanded in the book Erdbaumechanik which was published in 1925 and which formed the basis of the new applied science known as soil mechanics. In 1927 the same author gave results of laboratory consolidation tests on several different clays and showed that the compressibility was greater
Prevalence and Spatial Distribution of Entamoeba histolytica/dispar and Giardia lamblia among Schoolchildren in Agboville Area (Côte d'Ivoire)

Background New efforts are being made to improve understanding of the epidemiology of the helminths and intensifying the control efforts against these parasites. In contrast, relatively few studies are being carried out in this direction for the intestinal protozoa. To contribute to a better comprehension of the epidemiology of the intestinal protozoa, prevalence, and spatial distribution of Entamoeba histolytica/dispar and Giardia lamblia, and their association with drinking water supplies, were determined in the Agboville department in southeast Côte d'Ivoire. Methods/Findings Stool samples were taken from more than 1,300 schoolchildren in the third year of primary education (CE1) from 30 primary schools and preserved in SAF (sodium acetate-acetic acid-formalin). The samples were analyzed by formalin-ether concentration. Then, a survey questionnaire addressed to schoolchildren and school directors was used to collect data on water supplies. Prevalence of E. histolytica/dispar and G. lamblia were, respectively, 18.8% and 13.9%. No particular focus zone was observed in the spatial distribution of the two species. Significant negative association was observed between use of tap water and high prevalence of E. histolytica/dispar infection (OR = 0.83, p = 0.01). High prevalence of G. lamblia infection was positively associated with use of ponds as the source of drinking water (OR = 1.28, p = 0.009). Conclusion These two species of pathogenic protozoa are present with substantial prevalence in this area of Côte d'Ivoire. Although their spatial distribution is not focused in any one place, determination of the population segments with the highest levels of infection will help to target the chemotherapeutic fight. To reinforce treatment with chemotherapeutic agents, tap water should be made available in all the localities of this area.
High-Velocity Features: A Ubiquitous Property of Type Ia Supernovae

Evidence of high-velocity features (HVFs) such as those seen in the near-maximum spectra of some Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia; e.g., SN 2000cx) has been searched for in the available SN Ia spectra observed earlier than 1 week before B maximum. Recent observational efforts have doubled the number of SNe Ia with very early spectra. Remarkably, all SNe Ia with early data (seven in our Research Training Network sample and 10 from other programs) show signs of such features, to a greater or lesser degree, in Ca II IR and some also in the Si II λ6355 line. HVFs may be interpreted as abundance or density enhancements. Abundance enhancements would imply an outer region dominated by Si and Ca. Density enhancements may result from the sweeping up of circumstellar material (CSM) by the highest velocity SN ejecta. In this scenario, the high incidence of HVFs suggests that a thick disk and/or a high-density companion wind surrounds the exploding white dwarf, as may be the case in single degenerate systems. Large-scale angular fluctuations in the radial density and abundance distribution may also be responsible: this could originate in the explosion and would suggest a deflagration as the more likely explosion mechanism. CSM interaction and surface fluctuations may coexist, possibly leaving different signatures on the spectrum. In some SNe, the HVFs are narrowly confined in velocity, suggesting the ejection of blobs of burned material.
Landscape evolution in southeast Wales : evidence from aquifer geometry and surface topography associated with the Ogof Draenen cave system

The evolution of the Ogof Draenen cave system, in south-east Wales, has been profoundly influenced by the geometry of the karst aquifer and its relationship with changes in the surface topography. Using data from within the cave combined with a model of the aquifer geometry based on outcrop data, we have estimated the location and elevation of putative sinks and risings for the system by extrapolating from surveyed conduits in the cave. These data have enabled us to assess the scale and pattern of scarp retreat and valley incision in the valleys of the Usk, Clydach and Lwyd, that together have influenced the development of the cave. From this we can construct a relative chronology for cave development and landscape evolution in the region. Our data show that scarp retreat rates along the west flank of the Usk valley have varied by more than an order of magnitude, which we interpret as the result of locally enhanced erosion in glacial cirques repeatedly occupied and enlarged during successive glacial cycles. This process would have played a key role in breaching the aquiclude, created by the eastward overstep of the Marros Group clastics onto the Cwmyniscoy Mudstone, and thereby allowed the development of major conduits draining further south. In the tributary valleys incision rates were substantially greater in the Clydach valley than in the Lwyd valley, which we attribute to glacial erosion predominating in the north-east-facing Clydach valley and fluvial erosion being dominant in the south-facing Lwyd valley. There is evidence from within Ogof Draenen for a series of southward-draining conduits graded to a succession of palaeoresurgences, each with a vertical separation of 4-5 m, in the upper reaches of the Lwyd valley. We interpret these conduits as an underground proxy for a fluvial terrace staircase and suggest a direct link with glacial-interglacial cycles of surface aggradation and incision in the Lwyd valley. Fluvial incision rates for broadly analogous settings elsewhere suggest perhaps a million years has elapsed since these resurgences were active and implies a significantly greater age for the oldest conduits in Ogof Draenen.
Ferroelastic orientation states and domain walls in lead phosphate type crystals

Abstract The monoclinic structural distortion in lead phosphate and lead arsenate is correlated with the ferroelastic phase transition R3̄m → C2/c and R3̄m → P21/c respectively. The resulting domain patterns in the mixed compounds depend on their chemical composition. The intersection of ferroelastic W domain walls with the (100) surface of lead phosphate-arsenate mixed crystals has been imaged using tapping mode atomic force microscopy. Dilution of the strain leads to characteristic surface deformations which deviate from those in pure lead phosphate. In highly twinned lead phosphate-arsenate, X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to show renormalization effects and scattering phenomena stemming from the twin walls. The wall trajectory was found to be independent of chemical variations using transmission electron microscopy.
Spectroscopy of the world ocean tides from a finite element hydrodynamic model

An atlas of the main components of the tides has been produced on the basis of a finite element hydrodynamic model, with the aim of offering the scientific community, using satellite altimetric data, a prediction of the tidal contribution to sea surface height variations under the ground tracks of the satellites that is totally independent of altimetric measurements. The geographic coverage of the simulations only excludes, temporarily, some marginal seas like the Bay of Fundy. But the design of the model, based on a nonlinear formulation of the shallow water equations, could enable the simulations to be extended to these very singular areas. On the other hand, the Arctic Basin and the Antarctic Circumpolar Basin have been fully resolved, including the under-ice shelf areas of the Weddell Sea and the Ross Sea. Eight constituents, M2, S2, N2, K2, 2N2, K1, O1, and Q1 have been simulated. Five secondary constituents: Mu2, Nu2, L2, T2, and P1, required to insure a priori correct predictions, have been deduced by admittance. The accuracy and precision of these solutions have been estimated by reference to the harmonic constituents data set available from analysis of the entire collection of pelagic, plateau and coastal observations made to date, and archived by International Association for Physical Sciences of the Oceans and International Hydrographie Bureau. Over the deep oceans, these solutions fit the observations to within a few centimeters for the larger components: M2, S2, K1, O1, and a few millimeters for the others, in RMS maximum difference to a standard set of 78 ground truth stations. Over the shelves, the differences are larger, because of the increase in amplitude of the tidal waves, but the flexibility offered by the finite element technique to refine the discretization mesh of the model over the shallow seas enables detailed cotidal maps to be produced along the coasts. One zoom on South Georgia Island, in the South Atlantic Ocean, is presented as an illustration. Finally, the performances of the tidal predictions made on the basis of this new set of solutions was tested by looking at the residual RMS differences at the crossover points of sea level measurements supplied by the TOPEX/POSEIDON mission, when using these predictions. This test provided confirmation of most of the conclusions already drawn on the basis of the previous comparisons with in situ tide gauge data.