Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic use of opioid medications before and after bariatric surgery.

IMPORTANCE Obesity is associated with chronic noncancer pain. It is not known if opioid use for chronic pain in obese individuals undergoing bariatric surgery is reduced. OBJECTIVES To determine opioid use following bariatric surgery in patients using opioids chronically for pain control prior to their surgery and to determine the effect of preoperative depression, chronic pain, or postoperative changes in body mass index (BMI) on changes in postoperative chronic opioid use. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Retrospective cohort study in a distributed health network (10 demographically and geographically varied US health care systems) of 11,719 individuals aged 21 years and older, who had undergone bariatric surgery between 2005 and 2009, and were assessed 1 year before and after surgery, with latest follow-up by December 31, 2010. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Opioid use, measured as morphine equivalents 1 year before and 1 year after surgery, excluding the first 30 postoperative days. Chronic opioid use is defined as 10 or more opioid dispensings over 90 or more days or as dispensings of at least a 120-day supply of opioids during the year prior to surgery. RESULTS Before surgery, 8% (95% CI, 7%-8%; n = 933) of bariatric patients were chronic opioid users. Of these individuals, 77% (95% CI, 75%-80%; n = 723) continued chronic opioid use in the year following surgery. Mean daily morphine equivalents for the 933 bariatric patients who were chronic opioid users before surgery were 45.0 mg (95% CI, 40.0-50.1) preoperatively and 51.9 mg (95% CI, 46.0-57.8) postoperatively (P < .001). For this group with chronic opiate use prior to surgery, change in morphine equivalents before vs after surgery did not differ between individuals with loss of more than 50% excess BMI vs those with 50% or less (>50% BMI loss: adjusted incidence rate ratio [adjusted IRR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.07-1.28] vs ≤50% BMI loss [adjusted IRR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.93-1.14] model interaction, P = .06). In other subgroup analyses of preoperative chronic opioid users, changes in morphine equivalents before vs after surgery did not differ between those with or without preoperative diagnosis of depression or chronic pain (depression only [n = 75; IRR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.90-1.30]; chronic pain only [n = 440; IRR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.08-1.27]; both depression and chronic pain [n = 226; IRR, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.96-1.28]; neither depression nor chronic pain [n = 192; IRR, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.98-1.51); and P values for model interactions when compared with neither were P = . 42 for depression, P = . 76 for pain, and P = . 48 for both. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this cohort of patients who underwent bariatric surgery, 77% of patients who were chronic opioid users before surgery continued chronic opioid use in the year following surgery, and the amount of chronic opioid use was greater postoperatively than preoperatively. These findings suggest the need for better pain management in these patients following surgery.
‘Working harder to be the same’: everyday racism among young men and women in Sweden

Despite Sweden's international reputation for human rights and democratic values, racism within Swedish schools is a relatively new issue, emerging only with the increased ethnic diversity of Swedish schools in recent years. This paper is thus one of the first Swedish interview studies on the perceptions of young men and women in Sweden from both minority and majority ethnic backgrounds about their everyday experience of racism and prejudice. What, for instance makes them believe, as the study found, that they need to work much harder than other young people to become ‘full members’ of Swedish society? While many of the young people's experiences are similar to those in other countries, it can be seen that Sweden, despite its international human rights record, is not exempt from racism and xenophobia within its own national boundaries. Greater effort therefore needs to be expended, it is argued, on counteracting and challenging these tendencies, particularly in the school system.
Green Business: Technicist Kitsch?

In this paper we present a critical analysis of current `green business' literature. We pay particular attention to the strongly evangelical language of the literature, and we consider whether such green evangelism is likely to represent an effective rhetoric strategy. We pursue this theme through exploring arguments for `environmental excellence', organizational `eco‐cultures', and for corporate environmental strategies. We suggest that current prescriptions for `organizational eco‐change' are often buttressed by evangelical rhetoric and are reliant on the assumption that organizations will voluntarily become greener. Given the centrality of voluntarism within this literature, we devote the latter part of the paper to considering its efficacy, and explore the deferred argument that organizational eco‐change will only come about through stronger state regulation.
Incidence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease is Rising and Abdominal Tuberculosis is Falling in Bangladeshis in East London, United Kingdom

OBJECTIVES:Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) were previously thought to be uncommon and abdominal tuberculosis (TB) common in patients from Bangladesh. We have reevaluated their incidence in Bangladeshis resident in East London.METHODS:Bangladeshis resident in Tower Hamlets presenting between 1997 and 2001 were identified from pathology, endoscopy, and medical records. Demographic, clinical, and management details were recorded. Incidences were calculated and compared with those from 1981 to 1989.RESULTS:Sixteen Bangladeshi patients with UC, 19 with CD, and 5 with abdominal TB were identified. Between 1997 and 2001, the age-standardized incidence of UC was 8.2/105/yr (95% CI 2.5–13.9) compared with 2.4 (95% CI 0.8–3.8) in 1981–1989, and that of CD was 7.3/105/yr (95% CI 2.0–12.6) (2.3, 95% CI 0.7–3.7 in 1981–1989). The standardized ratios for the incidences of UC and CD in recent periods compared with previous periods were 2.1 (95% CI 0.9–3.9) and 2.5 (1.2–4.6), respectively. There was a significant increase in the number of Bangladeshis developing CD by age <20 yr between the earlier and more recent periods (p < 0.02). The standardized incidence of abdominal TB was 2.5/105/yr (95% CI 0.2–4.8) in 1997–2001, and 7.4 (95% CI 2.1–12.7) in 1985–1989 (p < 0.05). The standardized ratio for the incidence of TB in the two periods was 0.22 (95% CI 0.07–0.53). CONCLUSIONS:In Bangladeshis in East London, the incidence of IBD has increased and of abdominal TB has fallen over the last decade; CD has become a more likely diagnosis than abdominal TB. Clinicians in the Western world need to be aware of the changing incidences of IBD and abdominal TB in South Asians.
The Adolescent Self-Regulatory Inventory (ASRI) Adaptation to Portuguese Context

In this study we present the results of the adaptation of the Adolescent Self-Regulatory Inventory (ASRI) to Portugal. The measure was used with two samples of high school students to which ASRI was administered with Self-Regulation Scale as control measure. In the first study the measures were administered to 823 adolescents and the construct validity analysis was assessed with exploratory factor analysis. The results allow us to find an adequate structure with proper psychometric properties, in their construct and content validity, and reliability. A second study involved 435 adolescents, being tested three models using confirmatory factor analyses. The final version of the ASRI-2 presents an acceptable fit of the data in construct and concurrent validity, given its moderate or high correlation with academic success and substance use. The implications of this new approach to the self-regulation study are discussed and directions to further studies are suggested.
Pre-school practitioners, child poverty and social justice

Purpose – Several ideas exist about social justice and how inequalities can be tackled to help families and children in poverty. The Coalition government released the UK’s first Child Poverty Strategy in 2011. Pervaded by neoliberal ideology, the strategy mentions “empowering” pre-school services and practitioners within the childcare market “to do more for the most disadvantaged” (Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Department for Education (DfE) 2011, p. 35). The purpose of this paper is to bring to light how Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) practitioners across England have engaged with policy discussions and adopted expectations concerning their place in addressing child poverty. Design/methodology/approach – Using a phenomenological qualitative research design the paper draws upon 30 interviews with pre-school practitioners in three geographic areas of England. All interviewees worked with families and children in poverty and were senior ECEC practitioners within their pre-school sett.
Inhibitory effect of norcantharidin on the growth of human gallbladder carcinoma GBC-SD cells in vitro.

BACKGROUND Gallbladder carcinoma is a lethal malignant neoplasm with dismal surgical results. Unfortunately, the adjuvant therapies for gallbladder carcinoma such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy are also disappointing. We reported that norcantharidin (NCTD), a demethylated form of cantharidin, which is an active ingredient of the Chinese medicine Mylabris, was used against human gallbladder carcinoma GBC-SD cells. In the present study, we further studied the mechanism underlying the inhibitory effect of NCTD on growth of human gallbladder carcinoma GBC-SD cells in vitro. METHODS Human gallbladder carcinoma GBC-SD cells were grown in cell culture and divided into a NCTD group and a control group. The inhibitory effect of NCTD on growth of GBC-SD cells was investigated by evaluation of proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis and morphological changes of the cells. Cell proliferation was assessed by tetrazolium-based colorimetric assay. The induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry. The morphological changes of the cells were observed by light- and electron-microscopy. To elucidate the anticancer mechanism of NCTD, expression of the proliferation-related gene proteins PCNA, Ki-67, cyclin-D1 and p27 and the apoptosis-related gene proteins Bcl-2, Bax and Survivin were determined by the streptavidin-biotin complex method and RT-PCR. RESULTS NCTD inhibited the proliferation of GBC-SD cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, with an IC50 of 56.18 microg/ml at 48 hours. The flow cytometric profiles revealed that NCTD (at the IC50 for 48 hours) significantly increased the proportion of cells in G2/M phase and significantly decreased the proportion of cells in S phase, with a significantly increased rate of cell apoptosis. After treatment with the 48-hour IC50 dose of NCTD, cell shrinkage, vacuolar cytoplasm, membrane budding, karyorrhexis, karyolysis, chromosome condensation and chromatin aggregation in some GBC-SD cells were observed by light-microscopy; decreased microvilli, Golgiosome atrophy, mitochondrial swelling, nuclear shrinkage, chromosome condensation and typical apoptosis bodies were seen by electron-microscopy, and the morphological changes of apoptosis occurred in GBC-SD cells. The expression of PCNA, Ki-67 and Bcl-2 proteins decreased significantly; the Pix or relative levels of PCNA mRNA, cyclin-D1 mRNA, Bcl-2 mRNA and Survivin mRNA decreased significantly, whereas the Pix or relative levels of p27 mRNA and Bax mRNA increased significantly. CONCLUSIONS NCTD inhibits the growth of human gallbladder carcinoma GBC-SD cells in vitro. Its anticancer mechanism may correlate with inhibition of cell proliferation, arrest of the cell cycle, blockage of DNA synthesis, influence on cell metabolism, induction of cell apoptosis and influence on expression of the proliferation-related genes PCNA, Ki-67, cyclin-D1 and p27, and the apoptosis-related genes Bcl-2, Bax and Survivin in human gallbladder carcinoma GBC-SD cells.
The instrumentality of emotion in leader-subordinate relationships

This study investigates emotion work in leader-subordinate relationships. The data were collected through semi-structured, in depth interviews of eight leaders and eight subordinates. All subjects reported suppressing, exaggerating or faking emotions during interactions. The motives for regulating emotions fell into four different categories: obeying emotional display rules; strategic use of emotions with intention of reaching specific goals; consideration of the work environment; and avoiding possible discomfort associated with the expression of inner feelings. The leaders referred to all four categories, while the subordinates explained their emotion work primarily as means of obtaining specific goals. The majority of the subordinates, but only one leader, reported that emotional dissonance negatively influenced job satisfaction, work performance and health, or increased the tendency towards withdrawal behaviour. The study has shown the importance of focusing on both parties involved in this particular relationship. Emotional regulation seems to be a prominent and complex facet of leader–subordinate relationships.
Age-related differences in affective responses to and memory for emotions conveyed by music: a cross-sectional study

There is mounting evidence that aging is associated with the maintenance of positive affect and the decrease of negative affect to ensure emotion regulation goals. Previous empirical studies have primarily focused on a visual or autobiographical form of emotion communication. To date, little investigation has been done on musical emotions. The few studies that have addressed aging and emotions in music were mainly interested in emotion recognition, thus leaving unexplored the question of how aging may influence emotional responses to and memory for emotions conveyed by music. In the present study, eighteen older (60–84 years) and eighteen younger (19–24 years) listeners were asked to evaluate the strength of their experienced emotion on happy, peaceful, sad, and scary musical excerpts (Vieillard et al., 2008) while facial muscle activity was recorded. Participants then performed an incidental recognition task followed by a task in which they judged to what extent they experienced happiness, peacefulness, sadness, and fear when listening to music. Compared to younger adults, older adults (a) reported a stronger emotional reactivity for happiness than other emotion categories, (b) showed an increased zygomatic activity for scary stimuli, (c) were more likely to falsely recognize happy music, and (d) showed a decrease in their responsiveness to sad and scary music. These results are in line with previous findings and extend them to emotion experience and memory recognition, corroborating the view of age-related changes in emotional responses to music in a positive direction away from negativity.
Extrinsic Reward and Intrinsic Motivation: A Review with Implications for the Classroom

The notion that certain systems of reward may inhibit children’s desire to participate in educational activities was investigated by reviewing recent research on intrinsic motivation. This research was critiqued from four theoretical perspectives: self-perception theory, personal causation, the overjustification hypothesis, and behavioral contrast. Studies were grouped according to the independent variables (reward systems) demonstrated to have the greatest effects on subsequent motivation. General trends observed in the results of this research included detrimental effects both of participation-contingent and of task-inherent rewards, and the motivational value of unambiguous social reinforcers. It was suggested that the contradictory nature of the bulk of reviewed results was partly due to the failure of researchers to commonly define intrinsic motivation, and further research using a variety of dependent measures was encouraged to facilitate evaluation of classroom reward systems.
When Deep Structures Surface: Design Structures That Can Repeatedly Surprise

Recent findings in the creativity and marketing literature have revealed a seemingly unexpected phenomenon: Creative ideas frequently share similar design structures and patterns. The present study extends recent research regarding the impact of creative design structures. It addresses the question of whether ads that use the same structure that appears repeatedly in various ads would consistently be judged as original and favorable or whether such judgments would diminish over occurrences of ad exposure. The studies show that, by and large, subjects do not discover the formula of the design structure. Moreover, even if subjects are informed about it explicitly, the impact of ads matching a single design structure shown consecutively is not undermined over exposures. As a result, despite the repeated use of a design structure in series of exposures to ads with unrelated contents, originality evaluations remain high.
Ribonucleic acid synthesis in experimental cardiac hypertrophy in rats. II. Aspects of regulation.

The sequence of events which lead to increased RNA synthesis in the heart following aortic constriction was studied with the use of inhibitors of protein and RNA synthesis. Puromycin given during the first 4 hours after operation inhibited the increase in RNA labeling with [32P] H3PO4 that occurred after 4 hours of aortic constriction without inhibiting RNA labeling in sham-operated rats. Puromycin had no effect on the 32P labeling of the alpha-phosphate of AMP which suggests that the effect on labeling of RNA is not mediated by the lowering of precursor specific activity. The dose of puromycin used inhibited the labeling of heart muscle protein with 3H leucine. Parafluorophenylalanine had no selective inhibitory effect on the increase of RNA labeling in the hypertrophying heart. The most likely interpretation of these data is that, following aortic constriction, synthesis of protein is required for subsequent stimulation of RNA synthesis, and this protein may be dependent upon the synthesis of new RNA templates. Any early increased synthesis would be of a minority species of protein since there was no increase in amino acid labeling of total heart protein until 4 to 6 hours after aortic constriction. The stimulation of RNA labeling by aortic constriction was unaffected by digitalis treatment. The pressure-time index did not correlate with the increased labeling of RNA.
Mental Skills Training in Soccer: A Drill-based Approach

Psychological Skills Training (PST) has been a tool used by sport psychology consultants. However, within soccer many of these programs have been delivered as workshops, homework tasks, or individual consultations with athletes. The aim of the project was to develop an ecological intervention by creating a series of drill-based sessions to train psychological skills, and educate coaches about how to implement and integrate PST as a natural part of daily training. The program was delivered to the youth academies in nine Danish professional soccer clubs and consisted of three phases: (a) planning of the program, (b) education and designing soccer drills, and (c) delivery of the drills on the soccer pitch. The program was well received by clubs, coaches, and players. With regards to project aims, the intervention was generally considered a success. Coaches reported that the drill-based nature of the program was practical and relevant to young players’ development of psychological skills and many players and coaches have continued working with this approach. However, success varied across the nine clubs and was influenced by factors such as the clubs’ willingness and capacity to adopt new concepts, the presentation of sport psychology in soccer language, and time constraints.
GPU Based Video Tracking System

Video Tracking is the challenging task for computing professionals. The performance of video tracking techniques is greatly affected by background detection and elimination process In our approach we have explored concurrent computational ability of GPGPU (General purpose graphic processing units) for addressing this problem. Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) with adaptive weighted kernels are used for detecting the background. The proposed system has been tested with GPU devices such as GeForce GTX 280, GeForce GTX 280 and Quadro K2000. The results are encouraging with maximum speed up 10X compared to sequential approach.
A New Class of Characteristic-Function-Based Distribution Tests and Its Application to GARCH Model

This paper proposes a new class of characteristic-function-based distribution tests for two-sample comparison, simple hypotheses, and conditional distribution assumptions of econometric models. The proposed tests are easy to compute and have χ2(2) as the asymptotic null distribution. Comparing to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) and Cramervon Mises (CV) tests, the proposed test can flexibly account for the difference between the true and postulated distributions at different frequencies. A Monte Carlo simulation study shows that the proposed test significantly outperforms the KS, CV, and Pearson’s χ2 tests, especially when the true and postulated distributions are both symmetric. In an empirical study of stock index returns, we apply the proposed test to check distribution assumptions of the standardized errors of GARCH(1,1) model, including the standard normal, standardized t, logistic, generalized error, and generalized lambda distributions. The proposed test accepts the standardized t distribution but rejects the standard normal distribution for all the returns considered; the appropriateness of other distribution assumptions are data-specific. This empirical study also shows that the conditional normality assumption may render the GARCH(1,1) model over-estimating the impact effect of external shocks on volatility but under-estimating the persistence of these shocks’ influences, especially when the markets are volatile. JEL classification: C12, C22, C52, G19
Occupational Status Differences Among Three Groups of Married Mothers

This article reports on a study of differences in the psychological and social well-being, spousal support, and job satisfaction of three groups of married mothers: those who were employed full-time in professional- managerial occupations, those who were employed full-time in work ing-class/blue-collar occupations, and those who were not employed. The results suggest the need to address differences in occupational status in future studies and to ensure that the needs of working class/blue-collar mothers receive particular consideration in policies and programs.
Bistatic forward-looking SAR imaging of a runway using a compact receiver on board an ultralight aircraft

Bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) enables high resolution imaging in forward direction of a moving receiver, if the motion of the transmitter guarantees an adequate aspect angle variation with respect to the scene center. Such a configuration could be realized at an airport, where a ground-based transmitter illuminates the runway and the receiver on board an aircraft receives the reflected signals and provides the pilot with a high-resolution radar image of the runway. The situational awareness and the safety of approaching aircrafts in conditions of low visibility could be increased using such a system. A big challenge is the time and phase synchronization of the transmitter and receiver for coherent processing. The synchronization method as well as the hardware setup of the ground-based transmitter and the compact X-band receiver are presented in this paper. Several experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of imaging a runway during the landing approach were performed using a receiver on board an ultralight aircraft and a transmitter on a moving truck to illuminate the runway. First image results are presented.