Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FLUORIDATION OF THE PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY AND PREVALENCE OF DENTAL FLUOROSIS IN A PERIPHERAL DISTRICT OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF BAURU, SP

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the fluoride concentration in the public water supply and the prevalence of dental fluorosis in schoolchildren between 7 and 15 years old, living in a peripheral district of the municipality of Bauru. Material and Methods: For this, fifty two water samples were collected on three different days of one week. These samples were analyzed for fluoride by means of the ion-sensitive electrode method (Orion 9609) coupled to a potentiometer (Procyon, model 720). In this method, 1.0 mL of TISABII (Orion) was added to 1.0 mL of the sample. For the epidemiological survey of fluorosis, 52 schoolchildren of both genders, aged between 7 and 15 were assessed, with prior authorization from their caretakers. Only one person examined the children, after supervised toothbrushing and drying with cotton wool rolls. The TF index was used. Results: The fluoride concentrations in the water samples ranged from 0.62 to 1.20 mg/L, with a mean of 0.9 mg/L. The prevalence of dental fluorosis was 33%, with severity ranging from TF1 to TF4 (Kappa of 0.73 and concordance of 83.33%). Conclusions: The results from the analysis of water samples indicated a fluoride concentration greater than recommended for Bauru. The fluorosis levels found were higher than expected for a peripheral district, in which water is one of the few sources of fluoride.
A simple scoring algorithm predicting vascular infections in adults with nontyphoid Salmonella bacteremia.

BACKGROUND Nontyphoid Salmonella (NTS) can cause fatal vascular infections. This study aims to establish a predictive scoring algorithm to identify adults aged ≥ 50 years with NTS bacteremia who are at risk for vascular infections. METHODS There were 358 adults aged ≥ 50 years with NTS bacteremia at 2 medical centers in southern Taiwan included in this study. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for imaging-documented vascular infections. The prediction capability of the proposed scoring algorithm was indicated by a receiver operating characteristic curve and measures of sensitivity and specificity. RESULTS Sixty patients (16.8%) with vascular infections were noted. The 4 risk factors significantly associated with vascular infections-male sex, hypertension, coronary arterial disease, and serogroup C1 infections-were each assigned +1 point to form the NTS vascular infection (NTSVI) score. In contrast, malignancy and immunosuppressive therapy were each assigned -1 point, owing to their negative associations with vascular infections. Based on the proposed NTSVI scoring, the prevalence of vascular infections in patients with ≤ 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 points was 2.2% (3 of 138 patients), 10.6% (13 of 123 patients), 39.4% (26 of 66 patients), 55.2% (16 of 29 patients), and 100% (2 of 2 patients), respectively (P< .0001). The scoring algorithm shows an area under the curve of 0.83 (95% confidence interval, .78-.89; P < .0001). A cutoff value of +1 represents a high sensitivity (95.0%) and an acceptable specificity (45.3%). CONCLUSIONS This simple scoring algorithm can be used to identify patients with NTS bacteremia with a high risk of vascular infections. The cost-effectiveness of this algorithm should be further studied.
Spirituality in the context of nonverbal autism: practical and theological considerations

ABSTRACT Traditionally, religious practices and teaching provide guidance for spiritual awareness. The concept of Imago Dei is fundamental to religious and theological belief, however its relevance to people with disabilities is debated. This paper underpins a broader research study exploring the spirituality of people unable to express a belief or understanding of orthodox religion. This will be explored alongside people with severe autism, who are unable to communicate verbally. Spirituality adopts a characteristic language, often expressed by music, metaphor or symbolism. Therefore, a spirituality that is not dependent on language for expression or validation amongst people with nonverbal autism is likely. Currently no research exists that explores the spirituality of this population, which has serious implications concerning the adequacy of current service provision and their inclusion into faith communities. In light of the growing numbers of autism diagnoses, the spiritual needs and expressions of this population require urgent attention.
2 CO 2 Eastern Asia regional responses in the RSM / CCM 3 modeling system

A global to regional modeling system has been developed to evaluate precipitation under doubled CO2. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) regional spectral model (RSM) is initialized and forced by current and doubled CO2 simulations from the NCAR community climate model (CCM3). Three RSM simulations, RSM0, RSM1, and RSM2, with resolution of 280, 50 and 15 km, are examined. The RSM0 setup resolution matches the T42 CCM3 simulations. The RSM2 simulation is centered over Taiwan. Due to incompatibility of the model physics, noticeable differences between RSM0 and CCM3 are found, especially in wintertime, which suggests that simulation from RSM0, rather than CCM3, should be used to contrast high-resolution regional variations produced by RSM1 or RSM2 simulations. While the spatial distributions of RSM1 and RSM2 simulations over Taiwan are greatly improved over the CCM3 simulation, the intensity of the unique wintertime drizzle is overestimated, especially in RSM2. There is also a spurious northward extension of the precipitation pattern from the subtropical warm-pool region. Thus the regional response to doubled CO2, which consists of more summerlike wintertime precipitation characteristics over the northeastern and eastern sides of Taiwan, with increased intensity mostly in the extreme events, is still in doubt and must be examined with improved global and regional models. D 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Soluble Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator Receptor Plasma Concentration May Predict Susceptibility to High Altitude Pulmonary Edema

Introduction. Acute exposure to high altitude induces inflammation. However, the relationship between inflammation and high altitude related illness such as high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) and acute mountain sickness (AMS) is poorly understood. We tested if soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) plasma concentration, a prognostic factor for cardiovascular disease and marker for low grade activation of leukocytes, will predict susceptibility to HAPE and AMS. Methods. 41 healthy mountaineers were examined at sea level (SL, 446 m) and 24 h after rapid ascent to 4559 m (HA). 24/41 subjects had a history of HAPE and were thus considered HAPE-susceptible (HAPE-s). Out of the latter, 10/24 HAPE-s subjects were randomly chosen to suppress the inflammatory cascade with dexamethasone 8 mg bid 24 h prior to ascent. Results. Acute hypoxic exposure led to an acute inflammatory reaction represented by an increase in suPAR (1.9 ± 0.4 at SL versus 2.3 ± 0.5 at HA, p < 0.01), CRP (0.7 ± 0.5 at SL versus 3.6 ± 4.6 at HA, p < 0.01), and IL-6 (0.8 ± 0.4 at SL versus 3.3 ± 4.9 at HA, p < 0.01) in all subjects except those receiving dexamethasone. The ascent associated decrease in PaO2 correlated with the increase in IL-6 (r = 0.46, p < 0.001), but not suPAR (r = 0.27, p = 0.08); the increase in IL-6 was not correlated with suPAR (r = 0.16, p = 0.24). Baseline suPAR plasma concentration was higher in the HAPE-s group (2.0 ± 0.4 versus 1.8 ± 0.4, p = 0.04); no difference was found for CRP and IL-6 and for subjects developing AMS. Conclusion. High altitude exposure leads to an increase in suPAR plasma concentration, with the missing correlation between suPAR and IL-6 suggesting a cytokine independent, leukocyte mediated mechanism of low grade inflammation. The correlation between IL-6 and PaO2 suggests a direct effect of hypoxia, which is not the case for suPAR. However, suPAR plasma concentration measured before hypoxic exposure may predict HAPE susceptibility.
Visual Working Memory Capacity Can Be Increased by Training on Distractor Filtering Efficiency

It is generally considered that working memory (WM) capacity is limited and that WM capacity affects cognitive processes. Distractor filtering efficiency has been suggested to be an important factor in determining the visual working memory (VWM) capacity of individuals. In the present study, we investigated whether training in visual filtering efficiency (FE) could improve VWM capacity, as measured by performance on the change detection task (CDT) and changes of contralateral delay activity (CDA) (contralateral delay activity) of different conditions, and evaluated the transfer effect of visual FE training on verbal WM and fluid intelligence, as indexed by performance on the verbal WM span task and Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) test, respectively. Participants were divided into high- and low-capacity groups based on their performance in a CDT designed to test VWM capacity, and then the low-capacity individuals received 20 days of FE training. The training significantly improved the group’s performance in the CDT, and their CDA models of different conditions became more similar with high capacity group, and the effect generalized to improve verbal WM span. These gains were maintained at a 3-month follow-up test. Participants’ RSPM scores were not changed by the training. These findings support the notion that WM capacity is determined, at least in part, by distractor FE and can be enhanced through training.
Malaria and HIV co-infection and their effect on haemoglobin levels from three health-care institutions in Lagos, southwest Nigeria.

BACKGROUND Malaria and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are two major infections with enormous public health consequence. Together, they are endemic in many developing countries with anaemia being the most frequent haematological consequence of the infections. OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence of malaria and HIV co-infection as well as anaemia among selected patients from three health-care institutions in Lagos, Nigeria. METHODS A cross-sectional study of 1080 patients was carried out to determine the prevalence of malaria and HIV co-infection as well as anaemia. Blood sera from each of the patients were screened for malaria parasites, HIV-1 and HIV-2 using Giemsa stain, Cambridge Biotech Recombigen HIV-1/HIV-2 rapid device, respectively while haemoglobin estimation was performed using cyanmethemoglobin method. RESULTS Our data showed that the total number of malaria infected patients were significantly higher in HIV sero-positive patients 47.7% (31/65) when compared with their HIV sero-negative counterparts 25.8% (262/1015) P = 0.047. The result also revealed that 25.8% (8/31) of the patients co-infected with malaria and HIV had anaemia as compared to 11.1% (29/262) infected with malaria alone. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that patients with dual infection of malaria and HIV were twice likely to be anaemic than those infected with malaria alone [adjusted OR 2.4, 95% CI, 1.3 to 2.7, P = 0.014]. CONCLUSIONS Our data indicated a higher prevalence of malaria in HIV infected patients and also revealed that patients co-infected with malaria and HIV were more likely to be anaemic.
Macroeconomic Effects of Bankruptcy & Foreclosure Policies

I develop an equilibrium model of housing and default to jointly analyze the effects of bankruptcy and foreclosure policies. Heterogeneous households have access to mortgages and unsecured credit and can default separately on both types of debt. I show that the interaction between foreclosure and bankruptcy decisions is crucial for explaining the observed cross-state correlation between default policies and default rates. I use the model to argue that a major recent reform to bankruptcy reduced bankruptcy rates but increased foreclosure rates, and that the Home Affordable Refinance Program reduced foreclosures during the Great Recession.
Preferential Proliferation of Murine Colony-forming Units in Culture in a Chemically Defined Condition with a Macrophage Colony-stimulating Factor–negative Stromal Cell Clone

The establishment of culture conditions that selectively support hematopoietic stem cells is an important goal of hematology. In this study, we investigated the possibility of using for this purpose a defined medium, mSFO2, which was developed for stromal cell–dependent bone marrow cultures. We found that a combination of epidermal growth factor (EGF), the OP9 stromal cell line, which lacks macrophage colony-stimulating factor, recombinant stem cell factor, and the chemically defined medium mSFO2 provides a microenvironment where c-Kit+ Thy-1+/lo Mac-1+/lo B220− TER119− commonβ+ IL-2Rγ + gp130+ cells are selectively propagated from normal, unfractionated bone marrow cells. This cell population produced an in vitro colony at a very high efficiency (50%), whereas it has only limited proliferative ability in the irradiated recipient. Thus, the cells selected in this culture condition might represent colony-forming units in culture (CFU-c) with short-term reconstituting ability. Transferring this cell population into medium containing differentiation signals resulted in the rapid production of mature myelomonocytic and B cell lineages in vitro and in vivo. The fact that a similar culture condition was created by erb-B2–transduced OP9 in the absence of EGF indicated that EGF exerts its effect by acting on OP9 rather than directly on CFU-c. These results suggested that the balance between self-renewal and differentiation of CFU-c can be regulated by extracellular signals.
Epidemiology of restless legs symptoms in adults.

BACKGROUND Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a disorder characterized by sleep-disrupting unpleasant leg sensations, often accompanied by daytime behavioral problems. Treatment for this condition is available, but it is suspected that most instances of RLS remain undiagnosed. The goal of this investigation was to assess the prevalence and health status correlates of restless legs symptoms (hereinafter referred to as restless legs) in the general population. METHODS A question reflecting the clinical features of RLS was added to the 1996 Kentucky Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. Data on the frequency of experiencing restless legs, self-rated general and mental health status, demographics, and behavioral risk factors were collected by telephone interview from 1803 men and women, 18 years and older. RESULTS Experiencing restless legs 5 or more nights per month was reported by 3% of participants aged 18 to 29 years, 10% of those aged 30 to 79 years, and 19% of those 80 years and older. The age-adjusted prevalence for Kentucky adults is 10.0%; prevalence did not vary significantly by sex. The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for restless legs and diminished general health and poor mental health status were 2.4 (1.4-4.0) and 3.1 (2.0-4.6), respectively. Restless legs were significantly associated with increased age and body mass index, lower income, smoking, lack of exercise, low alcohol consumption, and diabetes. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of restless legs in the general adult population is high. Restless legs may be associated with decreased well-being, emphasizing the need for further research and greater medical recognition of this condition.
Impact of Utilitarian and Hedonic Shopping Values on Individual's Perceived Benefits and Risks in Online Shopping

[Abstract] An individual’s overall perceived shopping value has two dimensions – utilitarian and hedonic. Utilitarian shopping value relates to the functional aspects of the shopping context. Hedonic shopping value is derived from the perceived fun or playfulness of the shopping. An individual also assumes some benefits and risks in any shopping context. The e-shopping tendency is increasing rapidly among buyers across the world, which is the focus of this study. This study investigates how the individual buyer’s perceived benefits and risks in e-shopping are influenced by his or her perceived utilitarian or hedonic shopping values.
Correlation between Serie Antitumor Activity and Concomitant Resistance in Mice Bearing Nonimmunogenic Tumors1

Serum from mice bearing five weakly immunogenic or nonimmunogenic tumors inducing concomitant resistance exhibited a growth-inhibitory activity on in vitro proliferation of the tumor cells. This activity was proportional to the intensity of concomitant resistance and correlated with the capacity to restrain metastatic development. It was not attrib utable to cytotoxic antibodies, was relatively nonspecific, and operated through a cytostatic and reversible mechanism. All attempts to transfer antitumor resistance in vivo by serum inoculation have failed, but this could be attained by parabiosis. Physical and chemical serum treatments suggest that heat-, acid-, and alkali-resistant peptide(s) with molecular weights ranging from 1000 to 3000 could account for this inhibitory effect.
Bridging Microarray Platforms To Extend the Utility of Gene Expression Profiles

Gene expression profiling experiments provide a wealth of data for use in the analysis of the transcriptome and have yielded results that have helped in the classification of disease type and suggestions of possible biological pathways. Two major types of platforms exist, cDNA platforms where ESTs are spotted onto a glass microscope slide and oligonucleotide platforms where each gene is represented by small lengths of approximately 20 base pairs of DNA. Due to this difference in set-up and subsequent use the two platforms tend to yield different results when the data is analysed by a common method such as a clustering algorithm. This project seeks to find a general tool to cluster expression profile results from both sets of data simultaneously. A new clustering algorithm that has been presented at the Royal Statistical Society London in May 2004 will be utilised in the tool. Its claimed advantage over existing algorithms is that it can cluster objects on only small subsets of their attributes that show a signal above or below the background noise of the majority of the data. This type of data structure is typical of that produced by the microarray platforms and suggests the application of the new algorithm to their study.
CAN ONE ESTIMATE THE UNCONDITIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF POST-MODEL-SELECTION ESTIMATORS?

We consider the problem of estimating the unconditional distribution of a post-model-selection estimator. The notion of a post-model-selection estimator here refers to the combined procedure resulting from first selecting a model (e.g., by a model-selection criterion such as the Akaike information criterion [AIC] or by a hypothesis testing procedure) and then estimating the parameters in the selected model (e.g., by least squares or maximum likelihood), all based on the same data set. We show that it is impossible to estimate the unconditional distribution with reasonable accuracy even asymptotically. In particular, we show that no estimator for this distribution can be uniformly consistent (not even locally). This follows as a corollary to (local) minimax lower bounds on the performance of estimators for the distribution; performance is here measured by the probability that the estimation error exceeds a given threshold. These lower bounds are shown to approach ½ or even 1 in large samples, depending on the situation considered. Similar impossibility results are also obtained for the distribution of linear functions (e.g., predictors) of the post-model-selection estimator.The research of the first author was supported by the Max Kade Foundation and by the Austrian National Science Foundation (FWF), Grant no. P13868-MAT. A preliminary draft of the material in this paper was written in 1999.
Neuroprotective Effects of Grape Seeds against Photo-Chemical Damage-Induced Retinal Cell Death

The aim of this study to investigate the influence of administration of grape seeds as an antioxidant on the blue light effects induced in retinal sensitivity. The a-& b-waves of rabbit electrorentinogram (ERG) were measured after different periods (2, 7, 14 and 21 days) of blue light exposure. The obtained results indicated that the blue light had an apparent effect on both a- & b-waves . That was in the form of a decrease in their amplitudes and increase in their implicit time. This effect increased for longer exposure period of blue light. However, the most striking feature in the ERG wave form variations appeared in case of the longest exposure time (21 days) where a negative ERG is recorded. This Type of ERG reflects the non-vitality of the retina due to the photo-chemical damage of blue light. After administration of grape seeds, there was a type of improvement in the ERG parameters towards control values but they were still lower than the control. However, no improvement appeared in the recorded negative ERG, and in this case the grape seed has no effects. It is concluded that long exposure to blue light affects the high order retinal neurons and this may be considered as a permanent effect. Accordingly, the grape seeds may have a neuroprotective effects that help in protecting the retinal neurons against photo - chemical damage which may induce retinal cell death. So, the administration of grape seeds can help in protecting the retina. (Elawady A Ibrahim and El-hansi N Mohmed Neuroprotective Effects of Grape Seeds against Photo-Chemical Damage-Induced Retinal Cell Death) Nature and Science 2011; 9(11):83-89). (ISSN: 1545-0740). http://www.sciencepub. net.
A new approach for optimization in image watermarking by using genetic algorithms

In this paper, the authors propose the spread spectrum image watermarking algorithm using the discrete multiwavelet transform. Performance improvement with respect to existing algorithms is obtained by genetic algorithms optimization. In the proposed optimization process, the authors search for parameters that consist of threshold values and the embedding strength to improve the visual quality of watermarked images and the robustness of the watermark. These parameters are varied to find the most suitable for images with different characteristics. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm yields a watermark that is invisible to human eyes and robust to various image manipulations. The authors also compare their experimental results with the results of previous work using various test images.