Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phenomenon of declining anxiety sensitivity scores: a controlled investigation

Background: Repeated administration of anxiety sensitivity measures can often produce declining scores, even in ostensible control groups, which is a significant concern for researchers. The reasons for these changes are as yet unknown, but could be because of regression to the mean in samples selected on extreme scores, exposure to general information about anxiety contained in psychiatric interviews, or mere exposure to anxiety sensitivity information. Methods: This study sought to experimentally evaluate these potential explanations using a comprehensive measure of anxiety sensitivity and its subcomponents, a non‐anxiety sensitivity measure (self‐esteem), and participants representing the full spectrum of anxiety sensitivity. Results: Results indicated significant decreases in anxiety sensitivity scores (but not self‐esteem scores) that could not be accounted for by regression to the mean or exposure to information about anxiety in general. Conclusions: Several potential explanations for these findings are reviewed and implications for research study designs are discussed. Depression and Anxiety, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Intestinal metaplasia of the stomach. A status report

Intestinal metaplasia in the stomach increases the risk of gastric cancer, and the increased risk is proportional to the extent of the metaplasia. This risk could be generated by one or more mechanisms: (1) the metaplastic tissue is an early step in a multistep induction process; (2) the metaplastic tissue is an epigenetic change that raises the pH of gastric juice by replacing oxyntic mucosa, favoring the growth of a bacteria capable of generating endogenous mutagens; and/or (3) the metaplasia is only a marker for chronic gastritis due to H. pylori infection or pernicious anemia. With the last mechanism, the inflammatory response favors intramural mutagenesis that might result in metaplasia or neoplasia as independent events.
Large-scale compartment-fire toxicity study: comparison with small-scale toxicity test results

Ten large-scale single-compartment fire tests were performed using two polyurethane foams and a cotton upholstery fabric. Animals were exposed to the products of decomposition of cushion assemblies burned under three different combustion modes: smoldering combustion; flaming combustion; and smoldering-to-flaming transition combustion. Comparison of gas yields (CO, CO/sub 2/, and HCN) between these tests and prior large- and small-scale tests showed that the CO and CO/sub 2/ yields agreed within a factor of 3, while the NBS Toxicity Protocol produced 10 times more HCN in the flaming mode and ramped heating mode than the large-scale tests. Model calculations showed that within-exposure animal deaths in small- and large-scale tests correlated with model values greater than 0.7. Burn room animal deaths could not be explained in terms of the four gases used in the N-gas model.
A prospective study of pregnant patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis using validated clinical instruments

Objective: : To analyse the disease course of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) during and after pregnancy by validated clinical instruments for measurement of disease activity, and assess their usefulness in pregnant patients. Methods: Included were 10 patients with RA and 9 with AS (10 pregnancies). Clinical examination and blood/urine sampling was performed before conception, at each trimester, and weeks 6, 12, and 24 post partum. Assessment of RA was by the RA Disease Activity Index (RADAI), the 44 joint count, and the Health Assessment Questionnaire; assessment of AS by the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Activity Index (BASDAI), the Dougados Functional and Articular Index, and a night pain index. Common for all patients were the patient’s and physician’s global assessment. Results: : Most patients with RA showed sustained or increased improvement of disease activity during pregnancy. Higher disease activity scores were found in the patients with AS with a frequent increase of disease activity in the second trimester and mitigation of symptoms in the third trimester. Analysis specifically for the patient’s assessment of pain showed continuously higher pain scores in the patients with AS than in those with RA. Rank correlation showed good to moderate correlation between most clinical measurements and RADAI or BASDAI, respectively. Functional indices were confounded by physiological changes of late pregnancy. Conclusion: RA can be monitored during and after pregnancy by the swollen joint count and RADAI without interference from pregnancy related symptoms, whereas usual measures of disease activity are not always applicable in pregnant patients with AS.
Evidence-based strategies for reducing cesarean section rates: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Canada's cesarean section rate reached an all-time high of 22.5 percent of in-hospital deliveries in 2002 and was associated with potential maternal and neonatal complications. Clinical practice guidelines represent an appropriate mean for reducing cesarean section rates. The challenge now lies in implementing these guidelines. Objectives of this meta-analysis were to assess the effectiveness of interventions for reducing the cesarean section rate and to assess the impact of this reduction on maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. METHODS The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and MEDLINE were consulted from January 1990 to June 2005. Additional studies were identified by screening reference lists from identified studies and expert suggestions. Studies involving rigorous evaluation of a strategy for reducing overall cesarean section rates were identified. Randomized controlled trials, controlled before-and-after studies, and interrupted time series studies were evaluated according to Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group criteria. RESULTS Among the 10 included studies, a significant reduction of cesarean section rate was found by random meta-analysis (pooled RR = 0.81 [0.75, 0.87]). No evidence of publication bias was identified. Audit and feedback (pooled RR = 0.87 [0.81, 0.93]), quality improvement (pooled RR = 0.74 [0.70, 0.77]), and multifaceted strategies (pooled RR=0.73 [0.68, 0.79]) were effective for reducing the cesarean section rate. However, quality improvement based on active management of labor showed mixed effects. Design of studies showed a higher effect for noncontrolled studies than for controlled studies (pooled RR = 0.76 [0.72, 0.81] vs 0.92 [0.88, 0.96]). Studies including an identification of barriers to change were more effective than other interventions for reducing the cesarean section rate (pooled RR = 0.74 [0.71, 0.78] vs 0.88 [0.82, 0.94]). Among included studies, no significant differences were found for perinatal and neonatal mortality and perinatal and maternal morbidity with respect to the mode of delivery. Only 1 study showed a significant reduction of neonatal and perinatal mortality (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS The cesarean section rate can be safely reduced by interventions that involve health workers in analyzing and modifying their practice. Our results suggest that multifaceted strategies, based on audit and detailed feedback, are advised to improve clinical practice and effectively reduce cesarean section rates. Moreover, these findings support the assumption that identification of barriers to change is a major key to success.
Information-Centric Networks With Correlated Mobility

The information-centric networking (ICN), which is an important research direction of future internet architecture, has gained lots of attention from the research community. This paper investigates the impact of a correlated mobility on the throughput and delay performance of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) under information-centric environments, where the main concern of nodes is to retrieve contents stored by other nodes. Based on the degree of correlation among nodes, we consider two network regimes, i.e., the cluster-dense regime and cluster-sparse regime. In each regime, we study two mobility time scales: 1) fast mobility, where node mobility is at the same time scale as packet transmissions, and 2) slow mobility, where node mobility is at a much slower time scale than the packet transmissions. In each regime, we characterize the network performance under fast mobility and slow mobility, respectively. Our results indicate that 1)under fast mobility, correlated mobility improves delay performance at the cost of throughput performance;
Skin irritants and contact sensitizers induce Langerhans cell migration and maturation at irritant concentration

Abstract: Skin irritants and contact allergens reduce the number of Langerhans cells (LCs). It has been assumed that this reduction is due their migration to the draining lymph node (LN) for initiating immune sensitization in a host. Skin irritation, however, as opposed to contact allergy is not considered to be an immunological disease. Nevertheless, skin irritants are also known for their adjuvant‐like effects on contact allergy, resulting in skin hypersensitivity reactions like toxic dermatitis. The human organotypic skin explant culture (hOSEC) model is used to study the characteristics of chemical‐induced migration of CD1a+ LCs out of the epidermis in relation to irritancy or toxicity. We analysed cells emigrating out of hOSEC for CD1a+ LCs, CD83+ mature dendritic cells (DCs) and CCR7+ LN homing cells. After exposure to a toxic concentration of a non‐immunogenic irritant, an increase of CD1a+CD83+ LCs was found in the culture medium. A non‐toxic concentration of an sensitizer induced an increase of CD1a+ cells. About 50% of skin emigrating CD1a+ LCs were CD83– (immature) but all were CCR7+. Skin irritation by both non‐allergenic and allergenic compounds induces LC migration and maturation. In contrast, only allergenic compounds induced LC migration with partial maturation at subtoxic concentration. This effectively demonstrates that irritation is physiologically needed stimuli for inducing LC maturation.
Assessment of Traditional Medicine Utilization in Harar Town, Eastern Ethiopia

Traditional medicine (TM) has been part of man’s survival for long time. Harar is an ancient trade route and has a close proximity to the red sea. The use of TM is common and the majority of its habitants use TM. This study was conducted to assess why Harar households continued to prefer and depend on the utilization of TM as part of their healthcare system. Community based cross sectional study was conducted to select head of 423 households. Data was collected using face to face interview with a semi structured questionnaires and descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviations, frequencies and percentages were performed to examine the outcomes and associated factors. The result shown that 60.50% of the households preferred to use TM as their primary health care services and used TM for curative of ailments because TM had minimal side effects compared to modern medications. Socio demographic factors had no significant association to TM use; however, other associated factors had strong association with TM use. Personal experience such as minimal side effect of TM, attitudes towards TM use such as cost effectiveness, effective for specific diseases and quality service such as ready availability of TM had strong association to TM utilization. It was concluded that TM is still continued to play a significant role in healthcare of many households of Harar town because TM is dependable, affordable, safe and cost effective.
Blind Detection With Polar Codes

In blind detection, a set of candidates has to be decoded within a strict time constraint, to identify which transmissions are directed at the user equipment. We propose a blind detection scheme based on polar codes, where the radio network temporary identifier is transmitted instead of some of the frozen bits. A low-complexity decoding phase decodes all candidates, selecting a subset that is decoded by a high-performance algorithm. Simulations results show good missed detection and false alarm rates, that meet the 3GPP LTE-A and future 5G standard specifications. We also propose an early stopping criterion that can reduce the number of operations performed, improving both average latency and energy consumption. The detection speed is analyzed and different system parameter combinations are shown to meet the stringent timing requirements, leading to various implementation trade-offs.
Marketable Pod Yield of Vegetable Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) as Influenced by Organic Manures Fermented with EM Solution

An experiment was conducted at a net house in the Eastern region of Sri Lanka to study the influence of or- ganic manures with EM (effective microorganisms) on marketable yield of vegetable cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) cv BS1. The treatments included different fertilizer applications from three sources of animal manures viz: cattle, goat and poultry manures separately mixed with rice bran and paddy husk then fermented with EM solution (EM-Bokashi fertilizers) while unfertilized plot and application of recommended chemical fertilizer both served as first and second controls respectively. Each EM-Bokashi fertilizer was applied as basal and top dressing applications at rate of 300 g/m 2 which was applied 14 days before planting and 30 days after planting respectively. The results revealed that EM-Bokashi significantly (p<0.05) increased the number of nodules, length and number of marketable (green) pods, dry weight of plant parts, marketable pod yield and harvest index compared to chemical and non-fertilizer applications. Plants fertilized with goat manure EM- Bokashi had highest number of nodules (31), fresh (174.3 g) and dry (22.8 g) weights of marketable pods per plant and harvest index (70.2%) compared to those with cattle or poultry manure EM-Bokashi. In summary, application of organic manures fermented with EM solution especially goat manure EM-Bokashi fertilizer was more effective in improving growth and marketable pod yield of vegetable cowpea compared to chemical fertilizer and unfertilized plots in vegetable cowpea cultivation.
Heterozygosity and mutation rate: evidence for an interaction and its implications

If natural selection chose where new mutations occur it might well favour placing them near existing polymorphisms, thereby avoiding disruption of areas that work while adding novelty to regions where variation is tolerated or even beneficial. Such a system could operate if heterozygous sites are recognised and ‘repaired’ during the initial stages of crossing over. Such repairs involve an extra round of DNA replication, providing an opportunity for further mutations, thereby raising the local mutation rate. If so, the changes in heterozygosity that occur when populations grow or shrink could feed back to modulate both the rate and the distribution of mutations. Here, I review evidence from isozymes, microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms that this potential is realised in real populations. I then consider the likely implications, focusing particularly on how these processes might affect microsatellites, concluding that heterozygosity does impact on the rate and distribution of mutations.
The effect of intramedullary pin size and plate working length on plate strain in locking compression plate-rod constructs under axial load

Summary Objective: To investigate the effect of intramedullary pin size and plate working length on plate strain in locking compression plate-rod constructs. Methods: A synthetic bone model with a 40 mm fracture gap was used. Locking compression plates with monocortical locking screws were tested with no pin (LCP-Mono) and intramedullary pins of 20% (LCPR-20), 30% (LCPR-30) and 40% (LCPR-40) of intramedullary diameter. Two screws per fragment modelled a long (8-hole) and short (4-hole) plate working length. Strain responses to axial compression were recorded at six regions of the plate via three-dimensional digital image correlation. Results: The addition of a pin of any size provided a significant decrease in plate strain. For the long working length, LCPR-30 and LCPR-40 had significantly lower strain than the LCPR-20, and plate strain was significantly higher adjacent to the screw closest to the fracture site. For the short working length, there was no significant difference in strain across any LCPR constructs or at any region of the plate. Plate strain was significantly lower for the short working length compared to the long working length for the LCP-Mono and LCPR-20 constructs, but not for the LCPR-30 and LCPR-40 constructs. Clinical significance: The increase in plate strain encountered with a long working length can be overcome by the use of a pin of 30–40% intramedullary diameter. Where placement of a large diameter pin is not possible, screws should be placed as close to the fracture gap as possible to minimize plate strain and distribute it more evenly over the plate.
Controllability for a Class of Linear Time-Varying Impulsive Systems With Time Delay in Control Input

In this note, the controllability for a class of linear time varying impulsive systems with time delay in control input is studied. Sufficient and necessary conditions for the controllability of such systems are established. Specializing the obtained results to the cases of linear time-varying impulsive systems and linear time invariant impulsive systems with time delay, some simple criteria with respect to coefficient matrices, which are less conservative than some existing results are derived. It is also shown that the time delay in control input contributes to achieve the controllability of impulsive system even if the system is not controllable. Two examples are worked out to illustrate our results.
Flicker Adaptation in the Periphery at Constant Perceived Modulation Depth

At constant physical flicker modulation depth, the time taken to adapt to flicker in the periphery varies inversely with temporal frequency. It has recently been suggested that this effect may indicate differential susceptibility to adaptation of the underlying temporal mechanisms. Using suprathreshold gratings, temporally modulated in contrast at constant perceived, rather than physical, modulation depth, we found the opposite result: the time required to adapt increased with temporal frequency. Given some uncertainty concerning the appropriateness of employing apparent or physically constant modulation depths, we conclude that rate of adaptation does not, at present, provide clear evidence as to the nature of the underlying temporal mechanisms.
Expression of Indian Hedgehog in Osteoblasts and Its Posttranscriptional Regulation by Transforming Growth Factor-β.

Indian hedgehog (Ihh) was recently reported to be expressed in chondrocytes and to regulate chondrocyte differentiation. This report examined the expression of Ihh in osteoblastic cells and its regulation by calcitropic cytokines. We found that Ihh messenger RNA (mRNA) was expressed as a single 2.5-kilobase band at a modest level in rat osteoblastic osteosarcoma ROS17/2.8 cells. In sharp contrast to the previous observation of dpp regulation of hedgehog expression in Drosophila embryos, bone morphogenetic protein-2 did not affect Ihh expression in these cells. On the other hand, treatment with 2 ng/ml transforming growth factor-β1 (TGFβ1) increased the steady state level of Ihh mRNA 2- to 4-fold. Western blot analysis of the cell lysates using antisera also showed enhancement of the Ihh protein level by TGFβ1 treatment. The effect of TGFβ1 on Ihh mRNA abundance started within 3 h, peaked at 24 h and lasted at least 48 h after the initiation of the treatment. The effect of TGFβ1 on the increase in Ihh mRNA.
Ontogenetic Development of Weberian Ossicles and Hearing Abilities in the African Bullhead Catfish

Background The Weberian apparatus of otophysine fishes facilitates sound transmission from the swimbladder to the inner ear to increase hearing sensitivity. It has been of great interest to biologists since the 19th century. No studies, however, are available on the development of the Weberian ossicles and its effect on the development of hearing in catfishes. Methodology/Principal Findings We investigated the development of the Weberian apparatus and auditory sensitivity in the catfish Lophiobagrus cyclurus. Specimens from 11.3 mm to 85.5 mm in standard length were studied. Morphology was assessed using sectioning, histology, and X-ray computed tomography, along with 3D reconstruction. Hearing thresholds were measured utilizing the auditory evoked potentials recording technique. Weberian ossicles and interossicular ligaments were fully developed in all stages investigated except in the smallest size group. In the smallest catfish, the intercalarium and the interossicular ligaments were still missing and the tripus was not yet fully developed. Smallest juveniles revealed lowest auditory sensitivity and were unable to detect frequencies higher than 2 or 3 kHz; sensitivity increased in larger specimens by up to 40 dB, and frequency detection up to 6 kHz. In the size groups capable of perceiving frequencies up to 6 kHz, larger individuals had better hearing abilities at low frequencies (0.05–2 kHz), whereas smaller individuals showed better hearing at the highest frequencies (4–6 kHz). Conclusions/Significance Our data indicate that the ability of otophysine fish to detect sounds at low levels and high frequencies largely depends on the development of the Weberian apparatus. A significant increase in auditory sensitivity was observed as soon as all Weberian ossicles and interossicular ligaments are present and the chain for transmitting sounds from the swimbladder to the inner ear is complete. This contrasts with findings in another otophysine, the zebrafish, where no threshold changes have been observed.
Effects of sex and deletion of neuropeptide Y2 receptors from GABAergic neurons on affective and alcohol drinking behaviors in mice

A large literature has demonstrated that neuropeptide Y (NPY) regulates many emotional and reward-related behaviors via its primary receptors, Y1R and Y2R. Classically, NPY actions at postsynaptic Y1R decrease anxiety, depression, and alcohol drinking, while its actions at presynaptic Y2R produce the opposite behavioral phenotypes. However, emerging evidence suggests that activation of Y2R can also produce anxiolysis in a brain region and neurotransmitter system-dependent fashion. Further, numerous human and rodent studies have reported that females display higher levels of anxiety, depression, and alcohol drinking. In this study, we evaluated sex differences and the role of Y2R on GABAergic transmission in these behaviors using a novel transgenic mouse that lacks Y2R specifically in VGAT-expressing neurons (VGAT-Y2R knockout). First, we confirmed our genetic manipulation by demonstrating that Y2R protein expression was decreased and that a Y2R agonist could not alter GABAergic transmission in the extended amygdala, a limbic brain region critically implicated in the regulation of anxiety and alcohol drinking behaviors, using immunofluorescence and slice electrophysiology. Then, we tested male and female VGAT-Y2R knockout mice on a series of behavioral assays for anxiety, depression, fear, anhedonia, and alcohol drinking. We found that females displayed greater basal anxiety, higher levels of ethanol consumption, and faster fear conditioning than males, and that knockout mice exhibited enhanced depressive-like behavior in the forced swim test. Together, these results confirm previous studies that demonstrate higher expression of negative affective and alcohol drinking behaviors in females than males, and they highlight the importance of Y2R function in GABAergic systems in the expression of depressive-like behavior.