Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Religion on Youth Outcomes

We use data from several nationally representative datasets to estimate the relationship between church attendance and risky behaviors and whether these associations vary when one accounts for selective participation. We use various empirical methods including propensity score matching, sibling and family fixedeffects models, and instrumental variables models that exploit cross-state variation in blue laws. Our results across the different approaches converge into a general pattern that youth with higher church attendance are less likely to commit property or violent crimes, smoke, drink, use drugs, or receive a traffic ticket.
Acute laryngeal obstruction in a Nigerian Hospital: Clinical presentation and management.

OBJECTIVES To determine the clinical presentations and management of patients with acute laryngeal obstruction. PATIENTS AND METHODS A retrospective study of 36 patients with acute laryngeal obstruction to the accident and emergency unit (A&E), emergency paediatric unit (EPU) and the Ear, Nose and Throat diseases clinic (ENT) of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital between January 1998 and the December 2002 are presented. RESULTS The age ranges of the patient were between 1.5 years to 46 years (mean age 29.6 years with male/female ratio of 2:1 Breathlessness (83.3%), hoarseness (66.7%), and noisy breathing (50%) were the main symptoms at presentation. CONCLUSIONS These 36 patients represented 4.9 % of the in-patients seen by the Otolaryngologists during the period under review and 75% of cases of acute upper airway obstruction managed during this period. The commonest cause of obstruction in this study was laryngeal tumours (47.2%)-laryngeal carcinoma (27.8%) in the adults and juvenile laryngeal papillomas (19.4%) in the paediatric age group; other causes were laryngeal infections (acute and chronic) represented 20% of aetiologic factors. Impacted laryngeal foreign bodies occurred in 5(13.9%) all in the paediatric age group. Eleven (30.6%) were managed conservatively with antibiotics and antikoch's therapy; 12(33.3%) had emergency tracheostomy prior to definitive treatment of direct laryngoscopy in 10 patients (27.8%) for biopsy, removal of foreign bodies and extirpations of juvenile laryngeal papillomas and 3(8.3%) were managed by endotracheal intubations. Health education of the public is recommended to ensure early presentation in hospital as soon as symptoms of laryngeal tumours are noticed and health care providers should refer such cases early.
Auditory brainstem: Development and plasticity of GAP‐43 mRNA expression in the rat

Expression of the growth and plasticity associated protein GAP‐43 is closely related to synaptogenesis and synaptic remodeling in the developing as well as in the mature nervous system. We have studied the postnatal development of GAP‐43 mRNA expression in the auditory brainstem and determined the time course of its reexpression following deafening through cochlear ablation using a digoxigenin‐coupled mRNA probe.
A Multilayered Gdif-Based setup for Studying coarticulation in the movements of Musicians

The paper presents some challenges faced in developing an experimental setup for studying coarticulation in musicrelated body movements. This has included solutions for storing and synchronising motion capture, biosensor and MIDI data, and related audio and video files. The implementation is based on a multilayered Gesture Description Interchange Format (GDIF) structure, written to Sound Description Interchange Format (SDIF) files using the graphical programming environment Max/MSP.
The surgical outcome of primary trabeculectomy with mitomycin C and A fornix-based conjunctival flap technique in Thailand.

OBJECTIVE To determine the surgical outcome of primary trabeculectomy with mitomycin C (MMC) and fornix-based conjunctival flap technique in Thai patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD This retrospective review was conducted from the clinical records of all Thai glaucoma patients who underwent a primary trabeculectomy with MMC using a fornix-based conjunctival flap technique by or under supervision of one ophthalmologist (NK) between February 2004 and July 2006 at Siriraj Hospital, School of Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. RESULTS There were 69 eyes from 60 patients. Postoperatively, mean intraocular pressure (IOP) was significantly decreased from 26.1 +/- 11.7 mmHg to 11.7 +/- 4.4 mmHg (p < 0.001) and mean number of anti-glaucoma medication was significantly reduced from 3.9 +/- 0.7 to 0.3 +/- 0.9 (p < 0.001) at last visit. Sixty-seven eyes (96.8%) were considered as success. Eight eyes (11.6%) in this group needed topical anti-glaucoma medications. Two eyes (2.9%) were considered as failure. Mean follow-up period was 7.7 +/- 4.0 months. Complications included bleb leaking in 16 eyes, choroidal detachment in four eyes, and blebitis in two eyes. Seven eyes with leaking bleb resolved spontaneously. CONCLUSION Primary trabeculectomy with MMC using afornix-based conjunctival flap technique is effective as a treatment for Thai glaucoma patients. There is a high rate of success (96.8%) with the low rate of complication.
Tactful calling: investigating asymmetric social dilemmas in mobile communications

Recipients of phone calls face a constant dilemma between ignoring calls at the possible expense of offending the caller, missing business opportunities or neglecting family members on one hand; and answering them at the expense of interrupting their train of thought or appearing rude and impolite towards others with whom they share a social activity on the other hand. We studied people's attitudes regarding these dilemmas, with emphasis on their social aspects. In a cross-cultural study, conducted in Israel and in Germany, we surveyed both caller and recipient attitudes towards answering mobile phone calls in various circumstances. The study also assessed the aspects of providing contextual information about a call prior to it being answered, including types of information deemed most valuable. The results emphasise the importance of social norms in affecting respondents’ attitudes towards making or accepting phone calls regardless of role (caller or recipient), gender or culture. We also found that the norms in the physical context (e.g. being in a meeting) prevailed over norms in the virtual context (e.g. the phone call). Cultural and gender differences did not affect the degree to which people were frustrated by insufficient information regarding the other party's context. However, these factors did affect the suggested design solutions to this problem. The research provides insight into the social aspects of the problem of interruptive mobile phone calls and towards designing applications that help users maintain politeness while handling the caller–recipient dilemma.
Genomic profiling of gastric carcinoma in situ and adenomas by array‐based comparative genomic hybridization

Although genomic copy number aberrations (CNAs) of gastric carcinoma at the advanced stage have already been extensively characterized by array comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) analysis, those of gastric carcinoma in situ (CIS) are still poorly understood. Furthermore, no reports have demonstrated correlations between CNAs and histopathological features of gastric adenoma. In this study, we investigated CNAs of 20 gastric CISs (Vienna category 4.2) and 20 adenomas including seven low‐grade adenomas (LGA; Vienna category 3) and 13 high‐grade adenomas (HGA; Vienna category 4.1), using oligonucleotide‐based array CGH. The most frequent aberrations in CIS were gains at 8q (85%) and 20q (50%), and losses at 5q (50%) and 17p (50%), suggesting that these CNAs are involved in the development of CIS. We found that the pattern of CNAs in HGA was quite different from that in LGA. The most frequent CNAs in HGA were gains at 8q (62%) and 7pq (54%), whereas those in LGA were gain at 7q21.3‐q22.1 (57%) and loss at 5q (43%). Interestingly, gains at 8q and 7pq, both of which occurred most frequently in HGA, were not detected in any cases of LGA. Of note, 8q gain was detected most frequently in both HGA and CIS but was undetected in LGA. Since HGA is believed to have a higher risk of progression to invasive carcinoma than LGA, these data suggest that 8q gain is important for the malignant transformation of gastric adenoma. Copyright © 2010 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Pulmonary cryptococcoma in a patient with Sézary syndrome treated with alemtuzumab.

ejd.2011. 1538 Auteur(s) : Claire Hotz1,a q claire.hotz@gmail.com, Saskia Ingen-Housz-Oro1,a, Jeanne Tran Van Nhieu2, Caroline Charlier3, Francoise Foulet4, Alain Rahmouni5, Benhalima Zegai5, Tu-Anh Duong1, Pierre Wolkenstein1, Martine Bagot6,a, Olivier Chosidow1,a 1 Department of Dermatology 2 Department of Pathology, Henri-Mondor hospital, 51 avenue du marechal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny, 94010 Creteil, France 3 Department of Infectious Diseases, Necker–Enfants Malades Hospital, Paris, France 4 [. ]
Lung function and disease severity in cystic fibrosis patients heterozygous for p.Arg117His

Expression of p.Arg117His cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane conductance regulator is influenced by a polythymidine (poly-T) tract and a thymidine–guanine (TG) repeat on intron 9, which vary in length and affect exon 10 skipping. We compared clinical characteristics and the rate of progression of lung disease of CF patients carrying the p.Arg117His mutation with different intron 9 varying sequences (poly-T) and mutation classes in trans. Data were collected from patients in Northern Ireland, UK, including diagnostic features, sweat chloride, nutritional status, sputum microbiology, CF-related complications and lung function. Poly-T and TG repeats were determined by PCR. Forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) decline was determined from linear regression of FEV1 measurements of patients over time. We identified 62 patients with p.Arg117His, 55 with a class I/II mutation in trans and six with p.Arg117His/p.Gly551Asp. 42 patients had 5T and 13 had 7T. All patients had 12 TG repeats. Patients with p.Arg117His-5T had greater lung function decline, sweat chloride concentrations, pancreatic insufficiency and prevalence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection compared with patients with p.Arg117His-7T. Lung function decline and disease severity in p.Arg117His is determined by the poly-T tract length and identity of the mutation in trans. Patients with p.Arg117His-5T and a second class I/II mutation have a severity similar to p.Phe508del homozygous patients, although lung function decline is delayed to an older age. There may be linkage disequilibrium between p.Arg117His and 12 TG repeats. p.Arg117His CFTR with 5T repeats is associated with accelerated lung function decline compared with p.Arg117His-7T http://ow.ly/yAdS308q3dn
Magnetic Shape Memory alloy based Fiber Bragg Grating magnetic field sensor

The paper discusses a new device for magnetic field sensing, based on the integration of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with a magnetic shape memory alloy (MSMA). The latter is a new kind of material able to show extremely large strains in response to a magnetic field. Differently from classical shape memory alloys (SMA), actuated by temperature, they normally show quite fast responses. In the paper the basic features of the proposed device are illustrated and field range and sensitivity of the device are also discussed. Moreover, comparison with Terfenol based FBG sensor performances is reported showing for MSM based one a sensitivity expressed as (DeltalambdaB/lambdaB)/(DeltaH/Hm) of 1.81ldr10-4 , where lambdaB is the Bragg wavelength and Hm the mean magnetic field in the considered range.
Invited Oral Presentations

12 March 2009 I SESSION: Environment, genes and sperm DNA Moderators: C. Krausz, Italy – R. S. Swerdloff, USA 8:30 Environmental hormones and male reproduction (J. P. Bonde, Denmark) 9:00 Gene environmental interaction: the impact of persistent organohalogen pollutants on sperm characteristics and genital malformations (Y. Giwercman, Sweden) 9:30 Cryopreservation of sperm DNA (S. Lewis, Northern Ireland) 10:00 – 10:30 Coffee break II SESSION: Epigenetics and DNA damage repair Moderators: E. Baldi, Italy – S. Krawetz, USA 10:30 Epigenetic control in male germ cells: the chromatoid body as an RNA-processing center (P. Sassone-Corsi, USA) 11:00 Effect of chemotherapy and folate pathway deficiencies on the sperm epigenome (J. Trasler, Canada) 11:30 Our genome in the male germ line: is it safe? (A. Grootegoed, The Netherlands) 12:00 Clinical significance of sperm DNA fragmentation assays (M. Spanò, Italy) 12:30 – 14:15 Lunch and poster session SPERM DNA DAMAGE: from Research to Clinic 11–13 March 2009, ROME (Italy)
Few associations between high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein and environmental factors in 4.5‐year‐old children

To cite this article: Mustonen K, Keski‐Nisula L, Vaarala O, Pfefferle PI, Renz H, Riedler J, Dalphin J‐C, Buechele G, Lauener R, Braun‐Fahrländer C, von Mutius E, Pekkanen J and the PASTURE Study Group. Few associations between high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein and environmental factors in 4.5‐year‐old children. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2012: 23: 522–528.
Comparative study of thallium emission myocardial tomography with 180 degrees and 360 degrees data collection.

Basic and clinical evaluation of thallium single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using a rotating gamma camera with 180 degrees (LPO to RAO) data collection was carried out and compared with the full 360 degrees rotation. No attenuation correction was used. In a phantom study the reconstructed image from the 180 degrees scan revealed better resolution. Although the 180 degrees scan, when compared with the 360 degrees scan, showed great photon attenuation in the deep location of a line source in water, this problem was not significant in the clinical study of six normal hearts. In 11 cases with myocardial infarction, the perfusion defect was more clearly visualized in the 180 degrees scan. The defect-to-normal (D/N) wall-count ratio was lower in the 180 degrees scan (0.48 +/- 0.16; mean +/- s.d.) than in the 360 degrees scan (0.61 +/- 15, p less than 0.05), indicating superior lesion contrast in the former. These results suggest that for myocardial SPECT the 180 degrees collection method is a more effective technique in the clinical evaluation of coronary artery disease.
Value Relevance of the Fair Value Hierarchy of IFRS 7 in Europe - How reliable are mark-to-model Fair Values ?

According to IFRS 7, banks have to disclose the inputs used in measuring the fair value of financial instruments. For this purpose the standard defines a three-level measurement hierarchy. The reliability of fair values is expected to decrease with decreasing hierarchy level due to the lower quality of the input factors. Using a value relevance research setting, I find that investors perceive the reliability of level 3 fair values as significantly lower than the reliability of level 1 fair values. However, in contrast to expectations, level 2 fair values are not perceived as less reliable. Thus, investors only doubt the reliability of fair values whose inputs are based on discretionary assumptions. Additionally, this paper analyses the impact of the reclassification of financial assets and of the regulatory capital ratio on the reliability of fair values. While I find a weakly significant impact of the regulatory capital ratio, the reclassification has in general no influence on the reliability of reported fair values.
Cell Proliferation Kinetics of the Intramuscularly Implanted Lewis Lung Carcinoma

The growth kinetics of the Lewis lung carcinoma tumor was studied. The main proliferative parameters of an early stage of the growth (8th day after tumor implantation) were derived from the analysis of the growth curve and the fraction of labeled mitoses (FLM curve). The occurrence of proliferative changes due to the transplantation was confirmed. The main variations observed concern a shortening of the cell cycle time, a prolongation of the S phase duration and an increase in cell loss. A critical analysis of the results of this preliminary study is reported.
Optimization ofWeighting Factors for MultipleWindow Spectrogram of Event-Related Potentials

This paper concerns the mean square error optimal weighting factors for multiple window spectrogram of different stationary and nonstationary processes. It is well known that the choice of multiple windows is important, but here we show that the weighting of the different multiple window spectrograms in the final average is as important to consider and that the equally averaged spectrogram is not mean square error optimal for non-stationary processes. The cost function for optimization is the normalized mean square error where the normalization factor is the multiple window spectrogram. This means that the unknown weighting factors will be present in the numerator as well as in the denominator. A quasi-Newton algorithm is used for the optimization. The optimization is compared for a number of well-known sets of multiple windows and common weighting factors and the results show that the number and the shape of the windows are important for a small mean square error. Multiple window spectrograms using these optimal weighting factors, from ElectroEncephaloGram data including steady-state visual evoked potentials, are shown as examples.
Agenesis of Third Molars among Turkish Children between the Ages of 12 and 18 Years: A Retrospective Radiographic Study.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate the agenesis of third molars (M3) in children with permanent dentition in a limited population in the province of Izmir, Turkey. STUDY DESIGN The panoramic radiographs of 773 patients (457 females, 316 males) were evaluated retrospectively at the Dental Hospital of Ministry of Health in İzmir, Turkey. The patients' ages ranged from 12-18 years. The agenesis of M3 teeth was investigated according to maxilla and mandible and right and left distribution. RESULTS In 593 of the patients (76.7%), all of the M3 teeth were present in the mouth; while in the other 180 (23.3%) patients, agenesis of a varying number of M3 teeth was identified. In 31 patients (4.0%), total M3 tooth agenesis was observed. A statistically significant relationship was not found between gender and M3 teeth (p=0.091). A statistically significant relationship was found between congenital M3 tooth agenesis and the maxilla (14.3%) and mandible (9.6%) (p<0.001). However, a statistically significant difference was not found between the right-left area of the jaw (p=0.100). CONCLUSION As a result, while all M3 teeth were present in 76.71% of the population studied in the province of Izmir, agenesis of one or more than one M3 tooth was found in the other 23.29% of the patients studied.
Behavioural effects of the American traditional plant Eschscholzia californica: sedative and anxiolytic properties.

Eschsholzia californica Cham. is a traditional medicinal plant of the Indians used by the rural population of California for its analgesic and sedative properties. Our study on the aqueous extract shows that this plant reduced the behavioural parameters measured in a familiar environment test in mice (novelty preference, locomotion and rearings in two compartments test) at doses above 100 mg/kg and in non-familiar environment tests (staircase test) at doses above 200 mg/kg. This finding validates its traditional sedative properties confirmed by the sleeping induction at doses above 100 mg/kg. Furthermore, when administered at a dose a of 25 mg/kg, E. californica appeared to also have an anxiolytic action since it produced an increase of the number of steps climbed by mice in the staircase test (anticonflict effect) and that of the time spent by animals in the lit box when they were confronted with the light/dark choice situation. Before evaluation of the behavioural effects, it was verified that our aqueous extract did not induce any toxic effect when administered i.p. and p.o.
Minichromosome maintenance protein 2 and 3 promote osteosarcoma progression via DHX9 and predict poor patient prognosis

A label free quantitative proteomic approach (SWATH™ experiment) was performed to identify tumor-associated nuclear proteins that are differentially expressed between osteosarcoma cells and osteoblast cells. By functional screening, minichromosome maintenance protein 2 (MCM2) and minichromosome maintenance protein 3 (MCM3) were found to be related to osteosarcoma cell growth. Here, we show that knockdown of MCM2 or MCM3 inhibits osteosarcoma growth in vitro and in vivo. In co-immunoprecipitation and co-localization experiments, MCM2 and MCM3 were found to interact with DExH-box helicase 9 (DHX9) in osteosarcoma cells. A rescue study showed that the decreased growth of osteosarcoma cells by MCM2 or MCM3 knockdown was reversed by DHX9 overexpression, indicating that MCM2 and MCM3 activity was DHX9-dependent. In addition, the depletion of DHX9 hindered osteosarcoma cell proliferation. Notably, MCM2 and MCM3 expression levels were positively correlated with the DHX9 expression level in tumor samples and were associated with a poor prognosis in patients with osteosarcoma. Taken together, these results suggest that the MCM2/MCM3–DHX9 axis has an important role in osteosarcoma progression.
Movement Trajectories in the Presence of a Distracting Stimulus: Evidence for a Response Activation Model of Selective Reaching

Consistent with action–based theories of attention, the presence of a nontarget stimulus in the environment has been shown to alter the characteristics of goal–directed movements. Specifically, it has been reported that movement trajectories veer away from (Howard & Tipper, 1997) or towards (Welsh, Elliott, & Weeks, 1999) the location of a nontarget stimulus. The purpose of the experiments reported in this paper was to test a response activation model of selective reaching conceived to account for these variable results. In agreement with the model, the trajectory changes in the movements appear to be determined by the activation levels of each competing response at the moment of response initiation. The results of the present work, as well as those of previous studies, are discussed within the framework of the model of response activation.
Phylogenetic Position of Small‐Ruminant Infecting Piroplasms

Abstract: Theileria and Babesia are tick‐transmitted protozoa that cause great economical losses in livestock. Recently, interest has risen in sheep‐infecting piroplasms and a number of previously unidentified pathogens were described, particularly in China. To address the phylogenetic relationship of Theileria and Babesia species infecting sheep, the complete sequences of the 18 S small subunit ribosomal RNA genes of a panel of piroplasm isolates, including T. lestoquardi, T. ovis, T. separata, B. ovis, B. motasi, B. crassa, and several novel species, were compared. The classification based on the established phylogenetic tree corresponded with traditional systematics and revealed that sheep/goat piroplasm species are of a polyphyletic origin. In addition, these studies revealed the existence of at least two novel sheep/goat piroplasm species, designated Theileria sp. (China 1) and Theileria sp. (China 2).