Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Disclosure of HIV Serostatus to Sex Partners in Rural Louisiana

Abstract To examine correlates of HIV disclosure, a convenience sample of 273 HIV-infected persons throughout rural Louisiana were interviewed. Disclosure to sexual partners at time of initial HIV-positive diagnosis and the time of the study interview was ascertained (an average of 5.76 years later). The prevalence of disclosure to past and current sex partners was 57.2% and 80.7% respectively. Those who reinitiated sex with their partner since testing positive for HIV and those who received partner notification were more likely to disclose to past partners. Non-African Americans and those with only one partner were more likely to disclose to present sex partners. Much like urban settings, disclosure is not universal, and interventions such as disclosure skills building and/or ongoing partner notification services may be needed to facilitate disclosure.
Updating the Role of Natriuretic Peptide Levels in Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract Heart disease affects 1 in 3 individuals in the United States, and the prevalence of heart failure (HF) is increasing exponentially. Although our understanding of the disease progression of congestive HF (CHF) has advanced, refining the areas of diagnosis, risk stratification, prognosis, and treatment is still needed. The natriuretic peptides, specifically B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal pro-B–type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), have shown promise in clinical practice. Brain natriuretic peptide is released from cardiac ventricular myocytes in response to volume or pressure overload. Rapid measurement of plasma BNP or NT-proBNP has been shown to increase the diagnostic accuracy of HF exacerbations. A cutoff value of 100 pg/mL has a sensitivity and specificity of 90% and 73%, respectively, according to the Breathing Not Properly Study. In addition, BNP and NT-proBNP have been considered independent predictors of adverse outcome. One study calculated a 35% increase in risk of death due to HF for every 100-pg/mL increase in BNP level. Lastly, natriuretic peptides have been known to decrease following medical therapy of HF, suggesting the role of their measurement in monitoring inpatient disease progression and outpatient medical programs. The future of natriuretic peptides lies in risk stratification in other cardiac diseases, such as acute coronary syndrome, and possibly determining severity of valvular disease. Although there is substantial work done in elucidating the power of natriuretic peptides in clinical practice, more research is necessary to reach a consensus regarding how to appropriately utilize them in treatment regimens.
Development of Minimum Criteria for the Initiation of Antibiotics in Residents of Long-Term–Care Facilities: Results of a Consensus Conference

Abstract Establishing a clinical diagnosis of infection in residents of long-term–care facilities (LTCFs) is difficult. As a result, deciding when to initiate antibiotics can be particularly challenging. This article describes the establishment of minimum criteria for the initiation of antibiotics in residents of LTCFs. Experts in this area were invited to participate in a consensus conference. Using a modified delphi approach, a questionnaire and selected relevant articles were sent to participants who were asked to rank individual signs and symptoms with respect to their relative importance. Using the results of the weighting by participants, a modification of the nominal group process was used to achieve consensus. Criteria for initiating antibiotics for skin and soft-tissue infections, respiratory infections, urinary infections, and fever where the focus of infection is unknown were developed.
Relationship Between Clinical Nurse Specialist Role Implementation, Satisfaction, and Intent to Stay

Purpose/Objective: There is a lack of research examining the relationship between role satisfaction and intent to remain in one’s professional role from the perspective of nurses in advanced practice roles. The purpose of this study is to examine the strength of the relationship between clinical nurse specialist (CNS) role implementation, role satisfaction, and intent to remain in a CNS role. Design: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional survey. Setting: The setting of this study was Canada. Sample: We included 423 of 471 (90%) questionnaires of graduate-prepared CNSs. Methods: We surveyed all CNSs in Canada from April to August 2011. Cronbach’s &agr; (.79–.96) was used to assess the reliability of the portion of the questionnaire that measured CNS role dimensions. Using logistic regression analysis, we examined the relationship between CNS role implementation, role satisfaction, and intent to stay. Results: Clinical, research, scholarly and professional development, and consultation activities were significantly associated with improved CNS role satisfaction, and role satisfaction positively influenced intent to stay. However, CNS roles heavily focused on consultation activities negatively influenced CNS intent to stay. Only scholarly and professional development activities both improved role satisfaction and indirectly influenced intent to stay in the role. Conclusion/Implications: There is a small positive association between some CNS role dimensions and role satisfaction, and role satisfaction positively influences intent to stay. However, too many consultation activities decreased CNS intent to remain in the role. Given the multidimensional role of the CNS and unique patient needs, CNSs will want to work closely with their managers to design a role that meets patient needs and optimizes CNS satisfaction and intent to stay in the role. Further research is needed to understand if CNS role implementation influences CNS departures and the relationship between intending to leave and actual departures from a CNS role.
Stressful initiations.

Stress granules (SGs) are phase-dense particles that appear in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells that have been exposed to environmental stress (e.g. heat, oxidative conditions, hyperosmolarity and UV irradiation). SG assembly is a consequence of abortive translational initiation: SGs appear when translation is initiated in the absence of eIF2-GTP-tRNA(i)(Met), the ternary complex that normally loads tRNA(i)(Met) onto the small ribosomal subunit. Stress-induced depletion of eIF2-GTP-tRNA(i)(Met) allows the related RNA-binding proteins TIA-1 and TIAR to promote the assembly of eIF2-eIF5-deficient preinitiation complexes, the core constituents of SGs. The mRNP components that make up the SG are in a dynamic equilibrium with polysomes. As such, the SG appears to constitute a metabolic domain through which mRNPs are continually routed and subjected to triage - they are first monitored for integrity and composition, and then sorted for productive translational initiation or targeted degradation.
An integrated framework of online generative capability: interview from digital immigrants

Purpose – In the Web 2.0 era, more and more digital immigrants actively participate in blogging, video sharing, online rating, and micro blogging, etc. However, some may be more skilled in producing and generating online content while others still meet some barriers in doing so. Thus, it is interesting to investigate the online generative capability of digital immigrants in Web 2.0 context. This paper seeks to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach – The authors selected Shanghai as their target province in this study for its large scale of internet users. An in-depth semi-structured interview was used as their research method. They selected several community clubs as the interview settings. In addition, age was adopted as a threshold to define the Chinese digital immigrants for its convenience in sampling. Findings – Chinese digital immigrants are playing an important role in content generating, and have a great potential in the future contribution, and a number of digital immigrants regard the .
Generating natural language descriptions using speaker-dependent information†

Abstract This paper discusses the issue of human variation in natural language referring expression generation. We introduce a model of content selection that takes speaker-dependent information into account to produce descriptions that closely resemble those produced by each individual, as seen in a number of reference corpora. Results show that our speaker-dependent referring expression generation model outperforms alternatives that do not take human variation into account, or which do so less extensively, and suggest that the use of machine-learning methods may be an ideal approach to mimic complex referential behaviour.
An efficient Shine-Dalgarno sequence but not translation is necessary for lacZ mRNA stability in Escherichia coli

The 5' ends of many bacterial transcripts are important in determining mRNA stability. A series of Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence changes showed that the complementarity of the SD sequence to the anti-SD sequence of 16S rRNA correlates with lacZ mRNA stability in Escherichia coli. Several initiation codon changes showed that an efficient initiation codon is not necessary to maintain lacZ mRNA stability. A stop codon in the 10th codon of lacZ increased mRNA stability. Therefore, ribosomal binding via the SD sequence but not translation of the coding region is necessary to maintain lacZ mRNA stability.
Shared Workspaces: How Do They Work and When Are They Useful?

Abstract We investigated the effect on synchronous communication of adding a Shared Workspace to audio, for three tasks possessing key representative features of workplace activity. We examined the content and effectiveness of remote audio communication between pairs of participants, who worked with and without the addition of the Workspace. For an undemanding task requiring the joint production of brief textual summaries, we found no benefits associated with adding the Workspace. For a more demanding text editing task, the Workspace initially hampered performance but, with task practice, participants performed more efficiently than with audio alone. When the task was graphical design, the Workspace was associated with greater communication efficiency and also changed the nature of communication. The Workspace permits the straightforward expression of spatial relations and locations, gesturing, and the monitoring and coordination of activity by direct visual inspection. The results suggest that, for demanding text-based tasks, or for complex graphical tasks, there are overall benefits in adding a visual channel in the form of a Workspace. These benefits occur despite the costs involved in attempting to coordinate activity with this unfamiliar form of communication. Our findings provide evidence for early claims about putative Workspace benefits. We also interpret these results in the context of a theory of mediated communication.
Family Ownership, Corporate Governance and Performance: Evidence from Saudi Arabia

The main objective of this study is to examine the performance of companies listed in the Saudi Stock Exchange. For this purpose, we studied and tested a sample of 792 firm-years among from 11 industrial groups for the years 2006 to 2013 and compared Family and Non-family firms. The research addresses the questions 1) Do family owned firms perform better? 2) How does concentration of ownership affect firm performance, comparing family firms to non-family ones? This research attempts to fill a research gap on the relationship or determinants of capital structure in one of the emerging markets, Saudi Arabia. This study will be implemented through a quantitative approach. Secondary data were obtained from published annual statistical data, from the company financial reports and the DataStream database.
Effect of Treatment Interruption and Intensification of Antiretroviral Therapy on Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Advanced HIV

Background. The effect of antiretroviral therapy (ART) interruption or intensification on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in advanced HIV patients is unknown. Objective. To assess the impact of temporary treatment interruption and intensification of ART on HRQoL. Design. A 2 x 2 factorial open label randomized controlled trial. Setting. Hospitals in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Patients. Multidrug resistant (MDR) HIV patients. Intervention. Patients were randomized to receive a 12-wk interruption or not, and ART intensification or standard ART. Measurements. The Health Utilities Index (HUI3), EQ-5D, standard gamble (SG), time tradeoff (TTO), visual analog scale (VAS), and the Medical Outcomes Study HIV Health Survey (MOS-HIV). Results. There were no significant differences in HRQoL among the four groups during follow-up; however, there was a temporary significant decline in HRQoL on some measures within the interruption group during interruption (HUI3 −0.05, P = 0.03; VAS −5.9, P = 0.002; physical health summary −2.9, P = 0.001; mental health summary −1.9, P = 0.02). Scores declined slightly overall during follow-up. Multivariate analysis showed significantly lower HRQoL associated with some clinical events. Limitations. The results may not apply to HIV patients who have not experienced multiple treatment failures or who have not developed MDR HIV. Conclusions. Temporary ART interruption and ART intensification provided neither superior nor inferior HRQoL compared with no interruption and standard ART. Among surviving patients, HRQoL scores declined only slightly over years of follow-up in this advanced HIV cohort; however, approximately one-third of patients died during the trial follow up. Lower HRQoL was associated with adverse clinical events.
Venlafaxine: the yin and yang of antidepressants?

chemical moiety that is distinct from previous antidepressants and has a pharmacology that appears to offer some novelty of action. Specifically, venlafaxine is a serotonin and noradrenaline uptake blocker that has a very high separation of these actions from unwanted interactions with other receptor systems, such as the cholinergic muscarinic, which bedevil the older mixed uptake blockers, the tricyclic antidepressants. In human brain
VARIABILITY OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

▪ Abstract A large collective effort to study the variability of active galactic nuclei (AGN) over the past decade has led to a number of fundamental results on radio-quiet AGN and blazars. In radio-quiet AGN, the ultraviolet (UV) bump in low-luminosity objects is thermal emission from a dense medium, very probably an accretion disk, irradiated by the variable X-ray source. The validity of this model for high-luminosity radio-quiet AGN is unclear because the relevant UV and X-ray observations are lacking. The broad-line gas kinematics appears to be dominated by virialized motions in the gravity field of a black hole, whose mass can be derived from the observed motions. The “accretion disk plus wind” model explains most of the variability (and other) data and appears to be the most appropriate model at present. Future investigations are outlined. In blazars, rapid variability at the highest energies (gamma-rays) implies that the whole continuum is relativistically boosted along the line of sight. The gener.
Sexual risk behavior among early initiators of sexual intercourse

Abstract The aim of this study was to examine sexual risk behavior among adolescents in the United States classified as early initiators of sexual intercourse. Secondary analyses were carried out with data from the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (n=14,041). Only adolescents 16–18 years old who reported being sexually experienced were selected for analyses (n=5315, 48% female). Of sexually experienced adolescents, 11% were classified as early initiators of sexual intercourse. Based on prior research it was expected that early initiators of sexual intercourse would demonstrate increased sexual risk behavior when compared to adolescents who initiated sexual intercourse at later ages and that there would be ethnic and gender differences in risk behavior. Early initiators were significantly more likely to report multiple sex partners in their lifetime and were more likely to drink or use drugs before the last time they had sex. Overall, the findings did not demonstrate differences in sexual risk based on gender and ethnicity.
Effects of ascorbic acid, calcitriol, and retinoic acid on the differentiation of preosteoblasts

The responses of the immortalized rat preosteoblast UMR‐201‐10B to ascorbic acid (AA), 1,25(OH)2D3 (calcitriol), and retinoic acid (RA) were examined. UMR‐201‐10B cells have an undetectable basal alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity that is induced after 24 h of treatment with 10−6 M RA (4.64 ± 0.06 μmol/h/mg of protein). The addition of 10−8 M calcitriol resulted in a slight induction of ALP activity after 72 h (0.43 ± 0.07 μmol/h/mg of protein). When calcitriol was added to RA, however, over the same period ALP activity was enhanced significantly compared with treatment with RA alone (RA and calcitriol, 12.29 ± 0.86 μmol/h/mg of protein). Treatment with AA (50 μg/ml) alone had no effect on ALP activity but increased RA‐induced ALP activity to 6.78 ± 0.28 μmol/h/mg of protein at 24 h. In contrast, AA inhibited calcitriol‐induced ALP activity after 7 days of combined treatment with calcitriol (calcitriol, 7.73 ± 0.16 μmol/h/mg of protein; AA and calcitriol, 1.44 ± 0.06 μmol/h/mg of protein). Individually, RA and calcitriol induced mRNA expression for ALP, matrix‐gla protein (MGP), and osteopontin (OP). The steady state level of pro‐α1(I) collagen mRNA also was increased significantly by treatment with RA and AA individually. The combination of RA and calcitriol had a synergistic effect on ALP, OP, and especially MGP mRNA expression but significantly reduced the expression of pro‐α1(I) collagen mRNA. AA enhanced the effect of RA on the expression of pro‐α1(I) collagen, MGP, and ALP mRNAs as well as the effect of calcitriol on OP and MGP. The addition of AA to RA resulted in a decrease in the steady state level of OP, whereas its cotreatment with calcitriol caused a decrease in pro‐α1(I) collagen and ALP mRNA. In conclusion, these studies identify RA, calcitriol, and AA as regulators of differentiated osteoblast function.
Diffusion tensor imaging: Application to the study of the developing brain.

OBJECTIVE To provide an overview of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and its application to the study of white matter in the developing brain in both healthy and clinical samples. METHOD The development of DTI and its application to brain imaging of white matter tracts is discussed. Forty-eight studies using DTI to examine diffusion properties of the developing brain are reviewed in the context of the structural magnetic resonance imaging literature. Reports of how brain diffusion properties are affected in pediatric clinical samples and how they relate to cognitive and behavioral phenotypes are reviewed. RESULTS DTI has been used successfully to describe white matter development in pediatric samples. Changes in white matter diffusion properties are consistent across studies, with anisotropy increasing and overall diffusion decreasing with age. Diffusion measures in relevant white matter regions correlate with behavioral measures in healthy children and in clinical pediatric samples. CONCLUSIONS DTI is an important tool for providing a more detailed picture of developing white matter than can be obtained with conventional magnetic resonance imaging alone.
Phylogenetic and Evolutionary Relationships among Yellow Fever Virus Isolates in Africa

ABSTRACT Previous studies with a limited number of strains have indicated that there are two genotypes of yellow fever (YF) virus in Africa, one in west Africa and the other in east and central Africa. We have examined the prM/M and a portion of the E protein for a panel of 38 wild strains of YF virus from Africa representing different countries and times of isolation. Examination of the strains revealed a more complex genetic relationship than previously reported. Overall, nucleotide substitutions varied from 0 to 25.8% and amino acid substitutions varied from 0 to 9.1%. Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony and neighbor-joining algorithms identified five distinct genotypes: central/east Africa, east Africa, Angola, west Africa I, and west Africa II. Extensive variation within genotypes was observed. Members of west African genotype II and central/east African genotype differed by 2.8% or less, while west Africa genotype I varied up to 6.8% at the nucleotide level. We speculate that the former two genotypes exist in enzootic transmission cycles, while the latter is genetically more heterogeneous due to regular human epidemics. The nucleotide sequence of the Angola genotype diverged from the others by 15.7 to 23.0% but only 0.4 to 5.6% at the amino acid level, suggesting that this genotype most likely diverged from a progenitor YF virus in east/central Africa many years ago, prior to the separation of the other east/central African strains analyzed in this study, and has evolved independently. These data demonstrate that there are multiple genotypes of YF virus in Africa and suggest independent evolution of YF virus in different areas of Africa.
A General Test of Self-Control Theory

Self-control theory has been tested for 2 decades. However, mixed results and measurement problems have made it difficult to ascertain its true utility. This study addresses recent concerns and includes variables such as risk, consequences, criminal opportunity, an interaction term, and bond controls in one complete test. It also addresses self-control's ability to explain different forms of crime and whether the support that it has garnered has been exaggerated. Results of both cross-sectional and semilongitudinal tests indicate that self-control significantly predicts a higher probability of involvement in property and drug crime but is virtually silent in its ability to explain violence. Furthermore, it can be tentatively stated that support for the theory wanes over time. Finally, neglected concepts such as opportunity, risk, consequences, and bond controls may be important to the theory's ability to explain crime, and further negligence of these concepts may hamper a true understanding of its impact.
Monarchs in decline: a collateral landscape‐level effect of modern agriculture

We review the postulated threatening processes that may have affected the decline in the eastern population of the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus L. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), in North America. Although there are likely multiple contributing factors, such as climate and resource‐related effects on breeding, migrating, and overwintering populations, the key landscape‐level change appears to be associated with the widespread use of genetically modified herbicide resistant crops that have rapidly come to dominate the extensive core summer breeding range. We dismiss misinterpretations of the apparent lack of population change in summer adult count data as logically flawed. Glyphosate‐tolerant soybean and maize have enabled the extensive use of this herbicide, generating widespread losses of milkweed (Asclepias spp.), the only host plants for monarch larvae. Modeling studies that simulate lifetime realized fecundity at a landscape scale, direct counts of milkweeds, and extensive citizen science data across the breeding range suggest that a herbicide‐induced, landscape‐level reduction in milkweed has precipitated the decline in monarchs. A recovery will likely require a monumental effort for the re‐establishment of milkweed resources at a commensurate landscape scale.