Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The prevalence of the use of ‘dry sex’ traditional medicines, among Zambian women, and the profile of the users

Concern has been voiced about the ‘dry sex’ practice in Southern and Central Africa, and its possible role in the transmission of the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV). Despite this concern, there has been little information about the practice. Most of the available information has been anecdotal, speculative or inadequate mainly because of cultural reluctance to discuss or investigate personal sexual issues. This article provides information about the prevalence of the practice in Zambia and the profile of its practitioners. A cross-sectional study involving 812 Zambian women was undertaken in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. Quantitative and qualitative data was obtained through self-administered questionnaires, interviews, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS, and the qualitative data was used to complement and clarify the quantitative data. Awareness of the ‘dry sex’ practice was almost universal among Zambian women. About two-thirds had used ‘dry sex’ traditional medicines (DSTM) at some point in their lives, and about half were using them. Those who were most likely to have been using, or to have used DSTM, were those who were older, married, with little or no formal education, mainstream Christians, from the lower socio-economic levels, homemakers, manual workers (p < 0.001), originally from the Eastern province of Zambia (p < 0.002) and those who had spent most of their formative years in rural areas (p < 0.006). The study showed that the knowledge and use of DSTM is widespread among Zambian women, especially among those who were most likely to adhere to traditional views and beliefs about womanhood and marriage, and perhaps those likely to have a poor sense of self-worth or less confidence. In view of the concern about the possible role of ‘dry sex’ in HIV transmission, these findings would be useful in Health education strategies.
Diet and the epidemiology of coronary heart disease.

Researches ranging from laboratory experiments to epidemiology on a world-wide basis have led to the hypothesis that the fat content of the habitual diets of populations has an important effect on the frequency of coronary heart disease in those populations. The general nature and some of the evidence for this hypothesis have been summarized several times in recent years, 1 but progress in this field manages to outdate each new resume by the time it reaches print. Not that the previously cited facts or the hypothesis itself have been found to be erroneous; on the contrary, each new research adds detail, reduces areas of uncertainty, and, so far, provides further reason to believe that along the line of this hypothesis we may hope to find effective measures to reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease. As it now stands, the hypothesis may be stated simply as follows: Though many factors
Evaluating humanoid synthetic agents in e-retail applications

This paper presents three experiments designed to empirically evaluate humanoid synthetic agents in electronic retail applications. First, human-like agents were evaluated in a single e-retail application, a home furnishings service. The second experiment explored application dependency effects by evaluating the same human-like agents in a different e-retail application, a personalized CD service. The third experiment evaluated the effectiveness of a range of humanoid cartoon-like agents. Participants eavesdropped on spoken dialogues between a "customer" and each of the agents, which played the role of conversational sales assistants. Results showed participants expected a high level of realistic human-like verbal and nonverbal communicative behavior from the human-like agents. Overall ratings of the agents showed no significant application dependency. Further results showed participants have a preference for 3D rather than 2D cartoon-like agents and have a desire to interact with fully embodied agents.
A New Strategy to Generate Functional Insulin-Producing Cell Lines by Somatic Gene Transfer into Pancreatic Progenitors

Background There is increasing interest in developing human cell lines to be used to better understand cell biology, but also for drug screening, toxicology analysis and future cell therapy. In the endocrine pancreatic field, functional human beta cell lines are extremely scarce. On the other hand, rodent insulin producing beta cells have been generated during the past years with great success. Many of such cell lines were produced by using transgenic mice expressing SV40T antigen under the control of the insulin promoter, an approach clearly inadequate in human. Our objective was to develop and validate in rodent an alternative transgenic-like approach, applicable to human tissue, by performing somatic gene transfer into pancreatic progenitors that will develop into beta cells. Methods and Findings In this study, rat embryonic pancreases were transduced with recombinant lentiviral vector expressing the SV40T antigen under the control of the insulin promoter. Transduced tissues were next transplanted under the kidney capsule of immuno-incompetent mice allowing insulinoma development from which beta cell lines were established. Gene expression profile, insulin content and glucose dependent secretion, normalization of glycemia upon transplantation into diabetic mice validated the approach to generate beta cell lines. Conclusions Somatic gene transfer into pancreatic progenitors represents an alternative strategy to generate functional beta cell lines in rodent. Moreover, this approach can be generalized to derive cells lines from various tissues and most importantly from tissues of human origin.
Fas (APO-1, CD95)-Mediated Apoptosis in Thyroid Cells Is Regulated by a Labile Protein Inhibitor.

To determine whether thyroid cell apoptosis observed in autoimmune thyroid disease could be related to activation of the Fas pathway, we examined the expression and function of Fas on thyroid follicular cells in vitro. Fas messenger RNA was found to be present using two different techniques and was expressed at equal levels in thyrocytes cultured either in the presence or absence of TSH. Fas antigen protein expression was demonstrated by Western blot of thyroid cell lysates and by immunohistochemical staining of thyrocytes, and the amount of Fas protein present did not appear to vary regardless of culture conditions. Despite expressing substantial amounts of Fas protein, thyrocytes treated with anti-Fas monoclonal antibody failed to undergo apoptosis. The addition of either interferon-gamma or interleukin-1beta to the anti-Fas-treated cell cultures also did not promote apoptotic signaling through this pathway. In contrast, the concomitant administration of cycloheximide allowed the induction of apoptosis through the activation of Fas in thyrocytes. These results suggest that Fas is constitutively expressed in thyrocytes, but that the induction of apoptosis through the Fas pathway is blocked by a labile protein inhibitor.
The kinematics of multifunctionality: comparisons of biting and swallowing in Aplysia californica

SUMMARY What are the mechanisms of multifunctionality, i.e. the use of the same peripheral structures for multiple behaviors? We studied this question using the multifunctional feeding apparatus of the marine mollusk Aplysia californica, in which the same muscles mediate biting (an attempt to grasp food) and swallowing (ingestion of food). Biting and swallowing responses were compared using magnetic resonance imaging of intact, behaving animals and a three-dimensional kinematic model. Biting is associated with larger amplitude protractions of the grasper (radula/odontophore) than swallowing, and smaller retractions. Larger biting protractions than in swallowing appear to be due to a more anterior position of the grasper as the behavior begins, a larger amplitude contraction of protractor muscle I2, and contraction of the posterior portion of the I1/I3/jaw complex. The posterior I1/I3/jaw complex may be context-dependent, i.e. its mechanical context changes the direction of the force it exerts. Thus, the posterior of I1/I3 may aid protraction near the peak of biting, whereas the entire I1/I3/jaw complex acts as a retractor during swallowing. In addition, larger amplitude closure of the grasper during swallowing allows an animal to exert more force as it ingests food. These results demonstrate that differential deployment of the periphery can mediate multifunctionality.
Two approaches toward constrained vector optimization and identity of the solutions

In this paper we deal with a Fritz John type constrained vector optimization problem. In spite that there are many concepts of solutions for an unconstrained vector optimization problem, we show the possibility “to double” the number of concepts when a constrained problem is considered. In particular we introduce sense I and sense II isolated minimizers, properly efficient points, efficient points and weakly efficient points. As a motivation leading to these concepts we give some results concerning optimality conditions in constrained vector optimization and stability properties of isolated minimizers and properly efficient points. Our main investigation and results concern relations between sense I and sense II concepts. These relations are proved mostly under convexity type conditions. Key words: Constrained vector optimization, Optimality conditions, Stability, Type of solutions and their identity, Vector optimization and convexity type conditions.
Is the Diagnosis of Celiac Disease Possible Without Intestinal Biopsy?

Background: Coeliac disease is defined as a state of immune-mediated hyper-responsiveness to dietary gluten from wheat, barley, or rye in genetically predisposed individuals that results in tissue damage. The diagnosis is made by microscopic examination of a small intestinal biopsy, although serological testing for antibodies against tissue transglutaminase and deamidated gliadin peptide can be of great advantage. It has been suggested that duodenal biopsy can be avoided in patients with high levels of the tissue transglutaminase antibody, since a relationship has been found to be present between tissue transglutaminase antibody titres and coeliac disease. Aims: To study the correlation between tissue transglutaminase titre and small intestinal biopsy findings in patients with coeliac disease. Study Design: Diagnostic accuracy study. Methods: Ninety-five cases of patients diagnosed with coeliac disease and with positive serum tissue transglutaminase titres were retrieved from the Jordan University Hospital archives between December 2014 and December 2015. All the cases were classified according to the Marsh classification. Results: Ninety-five cases with a positive titre for the antibody were included in this study, 73 (76.8%) of them were females and 22 cases (23.2%) were males. The age of the patients ranged between 4 and 75 years with a mean age ± standard deviation of 32.3±14.7. The sensitivity was the highest in Marsh IIIC and lowest in Marsh IIIA (95% versus 68% respectively). The specificity was moderate (76%) for all subtypes of Marsh III. Conclusion: This study showed a positive correlation between the tissue transglutaminase titre and the degree of duodenal damage (Marsh IIIC) in patients with coeliac disease. In the presence of high tissue transglutaminase levels, duodenal biopsy might not be always necessary for diagnosis, particularly in symptomatic patients.
Bayesian surface reconstruction via iterative scan alignment to an optimized prototype

This paper introduces a novel technique for joint surface reconstruction and registration. Given a set of roughly aligned noisy point clouds, it outputs a noise-free and watertight solid model. The basic idea of the new technique is to reconstruct a prototype surface at increasing resolution levels, according to the registration accuracy obtained so far, and to register all parts with this surface. We derive a non-linear optimization problem from a Bayesian formulation of the joint estimation problem. The prototype surface is represented as a partition of unity implicit surface, which is constructed from piecewise quadratic functions defined on octree cells and blended together using B-spline basis functions, allowing the representation of objects with arbitrary topology with high accuracy. We apply the new technique to a set of standard data sets as well as especially challenging real-world cases. In practice, the novel prototype surface based joint reconstruction-registration algorithm avoids typical convergence problems in registering noisy range scans and substantially improves the accuracy of the final output.
Friendly touch increases gratitude by inducing communal feelings

Communion among people is easily identifiable. Close friends or relatives frequently touch each other and this physical contact helps identifying the type of relationship they have. We tested whether a friendly touch and benefits elicit the emotion of gratitude given the close link between gratitude and communal relations. In Study 1, we induced a communal mindset and manipulated friendly touch (vs. non-touch) and benefit to female participants by a female confederate. We measured pre- and post-benefit gratitude, communal feelings, and liking toward the toucher, as well as general affect. In Study 2, we manipulated mindset, friendly touch and benefit, and measured the same variables in female pairs (confederate and participants). In both studies the results showed a main effect of touch on pre-benefit gratitude: participants who were touched by the confederate indicated more gratitude than those not touched. Moreover, benefit increased gratitude toward a confederate in the absence of touch, but not in the presence of touch. Additionally, perceiving the relationship as communal, and not merely liking the confederate, or a positive mood mediated the link between touch and gratitude. The results further support a causal model where touch increases communal feelings, which in turn increase gratitude at the end of the interaction, after having received a benefit from the interaction partner. These results support a broader definition of gratitude as an emotion embodied in communal relationship cues.
Zooplankton Diversity of Three Floodplain Lakes (Beels) of the Majuli River Island, Brahmaputra River Basin of Assam, Northeast India

The floodplain lakes form an integral component of various riverine systems globally and merit interest for biodiversity and ecology considerations. These remarks hold valid for the Indian floodplains and those of northeast India (NEI) in particular [1-3]. These wetlands form a lucrative source of inland fishery [4] of NEI and are locally known as ‘beels’ in Assam and pats in Manipur. Further, zooplankton contribute importantly to metazoan diversity and production of fish-food organisms in the wetlands but have yet received inadequate attention on their diversity and ecology in the floodplain lakes of India [1] while the related published ecology works from NEI are limited to reports from certain beels of Assam [5-7] and pats of Manipur [8,9].
Involvement of Innate and Adaptive Immunity in Parkinson's Disease

Central nervous system (CNS) was considered as an “immunologically privileged site”. However, accumulating evidence supports a role for neuro inflammation in progress in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Not only the activated resident microglia in brains, cytokine levels in CNS and blood, the presence of auto antibodies, and the infiltration of T-cell in CNS also contribute disease progression. The interplay between innate and adaptive immunity in the pathobiology of PD will be focused on this article.
A Tale of Two Herbig Ae Stars, MWC 275 and AB Aurigae: Comprehensive Models for Spectral Energy Distribution and Interferometry

We present comprehensive models for the Herbig Ae stars MWC 275 and AB Aur that aim to explain their spectral energy distribution (from UV to millimeter) and long-baseline interferometry (from near-infrared to millimeter) simultaneously. Data from the literature, combined with new mid-infrared (MIR) interferometry from the Keck Segment Tilting Experiment, are modeled using an axisymmetric Monte Carlo radiative transfer code. Models in which most of the near-infrared (NIR) emission arises from a dust rim fail to fit the NIR spectral energy distribution (SED) and sub-milliarcsecond NIR CHARA interferometry. Following recent work, we include an additional gas emission component with similar size scale to the dust rim, inside the sublimation radius, to fit the NIR SED and long-baseline NIR interferometry on MWC 275 and AB Aur. In the absence of shielding of starlight by gas, we show that the gas-dust transition region in these YSOs will have to contain highly refractory dust, sublimating at ~1850 K. Despite having nearly identical structure in the thermal NIR, the outer disks of MWC 275 and AB Aur differ substantially. In contrast to the AB Aur disk, MWC 275 lacks small grains in the disk atmosphere capable of producing significant 10-20 μm emission beyond ~7 AU, forcing the outer regions into the “shadow” of the inner disk.
Urine podocin:nephrin mRNA ratio (PNR) as a podocyte stress biomarker.

BACKGROUND Proteinuria and/or albuminuria are widely used for noninvasive assessment of kidney diseases. However, proteinuria is a nonspecific marker of diverse forms of kidney injury, physiologic processes and filtration of small proteins of monoclonal and other pathologic processes. The opportunity to develop new glomerular disease biomarkers follows the realization that the degree of podocyte depletion determines the degree of glomerulosclerosis, and if persistent, determines the progression to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Podocyte cell lineage-specific mRNAs can be recovered in urine pellets of model systems and in humans. In model systems, progressive glomerular disease is associated with decreased nephrin mRNA steady-state levels compared with podocin mRNA. Thus, the urine podocin:nephrin mRNA ratio (PNR) could serve as a useful progression biomarker. The use of podocyte-specific transcript ratios also circumvents many problems inherent to urine assays. METHODS To test this hypothesis, the human diphtheria toxin receptor (hDTR) rat model of progression was used to evaluate potentially useful urine mRNA biomarkers. We compared histologic progression parameters (glomerulosclerosis score, interstitial fibrosis score and percent of podocyte depletion) with clinical biomarkers [serum creatinine, systolic blood pressure (BP), 24-h urine volume, 24-h urine protein excretion and the urine protein:creatinine ratio(PCR)] and with the novel urine mRNA biomarkers. RESULTS The PNR correlated with histologic outcome as well or better than routine clinical biomarkers and other urine mRNA biomarkers in the model system with high specificity and sensitivity, and a low coefficient of assay variation. CONCLUSIONS We concluded that the PNR, used in combination with proteinuria, will be worth testing for its clinical diagnostic and decision-making utility.
The Importance of Spirituality Among Gay and Lesbian Individuals

ABSTRACT Religion is a conduit for expressing spirituality. Since most mainstream religions condemn any form of homosexuality one would expect that gay men and lesbians would have little to do with spirituality. Experts, however, believe that gay and lesbian individuals would especially benefit from spiritual nourishment because of the oppression they face. Using an instrument that measures spiritual well-being, this study investigated the spirituality of 93 gay and lesbian individuals. The findings revealed that respondents espoused high levels of spiritual well-being: how one relates to God (religious well-being) and how one feels about life (existential well-being). Those who identified with a formal religion and who attended religious services frequently espoused higher religious well-being. Respondents with a diagnosis of depression, on the other hand, espoused lower existential well-being. Multiple regression analyses revealed that existential well-being was a significant predictor of adjustment: having high self-esteem, accepting one's homosexual orientation, and feeling less alienated. In contrast, religious well-being was not a significant predictor of any measure of adjustment. These findings point to the importance of the existential aspect of spirituality among gay and lesbian individuals in determining adjustment. They also suggest that being well-adjusted does not entail being reconciled with a traditional religion or with a theistic belief.
Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology Open Access Ultrasound Image Attributes of Human Ovarian Dominant Follicles during Natural and Oral Contraceptive Cycles

Background: Computer-assisted analyses were used to examine ultrasound image attributes of human dominant ovarian follicles that developed during natural and oral contraceptive (OC) cycles. We hypothesized that image attributes of natural cycle follicles would quantitatively differ from those in OC cycles and that OC cycle follicles would possess image attributes indicative of atresia.
Intersection homology of linkage spaces

We consider the moduli spaces ℳd(l) of a closed linkage with n links and prescribed lengths l ∈ ℝn in d-dimensional Euclidean space. For d > 3 these spaces are no longer manifolds generically, but they have the structure of a pseudomanifold. We use intersection homology to assign a ring to these spaces that can be used to distinguish the homeomorphism types of ℳd(l) for a large class of length vectors in the case of d even. This result is a high-dimensional analogue of the Walker conjecture which was proven by Farber, Hausmann and the author.
Coarctation of the aorta. Repair with polytetrafluoroethylene patch aortoplasty.

BACKGROUND The first successful surgical repair of coarctation of the aorta (CoAo) was performed in 1944, but during the years that followed a high incidence of recoarctation was seen, ranging from 20% to 86%. In response to that problem, the patch aortoplasty was introduced in 1957; however, true aneurysms were found in the aortic wall opposite the patch after Dacron patch aortoplasty, particularly when the coarctation ridge was excised. The purpose of our review was to evaluate the results of patch aortoplasty for CoAo using a relatively new material, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and an operative technique that does not involve resection of the coarctation ridge. METHODS AND RESULTS Between 1979 and 1993, 125 infants and children underwent PTFE patch aortoplasty for CoAo; 111 of the procedures were primary repairs, and 14 were reoperations. Diagnoses were isolated CoAo (96 patients), CoAo and ventricular septal defect (15 patients), and CoAo with complex intracardiac anomaly (14 patients). Patient age at the time of repair ranged from 4 days to 17 years (mean age, 5.1 +/- 4.5 years). There were no instances of intraoperative mortality or paraplegia. There were 4 deaths from 10 to 40 days postoperatively, all in neonates (mean age, 33 days) who received additional intracardiac procedures for complex associated anomalies. Follow-up has ranged from 6 months to 12.5 years (mean, 4.5 +/- 3.2 years). All children had postoperative chest roentgenograms, 80 (66%) patients have had a postoperative echocardiogram and 16 (13%) a cardiac catheterization. One patient had successful repair of a false aneurysm 4 months postoperatively. No patient has developed a late true aneurysm. Of the patients < 1 month of age at the time of CoAo repair (12 patients), 6 patients had recurrent CoAo (gradient > 20 mm Hg) compared with only 4 recurrences in 97 patients > 1 month of age at the time of repair (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS For children > 1 year of age, PTFE patch aortoplasty remains our procedure of choice for CoAo repair because of the low mortality rate, low recoarctation rate, and absence of late true aneurysms. We have stopped using this technique for infants < 1 month of age because of the high recurrence rate.