Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The performance of standardized patients in portraying clinical scenarios in speech-language therapy.

BACKGROUND Standardized patients (SPs) are frequently included in the clinical preparation of students in the health sciences. An acknowledged benefit of using SPs is the opportunity to provide a standardized method by which students can demonstrate and develop their competency. Relatively little is known, however, about the capacity of SPs to offer an accurate and standardized performance across a speech-language therapy student cohort. AIMS To investigate the accuracy, reproducibility (consistent performance of each SP across student interviews) and replicability (consistent performance of a number of SPs across each scenario) of SPs portraying three scenarios, each as a parent of a child presenting with a speech disorder. METHODS & PROCEDURES Forty-four speech-language therapy students interviewed four SPs to gain a case history. All interviews were videotaped. The accuracy of SP portrayal of key features of each scenario was scored by an expert rater and two other raters. Data were analysed to determine levels of accuracy, reproducibility and replicability, and inter-rater reliability was evaluated. OUTCOMES & RESULTS SPs were found to have moderate to high levels of accuracy across the three scenarios. There were no significant differences in the performances of each individual SP across interviews or between all SPs on each scenario, indicating that reproducibility and replicability were achieved. Overall inter-rater reliability between raters across all scenarios was greater than 80%. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS The results would seem to indicate that SPs can present in a standardized manner within a speech-language therapy context, confirming the value of their inclusion in clinical education programmes. Suggestions for improving the training of SPs in order to maintain accuracy are highlighted.
The association between idiopathic hemolytic uremic syndrome and infection by verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli. 1985.

Forty pediatric patients with idiopathic hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) were investigated for evidence of infection by Verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC). Fecal VTEC (belonging to at least six different O serogroups including O26, O111, O113, O121, O145, and O157) or specifically neutralizable free-fecal Verotoxin (VT) or both were detected in 24 (60%) patients but were not detected in 40 matched controls. Ten of 15 of the former developed fourfold or greater rises in VT-neutralizing antibody titers, as did six other patients who were negative for both fecal VTEC and VT. A total of 30 (75%) patients had evidence of VTEC infection by one or more criteria. We concluded that a significant association exists between idiopathic HUS and infection by VTEC. The detection of free-fecal VT was the most important procedure for the early diagnosis of this infection because, in our study, VTEC were never isolated in the absence of fecal VT, whereas fecal VT was often present even when VTEC were undetectable.
TLR4 Activation Enhances the PD-L1–Mediated Tolerogenic Capacity of Colonic CD90+ Stromal Cells

Signaling via programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) and PD-L2 is crucial for maintaining peripheral tolerance. CD90+ myofibroblasts/fibroblasts (CMFs) are major programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) ligand–expressing cells in normal human colonic mucosa. CMFs suppress activated CD4+ T cell proliferation via PD-1 ligands. It is not known whether signaling through TLRs contribute to the regulation PD-1 ligands on CMFs upon colonic mucosal tolerance. In this study, we demonstrated that stimulation of TLR4 on human CMFs upregulates PD-L1, but not PD-L2, and reinforces CMF-mediated suppression of CD4+ T cell proliferation and IFN-γ production. TLR4-mediated upregulation of PD-L1 on CMFs involved NF-κB pathways and was JAK2 and MyD88 dependent. MyD88-dependent stimulation of TLR1/2 and TLR5 also upregulated PD-L1 expression on CMFs in culture. PD-L1 expression was drastically decreased in vivo in the colonic mucosa of mice devoid of MyD88. Induction of MyD88 deficiency in CMFs in fibroblast-specific MyD88 conditional knockout mice resulted in a strong increase in a mucosal IFN-γ expression concomitantly with the abrogation of PD-L1 expression in CMFs under homeostasis and epithelial injury induced by dextran sodium sulfate. Together, these data suggest that MyD88-dependent TLR stimulation of CMFs in the normal colonic mucosa may reinforce these cells’ anti-inflammatory capacity and thus contribute to the maintenance of mucosal tolerance.
Effect of Clerodendrum serratum leaf extract on biochemical and oxidative stress parameters of testis in 7, 12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene induced skin carcinogenesis in Swiss albino mice

The biochemical contents and antioxidant potential of Clerodendrum serratum (Verbenaceae) leaf extract (CSLE) on 7, 12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) induced skin carcinogenicity in testis of mice was investigated. Group I received distilled water served as control. The skin lesions were induced by twice-weekly topical application of DMBA for 2 weeks on the shaved backs of group II, III, IV and V mice. CSLE was administered to group III, IV and V mice at the dose of 300, 600 and 900 mg/kg b.wt/day, for 4 week before DMBA application, and continued till 45 days. On 46th day the mice were sacrificed, testis were dissected out freed from adherent tissue and weighed to nearest milligram and evaluated the biochemical contents DNA, RNA, protein, glycogen, cholesterol, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Succinic dehydrogenase (SDH), acid phosphatase (ACP) and alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activities, oxidative stress parameters, levels of glutathione (GSH), thiobarbaturic acid reactive substances (TBARS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione-s-transferase (GST). DMBA induced skin carcinogenesis decreased body and testis weight, DNA, RNA, protein, glycogen, GSH level, SDH, AKP, SOD, CAT and GST activities. But there was increase in cholesterol content, LDH, ACP activities and TBARS level. DMBA act via generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) as tumor initiator and free radicals inducing oxidative stress. The results revealed that there was a recovery in biochemical contents, dehydrogenases, phosphatases and oxidative stress parameters in testis. Thus, the present study inferred that CSLE administration significantly curtailed tumor development and counteracted all the biochemical effects. Many plant secondary metabolites exhibit potent anticarcinogenic potential and known to exert their effects by quenching reactive oxygen, inhibiting lipid peroxidation.
Modélisation multi-échelle de l'endommagement et de la rupture dans les milieux (quasi-) fragiles

Dans la premiere partie de ce manuscrit, nous developpons un nouveau procede pour obtenir des modeles d'endommagement pour les solides, pour lesquels la loi d'evolution d'endommagement est deduite par homogeneisation, a partir d'une analyse microstructurale. La nouvelle approche est illustree dans le cas des materiaux fragiles. L'outil principal est une analyse energetique macroscopique sur une cellule de taille finie, qui mene, par homogeneisation, a une equation macroscopique d'evolution d'endommagement. Dans cette equation, la longueur des microfissures apparait comme variable d'endommagement et la taille de la cellule de periodicite represente un parametre de longueur interne du materiau. La dissipation, liee au frottement sur les levres des microfissures, est egalement prise en compte. Dans la deuxieme partie, nous etudions les comportements instables des milieux granulaires modelises par des grains elastiques, en grandes deformations, et des microfissures inter-granulaires. On emploie une methode d'elements finis a deux echelles. Les frontieres entre les grains sont modelisees avec des lois cohesives, frottement et contact unilateral. Nous prouvons que la decohesion entre les grains est a l'origine des macro-instabilites, indiquees par la perte d'ellipticite du probleme d'equilibre. On etudie l'influence des conditions aux frontieres, des parametres de la loi cohesive et du frottement. Nous donnons des exemples de bifurcation et nous montrons que la reponse macroscopique depend de la taille de VER.
A meta-analysis of brief alcohol interventions for adolescents and young adults: variability in effects across alcohol measures

ABSTRACT Background: Brief alcohol interventions are one approach for reducing drinking among youth, but may vary in effectiveness depending on the type of alcohol assessments used to measure effects. Objectives: To conduct a meta-analysis that examined the effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions for adolescents and young adults, with particular emphasis on exploring variability in effects across outcome measurement characteristics. Method: Eligible studies were those using an experimental or quasi-experimental design to examine the effects of a brief alcohol intervention on a post-intervention alcohol use measure for youth aged 11–30. A comprehensive literature review identified 190 unique samples that were included in the meta-analysis. Taking a Bayesian approach, we used random-effects multilevel models to estimate the average effect and model variability across outcome measurement types. Results: Brief alcohol interventions led to significant reductions in self-reported alcohol use among adolescents ( = 0.25, 95% credible interval [CrI 0.13, 0.37]) and young adults ( = 0.15, 95% CrI [0.12, 0.18]). These results were consistent across outcomes with varying reference periods, but varied across outcome construct type and assessment instruments. Among adolescents, effects were larger when measured using the Timeline Followback; among young adults, effects were smaller when measured using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Conclusion: The strength of the beneficial effects of brief alcohol interventions on youth’s alcohol use may vary depending upon the outcome measure utilized. Nevertheless, significant effects were observed across measures. Although effects were modest in size, they were clinically significant and show promise for interrupting problematic alcohol use trajectories among youth.
Corruption and Productivity: Firm-Level Evidence from the Beeps Survey

Using enterprise data for the economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS, this study examines the effects of corruption on productivity. Corruption is narrowly defined as the occurrence of informal payments to government officials to ease the day-to-day operation of firms. The effects of this"bribe tax"on productivity are compared to the consequences of red tape, which may be understood as imposing a"time tax"on firms. When testing effects in the full sample, only the bribe tax appears to have a negative impact on firm-level productivity, while the effect of the time tax is insignificant. At the same time, unlike similar studies using country-level data, firm level analysis allows a direct test of the"efficient grease"hypothesis by investigating whether corruption may increase productivity by helping reduce the time tax on firms. Results provide no evidence of a trade-off between the time and the bribe taxes, implying that bribing does not emerge as a second-best option to achieve higher productivity by helping circumvent cumbersome bureaucratic requirements. When controlling for EU membership the effects of the bribe tax are more harmful in non-EU countries. This suggests that the surrounding environment influences the way in which firm behaviour affects firm performance. In particular, in countries where corruption is more prevalent and the legal framework is weaker, bribery is more harmful for firm-level productivity.
Adaptive Fuzzy Control for a Class of Stochastic Pure-Feedback Nonlinear Systems With Unknown Hysteresis

This paper addresses the problem of adaptive fuzzy control for a class of stochastic pure-feedback nonlinear systems with unknown direction hysteresis. Compared with the existing researches on hysteresis problem, the stochastic disturbances and the unknown hysteresis are simultaneously considered in the pure-feedback systems. In addition, the hysteresis parameters as well as the direction of hysteresis are unknown. By introducing an auxiliary virtual controller and employing the new properties of Nussbaum function, the major technique difficulty arising from the unknown direction hysteresis is overcome. Based on the fuzzy logic system's online approximation capability, a novel adaptive fuzzy control scheme is presented via the backstepping technique. It is shown that the proposed control scheme guarantees that all the signals of the closed-loop system are semiglobally uniformly bounded in probability, and the tracking error converges to a neighborhood of the origin in the sense of mean quantic value. Finally, simulation results further demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
The Power of Engaging Citizen Scientists for Scientific Progress

Citizen science has become a powerful force for scientific inquiry, providing researchers with access to a vast array of data points while connecting nonscientists to the authentic process of science. This citizen-researcher relationship creates an incredible synergy, allowing for the creation, execution, and analysis of research projects that would otherwise prove impossible in traditional research settings, namely due to the scope of needed human or financial resources (or both). However, citizen-science projects are not without their challenges. For instance, as projects are scaled up, there is concern regarding the rigor and usability of data collected by citizens who are not formally trained in research science. While these concerns are legitimate, we have seen examples of highly successful citizen-science projects from multiple scientific disciplines that have enhanced our collective understanding of science, such as how RNA molecules fold or determining the microbial metagenomic snapshot of an entire public transportation system. These and other emerging citizen-science projects show how improved protocols for reliable, large-scale science can realize both an improvement of scientific understanding for the general public and novel views of the world around us.
Optimality Models in Behavioral Biology

The action of natural selection results in organisms that are good at surviving and reproducing. We show how this intuitive idea can be given a formal definition in terms of fitness and reproductive value. An optimal strategy maximizes fitness, and reproductive value provides a common currency for comparing different actions. We provide a broad review of models and methods that have been used in this area, stressing the conceptual issues and exposing the logic of evolutionary explanations.
Tocilizumab for treating rheumatoid arthritis: an evaluation of pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics and clinical efficacy

Introduction: Dysregulated overproduction of IL-6 has important roles in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Tocilizumab (TCZ) is the only approved biologic agent inhibiting the IL-6 pathway for RA treatment, and is the focus of this review. Areas covered: This review summarizes the pharmacologic characteristics, clinical efficacy and safety profile of TCZ therapy in RA patients. The data reviewed were based mainly on Phase III randomized clinical trials and the literature until 2014 regarding TCZ in RA treatment. Expert opinion: Being a first-line biologic agent for RA, TCZ is especially suitable for RA patients who have shown an inadequate response to TNF-α inhibitors or who cannot tolerate methotrexate. In view of its advantage in suppressing acute-phase reactions and as the only approved inhibitor of IL-6 signaling, TCZ might be particularly effective for RA patients with a high systemic inflammatory response, anemia, AA amyloidosis and other diseases mediated by IL-6. Being able to identify reliable predictors of response to TCZ, and finding more effective new biologic and treatment options, will reduce the number of patients who fail to respond to TCZ.
Social Anxiety among Young Adult Drinkers: The Role of Perceived Norms and Drinking Motives

The aim of the study was to examine the separate and combined influence of perceived norms, negative reinforcement drinking motives, and social anxiety on alcohol outcomes. Participants (N = 250) completed measures of injunctive norms, social anxiety, drinking motives, alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems. Data collection occurred in 2010. When examined separately, motives emerged as a stronger predictor of alcohol outcomes over norms. When tested jointly, findings suggest that for drinkers higher in social anxiety, normative perceptions are relevant and to such a degree that norms actually supersede their motivation to drink to conform. Implications and limitations are discussed.
Trophic linkages across seascapes: subtidal predators limit effective mussel recruitment in rocky intertidal communities

Food-web linkages between habitats across a landscape are known to be important in terrestrial systems. Linkages through the lower (nutrients) and higher (predators) trophic levels are also starting to be recognized across seascapes. Here, we test the potential importance of a subtidal- intertidal trophic linkage through predation on mussel recruits by fish in mussel-dominated commu- nities at 2 tidal levels on wave-exposed shores of southern New Zealand. We show that on rocky shores that include both intertidal benches and subtidal reefs, labrid fish move into the intertidal zone during high tide and exert fast and strong predation pressure on small mussels in the low-, and to a lesser extent mid-shore, intertidal levels. Within 1 d, 80 to 95% of small (5 to 15 mm) transplanted mussels were removed from experimental tiles on the low shore when unprotected from fish preda- tion, while 20 to 60% were removed on the mid-shore; in contrast, most fully protected mussels sur- vived for months. Although at a slower pace, predation was also evident in cages that excluded fish but allowed access to large invertebrate predators. This predation occurred mostly at night when large predatory crabs were abundant at the study sites. The combined predation pressure on small mussels by fish and crabs was reflected in the scarcity of larger/older mussel recruits (5 to 15 mm) outside mature beds on the low shore compared to greater abundance on the mid-shore. The number of mussel settlers in artificial collectors and of smaller/younger recruits (<5 mm) within barnacle patches did not significantly differ between shore heights; thus, we attribute the difference in abundance of late recruits to differential predation rates by subtidal predators. This study clearly demonstrates that highly mobile subtidal predators, particularly fish, can have important impacts on temperate intertidal food webs, especially on early life stages of habitat-dominating invertebrates, such as mussels in New Zealand and probably elsewhere.
Transmit antenna selection for massive MIMO: A knapsack problem formulation

Massive multiple input multiple output communication is now possible using millimeter wave frequency band. In this paper a transmit antenna selection algorithm is developed which satisfies a quality of service (QoS) for a given user. In order to achieve a particular level of QoS, the number of transmit antennas required is determined by remodeling it as a Knapsack Problem (KP). The smallest subset of antenna elements is found at the transmitter side to achieve the desired level of QoS using KP. Furthermore, we have compared our algorithm with the sorted and unsorted sequential selection algorithm (SSA). Our algorithm achieves similar performance as compared to SSA but with lower computational complexity than the sorted SSA. Moreover, the energy efficiency of our algorithm is similar to that of the sorted SSA but superior to unsorted SSA, as it is not sensitive to the arrangement of the antenna gains.
The Backlash of Token Mobility: The Impact of Past Group Experiences on Individual Ambition and Effort

Two studies investigated the impact of past ingroup experiences on individual aspirations and effort. Participants were told that in the past, members of their group had either been offered no opportunities (closed), few opportunities (token), or equal opportunities (open) to achieve a desired outcome. The results show that past group experiences determine responses to current opportunities and affect the perceived feasibility of individual success as well as individual performance. Exposure to a token system has different effects, depending on whether the group is historically advantaged or disadvantaged. Whereas those with a collective history of success see token mobility as a challenge and show superior performance, the same situation constitutes a threat to members of a historically disadvantaged group, who fail to take advantage of the opportunities offered to them and perform suboptimally.
Strategy Training Shows Promise for Addressing Disability in the First 6 Months After Stroke

Background. Cognitive impairments occur frequently after stroke and contribute to significant disability. Strategy training shows promise but has not been examined in the acute phase of recovery. Objective. We conducted a single-blind randomized pilot study estimating the effect of strategy training, relative to reflective listening (attention control), for reducing disability and executive cognitive impairments. Methods. Thirty participants with acute stroke who were enrolled in inpatient rehabilitation and had cognitive impairments were randomized to receive strategy training (n = 15, 10 sessions as adjunct to usual inpatient rehabilitation) or reflective listening (n = 15, same dose). The Functional Independence Measure assessed disability at baseline, rehabilitation discharge, 3, and 6 months. The Color Word Interference Test of the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System assessed selected executive cognitive impairments (inhibition, flexibility) at baseline, 3, and 6 months. Results. Changes in Functional Independence Measure scores for the 2 groups over 6 months showed significant effects of group (F1,27 = 9.25, P = .005), time (F3,74 = 96.00, P < .001), and group * time interactions (F3,74 = 4.37, P < .007) after controlling for baseline differences in stroke severity (F1,27 = 6.74, P = .015). Color Word Interference Inhibition scores showed significant effects of group (F1,26 = 6.50, P = .017) and time (F2,34 = 4.74, P = .015), but the group * time interaction was not significant (F2,34 = 2.55, P = .093). Color Word Interference Cognitive Flexibility scores showed significant effects of group (F1,26 = 23.41, P < .001), time (F2,34 = 12.77, P < .001), and group * time interactions (F2,34 = 7.83, P < .002). Interaction effects suggested greater improvements were associated with strategy training. Conclusions. Strategy training shows promise for addressing disability in the first 6 months after stroke. Lessons from this pilot study may inform future clinical trials.