Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Concurrent use and order of use of cocaine and alcohol: behavioural differences between users of crack cocaine and cocaine powder.

AIMS The study investigates patterns of cocaine use and alcohol use when these substances were taken on their own, the order of administration of alcohol and of cocaine when the two substances were taken together, and changes in the doses of alcohol and of cocaine when the two substances were taken together. The study further investigates differences in the combined use of the two substances by users of cocaine powder and crack cocaine. DESIGN Entry criteria for the study were current (previous 30 days) use of both alcohol and cocaine. Study participants (n = 102) were recruited from clinical and non-clinical settings. Data were collected by face-to-face structured interviews. FINDINGS Different patterns of combined cocaine and alcohol use were reported by cocaine powder and crack cocaine users. Cocaine powder users tended to take increased doses of both cocaine and alcohol when these were used in combination. During high-dose crack using episodes, crack users tended to drink lower amounts of alcohol than usual. Cocaine powder users tended to use cocaine and alcohol concurrently. Crack users tended to use alcohol at the end of crack-using sessions. CONCLUSIONS The observed differences are not understood clearly but may be influenced by differential effects of route of administration upon absorption, bioavailability and the balance of euphoric/dysphoric effects. Research studies of the combined use of cocaine and alcohol should distinguish explicitly between the use of cocaine by different routes of administration, and this should be specified in the description of subject samples.
Nature of Light

In recent years, advances in spectroscopic techniques led to an increase in their medical applications. In medical sciences, emphasis is increasingly placed on instrumental techniques and accurate, quantitative measurements. It is especially apparent in diagnosis, where imaging techniques and laboratory results have became invaluable and compulsory. Breakthroughs in biochemistry made it possible to characterize physiological processes and living organisms at the molecular level. This led to a proliferation of new methods such as DNA tests and the use of biomarkers in daily clinical practice. Characterization of molecular structure and determination of the composition of a mixture are the fields of analytical chemistry and analytical biochemistry.
Dental Development of Chinese Children with Cleft Lip and Palate

Objective: To compare the dental development and rate of tooth development between children with and without cleft lip and palate. Patients: Age- and gender-matched pairs (231 in all) of southern Chinese children ages 3 to 12 years, with and without cleft lip and palate. Methods: Dental histories and radiographs were studied. From these, dental development was determined. Results: Of 2946 tooth pairs in the children with cleft lip and palate, 252 (8.6%) were found to be asymmetric, significantly (p < .001) more than the 63 of 3179 (2.0%) tooth pairs observed in the children without cleft lip and palate. The teeth with the highest frequency of asymmetry were the maxillary lateral incisors (38.1%). Differences in dental development on the cleft versus noncleft sides of children with unilateral cleft lip and palate were significant for both maxillary and mandibular teeth (p < .001 and p = .039, respectively). The mean delay in tooth formation of the children with cleft lip and palate was 4.4 months relative to the children without cleft lip and palate. The majority of the teeth in the cleft lip and palate group were delayed by one developmental stage. This happened in 40.0% of the maxillary teeth and 30.1% of the mandibular teeth. The delay in tooth formation increased as the number of missing teeth increased in the children with cleft lip and palate, although not significantly. Conclusions: This group of southern Chinese children with cleft lip and palate demonstrated a higher prevalence of asymmetric and delayed dental development than did their counterparts who did not have cleft lip and palate.
Correlation of Clinical Outcomes with β-Glucan Levels in Patients with Invasive Candidiasis

ABSTRACT The correlation of β-glucan (BG) levels with clinical outcomes in invasive candidiasis (IC) remains unknown. Patients with proven IC were followed prospectively from diagnosis to outcome with twice-weekly serum BG sampling. Correlation of BG with clinical outcome was assessed in each patient. BG levels tend to decrease in successfully treated patients and increase in treatment failures. BG levels may be useful as surrogates for outcome evaluation of IC.
Androgen receptor expression predicts different clinical outcomes for breast cancer patients stratified by hormone receptor status

In this study we sought to correlate androgen receptor (AR) expression with tumor progression and disease-free survival (DFS) in breast cancer patients. We investigated AR expression in 450 breast cancer patients. We found that breast cancers expressing the estrogen receptor (ER) are more likely to co-express AR compared to ER-negative cancers (56.0% versus 28.1%, P < 0.001). In addition, we found that AR expression is correlated with increased DFS in patients with luminal breast cancer (P < 0.001), and decreased DFS in TNBC (triple negative breast cancer, P = 0.014). In addition, patients with HR+ tumors (Hormone receptor positive tumors) expressing low levels of AR have the lowest DFS among all receptor combinations. We also propose a novel prognostic model using AR receptor status, BRCA1, and present data showing that our model is more predictive of disease free survival compared to the traditional TMN staging system.
Statistical modelling of environmental load uncertainty for jacket platforms in Malaysia

Proper evaluation of load is the most important step for the design of a structure. This paper presents the uncertainty modeling of environmental load for jacket platforms in Malaysia. We are interested only in extreme loads for the modeling of environmental load which are distributed by extreme values. Here in this paper, Weibull or Gumbel distributions are used. The existing platforms are designed for 100 year return period but are assessed for 10,000 years as recommended by ISO 19902 and API RP2A. The nature of environmental load is probabilistic and we need to ascertain the randomness of the load. This study covers three parameters of environmental load acting on jacket platforms namely significant wave height (Hs), wind speed and surface current speed in the Peninsular Malaysia (PM) region. Two-parameter Weibull and Gumbel distributions were used for the analysis. The data is in shape of 1, 10, 50, 100 year return period. Parameters of distribution are determined first, which are used to find mean and standard deviation of respective distribution. From this, uncertainty variables are extrapolated up to 1000 and 10,000 years. Finally the data was compared with data from Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Northern North Sea (NNS), Southern North Sea (SNS) and Central North Sea (CNS). This work will lead to determining the reliability of jacket platforms in Malaysia.
Bipolar affective puerperal psychosis: genome-wide significant evidence for linkage to chromosome 16.

OBJECTIVE Vulnerability to the triggering of bipolar episodes by childbirth aggregates in families and may define a genetically relevant subtype of bipolar disorder. The authors conducted a search by systematic whole genome linkage scan for loci influencing vulnerability to bipolar affective puerperal psychosis. METHOD The authors selected families with bipolar disorder from their previous bipolar disorder genome scan, in which there was at least one family member with a manic or psychotic episode with an onset within 6 weeks of delivery. Individuals were coded as affected if they had been diagnosed with bipolar I disorder; bipolar II disorder; or schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, according to DSM-IV. A total of 36 pedigrees contributed 54 affected sibling pairs to the cohort. A genome scan with 494 microsatellite markers was analyzed using GENEHUNTER and MAPMAKER/SIBS. RESULTS A genome-wide significant linkage signal was observed on chromosome 16p13, and a genome-wide suggestive linkage was observed on chromosome 8q24. No significant or suggestive linkage was observed in these regions in our original bipolar scan. CONCLUSIONS This study identifies chromosomal regions that are likely to harbor genes that predispose individuals to bipolar affective puerperal psychosis. The identification of susceptibility genes would enhance understanding of pathogenesis and offer the possibility of improvements in treatment and risk prediction.
Emergent bursting and synchrony in computer simulations of neuronal cultures

Experimental studies of neuronal cultures have revealed a wide variety of spiking network activity ranging from sparse, asynchronous firing to distinct, network-wide synchronous bursting. However, the functional mechanisms driving these observed firing patterns are not well understood. In this work, we develop an in silico network of cortical neurons based on known features of similar in vitro networks. The activity from these simulations is found to closely mimic experimental data. Furthermore, the strength or degree of network bursting is found to depend on a few parameters: the density of the culture, the type of synaptic connections, and the ratio of excitatory to inhibitory connections. Network bursting gradually becomes more prominent as either the density, the fraction of long range connections, or the fraction of excitatory neurons is increased. Interestingly, biologically prevalent values of parameters result in networks that are at the transition between strong bursting and sparse firing. Using principal components analysis, we show that a large fraction of the variance in firing rates is captured by the first component for bursting networks. These results have implications for understanding how information is encoded at the population level as well as for why certain network parameters are ubiquitous in cortical tissue.
Effectiveness of health education to increase screening for cervical cancer among eastern-band Cherokee Indian women in North Carolina.

BACKGROUND The North Carolina Native American Cervical Cancer Prevention Project was a 5-year, National Cancer Institute-funded trial of health education designed to increase screening for cervical cancer among Native-American women in North Carolina. PURPOSE This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of this education program in the Eastern-Band Cherokee target population. METHODS Cherokee tribal lands were mapped and all households (N = 2223) were listed to ensure maximum coverage of the eligible population (women, aged 18 years and older, who were enrolled tribal members). Eligible women were identified by the use of a brief questionnaire administered to an adult member of the household. Of the 1279 households with eligible women, 1020 (79.8%) agreed to participate. The intervention was an individualized health education program delivered by female Cherokee lay health educators. The participants were randomly assigned to receive or not to receive the intervention (i.e., to program and control groups, respectively) by use of the Solomon Four-Group design. Data were collected in face-to-face interviews conducted in the participant's home. Of the 996 women who were ultimately enrolled, 540 were randomly assigned to receive a pretest (preintervention) interview that involved administration of a 96-item questionnaire designed to collect data on knowledge, intentions, and behaviors related to cervical cancer; of these 540 women, 263 were randomly assigned to receive the education program. The remaining 456 women did not receive the pretest, but 218 were randomly assigned to receive the education program. Six months after receiving the education program, the women in all four groups were administered a post-test that was identical to the pretest. Logistic regression was used to assess the effects of the pretest and the educational program. All P values resulted from two-sided statistical tests. RESULTS Eight hundred and fifteen (81.8%) of the 996 participants completed the post-test interview. The remaining 181 women who were lost to follow-up were evenly distributed among the four study groups. At the post-test, 282 (73.2%) of the 385 women who received the education program reported having had a Pap smear following the intervention, compared with 275 (64%) of the 430 control subjects. Women who received the education program were more likely to answer all knowledge items correctly on the post-test (odds ratio [OR] = 2.18, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08-4.39) and to report having obtained a Pap smear in the past year (OR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.14-3.72) than women in the control groups. CONCLUSION Women who received the education program exhibited a greater knowledge about cervical cancer prevention and were more likely to have reported having had a Pap smear within the past year than women who did not receive the program.
Joint Effect of Modifiable Risk Factors on the Risk of Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Cohort Study

Background and Purpose— The joint effect of risk factors on the risk of aneurysmal SAH (aSAH) has been studied sparsely. Methods— We examined the potential synergism between cigarette smoking, hypertension, and regular alcohol consumption and the risk of aSAH in a prospective, population-based cohort of participants from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study and the Tromsø Study in Norway. Interaction was assessed on additive and multiplicative scales. Results— We identified 122 cases of aSAH over 977 895 person-years of follow-up. Interaction was observed between current smoking and hypertension on the additive scale, (relative excess risk because of interaction, 6.40; 95% CI, 0.88–11.92, adjusted for sex and age). We found no significant interaction between hypertension and regular alcohol consumption or current cigarette smoking and regular alcohol consumption on the additive scale. No significant interaction was detected on the multiplicative scale. Conclusions— The joint effect of current smoking and hypertension on the risk of aSAH was stronger than was the sum of the independent effects of each factor. Persons at risk of aSAH should be advised of a markedly stronger risk for aSAH with the combination of current smoking and hypertension. In addition, the finding suggests that combining smoking cessation and blood pressure lowering may have an extra risk reduction effect on preventing aSAH.
An Information Maximization Model of Eye Movements

We propose a sequential information maximization model as a general strategy for programming eye movements. The model reconstructs high-resolution visual information from a sequence of fixations, taking into account the fall-off in resolution from the fovea to the periphery. From this framework we get a simple rule for predicting fixation sequences: after each fixation, fixate next at the location that minimizes uncertainty (maximizes information) about the stimulus. By comparing our model performance to human eye movement data and to predictions from a saliency and random model, we demonstrate that our model is best at predicting fixation locations. Modeling additional biological constraints will improve the prediction of fixation sequences. Our results suggest that information maximization is a useful principle for programming eye movements.
CELL SORTING IN THE PRESENCE OF CYTOCHALASIN B

The ability of cytochalasin B to inhibit ruffled membrane activity and cellular locomotion of vertebrate cells in monolayer culture prompted its use to study the necessity for this kind of active cellular locomotion in cell sorting in heterotypic cell aggregates. Cell sorting was inhibited in chick embryo heart-pigmented retina aggregates but a remarkable degree of sorting did occur in neural retina-pigmented retina aggregates. In these experiments, the levels of cytochalasin B employed (5 or 10 µg/ml) are sufficient to inhibit completely locomotion of these cell types in monolayer culture. It is proposed that the degree of cell movement achieved during sorting in neural retina-pigmented retina aggregates in the presence of cytochalasin B is the result of changes in cell contact resulting from adhesive interaction of cells. The effect of cytochalasin B on the initial aggregation of dissociated cells was also tested. With the cell types used in this study (chick embryo neural retina and limb bud), aggregation was not affected for a period of several hours.
Sequential radiation of unrelated organisms: the gal solidaginis and the tumbling flower beetle Mordellis

host ely common processes in the speciation of herbivorous insects. The interactions of goldenrods Solidago (Compositae), the gall fly Eurosta solidaginis (Diptera: Tephritidae) and the beetle Mordellistena convicta (Coleoptera: Mordellidae) provide behavioural, ecological and genetic evidence of host races that may represent incipient species forming via sympatric speciation. We summarize evidence for Eurosta host races and show that M. convicta has radiated from goldenrod stems to Eurosta galls to form host-part races and, having exploited the galler's host shift, has begun to differentiate into host races within galls. Thus, host-race formation has occurred in two interacting, but unrelated organisms representing two trophic levels, resulting in 'sequential radiation' (escalation of biodiversity up the trophic system). Distributions of host races and their behavioural isolating mechanisms suggest sympatric differentiation. Such differentiation suggests host -race formation and subsequent speciation may be an important source of biodiversity.
A Critical Evaluation of Interlaboratory Data on Total, Elemental, and Isotopic Carbon in the Carbonaceous Particle Reference Material, NIST SRM 1649a

Because of increased interest in the marine and atmospheric sciences in elemental carbon (EC), or black carbon (BC) or soot carbon (SC), and because of the difficulties in analyzing or even defining this pervasive component of particulate carbon, it has become quite important to have appropriate reference materials for intercomparison and quality control. The NIST “urban dust” Standard Reference Material® SRM 1649a is useful in this respect, in part because it comprises a considerable array of inorganic and organic species, and because it exhibits a large degree of (14C) isotopic heterogeneity, with biomass carbon source contributions ranging from about 2 % (essentially fossil aliphatic fraction) to about 32 % (polar fraction). A primary purpose of this report is to provide documentation for the new isotopic and chemical particulate carbon data for the most recent (31 Jan. 2001) SRM 1649a Certificate of Analysis. Supporting this is a critical review of underlying international intercomparison data and methodologies, provided by 18 teams of analytical experts from 11 institutions. Key results of the intercomparison are: (1) a new, Certified Value for total carbon (TC) in SRM 1649a; (2) 14C Reference Values for total carbon and a number of organic species, including for the first time 8 individual PAHs; and (3) elemental carbon (EC) Information Values derived from 13 analytical methods applied to this component. Results for elemental carbon, which comprised a special focus of the intercomparison, were quite diverse, reflecting the confounding of methodological-matrix artifacts, and methods that tended to probe more or less refractory regions of this universal, but ill-defined product of incomplete combustion. Availability of both chemical and 14C speciation data for SRM 1649a holds great promise for improved analytical insight through comparative analysis (e.g., fossil/biomass partition in EC compared to PAH), and through application of the principle of isotopic mass balance.
A Simple Auxin Transcriptional Response System Regulates Multiple Morphogenetic Processes in the Liverwort Marchantia polymorpha

In land plants comparative genomics has revealed that members of basal lineages share a common set of transcription factors with the derived flowering plants, despite sharing few homologous structures. The plant hormone auxin has been implicated in many facets of development in both basal and derived lineages of land plants. We functionally characterized the auxin transcriptional response machinery in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, a member of the basal lineage of extant land plants. All components known from flowering plant systems are present in M. polymorpha, but they exist as single orthologs: a single MpTOPLESS (TPL) corepressor, a single MpTRANSPORT INHIBITOR RESPONSE 1 auxin receptor, single orthologs of each class of AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR (ARF; MpARF1, MpARF2, MpARF3), and a single negative regulator AUXIN/INDOLE-3-ACETIC ACID (MpIAA). Phylogenetic analyses suggest this simple system is the ancestral condition for land plants. We experimentally demonstrate that these genes act in an auxin response pathway — chimeric fusions of the MpTPL corepressor with heterodimerization domains of MpARF1, MpARF2, or their negative regulator, MpIAA, generate auxin insensitive plants that lack the capacity to pattern and transition into mature stages of development. Our results indicate auxin mediated transcriptional regulation acts as a facilitator of branching, differentiation and growth, rather than acting to determine or specify tissues during the haploid stage of the M. polymorpha life cycle. We hypothesize that the ancestral role of auxin is to modulate a balance of differentiated and pluri- or totipotent cell states, whose fates are determined by interactions with combinations of unrelated transcription factors.
An Algorithmic Approach to Bounding the Time Complexity of Stream Specifications ∗

In previous work an algorithmic procedure for analysing the space complexity of monitor specifications, written in a fragment of predicate logic, was presented. These monitor specifications were developed for the runtime monitoring of event streams. The algorithm provides accurate results for a large fragment of the possible specifications and can be easily extended to all specifications. In this work we follow the same approach, using the same theoretical foundations, to develop a algorithm computing the time complexity of our monitor specifications. In our previous work, the measure for space complexity was the monitor’s runtime representation size, i.e. the number of instances in memory during checking of the specification. In this work we consider the number of quantifier variable value assignments as the measurement of time complexity. The result is an algorithm which gives precise results for the entire core specification language.
Regional Disparities in Prenatal Care Services in Rural China

The study compared the prenatal care programs in the Central–East, Northwest, and Southwest regions of China. Data were collected on 14 indicators of the quality of the prenatal care process, as well as the percentage of women with high-risk pregnancies who were screened. The average number of prenatal examinations for those women who received prenatal care was 5.01, and 62.6% of pregnant women had their first examination within 12 weeks of their pregnancy. About 35% of these pregnant women had at least 1 high-risk screening, and 20.8% had 3 high-risk screenings. Among the 3 regions, the Central–East region had the best overall quality prenatal services, and the Northwest area had the poorest quality. The quality of prenatal health care in poor, rural China is in need of improvement.