Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pesticide-related poison center exposures in children and adolescents aged ≤19 years in Texas, 2000–2013

Abstract Context: Although national poison center data show that pesticides were the 8th most commonly reported substance category (3.27%) for children aged ≤5 years in 2014, there is limited information on childhood and adolescent pesticide exposures. Objective: This study assessed pesticide-related poison center exposures in children and adolescents aged ≤19 years from 2000–2013 in Texas to characterize the potential burden of pesticides. Materials and methods: Pesticide-related poison center exposures among children and adolescents aged ≤19 years reported to Texas poison centers were identified. The distribution of exposures was estimated by gender, age category, medical outcome, management site, exposure route, and pesticide category. Results: From 2000 to 2013, there were 61,147 pesticide-related poison center exposures in children and adolescents aged ≤19 years. The prevalence was highest among males at 864.24 per 100,000 population. The prevalence of unintentional exposures was highest among children aged ≤5 years at 2310.69 per 100,000 population, whereas the prevalence of intentional exposures was highest among adolescents aged 13–19 years at 13.82 per 100,000 population. A majority of medical outcomes reported were classified as having no effect (30.24%) and not followed, but minimal clinical effects possible (42.74%). Of all the exposures, 81.24% were managed on site. However, 57% of intentional exposures were referred to or treated at a health-care facility. The most common routes of exposure were ingestion (80.83%) and dermal (17.21%). The most common pesticide categories included rodenticides (30.02%), pyrethrins/pyrethroids (20.69%), and other and unspecified insecticides (18.14%). Discussion: The study found differences in the frequency of exposures by intent for sex and age categories, and identified the most common medical outcomes, management site, exposure route, and pesticide category. Conclusion: Through characterizing pesticide-related poison center exposures, future interventions can be designed to address groups with higher prevalence of exposure.
An urgent call to get better prepared for unexpected events

This paper is an urgent call to get better prepared for unexpected events. The increasing spread of information technology in society leads to more complexity and non-linear behavior in the economic and financial system, and to more unpredictable, sudden events. This paper examines how people deal with non-linear behavior of systems, by looking at how we prepare for disruptive events in the economy and wider society, and it shows why we have a hard time dealing with non-linearities. The paper provides suggestions to improve our handling of non-linear system behavior for both better preparedness for disruptive events and better design of more resilient systems. A different approach to economic modelling is needed, away from equilibria thinking toward the realm of evolutionary complex adaptive systems. The paper is relevant to policymakers and decision makers who deal with long-term risk anduncertainty, and to those who want to improve their understanding of disruptiveevents. The ideas brought together in this paper come from various disciplines and mostly do not reflect mainstream economic thinking.
Cardiovascular origins of preeclampsia

Purpose of review To review the current data on maternal cardiovascular adaptation in normal pregnancy and preeclampsia. Recent findings Defective placentation causes early-onset preeclampsia, a disease entity that is considered more or less distinct from late-onset preeclampsia. The latter has been attributed as ‘maternal’ preeclampsia. There are inconsistencies with the placental origins hypothesis, especially when considering the lack of a causative association with abnormal placental histology or impaired fetal growth. An alternative explanation is that placental dysfunction is secondary to maternal cardiovascular maladaptation in pregnancy. The concept that placental dysfunction is secondary to a maternal disorder is not new when one considers the clinical similarities between preeclampsia and gestational diabetes – both pregnancy-specific conditions that are cured by birth. It is accepted that gestational diabetes develops when the maternal pancreas is unable to manage the increasing glucose load of pregnancy. It is now apparent that pregnancy presents a substantial cardiovascular load on the maternal heart, and that cardiovascular dysfunction precedes the disorder, predominates in the clinical syndrome and persists for several decades postpartum. It is time to consider the evidence that failure of the maternal cardiovascular system to adapt to pregnancy may well be the primary mechanism leading to secondary placental dysfunction in preeclampsia. Summary Many of the existing paradoxes of preeclampsia challenge the placental origin hypothesis and are explained if one considered preeclampsia to be a cardiovascular syndrome.
Hepatorenal Acute Kidney Injury and the Importance of Raising Mean Arterial Pressure

Background: The efficacy of vasoconstrictors in hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) is variable. We hypothesized that the effectiveness of vasoconstrictor therapy in improving kidney function ultimately relates to the magnitude of the achieved mean arterial pressure (MAP) increase. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to identify cirrhotic individuals treated with vasoconstrictors for acute kidney injury (AKI) presumably caused by HRS to examine the relationship between change in MAP and change in serum creatinine (sCr) using multivariate mixed linear regression. Results: Among 73 patients treated with midodrine/octreotide, change in MAP inversely correlated with change in sCr (p = 0.0005). The quartile with the greatest increase in MAP (+15.9 to +29.4 mm Hg) was associated with a subsequent absolute decrease in sCr. The strength of the correlation increased when the analysis was restricted to those who met the HRS criteria (n = 27, p = 0.002), where the third (+5.3 to +15.6 mm Hg) and fourth (+15.9 to +20.9 mm Hg) quartiles of MAP change were associated with a decrease in sCr. A similar but stronger correlation was found among 14 patients treated with norepinephrine either after failing midodrine/octreotide (n = 10) or de novo (n = 4; p = 0.002), where a rise in MAP of +19.2 to 25 mm Hg was associated with a larger reduction in sCr. Associations remained significant after adjustment for baseline parameters. Conclusions: The magnitude of MAP rise during HRS therapy with midodrine/octreotide or norepinephrine correlated with a reduction in sCr concentration. Our results suggest that achieving a pre-specified target of MAP increase might improve renal outcomes in hepatorenal AKI.
Using behavioural science to increase consumer adoption of time-of-use electricity tariffs: evidence from survey and field experiments

A challenge for realising the benefits of smart meters, promoting energy security and decarbonising electricity is encouraging domestic consumers to switch from flat-rate electricity tariffs to a new generation of time of use (TOU) tariffs. However, a greater challenge is how to ensure that the right consumers sign up and that consent is informed: not all consumers will save money on a TOU tariff and evidence shows that a sizeable minority could be financially worse off. In a marked departure from the existing literature, this thesis argues that opt-out enrolment (a type of ‘nudge’) is unlikely to be a suitable method of recruiting consumers onto TOU tariffs, even though it could achieve almost universal enrolment. The first study shows that half of British energy consumers are unable to make informed choices about the cost-effective tariff for them, particularly those in low socio-economic grades. Consumers are therefore unlikely to opt-out of being switched onto a TOU tariff, even when unsuitable. Results from three further studies covering a collective sample size of 16,000 participants, show that tailoring the marketing of TOU tariffs towards electric vehicle (EV) owners could increase demand for TOUs amongst EV owners whilst reducing demand amongst non-EV owners, who pose less of a burden to the electricity network and are less likely to save money from switching. Unlike opt-out enrolment, tailored marketing is an ‘effective and selective’ nudge (Johnson, 2016). Unlike personalised defaults, tailored marketing can achieve informed consent. The results have implications for multiple ‘smart’ energy programmes, from signing up to TOU tariffs or direct load control contracts to participating in vehicle-to-grid services. In each case, a decision will need to be made about whether consumers will be left to opt-in or opt-out of such services, and to what extent it matters that consent is informed.
The Arg389Gly &bgr;1-adrenoceptor polymorphism does not affect cardiac effects of exercise after parasympathetic inhibition by atropine

In vitro, Arg389Gly &bgr;1-adrenoceptor (AR) polymorphism exhibits decreased &bgr;-AR signalling. In vivo, &bgr;1-AR-mediated cardiac effects of exercise showed no genotype-dependent differences in Arg389 vs. Gly389 &bgr;1-AR subjects. We studied in 16 male subjects homozygous Arg389 or Gly389 &bgr;1-AR, whether blockade of parasympathetic activity might unmask genotype-dependence of exercise effects. Subjects were infused with atropine (10 μg/kg i.v. loading dose followed by continuous i.v. infusion of 0.15 μg/kg/min throughout exercise-time); 20 min after start of atropine bicycle-exercise in supine position (25, 50, 75 and 100 W for 5 min each) was performed and heart rate, contractility, blood pressure, plasma noradrenaline and plasma-renin activity were assessed. Exercise-evoked increases in all but one parameters were not different between Arg389 and Gly389 &bgr;1-AR subjects; only plasma noradrenaline increased slightly more in Gly389 vs. Arg389 &bgr;1-AR subjects. In conclusion: It appears to be unlikely that lack of Arg389Gly &bgr;1-AR genotype-dependence of exercise-effects can be explained by influences of parasympathetic activity.
International Journal for the Scholarship of International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Teaching and Learning

Abstract This paper aims to examine the relative impacts of three different models of learning (collaborative learning, traditional lecturing and process-oriented guided inquiry learning [POGIL]) on student performance and learning perceptions. In a controlled case study, we measured the learning outcomes of 57 undergraduates in a chemistry course taught by the different learning modules, using quizzes and exams as performance measures. In one academic quarter, the collaborative learning method was used exclusively whereas all three models were used subsequently in a second quarter by dividing up lectures into 4 different modules. Student quiz and exam outcomes indicated significant difference between collaborative learning and traditional lecturing (P = 0.01) but not within the active learning variants or POGIL versus traditional lecturing (P > 0.05), suggesting students performed best on content taught by collaborative learning. When prompted to pick a learning module, 67% of the students chose collaborative learning but not POGIL, indicative of student preference for one active learning variant over the other. However, student engagement and higher-order thinking appeared to be higher under the POGIL module though both skills were also evident during the collaborative learning period. Based on the outcome of the present study, it is recommended that purely inquiry-based lectures should employ short-burst intermittent lecturing to overcome student resistance and negative perceptions.
Climate and ENSO variability associated with vector-borne diseases in Colombia

Climatic factors are associated with the incidence of diverse vector-borne diseases (VBDs). Colombia, located in tropical South America, witnesses high precipitation rates and temperatures, varying with elevation over the Andes. We show how temperatures are linked to malaria incidence throughout the country, and we compare those results with those obtained via simple mathematical expressions that represent indices associated with malaria transmission as a function of temperature. Interannual climatic variability in tropical South America is strongly associated with El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Most of the region, including Colombia, experiences
Is it possible to integrate health and safety risk management into mechanised gold processing? A methodology for artisanal and small-scale mining communities in the Philippines

The large number of people involved in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) worldwide face significant health and safety issues that have an impact beyond the miners and their communities. In the Philippines alone, ASM sustains more than 500,000 miners and processors (Galvez 2012, cited in Verbrugge 2014). Its immense contribution—supplying 80 per cent of the country’s gold supply, which earned PHP48.9 billion in 2010 (Mines and Geosciences Bureau 2016)—proves that ASM is thriving and is worthy of support.
Inhibition of fMLP‐triggered respiratory burst of human monocytes by adenosine: involvement of A3 adenosine receptor

Adenosine (Ado) is a potent anti‐inflammatory agent acting on a variety of cell functions. However, its effects on human monocytes have been less well characterized. We investigated the effect of Ado and its receptor‐specific analogs on NADPH oxidase activity with the use of luminol‐enhanced chemiluminescence (CL). Adenosine inhibited fMLP‐triggered NADPH oxidase activity with a maximal inhibition of 55 ± 5%. IB‐MECA, a selective A3 Ado receptor agonist reduced fMLP triggered NADPH oxidase activity more potently than the A2 receptor agonist CGS 2180 HCl (CGS) and the A1 Ado receptor agonist N‐2‐phenylethyladenosine (R‐PIA). The inhibitory effect of Ado was reversed by neither the A1 Ado receptor antagonist 1,3‐dipropyl‐8(2‐amino‐4chlorophenyl)‐xanthine (PACPX) nor the A2 Ado receptor antagonist 3,7‐dimethyl‐1‐(2‐propynyl)xanthine (DMPX). It was significantly reversed by the A1/A3 Ado receptor antagonist xanthine amine congener (XAC). Pretreatment of monocytes by cytochalasin B reversed the effect of Ado but not of dibutyryl cAMP (dBcAMP) on fMLP‐CL response. KT 5720, a specific cAMP‐dependent protein kinase inhibitor completely counteracted the inhibition of NADPH oxidase activity by dBcAMP but not by Ado. Using flow cytometry, we observed that Ado did not inhibit intracellular oxidative metabolism, whereas dBcAMP did. Furthermore, the inhibition of NADPH oxidase activity by Ado was not mediated by changes in cytosolic calcium. These results demonstrated that Ado inhibited NADPH oxidase activity via A3 Ado receptor independently of cAMP elevation or changes in calcium mobilization. J. Leukoc. Biol. 66: 495–501; 1999.
Qualitative Disclosure in Corporate Filings and Loan Terms

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires firms to disclose and discuss trends concerning their liquidity, capital resources, and operations. However, there is an ongoing debate on the value of these textual narratives. This study investigates the relation between a firm's qualitative disclosure and its loan terms. In particular, I use loan terms to study how textual disclosure relates to banks' assessment of a firm's creditworthiness. An analysis of the linguistic tone of the Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) section in firms' 10-K filings reveals a significant association between a firm's disclosure and its loan terms. Firms with a more negative tone face higher loan spreads and stricter contract terms, such as requiring collateral and shorter maturities, in its subsequent issuance. In line with banks limiting their exposure to credit risk using the contract terms, the tone has predictive abilities concerning future firm failures, even after controlling for known default predictors. Overall, these findings suggest that textual narratives contain incremental information about a firm's economic situation as intended by regulation and loan terms reflect this information accordingly.
MICROFINANCE: METHODOLOGICAL REVIEW AND RESEARCH AGENDA

In this article, I review evidences from several Microfinance studies. The literature shows contradictory results and sometimes fails to provide enough evidence for some effects, especially on consumption, income and empowerment of women. Nevertheless, the results provided evidence that Microfinance can help the poor to become entrepreneurs, grow their business and save more. I also discuss about different design and statistical methodologies such as cross-sectional analysis, panel data analysis, RCTs, dynamic panel data and lab experiments. I also discuss about the importance not only of a clear research design but also of statistical transparency. I also highlight a future research agenda.
The assessment of Internet addiction among university students: some findings from a focus group

Original scientific paper The university student population has been regarded as one of the most susceptible to developing Internet addiction among all demographic groups of Internet users. This paper reports the findings obtained from a focus group study conducted among 8 undergraduate students on the issue of Internet addiction. Data and insights were sought from the undergraduates regarding their Internet use patterns as well as their response to the Generalized Problematic Internet Usage Scale 2 (GPIUS2). Findings revealed that Internet use patterns have changed in recent times and that the GPIUS2 is an appropriate measurement tool for Internet addiction among students. Other implications from the findings are duly discussed in this paper.
Representation of Women on Corporate Boards of Directors and Firm Financial Performance

Abstract Purpose This chapter aims to evaluate the relationship between the representation of women on corporate boards of directors and its impact on firm financial performance. Design/Methodology/Approach This study utilized both a systematic review and a meta-analysis, using a sample of 40 published studies, which gleaned financial indicator and observation data from 28 different countries. Findings As indicated in previous studies, while positive, there was no significant correlation found between the number of women serving on the boards of directors and firm financial performance. Research Limitations/Implications The heterogeneity between the various studies analyzed may present difficulties in making general conclusions. The chapter could also be subject to publication bias, as the selection criteria included may indicate a need for further peer review. Future meta-analyses should include data associated with other financial indicators. Practical Implications This study shows how composition ratios of men/women serving on corporate boards should be addressed in terms of proving for a greater diversity of leadership perspectives. Originality/Value Previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses have analyzed country environments as moderators for the relationship between the representation of women on corporate boards and firm financial performance. The present study evaluates possible differences between the impact of the number of women serving on the board of directors on a variety of financial indicators (ROA, ROE, and Tobin’s Q).
Disability occurrence and proximity to death

Purpose. This paper aims to assess whether disability occurrence is related more strongly to proximity to death than to age. Method. Self reported disability and vital status were available from six annual waves and a subsequent 12-year mortality follow-up of the Dutch GLOBE longitudinal study. Logit and Poisson regression methods were used to study associations of disability occurrence with age and with proximity to death. Results. For disability in activities of daily living (ADL), regression models with proximity to death had better goodness of fit than models with age. With approaching death, the odds for ADL disability prevalence and incidence rates increased 20.0% and 18.9% per year, whereas severity increased 4.1% per year. For the ages younger than 60, 60–69 and older than 70 years, the odds for ADL disability prevalence increased 6.4%, 16.0% and 23.0% per year. Among subjects with asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease and diabetes increases were 25.1%, 19.5% and 22.7% per year. Functional impairments were more strongly related to age. Conclusions. The strong association of (ADL) disability occurrence with proximity to death implies that a substantial part of the disability burden may shift to older ages with further increases in life expectancy.
Isolation and characterization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria with tolerance to hypoxic environments

ABSTRACT Hypoxic conditions are considerably different from aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and they are widely distributed in natural environments. Many pollutants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), tend to accumulate in hypoxic environments. However, PAH biodegradation under hypoxic conditions is poorly understood compared with that under obligate aerobic and obligate anaerobic conditions. In the present study, PAH-degrading bacteria were enriched, and their biodegradation rates were tested using a hypoxic station with an 8% oxygen concentration. PAH-degrading bacteria collected from sediments in low-oxygen environments were enriched using phenanthrene (Phe) or pyrene (Pyr) as the sole carbon and energy source. Individual bacterial colonies showing the ability to degrade Phe or Pyr were isolated and identified by 16S rDNA gene sequencing. Morphological and physiological characterizations of the isolated bacterial colonies were performed. The isolated bacteria were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and were identified as Pseudomonas sp. , Klebsiella sp. , Bacillus sp. , and Comamonas sp. Phylogenetic tree of the isolated PAH-degrading bacteria was also constructed. The biodegradation ability of these bacteria was tested at an initial Phe or Pyr concentration of 50 mg L−1. The biodegradation kinetics were best fit by a first-order rate model and presented regression coefficients (r2) that varied from 0.7728 to 0.9725 (P < 0.05). The half-lives of the PAHs varied from 2.99 to 3.65 d for Phe and increased to 60.3–82.5 d for Pyr. These half-lives were much shorter than those observed under anaerobic conditions but were similar to those observed under aerobic conditions.
Assessing Global Pain Severity by Self-Report in Clinical and Health Services Research

In this article, the assessment of global pain severity in clinical and health services research is considered. Specifically, the focus is on assessing pain during a defined period by retrospective self-report. Evidence is reviewed that indicates that it can be useful to regard pain severity as a global construct measured by pain intensity and interference with activities. In contrast, pain experience per se is more usefully regarded as multidimensional. Research on methods of assessing key dimensions of pain experience is reviewed, including pain intensity, affect, and chronicity. The authors suggest that global pain severity (made up of pain intensity and interference with activities) and pain persistence (chronicity) should be focal points for brief pain assessment. Two brief measures of pain severity are reviewed that provide practical, reliable, and valid approaches to pain assessment in clinical and health services research.