Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bedside teaching-making it an effective instructional tool.

BACKGROUND Bedside teaching is defined as any teaching in the presence of patient and is the core teaching strategy during the clinical years of a medical student. Although it is considered the most effective method to teach clinical and communication skills but its quality is deteriorating with the passage of time. The objective of this study is to explore faculty's perceptions about bedside teaching. METHODS This study was conducted in clinical disciplines of Ayub Medical College and hospital Abbottabad, Pakistan from January 2012 to July 2012. Pragmatic paradigm was selected to gather both quantitative and qualitative information. Data was collected sequentially to validate findings. Perceptions of all professors of clinical subjects about bed side teaching were recorded on a close-ended structured questionnaire. Then in-depth interviews were taken from 5 professors using an open ended questionnaire. Quantitative data was analysed using, SPSS-16. Qualitative research data was analysed through content analysis. RESULTS Out of 20 professors of clinical departments 18 agreed to respond to the questionnaire assessing their perceptions about bed side teaching. Non-existence of bedside teaching curriculum, lack of discipline in students and faculty, lack of accountability, poor job satisfaction and low salary were identified as major factors responsible for decline in quality of bedside teaching. Most of them advocated that curriculum development, planning bedside teaching, implementation of discipline and accountability, improved job satisfaction and performance based promotions will improve quality of clinical teaching. CONCLUSIONS Curriculum development for bedside teaching, institutional discipline, application of best planning strategies, performance based appraisal of faculty and good job satisfaction can make bedside teaching an effective instructional tool.
Greater shrub dominance alters breeding habitat and food resources for migratory songbirds in Alaskan arctic tundra

Climate warming is affecting the Arctic in multiple ways, including via increased dominance of deciduous shrubs. Although many studies have focused on how this vegetation shift is altering nutrient cycling and energy balance, few have explicitly considered effects on tundra fauna, such as the millions of migratory songbirds that breed in northern regions every year. To understand how increasing deciduous shrub dominance may alter breeding songbird habitat, we quantified vegetation and arthropod community characteristics in both graminoid and shrub dominated tundra. We combined measurements of preferred nest site characteristics for Lapland longspurs (Calcarius lapponicus) and Gambel's White‐crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii) with modeled predictions for the distribution of plant community types in the Alaskan arctic foothills region for the year 2050. Lapland longspur nests were found in sedge‐dominated tussock tundra where shrub height does not exceed 20 cm, whereas White‐crowned sparrows nested only under shrubs between 20 cm and 1 m in height, with no preference for shrub species. Shrub canopies had higher canopy‐dwelling arthropod availability (i.e. small flies and spiders) but lower ground‐dwelling arthropod availability (i.e. large spiders and beetles). Since flies are the birds' preferred prey, increasing shrubs may result in a net enhancement in preferred prey availability. Acknowledging the coarse resolution of existing tundra vegetation models, we predict that by 2050 there will be a northward shift in current White‐crowned sparrow habitat range and a 20–60% increase in their preferred habitat extent, while Lapland longspur habitat extent will be equivalently reduced. Our findings can be used to make first approximations of future habitat change for species with similar nesting requirements. However, we contend that as exemplified by this study's findings, existing tundra modeling tools cannot yet simulate the fine‐scale habitat characteristics that are critical to accurately predicting future habitat extent for many wildlife species.
Long-Term Course After Adaptive Multimodal Treatment for Children With ADHD: An 8-Year Follow-Up

Objective: This study reassessed adolescents and young adults (15-22 years old) who received individually tailored multimodal treatment for ADHD (behavior therapy and/or stimulant medication) during childhood 6 to 12 years after treatment (M = 8.8 years, SD = 1.6). Method: All participants (N = 75) provided information about their social functioning. Most parents (83%) completed behavior rating scales. Results: Participants demonstrated significant improvement in behavior during the follow-up period with effect sizes on ADHD symptoms of d = 1.2 and 68% of the former patients in the normal range at follow-up. Participants reported elevated rates of grade retention (51%), school dropout (13%), special education service use (17%), school change (47%), and conviction (16%), but few were unemployed (4%). Conclusion: This study provides evidence that the effects of individually tailored multimodal treatment for ADHD in childhood are maintained into adolescence and young adulthood. No hints could be found that continued medication results in a more favorable long-term outcome.
Body fat and other metabolic effects of atazanavir and efavirenz, each administered in combination with zidovudine plus lamivudine, in antiretroviral-naive HIV-infected patients.

BACKGROUND Protease inhibitor treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals has been linked to the development of lipodystrophy. The effects of atazanavir on body fat distribution and related metabolic parameters were examined in antiretroviral-naive patients. METHODS HIV-positive patients with CD4 cell counts > or = 100 cells/mm3 were randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms: (1) atazanavir, 400 mg given once daily, plus efavirenz placebo; or (2) efavirenz, 600 mg given once daily, plus atazanavir placebo; each drug was administered with fixed-dose zidovudine (300 mg) and lamivudine (150 mg) given twice daily, and patients were treated for at least 48 weeks. Fat distribution measurements (visceral adipose tissue [VAT], subcutaneous adipose tissue [SAT], and total adipose tissue [TAT], as measured by computed tomography; and appendicular fat, truncal fat, and total fat levels, as measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry), metabolic measurements (cholesterol and fasting triglyceride levels), and measurements of insulin resistance (fasting glucose and fasting insulin levels) were made at baseline and at week 48 of treatment for a subgroup of 111 atazanavir recipients and 100 efavirenz recipients. RESULTS Atazanavir and efavirenz treatments resulted in minimal to modest increases in fat accumulation, as measured by VAT, SAT, TAT, appendicular fat, truncal fat, and total fat levels; results were comparable in both arms. In addition, atazanavir was associated with none of the metabolic abnormalities seen with many other protease inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS Use of atazanavir for 48 weeks neither resulted in abnormal fat redistribution in antiretroviral-naive patients nor induced other metabolic disturbances commonly associated with HIV-related lipodystrophy. Longer-term assessments (e.g., at 96 weeks) will be important to confirm these findings.
Analysis of the Effects of Five Factors Relevant to In Vitro Chondrogenesis of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Using Factorial Design and High Throughput mRNA-Profiling

The in vitro process of chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells for tissue engineering has been shown to require three-dimensional culture along with the addition of differentiation factors to the culture medium. In general, this leads to a phenotype lacking some of the cardinal features of native articular chondrocytes and their extracellular matrix. The factors used vary, but regularly include members of the transforming growth factor β superfamily and dexamethasone, sometimes in conjunction with fibroblast growth factor 2 and insulin-like growth factor 1, however the use of soluble factors to induce chondrogenesis has largely been studied on a single factor basis. In the present study we combined a factorial quality-by-design experiment with high-throughput mRNA profiling of a customized chondrogenesis related gene set as a tool to study in vitro chondrogenesis of human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells in alginate. 48 different conditions of transforming growth factor β 1, 2 and 3, bone morphogenetic protein 2, 4 and 6, dexamethasone, insulin-like growth factor 1, fibroblast growth factor 2 and cell seeding density were included in the experiment. The analysis revealed that the best of the tested differentiation cocktails included transforming growth factor β 1 and dexamethasone. Dexamethasone acted in synergy with transforming growth factor β 1 by increasing many chondrogenic markers while directly downregulating expression of the pro-osteogenic gene osteocalcin. However, all factors beneficial to the expression of desirable hyaline cartilage markers also induced undesirable molecules, indicating that perfect chondrogenic differentiation is not achievable with the current differentiation protocols.
Gene‐environment interplay in common complex diseases: forging an integrative model—recommendations from an NIH workshop

Although it is recognized that many common complex diseases are a result of multiple genetic and environmental risk factors, studies of gene‐environment interaction remain a challenge and have had limited success to date. Given the current state‐of‐the‐science, NIH sought input on ways to accelerate investigations of gene‐environment interplay in health and disease by inviting experts from a variety of disciplines to give advice about the future direction of gene‐environment interaction studies. Participants of the NIH Gene‐Environment Interplay Workshop agreed that there is a need for continued emphasis on studies of the interplay between genetic and environmental factors in disease and that studies need to be designed around a multifaceted approach to reflect differences in diseases, exposure attributes, and pertinent stages of human development. The participants indicated that both targeted and agnostic approaches have strengths and weaknesses for evaluating main effects of genetic and environmental factors and their interactions. The unique perspectives represented at the workshop allowed the exploration of diverse study designs and analytical strategies, and conveyed the need for an interdisciplinary approach including data sharing, and data harmonization to fully explore gene‐environment interactions. Further, participants also emphasized the continued need for high‐quality measures of environmental exposures and new genomic technologies in ongoing and new studies. Genet. Epidemiol. 35: 217‐225, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Table scraps: inter-trophic food provisioning by pumas

Large carnivores perform keystone ecological functions through direct predation, or indirectly, through food subsidies to scavengers or trophic cascades driven by their influence on the distributions of their prey. Pumas (Puma concolor) are an elusive, cryptic species difficult to study and little is known about their inter-trophic-level interactions in natural communities. Using new GPS technology, we discovered that pumas in Patagonia provided 232 ± 31 kg of edible meat/month/100 km2 to near-threatened Andean condors (Vultur gryphus) and other members of a diverse scavenger community. This is up to 3.1 times the contributions by wolves (Canis lupus) to communities in Yellowstone National Park, USA, and highlights the keystone role large, solitary felids play in natural systems. These findings are more pertinent than ever, for managers increasingly advocate controlling pumas and other large felids to bolster prey populations and mitigate concerns over human and livestock safety, without a full understanding of the potential ecological consequences of their actions.
Proliferation in Response to B Cell Deficit Naive B Lymphocytes Undergo Homeostatic

Naive peripheral B cells are maintained in sufﬁcient numbers and diversity to mount effective immune responses against infectious agents. However, the size and repertoire of this B cell pool is constantly diminished by normal cell turnover and Ag activation. Homeostatic (Ag-independent) proliferation in response to B cell depletion is one mechanism to compensate for this cell loss. We have used puriﬁed CFSE-labeled B cells and an adoptive transfer model system to show that immature and mature B cells divide in a variety of B cell-deﬁcient ( scid , xid , IL-7 (cid:1) / (cid:1) , and sublethally irradiated) hosts. Homeostatic B cell proliferation is T cell independent, and B cells that have replicated by this mechanism retain the antigenic phenotype of naive B cells. Replication is signiﬁcantly reduced in B cell-sufﬁcient normal or B cell-reconstituted immunodeﬁcient recipients by the action of competing mature follicular B cells. Using xid mice and transcription factor knockouts, we show that the activation signal(s) that lead to homeostatic B cell proliferation require Bruton’s tyrosine kinase; however, c-Rel, a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase-induced NF- (cid:2) B/Rel transcription factor critical for Ag and mitogen stimulation, is dispensable, indicating the uniqueness of this activation pathway. Survival and replication signals can also be separated, because the transcription factor p50 (NF- (cid:2) B1), which is required for the survival of peripheral B cells, is not necessary for homeostatic replication. Homeostatic B cell proliferation provides an Ag-independent mechanism for the maintenance and expansion of naive B cells selected into the mature B cell pool. The Journal of Immunology, 2002, 169: 6795–6805. interplay
Facial Emotions and Emotion Intensity Levels Classification and Classification Evaluation

In this paper we analyze the problem of human facial emotion and emotion intensity levels recognition and resulting classification accuracy evaluation. Final testing set classification accuracy value is usually taken as a quantifier of method quality. However, this value is often strongly affected by the testing set parameters such as number, age and gender of subjects or intensity of their emotions etc. In this work we propose a different classifier evaluation methodology that uses the human visual system as a reference point. We employed active appearance models and support vector machines for facial emotion classification. Our SVM classifier gave slightly more consistent labels to emotion categories for images than human subjects, while humans were more consistent at identifying emotion intensity level than SVM.
A Markov random field approach to Bayesian speaker adaptation

Speaker adaptation through Bayesian learning methodology is studied. In order to utilize the cross allophone correlations, a Markov random field model is proposed as the joint prior distribution of the allophones' parameters. Neighborhoods are defined as pairs of parameters between which strong correlations have been observed previously. Maximum a posteriori estimates of the allophones' mean vectors are obtained iteratively. This process is similar to a recursive prediction of the parameters. Further Bayesian smoothing is carried out by utilizing some simplifications on the functional forms of the marginal posterior distributions. Experimental results show rapid improvement of recognition accuracy.
Muscle strength is associated with vitamin D receptor gene variants

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is an important candidate gene in muscle function. Scientific reports on the effect of its genetic variants on muscle strength are contradictory likely due to the inconsistent study designs. Hand grip strength (HGS) is a highly heritable phenotype of muscle strength but only limited studies are available on its genetic background. Association between VDR polymorphisms and HGS has been poorly investigated and previous reports are conflicting. We studied the effect of VDR gene variants on HGS in a sample of 706 schoolchildren. Genomic DNA was extracted from saliva samples and six candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the VDR gene were genotyped with Sequenom MassARRAY technique. HGS was measured with a digital dynamometer in both hands. Single marker and haplotype associations were adjusted for demographic parameters. Three SNPs, rs4516035 (A1012G; p = 0.009), rs1544410 (BsmI; p = 0.010), and rs731236 (TaqI; p = 0.038) and a 3′ UTR haploblock constructed by three SNPs (Bsml‐Taq1‐rs10783215; p < 0.005) showed significantly associations with HGS of the dominant hand. In the non‐dominant hand, the effects of the A1012G (p = 0.034) and the 3′ UTR haploblock (p < 0.01) on HGS were also significant. Since the promoter SNP (A10112G) and the 3′ UTR haplotype were proved to be associated with the expression and the stability of the VDR mRNA in earlier studies, VDR variants can be supposed to have a direct effect on muscle strength. The individual genetic patterns can also explain the inconsistency of the previously published clinical results on the association between vitamin D and muscle function. © 2016 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 34:2031–2037, 2016.
Isotropic magnetorheological elastomers with thermoplastic matrices: structure, damping properties and testing

This paper presents a procedure for manufacturing composites, a methodology for testing them and the cyclic properties of isotropic magnetorheological elastomers. The choice of a thermoplastic matrix and magnetically active iron powder as the filling (much larger than the carbonyl iron powder filling used so far) is expounded. A manufacturing technology has been developed. Possibilities for the experimental investigation of magnetomechanical properties have been created by building a measuring system enabling the testing of various elastomers in a wide range of mechanical and magnetic parameters. The effect of the magnetic field and that of the stress frequency on the damping properties of a selected elastomer (considered to be optimal) were examined.
Gdev: First-Class GPU Resource Management in the Operating System

Graphics processing units (GPUs) have become a very powerful platformembracing a concept of heterogeneous many-core computing. However, application domains of GPUs are currently limited to specific systems, largely due to a lack of "first-class" GPU resource management for general-purposemulti-tasking systems. We present Gdev, a new ecosystem of GPU resource management in the operating system (OS). It allows the user space as well as the OS itself to use GPUs as first-class computing resources. Specifically, Gdev's virtual memory manager supports data swapping for excessive memory resource demands, and also provides a shared devicememory functionality that allows GPU contexts to communicate with other contexts. Gdev further provides a GPU scheduling scheme to virtualize a physical GPU into multiple logical GPUs, enhancing isolation among working sets of multi-tasking systems. Our evaluation conducted on Linux and the NVIDIA GPU shows that the basic performance of our prototype implementation is reliable even compared to proprietary software. Further detailed experiments demonstrate that Gdev achieves a 2x speedup for an encrypted file system using the GPU in the OS. Gdev can also improve the makespan of dataflow programs by up to 49% exploiting shared device memory, while an error in the utilization of virtualized GPUs can be limited within only 7%.
Slip rates and seismic moment deficits on major active faults in mainland China

[1] The Chinese mainland features widespread active faults and intensive seismic activity; both can be described in terms of slip rates on these faults. Previous studies of fault slip rates in mainland China have focused on individual faults or fault segments, and large discrepancies exist among results derived from different methods. Here we derive a self-consistent estimate of the slip rates on all major faults in mainland China using the recently updated GPS data and an elastic block model. The predicted slip rates are high in western and low in eastern China, ranging from 25.1 ± 2.0 mm/yr in the Himalayan Thrust System to less than 1.0 mm/yr in north China. Using these slip rates, we estimated the rates of moment accumulation on the major fault zones and compared them with the seismic moment released on each fault zone using the Chinese historical earthquake catalog that extends for more than 2000 years in many regions. The results show nine seismic zones with large moment deficits (unreleased moment). Future refinement of GPS measurements and earthquake history will allow better estimates of slip rates on individual faults and better assessment of earthquake hazard on these faults in mainland China.
Axisymmetric Free Vibration Analysis of Annular and Circular Mindlin Plates Using the Nonlocal Continuum Theory

This study aims to investigate and analyze the axisymmetric free vibration of non-local annular and circular Mindlin plates at the micro/nano scale which are modeled using Eringen's nonlocal elasticity theory, taking into consideration the small scale effect. The governing equations are derived using the nonlocal differential constitutive relations of Eringen. For this purpose, the resulted eigenvalue problem is solved numerically by applying the Chebyshev collocation method. The effects of the inner to outer radius ratio, the thickness to outer radius ratio, the nonlocal scale effect and the boundary conditions on the natural frequencies are studied.
Evolution of Spontaneous Social Exchange - An Experimental Study -

Each of several exchange partners is the monopoly owner of a specific commodity which she can share with others. It is optimal to keep the own endowment, but all would gain by mutual gift exchange. Participants play the game repeatedly in constant groups (partner design) and can establish stable exchange relations over time. Will they include all group members, as suggested by efficiency, will early exploiters be permanently isolated (ostracism) and will groups become more efficient over time? To answer these questions the game is repeated once with a new group. We also vary the group size.
Nanocomposite fire retardants — a review

Most fire retardant nanocomposites are made from layered silicates and organic polymers, a variety of methods are used in their synthesis. The mechanism for the fire retardancy of these composites is generally considered to be due to the structure of the char formed during combustion, which enables the char to thermally insulate the polymer and inhibit the formation and escape of volatiles during combustion. Fire retardant nanocomposites require relatively low concentrations of silicates for activity, resulting in low additional costs and weight. Improvements in the bulk physical properties of the polymer can be additional advantages over traditional fire retardants.