Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and Factors Associated with Renal Dysfunction in HIV Positive and Negative Adults at the University Teaching Hospital, in Lusaka.

BACKGROUND Despite having the highest disease burden of HIV, Sub-Saharan Africa has limited data on HIV related kidney disease with most available data coming from the developed countries. Kidney disease is a recognised complication in HIV infected patients presenting with acute renal failure (ARF) or chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study investigated the prevalence and risk factors associated with renal dysfunction among hospitalised HIV infected patients at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Lusaka. METHODOLOGY We conducted a cross sectional study at the University Teaching Hospital Lusaka, in Zambia. Inclusion criteria were hospitalised patients aged 16years and above who consented to the study. Both HIV infected and uninfected patients were included in the study. After obtaining demographic information, study participants were screened for HIV upon their consenting for the test. A full clinical history and examination was done by study physician to determine factors associated with renal dysfunction. RESULTS Of the 300 recruited hospitalised patients in this cross sectional study, 142(47%) were HIV infected. We observed a high prevalence of renal dysfunction among hospitalised HIV infected patients compared to uninfected patients (42% vs. 27%, adjusted OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.20-3.28). They had a twofold increased likelihood of developing kidney dysfunction (OR 1.96,95 CI%; 1.21-3.17). The presence of vomiting was strongly associated with renal dysfunction in both HIV positive (AOR 7.77, 95% CI 2.46-24-53) and negative (AOR4.83, 95%CI 1.40-16.66) subgroups. WHO stage III was associated with renal dysfunction in HIV infected patients. Tenofovir use, (a first line antiretroviral drug in Zambia) and hypotension were not significant factors associated with kidney disease after adjusting for other clinical parameters. CONCLUSION Renal dysfunction is significantly higher among hospitalised HIV infected compared to uninfected, however tenofovir and hypotension were not associated with renal dysfunction.
Sizing Up Repo

We measure the repo funding extended by money market funds (MMF) and securities lenders to the shadow banking system, including quantities, haircuts, and repo rates by type of underlying collateral. We find that repo played only a small role in funding private sector assets prior to the crisis, as most repos are backed by Treasury and Agency collateral. Repo with private sector collateral contracts during the crisis, but the magnitude is relatively insignificant compared with the contraction in asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP). While relatively small in aggregate, the contraction in repo particularly affected key dealer banks with large exposures to private sector securities, which then had knock-on effects on security markets, and led these dealer banks to resort to the Fed's emergency lending programs. We also find that haircuts in MMF-to-dealer repo rise less than the dealer-to-dealer or dealer-to-hedge fund repo haircuts reported in earlier papers. This finding suggests that the contraction in repo led dealers to take defensive actions, given their own capital and liquidity problems, raising credit terms to their borrowers. The picture that emerges from these findings looks less like a traditional bank run of depositors and more like a credit crunch among dealer banks.
Educational Needs of Adults With Congenital Heart Disease

Adults with congenital heart disease represent a new and growing population of patients who pose a challenge to both medicine and nursing. The purpose of this study was to identify the educational needs of adults with congenital heart disease. The study used a prospective, cross-sectional, case-control study design and enrolled 124 adults with congenital heart disease and 124 matched healthy controls. Adults with congenital heart disease were more likely to report living at home with parents and less likely to be employed compared with healthy controls. When those adults with acyanotic and cyanotic congenital heart disease were compared, acyanotic adults were twice as likely to be employed. Additionally, several areas of educational needs were identified in this study for adults with congenital heart disease.
Flexible Composition: MEG Evidence for the Deployment of Basic Combinatorial Linguistic Mechanisms in Response to Task Demands

The present study investigates whether a minimal manipulation in task demands can induce core linguistic combinatorial mechanisms to extend beyond the bounds of normal grammatical phrases. Using magnetoencephalography, we measured neural activity evoked by the processing of adjective-noun phrases in canonical (red cup) and reversed order (cup red). During a task not requiring composition (verification against a color blob and shape outline), we observed significant combinatorial activity during canonical phrases only – as indexed by minimum norm source activity localized to the left anterior temporal lobe at 200–250 ms(cf. [1], [2]). When combinatorial task demands were introduced (by simply combining the blob and outline into a single colored shape) we observed significant combinatorial activity during reversed sequences as well. These results demonstrate the first direct evidence that basic linguistic combinatorial mechanisms can be deployed outside of normal grammatical expressions in response to task demands, independent of changes in lexical or attentional factors.
Spatial Throughput Characterization in Cognitive Radio Networks with Threshold-Based Opportunistic Spectrum Access

This paper studies the opportunistic spectrum access (OSA) of the secondary users in a large-scale overlay cognitive radio (CR) network. Two threshold-based OSA schemes, namely the primary receiver assisted (PRA) protocol and the primary transmitter assisted (PTA) protocol, are investigated. Under the PRA/PTA protocols, a secondary transmitter (ST) is allowed to access the spectrum only when the maximum signal power of the received beacons/pilots sent from the active primary receivers/transmitters (PRs/PTs) is lower than a certain threshold. To measure the resulting transmission opportunity for the secondary users by the proposed OSA protocols, the concept of spatial opportunity, which is defined as the probability that an arbitrary location in the primary network is detected as a spatial spectrum hole, is introduced and then evaluated by applying tools from stochastic geometry. Based on spatial opportunity, the coverage (non-outage transmission) performance in the overlay CR network is analyzed. With the obtained results of spatial opportunity and coverage probability, we finally characterize the spatial throughput, which is defined as the average spatial density of successful transmissions in the primary/secondary network, under the PRA and PTA protocols, respectively.
Elevated Levels of Oxidative DNA Damage and DNA Repair Enzymes in Human Atherosclerotic Plaques

Background—The formation of reactive oxygen species is a critical event in atherosclerosis because it promotes cell proliferation, hypertrophy, growth arrest, and/or apoptosis and oxidation of LDL. In the present study, we investigated whether reactive oxygen species-induced oxidative damage to DNA occurs in human atherosclerotic plaques and whether this is accompanied by the upregulation of DNA repair mechanisms. Methods and Results—We observed increased immunoreactivity against the oxidative DNA damage marker 7,8-dihydro-8-oxo-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) in plaques of the carotid artery compared with the adjacent inner media and nonatherosclerotic mammary arteries. Strong 8-oxo-dG immunoreactivity was found in all cell types of the plaque including macrophages, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial cells. As shown by competitive ELISA, carotid plaques contained 160±29 8-oxo-dG residues/105 dG versus 3±1 8-oxo-dG residues/105 dG in mammary arteries. Single-cell gel electrophoresis showed elevated levels of DNA strand breaks in the plaque. The overall number of apoptotic nuclei was low (1% to 2%) and did not correlate with the amount of 8-oxo-dG immunoreactive cells (>90%). This suggests that initial damage to DNA occurs at a sublethal level. Several DNA repair systems that are involved in base excision repair (redox factor/AP endonuclease [Ref 1] and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 [PARP-1]) or nonspecific repair pathways (p53, DNA-dependent protein kinase) were upregulated, as shown by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Overexpression of DNA repair enzymes was associated with elevated levels of proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Conclusions—Our findings provide evidence that oxidative DNA damage and repair increase significantly in human atherosclerotic plaques.
Ellsberg Revisited: An Experimental Study

An extension to Ellsberg's experiment demonstrates that attitudes to ambiguity and compound objective lotteries are tightly associated. The sample is decomposed into three main groups: subjective expected utility subjects - who reduce compound objective lotteries and are ambiguity neutral, and two groups that exhibit different forms of association between preferences over compound lotteries and ambiguity - corresponding to alternative theoretical models that account for ambiguity averse or seeking behavior.
High HIV seroprevalence, rectal STIs and risky sexual behaviour in men who have sex with men in Dar es Salaam and Tanga, Tanzania

Objectives To assess HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence and associated risk factors in men who have sex with men (MSM) in two cities in mainland Tanzania. Methods We conducted respondent-driven sampling of 300 MSM in Dar es Salaam and Tanga. Results In Dar es Salaam, 172 (86%) men (median age 23, IQR 21–28) consented to HIV/STI testing, and 30.2% were HIV seropositive. Only five reported a previous positive HIV test: >90% were new HIV detections. 2.5% were syphilis-exposed and none hepatitis B positive, but 21.4% had a curable STI. Over 90% of the gonorrhoea and chlamydia was rectal. In Tanga, 11.1% of MSM were HIV seropositive, 8% hepatitis B positive and 0% were syphilis-exposed, with 4.4% having a curable STI. Predictors of HIV infection were number of MSM known, city, identifying as gay and having first sex with a man. Predictors for STIs were recent unprotected receptive anal intercourse, and number of MSM seen in the last month. 30% of the sample reported that they sold sex. There was no significant association between HIV and STI infection. Conclusions HIV and STI rates were substantially lower in MSM in a provincial city than in a large metropolis and rates appear to depend on larger numbers of MSM known. Most HIV detected were new cases, and there was a high burden of asymptomatic curable rectal STIs (>1 in 5 MSM). Owing to stigma, MSM may not report homosexuality and thus not have rectal STIs treated. High need for tailored HIV testing and STI screening and treatment of MSM in Tanzania is apparent.
The shortened replicative life span of prohibitin mutants of yeast appears to be due to defective mitochondrial segregation in old mother cells

Prohibitin proteins have been implicated in cell proliferation, aging, respiratory chain assembly and the maintenance of mitochondrial integrity. The prohibitins of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Phb1 and Phb2, have strong sequence similarity with their human counterparts prohibitin and BAP37, making yeast a good model organism in which to study prohibitin function. Both yeast and mammalian prohibitins form high‐molecular‐weight complexes (Phb1/2 or prohibitin/BAP37, respectively) in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Expression of prohibitins declines with senescence, both in mammalian fibroblasts and in yeast. With a total loss of prohibitins, the replicative (budding) life span of yeast is reduced, whilst the chronological life span (the survival of stationary cells over time) is relatively unaffected. This effect of prohibitin loss on the replicative life span is still apparent in the absence of an assembled respiratory chain. It also does not reflect the production of extrachromosomal ribosomal DNA circles (ERCs), a genetic instability thought to be a major cause of replicative senescence in yeast. Examination of cells containing a mitochondrially targeted green fluorescent protein indicates this shortened life span is a reflection of defective mitochondrial segregation from the mother to the daughter in the old mother cells of phb mutant strains. Old mother phb mutant cells display highly aberrant mitochondrial morphology and, frequently, a delayed segregation of mitochondria to the daughter. They often arrest growth with their last bud strongly attached and with the mitochondria adjacent to the septum between the mother and the daughter cell.
Ambient Salinity Modulates the Expression of Sodium Pumps in Branchial Mitochondria-Rich Cells of Mozambique Tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus

Abstract Na,K-ATPase (sodium pumps) provide the primitive driving force for ion transport in bran-chial epithelial cells. Immunoblots of epithelial homogenates of both seawater (SW)- and freshwater (FW)-adapted tilapia gills as well as rat brain homogenate, a positive control, revealed one major band with a molecular weight of about 100 kDa. SW-adapted tilapia gills possessed larger (about 2-fold) amounts of sodium pumps compared with FW-adapted tilapia gills. 3H-ouabain binding representing functional binding sites of Na,K-ATPase was also higher (about 3.5-fold) in gills of SW-adapted tilapia compared to that of FW-adapted fish. Moreover, specific activities of SW fish were higher (about 2-fold) than those of FW fish. Double labeling of Na,K-ATPase and Con-A, a fluorescent marker of MR cells, in tilapia gills followed by analysis with confocal microscopy showed that sodium pumps were localized mainly in MR cells, including the SW type and different FW types. Although more-active expression of Na,K-ATPase was demonstrated in gills of SW-adapted tilapia, no significant differences in densities of apical openings of MR cells were found between SW- and FW-adapted fish. These results indicate that, during salinity challenge, tilapia develop more “functional” Na,K-ATPase in SW-type MR cells to meet physiological demands.
The impact of both platinum-based chemotherapy and EGFR-TKIs on overall survival of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Both platinum-based doublet chemotherapy (PBC) and epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) prolong the survival of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In early studies, most patients underwent PBC as first-line treatment, but not all patients could afford EGFR-TKIs as second-line treatment. To understand the impact of PBC and EGFR-TKIs on NSCLC prognosis, we evaluated the association between the receipt of both regimens and overall survival (OS). Using MEDLINE and EMBASE, we identified prospective, randomized, controlled phase III clinical trials in advanced NSCLC that met the inclusion criteria: in general population with advanced NSCLC, the percentage of patients treated with both PBC and EGFR-TKIs was available in the trial and OS was reported. After collecting data from the selected trials, we correlated the percentage of patients treated with both PBC and EGFR-TKIs with the reported OS, using a weighted analysis. Fifteen phase III clinical trials—involving 11,456 adult patients in 32 arms—were included in the analysis, including 6 trials in Asian populations and 9 in non-Asian (predominantly Caucasian) populations. The OS was positively correlated with the percentage of patients treated with both PBC and EGFR-TKIs (r = 0.797, P < 0.001). The correlation was obvious in the trials in Asian populations (r = 0.936, P < 0.001) but was not statistically significant in the trials in predominantly Caucasian populations (r = 0.116, P = 0.588). These results suggest that treatment with PBC and EGFR-TKIs may provide a survival benefit to patients with advanced NSCLC, highlighting the importance of having both modalities available for therapy.
Renewal Model of a Buffered Optical Burst Switch

In this paper we propose an analytic framework for estimating blocking probability in an asynchronous optical burst switch with wavelength conversion and a multi-channel feed-back fibre delay line. Burst arrivals are of general renewal type and burst lengths exponentially distributed. Example solutions for gamma-distributed arrivals are compared with discrete-event simulations. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first analytic model of such a switch for general renewal arrival statistics.
Equilibrium Unemployment During Financial Crises

Financial crises in both emerging and developed economies have been characterized by large output drops and spikes in unemployment and interest rates. To account for these stylized facts this paper builds a business cycle model where financial and la- bor market frictions interact as occasionally binding borrowing constraints and search frictions. The model is calibrated to a Sudden Stop-prone emerging economy and also to some peripheral European economies in the recent crisis. The model accounts for unemployment dynamics both during crises and at regular business cycle frequencies. The paper also assesses the welfare implications of policies that reduce real minimum wages during crises.
Author's Personal Copy Behavioural Processes Dyadic Relationships and Operational Performance of Male and Female Owners and Their Male Dogs

In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: Keywords: Dyadic interactions Human–animal companions Human–animal relationships Human–dog dyads Personality Social stress a b s t r a c t In the paper we investigate how owner personality, attitude and gender influence dog behavior, dyadic practical functionality and the level of dog salivary cortisol. In three meetings, 12 female and 10 male owners of male dogs answered questionnaires including the Neo-FFI human personality inventory. Their dyadic behavior was video-taped in a number of test situations, and saliva samples were collected. Owners who scored highly in neuroticism (Neo-FFI dimension one) viewed their dogs as social supporters and spent much time with them. Their dogs had low baseline cortisol levels, but such dyads were less successful in the operational task. Owners who scored highly in extroversion (Neo-FFI dimension two) appreciated shared activities with their dogs which had relatively high baseline cortisol values. Dogs that had female owners were less sociable–active (dog personality axis 1) than dogs that had male owners. Therefore, it appears that owner gender and personality influences dyadic interaction style, dog behavior and dyadic practical functionality.
Phenotypic Analyses and Mutation Screening of the SLC26A4 and FOXI1 Genes in 101 Taiwanese Families with Bilateral Nonsyndromic Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct (DFNB4) or Pendred Syndrome

Recessive mutations in the SLC26A4 gene are responsible for nonsyndromic enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA) and Pendred syndrome. However, in some affected families, only 1 or 0 mutated allele can be identified, as well as no clear correlation between SLC26A4 genotypes and clinical phenotypes, hampering the accuracy of genetic counseling. To elucidate the genetic composition of nonsyndromic EVA and Pendred syndrome, we screened related genomic fragments, including the SLC26A4 coding regions, the SLC26A4 promoter and the FOXI1 transcription factor gene, in 101 Taiwanese families, and analyzed their phenotypic and genotypic results. Mutation screening in the SLC26A4 coding regions by direct sequencing and quantitative polymerase chain reaction detected 2 mutations in 63 (62%) families, 1 mutation in 24 (24%) families and no mutation in 14 (14%) families. The radiological findings, the presence of goiters and the audiological results were not different among probands (i.e. index cases of the families) with different SLC26A4 genotypes. Specifically, probands heterozygous for SLC26A4 mutations demonstrated clinical features indistinguishable from those of probands with 2 mutated alleles, implicating that there might be undetected mutations. However, except for a variant (c.–2554G>A of SLC26A4) with possible pathological consequences, no definite mutation was detected after extensive screening in the SLC26A4 promoter and FOXI1. In other words, in most Taiwanese families nonsyndromic EVA or Pendred syndrome might not result from aberrance in the transcriptional control of SLC26A4 by FOXI1. Meanwhile, exploration of undetected mutations in the SLC26A4 noncoding regions revealed 9 divergent haplotypes among the 21 no-mutation-detected SLC26A4 alleles of the c.919-2A>G heterozygotes, indicating that there might be no common and predominant mutations in the SLC26A4 introns.
Hypertension and Its Associated Risk Factors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2013: A National Survey

Current data on hypertension in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are lacking. We conducted a national survey to inform decision-makers on the current magnitude of the epidemic. We measured systolic and diastolic blood pressure of 10,735 Saudis aged 15 years or older and interviewed them through a national multistage survey. We used multivariate logistic regressions to describe sociodemographic characteristics and risk factors of hypertensive, borderline hypertensive, and undiagnosed hypertensive Saudis. We found that 15.2% and 40.6% of Saudis were hypertensive or borderline hypertensive, respectively. Risk of hypertension increased among men, with age, obesity, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia. 57.8% of hypertensive Saudis were undiagnosed. These were more likely to be male, older, and diagnosed with diabetes. Among participants diagnosed with hypertension, 78.9% reported taking medication for their condition. About 45% of participants on medication for hypertension had their blood pressure controlled. The prevalence of hypertension and borderline hypertension is very high in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, control of hypertension is poor. With the majority of hypertensive Saudis being unaware of their condition, a national plan is needed to increase utilization of freely available screening, preventive, and medical services.