Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maternal mortality in Maroua Provincial Hospital, Cameroon (2003-2005).

BACKGROUND In September 2000, the Heads of States of the 191 countries of the United Nations approved the Millennium Declaration in which reduction of pregnancy-related deaths to a quarter by 2015 was one of its goals. However, before the middle of the first decade of this millennium, there were no reports on the status of maternal mortality in Maroua, Cameroon. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to establish baseline data on maternal mortality for future evaluation of pregnancy-related mortality trends in this city. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Maternal deaths that occurred from 2003 to 2005 in Maroua City, Cameroon, were analyzed. Mortality ratios were determined by comparing the number of the deaths related to pregnancy with that of women with safe deliveries. Mortality risks were determined by comparing the characteristics of women with pregnancy-related deaths to those of women with safe deliveries. RESULTS The overall maternal mortality ratio was 1266 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. The leading causes of death were hypertension (17.5%), obstetric infections (14.3%), uterine rupture (14.3%), anaemia (12.7%) and HIV complications (9.5%). Among the women who died, 28.6% were teenagers and 14.3% were at their sixth delivery (or above). Compared with women aged 20 to 24 years, those aged 25 to 29 years were more than twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes (HR: 2.34; CI: 1.07,5.08; p = 0.029). A similar trend was also found in those aged 30 to 34 years (HR: 2.26; CI: 1.02,5.00; p = 0.042). CONCLUSION The findings suggest that Maternal Mortality Ratio in Maroua, City Cameroon, is very high. Since most of the causes of death were preventable, we propose that the current maternal and Family Planning strategies be reviewed with the view to reducing the current trend. Such a strategy would enable the Maroua city to meet the Millennium goals by 2015.
Positive psychotherapy.

Positive psychotherapy (PPT) contrasts with standard interventions for depression by increasing positive emotion, engagement, and meaning rather than directly targeting depressive symptoms. The authors have tested the effects of these interventions in a variety of settings. In informal student and clinical settings, people not uncommonly reported them to be "life-changing. " Delivered on the Web, positive psychology exercises relieved depressive symptoms for at least 6 months compared with placebo interventions, the effects of which lasted less than a week. In severe depression, the effects of these Web exercises were particularly striking. This address reports two preliminary studies: In the first, PPT delivered to groups significantly decreased levels of mild-to-moderate depression through 1-year follow-up. In the second, PPT delivered to individuals produced higher remission rates than did treatment as usual and treatment as usual plus medication among outpatients with major depressive disorder. Together, these studies suggest that treatments for depression may usefully be supplemented by exercises that explicitly increase positive emotion, engagement, and meaning. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Modelling consumer entertainment software choice: An exploratory examination of key attributes, and differences by gamer segment

From virtually nowhere 20 years ago to sales of US$ 9.5 billion in 2007, the video game industry has now overtaken movie industry box-office receipts in terms of annual sales, and blockbuster video games can out perform blockbuster movies for opening-week sales. This dramatic growth is likely to continue in coming years. Yet there has been little scholarly attention to consumers within the industry. This research fills this gap by providing a comprehensive study of consumer behaviour in the gaming industry, using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB); a widely used, robust and reliable consumer research instrument. The study elicits key salient attributes for the major constructs in the TPB model - attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control - and shows how these key constructs affect purchase intention. To avoid aggregation error in analysing overall market data, this study segments the market and examines differences in perspective by gamer type. We therefore examine differences in these key salient attributes by gamer type to understand consumer motivations better.
The Male Experience of Caregiving for a Family Member with Alzheimer's Disease

A phenomenological method was used to investigate the male experience of caregiving for a family member with Alzheimer's disease. Eight men, 5 spouses, and 3 sons were interviewed to find out what their experiences were like. From the analysis of the interview data, eight themes were identified for all the caregivers: (a) enduring, (b) vigilance, (c) a sense of loss, (d) aloneness and loneliness, (e) taking away, (P searching to discover, (g) the need for assistance, and (h) reciprocity. An additional theme was identified from the experience of the son caregivers: (i) overstepping the normal boundaries. The themes were interrelated to form a whole that captured the experience of caregiving for the male caregivers. Alzheimer's disease shaped these men's feelings toward every aspect of caregiving. Findings from this study challenge the primacy of the concept of "caregiver burden" as the predominant aspect of caregiving.
Speaking to Read

This meta-analysis examines the effectiveness of a group of instructional approaches (i.e., cooperative, collaborative, and peer tutoring) at improving literacy outcomes for English language learners. Main effects analyses of a sample of 28 experimental and quasi-experimental studies reveal that peer-mediation is more effective for ELLs than individualized or teacher-centered comparison conditions (g=.486, SE=.121, p<.001). A number of potential moderators were examined, and two study quality variables proved significant. Also, grade level was a significant moderator, with middle school students demonstrating much smaller gains than elementary or high school students. Finally, descriptive analysis of moderators provides tentative evidence that ELLs showed greater gains on word-level outcomes than text-level outcomes and that interventions for which peer-mediation was one of several tightly-woven components were twice as effective as interventions utilizing peer-mediation alone.
Immediate Memory and Simultaneous Stimuli

When two sets of digits are presented simultaneously one to one ear and one to the other, the subject may be asked to write them down from immediate memory beginning with those on an ear chosen by the experimenter. He can do this, but any mistakes are usually amongst those on the ear prescribed for later response. If the subject does not know the order of recall until after stimulation, he either shows low efficiency with the same serial order effect, or else normal efficiency with an altered serial order effect. When the order of recall is known in advance, efficiency is also reduced by altering the time of presentation of the last items to be recalled; and also by inserting irrelevant items. All these facts are consistent with a particular theory of immediate memory.
Testing a Psychosocial Control Theory of Delinquency

This article reviews the theoretical and empirical grounds for incorporating aspects of personal control in Hirschi's (1969) social control theory of delinquency. A subsequent test of the resultant psychosocial control perspective, conducted with 793 Australian secondary-school students, indicates that it has greater explanatory power than Hirschi's model. Fifty-two percent of the variance in self-reported delinquency was accounted for by a combination of the social control variables of belief in the moral validity of the law, liking for school, and parental bonding; the personal control variables of impulse control and emotional empathy; and the background variables of sex, age, and broken home status.
Music Sharing in Russia: Understanding Behavioral Intention and Use of Music Downloading

This paper reviews attitudes toward acceptance and usability of file sharing for music downloading in Russia. There is a significant issue with respect to the copyright law legislation and enforcement. Since infrastructure, market conditions, social and economical situations in developing countries are different from those of developed countries, we decided to apply a well establish theory to a new population. We surveyed 67 young Russian people in terms of their attitudes, perceptions, and technology use for music downloading. As a general model, over 52% amount of variance was explained for in behavioral intention. However, perceived ease of use was not found to be significant or have any predictive power for behavioral intention. More importantly, external variables related to age, gender, Internet connection, and education were not found to have influence on any of the hypothesized variables. This study makes a first step at examining the way music downloading technologies are used in Russia.
Goal Management Training of Executive Functions in Patients with Spina Bifida: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract Executive dysfunction causes significant real-life disability for patients with spina bifida (SB). However, no previous research has been directed toward the amelioration of executive functioning deficits amongst persons with SB. Goal Management Training (GMT) is a compensatory cognitive rehabilitation approach, addressing underlying deficits in sustained attention to improve executive function. GMT has received empirical support in studies of other patient groups. The purpose of the present study was to determine the efficacy of GMT in treating subjects with SB, using inpatient intervention periods. We hypothesized post-intervention changes in scores on neuropsychological measures to reflect improved attentional control, including sustained attention and inhibitory control. Thirty-eight adult subjects with SB were included in this randomized controlled trial. Inclusion was based upon the presence of executive functioning complaints. Experimental subjects (n = 24) received 21 hr of GMT, with efficacy of GMT being compared to results of subjects in a wait-list condition (n = 14). All subjects were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and at 6-month follow-up. Findings indicated superior effects of GMT on domain-specific neuropsychological measures and on a functional “real-life” measure, all lasting at least 6 months post-treatment. These results show that deficits in executive functioning can be ameliorated in patients with congenital brain dysfunction. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–14)
ASK to THINK-TEL WHY: A model of transactive peer tutoring for scaffolding higher level complex learning

This article presents an inquiry-based model of mutual peer tutoring called ASK to THINK-TEL WHY®©. The model is described along with its purpose, its theoretical and research bases, and how it is used by tutoring partners to mediate each others' learning. Unlike tutoring systems used to promote learning at the comprehension level, this model is designed to promote higher level complex learning, namely the construction of new knowledge. The model emphasizes reciprocal tutor-tutee roles, supportive communication, and (elaborated explanation and questioning skills. When in the tutoring role, students learn to use different kinds of questions to prompt their partners to make corresponding responses. Tutors also learn to sequence their questioning in a particular way. Thus, during this transactive process, partners scaffold each other's thinking and learning to progressively higher levels. Mechanisms involved in this form of peer-mediated learning are discussed along with results of research on the model's ef.
Using Critical Incidents to Promote and Assess Reflective Thinking in Preservice Teachers

The powerful influence of prior educational experiences and a varying capacity to think reflectively and critically present potential barriers that preservice teachers face in implementing the knowledge and skills learned in their teacher education programs. Teacher educators can guide students' development of a decision-making schema by providing opportunities for students to reflect on authentic teaching experiences with feedback. This study examined the effectiveness of using Critical Incidents in a supervised field experience with explicit instruction and coaching to increase the capacity of preservice teachers to develop reflective and critical thinking skills. A three-person review panel analyzed 135 Critical Incidents. Examination of frequency and category data showed that writing Critical Incidents increased the degree of preservice teachers' orientation toward growth and inquiry. Results of the self-assessment of growth in critical reflection revealed the emergence of an orientation akin to Dewey's (1933) three attributes of reflective individuals, open-mindedness, responsibility, and wholeheartedness.
Approaches to studying and perceptions of the academic environment among university students in Pakistan

There has been a paucity of research on the experiences of students at Pakistani universities. A survey of over 900 students at two universities examined their approaches to studying and perceptions of their courses. Evidence was obtained for a deep approach, a surface approach and two aspects of a strategic approach. Their perceptions were based upon the instructional practices, the acquisition of generic skills, the appropriateness of the assessment and of their workload, and the available learning resources. A higher‐order analysis revealed two broad dimensions of the student experience in Pakistan. Students who had positive perceptions tended to adopt a deep approach, to prefer courses, teaching and assessment that supported their understanding and to be engaged and reliable in their studies. However, students who had negative perceptions tended to adopt a surface approach and to prefer courses, teaching and assessment that reinforced this approach through the bare transmission of information.
Aggression and Impulsivity Instruments: An Examination in Veterans

To gather useful and meaningful information concerning behavioral traits, instruments must be determined to be reliable and valid for the specific population in which they will be used. The objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties and validity of the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ; Buss & Perry, 1992), the Overt Aggression Scale–Modified (OAS–M; Coccaro, Harvey, Kupsaw-Lawrence, Herbert, & Bernstein, 1991), and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale–11 (BIS–11; Barratt, 1994) in a sample of veterans. Participants included 474 veterans seeking outpatient care from 4 Veterans Affairs medical facilities in the southwestern United States. Results suggest that the AQ, BIS–11, and OAS–M can be reliably used with veterans. However, subscale scores of the BIS and AQ did not provide any additional information over the total score of these instruments. Although total scores of the OAS–M were found to be reliable, subscale scores were not. Nonetheless, information obtained from the OAS–M appeared to be qualitatively different than that from the self-report questionnaires. In summary, the overall results of this study indicate that these aggression and impulsivity instruments may be reliably used in a veteran sample.
Improvement of a retinal blood vessel segmentation method using the Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK)

We describe an improved implementation of a segmentation method for retinal blood vessels based on a multi- scale approach and region growing employing modules from the Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK). We present the results of segmentation of retinal blood vessels using this improved method and compare these with results obtained using the original implementation in Matlab, as well as with expert manual segmentations obtained from a public database. We show that the ITK implementation achieves high quality segmentations with markedly improved computational efficiency. The ITK version has greater segmentation accuracy, from 0.94 to 0.96, than the Matlab version due to a decrease in FPR values and it is between 8 and 12 times faster than the original version. Furthermore, the ITK implementation is able to segment high-resolution images in an acceptable timescale.
An essential role of Xenopus Foxi1a for ventral specification of the cephalic ectoderm during gastrulation

During gastrulation in Xenopus, the head ectoderm is subdivided into the central nervous system (CNS) anlage (neural plate) and the non-CNS ectoderm (i.e. epidermis, placodes and neural crest). The winged-helix transcription factor Xfoxi1a is one of the earliest markers for the preplacodal region at the mid-neurula stage. Interestingly, before the establishment of the preplacodal region, Xfoxi1a expression is detected in the entire cephalic non-neural ectoderm at the mid- and late gastrula stages. The present study focuses on the role of Xfoxi1a particularly at the gastrula stages. The early Xfoxi1a expression in the anteroventral ectoderm is dependent on Bmp signals and suppressed by Wnt signals. Inhibition of Xfoxi1a activities by injection of antisense oligonucleotides leads to suppression of non-CNS ectodermal markers (e.g. keratin) and expansion of the anterior expression domain of the CNS marker Sox2. Conversely, misexpression of Xfoxi1a suppresses Sox2 and induces keratin in the anterior neural plate. In the animal cap, Xfoxi1a overexpression antagonizes the neuralizing activity of Chordin (Chd). Studies using an inducible Xfoxi1a construct (GR-Xfoxi1a) show that the ventralizing function of Xfoxi1a is confined to the gastrula stage. Thus, Xfoxi1a is an essential regulator of ventral specification of the early head ectoderm during gastrulation.
Enhanced tibial osteotomy healing with use of bone grafts supplemented with platelet gel or platelet gel and bone marrow stromal cells.

BACKGROUND There is great interest in the use of bone substitutes to improve bone repair. We compared the osteogenic potential of lyophilized bone chips combined with platelet gel, or with platelet gel and bone marrow stromal cells, with that of lyophilized bone chips alone in the healing of a high tibial osteotomy. METHODS A prospective, randomized, controlled study was performed, and a standardized clinical model was applied. Thirty-three patients undergoing high tibial osteotomy to treat genu varum were enrolled and assigned to three groups. During the osteotomy, lyophilized bone chips with platelet gel were implanted into eleven patients (Group A), lyophilized bone chips with platelet gel and bone marrow stromal cells were implanted in twelve patients (Group B), and lyophilized bone chips without gel were placed in ten patients as controls (Group C). Six weeks after surgery, computed tomography-guided biopsies of the grafted areas were performed and the specimens were analyzed by histomorphometry. Clinical and radiographic evaluation was performed at six weeks, twelve weeks, six months, and one year after surgery. RESULTS Histomorphometry at six weeks showed significantly increased osteoblasts and osteoid areas in both Group A (p = 0.006 and p = 0.03, respectively) and Group B (p = 0.009 and p = 0.001) in comparison with controls, as well as increased bone apposition on the chips (p = 0.007 and p = 0.001, respectively), which was greater in Group B than in Group A (p < 0.05). Group B showed significantly higher revascularization than the controls (p = 0.004). Radiographs revealed a significantly higher rate of osseointegration in Groups A and B than in the controls at six weeks (p < 0.005 and p < 0.0001, respectively). At the final evaluation at one year, the osseointegration was still better in Groups A and B than in Group C; however, all patients had complete clinical and functional evidence of healing. CONCLUSIONS Adding a platelet gel or a platelet gel combined with bone marrow stromal cells to lyophilized bone chips increases the osteogenetic potential of the lyophilized bone chips and may be a useful tool in the treatment of patients with massive bone loss.
Assessment - A Powerful Lever for Learning

Classroom assessment practices have been part of schooling for hundreds of years. There are, however, new findings about the nature of learning and about the roles that assessment can play in enhancing learning for all students. This essay provides a brief history of the changing role of assessment in schooling, describes three different purposes for assessment and foreshadows some implications that shifting to a more differentiated view of assessment can have for policy, practice and research.
Ungulate Vehicle Collisions in a Peri-Urban Environment: Consequences of Transportation Infrastructures Planned Assuming the Absence of Ungulates

Ungulate vehicle collisions (UVC) provoke serious damage, including human casualties, and a large number of measures have been developed around the world to avoid collisions. We analyse the main factors involved in UVC in a road network built in the absence of ungulates, where mitigation structures to avoid UVC were not adequately considered. Ungulate population greatly increased during the last two decades and now Roe Deer and Wild Boars are widely distributed over the study area, but even after this increase, the road network was not adapted to avoid UVC. A total of 235 Roe Deer (RDVC) and 153 Wild Boar vehicle collisions (WBVC) were recorded between January 2008 and December 2011. We randomly selected 289 sample points (87 RDVC, 60 WBVC and 142 controls) separated by at least 500 metres from the next closest point and measured 19 variables that could potentially influence the vehicle collisions. We detected variations in the frequency of RDVC on a monthly basis, and WBVC was higher at weekends but no significant differences were detected on a monthly basis. UVC were more likely to occur at locations where sinuosity of the road, velocity, surface of shrub and deciduous forest area were greater, the presence of fences entered with positive relationship and distance to the nearest building was less. RDVC were more likely to occur at locations where timber forest area increased and distance to the nearest building decreased and WBVC was related to open fields cover and also to the presence of fences. Sinuosity and velocity entered in both cases as significant factors. Major roads, in which the traffic volume is greater and faster, caused more accidents with ungulates than secondary roads. Nowadays, the high frequency of ungulate road-kills deserves a new strategy in order to adapt infrastructure and adopt mitigation measures.