Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Audience status moderates the effects of social support and self-efficacy on cardiovascular reactivity during public speaking

Exaggerated blood pressure responses to stress are implicated in the development of cardiovascular disease, and an effort has been made to identify factors associated with such responses. One situational factor that impacts cardiovascular responses to stress is the presence of other people and their behavior. Here, we manipulated the status of the audience during a stressful public speaking task to explore its impact on reactivity and its possible role in moderating the effects of the speaker’s confidence and the audience’s response during the speech. Sixty-four normotensive female undergraduates, classified as having high or low self-efficacy for public speaking, gave a 5-min speech to an audience that responded positively or negatively. Half of the audiences were presented as public speaking experts and half as novices. Cardiovascular reactivity was greater for low-efficacy speakers and for those receiving positive feedback. Reactivity was also greater facing an expert audience. Furthermore, the effects of both self-efficacy and audience feedback were intensified before an expert audience. To understand social support effects, we must attend not only to characteristics of the recipient but also to those of the provider.
Immunologic and Biochemical Effects of the Fermented Wheat Germ Extract Avemar

Avemar (MSC) is a nontoxic fermented wheat germ extract demonstrated to have antitumor effects. Avemar has the potential to significantly improve the survival rate in patients suffering from malignant colon tumors. We studied its effects in the HT-29 human colon carcinoma cell line. Avemar had an inhibiting effect on colonies of HT-29 cells with an IC50 value of 118 μg/ml (7 days of incubation); this value could be decreased to 100 and 75 μg/ml in the presence of vitamin C. In the cell line examined, Avemar induced both necrosis and apoptosis, as demonstrated by Hoechst/propldium iodide staining. The incubation of cells with 3200 μg/ml Avemar for 24 hrs caused necrosis in 28% and the induction of apoptosis in 22% of the cells. Avemar inhibited the cell-cycle progression of HT-29 cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. In addition, Avemar inhibited the activity of the key enzyme of de novo DNA synthesis, ribonucleotide reductase. In addition, we determined the effects of Avemar on the activity of cyclooxygenase-1 and -2. Both enzymes were significantly inhibited by Avemar with IC50 values of 100 and 300 μg/ml, respectively. We outline new explanations for its antitumor activity, which might serve as the basis for further studies using Avemar.
Urban HCI: spatial aspects in the design of shared encounters for media facades

Designing interactive applications for Media Facades is a challenging task. Architectural sized largescale screens can result in unbalanced installations, and meaningful interaction is easily overshadowed by the drastic size of the display. In this paper we reflect on urban technology interventions by analyzing their spatial configuration in relation to the structuring of interaction. We outline basic categories and offer a new terminology to describe these interactive situations designed for the built environment.
On-farm bioremediation of dimethazone and trifluralin residues in runoff water from an agricultural field

Bioremediation is the use of living organisms, primarily microorganisms, to degrade environmental contaminants into less toxic forms. Nine biobeds (ground cavity filled with a mixture of composted organic matter, topsoil, and a surface grass) were established at Kentucky State University research farm (Franklin County, KY) to study the impact of this practice on reducing surface runoff water contamination by residues of dimethazone and trifluralin herbicides arising from an agricultural field. Biobed (biofilter) systems were installed at the bottom of the slope of specially designed runoff plots to examine herbicides retention and degradation before entering streams and rivers. In addition to biobed systems, three soil management practices: municipal sewage sludge (SS), SS mixed with yard waste compost (SS + YW), and no-mulch rototilled bare soil (NM used for comparison purposes) were used to monitor the impact of soil amendments on herbicide residues in soil following natural rainfall events. Organic amendments increased soil organic matter content and herbicide residues retained in soil following rainfall events. Biobeds installed in NM soil reduced dimethazone and trifluralin by 84 and 82%, respectively in runoff water that would have been transported down the land slope of agricultural fields and contaminated natural water resources. Biobeds installed in SS and SS+YW treatments reduced dimethazone by 65 and 46% and trifluralin by 52 and 79%, respectively. These findings indicated that biobeds are effective for treating dimethazone and trifluralin residues in runoff water.
Randomized Trial of Guiding Hypertension Management Using Central Aortic Blood Pressure Compared With Best-Practice Care: Principal Findings of the BP GUIDE Study

Arm cuff blood pressure (BP) may overestimate cardiovascular risk. Central aortic BP predicts mortality and could be a better method for patient management. We sought to determine the usefulness of central BP to guide hypertension management. This was a prospective, open-label, blinded–end point study in 286 patients with hypertension randomized to treatment decisions guided by best-practice usual care (n=142; using office, home, and 24-hour ambulatory BP) or, in addition, by central BP intervention (n=144; using SphygmoCor). Therapy was reviewed every 3 months for 12 months, and recommendations were provided to each patient and his/her doctor on antihypertensive medication titration. Outcome measures were as follows: medication quantity (daily defined dose), quality of life, and left ventricular mass (3-dimensional echocardiography). There was 92% compliance with recommendations on medication titration, and quality of life improved in both groups (post hoc P<0.05). For usual care, there was no change in daily defined dose (all P>0.10), but with intervention there was a significant stepwise decrease in daily defined dose from baseline to 3 months (P=0.008) and each subsequent visit (all P<0.001). Intervention was associated with cessation of medication in 23 (16%) patients versus 3 (2%) in usual care (P<0.001). Despite this, there were no differences between groups in left ventricular mass index, 24-hour ambulatory BP, home systolic BP, or aortic stiffness (all P>0.05). We conclude that guidance of hypertension management with central BP results in a significantly different therapeutic pathway than conventional cuff BP, with less use of medication to achieve BP control and no adverse effects on left ventricular mass, aortic stiffness, or quality of life.
Floristic Composition and Structure of a Deciduous Dry Forest from Southern Ecuador: Diversity and Aboveground Carbon Accumulation

Semi deciduous dry forests in southern Ecuador are valued internationally for their conservation significance, and important locally as a source of timber for agroforestry. Data with which to evaluate the compatibility of these interests is currently lacking. In permanent sample plots (PSP) established according to a simple random design, 12 species were found, representing 12 genera and 11 botanical families. The ecological analysis was performed by determining the basal area, height, density, frequency, dominance, IVI and FIV. The most diverse families are Burseraceae, Bignoniaceae and Caesalpiniaceae. However, the species with the highest IVI are: Bursera graveolens, Tabebuia chrysantha and Caesalpinia glabrata. The basal area of the species studied was 11.4 m 2 ha -1 with a volume of 66.35 m 3 ha -1 . The size class distribution for most tree/species highlighted the absence of the large/order individuals, which reflect the disturbance of the forest. Aboveground biomass was estimated and the carbon found was 68.06 Mg ha 1 , with an amount of 33.04 Mg ha -1 of carbon stored, results that are within normal ranges for the seasonally dry tropical forests. This study provides important baseline information on the species composition of the forest as well as the conservation status of species.
Sleep Disturbances and Internalizing Behavior Problems Following Pediatric Traumatic Injury

Objective: This prospective longitudinal study investigated sleep disturbance (SD) and internalizing problems after traumatic injury, including traumatic brain injury (TBI) or extracranial/bodily injury (EI) in children and adolescents, relative to typically developing (TD) children. We also examined longitudinal relations between SD and internalizing problems postinjury. Method: Participants (N = 87) ages 8–15 included youth with TBI, EI, and TD children. Injury groups were recruited from a Level 1 trauma center after sustaining vehicle-related injuries. Parent-reported SD and internalizing problems were assessed at preinjury/baseline, and 6 and 12 months postinjury. Linear mixed models evaluated the relation of group and time of assessment on outcomes. Results: Controlling for age, the combined traumatic injury group experienced significantly higher postinjury levels of SD (p = .042) and internalizing problems (p = .024) than TD children; however, TBI and EI injury groups did not differ from each other. Injury severity was positively associated with SD in the EI group only, but in both groups SD was associated with additional postinjury sequelae, including fatigue and externalizing behavior problems. Internalizing problems predicted subsequent development of SD but not vice versa. The relation between injury and SD 1 year later was consistent with mediation by internalizing problems at 6 months postinjury. Conclusions: Children with both types of traumatic injury demonstrated higher SD and internalizing problems than healthy children. Internalizing problems occurring either prior to or following pediatric injury may be a risk factor for posttraumatic SD. Consequently, internalizing problems may be a promising target of intervention to improve both SD and related adjustment concerns.
Analysing the Determinants of Credit Risk for General Insurance Firms in the UK

This paper estimates a reduced-form model to assess the credit risk of General Insurance (GI) non-life firms in the UK. Compared to earlier studies, it uses a much larger sample including 30 years of data for 515 firms, and also considers a much wider set of possible determinants of credit risk. The empirical results suggest that macroeconomic and firm-specific factors both play important roles. Other key findings are the following: credit risk varies across firms depending on their business lines; there is default clustering in the GI industry; different reinsurance levels also affect the credit risk of insurance firms. The implications of these findings for regulators of GI firms under the coming Solvency II are discussed.
“ Prevalence of types of temporomandibular disorders among the dental OPD patients-A cross-sectional study ”

BackgroundTo identify the role of Malocclusion, Parafunctional habits, other factors associated in causing TMDs and also to establish the most prevalent type of TMD in various Age group and gender. Method-Cross-sectional study conducted among 21,623 patients based on clinical examination and constructed questionnaire. Data subjected to Pearson Chi-Square Analysis and Statistical analysis carried out using SPSS release 20 package. ResultsThe results of present investigations showed that 55.3% of the patients had TMD of which 73% were females. Patients below the age of 20 years were found to be most commonly affected (53%) followed by the age group of 21to 40years (26%). Various factors contributing to TMD were also established. Conclusion-The present study showed a high risk of developing TMDs among the younger age group especially in females. This demands further investigations to identify the risk factors associated with TMD in order to establish various measures in preventing and managing the disease.
Latitudinal mismatches between the components of mammal–flea interaction networks

Aim The large-scale description of ecosystem complexity, including the structure of interaction networks, has been largely overlooked although it is known to underpin species co-occurrences and their robustness to climatic or anthropogenic disturbances. Here, we investigated whether the various components of mammal–flea interaction networks (richness of fleas, richness of mammals and the richness of mammal–flea associations) are spatially congruent and follow the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG). Location Sixteen regions, world-wide. Methods We first took into account the effect of area on diversity by determining the position of regions with respect to species–area relationships. We then investigated the spatial congruence between the regional richness of each component of mammal–flea interaction networks as well as their latitudinal gradients. We further investigated patterns for flea–host associations by testing for relationships between mammal–flea interaction richness and (1) flea niche breadth and (2) host carrying capacity. Results We report divergent LDGs for the different components of mammal–flea interaction networks: our data agree with a canonical LDG for mammals, but reveal that the diversity of fleas and mammal–flea associations do not follow such a classical gradient. Our results suggest that host carrying capacity is more likely than flea niche breadth to modulate the number of links in host–parasite interaction networks. Main conclusions The complex interplay between geographic variation in host diversity and both host and parasite traits can lead to unexpected spatial patterns such as the invalidation of expected parasites and links in host–parasite web LDGs. Beyond our focus on host–parasite interactions, our study is among the first in the emerging field of interaction network macroecology and paves the way for other components of ecological networks to be investigated across space and time.
Prevalence of Antipsychotic Drug Non Adherence and Associated Factors Among Patients with Schizophrenia Attending at Amanuel Mental Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Institutional Based Cross Sectional Study

Background: Drug non adherence is a problem in all areas of medicine, and psychiatry is no exception. Mental health institutions are widely over burdened by mental ill patient who sought frequent treatment as a result of drug non adherence. Although patients suffering from psychiatric disorders are the most likely not to adhere to treatment than any other physical illness; there was no study done to determine the prevalence and associated factors of antipsychotic drug non adherence among schizophrenia patients in Ethiopia. So this study was aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of antipsychotic drug non-adherence among patients with schizophrenia attending at Amanuel mental specialized hospital. Methods: An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted on 403 schizophrenia patients attending outpatient department of AMSH from March 26 to April 6, 2013. Morisky Medication Rating Scale and Drug Inventory Attitude were used to collect data. Three trained data collectors and one supervisor were involved in the data collection process. Ethical clearance was obtained from institutional review board of University of Gondar and Amanuel mental specialized hospital. Written informed consent was obtained from the respondents. Result: The study had response rate of 95.3%. A total of 268(66.5%) male were participated in this study. The mean age of participants was 32.7(SD+9.59 years) and age ranged from 18 to 57. Prevalence of antipsychotic drug non adherence was found to be 48.4%. The factors having co-morbid mental illness AOR=2.23, 95%CI (1.12, 4.45), Extra pyramidal side effect AOR=2.66, 95%CI (1.44, 4.91), Poly therapy AOR=2.37, 95%CI (1.21, 4.65), Negative attitude towards treatment AOR=3.79, 95%CI (1.56, 9.23) and alcohol use AOR=4.72, 95%CI (1.79, 12.46) were found to be significantly associated with antipsychotic drug non adherence. Conclusion: About half of patients were found to be nonadherent. The factors substance use, extra pyramidal side effects, co-morbid depression, attitude towards treatment and lack family encouragement were found to be significantly associated with drug non adherence. At last self-reported method used in this study tends to under estimate non adherence conducting further study by combining certain methods is of paramount importance.
Event-Related Potentials during a Gambling Task in Young Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by deficits in executive functions and decision making during childhood and adolescence. Contradictory results exist whether altered event-related potentials (ERPs) in adults are associated with the tendency of ADHD patients toward risky behavior. Clinically diagnosed ADHD patients (n = 18) and healthy controls (n = 18), aged between 18 and 29 (median 22 Yo), were screened with the Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales and assessed by the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, and by the 60-item HEXACO Personality Inventory. The characteristic personality traits of ADHD patients were the high level of impulsiveness associated with lower values of agreeableness. All participants performed a probability gambling task (PGT) with two frequencies of the feedback information of the outcome. For each trial, ERPs were triggered by the self-paced trial onset and by the gamble selection. After trial onset, N2-P3a ERP component associated with the attentional load peaked earlier in the ADHD group than in controls. An N500 component related to the feedback frequency condition after trial onset and an N400-like component after gamble selection suggest a large affective stake of the decision making and an emphasized post-decisional evaluation of the choice made by the ADHD participants. By combining ERPs, related to the emotions associated with the feedback frequency condition, and behavioral analyses during completion of PGT, this study provides new findings on the neural dynamics that differentiate controls and young ADHD adults. In the patients' group, we raise the hypothesis that the activity of frontocentral and centroparietal neural circuits drive the decision-making processes dictated by an impaired cognitive workload followed by the build-up of large emotional feelings generated by the conflict toward the outcome of the gambling choice. Our results can be used for new investigations aimed at studying the fine spatiotemporal distribution of cortical activity, and the neural circuits that underly the generation of that activity, associated with the behavioral deficits characteristic of ADHD.
EFFECTS OF THE DICLOFENAC SODIUM (NSAID) ON COLLAGEN CONNECTIVE TISSUE FIBRES IN CAECAL MUCOSA OF ALBINO RATS

To evaluate the effects of diclofenac sodium (NSAID) on Collagen connective tissue fibers of albino rats. An animal study carried on experimental albino rats. An animal study carried out in the Department of Anatomy, Basic Medical Sciences Institute (BMSI), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi. Diclofenac sodium was administered to male albino rats at a dose of 2 mg/kg body weight orally once daily for two weeks. These animals were sacrificed, Caeca were identified and removed, opened along mesenteric border, fixed in alcoholic formalin, Embedded in paraplast, 4 um thick sections were cut on rotary microtome, stained with Mallory’s trichrome Connective tissue stain. The histomorphological features of caecal mucosa were compared with those in the control animals. The study revealed that diclofenac sodium administration produced and increased amount of Collagen connective tissue fibers forming a subepithelial collagen band in caecal mucosa of albino Rats. The results suggest that diclofenac sodium causes. Severe caecal mucosal damage in albino rats.
Retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukoencephalopathy and systemic manifestations.

Cerebroretinal vasculopathy, hereditary vascular retinopathy, and hereditary endotheliopathy, retinopathy, nephropathy and stroke are neurovascular syndromes initially described as distinct entities. Recently they were shown to be one disease caused by C-terminal frame-shift mutations in TREX1 , which was termed ‘retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukodystrophy’. Here we defined the genetic and clinicopathologic spectrum of this clinically and pathophysiologically poorly characterized and frequently misdiagnosed fatal neurovascular disorder. We identified five different TREX1 mutations in 78 members from 11 unrelated families and by using a standardized study protocol we retrospectively reviewed and aggregated the associated clinical, neuroimaging, and pathology data. Findings were similar across mutations and families. Sixty-four mutation carriers had vascular retinopathy. Neuroimaging revealed (i) punctate, hyperintense, white matter lesions with or without nodular enhancement in 97% of them; (ii) rim-enhancing mass lesions in 84%; and (iii) calcifications in the white matter in 52%. Ninety per cent had clinical manifestations of brain disease, including focal neurological deficits (68%), migraine (59%), cognitive impairment (56%), psychiatric disturbances (42%), and seizures (17%). One mutation carrier had enhancing brain lesions and neurological features but unknown retinopathy status. Additional systemic features included liver disease (78%), anaemia (74%), nephropathy (61%), hypertension (60%), mild Raynaud’s phenomenon (40%), and gastro-intestinal bleeding (27%). Mean (± standard deviation) age at diagnosis was 42.9 ± 8.3 years and at death 53.1 ± 9.6 years. Pathological examination revealed systemic vasculopathy with luminal narrowing and multi-laminated basement membranes. The 13 mutation carriers without retinopathy or brain lesions were on average 8 years younger (mean age: 35.1 ± 10.6 years). Of them, 54% had mild Raynaud’s phenomenon, 42% had migraine, and 23% had psychiatric disturbances. Retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukodystrophy is an autosomal dominant systemic small-vessel disease due to specific TREX1 mutations and clinically primarily characterized by (i) visual impairment from vascular retinopathy; and (ii) neurological decline and premature death due to progressive enhancing cerebral white matter lesions. Impaired liver and kidney function, anaemia sometimes associated with gastrointestinal bleeding, hypertension, migraine, and Raynaud’s phenomenon appear to be part of the clinical spectrum as well. Penetrance seems high. Because of the pathogenetic basis and the emerging clinical picture with systemic manifestations and conspicuous absence of leukodystrophy, we renamed the disease ‘retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukoencephalopathy and systemic manifestations’. We propose diagnostic criteria to facilitate clinical recognition and future studies. * Abbreviations : AGS : Aicardi-Goutieres syndrome MC : mutation carrier RVCL(-S) : retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukoencephalopathy (and systemic manifestations)