Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-pharmacological management of antipsychotic-induced weight gain: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Background Antipsychotic-induced weight gain is a major concern in the treatment of psychosis. The efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions as well as the optimal intervention approach for this side-effect remain unclear. Aims To determine the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions and specific treatment approaches to control antipsychotic-induced weight gain in patients with firstepisode or chronic schizophrenia. Method Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Results Ten trials were included in the meta-analysis. Adjunctive non-pharmacological interventions, either individual or group interventions, or cognitive-behavioural therapy as well as nutritional counselling were effective in reducing or attenuating antipsychotic-induced weight gain compared with treatment as usual, with treatment effects maintained over follow-up. Conclusions Non-pharmacological weight-management interventions should be a priority, particularly during the early stages of antipsychotic treatment. Preventive approaches have the potential to be more effective, acceptable, cost-efficient and beneficial.
POLYACRYLAMIDE FOR SURFACE IRRIGATION TO INCREASE NUTRIENT-USE EFFICIENCY AND PROTECTWATER QUALITY

Furrow irrigation systems have a greater application capacity, are less costly, and use less energy than sprinkler systems but furrow irrigation produces greater runoff, erosion, and deep percolation losses. Phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) losses are associated with runoff sediment, and can be minimized by eliminating irrigationinduced erosion. Excessive leaching of inorganic and organic solutes commonly occurs at the inflow region of furrow irrigated fields where infiltration opportunity times are longer. In one conservation practice, a high molecular weight, anionic polyacrylamide (PAM) is applied to advancing furrow stream flows at a concentration of 10 mg L−1. Because PAM stabilizes furrow soil and flocculates suspended sediment, we hypothesized that this treatment would reduce runoff losses of sediment, molybdate reactive P (MRP), total P, NO3-N, and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Polyacrylamide treatment may increase furrow infiltration in some soils. However, we hypothesized that because it permits higher initial inflows, PAM would not increase NO3-N or Cl leaching relative to conventional, constant inflow irrigation. To test the first hypothesis, all treatments had the same inflow regime. For hypothesis two, control inflows were a constant 15 L min−1; PAM treated in- flows were cut back from 45 to 15 L min−1 after furrow advance. Irrigation runoff and percolation waters were sampled and analyzed. Polyacrylamide increased infiltration and decreased runoff, particularly early in the irrigations. Mean cumulative runoff sediment loss over 12 h was 11.86 kg for each control furrow vs 1.15 kg for PAM-treated furrows. The PAM reduced 12-h cumulative sediment losses in runoff by 90%, MRP by 87%, total P by 92%, and COD by 85%, relative to control furrows. Polyacrylamide had no field-wide, season-long effect on cumulative amounts of water, NO3-N or Cl leached. The PAM-technology effectively prevented soil nutrient losses, increased nutrient-use efficiency, and decreased N and P loads in irrigation return flows and receiving surface waters.
Sugar-sweetened soft drinks and obesity: a systematic review of the evidence from observational studies and interventions

Sugar-sweetened soft drinks (SSD) are a special target of many obesity-prevention strategies, yet critical reviews tend to be more cautious regarding the aetiological role of SSD in promoting excess body weight. Since ongoing evaluation of this issue is important, the present systematic review re-examined the evidence from epidemiological studies and interventions, up to July 2008. Database searches of Medline, Cochrane reviews, Google scholar and a hand search of cross-references identified forty-four original studies (twenty-three cross-sectional, seventeen prospective and four intervention) in adults and children, as well as six reviews. These were critically examined for methodology, results and interpretation. Approximately half the cross-sectional and prospective studies found a statistically significant association between SSD consumption and BMI, weight, adiposity or weight gain in at least one subgroup. The totality of evidence is dominated by American studies where SSD consumption tends to be higher and formulations different. Most studies suggest that the effect of SSD is small except in susceptible individuals or at high levels of intake. Methodological weaknesses mean that many studies cannot detect whether soft drinks or other aspects of diet and lifestyle have contributed to excess body weight. Progress in reaching a definitive conclusion on the role of SSD in obesity is hampered by the paucity of good-quality interventions which reliably monitor diet and lifestyle and adequately report effect sizes. Of the three long-term (>6 months) interventions, one reported a decrease in obesity prevalence but no change in mean BMI and two found a significant impact only among children already overweight at baseline. Of the six reviews, two concluded that the evidence was strong, one that an association was probable, while three described it as inconclusive, equivocal or near zero. Reasons for some discrepancies are presented.
Th 1-Th 17 Cells Contribute to the Development of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli-Induced Chronic Pelvic Pain

The etiology of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome in men is unknown but may involve microbes and autoimmune mechanisms. We developed an infection model of chronic pelvic pain in NOD/ShiLtJ (NOD) mice with a clinical Escherichia coli isolate (CP-1) from a patient with chronic pelvic pain. We investigated pain mechanisms in NOD mice and compared it to C57BL/6 (B6) mice, a strain resistant to CP-1-induced pain. Adoptive transfer of CD4+ T cells, but not serum, from CP-1-infected NOD mice was sufficient to induce chronic pelvic pain. CD4+ T cells in CP-1-infected NOD mice expressed IFN-c and IL-17A but not IL-4, consistent with a Th1/Th17 immune signature. Adoptive transfer of ex-vivo expanded IFN-c or IL-17A-expressing cells was sufficient to induce pelvic pain in naı̈ve NOD recipients. Pelvic pain was not abolished in NOD-IFN-c-KO mice but was associated with an enhanced IL-17A immune response to CP1 infection. These findings demonstrate a novel role for Th1 and Th17-mediated adaptive immune mechanisms in chronic pelvic pain. Citation: Quick ML, Wong L, Mukherjee S, Done JD, Schaeffer AJ, et al. (2013) Th1-Th17 Cells Contribute to the Development of Uropathogenic Escherichia coliInduced Chronic Pelvic Pain. PLoS ONE 8(4): e60987. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0060987 Editor: Jose Carlos Alves-Filho, University of São Paulo, Brazil Received November 14, 2012; Accepted March 5, 2013; Published April 5, 2013 Copyright: 2013 Quick et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: Research reported in this publication was supported by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases/National Institutes of Health (NIDDK/NIH) under Award number K01DK079019 and R01DK083609. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: thumbikat@northwestern.edu . These authors contributed equally to this work.
Physicians' prescribing habits for cancer pain in Cyprus.

BACKGROUND Prescription of opioids based on morphine equivalence data per capita is very low in Cyprus. Three studies were undertaken to evaluate the prescribing habits of physicians in Cyprus for cancer patients with pain. METHODS Data were collected regarding the presence and severity of pain and prescription of analgesia in a cross-sectional study of 141 patients receiving outpatient chemotherapy within the Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre (BOCOC), in a retrospective study of 90 new lung cancer patients referred to one Oncologist in the BOCOC, and in a prospective study of 100 new cancer patients referred to the BOCOC. In the first study, the results reflected the prescribing habits of oncologists within the oncology centre, whilst the second and third studies reflected the prescribing habits of physicians outside the oncology centre. RESULTS In the three studies, 56.0%, 48.1% and 57.7%, respectively, of patients with pain were prescribed analgesia. The majority of patients were prescribed paracetamol and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and only 8.6%, 11.5% and 0%, respectively, of patients were prescribed strong opioids. In the last two studies, following their oncology appointment the prescription of analgesia to patients with pain, increased to 80.8% and 73.1%, respectively, whilst the prescription of strong opioids, increased to 28.8% and 34.6%, respectively, reflecting oncologists' practice. CONCLUSION There is under-treatment of pain in cancer patients, both within and outside a tertiary oncology centre in Cyprus. Particularly there is low prescribing of strong opioids. There is a need to look further into the barriers that prevent physicians prescribing opioids in Cyprus, as well as to patients' attitudes towards analgesia and opioids, and to set up training programs to address these issues.
Interactions between the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Harmonia axyridis and the Parasitoid Dinocampus coccinellae

Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) has been introduced either intentionally or accidentally in different areas outside its native range, where it is often regarded as invasive. Dinocampus coccinellae (Schrank) has been recorded to parasitize H. axyridis in the field, both in the native and introduced areas, Italy included. The percent of parasitism found in our field investigation was low (four percent). The effect of exposure time of H. axyridis to D. coccinellae and the impact of parasitization on host longevity, oviposition capacity and egg fertility were evaluated in the laboratory. The acceptance and suitability of H. axyridis as host for D. coccinellae were then studied, in comparison with the native coccinellid Adalia bipunctata (L.), which shares the same ecological niche. The effects of parasitization on female longevity and reproduction capacity in the exotic vs. the indigenous lady beetle were also investigated. The overall results showed that D. coccinellae negatively affected the fitness of H. axyridis, more than that of A. bipunctata. The parasitoid may thus play a marginal role in controlling the populations of the Asian lady beetle, without representing a threat to A. bipunctata.
Determinants of Salivary Cotinine among Smokeless Tobacco Users: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Bangladesh

Introduction More than 80% of all smokeless tobacco (ST) products in the world are consumed in South Asia; yet little is known about their consumption behaviour, addictiveness, and toxic properties. This paper, for the first time, describes associations between salivary cotinine concentrations among ST users in Bangladesh and their socio-demographic characteristics and tobacco use behaviours. Methods In a survey of ST users in Dhaka, Bangladesh, we purposively recruited 200 adults who were non-smokers but consumed ST on a regular basis. In-person interviews were conducted to obtain information about socio-demographic and ST use behaviours, and saliva samples were collected to measure cotinine concentration. Simple and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to test associations between the log transformed salivary cotinine concentration and other study variables. Results The geometric mean of cotinine concentration among ST users was 380ng/ml (GSD:2). Total duration of daily ST use in months had a statistically significant association with cotinine concentration. Other ST use characteristics including type and quantity of ST use, swallowing of tobacco juice, urges and strength of urges and attempts to cut down on tobacco use were not found to be associated with cotinine concentration in a multivariable model. Conclusion This is the first report from Bangladesh studying cotinine concentration among ST users and it points towards high levels of addiction. This warrants effective tobacco control policies to help ST cessation and prevention.
Hilbert Space Embeddings of Hidden Markov Models

Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are important tools for modeling sequence data. However, they are restricted to discrete latent states, and are largely restricted to Gaussian and discrete observations. And, learning algorithms for HMMs have predominantly relied on local search heuristics, with the exception of spectral methods such as those described below. We propose a nonparametric HMM that extends traditional HMMs to structured and non-Gaussian continuous distributions. Furthermore, we derive a local-minimum-free kernel spectral algorithm for learning these HMMs. We apply our method to robot vision data, slot car inertial sensor data and audio event classification data, and show that in these applications, embedded HMMs exceed the previous state-of-the-art performance.
From Bitcoin to Bitcoin Cash: a network analysis

Bitcoins and Blockchain technologies are attracting the attention of different scientific communities. In addition, their widespread industrial applications and the continuous introduction of cryptocurrencies are also stimulating the attention of the public opinion. The underlying structure of these technologies constitutes one of their core concepts. In particular, they are based on peer-to-peer networks. Accordingly, all nodes lie at the same level, so that there is no place for privileged actors as, for instance, banking institutions in classical financial networks. In this work, we perform a preliminary investigation on two kinds of network, i.e. the Bitcoin network and the Bitcoin Cash network. Notably, we analyze their global structure and we try to evaluate if they are provided with a small-world behavior. Results suggest that the principle known as 'fittest-gets-richer', combined with a continuous increasing of connections, might constitute the mechanism leading these networks to reach their current structure. Moreover, further observations open the way to new investigations into this direction.
The influence of group decision making on indecisiveness-related decisional confidence

Indecisiveness is an individual difference measure of chronic difficulty and delay in decision making. Indecisiveness is associated with low decisional confidence and distinct patterns of pre-choice information search behavior. The present study explored whether the confidence levels and search behaviors associated with individual indecisiveness also emerge in group decision making contexts. In this study, 97 decisive and indecisive participants were assigned to make a decision individually or in a homogenous three-person group. Indecisiveness score was found to predict participant decisional confidence in the individual condition but not in the group condition, with group participants being overall more confident than individuals. Similar results were obtained for other related measures of participants’ perceptions of the decision task. Surprisingly, no indecisiveness-related differences in information search were found, suggesting that other aspects of the group process contribute to increased confidence. The results provide initial evidence that indecisiveness does not influence group decision making and that, especially for indecisive individuals, working in groups may be a way to boost decisional confidence.
Effects of red pepper added to high-fat and high-carbohydrate meals on energy metabolism and substrate utilization in Japanese women

The effects of dietary red pepper added to high-fat (HF) and high-carbohydrate (HC) meals on energy metabolism were examined in thirteen Japanese female subjects. After ingesting a standardized dinner on the previous evening, the subjects took an experimental breakfast (1883 kJ) under the following four conditions: HF meal, HF and red-pepper (10 g) meal, HC meal, or HC and red-pepper meal. Palatability of the experimental meals was measured immediately after the meals. Expired air was collected before and for 210 min after the meal to determine energy expenditure and macronutrient oxidation. Diet-induced thermogenesis was significantly higher after the HC meals than after the HF meals. Lipid oxidation was significantly lower and carbohydrate oxidation was significantly higher after the HC meals than after the HF meals. Addition of red pepper to the experimental meals significantly increased diet-induced thermogenesis and lipid oxidation, particularly after the HF meal. On the other hand, carbohydrate oxidation was significantly decreased by the addition of red pepper to the experimental meals. Addition of red pepper to the HC meal increased the perceived oiliness of the meal to the same level as that of the HF meals. These results indicate that red pepper increases diet-induced thermogenesis and lipid oxidation. This increase in lipid oxidation is mainly observed when foods have a HF content whereas the increase in the perceived oiliness of the meal was found under the HC meal conditions.
A Dual-process Model of Framing Effects in Risky Choice

This work investigates the intuitive and deliberative cognitive processes underlying risky decision-making by manipulating time pressure. A recent fMRI study by De Martino et al. (2006) found greater activation of the amygdala when exhibiting framing effects suggesting that they may be driven by System 1. Because this system is characterized as being fast, we expect more pronounced framing effects under time pressure. In our experiment, we manipulated time pressure and accuracy and use a dynamic dual-process model to explain our results. The model we develop is a sequential sampling model in which the drift rates and boundaries vary in accordance with the thinking modes, frames, and time pressure.
Piezoelectric power requirements for active vibration control

This paper presents a method for predicting the power consumption of piezoelectric actuators utilized for active vibration control Analytical developments and experimental test show that the maximum power required to control a structure using surface-bonded piezoelectric actuators is independent of the dynamics between the piezoelectric actuator and the host structure. The results demonstrate that for a perfectly-controlled system, the power consumption is a function of the quantity and type of piezoelectric actuators and the voltage and frequency of the control law output signal. Furthermore, as control effectiveness decreases, the power consumption of the piezoelectric actuators decreases. In addition, experimental results revealed a nonlinear behavior in the material properties of piezoelectric actuators. The material nonlinearity displayed a significant increase in capacitance with an increase in excitation voltage. Tests show that if the nonlinearity of the capacitance was accounted for, a conservative estimate of the power can easily be determined.
Stimulating a Sustainable Construction through Holistic BIM Adoption: The Root Causes of Recurring Low BIM Adoption in Malaysia

Fostering the Building Information Modelling (BIM) implementation is one of Malaysia sustainable strategies towards greener construction. Hence, the Eleventh Malaysia plan focuses on transforming construction industry through the increase of technology adoption in order to enhance construction productivity. Therefore, there is a growing and urgent demand to provide BIM competent. However, a significant number of parties are reluctant to develop and invest in BIM due to unsolved root causes. Scholars have identified barriers relating to the infancy stage of BIM adoption in Malaysia. Unfortunately, there is a lack of study to explore deeper the root causes of recurring for the barriers anticipate the low BIM adoption. This paper attempts to delve into the initiatives of BIM stake players in fostering BIM adoption and to determine the root causes of recurring barriers due to low BIM adoption. The study adopted the semi-structured interviews which involved BIM stake players as a sample population. From the findings, authors revealed four root causes of recurring barriers; absence of BIM policy and BIM compulsion, poor holistic readiness, software integration competition strategy, and reluctant in sharing knowledge. The findings espoused here are preliminary and more results are expected to emerge as the research progresses.
Comparative study of the bond strength of self-etch adhesive systems with different pHs applied to enamel and dentine

Objective: To evaluate whether the pH of the primer is capable of influencing the bond strength of three self-etching adhesive systems to enamel and dentin. Methods: Forty enamel surfaces and 40 dentin surfaces were used, divided into eight groups (n=10) according to the adhesive system (Single Bond, ClearfilSE, AdheSE, Adper Prompt L-Pop). A 3 mm matrix was used to delimit the area restored with composite resin Z250. The test specimens were stored in distilled water at 37oC for 24 hours and submitted to mechanical shear testing. Results: The ANOVA and Tukey statistical tests showed that there was no statistical difference among the groups in which the adhesive systems Single Bond (control) and Clearfil SE Bond were used and among the groups in which the AdheSE and Adper Prompt L-Pop systems were used, both with statistical difference when compared with the Single Bond and Clearfil SE Bond groups. There was no statistically significant difference between the bond strength values obtained, when the same adhesive systems were compared with regard to the substrates (enamel and dentin). The increased acidity of the self-etch adhesive systems was not capable of increasing the bond strength values. Conclusion: The increasing of self-etch acidity of adhesive systems was not capable to increase the band strenght values. In the comparison between the same adhesive system in enamel or dentin, all adhesive presented similar performance, irrespective of the substrate used. Indexing terms: dentin bonding agents; dental enamel; dentin. Comparative study of the bond strength of self-etch adhesive systems with different pHs applied to enamel and dentine Alessandra Pereira de ANDRADE1 Angela Mayumi SHIMAOKA1 Eliza Maria Agueda RUSSO1 Rubens Côrte Real de CARVALHO1 RGO, Porto Alegre, v. 56, n.2, p. 115-119, abr. /jun. 2008 1 Universidade de São Paulo, Departamento de Dentística, Faculdade de Odontologia. Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 2227, Cidade Universitária, 05508-000, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. Correspondência para / Correspondence to: RCR CARVALHO (rcorte@usp.br). INTRODUÇÃO A adesão entre os materiais restauradores e os tecidos dentais mineralizados tem sido objetivo de investigação de muitos pesquisadores, desde que Buonocore1 desenvolveu a técnica do condicionamento ácido para o esmalte. A habilidade de criar adesão ao substrato dental condicionado mudou o conceito de preparo cavitário, prevenção de cárie e estética em Dentística. Atualmente na técnica adesiva, o preparo do substrato para a adesão pode