Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contraceptive use and induced abortion in Japan: How is it so unique among the developed countries?

Although Japan is among countries of low fertility, that is common to the developed countries today, its situation of fertility control is very different from others. In this paper, we review the trends of contraceptive practice and induced abortion in postwar Japan, examine demographic characteristics of contraception users, and estimate the contraceptive prevalence rates for women of reproductive age for international comparison. The transition from induced abortion to contraception began in the 1950s and ended in the 1970s, but more than a few abortions have been reported even after this period. The contraceptive behavior in Japan appears unique among developed countries, with generally lower rates of contraceptive prevalence, predominance of condom use, and very low use of medical methods. The age of wives, marital duration, parity, and the desire for the next child are associated with contraceptive use, and there exists an “unmet need” for family planning among Japanese couples.
A Model of Effects of Narrative as Culture-Centric Health Promotion

Health promotion interventions designed for specific cultural groups often are designed to address cultural values through culturally adapted messages. Recent trends in health promotion incorporate narrative theory, locating culture within the narratives of cultural members, and suggesting that narrative may provide a central, grounded medium for expressing and shaping health behavior. We suggest that culturally grounded narratives are a natural choice for identifying and shaping health messages for specific audiences. A Model of Culture-Centric Narratives in Health Promotion is proposed based on previous persuasion and health promotion research. This model may be used to guide the development and testing of the narrative characteristics and psychosocial mediators of behavior change in a broad range of health interventions. Implications, boundaries, and limitations of the model are discussed.
Optimized Pretreatment of Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) Phloem Insulation Cotton

Using response surface methodology, the pretreatment conditions of kenaf fibers were optimized to improve the tensile strength of kenaf phloem insulation cotton (KPIC). The effects and interactions of three parameters—sodium hydroxide concentration (X1), soaking time (X2), and beating time (X3)—on the tensile strength of the kenaf fibers were investigated. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermal conductivity of the KPICs further confirmed the validity of the optimal pretreatment conditions. Sodium hydroxide concentration had the greatest effect on kenaf fibers. The maximum tensile strength of 117.6 N resulted from a sodium hydroxide concentration of 4%, soaking time of 50 h, and beating time of 12 min. As shown by FTIR and XRD, optimized pretreatment generated surface functional groups and increased the tensile strength of fibers. It has a low thermal conductivity of 0.032 W/mK. In conclusion, the pretreatment of kenaf fiber significantly improves the tensile strength of KPIC and also improves the retention rate of the chemicals used during the preparation of KPIC. As an environment friendly and renewable material, the KPIC has a great application prospect with its good thermal conductivity.
REPRESENTING ‘INFORMAL EMPIRE’ IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

This article proposes an approach to media imperialism from the telegraphic news agencies’ point of view. Since the mid-nineteenth century, in fact, Western imperial interests were reflected in the geographical expansion led by the first international news agencies. The War of the Pacific (1879–83) in South America provides an entry point for investigating both the notion of the British ‘informal empire’ and the role of the first telegraphic news agencies in the South American region. The history of the news agency business in the subcontinent from the 1850s onwards helps contextualize the conflict between the South American republics of Bolivia, Chile and Peru as news agencies, newspapers and other information practices of the time revealed this event in Europe and the rest of the world. By the end of the war, Reuters and Havas (the British and the French news agencies), numbered their own casualties as a consequence of their confrontation in an extra-European region.
Changing the way we build games: a design-based research study examining the implementation of homemade powerpoint games in the classroom

CHANGING THE WAY WE BUILD GAMES: A DESIGN-BASED RESEARCH STUDY EXAMINING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HOMEMADE POWERPOINT GAMES IN THE CLASSROOM by JASON PAUL SIKO August 2012 Advisor: Michael Kristopher Barbour Major: Instructional Technology Degree: Doctor of Philosophy This design-based research study examined the effects of a game design project on student test performance, with refinements made to the implementation after each of the three iterations of the study. The changes to the implementation over the three iterations were based on the literature for the three justifications for the use of homemade PowerPoint games in the classroom: constructionism, microthemes, and question writing. A review of the literature for the justifications found that the game project, as implemented in previous studies using homemade PowerPoint games, did not align well with the rationale for their use. After three iterations of the study, students who created homemade PowerPoint games did perform better on assessments than students who either did not create games, created games as a review, or created games as part of an unstructured unit project. However, these differences were not statistically significant. As part of the third iteration, two of the individual justifications were tested in isolation to determine whether gains could be seen without creating games. While the students who were part of interventions involving microthemes and question writing did perform better
Supervised risk predictor of breast cancer based on intrinsic subtypes.

UNLABELLED PURPOSE To improve on current standards for breast cancer prognosis and prediction of chemotherapy benefit by developing a risk model that incorporates the gene expression-based "intrinsic" subtypes luminal A, luminal B, HER2-enriched, and basal-like. METHODS A 50-gene subtype predictor was developed using microarray and quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction data from 189 prototype samples. Test sets from 761 patients (no systemic therapy) were evaluated for prognosis, and 133 patients were evaluated for prediction of pathologic complete response (pCR) to a taxane and anthracycline regimen. RESULTS The intrinsic subtypes as discrete entities showed prognostic significance (P = 2.26E-12) and remained significant in multivariable analyses that incorporated standard parameters (estrogen receptor status, histologic grade, tumor size, and node status). A prognostic model for node-negative breast cancer was built using intrinsic subtype and clinical information. The C-index estimate for the combined model (subtype and tumor size) was a significant improvement on either the clinicopathologic model or subtype model alone. The intrinsic subtype model predicted neoadjuvant chemotherapy efficacy with a negative predictive value for pCR of 97%. CONCLUSION Diagnosis by intrinsic subtype adds significant prognostic and predictive information to standard parameters for patients with breast cancer. The prognostic properties of the continuous risk score will be of value for the management of node-negative breast cancers. The subtypes and risk score can also be used to assess the likelihood of efficacy from neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Hepatitis and hepatitis-associated antigen in 56 mother-infant pairs.

Hepatitis and the hepatitis-associated antigen (HAA) were studied in 56 mothers who had acute viral hepatitis during pregnancy or within six months of delivery and their infants who were tested for HAA at least once. Twenty-six mothers were HAA-positive during the acute illness, and HAA was found in the infants of ten. In 17 of these women HAA-positive hepatitis occurred within two months of delivery, and eight of their babies were found to be HAA-positive. Hepatitis-associated antigen was found in two of 19 cord bloods tested. The antigen appeared to cross the placental barrier in three cases, and neonatal contamination at birth seemed to occur in one. Persistent antigenemia and protracted subclinical hepatitis were found in all HAA-positive babies.
Technologies of avoidance: The swear jar and the cell phone

Technologies of communication and use receive much scholarly attention while technologies of avoidance and non-use receive comparatively little. A framework for rethinking limitations we place on our own uses of digital media is developed through a case study of one apparently simple pre-digital tool of avoidance, the swear jar, paying special attention to the physical environments and social contexts that determine its power. Those insights are then applied to numerous digital examples, especially mobile technologies. Among other conclusions, we must expand the ideas of “communication technologies” and even “communication” itself to accommodate tools and practices both old and new for carving out quiet.
Aplicación de métodos multivariados para identificar cultivares sobresalientes de haba para el Estado de México, México

La aplicacion de tecnicas multivariadas al estudio de las interrelaciones entre cultivares, ambientes, variables o sus interacciones es una herramienta valiosa para la identificacion de material genetico sobresaliente. Este estudio se realizo en el ciclo primavera-verano de 2011 en San Nicolas Guadalupe (SF), San Mateo Otzacatipan (MO) y Metepec (M), Estado de Mexico, con el objetivo principal de analizar las interrelaciones entre 36 cultivares de haba (Vicia faba L.), tres localidades, y 12 variables. Se utilizaron el modelo de efectos principales aditivos e interaccion multiplicativa (Modelo AMMI) y los analisis de componentes principales y de conglomerados. Las tres metodologias permitieron identificar cultivares, ambientes y variables sobresalientes. SF y M fueron las mejores localidades para la evaluacion del material genetico. Los cultivares identificados como 1, 5, 7 y 36 fueron superiores en peso total de semilla, numero de vainas por planta, peso de vaina por planta, numero de semillas por planta, peso de 100 semillas, peso de semilla limpia, numero de semillas limpias y numero de semillas por vaina; estas podrian emplearse en un programa de fitomejoramiento, en la generacion de tecnologia, en el incremento o intercambio de semilla por parte de los agricultores que los siembran o usarse en siembra comercial en la region centro del Estado de Mexico, Mexico.
Modulation of Ca2+ influx dependent on store depletion by intracellular adenine-guanine nucleotide levels.

The effects of a number of metabolic inhibitors on the influx of Ca2+ activated by stimulation of receptors coupled to inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate generation or by depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores with thapsigargin were investigated in four different cell types: Ehrlich ascites tumor cells, Jurkat and HeLa cell lines, and rat hepatocytes. Independently of their chemical structure and site of inhibition, all of these metabolic poisons markedly inhibited Ca2+ influx without significantly affecting Ca2+ release. This inhibition was not due to membrane potential depolarization or to alteration in cytosolic pH but appeared correlated to a drop in the cellular concentration of ATP. The decreases in cellular [ATP] were paralleled by decreases in [GTP] and by increases in [ADP] and [GDP]. The reduction in ATP level necessary to drastically reduce Ca2+ influx was quite small, e.g. a 50% inhibition for a 5% reduction in [ATP], thus within the range of fluctuation presumably occurring under physiological conditions. We suggest that changes in the adenine or guanine nucleotide concentrations may represent an important modulatory mechanism of Ca2+ influx activated by store depletion.
Crystal Structure of the Avian Astrovirus Capsid Spike

ABSTRACT Astroviruses are small, nonenveloped, single-stranded RNA viruses that cause diarrhea in a wide variety of mammals and birds. On the surface of the viral capsid are globular spikes that are thought to be involved in attachment to host cells. To understand the basis of species specificity, we investigated the structure of an avian astrovirus capsid spike and compared it to a previously reported human astrovirus capsid spike structure. Here we report the crystal structure of the turkey astrovirus 2 (TAstV-2) capsid surface spike domain, determined to 1.5-Å resolution, and identify three conserved patches on the surface of the spike that are candidate avian receptor-binding sites. Surprisingly, the overall TAstV-2 capsid spike structure is unique, with only distant structural similarities to the human astrovirus capsid spike and other viral capsid spikes. There is an absence of conserved putative receptor-binding sites between the human and avian spikes. However, there is evidence for carbohydrate-binding sites in both human and avian spikes, and studies with human astrovirus 1 (HAstV-1) suggest a minor role in infection for chondroitin sulfate but not heparin. Overall, our structural and functional studies provide new insights into astrovirus host cell entry, species specificity, and evolution.
Detection of Helicobacter Colonization of the Murine Lower Bowel by Genus-Specific PCR-Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis

ABSTRACT Helicobacter genus-specific PCR and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis can detect and speciate the helicobacters that colonize the lower bowel of laboratory mice. The method's sensitivity is comparable to that of species-specific PCR and may detect unnamed Helicobacter species. This approach should prove useful for commercial and research murine facilities.
MR quantification of the washout changes in breast tumors under preoperative chemotherapy: feasibility and preliminary results.

OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to describe and determine the feasibility of an MR washout quantification method in patients with breast cancer under preoperative chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Nineteen patients with breast T2 or T3 tumors were enrolled in a previous study for tumor response evaluation during chemotherapy based on dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI. We retrospectively used the dynamic acquisition data to produce parametric images representing the washout pattern. Two radiologists unaware of the final pathologic results measured the volume of pixels exhibiting washout within the tumor before chemotherapy (volume 1), after two courses of chemotherapy (volume 2), and before surgery after four courses of chemotherapy (volume 3). The interobserver variability and intraobserver variability were calculated to evaluate the reproducibility of our method with the Pearson's correlation coefficient and the concordance correlation coefficient. We correlated the washout changes by means of a Student's t test and noted the histopathologic final outcome. RESULTS A washout pattern was present in all patients on the initial MR study. The quantification method of the washout changes was reproducible with good interobserver agreement (r = 0.85, p < 10(-5)) and an excellent intraobserver agreement (r = 0.94, p < 10(-5)). A significant decrease of the washout volume was observed after two courses of chemotherapy (p = 0.004), whereas no significant modification was observed between two and four courses of chemotherapy (p = 0.52). CONCLUSION Quantification of the washout variation in breast tumor based on the use of parametric images is feasible and reproducible. It may add information to the evaluation of tumor response to preoperative therapy.
Gender and re-partnering after divorce in four Central European and Baltic countries

This article analyses the demographic and social determinants of repartnering after divorce in four Baltic and Central European transition countries (Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Hungary), which, despite their common transition paths after the 1990s, developed distinct political economies and have different gender and family cultures. The article explores how the re-partnering chances of divorced women and men are shaped by the social divisions of gender, parenthood, age, and education within various transition- society contexts. In general, the findings support the argument about the relevance and mediating role of the societal context in the process of re-partnering. Although we found an overall gender disadvantage in re-partnering across all countries, in more traditional contexts, parenthood undermines the chances of re-partnering for women but not for men. The negative effect of older age for re-partnering after divorce is almost universal for men, but is context-sensitive for women. Education does not affect women’s chances of re-partnering, but it does play a significant role in the attractiveness of men in more traditional settings. The analysis is based on the partnership and parenthood histories recorded in the Generations and Gender Survey.
Treatment of hypertension in adults with diabetes.

The treatment of individuals with diabetes has evolved greatly over the years, with the greatest change occurring in only the past few years. One of the most obvious changes has been movement away from the “glucocentric” management of diabetic patients. For years, health care providers who cared for diabetic patients concerned themselves almost entirely with the blood glucose level. Management consisted of doing what was necessary to keep the blood glucose level from being too high in order to prevent long-term diabetic complications or, in some circumstances, from being too low to prevent other disasters. Now providers who care for diabetic individuals are advised to deal with, in addition to blood glucose levels, other comorbidities, such has hypertension, dyslipidemia, and coronary artery disease (CAD), which occur so frequently in our patients. The treatment of hypertension in adults with diabetes is one such issue. Hypertension occurs in 25–75% of individuals with diabetes …
Experimental implementation of test method for dynamic characterization of DAC based on over sampling and low resolution ADC

The paper deals with the experimental implementation of a test method to perform the dynamic characterization of the Digital to Analog Converter (DAC). This test method is based on the experimental detection of the Zero Crossing Time Sequence (ZCTS) into the resulting signal difference between the DAC output and the auxiliary reference one. From the ZCTS the numerical procedure reconstructs in the time domain and analyzes in the frequency domain the non-uniformly sampled output signal of the DAC. Advantageous aspect for the experimental implementation is the fact that the ZCTS can be detected by high speed low resolution ADC. The paper is focused on the experimental set up of the measurement station, the solutions to obtain the reference signal and the requirements to acquire the resulting signal with the proper resolution in order to detect the ZCTS. The results of the experimental tests carried out on the output section of 12 bit waveform generator are presented.
Modulation of the synchronization between cells in visual cortex by contextual targets

It has been suggested that synchronization of action potentials encodes diverse features of a single image. However, properties of the synchronization, which occurs on a time scale of ≈ 1–5 ms, are still poorly understood. We have tested the modulation of synchronization by manipulating the contextual targets introduced in the surround of the receptive field. Experiments were carried out on anaesthetized cats prepared for multiunit and single‐cell recordings in area 17. Initially, a patch of sine‐wave drifting grating was positioned over the overlapping receptive fields of several neurons. If this coherent motion produced a significant synchronization in cross‐correlograms, contextual targets were added. The first contextual stimuli were two sine‐wave patches placed above and below the central compound receptive field. Only the contrast of contextual targets changed. Results show that the larger the differential contrast the higher the synchronization. The second contextual stimulus was a lateral shift of a sine‐wave patch. Data show that the wider the distance between the central and peripheral patches the better the synchronization. Furthermore, results suggest that the synchrony pattern computed by cross correlating multiunit recordings from two sites differs when the cross correlation is carried out between individual units belonging to each multiunit recording. Together with our previous results it appears that synchronization is stimulus dependent and its strength increases with larger disparities included in the whole stimulating image.
Regulation of Lysosomal Function by the DAF-16 Forkhead Transcription Factor Couples Reproduction to Aging in Caenorhabditis elegans

Reproduction and aging are intertwined. While lifespan and reproductive strategies vary greatly among animals, the progeny production period generally. Aging in eukaryotes is accompanied by widespread deterioration of the somatic tissue. Yet, abolishing germ cells delays the age-dependent somatic decline in Caenorhabditis elegans. In adult worms lacking germ cells, the activation of the DAF-9/DAF-12 steroid signaling pathway in the gonad recruits DAF-16 activity in the intestine to promote longevity-associated phenotypes. However, the impact of this pathway on the fitness of normally reproducing animals is less clear. Here, we explore the link between progeny production and somatic aging and identify the loss of lysosomal acidity—a critical regulator of the proteolytic output of these organelles—as a novel biomarker of aging in C. elegans. The increase in lysosomal pH in older worms is not a passive consequence of aging, but instead is timed with the cessation of reproduction, and correlates with the reduction in proteostasis in early adult life. Our results further implicate the steroid signaling pathway and DAF-16 in dynamically regulating lysosomal pH in the intestine of wild-type worms in response to the reproductive cycle. In the intestine of reproducing worms, DAF-16 promotes acidic lysosomes by upregulating the expression of v-ATPase genes. These findings support a model in which protein clearance in the soma is linked to reproduction in the gonad via the active regulation of lysosomal acidification.
Mechanism of the Albumin Agglutination Phenomenon

Summary. The albumin agglutination phenomenon is due to antibodies which cause agglutination of all human red cells when these cells are suspended in an albumin medium. Two sera with this property were studied. We suggest that the reaction is due to non‐specific adsorption of antigen‐antibody complex onto red cells. The antibody is a gamma globulin directed at albumin which has been altered by the addition of acetyl tryptophanate or caprylate. These chemicals are added as stabilizers in the manufacture of albumin to prevent denaturation when the albumin is heated.