Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictive performance of gentamicin dosing nomograms

Background Several nomograms have been proposed to facilitate the determination of initial gentamicin dosing regimens in clinical settings. This study aimed to assess the predictive performance of these nomograms in Korean patients. Methods Gentamicin concentrations were determined in 84 patients with infective endocarditis (IE) and in 95 patients with other infections. All patients underwent therapeutic drug monitoring in Seoul National University Hospital from 2006 to 2012. Individual pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated using a Bayesian method, which predicted steady state peak and trough serum concentrations. Six nomograms were evaluated in patients with “other” infections: the Thomson guidelines, Hull-Sarubbi table, and Rule of Eights, for multiple daily dosing; and the Hartford nomogram, Barnes-Jewish Hospital nomogram, and Sanford Guide, for extended-interval dosing. In IE patients, synergistic combination dosing nomograms, based on the American Heart Association dosing interval guidelines, were evaluated. Results Gentamicin dosing nomograms performed poorly in attaining the target peak serum concentrations. Multiple-daily dosing nomograms predicted peak serum gentamicin concentrations better than did the extended-interval dosing nomograms (31.9%–72.3% vs 4.3%–45.7%, respectively). Similarly, in patients with IE, the once-daily dosing nomogram resulted in a significantly lower percentage of patients achieving target peak gentamicin concentrations than that associated with the thrice-daily dosing nomogram (P=0.0015). All of the multiple-daily dosing, extended-interval dosing, and synergistic combination dosing nomograms predicted the nontoxic target trough concentrations in >80% of patients. Conclusion Gentamicin dosing nomograms performed poorly in achieving the target peak serum concentrations. New gentamicin nomograms may be required in patients with IE, particularly for once-daily dosing. Therapeutic drug monitoring is highly recommended for gentamicin to ensure that the target concentrations are achieved.
Generativity, mimesis and the human body in music performance

Musical performance has been studied from a vareity of perspectives, but the most pervasive has been concerned with the relation between structure and expression. Research into this has tended either to be of the “analysis-by-synthesis” variety (e.g. Sundberg, 1988) or performance analysis (Shaffer, Todd and others). This paper examines the relationship between the generative basis of expression around which both these approaches have been based and the role played by directly mimetic and acoustical representations and by body movement. Two studies of performers' attempts to reproduce different types of performances, either real performances or artificial transformations of real performances, are discussed. The results of these studies appear to support the generative/representational approach to performance expression, but it is suggested that a capacity for direct mimesis may play a significant role in determining expression in performance. The results of a further study that sheds light on the influenc.
Museum experiences that change visitors

Abstract Transform, transforming, and transformative are common terms for describing museum spaces, the creation of objects on display, and experiences for visitors. But is there evidence that museums profoundly change visitors through their objects, collections, exhibitions, public programs, and websites? The nature of transformational museum experiences and potential ‘triggers for transformation’ are the focus of this article. Two case studies describe ways in which visitors articulate change they have experienced. Included are projects about teachers and artists during an intense two-week summer institute in an interdisciplinary museum and about visitors to a traveling exhibition highlighting the role Canada plays in international development. Individuals’ comments and questions indicated that experiences with authentic objects and the unexpected, highly emotional responses, new cultural and attitudinal understandings, as well as motivation to become more proactive in the way they live their lives, may have been triggers for transformational experiences.
Neuropsychological functioning of U.S. Gulf War veterans 10 years after the war

Abstract Many U.S. Gulf War-era veterans complained of poor cognition following the war. This study assessed neuropsychological functioning in veterans 10 years after the war through objective tests. 2189 Gulf War-era veterans (1061 deployed, 1128 non-deployed) were examined at 1 of 16 U.S. Veterans Affairs medical centers. Outcomes included neuropsychological domains derived from factor analysis and individual test scores. Deployed veterans performed significantly worse than non-deployed veterans on 2 of 8 factors (motor speed & sustained attention, analysis not corrected for multiple comparisons) and on 4 of 27 individual test variables (Trails A & B, California Verbal Learning Test – List B, and Continuous Performance Test sensitivity, with only Trails B surviving Bonferroni correction). Within deployed veterans, Khamisiyah exposure was negatively correlated with motor speed after controlling for emotional distress. Depressive symptoms and self-reported exposure to toxicants were independently and significantly associated with worse sustained attention. Other factors were also associated with self-reported exposures. The findings were not a result of differential effort across groups. Gulf War deployment is associated with subtle declines of motor speed and sustained attention, despite overall intact neuropsychological functioning. Evidence suggests that toxicant exposures influence both these functions, and depressive symptoms also influence attention. (JINS, 2009, 15, 717–729.)
Light chain types in plasma cells that produce IgD.

The IgD-immunoglobulin producing plasma cells of six human spleens have been localized with specific antisera and the type of the light chains present in each of them has been determined by sequential staining with anti-K and anti-L antisera. About 87 per cent of IgD cells have L-type light chains. This is in accord with the prevalence of L-type light chains in IgD myeloma proteins.
Estimating the Prevalence of Early Childhood Serious Emotional/Behavioral Disorders: Challenges and Recommendations

Cheryl Boydell Brauner, MPHa Cheryll Bowers Stephens, MD, MBAb An expanding literature base indicates the incidence and prevalence of emo tional/behavioral problems in young children is increasing. The U.S. Depart ment of Health and Human Services' (DHHS') 1999 report, Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, estimates that at least one in five (20%) children and adolescents has a mental health disorder at some point in their life from childhood to adolescence.1 At least one in 10 (10%), or about 6 million people, has a serious emotional disturbance at some point in their life.1 On October 23-24, 2000, DHHS convened a multidisciplinary group of experts from fields including mental health, public health, and epidemiology. The group advised, "It is essential that the nation find ways to support emo tional health of our youngest children and their families through a continuum of comprehensive, individualized, culturally competent services that focus on promotion, prevention, and intervention. " They also recommended steps to ensure the emotional health of infants not only to address school readiness, but to help families be stronger, supportive teachers for their children. Research highlights the importance of the first three years of life for school readiness, but also the important role that emotional health plays in preparing children to engage in cognitive tasks.2"5 Before there is thought and language, there is emotion, and it is this early affect within the context of the earliest relationships that forms the basis for all future development.6-8 Research has also shown that the emergence of early onset emotional/behavioral problems in young children is related to a variety of health and behavior problems in adolescence, not to mention juvenile delinquency, school drop out, etc.9-11 Families and communities, working together, can help children with mental disorders. A broad range of services is often necessary to meet the needs of these children and their families. However, in many communities, services for young people with serious emotional disturbances are unavailable, unaffordable, or inappropriate. An estimated two-thirds of the young people who need men tal health services in the United States are not receiving them.1 As a result, many children with mental health issues become involved with the juvenile
Uncritical periods and insensitive sociobiology

Much clinical and ethnographic evidence suggests that humans, like many other organisms, are selected to avoid close inbreeding because of the fitness costs of inbreeding depression. The proximate mechanism of human inbreeding avoidance seems to be precultural, and to involve the interaction of genetic predispositions and environmental conditions. As first suggested by E. Westermarck, and supported by evidence from Israeli kibbutzim, Chinese sim-pua marriage, and much convergent ethnographic and clinical evidence, humans negatively imprint on intimate associates during a critical period of early childhood (between ages 2 and 6). There is also much evidence that, like other social animals, humans do not seek to maximize outbreeding, but rather to maintain an optimal balance between outbreeding and inbreeding. Close inbreeding reduces fitness through inbreeding depression, but some inbreeding brings the benefits of nepotism. For simple, stateless, horticultural societies, the optimal balance seems to be achieved by a combination of precultural inbreeding avoidance of relatives with an r 2= . 25 and cultural rules of preferential marriage with kin with r «£ . 125. Adjustment of the coefficient of inbreeding to other ecological settings seems to be largely cultural. An interactive model of "culture in nature" is presented, in which culture is seen as coevolving with genes to produce the maximization of individual inclusive fitness.
Changes due to food deprivation in the effects of cocaine on the responding of pigeons.

The responding of eight pigeons was maintained under a fixed-ratio 30 schedule of food reinforcement. While the pigeons were maintained at 80% of their free-feeding body weights the effects of presession injection of a range of cocaine doses (1.0 or 3.0mg/kg to 10.0 or 17.0mg/kg) were determined. The weights of one group of pigeons were then increased to between 90 and 100% of their free-feeding weights, while the other group's weights were reduced to 70% of their free-feeding weights. The effects of cocaine were determined again. Following this, pigeons' weights were adjusted to the percentage of free-feeding weight to which they had not yet been exposed, and the effects of cocaine determined a third time. Cocaine produced dose-dependent decreases in response rates. Decreases were observed at smaller cocaine doses when pigeons were relatively food-satiated (i.e. 90-100% of free-feeding weight); larger doses were required to decrease responding when pigeons were maintained at 70% free-feeding weight. If increased resistance to the behaviorally suppressive effects of cocaine when food deprivation levels are increased occurs also when cocaine is self-administered, this could help account for increases in amounts of cocaine-reinforced behavior under conditions of food deprivation.
Using Audio-Visual Aids and Computer-Assisted Language Instruction (CALI) to Overcome Learning Difficulties of Sound System in Students of Special Needs

Background & aims: Reading is a receptive skill whose importance could involve abilities' variance from linguistic standard. Several evidences support the hypothesis stating that the more you read the better you write, with a different impact for speech language therapists (SLTs) who use audio-visual aids and computer-assisted language instruction (CALI) and those who do not. Methods: Here we made use of audio-visual aids and CALI for teaching reading skill to a group of 40 students of special needs of both sexes (range between 8 and 18 years old) at al-Malādh school for teaching students of special needs in Dhamar (Yemen) while another group of the same number is taught using ordinary teaching methods. Pre-and-posttests have been administered at the beginning and the end of the semester (Before and after teaching the reading course). The purpose was to understand the differences between the levels of the students of special needs to see to what extent audio-visual aids and CALI are useful for them. The two groups were taught by the same instructor under the same circumstances in the same school. Both quantitative and qualitative procedures were used to analyze the data. Results: The overall findings revealed that audio-visual aids and CALI are very useful for teaching reading to students of special needs and this can be seen in the scores of the treatment group’s subjects (25.77%, in post-test vs.70.92% in pre-test). In comparison to the scores of the second group’s subjects (where audio-visual aids and CALI were not used) (22% in both pre-and-posttests), the first group subjects have fully understood the material of reading and this can be observed in their performance in the posttest. In addition, compared with males, females’ performance was better (1371 scores vs. 1466 scores). Qualitative and statistical analyses showed that such comprehension is absolutely due to the use of audio-visual aids and CALI and nothing else. These outcomes confirm the evidence of the significance of using audio-visual aids and CALI as effective means for teaching receptive skills in general and reading skill in particular.
Examining How Self-Regulation Determines Choice-Processing Strategies and Motivations Underlying Attraction Effect

Attraction effect is observed when consumers, who are indifferent regarding two brands, disproportionately choose one alternative (the "target") over the other (the "competitor") when a decoy brand, uniformly inferior to the target but not the competitor, is introduced into the choice set. While this effect is widely known and replicated, there is less clarity as to the mechanisms underlying the attraction effect. In this paper, we explore both the motivation (i.e., why people process choice information the way they do) and the choice-processing strategy (i.e., how people process choice information) underpinning the phenomenon of attraction effect. Our results indicate that in the case of promotion-focused individuals, the desire for a choice that can be easily justified (ease of justification) influences the attraction effect, whereas for prevention-focused individuals, the desire for a choice that maximizes overall utility (overall attractiveness) influences the same effect. Furthermore, promotion-focused people rely on lexicographic-processing strategy, whereas prevention-focused individuals use an equal-weight processing strategy as a means of demonstrating their motivations.
The role of surface discontinuity and shape in 4-month-old infants' object segregation

This research examined whether 4-month-old infants use a discontinuity in an object's front surface to visually segregate a display into two separate objects, and whether object shape enables its use. In Experiment 1, infants saw a three-dimensional display composed of two parts with distinctly different shapes. Two groups of infants saw a display in which these two shapes were divided by a visible discontinuity in the front surface (i.e., a boundary between the two objects). One of these groups saw the display move apart at the discontinuity when a gloved hand pulled one object; the second group saw the two objects move together as a single unit. A third group saw a modified version of this display that had no discontinuity present. The results suggested that infants regarded the discontinuity as an indication that the display could be composed of more than one object. In Experiment 2, infants saw the same display, but with a shape that did not highlight the discontinuity. The infants in this study showed no evidence of using the discontinuity. Together, the findings suggest that 4-month-old infants use the surface discontinuity between two objects as an indication that multiple objects could be present in a display, but only when scanning the outer edges of the display leads them to attend to it.
The Influence of Cue Reliability and Cue Representation on Spatial Reorientation in Young Children

Previous studies of children's reorientation have focused on cue representation (e.g., whether cues are geometric) as a predictor of performance but have not addressed cue reliability (the regularity of the relation between a given cue and an outcome) as a predictor of performance. Here we address both factors within the same series of experiments. We show that for 18- to 30-month-olds, high cue reliability is a dominant factor positively affecting reorientation behavior. Under conditions of high cue reliability, children use both scalar and nonscalar cues for successful reorientation. By contrast, under conditions of low cue reliability, children successfully use scalar cues but not nonscalar cues, suggesting that mapping of left–right visual features onto a viewer-centric sense of left and right is facilitated when features themselves are ordered. More generally, we suggest that cue-driven spatial reorientation is best understood as part of a broader system capable of flexibly linking stimuli and responses.
'I Value What You have to Say'. Seeking the Perspective of Children with a Disability, Not Just their Parents

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child acknowledges the right for children to express opinions about issues affecting them and the right to have these views heard (Davis, 1998). There has been an increase in the number of international studies including children as informants in research, but there is noticeably less published research including children as informants in Australia if they have a disability. Rather, there has been a reliance on parents/carers for insight into their child's experiences. In this article we present the results of a qualitative pilot study where we interviewed parents and their children who have cerebral palsy about their perceptions and experiences of communication in the medical consultation. We found that the views of children and parents were different, further reiterating the need to seek the perceptions of children as well as their parents.
The well-being of women at work: the importance of resources across the life course

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that impact on the well-being of women workers, as assessed through depression, anxiety and stress, across the life course, i.e. age, marital status and parental status. Design/methodology/approach – The quantitative study was cross-sectional in nature and used an online self-report questionnaire to generate information on job/work characteristics, belief systems and demographic variables. A snowball sample was used to recruit the respondents. Findings – The results showed that the availability of resources was the influencing factor in women workers maintaining their well-being. Those respondents with resources, such as job autonomy and support from colleagues, were less likely to be depressed, anxious or stressed. The life course was not an influencing factor in the models tested suggesting that regardless of women's stage in life, they require appropriate resources to address the demands of the work environment, to maintain their well-being.
Black Women in the Workforce

In light of unresponsive White House administration and recent court decisions limiting or dissolving necessary and hard-earned employment rights, meaningful participation for women in the labor force may have reached its zenith. This is especially true for Black women. A number of erroneous beliefs regarding Black women in the labor force exist today. Many Americans assume that Black women have made tremendous progress in the American labor market in the last two decades as a result of civil rights legislation and affirmative-action efforts. Further, it has been speculated that Black women have outpaced Black men in obtaining employment, that Black women earn more than White women, and that their economic and occupational status should be envied rather than deplored. These are misconceptions. Government data do not bear out these beliefs. In 1987, more than 58% of all Black women were gainfully employed (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1989c, p. 377). On average, these women still received lower wages than other groups. In 1988, the median income was $7,349 for Black women, $9,103 for White women, $12,044 for Black men, and $19,959 for White men. In that same year, the median income for Black families was $16,407 as compared to $27,225 for White families. The median income for female householders with no husband present was $10,657 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1989a).
Discourses of ethnic minority identity

This article is concerned with the way ethnic minority identity is presented in natural talk. The construction and representation of ethnic categories are studied by analysing discussions held by some ethnically Turkish inhabitants of an inner-city quarter in Rotterdam. The participants defined their situation within The Netherlands. This definition provided shape and coherence to what was said, and guided the comparisons that were made and the way different categories were presented. It is argued, first, that existing social psychological theories have a restricted and one-sided view of how people from ethnic minority groups make social comparisons and define themselves because they predominantly focus on status differences. It is shown that the participants construct and cross borders of various categories in defining themselves. Second, it is shown that there is indeterminacy in the dimensions of comparison used for self-categorization and for the inclusive self-category in terms of which comparisons are made. Third, it is shown that self-definition in group terms is unavoidably divisive but not necessarily oppositional.
Model-based Hazard and Impact Analysis

Hazard and impact analysis is an indispensable task during the specification and development of safety-critical technical systems, and particularly of their software-intensive control parts. There is a lack of methods supporting an effective (reusable, automated) and integrated (cross-disciplinary) way to carry out such analyses. This report was motivated by an industrial project whose goal was to survey and propose methods and models for documentation and analysis of a system and its environment to support hazard and impact analysis as an important task of safety engineering and system development. We present and investigate three perspectives of how to properly (i) encode safety-relevant domain knowledge for better reuse and automation, (ii) identify and assess all relevant hazards, as well as (iii) pre-process this information and make it easily accessible for reuse in other safety and systems engineering activities and, moreover, in similar engineering projects. The first perspective focuses on the transition from informal to a formal, model-based representation of knowledge about hazards and system requirements. The second perspective provides a methodology to identify and treat hazards based on a state-machine model of the considered system. The third perspective shows a tool-supported procedure for modeling faulty behaviors of both, physical and software components in a qualitative way and for automatically determining their impact based on the structural description of the physical and computational/software parts of the system and a model of the environment. All perspectives are shown in their characteristics and capabilities by means of a case study on a drive train in the commercial road vehicle domain.