Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Air pollution and multiple acute respiratory outcomes

Short-term effects of air pollutants on respiratory mortality and morbidity have been consistently reported but usually studied separately. To more completely assess air pollution effects, we studied hospitalisations for respiratory diseases together with out-of-hospital respiratory deaths. A time-stratified case-crossover study was carried out in six Italian cities from 2001 to 2005. Daily particulate matter (particles with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 10 &mgr;m (PM10)) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) associations with hospitalisations for respiratory diseases (n = 100 690), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (n = 38 577), lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) among COPD patients (n = 9886) and out-of-hospital respiratory deaths (n = 5490) were estimated for residents aged ≥35 years. For an increase of 10 &mgr;g·m−3 in PM10, we found an immediate 0.59% (lag 0–1 days) increase in hospitalisations for respiratory diseases and a 0.67% increase for COPD; the 1.91% increase in LRTI hospitalisations lasted longer (lag 0–3 days) and the 3.95% increase in respiratory mortality lasted 6 days. Effects of NO2 were stronger and lasted longer (lag 0–5 days). Age, sex and previous ischaemic heart disease acted as effect modifiers for different outcomes. Analysing multiple rather than single respiratory events shows stronger air pollution effects. The temporal relationship between the pollutant increases and hospitalisations or mortality for respiratory diseases differs.
The Teaching and Learning of Advanced Level, English Language and Communication Skills Paper (8007) in Zimbabwe.

This study examines the teaching and learning of Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC), Advanced Level, English Language and Communication Skills Paper (8007) in Zimbabwean schools and the attitudes of students and teachers towards the subject. The data for the study was collected from seven schools in Harare, namely, Vainona High School, Mt Pleasant High School, Ellis Robbins Boys High School, Marlbereign Girls High School, Marlborough High School, Oriel Boys High School and Oriel Girls High School. The researcher used three instruments to collect both quantitative and qualitative data.60 questionnaires were distributed to each school and this was followed by semi-structured interviews with teachers of the subject and three students from each school. The researcher also observed English Language and Communication Skills lessons in the seven schools. The study found out that teachers and students had negative and positive attitudes towards English Language and Communication Skills teaching and learning.
A Genetic Algorithm Based Permutation and Non-Permutation Scheduling Heuristics for Finite Capacity Material Requirement Planning Problem

Abstract—This paper presents a genetic algorithm based permutation and non-permutation scheduling heuristics (GAPNP) to solve a multi-stage finite capacity material requirement planning (FCMRP) problem in automotive assembly flow shop with unrelated parallel machines. In the algorithm, the sequences of orders are iteratively improved by the GA characteristics, whereas the required operations are scheduled based on the presented permutation and non-permutation heuristics. Finally, a linear programming is applied to minimize the total cost. The presented GAPNP algorithm is evaluated by using real datasets from automotive companies. The required parameters for GAPNP are intently tuned to obtain a common parameter setting for all case studies. The results show that GAPNP significantly outperforms the benchmark algorithm about 30% on average.
On the Modulational Instability of O(1) Amplitude Waves in Supersonic Boundary Layers

The evolution of large amplitude Tollmien-Schlichting waves in a supersonic boundary layer is investigated. Disturbances which have their wavenumber and frequency slowly varying in time and space are described using a phase equation type of approach. Unlike the incompressible case we find that the initial bifurcation to a finite amplitude Tollmien-Schlichting wave is subcritical for most Mach numbers. In fact the bifurcation is only supercritical for a small range of Mach numbers and even then for only a finite range of wave propagation angles. The modulational instability of large amplitude wavetrains is considered and is shown to be governed by an equation similar to Burgers equation but with the viscous term replaced by a fractional derivative. A numerical investigation of the solution of this equation is described. It is shown that uniform wavetrains are unstable.
Mortalin promotes cell proliferation and epithelial mesenchymal transition of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma cells in vitro

Aims The prognosis of patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) remains poor in terms of overall survival (OS) and recurrence rate. Mortalin, a stress chaperone, has been reported to be involved in carcinogenesis and metastasis. However, its role in ICC has not been defined. Methods Mortalin expression in tumour samples from patients with ICC was examined by Western blot and immunohistochemistry, and correlation between its expression and clinicopathological features was assessed. In addition, invasion, migration proliferation and apoptosis, and the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related markers in ICC cells were assessed after mortalin depletion. Finally, the prognostic significance of mortalin in patients with ICC was further evaluated by Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analysis. Results We provide evidence that expression of mortalin in human ICC tissues is higher than that in matched peritumoural tissues. The interference of mortalin expression inhibited the proliferation and invasion of ICC cells in vitro. Mechanistically, inhibition of mortalin expression in ICC cells upregulated E-cadherin expression and decreased vimentin and snail expression. Clinically, a high level of mortalin in ICC samples was associated with loss of E-cadherin, and increased expression of vimentin and snail. Patients with ICC and high mortalin expression had a shorter OS and a higher recurrence rate. Multivariate analysis revealed that mortalin overexpression was an independent prognostic indicator for patients with ICC. Conclusions Mortalin may promote cell proliferation and invasion via induction of EMT of ICC cells. A high level of mortalin may be used as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for patients with ICC.
Risk Perception and the Presentation of Self: Reflections from Fieldwork on Risk

Ein wachsendes soziologisches Interesse richtet sich auf die Risikowahrnehmung im Lebensalltag. Der vorliegende Beitrag befasst sich mit den methodologischen Herausforderungen solcher Forschung. In einer Studie wurde mit Hilfe von erzahlend-biographischen Methoden die individuelle Entscheidungsfindung in Erwerbsverlaufen erfragt. Um die Antworten bezuglich der Weltsichten und Risikokonzepte der Interviewten nicht systematisch zu verzerren, wurden Risiken nicht explizit angesprochen. Die erzahlten Geschichten konnen dementsprechend als Beispiele fur alltagliche Entscheidungsfindung und Risikowahrnehmung verstanden werden. Es zeigte sich, dass die Interviewten ihre Berufsverlaufe nicht in Risikobegriffen darstellten, sondern sich von ihrer Rolle als Handelnde zu distanzieren suchten. Daraus ergibt sich als neue Herausforderung fur die empirische Erforschung alltaglicher Risiken zu entwirren, wie sich Individuen als Handelnde in der Risikogesellschaft identifizieren, darstellen und wahrnehmen. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs060191
Mushroom Value Chain Analysis in the Western Highlands of Cameroon

Mushroom value chain analysis was conducted in the North West Region of Cameroon. In Cameroon mushroom is regarded as meat and it is widely consumed. The objective of this study was to analyze the value added process along the mushroom value chain as well as its contribution to the actors’ income. Primary and secondary data were collected from 84 actors composed of 55 farmers, 11 transformers and 18 retailers. Descriptive statistics and the value added calculations were used to analyze the data collected. The results showed that 65.48% of the respondents were farmers, 13.09% were transformers and 21.43% were retailers. On average, about 218 kilograms of fresh mushroom is produced per season, with a productivity of 200 grams of fresh mushroom per bag of substrate. 40% of the mushroom is sold fresh and 60% dried. The price range of fresh mushroom is 1,500FCFA to 2,500FCFA (Franc de la Communauté Financière l’Afrique) per kilogram. The actors of fresh mushroom value chain were spawn suppliers, farmers, transformers, retailers and the final consumers. There were three principal marketing channels in the study area. The farmers surveyed are smallholders with an average production of 218Kg per farm of mushroom From analysis farmers receive 643.65 CFAF for producing fresh mushroom and 667.9 CFAF for producing dried mushroom (per kilogram of fresh mushroom), transformers receive 9.25 CFAF for transforming fresh mushroom to dried mushroom and 875.5F for transforming dried mushroom to mushroom powder meanwhile retailers make 133.7 CFAF for selling dried mushroom. In the value chain, the farmers make the highest profit which can be explained by the channel “Farmers → consumer”. According to the study, mushroom provided opportunities such as; improved nutrition, job creation, increase and diversification of revenue, and health improvement. Challenges were also identified such as; high seed prices, insufficient finances to expand production, intrusion of rodents like rats and parasites, and market instability. Mushroom production is very lucrative and it is a tool for food security. Actors are advised to constitute themselves into common initiative groups so as to reduce the cost of production.
Photoreceptor protection against light damage by AAV-mediated overexpression of heme oxygenase-1.

PURPOSE To investigate whether overexpression of the cytoprotective gene heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in photoreceptors by gene delivery attenuates cellular injury caused by intense light damage and to document the possible mechanisms of protection. METHODS Recombinant adeno-associated virus type 5 (rAAV5) expressing the mouse HO-1 gene (mHO-1) was delivered to cyclic-light reared Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats by subretinal injection. Three weeks after transfer of HO-1 gene, animals were subjected to 2-hour intense light exposure then were returned to darkness. Expression of HO-1, p53, p38, and cellular FLICE inhibitory protein (c-FLIP) at different times after intense light damage was evaluated by Western blot analysis. HO-1 transgene expression, along with expression of c-fos and bcl-2, was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. In addition, the protective effects of HO-1 were evaluated by determining the morphology of the retina. Finally, apoptosis in photoreceptors was measured using TdT-dUTP terminal nick-end labeling (TUNEL) 24 hours after photic injury. RESULTS Exogenous administration of HO-1 by gene transfer led to HO-1 transgene expression in photoreceptors. Protection of retina by HO-1 overexpression is evident from the partially preserved retina structure and attenuated apoptosis in photoreceptors after photic injury. Concurrently, overexpression of HO-1 was associated with a decrease in the expression of c-fos and p53, an increase in the activation of p38 and bcl-2, and preserved the expression of c-FLIP. CONCLUSIONS Overexpression of HO-1 in photoreceptors protected themselves from subsequent cellular damage caused by intense light exposure. The anti-apoptotic mechanisms of HO-1 may be related to the induction of p38, bcl-2, and c-FLIP and to the suppression of c-fos and p53.
Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis Typing of Oxacillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from the United States: Establishing a National Database

ABSTRACT Oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA) is a virulent pathogen responsible for both health care-associated and community onset disease. We used SmaI-digested genomic DNA separated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to characterize 957 S. aureus isolates and establish a database of PFGE patterns. In addition to PFGE patterns of U.S. strains, the database contains patterns of representative epidemic-type strains from the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia; previously described ORSA clonal-type isolates; 13 vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA) isolates, and two high-level vancomycin-resistant, vanA-positive strains (VRSA). Among the isolates from the United States, we identified eight lineages, designated as pulsed-field types (PFTs) USA100 through USA800, seven of which included both ORSA and oxacillin-susceptible S. aureus isolates. With the exception of the PFT pairs USA100 and USA800, and USA300 and USA500, each of the PFTs had a unique multilocus sequence type and spa type motif. The USA100 PFT, previously designated as the New York/Tokyo clone, was the most common PFT in the database, representing 44% of the ORSA isolates. USA100 isolates were typically multiresistant and included all but one of the U.S. VISA strains and both VRSA isolates. Multiresistant ORSA isolates from the USA200, -500, and -600 PFTs have PFGE patterns similar to those of previously described epidemic strains from Europe and Australia. The USA300 and -400 PFTs contained community isolates resistant only to β-lactam drugs and erythromycin. Noticeably absent from the U.S. database were isolates with the previously described Brazilian and EMRSA15 PFGE patterns. These data suggest that there are a limited number of ORSA genotypes present in the United States.
The Origin and Structure of the Abusive Personality

Comparisons were made of 120 wife-assaultive men and 40 demographically matched controls. Discriminant functions correctly classified 90% (based on personality scores only) and 95% (personality and anger scores) of men into high and low categories for psychological abuse (as reported by a sample of their female partners). The measure correlated most highly with the discriminant function was borderline personality organization (BPO), but anger and other personality disorders also contributed to discriminatory power. Negativlstic (passive-aggressive + self-defeating) personality disorder was associated with the discriminant function for both emotional abuse and dominance/isolation, but narcissistic and aggressive-sadistic personality disorders were more associated with emotional abuse and avoidant personality disorder was more associated with dominance/isolation. The avoidant-negativistic profile (with associated borderline features) found for these men is also indicative of posttraumatic stress disorder. T.
Guaranteed Termination in the Verification of Ltl Properties of Non-linear Robust Discrete Time Hybrid Systems

We present a novel approach to the automatic verification and falsification of LTL requirements of non-linear discrete-time hybrid systems. The verification tool uses an interval-based constraint solver for non-linear robust constraints to compute incrementally refined abstractions. Although the problem is in general undecidable, we prove termination of abstraction refinement based verification and falsification of such properties for the class of robust non-linear hybrid systems, thus significantly extending previous semi-decidability results. We argue, that safety critical control applications are robust hybrid systems. We give first results on the application of this approach to a variant of an aircraft collision avoidance protocol.
Acute intermittent hypoxia induces phrenic long‐term facilitation which is modulated by 5‐HT1A receptor in the caudal raphe region of the rat

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is characterized by periods of upper airway collapse accompanied by repeated episodes of hypoxia. In experimental animals repeated bouts of hypoxia may evoke sustained augmentation of phrenic nerve activity, known as phrenic long‐term facilitation (pLTF). This form of physiological compensation might contribute to stable breathing, minimizing the occurrence of apnoeas and/or hypopnoeas during sleep in patients with OSA. Serotonin (5‐HT) has been shown to modulate respiratory neuronal activity, possibly via projections originating in the raphe nuclei. Our model focuses on the effects of 5‐HT1A receptors blockade by selective antagonist WAY‐100635 into the caudal raphe region on phrenic long‐term facilitation after exposure to acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH) episodes. Adult, male, urethane‐anaesthetized, vagotomized, paralyzed and mechanically ventilated Sprague–Dawley rats were exposed to AIH protocol. Experimental group received microinjection of WAY‐100635 into the caudal raphe nucleus, whereas the control group received saline into the same site. Peak phrenic nerve activity and respiratory rhythm parameters were analysed during five hypoxic episodes, as well as at 15, 30 and 60 min after the end of hypoxias. In the control group, 1 h post‐hypoxia pLTF was developed. Microinjections of selective 5‐HT1A receptor antagonist WAY‐100635 into the raphe nuclei prior to the AIH protocol prevented induction of pLTF. These results suggest that 5‐HT1A receptor activation at supraspinal level is important for induction of pLTF, which is suggested to be an important respiratory neuroplasticity model in animal studies that possibly correlates with OSA in humans.
American experience with low-dose thalidomide therapy for severe cutaneous lupus erythematosus.

BACKGROUND There is a renewed interest in thalidomide therapy after its surprising effectiveness in treating erythema nodosum leprosum was first published. Thalidomide has subsequently been reported to be effective in treating a number of dermatoses, including cutaneous lupus erythematosus. We examined the efficacy and adverse effects of low-dose, long-term thalidomide monotherapy in 7 patients with various forms of cutaneous lupus erythematosus that were unresponsive to traditional systemic treatments. OBSERVATIONS Six of the 7 patients treated with thalidomide after discontinuation of other oral agents had complete or marked resolution of their previously treatment-resistant cutaneous lesions, with an average response time of 2.2+/-0.8 months. Our cohort of 7 patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus was treated with thalidomide therapy for an average of 2.4+/-3.1 years (range, 1 month to 9 years). The most common adverse effects were sedation, constipation, and weight gain. Two patients reported experiencing intermittent shaking episodes, an adverse effect not previously reported in the literature. Four patients reported symptoms of paresthesia, but none was found to be caused by thalidomide-induced peripheral neuropathy. CONCLUSIONS A low starting dose of thalidomide as a monotherapy with continued sun avoidance is a safe and effective treatment for the various cutaneous manifestations of lupus erythematosus after traditional therapeutic options have failed to control disease. Our experience with low-dose, long-term thalidomide therapy suggests that peripheral neuropathy is not as common as suggested by other studies (up to 50% of patients treated with thalidomide in some series).
Nonconscious biasing effects of single instances on subsequent judgments.

The present research investigated information processing in situations where there is insufficient evidence to make a judgment and no possibility of avoiding a judgment. The research was inspired by the question answering model of Glucksberg and McCloskey (1981), which stated that, if it is important to find an answer to a question, then the failure of a preliminary memory search to find any relevant information leads to additional attempts, that may employ gradually looser criteria of relevance than that used originally. It was hypothesized that the criterion of relevance could finally become loose enough to include a memory representation of a single and not salient instance. The hypothesis was tested in 3 experiments. In Experiment I the experience of a single instance was provided to the subjects by means of subliminally exposed words, and the dependent measure was subjects' choice of "better fitting" words. In Experiments 2 and 3 the subjects were provided with single instances by means of a quasi-natural interaction with a person who was similar to 1 of 2 other persons the subjects were subsequently exposed to. The dependent measure was subjects' choice of one of those persons as more friendly, and the choice was made again under quasi-natural conditions. All 3 experiments confirmed the model and indicated that subjects based their judgments on the single instance they were exposed to.
Rational Mediation: A Theory and a Test

Although mediation between disputing states seems to have become a prevalent method of conflict resolution, especially in the post-Cold War era, the fact remains that in only 35% of all militarized disputes since World War II did some form of third-party mediation take place. This suggests that some conflict situations are more open to mediation than others. This study develops and tests a rational model of the conditions under which mediation will occur in international conflicts. The model explores the mediator’s intervention dilemma in terms of her perceived ability to transform the game that characterizes the present conflict into a game of (partial or complete) cooperation. The measure of conflict versatility is offered to denote the likelihood of, and difficulty involved in, such transformation. It is argued that the greater the versatility of the conflict, (1) the more likely are disputants to seek mediation, (2) the more likely are outside parties to mediate, and (3) the more intrusive the mediation strategies employed. Examining data on Militarized Interstate Disputes (MIDs) since World War II, the authors find substantive support for these hypotheses. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and empirical implications of these findings.
Maintenance treatment for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. A placebo-controlled evaluation of 10 milligrams omeprazole once daily in general practice.

BACKGROUND Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is a frequent cause for consultation in general practice and is a chronically relapsing disease. METHODS This general practice study was a 6-month randomized, double-blind parallel-group placebo-controlled assessment of the efficacy and safety of continuous treatment with 10 mg omeprazole every morning after initial symptom control in 495 patients with GORD but without erosive oesophagitis. RESULTS On the basis of life-table estimates for cumulative relapse rates, patients in the placebo group (52%) were almost twice as likely as those in the omeprazole group (27%) to discontinue therapy before 24 weeks because of inadequate relief of heartburn or for other reasons including adverse events (all-patients-treated analysis, log rank test, P = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS This study has shown that 10 mg omeprazole once daily is an effective and well-tolerated treatment strategy in general practice for the long-term management of symptoms of GORD in patients without erosive oesophagitis.