Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Poverty-related diseases: factors that predict coping in two Cameroonian settings

In this paper, we explore the connection between poverty and health (poverty-related diseases: PRDs) by investigating the factors that play a role in how two groups of people in Cameroon cope with health challenges: workers in a large agro-industrial organization (living in 'camps') and students in two major universities (living on 'campuses'). We investigated factors reported in the literature as being associated with coping, summarized under the 'salutogenic umbrella', as well as demographic, social and environmental factors. A total of 509 respondents from camps and campuses participated in this study. We used a combination of standardized and un-standardized survey instruments to measure coping. We used χ2 and ANOVA tests to investigate bivariate differences and multiple logistic regression analysis to determine which significant survey factors predicted coping. Our results showed expected and unexpected differences between the settings. Individual dispositional factors such as sense of coherence (SOC), self-efficacy (SE), subjective wellbeing and self-rated health differed significantly between the settings. Expected coping resources such as income and SE did not differ between non-copers and copers. Two factors emerged as predictors of coping: living environment (setting) and SOC. Our results highlight the need for a multidimensional perspective on poverty and also the need to apply the salutogenic approach in PRD research. In particular, the emphasis this approach puts on stressors and the capacity to employ a variety of resources to overcome stressors is a fruitful way to better understand PRDs and the importance of location-specific circumstances where poverty, health and diseases are connected.
Calcareous tubeworms of the Phanerozoic

Morphological similarities indicate that Palaeozoic problematic tubeworms, e.g. tentaculitids, cornulitids, microconchids, trypanoporids, Anticalyptraea, and Tymbochoos, form a monophyletic group. This group may also include hederelloids. Members of this group share affinities with lophophorates and their evolution could have partly been driven by predation. The extinction of Palaeozoic tubeworms in the Middle Jurassic was possibly at least partly caused by the ecological pressure by serpulid and sabellid polychaetes. The input of Palaeozoic tubeworms to the general ocean biocalcification system may have been smaller in the Ordovician to Jurassic than that of calcareous polychaetes in the Late Triassic to Recent. There seems to have been some correlation between the aragonite-calcite seas and the skeletal mineralogy of Triassic-Recent polychaete tubeworms.
Short-term effects of frequent milking of dairy cows

Summary When six cows were milked every 4 h over 48 h the average milk yield per cow increased by 1O·7% for the last 24 h period compared with the previous 5 d. Milk composition was similar to pre-experimental values although fat content was 0·5% lower in the last 24 h. The somatic cell count rose to twice the pre-experimental value over the first 24 h but was not significantly different by the second 24 h. It appears that cows responded quickly to an increased frequency of milking and milk of an acceptable composition was produced. This has implications for management of milk production where quotas are in operation and for robotic milking systems.
Primary vs delayed implant in evisceration.

To the Editor. —We read with interest the recent article by Shore et al 1 concerning delayed primary wound closure. Although their idea of eviscerating a blind eye with endophthalmitis and delayed secondary implant after several days of local wound care is supported by current knowledge of wound dehiscence and bacterial counts, we find that an important argument has been neglected. In the preantibiotic era, Burch 2 pointed out that infection is a frequent cause of implant extrusion after evisceration. It is intuitive that the risk of implant infection and subsequent extrusion will be higher in an evisceration performed for endophthalmitis. Nonetheless, one must weigh the risks and benefits of placing an orbital implant at the time of the evisceration vs local wound care followed by a secondary implant some days later. In the case of local wound care followed by a secondary implant, the patient must endure several days
Stable Stationary Solutions in Reaction-diffusion Systems Consisting of a 1-d Array of Bistable Cells

In this paper we present the construction of stable stationary solutions in reaction–diffusion systems consisting of a 1-D array of bistable cells with a cubic nonlinearity and with a cubic-like piecewise-linear nonlinearity. Some periodic solutions, kinks, solitons are considered. While it is known that spatial chaos arises in such systems with small coupling constants, we show the existence of spatial chaos for an arbitrary value of the cell coupling constant, in the case of the piecewise-linear nonlinearity. The value of the spatial entropy is found. We also show the existence of stable spatially periodic (pattern) solutions that persist for large coupling constants.
Gain and Noise in THz MgB2 Hot-Electron Bolometer Mixers With a 30-K Critical Temperature

In this paper, we study variation of the MgB2 hot-electron bolometer mixer characteristics such as noise temperature, gain, output noise, and local oscillator (LO) power at 5-, 15-, and 20-K bath temperatures, and at 0.69- and 1.63-THz LO frequencies. The main reason for the noise temperature rising at higher temperatures is a reduction of the mixer gain, which occurs proportionally to the LO power reduction. Contrary to this, the output noise remains constant (for the same bias point).
Role of RB and RB2/P130 genes in marrow stromal stem cells plasticity

Marrow stromal cells (MSCs) are stem‐like cells having a striking somatic plasticity. In fact, besides differentiating into mesenchymal lineages (bone, cartilage, and fat), they are capable of differentiating into neurons and astrocytes in vitro and in vivo. The RB and RB2/P130 genes, belonging to the retinoblastoma gene family, play a key role in neurogenesis, and for this reason, we investigated their role in neural commitment and differentiation of MSCs. In MSCs that were either uncommitted or committed toward neural differentiation, we ectopically expressed RB and RB2/P130 genes and analyzed their role in regulating the cell cycle, apoptosis and differentiation. In uncommitted MSCs, the activity of RB and RB2/P130 appeared limited to negatively regulating cell cycle progression, having no role in apoptosis and differentiation (toward either mesenchymal or neural lineages). On the other hand, in MSCs committed toward the neural phenotype, both RB and RB2/P130 reduced cell proliferation rate and affected the apoptotic process. RB protected differentiating cells from programmed cell death. On the contrary, RB2/P130 increased the percentage of cells in apoptosis. All of these activities were accomplished mainly in an HDAC‐independent way. The retinoblastoma genes also influenced differentiation in neural committed MSCs. RB2/P130 contributes mainly to the induction of generic neural properties, while RB triggers cholinergic differentiation. These differentiating activities are HDAC‐dependent. Our research shows that there is a critical temporal requirement for the RB genes during neuronal differentiation of MSCs: they are not required for cell commitment but play a role in the maturation process. For the above reasons, RB and RB2/P130 may have a role in neural differentiation but not in neural determination. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of daily repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on motor performance in Parkinson's disease

Previous studies in patients with Parkinson's disease have reported that a single session of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can improve some or all of the motor symptoms for 30 to 60 minutes. A recent study suggested that repeated sessions of rTMS lead to effects that can last for at least 1 month. Here we report data that both confirm and extend this work. Fifty‐five unmedicated PD patients were classified into four groups: two groups (early and late PD) received 25 Hz rTMS bilaterally on the motor arm and leg areas; other groups acted as control for frequency (10 Hz) and for site of stimulation (occipital stimulation). All patients received six consecutive daily sessions (3,000 pulses for each session). The first two groups then received a further three booster sessions (3 consecutive days of rTMS) after 1, 2, and 3 months, while the third group had only one additional session after the first month. Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), walking time, key‐tapping speed, and self‐assessment scale were measured for each patient before and after each rTMS session and before and after the monthly sessions. Compared to occipital stimulation, 25 Hz rTMS over motor areas improved all measures in both early and late groups; the group that received 10 Hz rTMS improved more than the occipital group but less than the 25 Hz groups. The effect built up gradually during the sessions and was maintained for 1 month after, with a slight reduction in efficacy. Interestingly, the effect was restored and maintained for the next month by the booster sessions. We conclude that 25 Hz rTMS can lead to cumulative and long‐lasting effects on motor performance. © 2006 Movement Disorder Society
δ‐Tocopherol inhibits receptor tyrosine kinase‐induced AKT activation in prostate cancer cells

The cancer preventive activity of vitamin E is suggested by epidemiological studies and supported by animal studies with vitamin E forms, γ‐tocopherol and δ‐tocopherol (δ‐T). Several recent large‐scale cancer prevention trials with high dose of α‐tocopherol, however, yielded disappointing results. Whether vitamin E prevents or promotes cancer is a serious concern. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of action of the different forms of tocopherols would enhance our understanding of this topic. In this study, we demonstrated that δ‐T was the most effective tocopherol form in inhibiting prostate cancer cell growth, by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. By profiling the effects of δ‐T on the cell signaling using the phospho‐kinase array, we found that the most inhibited target was the phosphorylation of AKT on T308. Further study on the activation of AKT by EGFR and IGFR revealed that δ‐T attenuated the EGF/IGF‐induced activation of AKT (via the phosphorylation of AKT on T308 induced by the activation of PIK3). Expression of dominant active PIK3 and AKT in prostate cancer cell line DU145 in which PIK3, AKT, and PTEN are wild type caused the cells to be reflectory to the inhibition of δ‐T, supporting that δ‐T inhibits the PIK3‐mediated activation of AKT. Our data also suggest that δ‐T interferes with the EGF‐induced EGFR internalization, which leads to the inhibition of the receptor tyrosine kinase‐dependent activation of AKT. In summary, our results revealed a novel mechanism of δ‐T in inhibiting prostate cancer cell growth, supporting the cancer preventive activity δ‐T. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Effects of Amidine Derivatives on Parasite-Macrophage Interaction and Evaluation of Toxicity

Summary In this work, the effect of amidine derivatives (with bromine and methoxy as substituents) in the “in vitro” parasite-macrophage interaction was evaluated. The potential toxicity was also analyzed. The results show that the methoxy-derivative was able to decrease the percentage of “in vitro” infection, being not hazardous to the host cell. Furthermore, experiments using Balb/c mice showed that this compound was very effective in avoiding infection in these animals. On the other hand, the compound with bromine as substituent was toxic to macrophages and unable to prevent infection in Balb/c mice. Pentamidine isethionate, used as reference drug, was not efficient in both experiments.
Complex permittivity of sodium chloride solutions at microwave frequencies

The complex permittivity of aqueous solutions at 20 °C has been measured at concentrations between 0.001 and 5 mol/L and over a frequency range 0.13–20 GHz. The results were combined with literature values to derive empirical equations to predict the dielectric behavior of sodium chloride solutions between 0 and 5 mol/L and 5°C–35 °C. Bioelectromagnetics 28:264–274, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Numerical Inversion of Laplace Transforms of Probability Distributions

We present a simple algorithm for numerically inverting Laplace transforms. The algorithm is designed especially for probability cumulative distribution functions, but it applies to other functions as well. Since it does not seem possible to provide effective methods with simple general error bounds, we simultaneously use two different methods to confirm the accuracy. Both methods are variants of the Fourier-series method. The first, building on Dubner and Abate (Dubner, H., J. Abate. 1968. Numerical inversion of Laplace transforms by relating them to the finite Fourier cosine transform. JACM 15 115–123.) and Simon, Stroot, and Weiss (Simon, R. M., M. T. Stroot, G. H. Weiss. 1972. Numerical inversion of Laplace transforms with application to percentage labeled experiments. Comput. Biomed. Res. 6 596–607.), uses the Bromwich integral, the Poisson summation formula and Euler summation; the second, building on Jagerman (Jagerman, D. L. 1978. An inversion technique for the Laplace transform with applications.
Accuracy of stroke volume variation compared with pleth variability index to predict fluid responsiveness in mechanically ventilated patients undergoing major surgery

Background and objective Accurate assessment of a patient's volume status is an important goal for an anaesthetist. However, most variables assessing fluid responsiveness are either invasive or technically challenging. This study was designed to compare the accuracy of arterial pressure-based stroke volume variation (SVV) and variations in the pulse oximeter plethysmographic waveform amplitude as evaluated with the noninvasive calculated pleth variability index (PVI) with central venous pressure to predict the response of stroke volume index (SVI) to volume replacement in patients undergoing major surgery. Methods We studied 20 patients scheduled for elective major abdominal surgery. After induction of anaesthesia, all haemodynamic variables were recorded immediately before (T1) and subsequent to volume replacement (T2) by infusion of 6% hydroxy-ethyl starch (HES) 130/0.4 (7 ml kg−1) at a rate of 1 ml kg−1 min−1. Results The volume-induced increase in SVI was at least 15% in 15 patients (responders) and less than 15% in five patients (nonresponders). Baseline SVV correlated significantly with changes in SVI (ΔSVI; r = 0.80; P < 0.001) as did baseline PVI (r = 0.61; P < 0.004), whereas baseline values of central venous pressure showed no correlation to ΔSVI. There was no significant difference between the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for SVV (0.993) and PVI (0.973). The best threshold values to predict fluid responsiveness were more than 11% for SVV and more than 9.5% for PVI. Conclusion Although arterial pressure-derived SVV revealed the best correlation to volume-induced changes in SVI, the results of our study suggest that both variables, SVV and PVI, can serve as valid indicators of fluid responsiveness in mechanically ventilated patients undergoing major surgery.
Antibiotic prophylaxis prescribing practices of dentists in Singapore.

BACKGROUND Infective endocarditis is a serious complication that results in significant morbidity and mortality in susceptible patients. The guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis have been updated by the American Heart Association and National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. The antibiotic prophylaxis prescribing practices among dentists in Singapore are unknown. AIM To determine the specific infective endocarditis antibiotic prophylaxis prescribing practices of dentists in Singapore. METHODS A questionnaire survey was sent through an email link and by postal mail. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS 19.0. RESULTS Responses were received from 458 dentists (34.3% response rate), of which 278 (65.9%) were general practitioners. The majority of respondents (39.8%) followed the American Heart Association 2007 guidelines and 30.2% followed cardiologists' recommendations. The accuracy of prescriptions for 13 cardiac conditions and 12 dental procedures were evaluated. The median number of accurate answers for cardiac conditions was eight for the American Heart Association 1999 guidelines, and four for the American Heart Association 2007 and National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines, respectively. The median number of accurate answers for dental procedures was generally high, both for dentists who followed the American Heart Association 1999 guidelines (median = 10) and American Heart Association 2007 (median = 9) guidelines. Majority of respondents (82.8%) felt that developing a local guideline would be beneficial to the local dental community. CONCLUSION Dentists were accurate in their prescriptions of antibiotic prophylaxis for dental procedures, but not for cardiac conditions. It may be helpful to attain a consensus among local cardiologists and dentists to unify the antibiotic prophylaxis prescription practices in Singapore.
A single point mutation in the envelope gene is responsible for replication and XC fusion deficiency of the endogenous ecotropic C3H/He murine leukemia virus and for its repair in culture

The molecular basis has been determined for differences in infectivity and XC phenotype of endogenous ecotropic murine leukemia virus of the low-leukemia mouse strain C3H/He, its relative in the high-leukemia mouse strain AKR, and highly infectious, XC-positive C3H virus variants selected in vitro. Endogenous ecotropic type C virus induced by iododeoxyuridine from the nontransformed C3H/10T1/2 cell line is XC negative and replication deficient. In contrast, viruses produced late after iododeoxyuridine induction in chemically transformed C3H/10T1/2 cells (MCA5) are XC positive and infectious. XC-negative viruses can be converted to XC-positive viruses by being grown in certain transformed cell lines. We have cloned the endogenous ecotropic provirus of C3H/He from MCA5 cells, which is XC negative and replication deficient, as well as two XC-positive C3H proviruses derived by in vitro conversion. Fragment exchange between the XC-negative molecular clone p110 and the XC-positive AKR virus clone p623 revealed that the defect in p110 lies 3' of the SalI site located in the pol region. Nucleotide sequencing established that the C3H p110 provirus was integrated within the R region of an endogenous VL30 long terminal repeat (LTR) in reverse orientation and that the virus differed from the infectious AKR p623 provirus by a point mutation, substituting Lys for Arg at the potential precursor cleavage site for gp70 and p15E. In vitro-converted XC-positive C3H proviral clones 3211 and 4211 are identical to XC-negative C3H p110, except that they have Arg at this site and the normal cleavage site is thus regenerated in these clones. The XC-negative C3H p110 was blocked in processing of Pr85env, whereas clones 3211 and 4211 had normal cleavage of the env precursor into gp70. Both the XC-negative C3H provirus and the in vitro-converted XC-positive C3H proviruses had a single copy of a 99-base-pair enhancer element in the LTR, whereas two copies of this sequence are present in the AKR proviral LTR. Substitution of Arg for Lys at the envelope precursor processing site of C3H p110 by site-directed mutagenesis is sufficient by itself to convert the virus to the XC-positive replication-competent phenotype. Thus, we have established that a single point mutation at the processing site of the envelope precursor protein Pr85 is responsible for the difference in the infectivity and XC phenotype of endogenous ecotropic murine leukemia virus from C3H/He and AKR mice and that the basis for in vitro conversion is a mutation at this site.
A New Soil Test for Quantitative Measurement of Available and Adsorbed Boron

Contribution from USDA-ARS, U.S. Salinity Lab. , 450 W. Big Springs Road, Riverside, CA 92507. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.78:480–485 doi:10.2136/sssaj2013.09. 0404 Received 19 Sep. 2013. *Corresponding author: (Sabine.Goldberg@ars.usda.gov.) © Soil Science Society of America, 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison WI 53711 USA All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permission for printing and for reprinting the material contained herein has been obtained by the publisher. A New Soil Test for Quantitative Measurement of Available and Adsorbed Boron Soil Chemistry
How to strengthen the social media interactivity of e-government: Evidence from China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how to use social media in e-government to strengthen interactivity between government and the general public. Design/methodology/approach – Categorizing the determinants to interactivity covering depth and breadth into two aspects that are the structural features and the content features, this study employs general linear model and ANOVA method to analyse 14,910 posts belonged to the top list of the 96 most popular government accounts of Sina, one of the largest social media platforms in China. Findings – The main findings of the research are that both variables of the ratio of multimedia elements, and the ratio of external links have positive effects on the breadth of interactivity, while the ratio of multimedia features, and the ratio of originality have significant effects on the depth of interactivity. Originality/value – The contributions are as follows. First, the authors analyse the properties and the topics of government posts to draw a rich pictu.
Effects of Verbal Definitions and Etymological Notes on Comprehension and Recall of L 2 Idioms

Research in cognitive semantics has shown that the dual coding of input (i.e. presentation of both verbal and visual information) can enhance the formation of memory traces and, consequently, promote the retention of information. Some earlier studies (Boers, Demecheleer, & Eyckmans, 2004; Boers, Eyckmans, & Stengers, 2007) suggest that work on idiom etymology can help learners generate mental images that can be associated with verbal information, providing an additional pathway for its recall. However, the results of other studies (Szczepaniak & Lew, 2011) argue in favor of pictorial support and warn against the potentially distracting effect of etymology. The present study compared the effects of instruction through verbal definitions and etymological notes on the retention of the meaning and form of L2 figurative idioms. While etymology was found to have only a limited effect on the students’ immediate learning performance, the results suggest that clarification of phrase etymology can enhance long-term comprehension and production of L2 idioms.