Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
'Dont die of ignorance' I nearly died of embarrassment: Condoms in context

Many are embarrassed to bring up the subject of condoms. The Womens Risk and AIDS Project in the UK has data from 496 women aged 16-21 and qualitative data from 150 of them which offer insight into the social situations in which condoms are used or rejected and of the symbolic significance of condoms in the negotiation of sexual relationships. The symbolic meanings of condoms vary both among people and over time. The data highlight the importance of mens power in sexual encounters and their control of sexual pleasure womens opposition to condoms the ways in which women can demand safer sex the complications of love in unequal relationships and the contradictions of asking young men to use condoms. Public education is not going to change these meanings. Review of the data also found a broad range of sexual experiences and variations in levels of power and autonomy in negotiating sexual relationships. Most women are not using condoms most of the time. Furthermore embarrassment was found at every stage of condom use and many who were unable to negotiate condom use realized that what they were doing was not in their best interest. As men and women explore their sexuality they must strive to be as mature and open as possible and acknowledge the potential for HIV transmission. Once done the presently complex negotiation process which transpires over condom use may become more simple.
Prediction of liver complications in patients with hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis with and without HIV coinfection: comparison of hepatic venous pressure gradient and transient elastography.

BACKGROUND Hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) is the best indicator of prognosis in patients with compensated cirrhosis. We compared HVPG and transient elastography (TE) for the prediction of liver-related events (LREs) in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related cirrhosis with or without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection. METHODS This was a retrospective review of all consecutive patients with compensated HCV-related cirrhosis who were assessed simultaneously using TE and HVPG between January 2005 and December 2011. We used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to determine the ability of TE and HVPG to predict the first LRE (liver decompensation or hepatocellular carcinoma). RESULTS The study included 60 patients, 36 of whom were coinfected with HIV. After a median follow-up of 42 months, 6 patients died, 8 experienced liver decompensations, and 7 were diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma. The area under the ROC curve (AUROC) of TE and HVPG for prediction of LREs in all patients was 0.85 (95% confidence interval [CI], .73-.97) and 0.76 (95% CI, .63-.89) (P = .13); for HIV-infected patients, the AUROC was 0.85 (95% CI, .67-1.00) and 0.81 (95% CI, .64-.97) (P = .57); and for non-HIV-infected patients, the AUROC was 0.88 (95% CI, .75-1.00) and 0.77 (95% CI, .57-.97) (P = .19). Based on the AUROC values, 2 TE cutoff points were chosen to predict the absence (<25 kPa) or presence (≥40 kPa) of LREs, thus enabling correct classification of 82% of patients. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that TE is at least as valid as HVPG for predicting LREs in patients with compensated HCV-related cirrhosis with or without concomitant HIV coinfection.
Recent Progress in Distributed Fiber Optic Sensors

Rayleigh, Brillouin and Raman scatterings in fibers result from the interaction of photons with local material characteristic features like density, temperature and strain. For example an acoustic/mechanical wave generates a dynamic density variation; such a variation may be affected by local temperature, strain, vibration and birefringence. By detecting changes in the amplitude, frequency and phase of light scattered along a fiber, one can realize a distributed fiber sensor for measuring localized temperature, strain, vibration and birefringence over lengths ranging from meters to one hundred kilometers. Such a measurement can be made in the time domain or frequency domain to resolve location information. With coherent detection of the scattered light one can observe changes in birefringence and beat length for fibers and devices. The progress on state of the art technology for sensing performance, in terms of spatial resolution and limitations on sensing length is reviewed. These distributed sensors can be used for disaster prevention in the civil structural monitoring of pipelines, bridges, dams and railroads. A sensor with centimeter spatial resolution and high precision measurement of temperature, strain, vibration and birefringence can find applications in aerospace smart structures, material processing, and the characterization of optical materials and devices.
Social-Cognitive Deficits in Normal Aging

A sizeable number of studies have implicated the default network (e.g., medial prefrontal and parietal cortices) in tasks that require participants to infer the mental states of others (i.e., to mentalize). Parallel research has demonstrated that default network function declines over the lifespan, suggesting that older adults may show impairments in social-cognitive tasks that require mentalizing. Older and younger human adults were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing three different social-cognitive tasks. Across three mentalizing paradigms, younger and older adults viewed animated shapes in brief social vignettes, stories about a person's moral actions, and false belief stories. Consistent with predictions, older adults responded less accurately to stories about others' false beliefs and made less use of actors' intentions to judge the moral permissibility of behavior. These impairments in performance during social-cognitive tasks were accompanied by age-related decreases across all three paradigms in the BOLD response of a single brain region, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest specific task-independent age-related deficits in mentalizing that are localizable to changes in circumscribed subregions of the default network.
Angiosarcoma arising in an irradiated breast. A case report and review of the literature

The authors discuss an angiosarcoma that developed in a 50‐year‐old woman's breast 10 years after she underwent conventional postoperative irradiation with cobalt 60 teletherapy. Although angiosarcoma developing in a lymphedematous arm after radical mastectomy is a well‐known phenomenon, and several cases of angiosarcoma are known to have occurred in the chest wall after mastectomy with or without irradiation, only one other case of angiosarcoma in an irradiated breast has been reported. The possible role of therapeutic irradiation in inducing this malignancy is discussed.
Probabilistic Quantitative Precipitation Forecasting Using Bayesian Model Averaging

Abstract Bayesian model averaging (BMA) is a statistical way of postprocessing forecast ensembles to create predictive probability density functions (PDFs) for weather quantities. It represents the predictive PDF as a weighted average of PDFs centered on the individual bias-corrected forecasts, where the weights are posterior probabilities of the models generating the forecasts and reflect the forecasts’ relative contributions to predictive skill over a training period. It was developed initially for quantities whose PDFs can be approximated by normal distributions, such as temperature and sea level pressure. BMA does not apply in its original form to precipitation, because the predictive PDF of precipitation is nonnormal in two major ways: it has a positive probability of being equal to zero, and it is skewed. In this study BMA is extended to probabilistic quantitative precipitation forecasting. The predictive PDF corresponding to one ensemble member is a mixture of a discrete component at zero and a gam.
The Impact of Principals in Sustaining Middle School Change.

Capturing the conditions in far too many schools, this observation byAshton pro vided the motivation to study the influ ence of principals' leadership behavior on teachers' sense of efficacy in middle schools involved in significant bu lding level change. Although teachers' feelings of success have repeatedly been associated with students' accomplish ments, research has also shown that principals are key to facilitating decisions that strengthen conditions in schools and stimulate feelings of optimism about the future of education (Ashton & Webb, 1986; Gibson & Dembo, 1984; Ross, 1993). A principal's position as formal leader affords one the privilege of supporting teachers by reducing feelings of uncertainty, empowering shared decision-making, and inspiring norms of collegiality and continual growth which foster a heightened sense of professionalism. Ashton and Webb (1986) asserted that teachers have dif fering attitudes about their competence that become apparent in their professional behavior and, in turn, affect the performance of their students. Through effec tive leadership, principals convey a sense of certainty that teachers can and do influence student outcomes. Under current conditions, teachers often work in isolation and seldom receive feedback on their teaching. As a result, teachers not only find it difficult to judge their own effectiveness but nearly impossible to assess the overall influence of group efforts on student learning. In a time when public criticism of teachers and schools is pervasive, teachers may believe that they have more per sonal control over the impact of their teaching on stu dents than do teachers in general (Hipp & Bredeson, 1995). Thus, public criticism may lead teachers to ques tion the competence and commitment of their profes sional colleagues. Moreover, since most teachers lack the experiences that promote the collaborative support needed to eliminate doubt and negative feelings, many prefer to maintain closed classrooms when working with children. A teacher's sense of influence is based on two dif ferent factors: general teaching efficacy (GTE) and per sonal teaching efficacy (PTE). GTE represents a teacher's belief in the ability of teachers as a group to affect student performance or "What I think we can do. " PTE is associ ated with a belief in one's own ability to make a differ ence, or "What I think / can do. " Teachers and principals in ten Wisconsin middle schools were surveyed in an effort to determine the rela tionship between principals' leadership behavior and teachers' sense of efficacy. The Nature of Leadership Survey (Leithwood & Jantzi, 1993) and Teacher Efficacy Scale (Gibson & Dembo, 1984) were used to gather data. Three schools with either very high or very low teacher efficacy scores were studied in greater depth. Eleven principal behaviors were found to promote teacher effi cacy. J. R. Gerritts Middle School in Kimberly, Wisconsin, emerged as the school with the highest general teaching efficacy. A closer look at the operation of this school sug gests guidelines for principals who wish to foster greater
Engineering Trust - Reciprocity in the Production of Reputation Information

Reciprocal feedback distorts the production and content of reputation information, hampering trust and trade efficiency. Data from eBay and other sources combined with laboratory data provide a robust picture of how reciprocity can be guided by changes in the way feedback information flows through the system, leading to more accurate reputation information, more trust and more efficient trade.
Preexposure prophylaxis for HIV infection among African women.

BACKGROUND Preexposure prophylaxis with antiretroviral drugs has been effective in the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in some trials but not in others. METHODS In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we assigned 2120 HIV-negative women in Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania to receive either a combination of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine (TDF-FTC) or placebo once daily. The primary objective was to assess the effectiveness of TDF-FTC in preventing HIV acquisition and to evaluate safety. RESULTS HIV infections occurred in 33 women in the TDF-FTC group (incidence rate, 4.7 per 100 person-years) and in 35 in the placebo group (incidence rate, 5.0 per 100 person-years), for an estimated hazard ratio in the TDF-FTC group of 0.94 (95% confidence interval, 0.59 to 1.52; P=0.81). The proportions of women with nausea, vomiting, or elevated alanine aminotransferase levels were significantly higher in the TDF-FTC group (P=0.04, P<0.001, and P=0.03, respectively). Rates of drug discontinuation because of hepatic or renal abnormalities were higher in the TDF-FTC group (4.7%) than in the placebo group (3.0%, P=0.051). Less than 40% of the HIV-uninfected women in the TDF-FTC group had evidence of recent pill use at visits that were matched to the HIV-infection window for women with seroconversion. The study was stopped early, on April 18, 2011, because of lack of efficacy. CONCLUSIONS Prophylaxis with TDF-FTC did not significantly reduce the rate of HIV infection and was associated with increased rates of side effects, as compared with placebo. Despite substantial counseling efforts, drug adherence appeared to be low. (Supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development and others; FEM-PrEP ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00625404.).
Geography-informed energy conservation for Ad Hoc routing

We introduce a geographical adaptive fidelity (GAF) algorithm that reduces energy consumption in ad hoc wireless networks. GAF conserves energy by identifying nodes that are equivalent from a routing perspective and then turning off unnecessary nodes, keeping a constant level of routing fidelity. GAF moderates this policy using application- and system-level information; nodes that source or sink data remain on and intermediate nodes monitor and balance energy use. GAF is independent of the underlying ad hoc routing protocol; we simulate GAF over unmodified AODV and DSR. Analysis and simulation studies of GAF show that it can consume 40% to 60% less energy than an unmodified ad hoc routing protocol. Moreover, simulations of GAP suggest that network lifetime increases proportionally to node density; in one example, a four-fold increase in node density leads to network lifetime increase for 3 to 6 times (depending on the mobility pattern). More generally, GAF is an example of adaptive fidelity, a technique proposed for extending the lifetime of self-configuring systems by exploiting redundancy to conserve energy while maintaining application fidelity.
Network synthesis for dynamical system stabilization

We present our recent results in the area of distributed control over wireless networks. In our previous work, we introduced the concept of a Wireless Control Network (WCN), where the network acts as a decentralized structured controller. In this case the network is not used purely as a communication medium (as in traditional control paradigms), but instead as a fully distributed computational substrate. We showed that the dynamics of the plant dictate the types of network topologies that can be used to stabilize the system. Finally, we describe how to obtain a stabilizing configuration for the WCN if the topological conditions are satisfied.
Reduction in Staphylococcus aureus growth and exotoxin production and in vaginal interleukin 8 levels due to glycerol monolaurate in tampons.

BACKGROUND Staphylococcal menstrual toxic shock syndrome depends on vaginal production of exotoxins. Glycerol monolaurate (GML) inhibits Staphylococcus aureus exotoxin production in vitro. The purpose of this study was to determine whether GML, as a tampon fiber finish, inhibits production of exotoxins and the cytokine interleukin 8 (IL-8) during normal tampon use. METHODS On day 2 of menstruation, when vaginal S. aureus counts are high in colonized women, study participants exchanged their own preferred tampons, after wearing them for 2-6 h, for study tampons with or without GML (assigned randomly and blindly), which they then wore for 4-6 h. The women's own tampons and the study tampons with or without GML were assayed for S. aureus, the exotoxins toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 and alpha-toxin, and IL-8. RESULTS A total of 225 women completed the study. S. aureus was present in the tampons of 41 women (18%). Lower numbers of S. aureus and the exotoxins were detected in study tampons with or without GML than in women's own tampons; lower amounts of the exotoxins were present in study tampons with GML than study tampons without GML. The IL-8 level was lower in tampons from women without vaginal S. aureus compared with women with S. aureus and was lower in study tampons with GML than in study tampons without GML. CONCLUSIONS Tampons that contain GML reduce S. aureus exotoxin production. S. aureus increases vaginal IL-8 levels, and GML reduces production of this proinflammatory cytokine. These results suggest that GML added to tampons provides additional safety relative to menstrual toxic shock syndrome as well as benefits for vaginal health generally, thus supporting the addition of GML to tampons.
Exploitation of SPR to Investigate the Importance of Glycan Chains in the Interaction between Lactoferrin and Bacteria

Bovine lactoferrin (LF) has been shown to prevent adhesion to and invasion of mammalian cell lines by pathogenic bacteria, with evidence for direct bacterial binding by the milk glycoprotein. However, the glycosylation pattern of LF changes over the lactation cycle. In this study, we aim to investigate the effect that this variation has on the milk glycoprotein’s ability to interact with pathogens. Surface plasmon resonance technology was employed to compare the binding of LF from colostrum (early lactation) and mature milk (late lactation) to a panel of pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Cronobacter sakazakii, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella typhimurium). Novel interactions with LF were identified for C. sakazakii, S. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa with the highest binding ability observed for mature milk LF in all cases, with the exception of S. typhimurium. The difference in bacterial binding observed may be as a result of the varying glycosylation profiles. This work demonstrates the potential of LF as a functional food ingredient to prevent bacterial infection.
Visualization of hypoxemic coronary perfusion despite full retrograde extracorporeal circulatory life support.

Figure 1: CT angiography of the chest illustrating the aforementioned phenomenon of incomplete coronary perfusion during retrograde ECLS: contrast agent was injected through a central venous catheter placed in the right jugular vein. A CT scan was performed after haemodynamic stabilization of the patient. At this time, flow of the ECLS was 3.8 l/min with a corresponding static arterial blood pressure of 69 mmHg and a central venous pressure of 6 mmHg. Under these conditions, there is no visible contrast agent in the left ventricle of the non-ejecting heart. Despite full retrograde flow provided by the veno-arterial ECLS, the aortic root is not completely filled with the contrast agent. Figure 2: CT angiography of the chest: pericardial drains and osteosynthetic material are visible after preceding sternotomy. Emergency surgery was necessary after an attempt to place a left ventricular probe of a cardiac resynchronization device, causing a left ventricular laceration with an acute pericardial tamponade and subsequent resuscitation. ECLS implantation was followed by immediate transfer to the operating room. No left ventricular ejection at the time of imaging. Note: despite full ECLS support with retrograde arterial flow, hypoxemic blood without the contrast agent pours from the left ventricle into the aortic root and the left coronary artery.
Endothelial Cells of Intramuscular (Infantile) Hemangioma Express Glut1

Glut1 is a marker of infantile hemangioma, and its positivity has resulted in defining this tumor at several sites (eg, skin, breast, salivary glands, liver, and placenta). We herein report on the presence of Glut1 positivity in the endothelial cells of 2 examples of intramuscular hemangioma, a peculiar tumor considered to be most probably congenital. The finding expands the sites where infantile hemangioma may be recognized and suggests that this intramuscular variety should be renamed intramuscular infantile hemangioma. An additional previously unreported finding was the presence of a strong membranous pattern of staining for Glut1 in the intralesional fat cells, a known component of the tumor, which parallels that of another endothelial marker, namely CD34. These findings could prove useful for diagnostic purposes in small biopsies.
Two energy-efficient cluster head selection techniques based on distance for wireless sensor networks

Energy efficiency in data collection and transmission is always a crucial factor in wireless sensor networks (WSN). Thus, minimizing energy dissipation and maximizing network life-time are key factors in the design of routing protocols for WSNs. In this paper, based on Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) protocols, we propose two new distance-based clustering routing protocols, which we call DB-LEACH and DBEA-LEACH. The first approach (distance-based) selects a cluster head node by considering geometric distance between the candidate nodes to the base station. To further improve DB-LEACH, DBEA-LEACH (distance-based energy-aware) additionally selects a cluster head not only based on distance, but also by examining residual energy of the node greater than the average residual energy level of nodes in the network. The simulation results show that our two proposed algorithm outperformed a traditional LEACH as well as its derivatives in terms of conserving energy such that prolonging network lifetime.
Measurement and measurement-related competences of five to eight-year-old children in a British primary school

Measuring with units requires underlying conceptual competences as well as practical and numerical abilities. The social context, notably in relation to language, undoubtedly plays its part in their acquisition. Existing research had investigated conceptual, practical, numerical and social aspects of the acquisition of measurement, but rarely together, or by the same group of children. The present research united both in a conceptually coherent structure, enabling a picture to be presented that was both broad and detailed. There was a specific focus on conceptual difficulties children may face that are identified in the psychological and educational literature. Eighty-three five- to eight-year-old children were interviewed about their knowledge of measurement and participated in a comprehensive set of tasks designed to test their understanding of its language and concepts, their accuracy in making visual estimates, and their ability to measure length. Results showed the children to have a lively appreciation of the importance of measurement, good understanding of its everyday language and concepts, and good ability to estimate length. Yet they were poor measurers. This unevenness in their accomplishments indicated underlying conceptual insecurity that was manifested in ineffective deployment of measurement instruments, but went beyond it. There was some evidence that ability in language and estimation were associated for the younger children, while estimation and measurement ability were associated for the older. An agenda for further investigation of the disjunctions identified by this research was outlined.