Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Training an adequate number of rural family physicians.

All measures indicate a shortage of rural family physicians (FPs) in ever y province in Canada. In 1999, the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) approved, and the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC) endorsed, a national plan to train doctors for rural family practice. Substantial progress is being made in training doctors for rural family practice, but we are only halfway there. Educating an adequate number of appropriately trained rural FPs will require doubling the number of rural-regional family medicine training positions. In this editorial, we summarize the rationale for that action and consider the number of physicians needed.
The prevalence and clonal diversity of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae in Kuwait

Penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (PRSP) is widespread all over the world, including countries previously free of PRSP. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence, the common serotypes and the clonality of PRSP isolated over a period of 1 year, from various clinical samples from three major hospitals in Kuwait. Strains were identified by standard methods and their antibiotic susceptibility was determined by the agar dilution method. The clonality of the isolates was determined by repetitive extragenic palindromic sequence–polymerase chain reaction (REP–PCR) genomic profiling and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Serotyping was done by Quellung reaction using specific antisera. We found that 55% of the S. pneumoniae were resistant to penicillin (46% and 9% exhibited intermediate and full resistance, respectively). Nearly 41% were resistant to sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, 9% to cefotaxime and ceftriaxone, 15% to amoxycillin-clavulanate, 17% to cefuroxime, 77% to cefaclor, and 14% to clindamycin. The commonest serotypes among the PRSPs were 6A, 6B, 14, 19F, 23F and nontypable. PFGE and REP–PCR patterns showed a large diversity of genetic clones of the PRSP. Serotypes 6B, 14, 19F and 23F were more clonally related than the others. Our data showed that the prevalence of PRSP was high, the serotypes were diversified and different genetic clones make up the population of circulating PRSP in Kuwait.
Entry of Duck Hepatitis B Virus 1 into Primary Duck Liver and Kidney Cells 2 after Uncovery of a Fusogenic Region 3 within the Large Surface Protein

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: 19 Heinrich-Pette-Institut für Experimentelle Virologie und Immunologie an der 20 Universität Hamburg, Martinistrasse 52, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany. Phone: 21 49-40-48051 231, Fax: 49-40-48051 117, E-mail: mbruns@hpi.uni-hamburg.de. 22 AC CE PT ED Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved. J. Virol. doi:10.1128/JVI.02290-06 JVI Accepts, published online ahead of print on 14 March 2007
A decomposition of the manipulator inertia matrix

A decomposition of the manipulator inertia matrix is essential, for example, in forward dynamics, where the joint accelerations are solved from the dynamical equations of motion. To do this, unlike a numerical algorithm, an analytical approach is suggested in this paper. The approach is based on the symbolic Gaussian elimination of the inertia matrix that reveal recursive relations among the elements of the resulting matrices. As a result, the decomposition can be done with the complexity of order n, O(n), where n being the degrees of freedom of the manipulator, as opposed to an O(n/sup 3/) scheme, required in the numerical approach. In turn, O(n) inverse and forward dynamics algorithms can be developed. As an illustration, an O(n) forward dynamics algorithm is presented.
Biomarkers in Ewing Sarcoma: The Promise and Challenge of Personalized Medicine. A Report from the Children’s Oncology Group

A goal of the COG Ewing Sarcoma (ES) Biology Committee is enabling identification of reliable biomarkers that can predict treatment response and outcome through the use of prospectively collected tissues and correlative studies in concert with COG therapeutic studies. In this report, we aim to provide a concise review of the most well-characterized prognostic biomarkers in ES, and to provide recommendations concerning design and implementation of future biomarker studies. Of particular interest and potentially high clinical relevance are studies of cell-cycle proteins, sub-clinical disease, and copy number alterations. We discuss findings of particular interest from recent biomarker studies and examine factors important to the success of identifying and validating clinically relevant biomarkers in ES. A number of promising biomarkers have demonstrated prognostic significance in numerous retrospective studies and now need to be validated prospectively in larger cohorts of equivalently treated patients. The eventual goal of refining the discovery and use of clinically relevant biomarkers is the development of patient specific ES therapeutic modalities.
The Effect of Adrenal Replacement Therapy on Rates of Fungal Colonization and Mortality in Critically Ill Patients Awaiting Liver Transplantation

Background The effect of adrenal replacement therapy (ART) with hydrocortisone on critical endpoints such as infection and mortality in critically ill patients with cirrhosis remains unclear. We evaluated our indications for ART in patients with cirrhosis with clinical symptoms of adrenal insufficiency (AI), and examined the rate of peri-transplant fungal colonization and mortality associated with ART. Methods Seventy-eight patients with cirrhosis admitted to our institution's surgical intensive care unit (ICU) over a 4-year period met criteria for AI by vasopressor requirement and baseline cortisol levels. Outcomes included disposition at 90-days, fungal colonization, and fungal infection in the presence or absence of ART. Results In total, 56 patients received hydrocortisone (HC+) while 22 did not (HC−). The HC+ and HC− groups had comparable median Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores (26.5 vs. 25, respectively; p=0.93), median ICU lengths of stay (23 vs. 20 days, respectively; p=0.54) and median cortisol levels (18 μg/dL for both, p=0.87). Fungal cultures (FC) from blood, urine or bronchoalveolar lavage/sputum were positive for 44% of HC+, and 40.9% of HC− (p=0.77) had mortality rates between HC+ and HC− groups that were not significantly different (60.7% vs. 50%, respectively; p=0.39; α=0.05). The 90-day outcomes for HC+ vs. HC− (39.3% vs. 50% discharged, respectively; p=0.39; α=0.05) and those surviving to transplant (17.9% vs. 36.4%, respectively; p=0.08; α=0.05) were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion In this small single-center series, we found that steroid administration for AI does not affect the rate of fungal colonization/infection or mortality. Further prospective studies are required to determine the utility of ART and factors affecting the rate of FC and mortality in these patients.
H-Ras Signaling and K-Ras Signaling Are Differentially Dependent on Endocytosis

ABSTRACT Endocytosis is required for efficient mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation by activated growth factor receptors. We examined if H-Ras and K-Ras proteins, which are distributed across different plasma membrane microdomains, have equal access to the endocytic compartment and whether this access is necessary for downstream signaling. Inhibition of endocytosis by dominant interfering dynamin-K44A blocked H-Ras but not K-Ras-mediated PC12 cell differentiation and selectively inhibited H-Ras- but not K-Ras-mediated Raf-1 activation in BHK cells. H-Ras- but not K-Ras-mediated Raf-1 activation was also selectively dependent on phosphoinositide 3-kinase activity. Stimulation of endocytosis and endocytic recycling by wild-type Rab5 potentiated H-Ras-mediated Raf-1 activation. In contrast, Rab5-Q79L, which stimulates endocytosis but not endocytic recycling, redistributed activated H-Ras from the plasma membrane into enlarged endosomes and inhibited H-Ras-mediated Raf-1 activation. Rab5-Q79L expression did not cause the accumulation of wild-type H-Ras in enlarged endosomes. Expression of wild-type Rab5 or Rab5-Q79L increased the specific activity of K-Ras-activated Raf-1 but did not result in any redistribution of K-Ras from the plasma membrane to endosomes. These results show that H-Ras but not K-Ras signaling though the Raf/MEK/MAPK cascade requires endocytosis and endocytic recycling. The data also suggest a mechanism for returning Raf-1 to the cytosol after plasma membrane recruitment.
Peripheral T‐cell lymphoma in HIV‐infected patients: a study of 17 cases in the combination antiretroviral therapy era

Most cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐associated non‐Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) are of B‐cell origin; T‐cell NHLs are rarely reported. Within a single centre prospective cohort of 370 HIV‐NHL, 17 (5%) were of T‐cell origin (82% male; median age, 39 years). Median CD4+ cell count was 0·194 × 109/l and 41% had undetectable plasma HIV‐RNA at lymphoma diagnosis. All patients received combination antiretroviral therapy during chemotherapy. All histological samples were centrally reviewed. The distribution of the histological subtypes differed from the general population with absence of angioimmunoblastic subtype. Lymphoma was disseminated in 14 patients, and seven patients had performance status >2. All patients received full‐dose chemotherapy: eight standard and nine intensive regimens. Two patients who received intensive chemotherapy died during therapy. The complete remission rate was 53%; 62·5% with standard therapy and 44% with intensive therapy. After a median follow‐up of 7·2 years, the median overall survival was 9·4 months. Most deaths (85%) occurred within the first year following diagnosis, as a consequence of lymphoma progression in 10/13 cases. In this rare but severe complication of HIV infection the use of intensive chemotherapy does not appear to be beneficial for response, with increased toxicity.
Effects of hamstring‐emphasized neuromuscular training on strength and sprinting mechanics in football players

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of a neuromuscular training program combining eccentric hamstring muscle strength, plyometrics, and free/resisted sprinting exercises on knee extensor/flexor muscle strength, sprinting performance, and horizontal mechanical properties of sprint running in football (soccer) players. Sixty footballers were randomly assigned to an experimental group (EG) or a control group (CG). Twenty‐seven players completed the EG and 24 players the CG. Both groups performed regular football training while the EG performed also a neuromuscular training during a 7‐week period. The EG showed a small increases in concentric quadriceps strength (ES = 0.38/0.58), a moderate to large increase in concentric (ES = 0.70/0.74) and eccentric (ES = 0.66/0.87) hamstring strength, and a small improvement in 5‐m sprint performance (ES = 0.32). By contrast, the CG presented lower magnitude changes in quadriceps (ES = 0.04/0.29) and hamstring (ES = 0.27/0.34) concentric muscle strength and no changes in hamstring eccentric muscle strength (ES = −0.02/0.11). Thus, in contrast to the CG (ES = −0.27/0.14), the EG showed an almost certain increase in the hamstring/quadriceps strength functional ratio (ES = 0.32/0.75). Moreover, the CG showed small magnitude impairments in sprinting performance (ES = −0.35/−0.11). Horizontal mechanical properties of sprint running remained typically unchanged in both groups. These results indicate that a neuromuscular training program can induce positive hamstring strength and maintain sprinting performance, which might help in preventing hamstring strains in football players.
Limitations of disturbance rejection in feedback systems with finite bandwidth

Studies limitations of disturbance rejection in closed-loop control systems. The disturbance is modeled as colored noise, and disturbance rejection is measured by the output variance. Lower bounds on the achievable output variance are derived under several practical constraints, the main one being a bound on the system bandwidth; constraints on the stability robustness (measured by the distance from the Nyquist plot to the critical point) and the ability to track low-frequency reference signals (measured by the sensitivity reduction at low frequencies) are also considered. The bounds are derived by finding the sensitivity function that minimizes the output variance. This optimization is performed subject to the above constraints and, in addition, subject to certain sensitivity integral constraints that arise because of closed-loop stability. The utility of the results is illustrated by analyzing the achievable level of passenger comfort in an aircraft subjected to turbulence.
The romance of working together: Benefits of gender diversity on group performance in China

The authors examine cross-cultural differences in the effects of gender diversity on group identification and performance using workgroups from American and Chinese firms. Nationality is found to moderate the relationship between gender diversity and group identification in that gender diversity associates more positively with group identification in Chinese workgroups than in American workgroups. Nationality does not moderate the gender diversity–group performance relationship: although the Chinese sample shows a positive association between gender diversity and group performance, the American sample shows no association. A second longitudinal study explores the mechanisms of relationship conflict and task conflict by which gender diversity benefits group performance in China. Results show that gender-diverse groups perform better than homogeneous groups by decreasing relationship conflict and task conflict. Future research directions and practical implications are discussed.
THE RAPID INVASION OF THE BODY THROUGH THE OLFACTORY MUCOSA

1. Prussian blue particles pass rapidly from the surface of the olfactory mucosa and within 2 minutes are found in the tissue spaces, in blood and lymph vessels, in the perineural spaces of the olfactory nerve fibers and in the subarachnoid space and pia-arachnoid membrane. 2. There is great affinity of pigment particles for the olfactory sensory cells. 3. Preliminary treatment of the olfactory mucosa with tannic acid does not alter the speed with which this absorption occurs. It does, however, cause an inflammation of the mucosa and appears to prevent the pigment from entering the olfactory sensory cells. 4. Both pneumococci and S. enteritidis pass through the olfactory mucosa and reach the tissue spaces, the vessels and the subarachnoid space with the same rapidity as the pigment. This can be demonstrated both microscopically and by distribution tests. They invade by passage between the cells of the mucosa and there is no apparent affinity of the organisms for the olfactory sensory cells. 5. Tannic acid treatment of the olfactory mucosa in no way alters this invasion of organisms through the mucosa. 6. The pantropic virus, equine encephalomyelitis, was detected in the forebrain as promptly as were pigment and bacteria; neurotropic viruses, however,—those of St. Louis encephalitis, rabies and louping ill,—were not demonstrated in less than 24 hours.
Humans differ in their personal microbial cloud

Dispersal of microbes between humans and the built environment can occur through direct contact with surfaces or through airborne release; the latter mechanism remains poorly understood. Humans emit upwards of 106 biological particles per hour, and have long been known to transmit pathogens to other individuals and to indoor surfaces. However it has not previously been demonstrated that humans emit a detectible microbial cloud into surrounding indoor air, nor whether such clouds are sufficiently differentiated to allow the identification of individual occupants. We used high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes to characterize the airborne bacterial contribution of a single person sitting in a sanitized custom experimental climate chamber. We compared that to air sampled in an adjacent, identical, unoccupied chamber, as well as to supply and exhaust air sources. Additionally, we assessed microbial communities in settled particles surrounding each occupant, to investigate the potential long-term fate of airborne microbial emissions. Most occupants could be clearly detected by their airborne bacterial emissions, as well as their contribution to settled particles, within 1.5–4 h. Bacterial clouds from the occupants were statistically distinct, allowing the identification of some individual occupants. Our results confirm that an occupied space is microbially distinct from an unoccupied one, and demonstrate for the first time that individuals release their own personalized microbial cloud.
VPC: Scalable, Low Downtime Checkpointing for Virtual Clusters

A virtual cluster (VC) consists of multiple virtual machines (VMs) running on different physical hosts, inter-connected by a virtual network. A fault-tolerant protocol and mechanism are essential to the VC's availability and usability. We present Virtual Predict Check pointing (or VPC), a lightweight, globally consistent check pointing mechanism, which checkpoints the VC for immediate restoration after VM failures. By predicting the checkpoint-caused page faults during each check pointing interval, VPC further reduces the solo VM downtime than traditional incremental check pointing approaches. Besides, VPC uses a globally consistent check-pointing algorithm, which preserves the global consistency of the VMs' execution and communication states, and only saves the updated memory pages during each check pointing interval to reduce the entire VC downtime. Our implementation reveals that, compared with past VC check pointing/migration solutions including VNsnap, VPC reduces the solo VM downtime by as much as 45%, under the NPB benchmark, and reduces the entire VC downtime by as much as 50%, under the NPB distributed program. Additionally, VPC incurs a memory overhead of no more than 9%. In all cases, VPC's performance overhead is less than 16%.
Human CD38, a cell‐surface protein with multiple functions

Human CD38 is a nonlineage‐re‐stricted type II transmembrane glycoprotein that has emerged as a multifunctional protein in recent years. It can serve as an ectoenzyme that catalyzes the synthesis and hydrolysis of cyclic ADP‐ribose, a recently identified Ca2+ mobilizing agent that acts independently of inositol triphosphate. The enzymatic functions of CD38 probably contribute to an array of its immunoregulatory functions. The release of soluble CD38 and the ability of membrane‐bound CD38 to become internalized in response to appropriate stimuli suggest that extracellular and intracellular roles for this protein are equally plausible. Ligation of CD38 with agonistic antibodies induces diverse effects in hematopoietic cells that range from growth stimulation to induction and prevention from apoptosis, induction of cytokines, activation of kinases, and phosphorylation of certain proteins. These observations suggest that CD38 may serve as receptor for an as yet unidentified ligand. Other molecules that share significant structural and functional homology to CD38 have been identified in humane and mice, suggesting that these molecules may represent a new family of proteins. Understanding the role of CD38 in certain pathological conditions such as myeloma, X‐linked agammaglobulinemia, and HIV infection may provide insight into its physiological functions. —Mehta, K. , Shahid, U. , Malavasi, F. Human CD38, a cell‐surface protein with multiple functions. FASEB J. 10, 1408‐1417 (1996)
Activated suppressor cell function in severely disabled patients with multiple sclerosis

Defective suppressor cell function has previously been demonstrated in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) with progressive disease and moderate degrees of disability. In the present study activated suppressor cell function was assessed in patients with documented progressive disease who, at the time of study, had experienced severe disability (Kurtzke score ≥ 6.5) for at least 2 years. We found that mean suppressor levels were significantly increased in this patient group compared with the suppressor levels in the MS patient group with progressive disease but only moderate disability (Kurtzke score of ≤ 6.0 within 2 years of study) (59 ± 8% vs 19 ± 7%, respectively, p < 0.01). The mean value in the latter group was significantly reduced compared with the mean value for normal control subjects (47 ± 4%, p < 0.01), a finding consistent with previous reports. The results of this study indicate that suppressor cell function, as measured by our assay system, need not be defective in MS patients who have become severely disabled from the progressive form of the disease. Whether the patients who are now severely disabled from progressive MS passed through a phase of disease associated with the same suppressor defects as found in the progressive patients currently with moderate disability will remain speculative until long‐term longitudinal studies are performed.
Parenting Behaviours and Children School Competence

This study explored the perceptions of parenting behaviours of Primary Five pupils in Singapore, and their relationships to the child school competence in terms of academic achievement and school adjustment. In addition, it examined whether perceptions varied according to parent and child gender. The results showed that while fathers and mothers within a family were likely to practise similar parenting characteristics, there were significant differences in the way fathers and mothers were perceived by children. Both boys and girls perceived mothers to be warmer and more controlling than fathers. In general, girls more than boys, perceived mothers to be warmer than fathers. Furthermore, the results showed that parenting behaviours influence children school competence. Parents who showed more warmth and more positive affect in parent-child communication contributed to better academic standing in their children. Boys' academic achievement was significantly linked to both mothers' and fathers' warmth in terms of support and affection, as well as their affect in communication, whereas girls' academic achievement was only significantly linked to mothers' support. The study further showed that parental warmth, autonomy support, induction and communication had a significant association with both boys' and girls' school adjustment. Moreover, gender was seen to have influenced the relationship between parenting behaviours and school adjustment. Fathers' warmth and communication had stronger association with boys' school adjustment while mothers' warmth and communication had stronger association with girls' school adjustment. Autonomy support granted by both mother and father is associated with positive school adjustment for both boys and girls. The results of the study contribute to existing research on parenting in Singapore as well as provide useful data that will enable policy makers to address key issues in the design of parenting and children programs.