Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Burden of Infectious Gastroenteritis in Elderly Residents and Staff of Long-Term Care Facilities, Australia

We estimated the incidence of gastroenteritis in 16 Australian long-term care facilities. During 12 months' surveillance, 245 (96%) of 254 episodes of gastroenteritis among long-term care residents were associated with 17 outbreaks in 11 facilities. Incidence in long-term care residents was 0.64 episodes per 1,000 bed-days (95% confidence interval, 0.29-1.42).
Improving Accuracy of Transcripts in Qualitative Research

Everyone who has worked with qualitative interview data has run into problems with transcription error, even if they do the transcribing themselves. A thoughtful, accurate, reliable, multilingual transcriptionist with a quick turnaround time is worth her or his weight in gold. In this article, the authors examine some transcription circumstances that seem to bring about their own consistent set of problems. Based on their experiences, the authors examine the following issues: use of voice recognition systems; notation choices; processing and active listening versus touch typing; transcriptionist effect; emotionally loaded audiotaped material; class and/or cultural differences among interviewee, interviewer, and transcriptionist; and some errors that arise when working in a second language. The authors offer suggestions for working with transcriptionists as part of the qualitative research team.
Clinical significance of serum and bone marrow acid phosphatase

Currently available immunochemical assays for the determination of serum prostatic acid phosphatase have improved the reliability of this biological marker in carcinoma of the prostate. Although the value of such methods for screening the general population is questionable, a certain percentage of elevated serum levels is observed in patients with localized disease. The significance of such findings is unclear at the present time. Recent evidence suggests that in elevated bone marrow acid phosphatase, using these methods is of predictive value in the future development of metastatic disease.
Relative Validity of a 24-h Recall in Assessing Intake of Key Nutrients in a Cohort of Australian Toddlers

There is limited information concerning the dietary intake of toddlers in Australia. Consequently, there is a need for studies investigating toddler intake that use dietary assessment measures that are valid and place a low participant burden on caregivers. The aim of this study was to determine the relative validity of a single 24-h dietary recall (24HR) in measuring the intake of five nutrients in a cohort of Australian toddlers compared to a combined 24HR and 2-day estimated food record (2DFR). A single 24HR and a 2DFR were collected from a cohort of Australian toddlers (n = 699) at approximately 12 months of age as part of the Study of Mothers’ and Infants’ Life Events affecting oral health (SMILE) project. Relative validity of one day of dietary data (24HR) in assessing intake of energy, protein, calcium, iron, and added sugars was tested against three days of dietary data (24HR + 2DFR) using paired t-tests, Bland–Altman analysis, cross-classification, and weighted Kappa statistic. Classification analysis found good agreement between the 24HR and 24HR + 2DFR for all nutrients with the percentage classified in the same tertile at 57.9% and above. The weighted Kappa statistic found acceptable agreement for all nutrients. This study suggests that a 24HR is a valid assessment tool for estimating the relative intake of energy, protein, calcium, iron, and added sugars among Australian toddlers at the individual level.
Are there theory of mind regions in the brain? A review of the neuroimaging literature

There have been many functional imaging studies of the brain basis of theory of mind (ToM) skills, but the findings are heterogeneous and implicate anatomical regions as far apart as orbitofrontal cortex and the inferior parietal lobe. The functional imaging studies are reviewed to determine whether the diverse findings are due to methodological factors. The studies are considered according to the paradigm employed (e.g., stories vs. cartoons and explicit vs. implicit ToM instructions), the mental state(s) investigated, and the language demands of the tasks. Methodological variability does not seem to account for the variation in findings, although this conclusion may partly reflect the relatively small number of studies. Alternatively, several distinct brain regions may be activated during ToM reasoning, forming an integrated functional “network. ” The imaging findings suggest that there are several “core” regions in the network—including parts of the prefrontal cortex and superior temporal sulcus—while several more “peripheral” regions may contribute to ToM reasoning in a manner contingent on relatively minor aspects of the ToM task. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Melatonin provides neuroprotection by reducing oxidative stress and HSP70 expression during chronic cerebral hypoperfusion in ovariectomized rats

Abstract: Oxidative stress is believed to contribute to functional and histopathologic disturbances associated with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) in rats. Melatonin has protective effects against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. This effect has mainly been attributed to its antioxidant properties. In the present study, we evaluate the effects of melatonin on chronic cerebral hypoperfused rats and examined its possible influence on oxidative stress, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, reduced glutathione (GSH) levels, and heat shock protein (HSP) 70 induction. CCH was induced by permanent bilateral common carotid artery occlusion in ovariectomized female rats. Extensive neuronal loss in the hippocampus at day 14 following CCH was observed. The ischemic changes were preceded by increases in malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration and HSP70 induction as well as reductions in GSH and SOD. Melatonin treatment restored the levels of MDA, SOD, GSH, and HSP70 induction as compared to the ischemic group. Histopathologic analysis confirmed the protective effect of melatonin against CCH‐induced morphologic alterations. Taken together, our results document that melatonin provides neuroprotective effects in CCH by attenuating oxidative stress and stress protein expression in neurons. This suggests melatonin may be helpful for the treatment of vascular dementia and cerebrovascular insufficiency.
Evaluation of therapeutic effect of continuous blood purification on aged patients with severe heart failure

Objective: To investigate the clinical effect of continuous blood purification (CBP) on aged patients with severe heart failure. Methods: The clinical data of 90 aged patients with severe heart failure treated by CBP from June, 2011 to June, 2016 were analyzed retrospectively. The changes of blood biochemistry, blood gas analysis, blood pressure, respiration, heart rate, oxygenation index and so on were recorded and treatment effects were observed before treatment and at 72 h after treatment. Results: Among 90 patients treated with CBP, marked effects were seen in 80 cases, general effect in 8 cases and death in 2 cases, with the total effective rate of 97.8%. The differences between before treatment and 72 h after treatment, in the heart rate (P<0.001), respiration rate (P<0.001), central venous pressure (P=0.003), mean arterial pressure (P=0.049), oxygenation index (P<0.001), biochemical indicators (including BUN, SCr, HCO3 and BNP, all P<0.001), blood gas indexes (including pH, PaO2, PaCO2, SaO2, all P<0.001), and cardiac function indexes (including SV, CO, LVEF, P<0.001), were statistically significant. Conclusion: CBP has positive curative effects on aged patients with severe heart failure and can significantly improve their cardiac function and reduce the incidence of adverse reactions.
As fronteiras entre fonetica e fonologia e a alofonia dos roticos iniciais em PB : dados de dois informantes do sul do pais

Esta tese discute uma questao em voga na literatura fonetica atual, concernente a comensurabilidade de fatos presentes na fala: sabe-se que algumas alofonias tradicionalmente tidas como categoricas sao, na verdade, gradientes, continuas (para o ingles, vide Browman & Goldstein, 1990; Sproat & Fujimura, 1993; Huffman, 1997; Gick, 1999; para o portugues, vide Albano, Barbosa, Gama-Rossi, Madureira & Silva, 1998; Albano, 2001; Silva & Albano, 1999; ou o terceiro capitulo desta tese). Apesar de gradientes, tais alofonias nao sao aleatorias, mas condicionadas pela estrutura prosodica do enunciado no qual ocorrem. A estrutura prosodica, por sua vez e de alguma forma, mapeia informacoes sobre a estrutura sintatica do enunciado. Assim sendo, as alofonias necessitam ser modeladas na gramatica de uma lingua. Surge dai a questao: em que nivel da gramatica colocar esses fatos, na Fonetica ou na Fonologia? Coloca-los num nivel fonetico, como concebido tradicionalmente, seria insuficiente para capturar a relacao entre os processos alofonicos e o nivel prosodico que os condiciona. Coloca-los num nivel fonologico, por outro lado, nao permitiria captar a natureza gradiente dos processos, ja que os modelos fonologicos tem por primitivos unidades categoricas, como argumento no segundo capitulo. A saida que se afigura viavel e o tratamento desses processos a luz de modelos dinâmicos de producao de fala, como a Fonologia Articulatoria (Browman & Godstein, 1986, 1990, 1992), porque a mesma se baseia numa unidade de tempo intrinseco, o gesto articulatorio, o que toma direta a relacao entre representacao e implementacao. Por conta dessa relacao direta, nesse modelo, o nivel fonetico nao esta dissociado do fonologico; ao contrario, eles se fundem num unico. Assim, proponho, no quarto capitulo, uma representacao dos roticos, considerando os gestos articulatorios que os constituem. Porem, diferentemente da Fonologia Articulatoria, assumo, baseada em Sproat & Fujimura (1993) e Gick (1999) que um segmento pode ser constituido por mais de um gesto. E, a luz da Fonologia Acustico-, Articulatoria (Albano 2001) proponho uma representacao para os roticos de inicio de palavra que considera que os gestos nao se definem por conjuntos de articuladores, mas por regioes acustico-articulatorias e que as variantes dialetais sao todas lexicalizadas, escolhendo o falante a variante mais adequada a um dado contexto prosodico Abstract
Skeletal indicators of locomotor adaptations in living and extinct rodents

Living rodents show great diversity in their locomotor habits, including semiaquatic, arboreal, fossorial, ricochetal, and gliding species from multiple families. To assess the association between limb morphology and locomotor habits, the appendicular skeletons of 65 rodent genera from 16 families were measured. Ecomorphological analyses of various locomotor types revealed consistent differences in postcranial skeletal morphology that relate to functionally important traits. Behaviorally similar taxa showed convergent morphological characters, despite distinct evolutionary histories. Semiaquatic rodents displayed relatively robust bones, enlarged muscular attachments, short femora, and elongate hind feet. Arboreal rodents had relatively elongate humeri and digits, short olecranon processes of the ulnae, and equally proportioned fore and hind limbs. Fossorial rodents showed relatively robust bones, enlarged muscular attachments, short antebrachii and digits, elongate manual claws, and reduced hind limb elements. Ricochetal rodents displayed relatively proximal insertion of muscles, disproportionate limbs, elongate tibiae, and elongate hind feet. Gliding rodents had relatively elongate and gracile bones, short olecranon processes of the ulnae, and equally proportioned fore and hind limbs. The morphological differences observed here can readily be used to discriminate extant rodents with different locomotor strategies. This suggests that the method could be applied to extinct rodents, regardless of ancestry, to accurately infer their locomotor ecologies. When applied to an extinct group of rodents, we found two distinct ecomorphs represented in the beaver family (Castoridae), semiaquatic and semifossorial. There was also a progressive trend toward increased body size and increased aquatic specialization in the giant beaver lineage (Castoroidinae). J. Morphol. , 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor in a Subadult Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)

Abstract A 5-year-old, female golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) was admitted with tetraplegia that progressed to a nonambulatory, spastic tetraparesis after a few days of treatment. Clinical and radiologic examinations, including radiography, computed tomography scan, and myelography, were indicative of neoplasia involving a spinal nerve root. Postmortem magnetic resonance imaging and necropsy findings confirmed the diagnosis of a peripheral nerve sheath neoplasia, not, to our knowledge, previously reported in a raptor.
Defaulting from anti-tuberculosis treatment in a teaching hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

SETTING Few studies have investigated factors associated with defaulting from anti-tuberculosis (TB) therapy in hospital settings. OBJECTIVE To identify the factors associated with defaulting from treatment among TB in-patients in Rio de Janeiro city, Brazil. DESIGN Case-control study. METHODS All study participants initiated anti-tuberculosis treatment in a teaching hospital. A defaulting case was defined as a person who did not return for anti-tuberculosis medications after 60 days. Cases and controls were interviewed by a trained health care worker using a standardized form. RESULTS From 1 January to 31 December 1997, 228 TB cases were registered. After a review of the medical records, 39 were excluded. Household visits were performed in 189 patients; 46 subjects were identified as cases and 117 as controls. Defaulting from anti-tuberculosis treatment was observed in 66 cases (28.9%) before and in 46 (20.2%) after a home visit. After multivariate analysis, the strongest predictors of defaulting from treatment were: 1) returning card not provided (OR 0.099; 95%CI 0.008-1.2; P = 0.07), 2) not feeling comfortable with a doctor (OR 0.16; 95%CI 0.33-0.015; P = 0.001), and 3) blood pressure not measured (OR 0.072; 95%CI 0.036-0.79; P = 0.024). CONCLUSIONS In this hospital, the factors associated with defaulting from anti-tuberculosis treatment highlight the necessity for a structured TB Control Program. It is expected that the implementation of such a program, pursuing specific approaches, should enhance completion of anti-tuberculosis treatment and cure.
Adjunct continuous intravenous ketamine infusion for postoperative pain relief following posterior spinal instrumentation for correction of scoliosis: a case report

Providing effective analgesia is challenging for correction of idiopathic scoliosis, as nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs and epidural anesthesia are controversial and large‐dose opioids can cause significant side effects. Perioperative adjuvant low‐dose ketamine has been shown to provide good supplementary analgesia as well as to potentially spare opioid consumption. Ketamine may also improve early ease of mobility without addition of any noticeable adverse effects. This case describes the combined use of a continuous low‐dose ketamine infusion and patient–controlled analgesia (PCA) morphine for postoperative analgesia in an adolescent girl undergoing posterior spinal instrumentation and correction of scoliosis. The patient had excellent postoperative analgesia and was able to participate in early rehabilitation. The opioid‐sparing effect of ketamine was not demonstrated in this case. Further study of continuous low‐dose ketamine infusions in this patient population would be beneficial to provide more evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of ketamine and of its opioid‐sparing potential.
Smoking Cessation at the Clinical Onset of Chronic Pancreatitis and Risk of Pancreatic Calcifications

Objective: Cigarette smoking is associated with a higher risk of developing chronic pancreatitis (CP) and increases the likelihood of developing pancreatic calcifications. The aim of this study was to know whether smoking cessation modifies the course of the disease. Methods: Patients with CP who had been followed up for more than 6 years from clinical onset and who had not developed calcifications after 5 years were analyzed. We studied smokers, never-smokers, and patients who had given up smoking within 5 years. For actuarial analysis, the sixth year was considered as time 0. Results: Of the 360 patients, there were 43 women and 317 men (88.1%) with a mean age of 38.7 years. The median follow-up was 19.0 years. Chronic pancreatitis was alcohol-associated in 255 patients, hereditary in 10, obstructive in 54, and idiopathic in 41. There were 317 smokers (88.1%) and 259 alcohol drinkers (71.9%). At the end of the follow-up, 212 patients (59.8%) developed calcifications. Concerning the risk of calcifications, never-smokers and ex-smokers had similar actuarial curves, and these were significantly different from the curve for smokers (P < 0.003). Considering never-smokers as the reference class, ex-smokers had an odds ratio (OR) of 0.56 (95.0% confidence interval [CI], 0.2-1.4; P = not significant), patients smoking 1 to 10 cigarettes per day had an OR of 1.95 (95.0% CI, 1.1-3.4; P < 0.019), patients smoking 11 to 20 cigarettes per day had an OR of 1.76 (95.0% CI, 1.1-2.8; P < 0.0018), and those smoking more than 20 cigarettes per day had an OR of 1.79 (95.0% CI, 1.1-2.9; P < 0.019). Alcohol cessation seems to have no influence. Conclusions: Smoking cessation in the first years from the clinical onset of CP reduces the risk of developing pancreatic calcifications.
Characterisation of Optical Metamaterials : Effective Parameters and Beyond

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschaftigt sich mit der Charakterisierung von Metamaterialien. Fur eine umfassendere Einfuhrung in die Thematik sei auf Kapitel 1 verwiesen. Als kunstliche Medien mit Perioden kleiner als die relevante Wellenlange werden diese zumeist als effektiv homogene Materialien beschrieben. Diese Art der Beschreibung und deren kritische Untersuchung und Bewertung stehen im Mittelpunkt der Kapitel 2-4. Im Kapitel 2 werden die Grundlagen fur die Beschreibung kunstlicher Strukturen mittels homogener Maxwell Gleichungen und insbesondere der entsprechenden Materialgleichungen gelegt. In diesem Kapitel wird vor allem die Beschreibung kunstlich magnetischer Materialien auf der Basis einer komplexen, raumlichen dispersiven Materialantwort abgeleitet. Die erzielten Materialgleichungen fur Medien mit schwacher raumlicher Dispersion werden dann in Kapitel 3 zur Bestimmung der effektiven Eigenschaften zugrunde gelegt. Die Bestimmung erfolgt durch den sogenannten S-parameter retrieval, d.h. der Inversion der Fresnelgleichung fur Reflexion und Transmission an einer optischen Schicht. Diese Methode wird ausfuhrlich auch vom Standpunkt allgemein periodischer Medien her betrachtet, wodurch sich grundsatzliche Zusammenhange und insbesondere Limitierungen ableiten lassen. In Kapitel 4 werden die zuvor bereitgestellten Methoden der Charakterisierung auf Metamaterialien mit zunehmender Symmetrie angewandt. Es wird gezeigt, dass eine Reduktion der optischen Antwort auf einzelne effektive Materialparameter selten moglich ist. In Konsequenz der vorherigen Resultate und mit Hinblick auf ein Design optischer Funktionalitat anstatt des Designs etwaiger Materialien wird in Kapitel 5 eine Beschreibung der optischen Antwort auf Basis von Jones-Matrizen vorgeschlagen. Es wird ein Zusammenhang zwischen Symmetrie und allgemeiner Form der Jones-Matrix hergeleitet. Dieser Ansatz erlaubt sowohl die Beschreibung als auch das Design der polarisationsabhangigen Response von Metamaterialien.
The concept of special inner products for deriving new conjugate gradient-like solvers for non-symmetric sparse linear systems

Yserentant's and Bramble/Pasciak/Xu's hierarchical preconditioners only require the hierarchical node connection of a finite element grid. So they could be applied to nonsymmetric FE-systems too, having a symmetric preconditioner. We investigate the question whether this fact could be useful in the CG-like iterative methods. The main key is the consideration of an appropriate choice of the inner product defined in the N-vector space. It is shown, how the inner product influences the formulas of the methods, the rate of convergence and some other properties.
Effect of the proton pump inhibitor omeprazole on the gastrointestinal bacterial microbiota of healthy dogs.

The effect of a proton pump inhibitor on gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota was evaluated. Eight healthy 9-month-old dogs (four males and four females) received omeprazole (1.1 mg kg(-1) ) orally twice a day for 15 days. Fecal samples and endoscopic biopsies from the stomach and duodenum were obtained on days 30 and 15 before omeprazole administration, on day 15 (last day of administration), and 15 days after administration. The microbiota was evaluated using 16S rRNA gene 454-pyrosequencing, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and qPCR. In the stomach, pyrosequencing revealed a decrease in Helicobacter spp. during omeprazole (median 92% of sequences during administration compared to > 98% before and after administration; P = 0.0336), which was accompanied by higher proportions of Firmicutes and Fusobacteria. FISH confirmed this decrease in gastric Helicobacter (P < 0.0001) and showed an increase in total bacteria in the duodenum (P = 0.0033) during omeprazole. However, Unifrac analysis showed that omeprazole administration did not significantly alter the overall phylogenetic composition of the gastric and duodenal microbiota. In feces, qPCR showed an increase in Lactobacillus spp. during omeprazole (P < 0.0001), which was accompanied by a lower abundance of Faecalibacterium spp. and Bacteroides-Prevotella-Porphyromonas in the male dogs. This study suggests that omeprazole administration leads to quantitative changes in GI microbiota of healthy dogs.
An enhanced algorithm for 2D indoor localization on single anchor RSSI-based positioning systems

In this paper a cost-effective RSSI-based Range and Direction of Arrival (DoA) estimator using a single anchor node is proposed. Exploiting the Space Division Multiple Access enabled by a anchor node equipped with a switched beam frontend, the DoA of a nomadic node is estimated on the basis of maximum likelyhood approach driven by the expected power distribution. The distance is subsequently estimated on the basis of a robust inversion of the power-range relationship. Compared to conventional estimators, the proposed approach offers a precise DoA estimation as well as a adequate range estimation despite the simple implementation. The combination of the two information enables also the estimation of the absolute position with a very low-cost solution, suitable for Wireless Sensor Networks and for 802.11n/ac IEEE compliant networks. Experimental validations in an anechoic chamber confirm that the proposed method can provide a complete 2D localization with a mean error of 95cm and a sub-metric localization area coverage of about 60% within a typical home room area size (28m2), without the needing of a multi-anchor system setup.
A study of hot-hole injection during programming drain disturb in flash memories

Program disturbs in NOR-type Flash arrays significantly degrade the tunnel oxide by hot-hole injection (HHI) induced by band-to-band tunneling at the drain overlap. This paper provides a comprehensive experimental and modeling analysis of HHI in Flash memories under program-disturb conditions. Carrier-separation measurements on arrays of Flash memories with contacted floating-gate (FG) allows for a direct investigation of hole-initiated impact ionization and HHI. A Monte Carlo (MC) model is used to simulate carrier multiplication and injection into the FG. After validating the MC model against experimental data for both secondary electron generation and HHI, the model is used to provide further insight into the hole-injection mechanism.