Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Where Will This Illness Take Me? Reactions to HIV Diagnosis From Women Living With HIV in Kenya

The purpose of our study was to develop an in-depth understanding of the reactions of 40 urban and rural HIV-infected Kenyan women to HIV diagnosis. We employed narrative inquiry principles to guide this qualitative cross-sectional study. We conducted individual in-depth interviews using open-ended questions in April and May 2006. In this article we focus on women's reactions to HIV diagnosis, under which four subthemes emerged: immediate intense emotions; keeping HIV status secret; acceptance of HIV diagnosis; and finding liberation in disclosure. We offer important implications for health care professionals serving women in sub-Saharan Africa from the findings of our study.
Broadcast gossip algorithm with quantization

The paper studies the problem of asynchronous broadcast gossip average consensus with quantized information communication constraints. How quantization affects the evolution of the broadcast gossip average consensus algorithm is investigated. We show that the agents' states converge to a random variable that deviates from the average of the agents' initial states. We give result of the mean square error of the states, which depends on the quantized precision and the network parameters.
Design of a New Intelligent Controller with Switch Management

This paper has a study on a new intelligent Programmable Logic Controller based on industrial Ethernet (IPLCbIE). It proposes a complete solution for the target segment: MMM, WWW, F&B, Medium Hydro power. The scopes of the solution discussed in this paper are the process and field part of the IPLCbIE architecture. For the process part the scope of our design includes the controllers, the engineering software tools (Unity Pro) and the interfaces with the other equipment of this level, typically other controllers or tools like asset management, SCADA or OPC server. Safety and HSBY controllers are also part of our design. For the field part, the scope of our program includes the remote I/Os and the interfaces with the other equipment of this level, typically distributed I/Os & devices. In this paper, we make a study on the design of the controller. It includes the system architecture of IPLCbIE, the application of network module. And it focuses on the discussion of design for the kernel module of the PLC - network module NOC. Our design also includes the interfaces with the operation & management tools. The hardware design is especially introduced in detail in my paper. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/telkomnika.v11i11. 3519 Full Text: PDF
Comparative Transcriptome of Wild Type and Selected Strains of the Microalgae Tisochrysis lutea Provides Insights into the Genetic Basis, Lipid Metabolism and the Life Cycle

The applied exploitation of microalgae cultures has to date almost exclusively involved the use of wild type strains, deposited over decades in dedicated culture collections. Concomitantly, the concept of improving algae with selection programs for particular specific purposes is slowly emerging. Studying since a decade an economically and ecologically important haptophyte Tisochrysis lutea (Tiso), we took advantage of the availability of wild type (Tiso-Wt) and selected (Tiso-S2M2) strains to conduct a molecular variations study. This endeavour presented substantial challenges: the genome assembly was not yet available, the life cycle unknown and genetic diversity of Tiso-Wt poorly documented. This study brings the first molecular data in order to set up a selection strategy for that microalgae. Following high-throughput Illumina sequencing, transcriptomes of Tiso-Wt and Tiso-S2M2 were de novo assembled and annotated. Genetic diversity between both strains was analyzed and revealed a clear conservation, while a comparison of transcriptomes allowed identification of polymorphisms resulting from the selection program. Of 34,374 transcripts, 291 were differentially expressed and 165 contained positional polymorphisms (SNP, Indel). We focused on lipid over-accumulation of the Tiso-S2M2 strain and 8 candidate genes were identified by combining analysis of positional polymorphism, differential expression levels, selection signature and by study of putative gene function. Moreover, genetic analysis also suggests the existence of a sexual cycle and genetic recombination in Tisochrysis lutea.
Serum Endocan as a Predictive Marker for Decreased Urine Volume in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

Background Endocan is expressed in vascular endothelial cells, and its expression is enhanced following endothelial injury via inflammatory cytokines. Subsequently, endocan is secreted into the circulation. Thus, serum endocan levels are considered a marker of endothelial injury. However, to the best of our knowledge, no data on the serum endocan levels in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients are available. Material/Methods This study included 21 PD patients who underwent peritoneal equilibration test (PET) more than once between 2011 and 2015. Serum samples were collected from each patient, and the 24-h urine volume was measured at the time of PET. Serum endocan levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at the time of the first PET, and their relationship with clinical data or the extent of urine volume decline (mL/year) was analyzed retrospectively. Results Serum endocan levels were positively correlated with proteinuria level, serum creatinine level, serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α level, β2-microglobulin level, and PD drainage volume, but not with urine volume at baseline. The extent of decline in urine volume was significantly associated with serum endocan level, proteinuria level, serum creatinine level, and serum TNF-α level at baseline in a simple linear regression analysis. Moreover, multiple linear regression analysis showed that the serum endocan level and proteinuria level at baseline were independent predictors for the extent of decline in urine volume. Conclusions The results of this study indicate that serum endocan level and proteinuria level may be useful predictive markers for decreased urine volume in PD patients.
Early clinical experience of the safety and efficacy of EndoClot in the management of non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding

Background and study aims: EndoClot is a novel topical hemostatic powder approved for use in non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding. This study examines its impact as rescue therapy in the management of gastrointestinal bleeding for which standard endoscopic therapy failed to achieve hemostasis. Methods: This observational study covered a 24-month period. Data were collated from patients treated with EndoClot for comparison with a cohort of patients managed with standard endoscopic therapy. End points of this study included immediate hemostasis, 30-day rebleed rate, 30-day mortality rate, and adverse events. Results: Between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2014, gastroscopic procedures were performed in 1009 patients, of whom 173 required endoscopic therapy. EndoClot was used in 21 patients, with immediate hemostasis achieved in all cases, a 30-day rebleed rate of 4.8 % (95 % confidence interval [95 %CI] – 4.34 % to 3.94 %), and a 30-day mortality rate of 19.0 % (95 %CI 2.29 % – 35.91 %). Despite higher risk bleeds in this cohort of patients, Fisher's exact test demonstrated no significant difference between their 30-day mortality rate (P = 0.51) and rebleed rate (P = 0.31) and those of the patients treated with standard endoscopic hemostatic techniques. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that EndoClot can be used both safely and effectively in the management of non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
On New Guinea Hunters and Gatherers

In a recent review of subsistence economies for certain areas of New Guinea, Roscoe (CA 43:153–62) draws attention to the subsistence importance of sago production combined variously with terrestrial and/or aquatic meat sources. He also highlights several issues about the anthropological categorization of economies and their relationship to societal complexity. My purpose here is not to take issue with him but to point to several aspects that warrant further consideration. In particular, I comment on two issues of historical contingency and nonlinearity. Many of those who work on New Guinea and its offshore islands will find little to disagree with in his main thesis regarding the significance of sago as a carbohydrate staple, irrespective of whether the sago (Metroxylon spp.) is “wild” or “cultivated. ” Furthermore, given the environmental conditions required for sago stands that can be regularly and continuously harvested, it is not surprising that aquatic resources are likely to be significant contributors of meat protein in such areas. What is missing from Roscoe’s review, however, is a sense of the historical contexts and trajectories that led to the establishment of the sago stands that support the communities listed in his table 1. Most of these communities function within landscapes that are the products of postglacial environmental changes. The communities listed for the Sepik-Ramu basin, for example, occupy land that did not exist in its current form until the late Holocene (Swadling et al. 1989, Swadling 1997). To summarize very briefly, throughout the last glacial maximum the Sepik-Ramu basin was a plain dissected by rivers draining the hinterland. This plain was flooded by the late-glacial and postglacial sea-level rise, forming an “inland sea” during the mid-Holocene sea highstand. The subsequent fall of sea level, combined with massive erosion of the surrounding hills and mountains (probably in part a result of land clearance for cultivation) and possibly some tectonic uplift, contributed to the formation of the present landscape. Thus, the sago-based hunters and foragers of this region listed by Roscoe may have been practicing subsistence strategies developed only after the mid-Holocene and maximizing the oppor-
A Randomized, Open-Label Comparison of 2 Switching Strategies to Aripiprazole Treatment in Patients With Schizophrenia: Add-On, Wait, and Tapering of Previous Antipsychotics Versus Add-On and Simultaneous Tapering

Although recent treatment guidelines for schizophrenia recommend that the prior antipsychotic agent should remain stable for at least 2 weeks when aripiprazole is introduced, there is no trial-based evidence to support this strategy. This study was designed to compare this strategy with another conventional one in patients with schizophrenia. We conducted a randomized, 14-week, open-label trial to compare the following 2 switching strategies: (1) add-on of aripiprazole on a current regimen, wait for 4 weeks, and the tapering of prior antipsychotics and (2) add-on of aripiprazole and the simultaneous tapering of prior antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia. Aripiprazole was initiated at 12 mg/d and then titrated between 12 and 30 mg. The previous antipsychotic medication was reduced biweekly by 25%. Assessments included the Clinical Global Impression Scale Schizophrenia version, the Drug-Induced Extrapyramidal Symptoms Scale, and the Subjective Well-being Under Neuroleptics, Short Version, Japanese Edition. Impressions toward their assigned strategy were also subjectively evaluated at baseline and end point. Fifty-three patients were enrolled, and 48 patients completed this trial. No significant differences were found in changes from the baseline in the total Clinical Global Impression Scale Schizophrenia version severity, Drug-Induced Extrapyramidal Symptoms Scale, and Subjective Well-being Under Neuroleptics, Short Version, Japanese Edition scores throughout the study period between the 2 strategies. Both strategies were judged by subjects to be tolerable and favorable without between-group differences. In conclusion, both strategies were found to be objectively safe and well tolerated. Taken together with similar results from subjective assessments, it would be reasonable to choose either of these 2 strategies in clinical practice based on a patients' preference.
In vitro and in vivo evaluation of a technetium-99m-labeled 2-nitroimidazole (BMS181321) as a marker of tumor hypoxia.

UNLABELLED The 99mTc-labeled 2-nitroimidazole derivative BMS181321, previously studied in experimental models of myocardial and cerebral ischemia, has been evaluated in single-cell and tumor models. METHODS Accumulation of BMS181321 was studied in aerobic and hypoxic (<10 PPM O2) suspension cultures of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells at 37 degrees C and the oxygen dependency and stability of the accumulated radioactivity determined. Biodistribution studies of the tracer after intravenous injection in C3H mice bearing three different murine solid tumors were performed noninvasively using a gamma camera, as well as invasively by determining blood and tissue levels of radioactivity from 10 min to 24 hr after injection. RESULTS Accumulation of BMS181321 in aerobic cells in vitro equilibrated within 5 min at a approximately 10-fold level over the external medium. Hypoxic cells showed a linear increase in radioactivity up to 4 hr for cell densities < or = 1 x 10(6)/ml. At higher cell densities (2-4 x 10(6)/ml) there was substantial depletion of radioactivity from the growth medium and increased alteration in the chemical state of the tracer that remained. Low O2 levels (approximately 40 ppm) inhibited the maximal accumulation rate by 50%. Approximately 30% of radioactivity accumulated under hypoxic conditions remained cell-associated after 24 hr. Following intravenous injection, the tracer rapidly distributed throughout the mouse and was predominately cleared through the hepatobiliary system. Blood levels of radioactivity cleared quickly and plateaued at approximately 4% of the total dose from 2-24 hr. Absolute uptake in the tumors was highest 10 min after injection, and the tumor-to-muscle activity ratios increased and plateaued from 4-8 hr at values of 3.5-4.0. Two drugs which affect blood flow and increase hypoxic cell fraction in these tumors, hydralizine and nitro-L-arginine, significantly increased levels of BMS181321 radioactivity over control levels with minimal effects on normal tissue retention. CONCLUSION These results suggest BMS181321 or an analog of it will be a useful agent to investigate the status of hypoxia in solid tumors experimentally and potentially in the clinic.
CAM and the Phenomenology of Pain

Many CAM modalities afford relief from pain, each in its own way, or according to its own terminology. Comparison of different CAM modalities results in a simple phenomenology of pain centered around the idea that pain may be associated with blockages of the flow of energy in the system of nadis/acupuncture meridians.
Functional and structural characterization of the macaque Middle face patch

The middle face patch is a region of cortex in the ventral visual pathway of the Inferior Temporal lobe in the macaque brain. This region has been identified by functional MRI to respond preferentially to images of faces over non-face images, similar to functionally defined face selective regions in the human brain. In this thesis we spatially map the category selective preference of 100's of multiunit sites in the cortical region localized to the fMRI face selective region with a novel X-ray imaging system. We observed evidence for an -6mm region of cortex that was enriched with sites that demonstrate a category selective preference for images of faces. The number of face selective sites varied across the cortical region, and could peak as high as 96% near the center of the enriched zone to a baseline rate as low as 3% outside the face patch. Sites in the middle face patch displayed significant category selectivity for the conventional images of faces used in the experiment. Approximately 25% of the sites in the patch displayed high selectivity (d' > 2) for faces as compared to less than 1% of the sites sampled outside the patch. Given the limited image variability present in conventional image sets, we examined face detection performance in the middle face patch with a computationally non-trivial image set, that was nonetheless simple for human subjects. We found that under these conditions, sites in the middle face patch demonstrated a weak correlation to human face detection behavior. We conclude that the middle face patch is a region of cortex enriched with sites that participate in an intermediate level representation of faces. Thesis Supervisor: James J. DiCarlo Title: Professor of Neuroscience, Department Head
Characterization of thyrotropin-induced increase in iodothyronine monodeiodinating activity in mice.

To further characterize the effect of TSH administration on thyroid iodothyronine monodeiodinating activity, we have evaluated the in vitro conversion of T4 to T3 (outer ring deiodination) and T3 to 3,3'-diiodothyronine (T2; inner ring deiodination) by mouse thyroid, liver, and kidney homogenates, comparing tissues from TSH-treated mice (0.1-200 mU bovine TSH, ip, for 1-3 days) with tissues from saline-treated controls. The in vitro conversion activity was studied in the presence of 1-20 mM dithiothreitol; most of the studies were carried out at 4 mM. Studies were carried out at optimal pH 6.5 for outer ring and 7.8 for inner ring deiodination. The iodothyronine monodeiodinase in mouse thyroid is similar to the ones in liver and kidney. It is heat labile (inactivated at 56 C for 5 min), inhibited by propylthiouracil (0.2 mM) and ipodate (0.2 mM), and unaffected by methimazole (up to 20 mM), ascorbate (up to 0.1 M) or KI (up to 20 mM). The mean +/- SE baseline rates of T4 to T3 and T3 to T2 conversion were 100 +/- 6.3 and 56.5 +/- 2.9 pmol/mg thyroid protein X 30 min at 37 C, respectively. A significant increase in each conversion activity was found after TSH treatment (0.2 U, ip, daily for 3 days); T4 to T3 conversion rose to 282 +/- 15.4, and T3 to T2 increased to 153 +/- 7.4 pmol/mg thyroid protein (P less than 0.001). A 12.8% increase in thyroid weight was found in the TSH-treated group (P less than 0.03 compared with saline control group). Similar but less marked increased in monodeiodinating activities were seen in the liver. A minimal but significant increase in inner ring monodeiodination with no significant increase in T4 to T3 converting activity was found in kidney, which, in the mouse, has markedly less outer ring deiodinase than liver or thyroid. The iodothyronine monodeiodinating activities did not increase until 12 h in thyroid and 48 h in liver after the first dose of TSH. Significant increases in T4 to T3 and T3 to T2 conversion were seen with doses of TSH as low as 0.1 mU (ip, daily for 3 days), and there was a linear dose-response thereafter. The decay of the increased iodothyronine monodeiodinating activities after a single dose of TSH (0.2 U) appeared to be linear, with a decay t 1/2 of 1.3 days for T4 to T3 conversion and about 1.0 day for T3 to T2 conversion. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Diabetes as a risk factor for periodontal disease: current status and future considerations.

INTRODUCTION Over the past decade, there has been an emerging interest in the interrelationship between systemic conditions and oral health. Diabetes is perhaps one of the best documented conditions that have been closely linked with periodontal disease. This paper reviews the role of diabetes as a risk factor in periodontal disease. The treatment implications in the management of periodontal disease as an integral component of diabetes care is also discussed in light of the current understanding of the pathogenesis of these 2 chronic conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory studies examining the relationship between diabetes and periodontal diseases were selected from both medical and dental journals. RESULTS The severity of periodontal destruction has been shown to be related to the direct and indirect effects of glycaemic control, with other factors also being implicated. Although some studies have pointed towards a bi-directional relationship between glycaemic control and periodontal health, it is still not clear if improvement in periodontal health could lead to improved metabolic control. CONCLUSION Diabetes and periodontal disease are closely related in many ways, though the effect of periodontal disease on diabetes control remain to be determined, with larger intervention studies. In light of the increasing evidence of the relationship between diabetes and periodontal disease, management of oral health should form an integral part of diabetes management.
Trace cache redundancy: red and blue traces

The objective of this paper is to improve the use of the hardware resources of the trace cache mechanism, reducing the implementation cost with no performance degradation. We achieve that by eliminating the replication of traces between the instruction cache and the trace cache. As we show, the trace cache mechanism is generating a high degree of redundancy between the traces stored in the trace cache and those built by the compiler, already present in the instruction cache. Furthermore, code reordering techniques like the software trace cache arrange the basic blocks in a program so that the fall-through path is the most common, effectively increasing this trace redundancy. We propose selective trace storage to avoid trace redundancy between the trace cache and the instruction cache. A simple modification of the fill unit allows the trace cache to store only those traces containing taken branches, which can nor be obtained in a single cycle from the instruction cache. Our results show that selective trace storage and the software trace cache used on a 32 entry trace cache (2 KB) perform as well as a 2048 entry trace cache (128 KB) without the enhancements. This shows that the cooperation between hardware and software is crucial to improve the performance and reduce the requirements of hardware mechanisms in the fetch engine.
Factors affecting job satisfaction of Turkish special education professionals: predictors of turnover

Research has documented higher turnover among professionals working with children with special needs and has suggested a number of reasons for this phenomenon. This study investigated factors affecting job satisfaction of Turkish social professionals working in special education, in terms of work conditions and their work experiences in Turkish special education institutions. Some 245 professionals participated in the study. A questionnaire developed by the authors was administered. The main body of the questionnaire consists of two sections concerning professional background, work status and a Likert-type scale on factors affecting special education professionals’ job satisfaction. Results show the factors affecting special education professionals’ job satisfaction to include lack of printed material, lack of support, lack of audio-visual material, insufficient assessment, pupil attitudes in the classroom, paperwork overload, lack of professional development opportunities, conflicts with colleagues, secondary duties and insufficient salary. Besides, maintenance of lack of administrative support, paperwork overload, after school hours and insufficient salary affect the job satisfaction of professionals and lead them to leave the job. The relationship between work status and planning to leave the job remained insignificant statistically.
Periodic EEG Patterns: Classification, Clinical Correlation, and Pathophysiology

In this article, we review periodic EEG patterns, which have been classified into four different types based on their interval duration (short or long) and topographic distribution (lateralized, bilaterally independent, or diffuse and synchronous). The four patterns are: (1) periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges; (2) bilateral independent periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges; (3) periodic short-interval diffuse discharges; and (4) periodic long-interval diffuse discharges. We also discuss morphology, etiologies, and clinical correlates of each pattern and possible pathophysiological mechanisms of periodicity.