Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atorvastatin and prevention of contrast induced nephropathy following coronary angiography

Background: Contrast induced nephropathy (CIN) is one of the most common complications after radiographic procedures using intravascular radiocontrast media. The aim of the current study was to assess the effect of atorvastatin on prevention of CIN in patients undergoing coronary angiography. Materials and Methods: In a clinical trial study, 200 patients referred for angiography were randomly divided into two groups of using 80 mg atorvastatin and placebo before the procedure. Furthermore, 100 patients who were under chronic treatment of statins were included as the third group. Serum creatinine (Scr) levels before and after the procedure were evaluated and incidence of CIN (post-procedural Scr of >0.5 mg/dl or >25% from baseline) was assessed. Results: Mean age of the participants was 60.06 ± 0.69 years and 276 (92%) were male. There were no significant differences between group with respect to age and gender. In pre-operation atorvastatin, placebo and long term statin groups, the incidence of CIN was 1%, 2% and 1%, and mean changes of Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was 3.68 ± 1.32, −0.77 ± 1.21 and 1.37 ± 0.86; and mean changes of creatinine (Cr) was −0.05 ± 0.02, 0.02 ± 0.02 and −0.01 ± 0.01 respectively. (P = 0.776, 0.026 and 0.041 respectively). In pre-operation atorvastatin group, Cr decreased, and GFR increased significantly (P = 0.019 and 0.007 respectively). Conclusion: pre-operation short term high dose atorvastatin use was associated with a significant decrease in serum Cr level and increase in GFR after angiography.
Characterization, Antibacterial and Antioxidant Properties of Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized from Aqueous Extracts of Allium sativum, Zingiber officinale, and Capsicum frutescens

Background: Herbal drug delivery is limited by poor solubility and bioavailability which can be overcome with suitable nanomaterials that will enhance their pharmacokinetics and performance. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the synthesis, characterization, and biological activities of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from three spices. Materials and Methods: AgNPs were prepared using 0.1 M silver nitrate and aqueous extracts of Allium sativum L. (garlic), Zingiber officinale Rosc. (ginger), and Capsicum frutescens L. (cayenne pepper). The AgNPs were characterized using ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Results: The AgNPs were formed within an hour of the reaction and showed maximum UV-Vis absorption in the 375–480 nm range. SEM and TEM revealed well-dispersed spherical particles with little agglomeration, average sizes of 3–6 nm, 3–22 nm, and 3–18 nm for garlic, ginger, and cayenne pepper, respectively. FTIR showed that amine, protein, phenolic, aromatic, and alkynes groups contributed to AgNP synthesis and XRD confirmed their crystalline and face-centered cubic nature. Antibacterial action of the AgNPs was in the following order: ginger (minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC] <25 μg/mL) > garlic> cayenne pepper (MIC 125 μg/mL). Antioxidant action showed cayenne pepper > ginger > garlic (inhibitory concentration 50% [IC50]: 40, 240, and 250 μg/mL, respectively) against 2,2-Azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) and garlic > cayenne pepper > ginger (IC50: <31.25, 40, and 120 μg/mL, respectively) against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl. Conclusion: Optimization of this green synthesis would support the production of AgNPs with great therapeutic potentials. Abbreviations used: AgNPs: Silver nanoparticles; UV-Vis: ultraviolet-visible; SEM: Scanning electron microscopy; TEM: Transmission electron microscopy; EDX: Energy dispersive X-ray; XRD: X-ray diffraction; FTIR: Fourier transform infrared; GaNPs: Garlic nanoparticles; GiNPs: Ginger nanoparticles; C.PeNPs: Cayenne pepper nanoparticles; FCC: Face centred cubic; SPR: Surface Plasmon resonance; ABTS-2: 2-Azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid); DPPH-1: 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl.
Stress and burnout in teachers

SUMMARY The purpose of this study was to determine causes of, and differences in, stress and burnout in 405 middle, upper, high school and sixth form college teachers in one Local Education Authority in England. Stress and bumout were generally low, but individual, e.g. locus of control, stability of personality; environmental, e.g. too much work, taking extra‐curricular activities, taking work home to do more often; and psychological, e.g. role conflict, role ambiguity; variables correlated with stress and burnout. Multiple regression analyses showed that high anxiety, spending more hours on work at home each time it was taken home and high role conflict collectively predicted stress, and high anxiety and high role conflict collectively predicted bumout. Role conflict, locus of control, stability of personality and anxiety were among the variables that accounted for significant differences in stress and bumout. There were no significant differences between headteachers and subject teachers or men and wom.
Gender differences in writing self-beliefs of elementary school students.

The authors investigated the nature of gender differences in the writing self-beliefs of elementary school students in Grades 3, 4, and 5 (N = 363). Girls were judged superior writers, but there were no gender differences in writing self-efficacy after controlling for writing aptitude. However, girls expressed that they were better writers than were other boys or girls in their class or in their school to a greater degree than did boys. Only writing self-efficacy beliefs and aptitude predicted writing performance in a path model that included writing apprehension, self-efficacy for self-regulation, and perceived usefulness of writing. Self-efficacy mediated the effects of aptitude and self-efficacy for self-regulation on performance. Writing self-concept was higher and apprehension lower for students in Grade 3 than in Grade 5. Data were consistent with A. Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory and suggest that boys and girls may use a different metric when responding to traditional self-efficacy scales.
Correlates of depression, including overall and gastrointestinal functional status, among patients with systemic sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE Patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) may develop psychological problems in addition to physiologic symptoms. We investigated whether demographic and clinical factors are associated with comorbid depression. METHODS From a university hospital's rheumatology clinic, 72 SSc patients who completed 3 questionnaires [Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale, an abbreviated version of a functional status instrument, the Scleroderma Health Assessment Questionnaire (SHAQ), and the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI)] during an examination were recruited into the study. Correlations among scores on the 3 questionnaires [including upper and lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract subscales of the GIQLI] were calculated, and associations between CES-D scores and a variety of demographic and clinical characteristics were examined using stepwise linear regression. RESULTS Higher CES-D scores (i.e., more depression symptoms) were significantly correlated with upper (r = -0.48, p < 0.0001) and lower (r = -0.41, p < 0.001) GI tract dysfunction and worse overall functional status (r = 0.51, p < 0.0001). Stepwise regression indicated that higher levels of depression were independently associated with lower levels of education (p < 0.01), worse upper GI tract functioning (p = 0.019), worse functional status (p = 0.34), current corticosteroid use (p = 0.061), and cardiac involvement (p = 0.086). CONCLUSION Decreased functional status and abnormal GI functioning are significantly correlated with depression among patients with SSc. Other demographic and clinical indicators are also associated with depression.
Improper Choosability and Property B

A fundamental connection between list vertex colorings of graphs and Property B (also known as hypergraph 2‐colorability) was already known to Erdős, Rubin, and Taylor ((1980), 125–157). In this article, we draw similar connections for improper list colorings. This extends results of Kostochka (Electron J Combin 9 (2002)), Alon (Combin Probab Comput 1 (1992), 107–114; (1993), 1–33; Random Structures Algorithms 16 (2000), 364–368), and Král’ and Sgall (J Graph Theory 49 (2005), 177–186) for, respectively, multipartite graphs, graphs of large minimum degree, and list assignments with bounded list union.
K-ras mutations and cetuximab in colorectal cancer.

n engl j med 360;8 nejm.org february 19, 2009 833 ARDS, in which the chest is ostensibly normal and the lung is stiffened by inflammation.1 Gattinoni et al.1 suggested that patients with extrapulmonary ARDS are more likely to have recruitment of collapsed lung as a response to PEEP. This concept is not, however, universally accepted, and responsiveness to PEEP is often unpredictable on the basis of clinical diagnosis or, as Walkey suggests, CT findings.2,3 There was no difference between the medical and surgical patients with regard to either end-expiratory esophageal pressure or chest-wall elastance. Furthermore, there was no correlation between chest-wall elastance and transpulmonary pressure. Although we believe that chest-wall characteristics are important in both medical and surgical patients with ARDS, our findings suggest that estimating transpulmonary pressure by means of esophageal manometry may be more useful than measuring chest-wall elastance or simply choosing a ventilatory strategy on the basis of the cause of ARDS.4 Anecdotally, aeration on chest radiographs appeared to be improved when patients underwent lung recruitment to a positive transpulmonary pressure. Vieillard-Baron and Jardin and Valentini et al. are rightly concerned about the effects of air volume in the esophageal balloon. As the balloon is inflated, measured pressure increases, and MilicEmili et al.5 have suggested that true esophageal pressure should be estimated by extrapolation to zero air volume. However, the balloon cannot be used with zero air volume, because it develops a highly negative transmural pressure as the volume approaches zero.5 We therefore used volumes of 0.5 or 1.0 ml in our balloons, which increased the pressure by 1 to 3 cm of water4; this pressure was negligible as compared with the pressures measured. The technique suggested by VieillardBaron and Jardin — allowing the balloon to “empty slowly” to atmosphere — will cause the measured pressure to fluctuate around atmo spheric pressure; it cannot be otherwise. This technique will result in pressures close to zero, as we saw when our systems developed leaks (see the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of our article at NEJM.org). Finally, transpulmonary pressures are commonly negative (i.e., pleural pressures are greater than airway pressure), such as during forced exhalation or after airway closure. Negative transpulmonary pressure does not imply that the elastic recoil pressure of the lung is negative, because alveolar pressure remains greater than pleural pressure. Although we are optimistic about the usefulness of esophageal manometry, we acknowledge that a multicenter trial will be required to determine the reproducibility and generalizability of our research.
Development and Validation of Scores From an Instrument Measuring Student Test-Taking Motivation

Using the expectancy-value model of achievement motivation as a basis, this study's purpose is to develop, apply, and validate scores from a self-report instrument measuring student test-taking motivation. Sampled evidence of construct validity for the present sample indicates that a number of the items in the instrument could be used as an indicator of student test-taking motivation. Exploratory factor analyses suggests that the test-taking motivation construct is distinct from general attitudes toward a subject and that task value perceptions are distinct from task performance expectancies. The instrument needs further development to consolidate its psychometric properties and to elaborate on the test-taking motivation construct in relation to the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation.
Assessment of attention in school children: teachers' ratings related to tests of attention

The paper provides (1) a teacher-administered rating instrument for inattention without confounding the rating with hyperactivity and conduct disorder, and (2) evidence that the ratings correlate with the scores obtained from cognitive tests of attention. In Study I, the first objective was to investigate the construct validity and the inter-rater reliability of the Attention Checklist (ACL) by factor analysing the teacher ratings of 110 Grade 4 children, obtained by using the ACL. The second objective was to investigate the predictive validity of the ACL by examining the relationship between the scores obtained for the participants from teachers' ratings using the ACL and the scores obtained by participants in the lab-type attention tests. The results of factor analysis showed that a single factor labelled ‘inattention’ underlies the 12 items in the ACL. Examining the differences in performance on attention tests, the ‘low attention’ children as rated by the teachers on the ACL scored lower than the ‘high attention’ children on the objective tests of attention. These findings were replicated in Study II, which was conducted to test further the construct validity and predictive validity of the ACL. This time, only those two tests (Auditory Attention and Visual Attention) that had shown relatively poor discrimination between the high and low attention groups in Study I were, again, administered to another cohort of 97 Grade 4 children, as it was our intention to further challenge the reliability of the ACL. Overall, the results of both studies suggest that comprehensive assessment of attention skills should include both ACL and objective measures of selective attention.
The Normal-Sexual-Fantasy Consideration in Sex-Abuse Evaluations

Differentiating between children's true and false sexual-abuse accusations can be a formidable task. The problem is compounded by some evaluators who make the assumption that normal children do not have sexual fantasies. Such evaluators may take the position, "Normal children do not have such thoughts. Children who have such thoughts must have had such experiences, or where else would the thoughts have come from? " Strict adherence to this position has contributed to the incarceration of some individuals who indeed did not molest the accusing child. To deny that children have sexual fantasies is to deny reality. Such fantasies can emerge normally and spontaneously in the mind of nonabused children and examiners who do not consider this possibility run the risk of concluding that a child was abused when there is no good evidence for such. In this article the ubiquity of normal childhood sexual fantasies is discussed and then a clinical example is presented, which demonstrates compellingly that children can create sexual fantasies that cannot possibly have any basis in reality.
Geologic setting of serpentine deposits on Mars

Serpentine, recently discovered on Mars using Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data, is uncommon but found in three geologic settings: (1) in mélange terrains at the Claritas Rise and the Nili Fossae, (2) associated with a few southern highlands impact craters, and (3) associated with a regional olivine‐rich stratigraphic unit near the Isidis basin. Any presently active serpentinization processes would be occurring beneath the surface and mineral products would not be apparent with surface and orbital data; however, finding serpentine in several Noachian terrains indicates active serpentinization processes in Mars' past. Important implications are the past production of magnetite, which may contribute to chemical remnant magnetization of Mars' crust, and production of H2, which is a suitable energy source for chemosynthetic microbial life.
The Role of Depression in Adolescent Smoking Trajectories

The public health significance of adolescent smoking and depression has been established, and the co-morbidity has been documented. However, the directionality of the relationship, mediating mechanisms, moderated effects, and the developmental heterogeneity between depression and smoking among adolescents are either unclear or have not been studied. Potential answers and future research needed to address four important questions are highlighted. One, what is the nature of the relationship between smoking and depression? Directionality has implications for distinct etiological and prevention intervention implications. Two, why is depression linked to smoking acquisition, and why does smoking contribute to the development of depression? Information regarding common and unique mechanisms by directional path will pinpoint intervention targets. Three, what modifies the impact of depression on smoking, and what modifies the impact of smoking on depression? This will provide critical information on who to target for an intervention. Four, how do we best capture co-morbidity between depression and smoking? When, how, and for whom is it established? We posit that co-morbidity should be considered within the longitudinal course of each co-occurring behavior. Identifying and characterizing conjoint developmental trajectories may optimize intervention type, timing, target, and content.
Magnetic White Dwarfs from the SDSS. II. The Second and Third Data Releases

Fifty-two magnetic white dwarfs have been identified in spectroscopic observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) obtained between mid-2002 and the end of 2004, including Data Releases 2 and 3. Although not as numerous or diverse as the discoveries from the first data release, the collection exhibits polar field strengths ranging from 1.5 to ∼1000 MG and includes two new unusual atomic DQA examples, a molecular DQ, and five stars that show hydrogen in fields above 500 MG. The highest field example, SDSS J2346+3853, may be the most strongly magnetic white dwarf yet discovered. Analysis of the photometric data indicates that the magnetic sample spans the same temperature range as for nonmagnetic white dwarfs from the SDSS, and support is found for previous claims that magnetic white dwarfs tend to have larger masses than their nonmagnetic counterparts. A glaring exception to this trend is the apparently low-gravity object SDSS J0933+1022, which may have a history involving a close binary companion.
“Unfair to women”? Equal representation policies in Swedish academia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight how women managers in Swedish higher education (HE) both support and resist policies about equal representation, and to discuss which factors influenced if, and how, these managers took on the role as change agents for gender equality. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 22 women in senior academic management positions (vice-chancellors, pro vice-chancellors, deans and pro deans) in ten Swedish HE institutions. Findings – The paper highlights how these women situated themselves in an academic context where gender relations were changing. They supported equal representation policies in their everyday managerial practice and also by accepting management positions that they were nominated and elected to on the basis of such policies. However, they also resisted these policies when they experienced a need to “protect” women from being exploited “in the name of gender equality”. Research limitations/imp.
English binominal NPs: A construction-based perspective1

English binominal NPs (BNPs) (e.g., a giant of a man, a skullcracker of a headache) are of empirical and theoretical interest due to their complex syntactic and semantic properties. In this paper, we review some basic properties of the BNP construction, focusing on its headedness, semantic relations, and the role of the preposition of. We argue that these properties suggest an account in the spirit of construction grammar. In particular, we argue that the English BNP is a nominal juxtaposition construction with particular special syntactic constraints, linked to a semantic interpretation reminiscent of the subject–predicate relation.
Democracy in America

more impressive with each exposure to it. Everything has changed and nothing has changed since Democracy in America was published in the 1830’s. Its author grasped with remarkable perception both the mutable and the immutable qualities of man. There could be nothing more salutary for us today than to assimilate his fine sense of what was permanent in a world which, like ours, was undergoing deep convulsions. Committed to the classical economics of Adam Smith, Tocqueville did not share Smith’s illusions about the eternal nature of the market. On the contrary, as Albert Salomon has emphasized, his point of view
Political Opinion Leadership and Electoral Behavior

SUMMARY A micro-model that focuses on political opinion leadership within an extended nomological network is developed and tested. Data were gathered from a sample of voters in an election. The results indicate that political opinion leadership played a central role in the voting behavior. Key antecedents to opinion leadership were voter involvement, subjective knowledge, and indirectly, information seeking behavior. Important consequences were voting stability, perceived risk and political satisfaction.
Surface distribution of LETS protein in relation to the cytoskeleton of normal and transformed cells

The organization of LETS protein on the surface of NIL8 hamster cells has been examined by immunofluorescence staining. The distribution of LETS protein was found to depend on the culture conditions; in subconfluent, low-serum arrested cultures the LETS protein is predominantly located at the cell-substrate interface and also in regions of cell-cell contact, whereas in dense cultures the cells are surrounded by a network of LETS protein fibrils. Transformed derivatives of these cells exhibit only sporadic staining for LETS protein, in the form of short intercellular bridges. Agents that cause alterations in cell shape and cytoplasmic filaments have been used to explore the relationship of LETS protein to the internal cytoskeletal elements. Reciprocally, perturbations of the cell surface were examined for their effects on internal filaments. The arrangement of microtubules seems to be unrelated to the presence of LETS protein in the cells studied. Actin microfilament bundles and LETS protein respond in a coordinate fashion to some perturbants but independently with respect to others. The patterns of staining for LETS protein are consistent with an involvement in cell-to-cell and cell-to-substrate adhesion.
Re: The treatment of acute infectious conjunctivitis with fusidic acid.

In reply to the letter of DM Fleming, dated 13 December 2005, in which he raises the issue of selection bias, we would like to point out that the randomisation prevented selection bias, although some residual bias (or confounding) cannot be precluded in small trials such as ours. That, for example, was the reason why we adjusted for a slight, but important imbalance in the age distributions between the groups.1 We reported an adjusted number needed to …