Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of Alcohol Use and Associated Factors in Urban Hospital Outpatients in South Africa

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of alcohol use and associated factors among outpatients in an urban hospital in South Africa. The sample included 1,532 (56.4% men and women 43.6%) consecutively selected patients from different hospital outpatient departments. Results indicate that 41.2% of men and 18.3% of women were found to be hazardous drinkers, and 3.6% of men and 1.4% of women meet criteria for probable alcohol dependence or harmful drinking as defined by the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). Two in five patients (40.5%) were hazardous or harmful drinkers and/or had anxiety or depression. Logistic multiple regression found that for men tobacco use and not having been diagnosed with diabetes and for women tobacco use and having been diagnosed with migraine headache was associated with hazardous and harmful drinking. Although the study is cross-sectional, it does identify groups that may be at high risk of alcohol misuse and for whom intervention is urgent. Because prevalence of hazardous and harmful alcohol use is high in this population, routine screening should be introduced in hospital out-patient settings.
Pilot Study of Vaccination with Recombinant CEA-MUC-1-TRICOM Poxviral-Based Vaccines in Patients with Metastatic Carcinoma

Purpose: Poxviral vectors have a proven safety record and can be used to incorporate multiple transgenes. Prior clinical trials with poxviral vaccines have shown that immunologic tolerance to self-antigens can be broken. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and MUC-1 are overexpressed in a substantial proportion of common solid carcinomas. The primary end point of this study was vaccine safety, with immunologic and clinical responses as secondary end points. Experimental Design: We report here a pilot study of 25 patients treated with a poxviral vaccine regimen consisting of the genes for CEA and MUC-1, along with a triad of costimulatory molecules (TRICOM; composed of B7.1, intercellular adhesion molecule 1, and lymphocyte function–associated antigen 3) engineered into vaccinia (PANVAC-V) as a prime vaccination and into fowlpox (PANVAC-F) as a booster vaccination. Results: The vaccine was well tolerated. Apart from injection-site reaction, no grade ≥2 toxicity was seen in more than 2% of the cycles. Immune responses to MUC-1 and/or CEA were seen following vaccination in 9 of 16 patients tested. A patient with clear cell ovarian cancer and symptomatic ascites had a durable (18-month) clinical response radiographically and biochemically, and one breast cancer patient had a confirmed decrease of >20% in the size of large liver metastasis. Conclusions: This vaccine strategy seems to be safe, is associated with both CD8 and CD4 immune responses, and has shown evidence of clinical activity. Further trials with this agent, either alone or in combination with immunopotentiating and other therapeutic agents, are warranted.
Competitive reinnervation of salamander skin by regenerating and intact mechanosensory nerves

We have investigated in the salamander the possibility that regenerating mechanosensory nerves might prefer the epidermal Merkel cells (their specific targets) that are located within their segmental domain to those within a ‘foreign’ domain. Since regerating nerves cross domain boundaries with no evidence of the marked delay exhibited by intact sprouting nerves, we examined situations in which the regenerating axons of one segmental nerve were effectively in equal competition for denervated skin with those of another segmental nerve. Additionally, we investigated whether there were differences between regenerating axons and intact sprouting axons of the same segmental nerve, in their ability to innervate available skin both inside and outside the parent domain. No preference was detected of any type of nerve, regenerating or intact, for particular skin regions, or for Merkel cells as indicated by the numbers or mechanosensory thresholds of the touch spots that developed in reinnervated skin. Neither was there any indication of displacement of ‘foreign’ nerves from a particular region by appropriate axons. When regenerating and intact (sprouting) axons invaded denervated skin more or less simultaneously, the former appeared to have a slight advantage since a significantly greater proportion of skin was innervated by regenerated fibres. With this one exception, all the results were explained most simply by assuming that the axon that first arrives at a denervated Merkel cell establishes a permanent association with that cell and at the same time causes it to lose its ‘target character’ for other axons.
Can sad music really make you sad? Indirect measures of affective states induced by music and autobiographical memories.

The present study addressed music’s disputed ability to induce genuine sadness in listeners by investigating whether listening to sad music can induce sadness-related effects on memory and judgment. Related aims were to explore how the different mechanisms of music-induced emotions are involved in sadness induced by familiar, self-selected music and unfamiliar, experimenter-selected music, and whether the susceptibility to music-induced sadness is associated with trait empathy. One hundred twenty participants were randomly assigned into four conditions with different tasks: listening to unfamiliar sad or neutral music, or to self-selected sad music, or recalling a sad autobiographical event and writing about it. The induced affective states were measured indirectly using a word recall task and a judgment task where participants rated the emotions expressed by pictures depicting facial expressions. The results indicate that listening to sad music can indeed induce changes in emotion-related memory and judgment. However, this effect depends, to some extent, on the music’s relevance to the listener, as well as on the personality attributes of the listener. Trait empathy contributed to the susceptibility to sadness induced by unfamiliar music, while autobiographical memories contributed to sadness induced by self-selected music.
Modeling the Mechanisms by Which HIV-Associated Immunosuppression Influences HPV Persistence at the Oral Mucosa

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients are at an increased risk of co-infection with human papilloma virus (HPV), and subsequent malignancies such as oral cancer. To determine the role of HIV-associated immune suppression on HPV persistence and pathogenesis, and to investigate the mechanisms underlying the modulation of HPV infection and oral cancer by HIV, we developed a mathematical model of HIV/HPV co-infection. Our model captures known immunological and molecular features such as impaired HPV-specific effector T helper 1 (Th1) cell responses, and enhanced HPV infection due to HIV. We used the model to determine HPV prognosis in the presence of HIV infection, and identified conditions under which HIV infection alters HPV persistence in the oral mucosa system. The model predicts that conditions leading to HPV persistence during HIV/HPV co-infection are the permissive immune environment created by HIV and molecular interactions between the two viruses. The model also determines when HPV infection continues to persist in the short run in a co-infected patient undergoing antiretroviral therapy. Lastly, the model predicts that, under efficacious antiretroviral treatment, HPV infections will decrease in the long run due to the restoration of CD4+ T cell numbers and protective immune responses.
Practical Differential Privacy via Grouping and Smoothing

We address one-time publishing of non-overlapping counts with e-differential privacy. These statistics are useful in a wide and important range of applications, including transactional, traffic and medical data analysis. Prior work on the topic publishes such statistics with prohibitively low utility in several practical scenarios. Towards this end, we present GS, a method that pre-processes the counts by elaborately grouping and smoothing them via averaging. This step acts as a form of preliminary perturbation that diminishes sensitivity, and enables GS to achieve e-differential privacy through low Laplace noise injection. The grouping strategy is dictated by a sampling mechanism, which minimizes the smoothing perturbation. We demonstrate the superiority of GS over its competitors, and confirm its practicality, via extensive experiments on real datasets.
Studying Sexual Orientation Change: A Methodological Review of the Spitzer Study, “Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation?”

ABSTRACT Robert L. Spitzer, MD, recently published a report, “Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation? : 200 Subjects Reporting a Change from Homosexual to Heterosexual Orientation. ” He recruited men and women who reported to once have had a predominantly homosexual orientation–which they felt conflicted about–and who claimed, due to some kind of “therapy,” to have sustained some change to a heterosexual orientation for at least five years. “Therapy” in this study included either seeing a mental health professional, attending an ex-gay or other religious support group, bibliotherapy, repeated meetings with a heterosexual role model, or, without any external support, changing one's relationship to God. Spitzer interviewed his participants by telephone, asking 114 closed-ended and some open-ended questions, which were answered in about 45 minutes. Spitzer acknowledges that this approach has numerous limitations and discusses several of them in the paper. However, a careful methodological assessment of how Spitzer's study was conducted leads to the conclusion that its author's claims are not warranted. The major issue is how was change assessed, which is problematic because of the following combination of reasons: (1) reliance on self-report; (2) biased selection of the sample; (3) retrospective design of the study; (4) use of a telephone interview as the data collection method; (5) the way “harm” was operationalized; and (6) insufficient reporting of the findings. Even if the respondents' reports were valid, the changes observed are not as big as the title of the report suggests. The paper's discussion suggests what Spitzer could have done to do a better study, and then concludes with suggestions about what Spitzer should have done.
Design of educational web pages

The methodological characteristics of teaching in primary and secondary education make it necessary to revise the pedagogical and instructive lines with which to introduce the new Information and Communication Technologies into the school context. The construction of web pages that can be used to improve student learning is, therefore, fundamental for teachers. Their creation must be proposed, above all, from the basis of the constructivist paradigm of learning as opposed to the current behaviourist designs. General lines are established which must be convenient for the construction of web pages for these educational levels. Les caractéristiques méthodologiques de l'enseignement à l'éducation primaire et secondaire obligent à réviser les lignes pédagogiques et instructives avec lesquelles introduire les nouvelles Technologies de l'Information et la Communication à les contextes scolaires. La construction de pages Web qui peuvent être utilisées pour améliorer l'apprentissage des élèves est, par conséquent, fondamentale pour les professeurs. Leur création doit être proposée, au‐dessus de tout, à partir de la base du paradigme constructiviste de l'apprentissage par opposition aux dessins béhavioristes courants. On établit des lignes générales qui peuvent être adéquats pour la construction de pages Web à ces niveaux pédagogiques. Las características metodológicas de la enseñanza en educación primaria y secundaria hacen que sea necesario replantear las líneas pedagógicas e instructivas con las que introducir las nuevas Tecnologías de Información y la Comunicación en los contextos escolares. En este sentido resulta fundamental para el docente la construcción de páginas Web que puedan ser utilizadas para mejorar el aprendizaje de los alumnos. Particularmente se debe proponer su creación, ante todo, desde las bases del paradigma constructivista del aprendizaje, frente a los diseños conductistas actuales. Se establecen en esta investigación las líneas generales que deben ser convenientes para la construcción de páginas Web para estos niveles educativos. Die methodologischen Merkmale, in Primärer und Sekundärer Ausbildung zu unterrichten, machen es notwendig, die pädagogischen und instruktiven Linien zu revidieren, mit dem die neuen Informations—und Kommunikationstechnologien in den Schulkontext einzuführen. Die Kreation von Webseiten, die benutzt werden können, um den Schülern das Lernen zu erleichtern, ist deshalb wesentlich für Lehrer. Ihre Schaffung muß vor allem von der Basis des constructivist‐Paradigmas des Lernens im Gegensatz zu den aktuellen behaviourist‐Designs vorgeschlagen werden. In dieser Untersuchung werden allgemeine Linien begründet, die für die Konstruktion der Webseiten für diese pädagogischen Niveaus günstig sein müssen.
Measures of linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge of objects in the second year

In comparing linguistic to non-linguistic categorization in children, researchers have typically considered children's ability to distinguish between classes from different superordinate categories. In this research we compared categorization of objects from basic level categories in both linguistic and non-linguistic domains. This study also added the additional control of using the same specific concepts in each domain. The sample consisted of 24 children at 21 months of age. Linguistic comprehension of the labels for the test categories exceeded, but was correlated with, linguistic production of the same category labels. Neither linguistic measure was associated with corresponding measures of temporal grouping of objects from the same categories. The validity of the measures was attested to by the finding that all three measures correlated significantly with several other measures of linguistic development. Particularly interesting was the finding that children with a 'referential style' of language engaged in higher levels of temporal grouping. This finding suggests that relations between linguistic and non-linguistic categorization are mediated by conceptual style.
Estimating treatment effects in randomized clinical trials in the presence of non-compliance.

In clinical trials where patients are randomized between two treatment arms, not all patients comply with the treatment they were randomly assigned to. The reasons for (non)compliance may be associated with the outcome variable and thereby act as confounders. The standard way of analysing such trials is by the 'intention-to-treat' principle, which allows the use of permutation tests. Conclusions drawn from such tests do not depend on untested assumptions such as absence of confounding. However, this approach may yield biased estimators for the causal effects of treatments. We consider the estimation of such effects for clinical trials where non-compliers can be considered to have switched to the other trial arm. The most important example of this is the placebo-controlled clinical trial where no substantial placebo effects are anticipated. We consider the situation where the relationship between compliance, and thus treatment received, and outcome is influenced by unobserved confounders. The residual of the regression of the actual treatment indicator variable on the randomization arm indicator variable is shown to 'intercept' the effect of such confounders. Inclusion of this residual in a multivariate analysis, in conjunction with the treatment indicator variable, should thus adjust for confounding. Examples are given. In those examples, the results are similar to those obtained by more complex methods.
Memory for enacted and non-enacted events: Is there a need for separate laws?

Abstract This article provides a selective review of studies that have compared memory for enacted and non-enacted events. The purpose of the review is to evaluate the proposal that memory for enacted events obeys different laws than memory for non-enacted events (Nilsson & Backman, 1989a). An analysis of five potential laws of memory provided no support for this proposal. The implications of this outcome for theories of the enactment effect are discussed.
Effect of sodium chloride on the gelatinization of starch: a multimeasurement study.

The effect of sodium chloride on the gelatinization and rheological properties of wheat and potato starches has been studied using differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, and electron spin resonance techniques. All samples contained 60% water (w/w wet starch basis) and the salt content ranged from 0 to 16% (g/100 g starch-water). The presence of salt affected the onset (T(o)), peak (T(p)), and end (T(e)) temperatures of gelatinization, gelatinization enthalpy (DeltaH), storage modulus (G'), and rotational mobility coefficient (D(rot)), and the effect differed by salt concentration. 1H-NMR was used in parallel in order to elucidate how salts affect the properties of water in starch suspensions and in aqueous salt solutions according to their position on the Hofmeister series classification. The obtained results suggest that the mechanism of starch gelatinization in salt solutions can be attributed to the effect of solute on water properties and direct polymer-solute interactions. These two effects conflict with one another and result in complex effect patterns depending on the concentration of the salts.
Multimode Laser Beam Scintillations in Non-Kolmogorov Turbulence

Employing the Rytov solution, the scintillation index at the origin of the receiver plane is evaluated in non-Kolmogorov weak atmospheric turbulence when multimode laser incidence is used. The solution presented can be used when the multimode is composed of even modes. The novelty of this work lies in the theoretical combination of multimode laser beam excitation and non-Kolmogorov turbulence in the scintillation evaluations, which is not known both theoretically and experimentally. The study involves mathematical rigor but no experimental results. Being valid for any power law exponent of the non-Kolmogorov turbulence, the scintillations of the multimode beams are found to be smaller than the scintillation index of a single Gaussian beam. For the multimode laser beam excitation, the scintillation index is smaller at smaller power law exponent values. If the multimode content is formed by beams with larger mode numbers, the scintillations decrease for any non-Kolmogorov realization. When large sized beams are used in the multimode, the scintillations increase as compared to small sized content, and the scintillations become almost the same as the Gaussian beam scintillations. Comparing the multimode structures that have the same number of beams, the ones with higher order modes yield smaller scintillations, and for such multimode structures, very similar scintillation index behaviour versus the power law exponent can be obtained by varying the amplitudes of the modes composing the multimode. The main contribution of this paper is the formulation and evaluation of the scintillation noise in order to understand whether the use of multimode laser excitation will improve the link performance of optical wireless communication systems operating in a non-Kolmogorov atmosphere.
The training of a child with autism in a Greek preschool inclusive class through intensive interaction: a case study

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of intensive interaction during interactive play between a preschool boy with autism and his teacher and, as a consequence, improve the social interaction between the boy and a non-autistic girl in an inclusive class in Greece. A single subject ABA design was applied. Observed variables included changes in the frequency of initiations and responses of the two children. Results indicated significant improvement and post-training maintenance in the social interaction of the two children. Discussion of results in light of known research in autism is highlighted and implications are discussed.
Personality and contextual antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior: A study of two occupational groups

Abstract This paper examines the impact of personality trait of dispositional affect and contextual variables of multiple commitments on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) in two occupational groups. Three dimensions of OCBs were considered: helping, civic virtue and sportsmanship behaviors. We used positive and negative affectivity scale to measure dispositional affect. For commitments, we examined affective and normative organizational and occupational commitments. The data were collected from 180 engineers and 180 teachers. The findings show that affect, multiple commitments and occupation all have significant impacts on different dimensions of OCBs. Dispositional affect had the most influence on all three dimensions of OCBs. In addition, helping behavior is affected by normative organizational commitment while civic virtue behavior is influenced by affective commitments (both organizational and occupational) and occupation. Sportsmanship behavior is explained by occupation and affective organizational commitment. Occupation has been shown to make a unique contribution to understanding OCBs. The present study showed that the teachers, for example, exhibited more civic virtue and sportsmanship behaviors than the engineers. Implications of the findings for future research and practice are discussed.
Coaching Families and Colleagues: A Process for Collaboration in Natural Settings

Coaching in early childhood is an interactive process of observation and reflection in which the coach promotes a parent's or other care provider's ability to support a child's participation in everyday experiences and interactions with family members and peers across settings. Focusing on collaborative relationships, coaching provides a supportive structure for promoting conversations between family members, childcare providers, and early interventionists to select and implement meaningful strategies to achieve functional outcomes that focus on the child's participation in natural settings. This article provides guidelines for early childhood professionals serving young children with disabilities and their families regarding whom and when to coach, and includes examples to illustrate the five phases of the coaching process: initiation, observation or action, reflection, evaluation, and continuation or resolution.
Does gender have an impact on the potential benefits learners may achieve in two contexts compared: formal instruction and formal instruction + content and language integrated learning?

This study focuses on the degree of influence of one individual factor, namely gender, on the level of English competence attained in two different groups of intermediate-level Catalan Spanish adolescent learners of English as a foreign language: the first group (Group A) is 1 year younger and follows formal instruction (FI) and in parallel content and language integrated learning (CLIL) instruction (FI + CLIL). That is, the group receives some ‘extra’ hours which are CLIL hours. The second group (Group B) follows a FI only programme. Data were elicited both for receptive and production skills, except speaking, and were statistically analysed using a pretest–posttest design over one academic year. Results obtained, contrary to expectations, confirm that female participants are better than male participants in both contexts of acquisition although not in all skills and domains analysed.