Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Duality of Empowerment and Marginalization in Microtask Crowdsourcing: Giving Voice to the Less Powerful Through Value Sensitive Design

Crowdsourcing (CS) of micro tasks is a relatively new, open source work form enabled by information and communication technologies. While anecdotal evidence of its benefits abounds, our understanding of the phenomenon's societal consequences remains limited. Drawing on value sensitive design (VSD), we explore microtask CS as perceived by crowd workers, revealing their values as a means of informing the design of CS platforms. Analyzing detailed narratives of 210 crowd workers participating in Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk), we uncover a set of nine values they share: access, autonomy, fairness, transparency, communication, security, accountability, making an impact, and dignity. We find that these values are implicated in four crowdsourcing structures: compensation, governance, technology, and microtask. Two contrasting perceptions—empowerment and marginalization—coexist, forming a duality of microtask CS. The study contributes to the CS and VSD literatures, heightens awareness of worker marginalization in microtask CS, and offers guidelines for improving CS practice. Specifically, we offer recommendations regarding the ethical use of crowd workers (including for academic research), and call for improving MTurk platform design for greater worker empowerment.
Serum anti‐GQ1b IgG antibodies recognize surface epitopes on Campylobacter jejuni from patients with Miller Fisher syndrome

Three patients who had diarrhea prior to the development of Miller Fisher syndrome are presented. Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from stool specimens from all patients. High titers of anti‐GQ1b IgG antibodies were demonstrated in the serum of these patients by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and thin‐layer chromatography overlay. In enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay inhibition studies the anti‐GQ1b IgG antibodies bound specifically to whole bacteria of the Miller Fisher syndrome–associated C. jejuni strains. The presence of anti‐GQ1b IgG binding epitopes on the surface of the C. jejuni from the patients was not exclusively associated with a specific Penner serotype. It is suggested that anti‐GQ1b antibodies are formed during the initial infection that elicits Miller Fisher syndrome. The cross‐reactivity of anti‐GQ1b IgG antibodies with surface epitopes on Miller Fisher syndrome–associated C. jejuni strains supports the hypothesis of molecular mimicry between bacteria and neural tissue.
Subclinical neurological involvement in treated celiac disease: the dark side of gluten-related encephalopathies.

The prevalence of neurological complications in celiac disease (CD) has been reported to be as high as 35.7% (1). Other data suggest that otherwise unexplained neurological dysfunction is a complication in 6% to 10% of cases (2). A review of all published studies from 1964 to 2000 totalling 83 patients with established CD showed that the most common neurological manifestations were ataxia (29 patients), peripheral neuropathy (29 patients), and myopathy (13 patients); less frequent entities were myoclonic ataxia (9 patients), myelopathy (4 patients), and dementia (6 patients) (3). Pengiran Tengah et al (4) found 263 neurological and psychiatric conditions occurring in 189 of 620 patients with CD (some patients had > 1 disturbance); the most common 3 entities in this series were depression (71 cases), epilepsy (25 cases),
Expression of the Opc protein correlates with invasion of epithelial and endothelial cells by Neisseria meningitidis

Whereas capsulate strains of Neisseria meningitidis are dependent on pili for adhesion to human endothelial and epithelial cells, strains which lacked assembled pili and were partially capsule‐deficient adhered to and invaded human endothelial and epithelial cells if they expressed the Opc protein. Bacteria expressing low or undetectable levels of Opc protein failed to adhere to or invade eukaryotic cells. In addition, the presence of OpaAc751 protein on the surface of bacteria did not increase bacterial interactions with host cells. Association of Opc‐expressing bacteria was inhibited by antibodies against Opc. Invasion was dependent on the host‐cell cytoskeletal activity and was inhibited by cytochalasin D. In some cells, infected at the apical surface, bacteria emerging from basal surface were detected by electron microscopy. Opc is found in diverse meningococci and may represent a common virulence factor, which facilitates adherence and invasion by these bacteria.
Long-term clinical outcome following lower limb arterial angioplasty.

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to determine the clinical outcome of lower limb arterial angioplasty in a busy district general hospital practice. PATIENTS AND METHODS All angioplasties performed from January 1999 to December 2004 were identified and data collected included cardiovascular risk factors, indications for and complications of angioplasty, limb salvage and patient survival rates, and clinically significant re-stenoses. RESULTS 471 interventions were performed in 385 patients (231 men, 154 women). The median age was 67.9 years (range: 39-93 years). Indications for angioplasty were critical ischaemia (n=247, 52%) and lifestyle-limiting intermittent claudication (n=224, 48%). Stenotic lesions accounted for 378 (80%) cases and occlusion for 93 (20%). Radiological success was obtained in 417 (88.5%), improving to 93.6% if only those in whom access was achieved were included. Post-angioplasty complications were observed in 42/471 (9.1%) of interventions. The actual patient survival at 1, 2, and 3 years was 87.4%, 85.1% and 83.2% respectively. Indication for angioplasty and the number of lesions present were identified as risk factors for outcome on multivariate analysis. The cumulative post-angioplasty patency rates at 1, 2 and 3 years were 86.0%, 83.1% and 81.6% respectively. The only factor associated with patency was the mode of presentation. CONCLUSIONS Angioplasty for lower limb peripheral vascular disease can be performed safely and efficaciously with a high technical success rate and a low complication rate. The patient survival and post-angioplasty patency data reflect the progressive and multi-site nature of the underlying disease process.
Pfizer accused of testing new drug without ethical approval

Dutch GPs could face prosecution if they accept substantial hospitality during further education courses sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. The National Association of GPs (LHV) has warned that both participants and organisers of such courses must adhere strictly to the drug marketing code. The warning comes amid attempts by the Health Inspectorate, which supervises public health and the provision of health care, to sharpen government supervision of drug marketing. In a test case scheduled to be heard next Tuesday, Merck, …
Non-existence of solutions for some nonlinear elliptic equations involving measures

In this paper, we study the non-existence of solutions for the following (model) problem in a bounded open subset Ω of RN: with Dirichlet boundary conditions, where p > 1, q > 1 and μ is a bounded Radon measure. We prove that if λ is a measure which is concentrated on a set of zero r capacity (p < r ≤ N), and if q > r (p − 1)/(r − p), then there is no solution to the above problem, in the sense that if one approximates the measure λ with a sequence of regular functions fn, and if un is the sequence of solutions of the corresponding problems, then un converges to zero. We also study the non-existence of solutions for the bilateral obstacle problem with datum a measure λ concentrated on a set of zero p capacity, with u in for every υ in K, finding again that the only solution obtained by approximation is u = 0.
Glucose levels and outcome after subarachnoid hemorrhage

Abstract– In a cohort of 337 patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), we investigated the relationship between blood glucose levels, baseline characteristics, and outcome by means of Student’s t-test and multivariate logistic regression. The mean glucose levels on admission and from day 1 to 10 were significantly higher in patients with poor condition on admission and in patients with poor outcome. In a multivariate analysis, glucose level on admission was not an independent predictor of outcome. Hyperglycemia may be a link in the association between poor condition on admission and poor outcome.
Using three pairs of competitive indices to test for changes in plant competition under different resource and disturbance levels

Questions: How do different resource and disturbance levels interact to affect competition? How do different indices of competition change the interpretation of how competition changes under different resource and disturbance conditions? Location: Greenhouse, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Methods: Three pairs of indices that have been used to differentiate the predictions of Grime (CSR) and Tilman’s (R) theories were used to assess competition on two species of temperate bunchgrass, (Pseudorogeneria spicata and Festuca campestris) grown in a greenhouse on stress and disturbance gradients. Stress was created by manipulating the amount of water (high, low) and concentration of nutrient solution (high, low) added to pots, while disturbance was created by clipping (clipped, unclipped) in a fully factorial design. Plants were grown individually or with a single neighbour. The three pairs of indices were: (1) absolute and relative competition; (2) competitive effect and response; and, (3) competitive importance and intensity. Results: Absolute competition and competitive importance were the only indices responsive to the resource gradient, which supports CSR theory, and also the only ones to record an effect of disturbance on the strength of competition – under high resource conditions. The other indices showed few responses along the gradients, which supports R theory. Measures of competitive effect and response did not differentiate the two theories. Conclusion: We show that some indices of competition show a decline with increased stress and disturbance, while other indices do not. Therefore, it is necessary to choose a competition index appropriate to the question being asked. Competitive importance and absolute competition were responsive to changes in stress and disturbance, while the other indices were not.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Assessed Brain Responses during an Executive Task Depend on Interaction of Sleep Homeostasis, Circadian Phase, and PER3 Genotype

Cognition is regulated across the 24 h sleep-wake cycle by circadian rhythmicity and sleep homeostasis through unknown brain mechanisms. We investigated these mechanisms in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of executive function using a working memory 3-back task during a normal sleep-wake cycle and during sleep loss. The study population was stratified according to homozygosity for a variable-number (4 or 5) tandem-repeat polymorphism in the coding region of the clock gene PERIOD3. This polymorphism confers vulnerability to sleep loss and circadian misalignment through its effects on sleep homeostasis. In the less-vulnerable genotype, no changes were observed in brain responses during the normal-sleep wake cycle. During sleep loss, these individuals recruited supplemental anterior frontal, temporal and subcortical regions, while executive function was maintained. In contrast, in the vulnerable genotype, activation in a posterior prefrontal area was already reduced when comparing the evening to the morning during a normal sleep-wake cycle. Furthermore, in the morning after a night of sleep loss, widespread reductions in activation in prefrontal, temporal, parietal and occipital areas were observed in this genotype. These differences occurred in the absence of genotype-dependent differences in circadian phase. The data show that dynamic changes in brain responses to an executive task evolve across the sleep-wake and circadian cycles in a regionally specific manner that is determined by a polymorphism which affects sleep homeostasis. The findings support a model of individual differences in executive control, in which the allocation of prefrontal resources is constrained by sleep pressure and circadian phase.
The Upregulation of PI3K/Akt and MAP Kinase Pathways is Associated with Resistance of Microtubule‐Targeting Drugs in Prostate Cancer

Resistance is a significant limitation to the effectiveness of cancer therapies. The PI3K/Akt and MAP kinase pathways play important roles in a variety of normal cellular processes and tumorigenesis. This study is designed to explore the relationship of these signaling pathways with multidrug resistance in prostate cancer (PCa). The PI3K/Akt and MAP kinase pathways were investigated utilizing paclitaxel resistant DU145‐TxR PCa cells and their parental non‐resistant DU145 cells to determine their relationship with resistance to paclitaxel and other anticancer drugs. Our results demonstrate that the PI3K/Akt and MAP kinase pathways are upregulated in DU145‐TxR cells compared to the DU145 cells. Inactivating these pathways using the PI3K/Akt pathway inhibitor LY294002 or the MAP kinase pathway inhibitor PD98059 renders the DU145‐TxR cells more sensitive to paclitaxel. We investigated the effects of these inhibitors on other anticancer drugs including docetaxel, vinblastine, doxorubicin, 10‐Hydroxycamptothecin (10‐HCPT) and cisplatin and find that both inhibitors induces DU145‐TxR cells to be more sensitive only to the microtubule‐targeting drugs (paclitaxel, docetaxel and vinblastine). Furthermore, the treatment with these inhibitors induces cleaved‐PARP production in DU145‐TxR cells, suggesting that apoptosis induction might be one of the mechanisms for the reversal of drug resistance. In conclusion, the PI3K/Akt and MAP kinase pathways are associated with resistance to multiple chemotherapeutic drugs. Inactivating these pathways renders these PCa cells more sensitive to microtubule‐targeting drugs such as paclitaxel, docetaxel and vinblastine. Combination therapies with novel inhibitors of these two signaling pathways potentially represents a more effective treatment for drug resistant PCa. J. Cell. Biochem. 116: 1341–1349, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
High School Athletes With ADHD and Learning Difficulties Have a Greater Lifetime Concussion History

Objective: Examine lifetime history of concussions in adolescents who have developmental problems in comparison with those with no developmental problems. Method: Thirty-two thousand four hundred eighty-seven adolescent athletes completed baseline/pre-season evaluations. Based on self-reported histories, athletes were divided into four groups: ADHD only, ADHD and learning difficulties (LD), LD only, and controls. Results: Athletes with ADHD, LD, or ADHD plus LD reported a greater prevalence of prior concussions than athletes without these developmental conditions (ps < .05). When adjusting for sex differences in concussion prevalence rates (boys are greater than girls), there was an increase in prevalence of prior injuries in those with ADHD, and ADHD plus learning difficulties compared with those with LD only. This pattern was found for both girls and boys. There was no additive effect of having both conditions. Conclusion: Developmental conditions in adolescent athletes, such as ADHD and learning difficulties, are associated with a greater prevalence rate of prior concussion.
Semi-trance , Mental Illness , and Altered States of Consciousness

The book “The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind” of Julian Jaynes provides, not only a fascinating scenario about the evolution of modern consciousness from the consciousness of bicameral stone age man, but also a holistic view about schizophrenic consciousness. In fact, Jaynes regards schizophrenic as a bicameral man receiving commands of “God” as auditory and visual hallucinations. Jaynes sees “Gods” as the right brain of the bicameral man. In TGD framework “Gods” represent higher levels of the self-hierarchy. To put it in nutshell, TGD view about the relationship of human consciousness to higher levels of self-hierarchy relies on the notion of semi-trance. During semi-trance parts of brain entangle with some higher level, say the self associated with the social group, and are in trance and therefore unconscious. The remaining parts of brain are however conscious and receive communications from the collective consciousness via the entangled region of brain as sensory hallucinations, emotions and thoughts. Semi-trance is absolutely essential for the self-narrative: without it our consciousness would consist of memory fragments lasting only few seconds: higher level selves tell us where we come from and were we are going. Bicameral man received the commands and advices of the collective consciousness as auditory and visual hallucinations via regions of the right brain hemisphere wherefrom they were communicated to the left hemisphere whereas modern man receives these communications as thoughts (“internal speech”) in left brain semi-trance and emotions in right brain semi-trance. According to this view, schizophrenic spends in the bicameral state larger fraction of time than normal person and receives communications of the higher levels selves more often as sensory hallucinations than as thoughts and emotions. Thus schizophrenia can be seen as cognitive and emotional abnormality and becomes illness in modern society relying crucially on cognitive and emotional self-narrative which is much more refined than the self-narrative based on sensory hallucinations. In normal consciousness left brain hemisphere inhibits the messages from right hemisphere, left and right hemispheres are totally entangled a considerable fraction of time and the entanglement with higher level selves can also involve the entanglement of entire brain leading to short periods of total trance. In this view the negative periods of schizophrenia correspond to the phases when right brain hemisphere is not entangled with higher level selves and positive, psychotic periods to the phase when this entanglement occurs often. This vision generalizes also to manic-depressive and anxiety disorders and one can see mental illness as disorder of communication between human brain and higher levels of self
Keratinocyte Apoptosis on Type I Collagen Fibrils is Prevented by Erk1/2 Activation under High Calcium Condition

Keratinocytes adhere and proliferate well on collagen-coated surfaces, but they undergo apoptosis without differentiation on collagen gels according to our past research. In the current studies, we investigated the necessary conditions for keratinocyte survival on fibrous collagen gels. We found that keratinocytes survived on collagen gels when the medium contains elevated levels (1.8 mM) of calcium. Under this high calcium condition, cells formed multicellular colonies and differentiated. Akt was not activated in cells cultured on collagen gels regardless of the calcium concentration, whereas it was activated in cells cultured on nonfibrous collagen. On the other hand, Erk1/2, key kinases of MAPK pathway, were phosphorylated in cells cultured under high calcium condition but not in cells cultured on collagen gels under low calcium condition. The necessity of Erk1/2 activation for keratinocyte survival on collagen gel was confirmed with experiment using U0126, an inhibitor for Erk1/2. These studies show that activation of Akt depends on collagen assembly, whereas activation of Erk1/2 is induced by increased extracellular calcium concentration. Thus, activation of the Erk1/2 by increasing calcium concentration in the incubation medium may compensate for the loss of Akt activation, allowing keratinocyte survival on collagen gels.
Family coping with childhood cancer.

Previous studies using nonstandardized instruments measuring coping with childhood cancer, suggested families coped well. The concepts of encapsulation and at-risk behaviors were derived from this literature as coping strategies. Encapsulation strategies normalize the experience and control the meaning of the illness. At-risk strategies include complying with treatment and protecting the child. Three purposes of this paper are (a) describe parents' coping in 45 families whose child has cancer using a standardized instrument (CHIP), (b) compare the findings from this study with previous studies, and (c) explore the concepts of encapsulation and at-risk as family coping strategies using selected items on the CHIP. Internal reliabilities ranged from . 71 to . 79 on the CHIP's three scales. In this study, correlational and descriptive analysis were conducted. The CHIP's psychometric properties in this study ranged from . 76 to . 84. The newly developed scales of encapsulation and at-risk had internal reliabilities of . 74, . 74, . 74, and . 46 for the fathers and mothers. Using the CHIP scales parents' coping was similar to other samples in which the CHIP was used. With the exception of the mothers' at-risk scale, a cohesive family coping measure was evidenced by the acceptable internal reliabilities on the newly developed scales. Further development of the encapsulation scale will provide a family coping measure useful in testing conceptually based nursing interventions.
Contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance in primary and ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy

Objectives Differentiation between primary dilated cardiomyopathy and ischemic cardiomyopathy has an important clinical significance. Contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance can play a role in this task, identifying myocardial scarring or fibrosis as presence of delayed enhancement. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic potential of contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance in differentiating dilated cardiomyopathy from ischemic cardiomyopathy. Methods Contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance was performed in 100 patients with left ventricular dilatation and reduced systolic function: 24 had normal coronary arteries (dilated cardiomyopathy group) and 76 had significant coronary artery disease (ischemic cardiomyopathy group), with or without previous myocardial infarction. Results In the dilated cardiomyopathy group, only seven (29%) patients showed delayed enhancement and its pattern was characterized by mid-wall, patchy or diffuse location. All patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and prior myocardial infarction (54 subjects) showed delayed enhancement with subendocardial (n = 4) or transmural (n = 50) extension. Among the 22 patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy but without previous myocardial infarction, 13 (59%) showed either subendocardial (n = 4) or transmural (n = 9) delayed enhancement. Conclusions Patterns of delayed enhancement are different in dilated cardiomyopathy and ischemic cardiomyopathy, reflecting the presence of scarring or various degrees of fibrosis in left ventricular myocardium. The presence of subendocardial or transmural delayed enhancement at contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance allowed distinction between dilated cardiomyopathy and ischemic cardiomyopathy with high sensitivity (88%) and specificity (100%). Integration of cardiovascular magnetic resonance results with angiographic information can be useful in the identification of pathogenic mechanisms underlying left ventricular dysfunction.