Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The concept of a need-driven ecosystem and its application to mobility

Individual mobility has been a vital need of human beings ever since. Countless innovations have increased the naturally given possibilities to move from one location to another. These typically being as fast, safe and comfortable as possible. Equipment such as horse-drawn carriages, bicycles, cars or airplanes have been invented and continuously developed over centuries. Besides that services for orientation, navigation, planning or insuring as well as devices for entertainment and communication have been added. Various sources of energy are powering this mobility. The band starts from the brawn of animals continued to the chemically stored energy in crude oil and further to an increased use of electrical energy gained from renewable sources. In order to provide and satisfy the need for modern mobility various products, parts, devices and data are necessary as well numerous players and stakeholders are involved. In the past major changes and innovations had been pushed by the providers of the equipment such as car manufacturers. However, at present and even more in the future it appears like prerequisites for such change have altered significantly due to the increased complexity of the context. The next major steps might be driven by integration of products and needs as well as the best access of services for the individual aiming for mobility. To understand the overarching interdependencies and impacts of all relevant products, services and players this paper proposes the metaphor of a Need-driven Ecosystem. In such ecosystem interdependencies, the continued development, resource competition, technical innovation and its impact on societies and individuals can be depicted, and better understood by role-players. Such approach will assist researchers in detecting interdependencies and impacts of their work better. An application to understand the complexities of individual mobility in a Mobility Ecosystem are shown.
Health-related quality of life in patients with pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacteria infection.

BACKGROUND The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacteria (pNTM) infection has not yet been quantified. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the reliability and validity of the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) in quantifying the HRQoL of patients with pNTM. METHODS We performed a cross-sectional study of 52 patients with pNTM. All the subjects completed the CAT, SGRQ and Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaires and underwent pulmonary function testing (PFT). A test-retest was performed and Cronbach α was calculated to assess reliability. Correlations of the CAT and SGRQ with SF-36 and PFT were performed to assess validity. RESULTS The mean age of the patients was 67 years; 96% (50/52) were female. Both individual and total CAT and SGRQ scores showed good correlation between the test on Day 1 and the repeat test on Day 5. Cronbach's α (0.77-0.92) indicated satisfactory internal consistency. All scores were moderately or strongly correlated with the SF-36 Physical Component Summary score. CONCLUSION The SGRQ and CAT questionnaires showed statistically significant validity in assessing HRQoL in patients with pNTM.
Transnational connections of health professionals: medicoscapes and assisted reproduction in Ghana and Uganda

ABSTRACT Objectives. Based on our comparative fieldwork in two private fertility clinics in Accra (Ghana) and Kampala (Uganda), we explore the transnational mobility of providers involved in assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) and analyze how resulting transnational networks influence the realization and appropriation of these therapeutic treatments. By exploring these case studies from developing countries, this article intends to contribute to the field of studies that examine the diversification and complexity of migration and health care. Design. We first summarize the dynamics affecting the health-care systems in Ghana and Uganda over the last decades. Then, we describe the transnational mobility engaged in the two clinics. Through the case studies, we highlight how ARTs are realized and appropriated in the two receiving countries, and the role transnational contacts play within the negotiations of medical ethos and financial interests. By using the concept of medicoscapes, we analyze the worldwide connections between ART providers, the institutions they work in, their medical practices, artifacts, and their regimes of medical knowledge. Result. Transnational professional contacts have been essential to the setup of both clinics offering ARTs in Ghana and Uganda. These contacts developed along colonial and post-colonial links, integrating also south–south relationship. The clinics' directors act as entrepreneurs and creative decision-makers who capitalize on their transnational professional network. The case studies show the diverse transnational entanglements in both clinics and demonstrate the frictions between the doctors’ entrepreneurial interests, medical concerns and cultural values. Conclusion. The transnational professional contacts expose both clinics to varying practices and debates, and make them into sites for negotiating distinct clinical practices. They provoke frictions between entrepreneurial interests and medical concerns including cultural values. In current medicoscapes, in a situation of full absence of any form of financial support and of any national ART regulation in Ghana and Uganda, clinic directors are in the position to apply those practices that fit their interests and local circumstances best.
An exploratory study into whether self-monitoring improves adherence to daily flossing among dental patients.

OBJECTIVES This exploratory study evaluated the effectiveness of an action-control behavioral intervention on adherence to dental flossing in patients with periodontal disease. Action control, that is, monitoring one's behavior and evaluating it against a self-set standard, has been suggested as a self-regulatory strategy that can assist people who intend to engage in behavioral change. METHODS In a single-center, single-blind prospective trial, 73 dental patients received a behavioral intervention, which was either matched or mismatched to their stage of behavioral change. Through responses to a standardized self-report measure, participants were classified either as motivational (i.e., not ready to change) or volitional (i.e., contemplating change) with regard to dental flossing. The intervention consisted of a simple self-monitoring tool for dental flossing in the form of a diary. Flossing frequency, dental plaque, and bleeding scores were measured before and at 4 weeks postintervention. RESULTS Flossing frequency, dental plaque, and bleeding scores improved (P < 0.001) in both stage-matched and stage-mismatched patients. CONCLUSIONS A brief behavioral intervention enhances adherence to dental flossing, regardless of participants' stage of change. Keeping a flossing diary can increase dental flossing and reduce plaque and bleeding scores in patients with periodontal disease, in the short term.
Socioeconomic inequalities in breast and cervical screening coverage in England: are we closing the gap?

Objective Health policy in the UK is committed to tackling inequalities in cancer screening participation. We examined whether socioeconomic inequalities in breast and cervical cancer screening participation in England have reduced over five years. Methods Cross-sectional analyses compared cervical and breast screening coverage between 2007/8 and 2012/13 in Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England in relation to area-level income deprivation. Results At the start and the end of this five year period, there were socioeconomic inequalities in screening coverage for breast and cervical screening. Inequalities were highest for breast screening. Over time, the coverage gap between the highest and lowest quintiles of income deprivation significantly reduced for breast screening (from 12.3 to 8.3 percentage points), but not for cervical screening (5.3 to 4.9 percentage points). Conclusions Efforts to reduce screening inequalities appear to have resulted in a significant improvement in equitable delivery of breast screening, although not of cervical screening. More work is needed to understand the differences, and see whether broader lessons can be learned from the reduction of inequalities in breast screening participation.
LncRNA H19 confers chemoresistance in ERα-positive breast cancer through epigenetic silencing of the pro-apoptotic gene BIK

Breast cancer is a common malignancy in women. Acquisition of drug resistance is one of the main obstacles encountered in breast cancer therapy. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) has been demonstrated to play vital roles in both development and tumorigenesis. However, the relationship between lncRNAs and the development of chemoresistance is not well established. In the present study, the high expression of lncRNA H19 was identified as a powerful factor associated with paclitaxel (PTX) resistance in ERα-positive breast cancer cells, but not in ERα-negative breast cancer cells. LncRNA H19 attenuated cell apoptosis in response to PTX treatment by inhibiting transcription of pro-apoptotic genes BIK and NOXA. H19 was further confirmed to suppress the promoter activity of BIK by recruiting EZH2 and by trimethylating the histone H3 at lysine 27. Interestingly, our data showed that lncRNA H19 was one of the downstream target molecules of ERα. Altered ERα expression may therefore change H19 levels to modulate the apoptosis response to chemotherapy in breast cancer cells. Our data suggest that the ERα-H19-BIK signaling axis plays an important role in promoting chemoresistance.
Review on the development of defect-free and ultrathin-skinned asymmetric membranes for gas separation through manipulation of phase inversion and rheological factors

Development of high-performance asymmetric membranes is a major breakthrough in membrane technology. A comprehensive study on original concepts and new advances in membrane formation process is necessary to generate defect-free and ultrathin-skinned asymmetric membranes with superior performance for gas separation process. Correlation of rheological factors with primary-phase inversion process is a novel approach in membrane research that provides a potential platform to improve membrane performance. The former controls general morphology of membrane, whereas the latter further affects molecular orientation in membrane. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 442–451, 2003
Visualization of Phosphatidylinositol 3,5-Bisphosphate Dynamics by a Tandem ML1N-Based Fluorescent Protein Probe in Arabidopsis

Phosphatidylinositol 3,5-bisphosphate [PI(3,5)P2] is a low-abundance phospholipid known to be associated with a wide variety of physiological functions in plants. However, the localization and dynamics of PI(3,5)P2 in plant cells remain largely unknown, partially due to the lack of an effective fluorescent probe. Using Arabidopsis transgenic plant expressing the PI(3,5)P2-labeling fluorescent probe (tagRFP-ML1N*2) developed based on a tandem repeat of the cytosolic phosphoinositide-interacting domain (ML1N) of the mammalian lysosomal transient receptor potential cation channel, Mucolipin 1 (TRPML1), here we show that PI(3,5)P2 is predominantly localized on the limited membranes of the FAB1- and SNX1-positive late endosomes, but rarely localized on the membranes of plant vacuoles or trans-Golgi network/early endosomes of cortical cells of the root differentiation zone. The late endosomal localization of tagRFP-ML1N*2 is reduced or abolished by pharmacological inhibition or genetic knockdown of expression of genes encoding PI(3,5)P2-synthesizing enzymes, FAB1A/B, but markedly increased with FAB1A overexpression. Notably, reactive oxygen species (ROS) significantly increase late endosomal levels of PI(3,5)P2. Thus, tandem ML1N-based PI(3,5)P2 probes can reliably monitor intracellular dynamics of PI(3,5)P2 in Arabidopsis cells with less binding activity to other endomembrane organelles.
Stabilization of nonlinear sampled-data systems with input update delay

Stabilization of nonlinear sampled-data systems with input update delay is considered. First the existence of state feedback semiglobally practically uniformly asymptotic stabilizing controllers is assumed for nonlinear sampled-data systems without input update delay. Then input update delay is introduced and the relationship between the magnitude of input update delay and degeneration of controllers is discussed. A numerical example is also given to illustrate the theory.
The CDC50A extracellular domain is required for forming a functional complex with and chaperoning phospholipid flippases to the plasma membrane

Flippases are enzymes that translocate phosphatidylserine (PtdSer) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdEtn) from the outer to the inner leaflet in the lipid bilayer of the plasma membrane, leading to the asymmetric distribution of aminophospholipids in the membrane. One mammalian phospholipid flippase at the plasma membrane is ATP11C, a type IV P-type ATPase (P4-ATPase) that forms a heterocomplex with the transmembrane protein CDC50A. However, the structural features in CDC50A that support the function of ATP11C and other P4-ATPases have not been characterized. Here, using error-prone PCR-mediated mutagenesis of human CDC50A cDNA followed by functional screening and deep sequencing, we identified 14 amino acid residues that affect ATP11C's flippase activity. These residues were all located in CDC50A's extracellular domain and were evolutionarily well-conserved. Most of the mutations decreased CDC50A's ability to chaperone ATP11C and other P4-ATPases to their destinations. The CDC50A mutants failed to form a stable complex with ATP11C and could not induce ATP11C's PtdSer-dependent ATPase activity. Notably, one mutant variant could form a stable complex with ATP11C and transfer ATP11C to the plasma membrane, yet the ATP11C complexed with this CDC50A variant had very weak or little PtdSer- or PtdEtn-dependent ATPase activity. These results indicated that the extracellular domain of CDC50A has important roles both in CDC50A's ability to chaperone ATP11C to the plasma membrane and in inducing ATP11C's ATP hydrolysis-coupled flippase activity.
Clozapine v. first- and second-generation antipsychotics in treatment-refractory schizophrenia: systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Although clozapine is the ‘gold standard’ for treatment-refractory schizophrenia, meta-analyses of clozapine for this condition are lacking. Aims We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of clozapine treatment for people with treatment-refractory schizophrenia. Method We searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's trial register, PubMed and EMBASE and hand-searched key papers for randomised controlled trials of clozapine for treatment-refractory schizophrenia. Results Twenty-one papers with 25 comparisons were included. The number needed to treat was 9. Clozapine was superior for positive symptoms in both the short and long term. In the short term only clozapine was superior for total and negative symptoms, with higher response rates. Both funding source and dosage affected results. Higher baseline psychosis scores predicted better outcomes for clozapine in a meta-regression. Conclusions Clozapine is superior for treatment-refractory disorder but if there is no response by 6 months medications with lower adverse reactions should be considered.
Functional responses in animal movement explain spatial heterogeneity in animal–habitat relationships

Understanding why heterogeneity exists in animal-habitat spatial relationships is critical for identifying the drivers of animal distributions. Functional responses in habitat selection - whereby animals adjust their habitat selection depending on habitat availability - are useful for describing animal-habitat spatial heterogeneity. However, they could be yielded by different movement tactics, involving contrasting interspecific interactions. Identifying functional responses in animal movement, rather than in emergent spatial patterns like habitat selection, could disentangle the effects of different movement behaviours on spatial heterogeneity in animal-habitat relationships. This would clarify how functional responses in habitat selection emerge and provide a general tool for understanding the mechanistic drivers of animal distributions. We tested this approach using data from GPS-collared woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus), a prey species under top-down control. We tested how caribou selected and moved with respect to a key resource (lichen-conifer stands) as a function of the availability of surrounding refuge land-cover (closed-conifer stands), using step selection functions. Caribou selected resource patches more strongly in areas richer in refuge land-cover - a functional response in habitat selection. However, adjustments in multiple movement behaviours could have generated this pattern: stronger directed movement towards resource patches and/or longer residency within resource patches, in areas richer in refuges. Different contributions of these behaviours would produce contrasting forager spatial dynamics. We identified functional responses in both movement behaviours: caribou were more likely to move towards resource patches in areas richer in refuge land-cover, and to remain in these patches during movement steps. This tactic enables caribou to forage for longer in safer areas where they can rapidly seek refuge in dense cover when predators are detected. Our study shows that functional responses in movement can expose the context-dependent movement decisions that generate heterogeneity in animal-habitat spatial relationships. We used these functional responses to characterise anti-predator movement tactics employed by a large herbivore, but they could be applied in many different scenarios. The movement rules from functional responses in movement are well-suited to integration in spatial explicit individual-based models for forecasting animal distributions in landscapes undergoing environmental change.
Necessary and sufficient condition of consensus for affine multi-agent cooperative systems under time-varying directed networks

This work studies the necessary and sufficient condition for a class of affine multi-agent system under time varying directed network. A notion called ∞-adjoin graph of time-varying network, whose properties will be used as the criterion of system achieving consensus, is initiated. By a decomposition on ∞-adjoin graph of the time-varying directed network, the system may consist of several independent basic components and non-independent basic components of the system. Based on this composition and some assumptions on the system, we provided the necessary and sufficient condition for achieving consensus of systems. This work extends and modifies the results given in our previous paper[15].
Flipped Versus Traditional Instruction and Achievement in a Baccalaureate Nursing Pharmacology Course

&NA; The researchers used a quantitative pretest‐posttest nonequivalent control group quasi‐experimental design to determine if there is a significant difference in content knowledge acquisition between traditional and flipped classroom methods. Analysis revealed that the flipped classroom approach was significantly different for three unit exams. The results did not show a significant difference in the means for the final exam. Knowledge gains on tests and students’ positive responses support the use of the flipped classroom method.
Structure Refinement of Mullite by the Rietveld Method and a New Method for Estimation of Chemical Composition

The structure of mullite was refined by the Rietveld method, and a new method for the estimation of chemical composition of mullite was proposed. Mullites were synthesized by firing the starting materials prepared by sol–gel and spray pyrolysis methods at various temperatures. Linear correlations were recongnized between the chemical composition of mullite analyzed with the Rietveld method and the lengths of a and b axes, but a small anomaly was found in the variation of the c axis. It was found to be caused by a difference in the c axis of pseudotetragonal mullite and that of orthorhombic mullite. A good correlation was found between the chemical composition of mullite and the intensity ratio of (I220/I111). This is a much more convenient method for estimating the chemical composition of mullite than Cameron's method, which uses a lattice constant.
Pain pattern classification and directional preference are associated with clinical outcomes for patients with low back pain

Abstract Pain Pattern Classification (PPC) and Directional Preference (DP) have shown merit as reliable and predictable clinical solutions to help reduce the burden posed by low back pain (LBP). We conducted a prospective, observational cohort study to verify the association between PPC, DP, and clinical outcomes. We hypothesized that (1) patients who demonstrated DP Centralization (CEN) would have lower pain intensity and disability at follow-up than patients who demonstrated Non-DP Non-CEN, and (2) the prevalence of DP at first examination would be lowest for patients with chronic LBP and are greater than 65 years old. First examination and follow-up data were completed by 639 patients. Clinical outcome measures, including pain intensity and disability, were collected at first examination and follow-up. Baseline comparisons were made between groups with first examination data only and groups with first examination data and follow-up data. A Pearson’s chi-squared test was used to determine differences in prevalence rates for the categorical variables, and two-sample t-tests were used for the continuous variables. A Turkey’s range test was used to determine differences in follow-up pain intensity and disability for LBP dual-classifications. Multiple regression was used to investigate DP prevalence considering risk adjusted factors. Overall prevalence of DP was 84.5% and prevalence was lowest for patients with sub-acute symptoms. No significant difference existed for the prevalence of DP for patients based on age. Patients classified as DP CEN had, on average, 1.99 pain intensity units less than patients classified as Non-DP Non-CEN at follow-up. Patients classified as DP CEN had, on average, 3.43 RMDQ units less than patients classified as Non-DP Non-CEN at follow-up.These findings support previous reports, verifying the association between LBP dual-classification schemes and clinical outcomes.