Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MALE PARTICIPATION IN FAMILY PLANNING: RESULTS FROM A QUALITATIVE STUDY IN MPIGI DISTRICT, UGANDA

The aim of this study was to determine men’s perceptions about family planning and how they participate or wish to participate in family planning activities in Mpigi District, central Uganda. Four focus group discussions were conducted with married men and with family planning providers from both the government and private sector. In addition, seven key informants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. The results indicate that men have limited knowledge about family planning, that family planning services do not adequately meet the needs of men, and that spousal communication about family planning issues is generally poor. However, almost all men approved of modern family planning and expressed great interest in participating. The positive change of the beliefs and attitudes of men towards family planning in the past years has not been recognized by family planning programme managers, since available services are not in line with current public attitudes. A more couple-oriented approach to family planning is needed. Measures could include, for example, recruiting males as family planning providers, offering more family planning counselling for couples, and promoting female-oriented methods with men and vice versa.
IL-5 contributes to worm expulsion and muscle hypercontractility in a primary T. spiralisinfection.

Enteric nematode infections lead to increased interleukin (IL)-5 expression, eosinophilic inflammation, and intestinal smooth muscle hypercontractility. Although eosinophils release inflammatory mediators that cause smooth muscle contraction, the role of IL-5 and eosinophils in enteric smooth muscle hypercontractility is unclear. IL-5-deficient mice and their wild-type controls were infected with the nematode Trichinella spiralis. Intestinal parasites and eosinophils were counted, and jejunal longitudinal muscle contractility was assessed. During infection, IL-5 gene expression increased significantly in wild-type mice and was accompanied by significant intestinal eosinophilia in wild-type but not IL-5-deficient mice. Although both strains developed increased muscle contractility during infection, contraction was significantly less in the IL-5-deficient mice at days 16 and 21 postinfection. In addition, parasite expulsion was transiently delayed at day 16 in IL-5-deficient mice. Thus, in the nematode-infected mouse, IL-5 appears essential for intestinal eosinophilia and contributes to, but is not essential for, the development of muscle hypercontractility. IL-5 also appears to play a minor role in expelling a primary T. spiralis infection from the gut.
Occult papillary carcinoma of the thyroid in children and young adults: A systemic autopsy study in Finland

The thyroids from 93 autopsies performed on children and young adults younger than age 40 years, were subserially sectioned at 2‐to 3‐mm intervals. Thirteen thyroids revealed 17 foci of occult papillary carcinoma (OPC), giving a prevalence rate of 14%. The youngest affected patient was a boy aged 18 years. The prevalence rate of individuals between age 18 and 40 years was 27%. The rate appears to be rather constant in adults, although there may be a slight rise in middle age. The prevalence rate was higher for males, but no statistically significant difference was seen. The arise of OPCs after puberty would favor the view that hormonal factors are related to their appearance.Cancer 58:715‐719, 1986.
Products from the Incomplete Metabolism of Pyrene by Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria

ABSTRACT Pyrene is a regulated pollutant at sites contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). It is mineralized by some bacteria but is also transformed to nonmineral products by a variety of other PAH-degrading bacteria. We examined the formation of such products by four bacterial strains and identified and further characterized the most apparently significant of these metabolites.Pseudomonas stutzeri strain P16 and Bacillus cereus strain P21 transformed pyrene primarily tocis-4,5-dihydro-4,5-dihydroxypyrene (PYRdHD), the first intermediate in the known pathway for aerobic bacterial mineralization of pyrene. Sphingomonas yanoikuyae strain R1 transformed pyrene to PYRdHD and pyrene-4,5-dione (PYRQ). Both strain R1 and Pseudomonas saccharophila strain P15 transform PYRdHD to PYRQ nearly stoichiometrically, suggesting that PYRQ is formed by oxidation of PYRdHD to 4,5-dihydroxypyrene and subsequent autoxidation of this metabolite. A pyrene-mineralizing organism,Mycobacterium strain PYR-1, also transforms PYRdHD to PYRQ at high initial concentrations of PYRdHD. However, strain PYR-1 is able to use both PYRdHD and PYRQ as growth substrates. PYRdHD strongly inhibited phenanthrene degradation by strains P15 and R1 but had only a minor effect on strains P16 and P21. At their aqueous saturation concentrations, both PYRdHD and PYRQ severely inhibited benzo[a]pyrene mineralization by strains P15 and R1. Collectively, these findings suggest that products derived from pyrene transformation have the potential to accumulate in PAH-contaminated systems and that such products can significantly influence the removal of other PAH. However, these products may be susceptible to subsequent degradation by organisms able to metabolize pyrene more extensively if such organisms are present in the system.
UHiFET - A new high-frequency High-Voltage device

The HiFET (High-Impedance, High-Voltage FET) configuration is used to connect several semiconductor FETs both DC and RF in series, resulting in high DC bias voltage and high output impedance. The HiFET power and efficiency degrades at high microwave frequencies (i.e. > 3GHz) due to gate leakage currents. In this article, we propose a new configuration, the Universal HiFET (UHiFET), which uses an additional compensation to equalize the RF voltages and currents of all the transistor cells that are connected in series. This new approach improves the power, efficiency and linearity of the original HiFET configuration at microwave and millimeter wave frequencies. We are presenting a mathematical analysis of the UHiFET and measured data to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Hierarchical Graph Traversal for Aggregate k Nearest Neighbors Search in Road Networks

Location-based services rely heavily on efficient methods that search for relevant points-of-interest (POIs) close to a given location. A k nearest neighbors (kNN) query is one such example that finds k closest POIs from an agent's location. While most existing techniques focus on finding nearby POIs for a single agent, many applications require POIs that are close to multiple agents. In this paper, we study a natural extension of the kNN query for multiple agents, namely, the Aggregate k Nearest Neighbors (AkNN) query. An AkNN query retrieves k POIs with the smallest aggregate distances where the aggregate distance of a POI is obtained by aggregating its distances from the multiple agents (e.g., sum of its distances from each agent). Existing search heuristics are designed for a single agent and do not work well for multiple agents. We propose a novel data structure COLT (Compacted Object-Landmark Tree) to address this gap by enabling efficient hierarchical graph traversal. We then utilize COLT for a wide range of aggregate functions to efficiently answer AkNN queries. In our experiments on real-world and synthetic data sets, our techniques significantly improve query performance, typically outperforming existing approaches by more than an order of magnitude in almost all settings.
Between protocol and reality – Swedish municipal comprehensive planning

ABSTRACT Spatial planning using a landscape approach has been recognized as being essential for reconciling ecological, cultural and socio-economic dimensions in sustainable development (SuD). Although embraced as a concept, there is a lack of planning tools capable of incorporating multi-level, multifunctional and multi-sectoral perspectives, especially in a rural context. The departure point in this paper is the legal requirements for municipal comprehensive planning (MCP) in Sweden and an e-mail survey about incentives, stakeholder involvement, policy integration and implementation in MCP in all 15 Swedish mountain municipalities. The purpose of this explorative study is to examine whether MCP could be a tool in planning for SuD. Results indicate a general lack of resources and a low status of MCP that affect, and even limit, stakeholder involvement, policy integration and implementation. However, legal requirements for MCP are targeted at SuD, and municipal personnel responsible for planning appreciate the potential of MCP. Therefore, there is potential to develop the MCP into an effective landscape planning tool. To accomplish this, the status of an active planning process has to be raised, the mandate of the local planning agency has to be secured, and residents and land users have to be involved throughout the planning process.
Histone deacetylase inhibitors: insights into mechanisms of lethality

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) have recently emerged as an important target for therapeutic intervention in cancer and potentially other human diseases. By modulating the acetylation status of histones, histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) alter the transcription of genes involved in cell growth, maturation, survival and apoptosis, among other processes. Early clinical results suggest a potentially useful role for HDACIs in the treatment of certain forms of lymphoma (e.g., cutaneous T cell lymphoma) and acute leukaemia. An unresolved question is how HDACIs induce cell death in tumour cells. Recent studies suggest that acetylation of nonhistone proteins may play an important role in the biological effects of this class of compounds, and may explain lack of correlation between histone acetylation and induction of cell death by HDACIs in some circumstances. Recently, attention has focussed on the effects of HDACIs on disruption of co-repressor complexes, induction of oxidative injury, upregulation of the expression of death receptors, generation of lipid second messengers such as ceramide, interference with the function of chaperone proteins and modulation of the activity of NF-κB as critical determinants of lethality. Aside from providing critical insights into the mechanism of action of HDACIs in neoplastic disease, these findings may provide a foundation for the rational development of combination studies, involving HDACIs in combination with either conventional cytotoxic drugs as well as more novel targeted agents.
The differential absorptive activity of epithelial cells of the rat epididymus before and after castration

Horseradish peroxidase introduced into the lumen of the rat epididymis was taken up by the columnar cells of the epithelium by five minutes and more so after longer periods. The apical cells and particularly the clear cells in the caput and cauda epididymidis, respectively, showed significantly greater endocytotic activity than the principal cell in both locations. Within 14 days after castration, however, such differences in absorptive activity among the various cell types were essentially obscured because of increased endocytosis by the androgen‐deficient principal cells. The results are discussed briefly in terms of the function of different epithelial cell types and secretory/absorptive activity in the epididymis.
A piglet with surgically induced exocrine pancreatic insufficiency as an animal model of newborns to study fat digestion

The maldigestion and malabsorption of fat in infants fed milk formula results due to the minimal production of pancreatic lipase. Thus, to investigate lipid digestion and absorption and mimic the situation in newborns, a young porcine exocrine pancreatic insufficient (EPI) model was adapted and validated in the present study. A total of thirteen EPI pigs, aged 8 weeks old, were randomised into three groups and fed either a milk-based formula or a milk-based formula supplemented with either bacterial or fungal lipase. Digestion and absorption of fat was directly correlated with the addition of lipases as demonstrated by a 30 % increase in the coefficient of fat absorption. In comparison to the control group, a 40 and 25 % reduction in total fat content and 26 and 45 % reduction in n-3 and n-6 fatty acid (FA) content in the stool was observed for lipases 1 and 2, respectively. Improved fat absorption was reflected in the blood levels of lipid parameters. During the experiment, only a very slight gain in body weight was observed in EPI piglets, which can be explained by the absence of pancreatic protease and amylase in the gastrointestinal tract. This is similar to newborn babies that have reduced physiological function of exocrine pancreas. In conclusion, we postulate that the EPI pig model fed with infant formula mimics the growth and lipid digestion and absorption in human neonates and can be used to elucidate further importance of fat and FA in the development and growth of newborns, as well as for testing novel formula compositions.
Obatoclax and Lapatinib Interact to Induce Toxic Autophagy through NOXA

Prior studies demonstrated that resistance to the ERBB1/2 inhibitor lapatinib could be overcome by the B cell CLL/lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) family antagonist obatoclax (GX15-070). Coadministration of lapatinib with obatoclax caused synergistic cell killing by eliciting autophagic cell death that was dependent upstream on mitochondrial reactive oxygen species generation and increased p62 levels and downstream on activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and inactivation of mammalian target of rapamycin. By immunohistochemical analysis, in drug combination-treated cells, microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3) associated with mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase), autophagosome (p62), and autolysosome (lysosomal associated membrane protein 2) proteins. Treatment of cells with 3-methyladenine or knockdown of beclin 1 was protective, whereas chloroquine treatment had no protective effect. Expression of myeloid cell leukemia-1 (MCL-1), compared with that of BCL-2 or BCL-2-related gene long isoform, protected against drug combination lethality. Lapatinib and obatoclax-initiated autophagy depended on NOXA-mediated displacement of the prosurvival BCL-2 family member, MCL-1, from beclin 1, which was essential for the initiation of autophagy. Taken together, our data argue that lapatinib and obatoclax-induced toxic autophagy is due to impaired autophagic degradation, and this disturbance of autophagic flux leads to an accumulation of toxic proteins and loss of mitochondrial function.
An assessment of the efficiency of methods for measurement of the computed tomography dose index (CTDI) for cone beam (CBCT) dosimetry by Monte Carlo simulation

The IEC has introduced a practical approach to overcome shortcomings of the CTDI100 for measurements on wide beams employed for cone beam (CBCT) scans. This study evaluated the efficiency of this approach (CTDIIEC) for different arrangements using Monte Carlo simulation techniques, and compared CTDIIEC to the efficiency of CTDI100 for CBCT. Monte Carlo EGSnrc/BEAMnrc and EGSnrc/DOSXYZnrc codes were used to simulate the kV imaging system mounted on a Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator. The Monte Carlo model was benchmarked against experimental measurements and good agreement shown. Standard PMMA head and body phantoms with lengths 150, 600, and 900 mm were simulated. Beam widths studied ranged from 20–300 mm, and four scanning protocols using two acquisition modes were utilized. The efficiency values were calculated at the centre (εc) and periphery (εp) of the phantoms and for the weighted CTDI (εw). The efficiency values for CTDI100 were approximately constant for beam widths 20–40 mm, where εc(CTDI100), εp(CTDI100), and εw(CTDI100) were 74.7 ± 0.6%, 84.6 ± 0.3%, and 80.9 ± 0.4%, for the head phantom and 59.7 ± 0.3%, 82.1 ± 0.3%, and 74.9 ± 0.3%, for the body phantom, respectively. When beam width increased beyond 40 mm, ε(CTDI100) values fell steadily reaching ~30% at a beam width of 300 mm. In contrast, the efficiency of the CTDIIEC was approximately constant over all beam widths, demonstrating its suitability for assessment of CBCT. εc(CTDIIEC), εp(CTDIIEC), and εw(CTDIIEC) were 76.1 ± 0.9%, 85.9 ± 1.0%, and 82.2 ± 0.9% for the head phantom and 60.6 ± 0.7%, 82.8 ± 0.8%, and 75.8 ± 0.7%, for the body phantom, respectively, within 2% of ε(CTDI100) values for narrower beam widths. CTDI100,w and CTDIIEC,w underestimate CTDI∞,w by ~55% and ~18% for the head phantom and by ~56% and ~24% for the body phantom, respectively, using a clinical beam width 198 mm. The CTDIIEC approach addresses the dependency of efficiency on beam width successfully and correction factors have been derived to allow calculation of CTDI∞.
University of Birmingham The impact of ageing on natural killer cell function and potential consequences for health in older adults

Forming the first line of defence against virally infected and malignant cells, natural killer (NK) cells are critical effector cells of the innate immune system. With age, significant impairments have been reported in the two main mechanisms by which NK cells confer host protection: direct cytotoxicity and the secretion of immunoregulatory cytokines and chemokines. In elderly subjects, decreased NK cell activity has been shown to be associated with an increased incidence and severity of viral infection, highlighting the clinical implications that age-associated changes in NK cell biology have on the health of older adults. However, is an increased susceptibility to viral infection the only consequence of these agerelated changes in NK cell function? Recently, evidence has emerged that has shown that in addition to eliminating transformed cells, NK cells are involved in many other biological processes such as immune regulation, anti-microbial immune responses and the recognition and elimination of senescent cells, novel functions that involve NK-mediated cytotoxicity and/or cytokine production. Thus, the decrease in NK cell function that accompanies physiological ageing is likely to have wider implications for the health of older adults than originally thought. Here, we give a detailed description of the changes in NK cell biology that accompany human ageing and propose that certain features of the ageing process such as: (i) the increased reactivation rates of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis, (ii) the slower resolution of inflammatory responses and (iii) the increased incidence of bacterial and fungal infection are attributable in part to an age-associated decline in NK cell function. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Tobacco smoking, but not Swedish snuff use, increases the risk of multiple sclerosis

Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate the influence of tobacco smoking and Swedish snuff use on the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: A population-based case-control study was performed in Sweden, using incident cases of MS (902 cases and 1,855 controls). A case was defined as a subject from the study base who had received a diagnosis of MS, and controls were randomly selected from the study base. The incidence of MS among smokers was compared with that of never-smokers. We also investigated whether the use of Swedish snuff had an impact on the risk of developing MS. Results: Smokers of both sexes had an increased risk of developing MS (odds ratio [OR] 1.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2–1.7 for women, and OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.3–2.5 for men). The increased risk was apparent even among subjects who had previously smoked moderately (≤5 pack-years) prior to index, and the risk increased with increasing cumulative dose (p < 0.0001). The increased risk for MS associated with smoking remained up to 5 years after stopping smoking. In contrast, taking Swedish snuff for more than 15 years decreased the risk of developing MS (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1–0.8). Conclusions: Smokers of both sexes run an increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), and the risk increases with cumulative dose of smoking. However, the use of Swedish snuff is not associated with elevated risk for MS, which may indicate that nicotine is not the substance responsible for the increased risk of developing MS among smokers.
Mobile phones in hospitals

Mobile phones (cell phones) are a source of irritation for some but undeniably useful for many, and over 50% of the population of the United Kingdom possess one. Their use in hospitals, however, is mostly banned as they are considered potentially hazardous in medical environments. But the evidence for serious harm is flimsy, and the hysteria that surrounds the use of mobile phones in hospitals is unjustified. So how dangerous are they? The evidence for harm is limited. Anecdotal reports exist of interference with medical electrical equipment, 1 2 which led to a study by the Medical Devices Agency in the United Kingdom.3 In this study, 4% of medical devices suffered from electromagnetic interference from digital mobile phones at a distance of 1 metre. This compared with 41% from emergency services' handsets and 35% from porters' handsets. Most of the interference related to disturbance of the signal on monitors, such …
Coping strategies predictive of adverse outcomes among community adults.

OBJECTIVES To examine associations between coping strategies at baseline and adverse outcomes 13 years later, and whether gender and age moderated these associations. METHOD Participants (N = 651) completed a survey on demographic characteristics, coping strategies, and psychosocial outcomes (negative life events, alcohol consumption, drinking problems, and suicidal ideation). RESULTS At the follow-up (N = 521), more use of avoidance coping was associated with more drinking problems and suicidal ideation at follow-up. Men high in avoidance coping reported more alcohol consumption and suicidal ideation at follow-up than did men low on avoidance coping. Younger adults high in avoidance coping reported more negative life events at follow-up than did younger adults low on avoidance coping. CONCLUSIONS Reliance on avoidance coping may be especially problematic among men and younger adults.
Parts and Their Counterparts: Spatial and Social Relationships in Mopan Maya

Les Indiens maya mopan concoivent les relations spatiales et celles ayant trait a la filiation d'une maniere identique. Leur facon de penser se caracterise par des proprietes culturelles qu'on ne retrouve pas dans toutes les cultures, mais qui n'en sont pas moins accessibles aux non-Mayas. Leur mode de pensee dans les deux domaines mentionnes est codifie grammaticalement en particulier par la construction obligatoire de la possession. Cette construction grammaticale favorise l'unite conceptuelle des deux domaines en question. La meme facon de penser s'emploie pour toutes les relations exprimees au moyen de cette structure linguistique