Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patients and computers as reminders to screen for diabetes in family practice

AbstractBACKGROUND: In New Zealand, more than 5% of people aged 50 years and older have undiagnosed diabetes; most of them attend family practitioners (FPs) at least once a year. OBJECTIVES: To test the effectiveness of patients or computers as reminders to screen for diabetes in patients attending FPs. DESIGN: A randomized-controlled trial compared screening rates in 4 intervention arms: patient reminders, computer reminders, both reminders, and usual care. The trial lasted 2 months. The patient reminder was a diabetes risk self-assessment sheet filled in by patients and given to the FP during the consultation. The computer reminder was an icon that flashed only for patients considered eligible for screening. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and seven FPs. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was whether each eligible patient, who attended during the trial, was or was not tested for blood glucose. Analysis was by intention to treat and allowed for clustering by FP. RESULTS: Patient reminders (odds ratio [OR] 1.72, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21, 2.43), computer reminders (OR 2.55, 1.68, 3.88), and both reminders (OR 1.69, 1.11, 2.59) were all effective compared with usual care. Computer reminders were more effective than patient reminders (OR 1.49, 1.07, 2.07). Patients were more likely to be screened if they visited the FP repeatedly, if patients were non-European, if they were “regular” patients of the practice, and if their FP had a higher screening rate prior to the study. CONCLUSIONS: Patient and computer reminders were effective methods to increase screening for diabetes. However, the effects were not additive.
Strategically Accessing External Technological Knowledge: The Case of Foreign Subsidiaries in China

Adopting a differentiated network view of multinational corporations (MNCs), this study investigates how recently formed subsidiaries access diversified technological knowledge that allows them to differently contribute to the MNCs’ competence building. By employing a firm-specific measure of different technological knowledge categories, we study the competence building of foreign subsidiaries in China in electric and office equipment industry between 1996 and 2005. We find that foreign subsidiaries in China extensively access background technological knowledge to adjust to and benefit from technical changes in supply chain activities. Meanwhile, these subsidiaries actively access marginal technological knowledge to explore potential opportunities. Our results offer the supporting evidence of a differentiated network view of MNCs and contribute to subsidiary evolution literature.
Staff Factors Contributing to Family Satisfaction with Long-Term Dementia Care: A Systematic Review of the Literature

ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of the present review was to critically evaluate empirical evidence regarding staff factors that contribute to families’ satisfaction with ongoing care provision for their relatives with dementia in long-term care. Methods: Four databases were systematically searched using search terms informed by the aim of the present systematic review. The resulting 14 relevant articles comprised both qualitative and quantitative studies. Results: The findings highlighted three broad areas relating to staff factors that appeared to contribute to families’ satisfaction with care provision: family related factors, relating to staff interaction with families; staffing related factors, focusing on staffing organization and composition; and client related factors, focusing on staff interaction with clients and the quality of care provided. Conclusions: The findings have important implications for care staff and managers working in such settings regarding staffing organization, staff training, recruitment and retention. Future research directions are discussed. Clinical Implications: Families want consistent, knowledgeable staff that interact well and respond appropriately to the needs of their relative as well as their own needs as family members. Staff training in such settings should therefore focus not only on staff education but also on the importance of establishing effective relationships with both clients and families.
Hazardous chemicals: psychological dimensions of the health sequelae of a community exposure in Texas.

STUDY OBJECTIVE--A chemical spill from an oil refinery exposed the local community to more than 40,000 lb of highly toxic and corrosive hydrofluoric acid. A community based symptom prevalence study found an association between exposure and physical symptoms: the psychological impact of the disaster and its potential effect on the reporting of physical symptoms is examined here. DESIGN--The study used a population based survey design consisting of two phases: phase I, the exposure phase, and, phase II, the symptom prevalence phase. SUBJECTS--In phase I, information indicative of exposure was collected on 10,811 individuals in a door to door survey of a geographically defined area. In phase II, symptom prevalence information was gathered through in-person interviews with 2509 subjects selected from the phase I census in a sampling scheme that balanced across the exposure categories with regard to age, gender, and predisposition. The refusal rate in both phases was < 5%. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS--Stepwise logistic regression analyses were used to assess the relative predictive importance of psychological variables and hydrofluoric acid exposure in explaining the reported physical symptoms two years after the disaster. The findings show a linear relationship between the level of hydrofluoric acid exposure and the degree of psychological stress two years after the accident. High exposure had a long term (more than two years) impact on physical health for some self reported symptoms, even after controlling for the psychological impact. Some physical symptom reports, however, were better explained by psychological status than by exposure to hydrofluoric acid. The physical symptoms for which exposure was the major predictor were those for which the biological plausibility of a relationship with hydrofluoric acid exposure was direct. CONCLUSIONS--Measures of psychological status should be included in symptom studies of health sequelae to man-made disasters so that the physical effects of exposure can be more accurately assessed.
[The -384A >C polymorphism of endothelial lipase gene promoter region in Chinese healthy normolipidemic and endogenous hypertriglyceridemic subjects].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of the -384A>C polymorphism in the promoter region of endothelial lipase (EL) gene on serum lipid and apolipoprotein levels in healthy normolipidemic (HTG) and endogenous hypertriglyceridemic (HTG) subjects. METHODS Two hundred and fourteen healthy normolipidemic and 103 endogenous hypertriglyceridemic subjects from a population of Chinese Han nationality in Chengdu area were studied using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLPs). Serum lipids were measured by enzymatic kits and apolipoproteins AI, AII, B100, CII, CIII and E were measured by the radial immunadiffussion kits. RESULTS The frequency of the C allele at the -384A>C site in EL gene in the population (0.178) was higher than that of Japanese population (0.119) and Japanese Americans (0.115) (P < 0.01 and P < 0.01), respectively. No significant difference between normolipidemic and HTG groups was found in both allele and genotype frequencies. In normal group, subjects of the C allele carriers (A/C and C/C genotype carriers) had a higher serum mean concentration of TC, LDL-C and nHDL-C when compared with those of genotype AA (5.23 +/- 0.74 mmol/L vs 4.93 +/- 0.74 mmol/L, P=0.025; 3.27 +/- 0.74 mmol/L vs 2.98 +/- 0.80 mmol/L, P=0.038; 3.81 +/- 0.73 mmol/L vs 3.49 +/- 0.85 mmol/L, P=0.031, respectively). Similar result was only observed in female subgroup when male and female subgroups were further separated. No significant changes of lipid and lipoprotein levels were observed in the polymorphism in HTG group. CONCLUSION These results suggest that the -384A>C polymorphism in the promoter region of the endothelial lipase gene is associated with serum TC, LDL-C, and nHDL-C levels in healthy Chinese subjects in Chengdu area, but not associated with the lipid levels in the endogenous hypertriglyceridmic group.
Berberine Promotes Osteoblast Differentiation by Runx2 Activation With p38 MAPK

Berberine (BBR) has been implicated in bone biology. Although BBR reduces osteoporosis by enhancing BMD and inhibiting osteoclast activity, the effects of BBR on osteoblasts during the process of osteogenesis have not been thoroughly studied. In osteoblastic cells, BBR enhanced the expression of osteogenic marker genes including osteopontin and osteocalcin and promoted the transcriptional activity of the key osteogenic transcription factor Runx2. In osteoblasts, BBR increased the binding of Runx2 to the promoter region of osteopontin. The recruitment of co‐factors such as p300 and HDAC1 to the promoter regions of osteopontin and osteocalcin was regulated by BBR, resulting in an enhancement in the expression of those genes. Furthermore, BBR activated p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) and increased cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) expression, which are key factors in osteoblast differentiation. Consistently, a p38 MAPK‐specific inhibitor attenuated the effect of BBR on osteogenesis, whereas p38 MAPK overexpression augmented BBR‐induced osteogenic gene expression. Moreover, BBR stimulated bone area formation in calvarial organ culture. Taken together, these findings indicate that BBR promotes osteoblast differentiation through activation of Runx2 by p38 MAPK. Therefore, BBR may be a potential therapeutic agent to treat bone‐related disorders including osteoporosis.
Do Stock Markets Lead or Lag Macroeconomic Variables? Evidence from Select European Countries

Abstract This study examines the connections between stock prices and key macroeconomic indicators: inflation, industrial production, interest rates, money supply and select interactions between the latter group of variables. Such links are evaluated through vector-autoregressions (VARs) on monthly data spanning over the period 1999–2017, for Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands and Portugal. We check whether such relations are confirmed across different sub-periods and also adopt a non-parametric approach by using a Pesaran-Timmermann test. We find different contemporaneous and lead-lag relationships between stock prices and the selected variables, although there are variations across countries. VAR models indicate that stock prices significantly lead inflation across all countries during the sample period and in most cases this relationship was positive. In addition, stock prices significantly lead industrial production in four of the sampled countries and these relationships were positive as well. Contrary to long-established finance theories, we did not find numerous significant links between interest rates and stock indices; however the interaction between interest rates and money supply was a leading indicator of stock prices in France, Germany and Portugal.
How much input vectors affect nano-circuit's reliability estimates

As the sizes of (nano-)devices are aggressively scaled deep towards the nanometer range, the design and manufacturing of future (nano-)circuits will become extremely complex and inevitably introduce more defects, while their functioning will be adversely affected by (transient) faults. Therefore, accurately calculating the reliability of future designs will become a very important factor for (nano-)circuit designers as they investigate several alternatives for optimizing the tradeoffs between the conflicting metrics of area-power-energy-delay versus reliability. This paper studies the effect of the input vectors on the (nano-)circuit's reliability, and introduces a time-efficient method for quickly and accurately identifying the lower/upper reliability bounds. Simulations results support the claim that the absolute difference between the lowest and the highest achievable reliability is of one-to-two orders of magnitude. Therefore, future designs should consider the worst case input vector(s) in order to guarantee the required reliability margins.
Relaxin‐like peptides in cancer

The members of the relaxin‐like hormone family, relaxin and INSL3, also known as relaxin‐like factor (RLF) or Leydig cell‐derived insulin‐like factor (LEY‐I‐L), are implicated in various mechanisms associated with tumor cell growth, differentiation, invasion and neovascularization. The recent discovery of the relaxin receptor LGR7 and the INSL3/relaxin receptor LGR8 has provided evidence of an auto/paracrine relaxin‐like action in tumor tissues and enables the elucidation of the cellular pathways involved in the proposed functions of relaxin in tumor biology. Our review summarizes our current knowledge of the expression of relaxin and INSL3 in human neoplastic tissues and discusses the etiological roles of these heterodimeric peptide hormones in cancer. Discussion of possible cellular cascades involved in actions linking relaxin‐like peptides and neoplasia include the role of relaxin‐like peptides in tumor cell growth and differentiation; the effect of relaxin in stimulating the synthesis of the vasodilatory and tumor cell cytostatic and antiapoptotic molecule, nitric oxide; the potential ability of relaxin to upregulate vascular endothelial growth factor to promote angiogenesis and neovascularization and the concerted fine‐tuned action of relaxin on the matrix metalloproteinases on the extracellular matrix to facilitate tumor cell attachment, migration and invasion. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Serum N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Levels Are Associated With Functional Capacity in Patients With Peripheral Arterial Disease

We hypothesized that higher serum levels of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) are associated with lower functional capacity in patients with peripheral arterial disease ([PAD] n = 481, mean age 67, 68% men). Functional capacity was quantified as distance walked on a treadmill for 5 minutes. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the distance walked: >144 yards (group 1, n = 254); 60 to 144 yards (group 2, n = 80); <60 yards or did not walk (group 3, n = 147). The association between NT-pro-BNP levels and the ordinal 3-level walking distance was assessed using multivariable ordinal logistic regression analyses that adjusted for several possible confounding variables. Higher levels of NT-pro-BNP were associated with a lower ordinal walking category independent of possible confounders (odds ratio [OR] 1.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.28-1.77; P < .001). In conclusion, higher levels of NT-pro-BNP are independently associated with lower functional capacity in patients with PAD and may be a marker of hemodynamic stress in these patients.
Socioeconomic Status and Non-Fatal Adult Injuries in Selected Atlanta (Georgia USA) Hospitals

Abstract Background Injury mortality data for adults in the United States and other countries consistently show higher mortality for those with lower socioeconomic status (SES). Data are sparse regarding the role of SES among adult, non-fatal US injuries. The current study estimated non-fatal injury risk by household income using hospital emergency department (ED) visits. Methods A total of 1,308,892 ED visits at 10 Atlanta (Georgia USA) hospitals from 2001-2004 (347,866 injuries) were studied. The SES was based on US census-block group income, with subjects assigned to census blocks based on reported residence. Logistic regression was used to determine risk by SES for injuries versus all other ED visits, adjusting for demographics, hospital, and weather. Supplemental analyses using hospital data from 2010-2013, without data on SES, were conducted to determine whether earlier patterns by race, age, and gender persisted. Results Risk for many injury categories increased with higher income. Odds ratio by quartiles of increasing income (lowest quartile as referent, 95% confidence interval [CI] given for upper most quartile) were 1.00, 1.23, 1.34, 1.40 (95% CI 1.36-1.45) for motor vehicle accidents; 1.00, 1.03, 1.11, 1.24 (95% CI 1.20-1.29) for being struck by objects; 1.00. 0.99, 1.04, 1.12 (95% CI 1.00-1.25) for suicide; and 1.00, 1.03, 1.05, 1.12 (95% CI 1.09-1.15) for falls. In contrast, decreased injury risk with increased household income was seen for assaults (1.00, 0.83, 0.73, 0.67 [95% CI 0.63-0.72], by increasing quartiles). These trends by income did not differ markedly by race and gender. Whites generally had less risk of injuries, with the exception of assaults and motor vehicle accidents. Males had higher risk of injury than females, with the exception of falls and suicide attempts. Patterns of risk for race, age, and gender were consistent between 2001-2004 and 2010-2013. Conclusion For most non-fatal injuries, those with higher income had more risk of ED visits, although the opposite was true for assault. HullandE, ChowdhuryR, SarnatS, ChangHH, SteenlandK. Socioeconomic status and non-fatal adult injuries in selected Atlanta (Georgia USA) hospitals. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(4):403–413.
Cyclin E in centrosome duplication and reduplication in sea urchin zygotes

When protein synthesis is completely blocked from before fertilization, the sea urchin zygote arrests in first S phase and the paternal centrosome reduplicates multiple times. However, when protein synthesis is blocked starting in prophase of first mitosis, the zygote divides and the blastomeres arrest in a G1‐like state. The centrosome inherited from this mitosis duplicates only once in each blastomere for reasons that are not understood. The late G1 rise in cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity initiates centrosome duplication in mammalian cells and its activity is needed for centrosome duplication in Xenopus egg extracts. Since the half‐time for cyclin E turnover is normally ∼1 h in sea urchin zygotes, the different behaviors of centrosomes during G1 and S phase arrests could be due to differential losses of cyclin E and its associated kinase activities at these two arrest points. To better understand the mechanisms that limit centrosome duplication, we characterize the levels of cyclin E and its associated kinase activity at the S phase and G1 arrest points. We first demonstrate that cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity is required for centrosome duplication and reduplication in sea urchin zygotes. Next we find that cyclin E levels and cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activities are both constitutively and equivalently elevated during both the S phase and G1 arrests. This indicates that centrosome duplication during the G1 arrest is limited by a block to reduplication under conditions permissive for duplication. The cytoplasmic conditions of S phase, however, abrogate this block to reduplication. J. Cell. Physiol. 217: 626–631, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Changes in serum prostate‐specific antigen levels and the identification of prostate cancer in a large managed care population

The use of a single, elevated PSA level to screen for prostate cancer is controversial given its reported low specificity and the questionable benefits of PSA screening on prostate cancer mortality. Current guidelines in the USA recommend against screening using a single PSA measurement. Previous studies suggest that using changes in PSA level over time, or PSA velocity, may improve the detection of prostate cancer and/or aggressive disease; however, this is also controversial as other studies suggest PSA velocity does not improve detection and may further contribute to the overdetection of indolent prostate cancer. Given the questions that remain regarding the use of the rate of change in PSA as a screening tool for prostate cancer because of previous conflicting studies, which to date have included small, highly selected populations, this study adds to the existing knowledge by assessing this question in general practice settings among a large, diverse population.
Importance Attributed to Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Competencies by Public Sector Physical Therapists in Kuwait: A Population-based Exploratory Study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Indications for cardiovascular and pulmonary (CVP) physical therapy competencies are changing with the epidemic of non-communicable diseases in Kuwait, particularly lifestyle-related conditions. The degree to which the country's physical therapists (PTs) perceive the importance of CVP competencies (assessment/evaluation and clinical and laboratory investigation interpretation) in professional practice is relevant. Our study objectives were to (1) explore the importance attributed to specific CVP competencies by PTs to professional practice in Kuwait and (2) establish whether these are related to practitioner traits, for example, age, sex, practice setting and specialty. METHOD The study design was exploratory with a stratified random sample. Questionnaires (n = 221) were distributed to PTs practicing in the facilities of the Ministry of Health, the primary employer of PTs in Kuwait. Questions included participants' demographics and perceived importance of specific CVP competencies (Likert rating scale 1-not important to 5-highly important). RESULTS Response rate was 87% (n = 193). Participant mean age was 36(±9) years, 63% were women and 48% were Kuwaiti. Ratings of moderately important or higher were 84% for cardiac assessment/intervention skills, 78.8% for cardiac clinical/laboratory investigations interpretation, 77.2% for pulmonary assessment/intervention skills and 73.6% for pulmonary clinical/laboratory investigations interpretation. PTs in the musculoskeletal area attributed less importance to the competencies than those in other specialties. CONCLUSIONS Participants perceived CVP competencies as generally relevant to practice. However, greater importance was attributed to these competencies in relation to management of CVP conditions (e.g. those that address lifestyle-related conditions) rather than across practice areas. Research is needed to elucidate whether this finding reflects the profession's commitment to holistic care, the prevalence of lifestyle-related risk factors and conditions irrespective of a patient's primary complaint presenting to the PT, best evidence-based, non-pharmacologic practice to address these or some combination. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Imperative of Teaching Critical Thinking in Higher Institutions in Nigeria

There is an urgent need for a new orientation to teaching and learning approaches in higher institutions in Nigeria. The absence of critical approach to teaching in these institutions in Nigeria, in spite of the teaching of Philosophy and Logic, leaves students to rely more on how much of the facts learnt can be memorised. Students lack the ability to deploy the knowledge acquired in this process to simple life situations, hence the need for a review of the content and the approach adopted in teaching the course, Philosophy and Logic, meant to teach students how to think critically. The need for a paradigm shift is required especially from the teaching of “what to think” to placing an emphasis on “how to think” which certainly provides an alternative learning approach to students in higher institutions in Nigeria.