Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of antipsychotic prescribing in Belgian nursing homes

ABSTRACT Background: Given the potential adverse effects of antipsychotics, high use in nursing homes creates concern. Our study goal was to explore the use of antipsychotics in relation to resident characteristics, and to assess the appropriateness of antipsychotic prescribing in Belgian nursing homes. Methods: Data were used from a cross-sectional study (Prescribing in Homes for the Elderly; PHEBE) conducted in 76 nursing homes in Belgium. Antipsychotics were classified into typical and atypical, using the anatomical therapeutic and chemical classification. Ten inappropriate antipsychotic prescribing indicators were selected from the updated Beers criteria (2003), Bergen District Nursing Home Study (BEDNURS) indicators, and Screening Tool of Older People's Prescriptions criteria (STOPP). Results: The residents' mean age was 84.8 years, 78.1% of whom were female. The prevalence of antipsychotic utilization was 32.9%. Antipsychotics were mainly indicated for dementia-related agitation, and psychosis with/without dementia. Higher use of antipsychotics was found for dementia (OR: 3.27; 95% CI: 2.61–4.09), insomnia (OR: 1.38; 95% CI: 1.10–1.73), depression (OR: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.03–1.65), and age <80 years (OR: 1.79; 95% CI: 1.38–2.33). Inappropriate antipsychotic prescribing indicators scoring the highest among users were: long-term use (92.6%), use despite risk of falling (45.6%), combined use with other psychotropics (31.8%), and duplicate use (15.1%). Inappropriate prescribing was associated with depression (OR: 3.41) and insomnia (OR: 2.17). Conclusion: The indicator-driven analysis of antipsychotic prescribing quality revealed a need for improvement, with the main prescribing problems relating to duration and combination of therapies. Risks/benefits of off-label use need to be evaluated more consciously at the start of therapy, and at periodic re-evaluations.
Gender Parity and Youth Employment in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions: A Study of Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, Nigeria

﻿In recent times, gender issues have continued to be at the centre stage of every political discourse in many regional, national and international fora. Although much has been written on gender as an academic discipline, gender parity and youth employment in Nigerian tertiary institutions is yet to be given the desired attention. Thus, women employment cannot be ignored even when employment pattern in Africa still favours men more than women. This paper investigates gender parity and youth employment in Nigerian tertiary institutions with particular focus on recruitment of young men and women into academic positions in Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi. To achieve the purpose of the study, a sample of 325 academic staff was selected for the research. The study tested a hypothesis of no relationship between gender parity and youth employment in Nigerian tertiary institutions using a statistical tool called t- test statistic with the help of statistical software known as SPSS version 16.0. The t-statistic analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between gender parity and youth employment among academic staff of Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi since tcal (87:41)> ttab (2:31) at 5% critical level. It concluded that there is gender imbalance in the employment of academic staff as male youth are more in employment than female youth in Nigerian tertiary institutions. The paper recommends among others the need for government to enshrine into law gender equality in terms of employment opportunities for all qualified citizens in Nigeria.
Outcomes of extremely low birth weight infants with varying doses and intervals of antenatal steroid exposure

Abstract Objective: To compare outcomes of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants exposed to no antenatal steroids (ANS); incomplete ANS and complete course of ANS at varying intervals prior to delivery. Methods: A retrospective review was performed on 169 ELBW infants with ANS exposure at varied dose-intervals. The odds of mortality, intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) were compared between Group 1, infants born without ANS exposure, Group 2, infants born after one dose of ANS, Group 3, infants born after two doses of ANS given within a week, and Group 4, infants born after two doses of ANS >7 days prior to delivery. Results: Mortality and IVH were significantly lower in Groups 3 (30% and 10%) and 4 (15% and 30%), compared to Groups 1 (56% and 69%) and 2 (56% and 38%). Increasing gestational age and exposure to complete course of ANS were significantly associated with decrease in mortality, BPD/mortality and IVH. Infants who received one dose of ANS had significantly lower incidence of severe IVH compared to infants without ANS exposure. Conclusions: Beneficial impact of ANS on mortality and composite BPD/mortality is evident only after a complete course and persists even with its administration beyond a week from delivery.
Impact of treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on weight in obstructive sleep apnea.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine the impact of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on weight change in persons with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). DESIGN SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS The Apnea Positive Pressure Long-term Efficacy Study (APPLES) was a 6-month, randomized, double-blinded sham-controlled multicenter clinical trial conducted at 5 sites in the United States. Of 1,105 participants with an apnea hypopnea index ≥ 10 events/ hour initially randomized, 812 had body weight measured at baseline and after 6 months of study. INTERVENTION CPAP or Sham CPAP. MEASUREMENTS Body weight, height, hours of CPAP or Sham CPAP use, Epworth Sleepiness Scale score. RESULTS Participants randomized to CPAP gained 0.35 ± 5.01 kg, whereas those on Sham CPAP lost 0.70 ± 4.03 kg (mean ± SD, p = 0.001). Amount of weight gain with CPAP was related to hours of device adherence, with each hour per night of use predicting a 0.42 kg increase in weight. This association was not noted in the Sham CPAP group. CPAP participants who used their device ≥ 4 h per night on ≥ 70% of nights gained the most weight over 6 months in comparison to non-adherent CPAP participants (1.0 ± 5.3 vs. -0.3 ± 5.0 kg, p = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS OSA patients using CPAP may gain a modest amount of weight with the greatest weight gain found in those most compliant with CPAP. COMMENTARY A commentary on this article appears in this issue on page 995. CITATION Quan SF; Budhiraja R; Clarke DP; Goodwin JL; Gottlieb DJ; Nichols DA; Simon RD; Smith TW; Walsh JK; Kushida CA. Impact of treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on weight in obstructive sleep apnea.
Number and characteristics of breast cancer cases diagnosed in four periods in the screening interval of a biennial population-based screening programme

Objective To describe the distribution and prognostic tumour characteristics of interval breast cancers diagnosed in four periods after index screen (1-6, 7-12, 13-18 and 19+ months) in a population-based screening programme inviting women aged 50–69 years to biennial screening. Setting The Norwegian Breast Cancer Screening Programme (NBCSP) Methods In all, 848 interval breast cancer cases were diagnosed in 437,235 screening examinations. The distribution and prognostic tumour characteristics of the interval cancers diagnosed in four periods in the screening interval will be described. Proportions and rates will be compared by χ2-test. Results A total of 70% of the interval cancers in the NBCSP were diagnosed in the second year of the interval. Except for tumour size (P = 0.027), we found no evidence of adverse prognostic breast characteristics (grade, lymph node involvement, oestrogen and progesterone receptor positive) in invasive tumours diagnosed during the second versus the first year of the screening interval (Chi square P 0.05 for all). The prognostic characteristics of the tumours did not differ by age groups. It was a decreasing interval cancer rate per 10,000 women-years by age. Conclusion The risk of interval cancer increases by time after index screen, and 70% of the interval cancers in the NBCSP were diagnosed in the second year of the interval. Prognostic histological tumour characteristics did not differ by time after index screen, thus mean sojourn time (tumour growth rate) seems important for stating an optimal screening interval in a population-based screening programme.
Subthalamic stimulation differentially modulates declarative and nondeclarative memory

Declarative memory has been reported to rely on the medial temporal lobe system, whereas non-declarative memory depends on basal ganglia structures. We investigated the functional role of the subthalamic nucleus (STN), a structure closely connected with the basal ganglia for both types of memory. Via deep brain high frequency stimulation (DBS) we manipulated neural activity of the STN in humans. We found that DBS-STN differentially modulated memory performance: declarative memory was impaired, whereas non-declarative memory was improved in the presence of STN-DBS indicating a specific role of the STN in the activation of memory systems.
Optimal Reservation Policies and Market Segmentation

When operating in a market with heterogeneous customers, a service firm (e.g., a car rental company or a hotel) needs to manage its capacity so as to maximize its revenue. To gauge the potential demand, a service firm often allows each customer to reserve a unit of service in advance. However, to avoid the loss associated with “no-shows”, service firms may require a non-refundable deposit. To determine an optimal reservation policy with a non-refundable deposit, we consider the case in which the market is divided into four segments (high vs. low valuation and high vs. low show-up probability). When customer demand and the firm׳s capacity are large so that they can be approximated by continuous values, we determine the optimal reservation policy analytically, and we establish analytical conditions under which the firm should discriminate against (i.e., price out) certain customer segments. For the case when customer demand and the firm׳s capacity are finite so that they take on discrete values, we find that some of the insights obtained from the “continuous” case continue to hold especially when the firm׳s capacity is large. However, the key difference is that in the former case, the firm discriminates mostly based on customers׳ valuation, whereas in the latter case it discriminates mostly based on customers׳ show-up probability.
Pituitary adenylate cyclase–activating polypeptide is reduced in Alzheimer disease

Objectives: There is growing evidence that pituitary adenylate cyclase–activating polypeptide (PACAP) is associated with Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology in animal models, but human studies are needed. Methods: We studied the brains of patients with pathologically confirmed late-onset AD and age-matched cognitively normal (CN) subjects to investigate the expression of PACAP messenger RNA (34 AD and 14 CN) and protein (12 AD and 11 CN) in a case-control study. Results: We report that PACAP levels are reduced in multiple brain regions, including the entorhinal cortex, the middle temporal gyrus, the superior frontal gyrus, and the primary visual cortex. This reduction is correlated with higher amyloid burden (CERAD plaque density) in the entorhinal cortex and superior frontal gyrus but not in the primary visual cortex, a region spared in most cases of AD. PACAP expression is lower in advanced Braak stages (V and VI) than in moderate stages (III and IV). Increased PACAP levels are associated with decreased scores on the Dementia Rating Scale, a global cognitive measure. Finally, CSF levels paralleled brain levels in AD but not in Parkinson dementia or frontotemporal dementia brains. Conclusions: The close relationship between PACAP reduction and the severity of AD pathology suggests that downregulation of PACAP may contribute to AD pathogenesis.
HRM practices and organizational performance in Oman

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between high‐involvement human resource management practices and organizational performance in the Sultanate of Oman, an Arabian Gulf country.Design/methodology/approach – Companies listed in the Muscat Securities Market in the Sultanate of Oman were surveyed. The final sample consisted of 87 companies. Survey responses were subjected to statistical analysis. Financial measures of organizational performance were also used in the analysis for a subset of the sample for which these data were available.Findings – Results of the statistical analysis indicated that, after controlling for size, type of firm (publicly traded or closely held) and average industry price‐earnings ratio, high involvement human resource management practices were positively related to subjective organizational performance and an objective measure of performance, ratio of market value to book value.Research limitations/implications – Research limitations include measuring .
Temperature-dependent sex ratio in a bird

To our knowledge, there is, so far, no evidence that incubation temperature can affect sex ratios in birds, although this is common in reptiles. Here, we show that incubation temperature does affect sex ratios in megapodes, which are exceptional among birds because they use environmental heat sources for incubation. In the Australian brush-turkey Alectura lathami, a mound-building megapode, more males hatch at low incubation temperatures and more females hatch at high temperatures, whereas the proportion is 1 : 1 at the average temperature found in natural mounds. Chicks from lower temperatures weigh less, which probably affects offspring survival, but are not smaller. Megapodes possess heteromorphic sex chromosomes like other birds, which eliminates temperature-dependent sex determination, as described for reptiles, as the mechanism behind the skewed sex ratios at high and low temperatures. Instead, our data suggest a sex-biased temperature-sensitive embryo mortality because mortality was greater at the lower and higher temperatures, and minimal at the middle temperature where the sex ratio was 1 : 1.
The Differential Effects of On- and Off-Campus Living Arrangements on Students' Openness to Diversity*

The effects of on- and off-campus living arrangements on students’ openness to diversity were examined using data from 502 first-time-college students at a major research university in the Midwest. Results indicated that living on campus was directly associated with significantly higher levels of openness to diversity than was living off campus. Living in a Freshman Interest Group was indirectly related to greater openness to diversity through students’ relationships with their peers. No significant indirect effects were found for living in a traditional residence hall or a sponsored learning community.
Institutional investment horizons and open-market stock repurchases: evidence from the Taiwan stock market

This article investigates how the investment horizon of a firm's institutional shareholders affects the outcome of stock repurchase. Our results show that repurchasing firms with long-term institutional investors experience significantly positive abnormal returns around the repurchasing announcements, actually buy back more shares during the execution period, and perform better over a subsequent 3-year period than repurchasing firms with short-term institutional investors. These findings suggest that repurchasing firms held by long-term institutional investors can acquire certification- and monitoring-related benefits, thus providing more credible signals about the true value of firms.
Industry information uncertainty and stock return comovement

This study investigates the association between industry information uncertainty and stock return comovement within industries. We test two predictions on industry comovement given correlated overweight among investors on past industry returns when there is greater industry-level uncertainty: (1) we find that stocks in high-uncertainty industries are more likely to move with other stocks in the same industry; (2) we find the higher prevalence of industry price continuation in high-uncertainty industries. The results suggest that stock comovement in industries with high information uncertainty is more likely driven by correlated bias in trading activities and is not related to common fundamental shocks.
Cyclobenzaprine for the treatment of myofascial pain in adults.

BACKGROUND Myofascial pain (MP) is a painful condition characterized by pain transmitted from trigger points (TP) within myofascial structures (in the muscles), local or distant from the pain. TPs can produce a characteristic pattern of irradiated pain or autonomic symptoms when stimulated. Cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant that suppresses muscle spasm without interfering with muscle function, is used in clinical management of MP to improve quality of sleep and reduce pain. OBJECTIVES To assess efficacy and safety of cyclobenzaprine in treating MP. SEARCH STRATEGY The Pain Palliative and Supportive Care Review Group's Specialised Register, CENTRAL, PubMed, EMBASE, LILACS and Scielo were searched in February 2009. SELECTION CRITERIA All RCTs and quasi-RCTs reporting use of cyclobenzaprine for treating MP with pain assessment as a primary or secondary outcome. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two review authors independently screened studies identified, extracted data, assessed trial quality and analyzed results. MAIN RESULTS We identified two studies with a total of 79 participants. One study, with 41 participants, compared cyclobenzaprine with clonazepam and with placebo. Participants taking cyclobenzaprine had some improvement of pain intensity compared to those on clonazepam, mean difference (MD) -0.25 (95% CI, -0.41 to -0.09; P value 0.002) and placebo, MD -0.25 (95% CI, 0.41 to -0.09; P value 0.002). The other study, with 38 participants, compared cyclobenzaprine with lidocaine infiltration. Thirty days after treatment there were statistically non-significant differences between comparison groups, favoring lidocaine infiltration, for the mean for global pain, MD 0.90 (95% CI -0.35 to 2.15, P value 0.16), and for the mean for pain at digital compression, MD 0.60 (95% CI -0.55 to 1.75, P value 0.30). There were no life-threatening adverse events associated with the medications. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS There was insufficient evidence to support the use of cyclobenzaprine in the treatment of MP. We identified only two small studies in which a total of 35 participants were given cyclobenzaprine, and it was not possible to estimate risks for benefits or harms. Further high quality RCTs of cyclobenzaprine for treating MP need to be conducted before firm conclusions on its effectiveness and safety can be made. Experts in this area should elect cut-off points for participants to identify whether a patient has achieved a clinically relevant reduction of pain (primary outcome), so that their results can be combined easily into future versions of this review.
Neonatal seizures, experience at Children Hospital and Institute of Child Health Multan

Objective: The study was conducted to determine the etiology of seizures in neonates. Methods: This was a descriptive Cross-sectional study. This study was conducted at neonatal unit of children hospital and institute of child health Multan from June 2012 to April 2013. A total of 285 neonates who presented with seizures were enrolled for the possible causes. First line investigations including blood glucose, serum calcium, serum magnesium, serum sodium, complete blood counts, serum creatinine, liver function tests, ABGs, cerebrospinal fluid examination, cranial ultrasound and EEG were done in all neonates. Second line investigations (blood culture, CT scan, MRI, screening for inborn error of metabolism and Torch antibody titer) were done in selected neonates. The data was analyzed using SPSS-10. Results: Out of 285 neonates, 175(61.4%) were male and 110(38.6%) female. There were 199(69.8%) term and 86 (30.2%) preterm. Birth asphyxia was the commonest cause of seizures and present in 53.7% neonates and metabolic disturbance in 17.5%. Seizures with unknown etiology were present in 5.3% neonates. Conclusion: In most of the cases, the causes of neonatal seizures were present. Birth asphyxia was the main etiology identified. However, to establish the exact cause of seizures, more extensive work up is needed.
The Role of the Counsellor and other School Personnel in Providing Quality Education In Nigeria Schools

There has been a widespread criticism of the quality of education provided by Nigerian public schools. This has led to a consistent clamour for quality education for Nigerian citizens. Attention is being focused on how to make use of the resources available in the education system to have a functional education that will lead to the development of individuals and the nation as a whole. This paper has discussed how the school counselor and other school personnel (the principal, teachers, school health personnel, and administrative staff) could cooperate to provide quality education, reduce or solve educational, vocational and socio-personal problems such as physical health problems which could lead to emotional disturbance and stress. The paper further expressed that the cooperation of the school counsellor and the other school personnel could help to reduce poor academic performance, examination malpractice, high rate of drop out, deviant behaviour and wrong choice of courses and career among students. The paper therefore suggests that the Federal and State governments should strongly support the organization of guidance and counselling services in schools so as to provide quality education to the citizens. The Nigerian Journal of Guidance Counselling Vol. 10 (1) 2005: pp. 12-21
A study of a sustainable greenway approach for a part of the Silk Road in Turkey

The article describes different steps and methodologies to create an alternative greenway with recreational, scenic, historical and cultural values in Hamsiköy-Zigana, part of Trabzon-Gümüşhane former state highway. As a first step, inventory studies and analyses were carried out to determine the cultural and natural values of the area. As the second step, area analyses studies were carried out. Depending on results of expert-based visual assessment and suitability analyses for determining the suitability of greenway planning in the study area; recreational, scenic, historical–cultural and multifunctional status of the greenway having all these three functions at the same time were mapped using suitability rank in GIS and the plan square technique. As a result, the plan squares having high suitability for the above functions were dense in the determined study, in terms of old highway and neighbourhood. In the whole area (4385.25 ha), 598.00 ha were ranked as good (A), 770.27 ha as medium (B) and 3016.98 ha as poor (C), in terms of suitability value. Seasonal assessments for recreation and scenery functions of A, B and C indicate that the area has opportunities for all seasons. As a third step, the results are discussed and some proposals suggested.