Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on reduction of stress symptoms, and improving the quality of life in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a self-secured and chronic disease with an unknown cause, as well as the most common rheumatic inflammatory one ever known. Generally, Rheumatoid Arthritis is two to four times more common in women as compared with men. Rheumatoid Arthritis has many physical-mental and social consequences for the patients and leaves a considerable impact on how the stricken patients live. This project has been aiming at determining how the cognitive-behavioral treatments in a group manner could decrease the symptoms of stress and improve the quality of women patients’ lives who were afflicted with Rheumatoid Arthritis. The study has been carried out in a semiexperimental manner with a pre-test, post-test and following-up with Shahed Group. The case included 56 women patients who were diagnosed to be suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis and were randomly selected and placed in two Testing and Shahed Groups. All the patients filled out the questionnaire of Stress (Harry) and measuring criteria of life quality affected by Arthritis 2- AIMS2-SF. Short forms, both prior and after their intervention and also during a twomonth perusal. The cognitive-behavioral treatment was performed during eight two-hour sessions, basing the structure on Testing Group and both groups received the medical common treatments during this period as well. The data was analyzed using the Co-variance analysis test. The results have been suggesting the efficacy of group treatment, with a cognitive-behavioral approach towards decreasing the level of stress and improving the quality of women patients’ lives afflicted with Rheumatoid Arthritis which can be effective in decreasing the stress in such patients as a side treatment beside other standard treatments of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BHAKTI YOGA PRACTICES USED TO REDUCE ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION LEVELS IN PATIENTS

Aim: The aim of the study is to reduce the anxiety and depression among the patients through bhakti yoga method. Materials and Methods: We have selected 32, (20 males and 12 females) anxiety and depression patients from Patanjali Ayurvedic Hospital, Haridwar, India. The selection was based on Cohen’s G formula and divided them into two yoga and control groups. Yoga group were given practices such as AUM chanting, meditation and devotional songs, under the expert guidance of the yoga instructor while the control group were not given any practices. We assessed the anxiety and depression by using Hospital Anxiety Depression Scales using SPSS version 25, for both groups. Results: After three months of intervention, result show a significant difference in anxiety and depression levels at p<0.001. These are shown in the form of bar diagram. The paired mean values show clear decrease in anxiety and depression levels from 12.50± 2.00 to 7.63±1.14 and from 13.56±2.13 to 7.88±1.20 respectively. Conclusion: Anxiety and depression are modern life style non communicable diseases where pharmaceutical drugs are not much effective. Our alternative and complementary medicine practices such as bhakti yoga practices played a significant role in reducing anxiety and depression ailments. An innovative integral method practices as a package are recommended. The results show a significant reduction in the anxiety-depression levels.
Arginase Isoform Expression in Chronic Rhinosinusitis

Nitric oxide (NO) has emerged as an important regulator of upper airway inflammation, mainly as part of the local naso-sinusal defense mechanisms. Increased arginase activity can reduce NO levels by decreasing the availability of its precursor, L-arginine. Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) has been associated with low levels of nasal nitric oxide (nNO). Thus, the present study investigates the activity of arginase I (ARG1) and II (ARG2) in CRS and its possible involvement in the pathogenesis of this disease. Under endoscopic view, tissue samples of pathologic (n = 36) and normal (n = 29) rhinosinusal mucosa were collected. Arginase I and II mRNA levels were measured using real-time PCR. Our results showed low arginase I activity in all samples. The levels of ARG2 were significantly higher in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis compared to the control group (fold regulation (FR) 2.22 ± 0.42 vs. 1.31 ± 0.21, p = 0.016). Increased ARG2 expression was found in patients with CRS without nasal polyposis (FR 3.14 ± 1.16 vs. 1.31 ± 0.21, p = 0.0175), in non-allergic CRS (FR 2.55 ± 0.52 vs. 1.31 ± 0.21, p = 0.005), and non-asthmatic CRS (FR 2.42 ± 0.57 vs. 1.31 ± 0.21, p = 0.028). These findings suggest that the upregulation of ARG2 may play a role in the pathology of a distinctive phenotype of CRS.
Uptake of Colorectal Cancer Screening by Physicians is Associated With Greater Uptake by Their Patients.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Physicians' own screening practices might affect screening in their patients. We conducted a population-based study to evaluate whether family physicians who underwent colorectal cancer testing were more likely to have patients who underwent colorectal cancer testing. METHODS We collected demographic and healthcare information on residents of Ontario, Canada from administrative databases; the sample was restricted to individuals at average risk of colorectal cancer who were 52-74 years old as of April 21, 2016. We obtained a list of all registered physicians in the province; physicians (n=11,434) were matched with non-physicians (n=45,736) on age, sex, and residential location. Uptake of colorectal tests was defined by a record of a fecal occult blood test in the past 2 years, flexible sigmoidoscopy in the past 5 years, or colonoscopy in the past 10 years. Patients were assigned to family physicians based on billing claim frequency, and then the association between colorectal testing in family physicians and their patients was examined using a modified Poisson regression model. RESULTS Uptake of colorectal tests by physicians and non-physicians (median age 60; 71% men) was 67.9% (95% CI, 67.0%-68.7%) and 66.6% (95% CI, 66.2%-67.1%), respectively. Physicians were less likely than non-physicians to undergo fecal occult blood testing and were more likely to undergo colonoscopy; prevalence ratios were 0.44 (95% CI, 0.42-0.47) and 1.24 (95% CI, 1.22-1.26), respectively. Uptake of colorectal tests by family physicians was associated with greater uptake by their patients (adjusted prevalence ratio, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.08-1.12). CONCLUSIONS Approximately one third of physicians and non-physicians are overdue for colorectal cancer screening. Patients are more likely to be tested if their family physician has been tested. There is an opportunity for physicians to increase their participation in colorectal cancer screening, which could in turn motivate their patients to undergo screening.
Comparing predictive accuracy in small samples

We consider fixed-b and fixed-m asymptotics for the Diebold and Mariano (1995) test of predictive accuracy. We show that this approach allows to obtain predictive accuracy tests that are correctly sized even in small samples. We apply the alternative asympotics for the Diebold and Mariano (1995) test to evaluate the predictive accuracy of the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) against a simple random walk. Our results show that the predictive ability of the SPF was partially spurious, especially in the last decade.
DOES CAREER PROGRAM HAVE EFFECT ON EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES? EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

This study sets to examine the relationship between career program and employee outcomes. A survey method was employed to obtain data from employees of a military based university in Malaysia. The outcomes of SmartPLS path model analysis showed four important findings: first, career planning was positively and insignificantly correlated with job satisfaction. Second, career management was positively and significantly correlated with job satisfaction. Thirdly, career planning was positively and insignificantly correlated with career commitment. Finally, career management was positively and significantly correlated with career commitment. This result confirms that career planning does not act as an essential predictor of job satisfaction and career commitment, but career management does act as an essential predictor of job satisfaction and career commitment in the studied organization. In addition, this study provides discussion, implications and conclusion.
Institutions, Competition, and Capital Market Integration in Japan

Using a newly-constructed panel data set which includes annual estimates of lending rates for 47 Japanese prefectures, we analyze why interest rates converged over the period 1884-1925. We find evidence that technological innovations and institutional changes played an important role in creating a national capital market in Japan. In particular, the diffusion in the use of the telegraph, the growth in commercial branch banking networks, and the development of Bank of Japan's branches reduced interest-rate differentials. Bank regulation appears to have played little role in impeding financial market integration.
Phenology , productivity , and chemical characterization of Jatropha curcas L . as tool for selecting non-toxic elite germplasm

A phenological, physical and chemical descriptive study was carried out on six germplasms of Jatropha curcas L. collected from different areas of Mexico. From these six germplasms, elite germplasms that are better adaptable, with high seed, oil and protein yield, and low levels of phorbol esters were identified. The thermal constant (2570 ± 9) and seed weight (0.695 ± 0.065 g) were similar in all the six germplasms. The average plant height was 1.47 ± 0.25 m after one year of evaluation. Variation in the number of inflorescences (0 to 22) and seed yield (27.35 ± 22.65 g) per plant, and fruit per cluster (2.9 ± 2.2) was considerable. Kernel oil and crude protein contents were 57 ± 3% and 26 ± 2%, respectively. Germplasms India and Isla (Veracruz) had the highest levels of phorbol esters (5.982 and 2.070 mg∙g -1 , respectively). The reproductive stage and phorbol esters content were critical in selecting elite germplasms. Based on our results, we were able to select three elite germplasms.
Coping strategies as predictors of coursework stress among university nursing students

For nursing students, coping with stress is a dynamic and continuous process. Students are affected by different kinds of stressors such as the pressure to achieve academically. It is important for students to develop coping strategies in order to succeed. The aims of this study are assessing nursing students' perceived level of university coursework stress and their coping strategies, describing the difference between male and female nursing students in that respect, and identifying coping strategies that can predict coursework stress levels. A descriptive, predictive study was conducted utilizing a sample of 96 nursing students. The participants were asked to fill a self-administered questionnaire about coping strategies. The conclusion of this study is that nursing students have moderate stress levels related to their academic coursework. Problem-solving strategies have the highest mean of the eight subscales; however, wishful thinking and tension reduction were the only significant coping mechanisms that worked as predictors of coursework stress.
Bankruptcy Prediction Models and Stock Prices of the Coal Mining Industry in Indonesia

Various bankruptcy prediction models have been used to measure the movement of stock prices, and thus the firms’ performance. This study is aimed at empirically exploring the usefulness of the Olhson, Almant Modification, Grover, Springate, and Zmijewski models for predicting bankruptcy of the 19 coal mining companies. It also attempts to measure the effects of the scores of these bankruptcy prediction models on the stock prices of the coal mining companies in Indonesia. The technique of analysis that used in this research is panel regression. The results of the study showed that the bankruptcy prediction scores of the Ohlson and Almant Modification were found to be the dominant prediction models that affected the stock prices of the coal companies in Indonesia. This indicates that the bankruptcy prediction model can be used as one of the approaches to measure the movement of stock prices and performance of the coal mining companies in Indonesia. DOI: 10.15408/etk.v17i1. 6559
Recreating Tumour Complexity in a Dish: Organoid Models to Study Liver Cancer Cells and their Extracellular Environment

Primary liver cancer, consisting predominantly of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), remains one of the most lethal malignancies worldwide. This high malignancy is related to the complex and dynamic interactions between tumour cells, stromal cells and the extracellular environment. Novel in vitro models that can recapitulate the tumour are essential in increasing our understanding of liver cancer. Herein, primary liver cancer-derived organoids have opened up new avenues due to their patient-specificity, self-organizing ability and potential recapitulation of many of the tumour properties. Organoids are solely of epithelial origin, but incorporation into co-culture models can enable the investigation of the cellular component of the tumour microenvironment. However, the extracellular component also plays a vital role in cancer progression and representation is lacking within current in vitro models. In this review, organoid technology is discussed in the context of liver cancer models through comparisons to other cell culture systems. In addition, the role of the tumour extracellular environment in primary liver cancer will be highlighted with an emphasis on its importance in in vitro modelling. Converging novel organoid-based models with models incorporating the native tumour microenvironment could lead to experimental models that can better recapitulate liver tumours in vivo.
Physical Activity in Pregnancy Is Associated with Increased Flow-mediated Dilation.

PURPOSE To determine the role of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior in flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and glucose metabolism during late pregnancy. METHODS Seventy normotensive, euglycemic pregnant women (31.6 ± 2.9 years old) in their third trimester [28-39 weeks] were recruited. Following a fasted blood sample; FMD was measured (brachial artery Doppler ultrasonography, normalized for the shear stimulus (area under the curve)). Anterograde and retrograde shear rate were estimated. Physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior were assessed via accelerometry for seven consecutive days (Actigraph wGT3X-BT). We categorized the women as active (>150min/week) or inactive (<150 min/week) according to their accelerometry data. Data were corrected for age and gestational age. RESULTS On average, women were sedentary 67.1 ± 8.2% of their waking hours. Active pregnant women (>150min/week MVPA, n=32) engaged in 266.7 ± 99.3 min of MVPA per week while inactive pregnant women (<150 min/week MVPA, n=38) engaged in 76.1 ± 42.5 min of MVPA per week. The FMD response (normalized to the magnitude of shear stress stimulus) was greater in active compared to inactive pregnant women (6.5 ± 4.4 a.u vs. 3.9 ± 3.5 a.u; F=4.619; p=0.005). MVPA in active pregnant women was inversely correlated with insulin concentrations (r=-0.556; p=0.03). In inactive pregnant women, higher amounts of sedentary behavior were associated with lower amounts of retrograde shear rate (r=0.504; p=0.02), retrograde blood flow (r=0.499; p=0.02) and retrograde velocity (r=0.508; p=0.02) during baseline, but not correlated with the FMD response. CONCLUSIONS Engaging in MVPA during pregnancy is associated with improved FMD and a lower insulin concentration. Sedentary behavior was not associated with FMD responses.
Intellectual Capital Efficiency and Firm Performance in Malaysia: The Effect of Government Ownership

In the era of digital information, intellectual capital becomes more important to firms because the economic environment throughout the world continuously focused on the existence of knowledge capital in the firms to ensure firms’ survival. However, the existence of firms’ investment in intellectual capital is not clear because it is reported as an expense rather than asset. This situation makes the efficiency of intellectual capital investments vague which can jeopardize firms’ performance and value. However this weakness could be overcome with a reliable governance in the firms. The objective of this study is to investigate the moderating effect of government ownership (a characteristic of corporate governance) in the association between the efficiency of intellectual capital and firm performance. Government ownership has always been seen by investors as controversial especially when the government seems to always taking advantage of firms’ wealth. This study utilised a sample of 1,048 firm-years data from financial statements of firms listed on the main market of Bursa Malaysia for years 2012 through 2014. Findings shows a positive association between intellectual capital efficiency and firm performance. However the existence of government ownership weakens the association. Findings support the grabbing hand theory which argues that government ownership is seen as negative by stakeholders due to only taking advantage and not enhancing the existence of intellectual capital in firms. Findings show that investors still need to be alert if they want to invest in firms owned by the government in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the findings could also assist the government as owners to listed firms to improve their reputation in order to be seen as the entity that would help elevate firms’ performance which could eventually assist to heighten the capital market and economy of Malaysia
Trend-Smooth: Accelerate Asynchronous SGD by Smoothing Parameters Using Parameter Trends

Stochastic gradient descent(SGD) is the fundamental sequential method in training large scale machine learning models. To accelerate the training process, researchers proposed to use the asynchronous stochastic gradient descent (A-SGD) method in model learning. However, due to the stale information when updating parameters, A-SGD converges more slowly than SGD in the same iteration number. Moreover, A-SGD often converges to a high loss value and results in lower model accuracy. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm called Trend-Smooth which can be adapted to the asynchronous parallel environment to overcome the above problems. Specifically, Trend-Smooth makes use of the parameter trend during the training process to shrink the learning rate of some dimensions where the gradients’ directions are opposite to the trends of parameters. Experiments on MNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets confirm that Trend-Smooth can accelerate the convergence speed in asynchronous training process. The test accuracy that Trend-Smooth achieves is shown to be higher than other asynchronous parallel baseline methods, and is very close to the SGD method. Moreover, Trend-Smooth can also be combined with other adaptive learning rate methods(like Momentum, RMSProp and Adam) in the asynchronous parallel environment to promote their performance.
ANALGESIC EFFICACY OF INTRAVENOUS VERSUS RECTAL ACETAMINOPHEN AFTER ADENO TONSILLECTOMY IN CHILDREN

INTRODUCTION: Doses of acetaminophen 15mg/ kg intravenous and 40 mg/kg rectally produce similar effect-site concentrations. However, the clinical effectiveness of these routes has not been compared. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of analgesia (in terms of duration of analgesia and effect on pain intensity) in children following adenotonsillectomy after acetaminophen either 15 mg/ kg IV or 40 mg/ kg rectally. METHODS: Fifty children, aged between 5 and 14 yrs. , undergoing elective adenotonsillectomy were randomly allocated into two groups. Group IV received 15mg/kg intravenous acetaminophen and Group PR received 40mg/kg rectal acetaminophen. Blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation were continuously monitored. Postoperative pain was assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS) and rescue analgesia provided if scores were 4 or greater. The primary outcome measure was time to first rescue analgesia. RESULTS: The time to first rescue analgesia was significantly longer in children receiving rectal acetaminophen (8.96 ± 3.46) compared with those receiving IV acetaminophen (6.00 ± 1.63) (Pvalue 0.000). Only one child in IV Group required rescue analgesia within first 6 hours with differences between the groups being most prominent in the period from 6 to 10 hours. Vitals did not show any difference in both groups peri-operatively. Postoperative pain assessment by VAS at various time intervals showed no significant difference between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Rectal acetaminophen 40 mg/ kg provides longer analgesia for moderately painful procedures when compared with 15 mg/ kg acetaminophen IV. However, efficacy of intravenous paracetamol has no superiority to rectal administration.
EEG Correlates of Emotional Experience in Huntington's Disease

Recognizing negative emotions is impaired in Huntington’s disease (HD), while the subjective emotional involvement in affective pictures images is not completely known in these patients. We aimed to further evaluate emotional reaction in early HD patients, by means of subjective arousal and valence rating and EEG changes induced by International Affective Pictures (IAPS). We recruited 16 consecutive genetically confirmed HD outpatients, and 16 sex and age matched controls. Eighty-four color slides, 28 pleasant, 28 unpleasant and 28 neutral images, in random presentation, were chosen from the International Affective Picture System. EEG was recorded by 32 scalp electrodes. HD patients judged negative and positive affective images respectively more unpleasant and pleasant than controls. They also exhibited higher arousal for pictures, independently from their affective content. However, in HD patients we observed a reduced positivity in the 400-700 m.sec intervals during unpleasant pictures viewing. Present findings may suggest that emotional impact related to affective images is preserved in HD, but it coexists with impairment of late cortical processing following unpleasant stimuli.
Seasonality in CO2 and H2O flux at an eastern Amazonian rain forest

[1] Previous studies of CO2 fluxes in Amazonia have suggested seasonal variation in net ecosystem exchange. We find little evidence of this seasonality at a new site in eastern Amazonia, despite the expectation that this site would be particularly sensitive to seasonal fluctuation of rainfall. The average rate of peak net ecosystem exchange was −19 ± 0.9 (1 S.E.) μmol CO2 m−2 s−1. Canopy conductance, evaporation, and vapour pressure deficit were all increased during the dry season, consistent with an increase in bulk temperature and solar radiation. The lack of a dry season decrease in photosynthesis was thought to be due to the observed increase in leaf area following dry season flushing. This was accompanied by an increase in solar radiation, and we suggest that the effect of “dryness” was merely to preclude optimality of photosynthetic response to this increase in radiation. The gross primary productivity of this site was estimated to be 36 t C ha−1 yr−1. This is similar to that reported for other Amazon forest stands. The year may have been a particularly productive one due to the lack of an El Nino event.
Interictal Hyperperfusion in the Higher Visual Cortex in Patients With Episodic Migraine

Migraine pathophysiology is complex and probably involves cortical and subcortical alterations. Structural and functional brain imaging studies indicate alterations in the higher order visual cortex in patients with migraine. Arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging (ASL‐MRI) is a non‐invasive imaging method for assessing changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) in vivo.