Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Student Suicides

STUDENT SUICIDES Owing to the complexity of the troubles that lead people to commit suicide, and to the fact that they can usually be investigated only in retrospect, we still know too little to take effective preventive action as often as is desirable. This is perhaps particularly true of suicides among university students. The article by Sir Alan Rook in the opening pages of the Journal this week is therefore timely, and helps to remedy the shortage of facts that has handicapped the study of these tragic deaths. It is interesting to find that no apparent difference exists in the incidence of suicide at Cambridge between the period 1928-38 and the most recent decade up to 1958, though a higher rate was found during the 10 years which included the second world war. Student mortality as a whole is most concisely depicted by saying that, of 103 undergraduate deaths in 35 years, 41 were due to accident, 35 to suicide, and only 27 to disease. The figures are similar to those at Oxford which Parnell described' when drawing attention to the unexpectedly high incidence of suicide there, and it is evident that the prevention of.fatal accidents and suicide would greatly reduce stldent mortality. The next important fact which Sir Alan Rook appears to establish is that at seven other British universities taken together the suicide rate is much lower than at Oxford and Cambridge, although it is still, so far as can be judged, about twice that for young men of similar age in England and Wales. The rate at University College, London, falls between the rates for the older and newer universities. Suicide rates for women students are generally low. Sir Alan Rook's contribution and others in the last few years have cleared the ground of a number of misconceptions. Few of the ready opinions expressed as explanations for the high suicide rate have stood up to scrutiny. Ill-fated love affairs, shortage of money, inadequate intelligence, moral perplexity, and the strain of social adjustment that poorer students sometimes experience on arrival at the university-all these have been blamed. No
Age Estimation-Based Soft Biometrics Considering Optical Blurring Based on Symmetrical Sub-Blocks for MLBP

Because of its many useful applications, human age estimation has been considered in many previous studies as a soft biometrics. However, most existing methods of age estimation require a clear and focused facial image as input in order to obtain a trustworthy estimation result; otherwise, the methods might produce increased estimation error when an image of poor quality is used as input. Image blurring is one of major factors that affect estimation accuracies because it can cause a face to appear younger (i.e., reduce the age feature in the face region). Therefore, we propose a new human age estimation method that is robust even with an image that has the optical blurring effect by using symmetrical focus mask and sub-blocks for multi-level local binary pattern (MLBP). Experiment results show that the proposed method can enhance age estimation accuracy compared with the conventional system, which does not consider the effects of blurring.
MOLECULAR KARYOTYPE OF SPORADIC UNILATERAL RETINOBLASTOMA TUMORS

Background: Retinoblastoma (RB) is a childhood ocular malignancy associated with mutations in RB1, a tumor susceptibility gene. Inactivation of both copies of the RB1 gene in a retinal cell is followed by the sequential acquisition of additional genetic changes that define the course to tumor formation. Methods: To identify the genetic events that cooperate with loss of the RB1 gene function, we performed a whole genome sampling assay based on single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping. We used DNA isolated from 25 sporadic, unilateral RB tumors and matched blood samples. Results: Genomic profiles were analyzed to identify regions of loss of heterozygosity or amplification. Two major subclasses of RB tumors were defined by the presence (n = 18) or absence (n = 7) of loss of heterozygosity of chromosome 13. Loss of heterozygosity in most cases was the result of copy-neutral events caused by mitotic recombination and mitotic nondisjunction. Tumors harbored novel regions of amplification at 1q44, 3p25, 11q14, 11q25, 14q23, 15q21, 16p13, 17p11.2, 19q13, and 20q13, whereas regions of loss included 6q22, 7q21, and 21q2. Conclusion: Whole genome sampling assay-based analysis of unilateral RB tumors revealed novel regions as significant. These minimum critical regions that are lost or amplified are expected to harbor genes that aid the process of tumorigenesis.
Language Teaching as Sociocultural Activity: Rethinking Language Teacher Practice

Theoretical in orientation, the focus of this article is the study of language teachers and teaching and builds on a body of research that has become increasingly influential since the mid-1990s. S. Borg's (2006) recent review of the field identifies a number of pathways with promise for new areas of research, but it also highlights the conceptual challenges that continue to exist in terms of moving the field forward. This article aims to engage with these themes and concerns by considering the potential of Vygotskian (Vygotsky, 1978, 1987) sociocultural theory as the basis for a conceptual framework to research language teacher cognition. The conceptual challenges addressed include the need for a theoretical orientation that recognizes the social, practical, and contextual dimension of cognition; an understanding of the teacher as a historical, sociological agent within larger (and political) contexts for practice; an awareness of the contradictions and tensions that arise within cognition as thinking and doing is mediated by and played out within the contexts that it exists; and an analytic framework commensurate with current empirical and methodological developments in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Space-Time Distribution of the First-Order Sea Clutter in High Frequency Surface Wave Radar on a Moving Shipborne Platform

The first-order Bragg lines in ship borne high frequency surface wave radar (HFSWR) are spread due to the platform motion, and the space-time distribution of the first-order sea clutter manifests itself as two ideal diagonal lines. However, because of the interaction between platform and sea environment (such as ocean wave, current and wind), the first-order sea clutter spectra are influenced by the three oscillating motions of the ship borne platform, sway, surge and heave. In this paper, the effects of such three motions on the first-order sea clutter and the space-time distribution are investigated based on a uniform linear array consisting of seven omni directional vertically polarized pulsed dipole antennas.
Are perceived soundscapes within urban parks restorative

The perceived quality of urban park soundscapes is starting to be explored, and attention restoration research has shown which environments are generally restorative. Yet the effect of perceived soundscapes on individuals' restorative experiences is hardly known. Natural environments, in general, provide restoration for people, including recovery from attentional fatigue and enabling reflection. Therefore the visually “natural” environment of urban parks provides a useful setting to explore the role of varying soundscapes in restoration. Four hundred park users within Sheffield, UK, were surveyed as they left two urban parks. Data were collected on aspects of their park visit, along with measures of their current perceived restoration. Participants' perceived soundscapes were described by the amount of time they heard certain sound types in the park, and the volume at which they heard them. Sound levels [LAeq, dB(A)] within the parks were also monitored on a number of days to provide contextual information. Results of the study will be discussed along with the importance of soundscape quality and individuals' restorative experiences in helping to provide a productive and positive quality of urban life.
Incidence of oral carcinoma in patients with leukoplakia of the oral mucosa

A series of 782 patients with a clinical diagnosis of oral or lip leukoplakia was followed with regular checks for 1 to 44 years (mean 12 years). Oral carcinoma developed in 2.4% of the patients in 10 years and in 4% in 20 years. The prevalence in the various age groups was about 50 to 100 times greater than for the Swedish population according to the 1959 Cancer Registry. It was primarily the small group of cases of leukoplakia in persons not using tobacco that were responsible for the excess morbidity from oral carcinoma; among tobacco users with leukoplakia the figure was considerably lower. There is no evidence the the incidence of oral carcinoma can be diminished by surgical removal of the leukoplakia but this does not mean that the operation should be abandoned, mainly for histologic diagnosis. The prevalence of other malignant tumors than oral and lip carcinoma in cases of oral leukoplakia did not differ from that of malignant tumors in the Swedish population as a whole.
The impact of shunt size on lung function in infants with univentricular heart physiology*

Objectives: To assess the relationship that shunt size, blood gases, and radiologic findings has on respiratory function in infants with univentricular heart physiology. Setting: Cardiac catheter laboratory at Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Norway. Patients: Fifteen infants with univentricular heart physiology admitted for cardiac catheterization. Measurements: Lung function was measured by a fixed-orifice differential pressure flow sensor and mainstream volumetric capnography in 15 infants with univentricular heart arrangements during routine invasive assessment before the bidirectional cavopulmonary connection. Blood gases were measured from the indwelling catheters. Chest radiographs were assessed for heart size and pulmonary vasculature. Shunt size was assessed angiographically. Main Results: Respiratory compliance was reduced in patients with a large surgical systemic-pulmonary arterial shunt (r = −0.67, r2 = 0.45, p = 0.03). Respiratory resistance was higher with increased heart size (r = 0.72, r2 = 0.52, p = 0.004). There was no association between arterial and end-tidal CO2 values. The arterial to end-tidal CO2 difference had an inverse relationship with the pulmonary to systemic shunt ratio (r = −0.38, r2 = 0.14, p = 0.015). Conclusion: A large surgical shunt size is related to stiffer lungs and a large heart is associated with a higher respiratory resistance. During mechanical ventilation of patients with univentricular heart physiology the end-tidal CO2 may be an unreliable substitute for arterial CO2 before the bidirectional cavopulmonary connection. We found a relationship between a decreased pulmonary to systemic shunt ratio and an increased arterial to end-tidal CO2 difference. This may indicate that a reason for the unreliability of end-tidal CO2 is an impaired gas exchange partially due to pulmonary hypoperfusion.
The Intriguing Relationship of Helicobacter pylori Infection and Acid Secretion in Peptic Ulcer Disease and Gastric Cancer

Helicobacter pylori infection induces chronic inflammation of the gastric mucosa and thus profoundly affects gastric physiology. In the acute phase of infection, gastric acid secretion is transiently impaired. The morphological damage of the gastric mucosa, changes in gastric hormone release, and disruption of neural pathways all contribute to influence gastric acid secretion in a distinct manner. Changes in gastric acid secretion, whether impaired or increased, are intimately related with the topographic phenotypes of gastritis and the presence of atrophy or absence of corpus atrophy. The interplay of gastritis phenotype and acid secretion are key determinants in disease outcomes. Corpus-predominant gastritis and corpus atrophy are accompanied by hypochlorhydria and carry the highest risk for gastric cancer, whereas antrum-predominant gastritis with little involvement of the corpus-fundic mucosa is associated with hyperchlorhydria and predisposes to duodenal ulcer disease.
Generation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells using prostaglandin E 2 Nata š

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are natural immunosuppressive cells and endogenous inhibitors of the immune system. We describe a simple and clinically compatible method of generating large numbers of MDSCs using the cultures of peripheral blood-isolated monocytes supplemented with prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). We observed that PGE2 induces endogenous cyclooxygenase (COX)2 expression in cultured monocytes, blocking their differentiation into CD1a dendritic cells (DCs) and inducing the expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1, IL-4Rα, nitric oxide synthase 2 and IL-10 typical MDSC-associated suppressive factors. The establishment of a positive feedback loop between PGE2 and COX2, the key regulator of PGE2 synthesis, is both necessary and sufficient to promote the development of CD1a DCs to CD14CD33CD34 monocytic MDSCs in granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor/IL-4-supplemented monocyte cultures, their stability, production of multiple immunosuppressive mediators and cytotoxic T lymphocyte-suppressive function. In addition to PGE2, selective E-prostanoid receptor (EP)2and EP4-agonists, but not EP3/1 agonists, also induce the MDSCs development, suggesting that other activators of the EP2/4and EP2/4-driven signaling pathway (adenylate cyclase/cAMP/PKA/ CREB) may be used to promote the development of suppressive cells. Our observations provide a simple method for generating large numbers of MDSCs for the immunotherapy of autoimmune diseases, chronic inflammatory disorders and transplant rejection.
Adams–Oliver syndrome and hepatoportal sclerosis: Occasional association or common mechanism?

Adams–Oliver syndrome (AOS) is characterized by the association of scalp and skull defects and abnormalities of terminal limbs. Congenital heart malformations have also been reported. Hepatoportal sclerosis (HPS) is a rare cause of portal hypertension in children characterized by abnormalities of intra‐hepatic portal veins, portal fibrosis, and nodular regeneration. Etiopathogenesis of these rare disorders remains unclear, but the hypothesis of vascular thrombotic mechanism has been suggested. Association of both syndromes has been reported in only one child. We now report on two unrelated children with AOS and HPS, one child harboring a factor V Leiden mutation. We hypothesize that the association of both disorders may not be fortuitous and reinforces the idea that AOS and HPS may share a vascular thrombotic mechanism. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Stability of output fluxes of large rivers in South and East Asia during the last 2 million years: implications on floodplain processes

We compare the present‐day sediment discharge (solid phase) of some of the largest rivers in Asia to the average discharge deduced from the mass accumulated in several sedimentary basins during the Quaternary. There is a very good correlation, especially for the largest rivers: the Ganges–Brahmaputra, the Changjiang, the Huanghe and, to a lesser extent, the Indus and the Zhujiang. This suggests that present‐day average discharge at the outlet has remained constant throughout the Quaternary at least for very large rivers (drainage area of the order of 105–106 km2). This, in turn, suggests either that continental denudation of large Asian catchments has remained on average constant, implying a strong tectonic control on erosion during the Quaternary, or that the river network has the ability to buffer changes in hillslope erosion or in sea‐level in order to conserve the total discharge at the outlet. We show how this buffering capacity relies on the characteristic reaction time‐scale of Asian alluvial plains (of the order of 105–6 years), that is, much higher than the time‐scales of the Quaternary climate oscillations (of the order of 104 years). A short‐term perturbation originating in hillslopes will be diluted by the floodplain. At the outlet the signal should have a longer time span and a smaller amplitude. In the same manner, an alluvial plain should not instantaneously react to a 104‐year sea‐level drop because of its inertia. Along with long‐term tectonic control we infer this buffering to be the main cause for the average constancy of sediment yield of large Asian rivers during the Quaternary.
Slime production by bovine milk Staphylococcus aureus and identification of coagulase-negative staphylococcal isolates

Staphylococcus aureus isolates from bovine milk were assessed for capsule or slime production. When pure S. aureus cultures in milk were inoculated directly into serum-soft agar constituted with a modified staphylococcus 110 medium, 100% of the isolates grew with diffuse colony morphology. Diffuse colony morphology was rapidly lost on subculture and was more rapidly lost in brain heart infusion-serum-soft agar. No evidence was seen for encapsulation in India ink preparations or by the clumping factor test. It was concluded that freshly isolated S. aureus strains produce slime, not true capsules. During examination of the 84 milk samples that grew staphylococci in addition to S. aureus (27.4%), a significant number of coagulase-negative staphylococcal species were encountered and identified by conventional tests as S. simulans (41.7%), S. xylosus (11.9%), S. epidermidis (3.6%), S. saprophyticus (3.6%), S. hyicus (2.9%), S. cohnii (1.2%), S. haemolyticus (1.2%), and S. warneri (1.2%). Five isolates (6.0%) were not identified. Attempts were also made to identify the isolates by the API Staph-Ident system, which gave an overall accuracy of 45.2%. The susceptibilities of the isolates to a variety of antibiotics were determined, and they appeared to be less resistant than human clinical isolates.
From Data Mining to Behavior Mining

Knowledge economy requires data mining be more goal-oriented so that more tangible results can be produced. This requirement implies that the semantics of the data should be incorporated into the mining process. Data mining is ready to deal with this challenge because recent developments in data mining have shown an increasing interest on mining of complex data (as exemplified by graph mining, text mining, etc.). By incorporating the relationships of the data along with the data itself (rather than focusing on the data alone), complex data injects semantics into the mining process, thus enhancing the potential of making better contribution to knowledge economy. Since the relationships between the data reveal certain behavioral aspects underlying the plain data, this shift of mining from simple data to complex data signals a fundamental change to a new stage in the research and practice of knowledge discovery, which can be termed as behavior mining. Behavior mining also has the potential of unifying some other recent activities in data mining. We discuss important aspects on behavior mining, and discuss its implications for the future of data mining.
Changing patterns of under- and over-nutrition in South African children—future risks of non-communicable diseases

Abstract Under- and over-nutrition in children in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa was investigated comparing data collected from primary school children in a rural district (643 children aged 8–11 years in 1994) with secondary data from the National Schools Study (16,179 children, 4–11 years in 1994), the Vitamin A Consultative Group Study (408 children, 2–5 years in 1994) and the Income Dynamics Study (1,593 children, 2–11 years in 1998). Stunting and wasting (WHO/NCHS guidelines) and overweight and obesity (International Obesity Task Force guidelines) were retrospectively analysed from these studies and compared in the children aged 4–5 and 8–11 years. There was moderate stunting in 10–25%, wasting in 1–6%, 5–24% were overweight and 1–10% obese. Girls in the National Schools Study (p<0.005) and in the primary datasets (p=0.02) had a significantly higher prevalence of overweight than boys; girls (1.4%) were also more obese than boys (0.9%) in the Schools Study (p=0.002), and the boys significantly more stunted (p<0.005) and wasted (p<0.005). An increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity was seen in both the 4–5- and 8–11-year age-groups. The finding that moderate stunting co-exists with overweight and obesity suggests that patterns of under- and over-nutrition in South African children are changing and might indicate the early stages of a complex nutritional transition. Action is required to prevent the future risk of non-communicable diseases.
Intracutaneous test reactions to tuberculin containing merthiolate as a preservative.

AbstractMerthiolate (thimerosal) gives a high frequency of positive reactions when tested epicutaneously and intracutaneously in young adults. To Swedish old tuberculin (OT) merthiolate is added as a preservative. The reactions to intracutaneously injected OT, merthiolate and purified protein derivate (PPD) has been compared in 412 healthy young adults. A positive reaction to merthiolate was recorded in 15%. It was found that merthiolate influenced the reactions in 63 of the 163 positive OT tests. Consequently, merthiolate should not be added to intracutaneous test solutions, since this additive may interfere with the evaluation of positive reactions.
Cardinality estimation using neural networks

Database query optimizers benefit greatly from accurate cardinality estimation; however, this is hard to achieve on tables with correlated and/or skewed columns. We present a novel approach using neural networks to learn and approximate selectivity functions that take a bounded range on each column as input, effectively estimating selectivities for all relational operators. Experimental results with a simplified prototype show a significant improvement over state-of-the-art cardinality estimators on constructed datasets in terms of accuracy, efficiency, and amount of user input required.
Ethnicity and Psychopathology in an Aging Hospital-Based Population: Comparison of African-American and Anglo-European Patients

This study analyzes the effect of ethnicity, classified as African-American and Anglo-European, on diagnosis, symptomatology, and response to inpatient treatment in a sample of geriatric patients of a research unit of a tertiary care facility. Variables that might confound the effects of ethnicity, such as age, gender, education, and associated diagnoses, were statistically controlled. Psychotic diagnoses were significantly associated with ethnicity, being higher in African-Americans, weakening the claim that such an association stems from the confounding effects of social class. Variability in the ratings on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and Hamilton Depression Scale was significantly associated with ethnicity in several instances. African-Americans appeared to obtain comparatively higher therapeutic benefits from hospitalization. Results are discussed using knowledge of the field of cultural and social psychiatry.