Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Outcomes in rhabdomyosarcoma: Experience from a tertiary cancer center in India

Background: Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is an embryonal tumor seen commonly in children. There is a paucity of literature on RMS from India. The present study was conducted to look at the disease characteristics and outcome of RMS patients treated at our center. Methods: This was a retrospective study that included patients with RMS of all age groups treated at our center between 2001 and 2016. Overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method. Results: The study included 70 patients with a median age of 7 years (1–70 years) and 42/70 (60%) were male. The common sites of disease were parameningeal in 31 (44%) and extremity in 17 (24%) patients. Metastasis at presentation was seen in 22/70 (31%) patients. Embryonal (66%) followed by alveolar (9%) and pleomorphic (4%) were the common histologic subtype. The risk stratification showed good-risk in 13 (18%), intermediate-risk in 35 (50%), and high-risk in 22 (32%) patients. The median duration of follow-up was 70.4 months (Confidence interval: 26.1–114.8 months). The median EFS and OS in the study were 11 months and 21 months, respectively. The factors associated with better OS were male gender (P = 0.038), nonmetastatic disease (P = 0.028), good- and intermediate-risk subgroup (P = 0.002), complete surgical excision (P = 0.002), and radiotherapy (P = −0.002). Conclusion: Outcomes in RMS remain dismal with most patients presenting with advanced disease. Multimodality management with chemotherapy, surgery, and radiotherapy in patients with nonmetastatic disease improves outcome.
Coarse to Fine Audio-Visual Size Correspondences Develop During Primary School Age

Developmental studies have shown that children can associate visual size with non-visual and apparently unrelated stimuli, such as pure tone frequencies. Most research to date has focused on audio-visual size associations by showing that children can associate low pure tone frequencies with large objects, and high pure tone frequencies with small objects. Researchers relate these findings to coarser association, i.e., less precise associations for which binary categories of stimuli are used such as in the case of low versus high frequencies and large versus small visual stimuli. This study investigates how finer, more precise, crossmodal audio-visual associations develop during primary school age (from 6 to 11 years old). To unveil such patterns, we took advantage of a range of auditory pure tones and tested how primary school children match sounds with visually presented shapes. We tested 66 children (6–11 years old) in an audio-visual matching task involving a range of pure tone frequencies. Visual stimuli were circles or angles of different sizes. We asked participants to indicate the shape matching the sound. All children associated large objects/angles with low pitch, and small objects/angles with high pitch sounds. Interestingly, older children made greater use of intermediate visual sizes to provide their responses. Indeed, audio-visual associations for finer differences between stimulus features such as size and pure tone frequencies, may develop later depending on the maturation of supramodal size perception processes. Considering our results, we suggest that audio-visual size correspondences can be used for educational purposes by aiding the discrimination of sizes, including angles of different aperture. Moreover, their use should be shaped according to children’s specific developmental stage.
Higher Expression Levels of Aquaporin Family of Proteins in the Kidneys of Arid-Desert Living Lepus yarkandensis

Lepus yarkandensis specifically lives in arid climate with rare precipitation of Tarim Basin in western China. Aquaporins (AQPs) are a family of channel proteins that facilitate water transportation across cell membranes. Kidney AQPs play vital roles in renal tubule water permeability and maintenance of body water homeostasis. This study aimed to investigate whether kidney AQPs exhibit higher expression in arid-desert living animals. Immunohistochemistry results revealed localization of AQP1 to the capillary endothelial cells in glomerulus and epithelial cells in proximal tubule and descending thin limbs, AQP2 to the apical plasma membrane of principal cells in the cortical collecting duct (CCD), outer medullary collecting duct (OMCD), and IMCD cells in the initial inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD1) and middle IMCD (IMCD2), and AQP3 and AQP4 to the basolateral plasma membrane of principal cells and IMCD cells in CCD, OMCD, IMCD1, and IMCD2 in L. yarkandensis kidneys. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed higher mRNA levels of AQP1, AQP2, AQP3, and AQP4 in L. yarkandensis kidneys compared with Oryctolagus cuniculus. Similar results were obtained by western blotting. Our results suggested that higher expression levels of AQP1, AQP2, AQP3, and AQP4 in L. yarkandensis kidneys favored for drawing more water from the tubular fluid.
Paranoid Thinking and Wellbeing. The Role of Doubt in Pharmacological and Metacognitive Therapies

Introduction Pathological confidence in one’s thoughts is a key mechanism of chronic paranoid thinking. For this reason, many of the current therapies focus on trying to reduce it. In fact, the way some antipsychotics (e.g., haloperidol) work seems to be through the induction of doubt. Because of the impact of these pathological thoughts on positive health, studying the well-being of people who experience paranoid thoughts is fundamental. The first objective of this research is to apply the Complete State Model of Health (CSMH) to a sample of patients characterized by the presence of paranoid thinking. Our second objective is to evaluate the impact of therapies based on reducing pathological confidence on patients’ well-being. Methods Sixty participants with SCID-5 confirmed DSM-5 diagnosis related with paranoid thinking and without mood symptoms were recruited. In order to test the existence of a two continua model of mental health (CSMH), we conducted a parallel analysis and an exploratory factor analysis. To test our hypothesis regarding the partially mediating role of doubt between paranoid thinking and patients’ well-being, we conducted a biased corrected bootstrapping procedure. Results As expected, two different unipolar dimensions emerged from the measures used to assess paranoid thinking and positive health (two continua model of mental health). When patients received metacognitive and pharmacological treatment, more paranoid thinking led to more doubt in all thoughts, which in turn affected well-being. The analyses carried out confirmed the partial mediating role of doubt. Conclusion Despite the efficacy shown by both metacognitive therapies and antipsychotics, it seems that they not only reduce pathological confidence, but can also affect other thoughts not linked to delirium. This effect of generalization of doubt in all thoughts negatively affected patients’ well-being and quality of life.
Left High and Dry: Deglaciation of Dogger Bank, North Sea, Recorded in Proglacial Lake Evolution

Reconstructions of palaeo-ice sheet retreat in response to climate warming using offshore archives can provide vital analogues for future ice-sheet behaviour. At the Last Glacial Maximum, Dogger Bank, in the southern North Sea, was covered by the Eurasian Ice Sheet. However, the maximum extent and behaviour of the ice sheet in the North Sea basin is poorly constrained. We reveal ice-marginal dynamics and maximum ice extent at Dogger Bank through sedimentological and stratigraphic investigation of glacial and proglacial lake sediments. We use a large, integrated subsurface dataset of shallow seismic reflection and geotechnical data collected during windfarm site investigation. For the first time, an ice stream is identified at Dogger Bank, based on preserved subglacial bedforms, eskers and meltwater channels. During ice-sheet advance, a terminal thrust-block moraine complex formed, whose crest runs approximately north-northeast to south-southwest. Subsequent ice stream shutdown caused stagnation of ice, and rapid retreat of the ice-sheet margin. The moraine complex, and outwash head from an adjacent ice-sheet lobe to the west, dammed a large (approximately 750 km2) proglacial lake. Subsequent sedimentation infilled the lake with 30 m of glacial outwash sediments. A lobate subaqueous fan formed at the ice-sheet margin, which thins towards the southeast with iceberg scours and ice-rafted debris at the base, and is onlapped by lake sediments calibrated to core as alternating clay and silt laminae, interpreted to be varves. The lake became isolated from the retreating ice-sheet margin, and ice-sheet retreat slowed. Sediment-laden meltwater was supplied to the ice-distal proglacial lake for c. 1500-2000 years. Subsequent ice-sheet retreat off Dogger Bank was more rapid due to the negative subglacial slope. The stepped retreat of rapid downwasting, slow retreat, and a final rapid phase off Dogger Bank occurred after the LGM at around 27 ka and before formation of a ribbon lake, dated previously to 23 ka and approximately 60 metres lower in elevation, formed to the north of Dogger Bank. The complicated stratigraphic architecture revealed through these data improves forecasting of ground conditions for turbine footings at Dogger Bank, an important step in the provision of clean, sustainable energy.
Modulating the Activity of MPFC With tDCS Alters Endowment Effect

Endowment effect – the observation that people appear to attach more value to possessions than non-possessions – has been replicated in numerous experimental studies. Previous neuroimaging studies revealed that the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) plays a role in the endowment effect. To assess the possibility of a direct causal relationship between the activity of MPFC and the endowment effect, we used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to transiently alter the neural activity in MPFC. Subsequently, in three stimulation treatments, we assessed the presence of the endowment effect, which was demonstrated by a disparity between willingness to accept (WTA) and willingness to pay (WTP). The results indicated that the participants demonstrated the endowment effect for a mug in the anodal and sham treatments, whereas no endowment effect was observed in the cathodal treatment. Similarly, endowment effect was observed for the other item (notebook) in the anodal treatment, whereas no endowment effect was observed in the sham and cathodal treatments. In addition, the participants tended to sell higher and buy lower after receiving anodal tDCS over MPFC and buy higher after receiving cathodal tDCS over MPFC. As a result, the present study demonstrated a direct causal relationship between the activity of MPFC and the endowment effect.
Photosynthetic and Respiratory Responses of Two Bog Shrub Species to Whole Ecosystem Warming and Elevated CO2 at the Boreal-Temperate Ecotone

Peatlands within the boreal-temperate ecotone contain the majority of terrestrial carbon in this region, and there is concern over the fate of such carbon stores in the face of global environmental changes. The Spruce and Peatland Response Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) facility aims to advance the understanding of how such peatlands may respond to such changes, using a combination of whole ecosystem warming (WEW; +0, 2.25, 4.5, 6.75 and 9 °C) and elevated CO2 (eCO2; +500 ppm) treatments in an intact bog ecosystem. We examined photosynthetic and respiration responses in leaves of two ericaceous shrub species--leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata (L.) Moench) and bog Labrador tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum (Oeder) Kron & Judd)--to the first year of combined eCO2 and WEW treatments at SPRUCE. We surveyed the leaf N content per area (Narea), net photosynthesis (AST) and respiration (RD25) at 25°C and 400 ppm CO2 and net photosynthesis at mean growing conditions (AGR) of newly emerged, mature and overwintered leaves. We also measured leaf non-structural carbohydrate content (NSC) in mature leaves. The effects of WEW and eCO2 varied by season and species, highlighting the need to accommodate such variability in modeling this system. In mature leaves, we did not observe a response to either treatment of AST or RD25 in R. groenlandicum, but we did observe a 50% decrease in AST of C. calyculata with eCO2. In mature leaves under eCO2, neither species had increased AGR and both had increases in NSC, indicating acclimation of photosynthesis to eCO2 may be related to source-sink imbalances of carbohydrates. Thus, productivity gains of shrubs under eCO2 may be lower than previously predicted for this site by models not accounting for such acclimation. In newly emerged leaves, AST increased with WEW in R. groenlandicum, but not C. calyculata. Overwintered leaves exhibited a decrease in RD25 for R. groenlandicum and in AST for C. calyculata with increasing WEW, as well as an increase of AGR with eCO2 in both species. Responses in newly emerged and overwintered leaves may reflect physiological acclimation or phenological changes in response to treatments.
Emergence and Characterization of a Novel IncP-6 Plasmid Harboring blaKPC–2 and qnrS2 Genes in Aeromonas taiwanensis Isolates

The dissemination of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPCs) among Gram-negative bacteria is an important threat to global health. However, KPC-producing bacteria from environmental samples are rarely reported. This study aimed to elucidate the underlying resistance mechanisms of three carbapenem-resistant Aeromonas taiwanensis isolates recovered from river sediment samples. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis indicated a close evolutionary relationship among A. taiwanensis isolates. S1-PFGE, Southern blot and conjugation assays confirmed the presence of blaKPC–2 and qnrS2 genes on a non-conjugative plasmid in these isolates. Plasmid analysis further showed that pKPC-1713 is an IncP-6 plasmid with a length of 53,205 bp, which can be transformed into DH5α strain and mediated carbapenems and quinolones resistance. The plasmid backbone of p1713-KPC demonstrated 99% sequence identity to that of IncP-6-type plasmid pKPC-cd17 from Aeromonas spp. and IncP-6-type plasmid: 1 from Citrobacter freundii at 74% coverage. A 14,808 bp insertion sequence was observed between merT gene and hypothetical protein in p1713-KPC, which include the quinolone resistance qnrS2 gene. Emergence of plasmid-borned blaKPC and qnrS2 genes from A. taiwanensis isolates highlights their possible dissemination into the environment. Therefore, potential detection of such plasmids from clinical isolates should be closely monitored.
Enterprise Social Networks as Digital Infrastructures - Understanding the Utilitarian Value of Social Media at the Workplace

ABSTRACT In this study, we first show that while both the perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment of enterprise social networks impact employees’ intentions for continuous participation, the utilitarian value significantly outpaces its hedonic value. Second, we prove that the network’s utilitarian value is constituted by its digital infrastructure characteristics: versatility, adaptability, interconnectedness and invisibility-in-use. The study is set within a software engineering company and bases on quantitative survey research, applying partial least squares structural equation modeling.
ASSOCIAÇÃO DE PROCESSO INFLAMATÓRIO SECUNDÁRIO À VENTILAÇÃO MECÂNICA EM PACIENTES COM PULMÕES NORMAIS

Objective: To compare the effects of a protective versus a conventional ventilatory strategy, on systemic and in lung production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-8 (IL8) in patients without lung disease. Design: Prospective control-randomized study. Setting: One trauma and one general adult intensive care unit of two different university hospitals. Patients: Twenty patients admitted to the intensive care unit without lung disease and submitted to mechanical ventilation. Interventions: Patients were randomized to receive mechanical ventilation either with tidal volume (VT) of 10-12 ml/kg ideal body weight (high VT group) or with VT of 5-7 ml/kg ideal body weight (low VT group) with an O2 inspiratory fraction (FIO2) enough to keep arterial oxygen saturation > 90% with positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) ≤ 5 cmH2O during 12 hours after admission to the study. Measurements and Results: TNF-α and IL-8 concentrations were measured in the blood and in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) at admission and after 12 hours of study observation time. At admission or after 12 hours there were no differences on blood TNF-α and IL-8 between the two groups. BAL TNF-α increase in the high VT group and decrease in the low VT group (p=NS). BAL IL-8 values increased in the high VT group and became greater than in the low VT group (41.00[10.50-210.00] pg/ml vs. 327.95[50.00-1000.00] pg/ml; p=0.016). Conclusion: A high VT strategy may induce mechanical ventilation lung injury even in
The Basic science of vascular surgery

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Drinking and crime : perspectives on the relationships between alcohol consumption and criminal behaviour

rehabilitation have proven to be ineffective responses to crime, attention should now be focused on the prevention of crime and reparation by offenders, in which community involvement would be of central significance. The success of many existing crime prevention initiatives makes heartening reading against the otherwise gloomy backcloth of current policies; so that the proposals for treating many minor crimes virtually as torts and developing mediation procedures in which the community would be involved, as a means of reconciling offender and victim, have much to commend them. Nor should such ideas be dismissed as unrealistic in view of the success of some American schemes. Sadly, however, regardless of the merits and viability of such radical ideas, which are well-argued and developed by the author, political, public and judicial attitudes to crime and punishment will probably override the persuasive rationality of the arguments presented in this book which, none the less, deserves to be widely read and debated. Adrian L. James University of Hull
Viral etiology in hospitalized children with acute respiratory tract infection in the Kegalle area of Sri Lanka

Abstract Acute respiratory tract infection (ARTI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide including Sri Lanka. This study was undertaken to determine the viral causes and clinical manifestations of ARTI in pre-school children (Age ≤ 3 years) from the Kegalle area of the Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPAs) from 98 children ≤ 3 years presenting with ARTI were tested by indirect (screening) and direct (typing) immunofluorescence assay for the presence of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza A and B, parainfluenza viruses 1, 2 and 3 and adenoviruses. A respiratory virus was detected in 32.3% of cases: RSV 90%, parainfluenza type 2 virus 6% and influenza virus 4%. Detection of RSV was associated with severe cases of bronchiolitis requiring hospitalization. These findings show the importance of viral pathogens in ARTI in pre-school children in Sri Lanka and highlight the diversity of viral pathogens detected in this age group.
Student experiences of problem-based learning inengineering: learning cultures of PBL teams

This study investigates the experiences of first year engineering students to a newly implemented engineering problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum at Victoria University; its effects on their approaches to learning and their learning outcomes. This qualitative study, which uses ethnographic approaches for data collection and analysis, focuses on the learning cultures that emerge in multicultural PBL teams by interpreting the responses of students to the new emphasis on autonomous learning. In the first year of the curriculum change in this PBL setting, this research captures and theorises student approaches to learning as a team and their learning outcomes by analysing the ways in which these students approach and direct their learning as individuals and as a team.
Comparative Analysis of a Retrospective Vs Prospective Study Ascertaining Spectrum of Renal Lesions: Experience of a Tertiary Care Teaching Centre in North India

The present study was undertaken over a period of thirteen years in two halves: 10 years retrospective and 3 years prospective at a single tertiary care centre in the northern part of India, so as to take make a comparison in the same area over a time period and also to over all take a glimpse into the pattern of the disease. Ten year retrospective data in this study showed that glomerulonephritis (57.55%) were the most common of the 172 renal lesions followed by chronic pyelonephritis on nephrectomy specimen (20.93%). Membranous glomerulonephritis (MG) was commonest glomerulopathy, accounting for 14.14% of all glomerulopathies. In the prospective study glomerulonephritis (78.39%) was the most common lesion. Similar to retrospective study, CPN on nephrectomy followed the glomerulopathies as the next most common renal lesion (10.55%). End stage renal disease (ESRD) was however the most common glomerulonephritis in the prospective study. The study thus concludes that ESRD along with CPN (both leading to dialysis dependant renal failure) continues be the major challenge to patients suffering from renal disorders. The incidence of dialysis dependant kidney has increased over the years.
The Education of Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students: Effective Instructional Practices - eScholarship

Linguistically and culturally diverse students find themselves in a vulnerable situation on entering U.S. schools. They can achieve academic success, however, when provided with appropriate instruction tailored to meet their specific needs. Recent research has documented effective instructional practices used with students from homes and communities where English is not the primary language of communication. These descriptive studies identified specific schools and classrooms whose language minority students were particularly successful academically. Studies included examination of preschool, elementary, and high school classrooms, and concentrated largely on Latino students. A number of common attributes were identified in the instructional organization of the classrooms studied: - functional communication between teacher and students and among fellow students was emphasized; - the instruction of basic skills and academic content was consistently organized around thematic units; - instruction was organized in such a way that students were required to interact with each other utilizing collaborative learning techniques; - students progressed systematically from writing in the native language to writing in English, making the transition without any pressure from the teacher to do so; - teachers were highly committed to the educational success of their students and served as student advocates; - principals were highly supportive of their instructional staff and supported teacher autonomy while maintaining an awareness of the need to conform to district policies on curriculum and academic accountability; - both Anglo and non-Anglo parents were involved in the formal parent support activities of the schools and expressed a high level of satisfaction with and appreciation for their children's educational experience in these schools.