Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tobacco dependence curricula in acute care nurse practitioner education.

BACKGROUND Tobacco dependence is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, yet healthcare professionals are not adequately educated on how to help patients break the deadly cycle of tobacco dependence. OBJECTIVE To assess the content and extent of tobacco education in the curricula of acute care nurse practitioner programs in the United States. METHODS A survey with 13 multiple-choice items was distributed to the coordinators of 72 acute care nurse practitioner programs. The survey was replicated and modifiedfrom previous research on tobacco dependence curricula in undergraduate medical education. RESULTS Fifty programs (83%) responded to the survey. Overall, during an entire course of study, 70% of the respondents reported that only between 1 and 3 hours of content on tobacco dependence was covered. Seventy-eight percent reported that students were not required to teach smoking-cessation techniques to patients, and 94% did not provide opportunities for students to be certified as smoking-cessation counselors. Sixty percent reported that the national guidelines for smoking cessation were not used as a curriculum reference for tobacco content. CONCLUSIONS The majority of acute care nurse practitioner programs include brief tobacco education. More in-depth coverage is required to reduce tobacco dependence. Acute care nurse practitioners are in a prime position to intervene with tobacco dependence, especially when patients are recovering from life-threatening events. National recommendations for core tobacco curricula and inclusion of tobacco questions on board examinations should be developed and implemented.
Mutation in TERMINAL FLOWER 1 Reverses the Photoperiodic Requirement for Flowering in the Wild Strawberry Fragaria vesca 1 [ W ]

Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, FIN–00014 Helsinki, Finland (E.A.K., K.M., T.K., M.R., P.E., T.H.); Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, D–50829 Cologne, Germany (M.C.A., G.C.); School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, RG6 6AS Reading, United Kingdom (T.K., N.H.B.); East Malling Research, ME19 6BJ Kent, United Kingdom (D.J.S.); and Istituto Agrario San Michele all’Adige, 38010 San Michele all’Adige, Italy (D.J.S.)
Biochemical and hematological response of rats on defatted rape seeds addition into the diet.

Defatted meals of oilseeds play an important role as a protein resource in animal nutrition, but differ in their nutritional profiles. In our experiment, the effects of increasing the defatted rape seeds (DRS) rate in the diet of male Wistar Kyoto rats on the main hematological and biochemical parameters were evaluated. Twentyfour animals were randomly divided into four groups per six animals and fed by a semi-synthetic diet according to the experimental design for forty-seven (47) days. The experimental groups were: i) group DRS0 fed with the control diet; ii) group DRS30, where 30% of the soybean meal in the diet was replaced with DRS; iii) group DRS60, where 60% of the soybean meal in the diet was replaced with DRS; and iv) group DRS100, where 100% of the soybean meal in the diet was replaced with DRS. The comparison of the results showed no significant (P < 0.05) differences among the values of the animal weight, red blood and white blood pictures, and indicators of the potential hepatotoxicity. In the opposite, the increasing DRS rate in the diet resulted in a decrease of plasmatic cholesterol concentration as well as, an increase of specific activity of the selected antioxidative enzymes such as glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione Stransferase (GST), thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), and catalase (CAT) in the plasma.The experimental results indicated that DRS can be used as an appropriate substitution of soybean meal with no adverse effect on the animals’ health. Moreover, the results indicated positive health effects of the DRS leading to a decrease of cholesterol concentration and improvement of the antioxidative activity of the appropriate enzymes.
Experimental Realization of a Ternary-Phase Alloy Through Microwave-Activated Annealing for Ge Schottky pMOSFETs

This paper presents a high-performance Ge p-channel MOSFET (pMOSFET) with NiGePt as a ternary-phase alloy of Schottky source/drain (S/D) formed through low-temperature microwave-activated annealing (MWA). We fabricated a NiGePt alloy contact with uniform crystallinity through structural engineering and MWA. We clarified the phenomena of thermal reaction and diffusion for forming ternary-phase alloys using MWA properties such as thermal dynamics and ionic transportation. The ternary-phase NiGePt alloy is crucial for improving the off-leakage current of the junction. A lower process temperature is beneficial for eliminating surface roughness and reducing alloy agglomeration of the Schottky contact S/D. Consequently, the fabricated NiGePt/n-Ge Schottky junction exhibited a high effective barrier height (ΦBn) of 0.59 eV, resulting in a high junction current ratio of more than 105 at an applied voltage of |Va| = 1 V. In addition, we exploited the advantages of low-temperature microwave annealing to fabricate the pMOSFET, which includes a GeO2 passivation layer and a Schottky S/D. Our ternary Schottky Ge pMOSFET (L = 4μm) exhibited high ION/IOFF ratios of approximately 3.7 × 103 (ID) and 1.3 × 105 (IS) and a moderate subthreshold swing of 126 mV/dec.
Real-time swept volume and distance computation for self collision detection

We present a real-time self collision detection algorithm applicable for industrial and humanoid robots. The algorithm is based on computing the swept volumes of all bodies and checking them pairwise for collisions. The algorithm operates on joint angle intervals. Such, it does not only test a single or N intermediate configurations but assures safety of a whole movement. Key idea of the new swept volume computation is representing volumes as convex hulls extended by a buffer radius, so called sphere swept convex hulls (SSCH). This leads to tight and compact bounding volumes. The operation set available to model the different joints is strictly conservative and allows for a trade-off between accuracy and computation time. During a configurable timespan the algorithm updates a table of pairwise distances and thus can guarantee hard real-time. It is applied on DLR's humanoid Justin in a sports robotic scenario, where also accuracy and computational performance is evaluated (0.4ms, INTEL T2500@2GHz).
Accumulation of natural killer and cytotoxic T large granular lymphocytes in the liver during virus infection

The immunologic mechanisms involved in virus-induced hepatitis were examined by measuring the cytotoxic capabilities and the morphologic and antigenic phenotypes of leukocytes isolated from livers of virus- infected mice. Large granular lymphocytes (LGL) of both natural killer (NK) cell and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) phenotypes were found to accumulate in livers of mice infected with either the nonhepatotropic Armstrong strain of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV-ARM) or the hepatotropic WE strain (LCMV-WE). Between days 1 and 5 postinfection (p.i.), both viruses induced a three- to fourfold increase in NK cell lytic activity in the livers of C3H/St mice and a three- to fourfold increase in the number of LGL in the organ. These LGL were characterized as NK cells on the basis of cell surface antigens, kinetics of appearance, target cell range, and morphology. By day 7 p.i. , virus-specific, H-2-restricted, Thy-1+, Lyt-2+, CTL activity was present in the liver, and its appearance correlated with a second wave of LGL accumulation. CTL activity, total leukocyte number, and CTL/LGL number were at least fivefold higher in the livers of mice infected with LCMV-WE than with LCMV-ARM. The dramatic LCMV-WE-induced day 7 increases in total leukocytes and LGL were absent in athymic nude (nu/nu) mice, suggesting that the increases were T cell-dependent. LCMV- ARM infection of C57BL/6 mice induced significant spleen CTL activity but little liver CTL activity, whereas LCMV-WE infection resulted in significant liver CTL activity but minimal spleen CTL activity. Mice infected with the cytopathic hepatotropic viruses, mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) and murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV), experienced much greater increases in liver NK/LGL by day 3 p.i. than did mice infected with LCMV or injected with the interferon-inducer poly(I-C). MHV-infected mice homozygous for the beige (bg/bg) mutation also exhibited significant increases in liver NK/LGL cell number and activity, although the activity was less than heterozygote controls, and the morphology of the LGL granules was aberrant. These data show that the LGL accumulate in virus-infected organs, in this case, the liver. An early NK/LGL influx is most pronounced during infection with cytopathic hepatotropic viruses. This initial influx of NK/LGL is followed later by an influx of CTL also possessing LGL morphology. The CTL/LGL response in the liver is significantly greater during hepatotropic virus infections, even when a strong CTL response in the spleen is lacking.
Foundations of the PARAFAC procedure: Models and conditions for an "explanatory" multi-model factor analysis

Simple structure and other common principles of factor rotation do not in general provide strong grounds for attributing explanatory significance to the factors which they select. In contrast, it is shown that an extension of Cattell's principle of rotation to Proportional Profiles (PP) offers a basis for determining explanatory factors for three-way or higher order multi-mode data. Conceptual models are developed for two basic patterns of multi-mode data variation, systemand object-variation, and PP analysis is found to apply in the system-variation case. Although PP was originally formulated as a principle of rotation to be used with classic two-way factor analysis, it is shown to embody a latent three-mode factor model, which is here made explicit and generalized frown two to N "parallel occasions". As originally formulated, PP rotation was restricted to orthogonal factors. The generalized PP model is demonstrated to give unique "correct" solutions with oblique, non-simple structure, and even non-linear factor structures. A series of tests, conducted with synthetic data of known factor composition, demonstrate the capabilities of linear and non-linear versions of the model, provide data on the minimal necessary conditions of uniqueness, and reveal the properties of the analysis procedures when these minimal conditions are not fulfilled. In addition, a mathematical proof is presented for the uniqueness of the solution given certain conditions on the data. Three-mode PP factor analysis is applied to a three-way set of real data consisting of the fundamental and first three formant frequencies of 11 persons saying 8 vowels. A unique solution is extracted, consisting of three factors which are highly meaningful and consistent with prior knowledge and theory concerning vowel quality. The relationships between the three-mode PP model and Tucker's multi-modal model, McDonald's non-linear model and Carroll and Chang's multi-dimensional scaling model are explored.
High-level features for automatic skin lesions neural network based classification

Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer. It can be developed from pigmented cells of the skin and can grow and spread swiftly to other organs (metastasis). An early diagnosis increases the chance of cure. In the past three decades, the increase in the incidence of melanoma has given rise to more accurate methods of analysis. Feature extraction is a critical step in melanoma decision support systems. Early dermatoscopic rules (ABCD rule, 7-point checklist, Menzies method and CASH algorithm), used by experts are generally low level features. In this paper, we consider several dermatoscopic rules for automatic detection of melanoma in order to generate new high level features allowing semantic analysis. Such extracted features are based on shape characterization and color and texture features. A neural network classifier is used for decision making. Experimental results indicate that semantic analysis is a useful method for discrimination of melanocytic skin tumors with good accuracy. The proposed method yields a good sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 95% on a database of 206 skin lesion images. A comparative study with recent previous works illustrates that our approach outperforms in terms of accuracy and specificity.
Unprotected anal Intercourse among Iranian Intra-Venous Drug Users

Purpose: To assess the prevalence and associated factors of unprotected anal intercourse among Iranian male heterosexual Intra-Venous Drug Users (IDUs). Methods: In a cross-sectional study 360 male heterosexual IDUs were sampled from streets of eight different geographical parts of Iran. Variables such as socio-demographics, HIV knowledge (10 items), and HIV attitude (16 items) were entered to a logistic regression to determine the predictors of unprotected anal intercourse during the past month. Results: From all, 20.8% reported unprotected anal intercourse during the past month. HIV knowledge was not significantly different among IDUs with and without unprotected anal intercourse. High age [odds ratio (OR) = 0.954, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 0.916–0.992] was associated with a lower likelihood of unprotected anal intercourse, while being not married (OR = 2.301, 95% CI = 1.151–4.601), and high perceived HIV risk (OR = 1.776, 95% CI = 1.376–2.290) were associated with a higher likelihood of unprotected anal intercourse. Conclusion: Although the results might not be generalizable to all Iranian IDUs, this study findings may still be helpful for design and implementation of public health programs in Iran to prevent sexual transmission of HIV through IDUs.
Prevalence and risk indicators of smoking among on-reserve First Nations youth.

OBJECTIVE To determine the current prevalence of smoking among First Nations youth living on reserve within the Saskatoon Tribal Council, and to determine the independent risk indicators associated with smoking among First Nations youth. METHODS Students in grades 5 to 8 attending school within the Saskatoon Tribal Council were asked to complete a youth health survey. RESULTS Of 271 eligible students, 204 completed the consent protocol and the school survey, yielding a response rate of 75.3%; 26.5% of youth were defined as current smokers. Regression analysis indicated that older age, not having a happy home life, suicide ideation and having three or more friends who smoke cigarettes were independent risk indicators of smoking in First Nations youth. DISCUSSION Smoking prevalence among on-reserve First Nations youth is quite high. The identification of four main risk indicators should assist with the design of youth smoking prevention and cessation programs.
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY OF ULTRATHIN SECTIONS OF BACTERIA III

Ten years have passed since Baker and Pease (1949) published the first electron micrograph of an ultrathin section of a bacterial cell. During this time, more than thirty papers have appeared which have been devoted to the elucidation of the fine structure of the bacterial cell. Due to technical difficulties, to individual differences among species, and to the fact that some authors have limited their discussions to specific aspects of bacterial cell structure, e. g. , the nucleus or the spore, relatively little information has been provided concerning some features of bacterial anatomy. Particularly deficient is the information pertaining to the cytoplasmic membrane. Indeed, only four or five authors have presented electron micrographs in which there was even a hint of the existence of such a membrane. Although cell walls have been more regularly seen, they, too, have been neglected. This is surprising for the bacterial cell wall is one of the most rigid and resistant structures possessed by the bacterial cell. The cell wall is also one of the cell's most conspicuous components. It was perhaps prophetic that the 1949 paper revealed no cell wall and it is disturbing that the recent paper by Glauert and Glauert (1958), although describing the advantages of Araldite as an embedding medium, reveals only indistinctly the cell walls of bovine tubercle bacilli. The nuclear apparatus, although it has been quite thoroughly and most competently investigated by Kellenberger and Ryter (1955) and by Kellenberger et al. (1958) and has been given at least some attention by other workers, remains rather enigmatic. It is the purpose of this report to present some recent observations of the structure of the bacterial cell wall, cytoplasmic membrane, and nuclear apparatus.
Money is not enough: Exploring the impact of social and cultural resources on youth health

Background: Findings on socioeconomic health differentials in youth remain fragmented with the role of cumulative and interaction effects of different forms of health resources not well understood. Methods: European KIDSCREEN data were analysed to explore effects of material and non-material resources on subjective health in The Netherlands, Hungary, and the UK. Results: Regression analysis revealed significant main effects of economic, social, and cultural resources on youth health. In the UK an interaction effect between economic and cultural resources indicated a conditional relationship between material and non-material health resources. Conclusions: Exploring the combined impact of economic, social, and cultural resources may contribute to our understanding of health differentials.
Geographical variation and the determinants of domestic endotoxin levels in mattress dust in Europe.

UNLABELLED Endotoxin exposures have manifold effects on human health. The geographical variation and determinants of domestic endotoxin levels in Europe have not yet been extensively described. To investigate the geographical variation and determinants of domestic endotoxin concentrations in mattress dust in Europe using data collected in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey follow-up (ECRHS II). Endotoxin levels were measured in mattress dust from 974 ECRHS II participants from 22 study centers using an immunoassay. Information on demographic, lifestyle, and housing characteristics of the participants was obtained in face-to-face interviews. The median endotoxin concentration in mattress dust ranged from 772 endotoxin units per gram (EU/g) dust in Reykjavik, Iceland, to 4806 EU/g in Turin, Italy. High average outdoor summer temperature of study center, cat or dog keeping, a high household crowding index, and visible damp patches in the bedroom were significantly associated with a higher endotoxin concentrations in mattress dust. There is a large variability in domestic endotoxin levels across Europe. Average outdoor summer temperature of study center, which explains only 10% of the variation in domestic endotoxin level by center, is the strongest meteorological determinant. The observed variation needs to be taken into account when evaluating the health effects of endotoxin exposures in international contexts. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS The incoherent observations of the health effects of endotoxin may be partly owing to the geographical heterogeneity of endotoxin exposure. Therefore, the observed variation should be considered in further studies. Measurements of indoor endotoxin are recommended as an indicator for the level of exposures of individual domestic environments.
Racial-Ethnic Identity, Academic Achievement, and African American Males: A Review of Literature

Abstract:This article discusses broadly, the literature on racial-ethnic identity (REI) and its role as a factor to promote academic success in young African American adolescents, in particular males. The review also defines, describes, and interprets styles of self-presentation that reflect aspects of REI among African American males in and outside of school toward the development of a healthy REI. The overall objective of this review of literature is to change the often negative ways in which society thinks and talks about African American students, especially males, in terms of their REI and their academic achievement toward the development of a healthy REI.
Overall survival after immunotherapy, tyrosine kinase inhibitors and surgery in treatment of metastatic renal cell cancer: outcome of 143 consecutive patients from a single centre

Abstract Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate overall survival (OS) after treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) following the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors. Material and methods. One-hundred and forty-three consecutive mRCC patients were given immunotherapy (n = 59), TKIs (n = 49) or sequential therapy (IMM→TKI group; n = 35). The TKI group included patients with higher age (p < 0.001), worse performance status (p = 0.005) and higher risk profile (p < 0.001) than the other two treatment groups. Number of metastases and sites and tumour histology did not differ between groups. Results. First line immunotherapy gave a median OS of 16.3 months and first line TKIs 10.9 months (p = 0.003). Survival longer than 5 years was limited to immunotherapy. Sarcomatoid component, metastatic sites, papillary histology, stage, performance status and white cell blood count were related to poor OS. Using multivariate analyses to adjust for risk predictors the difference in OS disappeared. Median OS before and after introduction of TKIs was 16 months and 14 months, respectively (p = 0.189). Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) risk groups were related to OS (p < 0.001). Heng's prognostic criteria appeared slightly more predictive than MSKCC (p = 0.12). Metastasectomy (n = 42) may improve OS [surgery: median OS 18.8 months, 95% confidence interval (CI) 12.3–48.5; no surgery: median OS 15 months, 95% CI 10.4–16.5; p = 0.07]. Conclusions. MSKCC and Heng's prognostic algorithms were valid for prognostication and can be used for individual planning of treatment and follow-up. Surgical removal of metastases may improve OS.
Cerebellum as Initial Site of Distant Metastasis from Papillary Carcinoma of Thyroid: Review of Three Cases

Background. The cerebellum as initial site of distant metastasis from differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) including papillary (PTC) and follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) is rare manifestation. Case Presentations. Herein, we present three cases of cerebellar metastasis (CBM) of PTC. Mean age of patients was 67 years (range: 64–72), and mean duration between initial diagnosis and CBM was 49.6 months (range: 37–61). Frequent location was left cerebellar hemisphere and was associated with hydrocephalus. All patients underwent suboccipital craniectomy, and in two patients postoperative intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) was given to deliver 5000 cGy in 25 fractions to residual lesions. Patient without postoperative IMRT had cerebellar recurrence along with lung and bone metastasis after 38 months. However, two patients were found alive and free of disease at the time of last follow-up. Conclusion. CBM from PTC is a rare clinical entity and is often associated with hydrocephalus. Histopathological diagnosis is important to initiate effective treatment, which relies on multidisciplinary approach to prolong the disease-free and overall survival rates.