Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Temazepam at high altitude reduces periodic breathing without impairing next‐day performance: a randomized cross‐over double‐blind study

The aim of the study was to examine the efficacy and safety of temazepam on nocturnal oxygenation and next‐day performance at altitude. A double‐blind, randomized, cross‐over trial was performed in Thirty‐three healthy volunteers. Volunteers took 10 mg of temazepam and placebo in random order on two successive nights soon after arrival at 5000 m, following a 17‐day trek from 410 m. Overnight SaO2 and body movements, and next‐day reaction time, maintenance of wakefulness and cognition were assessed. Compared with placebo, temazepam resulted in a reduction in periodic breathing from a median (range) of 16 (0–81.3)% of the night to 9.4 (0–79.6)% (P = 0.016, Wilcoxon's signed‐rank test), associated with a small but significant decrease in mean nocturnal SaO2 from 78 (65–84)% to 76 (64–83)% (P = 0.013). There was no change in sleep latency (P = 0.40) or restlessness (P = 0.30). Temazepam had no adverse effect on next‐day reaction time [241 (201–380) ms postplacebo and 242 (204–386) ms post‐temazepam], maintenance of wakefulness (seven trekkers failed to maintain 40 min of wakefulness postplacebo, and four post‐temazepam), cognition or acute mountain sickness. At high altitude temazepam reduces periodic breathing during sleep without an adverse effect on next‐day reaction time, maintenance of wakefulness or cognition. The 2% reduction in mean SaO2 post‐temazepam is likely to be predominantly because of acclimatization, as by chance more trekkers took temazepam on the first night (19 versus 14). We conclude that at high altitude temazepam is effective in reducing periodic breathing, and is safe to use, without any adverse effect upon next‐day performance.
Can venous base excess replace arterial base excess as a marker of early shock and a predictor of survival in trauma?

INTRODUCTION Arterial base excess is an established marker of shock and predictor of survival in trauma patients. However, venous blood is more quickly and easily obtained. This study aimed to determine if venous base excess could replace arterial base excess as a marker in trauma patients at presentation and if venous base excess is predictive of survival at 24 hours and one week. METHODS This was a prospective study of 394 trauma patients presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary hospital over a 17-month period. Data on base excess at presentation, vital signs, shock index (SI), injury severity score (ISS), and mortality at 24 hours and one week was collected and analysed. RESULTS Arterial and venous blood gas tests were performed on 260 and 134 patients, respectively. Patients were stratified into groups based on their SI and ISS for analysis. There was no statistical difference between mean venous blood gas and arterial blood gas levels at presentation when SI > 0.7, regardless of ISS (p > 0.05). The mortality rate was 4.57%. Both venous and arterial base excess was lower in nonsurvivors compared to survivors (p < 0.05). However, at 24 hours and one week, the difference in base excess values at presentation between survivors and nonsurvivors was greater when using venous base excess compared to arterial base excess (11.53 vs. 4.28 and 11.41 vs. 2.66, respectively). CONCLUSION In conclusion, venous base excess can replace arterial base excess in trauma patients as a means of identifying and prognosticating early shock.
Estrogen Therapy and Ischemic Stroke in Women with Diabetes Aged Over 55 Years: A Nation-Wide Prospective Population-Based Study in Taiwan

This study explores the possible association between the risk of ischemic stroke and conjugated equine estrogen (CEE) use in women who are over 55 years old and have diabetes. Data from the National Health Insurance system of Taiwan were used to identify 428 women over 55 years old with diabetes who used CEE (0.625 mg daily) from 2003 to 2009. For comparison, 21026 women with diabetes who were from the same cohort and did not use estrogen were used as a control group, excluding patients with previous ischemic stroke at the baseline. The propensity score method was used to identify a 1:3 ratio for the matched cohort (n = 1284). Covariates used for propensity score-matching included age and comorbidities. Cox’s proportional hazard model was applied to estimate the relationship between CEE use and ischemic stroke. The overall incidence of ischemic stroke was significantly lower in patients using CEE than in the control group (0.9% compared with 3.0%, p = 0.016). Further analyses using Cox’s proportional hazard model revealed that after adjusting for age, comorbidities, socioeconomic status, urbanization, and other medications associated with ischemic stroke, a lower risk was present in patients with CEE use (hazard ratio: 0.34; 95% confidence interval: 0.12–0.97). Time of menopause could not be identified because of the nature of the database. CEE might decrease the risk of ischemic stroke in women with diabetes aged over 55 years, according to this population-based study.
Granulosa cells of polycystic ovaries: are they normal or abnormal?

Understanding whether granulosa cells are normal or abnormal in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCO) could have clinical importance. For this purpose, we compared the ability of normal and PCO granulosa cells to synthesize oestrogen and progesterone in vitro in response to follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and/or insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I). The normal granulosa cells were from a 7 mm dominant follicle from a women with regular menstrual cycles. The PCO granulosa cells were from 5-7 mm follicles of three patients who had classical PCO. Several interesting points emerge from the comparison: in each PCO patient there was a high level of bioactive FSH in the follicular microenvironment (greater than or equal to 5 mIU/ml; greater than or equal to 250 ng/ml). This is paradoxical because the concentration of steroids in follicular fluid suggests that PCO follicles are highly atretic and therefore should not contain detectable FSH activity. The capacity to secrete progesterone when challenged with a maximally effective dose of FSH and/or IGF-I, was markedly reduced (8- to 10-fold) in PCO compared to normal granulosa cells. This is in sharp contrast to the oestradiol responses which were much the same for PCO and normal granulosa cells. Also, the time course and dose-response effects of FSH showed some major differences between normal and PCO cells, that is, PCO cells lost their capacity to produce oestradiol when treated continuously with a maximally effective dose of FSH. They were also significantly more sensitive to FSH and failed to become more sensitive to IGF-I when treated with FSH. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Jakość życia dzieci i młodzieży z mózgowym porażeniem dziecięcymi niepełnosprawnością intelektualną. Wybrane uwarunkowania kliniczne

Objective: The measurement of HRQOL is nowadays an important element of assessment of a patien t, also a patient suffering from cerebral palsy. It is gradually becoming one of the major dependent variables in the models of treatment effectiveness assessment, specialist forms of therapy and care. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of life of patients suffering from cerebral palsy and to analyze the impact of selected clinical factors. Material and methods. 285 people suffering from cerebral palsy, attending the selected education facilities in Poland, took part in the study. In order to measure the quality of life, the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), Generic Core and CP Module were employed. In the statistical analysis the univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA), the Pearson linear correlation and the Spearman rank correlation were employed. On the basis of the study, the highest level of quality of life of children and young people with hemiplegia was stated. Conclusions. All the discussed clinical factors remained dependent on the physical assessment. The presence of accompanied diseases did not affect the assessment of emotional and social functioning, as well as the pain assessment of the examined patients.
Awareness and knowledge of developmental co-ordination disorder among physicians, teachers and parents

Background Obtaining a diagnosis of developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) is a long, inconsistent and frustrating journey for families, with apparently little awareness of DCD in schools or the medical community. Methods An online survey was completed by 1297 participants: parents (n = 501), teachers (n = 202), family/general physicians (n = 339) and paediatricians (n = 255). Results Only 20% of the sample had knowledge of DCD, with 41% of the paediatricians and 23% of family/general physicians familiar. Of participants who have awareness, only 11–59% have knowledge of the impact of DCD on social, emotional and physical health. Less than 30% of physicians have awareness of the secondary consequences. Few physicians diagnose DCD and less than one-third believe it is easy to make a diagnosis; this is in contrast to the fact that most parents report confidence in their physician's ability to make a timely diagnosis. Conclusions If less than one-half of physicians have knowledge of DCD and even fewer are knowledgeable of the secondary consequences of the condition, it is not surprising that DCD is infrequently diagnosed and that families need to search for support. This survey confirms observations that the condition is not well known and there is a need for greater awareness of DCD.
Testing the efficacy of two new variants of recasts with standard recasts in communicative conversational settings: An exploratory longitudinal study

The purpose of this exploratory longitudinal study was to evaluate the efficacy of two new forms of recasts (i.e. elaborated and paraphrased recasts), each of which was designed to be more in accordance with contested views of input processing. The effectiveness of the two new forms of recasts was compared to that of conventional standard recasts. To this end, an experienced language teacher engaged four intermediate-level learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in weekly, one-on-one, English conversation sessions under four instructional conditions (elaborated recast, paraphrased recast, standard recast, and no recast), one learner under each condition. A diachronic, time-series research design was used to assess the effects of recasts on each learner’s performance of past tense over a nine-week, instructional period. The results showed that all three types of recasts proved effective in assisting the learners to improve their accuracy on English past tense; all things considered, elaborated and especially paraphrased recasts proved to have a distinct advantage over standard recasts. The results suggest that recasts, in general, and more specifically paraphrased and elaborated recasts, are effective when employed in less controlled, spoken conversational practice, where there is free turn-taking, topic shifts, and the conversational content is related to the learner’s personal experiences and background knowledge.
The Balloon Analogue Risk Task and Behavioral Correlates in Pigeons

OF THESIS THE BALLOON ANALGOUE RISK TASK AND BEHAVIORAL CORRELATES IN PIGEONS Individuals experience risk ubiquitously, but measuring risk taking is difficult. The balloon analogue risk task (BART) was developed in order to assess risk taking through having subjects press a key that accrues reward but also risk losing all reward with each press. In humans, greater responding in this task is associated with other maladaptive risk taking behaviors. The present research modeled this relationship in pigeons due to their previously shown propensity towards risk taking behavior. Experiment 1 used an unsignaled balloon task in which losing could only occur after 5 pecks. Results showed below optimal performance with greater pecks associated with faster acquisition of risk taking in the suboptimal choice task and evidence of modulation by delay discounting measures. Experiment 2 signaled the number of pecks with colors and tested multiple hoppers as a reinforcement modality to increase performance. Results showed only signaling the number of pecks improved performance and was related to performance in the high risk BART task. Both the low and high risk variants were associated with slower suboptimal choice acquisition and again had evidence of modulation by delay discounting measures. Potential shared underlying mechanisms are discussed.
Diffusion and Evaluation of E-Government Systems: A Field Study in China

As IT/IS application in governmental organizations gains more and more attention from both academics and practitioners in China, the diffusion of e-government systems has become one of the central research issues in this fast growing economy. In this paper, we follow a conceptual model consisting of two dimensions to evaluate the IT/IS application status of Chinese governments. With a field study conducted in a local government in Beijing, the capital of China, we utilize the model to determine the e-government development level in this administrative district. Furthermore, a behavioral research model for analyzing the factors influencing e-government systems evaluation in the Chinese cultural context is proposed based on classical IT/IS adoption theories. In the light of survey data, the relationships between ease of use, usefulness, fitness, and user evaluation towards egovernment systems are validated, providing us with more in-depth understanding about the characteristics and process of e-government diffusion in such Chinese organizations.
Amplitude constraints and the inversion of Canadian Shield early rise explosion data

The inclusion of amplitude constraints in body-wave inversions allows the separation of earth models which seem indistinguishable on the basis of traveltime observations. Amplitude constraints can be included through the calculation of synthetic seismograms by the quantized ray theory formulation. As an example, a preliminary model for the velocity structure of the upper mantle beneath part of the Canadian Shield is derived from P -wave amplitude and arrival-time data from Project Early Rise. The amplitude behavior observed in this data set is consistent with the existence of positive velocity gradients near 150- and 200-km depths and prominent discontinuities near 400- and 650-km depths.
Texture overlay for virtual clothing based on PCA of silhouettes

In this paper, we propose a method for overlaying an arbitrary texture image onto a surface of a plain T-shirt worn by a user. For overlaying arbitrary textures onto the surface of the T-shirt, we need to know the deformation of the surface. For estimating the deformation of the surface from the input images, we use a two-phase process: learning and searching. In the learning phase, the system learns the relationship between the deformation of the surface and the silhouette of the T-shirt region in the image. A database of a number of training images in which a person wearing a T-shirt with markers moves through a variety of positions is used for this learning. Using the database, the system can learn the relationship between the shape of the silhouette and the surface deformation that is provided by the 2D positions of the markers on the surface of the T-shirt. In the searching phase, the silhouette of the user's T-shirt is extracted from the input image, and then, a search for a similar silhouette in the database is conducted in the subspace of the silhouette, which is computed using a PCA of the database. By using the proposed method for estimating the deformation of the surface of the T-shirt, we perform experiments for overlaying virtual clothing.
The effects of a community-based pulmonary rehabilitation programme on exercise tolerance and quality of life: a randomized controlled trial.

The present multicentre study evaluates the differences in efficacy between a 3 month rehabilitation programme including drug treatment, and a 3 month control period of drug treatment only, for asthmatic patients and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The programme was run by physiotherapists in eight local practices, and included exercise training, patient education, breathing retraining, evacuation of mucus, relaxation techniques, and recreational activities. In a randomized controlled trial with a cross-over design, the effects of rehabilitation were evaluated 3 and 6 months after baseline measurements in terms of exercise tolerance and quality of life (QOL). Exercise tolerance was assessed using submaximal cycle ergometer tests and 6 min walking tests. QOL was evaluated by means of the Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire (CRDQ). After 3 months, the patients who started with rehabilitation showed significant improvements in endurance time (421 s) and cardiac frequency (6 beats.min-1) during cycling, walking distance (39 m), and total CRDQ score (17 points) compared to the control group. These improvements were still significant after 6 months. Additional analysis indicated that the asthmatic patients and the patients with COPD responded to rehabilitation in a similar way, with the exception that there was a greater improvement in walking distance for asthmatics. Improvements in exercise tolerance were not significantly correlated with improvements in QOL. Rehabilitation of patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in local physiotherapy practices improves exercise tolerance and quality of life.
Street Language: A Multilingual Youth Register in the Netherlands

This paper reports on an empirical study of street language, a multilingual youth register in the Netherlands. Nearly 300 secondary school students completed a questionnaire on their acquaintance with and use of street language. A subsample of students was also interviewed. Use of street language will be related to background information about the students, their Dutch language proficiency and contextual characteristics. The results of the study show that the use of street language is generally widespread, but that Surinamese students are more frequent users of street language than students from other ethnic groups. Although the questionnaire did not reveal significant differences between boys and girls, the interviews showed that boys tend to use this register more intensively than girls. Contrary to popular expectations, use of street language cannot be considered to be a symptom of weak language proficiency, as users and non-users turned out to be equally proficient. The examples of street language that were provided by the students showed a high degree of influence by the Surinamese Creole, Sranan.
The power of ‘feeling one’ with a group: identity fusion and extreme pro-group behaviours / El poder de ‘sentirse uno’ con un grupo: fusión de la identidad y conductas progrupales extremas

Abstract Why do some people make extreme sacrifices for their group? We propose that the identity fusion theory helps to understand extreme pro-group behaviour. Identity fusion entails a visceral feeling of oneness with the group. Since the borders between the personal and social self are highly permeable for fused persons, they care about the outcomes of the group as much as their own outcomes. In this article we start by introducing what identity fusion is and the four principles that conceptually capture its essence. After presenting the three alternative methods for measuring identity fusion, we review empirical evidence demonstrating what identity fusion predicts, and the underlying mechanisms that moderate and mediate its consequences. The next sections focus on the possible causes of identity fusion, and we introduce suggestions for diminishing undesirable extreme behaviours by decreasing fusion (i.e., ‘de-fusion’). In a final section, we briefly discuss alternative theories of the causes of extreme behaviours and their relation to identity fusion theory.
CLOUD STRUCTURE OF GALACTIC OB CLUSTER-FORMING REGIONS FROM COMBINING GROUND- AND SPACE-BASED BOLOMETRIC OBSERVATIONS

We have developed an iterative procedure to systematically combine the millimeter and submillimeter images of OB cluster-forming molecular clouds, which were taken by ground-based (CSO, JCMT, APEX, and IRAM-30 m) and space telescopes (Herschel and Planck). For the seven luminous ( L⊙) Galactic OB cluster-forming molecular clouds selected for our analyses, namely W49A, W43-Main, W43-South, W33, G10.6-0.4, G10.2-0.3, and G10.3-0.1, we have performed single-component, modified blackbody fits to each pixel of the combined (sub)millimeter images, and the Herschel PACS and SPIRE images at shorter wavelengths. The ∼10″ resolution dust column density and temperature maps of these sources revealed dramatically different morphologies, indicating very different modes of OB cluster-formation, or parent molecular cloud structures in different evolutionary stages. The molecular clouds W49A, W33, and G10.6-0.4 show centrally concentrated massive molecular clumps that are connected with approximately radially orientated molecular gas filaments. The W43-Main and W43-South molecular cloud complexes, which are located at the intersection of the Galactic near 3 kpc (or Scutum) arm and the Galactic bar, show a widely scattered distribution of dense molecular clumps/cores over the observed ∼10 pc spatial scale. The relatively evolved sources G10.2-0.3 and G10.3-0.1 appear to be affected by stellar feedback, and show a complicated cloud morphology embedded with abundant dense molecular clumps/cores. We find that with the high angular resolution we achieved, our visual classification of cloud morphology can be linked to the systematically derived statistical quantities (i.e., the enclosed mass profile, the column density probability distribution function (N-PDF), the two-point correlation function of column density, and the probability distribution function of clump/core separations). In particular, the massive molecular gas clumps located at the center of G10.6-0.4 and W49A, which contribute to a considerable fraction of their overall cloud masses, may be special OB cluster-forming environments as a direct consequence of global cloud collapse. These centralized massive molecular gas clumps also uniquely occupy much higher column densities than what is determined by the overall fit of power-law N-PDF. We have made efforts to archive the derived statistical quantities of individual target sources, to permit comparisons with theoretical frameworks, numerical simulations, and other observations in the future.
Extending Credit Risk (Pricing) Models for the Simulation of Portfolios of Interest Rate and Credit Risk Sensitive Securities

We discuss extensions of intensity based models for pricing credit risk and derivative securities to the simulation and valuation of portfolios. The stochasticity in interest rates, credit spreads (default intensities) and rating migrations are incorporated in a unified framework. Scenarios of future prices of all securities are calculated in a risk-neutral world. The calculated prices are consistent with observed prices and the term structure of default free and defaultable interest rates. Three applications are discussed: (i) study of the inter-temporal price sensitivity of credit bonds to changes in interest rates, default probabilities, recovery rates and rating migration, (ii) portfolio simulations with attribution of changes to credit events and interest rates and, (iii) tracking of corporate bond indices. Key words: credit risk, default risk, simulation, integrated product management