Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Users of Internet Health Information: Differences by Health Status

Background Millions of consumers have accessed health information online. However, little is known about their health status. Objective To explore use of Internet health information among those who were sicker (fair/poor general health status) compared with those reported being healthier. Methods A national, random-digit telephone survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project identified 521 Internet users who go online for health care information. Our primary independent variable was general health status rated as excellent, good, fair, or poor. Patterns of Internet use, and types of information searched were assessed. Results Among the 521 users, 64% were female, most (87%) were white, and median age was 42 years. Most individuals indicated that they learned something new online (81%) and indicated that they believe most information on the Internet (52%). Compared with those with excellent/good health, those with fair/poor health (N = 59) were relative newcomers to the Internet but tended to use the Internet more frequently, were more likely to use online chats, were less likely to search for someone other than themselves, and were more likely to talk about the new information with their physician (odds ratio 3.3 [95% confidence interval 1.8-6.3]), after adjustment for age, education and income. Conclusions Health care professionals should be aware that their sicker patients are more likely to ask them about information they found online. Physicians, public health professionals, and eHealth developers should work together to educate patients about searching for health information online and to provide tools for them to navigate to the highest quality information.
Prevention of tryptophan-induced acute bovine pulmonary oedema and emphysema (fog fever)

The pathogenesis of acute bovine pulmonary oedema and emphysema (ABPE) is related to the ruminal formation of 3-methylindole (3MI) from L-tryptophan (TRP), a naturally occurring amino acid and constituent of forage. The objectives of the present study were to determine whether monensin and lasalocid, both polyether antibiotics, were effective in reducing ruminal conversion of TRP to 3MI in vivo and to confirm that reduction in ruminal conversion of TRP to 3MI prevented tryptophan induced ABPE. Sixteen mature Hereford cows were assigned to one of four groups and given TRP to induce ABPE. Group 1 was given 100 mg monensin orally twice daily starting one day before and ending four days after TRP dosing. Group 2 was given 200 mg monensin once daily and group 3 was given 100 mg lasalocid twice daily. Group 4, the control, was given only TRP without further treatment. All control cows developed clinical signs of respiratory disease and lesions of ABPE; one control cow died of ABPE. Mean ruminal 3MI concentrations in control cows reached a peak of 36.4 micrograms per ml. Clinical signs of pulmonary disease appeared in two cows treated with lasalocid and one died. Mean ruminal 3MI in these animals peaked at 38.8 micrograms per ml. No clinical signs of respiratory disease were observed in any of the monensin treated cows and at necropsy there were no pulmonary lesions of ABPE. Mean ruminal 3MI concentrations in monensin treated cows did not exceed 8.9 micrograms per ml. In all groups plasma 3MI concentrations generally reflected ruminal 3MI concentrations but at lower concentrations. The results of this experiment demonstrate that reduction in ruminal 3MI formation by monensin prevents tryptophan induced ABPE.
Underreporting of dietary intake by body mass index in premenopausal women participating in the Healthy Women Study

Underreporting patterns by the level of obesity have not been fully assessed yet. The purpose of this study was to examine the differential underreporting patterns on cardiovascular risk factor, macronutrient, and food group intakes by the level of Body Mass Index (BMI). We analyzed cross-sectional baseline nutritional survey data from the population-based longitudinal study, the Healthy Women Study (HWS) cohort. Study subjects included 538 healthy premenopausal women participating in the HWS. Nutrient and food group intakes were assessed by the one-day 24-hour dietary recall and a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire, respectively. The ratio of reported energy intake (EI) to estimated basal metabolic rate (BMR) was used as a measure of relative energy reporting status and categorized into tertiles. Overweight group (BMI≥25kg/m2) had a higher ratio of EI to BMR (EI/BMR) than normal weight group (BMI<25kg/m2). Normal weight and overweight groups showed similar patterns in cardiovascular risk factors, nutrient intake, and food group intake by the EI/BMR. Fat and saturated fat intakes as a nutrient density were positively associated with the EI/BMR. Proportion of women who reported higher consumption (≥4 times/wk) of sugar/candy, cream and red meat groups was greater in higher tertiles of the EI/BMR in both BMI groups. Our findings suggest similar patterns of underreporting of cardiovascular risk factors, and macronutrient and food group intakes in both normal and overweight women.
Regional rates of neocortical atrophy from normal aging to early Alzheimer disease

Objective: To evaluate the spatial pattern and regional rates of neocortical atrophy from normal aging to early Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods: Longitudinal MRI data were analyzed using high-throughput image analysis procedures for 472 individuals diagnosed as normal, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or AD. Participants were divided into 4 groups based on Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes score (CDR-SB). Annual atrophy rates were derived by calculating percent cortical volume loss between baseline and 12-month scans. Repeated-measures analyses of covariance were used to evaluate group differences in atrophy rates across regions as a function of impairment. Planned comparisons were used to evaluate the change in atrophy rates across levels of disease severity. Results: In patients with MCI–CDR-SB 0.5–1, annual atrophy rates were greatest in medial temporal, middle and inferior lateral temporal, inferior parietal, and posterior cingulate. With increased impairment (MCI–CDR-SB 1.5–2.5), atrophy spread to parietal, frontal, and lateral occipital cortex, followed by anterior cingulate cortex. Analysis of regional trajectories revealed increasing rates of atrophy across all neocortical regions with clinical impairment. However, increases in atrophy rates were greater in early disease within medial temporal cortex, whereas increases in atrophy rates were greater at later stages in prefrontal, parietal, posterior temporal, parietal, and cingulate cortex. Conclusions: Atrophy is not uniform across regions, nor does it follow a linear trajectory. Knowledge of the spatial pattern and rate of decline across the spectrum from normal aging to Alzheimer disease can provide valuable information for detecting early disease and monitoring treatment effects at different stages of disease progression.
An improved Monte Carlo method for direct calculation of the density of states

We present an efficient Monte Carlo algorithm for determining the density of states which is based on the statistics of transition probabilities between states. By measuring the infinite temperature transition probabilities—that is, the probabilities associated with move proposal only—we are able to extract excellent estimates of the density of states. When this estimator is used in conjunction with a Wang–Landau sampling scheme [F. Wang and D. P. Landau, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2050 (2001)], we quickly achieve uniform sampling of macrostates (e.g., energies) and systematically refine the calculated density of states. This approach requires only potential energy evaluations, continues to improve the statistical quality of its results as the simulation time is extended, and is applicable to both lattice and continuum systems. We test the algorithm on the Lennard-Jones liquid and demonstrate good statistical convergence properties.
Model-Free Optimal Coordination of Distributed Energy Resources for Provisioning Transmission-Level Services

Collective control of distributed energy resources (DER)—such as photovoltaic (PV) inverters or battery storage—have the potential to provide regulation services to the bulk electric grid. While optimal power flow techniques may be used to coordinate DER for this purpose, these approaches typically rely on accurate network models and a large number of system measurements. In this paper, we consider an approach that alleviates these modeling and measurement requirements. Here, we consider a two-dimensional adaptive control scheme known as extremum seeking, or ES, to perform optimization without knowledge of a model of the distribution network. We apply this scheme to enable simultaneous feeder head active power and voltage magnitude reference tracking, as well as feeder voltage regulation. From the perspective of the transmission grid, this approach essentially transforms the distribution feeder into a controllable (P,V) bus. Simulation results confirm the ability of the approach to track substation real power and voltage reference signals while maintaining distribution system voltages within acceptable tolerances.
A bridged diagnostic method for the monitoring of polymorphic discrete-event systems

Diagnosis of discrete-event systems (DESs) is a challenging problem that has been tackled both by automatic control and artificial intelligence communities. The relevant approaches share similarities, including modeling by automata, compositional modeling, and model-based reasoning. This paper aims to bridge two complementary approaches from these communities, namely, the diagnoser approach and the active system approach, respectively. The more significant shortcomings of such approaches are, on the one side, the need for the generation of the global system model and, on the other, the lack of monitoring capabilities. The former makes the application of the diagnoser approach prohibitive in real contexts, where the system model is too large to be generated, even offline. The latter requires the completion of the system observation before starting the diagnostic task, thereby, making the monitoring of the system. impossible. The bridged diagnostic method subsumes, to a large extent on the peculiarities of the two approaches and is capable of coping with an extended class of DESs that integrate both synchronous and asynchronous behavior. The bridge is built by extending the active system approach by means of several enhanced techniques, which eventually, allow the efficient monitoring of polymorphic DESs. Upon the occurrence of each system message, two pieces of diagnostic information are generated, namely, the snapshot and historic diagnostic sets. While the former accounts for the faults pertinent to the newly generated message only, the latter is based on the whole sequence of messages yielded by the system during operation.
Evaluating Knowledge and Self-Efficacy among Caribbean Healthcare Workers through a Community Engagement Nutrition Education Program

1 2 3 4 5 Elizabeth D. Wall-Bassett , Laura Gantt , Xiangming Fang , Nancy G. Harris , Jamie Hopkins 6 7 8 Shelby Donnelly , Jacqueline Lancaster-Prevost ,Marynese Titre Assistant Professor, Department of Nutrition Science, East Carolina University, Mailstop 505, Greenville, North Carolina 27858. Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, East Carolina University, 2137 Health Sciences Building Greenville, North Carolina 27858. Assistant Professor, Department of Biostatistics, East Carolina University, 2435F Health Sciences Building, Greenville, North Carolina 27858. Clinical Instructor, Department of Nutrition Science, East Carolina University, Mailstop 505, Greenville, North Carolina 27858 Graduate Student, Department of Nutrition Science, East Carolina University, Mailstop 505, Greenville, North Carolina 27858 Adminstrative Support Specialist, College of Nursing, East Carolina University, 2137 Health Sciences Building, Greenville, North Carolina 27858 Nutritionist, Ret. Ministry of Health and the Environment Roseau, Dominica Nutritionist, Ministry of Health and the Environment, Roseau, Dominica.
Assessment of workflow redesign in community pharmacy.

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect that workflow enhancements have on dispensing responsibilities and pharmacist-patient interaction in the community pharmacy setting. DESIGN Pre-post comparison. Pre-assessment data were obtained from a multisite observational study. SETTING Pharmacy within a regional pharmacy chain. STUDY PARTICIPANTS 3 pharmacists and 110 patients. INTERVENTION The pharmacy was physically remodeled to enable workflow changes, including defining dispensing responsibilities with an emphasis on patient counseling, providing an additional 6 feet of counter space, upgrading technology, installing a third computer, implementing tools to augment the filling process, and requesting that cashiers rephrase the offer to counsel to encourage patient acceptance. Patients and pharmacists were surveyed about the experiences and beliefs, and pharmacy activities were observed directly. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Patient counseling and prescription dispensing. activities. RESULTS The number of pharmacists who perceived that they had adequate time to counsel patients increased as a result of the intervention (0 of 3 responding pharmacists before the intervention, compared with 2 of 2 afterward). Patient satisfaction scores both before and after the intervention were predominantly favorable and did not differ significantly. The most relevant change in dispensing activities was pharmacist involvement with data entry into the computer, which decreased from 61% to 10%. Oral counseling offers to patients increased significantly, from 5% to 85%, but counseling rates remained low throughout the study and were not measurably affected by workload. CONCLUSION Workflow redesign has positively affected the dispensing activities at the study site. Technicians took more responsibility for dispensing tasks. Given the drastic increase in counseling offers but lack of effect on counseling rates, patient behavior and expectations with regard to counseling likely need to change to further improve dynamics in the community pharmacy.
GC-Content Evolution in Bacterial Genomes: The Biased Gene Conversion Hypothesis Expands

The characterization of functional elements in genomes relies on the identification of the footprints of natural selection. In this quest, taking into account neutral evolutionary processes such as mutation and genetic drift is crucial because these forces can generate patterns that may obscure or mimic signatures of selection. In mammals, and probably in many eukaryotes, another such confounding factor called GC-Biased Gene Conversion (gBGC) has been documented. This mechanism generates patterns identical to what is expected under selection for higher GC-content, specifically in highly recombining genomic regions. Recent results have suggested that a mysterious selective force favouring higher GC-content exists in Bacteria but the possibility that it could be gBGC has been excluded. Here, we show that gBGC is probably at work in most if not all bacterial species. First we find a consistent positive relationship between the GC-content of a gene and evidence of intra-genic recombination throughout a broad spectrum of bacterial clades. Second, we show that the evolutionary force responsible for this pattern is acting independently from selection on codon usage, and could potentially interfere with selection in favor of optimal AU-ending codons. A comparison with data from human populations shows that the intensity of gBGC in Bacteria is comparable to what has been reported in mammals. We propose that gBGC is not restricted to sexual Eukaryotes but also widespread among Bacteria and could therefore be an ancestral feature of cellular organisms. We argue that if gBGC occurs in bacteria, it can account for previously unexplained observations, such as the apparent non-equilibrium of base substitution patterns and the heterogeneity of gene composition within bacterial genomes. Because gBGC produces patterns similar to positive selection, it is essential to take this process into account when studying the evolutionary forces at work in bacterial genomes.
Management of Diarrhea in Under-fives at Home and Health Facilities in Kashmir.

BACKGROUND Diarrheal disease forms one of the two major killer diseases in children under five years of age in the developing world. There are inherent cultural practices for management of diarrhea at the domestic level. Also, the treatment practices at health centers vary, with inappropriate use of antibiotics, and iv fluids observed commonly, while ORS is less frequently used. METHODOLOGY Cross sectional study was carried out using pretested interview schedule between January and December 2006, in villages of Kashmir Valley. RESULTS The ORS use rate is low (24.4% and 8.4%) respectively in past and current episode. Cultural practices include harmful ones like starving to overcome the episode. The rate of Antibiotic use is higher with 77.9%. CONCLUSION Kashmir valley faces the same problems in effective diarrhea management as in other developing regions of India and the world, viz. less ORS use, high antibiotic use and harmful cultural practices like giving bowel rest.
In search of invariants for e-business workloads

ABSTRACT Understanding the nature and hara teristi s of e-business workloads is a ru ial step to improve the quality of servi e o ered to ustomers in ele troni business environments. However, the variety and omplexity of the intera tions between ustomers and sites make the hara terization of ebusiness workloads a hallenging problem. Using a multilayer hierar hi al model, this paper presents a detailed hara terization of the workload of two a tual e-business sites: an online bookstore and an ele troni au tion site. Through the hara terization pro ess, we found the presen e of autonomous agents, or robots, in the workload and used the hierar hi al stru ture to determine their hara teristi s. We also found that sear h terms follow a Zipf distribution.
Learning and Memory Alterations Are Associated with Hippocampal N-acetylaspartate in a Rat Model of Depression as Measured by 1H-MRS

It is generally accepted that cognitive processes, such as learning and memory, are affected in depression. The present study used a rat model of depression, chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS), to determine whether hippocampal volume and neurochemical changes were involved in learning and memory alterations. A further aim was to determine whether these effects could be ameliorated by escitalopram treatment, as assessed with the non-invasive techniques of structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Our results demonstrated that CUMS had a dramatic influence on spatial cognitive performance in the Morris water maze task, and CUMS reduced the concentration of neuronal marker N-acetylaspartate (NAA) in the hippocampus. These effects could be significantly reversed by repeated administration of escitalopram. However, neither chronic stress nor escitalopram treatment influenced hippocampal volume. Of note, the learning and memory alterations of the rats were associated with right hippocampal NAA concentration. Our results indicate that in depression, NAA may be a more sensitive measure of cognitive function than hippocampal volume.
ASYNCHRONOUS MAXIMUM ADVANCES OF MOUNTAIN AND CONTINENTAL GLACIERS

The last maximum glacier advance in many mountain ranges appears to have predated the last maximum advance of the Wisconsinan continental ice sheets (∼20,000 years B.P.). Published evidence from widely spaced localities in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Hawai'i suggests that some mountain glaciers extended farther during one or more stades early in the last glaciation, roughly 115,000–30,000 years B.P., than at its end, when low global temperature and high precipitation presumably were most favorable for the growth of glaciers. Variations in the timing of glacier advances in different mountain ranges suggest that alpine glaciers are dependent on regional climate as well as global conditions. Their study might provide sensitive tests for theories of global climate change. Glacial deposits are often used as time markers in neotectonic and geomorphic studies, and their ages sometimes are inferred from distant measurements or from proxy histories of global climate change. Undated geomorphic features such as moraines, sharply incised streams, and river terraces, which commonly have been associated with the last maximum glacier advance (∼20,000 years B.P.) or last deglaciation ( ∼13,000 years B.P.), may actually be older by a factor of 2 to 4 (or more). Conversely, deposits assigned to the maximum advances of the penultimate global glaciation ( ∼130,000 years B.P.) may actually date from early in the most recent glacial cycle and be younger by a comparable factor. Rates of faulting or folding estimated from displacements or deformation and the assumed ages of such geomorphic features might be too great (or too small) by corresponding factors.
The effect of vagal nerve blockade using electrical impulses on glucose metabolism in nondiabetic subjects

Purpose Vagal interruption causes weight loss in humans and decreases endogenous glucose production in animals. However, it is unknown if this is due to a direct effect on glucose metabolism. We sought to determine if vagal blockade using electrical impulses alters glucose metabolism in humans. Patients and methods We utilized a randomized, cross-over study design where participants were studied after 2 weeks of activation or inactivation of vagal nerve blockade (VNB). Seven obese subjects with impaired fasting glucose previously enrolled in a long-term study to examine the effect of VNB on weight took part. We used a standardized triple-tracer mixed meal to enable measurement of the rate of meal appearance, endogenous glucose production, and glucose disappearance. The 550 kcal meal was also labeled with 111In-diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) to measure gastrointestinal transit. Insulin action and β-cell responsivity indices were estimated using the minimal model. Results Integrated glucose, insulin, and glucagon concentrations did not differ between study days. This was also reflected in a lack of effect on β-cell responsivity and insulin action. Furthermore, fasting and postprandial endogenous glucose production, integrated meal appearance, and glucose disposal did not differ in the presence or absence of VNB. Similarly, gastric emptying and colonic transit were unchanged by VNB. Conclusion In this pilot study in nondiabetic humans, electrical vagal blockade had no acute effects on glucose metabolism, insulin secretion and action, or gastric emptying. It remains to be determined if more pronounced effects would be observed in diabetic subjects.