Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Risk Factors for Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus in Sheep and Goats at the Wildlife-Livestock Interface in Punjab Province, Pakistan

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) is causing infectious disease with high morbidity and mortality rate in domestic and wild small ruminants of Pakistan with valuable economical losses. The present study was carried out to investigate risk factors of PPRV in domestic small ruminants which were present in the vicinity of wildlife parks. A total of 265 sera samples (27 wild ruminants and 238 domesticated small ruminants) from apparently healthy animals from two different wildlife parks were collected and analysed for PPRV antibodies. Also, 20 nasal swabs from domestic small ruminants showing respiratory signs were collected to check for presence of PPRV antigen. Competitive ELISA revealed highest proportions of anti-PPRV antibodies in domestic small ruminants around the Wildlife Park at Lahore (35%) as compared to Faisalabad (13%), with no existence of PPRV antibodies in tested serum of wild ruminants at these parks. Higher seropositivity was observed in females (25.6%) than in males (5.1%) and in goats (34.5%) compared to sheep (11.2%). The results of N-gene based RT-PCR highlight the absence of PPRV due to lack of current PPR outbreak in the region during study period. Even though grazing was not a significant risk factor, there is still a possibility of wildlife-livestock interactions for feed and water reservoirs, resulting in spillover of PPR to wildlife. Keeping in view the high seropositivity and risk of PPR, vaccination should be adopted to avoid circulation of PPRV among wild and domestic small ruminants (sheep and goats).
Comparative Genomic Analysis of Archaeal Genotypic Variants in a Single Population and in Two Different Oceanic Provinces

ABSTRACT Planktonic crenarchaeotes are present in high abundance in Antarctic winter surface waters, and they also make up a large proportion of total cell numbers throughout deep ocean waters. To better characterize these uncultivated marine crenarchaeotes, we analyzed large genome fragments from individuals recovered from a single Antarctic picoplankton population and compared them to those from a representative obtained from deeper waters of the temperate North Pacific. Sequencing and analysis of the entire DNA insert from one Antarctic marine archaeon (fosmid 74A4) revealed differences in genome structure and content between Antarctic surface water and temperate deepwater archaea. Analysis of the predicted gene products encoded by the 74A4 sequence and those derived from a temperate, deepwater planktonic crenarchaeote (fosmid 4B7) revealed many typical archaeal proteins but also several proteins that so far have not been detected in archaea. The unique fraction of marine archaeal genes included, among others, those for a predicted RNA-binding protein of the bacterial cold shock family and a eukaryote-type Zn finger protein. Comparison of closely related archaea originating from a single population revealed significant genomic divergence that was not evident from 16S rRNA sequence variation. The data suggest that considerable functional diversity may exist within single populations of coexisting microbial strains, even those with identical 16S rRNA sequences. Our results also demonstrate that genomic approaches can provide high-resolution information relevant to microbial population genetics, ecology, and evolution, even for microbes that have not yet been cultivated.
Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness in Kurdistan, Iran

Purpose: To determine the magnitude and causes of blindness and visual impairment (VI) in Kurdistan, using the Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness methodology. Methods: In this population-based cross sectional study, 99 clusters were selected through probability proportional to size sampling. Visual acuity (VA) was measured using a standard tumbling “E” chart. Ophthalmologists examined participants with VA < 6/18 in both eyes. The cause of VI in the better eye or the most treatable cause was considered as the primary cause of VI. Results: A total of 3203 (response rate: 92.4%) individuals aged 50 years and older participated, of whom 1657 (51.7%) were female. The standardized prevalence of blindness, severe visual impairment (SVI), and moderate visual impairment (MVI) based on available correction (presenting VA) were 2.1% (1.5-2.6), 1.7% (1.2-2.2), and 9.6%(8.4-10.8), respectively. The proportion of avoidable causes of blindness, SVI, and MVI were 58.1%, 78.4%, and 83.4%, respectively. The most common cause of blindness and SVI was cataract (27.4% and 60.8% respectively), followed by age-related macular degeneration (25.8% and 13.7%, respectively). The leading causes of MVI were uncorrected refractive errors (RE) (37.2%) and cataract (33.6%). Conclusion: The prevalence of blindness in the study population seems comparable to the region. According to our results, blindness, SVI, and MVI were mostly due to avoidable causes. Cataract and refractive errors are the principal causes of blindness and VI in Kurdistan.
Cigarette smoking in China: public health, science, and policy

Abstract Throughout the world, cigarette smoking is a habit that causes serious health, economic, and social problems. Therefore, many countries have taken an active role to control and to ban smoking. The chronic smoking problem in China is particularly acute because China has the largest population of smokers in the world, over 300 million currently. If 30% of these smokers were to die of smoke-related diseases in the next 20 years, the impact from the more than 90 million premature deaths could be damaging to China. In addition, numerous non-smokers also experience health problems from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. China’s efforts to reduce or to ban smoking in certain public places have not been well-coordinated or enforced compared with those in other countries. Therefore, success has been minimal. Consequently, leaders in China should not be complacent about combating the serious national health problem. A multiprong approach in combination with the MPOWER policy from the World Health Organization that targets different levels of acquisition of the smoking habit must be used. Examples may include the government’s reduced reliance on profits from the sale of cigarettes, the elimination of advertisements that encourage smoking among young individuals, the presentation of more graphic illustration of harmful effects from smoking on every pack of cigarettes, higher taxes/prices on cigarettes, and the implementation of enforceable bans on smoking in public places. As shown in other countries, such coordinated effort can be highly effective in the reduction of smoking and can have healthy consequences.
The Effect of Gender on Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) Efficacy in Neonatal Hyperoxia-Induced Lung Injury

Background Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) improve alveolar and vascular structures in experimental models of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Female MSC secrete more anti-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic factors as compared to male MSC. Whether the therapeutic efficacy of MSC in attenuating lung injury in an experimental model of BPD is influenced by the sex of the donor MSC or recipient is unknown. Here we tested the hypothesis that female MSC would have greater lung regenerative properties than male MSC in experimental BPD and this benefit would be more evident in males. Objective To determine whether intra-tracheal (IT) administration of female MSC to neonatal rats with experimental BPD has more beneficial reparative effects as compared to IT male MSC. Methods Newborn Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to normoxia (RA) or hyperoxia (85% O2) from postnatal day (P) 2- P21 were randomly assigned to receive male or female IT bone marrow (BM)-derived green fluorescent protein (GFP+) MSC (1 x 106 cells/50 μl), or Placebo on P7. Pulmonary hypertension (PH), vascular remodeling, alveolarization, and angiogenesis were assessed at P21. PH was determined by measuring right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) and pulmonary vascular remodeling was evaluated by quantifying the percentage of muscularized peripheral pulmonary vessels. Alveolarization was evaluated by measuring mean linear intercept (MLI) and radial alveolar count (RAC). Angiogenesis was determined by measuring vascular density. Data are expressed as mean ± SD, and analyzed by ANOVA. Results There were no significant differences in the RA groups. Exposure to hyperoxia resulted in a decrease in vascular density and RAC, with a significant increase in MLI, RVSP, and the percentage of partially and fully muscularized pulmonary arterioles. Administration of both male and female MSC significantly improved vascular density, alveolarization, RVSP, percent of muscularized vessels and alveolarization. Interestingly, the improvement in PH and vascular remodeling was more robust in the hyperoxic rodents who received MSC from female donors. In keeping with our hypothesis, male animals receiving female MSC, had a greater improvement in vascular remodeling. This was accompanied by a more significant decrease in lung pro-inflammatory markers and a larger increase in anti-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic markers in male rodents that received female MSC. There were no significant differences in MSC engraftment among groups. Conclusions Female BM-derived MSC have greater therapeutic efficacy than male MSC in reducing neonatal hyperoxia-induced lung inflammation and vascular remodeling. Furthermore, the beneficial effects of female MSC were more pronounced in male animals. Together, these findings suggest that female MSC maybe the most potent BM-derived MSC population for lung repair in severe BPD complicated by PH.
An epidemiological study on road traffic accident cases admitted to a tertiary care hospital of central Uttar Pradesh

Background: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a public health issue and cost a lot to individuals, families, communities, and nations. The estimated cost is around 12% of a countrys Gross National Product in lower income countries. Rural India has inefficient services for trauma care, due to the varied topography, financial constraints, and lack of appropriate health infrastructure and reach to them in their golden period. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to study the pattern of injury and to assess the effectiveness of ambulance services. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based, cross-sectional study of victims of RTA cases as study subjects who were admitted in the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital after they are stabilized and shifted to orthopedics and surgery ward. It included comatose patients and excluding patients of the outpatient department. Results: Majority of RTA victims used government ambulance 354 (54.1%) followed by owned vehicle 214 (32.7%) and least of them used private ambulance 86 (13.2%) to reach the hospital. Only 276 (42.2%) of victims received ambulance services at the time of accident occurrence in their golden period. In our study, mechanism of injury majorly was collision type 451 (69%) followed by acceleration 110 (16.9%) and deceleration 93 (14.3%) among the road accident victims. Among various body head region was most common 254 (39%) followed by lower limb 230 (35.2%). Conclusion: The mortality among road accident cases increased with the increase in duration to reach the hospital. The system which was involved in RTA cases was majorly skeletal system followed by the central nervous system.
Transport properties of thin flakes of the antiferromagnetic topological insulator 
MnBi2Te4

$\mathrm{MnB}{\mathrm{i}}_{2}\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{e}}_{4}$ was recently suggested as the first example of an antiferromagnetic topological insulator. However, lacking good quality of single crystals hindered its further investigation. Here, we report the detailed transport properties of several $\mathrm{MnB}{\mathrm{i}}_{2}\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{e}}_{4}$ thin flakes in which samples are more homogeneous as compared to the bulk single crystals. We found all the samples exhibit antiferromagnetic transition around 25 K and the same field-driven magnetic transitions; however, temperature dependence of resistivities shows either insulating or metallic behaviors. Such behavior is in contrast with the as-grown thick single crystals in which only metallic behavior was observed. The Hall coefficients indicate the gradual decrease of the carrier density with decreasing the temperature for the sample with insulating behavior. Such difference may relate to different impurity content (antisite defects and/or Mn vacancies). Our findings indicate the bulk carrier can be localized at low temperature by introducing disorder while the magnetic ordering keeps invariant, which is quite crucial for realizing the theoretical proposed quantum anomalous Hall effect and axion insulators in this material.
EVALUATION OF THE INITIAL INTERVIEW IN A WALK-IN CLINIC: The Clinician's Perspective on a “Negotiated Approach”

A negotiated approach to the conduct of the initial interview has been developed from the need for a more flexible and active exchange between clinician and patient. The setting is the walk-in clinic of the psychiatry service in a large urban general hospital, staffed mostly by first-year residents and staff social workers. These clinicians [26] were asked to evaluate the utility of the negotiated approach. They rated the approach both from their perspective and from that of 136 patients they interviewed. Although the clinicians evaluated the approach positively, they associated their satisfaction much more with the aims of a diagnostic approach than a negotiated one. The clinicians do not perceive that patients share satisfaction in their instrumental objective of understanding (a diagnostic goal), and the clinicians do not perceive that they share satisfaction in the patient's instrumental objective of participating in the treatment planning. The sharpest divergence between the clinician's and perceived patient satisfaction was over two evaluation/outcome measures: the treatment plan being wanted and attainment of symptom relief. These measures correlated much better with perceived patient than clinician satisfaction. Divergence in perspective between clinician and patient was discussed with regard to possible sources, the effect of settings, and the implication for the delivery of services
Strength-based interventions

Positive psychology has revived psychology’s abandoned interest in the study of morally positively valued traits (the so-called character strengths) and virtues. We review literature generated on strength-based approaches and focus on applications in the so-called positive psychology interventions. There seems to be great potential in this approach for research in the field of giftedness and, of course, also when practically working with gifted children and adolescents. We highlight some ideas for future research directions.
Role of electronic word of mouth on purchase intention

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of electronic word of mouth (Ewom) on brand image (BIM) and customer satisfaction (CS) and their impact on purchase intention (PI). Impact of online websites (OWs) on Ewom and impact of receiver's perspective (RP) on CS and BIM was also checked. A Likert scale questionnaire was used to gather the responses of 253 and then was tested empirically. The study finds out the positive impact of Ewom and RP on CS and BIM. Also, CS and BIM have a significant impact on PI. Result also confirms that OW has a positive impact on Ewom. This research explains theory of stimulus- organism- response paradigm to identify the impact of Ewom which effect BIM and CS in online and technological generation. The paper provides valuable information to marketers that how quality website generates positive word of mouth which leads to purchase intention.
Adaptation of Binaural Processing in the Adult Brainstem Induced by Ambient Noise

Interaural differences in stimulus intensity and timing are major cues for sound localization. In mammals, these cues are first processed in the lateral and medial superior olive by interaction of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs from ipsi- and contralateral cochlear nucleus neurons. To preserve sound localization acuity following changes in the acoustic environment, the processing of these binaural cues needs neuronal adaptation. Recent studies have shown that binaural sensitivity adapts to stimulation history within milliseconds, but the actual extent of binaural adaptation is unknown. In the current study, we investigated long-term effects on binaural sensitivity using extracellular in vivo recordings from single neurons in the dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus that inherit their binaural properties directly from the lateral and medial superior olives. In contrast to most previous studies, we used a noninvasive approach to influence this processing. Adult gerbils were exposed for 2 weeks to moderate noise with no stable binaural cue. We found monaural response properties to be unaffected by this measure. However, neuronal sensitivity to binaural cues was reversibly altered for a few days. Computational models of sensitivity to interaural time and level differences suggest that upregulation of inhibition in the superior olivary complex can explain the electrophysiological data.
Binding of sperm protein Izumo1 and its egg receptor Juno drives Cd9 accumulation in the intercellular contact area prior to fusion during mammalian fertilization

Little is known about the molecular mechanisms that induce gamete fusion during mammalian fertilization. After initial contact, adhesion between gametes only leads to fusion in the presence of three membrane proteins that are necessary, but insufficient, for fusion: Izumo1 on sperm, its receptor Juno on egg and Cd9 on egg. What happens during this adhesion phase is a crucial issue. Here, we demonstrate that the intercellular adhesion that Izumo1 creates with Juno is conserved in mouse and human eggs. We show that, along with Izumo1, egg Cd9 concomitantly accumulates in the adhesion area. Without egg Cd9, the recruitment kinetics of Izumo1 are accelerated. Our results suggest that this process is conserved across species, as the adhesion partners, Izumo1 and its receptor, are interchangeable between mouse and human. Our findings suggest that Cd9 is a partner of Juno, and these discoveries allow us to propose a new model of the molecular mechanisms leading to gamete fusion, in which the adhesion-induced membrane organization assembles all key players of the fusion machinery.
Simple and Effective Catalyst Separation by New CO2 -Induced Switchable Organocatalysts.

CO2 -induced switchable tertiary amine-based organocatalysts were investigated for an efficient catalyst and product separation by its different partitioning between an organic and carbonated water phase. In this case study, the switching ability of eight tertiary amine-based catalysts between the organic and water phase by addition or removal of CO2 was investigated. Here, the catalyst switched both nearly completely (99.9 %) into the aqueous phase by addition of CO2 and effectively back into the organic phase (99.3 %) by expelling CO2 . With this technique, the organocatalyst was successfully recovered and reused twelve times without significant loss of activity (up to 90 % enantiomeric excess) for the asymmetric nitroaldol (Henry) reaction. After the first catalyst switch, evaporation of the solvent affords the product in 98 % purity without any further purification steps.
Financial Valuation and Risk Management Working Paper No . 672 Entrepreneurial Spawning and Firm Characteristics

We analyze the implications of entrepreneurial spawning for a variety of firm characteristics such as size, focus, profitability, and innovativeness. We examine the dynamics of spawning over time. Our model accounts for much of the empirical evidence relating to the relation between spawning and firm characteristics. Firms that have higher patent quality spawn more, as do firms that have higher knowhow. Older firms spawn less, they are more diversified and less profitable. Spawning frequency, focus, and profitability are positively related where spawning is driven by the value of organizational fit; they are negatively related with firm size. JEL classification: L25, M13, O31, O33.
Shelter-based managed alcohol administration to chronicallyhomeless people addicted to alcohol

Background: People who are homeless and chronically alcoholic have increased health problems, use of emergency services and police contact, with a low likelihood of rehabilitation. Harm reduction is a policy to decrease the adverse consequences of substance use without requiring abstinence. The shelter-based Managed Alcohol Project (MAP) was created to deliver health care to homeless adults with alcoholism and to minimize harm; its effect upon consumption of alcohol and use of crisis services is described as proof of principle. Methods: Subjects enrolled in MAP were dispensed alcohol on an hourly basis. Hospital charts were reviewed for all emergency department (ED) visits and admissions during the 3 years before and up to 2 years after program enrolment, and the police database was accessed for all encounters during the same periods. The results of blood tests were analyzed for trends. A questionnaire was administered to MAP participants and staff about alcohol use, health and activities of daily living before and during the program. Direct program costs were also recorded. Results: Seventeen adults with an average age of 51 years and a mean duration of alcoholism of 35 years were enrolled in MAP for an average of 16 months. Their monthly mean group total of ED visits decreased from 13.5 to 8 (p = 0.004); police encounters, from 18.1 to 8.8 (p = 0.018). Changes in blood test findings were nonsignificant. All program participants reported less alcohol consumption during MAP, and subjects and staff alike reported improved hygiene, compliance with medical care and health. Interpretation: A managed alcohol program for homeless people with chronic alcoholism can stabilize alcohol intake and significantly decrease ED visits and police encounters.
Education Does Not Slow Cognitive Decline with Aging: 12-Year Evidence from the Victoria Longitudinal Study

Abstract Although the relationship between education and cognitive status is well-known, evidence regarding whether education moderates the trajectory of cognitive change in late life is conflicting. Early studies suggested that higher levels of education attenuate cognitive decline. More recent studies using improved longitudinal methods have not found that education moderates decline. Fewer studies have explored whether education exerts different effects on longitudinal changes within different cognitive domains. In the present study, we analyzed data from 1014 participants in the Victoria Longitudinal Study to examine the effects of education on composite scores reflecting verbal processing speed, working memory, verbal fluency, and verbal episodic memory. Using linear growth models adjusted for age at enrollment (range, 54–95 years) and gender, we found that years of education (range, 6–20 years) was strongly related to cognitive level in all domains, particularly verbal fluency. However, education was not related to rates of change over time for any cognitive domain. Results were similar in individuals older or younger than 70 at baseline, and when education was dichotomized to reflect high or low attainment. In this large longitudinal cohort, education was related to cognitive performance but unrelated to cognitive decline, supporting the hypothesis of passive cognitive reserve with aging. (JINS, 2011, 17, 1039–1046)