Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New Demand-Supply Model to Enable Sustainability in New Australian Housing

Sustainability implementation in new housing in Australia lags much of the developed world’s standards and implementation levels for residential sustainability. Various reasons for this are offered via a ‘blame game’ in a sector plagued by lack of demand, prohibitive costs, and poorly implemented existing energy efficiency regulations. Multiple gaps in traditional supply-led procurement theory inhibits sustainability’s implementation in the Australian mass production residential construction system. Once-off consumers are not the key demand actor due to their inability to demand sustainability in a system that limits consumers’ choice and demand. Warren-Myers and Heywood (2016) theorized that the mass-producing Volume Builders are the pivotal demand-side actor in mainstreaming sustainability in the Australian new housing system. This paper investigated the Volume Builders’ roles and relationships with traditional demand-side actors, housing consumers, and the supply-side’s subcontractors and suppliers, to identify the ultimate demand actor that drives the housing industry. The investigation used semi-structured interviews with Volume Builders. The results demonstrated Volume Builders’ dominance of the Australian residential mass production construction industry validating their pivotal role as a demand-side actor in a consumption-based demand and supply model. This identifies Volume Builders as the key actor who could then drive wide-spread adoption of sustainability innovation in Australian mass-produced housing.
Health and safety of the older worker.

BACKGROUND In the UK, increasing numbers of paid employees are over 60 years with further increases expected as the state pension age rises. Some concern surrounds possible increased work-related illness and accidents for people working beyond the age of 60. AIMS To identify the available evidence for health and safety risks of workers over age 60 years with respect to factors associated with injuries and accidents. METHODS Databases searched included PUBMED, OSHUpdate, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSHTIC-2), SafetyLit, the UK The Health and Safety Executive (HSELINE) and the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety until December 2009. Inclusion criteria were workers aged over 60 years. Findings were grouped into occupational accidents and injuries and individual and workplace factors that may have influenced risk of injury to the over-60s. RESULTS Very little direct evidence was found concerning safety practices and health risks of workers over age 60. Some safety risks were associated with specific physical declines such as age-related hearing loss. Overall, these workers had fewer accidents and injuries but these were more likely to be serious or fatal when they occurred. There was no strong evidence that work patterns, including shift work or overtime, affected safety. Protective, compensatory strategies or experience may maintain safe working practices. CONCLUSIONS Implications for health and safety risks cannot be assessed without longitudinal research on workforces with substantial numbers of workers over age 60 in order to address the healthy worker effect.
Pain Relief with Short Term Irradiation in Locally Advanced Carcinoma of the Pancreas

Objectives To evaluate whether a short radiation treatment (30 Gy, 3.0 Gy/fraction) had analgesic efficacy in patients with unresectable pancreatic carcinoma. Methods Twelve patients were included in this analysis. Before starting and at four weeks after radiation therapy, pain intensity was evaluated and analgesic drug therapy was adjusted until a 0–3 pain score was reached (WHO). Results No radiotherapy interruptions, no hospitalisation due to toxic reactions, and no severe toxicity were observed. Six patients (50%) had pain control without pharmacological therapy, three patients (25%) reduced their use (35%–72%) of analgesics, while in the remaining three patients (25%) there was no change in analgesic use. Overall, mean reduction in the use of analgesics was 63.1% ± 43.8%. During follow-up (44 months), two patients (16.7%) showed a worsening of pain that required increased analgesia; in one patient, percutaneous splanchnicectomy was necessary. Conclusion In patients excluded from standard concomitant chemoradiation, hypofractionated-accelerated radiotherapy is feasible and results in pain relief in most patients, documented as a reduced need for analgesics.
Tonsilloplasty in children with obstructive symptoms.

OBJECTIVE Obstructive symptoms, caused by tonsillar hypertrophy, have been attracting increasing interest, and tonsillectomy is often performed as a result of this indication. This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of the different surgical techniques, tonsilloplasty and tonsillectomy, on clinical symptoms in children with obstructive symptoms owing to tonsillar hypertrophy. METHODS Thirty children, 3 to 12 years old, were included; 15 of them underwent tonsilloplasty and 15 tonsillectomy. Tonsilloplasty was performed with a knife or scissors, and the trauma was closed with two or three sutures. The tonsillar capsule and about 15 to 20% of tonsillar tissue remain as a barrier to prevent exposure of the pharyngeal muscles. All children were operated on under the same anesthesia and followed the same postoperative scheme for analgesia. RESULTS All of the children were cured of their breathing obstruction. In the tonsilloplasty group, the tonsillar remnants healed completely within 1 week. The postoperative pain recorded was significantly less than in the tonsillectomy group. No major side effects occurred. The mean time used for the surgery was the same, and no postoperative bleeding was seen in both groups. The intraoperative bleeding observed was small in both groups, although significantly smaller for the tonsilloplasty group. CONCLUSIONS Tonsilloplasty is a less traumatic and much less painful surgical method, and children recover more quickly. The results with respect to breathing obstruction are almost the same for both methods at the 1-year follow-up. It seems to be the most suitable method for children with tonsillar hypertrophy and obstructive symptoms.
Unravelling the development of the visual cortex: implications for plasticity and repair

The visual cortex comprises over 50 areas in the human, each with a specified role and distinct physiology, connectivity and cellular morphology. How these individual areas emerge during development still remains something of a mystery and, although much attention has been paid to the initial stages of the development of the visual cortex, especially its lamination, very little is known about the mechanisms responsible for the arealization and functional organization of this region of the brain. In recent years we have started to discover that it is the interplay of intrinsic (molecular) and extrinsic (afferent connections) cues that are responsible for the maturation of individual areas, and that there is a spatiotemporal sequence in the maturation of the primary visual cortex (striate cortex, V1) and the multiple extrastriate/association areas. Studies in both humans and non‐human primates have started to highlight the specific neural underpinnings responsible for the maturation of the visual cortex, and how experience‐dependent plasticity and perturbations to the visual system can impact upon its normal development. Furthermore, damage to specific nuclei of the visual cortex, such as the primary visual cortex (V1), is a common occurrence as a result of a stroke, neurotrauma, disease or hypoxia in both neonates and adults alike. However, the consequences of a focal injury differ between the immature and adult brain, with the immature brain demonstrating a higher level of functional resilience. With better techniques for examining specific molecular and connectional changes, we are now starting to uncover the mechanisms responsible for the increased neural plasticity that leads to significant recovery following injury during this early phase of life. Further advances in our understanding of postnatal development/maturation and plasticity observed during early life could offer new strategies to improve outcomes by recapitulating aspects of the developmental program in the adult brain.
Cannabis, alcohol and fatal road accidents

Introduction This research aims to estimate the relative risks of responsibility for a fatal accident linked to driving under the influence of cannabis or alcohol, the prevalence of these influences among drivers and the corresponding attributable risk ratios. A secondary goal is to estimate the same items for three other groups of illicit drugs (amphetamines, cocaine and opiates), and to compare the results to a similar study carried out in France between 2001 and 2003. Methodology Police procedures for fatal accidents in Metropolitan France during 2011 were analyzed and 300 characteristics encoded to provide a database of 4,059 drivers. Information on alcohol and four groups of illicit drugs derived from tests for positivity and potential confirmation through blood analysis. The study compares drivers responsible for causing the accident, that is to say having directly contributed to its occurrence, to drivers involved in an accident for which they were not responsible, and who can be assimilated to drivers in general. Results The proportion of persons driving under the influence of alcohol is estimated at 2.1% (95% CI: 1.4–2.8) and under the influence of cannabis at 3.4% (2.9%-3.9%). Drivers under the influence of alcohol are 17.8 times (12.1–26.1) more likely to be responsible for a fatal accident, and the proportion of fatal accidents which would be prevented if no drivers ever exceeded the legal limit for alcohol is estimated at 27.7% (26.0%-29.4%). Drivers under the influence of cannabis multiply their risk of being responsible for causing a fatal accident by 1.65 (1.16–2.34), and the proportion of fatal accidents which would be prevented if no drivers ever drove under the influence of cannabis is estimated at 4.2% (3.7%-4.8%). An increased risk linked to opiate use has also been found to be significant, but with low prevalence, requiring caution in interpreting this finding. Other groups of narcotics have even lower prevalence, and the associated extra risks cannot be assessed. Conclusion Almost a decade separates the present study from a similar one previously conducted in France, and there have been numerous developments in the intervening years. Even so, the prevalence of drivers responsible for causing fatal accidents under the influence of alcohol or narcotics has stayed remarkably stable, as have the proportion of fatal accidents which could in theory be prevented if no drivers ever exceeded the legal limits. The overall number of deaths from traffic accidents has dropped sharply during this period, and the number of victims attributable to alcohol and/or cannabis declined proportionally. Alcohol remains the main problem in France. It is just as important to note that one in two drivers considered to be under the influence of cannabis was also under the influence of alcohol. With risks cumulating between the two, it is particularly important to point out the danger of consuming them together.
Deep Brain Stimulation in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders.

BACKGROUND Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is the chronic electrical stimulation of selected target sites in the brain through stereotactically implanted electrodes. More than 150 000 patients around the world have been treated to date with DBS for medically intractable conditions. The indications for DBS include movement disorders, epilepsy, and some types of mental illness. METHODS This review is based on relevant publications retrieved by a selective search in PubMed and the Cochrane Library, and on the current guidelines of the German Neurological Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurologie, DGN). RESULTS DBS is usually performed to treat neurological diseases, most often movement disorders and, in particular, Parkinson's disease. Multiple randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have shown that DBS improves tremor, dyskinesia, and quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease by 25% to 50%, depending on the rating scales used. DBS for tremor usually involves stimulation in the cerebello-thalamo-cortical regulatory loop. In an RCT of DBS for the treatment of primary generalized dystonia, the patients who underwent DBS experienced a 39.3% improvement of dystonia, compared to only 4.9% in the control group. Two multicenter trials of DBS for depression were terminated early because of a lack of efficacy. CONCLUSION DBS is an established treatment for various neurological and psychiatric diseases. It has been incorporated in the DGN guidelines and is now considered a standard treatment for advanced Parkinson's disease. The safety and efficacy of DBS can be expected to improve with the application of new technical developments in electrode geometry and new imaging techniques. Controlled trials would be helpful so that DBS could be extended to further indications, particularly psychiatric ones.
Sumatriptan Injection is Superior to Placebo in The Acute Treatment of Migraine With Regard to Both Efficacy and General Well-Being

The efficacy of subcutaneous injection of sumatriptan in the acute treatment of migraine was assessed in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled cross-over study of 27 migraine patients. In addition, the patients were asked to give information about their well-being and subjective symptoms by means of a self-administered standardized questionnaire. A total of 22 migraine sufferers received a subcutaneous (sc) injection of 8 mg of sumatriptan and 24 received placebo. Of these patients, 19 received both treatments and thus completed the study. The primary efficacy end-point was a reduction in headache severity from severe or moderate to mild or no headache at 30, 60, 90 and 120 min. An effective response to treatment was achieved within 30 min in 63% and within 60 min in 84% of patients when treated with 8 mg sumatriptan sc, compared with 11% for placebo (p < 0.001). Sumatriptan also provided significant relief from nausea and photophobia as compared with placebo. The proportion of patients that needed rescue medication after 120 min was significantly lower (p < 0.001) with active treatment when compared with placebo. Sumatriptan was well tolerated and the majority of adverse events were mild and transient. The most frequent symptoms were those of malaise/fatigue or numbness. No changes in blood pressure or ECG readings were observed during the treatment. Compared with placebo, subcutaneous 8 mg sumatriptan also caused a substantial improvement in general well-being as revealed by the Minor Symptoms Evaluation Profile-acute (MSEP-acute) questionnaire. It is concluded that subcutaneous injection of sumatriptan is an effective, rapid-acting, and well-tolerated acute treatment for migraine attacks.
CpG Island Methylator Phenotype Redefines the Prognostic Effect of t(12;21) in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Purpose: To examine cancer genes undergoing epigenetic inactivation in a set of ETV6/RUNX1-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemias in order to define the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) in the disease and evaluate its relationship with clinical features and outcome. Experimental Design: Methylation-specific PCR was used to analyze the methylation status of 38 genes involved in cell immortalization and transformation in 54 ETV6/RUNX1-positive samples in comparison with 190 ETV6/RUNX1-negative samples. Results:ETV6/RUNX1-positive samples had at least one gene methylated in 89% of the cases. According to the number of methylated genes observed in each individual sample, 20 patients (37%) were included in the CIMP− group (0-2 methylated genes) and 34 (67%) in the CIMP+ group (>2 methylated genes). Remission rate did not differ significantly among either group of patients. Estimated disease-free survival and overall survival at 9 years were 92% and 100% for the CIMP− group and 33% and 73% for the CIMP+ group (P = 0.002 and P = 0.04, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that methylation profile was an independent prognostic factor in predicting disease-free survival (P = 0.01) and overall survival (P = 0.05). A group of four genes (DKK3, sFRP2, PTEN, and P73) showed specificity for ETV6/RUNX1-positive subset of samples. Conclusion: Our results suggest that methylation profile may be a potential new biomarker of risk prediction in ETV6/RUNX1-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemias.
An application of the Fama–French three-factor model to lodging REITs: A 20-year analysis

This study applied the Fama–French three-factor model to model the returns of 33 US publicly traded lodging real estate investment trusts over a 20-year period. Results indicated that lodging real estate investment trusts that were significantly correlated with all the three factors had the greatest number of years in the market and the highest mean market capitalization, while those that were not significantly correlated with any of the three factors existed in the market for shorter periods and had the lowest mean market capitalization. Findings also indicated that the higher the market capitalization of real estate investment trusts, the more exposure they faced in the market. Results also suggest that the longer lodging real estate investment trusts existed in the marketplace, the greater their exposure to market risk. Overall, empirical results of this research are reasonably consistent with the Fama–French three-factor model as there is evidence of market, size, and book-to-value factors in the lodging real estate investment trusts market.
Worksite-Induced Morbidities among Truck Drivers in the United States

A critical review was conducted of social, psychological, and health science literature on the array of health risks and morbidities of truckers. Multilevel worksite-induced strains (e.g., long work hours and fatigue, shift work and sleep deprivation, postural fatigue and exposure to noise and vibration, sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diet, exposure to diesel exhaust fumes, and other occupational stressors) were categorized into six primary morbidities for truckers: (1) psychological and psychiatric disorders; (2) detriments resulting from disrupted biological cycles; (3) musculoskeletal disorders; (4) cancer and respiratory morbidities; (5) cardiovascular disease; and (6) risk-laden substance use and sexual practices. Elevated morbidity risks suggest the need for the design and implementation of systematic epidemiological research and environmental interventions in the transport sector.
Influence of media convergence on newspaer readership in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Fears about the imminent death of the print newspaper in the face of the ongoing digital revolution have been widespread for some time. But with miniaturized media tools and hand-held, internet-ready communication technologies offering unlimited on-the-go access to the news via multiple online platforms, prognostications to the effect that the hard copy newspaper may go extinct in the nearest future seem no more an idle speculation. Indeed, print media financiers, publishers, editors, and practitioners have not hidden their concern about the drastic effects of technology. This study comes on the heels of the widespread speculations that the emergence of digital media gadgets that enable online news access would deplete the economic viability of print newspaper houses by pushing news readers online. The situation became increasingly worrisome when some emerging scholarship reported that younger newspaper readers were abandoning the print copy newspaper for electronic and online news sources, which they believed offered greater ease and convenience. A survey (n=431) of respondents drawn from mass communication educators, practicing journalists and civil servants in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Results showed that though the industry faces a significant economic decline, predictions that convergent, digital technology will compel readers to completely abandon print newspapers for digital news sources are not yet a reality, even though print’s business model is seriously strained. Survival strategies already adopted include cover price increase, headlines-online-details-in -print, collapse and merger of beats, downward review in wage bill/pay cuts and print run cuts. The study recommends that publishers and editors invent creative and engaging print contents and other strategies such as inserting interactive DVDs in some of their print issues, as had been experimented at some point. Results could be tremendous where such newspaper contents also focus primarily on their immediate surroundings, giving local readers exactly what they 5 Abasifreke Idiong is a lecturer in the Department of Communication Arts, University of Uyo. His research interests are media convergence, multimedia designs and digital media analysis. 6 Nsikak Solomon Idiong is a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication Arts, University of Uyo. His research interests are political communication and new media studies. 7 Nkereuwem Udoakah is a professor in the Department of Communication Arts, University of Uyo. His research interests are development communication, political communication and media studies. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Abasifreke Idiong Department of Communication Arts, University of Uyo. E-mail: abasidiong@gmail.com 43 want – such news stories that are either not readily available on the web or are routinely overlooked by the mainstream media.
Food, feed or medicine: The multiple functions of edible wild plants in Vietnam

Many of the edible wild plants that are included in local food baskets have both therapeutic and dietary functions. Such medicinal foods have been part of Eastern medicinal theories since ancient times and have recently received attention in the USA and Europe within the fields of functional foods, neutraceuticals and phyto-nutrients.This paper provides an example from Vietnam of the continued use of a multitude of edible wild vegetables. Vietnamese traditional medicine also holds an important position within the health care system and many of the plants that are used have both dietary and medicinal functions. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques (Rapid Rural Appraisal and Food Frequency Questionnaires), information on over 90 species of edible wild plants was obtained from 4 villages in the Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands. About a third of the plants also had therapeutic roles, forty percent were used also as livestock feeds and one fifth were used as food/livestock feed/ medicine. From a nutrition viewpoint it is important to pay attention to this group of traditional foods for several reasons. Their direct nutritional contribution is often significant but neglected. Very little is known about the health benefits of regular consumption of small quantities of medicinal foods and an important “medicinal role” of traditional plant medicines may be the contribution of small quantities of trace minerals and vitamins. The parallel functions as livestock feeds make animal products more accessible to poor households and help improve the quality of their diets.
Who Leads Global Capitalism? The Unlikely Rise of China

The idea that China, once the center of world revolutionary passion, should lead global capitalism is as unexpected as it is ironic. But the emergence of the transnational capitalist class (TCC) has promoted a multicentric world order where “everything solid melts into air. ” Disappearing is the dominant position of the US, further undercut by the erratic nationalism of President Trump. With the US acting as if globalization is the unwanted step-child of its hegemonic power, the guardianship of transnational capital has fallen to the Chinese.