Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Ghost in the Touchscreen: Social Scaffolds Promote Learning by Toddlers.

This study examined the effect of a "ghost" demonstration on toddlers' imitation. In the ghost condition, virtual pieces moved to make a fish or boat puzzle. Fifty-two 2.5- and 3-year-olds were tested on a touchscreen (no transfer) or with 3D pieces (transfer); children tested with 3D pieces scored above a no demonstration baseline, but children tested on the touchscreen did not. Practice on the touchscreen (n = 23) by 2.5- and 3-year-olds prior to the ghost demonstration did not improve performance. Finally, children who learned the puzzle task via a social demonstration and were tested on the touchscreen (n = 26) performed better than the ghost conditions. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that social demonstrations enhance learning from novel touchscreen tools during early childhood.
DNA sequence elements located immediately upstream of the -10 hexamer in Escherichia coli promoters: a systematic study.

We have made a systematic study of how the activity of an Escherichia coli promoter is affected by the base sequence immediately upstream of the -10 hexamer. Starting with an activator-independent promoter, with a 17 bp spacing between the -10 and -35 hexamer elements, we constructed derivatives with all possible combinations of bases at positions -15 and -14. Promoter activity is greatest when the 'non-template' strand carries T and G at positions -15 and -14, respectively. Promoter activity can be further enhanced by a second T and G at positions -17 and -16, respectively, immediately upstream of the first 'TG motif'. Our results show that the base sequence of the DNA segment upstream of the -10 hexamer can make a significant contribution to promoter strength. Using published collections of characterised E.coli promoters, we have studied the frequency of occurrence of 'TG motifs' upstream of the promoters' -10 elements. We conclude that correctly placed 'TG motifs' are found at over 20% of E.coli promoters.
Patent Boxes Design, Patents Location and Local R&D

Patent boxes have been heavily debated for their role in corporate tax competition. This paper uses firm-level data for the period 2000-2011 for the top 2,000 corporate research and development (R&D) investors worldwide to consider the determinants of patent registration across a large sample of countries. Importantly, we disentangle the effects of corporate income taxation from the tax advantage of patent boxes. We also exploit a new and original dataset on patent box features such as the conditionality on performing research in the country, and their scope. We find that patent boxes have a considerable effect on attracting patents, mostly because of their favourable tax treatment, especially for high-quality patents. Patent boxes with a large scope in terms of tax base definition also have stronger effects on the location of patents. The size of the tax advantage offered through patent box regimes is found to deter local innovative activities, whereas R&D development conditions tend to attenuate this adverse effect. Our simulations show that, on average, countries imposing such development conditions tend to grant a tax advantage that is slightly greater than optimal from a local R&D impact perspective.
Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of School Teachers toward Oral Health in Davangere, India

Aim The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of school teachers toward oral health. Settings and design Descriptive study. Materials and methods School teachers (n = 150) of Davangere city were recruited into this study. The subjects completed a questionnaire that aimed to evaluate teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices on oral health. Statistical analysis The results were statistically analyzed and percentage was calculated. Results and conclusion The participants’ oral hygiene habits were found to be regular. The majority of teachers showed good knowledge on oral health. Most of the teachers in this study recognized the importance of oral health. The majority of teachers did incorporate the importance of oral health in teaching and educating children in the school. But, not all teachers are involved effectively. So, the teachers should be trained comprehensively regarding importance of oral health and creating awareness on oral health promotion for their students in combination with health care personnel. How to cite this article Maganur PC, Satish V, Marwah N, Vishwas TD, Dayanand MC. Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of School Teachers toward Oral Health in Davangere, India. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2017;10(1):89-95.
Physician extenders: who is using them?

BACKGROUND Nurse practitioners and physician assistants (physician extenders) are playing an increased role in medical care. The purpose of this research was to determine the proportion of adults who have received health care from physician extenders. METHODS This study used the subject population of the 1990 Kentucky Health Survey, a probability survey of all households in Kentucky. Study personnel contacted subjects using random digit telephone dialing. Subjects were then interviewed to ascertain whether subjects had received health care from physician extenders and whether they were satisfied with that care. RESULTS Of 687 participating subjects, 25% had received care from physician extenders during the previous two years, primarily for minor problems and routine checkups. More than 90% of these subjects reported satisfaction with the care they received. Users of physician extenders did not differ from nonusers with respect to income, education, insurance status, self-assessment of health status, or rural versus urban location. Men used physician extenders more frequently than women. CONCLUSIONS A substantial proportion of the population has used physician extenders. Patient satisfaction with physician extenders is high. Use of physician extenders may be an effective strategy for improving delivery of primary care.
The Separation Method for Removing of Colloidal Particles from Raw Water

The objective of this study was to develop a treatment system that can effectively reduce the concentration of colloidal particles in raw water that can greatly reduce the cost of treatment and improve the subsequent steps of treatment. Aluminum sulphate (alum) and ferric chloride as a coagulant and anionic polymer as coagulant aid were used in the process that changed the scale of particles from nanoscale to microscale and larger by a physico-chemical process. The influence of PH, temperature, coagulant and coagulant aid dosages on the coagulation process was studied and conditions were optimized corresponding to the best removal of organic matters, viruses, colloids, bacteria, color and decrease in turbidity. 85-98% reduction of turbidity from raw water can be achieved by using the optimum coagulant dosage (8ppm, ferric chloride/10 ppm, alum) in the optimum PH range (9.2, ferric chloride/8.5, alum) in the optimum temperature (20°C, ferric chloride/24°C, alum). Ferric chloride produced better results than alum. Higher dosages did not significantly increase pollutant removal and were not economical. The results provide useful information for raw water treatment.
Evaluation of 18F-FDG PET and MRI Associations in Pediatric Diffuse Intrinsic Brain Stem Glioma: A Report from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium

The purpose of this study was to assess 18F-FDG uptake in children with a newly diagnosed diffuse intrinsic brain stem glioma (BSG) and to investigate associations with progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and MRI indices. Methods: Two Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC) therapeutic trials in children with newly diagnosed BSG were designed to test radiation therapy combined with molecularly targeted agents (PBTC-007: phase I/II study of gefitinib; PBTC-014: phase I/II study of tipifarnib). Baseline brain 18F-FDG PET scans were obtained in 40 children in these trials. Images were evaluated by consensus between 2 PET experts for intensity and uniformity of tracer uptake. Associations of 18F-FDG uptake intensity and uniformity with both PFS and OS, as well as associations with tumor MRI indices at baseline (tumor volume on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery, baseline intratumoral enhancement, diffusion and perfusion values), were evaluated. Results: In most of the children, BSG 18F-FDG uptake was less than gray-matter uptake. Survival was poor, irrespective of intensity of 18F-FDG uptake, with no association between intensity of 18F-FDG uptake and PFS or OS. However, hyperintense 18F-FDG uptake in the tumor, compared with gray matter, suggested poorer survival rates. Patients with 18F-FDG uptake in 50% or more of the tumor had shorter PFS and OS than did patients with 18F-FDG uptake in less than 50% of the tumor. There was some evidence that tumors with higher 18F-FDG uptake were more likely to show enhancement, and when the diffusion ratio was lower, the uniformity of 18F-FDG uptake appeared higher. Conclusion: Children with BSG for which 18F-FDG uptake involves at least half the tumor appear to have poorer survival than children with uptake in less than 50% of the tumor. A larger independent study is needed to verify this hypothesis. Intense tracer uptake in the tumors, compared with gray matter, suggests decreased survival. Higher 18F-FDG uptake within the tumor was associated with enhancement on MR images. Increased tumor cellularity as reflected by restricted MRI diffusion may be associated with increased 18F-FDG uniformity throughout the tumor.
[Study of the pharmacotherapy prescribed for older-adult in a Brazilian long-term care facility].

OBJECTIVE this study evaluated the medication prescribed to older-adults residing in a long-term facility in the Brazilian Federal District. MATERIAL AND METHODS social-demographic parameters as well the overall degree of disability and autonomy of the subjects were investigated. Regarding the pharmacotherapy, qualitative and quantitative aspects of the medication were assessed, including the mean number of drugs, most prescribed pharmacological classes and principles, appropriateness to the age strata and agreement to lists of essential drugs. RESULTS in our setting, the female gender constituted a predisposing condition to an increased number of prescriptions, whereas polypharmacy and a favorable level of autonomy have played roles of main risk factors for the potential onset of drug-related problems. CONCLUSIONS the occurrence of polypharmacy coupled to potentially serious problems related to these drugs allow to conclude that the pharmacotherapy employed for this group of older-adults present questionable therapeutical value, at least on what concerns some medications, prompting attention to the model of medical and pharmaceutical assistance provided for this population.
Saturation and self‐inhibition of rat hippocampal GABAA receptors at high GABA concentrations

Current responses to ultrafast γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) applications were recorded from excised patches in rat hippocampal neurons to study the gating properties of GABAA receptors at GABA concentrations close to saturating ones and higher. The amplitude of currents saturated at approximately 1 mm, while the onset rate of responses reached saturation at 4–6 mm GABA. At high GABA concentrations (> 10 mm), the amplitude of current responses was reduced in a dose‐dependent manner with a half‐blocking GABA concentration of approximately 50 mm. The peak reduction at high GABA doses was accompanied by a tendency to increase the steady‐state to peak ratio. At concentrations higher than 30 mm, this effect took the form of a rebound current, i.e. during the prolonged GABA applications, the current firstly declined due to desensitization onset and then, instead of decreasing towards a steady‐state value, clearly increased. Both the self‐inhibition of GABAA receptors by high GABA doses and rebound were clearly voltage dependent, being larger at positive holding potentials. The fast desensitization component accelerated with depolarization at all saturating [GABA] tested. The rebound phenomenon indicates that the self‐block of GABAA receptors is state dependent, and suggests that the sojourn in the desensitized conformation provides a ‘rescue’ from the block. We propose that high GABA concentrations inhibit the receptors by direct occlusion of the channel pore having no effect on the receptor gating.
CAREER PLANNING AND CAREER MANAGEMENT AS CORRELATES FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND JOB SATISFACTION A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIAN BANK EMPLOYEES

The notion of empowering human capital to onset creativity and innovation through planning the careers of institutional members using HRM policies and practices to develop different mindsets, skills and competencies with the ultimate aim to provide a range of innovative products and services is attracting attention. This paper explores the link between career planning and career management as antecedents of career development and job satisfaction, and career commitment as its outcome. A sample of 505 employees of a Nigerian Bank revealed the significant link between the variables of career planning and career management, and career development, and in turn, with job satisfaction and career commitment. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for career development.
The effects of information privacy concerns on digitizing personal health records

Electronic health record (EHR) systems can improve service efficiency and quality within the health care sector and thus have been widely considered for adoption. Yet the introduction of such systems has caused much concern about patients' information privacy. This study provides new insights into how privacy concerns play a role in patients' decisions to permit digitization of their personal health information. We conducted an online experiment and collected data from 164 patients who are involved in the nonmandatory EHR adoption in the Netherlands. We found that the negative effect of information privacy concerns on patients' willingness to opt in is influenced by the degree of EHR system interoperability and patients' ability to control disclosure of their information. The results show that, for a networked EHR system, the negative effect of privacy concerns on opt‐in behavior was reinforced more than for the stand‐alone system. The results also suggest that giving patients greater ability to control their information can alleviate their privacy concerns when they make opt‐in decisions. We discuss the implications of these findings.
Skeletal Low-Magnesium Calcite in Living Scleractinian Corals

The skeletons of living specimens of the scleractinian coral Porites lobata have been found to contain up to 46 � 5 percent low-magnesium calcite even though free of gross detrital inclusions and boring or encrusting organisms. The calcite crystals occur in the interior of skeletal structures, have dimensions of 20 micrometers or less, and are surrounded by typical aragonite needles. Biogenic deposition seems to be the most likely source of the calcite, although the evidence does not rule out diagenesis of metastable.
Analysis of microsatellite variation in Pinus radiata reveals effects of genetic drift but no recent bottlenecks

Most conifer species occur in large continuous populations, but radiata pine, Pinus radiata, occurs only in five disjunctive natural populations in California and Mexico. The Mexican island populations were presumably colonized from the mainland millions of years ago. According to Axelrod (1981) , the mainland populations are relicts of an earlier much wider distribution, reduced some 8000 years ago, whereas according to Millar (1997, 2000) , the patchy metapopulation‐like structure is typical of the long‐term population demography of the species. We used 19 highly polymorphic microsatellite loci to describe population structure and to search for signs of the dynamics of population demography over space and time. Frequencies of null alleles at microsatellite loci were estimated using an approach based on the probability of identity by descent. Microsatellite genetic diversities were high in all populations [expected heterozygosity (He) = 0.68–0.77], but the island populations had significantly lower estimates. Variation between loci in genetic differentiation (FST) was high, but no locus deviated statistically significantly from the rest at an experiment wide level of 0.05. Thus, all loci were included in subsequent analysis. The average differentiation was measured as FST = 0.14 (SD 0.012), comparable with earlier allozyme results. The island populations were more diverged from the other populations and from an inferred common ancestral gene pool than the mainland ones. All populations showed a deficiency of expected heterozygosity given the number of alleles, the mainland populations more so than the island ones. The results thus do not support a recent important contraction in the mainland range of radiata pine.
Infection by echoviruses 1 and 8 depends on the alpha 2 subunit of human VLA-2

Anti-VLA-2 antibodies protected HeLa cells from infection by echoviruses 1 and 8 but not from infection by other echovirus serotypes. Echoviruses 1 and 8 bound to and infected nonpermissive hamster cells transfected with the alpha 2 subunit of human VLA-2. These results indicate that the human alpha 2 subunit is critical for infection by echoviruses 1 and 8 but that other echovirus serotypes must bind receptors other than VLA-2.
[Acupuncture for chronic pelvic pain syndromes (CPPS) and its effect on cytokines in prostatic fluid].

OBJECTIVE To explore the effect of acupuncture on chronic pelvic pain syndromes (CPPS), and its therapeutic mechanism. METHODS Fourty-seven cases of CPPS were treated with electroacupuncture on Zhongji (CV 3), Guilai (ST 29), Yinlingquan (SP 9), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), Guanyuan (CV 4), Shuidao(ST 28), Xuehai (SP 10) and Taichong (LR 3) as main acupoints. Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (CPSI) was adopted to grade the severity of pain or discomforts. Additionally, the levels of Interleukin-8 (IL-8), Interleukin-10 (IL-10) and Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in prostate fluid were detected and the correlation between those changes and pain score was analyzed. RESULTS After treatment, pain or discomfort score in CPSI decreased remarkably as compared with that before treatment (P < 0.01). The levels of IL-8, IL-10 and TNF-alpha were lower than those before treatment (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). The positive correlation was obtained between IL-10 level and pain score (P < 0.05). The total effective rate was 89.4% (42/47). CONCLUSION Acupuncture has significant efficacy on CPPS through reducing IL-10 level to ease pain, and reducing the levels of IL-8 and TNF-alpha to relieve inflammatory reaction.
Amifostine protects against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in children with average-risk medulloblastoma.

PURPOSE To determine the role of amifostine as a protectant against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in patients with average-risk (AR) medulloblastoma treated with craniospinal radiotherapy and four cycles of cisplatin-based, dose-intense chemotherapy and stem-cell rescue. PATIENTS AND METHODS The primary objective was to determine whether, in patients with AR medulloblastoma (n = 62), amifostine would decrease the need for hearing aids (defined as >or= grade 3 ototoxicity in one ear) compared with a control group (n = 35), 1 year from initiating treatment. Ninety-seven patients received craniospinal irradiation (23.4 Gy) followed by 55.8 Gy to the primary tumor bed using three-dimensional conformal technique, and four cycles of high-dose cyclophosphamide (4,000 mg/m(2)/cycle), cisplatin (75 mg/m(2)/cycle), and vincristine (two 1.5 mg/m(2) doses/cycle) and stem-cell rescue. When used, amifostine (600 mg/m(2)/dose) was administered as a bolus immediately before and 3 hours into the cisplatin infusion. RESULTS The median age of the 97 patients was 8.7 years (range, 3.2 to 20.2 years). The study and control groups were similar in age and sex distribution. Amifostine was well-tolerated. One year after treatment initiation, 13 patients (37.1%) in the control group versus nine (14.5%; one-sided chi(2) test P = . 005) of the amifostine-treated patients had at least grade 3 ototoxicity, requiring hearing aid in at least one ear. CONCLUSION Amifostine administered before and during the cisplatin infusion can significantly reduce the risk of severe ototoxicity in patients with AR medulloblastoma receiving dose-intense chemotherapy.
Determinants of Cost among People Who Died in VA Nursing Homes

We examined final stays of elderly patients (65 or more years of age) who died in 111 VA nursing homes in fiscal year 2000 (N = 4,897) to evaluate determinants of the cost of final nursing home stays. We analyzed cost and its two main components (length of stay and intensity of care) by primary disease, age, race or ethnicity, gender, and benefit-eligibility type. We found that disease rather than age was the dominant factor influencing the cost of final nursing home stays. After controlling for six common diagnoses, age was not associated with cost. Marital status and race or ethnicity were also significant predictors but accounted for less variation than illnesses. Incorporating illness into models that predict future demand for nursing home use provides greater precision than using age alone, especially as diseases and their treatments change through time.
A New Type of Distributed Parameter Control Systems : Two-Point Boundary Value Problem for Hyperbolic System of Partial Differential Equations of Second Order

The mathematical theory of dynamical systems is based on the famous H. Poincaré’s qualitative theory on ordinary differential equations; the works of A. M. Lyapunov and A. A. Andronov also play an essential role in its development. At present, the theory of dynamical systems is an intensively developing branch of modern mathematics, which is closely connected to the theory of ordinary differential equations. Infinite-dimensional dynamical systems generated by nonlinear evolutionary partial differential equations have been rapidly developing in recent years. In this survey note, we will describe a new type of distributed parameter control systems generated by hyperbolic systems of partial differential equations of second order—the two-point boundary value problems. This kind of problems plays an important role in control theory,mathematics,mechanics, physics, and in other areas of sciences and technology. It is well known that there are many deep and beautiful results on the TBVPs for ordinary differential equations of second order. However, according to the authors’ knowledge, only a few of the results on the TBVPs for hyperbolic equations or other nonlinear evolutionary partial differential equations (even for linear or nonlinear wave equations) have been known. In 2010, the first author introduced the TBVPs for linear wave equations (see page 121 of [1]). For simplicity, we consider the following wave equation:
The Elastic Modulus of the Temporomandibular Joint Disc from Adult Dogs

The present study was designed to measure the elastic properties of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) discs from six adult dogs. Each disc was divided mediolaterally into medial, middle, and lateral parts. Under tension, the articular disc exhibited a non-linear stress-strain relationship, which could be represented as two lines (two moduli of elasticity) connected at a point of stress around 1.5 MPa. These two elastic moduli of the disc were approximately 44 MPa and 92 MPa in the lower- and higher-_stress regions, respectively. Elastic moduli of the articular disc in the middle area were significantly different from that in the lateral area of the disc. The reaction to external force appeared to be different in the medial, middle, and lateral regions of the disc.