Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural heart disease in children in Lagos: profile, problems and prospects.

OBJECTIVES Structural heart disease (SHD) contributes significantly to the health burden of children in Nigeria, unfortunately comprehensive cardiovascular programme including definitive surgery is currently not available locally. This may have contributed to the paucity of research in paediatric cardiology. Available epidemiologic data are limited and mostly outdated. We studied the current distribution SHD in Lagos and compared findings with reports elsewhere. Problems and prospects associated with cardiovascular care at the study site were highlighted. MATERIALS AND METHODS Children referred from public and private health facilities for cardiovascular evaluation including echocardiography between January 2004 and December 2005 were studied. PDA in premature babies, PFO and post surgical SHD were excluded. Proportions and relative frequencies of different heart lesions were calculated and analysed using appropriate statistics. RESULTS Congenital heart disease (CHD) significantly outnumbered acquired heart disease (AHD) (p=0.0001) in these children aged 4 weeks to 15 years (mean age = 3.8 +/- 2.5 years); the relative frequencies were VSD (41.7%), VSD (41.7%), ASD (20.2%), TOF (11.8%), AVCD/ECD (7.0%), PDA (5.7%), PS (3.1%), single ventricle and TGA (2.2%) each. PS was dominant in males, while septation defects were dominant in females. Pericarditis with effusion (31%), RHD (28.6%), myocarditis (14.3%) and dilated cardiomyopathy (14.3%) were the commonest AHD. CONCLUSION Contrary to previous hospital reports CHD rather than RHD and other AHD are dominant in some African settings like Lagos, and their relative frequencies are similar to reports elsewhere. The wide range of children with diverse native CHD is a reflection of non-availability of definitive surgical facilities locally. Regional and International collaboration could be mutually beneficial.
Stomach Symptoms and Up‐Down Metaphors and Gradients

&NA; Previous work demonstrated a relationship in an ulcer patient between stomach pain during psychotherapy sessions and preoccupation with up‐down themes. The generality of this phenomenon was investigated by determining in normal males the relationship of number of stomach symptoms to various up‐down parameters. A significant positive correlation was found between stomach symptoms and the shifting of horizontal upward. Stomach positive correlation was found between stomach symptoms and the shifting of horizontal upward. Stomach symptoms were also significantly positively correlated with an up‐down physiology index (hand minus foot temperature). Finally, a borderline positive correlation was found between stomach symptoms and relative awareness of the upper as compared to lower sectors of one's body. The data suggest that the occurrence of stomach symptoms is linked to up‐down sets or gradients at perceptual, physiological, and perhaps body image levels.
Takeover Prediction and Portfolio Performance: A Note

This paper empirically tests whether it is possible to generate abnormal returns from investing in a portfolio of predicted successful takeover targets. Portfolios are formed on the basis of predictions from models similar to those estimated by Palepu (1986). However, unlike Palepu (1986), the portfolios in this paper are formed using a decision rule that results in smaller portfolios with higher average takeover probabilities. This provides a stronger test of whether share prices reflect future takeover probabilities. The results show that while the models have significant explanatory power, the portfolios fail to beat the return on the market over a 12-month holding-period. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2001.
Cryotherapy: An Effective Modality for Decreasing Intraarticular Temperature after Knee Arthroscopy ∗

Cryotherapy is a modality commonly used after arthroscopic procedures. We divided 17 patients into two groups after routine knee arthroscopy: 12 patients were immediately treated with ice and 5 control patients were treated without ice for the first hour. In all patients, thermocouple probes were placed intraarticularly into the lateral gutter of the knee. Ice was placed on the operative knees of the treatment group for 2 hours. The control group had no intervention for the 1st hour and then had ice applied for the 2nd hour. Temperatures were continually recorded every minute for 2 hours. The temperature in the treatment group declined significantly, by 2.2°C (95% confidence interval [—3.6°C, —0.72°C]) over the 1st hour and by 0.79°C (95% CI [—1.8°C, 0.18°C]) over the 2nd hour (P=0.008). The temperature in the control group increased significantly, by 5.0°C (95% CI [2.4°C, 7.5°C]) over the 1st hour (P=0.006). After ice was applied, the temperature fell significantly, by 4.0°C (95% CI [—8.3°C, 0.26°C]) (P=0.06). The difference between the temperature decrease in the treatment group and the increase in the control group at 60 minutes was 7.1°C. This is the first rigorously conducted study in human patients that documents a statistically significant decline in intraarticular knee temperature with the application of ice and compression to the skin. The mechanism by which cryotherapy acts must therefore include the cooling effect on the intraarticular environment and synovium.
Antimicrobial activity of Amaranth Alkaloid against pathogenic microbes

Plant defensive metabolite Alkaloid were screened for analyzing their antimicrobial property. The present study quantified the alkaloids present in selected members of tribe Amarantheae. Maximum percentage of alkaloids are shown by Amaranthus tricolor L. , Aamaranthus viridis L. and Amaranthus caudatus L. (88.8%) and the least were shown by Amaranthus spinosus L. and Amaranthus dubius Mart. (5.8-6%). Antibacterial and antifungal studies were carried out using the precipitated alkaloid, which showed zone of inhibition ranges from 6 to 11mm. Thus the present study showed that isolated alkaloids can show antimicrobial activity and used for the formulation of drugs or antiseptics.
Estimation of genetic and phenotypic parameters of growth curve and their relationship with early growth and productivity in Horro sheep

Weight (kg)-age (days) data of 524 Horro sheep of Ethiopia were fitted to a Brody function to estimate parameters of growth curve and their genetic and phenotypic parameters. Genetic and phenotypic relationships were also estimated between growth curve parameters and weight at birth (BW), weaning (WW) six-month (WT6) and yearling (YW). For ewes Pearson correlations were also calculated between growth curve parameters and ewe productivity over first to fourth parities. Least squares means of growth curve parameters A (asymptotic mature weight, kg), B (proportion of mature weight attained after birth) and K (the rate of maturity, kg gain kg -1 body weight) were 37.6, 0.88, and 0.27∙10 -2 , respectively. Heritability estimates were 0.29, 0.18 and 0.14 for A, B, and K, respectively. Genetic correlations between A and B, A and K, and B and K were 0.39, −0.07, and 0.25 respectively. Genetic correlations of A and K with BW, WW, WT6, and YW were 0.27 and −0.13, 0.34 and 0.37, 0.44 and 0.61, and 0.67 and 0.66, respectively. The growth curve parameters have small but positive (r=0.05 to 0.28) relationship with indicators of lifetime productivity. Medium heritability estimates of A and K indicate that progress in improving these traits can be made through selection. WT6 and YW have medium genetic correlations with the growth curve parameters and these may allow the use of these weights as indirect early selection criteria for optimum growth curve.
Alcohol consumption and risk of breast cancer by molecular subtype: Prospective analysis of the nurses' health study after 26 years of follow‐up

Alcohol consumption is a consistent risk factor for breast cancer, although it is unclear whether the association varies by breast cancer molecular subtype. We investigated associations between cumulative average alcohol intake and risk of breast cancer by molecular subtype among 105,972 women in the prospective Nurses' Health Study cohort, followed from 1980 to 2006. Breast cancer molecular subtypes were defined according to estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor, human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2), cytokeratin 5/6, and epidermal growth factor status from immunostained tumor microarrays in combination with histologic grade. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Competing risk analyses were used to assess heterogeneity by subtype. We observed suggestive heterogeneity in associations between alcohol and breast cancer by subtype (phet = 0.06). Alcohol consumers had an increased risk of luminal A breast cancers [n = 1,628 cases, per 10 g/day increment HR (95%CI) = 1.10(1.05–1.15)], and an increased risk that was suggestively stronger for HER2‐type breast cancer [n = 160 cases, HR (95%CI) = 1.16(1.02–1.33)]. We did not observe statistically significant associations between alcohol and risk of luminal B [n = 631 cases, HR (95%CI) = 1.08(0.99–1.16)], basal‐like [n = 254 cases, HR (95%CI) = 0.90(0.77–1.04)], or unclassified [n = 87 cases, HR (95%CI) = 0.90(0.71–1.14)] breast cancer. Alcohol consumption was associated with increased risk of luminal A and HER2‐type breast cancer, but not significantly associated with other subtypes. Given that ERs are expressed in luminal A but not in HER2‐type tumors, our findings suggest that other mechanisms may play a role in the association between alcohol and breast cancer.
Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial pathogens isolates from diseased swine in southwest, China

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in the clinical bacterial isolates from diseased swine in southwest, China during 2009-2010. A total of 504 bacterial isolates (19 species) were collected from the 364 clinical samples. The activity of 6-14 antibiotics to each bacterial species was examined. The sensitivity was tested by the disk diffusion method and performed according to CLSI guidelines in Mueller-Hinton agar. The most common pathogens were Escherichia coli (n=154; 30.56%), Staphylococcus spp. (n=110; 21.83%), Enterococcus faecalis (n=58; 11.51%),Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=44; 8.73%), Proteus mirabilis (n=43; 8.53%) and Streptococcus suis (n=30; 5.93%). All isolates revealed high level of resistance to ampicillin (47.6-100%), amoxicillin (52.6-100%), cephalothin (29-100%), norfloxacin (52.6-83.3%), gentamicin (45.1-83.3%) and terramycin (61.9-100%). Moreover, 93% of the isolates exhibited multiple drug resistance (MDR; resistance ≥ 3 antimicrobials). Only ticarcillin/clavulanate exhibited very high activity against E. coli (98.1%), Staphylococcus spp. (91.9%), K. pneumaniae (92.3%) and P. mirabilis (97.2%), respectively. These findings suggest that antimicrobial resistance of bacterial pathogens isolates is commonly present among diseased swine in Southwest, China, and they also suggest the need for more prudent use of antibiotics by farmers and veterinarians. Key words: Identification, antimicrobial susceptibility, pathogen, swine.
Spondylocarpotarsal synostosis with epiphyseal dysplasia.

We report on an 11-year-old boy with thoracolumbar fusion, carpal synostosis, short stature, scoliosis, lordosis, defective dentition, and recurrent otitis media consistent with the diagnosis of spondylocarpotarsal synostosis syndrome. Unlike other documented cases, radiographs of our patient at 5(1/2) years of age show delay in ossification of many of the epiphyses in addition to delay in carpal ossification. Such delay may have contributed to the distinctly short stature of this boy. This report both confirms and extends the phenotype of this recently delineated syndrome.
Social Stratification in Mexico

In a recent ASR article (2010), Andres Villarreal (hereafter AV) presents evidence of dramatic skin color stratification and indigenous disadvantage in contemporary Mexico based on the 2006 MIT Mexico Panel Study. AV uses regression models to predict educational attainment, occupational status and household income for Mexicans by ethnicity and according to three skin color categories. He finds that the darkest skin tone individuals have the lowest socioeconomic status followed by those with intermediate skin colors on all these outcomes, even after controlling for individual characteristics. AV does us an important service by drawing our attention to the role of skin color in Mexican social stratification, which has generally been denied or overlooked. However, we argue that AV overstates the effects of skin color on class in Mexican society because he ignores class origins, he uses a highly subjective skin color indicator that is itself affected by class, and he misidentifies indigenous ethnicity. In this comment, we find general support for AV’s conclusions about the effect of skin color in the Mexican stratification system, especially in educational attainment, but class origins are a more dominant factor in Mexican social stratification and they explain some of the apparent skin color differences that AV found. By controlling for class origins and by using more accurate measures of color and indigenous ethnicity, we discover that the magnitude of indigenous and skin color disadvantage is smaller than AV finds in the case of educational attainment. Class origins and educationi largely explain color differences in occupational status while color and indigenous identity have virtually no effect. We have sought to replicate AV’s analysis on most variables since we believe it is excellent methodologically, except that we use innovative and new data that better capture color, indigenous ethnicity, and class origins. We show that the rest of our coefficients are very similar to those in a model that replicates the same variables used in one of AV’s models, suggesting that our data, variables and statistical methods closely match his. We realize that the shortcomings we find for AV are mostly due to his use of a data set that was not designed for this end.
Induction of cellular immunity to herpes simplex virus: relationship to the humoral immune response.

In vitro lymphocyte stimulation and virus-neutralization techniques were employed to study the relationship between the cellular and humoral immune responses to herpes simplex virus (HSV) in rabbits. Lymphocytes specifically sensitized to HSV were detected as early as 3 days after infection, generally before the appearance of neutralizing antibody. Neutralizing antibody levels continued to rise over the next several weeks, whereas the ability of sensitized lymphocytes to respond to viral antigens markedly decreased. Reinfection 60 days after the primary infection resulted in a sharp increase in the responsiveness of the lymphocytes to viral antigens. The induction of cell-mediated immunity and the responsiveness of sensitized lymphocytes to viral antigens appears to be intimately related to the physical state of the virus. Animals inoculated with infectious HSV developed both cellular and humoral immunity; animals inoculated with UV-inactivated HSV developed a cellular immune response, but little if any neutralizing antibody; animals inoculated with HSV complexed with anti-HSV antibody developed neither a cellular nor a humoral immune response. In vitro, specifically sensitized lymphocytes could be stimulated by virus and by virus bound to cells, but not by cell-bound virus that had been incubated with antiviral antibody. These observations suggest that antiviral antibody can affect both the induction of cell-mediated immunity and the responsiveness of specifically sensitized lymphocytes to viral antigens bound to cells.
Stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of local muscle injury: a critical review of the clinical and basic science literature.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical and basic science evidence surrounding the hypothesis that stretching immediately before exercise prevents injury. DATA SOURCES AND SELECTION MEDLINE was searched using MEDLINE subject headings (MeSH) and textwords for English- and French-language articles related to stretching and muscle injury. Additional references were reviewed from the bibliographies, and from citation searches on key articles. All articles related to stretching and injury or pathophysiology of muscle injury were reviewed. Clinical articles without a control group were excluded. RESULTS Three (all prospective) of the four clinical articles that suggested stretching was beneficial included a cointervention of warm-up. The fourth study (cross-sectional) found stretching was associated with less groin/buttock problems in cyclists, but only in women. There were five studies suggesting no difference in injury rates between stretchers and nonstretchers (3 prospective, 2 cross-sectional) and three suggesting stretching was detrimental (all cross-sectional). The review of the basic science literature suggested five reasons why stretching before exercise would not prevent injuries. First, in animals, immobilization or heating-induced increases in muscle compliance cause tissues to rupture more easily. Second, stretching before exercise should have no effect for activities in which excessive muscle length is not an issue (e.g., jogging). Third, stretching won't affect muscle compliance during eccentric activity, when most strains are believed to occur. Fourth, stretching can produce damage at the cytoskeleton level. Fifth, stretching appears to mask muscle pain in humans. CONCLUSION The basic science literature supports the epidemiologic evidence that stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of injury.
A time-interleaved continuous-time /spl Delta//spl Sigma/ modulator with 20-MHz signal bandwidth

This paper presents the first implementation results for a time-interleaved continuous-time DeltaSigma modulator. The derivation of the time-interleaved continuous-time DeltaSigma modulator from a discrete-time DeltaSigma modulator is presented. With various simplifications, the resulting modulator has only a single path of integrators, making it robust to DC offsets. A time-interleaved by 2 continuous-time third-order low-pass DeltaSigma modulator is designed in a 0.18-mum CMOS technology with an oversampling ratio of 5 at sampling frequencies of 100 and 200 MHz. Experimental results show that a signal-to-noise-plus-distortion ratio (SNDR) of 57 dB and a dynamic range of 60 dB are obtained with an input bandwidth of 10 MHz, and an SNDR of 49 dB with a dynamic range of 55 dB is attained with an input bandwidth of 20 MHz. The power consumption is 101 and 103 mW, respectively
Ion acceleration and direct ion heating in three-component magnetic reconnection.

Ion acceleration and direct ion heating in magnetic reconnection are experimentally observed during counterhelicity merging of two plasma toroids. Plasma ions are accelerated up to order of the Alfen speed through contraction of the reconnected field-lines with three-components. The large increase in ion thermal energy (from 10 eV up to 200 eV) is attributed to the direct conversion of the magnetic energy into the unmagnetized ion population. This observation is consistent with the magnetohydrodynamic and macro-particle simulations.
Comparison of Epidural Bupivacaine, Levobupivacaine and Dexmedetomidine in Patients Undergoing Vascular Surgery.

INTRODUCTION Levobupivacaine is the s-isomer of racemic Bupivacaine. It is less cardio, neurotoxic and equally potent local anaesthetic compared to its racemate. It is known to cause less Depression of myocardial contractility. Dexmeditomidine when used via epidural route has synergistic effect with local anaesthetics. Majority of patients presenting for vascular surgery are elderly and have associated co-morbidities like diabetes, hypertension, and coronary artery disease. We intend to study safety and efficacy of epidural Levoupivacaine and Dexmedetomidine in this group of patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty adult patients undergoing lower limb vascular surgery under lumbar epidural anaesthesia were randomly allocated to three groups. All groups were preloaded with 10ml/kg of crystalloid solution. B group was scheduled to receive 15 ml of racemic Bupivacaine, L-group was scheduled to receive 15ml of Levobupivacaine and LD-group received 15ml of Levobupivacaine with 0.5 mics/kg Dexmeditomedine. Time to onset of sensory block to T-10, maximum sensory level achieved, Bromage scale, time to two segment regression, time to total regression, sedation level achieved and patients assessment of quality of anaesthesia were assessed. Haemodynamic parameters were monitored throughout study period. Adverse effects were noted and treated appropriately. RESULTS Baseline parameters were comparable among all the groups. Time to onset of sensory block to T-10 and maximum level of block achieved, was comparable among the groups. Time to two segment regression and time to total regression was significantly prolonged in LD group compared to other two groups. There was significant bradycardia noted in LD group which required treatment. CONCLUSION Levobupivacaine can be safely used in elderly high risk patients undergoing vascular surgery. Addition of dexmedetomidine prolongs the duration of anaesthesia and postoperative analgesia.
Out-of-Vocabulary Spoken Term Detection

Spoken term detection (STD) is a fundamental task for multimedia information retrieval. A major challenge faced by an STD system is the serious performance reduction when detecting out-of-vocabulary (OOV) terms. The difficulties arise not only from the absence of pronunciations for such terms in the system dictionaries, but from intrinsic uncertainty in pronunciations, significant diversity in term properties and a high degree of weakness in acoustic and language modelling. To tackle the OOV issue, we first applied the joint-multigram model to predict pronunciations for OOV terms in a stochastic way. Based on this, we propose a stochastic pronunciation model that considers all possible pronunciations for OOV terms so that the high pronunciation uncertainty is compensated for. Furthermore, to deal with the diversity in term properties, we propose a termdependent discriminative decision strategy, which employs discriminative models to integrate multiple informative factors and confidence measures into a classification probability, which gives rise to minimum decision cost. In addition, to address the weakness in acoustic and language modelling, we propose a direct posterior confidence measure which replaces the generative models with a discriminative model, such as a multi-layer perceptron (MLP), to obtain a robust confidence for OOV term detection. With these novel techniques, the STD performance on OOV terms was improved substantially and significantly in our experiments set on meeting speech data.