Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antiviral Antibodies and T Cells Are Present in the Foreskin of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Rhesus Macaques

ABSTRACT No information exists regarding immune responses to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the foreskin or glans of the human penis, although this is a key tissue for HIV transmission. To address this gap, we characterized antiviral immune responses in foreskin of male rhesus macaques (RMs) inoculated with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) strain SIVmac251 by penile foreskin exposure. We found a complete population of immune cells in the foreskin and glans of normal RMs, although B cells were less common than CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. IgG-secreting cells were detected by enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay in cell suspensions made from the foreskin. In the foreskin and glans of SIV-infected RMs, although B cells were less common than CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, SIV-specific IgG antibody was present in foreskin secretions. In addition, cytokine-secreting SIV-specific CD8+ T cells were readily found in cell suspensions made from the foreskin. Although potential HIV target cells were found in and under the epithelium covering all penile surfaces, the presence of antiviral effector B and T cells in the foreskin suggests that vaccines may be able to elicit immunity in this critical site to protect men from acquiring HIV.
Low sensitivity of glucagon provocative testing for diagnosis of pheochromocytoma.

CONTEXT Pheochromocytomas can usually be confirmed or excluded using currently available biochemical tests of catecholamine excess. Follow-up tests are, nevertheless, often required to distinguish false-positive from true-positive results. The glucagon stimulation test represents one such test; its diagnostic utility is, however, unclear. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to determine the diagnostic power of the glucagon test to exclude or confirm pheochromocytoma. DESIGN, SETTING, AND SUBJECTS Glucagon stimulation tests were carried out at three specialist referral centers in 64 patients with pheochromocytoma, 38 patients in whom the tumor was excluded, and in a reference group of 36 healthy volunteers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Plasma concentrations of norepinephrine and epinephrine were measured before and after glucagon administration. Several absolute and relative test criteria were used for calculating diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Expression of the glucagon receptor was examined in pheochromocytoma tumor tissue from a subset of patients. RESULTS Larger than 3-fold increases in plasma norepinephrine after glucagon strongly predicted the presence of a pheochromocytoma (100% specificity and positive predictive value). However, irrespective of the various criteria examined, glucagon-provoked increases in plasma catecholamines revealed the presence of the tumor in less than 50% of affected patients. Diagnostic sensitivity was particularly low in patients with pheochromocytomas due to von Hippel-Lindau syndrome. Tumors from these patients showed no significant expression of the glucagon receptor. CONCLUSION The glucagon stimulation test offers insufficient diagnostic sensitivity for reliable exclusion or confirmation of pheochromocytoma. Because of this and the risk of hypertensive complications, the test should be abandoned in routine clinical practice.
Fish Oil and the Management of Hypertriglyceridemia

Hypertriglyceridemia, regarded as one of the independent clinical markers of metabolic syndrome, is a frequently observed disorder that has been shown to be common in the Arab region. Epidemiologic and clinical trials demonstrated that omega-3 fatty acids have the potential to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD); one of the mechanisms by which this effect is achieved is through reducing plasma triglyceride levels. There is strong scientific evidence from human trials that omega-3 fatty acids from either fish or fish oil supplements significantly reduce blood triglyceride levels and these benefits appear to be dose-dependent. The active ingredients of fish oils include the long chain fatty acids EPA and DHA. The ideal amount of omega-3 fatty acid that should be incorporated into the diet without provoking detrimental effects on other lipid components such as decreasing HDL-C and/or increasing LDL-C has not yet been elucidated. Presently, a prescription form of omega-3 fatty acid has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) as an adjunct to the diet for the treatment of very high triglyceride levels (~ 500 mg/dl) in adults. Patients with hypertriglyceridemia have been shown to respond well to the use of omega-3 fatty acids even when used in conjunction with statins where greater improvements in the lipid profile were found as compared to treatment with statins alone. A determinant of the responsiveness to fish oil could be attributed to the ApoE genotype of individuals.
The impact of medical errors on Swiss Anesthesiologists: a cross‐sectional survey

McLennan’s survey on the impact of medical errors on Swiss anesthesiologists attempts to define how anesthesiologists key work areas are impacted by errors, the perceived level of support for anesthesiologists after errors, and which anesthesiologists are most affected by errors. While the findings of negative feelings of anxiety about future errors, confidence in practicing ability, ability to sleep, job satisfaction, and professional reputation are well known and might have been inflated due to responder and recall bias, the findings reiterate that the problem is far more widespread than originally thought. Feelings of shame, guilt, anxiety, fear of discovery, and embarrassment have been reported by various other studies. This led to the adoption of the term “second victim” by Wu in 2000. Yet data on the extent of the problem are lacking, with a recent study in the United Kingdom reporting the incidence as between 10% and 43%. Some policy and guidance on how to deal with the consequences of patient safety events exists in most hospitals, yet the extent of implementation of these support structures varies greatly. Affected clinicians give various reasons for not accessing these services, with a punitive environment certainly being a big factor, leading to unresolved feelings of distress. Critical Incident Stress Management (CSIM) has been developed and adopted in response to critical incidents in disaster management and aviation. It provides training in recovery after an event as well as the return to normal function and behavior and can be applied by trained individuals immediately after an event. The strategy has the potential to aid the “second victim” after an event and prevent the potential of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) developing and can be seen as a stepping stone toward resilience in healthcare. The perceived inability of organizations to respond to the problem is likely due to the nonrecognition of the problem as well as the degree to which a safety climate prevails in various institutions. Changing the culture from a reactive clinical risk management to a proactive, Just Culture philosophy requires the development of trust across executive and non-executive functions, together with robust methods of measuring and monitoring the quality of patient care. This issue is increasingly recognized, especially after the Mid-Staffordshire disaster and the publication of the Francis enquiry. It has become time to focus on resilience in healthcare. We need to recognize that the health and safety of patients and clinicians are linked, that we operate in a very complex environment that changes daily, and that instead of actively focusing on the failures, we should focus on resilience.
Trends for prevalence and incidence of resistant hypertension: population based cohort study in the UK 1995-2015

Objective To estimate the incidence and prevalence of resistant hypertension among a UK population treated for hypertension from 1995 to 2015. Design Cohort study. Setting Electronic health records from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink in primary care. Participants 1 317 290 users of antihypertensive drugs with a diagnosis of hypertension. Main outcome measures Resistant hypertension was defined as concurrent use of three antihypertensive drugs inclusive of a diuretic, uncontrolled hypertension (≥140/90 mm Hg), and adherence to the prescribed drug regimen, or concurrent use of four antihypertensive drugs inclusive of a diuretic and adherence to the prescribed drug regimen. To determine incidence, the numerator was new cases of resistant hypertension and the denominator was person years of those with treated hypertension and at risk of developing resistant hypertension. To determine prevalence, the numerator was total number of cases with resistant hypertension and the denominator was those with treated hypertension. Prevalence and incidence were age standardised to the 2015 hypertensive population. Results The age standardised incidence of resistant hypertension increased from 0.93 cases per 100 person years (95% confidence interval 0.87 to 1.00) in 1996 to a peak level of 2.07 cases per 100 person years (2.03 to 2.12) in 2004. Incidence then decreased to 0.42 cases per 100 person years (0.40 to 0.44) in 2015. Age standardised prevalence increased from 1.75% (95% confidence interval 1.66% to 1.83%) in 1995 to a peak of 7.76% (7.70% to 7.83%) in 2007. Prevalence then plateaued and subsequently declined to 6.46% (6.38% to 6.54%) in 2015. Compared with patients aged 65-69 years, those aged 80 or more years were more likely to have prevalent resistant hypertension throughout the study period. Conclusions Prevalent resistant hypertension has plateaued and decreased in recent years, consistent with a decrease in incidence from 2004 onwards. Despite this, resistant hypertension is common in the UK hypertensive population. Given the importance of hypertension as a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, reducing uncontrolled hypertension should remain a population health focus.
The Relationship Between Executive Functions and Quality of Life in Adults With ADHD

Objective: Adult ADHD is associated with impaired quality of life (QoL) and deficient executive function (EF). Given the absence of studies examining the relationship between EF and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in this population, the purpose of the present study was to do so, by the use of rating scales and tests. Method: Adults with ADHD (n = 81) completed ADHD and EF questionnaires and a neuropsychological battery. Results: Small to large significant correlations were found between EF ratings and HRQL for most of the variables. No significant correlations were found between all but one EF test and HRQL. Both ADHD symptoms and EF rating, but not the EF test, were found to have a unique contribution to the HRQL. Conclusion: These results strengthen the ecological validity of the EF rating scales and their utility in identifying EF deficits with real-world implications for adults with ADHD.
Teacher Sorting and the Plight of Urban Schools: A Descriptive Analysis

This paper uses rich new data on New York State teachers to: determine how much variation in the average attributes of teachers exists across schools, identify schools that have the least-qualified teachers, assess whether the distribution has changed over time, and determine how the distribution of teachers is impacted by attrition and transfer, as well as by the job matches between teachers and schools at the start of careers. Our results show striking differences in the qualifications of teachers across schools. Urban schools, in particular, have lesser-qualified teachers; and New York City stands out among urban areas. Low-income, low-achieving and non-white students, particularly those in urban areas, find themselves in classes with many of the least skilled teachers. Salary variation rarely compensates for the apparent difficulties of teaching in urban settings and, in some cases, contributes to the disparities.
Stress, Social Support, and Delayed Skin Barrier Recovery

Objective: To examine the effect of a brief laboratory stressor and social support before the stressor on cardiovascular and cortisol responses, and skin barrier recovery after skin disruption. Methods: Eighty-five healthy participants (mean age 22.9 ± 4.4 years) underwent a “tape-stripping” procedure that disrupts normal skin barrier function, and were randomly assigned to a No Stress (reading task), Stress (Trier Social Stress Test), or Stress + Social Support condition (support from a confederate before the stressor). Skin barrier recovery was assessed by measuring transepidermal water loss from up to 2 hours after skin disruption. Results: Compared with the No Stress condition, the stressor delayed skin barrier recovery by 10% at 2 hours after skin disruption (effect size, r = .29), and increased anxiety (r = .24), negative affect (r = .22), cardiovascular activity (r values from .4–.6), and among male participants, cortisol levels (r = .40). Social support did not influence psychological or physiological responses or skin barrier recovery. Larger physiological responses to the tasks did not predict slower skin barrier recovery. Instead, larger systolic blood pressure responses predicted faster skin barrier recovery (r = .26). Conclusions: This study replicated the effects of short-term laboratory stressors on skin barrier recovery, further establishing the relevance of skin barrier recovery for future research. The support manipulation did not influence physiological responses or skin barrier recovery, suggesting that future research on social support, physiology, and objective health outcomes should focus on naturalistic social interactions, relationships, and stressors. AUCI = area under the curve with respect to increase; BMI = body mass index; DBP = diastolic blood pressure; GCRC = General Clinical Research Center; HR = heart rate; MAP = mean arterial pressure; SBP = systolic blood pressure; TSST = Trier Social Stress Test; TEWL = transepidermal water loss.
Interaction and Transition Model for Speech Emotion Recognition in Dialogue

In this paper we propose a novel emotion recognition method modeling interaction and transition in dialogue. Conventional emotion recognition utilizes intra-features such as MFCCs or F0s within individual utterance. However, human perceive emotions not only through individual utterances but also by contextual information. The proposed method takes in account the contextual effect of utterance in dialogue, which the conventional method fails to. Proposed method introduces Emotion Interaction and Transition (EIT) models which is constructed by end-to-end LSTMs. The inputs of EIT model are the previous emotions of both target and opponent speaker, estimated by state-of-the-art utterance emotion recognition model. The experimental results show that the proposed method improves overall accuracy and average precision by a relative error reduction of 18.8% and 22.6% respectively.
Faces in the mirror: Exploring conflict styles of adults in school communities using the face -negotiation theory

Faces in the Mirror: Exploring Conflict Styles of Adults in School Communities Using the Face-Negotiation Theory by Christine D. Gross M.S. University of Nevada, Reno, 2000 B.S. University of Nevada, Reno, 1992 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Administrator Leadership for Teaching and Learning Walden University October 2009
The determinants of workers' effort : theory and evidence

The opening chapter of the thesis reviews efficiency wage literature. After considering the theoretical justifications that have been offered for a link from wages to effort, which is at the heart of efficiency wage theory, the chapter continues with an account of the attempts made so far in the literature to test this theory. The first of two empirical chapters examines how effort varies across individual characteristics. The efficiency wage link between individuals' earnings and their effort is investigated in a two-stage least squares framework, to allow for the endogeneity of earnings. Further tests check for the existence of a reverse causality argument. The chapter ends with an investigation into the effect of local unemployment rates on effort. A second empirical chapter examines the effect of workplace characteristics on effort. The influence of trade unions is considered by examining whether management policies to elicit effort from their employees, for example raising the cost of job loss or human resource management techniques, have differential effects on effort according to the degree of unionisation of the workplace. The final chapter is theoretical, considering group norms for effort, whereby the effort choice of individuals is influenced by their colleagues at work. Under the assumption that if a firm observes a single worker shirking, all members of that individual's workgroup will receive a sanction or lose a reward, the effort equilibrium of the workgroup is derived as a non-cooperative Nash equilibrium in expectations and effort choices. Given this equilibrium, the analysis continues by examining whether or not it would be in the workgroup's interest to establish a group norm for supplying effort. Thus the chapter provides a theoretical justification for the existence of, and adherence to, group norms for effort, which has been absent from previous analyses which have included such a concept.
Peri- and postoperative cognitive and consecutive functional problems of elderly patients

Purpose of reviewFrom an elderly patient's perspective, acute and chronic cognitive disturbances are among the most harmful complications that can occur following surgery. For elderly patients, these complications often mean the end of an independent life. This article focuses on this serious aspect, which is increasingly prevalent in our aging society. Cognitive disturbances are associated with severe outcome impairments and increased mortality. This article aims to provide a current overview regarding the diagnosis, pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of this severe social problem. Recent findingsThe current knowledge of risk factors, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of postoperative delirium and postoperative cognitive dysfunction should help to raise awareness and improve the outcome of delirious patients, particularly in the elderly population. SummaryEspecially in elderly patients, postoperative delirium constitutes a common, severe complication. Early diagnosis and supportive treatment are essential to improve outcome. To date, no pharmacological treatment strategy was effective, so that further research about the underlying pathophysiology and the development of treatment strategies are urgently required.
Tyrosine kinase inhibitors reverse type 1 diabetes in nonobese diabetic mice

The recent development of small-molecule tyrosine kinase (TK) inhibitors offers increasing opportunities for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. In this study, we investigated the potential of this new class of drugs to treat and cure type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the NOD mouse. Treatment of prediabetic and new onset diabetic mice with imatinib (Gleevec) prevented and reversed T1D. Similar results were observed with sunitinib (Sutent), an additional approved multikinase inhibitor, suggesting that the primary target of imatinib, c-Abl, was not essential in blocking disease in this model. Additional studies with another TK inhibitor, PLX647 (targeting c-Kit and c-Fms) or an anti-c-Kit mAb showed only marginal efficacy whereas a soluble form of platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), PDGFRβIg, rapidly reversed diabetes. These findings strongly suggest that inhibition of PDGFR is critical to reverse diabetes and highlight a crucial role of inflammation in the development of T1D. These conclusions were supported by the finding that the adaptive immune system was not significantly affected by imatinib treatment. Finally, and most significantly, imatinib treatment led to durable remission after discontinuation of therapy at 10 weeks in a majority of mice. Thus, long-term efficacy and tolerance is likely to depend on inhibiting a combination of tyrosine kinases supporting the use of selective kinase inhibitors as a new, potentially very attractive approach for the treatment of T1D.
Acute peaks of testosterone suppress paternal care: evidence from individual hormonal reaction norms

A long-standing tenet of evolutionary endocrinology states that testosterone mediates the life-history trade-off between mating and paternal care. However, the support for a role of testosterone in suppressing paternal care is mixed: implantation studies in birds suggest that high-level testosterone implants suppress paternal care, but circulating levels of testosterone and paternal care are typically not correlated. Because any trade-off in real life must be realized with hormone levels that are within an individual's reaction norm, it is crucial to show that natural changes in the hormone can modulate behaviour. Here, we used GnRH-injections to alter testosterone levels of free-living male black redstarts within each individual's hormonal reaction norm: individuals experiencing a short-term peak in testosterone resumed feeding their offspring later and showed a stronger suppression of offspring-feeding behaviour than control males. For the first time, this study demonstrated that short-term peaks in testosterone within the hormonal reaction norm of individuals can suppress paternal behaviour. Our findings reconcile previous seemingly contradictive effects that testosterone implants had on paternal care and the absence of correlations between circulating testosterone levels and paternal care, and demonstrate that the differential production of testosterone within the hormonal reaction norm of single individuals can indeed function as a mechanism to mediate a potential trade-off between mating and parenting. On a broader note, our results suggest that natural and short peaks in testosterone can elicit adaptive behavioural changes.
Evaluating the Connection between Social Protection and Economic Flexib Ility

Over the last 10 years, a variety of analysts have blamed high unemployment and stagnant economic growth in Europe on inflexible labor markets and pointed to the US as a more flexible economy, due to its less regulated labor markets and less generous social protection programs. This paper reviews that debate, critiques the arguments about the relationship between social protection programs and labor market adjustment, and reviews the research literature on this topic. In general, we conclude that much less is known about the aggregate effects of social protection programs on the economy than is generally claimed. Within the very limited existing research, there is little evidence of a significant trade-off between social programs and labor market adjustment, although there is also not much evidence to support those who claim that social protection promotes economic growth. The paper ends by suggesting future research directions.
The effect of object–valence relations on automatic evaluation

Two experiments tested the effect of co-occurrence of a target object with affective stimuli on automatic evaluation of the target when the relation between the target and the affective stimuli suggests that they have opposite valence. Participants learned about targets that ended an unpleasant noise or a pleasant music. The valence of such targets is opposite to the valence of the affective stimuli that co-occur with them. Participants reported preference for targets that ended noise over targets that ended music, but automatic evaluation measures revealed the opposite preference. This suggests that automatic evaluation is sensitive to co-occurrence between stimuli more than to the relation between the stimuli, and that relational information has a stronger influence on deliberate evaluation than on automatic evaluation. These conclusions support the associative-propositional evaluation model (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006), and add evidence regarding the sensitivity of the evaluative-conditioning effect to relational information.