Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Individual Susceptibility to Noise‐Induced Hearing loss: An Old Topic Revisited

Abstract The wide range in susceptibility to noiseinduced hearing loss has intrigued researchers and hearing conservationists alike. Some of these differences in variability have been attributed to various intrinsic factors such as eye color, gender, age, etc. However, a review of controlled research shows that the influence of these intrinsic variables is relatively small and cannot explain the wide range of hearing loss observed in demographic studies. Fureherrnore, uncontrolled variables or unrecognized drug and noise interaction may obscure the relation between noise exposure and hearing loss. With the growing understanding of the physiology of the auditory system, new possibilities are emerging that may explain the range of susceptibility. A review of the role of acoustic reflex effectiveness, cochlear efferent function, and history of noise exposure provide a perspective for future strategies in predicting susceptibility to noiseinduced hearing loss.
Team-based learning in therapeutics workshop sessions.

OBJECTIVES To implement team-based learning in the workshop portion of a pathophysiology and therapeutics sequence of courses to promote integration of concepts across the pharmacy curriculum, provide a consistent problem-solving approach to patient care, and determine the impact on student perceptions of professionalism and teamwork. DESIGN Team-based learning was incorporated into the workshop portion of 3 of 6 pathophysiology and therapeutics courses. Assignments that promoted team-building and application of key concepts were created. ASSESSMENT Readiness assurance tests were used to assess individual and team understanding of course materials. Students consistently scored 20% higher on team assessments compared with individual assessments. Mean professionalism and teamwork scores were significantly higher after implementation of team-based learning; however, this improvement was not considered educationally significant. Approximately 91% of students felt team-based learning improved understanding of course materials and 93% of students felt teamwork should continue in workshops. CONCLUSION Team-based learning is an effective teaching method to ensure a consistent approach to problem-solving and curriculum integration in workshop sessions for a pathophysiology and therapeutics course sequence.
Effect of Reading Comprehension on Passage Fluency in Spanish and English for Second-Grade English Learners

We empirically examined the effect of reading comprehension on passage fluency in English and Spanish in the context of Cummins interdependence hypothesis (1979) and Perfetti’s blueprint of the General Components of Reading (1999). Participants were 96 second-grade English learners being taught to read in Spanish and English. Measures in both languages were used to assess word reading, passage fluency, and reading comprehension. Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that (a) Spanish and English passage fluency are both affected by comprehension even after taking word list fluency into account, and (b) the structure of the relation of word reading fluency and reading comprehension to passage fluency appears to be constant across languages. These findings support passage fluency as an indicator of reading proficiency in two alphabetic languages that vary in the transparency of their orthographies. Implications for school psychologists are discussed.
MINORITY PARENTS AS RESEARCHERS: BEYOND A DICHOTOMY IN PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN SCHOOLING

This article documents the work of parent-driven research teams in two school boards in the Greater Toronto Area. Motivated by a desire to move beyond a school-centred/family-centred dichotomy, this parent-lead project explores a middle space for collective learning among multiple stakeholders in publiclyfunded schooling. Drawing on participatory action research and social capital theory, I outline a generic research approach and then provide a more detailed sketch of one full research cycle focused on the theme of discipline. I evaluate the relative successes of the project and conclude by prioritizing the quality of relationships within the research.
Shopping While Black: Perceptions of Discrimination in Retail Settings

The purpose of this dissertation research was to understand perceptions of discrimination as experienced by African American women in retail settings. Because the emphasis here was on understanding the phenomenon from the target’s perspective, an existential phenomenological approach was used. Existential phenomenology “seeks to explicate the essence, structure or form of both human experience and human behavior as revealed through essentially descriptive techniques including disciplined reflection” (Valle, King and Halling 1989, pg. 6). In-depth interviews were conducted with African American women who believed they’d received negative treatment because of their race in a retail setting. The analysis provided a rich description of retail perceptions of discrimination. Specifically, the phenomenon emerged as involving four themes (identified in emic terms by italics). The participant was subjected to Invisible/criminal treatment by sales associates and/or retail managers. At some point during the encounters described, participants internally attributed this treatment to discrimination. Sometimes this attribution arose quickly, other times it arose subsequent to a process of testing. For the experiences described, there was a point where the participant knew (I knew) she was being discriminated against. The perception of discrimination produced primarily negative emotions, corresponding cognitions and behaviors collectively described by the theme Have restraint Show my butt. The perception of discrimination is facilitated by the notion that, despite social norms against these practices, discrimination is an omnipresent threat because Racism Exists. Both parental socialization and personal experiences with discrimination in other settings influence retail perceptions of discrimination. This study contributes to marketing and retailing research (e.g. understanding negative critical incidents of diverse consumers) as well as social psychological research (e.g. understanding how prejudice is experienced by targets). Specific implications for marketing and retailing faculty, researchers and practitioners; public policy officials and consumers are described.
Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide.

Educators are painfully well acquainted with the phenomenon known as “burnout. ” Some days it seems that the bulbs have gone out in most faculty lounges and administration buildings. But what if, hypothetically speaking, this syndrome also affected students? How would they talk and act? Teachers around the country to whom I have put this question immediately suggest such symptoms as disengagement and apathy – or, conversely, thoughtlessness and aggression. Either tuning out or acting out might signal that a student was burning out. In both cases, he or she would presumably just go through the motions of learning, handing in uninspired work and counting the minutes or days until freedom.
Biodegradation of cresol isomers in anoxic aquifers

The biodegradation of o-, m-, and p-cresol was examined in material obtained from a shallow anaerobic alluvial sand aquifer. The cresol isomers were preferentially metabolized, with p-cresol being the most easily degraded. m-Cresol was more persistent than the para-isomer, and o-cresol persisted for over 90 days. Biodegradation of cresol isomers was favored under sulfate-reducing conditions (SRC) compared with that under methanogenic conditions (MC). Slurries that were acclimated to p-cresol metabolism transformed this substrate at 18 and 330 nmol/h per g (dry weight) for MC and SRC, respectively. Inhibition of electron flow to sulfate reduction with 2.0 mM molybdate reduced p-cresol metabolism in incubations containing sulfate. When methanogenesis was blocked with 5 mM bromoethanesulfonic acid in incubations lacking sulfate, p-cresol catabolism was retarded. Under SRC 3.4 mol of sulfate was consumed per mol of p-cresol metabolized. The addition of sulfate to methanogenic incubations stimulated p-cresol degradation. Simultaneous adaptation studies in combination with spectrophotometric and chromatographic analysis of metabolites indicated that p-cresol was oxidized under SRC to p-hydroxybenzoate via the corresponding alcohol and aldehyde. This series of reactions was inhibited under sulfate-limited or aerobic conditions. Therefore, the primary catabolic event for p-cresol decomposition under SRC appears to involve the hydroxylation of the aryl methyl group.
Science Education in India

The experiences of an American scientist who taught for a year at one of the Indian Institutes of Technology were both moving and provocative. The author combines personal observation and objective analysis to produce some relevant suggestions for improvement, along with an appreciation of what is being attempted in this “technologically underdeveloped? ' country. The author is associate professor of chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley.
Loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay as a sensitive diagnostic tool for Leishmania donovani infections in Sri Lanka

Introduction Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Sri Lanka is caused by Leishmania donovani MON 37. Confirmation of diagnosis is done through microscopy, either directly or after in vitro culture. Molecular diagnostic methods are sensitive, but require well established laboratories. Loop mediated isothermal amplification assay (LAMP) is rapid, specific for parasite species-specific DNA amplification, and requires only basic laboratory equipment. The aim of the study was to determine the potential utility of LAMP to diagnose leishmaniasis. Methods Thirty one patients clinically diagnosed as CL were enrolled in the study. Light microscopy, a widely used and universally accepted method was used as the reference standard for confirmation of diagnosis. Results LAMP was positive for 19/23 microscopically positive patients, yielding a sensitivity of 82.6%. Specificity of the LAMP assay was 100% and the positive and negative predictive values were 100% and 66% respectively. The average time taken for the LAMP assay was 1 hour and 40 minutes and the cost per sample was about SLR 2 000, which was approximately half the time and cost of a nested PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Conclusions LAMP could be considered a potentially useful diagnostic tool for leishmaniasis.
Beyond Cancer Vaccines: A Reason for Future Optimism With Immunomodulatory Therapy

Despite significant scientific knowledge in the field of cancer immunology, therapeutic strategies using cancer vaccines to generate anti-tumor immunity have historically resulted in only modest clinical benefit. Disappointing results from prior cancer vaccine trials are likely due to multifactorial causes. Perhaps the most important is the role of inherent tumor-induced immune suppression and enhanced immunologic tolerance. Current research directed toward understanding the mechanisms of immunologic tolerance has led to the development of promising therapeutic immune regulatory antibodies that inhibit immunologic checkpoints and subsequently enhance immunologic anti-tumor activity. This review discusses the prior challenges associated with cancer vaccines and describes how, by breaking immune inhibition and facilitating immune stimulation, immune regulatory antibodies show great promise in the treatment of a variety of tumors.
Automated Peritoneal Dialysis Symposium: The Role of APD in the Improvement of Outcomes in an ESRD Program

We review the role of automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) in improving outcomes of an end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) program. As the “integrated care approach” becomes accepted as the preferred strategy for treatment of ESRD patients, we looked for the potential place of APD in such an approach. APD has probably the same advantages as CAPD as a first‐line renal replacement modality in suitable patients willing to perform PD. There is currently no hard evidence that residual renal function (RRF) should decline more rapidly in APD than in CAPD, at least if a dry abdomen during the day is avoided. The detection of peritonitis is probably more delayed in APD, but the frequency of peritonitis is lower, and there is no hard evidence pointing to a poorer outcome of peritonitis in APD as compared to CAPD. Quality of life is at least as good in APD, which is mostly related to the increased possibilities for adapting the exchange pattern to employment‐related time frames. APD also has the potential to prolong technique success in patients failing CAPD rather than transferring them to hemodialysis. Nevertheless, APD remains more expensive and technically complicated, thereby missing the beauty of CAPD's simplicity. Therefore we believe that APD has its role in an integrated approach and that all patients should be informed of its potential. It would, however, not be correct to present APD as the preferred PD method for all patients, as it also has some drawbacks that make it less suitable for some categories of patients. In all cases, patients should have a free and informed choice.
Association between the Interleukin 10−1082G>A polymorphism and coronary heart disease risk in a Caucasian population: a meta‐analysis

Interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) is a cytokine with anti‐inflammatory and B‐cell‐stimulating activity. IL‐10 is expressed in human atherosclerotic plaques and studies have shown the involvement of IL‐10 in the atherosclerotic process. The IL‐10−1082G/A polymorphism is one of the most commonly studied polymorphisms in this gene because of its association with coronary heart disease (CHD) risks, but previous results have been conflicting. We performed a meta‐analysis using six eligible case–control studies (including 14 data sets) with a total of 5006 patients and 3968 controls to summarize the existing data on the association between the IL‐10−1082G/A polymorphism and CHD risk. Compared with the common IL‐10−1082G/A GG genotype, the carriers of variant genotypes (IL‐10−1082GA/AA) had a 1.12‐fold elevated risk of CHD (95% CI = 1.01–1.23, P = 0.03) under the dominant genetic model, as estimated using a random effect model. The effect of the IL‐10−1082G/A polymorphism was further evaluated using stratification analysis. In the three disease of artery studies, with the variant genotypes had a not obvious increased risk of disease of artery (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 0.98–1.44, P = 0.08) as estimated using a fixed effect model. Similar results were found in the nine myocardial infarction studies (OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.00–1.27, P = 0.05). It was also demonstrated that the increased risk of CHD associated with IL‐10−1082G/A variant genotypes was more pronounced in Caucasians (OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.01–1.23, P = 0.03). Our meta‐analysis suggests that the IL‐10−1082G/A polymorphism genotypes (GA+AA) might be associated with an increased risk of CHD, especially in Caucasians.
The Relationship Among Identity Development, Sociocultural Ideals of Beauty, and Self-Objectification Among Females in Early Adulthood

The sexualization of women and girls in Western society has been widely studied and has been shown to contribute to a number of different negative outcomes for women, including eating disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, and low self-esteem. Two prominent theories have emerged to explain how sexualization leads to pathology. Sociocultural theory states that women internalize unrealistic ideals of beauty obtained through media outlets and interpersonal interactions. Likewise, self-objectification theory states that women are socialized to view themselves as objects to be evaluated and looked at by others and incorporate these ideals into their view of self. Because identity achievement is a significant protective factor against psychological distress in early adulthood, the objective of the current study is to explore the relationships among self-objectification and the internalization of societal ideals of beauty in relation to Marcia's four facets of identity development (diffusion, moratorium, foreclosure, identity achievement). The first hypothesis was that identity achievement would be significantly Identity & Self-Objectification IV and negatively correlated with both self-objectification and internalization of societal ideals of attractiveness. The second hypothesis was that identity moratorium would be significantly and positively correlated with both self-objectification and internalization scales. One hundred seventy-nine females between 18 and 26 years completed the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, the Societal Attitudes Towards Attractiveness Questionnaire, and the Body Surveillance scale of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale. Pearson R correlations indicated no significant relationships between identity achievement and self-objectification or internalization, suggesting that even women who have developed a strong sense of identity may still be susceptible to objectifying messages. Results also indicated that women who endorsed higher levels of identity moratorium endorsed higher levels of internalization of societal view of ·beauty. Without a clear sense of identity, these women are more likely to utilize societal messages to construct an understanding of self and may be at a greater risk of body image difficulties. These findings suggest that focusing on identity development in order to protect against self-objectification may not be a productive approach, as none of the identity statuses, including identity achievement, showed a negative relationship with self-objectification. Identity & Self-Objectification v Table of
Serum serotonin concentration associated with bone mineral density in Chinese postmenopausal women

Abstract Recent studies have shown that circulating serotonin plays a potential role in bone metabolism. However, conflicting results have been reported for the relationship between serum serotonin concentrations and bone mineral density (BMD). We investigated whether the serum serotonin concentrations related to BMD in Chinese postmenopausal women. Serum serotonin and bone turnover concentrations of 117 premenopausal women and 262 asymptomatic postmenopausal women were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. BMD at the lumbar spine and femoral neck was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. The relationship between serotonin and BMD was investigated. The postmenopausal women had lower mean serum serotonin concentrations compared to the premenopausal women. Serotonin concentrations were negatively associated with age, weight, BMI, fat mass, and β-CTX concentrations in postmenopausal women. No significant correlations were found between serotonin and these parameters in premenopausal women. In postmenopausal women, age- and BMI-adjusted serotonin concentrations were positively correlated with BMD of the lumbar spine and femoral neck. Multiple regression analyses showed serum serotonin and β-CTX were the predictors for lumbar spine BMD. Only serum serotonin was the determinant for femoral neck BMD. In conclusion, lower serum serotonin concentrations are linked to low lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD in postmenopausal women.
Topological phenomena in magnetic thin films

OF THE DISSERTATION Topological phenomena in magnetic thin films by Wenbo Wang Dissertation Director: Weida Wu This thesis covers the study of various topological phenomena in magnetic thin films by utilizing magnetic force microscopy (MFM) at cryogenic temperature. In the first part, we will focus on the magnetic topological insulators (TI) which exhibit quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE). The QAHE is of great fundamental interest and potential application because of their dissipationless conduction without the need of external magnetic field. Up to now, this fascinating effect has been achieved in magnetic topological insulators, e.g. Crand V-doped (Bi,Sb)2Te3 thin films, at extremely low temperature (T < 50 mK). The magnetic inhomogeneity has been proposed as one of the main reasons that limit the temperature for realization of QAHE. In the first part, we will present direct visualization of long-range ferromagnetism in the Cr,V co-doped BST films, by using the MFM and in-situ transport measurement. The magnetization reversal process reveals typical ferromagnetic domain behavior, i.e. domain nucleation and domain wall propagation. The ferromagnetic behavior at charge neutral point is consistent with the Van Vleck exchange mechanism. Furthermore, this ferromagnetism is robust against significant change in bulk charge carriers, though exchange interaction is enhanced by hole doping. This indicates a significant contribution from the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) exchange coupling. The
Input design using Markov chains for system identification

This paper studies the input design problem for system identification where time domain constraints have to be considered. A finite Markov chain is used to model the input of the system. This allows to directly include input amplitude constraints in the input model by properly choosing the state space of the Markov chain, which is defined so that the Markov chain generates a multi-level sequence. The probability distribution of the Markov chain is shaped in order to minimize the cost function considered in the input design problem. Stochastic approximation is used to minimize that cost function. With this approach, the input signal to apply to the system can be easily generated by extracting samples from the optimal distribution. A numerical example shows how this method can improve estimation with respect to other input realization techniques.
Effect of docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid supplementation on oxidative stress levels during pregnancy

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an indispensable component of cell membranes with high requirements during pregnancy. DHA supplementation is thought to enhance oxidative stress because of increased likelihood of lipid peroxidation. We estimated the oxidative stress levels in two groups of pregnant women who received daily supply of required vitamins with (n = 23) or without (n = 23) 500 mg of DHA and 150 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) from 20 weeks of gestation to the time of delivery. Urinary excretions of 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a marker of oxidative DNA damage and of malondialdehyde (MDA), a marker of lipid peroxidation, were measured at 20, 30 weeks and at the time of delivery. Urinary MDA excretion remained unchanged throughout the study period in both groups. Urinary 8-OHdG excretion at delivery was significantly higher than at 20 and 30 weeks (p < 0.05), but there were no group differences at the three time points. There were no differences between the two groups in plasma α-tocopherol levels. We conclude that under the conditions studied, a daily supplementation of 500 mg DHA and 150 mg EPA with vitamins to pregnant women did not enhance lipid peroxidation or oxidative DNA damage.