Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Type 1 diabetic children have abnormal lipid profiles during pubertal years 1

Aim/Hypothesis: To study the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia and the relationship between metabolic control, pubertal status and plasma lipoprotein levels in children with diabetes mellitus. Subjects and methods: A cross‐sectional study was conducted on 126 subjects with type I diabetes followed at our institution. There were 57 boys and 69 girls (mean age: 13.4±3.4 yr; mean duration of diabetes: 7.3±2.1 yr), on whom fasting lipoprotein levels and pubertal status were determined. Mean glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) of the preceeding year was used in the analysis. Cholesterol (CT) and triglyceride (TG) levels were transformed into standard deviations (SD) using age dependent normal values. Results: 1) CT levels of DM children (mean level: +0.9±1.2 SD) are higher for both sexes and at each age. Sixteen percent of the cases had CT level ≥2 SD. Within the range of the HbA1c observed (9.1±1.2%), CT levels are not correlated with the degree of metabolic control. In contrast to non‐diabetic children, CT levels of the diabetic children did not vary throughout pubertal stages. CT levels correlated highly with apolipoprotein B (r=0.79; p<0.00001 and r2=82%, in univariate and multivariate analysis, respectively. 2) Plasma TG levels are comparable in the diabetic children (mean level: −0.11±0.9 SD) and non‐diabetic children. Only 5% of the diabetic children have a TG level ≥2 SD. The TG levels are significantly, but weakly, positively correlated with duration of diabetes and the degree of metabolic control (r2=12% and 16%, respectively, p<0.0001 for both). Conclusions: Plasma CT levels of type I diabetic children are increased in comparison to non‐diabetic children and do not follow the usual decreasing pattern during puberty.
Assessing the Performance of Medical Personnel Involved in the Diagnostic Imaging Processes in Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda

Objectives: Uganda, has limited health resources and improving performance of personnel involved in imaging is necessary for efficiency. The objectives of the study were to develop and pilot imaging user performance indices, document non-tangible aspects of performance, and propose ways of improving performance. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey employing triangulation methodology, conducted in Mulago National Referral Hospital over a period of 3 years from 2005 to 2008. The qualitative study used in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and self-administered questionnaires, to explore clinicians’ and radiologists’ performancerelated views. Results: The study came up with following indices: appropriate service utilization (ASU), appropriateness of clinician's nonimaging decisions (ANID), and clinical utilization of imaging results (CUI). The ASU, ANID, and CUI were: 94%, 80%, and 97%, respectively. The clinician's requisitioning validity was high (positive likelihood ratio of 10.6) contrasting with a poor validity for detecting those patients not needing imaging (negative likelihood ratio of 0.16). Some requisitions were inappropriate and some requisition and reports lacked detail, clarity, and precision. Conclusion: Clinicians perform well at imaging requisition-decisions but there are issues in imaging requisitioning and reporting that need to be addressed to improve performance.
Textual Enhancements and Comprehension with Adult Readers of English in China.

The present study utilizes texts from social psychology to examine the effects of textual enhancements on reading comprehension with 185 native adult Chinese speakers learning English in China. Participants read two different vignettes, either with or without an adjunct. Each adjunct consisted of a ‘what’ question along with instructions to either ‘pause and consider’ or ‘pause and write. ’ Participants also completed written recall, sentence completion, multiple-choice, and a topic familiarity question. Across passages, findings revealed significant effects of passage version on comprehension as measured via recall and sentence completion and no significant effects of passage version on multiple-choice questions. Participants scored almost the same on recall and sentence completion for versions with no adjuncts and versions with ‘pause and consider’ adjuncts, and they scored significantly lower on these assessment tasks for the version with pause and write adjuncts. Participants scored the same on multiple-choice questions for all three versions of both passages.
Incidence and Risk Factors for Deliberate Self-harm, Mental Illness, and Suicide Following Bariatric Surgery: A State-wide Population-based Linked-data Cohort Study

Objective: Assess the incidence and determinants of hospitalization for deliberate self-harm and mental health disorders, and suicide after bariatric surgery. Background: Limited recent literature suggests an increase in deliberate self-harm following bariatric surgery. Methods: A state-wide, population-based, self-matched, longitudinal cohort study over a 5-year period between 2007 and 2011. Utilizing the Western Australian Department of Health Data Linkage Unit records, all patients undergoing bariatric surgery (n = 12062) in Western Australia were followed for an average 30.4 months preoperatively and 40.6 months postoperatively. Results: There were 110 patients (0.9%) hospitalized for deliberate self-harm, which was higher than the general population [incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11–1.94, P = 0.005]. Compared with before surgery, there was no significant increase in deliberate self-harm hospitalizations (IRR 0.79, 95% CI 0.54–1.16; P = 0.206) and a reduction in overall mental illness related hospitalizations (IRR 0.76, 95% CI 0.63–0.91; P = 0.002) after surgery. Younger age, no private-health insurance cover, a history of hospitalizations due to depression before surgery, and gastrointestinal complications after surgery were predictors for deliberate self-harm hospitalizations after bariatric surgery. Three suicides occurred during the follow-up period, a rate comparable to the general population during the same time period (IRR 0.61, 95% CI 0.11–2.27, P = 0.444). Conclusions: Hospitalization for deliberate self-harm in bariatric patients was more common than the general population, but an increased incidence of deliberate self-harm after bariatric surgery was not observed. Hospitalization for depression before surgery and major postoperative gastrointestinal complications after bariatric surgery are potentially modifiable risk factors for deliberate self-harm after bariatric surgery.
Microchronology and Demographic Evidence Relating to the Size of Pre-Columbian North American Indian Populations

Recent estimates for the size of the aggregate North American Indian population in A.D. 1492 vary from about 18 million to less than 2 million. The unusually favorable archaeological characteristics of Mohawk Iroquois sites in eastern New York have allowed a detailed demographic reconstruction of one case for the period A.D. 1400 to 1776. The case indicates that exogenous epidemics did not reach the region until the 17th century and supports arguments favoring the lower populations estimates for North America as a whole.
POLYAMINE MODULATION IN ALCOHOLISM: EXAMINATION USING A NOVEL SCREENING PROCEDURE DESIGNED TO PREDICT ANTI-RELAPSE AND NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFICACY

OF DISSERTATION POLYAMINE MODULATION IN ALCOHOLISM: EXAMINATION USING A NOVEL SCREENING PROCEDURE DESIGNED TO PREDICT ANTI-RELAPSE AND NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFICACY Alcohol dependence is a major public health concern. Despite the FDA’s approval of multiple anti-relapse drugs, relapse rates remain unacceptably high. Furthermore, cognitive deficits among chronic drinkers are evident and are suggested to contribute to relapse risk. Current evidence suggests that several critical features of alcoholism and alcohol-associated neurodegeneration are mechanistically linked to glutamatergic actions; specifically, they appear positively affected by glutamatergic inhibition, particularly inhibition via polyamine modulation of a subpopulation of n-methyl-d-aspartate receptors. The current project was designed to evaluate the performance of two putative polyamine modulators (JR-220 and CP-101,606) in a variety of screens designed to identify the potential to reduce withdrawal severity, neurotoxicity and relapse risk. Screens included a complex organotypic screen designed to assess neuroprotective potential (Experiment 1), a simple behavioral screen designed to assess withdrawal severity (Experiment 2) as well as several more complex behavioral screens designed to examine cue-conditioning during withdrawal (Experiment 3), relapse behavior (Experiment 4), stress-associated consumption (Experiment 5) and binge-like consumption (Experiment 6). An additional open field experiment (Experiment 7) was conducted in order to address interpretational issues concerning activity in Experiments 2-6. Finally, as a first step in moving beyond simple screening, we expanded our binge screen to adhere more closely to an established, validated model of binge consumption (Experiment 8). While some interpretational issues were noted, taken together, the results from these experiments provide strong evidence for both drugs as potential pharmacotherapies for alcoholism and further implicate polyamines and NR2B subunits as critical mechanisms in ETOH consumption and withdrawal.
Dealing with Risk in Scientific Software Development

The development of scientific software involves risk in the underlying theory, its implementation, and its use. Through a series of interviews, the authors explored how research scientists at two Canadian universities developed their software. These interviews indicated that the scientists used a set of strategies to address risk. They also suggested where the software engineering community could perform research focused on specific problems faced by scientific software developers.
Neurohormonal and inflammatory markers as predictors of short-term outcome in patients with heart failure and cardiac resynchronization therapy.

in their quality of life (2-6). The COMPANION trial (Comparison of Medical Therapy, Pacing, and Defibrillation in Heart Failure) demonstrated a reduction in the composite endpoint of death from any cause and in hospitalizations of patients treated with CRT alone or in combination with implantable defibrillator as compared to medical therapy (7). The recently published CARE-HF trial (Cardiac Resynchronization-Heart Failure) further validated the role of CRT treatment in these patients and its favorable clinical effects on morbidity and mortality (8). Abstract Background: Cardiac resynchronization therapy is a modality with proven morbidity and mortality benefit in advanced systolic heart failure. Nevertheless, not all patients respond favorably to CRT. Natriuretic peptides and inflammatory markers are elevated in congestive heart failure and reflect disease severity. Objectives: To test whether an early change in neurohormonal and inflammatory markers after implantation can predict the clinical response to CRT. Methods: The study group included 32 patients with advanced symptomatic systolic heart failure and a prolonged QRS complex who were assigned to undergo CRT. Baseline plasma levels of B-type natriuretic peptide and high sensitivity C-reactive protein were determined in the peripheral venous blood and coronary sinus. Post-implantation levels were determined 2 weeks post-procedure in the PVB. Baseline levels and their change in 2 weeks were correlated with all-cause mortality and hospitalization for congestive heart failure. Results: At baseline, coronary sinus levels of BNP but not hsCRP were significanly elevated compared to the PVB. Compared to baseline levels, BNP and hsCRP decreased significantly within 2 weeks after the implantation (BNP mean difference 229.1 ± 102.5 pg/ml, 95% confidence interval 24.2-434, P < 0.0001; hsCRP mean difference 5.2 ± 2.4 mg/dl, 95% CI 0.3-10.1, P = 0.001). During a mean follow-up of 17.7 ± 8.2 months 6 patients died (18.7%) and 12 (37.5%) were hospitalized due to exacerbation of CHF. Baseline New York Heart Association and CSBNP levels predicted CHF-related hospitalizations. HsCRP levels or their change over 2 weeks did not predict all-cause mortality or hospitalizations. Conclusions- BNP levels in the CS and peripheral venous blood during biventricular implantation and 2 weeks afterwards predict cilinical response and may guide patient management.
Recent Management Advances in Acute Postoperative Pain

Acute postoperative pain remains a major problem, with both undertreatment and overtreatment leading to serious consequences, including increased risk of persistent postoperative pain, impaired rehabilitation, increased length of stay and/or hospital readmission, and adverse events related to excessive analgesic use, such as oversedation. New analgesic medications and techniques have been introduced that target the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative periods to better manage acute postoperative pain, with improvements in analgesic efficacy and safety over more traditional pain management approaches. This review provides an overview of these new analgesic medications and techniques. Specific topics that are discussed include the use of preoperative nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs, anxiolytics, and anticonvulsants; intraoperative approaches such as neuraxial analgesia, continuous local anesthetic wound infusion, transversus abdominis plane block, extended‐release epidural morphine, intravenous acetaminophen, and intravenous ketamine; and postoperative use of intravenous ibuprofen, new opioids (eg, tapentadol) or opioid formulations (morphine–oxycodone), and patient‐controlled analgesia.
Pseudomorphic In/sub 0.52/Al/sub 0.48/As/In/sub 0.7/Ga/sub 0.3/As HEMTs with an ultrahigh f/sub T/ of 562 GHz

We fabricated decananometer-gate pseudomorphic In/sub 0.52/Al/sub 0.48/As/In/sub 0.7/Ga/sub 0.3/As high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with a very short gate-channel distance. We obtained a cutoff frequency f/sub T/ of 562 GHz for a 25-nm-gate HEMT. This f/sub T/ is the highest value ever reported for any transistor. The ultrahigh f/sub T/ of our HEMT can be explained by an enhanced electron velocity under the gate, which was a result of reducing the gate-channel distance.
Sex differences in telomeres and lifespan

Males and females often age at different rates resulting in longevity ‘gender gaps’, where one sex outlives the other. Why the sexes have different lifespans is an age‐old question, still fiercely debated today. One cellular process related to lifespan, which is known to differ according to sex, is the rate at which the protective telomere chromosome caps are lost. In humans, men have shorter lifespans and greater telomere shortening. This has led to speculation in the medical literature that sex‐specific telomere shortening is one cause of sex‐specific mortality. However, telomere shortening may be a cause for and/or a consequence of the processes that govern survival, and to infer general principles from single‐taxon studies may be misleading. Here, we review recent work on telomeres in a variety of animal taxa, including those with reverse sexual lifespan dimorphism (i.e., where males live longer), to establish whether sex‐specific survival is generally associated with sex differences in telomere dynamics. By doing this, we attempt to tease apart the potential underlying causes for sex differences in telomere lengths in humans and highlight targets for future research across all taxa.
HBV promotes the proliferation of hepatic stellate cells via the PDGF-B/PDGFR-β signaling pathway in vitro.

The activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is closely associated with liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. However, the molecular mechanisms leading to HSC activation remain unclear. It has been reported that the platelet-derived growth factor-B (PDGF-B)/PDGF receptor-β (PDGFR-β) signaling pathway is involved in this process. Thus, we investigated whether HBV and its protein contribute to HSC proliferation by the PDGF-B/PDGFR-β signaling pathway. HBV particles were purified from the supernatant of HepG2.2. 15 cells by ultracentrifugation and the cell lines carrying HBV preS, e, c or x genes were obtained. After incubation with HBV particles or co-cultured with the cell lines expressed in the viral protein, the proliferation of LX-2 cells, an HSC cell line, were detected by flow cyto-metry and real-time PCR and the expression of molecules related to the PDGF-B/PDGFR-β signaling pathway were further measured. Our results indicated that HBV particles, c and x proteins promoted LX-2 proliferation and increased the mRNA levels of PDGF-B, PDGFR-β, collagen-I and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), as well as the phosphorylation of PDGFR-β; however, the expression protein levels of PDGF-B and PDGFR-β remained unchanged. In conclusion, HBV particles and HBV c and x proteins promote HSC proliferation and fibrogenesis in vitro and the PDGF-B/PDGFR-β signaling pathway is important in this process.
Is Bologna Working? Employer and Graduate Reflections of the Quality, Value and Relevance of Business and Management Education in four European Union Countries

This article focuses on the relevance of undergraduate business and management higher education from the perspectives of recent graduates and graduate employers in four European countries. Drawing upon the findings of an empirical qualitative study in which data was collated and analysed using grounded theory research techniques, the paper draws attention to graduates' and employers' perceptions of the value of higher education in equipping students with discipline-specific skills and knowledge as well as softer 'generic' skills. It also highlights the importance of formal 'work-based' learning within undergraduate curricula in providing students with the skills and experiences required by employers operating within a global workplace.
Long-Term Outcome of Oral Language and Phonological Awareness Intervention with Socially Disadvantaged Preschoolers: The Impact on Language and Literacy.

Early intervention aims to prevent poor literacy outcomes associated with social disadvantage. This study examined whether the short-term positive effect of a preschool classroom-based oral language and phonological awareness (PA) programme was maintained and transferred to literacy 2 years later. The vocabulary knowledge, grammatical skill, auditory comprehension and reading comprehension of 54 6–7-year-old Australian children who attended school in a low-socioeconomic area were measured. Children's PA abilities were also assessed and are reported elsewhere. There were no significant differences between children who had received intervention in preschool and those who had not, with the entire cohort performing below the average range of the general population. The findings indicated that while generating short-term positive effects, intervention in preschool did not enhance socially disadvantaged children's language and literacy achievement in the long term.
Influence of Auditory Stimulation Rates on Evoked Potentials during General Anesthesia: Relation between the Transient Auditory Middle-latency Response and the 40-Hz Auditory Steady State Response

Background:The auditory middle-latency response (transient) and the 40-Hz auditory steady state response (ASSR) are modulated by anesthetics. However, the quantitative relation between these evoked responses is difficult to obtain because of technical limitations of the recording methods used to obtain transients at high stimulation rates. This study uses continuous-loop averaging deconvolution to fill this technical gap and to study the relation between the transient and ASSR waveform during general anesthesia. Methods:The authors recorded 5- and 40-Hz transients and 40-Hz ASSRs in 13 subjects during general anesthesia. The 5- and 40-Hz transients were used to predict the 40-Hz ASSR by linearly superimposing the transient waveforms. The predicted and recorded ASSRs were analyzed and compared using phasor and Hotelling T2 analyses. Results:Grand-averaged recordings revealed differences in the early middle-latency peaks between 5- and 40-Hz transients, e.g., the peak Px was present only in 5-Hz transient. Only the predicted 40-Hz ASSR derived from the 40-Hz transient matched the actual ASSR. Phasor analysis showed that the early peaks contribute significantly to the steady state waveform, and this explains why 5-Hz transient does not predict the 40-Hz ASSR. Oscillations in both the 5- and 40-Hz transients were observed during anesthesia. Discussion:The 40-Hz ASSR represents a composite waveform and arises when transient waveforms elicited with a 40-Hz stimulation rate are overlapped and superimposed. During general anesthesia, the morphology of the transient is dependent on the rate of stimulus presentation. The composite nature of the ASSR may explain nonmonotonic anesthetic dose–response relations observed by others.
Aspects of a Lumbee indian community that support successful algebra one students academically in middle grades

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine the aspects of Lumbee Indian community that supports the algebraic achievement of high-achieving Lumbee Indian Algebra 1 middle school students. The study was conducted in a stable, rural Lumbee Indian community in North Carolina. I interviewed 14 parents, 3 teachers and 10 students for this study. Students also participated in the focus group sessions, during which students solved mathematics problems, and completed a reflection of the problem-solving process. The data analysis performed involved data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/vertification utilizing Cobb and Yackel's (1996) social and sociomathematical norms framework in conjunction with Coleman's (1988) social capital framework. Meanings of teaching and learning mathematics based on the experiences, expectations, resources and goals of the research subjects were determined. The results show the meanings that the community shares about teaching and learning of mathematics center around the common vision of ensuring that students receive the necessary support to aid in their academic success. Additionally, the historical sense of community and closure that is present in the community enables the development of trust because "everybody knows everybody". Therefore, the social networking system within the community aids in the establishment of trust between the parents, teachers, and students. As a result of the trust that exists between the community members, the members trust that the various members will work together to provide the support necessary for students to be successful.
Non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease comorbid with major depressive disorder: The pathological features and poor therapeutic efficacy

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is an important public health problem, and it is often comorbid with many chronic diseases. The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical features of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients comorbid with MDD and to investigate the influence of MDD on the effect of treatment in patients with NAFLD.