Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HIV-serostatus disclosure in the context of free antiretroviral therapy and socio-economic dependency: experiences among women living with HIV in Tanzania

The worldwide implementation of free antiretroviral therapy (ART) raised great hopes among policy makers and health organisations about the positive changes it would bring about in attitudes and behaviours towards HIV and AIDS, as well as for infected people's lives. A change in illness perception was anticipated, leading to the hypothesis of a possible change in disclosure rates, patterns and the choice of significant others to inform. In the era of free treatment availability in the United Republic of Tanzania, we examined reasons for disclosure and non-disclosure among HIV-seropositive women enrolled on ART and their choice of significant others to inform. In so doing, we contribute to the necessary yet neglected debate about the social impact of ART on the lives of infected women. The study, for which an ethnographic cross-sectional pilot approach was chosen, was conducted at the Care and Treatment Center (CTC) at Bombo Regional Hospital (BRH) in Tanga city, Tanzania. Data presented here derive from participant observation, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews conducted with 59 HIV-seropositive women on ART. Interestingly, and despite treatment availability, the choice of significant others to inform, as well as reasons for disclosure and non-disclosure, mirror findings from previous studies conducted before the introduction of free ART. The main reason for non-disclosure was fear of discrimination. The hope for social, economic or health support was the main motivation for disclosure, followed by the need for a ‘clinic companion’ in order to receive ART, as requested by hospital staff. Nevertheless, healthcare staff were not unanimous in thinking that disclosure is always beneficial, thus the recommended extent of disclosure varied. ART and concomitant factors were raised as an entirely new and significant reason for disclosure by interviewees. Finally, findings confirm that despite ART, disclosure remains a highly stressful event for women.
Treatment efficacy of radiofrequency ablation of 338 patients with hepatic malignant tumor and the relevant complications.

AIM To investigate the treatment efficacy of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of hepatic malignant tumor and the relevant complications. METHODS A total of 338 patients with 763 hepatic tumors underwent ultrasound-guided RFA (565 procedures). There were 204 cases of hepatic cellular carcinoma (HCC) with 430 tumors, the mean largest diameter was 4.0 cm. Of them, 48 patients (23.5%) were in stages I-II (UICC Systems) and 156 (76.5%) in stages III-IV There were 134 cases of metastatic liver carcinoma (MLC), with 333 metastases in the liver, the mean diameter was 4.1 cm, the liver metastases of 96 patients (71.6%) came from gastrointestinal tract. Ninety-three percent of the 338 patients were treated using the relatively standard protocol. Crucial attention must be paid to monitor the abnormal changes in ultrasound images as well as the vital signs of the patients to find the possible hemorrhage and peripheral structures injury in time. The tumors were considered as ablated completely, if no viability was found on enhanced CT within 24 h or at 1 mo after RFA. These patients were followed up for 3-57 mo. RESULTS The ablation success rate was 93.3% (401/430 tumors) for HCC and was 96.7% (322/333 tumors) for MLC. The local recurrence rate for HCC and MLC was 7.9% (34/430 tumors) and 10.5% (35/333 tumors), respectively. A total of 137 patients (40.5%) underwent 2-11 times of repeated ablations because of tumor recurrence or metastasis. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year survival rate was 84.6%, 66.6%, and 63.1%, respectively; the survival rate from 48 patients of I-II stage HCC was 93.7%, 80.4%, and 80.4%, respectively. The major complication rate in this study was 2.5% (14 of 565 procedures), which consisted of 5 hemorrhages, 1 colon perforation, 5 injuries of adjacent structures, 2 bile leakages, and 1 skin burn. CONCLUSION RFA, as a minimally invasive local treatment, has become an effective and relatively safe alternative for the patients of hepatic malignant tumor, even of advanced liver tumor, tumor recurrence, and liver metastases. Knowledge about possible complications and their control may increase the treatment efficacy and help to promote the use of RFA technique.
Participation in Religious Activities as a Protective and Exacerbating Factor in the Development and Continuity of Aggressive Behavior across the Lifespan and Generations

Regular exposure to religious activities in early childhood has been shown to have some ameliorative effects on antisocial and aggressive behavior (Huesmann et al., 2002; Ellis & Peterson, 1996). The theoretical explanations for such effects are varied including that regular church attendance is simply a marker of generally good parenting, that religious organizations provide social support when problems occur, or that religious exposure helps build strong self-regulating internal standards. In the current analysis, using data from a 40-year prospective longitudinal study, we first examine the extent to which parental religiosity when a child is 8 years old is related to the child's religiosity concurrently and 10, 20, and 40-years later. It is. Then we examine the extent to which both childhood religiosity and adult religiosity act as long-term protective factors against adult aggression and the aggression of offspring. The results reveal that frequency of church attendance is highly related to other forms of spirituality and has a statistical continuity across the life course and across three generations. More importantly, participation in religious services is generally predictive of lower aggression both concurrently and in the future through the indirect effects on future religiosity. However, the protectiveness of religiosity is limited by the youth’s already existing aggression. In particular, high religiosity seems to exacerbate the tendencies of low aggressive youth to grow up to be low aggressive adults but also exacerbates the tendency of high aggressive youth to grow up to be more aggressive. These results are discussed in terms of the potential processes that could explain the effects.
Downregulation of GLP-1 and GIP Receptor Expression by Hyperglycemia

Stimulation of insulin secretion by the incretin hormones glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP) has been found to be diminished in type 2 diabetes. We hypothesized that this impairment is due to a defect at the receptor level induced by the diabetic state, particularly hyperglycemia. Gene expression of incretin receptors, GLP-1R and GIPR, were significantly decreased in islets of 90% pancreatectomized (Px) hyperglycemic rats, with recovery when glucose levels were normalized by phlorizin. Perifused islets isolated from hyperglycemic Px rats showed reduced insulin responses to GLP-1 and GIP. To examine the acute effect of hyperglycemia on incretin receptor expression, a hyperglycemic clamp study was performed for 96 h with reduction of GLP-1 receptor expression but increase in GIP receptor expression. Similar findings were found when islets were cultured at high glucose concentrations for 48 h. The reduction of GLP-1 receptor expression by high glucose was prevented by dominant-negative protein kinase C (PKC)α overexpression, whereas GLP-1 receptor expression was reduced with wild-type PKCα overexpression. Taken together, GLP-1 and GIP receptor expression is decreased with chronic hyperglycemia, and this decrease likely contributes to the impaired incretin effects found in diabetes.
LAS DIFERENCIAS DE GÉNERO EN EL NIVEL DE EXPOSICIÓN A RIESGOS PSICOSOCIALES ENTRE TRABAJADORES/AS

Las diferencias de genero y la igualdad entre hombres y mujeres despiertan un interes creciente en el contexto social actual. El ambito de la Salud Laboral no constituye una excepcion. El presente articulo revisa la literatura cientifica disponible sobre las diferencias de genero relacionadas con el estres laboral y los riesgos psicosociales y presenta datos obtenidos en una muestra de 6.822 trabajadores de la Comunidad Autonoma de Madrid que participaron en el Plan de Investigacion del Estres Laboral de Ibermutuamur. Nuestros resultados revelan la existencia de un mayor nivel de riesgo psicosocial entre las mujeres trabajadoras. Concretamente, en ellas fueron mas frecuentes las condiciones laborales caracterizadas por menores niveles de autonomia, menos oportunidades para desarrollar y poner en practica las propias habilidades, mayor inseguridad respecto al empleo y a las condiciones de trabajo y mayores obstaculos para la conciliacion de la vida laboral y la vida familiar.
Plasma D-dimer levels in operable breast cancer patients correlate with clinical stage and axillary lymph node status.

PURPOSE To investigate the relationship between preoperative plasma D-dimer levels and extent of tumor involvement in operable breast cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 140 preoperative plasma specimens were obtained from women scheduled to undergo diagnostic breast biopsies. Ninety-five patients in the initial group went on to undergo axillary lymph node dissection. Of the 140 patients from whom plasma samples were obtained, 102 were subsequently diagnosed with invasive breast carcinoma, nine were subsequently diagnosed with ductal carcinoma-in-situ, and 20 were subsequently diagnosed with benign breast disease. Plasma D-dimer levels were quantitated using a commercially available immunoassay kit (DIMERTEST; American Diagnostica, Greenwich, CT). The relationships between plasma D-dimer and other prognostic variables (tumor size, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, nuclear grade, histologic grade, lymphovascular invasion, and clinical stage grouping) were then examined using univariate and multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses. RESULTS Median plasma D-dimer levels were significantly higher in patients with invasive carcinoma than those patients with either benign breast disease or carcinoma-in-situ (P =.0001). A significant relationship existed between the presence of elevated D-dimer (> 100 ng/mL) and involved axillary lymph nodes (chi(2) test; P =. 001). Elevated D-dimer levels predicted positive lymph node involvement in both univariate regression (P =.0035) and multivariate linear regression (P =.012) models. In addition, elevated D-dimer levels predicted the presence of lymphovascular invasion in univariate logistic regression (P =. 0025) and multivariate logistic regression analysis (P =.0053). Quantitative D-dimer levels were highly correlated with clinical stage grouping (analysis of variance test; P =.002). CONCLUSION Plasma D-dimer levels were markers of lymphovascular invasion, clinical stage, and lymph node involvement in operable breast cancer. This correlation suggests that detectable fibrin degradation, as measured by plasma D-dimer, is a clinically important marker for lymphovascular invasion and early tumor metastasis in operable breast cancer.
Insm1a Is Required for Zebrafish Posterior Lateral Line Development

Insulinoma-associated 1 (Insm1), a zinc-finger transcription factor, is widely expressed in the developing nervous system and plays important roles in cell cycle progression and cell fate specification. However, the functions of Insm1 in the embryonic development of the sensory system and its underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unexplored. Here, through whole-mount in situ hybridization, we found that the zebrafish insm1a gene was expressed in the posterior lateral line (pLL) system, including both the migrating pLL primordium and the deposited neuromast cells. In order to decipher the specific roles of insm1a in zebrafish pLL development, we inhibited insm1a expression by using a morpholino knockdown strategy. The insm1a morphants exhibited primordium migration defects that resulted in reduced numbers of neuromasts. The inactivation of insm1a reduced the numbers of hair cells in neuromasts, and this defect could be a secondary consequence of disrupting rosette formation in the pLL primordium. Additionally, we showed that insm1a knockdown decreased the proliferation of pLL primordium cells, which likely contributed to these pLL defects. Furthermore, we showed that loss of insm1a resulted in elevated Wnt/β-catenin signaling and downregulation of Fgf target genes in the primordium. Insm1a knockdown also perturbed the expression patterns of chemokine signaling genes. Taken together, this study reveals a pivotal role for Insm1a in regulating pLL development during zebrafish embryogenesis.
The Impact of Procedural Justice on Organizational Citizenship Behaviour

This paper considers the extent to which Altruism, Conscientiousness and sportsmanship is being influenced by procedural justice in First bank, Union Bank, Access Bank, Sterling Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) in Rivers state. The sources of data are both primary and secondary. The primary sources includes observation and structured questionnaire while secondary data includes journals and scholarly publications related to the impact of organizational Justice on Organizational Citizenship Behavior(OCB). Spearman Rho was used in analyzing our hypotheses and multiple regressionanalysesis also used in testing the cause-effect relationship which exists amongst our variables. This paper reveals that there is a positive correlation between procedural Justice and Altruism, Consciousness and sportsmanship. It was also revealed that organizational climate has a very weak influence on OCB. This signifies that the distribution of work/benefits and the process which led to the distribution are useful tools with which an employee measures or perceive the presence of procedural justice.
Pull Up a Chair and Listen to Them Write: Preservice Teachers Learn From Beginning Writers

This qualitative study was conducted in the context of a preservice teacher education program with a focus on early literacy. The study focused on the insights preservice teachers gained from working closely beside one emergent writer. The authors report on six focus cases and identify five cross-case themes—describing preservice teachers who (a) approached young children’s efforts to compose texts with deep appreciation regardless of the child’s level of development; (b) deeply valued the time spent near a young writer and described their own learning as emanating both from the writer and the writing; (c) gained an understanding of how literacy emerges/develops, and made efforts to take up the discourse of literacy teachers; (d) talked sensitively about the importance of their teaching moves—the “just right” invitations or steps that enabled children to take risks; and (e) valued the purposeful writing that emanated from children’s interests and lives and motivated them to write. The findings are interpreted within Grossman’s (2011) framework for reenvisioning teacher education as “practice” supported by representations, deconstructions, and approximations.
Club and Players' Pressures on the Motivation, Vitality and Stress of Development Coaches

Drawing from self-determination theory, the purpose of this study was to examine how environmental factors predict coaches' intrinsic motivation and amotivation, which in turn were expected to be related to coaches' subjective vitality and stress. Development coaches (n = 311) completed a questionnaire tapping the targeted variables. Structural equation modelling supported a model in which opportunities for professional development and perceptions of players' intrinsic motivation were positively related to coaches' intrinsic motivation and negatively associated to coaches' amotivation. In turn, intrinsic motivation predicted subjective vitality whereas amotivation led to suffering from stress. Our results highlight how coaching environments influence coaches' motivation and psychological health. The study discusses two conditions that could help clubs at developmental level to maintain their coaches intrinsically motivated: Providing coaches with opportunities for learning and improvement, and being aware of the reciprocal relationship between coaches' and players' motivations.
Improved Concrete Properties Using Quarry Dust as Replacement for Natural Sand

Concrete plays a major role in the construction industry. Natural sand is a prime material used for the preparation of concrete and also plays an important role in Mix Design. Now a day's river erosion and other environmental issues have led to the scarcity of river sand. The reduction in the sources of natural sand and the requirement for reduction in the cost of concrete production has resulted in the increased need to find new alternative materials to replace river sand so that excess river erosion is prevented and high strength concrete is obtained at lower cost. One such material is Quarry stone dust: a by-product obtained during quarrying process. Attempts have been made to study the suitability of Quarry dust as sand replacing material and it has been found that Quarry dust improves the mechanical properties of concrete as well as elastic modulus. The optimum compressive strength is achieved at the proportion of fine to coarse with 60:40 ratio.
Role of load bearing in acetylcholinesterase regulation in rat skeletal muscles

Slow antigravity muscles differ from fast muscles with regard to load bearing performed during contraction. We examined the importance of load bearing in regulation of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) expression in slow and fast rat muscles. The levels of AChE mRNA in the slow soleus muscles are about 30% of those in the fast extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles. In the soleus muscles unloaded for 8 days by hindlimb suspension, AChE mRNA levels were not significantly different from those in the control soleus muscles. In the suspended animals, AChE transcripts in the EDL muscles decreased to about 80% of control levels. Reduction of the resting muscle tension by joint fixation did not significantly affect the levels of AChE mRNA in the unloaded soleus muscles. Phasic high‐frequency electrical stimulation of the unloaded soleus muscles via the sciatic nerve increased their AChE mRNA levels to about 50% of those in the EDL muscles. The levels observed after phasic stimulation were significantly higher than those after low‐frequency tonic stimulation, indicating the importance of muscle activation pattern for AChE regulation also in the absence of load bearing. The AChE mRNA levels in the soleus muscles overloaded for 8 days by synergist muscle ablation increased significantly to about 50% of those in the EDL muscle. The load bearing during muscle contraction seems to be a relatively unimportant extrinsic factor in the regulation of the AChE mRNA levels in muscle fibers, except when an increased load induces muscle hypertrophy accompanied by the fusion of satellite cells with the muscle fibers. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of Lipid-Lowering Therapy with Pravastatin on Myocardial Blood Flow in Young Mildly Hypercholesterolemic Adults

Serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration is an important regulator of vascular reactivity. This double-blinded study examined the effect of lipid-lowering therapy on myocardial vasodilatory function in young hypercholesterolemic but otherwise healthy men. Fifty-one men (age 35 ± 4 years) with mild hypercholesterolemia (total cholesterol, 5.6 ± 0.8 m M) were randomly assigned to receive pravastatin, 40 mg/day, or placebo for 6 months. Myocardial blood flow was measured at rest and during adenosine-induced hyperemia using positron emission tomography and oxygen-15-labeled water at baseline and after treatment. Pravastatin lowered low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol by 33% from 3.77 ± 0.76 m M (p < 0.001), whereas placebo had no effect. At baseline, resting and adenosine-induced flow values were 0.85 ± 0.27 and 3.61 ± 1.00 ml/min per gram in the pravastatin group and 0.83 ± 0.18 and 3.17 ± 0.69 ml/min per gram in the placebo group. Despite significant low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol lowering, resting and adenosine-stimulated blood flow values remained similar at follow-up: 0.86 ± 0.23 and 3.79 ± 1.31 vs. 0.78 ± 0.20 and 3.20 ± 0.86 ml/min per gram, in the pravastatin and placebo groups, respectively. An improvement in adenosine-induced flow after pravastatin, but not after placebo, was seen only in a subgroup of subjects (n = 15) with relatively low adenosine flow (<4.0 ml/min per gram) at baseline. Six months of cholesterol-lowering therapy with statin treatment has no overall significant effect on coronary vasodilator capacity in healthy subjects with mildly elevated cholesterol levels. A controlled study is needed to further test whether improvement in coronary function is obtained in subjects with initially reduced hyperemic flow response.
Cloning and nucleic acid sequence of the Salmonella typhimurium pncB gene and structure of nicotinate phosphoribosyltransferase

The pncB gene of Salmonella typhimurium, encoding nicotinate phosphoribosyltransferase (NAPRTase), was cloned on a 4.7-kb Sau3A fragment. The gene contains a 1,200-bp open reading frame coding for a 400-residue protein. Amino acid sequencing of the amino-terminal and two interior peptides of the purified protein confirmed the deduced sequence and revealed that the amino-terminal methionine residue was removed, giving a 399-residue mature protein of Mr 45,512. No signal sequence was observed in the predicted NAPRTase primary structure, suggesting that the enzyme is not periplasmic. The protein does not demonstrate clear sequence similarity to the other seven phosphoribosyltransferases of known primary structure and frustrates attempts to define a consensus 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate-binding region. The NAPRTase reaction is ATP stimulated, and the protein contains a carboxy-terminal sequence diagnostic of an ATP-binding site. An inverted repeat of the sequence TAAACAA observed in the proposed promoter region of pncB is also present in the promoter of nadA, which, like pncB, is also regulated by the NadR (NadI) repressor. The sequence may thus define an NadR repressor-binding site.
Microplasmin: ex vivo characterization of its activity in porcine vitreous.

PURPOSE Microplasmin is a recombinant protein limited to the enzymatic moiety of plasmin without any of its cringle domains. Its enzymatic activity is similar to that of plasmin enzyme. The present study characterizes in a porcine eye model the vitreolytic ability of microplasmin. METHOD Freshly harvested porcine eyes were used in these trials. Eyes were injected with escalating doses of microplasmin (62.5, 125, 250, 400 microg) for 1 hour or with 125 microg microplasmin with increasing time exposures (15, 30, 60, 120 minutes). Eyes were fixed by a very slow dehydration process to preserve the integrity of the vitreous retinal interface. They were examined by light microscopy to determine the degree of posterior vitreous detachment and by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study structural changes. RESULTS Effective separation of the posterior hyaloid appeared to be dose dependent. After 1 hour, the posterior pole was detached in 100% of porcine eyes exposed to 125 microg microplasmin and in the midperiphery to 250 microg microplasmin. Vitreous at the ora did not detach. At 120 minutes of exposure, midperipheral detachment was observed with 125 microg microplasmin. A smooth retinal surface was seen where the enzyme caused posterior vitreous detachment. There was also significant change to the integrity of the vitreous without any obvious structural alterations to the retina by histology or scanning electron microscopy. CONCLUSIONS Microplasmin caused vitreolysis and posterior vitreous separation in an ex vivo porcine eye model in an apparent dose- and time-dependent fashion. In this model system, the minimal effective dose appeared to be 125 microg.