Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bringing the Public Back In: Should Sociologists Consider the Impact of Public Opinion on Public Policy?

The struggle for democracy, central to Western politics for hundreds ofyears, is predicated upon the belief that democratic institutions give citizens considerable power over their government. Whether this belief is correct is a key question in the study of democratic politics. This article argues that this question is neglected by sociologists who examine the determinants of public policy; they neither address theories of democratic responsiveness nor assess the impact of public opinion on public policy. This neglect is problematic for two reasons: there is much evidence that public opinion strongly influences public policy, and there is reason to believe that adding public opinion to sociologists' empirical analyses of policy change would undermine some of their conclusions about the influence of otherfactors. Two ways of responding to these findings are presented. It has been 350 years since the struggle for representative democracy began during the English Revolution. It was then that the Levellers first articulated many ideas still central to democratic thought: that government should be subject to the people; that the rights of citizens should be protected by a written constitution; and that among these rights should be the right to vote, equality before the law, freedom of speech, legal representation, and the right to remain silent during judicial proceedings. '
Evaluating neighborhood accessibility: possibilities and practicalities

Efforts to improve transportation choices and enhance accessibility at the neighborhood level have been hampered by a lack of practical planning tools. This paper identifies the factors that contribute to accessibility at the neighborhood level and explores different ways that planners can evaluate neighborhood accessibility. A gap between the data needed to describe important accessibility factors and the data readily available to local planning departments points to two complementary strategies: a city-wide approach using available data and geographic information systems to evaluate accessibility to neighborhoods across the city, and a neighborhood specific approach to building a detailed accessibility database. Examples are presented of both.
The Feasibility of performing resistance exercise with acutely ill hospitalized older adults

Background: For older adults, hospitalization frequently results in deterioration of mobility and function. Nevertheless, there are little data about how older adults exercise in the hospital and definitive studies are not yet available to determine what type of physical activity will prevent hospital related decline. Strengthening exercise may prevent deconditioning and Pilates exercise, which focuses on proper body mechanics and posture, may promote safety. Methods: A hospital-based resistance exercise program, which incorporates principles of resistance training and Pilates exercise, was developed and administered to intervention subjects to determine whether acutely-ill older patients can perform resistance exercise while in the hospital. Exercises were designed to be reproducible and easily performed in bed. The primary outcome measures were adherence and participation. Results: Thirty-nine ill patients, recently admitted to an acute care hospital, who were over age 70 [mean age of 82.0 (SD= 7.3)] and ambulatory prior to admission, were randomized to the resistance exercise group (19) or passive range of motion (ROM) group (20). For the resistance exercise group, participation was 71% (p = 0.004) and adherence was 63% (p = 0.020). Participation and adherence for ROM exercises was 96% and 95%, respectively. Conclusion: Using a standardized and simple exercise regimen, selected, ill, older adults in the hospital are able to comply with resistance exercise. Further studies are needed to determine if resistance exercise can prevent or treat hospital-related deterioration in mobility and function. Background Many older adults develop functional decline and impaired walking while in the hospital. [1–6] Preventing and treating hospital-related deconditioning is, therefore, of great importance. Nevertheless, most hospital exercise protocols are untested and poorly described. Published: 07 October 2003 BMC Geriatrics 2003, 3:3 Received: 23 May 2003 Accepted: 07 October 2003 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral. com/1471-2318/3/3 © 2003 Mallery et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.
Fractioned reflex and reaction time in children with developmental coordination disorder.

The patellar tendon reflex (PTR) and simple visual reaction time (RT) were fractionated and compared in 40 subjects with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and normal coordination (NC) in two age groups. Four equal groups of subjects, 6 years DCD (6DCD), 6 years NC (6NC), 9 years DCD (9DCD), and 9 years NC (9NC) were compared using ANOVA for the main effects of coordination and age. PTR and its components of reflex latency and motor time were not significantly affected by the level of coordination; however, a significant coordination by age interaction (p < .05) revealed an increased motor time in the 6DCD group. RT, premotor time, and motor time were all significantly (p < .05) increased in children with DCD; the increased RT and premotor time support earlier findings, whereas the increased motor time has not previously been found. These findings suggest that the processing of reflexive and volitional responses by children with DCD differs from that of their NC peers.
Role Demands, Difficulty in Managing Work-Family Conflict, and Minority Entrepreneurs

By exploring difficulty in managing work-family conflict for minority entrepreneurs, this study considers work-family issues for business persons who have received little attention in the literature, yet form new businesses at rates exceeding the national average. We employ a role theory perspective to examine two major research questions using a nationally representative sample of African-American, Mexican-American, Korean-American, and White business owners. Specifically, we ask: do minority business owners experience greater difficulty in managing conflicts between work and family roles when compared to White entrepreneurs? And does difficulty in managing work-family conflict negatively impact business performance? Empirical results show that Korean-American and Mexican-American entrepreneurs have greater role demands, and subsequently, higher levels of difficulty in managing work-family conflict than African-Americans and Whites. Furthermore, difficulty in managing work-family conflict negatively impacts business performance whether performance is measured through the perception of the business owner, or through more objective financial measures. We contribute to the literature on minority entrepreneurs as well as expand the work-family conflict literature by shifting the focus from employed individuals to entrepreneurs, and by emphasizing the effect of such conflict on performance rather than well-being.
Pre- and periconceptional primary cytomegalovirus infection: risk of vertical transmission and congenital disease.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the risk of congenital cytomegalovirus infection and disease following primary maternal infection around the time of conception compared with the risk during later stages of pregnancy. DESIGN Cohort study between 1990 and 2003. SETTING Germany. PARTICIPANTS One hundred and sixty-six pregnant women with serologically confirmed primary cytomegalovirus infection and known outcome. METHODS Timing of primary cytomegalovirus infection by analysing the kinetics of cytomegalovirus-specific IgG and IgM antibodies, the IgG avidity index and neutralising antibodies. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Onset of maternal primary infection in relation to congenital infection and disease. RESULTS Preconceptional (between eight and two weeks before onset of the last menstrual period) was determined in three women and did not lead to congenital infection. Periconceptional infection (between one week before and five weeks after last menstrual period) occurred in 20 women with congenital infection in nine cases (45%). Timing was less precise (between eight weeks before and five weeks after last menstrual period) in an additional 10 women, three cases of which resulted in congenital infection. Of the 12 pregnancies in which congenital infection occurred, seven were terminated, six before the 12th week of gestation (WG 12) and one at WG 19 due to fetal hyperechogenic bowel. One of the five infected live-born infants delivered to a mother with periconceptional infection showed dystrophy and mild microcephaly at birth, but had a rather normal development at two years of age. Primary infections occurring between WG 6-20 and WG 20-38 resulted in transmission rates of 30% (27/89) and 58% (18/31), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Counselling of women with periconceptional primary cytomegalovirus infection should be adjusted to offer prenatal diagnosis and high-level ultrasound controls due to the considerable risk for fetal infection and uncertainty of clinical outcome and disease.
Strength-based parenting and life satisfaction in teenagers

Two studies demonstrated the positive associations that authoritative parenting and strength-based parenting have with life satisfaction in adolescents. In Study 1, teenagers’ ( N = 689; M age = 15.20, SD = 3.80; 52% male) reports of the degree to which their parents demonstrated authoritative and strength-based parenting (SBP) explained over a third of the variance in life satisfaction scores (Adj. R 2 = 35%). SBP explained 19% of variation in life satisfaction scores above and beyond the effects of authoritative parenting. Furthermore, SBP prospectively and significantly predicted 5% of life satisfaction in teenagers 12 months later. Study 2 recruited 127 adolescent-parent dyads (Adolescent M age 15.30, SD = 2.30; 58% female; Parent M age = 46.01, SD = 11.02; 67% mothers) and found that parent-reports of the degree to which they are aware of their son/daughter’s strengths and the degree to which they encouraged their son/daughter to use their strengths explained additional variance in life satisfaction in adolescents beyond their adolescent son/daughter’s own strengths-knowledge and strengths-use. It was concluded that strength-based parenting is a significant contributor to life satisfaction during adolescence.
Understanding Organizational Change: A Comparative Study of Multifaceted Interventions

This article reports the results of a 21/2-year action research project designed to investigate the differential impacts of sociotechnical system, job redesign and survey feedback interventions on a wide array of attitudinal and performance measures in comparable units of an organization. It was found that the attitudinal effects of the interventions were quite similar; however, only the sociotechnical system intervention resulted in major productivity improvements and cost savings. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
A Comparison of Relevance Feedback Strategies in CBIR

Relevance feedback (RF) is considered to be very useful in reducing semantic gap and thus enhancing accuracy of a Content-Based Image Retrieval system. In this paper, we have given a brief overview of research done in this area with an emphasis on feature re-weighting approach, a popular RF technique. We have also discussed an instance-based approach that has been introduced very recently. We considered image retrieval as a dichotomous classification problem and compared performances of the two RF strategies with four different datasets, with number of images ranging from 1000 to 19511.
GABAA Receptors Containing the α2 Subunit Are Critical for Direction-Selective Inhibition in the Retina

Far from being a simple sensor, the retina actively participates in processing visual signals. One of the best understood aspects of this processing is the detection of motion direction. Direction-selective (DS) retinal circuits include several subtypes of ganglion cells (GCs) and inhibitory interneurons, such as starburst amacrine cells (SACs). Recent studies demonstrated a surprising complexity in the arrangement of synapses in the DS circuit, i.e. between SACs and DS ganglion cells. Thus, to fully understand retinal DS mechanisms, detailed knowledge of all synaptic elements involved, particularly the nature and localization of neurotransmitter receptors, is needed. Since inhibition from SACs onto DSGCs is crucial for generating retinal direction selectivity, we investigate here the nature of the GABA receptors mediating this interaction. We found that in the inner plexiform layer (IPL) of mouse and rabbit retina, GABAA receptor subunit α2 (GABAAR α2) aggregated in synaptic clusters along two bands overlapping the dendritic plexuses of both ON and OFF SACs. On distal dendrites of individually labeled SACs in rabbit, GABAAR α2 was aligned with the majority of varicosities, the cell's output structures, and found postsynaptically on DSGC dendrites, both in the ON and OFF portion of the IPL. In GABAAR α2 knock-out (KO) mice, light responses of retinal GCs recorded with two-photon calcium imaging revealed a significant impairment of DS responses compared to their wild-type littermates. We observed a dramatic drop in the proportion of cells exhibiting DS phenotype in both the ON and ON-OFF populations, which strongly supports our anatomical findings that α2-containing GABAARs are critical for mediating retinal DS inhibition. Our study reveals for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the precise functional localization of a specific receptor subunit in the retinal DS circuit.
Controllable and extra-fast synthesis of bio-applicable silver nanoparticles with Lycium Barbarum L. aqueous extract and visible light

ABSTRACT Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) possess excellent antibacterial activity, while the potential biotoxicity will limit their applications in biomedical fields. It is necessary and crucial to inhibit the toxicity effect of AgNPs. In the present work, Lycium barbarum L. (L. barbarum) aqueous extract was adopted to controllably and extra-fast synthesize the L. barbarum modified AgNPs (L-AgNPs) under visible light. Effects of L. barbarum concentration and illumination time were investigated, and the yield of L-AgNPs reached 100% under the optimized conditions. The formation mechanism under visible light has also been put forward. A certain amount of L. barbarum aqueous extract was adsorbed on the L-AgNPs, which was confirmed by the results of FTIR and EDX. The obtained L-AgNPs exhibited excellent antimicrobial activities, in which the adsorbedaqueous extract exerted important regulating effect. Moreover, MTT-test showed that the L-AgNPs possessed good biosafety for their negligible cytotoxicity, which potentially could be used in biomedical fields. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
LINE-1 elements and X chromosome inactivation: a function for "junk" DNA?

X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is the mechanism used in mammals for dosage compensation of X-linked genes between chromosomally XX females and XY males. One of the two X chromosomes of females becomes transcriptionally inactive in every cell of the early embryo and remains so in all somatic cells throughout life. The phenomenon is highly unusual among mechanisms of gene regulation in that the whole, or almost the whole, of a chromosome is silenced. Most gene-silencing mechanisms, such as the position effect variegation system of Drosophila, operate over much shorter distances (1–2 megabases in that case). XCI is initiated from an X inactivation center on the X chromosome, and from there, it spreads throughout the chromosome. Segments of X chromosome without a center, through deletion or translocation, remain active. Conversely, if autosomal segments are attached to the X chromosome by translocation, the inactivating signal can spread for long distances into the autosome, up to 100 megabases in a recently described case (1). However, spread into autosomal material extends less far and is less effective in gene silencing than in the X chromosome itself (1–3). Recently, there have been great advances in knowledge of the X inactivation center. The Xist gene (Xist in mouse and XIST in human), located at the center, is expressed from the inactive X chromosome (Xi) and is necessary in cis for X inactivation. It encodes a nontranslated RNA. Before the onset of XCI in the embryo, Xist RNA is transcribed but is unstable. At the time of XCI, it becomes stable and accumulates. It then remains close to the Xi and spreads to coat the whole chromosome (reviewed in refs. 4 and 5). When Xist is introduced as a transgene into an autosome, its RNA will also coat the autosome, although less efficiently than on the X chromosome (6). How the RNA spreads and how it brings about transcriptional silencing are unknown, but the spreading of RNA and of silencing into attached autosomes provides some clue. Clearly, any DNA sequences involved in spreading are not specific to the X chromosome. However, because the spread and inactivation are less efficient in autosomes, there must be something about X chromatin that promotes them. Riggs (7) suggested the concept of “way stations” or “boosters” along the X chromosome that act as promoters of spreading. Recently, I suggested that interspersed elements are candidates for the boosters (8). In particular, I proposed that LINE-1 elements (L1s) are those concerned, based on evidence then available that the X chromosomes of human and mouse seemed to be rich in L1s. This idea has now received support from work of Bailey et al. (9) published in this issue. These authors made use of sequence data accruing from the human genome project to compare the relative content of various repetitive elements in the human X chromosome and autosomes. The authors found that the X chromosome was indeed rich in L1 elements—there being about 26% of L1s on the X chromosome and only 13% in autosomal DNA.
Evidence-based narratives to improve recall of opioid prescribing guidelines: a randomized experiment.

OBJECTIVES Physicians adopt evidence-based guidelines with variable consistency. Narratives, or stories, offer a novel dissemination strategy for clinical recommendations. The study objective was to compare whether evidence-based narrative versus traditional summary improved recall of opioid prescribing guidelines from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). METHODS This was a prospective, randomized controlled experiment to compare whether narrative versus summary promoted short-term recall of six themes contained in the ACEP opioid guideline. The experiment was modeled after the free-recall test, an established technique in studies of memory. At a regional conference, emergency physicians (EPs) were randomized to read either a summary of the guideline (control) or a narrative (intervention). The fictional narrative was constructed to match the summary in content and length. One hour after reading the text, participants listed all content that they could recall. Two reviewers independently scored the responses to assess recall of the six themes. The primary outcome was the total number of themes recalled per participant. Secondary outcomes included the proportion of responses in each study arm that recalled individual themes and the proportion of responses in each arm that contained falsely recalled or extraneous information. RESULTS Ninety-five physicians were randomized. Eighty-two physicians completed the experiment, for a response rate of 86%. The mean of the total number of themes recalled per participant was 3.1 in the narrative arm versus 2.0 in the summary arm (difference = 1.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.6 to 1.7). For three themes, the proportion of responses that recalled the theme was significantly greater in the narrative arm compared to the summary arm, with the differences ranging from 20% to 51%. For one theme, recall was significantly greater in the summary arm. For two themes, there was no statistically significant difference in recall between the arms. In the summary arm, 54% of responses were found to contain falsely recalled or extraneous information versus 21% of responses in the narrative arm (difference = 33%, 95% CI = 14% to 53%). CONCLUSIONS Physicians exposed to a narrative about opioid guidelines were more likely to recall guideline content at 1 hour than those exposed to a summary of the guidelines. Future studies should examine whether the incorporation of narratives in dissemination campaigns improves guideline adoption and changes clinical practice
Presidential Politics and the Problem of Drugs in America

This study explores the relationship between the president, public opinion, and the media in regard to drug abuse policy in America from 1969 through 2004. The theory of presidential influence over public opinion is used to test the hypothesis that presidents influence public opinion of drug abuse. Using vector auto regression time-series analysis, the study finds that while presidents do not appear to influence the public directly, they influence the media which influences public opinion. These findings are different from previous findings regarding crime control policy, but are similar to past findings for drug policy. Reasons for these findings are discussed and future research proposed.
Quality of life and clinical outcomes in elderly patients treated with ventricular pacing as compared with dual-chamber pacing.

BACKGROUND: Standard clinical practice permits the use of either single-chamber ventricular pacemakers or dual-chamber pacemakers for most patients who require cardiac pacing. Ventricular pacemakers are less expensive, but dual-chamber pacemakers are believed to be more physiologic. However, it is not known whether either type of pacemaker results in superior clinical outcomes. METHODS: The Pacemaker Selection in the Elderly study was a 30-month, single-blind, randomized, controlled comparison of ventricular pacing and dual-chamber pacing in 407 patients 65 years of age or older in 29 centers. Patients received a dual-chamber pacemaker that had been randomly programmed to either ventricular pacing or dual-chamber pacing. The primary end point was health-related quality of life as measured by the 36-item Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form General Health Survey. RESULT: The average age of the patients was 76 years (range, 65 to 96), and 60 percent were men. Quality of life improved significantly after pacemaker implantation (P<0.001), but there were no differences between the two pacing modes in either the quality of life or prespecified clinical outcomes (including cardiovascular events or death). However, 53 patients assigned to ventricular pacing (26 percent) were crossed over to dual-chamber pacing because of symptoms related to the pacemaker syndrome. Patients with sinus-node dysfunction, but not those with atrioventricular block, had moderately better quality of life and cardiovascular functional status with dual-chamber pacing than with ventricular pacing. Trends of borderline statistical significance in clinical end points favoring dual-chamber pacing were observed in patients with sinus-node dysfunction, but not in those with atrioventricular block. CONCLUSION: The implantation of a permanent pacemaker improves health-related quality of life. However, the quality-of-life benefits associated with dual-chamber pacing as compared with ventricular pacing are observed principally in the subgroup of patients with sinus-node dysfunction.