Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Structural Evaluation of the Expanded Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale with a Diverse Sample of Caucasian/European, Native, and Black Canadian Women

The Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) scale is a widely used measure of the factors that people believe exert some control over their health. The purpose of the research reported here is to provide an independent evaluation of the structural properties of the recently expanded MHLC. Specifically we sought to address the issue of the interdependence of the external locus of control scales (Powerful Others, God, and Chance) and the legitimacy of the addition of a measure of God control as a separate subscale in the expanded MHLC. The study is based on an ethnically diverse sample of 371 community women, recruited through a random digit dialing procedure, who responded to all the items on the expanded MHLC. Although, the three external factors (God, Powerful Others, and Chance) are substantially correlated, structural analyses indicate that a four-factor model consisting of the three external scales and the Internal control scale provides the best fit to the observed covariances among the items. We view this result as supporting the addition of the God subscale as a separate dimension of external health locus of control. We also find support in these results for the continued scoring of four subscales on the MHLC rather than combining the three external subscales on one dimension as some have suggested.
Antimicrobial activity of Yemeni myrrh mouthwash

This study aimed to prepare pharmaceutical formulations of mouthwashes, containing extracted Yemeni myrrh as a single active constituent, and testing their quality criteria and antimicrobial activity on common pathogens of the oral cavity. In order to determine the best extracting solvent for myrrh antimicrobial constituents, different solvents were used to prepare myrrh extract. The antimicrobial activity of those extracts against Staphylococcus aureus was then investigated. The extract that showed the best activity was also investigated against Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans. It was found that the hydroalcohol extract extracted by ethanol: phosphate buffer pH 7 (85:15) showed the best antimicrobial activity. Thus, this extract was used, thereafter, to prepare 10 pharmaceutical formulations of myrrh tinctures. Each 100-ml tincture formulation was prepared from 65 ml of myrrh hydroalcohol extract (equivalent to 2.6 g extracted constituents of myrrh). All formulations contained a solubilizing agent, antioxidant, sweetener, flavor and colorant. In order to prepare corresponding aqueous myrrh mouthwash formulation form each tincture, 1ml of the tincture was diluted up to 50 ml with water. The viscosity, pH and palatability of those mouthwash formulations were tested. It was found that two formulations (M9, M10) prepared from the myrrh tinctures (F9 and F10, which contained 9.5 and 10.5 % w/v of sodium lauryl sulphate, respectively, showed accepted results. However, formulation M9 showed better antimicrobial activity than the other formulation. The antimicrobial activity of formulation M9 was also superior to those of two commercial mouthwashes and one oral antifungal suspension. Moreover, the formulation exhibited good isothermal short-term stability when stored at three different conditions for 9 weeks.
Nonperturbative Effects and the Large-Order Behavior of Matrix Models and Topological Strings

This work addresses nonperturbative effects in both matrix models and topological strings, and their relation with the large-order behavior of the 1/N expansion. We study instanton configurations in generic one-cut matrix models, obtaining explicit results for the one-instanton amplitude at both one and two loops. The holographic description of topological strings in terms of matrix models implies that our nonperturbative results also apply to topological strings on toric Calabi-Yau manifolds. This yields very precise predictions for the large-order behavior of the perturbative genus expansion, both in conventional matrix models and in topological string theory. We test these predictions in detail in various examples, including the quartic matrix model, topological strings on the local curve, and Hurwitz theory. In all these cases we provide extensive numerical checks which heavily support our nonperturbative analytical results. Moreover, since all these models have a critical point describing two-dimensional gravity, we also obtain in this way the large-order asymptotics of the relevant solution to the Painleve I equation, including corrections in inverse genus. From a mathematical point of view, our results predict the large-genus asymptotics of simple Hurwitz numbers and of local Gromov-Witten invariants.
Carried Object Detection Using Ratio Histogram and its Application to Suspicious Event Analysis

This letter proposes a novel method to detect carried objects from videos and applies it for analysis of suspicious events. First of all, we propose a novel kernel-based tracking method for tracking each foreground object and further obtaining its trajectory. With the trajectory, a novel ratio histogram is then proposed for analyzing the interactions between the carried object and its owner. After color re-projection, different carried objects can be then accurately segmented from the background by taking advantages of Gaussian mixture models. After bag detection, an event analyzer is then designed to analyze various suspicious events from the videos. Even though there is no prior knowledge about the bag (such as shape or color), our proposed method still performs well to detect these suspicious events. As we know, due to the uncertainties of the shape and color of the bag, there is no automatic system that can analyze various suspicious events involving bags (such as robbery) without using any manual effort. However, by taking advantages of our proposed ratio histogram, different carried bags can be well segmented from videos and applied for event analysis. Experimental results have proved that the proposed method is robust, accurate, and powerful in carried object detection and suspicious event analysis.
Biomechanical efficacy of monoaxial or polyaxial pedicle screw and additional screw insertion at the level of fracture, in lumbar burst fracture: An experimental study

Background Use of a pedicle screw at the level of fracture, also known as an intermediate screw, has been shown to improve clinical results in managing lumbar fracture, but there is a paucity of biomechanical studies to support the claim. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of adding intermediate pedicle screws at the level of a fracture on the stiffness of a short-segment pedicle fixation using monoaxial or polyaxial screws and to compare the strength of monoaxial and polyaxial screws in the calf spine fracture model. Materials and Methods Flexibility of 12 fresh-frozen calf lumbar spine specimens was evaluated in all planes. An unstable burst fracture model was created at the level of L3 by the pre-injury and dropped-mass technique. The specimens were randomly divided into monoaxial pedicle screw (MPS) and polyaxial pedicle screw (PPS) groups. Flexibility was retested without and with intermediate screws (MPSi and PPSi) placed at the level of fracture in addition to standard screws placed at L2 and L4. Results The addition of intermediate screws significantly increased the stability of the constructs, as measured by a decreased range of motion (ROM) in flexion, extension, and lateral bending in both MPS and PPS groups ( P < 0.05). There was neither any significant difference in the ROM in the spines of the two groups before injury, nor a difference in the ROM between the MPSi and PPSi groups ( P > 0.05), but there was a significant difference between MPS and PPS in flexion and extension in the shortsegment fixation group ( P < 0.05). Conclusions The addition of intermediate screws at the level of a burst fracture significantly increased the stability of shortsegment pedicle screw fixation in both the MPS and PPS groups. However, in short-segment fixation group, monoaxial pedicle screw exhibited more stability in flexion and extension than the polyaxial pedicle screw.
The fractions of short- and long-range connections in the visual cortex

When analyzing synaptic connectivity in a brain tissue slice, it is difficult to discern between synapses made by local neurons and those arising from long-range axonal projections. We analyzed a data set of excitatory neurons and inhibitory basket cells reconstructed from cat primary visual cortex in an attempt to provide a quantitative answer to the question: What fraction of cortical synapses is local, and what fraction is mediated by long-range projections? We found an unexpectedly high proportion of nonlocal synapses. For example, 92% of excitatory synapses near the axis of a 200-μm-diameter iso-orientation column come from neurons located outside the column, and this fraction remains high—76%—even for an 800-μm ocular dominance column. The long-range nature of connectivity has dramatic implications for experiments in cortical tissue slices. Our estimate indicates that in a 300-μm-thick section cut perpendicularly to the cortical surface, the number of viable excitatory synapses is reduced to about 10%, and the number of synapses made by inhibitory basket cell axons is reduced to 38%. This uneven reduction in the numbers of excitatory and inhibitory synapses changes the excitation–inhibition balance by a factor of 3.8 toward inhibition, and may result in cortical tissue that is less excitable than in vivo. We found that electrophysiological studies conducted in tissue sections may significantly underestimate the extent of cortical connectivity; for example, for some projections, the reported probabilities of finding connected nearby neuron pairs in slices could understate the in vivo probabilities by a factor of 3.
Role of Transforming Growth Factor-β1 and Smads Signaling Pathway in Intrauterine Adhesion

The aim of the study was to evaluate the role of Smad3, Smad7, and TGF-β1 in intrauterine adhesion (IUA) patients and experimental rabbit models. 60 IUA patients, 30 control participants, and 18 female rabbits were enrolled in this study. We found that the plasma concentrations and protein expressions of TGF-β1 were significantly increased in patients and experimental rabbits compared to those in controls (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the mRNA and protein expression levels of Smad3 were significantly elevated, while Smad7 level was markedly decreased in the patients and experimental rabbits compared with controls (P < 0.05). This altered ratio recommended that IUA was positively correlated to the mRNA and protein expression levels of Smad3, Smad7, and TGF-β1 in blood and uterine tissue. Moreover, we used the specific inhibitor of Smad3 (SIS3) in experimental rabbit. SIS3 obviously reduced the mRNA and protein expression of smad3 and TGF-β1, while it increased Smad7 expression in the treatment groups as compared with IUA rabbits (P < 0.05). Our study suggested that TGF-β1/Smad3/smad7 is a major pathway which plays an important role in the regulation of the IUA and specific inhibitor of Smad3 (SIS3) may provide a new therapeutic strategy for IUA.
Treating HCV in HIV 2013: on the cusp of change

Treating hepatitis C virus (HCV) in HIV/HCV co‐infected patients is a challenge. Even if the benefits of achieving a sustained virological response are clear, the rates achieved with the combination of pegylated‐interferon and ribavirin are disappointing. The addition of direct acting antiviral agents (DAAs) to the treatment of hepatitis C is revolutionizing the treatment of HCV in mono‐infected patients. Even if there have not been any agents approved for the treatment of co‐infected patients, many studies specifically designed for this population are ongoing. This article reviews available data on the use of DAAs in co‐infected patients and the challenges associated with these new drugs.
Multiple Range-Restricted Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Units with Attention for Relation Classification

Most of neural approaches to relation classification have focused on finding short patterns that represent the semantic relation using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and those approaches have generally achieved better performances than using Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). In a similar intuition to the CNN models, we propose a novel RNN-based model that strongly focuses on only important parts of a sentence using multiple range-restricted bidirectional layers and attention for relation classification. Experimental results on the SemEval-2010 relation classification task show that our model is comparable to the state-of-the-art CNN-based and RNN-based models that use additional linguistic information.
Transcriptome changes in renal allograft protocol biopsies at 3 months precede the onset of interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy (IF/TA) at 6 months.

BACKGROUND Interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IF/TA) in renal transplants are the major morphological correlates of progressive graft deterioration. Early diagnosis of IF/TA is a pre-requisite for a timely therapeutic intervention in patients at risk. To evaluate events occurring before the overt onset of IF/TA, gene expression profiling of 3-month protocol biopsies from patients with IF/TA was performed in a patient group (n = 8) who developed mild IF/TA [chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN) grade I, by the Banff scoring system] in the subsequent 6-month protocol biopsy ('progressors'), and in 12 patients without IF/TA at 6 months ('non-progressors'). METHODS RNA was extracted, labelled and hybridized to human specific genome wide DNA microarrays. Normalized data were subjected to gene-centric and pathway-centric statistical methods. RESULTS Compared to the non-progressors, the 3-month biopsies of the progressor group showed overexpression of several genes that are important in the T- and B-cell activation and immune response. Genes involved in pro-fibrotic processes were identified in the biopsies of the progressors that preceded the observed IF/TA at 6 months. Furthermore, several genes with transporter and metabolic functions were underrepresented in the progressors in the 3-month biopsies. CONCLUSION Gene expression profiling of early protocol biopsies identified changes in the transcriptome of grafts, which may be important for the development of IF/TA. Such early detection of transcriptome changes can facilitate the identification of patients at risk shifting the intervention time point well before the histological diagnosis of irreversible IF/TA.
Photonic band structure: The face-centered-cubic case.

We employ the concepts of band theory to describe the behavior of electromagnetic waves in three dimensionally periodic face-centered-cubic (fcc) dielectric structures. This can produce a ``photonic band gap'' in which optical modes, spontaneous emission, and zero-point fluctuations are all absent. In the course of a broad experimental survey, we have found that most fcc dielectric structures have ``semimetallic'' band structure. Nevertheless, we have identified one particular dielectric ``crystal'' which actually has a ``photonic band gap. '' This dielectric structure, consisting of 86% empty space, requires a refractive index contrast greater than 3 to 1, which happens to be readily obtainable in semiconductor materials.
Measuring Awareness in Cross-Team Collaborations -- Distance Matters

Developing and maintaining team awareness within and across teams working in the same project helps team members in aligning their activities and facilitates implicit coordination. This requires both task and presence awareness. In this paper, we share our findings from a survey in which we measured the level of team awareness in cross-team collaborations with varying degree of separation. To measure the levels of awareness we asked questions like who is who, who knows what, who is on a vacation, who depends on whom and alike. Results from surveying 17 pairs of teams from 15 organizations indicate that level of awareness in cross-team collaborations is generally lower than that within the teams. We also found that task and presence awareness levels are independent and can vary. In addition to distance, we identified a few other factors with potential positive and negative influence on team awareness.
A Randomized Open-Label Trial of Artesunate- Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine with or without Primaquine for Elimination of Sub-Microscopic P. falciparum Parasitaemia and Gametocyte Carriage in Eastern Sudan

Background In areas of seasonal malaria transmission, treatment of asymptomatic carriers of malaria parasites, whose parasitaemia persists at low densities throughout the dry season, could be a useful strategy for malaria control. We carried out a randomized trial to compare two drug regimens for clearance of parasitaemia in order to identify the optimum regimen for use in mass drug administration in the dry season. Methodology and Principal Findings A two-arm open-label randomized controlled trial was conducted during the dry season in an area of distinct seasonal malaria in two villages in Gedarif State in eastern Sudan. Participants were asymptomatic adults and children aged over 6 months, with low-density P. falciparum infection detected by PCR. Participants were randomized to receive artesunate/sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (AS+SP) combination for three days with or without a dose of primaquine (PQ) on the fourth day. Parasitaemia detected by PCR on days 3, 7 and 14 after the start of treatment and gametocytes detected by RT-PCR on days 7 and 14 were then recorded. 104 individuals who had low density parasitaemia at screening were randomized and treated during the dry season. On day 7, 8.3% were positive by PCR in the AS+SP+PQ group and 6.5% in the AS+SP group (risk difference 1.8%, 95%CI −10.3% to +13.8%). At enrolment, 12% (12/100) were carrying gametocytes. This was reduced to 6.4% and 4.4% by day 14 (Risk difference 1.9% (95%CI −9.3% to +13.2%) in AS+SP+PQ and AS+SP groups, respectively. Conclusion Addition of primaquine to artemisinin combination treatment did not improve elimination of parasitaemia and prevention of gametocyte carriage in carriers with low-density parasitaemia in the dry season. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00330902
Bispectrum speckle interferometry of the B[e] star MWC 349A

We present the results of bispectrum speckle interferometry of the B[e] star MWC 349A obtained with the SAO 6 m telescope. Our diffraction-limited J-, H-, and K-band images (resolutions 43–74 mas) suggest the star is surrounded by a circumstellar disk seen almost edge-on. The observed visibility shape is consistent with a two-component elliptical disk model, probably corresponding to the gaseous and dusty components of the disk. We show that the classification of the object as a pre-main-sequence star or a young planetary nebula is problematic. An analysis of the uncertainties in the basic parameter determination lead us to the conclusion that MWC 349A is probably either a B[e] supergiant or a binary system, in which the B[e]-companion dominates the observed properties.
A non-IID Framework for Collaborative Filtering with Restricted Boltzmann Machines

We propose a framework for collaborative filtering based on Restricted Boltzmann Machines (RBM), which extends previous RBM-based approaches in several important directions. First, while previous RBM research has focused on modeling the correlation between item ratings, we model both user-user and item-item correlations in a unified hybrid non-IID framework. We further use real values in the visible layer as opposed to multinomial variables, thus taking advantage of the natural order between user-item ratings. Finally, we explore the potential of combining the original training data with data generated by the RBM-based model itself in a bootstrapping fashion. The evaluation on two MovieLens datasets (with 100K and 1M user-item ratings, respectively), shows that our RBM model rivals the best previously-proposed approaches.
Factors Affecting the Validity of Self-Reported Data on Health Services from the Community Health Survey in Korea

Purpose As a follow-up for the validity study of Community Health Surveys (CHSs), the purpose of this study was to evaluate the factors affecting the accuracy of CHSs by investigating subjects' characteristics. Materials and Methods We used data from 11,217 participants (aged 19 years or older) who had participated in the CHS, conducted by a local government in 2008 and analyzed the variables affecting the sensitivity and specificity of hospitalization and outpatient visit. Results Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that, factors related with the sensitivity of hospitalization and outpatient visit questions were gender, age, marital status, chronic diseases, medical checkup, the subjective health status and necessary medical services. Factors related with the specificity were gender, marital status, educational background, chronic diseases, medical checkup, alcohol consumption, necessary medical services and sadness. Conclusion This study revealed the subject-related factors associated with the validity of the CHS. Efforts to improve the sensitivity and the specificity from self-report questionnaires should consider how the characteristics of subjects may affect their responses.
Quantitative Cardiac Positron Emission Tomography: The Time Is Coming!

In the last 20 years, the use of positron emission tomography (PET) has grown dramatically because of its oncological applications, and PET facilities are now easily accessible. At the same time, various groups have explored the specific advantages of PET in heart disease and demonstrated the major diagnostic and prognostic role of quantitation in cardiac PET. Nowadays, different approaches for the measurement of myocardial blood flow (MBF) have been developed and implemented in user-friendly programs. There is large evidence that MBF at rest and under stress together with the calculation of coronary flow reserve are able to improve the detection and prognostication of coronary artery disease. Moreover, quantitative PET makes possible to assess the presence of microvascular dysfunction, which is involved in various cardiac diseases, including the early stages of coronary atherosclerosis, hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy, and hypertensive heart disease. Therefore, it is probably time to consider the routine use of quantitative cardiac PET and to work for defining its place in the clinical scenario of modern cardiology.