Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of learning, for learning, and as learning: New Zealand case studies

Research about the benefits of formative assessment as a means of improving student learning has encouraged policy‐makers and teachers in countries like the UK, Australia and New Zealand to promote and use classroom‐based assessment for learning in the qualifications arena. However, recent research suggests teachers are implementing a narrow interpretation of formative assessment in classrooms using techniques that focus on assessment procedures and practices to assure students comply with criteria and achieve awards for external qualifications. This variation on ‘teaching to the test’ has led to the coining of the phrase ‘assessment as learning’ to indicate the instrumentalism that results from such restricted practice. This paper reports on findings from case studies of two schools in New Zealand where secondary school students are learning how to perform science investigations under direction, for a curriculum standard that is a component of a national standards‐based qualification. The findings reveal that students’ assessment and learning experiences reflect the emerging international trend of ‘assessment as learning’, but strategies for redressing some of the undesirable aspects of this limiting form of formative assessment in this New Zealand context are identified.
Risk factors for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a case-control study in China.

AIM To carry out a hospital-based case-control study to investigate risk factors for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) in China. METHODS A total of 312 ICC cases and 438 matched controls were included in the study. The presence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hepatolithiasis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, liver fluke infection (Clonorchis sinensis), was investigated through clinical records. Blood from all participants was tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-HCV antibodies. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated using conditional logistic regression. RESULTS Compared with controls, ICC patients had a higher prevalence of HBsAg seropositivity (48.4% vs 9.6%, P<0.000), and hepatolithiasis (5.4% vs 1.1%, P=0.001). By multivariate analysis, the significant risk factors for development of ICC were HBsAg seropositivity (adjusted OR, 8.876, 95% CI, 5.973-13.192), and hepatolithiasis (adjusted OR, 5.765, 95% CI, 1.972-16.851). The prevalence of anti-HCV seropositivity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption were not significantly different between cases and controls. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that HBV infection and hepatolithiasis are strong risk factors for development of ICC in China.
Dapsone Therapy for Pustular Psoriasis: Case Series and Review of the Literature

Background: Pustular psoriasis is an uncommon psoriasis variant, clinically characterized as small sterile pustules on an erythematous base. Evidence for therapy is lacking, and many currently employed systemic therapeutics carry risks of significant side effects, without specifically targeting disease etiology which includes the aggregation of neutrophils. Observations: We report therapy with the anti-neutrophil agent dapsone in 5 patients with pustular psoriasis and provide a brief review of the literature. Four patients responded to oral dapsone and 1 to topical dapsone therapy. All 5 patients had previously failed multiple topical and systemic treatments. In 2 cases, oral dapsone allowed for the discontinuation of other systemic agents. One patient stopped oral dapsone due to a side effect of sleep disturbance. Conclusion: Dapsone has a much safer side effect profile and may target the pathophysiology of pustular psoriasis more directly than many other systemic agents. As such, dapsone should be considered for the treatment of patients with pustular psoriasis.
Treatment of bacterial vaginosis with a three day course of 2% clindamycin vaginal cream: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE--To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a 3 day course of 2% clindamycin cream in the treatment of bacterial vaginosis. DESIGN--A prospective, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled study. SETTING--Department of Genitourinary Medicine, Royal Liverpool University Hospital. SUBJECTS--55 female patients aged 18 years and over, and premenopausal, who spontaneously or after questioning complained of symptoms of bacterial vaginosis. RESULTS--55 patients were enrolled. 44 patients were evaluable at Visit 1 when among the 23 who received clindamycin cream bacterial vaginosis was not present in 22 (95.6%) and only one failed treatment. Of the 21 patients in the placebo group only one (4.8%) patient was cured and 20 (95.2%) were failures. Of the 17 patients evaluable at Visit 2 in the clindamycin group, bacterial vaginosis was not present in 14 (82.4%) and had recurred in three. No serious adverse events were noted in either group. CONCLUSION--This pilot study provides encouraging evidence of the efficacy and safety of a 3 day course of 2% clindamycin cream in bacterial vaginosis.
New gauge invariant formulation of the Chern-Simons gauge theory

A new gauge invariant formulation of the relativistic scalar field interacting with Chern-Simons gauge fields is considered. This formulation is consistent with the gauge fixed formulation. Furthermore, we find that canonical (Noether) Poincar{acute e} generators are not gauge invariant even on the constraints surface and do not satisfy the (classical) Poincar{acute e} algebra. It is the improved generators, constructed from the symmetric energy-momentum tensor, which are (manifestly) gauge invariant and obey the classical Poincar{acute e} algebra. {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}
Identification of a Universal Group B Streptococcus Vaccine by Multiple Genome Screen

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a multiserotype bacterial pathogen representing a major cause of life-threatening infections in newborns. To develop a broadly protective vaccine, we analyzed the genome sequences of eight GBS isolates and cloned and tested 312 surface proteins as vaccines. Four proteins elicited protection in mice, and their combination proved highly protective against a large panel of strains, including all circulating serotypes. Protection also correlated with antigen accessibility on the bacterial surface and with the induction of opsonophagocytic antibodies. Multigenome analysis and screening described here represent a powerful strategy for identifying potential vaccine candidates against highly variable pathogens.
Do Artificial Food Colors Promote Hyperactivity in Children with Hyperactive Syndromes? A Meta-Analysis of Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trials

ABSTRACT. Burgeoning estimates of the prevalence of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) raise the possibility of a widespread risk factor. We seek to assess whether artificial food colorings (AFCs) contribute to the behavioral symptomatology of hyperactive syndromes. We searched ten electronic databases for double-blind placebo-controlled trials evaluating the effects of AFCs. Fifteen trials met the primary inclusion criteria. Meta-analytic modeling determined the overall effect size of AFCs on hyperactivity to be 0.283 (95% CI, 0.079 to 0.488), falling to 0.210 (95% CI, 0.007 to 0.414) when the smallest and lowest quality trials were excluded. Trials screening for responsiveness before enrollment demonstrated the greatest effects. Despite indications of publication bias and other limitations, this study is consistent with accumulating evidence that neurobehavioral toxicity may characterize a variety of widely distributed chemicals. Improvement in the identification of responders is required before strong clinical recommendations can be made.
The K-Band Spectrum of the Hot Star in IRS 8: An Outsider in the Galactic Center?

Using adaptive optics at the Gemini North telescope, we have obtained a K-band spectrum of the star near the center of the luminous Galactic center bow shock IRS 8, as well as a spectrum of the bow shock itself. The stellar spectrum contains emission and absorption lines characteristic of an O5-O6 giant or supergiant. The wind from such a star is fully capable of producing the observed bow shock. However, both the early spectral type and the apparently young age of the star, if it is single, mark it as unique among hot stars within 1 pc of the center.
The Military Assistance Training Program

The Military Assistance Training Program has been and is a low-cost, low-risk foreign policy instrument that has served the United States interest in interstate stability and has provided a valuable channel of communication and in fluence with a significant elite, especially in the Third World. In the past 25 years, the program has reached over 450,000 officers and men from 70 allied and friendly countries. Most of them have been trained in the United States, in more than 2,000 different skills from auto mechanics and bookkeeping to computer sciences and advanced manage ment. The program has advanced the efficiency, professional performance, and readiness of the recipient military services. Perhaps more significant, it has established a continuing link between United States and host-state military leaders, many of the latter being in positions of political responsibility.
Trypsin-modulating oostatic factor: a potential new larvicide for mosquito control

SUMMARY Trypsin-modulating oostatic factor (TMOF), a mosquito decapeptide, terminates trypsin biosynthesis in the mosquito gut. The hormone is secreted from the ovary, starting 18 h after the blood meal, circulates in the hemolymph, binds to a gut receptor and stops trypsin biosynthesis by exerting a translational control on trypsin mRNA. Because of the unique primary amino acid sequence of the hormone (YDPAPPPPPP) and its stable three-dimensional conformation, TMOF is not degraded by gut proteolytic enzymes and can traverse the gut epithelial cells into the hemolymph of adults and larvae. Using this unique property, hormone fed to different species of mosquito larvae stops food digestion and causes larval mortality. To determine the shortest amino acid sequence that can bind to the gut receptor and still cause high larval mortality, 25 analogues of TMOF were synthesized and tested. The tetrapeptide (YDPA) was as effective as the decapeptide, indicating that the binding to the gut receptor is at the N-terminus of the molecule. Cloning and expressing the hormone on the coat protein of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in Chlorella sp. and Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells and feeding the recombinant cells to mosquito larvae caused larval mortality. These results indicate that TMOF can be used as a new biorational insecticide against mosquito larvae.
A Survey of Preservice Consultation Training in School Psychology Programs

In this study, we investigated the state of preservice consultation training and supervision in school psychology programs. Consultation trainers or supervisors in school psychology programs were surveyed to determine how they prepared students for working as consultants. Specifically addressed were the theoretical models or formats of consultation training used and the structure of such training. In addition, information regarding the supervision process was explored. Through the results of the survey, we found that nondoctoral and doctoral training programs offered more consultation-specific coursework and field experience than they have in the past. Regarding supervision, the majority of programs did not provide consultation students with regular (weekly or biweekly) or individualized supervision, and supervision techniques such as tape recording were rarely implemented. The results of this study should create an awareness of the recent trends in consultation training and supervision. The study serves as an updated baseline against which improvement of consultation training and supervision, particularly with regard to the need for additional supervisory techniques, can be assessed in the future.
Reaction Times, Movement Times and Intelligence Among Irish Nine Year Olds

Nine year old children (n = 191) were tested for 12 reaction time parameters measuring simple, choice and odd-man-out reaction times, movement times and variabilities, and were also tested on 12 intelligence tests measuring major reasoning, verbal and visuospatial primary abilities. The results showed that reaction times, movement times and variabilities were all correlated with psychometric intelligence. Factor analysis suggested that reaction time tasks can be broken down into three factors of movement time, reaction time and odd-man-out reaction time.
Coping style, locus of control, psychological distress and pain-related behaviours in cancer and other diseases

The present study compares patients with cancer and other diseases, focusing on the ways pain is managed through coping style, locus of control, the perceived effectiveness of these strategies, level of distress, and pain-related behaviours. Fifty-one cancer patients with pain and 67 chronic pain patients without cancer completed questionnaires to assess these variables. We compared the responses of cancer and non-cancer patients and also studied relations between coping style and level of distress, and evaluated whether the clinical variables, coping style and locus of control scores could predict level of distress. Significant differences between the samples emerged on clinical, psychological and pain behaviour variables. The no cancer group scored significantly higher on internal locus of control. Greater avoidance predicts higher anxiety, whilst lower internal locus of control, greater avoidance and lower perceived handicap predict higher depression. A passive patient role is therefore associated with poorer adaptation than a more active role.
Which patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis benefit from revascularization?

Purpose of review To summarize why there are polarized opinions regarding the management of patients with asymptomatic carotid disease and whether it is possible to identify patients who might benefit from carotid interventions. Recent findings Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy Versus Stenting Trial and Asymptomatic Carotid Trial 1 (ACT-1) recently concluded that outcomes after carotid endarterectomy and carotid stenting were not significantly different in asymptomatic patients and that procedural risks were below the accepted 3% threshold. However, systematic reviews suggest that Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy Versus Stenting Trial/ACT-1 results may not be generalizable into routine practice. In parallel, meta-analyses suggest that stroke rates on medical therapy may be declining, suggesting that Asymptomatic Carotid Atherosclerosis Study/Asymptomatic Carotid Surgery Trial data, which have underpinned every practice guideline since 1995, are too historical for use in 2017. A recent review has, however, identified a number of clinical/imaging features that may be associated with higher rates of stroke on medical therapy. Summary The majority of surgeons/interventionists are unlikely to accept radical changes in practice until new randomized trials confirm that the risk of stroke on modern medical therapy is significantly lower than that previously accepted. In the interim, it would be preferable to target interventions into a smaller cohort who present with clinical/imaging features that might render them ‘higher risk for stroke’ on medical therapy.
Rent Seeking and Government Ownership of Firms: An Application to China's Township-Village Enterprises

Using its control of regulated inputs, a government agency extracts rents from a manager who undertakes an investment. Such government rent-seeking activity leads to a typical hold-up problem. Government ownership serves as a second-best commitment mechanism, through which the government agency will restrain itself from the rent-seeking activity and may even offer the manager assistance in the form of tax breaks and subsidies. This mechanism works at a cost, however, as government ownership also compromises ex post managerial incentives and creates distortion in resource allocation. Nevertheless, government ownership Pareto dominates private ownership under certain conditions. These conditions correspond to a host of stylized empirical observations concerning local government-owned firms, i.e., township-village enterprises, during China? s transition to a market economy.
The Polls—Trends Public Reactions to Global Health Threats and Infectious Diseases

Over the past two decades, newly emerging infectious diseases have developed into major global health concerns, sparking intense media coverage, and triggering fears of a global outbreak among public health experts and authorities. This article focuses on trends in American attitudes toward these newly emerged infectious diseases by analyzing poll data over the past 6 years about issues relating to avian flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome, West Nile virus, and anthrax. The polls show that Americans’ attention to news coverage seemed to be event driven, peaking when there were new human or animal cases, and decreasing rapidly when the diseases seemed to have been contained. Americans’ perceptions of threats were usually the highest in the early stages of major outbreaks. The public became more complacent when the outbreaks seemed to be under control. Both behavioral changes and general knowledge remained largely constant, suggesting a limited impact of the various informational and awareness campaigns by governmental agencies in the wake of these pandemics.
Novel expression pattern of interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP) in the adult and developing zebrafish retina and RPE.

PURPOSE Interactions between the neural retina and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) are mediated by the interphotoreceptor matrix (IPM). The transport of retinoids across the IPM is mediated by interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP). To explore the possibility that IRBP is important during retinal development, we examined its spatiotemporal expression pattern in embryonic zebrafish. METHODS IRBP mRNA expression was examined using RT-PCR and in situ hybridization. IRBP was localized using antiserum against recombinant zebrafish IRBP. IRBP synthesis and secretion were studied by in vitro metabolic labeling of retinas and RPE-eyecups. RESULTS IRBP mRNA was first observed in the pineal at 24 hours post-fertilization (hpf) and in the ventral retina at 50 hpf. Immunoreactive IRBP was first observed at 72 hpf. Remarkably, IRBP was expressed not only by photoreceptors but also by the adult and embryonic RPE. In embryos, expression in both retina and RPE began in a ventronasal patch and spread to involve the entire eye. In general, early IRBP expression was dominated by photoreceptors, but then RPE expression spread beyond the limit of photoreceptor expression. Double in situ hybridizations suggests that cones express IRBP mRNA before they express a specific opsin, while rods may express rod opsin prior to IRBP. CONCLUSIONS The temporal and spatial patterns of IRBP expression by the RPE and retina are consistent with a role in retinal development and suggest coordination of RPE and photoreceptor differentiation.
On robust control algorithms for nonlinear network consensus protocols

Even though many consensus protocol algorithms have been developed over the last several years in the literature, robustness properties of these algorithms involving nonlinear dynamics have been largely ignored. Robustness here refers to sensitivity of the control algorithm achieving semistability and consensus in the face of model uncertainty. In this paper, we develop robust control algorithms for network consensus protocols with information model uncertainty of a specified structure. In particular, we construct homogeneous control protocol functions that scale in a consistent fashion with respect to a scaling operation on an underlying space with the additional property that the protocol functions can be written as a sum of functions, each homogeneous with respect to a fixed scaling operation, that retain system semistability and consensus.
Homicide and a Regional Culture of Violence

The homicide rate in the United States has been very high relative to the rest of the modernized world for as far back as evidence is available. It has long been known that in the United States there is a wide variation in the rates of different races and between North and South. Both qualitative historical evidence and multiple regressions indicate that the degree of "Southerness" in the culture of the population of the states accounts for more of the variation in homicide rates than do other factors such as income, education, percent urban, or age. It is suggested that high homicide rates in the United States today are related primarily to the persistence of Southern cultural traditions developed before the Civil War and subsequently spreading over much of the country.
Oncostatin M (OM) promotes the growth of DU 145 human prostate cancer cells, but not PC-3 or LNCaP, through the signaling of the OM specific receptor.

BACKGROUND Oncostain M (OM) is a member of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) cytokine family and all members utilize gp130 as a common signal transducing receptor. Tyrosine phosphorylation of the transcription factor STAT3 plays an important role in IL-6 cytokine family-mediated reactions. OM signals are transduced through two different OM receptor complexes: a leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF)/OM receptor (a heterodimer of LIFR beta and gp130) and an OM specific receptor (a heterodimer of OMR beta and gp130). This study examined the expression of these two OM receptors as well as the effect of OM on the growth of prostate carcinoma cell lines. MATERIALS AND METHODS PC-3, DU 145 and LNCaP cells were used. The expression of OMR beta and LIFR beta was determined by RT-PCR. Tyrosine phosphorylation of STAT3 was analyzed by Western blotting. RESULTS OM promoted the growth of DU 145 but not that of PC-3 and LNCaP. LIF had no effect on the growth of any of these cell lines. DU 145 and PC-3 expressed much higher levels of OMR beta mRNA than those of LIFR beta mRNA. Neither OMR beta nor LIFR beta mRNA was detected in LNCaP. OM, but not LIF, induced rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of STAT3 in DU 145. PC-3 lacked STAT3 expression. CONCLUSIONS OM has been known to be a cytostatic cytokine for tumor cells. Conversely, we show that OM promotes the growth of DU 145. Further, our findings suggest that the growth-promoting signals of OM is mediated through the OM specific receptor with subsequent activation of STAT3.
Effect of Different Substrate Supplements on Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus spp.) Production

st flush showing no significant differences with treatment T1 whereas T1 took maximum yield in 2 nd flush and 3 rd flush. P. djmor showed the highest percentage of dry matter (17.23%) and moisture content was found high in P. sajor-caju (87.37%). P. ostreatus and P. sajor-caju showed the maximum protein (27.23%) and fiber (26.28%) contents. The ash contents were found maximum P. sajor-caju (9.08%). The highest fat and carbohydrate contents were found in Pleurotus djmor (3.07%) and P. djmor (37.69) respectively.