Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Drug-susceptibility and molecular characterization of epidemic and endemic malaria in Kenya.

Malaria in Kenya continues to pose a great threat to health. Trials with sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP), currently recommended to replace chloroquine (CQ) in drug-resistant areas, were carried out between 1997 and 1999 in Plasmodium falciparum endemic and epidemic sites. In vitro assays showed that over 50% of isolates were resistant to CQ and SP and sensitive to both quinine and mefloquine. In Busia, an endemic site, efficacy o f combination treatment with CQ and SP was compared with SP alone. The combination was more effective in fever resolution. SP and co-trimoxazole (sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim) were compared in the Oyugis and Tiwi endemic sites and all outcomes were found to be equivalent. Codon changes in dhps and dhfr genes (on chromosomes 8 and 4) conferring in vitro resistance to sulfadoxine and pyrimethamine, predicted SP treatment failures in Mosoriot, an epidemic site, but age-related recovery seen in the endemic site Tiwi masked the influence o f mutations in dhps. Resistancerelated mutations in dhfr and dhps were mutually associated in both sites, which probably indicates drug selection acting on both gene-products. Mutations in pfmdr! and pfert genes (chromosomes 7 and 5) associated with in vitro CQ resistance, were examined in the Mwea endemic site. The pfcrtlhrlb mutation was found on presentation in all CQ-susceptible and resistant cases. The pfmdrI mutations, Tyr86 and Tyrl246, were similarly present in most of the pre-treatment infections, but an increase in prevalence was seen in samples from recrudescent infections. Genotyping of parasite strains revealed that parasites from both endemic and epidemic areas were genetically diverse suggesting that the source o f epidemic outbreaks was endemic sites of high transmission. Quantitation o f parasite-specific RNA by nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (QT-NASBA) was evaluated for the detection of low malaria parasitacmias. The test maybe useful in monitoring therapeutic response to drugs.
Since Malone's Theory of Intrinsically Motivating Instruction: What's the Score in the Gaming Literature?

Instructional gaming is an alternative strategy that can be used for many applications including tutoring, promotion of self-esteem, and practice of existing skills. The article begins with an overview instructional gaming and discusses the impact of Thomas Malone's theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. Next, we look for common threads in the instructional gaming literature during the last dozen years. Our approach was to systematically examine five categories of articles in order to offer guidance to designers and educators. The article ends with implications of the gaming literature for the future study of gaming and instructional design.
Wideband bandpass filter design for D-band application

This paper presents the design and characterization of a wideband bandpass filter for millimetre-wave D-band application. The filter is implemented on a three-layer thin film structure using benzocyclobutene (BCB) silicon technology. Two stepped-impedance resonators are used to construct the bandpass filter, while the input/output coupling is achieved by coplanar waveguide (CPW) to stripline transition. The prototype filter is fabricated and measured. The measurement results agree with the simulation results well and exhibit a wideband bandpass filtering response with fractional bandwidth of 32.2% at 135.6 GHz. The mid-band insertion loss is only 2.94 dB.
Current and emerging treatment options for vernal keratoconjunctivitis

ABSTRACT Introduction: Vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) is a rare, chronic allergic disease affecting children in prepuberal age. The hallmark of VKC is the presence of conjunctival upper tarsal and/or limbal papillary reaction. Recurrences of inflammation are characterized by intense ocular symptoms of itching, redness and photophobia associated with corneal involvement ranging from punctuate keratitis to corneal shield ulcers with risk of visual impairment. Areas covered: The goals of VKC treatment are to control inflammation, improve quality of life and avoid corneal complications. Topical antiallergic drugs are effective in mild to moderate forms of VKC, while, in the presence of intense symptoms and corneal involvement, short-term, high dose topical steroids are effective in controlling ocular inflammation. However, steroid chronic use leads to severe side effects such as glaucoma and cataract. Topical Cyclosporine A and Tacrolimus showed to be effective as steroid sparing agents, however, they are not yet available in the market for the use in VKC. Expert opinion: Current treatment of VKC is a severity-based approach, however evidence based guidelines are lacking. Novel molecule, targeting pathogenic mechanisms alternative to immune reaction, may improve the management and outcome if this challenging disease.
The Effects of Therapeutic Community on Recidivism up to Four Years After Release from Prison

This research examined the effect of therapeutic community delivered in multiple sites on the likelihood of rearrest and reconviction for males up to 4 years after release from prison. With relevant covariates controlled in the analysis, completing therapeutic community had a significant effect on reducing the likelihood of rearrest for inmates with moderate probabilities of being classified as in need of therapeutic community programming. Therapeutic community did not have significant effects on reducing reconvictions. An explanation for the latter finding in sentencing policy and charging practices is provided.
Impact of Age on Transfusion Independence Response, Survival, and Transformation to Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Patients with Deletion 5q: A Sub-Analysis of the MDS-003 Study

Introduction: Recent data have demonstrated that lenalidomide reduced transfusion requirements and reversed cytologic and cytogenetic abnormalities in patients who have myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with the chromosome 5q31 deletion (List et al NEJM 2006). Previous studies have demonstrated that age may impact on survival rates in cancer patients, but the impact of age on patients treated with lenalidomide for deletion 5q [del(5q)] MDS has not been investigated. This sub-analysis investigated the impact of age on transfusion independence (TI) response, survival, transformation to acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and cytopenias in patients with deletion 5q who were treated with lenalidomide. Methods: Transfusion-dependent, Low/Int-1-risk patients with primary MDS and del(5q) with/without additional cytogenetic abnormalities were treated with lenalidomide 10 mg daily or for 21 days every 28 days. Patients were treated until disease progression, treatment failure, or treatment-limiting adverse events. For this analysis, patients were subdivided into two categories: ≤75 and >75 years of age. The relationship between age and TI response, survival, progression to AML, and cytopenias were analyzed. Results: A total of 148 patients were included in the study: 103 patients aged ≤75 years and 45 patients aged >75 years (Table). The TI response was 68% for patients aged ≤75 years and 60% for patients aged >75 years (P=0.35). As expected, median survival was shorter for older patients (P=0.01). There was no difference in the progression to AML with 22% progressing for patients aged ≤75 years and 16% for patients aged >75 years (P=0.65). Cytopenias were reported in 84% and 76% of patients aged ≤75 and >75 years, respectively (p=0.42). Conclusion: Patients aged >75 years had a similar TI response to patients aged ≤75 years of age. Survival was shorter as is to be expected in an older age group with a lower average life expectancy. There was no difference in the rate of progression to AML when compared with patients aged ≤75 years. The rates of cytopenias were not influenced by patient age.
Power control in distributed multiple access channels with coordination

In this paper, a game theoretic approach is used to derive the optimal power allocation in multiple access channels (MAC) for decentralized systems. Unlike previous results, a simple coordination mechanism is used between selfish users. The nature and influence of the coordination mechanism is studied in details for single antenna and multiple antenna terminals. In the proposed framework, the coordination signal indicates to the users in which order the receiver applies successive interference cancelation and with which frequency this order is used: it establishes the rule of the game. Remarkably, in Gaussian single input single output MACs, it is shown that, whatever the rule of the game, the selfish behavior of the users leads to a socially efficient network that is to say it is always sum-capacity achieving. However, for fast fading MAC with multi-antenna terminals, there can be a performance gap between the decentralized system and its centralized counterpart. Analytical and simulation results are provided to assess this gap.
Log-domain filtering: An approach to current-mode fil-tering

A novel approach to filter design, based on Adams' [1] ‘log-domain’ filters, is proposed that yields a truly current-mode circuit realisation. Adams' idea, which was introduced in a limited context, is generalised to permit a complete distortionless synthesis procedure, which results in circuit implementations readily realisable using complementary bipolar processes. It is shown that, by introducing an exponential map on the state-space description of the desired linear system, a log-domain filter can be fully realised with transistors configured in current mirror-type groupings, current sources and capacitors. Owing to the mapping, the state variables are intrinsically related to current, and not voltage, in the resulting circuits, a fact that emphasises the current-mode nature of the design. A general biquadratic filter section is designed, and, following discussion of cascading sections, a seventh-order Chebychev lowpass filter is designed. All designed circuits are shown to be tunable over a two-decade range in frequency while their characteristics are accurately preserved, even for biquad sections whose f0Q product is greater than fT/10. The Chebychev filter is shown in simulation to possess nearly 60 dB dynamic range relative to 0.9% THD, with a cutoff frequency of nearly 5 MHz, using transistor models from AT&T's CBIC-R 300 MHz complementary bipolar process.
Co-occurrence tendencies of loanwords in corpora

This paper investigates some major approaches to the analysis of foreign material in text, commonly known as loanwords. While the nature of data may differ in various fields of linguistic research (e.g., bilingual vs. monolingual corpora), perspectives on the analysis of such material have not been different, and they have traditionally been analysed as singly-occurring items out of context. However, corpus research has shown that words rarely occur in isolation. On the basis of a number of English loans in a corpus of Turkish compiled in a multilingual setting, and a number of Italian loans in a corpus of English compiled in a monolingual setting, we conclude that collocational patterns growing around loanwords are significant and should be included in the treatment of loanwords.
Personalityzation: UI Personalization, Theoretical Grounding in HCI and Design Research

Personalization is an effective means for accommodating differences between individuals. Therefore, the personalization of a system’s user interface (UI) features can enhance usability. To date, UI personalization approaches have been largely divorced from psychological theories of personality, and the user profiles constructed by extant personalization techniques do not map directly onto the fundamental personality traits examined in the psychology literature. In line with recent calls to ground the design of information systems in behavioral theory, we maintain that personalization that is informed by psychology literature is advantageous. More specifically, we advocate an approach termed “personalityzation”, where UI features are adapted to an explicit model of a user’s personality. We demonstrate the proposed personalityzation approach through a proof-of-concept in the context of social recommender systems. We identify two key contributions to information systems research. First, extending prior works on adaptive interfaces, we introduce a UI personalization framework that is grounded in psychology theory of personality. Second, we reflect on how our proposed personalityzation framework could inform the discourse in design research regarding the theoretical grounding of system’s design.
Chemotherapy-Induced Adverse Drug Reactions in Pediatric Oncology

Background: Chemotherapy accounts to high vulnerability toward Adverse Events (AEs) as it involves highly complicated regimens. Objective of the study is to identify, assess, grade and categorize chemotherapy-induced adverse drug reactions in pediatric oncology. Materials and Methods: A 6 months Prospective-observational study was conducted in pediatric hematology oncology department. 0-15 years of hospitalized patients receiving chemotherapy for cancer were enrolled. Demographic details, cytotoxic drugs used and AEs that occurred were collected in a self-designed patient profile form. AEs were studied using CTCAE version 4.03 and Naranjo’s Scale of Probability. After each cycle, follow ups were taken. Result: A total of 50 patients, of which 33 male and 17 female patients were included in the study and a total of 332 AEs were observed. AEs were segregated into organ class and the number of events observed were, Gastrointestinal (123), General Disorders (107), Musculoskeletal (23), Blood and Lymphatic (42), Eye and ear (4), Nervous (17), Respiratory (16). Drugs suspected to cause the AEs were; Vincristine 65, Daunorubicin 130, Methotrexate 107, Cyclophosphamide 42, and L’Asparginase 54. ADR may be caused by more than one chemotherapeutic drug. Using Naranjo’s Scale we observed, 6 were definite, 159 were probable and 167 were possible. On using CTCAE, out of 332 AEs, 167 were characterized as Grade 1, 114 as Grade 2, 51 as Grade 3 and 1 as Grade 5. Conclusion: Using CTCAE, most AEs were suspected to have been caused because of Daunorubicin and Methotrexate, but the severe AEs (neurotoxicity, pulmonary toxicity) were due to Vincristine, Methotrexate, and Cyclophosphamide. Key words: Chemotherapy, Pediatric cancer, Chemotherapy, ADRs, CTCAE, Organ Toxicities.
Toward integration of herbalism into orthodox medical practice: Perception of herbalists in Sokoto Northwest Nigeria

Background: Integrative system of health-care widens the horizon of health-care services where both allopathic and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners play complementary role and make services more accessible, affordable, and safety monitoring is ensured. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess perception of herbalists on allopathic medicine and doctors. Settings and Design: The survey was carried out within Sokoto metropolis. Health services of the community were provided by a teaching hospital, 5 secondary levels hospitals and a host of primary health-care centers coupled with CAM. Herbalists were located mainly within the city located in ′Yarmarna, behind Maryam Abacha Children and Women Hospital and Kara herbs markets in the metropolis where they hawked herbs. This was a cross-sectional descriptive. Methods: Validated semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaires were used to obtain information from the respondents. A sample of 92 herbalists was selected by multistage sampling technique. Selection of actual respondents who participated in the study was by proportionate allocation along the three major herbal centers. Results and Conclusion: The mean age of respondents was 53.1 ± 1.8 years. The mean age of years of experience in practice was 29.04 ± 1.7. On relationship with orthodox doctors, 50% admitted that it was poor while the remaining 19.6% and 30.4% described it as good and very good, respectively. More than 85% support integration of herbalism into orthodox medicine (95% confidence interval 3.67-12.12). The respondents expressed their enthusiasm to be integrated.
Surgery of the Peripheral Nerve

The authors of this text are both plastic surgeons. Dr Dellon has studied sensory nerves extensively, sensibility testing and sensory reeducation in particular. Dr Mackinnon has had a long-term interest in nerve physiology as it relates to surgery on peripheral nerves and, particularly, grafting with autografts and allografts. Both authors are international authorities in their fields, and they also have a large experience with various peripheral nerve problems that are treated surgically. In order to be logical, comprehensive, and nonrepetitious, the authors have chosen to write this text themselves, and this appears to be a very good decision. The focus of this text is the surgery of peripheral nerve disorders, with which the authors have extensive, either clinical or research, experience. They have chosen a strict organization of the contents that starts with a macroscopic, microscopic, and ultrastructural description of the anatomy of peripheral nerves. The physiology of peripheral nerves
Effect of Chlorhexidine Gel in Mentally Handicapped Children highly Infected with Streptococcus Mutans

Objective: To evaluate the effect of 1% chlorhexidine (CHX) gel on mentally handicapped children (n=11) highly infected with Streptococcus mutans (SM) and evaluate the re-colonization time of this bacterium after the treatment period. Material and Methods: Before CHX treatment, saliva samples were collected to establish baseline saliva SM levels. CHX gel was daily applied for 5 min, for 7 consecutive days. Saliva samples were then collected after 7, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days to evaluate SM oral recolonization. Data were analyzed by the Wilcoxon test (α=0.05). Results: When compared to baseline (5.7 / 3.0 x 105), the collection performed 7 days after CHX treatment (0.06 / 0.2 x 105) showed a significant reduction (P <0.05) in SM saliva levels (mean / s.d., CFU ml-1). In subsequent collections, a gradual SM re-colonization was observed, and after 60 days of treatment, the levels of this bacterium (0.8 / 0.9 x 105) no longer statistically differed from SM levels considered high risk to caries (105) (P> 0.05). Conclusion: Treatment with CHX gel for 7 days was effective in reducing the SM levels of mentally handicapped children and should be repeated after 60 days to control the risk of caries in these children.
Remote Authentication Schemes for Wireless Body Area Networks Based on the Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) is a new technology which offers enormous applications that make people’s lives more convenient and enhances cities’ development. In particular, smart healthcare applications in IoT have been receiving increasing attention for industrial and academic research. However, due to the sensitiveness of medical information, security and privacy issues in IoT healthcare systems are very important. Designing an efficient secure scheme with less computation time and energy consumption is a critical challenge in IoT healthcare systems. In this paper, a lightweight online/offline certificateless signature (L-OOCLS) is proposed, then a heterogeneous remote anonymous authentication protocol (HRAAP) is designed to enable remote wireless body area networks (WBANs) users to anonymously enjoy healthcare service based on the IoT applications. The proposed L-OOCLS scheme is proven secure in random oracle model and the proposed HRAAP can resist various types of attacks. Compared with the existing relevant schemes, the proposed HRAAP achieves less computation overhead as well as less power consumption on WBANs client. In addition, to nicely meet the application in the IoT, an application scenario is given.
Multiple Feasible Paths in Ant Colony Algorithm for mobile Adhoc Networks with Minimum Overhead

Mobile ad-hoc networks are infrastructure-less networks consisting of wireless, possibly mobile nodes which are organized in peer-to-peer and autonomous fashion. The highly dynamic topology, limited bandwidth availability and energy constraints make the routing problem a challenging one. Ant colony optimization (ACO) is a population based meta-heuristic for combinatorial optimization problems such as communication network routing problem. In real life, ants drop some kind of chemical substances to mark the path that they used. Then on their way, back they choose the path with the highest pheromones which becomes the shortest path. But Ant net Algorithms may cause the network congestion and stagnation. Here, multiple optimal paths are proposed with negligible overhead in spite of single optimal path in Ant net routing algorithm, so that the problem of stagnation can be rectified. This paper proposes an improved Multiple Feasible Paths in Ant Colony Algorithm for mobile Ad-hoc Networks with Minimum Overhead.
Postaje li europska stomatologija žensko zanimanje? Is European Dentistry Becoming a Female Profession?

Adresa za dopisivanje Vesna Barac Furtinger, dr. med. dent. Hrvatsko stomatološko društvo HLZ-a Šubićeva 9, Zagreb vesna.furtinger@zg.t-com.hr Sažetak Među stomatolozima u Europi neprestance raste udjel žena te već danas možemo govoriti o stomatologiji kao o ženskom zanimanju. Takva promjena u demografskoj strukturi radne snage svakako će rezultirati promjenama u struci, kao što je već uočila krovna organizacija europskih stomatologa ERO/FDI te je osnovala radnu skupinu nazvanu Žene u stomatologiji. Njezin je zadatak prikupiti podatke i predviđati moguće promjene. Koristeći se samo ispunjenim upitnicima, nakon četiri godine praćenja, stručnjaci su prikupili podatke koji pokazuju apsolutni porast broja stomatologinja među stomatolozima. Uspoređujući dobivene rezultate s drugim slobodnim profesijama, zaključili smo da su kretanja slična. Naša pitanja bila su vezana za demografske podatke, razvoj i prekid karijere, pozicije na razinama odlučivanja, te na prihode i umirovljenje. Ključne riječi žene stomatolozi 1 Hrvatsko stomatološko društvo HLZ-a, Zagreb, Hrvatska Croatian Dental Society CMA, Zagreb, Croatia 2 Zavod za dječju stomatologiju Medicinskog sveučilišta u Azerbajđanu Head of Department of Pediatric Dentistry at Azerbaijan Medical University 3 Zavod za opću stomatologiju Državnog medicinsko-stomatološkog sveučilišta u Moskvi, Rusija Chief of the Department of General Dentistry of the Moscow State Medico-Dental University
Does Age at Entry have an Impact on Academic Performance in Occupational Therapy Education?

This article presents a research study that investigated age as a predictor of higher academic outcome in a sample of 425 recent honours graduates from 8 out of 19 (42%) occupational therapy schools in England and Wales. The initial analysis of the data showed that age was related to academic performance, but this relationship was much weaker when the qualifications used to gain entry to occupational therapy education were added to the statistical analysis. The data were strongly influenced by the superior academic performance of the students who had a previous degree on entry to occupational therapy education. When these degree-level entrants were removed from the age analysis, the academic performance of the remaining mature students did not differ significantly from that of the younger students, thus removing the effect of age that was initially seen in the data. This result indicates that entry qualifications, in particular a previous degree, have a positive predictive effect on the academic performance of students in occupational therapy education. This finding has implications for those planning new occupational therapy programmes and for admissions tutors in existing programmes.