Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polymorphism of the 5′ flanking region of the IL-12 receptor β2 gene partially determines the clinical types of leprosy through impaired transcriptional activity

Background: Individual differences in T cell responsiveness to interleukin 12 (IL-12), resulting from inherited factors, may be responsible for differences in the intensity of cell mediated immune (CMI) responses in patients with leprosy, a disease with a wide clinical spectrum. Aim: Polymorphisms in the 5′ flanking region of the IL12RB2 gene were analysed to determine potential immunogenetic factors affecting CMI responses, using leprosy as a model. Methods: Polymorphisms in the 5′ flanking region of IL12RB2 were examined using direct sequencing techniques, and allele frequencies between patients with lepromatous leprosy and patients with tuberculoid leprosy were compared. The effect of these single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on IL12RB2 expression was estimated using the dual luciferase reporter gene assay in Jurkat T cells. Results: Several SNPs, including −1035A>G, −1023A>G, −650delG, and −465A>G, were detected within the 5′ flanking region of IL12RB2. The frequency of haplotype 1 (−1035A, −1023A, −650G, −464A) was high in the general Japanese population, but was significantly lower in lepromatous patients compared with tuberculoid patients and healthy controls. Reporter gene assays using Jurkat T cells revealed that all haplotypes carrying one or more SNP exhibited a lower transcriptional activity compared with haplotype 1. Conclusion: SNPs within the 5′ flanking region of IL12RB2 affect the degree of expression of this gene and may be implicated in individual differences in CMI responsiveness to mycobacterial antigens, leading to lepromatous or tuberculoid leprosy.
Increase of Intra-Abdominal Fat in Patients Treated with Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis

Objective To evaluate changes in amount and distribution of body fat in patients treated with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Design Prospective study. Computed tomography (CT) and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) were used for determination of body composition at commencement of CAPD, and after a mean of 7.2 months of dialysis treatment. Setting CAPD unit at an academic teaching hospital. Patients The study included 19 consecutive patients who started CAPD during a 15-month time frame. Of these 19 patients, 12 (8 males) with a mean initial age of 60 years completed the study. Main Outcome Measures Siemens Somatom HiQ (Erlangen, Germany) was used for CT of the abdomen and of the right thigh. Fat and muscle areas were expressed as square centimeters. The proportion of total fat mass was determined by body composition analysis using DEXA (DPX-L densitometer) (Lunar, Madison, WI, U.S.A.) and expressed as percentage of total body weight (FAT%). Results Body weight changed from 67.1 to 68.4 kg (p = 0.20), and the intra-abdominal fat area increased 22.8% (p = 0.02). This increase was predominantly seen in male patients (p = 0.007). The FAT% changed from 27.8% to 30.9% (p = 0.25), without difference between sexes. Conclusion The increase of intra-abdominal fat found in this study may suggest a mechanism by which the established risk for CAPD patients to develop cardiovascular morbidity and mortality may be at least partially explained.
Assessment of the environmental risk perceptions and environmental attitudes of nursing students

Purpose: This is a descriptive study examining nursing students’ perceptions of the environmental risks and their environmental attitudes. Methods: The study population comprised 2364 nursing students studying at universities in Istanbul in the fall semester of the 2012–2013 academic year. The sampling group was formed by 778 students which were selected by a stratified random sampling procedure. The data were collected using “The Student Personal Information Form”, “The Environmental Risk Perception Scale” and “The Environmental Attitudes Scale”. Findings: The students’ mean score on perceptions of environmental risk was 6.04 ± 0.81(min 2.56; max 7.00) and the mean score of their environmental attitudes was 4.02 ± 0.47(min 2.28; max 5.00). It was determined that factors such as gender, interest in environmental issues, endorsement of the college course on environment as necessary, and participation in an environmental activity and awareness of non-government environmental organizations affected the environmental risk perception and environmental attitudes. A moderate positive relationship (r = 0.366, p < .001) was found between the students’ environmental risk perceptions and their environmental attitudes. Conclusion: Effective environmental education should be planned at all stages of the nursing education.
Reliability of measurements obtained with the Timed "Up & Go" test in people with Parkinson disease.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Timed "Up & Go" Test (TUG) is used to measure the ability of patients to perform sequential locomotor tasks that incorporate walking and turning. This study investigated the retest reliability, interrater reliability, and sensitivity of scores obtained with the TUG in detecting changes in mobility in subjects with idiopathic Parkinson disease (PD). SUBJECTS The performance of 12 people with PD was compared with that of 12 age-matched comparison subjects without PD. METHODS The subjects with PD completed 5 trials of the TUG after withdrawal of levodopa for 12 hours ("off" phase of the medication cycle) as well as an additional 5 trials 1 hour after levodopa was administered ("on" phase of the medication cycle). They were scored on the Modified Webster Scale at both sessions. The comparison subjects also performed 5 TUG trials. All trials were videotaped and timed by 2 experienced raters. The videotape was later rated by 3 experienced clinicians and 3 inexperienced clinicians. RESULTS For the subjects with PD, within-session performance was highly consistent, with correlations (r) ranging from.80 to.98 for the "off" phase and from.73 to.99 for the "on" phase. The performance of the comparison subjects across the 5 trials was also highly consistent (r=.90-.97). Comparisons showed differences between trials 1 and 2 on the TUG for both groups. Removal of data for trial 1 (the practice trial) further enhanced retest reliability. There was close agreement in TUG scores among raters despite different levels of experience (intraclass correlation coefficient [3,1]=.87-.99). Mean TUG scores were different between the "on" and "off" phases of the levodopa cycle and between subjects with PD and comparison subjects during the "on" phase. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION Retest reliability and interrater reliability of the TUG measurements were high, and the measurements reflected changes in performance according to levodopa use. The TUG can also be used to detect differences in performance between people with PD and elderly people without PD.
Does Competition Only Impact on Insolvency Risk? New Evidence from the Chinese Banking Industry

The impact of competition on the risk-taking behavior has been examined extensively by the empirical research. However, most of the studies focused on European banking sector and there is no empirical study testing this issue with regards to Chinese banking industry. The current study contributes to the empirical literature by investigating the impact of competition on credit risk, liquidity risk, capital risk, security risk as well as insolvency risk in Chinese banking sector over the period 2003-2013. Three different bank ownership types are considered which are state-owned commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks and city commercial banks. The insolvency risk is cross checked by stability inefficiency and Z-score, which is supposed to provide the most accurate results. In order to check the robustness of the results, the competition is measured by Lerner index and cross checked by Panzar-Rosse H statistics. The empirical findings suggest that city commercial banks have the highest credit risk and security risk compared to joint-stock commercial banks and state-owned commercial banks, while the liquidity risk of state-owned commercial banks is the highest. In terms of the capital risk, it is found that city commercial banks is lower than state-owned commercial banks, while the findings suggest that the insolvency risk of state-owned commercial banks is higher than joint-stock commercial banks and city commercial banks. In addition, the results show that higher competition within each bank ownership type leads to higher credit risk, higher liquidity risk, higher capital risk, higher security risk but lower insolvency risk.
A neural reward prediction error revealed by a meta-analysis of ERPs using great grand averages.

Economic approaches to decision making assume that people attach values to prospective goods and act to maximize their obtained value. Neuroeconomics strives to observe these values directly in the brain. A widely used valuation term in formal learning and decision-making models is the reward prediction error: the value of an outcome relative to its expected value. An influential theory (Holroyd & Coles, 2002) claims that an electrophysiological component, feedback related negativity (FRN), codes a reward prediction error in the human brain. Such a component should be sensitive to both the prior likelihood of reward and its magnitude on receipt. A number of studies have found the FRN to be insensitive to reward magnitude, thus questioning the Holroyd and Coles account. However, because of marked inconsistencies in how the FRN is measured, a meaningful synthesis of this evidence is highly problematic. We conducted a meta-analysis of the FRN's response to both reward magnitude and likelihood using a novel method in which published effect sizes were disregarded in favor of direct measurement of the published waveforms themselves, with these waveforms then averaged to produce "great grand averages. " Under this standardized measure, the meta-analysis revealed strong effects of magnitude and likelihood on the FRN, consistent with it encoding a reward prediction error. In addition, it revealed strong main effects of reward magnitude and likelihood across much of the waveform, indicating sensitivity to unsigned prediction errors or "salience. " The great grand average technique is proposed as a general method for meta-analysis of event-related potential (ERP).
ED-based care coordination reduces costs for frequent ED users.

OBJECTIVES We evaluated a pilot quality improvement intervention implemented in an urban academic medical center emergency department (ED) to improve care coordination and reduce ED visits and hospitalizations among frequent ED users. STUDY DESIGN Randomized controlled trial. METHODS We identified the most frequent ED users in both the 30 days prior to the intervention and the 12 months prior to the intervention. We randomized the top 72 patients to receive either our pilot intervention or usual care. The intervention consisted of a community health worker who assisted patients with navigating care and identifying unmet social needs and an ED-based clinical team that developed interdisciplinary acute care plans for eligible patients. After 7 months, we analyzed ED visits, hospitalizations, and costs for the intervention and control groups. RESULTS We randomized 72 patients to the intervention (n = 36) and control (n = 36) groups. Patients randomized to the intervention group had 35% fewer ED visits (P = .10) and 31% fewer admissions from the ED (P = .20) compared with the control group. Average ED direct costs per patient were 15% lower and average inpatient direct costs per patient were 8% lower for intervention patients compared with control patients. CONCLUSIONS ED-based care coordination is a promising approach to reduce ED use and hospitalizations among frequent ED users. Our program also demonstrated a decrease in costs per patient. Future efforts to promote population health and control costs may benefit from incorporating similar programs into acute care delivery systems.
Return to the Preinjury Level of Competitive Sport After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Surgery

Background: An athlete’s desire to return to sport after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is a major indication for ACL reconstruction surgery. Typical clearance to return is 6 to 12 months postoperatively. Purpose: To investigate the return-to-sport rate and participation level of a large cohort at 12 months after ACL reconstruction surgery. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: Data were analyzed for 503 patients who participated in competitive-level Australian football, basketball, netball, or soccer after ACL reconstruction surgery using a quadruple-strand hamstring autograft. Inclusion criteria included participation in competitive sport before the ACL injury and clearance from the orthopaedic surgeon to return to sport postoperatively. Patients completed a self-report questionnaire regarding preoperative and postoperative sports participation and the Cincinnati Sports Activity Scale. The International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) knee evaluation form and hop tests were used to evaluate knee function. Results: Sixty-seven percent of patients attempted some form of sports activity by 12 months postoperatively; 33% attempted competitive sport. Of those who did not attempt any sports activity by 12 months, 47% indicated that they were planning to return. Men were significantly more likely than women to return. Patients who played sports with a seasonal competition, versus a year-round competition, were significantly more likely to return by 12 months. Patients with normal postoperative knee function (IKDC category A), versus those with nearly normal function (IKDC category B), were no more likely to return, but patients with good hop test results (≥85% limb symmetry index) were more likely to return than patients with poor results (<85%). Conclusion: People may require a longer postoperative rehabilitation period than that typically advocated to facilitate a successful return to competitive sport after ACL reconstruction surgery. The relationship between postoperative knee function and return-to-sport outcomes at 12 months after surgery was inconclusive.
Preoperative Oral Ondansetron for Pediatric Tonsillectomy

This prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluated the antiemetic efficacy of preoperative oral ondansetron, 0.075 mg/kg or 0.15 mg/kg, in 136 preadolescent children premedicated with midazolam 0.5 mg/kg per os and dexamethasone 0.1 mg/kg intravenously prior to undergoing tonsillectomy with isoflurane anesthesia. The incidence of vomiting during the 24 h after tonsillectomy was significantly reduced (P < 0.04) by ondansetron 0.15 mg/kg compared with placebo and ondansetron 0.075 mg/kg (15%, 38%, and 36%, respectively). There was a significant reduction (P < 0.03) in the mean number of vomiting episodes per patient during the 24 h immediately after tonsillectomy in the ondansetron 0.15 mg/kg group compared with the placebo and ondansetron 0.075 mg/kg study groups (0.2 +/- 0.6, 0.8 +/- 1.3, and 0.8 +/- 1.3, respectively). The need for antiemetic rescue therapy (ondansetron 0.15 mg/kg intravenously after three episodes of emesis prior to discharge) was significantly greater in children who received placebo compared with the ondansetron 0.15 mg/kg study group (13% vs 0%, P < 0.05). We conclude that ondansetron 0.15 mg/kg, administered orally prior to tonsillectomy, is associated with reduced postoperative vomiting in preadolescent children. In addition, the preoperative oral administration of ondansetron 0.075 mg/kg is no more effective than placebo in preventing posttonsillectomy vomiting in preadolescent children. (Anesth Analg 1996;82:558-62)
Incidence of near accidental drowsing in locomotive driving during a period of rotation.

The incidence of drowsings as a cause of near traffic accidents was studied on the basis of daily recordings or near accidental events by 288 locomotive drivers during a rotation period of 2-3 weeks. Of 198 near accidents reported during 2,290 trips, 34 cases, or 1,5 cases per 100 trips, were operation missess involving drowsing or strong drowsiness. Improper operation due to drowsing occurred at a certain rate for any group of drivers, irrespective of the type of train, running sections, weather, and other operative conditions such as train delays, whereas 117 cases of danger caused by unforeseen obstacles on the track were related to site characteristics, and 47 cases of other disorders were frequent in unusual operative conditions such as arrival-departure, poor signal display, wrong instructions, or equipment failure. Thus continued driving under ordinary track conditions at a more or less constant speed was likely to induce drowsiness under the dominant influences of fatigue and time of the day; 79% of such cases occurred between midnight and 6 a.m. Most drowsings on the second night appeared during the first 2-4 hr of duty. Effects of monotony and insufficient rest were discussed in relation to recurrent fluctuation in vigilance.
Can Social Capital Investment Reduce Poverty in Rural Indonesia

This study investigates the impact of social capital investment on the poverty of rural households in Indonesia using nationally representative datasets, namely Susenas 2012. Employing a logistic regression model to examine the effect of social capital on household poverty, this study tests whether the ownership of social capital reduces households’ probability of being poor. The analysis shows that the effect of social capital on decreasing the probability of a rural household being poor is higher than that of human capital. The findings imply that, compared to other factors, social capital is the most important in reducing household poverty. Therefore, government agencies, the private sector, and other stakeholders should encourage investment in households’ social capital to accelerate poverty reduction in Indonesia, complementary to other forms of “conventional” capital accumulation.
Identification of a Soluble, High-Affinity Salicylic Acid-Binding Protein in Tobacco

Salicylic acid (SA) is a key component in the signal transduction pathway(s), leading to the activation of certain defense responses in plants after pathogen attack. Previous studies have identified several proteins, including catalase and ascorbate peroxidase, through which the SA signal might act. Here we describe a new SA-binding protein. This soluble protein is present in low abundance in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) leaves and has an apparent molecular weight of approximately 25,000. It reversibly binds SA with an apparent dissociation constant of 90 nM, an affinity that is 150-fold higher than that between SA and catalase. The ability of most analogs of SA to compete with labeled SA for binding to this protein correlated with their ability to induce defense gene expression and enhanced resistance. Strikingly, benzothiadiazole, a recently described chemical activator that induces plant defenses and disease resistance at very low rates of application, was the strongest competitor, being much more effective than unlabeled SA. The possible role of this SA-binding protein in defense signal transduction is discussed.
Avoidable hospitalisation rates in Singapore, 1991–1998: assessing trends and inequities of quality in primary care

Study objectives: To assess avoidable hospitalisation as an indicator of quality of primary care by examining trends and gender and ethnic variations. Design and setting: Aggregated nationwide data in Singapore from 1991 to1998 were analysed for hospitalisations for chronic diseases that are avoidable by timely, appropriate, and effective primary care: asthma, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension (avoidable hospitalisations). Main results: Of a total of 1 479 494 hospitalisations, 6.7% were for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC). The annual rate of avoidable hospitalisation was 29.4 per 10 000 population. Women had lower rates of avoidable hospitalisations than men (22.4 versus 29.5 per 10 000), as well as for total hospitalisations (496.2 versus 515.5 per 10 000). Adjusted for total hospitalisation, men were 1.3 times more likely than women to be hospitalised for ACSC. With similar adjustments for baseline utilisation, Indian and Malays had 1.7 and 1.8 times higher rates of avoidable hospitalisations than Chinese. Avoidable hospitalisation decline was −9.1% overall; greater in men (−11.8%) than in women (−5.3%); greater for Chinese (−15.8%), than Malays (−1.1%) and Indians (increase of +4.3%). Conclusion: Gender and ethnic differences and declining trends in avoidable hospitalisation demonstrated in this study suggest that avoidable hospitalisation rates are a sensitive indicator for assessing quality of primary ambulatory care.
Development of the Implanted Devices Adjustment Scale

Advances in microelectronics have resulted in exponential growth in the number of implanted medical devices. Most people do well adjusting to their devices, but others show signs of depression and/or anxiety. The Implanted Device Adjustment Scale (IDAS) was developed to measure how well a person is adjusting to an implanted device. First, a pool of items was generated and reviewed by 2 panels of clinicians and psychometricians for content validity. The revised version was then administered to a small sample that provided information about problematic items. Finally, a convenience sample of 45 persons (66% males) with implanted devices (18 pacemakers only, 37 cardioverter/defibrillators) completed the revised IDAS twice. After deleting weak items, the Cronbach alpha was 0.90. No age, gender, or device differences were found. Test-retest reliability was 0.92. The IDAS may be useful to evaluate how well a person is adjusting to her/his device. This may lead to more timely and appropriate interventions to improve outcomes.
Epidemiologic Modeling to Evaluate Prevention of Mother‐Infant HIV Transmission in Ontario

&NA; To evaluate the impact of the Ontario HIV screening program to reduce mother‐infant HIV transmission, this study estimated the proportion of preventable transmissions that were prevented. Methods: Using an iterative spreadsheet model, incidences of HIV infection, AIDS, and AIDS mortality in Ontario women were estimated by exposure category. The number of HIV‐infected infants born to HIV‐infected mothers was then estimated from conception and abortion rates of HIV‐infected women of childbearing age and surveillance data. Finally, the proportion of HIV‐infected mothers who received antiretroviral prophylaxis (ARP) was assessed. Results: HIV prevalence in 2001 among women of childbearing age was 1.05 per 1000. From 1984‐2001, 764 infants were born to HIV‐infected mothers and 180 were infected. From mid‐1994‐2001, 214 (39%) of the estimated 544 HIV‐infected mothers were diagnosed; almost all received ARP. Of 118 preventable infections among infants born in this period, 39 (33%) were prevented. In 2001, only 46% of preventable infections were prevented and 11 preventable transmissions occurred. Conclusions: HIV prevalence among women in Ontario increased >4‐fold from 1990 to 2001. Fewer than half of HIV‐infected mothers received ARP and preventable HIV infections continue to occur. Measures to further increase uptake of prenatal HIV screening must be instituted.
An empirical study on patterns of failure causes in a mass-market operating system

In this paper we present an empirical study on patterns of operating system failure causes. We surveyed 566 computers and collected 7,007 real failures of operating systems. We found that 87.97+ of the failures were caused by faults related to software updating. We found strong evidences of autocorrelation among operating system failure causes, i.e., the same failure occurs multiple times successively and due to the same cause; or different failures occur simultaneously due to a common cause. Cross-correlation among different failure causes was also observed and discussed. We discovered 47 genuine patterns of operating system failure causes with 156,866 occurrences in the analyzed dataset.