Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adverse events in volunteers participating in phase I clinical trials: a single-center five-year survey in 1,559 subjects.

OBJECTIVE This report analyzes all adverse events (AEs) which occurred in healthy volunteers in a phase I center over a five-year period. It included 142 phase I studies with a total of 1,559 participants receiving 2,955 treatments with 32 different active drugs and placebo (ratio 6.5 : 1 in terms of follow-up days). The observation period covered a total of 29,664 follow-up days. METHODS All adverse events (AEs) as well as clinically relevant laboratory findings were counted. The incidence of AEs was defined as the ratio between the number of AEs and the number of follow-up days. Severity of AEs was classified as mild, moderate and severe; serious AEs were analyzed separately. A chi2-test was used to compare incidence rates of the AEs. Statistical tests based on the normal distribution were used for comparison of demographic data and relative frequencies; p < 0.05 was defined as the minimum level of significance. RESULTS There were 2,604 AEs and 291 different types of AEs with headache (2.23%), diarrhea (1.37%) and common cold (0.72%) being the most frequent. The overall incidence of AEs was 8.8% with no significant difference between those occurring with active drug and those on placebo when the studies were taken as a whole (8.5% vs. 9.1%), but the incidence of AEs in the active treatment groups was higher than under placebo (14.1% vs. 9.1%; p < 0.001) in placebo-controlled studies. The overall rate of AEs was 1.7 per subject and 0.9 per treatment. The vast majority of AEs were of mild or moderate intensity (99.2%). Only six AEs were serious as defined by GCP but two, a pseudoallergic reaction and a prolonged orthostatic dysregulation were rated as possibly or probably drug-related and these resolved completely. The incidence of AEs was three-fold (all AEs) and six-fold (AEs with probable relationship to study medication) higher (p < 0.001) in multiple-dose studies than in single-dose trials, and within multiple-dose trials the difference between AEs on active drug and on placebo was also significant (22.9% vs. 12.5%; p < 0.001). Irrespective of whether on active drug or placebo, AEs occurred with a significantly higher incidence on the first day of the study drug administration, in the first study period, with respect to the overall population in elderly subjects and in volunteers with a high body weight. CONCLUSION AEs in phase I studies are common, but usually of mild or moderate intensity. Placebo effects and study conditions contribute significantly to the rate of their occurrence. Multiple-dose placebo-controlled studies are of particular importance in determining the substance-specific AE profile.
A pilot study of use of the cyclooxygenase‐2 inhibitor celecoxib in recurrent prostate cancer after definitive radiation therapy or radical prostatectomy

To evaluate the efficacy of the cyclooxygenase (COX)‐2 inhibitor celecoxib in prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) recurrent prostate cancer after definitive radiation therapy (RT) or radical prostatectomy (RP), as recent evidence showed that COX‐2 inhibitors have potent antitumour activity in prostate cancer both in vitro and in vivo but there are no human trials.
Prevalence and Disease Burden of HCV Coinfection in HIV Cohorts in the Asia Pacific Region: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND Estimates of the prevalence and disease burden of HIV/HCV coinfection in the Asia Pacific Region are uncertain. METHODS A systematic review of indexed (PubMed, Embase and Web of Science) and non-indexed cross-sectional and cohort studies (2009-2015) reporting HCV seroprevalence in HIV-positive adults living in the Asia Pacific region was performed. Pooled prevalence estimates were calculated with a DerSimonian-Laird random-effects model. RESULTS 39 studies from 10 countries in the Asia Pacific region comprising 89,452 HIV-positive individuals were included. In the high-income Asia Pacific region, HCV coinfection prevalence was 3.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 3.1-4.5) in Singapore. In East Asia, HCV coinfection prevalence was 8.0% (95% CI: 6.4-9.8) in Hong Kong and 25.5% (95% CI: 17.5-34.4) in general HIV cohorts in China. In South Asia, HCV coinfection prevalence was 4.1% (95% CI: 1.7-7.3) in India and 42.6% (95% CI: 38.7-46.5) in Nepal. In Southeast Asia, HCV coinfection prevalence was 5.5% (95% CI: 4.9-6.1) in Cambodia, 5.3% (95% CI: 4.9-5.7) in Myanmar, and 5.1% (95% CI: 2.7-8.2) in Thailand, but higher in Vietnam (42.5%; 95% CI: 40.8-44.2) and Indonesia (17.9%; 95% CI: 15.0-20.9). The prevalence of HCV coinfection was higher in subpopulations of people who inject drugs (China 81.6%; 95% CI: 74.1-88.0; Nepal 80.8%; 95% CI: 76.4-84.9; Indonesia 81.6%; 95% CI: 71.1-90.3), former blood donors (China 82.9%; 95% CI: 73.9-90.3), and blood transfusion recipients (China 51.0%; 95% CI: 41.7-60.2). CONCLUSION HCV coinfection prevalence within HIV populations is highly variable in the Asia Pacific region, between countries and at-risk populations. Enhanced epidemiological data is required to support scale-up of interferon-free HCV therapy.
Examining Usability of Web Privacy Policies

Three studies examined (a) the amount and types of personal information requested by Web sites from seven different categories, (b) the goals and readability of existing privacy policies for four categories of sites, and (c) users' comprehension and perceptions of privacy policies. Study 1 showed that different amounts of personal information were requested by Web sites, even within the same category. Content and readability analyses of 100 privacy policies in Study 2 showed that policies tended to be high on both privacy protection and vulnerability goals or low on both. The policies were also written at a reading level corresponding to 13 years of education. Study 3 showed, though, that even college students have poor comprehension of the content of privacy policies. The students perceived longer policies that included many privacy goals as providing better assurance of privacy than shorter policies that included fewer goals. From a usability perspective, there is considerable room for improvement in the design of organizations' Web sites with respect to the amount and types of person information solicited and the implementation of privacy policies.
Vision-only fully automated driving in dynamic mixed-traffic scenarios

Abstract In this work an overview of the local motion planning and dynamic perception framework within the V-Charge project is presented. This framework enables the V-Charge car to autonomously navigate in dynamic mixed-traffic scenarios. Other traffic participants are detected, classified and tracked from a combination of stereo and wide-angle monocular cameras. Predictions of their future movements are generated utilizing infrastructure information. Safe motion plans are acquired with a system-compliant sampling-based local motion planner. We show the navigation performance of this vision-only autonomous vehicle in both simulation and real-world experiments.
Men nurses: a historical and feminist perspective.

BACKGROUND The history of nursing is almost exclusively a history of women's accomplishments despite the fact that, as early as the fourth and fifth centuries, men have worked as nurses. This perpetuates the notion of men nurses as anomalies. It also provides insight into the gendered nature of nursing and nurses' work within patriarchal culture. AIM This paper examines the history of men in nursing in Canada, Britain and the United States of America, and offer insights into the ways in which gender relations and the ideological designation of nursing as women's work have excluded, limited and, conversely, advanced the careers of men nurses. METHOD A search of the literature was carried out using CINAHL, PubMed and Sociological Abstracts databases. Search words included: male nurses, history, nursing, Canada, Britain, United Kingdom and USA. DISCUSSION Men's participation in nursing reveals that prevailing definitions of masculinity have acted as a powerful barrier to men crossing the gender divide and entering the profession. At extraordinary times such as war and acute nursing shortages, gender boundaries are negotiable. For those men who have crossed over into nursing, a gendered division of labour is evidenced by men nurses' long-standing association with mental health nursing and, more recently, with their disproportionate attainment of masculine-congruent leadership and specialty positions. CONCLUSION Failure to recognize men's participation in nursing leaves men nurses with little information about their professional background and historical position. It also maintains the invisibility of gender relations that have shaped the experience of men and women nurses alike. Such relations, understood within their broader social context, remain poorly understood and hence uninterrupted, to the detriment of nurses and the profession of nursing.
A Variable Communication Approach for Decentralized Receding Horizon Control of Multi-Vehicle Systems

The stability and performance of decentralized receding horizon control (RHC) is often improved by modifying the cost function and constraints of the problem. However, variable communication presents an additional approach for further improvement. In this paper, new methods are developed for variable communication of decentralized RHC. Through modification of stability conditions recently developed for decentralized RHC, an investigation of the effect of faster communication rates, expanded communication radius, and multi-hopping communication on decentralized RHC is performed. The new approach is applied to a group of five mobile robots with different communication topologies.
The acquisition of face and person identity information following anterior temporal lobectomy

Thirty unilateral anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) subjects (15 right and 15 left) and 15 controls were presented a multitrial learning task in which unfamiliar faces were paired with biographical information (occupation, city location, and a person's name). Face recognition hits were similar between groups, but the right ATL group committed more false-positive errors to face foils. Both left and right ATL groups were impaired relative to controls in acquiring biographical information, but the deficit was more pronounced for the left ATL group. Recall levels also varied for the different types of biographical information; occupation was most commonly recalled followed by city name and person name. In addition, city and person name recall was more likely when occupation was also recalled. Overall, recall of biographical information was positively correlated with clinical measures of anterograde episodic memory. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of the temporal lobe and associative learning ability in the successful acquisition of new face semantic (biographical) representations. (JINS, 2005, 11, 237–248.)
Phage typing of Staphylococcus aureus

Phage adsorption by resistant staphylococci was studied. Staphylococcal cultures previously allowed to adsorb phage to which they were resistant remained as sensitive to their appropriate phages as normal cultures of the same strains. When pooled related and unrelated phages were incubated with their propagating strains, the results resembled those obtained when these phages were incubated separately with the same strains. The lytic effects of thirty-two phages at test dilutions were tested singly and when pooled into five mixtures. All the phage-propagating strains and over 500 strains received for typing were tested. The results were in agreement. Thirty-two phages at their test dilution in nutrient broth remained stable, whether pooled or not, at 0 to + 5° C. for various times. Briefly summarized, serological group A phages were stable for at least 1 month, and group B phages were stable for only 2–3 weeks. Broth cultures of staphylococci incubated for 18 hr. at 30° C. were as phage-sensitive as the same cultures when left at room temperature for 24 hr. A new method of phage typing staphylococci by means of phage pools, as satisfactory as the standard method, and less laborious, is described.
Even mildly elevated TSH is associated with an atherogenic lipid profile in postmenopausal women with subclinical hypothyroidism

Abstract Postmenopausal women, a population with increased risk of atherosclerosis, also have an appreciable risk of subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH). The current study sought an association between serum thyrotropin (TSH), the biomarker of SCH and atherosclerosis lipid profile changes. A total of 45 postmenopausal women with SCH and 27 healthy women matched by age and body mass index were enrolled in this observational study. Serum lipid profiles and thyroid function were assessed. Compared with healthy controls, the serum levels of TC, TG, LDL-c and oxidized LDL (oxLDL) in SCH were increased by ∼22.8%, 29.6%, 30.5% and 23.2%, respectively. TSH was positively correlated with TC, LDL-c and oxLDL in all of the study subjects after adjusting for age and BMI. In particular, the positive correlation remained significant after adjusting for serum FT3 and FT4. When further stratified by TSH levels, both the subgroup of mildly elevated TSH (4.78–9.99 mU/L) and overtly elevated TSH (>10.00 mU/L) exhibited significantly higher serum levels of TC, TG, LDL-c and oxLDL compared to the normal TSH subgroup. Path analysis revealed that the total effects of TSH on TC (total effectsTC,TSH = 0.4323) included a significant direct effect (direct effectTC,TSH = 0.4932) and an indirect effect via an intermediary variable (FT3, FT4). Furthermore, TC exhibited a direct effect on LDL-c, as did LDL-c on oxLDL. In conclusion, even with a mild elevation of serum TSH, SCH is associated with atherogenic lipid profiles in postmenopausal women independent of thyroid hormones.
Governors Highway Safety Associations and Transportation Planning: Exploratory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 mandated the consideration of safety in the regional transportation planning process. As part of National Cooperative Highway Research Program Project 8-44, "Incorporating Safety into the Transportation Planning Process," we conducted a telephone survey to assess safety-related activities and expertise at Governors Highway Safety Associations (GHSAs), and GHSA relationships with metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and state departments of transportation (DOTs). The survey results were combined with statewide crash data to enable exploratory modeling of the relationship between GHSA policies and programs and statewide safety. The modeling objective was to illuminate current hurdles to ISTEA implementation, so that appropriate institutional, analytical, and personnel improvements can be made. The study revealed that coordination of transportation safety across DOTs, MPOs, GHSAs, and departments of public safety is generally beneficial to the implementation of safety. In addition, better coordination is characterized by more positive and constructive attitudes toward incorporating safety into planning.
Experimental reduction in dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids depresses sperm competitiveness

The health benefits of diets containing rich sources of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFA) are well documented and include reductions in the risk of several diseases typical of Western societies. The dietary intake of n-3 LC-PUFA has also been linked to fertility, and there is abundant evidence that a range of ejaculate traits linked to fertility in humans, livestock and other animals depend on an adequate intake of n-3 LC-PUFA from dietary sources. However, relatively few studies have explored how n-3 LC-PUFA influence reproductive fitness, particularly in the context of sexual selection. Here, we show that experimental reduction in the level of n-3 LC-PUFA in the diet of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) depresses a male's share of paternity when sperm compete for fertilization, confirming that the currently observed trend for reduced n-3 LC-PUFA in western diets has important implications for individual reproductive fitness.
Between abstinence and relapse : the role of “ Pre-relapse abstinence ” in drug rehabilitation in Hong Kong

This study examined the relationship between the amount of drug-free time achieved before relapse (prerelapse abstinence) and the amount of drug-free time achieved in the next posttreatment period after relapse, a neglected issue in relapse studies. It was hypothesised that the former would have a significant, causal and positive effect on the latter. Data were extracted from the three-year Longitudinal Study of Chronic Drug Abusers in Hong Kong conducted from 2000 to 2003. The survey of the study involved three interviews, yielding two 12-month intervals and one retrospective six-month interval. Altogether 178 subjects who were in treatment at the time of the 1 and 2 interviews were selected for analysis. Pre-relapse abstinence in the first and second intervals were each examined to see if it could affect the total drug-free time in the next interval. Pre-relapse abstinence and total drug-free time were measured by the percentage of drug-free weeks in an interval in which the subject was not in treatment. In order to test the spuriousness of the relationship between pre-relapse abstinence in an interval and total drug-free time achieved in the next interval, which was the new posttreatment period, two psychological variables (self-efficacy and life satisfaction), three social capital variables (family support, support of non-drug-using friends, and association with drugusing friends), and one treatment variable (number of treatments after relapse) were introduced as independent variables. Multiple regression results confirmed that, even after controlling for these other independent variables, pre-relapse abstinence in an interval was still significantly related to total drug-free time in the next interval. Findings of this study suggest that the conventional “failure” view of relapse should be replaced Part 5: Advances in drug abuse research 355 with a more constructive view that attaches importance to the amount of drug-free time achieved before relapse. The emphasis on pre-relapse abstinence also has relevance to the popular harm reduction approach in the drug field.
Spanish consumers: attitudes and acceptability towards GM food products

The objective of this paper is to analyse consumersâ€™ attitudes and acceptability of GM food products in Spain. From the methodological point of view, a three-equation model of consumer behaviour is estimated assuming a kind of causal chain among the degree of knowledge, attitudes and buying intentions. Explanatory variables include socioeconomic characteristics of respondents as well as endogenous variables of the previous equations. The model provides a better knowledge of how attitudes and buying intentions towards GM food are formed. Higher educated consumers, more concerned about labelling information and less about price, and regular buyers of organic foods show a higher (not necessarily better) knowledge on GM technology and its consequences. However, those consumers with a lower level of knowledge, together with those who are not concerned about safety, are not used to recycle but to purchase fast food generate more positive attitudes towards GMs, which finally determine future purchasing intention.
Protein requirements of zebu beef cattle.

Protein is one of the most important essential nutrients; it is involved in many vital functions in the body, such as growth and tissue repair, enzyme catalysis, transport and storage, coordinated movement, mechanical support, immunological protection, generation and transmission of nerve impulses, and control of metabolism, growth and cellular differentiation. Therefore, ensure adequate supply of protein to animals involve provide an essential nutrient to maintain the homeostasis, allowing the efficient production of beef. Ruminants have peculiarities in terms of protein nutrition; their protein demands are met through amino acids absorbed by the small intestine as in any other animal, however a large portion of digestible protein (50 to 80%) comes from microbial protein synthesized in the rumen (Bach et al., 2005). Despite its importance, true protein is the most expensive nutrient alone in beef cattle diets, and its inclusion in an unbalanced manner results in increased production costs (Cavalcante et al., 2005). Countless studies have been conducted to evaluate the replacement of true protein by alternative and lower cost sources, like urea, in attempt to meet the animal’s demands as economically as possible (Magalhaes et al., 2005). In addition to its high cost, an excess of dietary protein results in a reduction in fertility (Elrod and Butler, 1993) and increased urea excretion in urine, which, when converted to ammonia, turns into a compound that can become a serious pollutant, especially in fragile ecosystems (Klemesrud et al., 2000). Consequently, there is a greatly societal pressure on animal production systems, especially intensive systems, to adopt procedures to reduce the environmental impact. In addition, the appropriate formulation of diets, meeting exactly the protein needs of animals, is one of the ways to ensure that excess urea is not excreted into the environment (Todd et al., 2006). Evidently, such procedures can only be taken when the exact protein requirements of animals are known, categorized into maintenance, growth, gestation and lactation beef cattle protein requirements (NRC, 2000).
Projection Theorems Using Effective Dimension

In this paper we use the theory of computing to study fractal dimensions of projections in Euclidean spaces. A fundamental result in fractal geometry is Marstrand's projection theorem, which shows that for every analytic set E, for almost every line L, the Hausdorff dimension of the orthogonal projection of E onto L is maximal. We use Kolmogorov complexity to give two new results on the Hausdorff and packing dimensions of orthogonal projections onto lines. The first shows that the conclusion of Marstrand's theorem holds whenever the Hausdorff and packing dimensions agree on the set E, even if E is not analytic. Our second result gives a lower bound on the packing dimension of projections of arbitrary sets. Finally, we give a new proof of Marstrand's theorem using the theory of computing.
Speaker identification using Hidden Conditional Random Field-based speaker models

In this paper we make a study of applying Hidden Conditional Random Fields (HCRF) to establish speaker models. A novel training algorithm combining the discriminative training criterion with HCRF for speaker identification is proposed. This work also adopted discriminative training technique to train GMM, HMM, and HCRF speaker models respectively; and the performance of speaker identification by the three speaker models with different amounts of training speech for clean and noisy testing speech were investigated. The experimental results indicate that the HCRF model consistently achieved the lowest error rate among the three models regardless of the length of the test and training speech and presence of noise.