Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A focus group investigation into young children's understanding of mental health and their views on appropriate services for their age group.

BACKGROUND Children's views about mental health and concurrent service provision are under researched areas. Yet there is concern regarding appropriate service development to meet the increasing mental health needs of children and young people. Recent government policy underlines the need for collaborative work with consumers in service development. METHOD This was a qualitative study designed to explore 10- and 11-year-old children's understanding of the concept of mental health and their opinions regarding an appropriate service for their age group. Two focus groups were conducted with 10- and 11-year-old children and the data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. RESULTS The participants showed a sophisticated understanding of mental health. The participants thought that school-based services would not be appropriate for their age group. CONCLUSION The participants demonstrated that their level of understanding and interest qualifies them for a place in discussions about services for their age group. Collaborative work with children and young people in line with government policy in this area is necessary for appropriate service development.
Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of once-weekly subcutaneous epoetin alfa in critically ill patients: Results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial*

Objective:To describe the erythropoietin pharmacokinetic profile after once-weekly epoetin alfa treatment in critically ill patients. Secondary objectives were to compare pharmacodynamic and safety profiles between active treatment and placebo in these patients. Design:Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Setting:Medical, surgical, or mixed medical/surgical intensive care units. Patients:A total of 73 anemic critically ill adults with an expected stay of >3 days and a hematocrit value of <38%. Interventions:Patients were randomized 2:1 to epoetin alfa, 40,000 IU, administered subcutaneously once weekly (n = 48) or matching placebo (n = 25) for up to 4 wks. Measurements and Main Results:Serum erythropoietin concentration and hematologic variables (percentage reticulocytes [RETI], hemoglobin [Hb], and total red blood cell [RBC] counts) were measured, and area under the serum concentration-time curve from time 0 to the last blood sampling time at time t (t: 120, 144, or 168 hrs) postdose (AUC0-Tlast) for these three variables was determined. Mean serum erythropoietin concentrations in placebo patients were slightly higher than typical physiologic levels of erythropoietin in healthy subjects, although not appropriate for the degree of anemia in these patients. Overall, exposure of endogenous erythropoietin in the placebo group (in terms of AUC0-Tlast) was only about 20% of exposure to exogenous erythropoietin in the epoetin alfa group. Baseline hemoglobin levels were the same in both groups (9.9 g/dL). Mean change in hemoglobin level from baseline through day 29 was 1.9 g/dL and 1.6 g/dL in the epoetin alfa and placebo groups, respectively. Mean AUC(RETI)0-Tlast was higher with epoetin alfa than with placebo and was related to the AUC of erythropoietin. There were no apparent differences in AUC(Hb)0-Tlast and AUC(RBC)0-Tlast between epoetin alfa and placebo groups, which was most likely due to bleeding and transfusion events. Epoetin alfa was safe and well tolerated, with a rate of treatment-emergent complications similar to that seen with placebo. Conclusion:Epoetin alfa, once weekly, augmented the erythropoietic response in critically ill patients as indicated by the increased erythropoietin levels and larger AUC(RETI)0-Tlast in treated patients.
Relief of abdominal pain by morphine without altering physical signs in acute appendicitis.

BACKGROUND Abdominal pain is a common symptom among patients with acute appendicitis, yet these patients have long been denied relief from suffering because of widespread misconceptions associated with the use of opioids. We determined whether morphine hydrochloride masked the physical signs in adults with acute appendicitis and assessed the efficacy of morphine in relieving abdominal pain. METHODS A prospective, double-blind, placebo controlled, clinical trial was conducted with 106 adult patients between 16 and 70 years old with acute appendicitis. Patients were randomly divided into a morphine group (n=54) or a normal saline group (n=52). All patients presented with acute abdominal pain with onset within 3 days. The morphine group received hypodermic injection of morphine (0.15 mg/kg; maximum 20 mg) and the control group members were given an equivalent volume of normal saline solution. The clinical symptoms, physical signs, and patients' cooperation during physical examination were assessed before and after 30 minutes of morphine or normal saline administration. RESULTS Abdominal pain was significantly relieved and the patients' cooperation was improved in the morphine group after 30 minutes treatment compared with the control group and before morphine administration (P<0.05). The physical signs were unaffected by either treatment (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS Morphine relieved abdominal pain and improved the patients' cooperation for treatment and care. Furthermore, the morphine did not mask the physical signs of acute appendicitis.
The role of the metastasis suppressor gene KAI1 in melanoma angiogenesis

The tetraspan protein KAI1 (CD82) has been previously shown to have important roles in cell migration, invasion, and melanoma prognosis. In this study, we investigated the role of KAI1 regarding melanoma angiogenesis. KAI1 overexpression strongly suppressed the growth of the human umbilical vein endothelial cells and their tubular structure formation in vitro. Also, KAI1 was able to inhibit both interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) and VEGF at mRNA and protein levels. Using nude mice in the in vivo study, we showed that KAI1, through the regulation of ING4, inhibited blood vessel formation in matrigel plugs along with the downregulation of IL‐6 and VEGF, and the recruitment of CD31‐positive cells. Finally, we found that KAI1 was able to suppress the activity of a serine/threonine kinase Akt by suppressing Akt phosphorylation (Ser473). Taken together, our results suggested that KAI1 was able to suppress melanoma angiogenesis by downregulating IL‐6 and VEGF expression, and the restoration of KAI1 functionality offered a new approach in human melanoma treatment.
The manual haptic perception of orientations and the oblique effect in patients with left visuo-spatial neglect

This study addresses the limits of haptic orientation deficit observed in patients with left visuo-spatial neglect (VSN) in the fronto-parallel plane. We concentrated on two aspects of the haptic perception of vertical, horizontal and oblique orientations: first, the global level of performances compared with normal subjects and, second, the occurrence of the oblique effect (i.e. lower performances in oblique orientations than in vertical-horizontal orientations). Subjects were asked to position a rod, presented in the fronto-parallel plane, to one of four orientations: vertical, horizontal, left 45° oblique and right 45° oblique. First, we found a haptic orientation deficit in neglect patients: The precision was lower in the neglect patients than in the normal (young adults and seniors) subjects. Second, we observed in both neglect patients and control subjects the occurrence of a similar haptic oblique effect and there were no differences between the results in the left and right hemispaces. Taken together, this means that, in spite of the global haptic orientation production deficit observed in VSN patients, no specific pattern was observed in the haptic production of different orientations in these subjects as compared to the two other groups. The haptic orientation deficit of neglect patients seems to affect in the same way all values and spatial positions of orientations.
Experiences of chronic low back pain: a meta-ethnography of qualitative research

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is associated with a number of costly disability-related outcomes. It has received increasing attention from qualitative researchers studying its consequences for personal, social, and health care experiences. As research questions and methods diversify, there is a growing need to integrate findings emerging from these studies. A meta-ethnography was carried out to synthesise the findings of 38 separate qualitative articles published on the subjective experience of CLBP between 1994 and 2011. Studies were identified following a literature search and quality appraisal. Four themes were proposed after a process of translating the meaning of text extracts from the findings sections across all the articles. The themes referred to the undermining influence of pain, its disempowering impact on all levels, unsatisfying relationships with health care professionals, and learning to live with the pain. The findings are dominated by wide-ranging distress and loss but also acknowledge self-determination and resilience. Implications of the meta-ethnography for clinicians and future qualitative research are outlined, including the need to study relatively unexamined facets of subjective experience such as illness trajectory and social identity.
Effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke on Respiratory Symptoms and Pulmonary Function

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on pulmonary function and respiratory symptoms. During periodic medical examination, 392 French nonsmokers responded to an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Then spirometry was performed to assess pulmonary function. All of the subjects were carefully examined by two occupational physicians. ETS exposure at the workplace was more common than this exposure at home (20% vs. 5%). ETS exposure was significantly associated with forced vital capacity (FVC; −3.16%; 95% CI: −5.67 to −0.64) and forced expiratory volume in 1s (FEV1; −2.90%; 95% CI: −5.59 to −0.23). Abnormal FVC results were significantly increased in exposed subgroup [odds ratio = 2.71 (95% CI: 1.09 to 6.75)]. We did not find any significant dose-response relationship between ETS exposure and lung function results. The effects of ETS exposure on respiratory symptoms and diseases (asthma, wheezing, chronic bronchitis, and dyspnea) were not significant. Thus, this study showed that there was a significant inverse association between exposure to ETS and pulmonary function. Even pulmonary function results inferior to the lower limit of normal may be possible. A stricter legislation against ETS is proposed.
Compensatory lengthening in West Slavic

Abstract It is argued that “compensatory lengthening” of o-stems in West Slavic at the end of Proto-Slavic period is only a cover term for different processes. Former APb forms of *stolъ’ type undergo pretonic lengthening, resyllabification and yer loss in several cycles. Former APc forms *bogъ type are resyllabified, may obtain moraic coda and after the loss of yer and the transfer of mora they become lengthened. Former APa of the *klinъ type undergo Kortlandt’s lengthening rule, are resyllabified and the yer is lost. All processes are connected with the rise of rhythmicity and bisyllabic maximally bimoraic domain. Forms are later incorporated into newly created quantitative paradigms which are results of the prosodic transformation of Proto-Slavic accentual paradigms.
The performance of inverse probability of treatment weighting and full matching on the propensity score in the presence of model misspecification when estimating the effect of treatment on survival outcomes

There is increasing interest in estimating the causal effects of treatments using observational data. Propensity-score matching methods are frequently used to adjust for differences in observed characteristics between treated and control individuals in observational studies. Survival or time-to-event outcomes occur frequently in the medical literature, but the use of propensity score methods in survival analysis has not been thoroughly investigated. This paper compares two approaches for estimating the Average Treatment Effect (ATE) on survival outcomes: Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPTW) and full matching. The performance of these methods was compared in an extensive set of simulations that varied the extent of confounding and the amount of misspecification of the propensity score model. We found that both IPTW and full matching resulted in estimation of marginal hazard ratios with negligible bias when the ATE was the target estimand and the treatment-selection process was weak to moderate. However, when the treatment-selection process was strong, both methods resulted in biased estimation of the true marginal hazard ratio, even when the propensity score model was correctly specified. When the propensity score model was correctly specified, bias tended to be lower for full matching than for IPTW. The reasons for these biases and for the differences between the two methods appeared to be due to some extreme weights generated for each method. Both methods tended to produce more extreme weights as the magnitude of the effects of covariates on treatment selection increased. Furthermore, more extreme weights were observed for IPTW than for full matching. However, the poorer performance of both methods in the presence of a strong treatment-selection process was mitigated by the use of IPTW with restriction and full matching with a caliper restriction when the propensity score model was correctly specified.
SIMULATION AND DESIGN OF RF OSCILLATORS

 An accurate simulation and design was achieved with Computer-Aided-Engineering (CAE) of RF oscillators. Signal and phase noise modeling of all passiveand active components in the RF oscillator circuit is the prerequisite for accurate simulation. The design showed a very good agreement between simulated and measured data. The required modeling methods, the measurements, the used simulation technologies and the design steps are presented.
The Challenge of Empathy

This pilot study compares standardized and actual psychiatric patients used to teach introductory psychopathology. In a blinded manner, students and psychiatric faculty interviewed both types of patients, using a small group format. Before and after the course, students and faculty completed a questionnaire about expectations and effectiveness. Students were divided in their opinions of standardized patients but generally preferred actual patients. Faculty were initially noncommittal, but after the course they strongly preferred actual patients. Although standardized patients offer some advantages over actual patients, limitations included difficulty developing empathy. Standardized patients could potentially be trained to convey emotions realistically, but further study of this is needed.
A Band-Reconfigurable Antenna Based on Directed Dipole

A novel reconfigurable directed dipole antenna operated in a wideband or four narrowband modes is presented. The wideband mode (0.83-2.5 GHz) is based on a folded bowtie-shaped dipole while the four narrowband modes are based on a length-reconfigurable thin dipole. A rectangular cavity is introduced to provide the antenna with well-controlled unidirectional radiation patterns. PIN diodes are used as switches at specific locations for choosing different modes. The design procedure is presented in details which maybe a useful guideline. A fully functional prototype is developed and tested, which exhibits good performance. The unidirectional patterns and frequency selective feature make the antenna potentially suitable for fixed facilities in cognitive radio.
Helicobacter pylori infection and relationship with gastric epithelial cell proliferation and apoptosis

To evaluate the effects of Helicobacter pylori on cell proliferation and apoptosis in gastric cancer (GC) both at tumoral and nontumoral sites and in gastritis. Materials and methods: Biopsies from 96 patients (gastric cancer = 52, gastritis = 44) were examined immunohistochemically and histopathologically. Results: In H. pylori-positive GC patients the average proliferative index (PI) in tumor and nontumor sites was 40.7% and 24.8%, while in H. pylori-negative patients it was 32.9% and 17.8%, respectively. The PI was significantly higher in the tumor than in the nontumor sites, regardless of H. pylori infection. Cell proliferation was also significantly associated with intestinal metaplasia in nontumor sections. The apoptotic index (AI) in H. pylori-positive GC tumor and nontumor sites showed an average of 61.8% and 50.0%, while in H. pylori-negative patients it was 38.1% and 25.0%, respectively. The AI was significantly higher in both groups in the presence of H. pylori. In gastritis, H. pylori infections lead to a significantly higher PI than AI. H. pylori infection increased the PI and the AI in cases of GC. Conclusion: H. pylori induced higher proliferative and apoptotic activities in both tumor and nontumor sites of the GC sections, a fact that provides supportive evidence for its effect.
Prevalence of Congenital Heart Disease: A Single Center Experience in Southwestern of Iran.

BACKGROUND Congenital heart disease (CHD) refers to complex abnormalities that affect the structure or function of the heart due to embryonic defects. There is little accurate statistical data about prevalence, incidence and frequency in many developing countries such as Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of CHD in patients who were referred to the Department of Pediatric Cardiology in a large single-center in Southwestern of Iran. METHODS This is a retrospective, cross-sectional study. Patients with various cardiac malformations were each investigated separately. A check list was used to collect information. It was comprised of three parts; demographic characteristics, Patient's birth details and maternal data. RESULTS The frequency of ventricular septal defect (VSD), atrial septal defect (ASD) and tetralogy of fallot (TOF) were 125 (28.47%), 48 (10.93%) and 41(9.3%) respectively. Family history was reported in 26(11.1%) cases. Down syndrome, skeletal anomaly and hematological anomaly were the most common co-anomalies. Parental consanguinity was 48.7%. CONCLUSIONS Present study showed that VSD was the most common CHD subtype followed by family history, familial marriage, extra cardiac anomalies (ECAs), birth weight, and maternal concomitant disease. But there was a controversial relationship between birth order and drug history in CHD.
Loofa Sponge as a Scaffold for the Culture of Human Hepatocyte Cell Line

Loofa sponge was investigated as a three‐dimensional scaffold for stationary and perfusion culture of human hepatoblastoma cell line C3A/HepG2. In stationary culture, C3A/HepG2 cells in loofa cubes showed higher α‐fetoprotein and albumin secretion rates than those in polyurethane foam (PU). To use loofa cylinders in a packed‐bed reactor, immobilization of C3A/HepG2 cells by recirculating medium at 26 mL/min (superficial velocity = 51.7 cm/min) resulted in a cell loading density of 5.15 × 107 cells/cm3‐loofa. This cell loading density is higher than values reported in the literature for packed‐bed reactor intended for bioartificial liver. During 9 days of perfusion culture in the reactor, immobilized C3A/HepG2 showed steady synthesis of albumin with an average synthesis rate at 42.2 μg/106 cells/day. These experimental results and observations by SEM suggested that loofa sponge is a suitable scaffold for high‐density culture of human hepatocyte cell line and the immobilized cells could express high levels of liver‐specific functions.
Are You Still with Us? A Study of the Post-Adoption Determinants of Sustained Use of Mobile-Banking Services

This research develops and empirically tests a theoretical model that explains sustained use of mobile banking services. While an extensive array of research has examined various theoretical antecedents of the intention to adopt and use new technologies, only a handful of studies have examined the extent of current usage of a system. Moreover, despite the huge market potential of and recent technological advancements seen in the mobile-commerce market, little is known about the factors that can influence sustained use of integrated mobile financial services after adoption. The present research examines the extent of mobile banking service usage of 370 Korean mobile-baking users in the post-adoption stage. The results of the study indicate that perceived usability, channel preference, and perceived value are three major determinants of sustained mobile banking use. The model further extends and explains that good menu design is a dominant factor in perceived usability of m-banking services, while low monetary costs (i.e., charges and fees) and provision of various banking functions can improve m-banking users' perception of the value of m-banking services. Along with the suggested model, the presented case of factors promoting successful m-banking services will help many mobile industries around the world envisage a successful and stable mobile–financial services market and accelerate their development. Implications of the findings and future research directions are also discussed.