Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of location and staff knowledge on quality of retail pharmacy prescribing for childhood diarrhea in Kenya.

BACKGROUND Retail pharmacies are important sources of advice on pharmaceuticals in developing countries, where many purchasing decisions are unmediated by medical professionals. For childhood diarrhea, choice of drug sales in pharmacies has been found to be consistently poor, whether with or without prescription, as evidenced by a low use of effective oral rehydration salts (ORS) and high use of marginally effective or ineffective products such as antimotility agents, adsorbents, and antimicrobials. Little information is available about factors influencing prescribing by pharmacy personnel in these settings. This paper reports results of an analysis which examined the influence of rural versus urban location, neighborhood socio-economic status (SES), and clinical knowledge of pharmacy assistants on quality of prescribing in retail pharmacies in Kenya. METHODS Using WHO treatment guidelines, we measured quality of prescribing in childhood diarrhea as: (1) the proportion of client encounters in which ORS is prescribed (indicating higher quality practice); and (2) the proportion of visits in which an antidiarrheal product is prescribed (lower quality practice). We obtained data on prescribing in a simple case of childhood diarrhea using surrogate patient visits to 91 pharmacies located in the major urban area of Kenya (Nairobi) and four rural towns. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the association between pharmacy predictor variables and the quality of prescribing. RESULTS No consistent relationship was found between the clinical knowledge of pharmacy assistants and quality of prescribing. Controlling for number of products prescribed, gender of the assessor, and level of knowledge, multivariate analyses indicated that in comparison to rural pharmacies, the odds of prescribing ORS were significantly higher in pharmacies located in high SES (OR = 4.7; 95% CI = 1.4,16.1) or middle SES (OR = 4.5; CI = 1.9,10.6) urban neighborhoods; the odds in low SES urban pharmacies were similar to those in rural areas (OR = 2.0; CI = 0.6,6.2). The odds of prescribing antidiarrheal products did not differ significantly in any geographic area. CONCLUSIONS Location of a retail pharmacy in a rural area or in a low-income urban neighborhood was associated with suboptimal quality of prescribing as evidenced by lower use of ORS. No relationship between clinical knowledge and quality of practice was detected. Future research is needed to examine such factors as the influence of intra-pharmacy authority structure, perceived efficacy of pharmaceuticals, local patterns of physician practice, and economic incentives on the quality of prescribing.
AGN Feedback and Cooling Flows: Problems with Simple Hydrodynamic Models

In recent years it has become increasingly clear that active galactic nuclei, and radio galaxies in particular, have an impact on large-scale structure and galaxy formation. In principle, radio galaxies are energetic enough to halt the cooling of the virialized intracluster medium (ICM) in the inner regions of galaxy clusters, solving the cooling flow problem and explaining the high-mass truncation of the galaxy luminosity function. We explore this process through a series of high-resolution, three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of jetted active galaxies that act in response to cooling-mediated accretion of an ICM atmosphere. We find that our models are incapable of producing a long-term balance of heating and cooling; catastrophic cooling can be delayed by the jet action but inevitably takes hold. At the heart of the failure of these models is the formation of a low-density channel through which the jet can freely flow, carrying its energy out of the cooling core. It is possible that this failure is due to an oversimplified treatment of the fast jet (which may underestimate the "dentist drill" effect). However, it seems likely that additional complexity (large-angle jet precession or ICM turbulence) or additional physics (magnetohydrodynamic effects and plasma transport processes) is required to produce a spatial distribution of jet heating that can prevent catastrophic cooling. This work also underscores the importance of including jet dynamics in any feedback model, as opposed to the isotropically inflated bubble approach taken in some previous works.
How should we use information about HWE in the meta-analyses of genetic association studies?

BACKGROUND It is often recommended that control groups in meta-analyses of genetic association studies are checked for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) as a surrogate for assessing study quality. However, tests for HWE have low power and there is currently no consensus about how to handle studies that deviate significantly from HWE. METHODS We identified 72 papers describing 114 meta-analyses of 1603 primary gene-disease comparisons. Based on these studies and on related simulations, we evaluated four different strategies for handling studies that appear not to be in HWE: (i) include them in the meta-analysis; (ii) exclude them if the test for HWE results in P < 0.05; (iii) exclude them if a measure of the size of departure from HWE is large and (iv) exclude them if (ii) and (iii). RESULTS Of the 72 papers, 26 did not report information on HWE, with a trend toward increased reporting with time. HWE was evaluated through testing, with only three papers assessing the size of departure. On re-analysis, 9% of the 1603 primary comparisons showed significant deviation from HWE. The chance of an extreme departure from HWE was inversely related to the sample size of the study. Simulations suggest that there is no advantage in excluding studies that appear not to be in HWE. CONCLUSIONS Meta-analyses should report both the magnitude and the statistical significance of departures from HWE. Studies that appear to deviate from HWE should be investigated further for weaknesses in their design, but these studies should not be excluded unless there are other grounds for doubting the quality of the study.
Particle Deposition in Human Respiratory Tract: Effect of Water- Soluble Fraction

In the nearly saturated human respiratory tract, the presence of water-soluble substances in inhaled aerosols can cause change in the size distribution of particles. This consequently alters the lung deposition profiles of the inhaled airborne particles. The magnitude of particle deposition in the lung is affected by the soluble component present in the particle. This is estimated by a numerical model. The model solves the condensation growth equation to determine the size evolution of respirable particles within the human respiratory tract. The water uptake by the particles in the respiratory tract results in change of size and density of the particles, and these changes are incorporated for estimating the particle deposition efficiency. The model results are compared with experimental results of sodium chloride particles. The model reproduces the major features of the experimental data. The simulations indicate that the particle can grow up to two times or more of its original size due to water uptake, depending on the quantity of the soluble matter it carries and thus can have significant effect on particle deposition efficiency. The study investigated the effect of soluble compounds in estimating total and regional lung dose of ambient particulate matter measured in Mumbai, India. The particle mass size distribution and composition considered for the ambient particulate matter, the variation in the total mass dose due to the growth was modest. But, the regional lung dose was significantly affected by the hygroscopic growth.
Stability and Hopf bifurcation analysis for a Lotka-Volterra predator-prey model with two delays

Stability and Hopf bifurcation analysis for a Lotka-Volterra predator-prey model with two delays In this paper, a two-species Lotka-Volterra predator-prey model with two delays is considered. By analyzing the associated characteristic transcendental equation, the linear stability of the positive equilibrium is investigated and Hopf bifurcation is demonstrated. Some explicit formulae for determining the stability and direction of Hopf bifurcation periodic solutions bifurcating from Hopf bifurcations are obtained by using normal form theory and center manifold theory. Some numerical simulations for supporting the theoretical results are also included.
The Struggle to Govern the Commons

Human institutions—ways of organizing activities—affect the resilience of the environment. Locally evolved institutional arrangements governed by stable communities and buffered from outside forces have sustained resources successfully for centuries, although they often fail when rapid change occurs. Ideal conditions for governance are increasingly rare. Critical problems, such as transboundary pollution, tropical deforestation, and climate change, are at larger scales and involve nonlocal influences. Promising strategies for addressing these problems include dialogue among interested parties, officials, and scientists; complex, redundant, and layered institutions; a mix of institutional types; and designs that facilitate experimentation, learning, and change.
Storage of Seeds

Introduction 86 Factors Affecting Longevity of Seeds 86 Seed Characteristics 86 Basic seed physiology 86 Seed morphology 88 Chemical composition 88 Seed maturity 89 Seed Handling Prior to Storage 89 Storage Environment 89 Moisture 89 Temperature 90 Atmosphere 91 Storage Facilities 92 Cold storage 92 Containers 92 Moisture Control 93 Storage Recommendation 93 Orthodox Seeds 93 Temperate-Recalcitrant Seeds 94 Tropical-Recalcitrant Seeds 94 Cryogenic Storage 94 Other Management Considerations 94 References 95 Chapter 4
Peroxide-Treated U937 Cells Macrophage Engulfment of Hydrogen in 2 Calcium-Independent Phospholipase A Involvement of Group VIA

Hydrogen peroxide-induced apoptosis of U937 cells results in substantial hydrolysis of membrane phospholipids by calcium-independent group VIA phospholipase A 2 (iPLA 2 -VIA). However, abrogation of cellular iPLA 2 -VIA neither delays nor decreases apoptosis, suggesting that, beyond a mere destructive role, iPLA 2 -VIA may serve other speciﬁc roles. In this study, we report that phagocytosis of apoptosing U937 cells by macrophages is blunted if the cells are depleted of iPLA 2 -VIA by treatment with an inhibitor or an antisense oligonucleotide, and it is augmented by overexpression of iPLA 2 -VIA in the dying cells. Thus, the magnitude of macrophage phagocytosis correlates with the level of iPLA 2 -VIA activity of the dying cells. Eliminating by antisense oligonucleotide technology of cytosolic group IVA phospholipase A 2 does not attenuate phagocytosis of U937 dying cells by macrophages. Incubation of U937 cells with different fatty acids has no effect on either the extent of hydrogen peroxide-induced apoptosis or the degree of phagocytosis of the dying cells by macrophages. However, preincubation of the macrophages with lysophosphatidylcholine before exposing them to the dying cells blocks phagocytosis of the latter. These results indicate that formation of lysophosphatidylcholine by iPLA 2 -VIA in hydrogen peroxide-treated U937 cells to induce apoptosis directly con-tributes to their efﬁcient clearance by macrophages. The Journal of Immunology, 2006, 176: 2555–2561. Green ﬂuorescence from the EGFP was analyzed in FL1 (505–545 nm), while red ﬂuorescence from propidium iodide or annexin V-Cy3 was analyzed in FL2 (555–600 nm). To quantify phagocytosis, red ﬂuorescence was analyzed only in the cell populations exhib- iting signiﬁcant green ﬂuorescence (EGFP-positive cells, i.e., macro-phages). The EGFP-containing macrophages are positive for red ﬂuorescence only if they have ingested the propidium iodide-labeled U937 cells. Phagocytosis was conﬁrmed by confocal microscopy using a laser scanning system (Radiance 2100; Bio-Rad) coupled to a Nikon inverted microscope with a thermostatized chamber. The objective was a (cid:1) 60, 1.4 numerical aperture, oil immersion. Green ﬂuorescence was monitored at 488-nm argon excitation using a combination of HQ500 long-bandpass and a HQ560 short-bandpass blocking ﬁlters. Red ﬂuorescence was monitored sequentially at 543-nm HeNe excitation using a HQ590/570 long-bandpass blocking ﬁlter.
Structural Deep Brain Network Mining

Mining from neuroimaging data is becoming increasingly popular in the field of healthcare and bioinformatics, due to its potential to discover clinically meaningful structure patterns that could facilitate the understanding and diagnosis of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Most recent research concentrates on applying subgraph mining techniques to discover connected subgraph patterns in the brain network. However, the underlying brain network structure is complicated. As a shallow linear model, subgraph mining cannot capture the highly non-linear structures, resulting in sub-optimal patterns. Therefore, how to learn representations that can capture the highly non-linearity of brain networks and preserve the underlying structures is a critical problem. In this paper, we propose a Structural Deep Brain Network mining method, namely SDBN, to learn highly non-linear and structure-preserving representations of brain networks. Specifically, we first introduce a novel graph reordering approach based on module identification, which rearranges the order of the nodes to preserve the modular structure of the graph. Next, we perform structural augmentation to further enhance the spatial information of the reordered graph. Then we propose a deep feature learning framework for combining supervised learning and unsupervised learning in a small-scale setting, by augmenting Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) with decoding pathways for reconstruction. With the help of the multiple layers of non-linear mapping, the proposed SDBN approach can capture the highly non-linear structure of brain networks. Further, it has better generalization capability for high-dimensional brain networks and works well even for small sample learning. Benefit from CNN's task-oriented learning style, the learned hierarchical representation is meaningful for the clinical task. To evaluate the proposed SDBN method, we conduct extensive experiments on four real brain network datasets for disease diagnoses. The experiment results show that SDBN can capture discriminative and meaningful structural graph representations for brain disorder diagnosis.
Heat transfer in injection molding of crystalline plastics

A theoretical mathematical model is presented to describe the temperature distribution and the rate of phase change in the injection molding process of crystalline plastics. Under some assumptions, an exact closed form is solved with the use of an internal technique. The model was tested by measuring the temperature profile in a slab mold instrumented with thermocouples. Measurements of temperature profiles in the center of the polymer slab compare well to model prediction. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 2249–2253, 2006
The a , b , g , q -Unsaturated Aldehyde 2- trans -4- trans -Decadienal Disturbs DNA Replication and Mitotic Events in Early Sea Urchin Embryos

The polyunsaturated aldehydes are highly reactive products of fatty acid peroxidation and combustion of organic materials, and theyhavebeendocumentedtohavediversecyctotoxicandgenotoxiceffects.The a , b , g , d -unsaturated aldehyde 2- trans -4- trans -decadie-nal is produced by marine microalgae, and it is known to inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in several different cell types. However, the molecular basis for the cell cycle arrest is not fully understood.Weusedseaurchinembryostoexaminehowsomeofthe key events of the mitotic cell division were inﬂuenced by this polyunsaturated aldehyde. We found that cell divisions in embryos of Sphaerechinus granularis were inhibited by 2- trans -4- trans -deca-dienal in a dose dependent manner with an EC 50 of 1.3 m M. Mitotic events in the nondividing eggs were characterized using immuno-ﬂuorescent staining. DNA labelling revealed that pronuclear migration was inhibited, and a total absence of incorporation of the DNA-base analogue 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine indicated that no DNA replication had occurred. Staining of a -tubulin subunits showed that tubulin-polymerization was disrupted and aberrations were induced in mitotic spindles. Furthermore, we monitored the activity of the G 2 -M promoting complex cyclin B-Cdk1 in newly fertilized sea urchin eggs, and found that this complex was not activated in embryos treated with 2- trans -4- trans -decadienal despite the accumulation of cyclin B.
Treatment of Diabetic Rats With Insulin or a Synthetic Insulin Receptor Agonist Peptide Leads to Divergent Metabolic Responses

In addition to lowering of blood glucose, treatment with insulin also induces lipid synthesis and storage. Patients with type 2 diabetes often suffer from lipid-related comorbidities including dyslipidemia, obesity, and fatty liver disease. We examined here in two separate studies changes in lipid dynamics in Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats, in response to 7 days of treatment with either insulin or the insulin receptor agonist peptide S597. In concert with blood glucose normalization, the treated rats displayed large increases in hepatic de novo lipid synthesis and deposition of newly synthesized lipids in adipose tissue depots, accompanied by weight gain and expansion of adipose depots. In both treatment groups, heavy water labeling revealed that after 2 h (study A), de novo lipogenesis was responsible for 80% of newly stored hepatic triglyceride (TG)-palmitate, and after 5 days (study B), ∼60% of newly deposited TG-palmitate in adipose tissues originated from this pathway. Interestingly, in both studies, treatment with the insulin mimetic peptide resulted in significantly lower blood TG levels, plasma TG production rates, and hepatic de novo synthesized fatty acid in plasma TG compared with insulin. There were no differences in plasma TG turnover (clearance rate) in response to either treatment, consistent with differential actions on the liver. These results show that in ZDF rats, treatment with a synthetic insulin-receptor-activating peptide or with insulin to lower blood glucose is accompanied by different effects on hepatic lipid anabolism and blood TG profiles.
Structural Correspondence Learning for Parse Disambiguation

The paper presents an application of Structural Correspondence Learning (SCL) (Blitzer et al., 2006) for domain adaptation of a stochastic attribute-value grammar (SAVG). So far, SCL has been applied successfully in NLP for Part-of-Speech tagging and Sentiment Analysis (Blitzer et al., 2006; Blitzer et al., 2007). An attempt was made in the CoNLL 2007 shared task to apply SCL to non-projective dependency parsing (Shimizu and Nakagawa, 2007), however, without any clear conclusions. We report on our exploration of applying SCL to adapt a syntactic disambiguation model and show promising initial results on Wikipedia domains.
Biological Significance of the Second Receptor Binding Site of Newcastle Disease Virus Hemagglutinin-Neuraminidase Protein

ABSTRACT The paramyxovirus hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) is a multifunctional protein responsible for attachment to receptors containing sialic acid, neuraminidase (NA) activity, and the promotion of membrane fusion, which is induced by the fusion protein. Analysis of the three-dimensional structure of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) HN protein revealed the presence of a large pocket, which mediates both receptor binding and NA activities. Recently, a second sialic acid binding site on HN was revealed by cocrystallization of the HN with a thiosialoside Neu5Ac-2-S-α(2,6)Gal1OMe, suggesting that NDV HN contains an additional sialic acid binding site. To evaluate the role of the second binding site on the life cycle of NDV, we rescued mutant viruses whose HNs were mutated at Arg516, a key residue that is involved in the second binding site. Loss of the second binding site on mutant HNs was confirmed by the hemagglutination inhibition test, which uses an inhibitor designed to block the NA active site. Characterization of the biological activities of HN showed that the mutation at Arg516 had no effect on NA activity. However, the fusion promotion activity of HN was substantially reduced by the mutation. Furthermore, the mutations at Arg516 slowed the growth rate of virus in tissue culture cells. These results suggest that the second binding site facilitates virus infection and growth by enhancing the fusion promotion activity of the HN.
Do Leaders Matter? National Leadership and Growth Since World War Ii

Economic growth within countries varies sharply across decades. This paper examines one explanation for these sustained shifts in growth—changes in the national leader. We use deaths of leaders while in office as a source of exogenous variation in leadership, and ask whether these plausibly exogenous leadership transitions are associated with shifts in country growth rates. We find robust evidence that leaders matter for growth. The results suggest that the effects of individual leaders are strongest in autocratic settings where there are fewer constraints on a leader's power. Leaders also appear to affect policy outcomes, particularly monetary policy. The results suggest that individual leaders can play crucial roles in shaping the growth of nations.
Open Access Case Mix, Outcome and Activity for Obstetric Admissions to Adult, General Critical Care Units: a Secondary Analysis of the Icnarc Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction Risk prediction scores usually overestimate mortality in obstetric populations because mortality rates in this group are considerably lower than in others. Studies examining this effect were generally small and did not distinguish between obstetric and nonobstetric pathologies. We evaluated the performance of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II model in obstetric admissions to critical care units contributing to the ICNARC Case Mix Programme.
EFFECT OF COOLANT PRESSURE, NOZZLE DIAMETER, IMPINGEMENT ANGLE AND SPOT DISTANCE IN HIGH PRESSURE COOLING WITH NEAT OIL IN TURNING Ti-6AL-4V

Though titanium alloys are being increasingly sought in a wide variety of engineering and biomedical applications, their manufacturability, especially machining and grinding imposes lot of constraints. Titanium alloys are readily machinable provided the cutting velocity is in the range of 30–60 m/min. To achieve higher productivity, if the cutting velocity is enhanced to 60–120 m/min and beyond, rapid tool wear takes place diminishing the available tool life. Tool wear in machining of titanium alloys is mainly due to high cutting zone temperature localised in the vicinity of the cutting edge and enhanced chemical reactivity of titanium with the tool material. Rapid tool wear encountered in machining of titanium alloys is a challenge that needs to be overcome. High pressure cooling in machining is a very promising technology for enhancing tool life and productivity via appropriate cooling and lubrication. The present investigation is an attempt to study the effects of jet application parameters, i.e., coolant pressure, angle of impingement of the jet, spot distance and nozzle diameter on tool wear and chip morphology and to compare the effectiveness while turning Ti-6Al-4V bars under high pressure cooling with neat oil. Results indicated that at a cutting speed of 85 m/min and feed of 0.2 mm/rev, high pressure cooling provided a tool life of 24 min vis-à-vis 12 min under cryogenic cooling.