Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Household food insecurity during childhood and subsequent health status: the early childhood longitudinal study--kindergarten cohort.

OBJECTIVES We examined long-term patterns of household food insecurity in children from kindergarten through eighth grade and the association between those patterns and children's proxy-reported health status in eighth grade. METHODS We obtained data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, a study that followed a nationally representative sample of students from kindergarten entry in 1998-1999 through eighth grade. We classified food insecurity according to the number of years of reported household food insecurity over 4 observation years. We estimated logistic regression models to estimate the association between cumulative food insecurity exposure and health outcomes. RESULTS Food insecurity was generally a transient rather than a persistent condition. Persistent food insecurity over the 9-year period was associated with lower health status in eighth grade, whereas more transient food insecurity was not significantly associated with health outcomes in most models. CONCLUSIONS Single-year estimates substantially underestimate the share of children whose households experienced food insecurity at some point during their childhood years. Persistent food insecurity is an important public health issue for children. Policy interventions to alleviate children's persistent food insecurity may promote child health.
Testing the Validity and Reliability of the Perceived Employability Scale (PES) Among a Culturally Diverse Population

This article reports the results of a study designed to test the validity and reliability of a newly developed career self-efficacy test called the Perceived Employability Scale (PES). A large group (N = 2,600) of low-income women with diverse cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds living in Hawaii participated in this investigation. Recommendations for researchers and practitioners who are employment counselors are discussed.
Perform or else: the performative enhancement of teacher professionalism

The Singapore Ministry of Education's Enhanced Performance Management System (EPMS) was instituted in 2005 as a system of professional accountability to enhance the standards and stakes of teacher professionalism in schools. This essay explores how the EPMS, with its underlying paradigm of performance management, functions as a “technology of discipline” within the political economy of teacher professionalization in Singapore. The analysis centres on the discursive mechanisms of a standardized appraisal instrument known as the Work Review Form. Applying speech act theory via the insights of J.L. Austin and J. Butler, I argue that teachers' professional qualities are not only described and prescribed but also produced by the appraisal protocols of the EPMS – a process contingent on the discursive performativity of the Work Review Form. Implicated in this notion of performativity are the rhetorical manoeuvres by which teachers perform “on paper” under the pressure to perform. Such performance pressures point to a range of ethical ambiguities surrounding the “enhanced management” of teachers' work under the profit-motive of performance excellence.
Scan–rescan reliability of subcortical brain volumes derived from automated segmentation

Large‐scale longitudinal studies of regional brain volume require reliable quantification using automated segmentation and labeling. However, repeated MR scanning of the same subject, even if using the same scanner and acquisition parameters, does not result in identical images due to small changes in image orientation, changes in prescan parameters, and magnetic field instability. These differences may lead to appreciable changes in estimates of volume for different structures. This study examined scan–rescan reliability of automated segmentation algorithms for measuring several subcortical regions, using both within‐day and across‐day comparison sessions in a group of 23 normal participants. We found that the reliability of volume measures including percent volume difference, percent volume overlap (Dice's coefficient), and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), varied substantially across brain regions. Low reliability was observed in some structures such as the amygdala (ICC = 0.6), with higher reliability (ICC = 0.9) for other structures such as the thalamus and caudate. Patterns of reliability across regions were similar for automated segmentation with FSL/FIRST and FreeSurfer (longitudinal stream). Reliability was associated with the volume of the structure, the ratio of volume to surface area for the structure, the magnitude of the interscan interval, and the method of segmentation. Sample size estimates for detecting changes in brain volume for a range of likely effect sizes also differed by region. Thus, longitudinal research requires a careful analysis of sample size and choice of segmentation method combined with a consideration of the brain structure(s) of interest and the magnitude of the anticipated effects. Hum Brain Mapp, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory

"Postmodern Geographies" stands as the cardinal broadcast and defence of theory s spatial turn. From the suppression of space in modern social science and the disciplinary aloofness of geography to the spatial returns of Foucault and Lefebvre and the construction of Marxist geographies alert to urbanization and global development, renowned geographer Edward W. Soja details the trajectory of this turn and lays out its key debates. An expanded critique of historicism and a refined grasp of materialist dialectics bolster Soja s attempt to introduce geography to postmodernity, animating a series of engagements with Heidegger, Giddens, Castells, and others. Two exploratory essays on the postfordist landscapes of Los Angeles complete the book, offering a glimpse of Soja s new geography carried into its highest register. "
Malaysian Perspective: Designing Interactive Multimedia Learning Environment for Moral Values Education

The field of education is faced with various new challenges in meeting with the demands of teaching and learning for the 21st century. One of the new challenges is the call for the integration of ICT (Information and communication technologies) in teaching and learning as an alternative mode of instruction delivery. Multimedia technology for instance, has the potential in transforming traditional classrooms into a world of unlimited imaginary environment. This paper reports on a research project on development of an interactive multimedia courseware package for moral values education using traditional Malay oral narratives called CITRA. CITRA uses CD-ROM and the computer as a means of dissemination. It is a didactic tool created for the teaching and learning of good moral values in an interactive multimedia environment. It is made up of four learning modules: Storytelling World module, Enjoyable Reading World module, Word Enrichment Corner module, and Mind Test Land module. The tool's most important feature is its user interaction capability. The principle objective of this project is to create a pedagogical tool that combines on-screen text, graphics, animation, audio and video in an enticing environment and thus enables the positive values and images of stories to be projected.
Participating in Social, Civic, and Community Life: Are we all equal?

Abstract This paper seeks to contribute to social capital research and its applicability to social work practice and social policy. It provides an examination of the complexity of social capital and strategies used to build it in local communities. Drawing on data collected from a large quantitative study collected in a rural city in Australia, experiencing rapid population growth, it reports on levels of social, civic, and community participation related to a range of demographic variables. Results highlight the significance of gender, life stage, socioeconomic status, and the influence of neighbourhood connected to different types of participation. Findings presented in this paper draw attention to the unevenness of participation in social, civic, and community life linked to key demographics. The author concludes by arguing that community-building approaches have some merit, so long as critical differences accessing bonding and bridging social capital are acknowledged, and opportunities to promote participation are facilitated.
“Where nothing was before”: (re)producing population and place in Ghana's Volta River Project

Significant infrastructural projects, and especially large hydroelectric dams, were envisioned and deployed by postcolonial governments to promote particular visions of industrialization, agriculture, democracy, and modernity. Newly independent states sought to annihilate formerly so-called backward and primitive landscapes and populations alike, promising to re-create both places and people as rational, economically productive entities. In this article, we re-examine such narratives as they related to Ghana's Volta River Project (VRP). Relying on archival and media sources between the 1950s and 1960s, we interrogate the Ghanaian state's pursuit of the VRP from a perspective rooted firmly in cultural geography and pay careful attention to the issues of population displacement/resettlement and landscape reconfiguration that permeated all dimensions of the project. We analyze the ways in which Ghanaian leaders used the VRP to translate a particular suite of cultural, economic, and political values into material reality, utilizing the techniques of displacement and population resettlement in efforts to enroll Ghana into a modern, global, industrial economic system. As such, this article augments the body of literature examining the modernist and state-building aspects of the VRP as well as studies critiquing the various processes of development that have unfolded in West Africa since the mid-twentieth century.
Probabilistic recognition of human faces from video

Most present face recognition approaches recognize faces based on still images. We present a novel approach to recognize faces in video. In that scenario, the face gallery may consist of still images or may be derived from a videos. For evidence integration we use classical Bayesian propagation over time and compute the posterior distribution using sequential importance sampling. The probabilistic approach allows us to handle uncertainties in a systematic manner. Experimental results using videos collected by NIST/USF and CMU illustrate the effectiveness of this approach in both still-to-video and video-to-video scenarios with appropriate model choices.
Exophthalmometry: A Comparative Study of the Naugle and Hertel Instruments

Summary Exophthalmometry is frequently used as a tool in the evaluation of proptosis. The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical usefulness of the newly developed Naugle superior and inferior orbital rim—based exophthalmometer with that of the Hertel exophthalmometer, as well as to obtain normal values and analysis of possible race and sex differences. In the first part of this study, we measured 135 patients in a double-blind study in order to evaluate the repeatability of serial measurements using each instrument. Comfort was also evaluated in this series of patients. In the second part, a single observer measured 205 patients in order to obtain information for a multifaceted analysis. In the first part of the study, we found the Hertel measurement to be more variable in terms of coefficients of variation. We further found the Hertel base measurements to vary more between observers than those of the Naugle instrument. In the second part, we found that the mean values of globe position were not statistically different (mean Naugle, 17.23; mean Hertel, 18.61; p = 0.909). A significant difference was noted between black and white patients when using the Naugle instrument. A difference between white and black women was noted with the Hertel instrument. The results of this analysis strongly suggest that the values obtained from the Naugle exophthalmometer are more repeatable in serial measurements compared with the Hertel values. However, single measurements of globe position from all patients were statistically similar. We conclude that the Naugle instrument is comparable in accuracy to the Hertel instrument for measuring ocular position, as well as being more comfortable for the patient. The Naugle instrument has the advantage of measuring hyperophthalmos and hypoophthalmos with a vertical gradient scale.
Pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade: clinical manifestation of chronic graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

The authors report a case with pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade as a rare clinical manifestation of chronic graft-versus-host disease in a young man with acute myelogenous leukemia submitted to an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from a related donor. © 2014 Associação Brasileira de Hematologia, Hemoterapia e Terapia Celular. All rights reserved.
Between-visit variability of small airway obstruction markers in patients with asthma

To the Editor: Clinical trials in patients with airway diseases often use forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) as the sole physiological outcome measure. However, FEV1 is thought to be insensitive to obstruction of the smaller airways, which may be particularly relevant in asthma [1]. Putative markers of small airway obstruction include measures of airway resistance using impulse oscillometry (IOS) [2] and indices of ventilation heterogeneity derived from multiple-breath inert gas washout (MBW) [3]. We recently showed that increased airway resistance at 5 Hz ( R 5) and 20 Hz ( R 20) is associated with worse asthma control and more frequent exacerbations [4], and Farah et al. [5] demonstrated that MBW parameters may be responsive to asthma therapy. In order to conduct clinical trials using these alternative outcome measures, it is necessary to be assured of their repeatability and stability over time. Moreover, an estimate of between-visit variability in the stable state is required so that sample size calculations can be performed. We therefore aimed to determine the between-visit variability of a range of IOS and MBW indices in a group of patients with asthma in the stable state. We investigated between-visit variability over two time intervals, namely 2 weeks and 3 months, in order to encompass the typical lengths of treatment period that are used in clinical trials. We recruited 18 adults (age >18 years) with moderate-to-severe asthma (Global Initiative for Asthma treatment steps 3–5 [6]), diagnosed by a specialist asthma physician in a secondary care setting, according to British Thoracic Society guidelines [ …
Are Individual Differences in Absentmindedness Correlated with Individual Differences in Attention

We administered the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) and one of two versions of the Attention Network Test (ANT) to 200 participants. Orthogonal subtraction scores based on performance (reaction time and error rate) from selected conditions of the ANT provided measures of the efficacy of three attention components: alerting, orienting, and executive control, while the total CFQ score provided a global measure of absentmindedness. Executive control was not associated with the CFQ in either experiment. When alertness was generated by a warning tone, greater alerting effects in reaction time were associated with higher CFQ scores (greater absentmindedness). The orienting effects in accuracy obtained from the two versions of the ANT varied with absentmindedness in opposite directions, suggesting that these two tests tap different aspects of orienting.
Defects in Phosphate Acquisition and Storage Influence Virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans

ABSTRACT Nutrient acquisition and sensing are critical aspects of microbial pathogenesis. Previous transcriptional profiling indicated that the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, which causes meningoencephalitis in immunocompromised individuals, encounters phosphate limitation during proliferation in phagocytic cells. We therefore tested the hypothesis that phosphate acquisition and polyphosphate metabolism are important for cryptococcal virulence. Deletion of the high-affinity uptake system interfered with growth on low-phosphate medium, perturbed the formation of virulence factors (capsule and melanin), reduced survival in macrophages, and attenuated virulence in a mouse model of cryptococcosis. Additionally, analysis of nutrient sensing functions for C. neoformans revealed regulatory connections between phosphate acquisition and storage and the iron regulator Cir1, cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase A (PKA), and the calcium-calmodulin-activated protein phosphatase calcineurin. Deletion of the VTC4 gene encoding a polyphosphate polymerase blocked the ability of C. neoformans to produce polyphosphate. The vtc4 mutant behaved like the wild-type strain in interactions with macrophages and in the mouse infection model. However, the fungal load in the lungs was significantly increased in mice infected with vtc4 deletion mutants. In addition, the mutant was impaired in the ability to trigger blood coagulation in vitro, a trait associated with polyphosphate. Overall, this study reveals that phosphate uptake in C. neoformans is critical for virulence and that its regulation is integrated with key signaling pathways for nutrient sensing.
Bone Morphogenetic Protein Regulation of Forkhead/Winged Helix Transcription Factor Foxc2 (Mfh1) in a Murine Mesodermal Cell Line C1 and in Skeletal Precursor Cells

Mfh1/Foxc2 is a member of forkhead/winged helix transcription factor family in which its members serve as key regulators in embryogenesis and cell differentiation in various species. Mutant mice null for Mfh1 show defects in axial and cranial skeletogenesis, suggesting requirement of Mfh1 for skeletal tissue development. However, the roles of Mfh1 and its regulation during early skeletogenesis have not been understood fully yet. In this study, we investigated developmental regulation of Mfh1 expression during embryonic skeletogenesis in vivo and in vitro chondrogenic cell differentiation using a mesodermal progenitor‐like cell line C1. We first examined expression patterns of Mfh1 in relation to the cartilage phenotype‐related molecules including bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) during mouse embryogenesis by in situ hybridization. In 10.5 days postcoitum (dpc) mouse limb, Mfh1 messenger RNA (mRNA) was expressed in the mesenchymal cells in the tissues that later give rise to skeleton. In 11.5 dpc embryos, Mfh1 transcripts were expressed in the cell condensation of skeletal blastemas. BMP2 transcripts were expressed in the cell condensation proximal to the Mfh1‐expressing cells in the limbs and those of BMP‐7 were expressed in the mesenchymal tissue surrounding the Mfh1‐positive cell condensation. In 12.5 dpc and 13.5 dpc embryos, the expression of Mfh1 was localized to the perichondrium, which surrounds cells that express noggin and SOX9 mRNA. BMP‐2 expression was overlapped with that of Mfh1 in the peripheral layer of 12.5 dpc and 13.5 dpc limb skeletal blastemas. Mfh1 expression persisted in the perichondrium of 15.5 dpc embryos though its level was reduced. We then examined the expression of Mfh1 in the mouse mesodermal cell line C1 that differentiates into chondrocytes in vitro. Mfh1 mRNA was expressed constitutively at low levels in C1 cells before the induction of its differentiation. On the differentiation of C1 cells into chondrocytes by the treatment with dexamethasone (Dex), Mfh1 expression was increased and peaked on day 4 of Dex treatment. Treatment with BMP‐4/7 and BMP‐7 protein also enhanced Mfh1 expression in C1 cells. To further examine the causative relationship between BMP and Mfh1 in mesenchymal tissue, we performed a mouse limb bud organ culture to implant BMP proteins with carriers into the mesenchymal tissue of the limb bud. Implantation of BMP‐7 protein in the limb bud of 11.5 dpc embryos induced Mfh1 expression, suggesting that BMP regulates Mfh1 expression in limb mesenchyme. These results indicate that Mfh1 expression is associated with the early stage of chondrogenic differentiation both in vivo and in vitro and that BMPs regulate Mfh1 expression in skeletal precursor cells.
Redução de danos e saúde pública: construções alternativas à política global de "guerra às drogas"

Harm Reduction (HR) has been consolidated as an important national movement, promoting the building of a democratic drug policy. In this article we will highlight how HR has been shaped in the face of clashes with totalitarian forces of the "war on drugs" global policy. We will focus on both international and national aspects that came together to build an anti-drug policy. It is within this political scenario that HR is consolidating itself as a different and feasible drug policy. We intend to show the extent to which the inclusion of drug users in collective arrangements of management is an important clinical and political direction of the HD movement, defining a new proposal for health care. From these collective spaces of care, drug users have been able to weave a national network of cooperation and production of a common struggle.
From Positive Affect to Creativity: The Surprising Role of Surprise

ABSTRACT: Positive affect generally leads to higher creativity but sometimes to lower creativity. These contradictory results may be due to researchers treating positive affect as a unitary phenomenon. Positive affect represents a broad affective response, and different components of positive affect may influence cognitive processes through different mechanisms. This study used humorous videotapes to generate positive affect with components ranging from pleasantness to elation to surprise, then tested how the different components of affect might mediate the affect induction to performance relationship on a creative task. The study revealed a significant treatment by gender interaction (men's performance increased following the positive affect induction; women's remained unchanged). As planned, the affect induction generated a broad affective response in the men (combinations of pleasantness plus arousal), but only induced pleasantness in the women, suggesting that activation or arousal may be necessary for positive affect to have an influence. In direct tests of mediation, surprise was found to fully mediate the relationship between the positive affect induction and creativity. The mediating role of surprise provides an important step in identify the mechanism(s) linking positive affect to creativity.
Skeletal muscle and hormonal adaptations to circuit weight training in untrained men

Twelve men either performed 10 weeks of timed circuit weight training 3 days week−1 (CWT; n=8; X±SE; age=23.6±1.8 years), or were part of a sedentary control group (n=4; age=20.5±1.0 years). Significance was P<0.05 for all analyses. The CWT program significantly increased 1 repetition maximum (1 RM) strength for nine of 10 exercises (15–42%). Although no body composition measure significantly changed for the CWT group, low‐to‐moderate effect sizes were evident for body weight, lean body mass, and relative fat. CWT did not alter percent fiber type, but did increase cross‐sectional areas for type IIA fibers (μm2; pre=5988±323, post=7259±669). Relative (%) myosin heavy‐chain (MHC) expression increased for MHC IIa (pre=42.5±2.7, post=50.1±2.6), and decreased for MHC IIb (pre=21.8±2.8, post=15.4±2.4) for the CWT group. Serum testosterone, cortisol, and the testosterone/cortisol ratio did not change at any time for the CWT group. None of the measured variables changed for the control group. These data indicate that for untrained subjects, CWT of the type used resulted in improved muscular strength and a tendency toward increased lean mass. Compared with other types of weight training, fewer adaptations of the muscle fibers were evident. This is likely due in part to the relatively low loads used with this type of resistance exercise.