Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implications of a New Definition of Vitamin D Deficiency in a Multiracial US Adolescent Population: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III

OBJECTIVE. In children, vitamin D deficiency can interfere with bone mineralization, leading to rickets. In adults, it is linked to cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, and hypertension. Accurate estimates of the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency are complicated by the lack of consensus as to optimal vitamin D status. Currently, individuals with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels of <11 ng/mL are classified as vitamin D deficient. Experts collectively have proposed that minimum levels be at least 20 ng/mL. Our objectives were to (1) determine the national prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adolescents by using both the current and recommended cutoffs and (2) examine the implications of the new recommendation after adjustment for various factors. METHODS. Data were obtained from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III, a cross-sectional survey administered to a nationally representative sample of noninstitutionalized civilians aged 2 months and older. Analyses were restricted to 2955 participants aged 12 to 19 with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. Relationships between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and sociodemographic variables were evaluated by using logistic regression. RESULTS. Changing the definition of vitamin D deficiency from <11 to <20 ng/mL increased the prevalence from 2% to 14%. After adjustment for all covariates, non-Hispanic black adolescents had 20 times the risk of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D <20 ng/mL compared with non-Hispanic white adolescents. The risk of deficiency was more than double for females compared with males. An inverse relationship between weight and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels was found. Overweight adolescents had increased risk of deficiency compared with normal-weight adolescents. CONCLUSIONS. There was a disproportionate burden of vitamin D deficiency in the non-Hispanic black adolescent population. Routine supplementation and monitoring of serum levels should be considered. Females and overweight adolescents are at increased risk. The consequences of chronic vitamin D deficiency in adolescents should be prospectively investigated.
Effects of major liver resection, with or without recombinant bactericidal/permeability‐increasing protein (rBPI21), on the angiogenic profile of patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma

Surgery induces a process of wound healing, which has immunological and angiogenic aspects. Bactericidal/permeability‐increasing protein (BPI) is found in azurophilic granules of human neutrophils, which is bactericidal and neutralizes lipo‐polysaccharide (LPS). This may reduce postoperative infectious complications. In addition, BPI has been shown to be an inhibitor of angiogenesis.
Evaluating the quality of learning environments and teaching Äpractice in special schools

Abstract This article reports on findings of a study which objective is the development of an instrument for systematic evaluation and improvement of the quality of teaching in special schools. The article describes the research process which led to the construction of the instrument as well as the way teachers can use the instrument to improve the quality of their teaching. The article advocates a practice perspective to professional development in special schools, as special schools in Denmark are under pressure by three international educational agendas: the agenda of accountability, the agenda of standards and the agenda of inclusion. The instrument suggests that professional development is teacher driven and not driven by the accountability agenda. The research approach was collaborative as 35 teachers and principals from 16 special schools participated in the research process. Their perceptions of quality in the practice of teaching in special schools and research literature on the quality of teaching in both mainstream schools and special schools have shaped the development of the instrument. Thus, the instrument is based on the finding, that teaching methods in general and special education are not as different as assumed. This finding is reflected in the instrument.
Increased muscle oxidative potential following resistance training induced fibre hypertrophy in young men.

Some evidence suggests that resistance training may lower relative muscle mitochondrial content via "dilution" of the organelle in a larger muscle fibre. Such an adaptation would reduce fatigue resistance, as well as compromise oxidative ATP synthesis and the capacity for fatty-acid oxidation. We investigated the effect of resistance training on mitochondrial enzymes of the citric acid cycle (citrate synthase; CS) and beta-oxidation (beta-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase; beta-HAD), as well as markers of the potential for glucose phosphorylation (hexokinase; HK) and glycolysis (phosphofructokinase; PFK). Twelve untrained men (21.9 +/- 0.5 y; 1.79 +/- 0.03 m; 83.2 +/- 3.2 kg) participated in a 12 week progressive resistance-training program. Muscle biopsies were taken from the vastus lateralis before (PRE) and after (POST) training. Training increased mean muscle fibre cross-sectional area (p < 0.05) and the activities of CS (PRE = 4.53 +/- 0.44 mol.kg protein(-1). h(-1); POST = 5.63 +/- 0.40 mol.kg protein(-1). h(-1); p < 0.001) and beta-HAD (PRE = 2.55 +/- 0.28 mol.kg protein(-1). h(-1); POST = 3.11 +/- 0.21 mol.kg protein(-1). h(-1); p < 0.05). The activity of HK increased 42% (p < 0.05), whereas the activity of PFK remained unchanged. We conclude that resistance training provides a stimulus for improving muscle oxidative potential, as reflected by the increased activities of CS and beta-HAD following resistance training induced hypertrophy.
Anticipation processes in L2 speech comprehension: Evidence from ERPs and lexical recognition task*

The present study investigated anticipation processes in L2 speech comprehension. French–Spanish late bilinguals were presented with high-constrained Spanish sentences. ERPs were time-locked on the article preceding the critical noun, which was muted to avoid overlapping effects. Articles that mis-matched the gender of the expected nouns triggered a negativity. A subsequent lexical recognition task revealed that words expected from the context were (falsely) recognised significantly more often than unexpected words, even though all were muted. Overall, the results suggest that anticipation processes are at play during L2 speech processing, and allow creating a memory trace of a word prior to presentation.
Observed Changes in Risk during Naturopathic Treatment of Hypertension

Few outcome assessments are published from complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices. We aimed to describe patient and practice characteristics of ND care for hypertension (HTN), quantify changes in blood pressure (BP), and evaluate the proportion achieving control of HTN during care. A retrospective, observational study of ND practice in HTN was performed in an outpatient clinic in WA State. Eighty-five charts were abstracted for the final analysis. At initiation of care, the mean patient age was 61 years, with 51% having stage 2 HTN, despite common use of anti-hypertensive medications (47%). Patients with both stage 1 and stage 2 HTN appeared to improve during care, with stage 2 patients achieving mean reductions of −26 mmHg (P < .0001) and −11 mmHg (P < .0001) in systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP), respectively. The proportion of patients achieving control (<140/90 mmHg) in both SBP and DBP was increased significantly from 14 to 44% (P < .033), although the statistical significance was not maintained upon correction for multiple comparisons. BP appears to improve during ND care for HTN, in a high-risk population. Randomized trials are warranted.
Epidemiology of injury and the impact of health disparities

Purpose of review The purpose of this review is to highlight recent advances in understanding the epidemiology of pediatric trauma and the impact of health disparities on care of the injured child. Recent findings Recent studies examining outcomes for injury in children consistently demonstrate worse clinical and functional outcomes for minority children compared with white children, with African–American race being an independent predictor of mortality. Despite controlling for injury severity and insurance status (as a surrogate of socioeconomic status), these disparities persist. Significant racial differences in mortality were also identified when national data were compared with local institutional data for children with traumatic brain injury. Studies examining the effect of insurance status on care of the injured child have similarly uncovered unsettling inequities. Disparities in delivery of pediatric trauma care have been identified based on access to pediatric trauma centers. Other studies have sought to reduce disparities by use of guidelines. Finally, prevention studies have demonstrated racial disparities in the use of motor vehicle restraints, with improved restraint use in minority populations after implementation of culturally tailored prevention programs. Summary The cause of disparities in childhood trauma appears to be multifactorial and may include race, socioeconomic factors, insurance status, access, and healthcare provider biases. Multiple studies have confirmed that disparities exist, but it is difficult to tease out the reasons why they exist. Further work is necessary to identify causes of such disparities and formulate strategies to eliminate them.
The selectivity of military enlistment

In this paper, we investigate the selective nature of military service, with emphasis on the period following the inception of all volunteer force (AVF) in 1973. Following an argument made by Mare and Winship (1984), we seek to determine whether young men who voluntarily enlist in the military are positively selected with respect to characteristics valued in the labor market. We are interested in the degree to which such selectivity applies more to blacks than to whites, thus leading to a « creaming » of the best young black men. Using background variables closely tied to positive socioeconomic outcomes, our results indicate support for positive selectivity among black men. Among white men, military enlistment is concentrated among men with less privileged backgrounds and qualifications
Intention-to-treat analysis in partially nested randomized controlled trials with real-world complexity

ABSTRACT Demands for scientific knowledge of what works in educational policy and practice has driven interest in quantitative investigations of educational outcomes, and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have proliferated under these conditions. In educational settings, even when individuals are randomized, both experimental and control students are often grouped into particular classrooms and schools and share common learning experiences. Analyses that account for these clusters are common. A less common design involves one clustered experimental arm and one unclustered experimental arm, sometimes called a partially clustered design. Analysts do not always use methods that yield valid statistical inferences for such partially clustered designs. Additionally, published methods for handling partially clustered designs may not be flexible enough to handle real-world complications, including treatment non-compliance. In this paper, we illustrate how models that accommodate partial clustering may be used in educational research. We explore the performance of these models using a series of Monte Carlo simulations informed by data taken from a large-scale RCT studying the impacts of a programme designed to decrease summer learning loss. We find that clustering and non-compliance can have substantial impacts on statistical inferences about intent-to-treat effects, and demonstrate methods that show promise for addressing these complications.
Trichomonas vaginalis PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS FOR WOMEN IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL

SUMMARY Trichomonas vaginalis infections have been associated with other diseases so that epidemiological studies of the parasite are important and help to prevent the spread of the disease. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of T. vaginalis in female patients of 19 counties in southwestern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. For diagnosis, was used direct examination, followed by applying a socio-epidemiological questionnaire. We analyzed 300 women and 9% were infected by Trichomonas vaginalis. The highest frequency occurred in women between 18 and 39 years old, single/divorced/widowed, whose family income was at one minimum wage or less, and they had not completed the primary school. Statistically significant risk factors were: women reporting two or more sexual partners in the last year were 3.3 times more likely to acquire the parasite, and those in use of oral contraceptives were 2.7 times more likely to have T. vaginalis. Importantly, 33% of the asymptomatic women were infected, and most of the negative results were from women presenting symptoms consistent with the infection. The findings emphasize that it is necessary to expand the knowledge of individuals about the disease, especially among women with the above mentioned risk factors and also to include the regular screening of Trichomonas vaginalis infections in health centers.
Semiparametric Analysis for Recurrent Event Data with Time‐Dependent Covariates and Informative Censoring

Summary Recurrent event data analyses are usually conducted under the assumption that the censoring time is independent of the recurrent event process. In many applications the censoring time can be informative about the underlying recurrent event process, especially in situations where a correlated failure event could potentially terminate the observation of recurrent events. In this article, we consider a semiparametric model of recurrent event data that allows correlations between censoring times and recurrent event process via frailty. This flexible framework incorporates both time‐dependent and time‐independent covariates in the formulation, while leaving the distributions of frailty and censoring times unspecified. We propose a novel semiparametric inference procedure that depends on neither the frailty nor the censoring time distribution. Large sample properties of the regression parameter estimates and the estimated baseline cumulative intensity functions are studied. Numerical studies demonstrate that the proposed methodology performs well for realistic sample sizes. An analysis of hospitalization data for patients in an AIDS cohort study is presented to illustrate the proposed method.
Zero-Order Reverse Filtering

In this paper, we study an unconventional but practically meaningful reversibility problem of commonly used image filters. We broadly define filters as operations to smooth images or to produce layers via global or local algorithms. And we raise the intriguingly problem if they are reservable to the status before filtering. To answer it, we present a novel strategy to understand general filter via contraction mappings on a metric space. A very simple yet effective zero-order algorithm is proposed. It is able to practically reverse most filters with low computational cost. We present quite a few experiments in the paper and supplementary file to thoroughly verify its performance. This method can also be generalized to solve other inverse problems and enables new applications.
Inhibition of sympathetic preganglionic neurons by catecholamines and clonidine: mediation by an alpha-adrenergic receptor

The neuropil surrounding sympathetic preganglionic neurons (SPNs) receives an abundant catecholaminergic innervation originating from the brain stem. The effect of catecholamines (CA) released at this spinal level on the activity of SPNs is still controversial as is the extent to which this particular CA transmission is affected by central antihypertensive drugs, such as clonidine and alpha-methyldopa. The present study was initiated, therefore, to determine the effects of iontophoretic applications of CAs and clonidine on the discharges of identified SPNs and to determine the type of receptor mediating the action of these compounds. Extracellular recordings were made with five- or six-barrel electrodes in 20 pigeons anesthetized with urethane, artificially ventilated, and immobilized. Data were obtained on 83 SPNs localized in the three first thoracic segments and identified on the basis of constancy of antidromic activation latency and collision. All of the cells sampled were inhibited by the application of low iontophoretic currents of clonidine and by a series of CAs, including alpha-methylnorepinephrine, epinephrine, and phenylephrine. For each compound, the amount of charge necessary to decrease the level of cell firing to 50% of control was calculated. Using this value as an index of drug potency, the following rank order could be determined: clonidine greater than alpha-methylnorepinephrine greater than epinephrine greater than norepinephrine greater than phenylephrine. The inhibitory effects of both clonidine and norepinephrine were antagonized by iontophoretic applications of the alpha antagonists, yohimbine, piperoxan, and phentolamine. In contrast, the beta antagonist, sotalol, and the alpha 1 antagonist, prazosin, were found ineffective when similarly applied. It is concluded that CAs and clonidine are inhibitory to the maintained activity of SPNs and that an alpha2-adrenergic receptor may be involved in the action of these compounds.
Assessing Team Knowledge Structures: Findings from the Field

The factors that impact teams' cognitive representations of the systems with which they interact is an area of concentrated research effort. Not surprisingly, research indicates that these cognitive representations impact the team's functioning with the system. Despite the importance of these cognitive representations and their impact on performance, valid and reliable measurement in naturalistic environments remains elusive. Validity and reliability of a measure are especially important to assess the impact of training. The purpose of the current effort is to evaluate the efficacy of a particular knowledge elicitation and representation methodology. A demonstration of this methodology will be presented using data collected from the command and control elements of a Division Artillery (DIVARTY) command staff. Results indicate that this methodology distinguishes differences in team members' mental models as a function of expertise and subteam membership. Implications of these differences for training are discussed, as well as directions for future research.
Chemo-spectrophotometric evolution of spiral galaxies – V. Properties of galactic discs at high redshift

We explore the implications for the high redshift universe of ``state-of-the-art'' models for the chemical and spectrophotometric evolution of spiral galaxies. The models are based on simple ``scaling relations'' for discs, obtained in the framework of Cold Dark Matter models for galaxy formation, and were ``calibrated'' as to reproduce the properties of the Milky Way and of nearby discs (at redshift z~0). In this paper, we compare the predictions of our ``hybrid'' approach to galaxy evolution to observations at moderate and high redshift. We find that the models are in fairly good agreement with observations up to z~1, while some problems appear at higher redshift (provided there is no selection bias in the data); these discrepancies may suggest that galaxy mergers (not considered in this work) played a non negligible role at z>1. We also predict the existence of a ``universal'' correlation between abundance gradients and disc scalelengths, independent of redshift.
Conceptual foundations of the unified theory of weak and electromagnetic interactions.

The author discusses the development of two lines of thought in theoretical physics: the slow growth in the understanding of symmetry, and in particular, broken or hidden symmetry; and the struggle to come to terms with the infinities in quantum field theories. He briefly describes how the convergence of these lines of thought led to his work on the unification of weak and electromagnetic interactions, and suggests what role they may play in the physics of the future. 63 references.
Evolved Galaxies at z > 1.5 from the Gemini Deep Deep Survey: The Formation Epoch of Massive Stellar Systems

We present spectroscopic evidence from the Gemini Deep Deep Survey for a significant population of color-selected red galaxies at 1.3 < z < 2.2 whose integrated light is dominated by evolved stars. Unlike radio-selected objects, the z > 1.5 old galaxies have a sky density greater than 0.1 arcmin-2. Conservative age estimates for 20 galaxies with z > 1.3, ⟨z⟩ = 1.49, give a median age of 1.2 Gyr and ⟨zf⟩ = 2.4. One-quarter of the galaxies have inferred zf > 4. Models restricted to [Fe/H] ≤ 0 give median ages and zf of 2.3 Gyr and 3.3, respectively. These galaxies are among the most massive and contribute ~50% of the stellar mass density at 1 < z < 2. The derived ages and most probable star formation histories suggest a high star formation rate (~300-500 M☉ yr-1) phase in the progenitor population. We argue that most of the red galaxies are not descendants of the typical z ~ 3 Lyman break galaxies. Galaxies associated with luminous submillimeter sources have the requisite star formation rates to be the progenitor population. Our results point toward early and rapid formation for a significant fraction of present-day massive galaxies.
Knowledge Acquisition Using Structured Interviewing: An Empirical Investigation

The knowledge acquisition problem endures as a bottleneck in the construction of expert system knowledge bases. Despite the recent proliferation of techniques and the availability of more sophisticated methods for this task, the interview technique continues to be widely used, especially in business domains. This paper reports the results of an experiment conducted to compare the unstructured knowledge acquisition interview with a specific type of structured knowledge acqui- sition interview. Structure for the interview was provided by a domain model of the business decision-making activity that attempted to capture the subjective and quali- tative aspects of decision making. Senior managers from industry served as the subjects in the experiment The interview technique was evaluated along efficiency and effectiveness dimensions. Results indicate improved performance with the struc- tured interviewing method.