Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing and Investigating Clinicians’ Research Interests: Lessons on Expanding Practices and Data Collection in a Large Practice Research Network

Conducted in naturalistic settings, practice-oriented research (POR) is aimed at building stronger connections between the science and practice of psychotherapy. Promoting the principles of POR, this article has 2 aims: (a) presenting the results of a survey assessing the interests of members of a large practice research network in topics that could guide future research conducted as part of clinical routine, and (b) describing difficulties in implementing a study in line with such interests. Despite the significant interest in and perceived clinical significance of two relationship constructs (alliance and countertransference), there were unique obstacles faced in their empirical investigation within an already operationally functional practice research network. Challenges in this process included resource-related difficulties (such as changes in staff and the time required to set up the study and administer the measures), logistics-related issues, and effectively incorporating the assessment procedure into an existing clinical system. The article also describes strategies to address these obstacles, with differing degrees of success, including the role of a “local champion” at each site, the importance of a personal/professional relationship between the researcher and participating centers, as well as the pragmatic assistance to sites during the preparation, coordination, and implementation process (e.g., providing templates and feedback on institutional review board applications, and technological assistance on how to incorporate the measures into existing center software). The article concludes with general recommendations and future directions for POR.
Title of the paper : “ Climate Variability and Predictability of West African Droughts

The Sahel region of West Africa experienced one of the strongest signals of decadal variability and trends in the recent global climate records: a dramatic drought which occurred in the 1970's and 1980's following wet periods in the 1950's and 1960's. Most studies agree that this drought was primarily due to the remote effects of sea surface temperature anomalies amplified by local land surface atmospheric interactions. Sahelian rain is a component of the West African monsoon (WAM). Many efforts have been made over the last 10 years to better understand and predict WAM’s variability at seasonal to decadal timescales. This is vitally important in a region where economies largely depend on rain-fed agriculture and hydropower. Major international projects have provided contributions to a deeper knowledge of the West African climate. Analyses of simulations by the present generations of coupled climate models (CMIP5) have provided additional insight on WAM and its variability. The present paper focuses on advances made during the last decade in the role of sea surface temperature (SST) variability on WAM dynamics. Improvements of seasonal and decadal prediction systems are also addressed. The importance of land surface/atmosphere feedback processes on WAM is discussed. Given the devastating societal impacts of the Sahel drought in the 1970s and the 1980s, the future evolution of droughts is of great interest for stakeholders and policy makers. A review of the principal international initiatives and projects on WAM is also included.
Respiratory Function and Respiratory Muscle Strength in Patients with Male Osteoporosis Without Kyphosis

Objective: In this study, we investigated the effect of osteoporosis on pulmonary function and respiratory muscle strength in patients with male osteoporosis with mild vertebral compression fracture, but without kyphosis or vertebral fracture. Materials and Methods: Thirty-four men with primary osteoporosis and 17 healthy men, matched for age and weight, were evaluated. Body mass index, tobacco smoking, and degree of vertebral compression were recorded, and values for forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), forced expiratory flow (FEF), maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV), maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP), and maximum expiratory pressure (MEP) were determined. Results: Although no significant differences in the results of pulmonary function tests between the patients and control groups were noted, the values for MIP (p=0.015) and MEP (p=0.008) were significantly lower in the osteoporotic subjects. No difference in respiratory function was noted in the subjects with compression fractures when compared to those without fractures. Conclusion: In conclusion, we thought that osteoporosis may affect respiratory function in male patients with osteoporosis, even without kyphosis. Turk J Phys Med Rehab 2010;56:49-51.
Introduction of Extensive Reading to Japanese University Students: A Case Study

This exploratory study investigated the effectiveness of extensive reading (ER) on the development of Japanese university students’ reading rate and their beliefs and attitudes towards reading English texts. In the second semester of 2010, ninety-five Japanese university students read graded readers outside the class and submitted weekly reports online for four months. Pretests and posttests of reading rates were administered according to their reading levels. Questionnaires on the participants’ beliefs and attitudes towards reading English texts were also given. T-tests were conducted to compare the means of the reading rates and questionnaire items. The results did not show a statistically significant improvement in their reading rate. However, we were able to identify a significant increase in the participants’ beliefs about their ability in reading fluency through ER.
Smartphone-Based Indoor Localization within a 13th Century Historic Building

Within this work we present an updated version of our indoor localization system for smartphones. The pedestrian’s position is given by means of recursive state estimation using a particle filter to incorporate different probabilistic sensor models. Our recently presented approximation scheme of the kernel density estimation allows to find an exact estimation of the current position, compared to classical methods like weighted-average. Absolute positioning information is given by a comparison between recent Wi-Fi measurements of nearby access points and signal strength predictions. Instead of using time-consuming approaches like classic fingerprinting or measuring the exact positions of access points, we use an optimization scheme based on a set of reference measurements to estimate a corresponding Wi-Fi model. This work provides three major contributions to the system. The most essential contribution is the novel state transition based on continuous walks along a navigation mesh, modeling only the building’s walkable areas. The localization system is further updated by incorporating a threshold-based activity recognition using barometer and accelerometer readings, allowing for continuous and smooth floor changes. Within the scope of this work, we tackle problems like multimodal densities and sample impoverishment (system gets stuck) by introducing different countermeasures. For the latter, a simplification of our previous solution is presented for the first time, which does not involve any major changes to the particle filter. The goal of this work is to propose a fast to deploy localization solution, that provides reasonable results in a high variety of situations. To stress our system, we have chosen a very challenging test scenario. All experiments were conducted within a 13th century historic building, formerly a convent and today a museum. The system is evaluated using 28 distinct measurement series on four different test walks, up to 310 m length and 10 min duration. It can be shown, that the here presented localization solution is able to provide a small positioning error, even under difficult conditions and faulty measurements. The introduced filtering methods allow for a real fail-safe system, while the optimization scheme enables an on-site setup-time of less then 120 min for the building’s 2500 m2 walkable area.
Case Studies: Contracture and Stiff Joint Management with Dynasplint™*

This study investigated the efficacy of using Dynasplint LPS® (low, prolonged-stretch) devices for restoring range of motion in cases where either immobilization stiffness or an established contracture had developed at the elbow or knee. Patients treated with Dynasplint, a force adjustable device for use in clinic and at home and capable of providing low levels of force over prolonged periods of time, resulted in a 61% additional increase in range of motion at the elbow or knee in 13 case studies in spite of the fact that 9 of the 13 subjects had already undergone previous and, oftentimes, intensive physical therapy programs designed for the same purpose of restoring range of motion. Dynasplint knee and elbow devices were found to be highly effective and efficient tools for speeding recovery from immobilization stiffness and to correct established contractures in 13 subjects who had suffered elbow fractures (8), knee fractures (2), surgeries (2), and a stroke (1).
Traumatic vein of Labbe hemorrhagic infarction—clinical profile and outcome analysis -

International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health | 2016 | Vol 5 | Issue 02 252 International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health Online 2016. © 2016 Sunil Munakomi. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license. Research Article
Bidirectional Cause–Effect Relationship Between Urinary Interleukin-6 and Mood, Irritation, and Mental Activity in a Breast Cancer Survivor

This “integrative single-case study” investigated the bidirectional cause and effect relations between various emotional states (i.e., mood, irritation, mental activity) and urinary IL-6 levels in a 49-year-old female breast cancer survivor (woman) under conditions of “life as it is lived. ” During a period of 28 days, the patient collected her entire urine in 12-h intervals for IL-6 measurement and completed each morning and evening a list of adjectives regarding mood, irritation, and mental activity (55 measurements in total). Autoregressive integrated moving average modeling revealed a 4-day (circasemiseptan) cycle in the IL-6 time series. Furthermore, cross-correlational analyses after controlling for serial dependencies (significance level: p < 0.05) showed that worsening in mood and increases in irritation were followed by increases in urinary IL-6 levels with temporal delays between 12 and 36 h. In the opposite direction of effect, increases in urinary IL-6 levels were followed by elevations in mood and mental activity as well as decreases in irritation with temporal delays between 48 and 72 h. These results from cross-correlational analyses suggest that IL-6 may have a regulatory function in psychoneuroimmunological interplay and that, under certain conditions, IL-6 may be involved in health rather than sickness behavior. Moreover, the findings of this study are indicators of real-life negative feedback loops and are in line with psychoneuroimmunological research postulating complex brain-to-body-to-brain network-like structures.
ROTATION OF CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS DURING ERUPTION

Understanding the connection between coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and their interplanetary counterparts (ICMEs) is one of the most important problems in solar-terrestrial physics. We calculate the rotation of erupting field structures predicted by numerical simulations of CME initiation via the magnetic breakout model. In this model, the initial potential magnetic field has a multipolar topology and the system is driven by imposing a shear flow at the photospheric boundary. Our results yield insight on how to connect solar observations of the orientation of the filament or polarity inversion line (PIL) in the CME source region, the orientation of the CME axis as inferred from coronagraph images, and the ICME flux rope orientation obtained from in situ measurements. We present the results of two numerical simulations that differ only in the direction of the applied shearing motions (i.e., the handedness of the sheared-arcade systems and their resulting CME fields). In both simulations, eruptive flare reconnection occurs underneath the rapidly expanding sheared fields transforming the ejecta fields into three-dimensional flux rope structures. As the erupting flux ropes propagate through the low corona (from 2 to 4 R☉) the right-handed breakout flux rope rotates clockwise and the left-handed breakout flux rope rotates counterclockwise, in agreement with recent observations of the rotation of erupting filaments. We find that by 3.5 R☉ the average rotation angle between the flux rope axes and the active region PIL is approximately 50°. We discuss the implications of these results for predicting, from the observed chirality of the pre-eruption filament and/or other properties of the CME source region, the direction and amount of rotation that magnetic flux rope structures will experience during eruption. We also discuss the implications of our results for CME initiation models.
Induction of Apoptosis in Toxoplasma gondii Infected Hela Cells by Cisplatin and Sodium Azide and Isolation of Apoptotic Bodies and Potential Use for Vaccination against Toxoplasma gondii

Background: Toxoplasma gondii can infect a wide range of mammalians, especially humans. It controls several intracellular signals for the inhibition of apoptosis. This study aimed to investigate the apoptogenic effect of cisplatin and sodium azide on T. gondii infected HeLa cells and isolate apoptotic bodies (blebs) as a potent stimulator of the immune system. Methods: The cytotoxic properties of cisplatin and sodium azide (NaN3) on HeLa cells were evaluated by MTT assay. Moreover, the apoptogenic activity of cisplatin and NaN3 was studied using flow cytometry (Annexin V/PI double staining) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Finally, apoptotic bodies were separated by centrifugation. Results: MTT assay data showed that the survival rate of cells treated with different concentration of NaN3 was significantly reduced, compared to negative control groups. Concerning cisplatin, only concentration of 20 μM had not a significant impact on the cell viability; however, the other concentration of cisplatin significantly reduced cell viability, compared to negative control groups. The level of early apoptosis in uninfected HeLa cells was higher compared to infected HeLa cells treated with cisplatin and NaN3. Finally, apoptotic bodies were separated from T. gondii infected HeLa cells treated with cisplatin. Conclusion: Apoptosis was induced in both uninfected and infected HeLa cells with T. gondii and apoptotic bodies were isolated from infected cells. Therefore, further studies on apoptotic bodies are required in order to find a proper candidate for vaccine preparation against T. gondii infections.
Estimating health opportunity costs in low-income and middle-income countries: a novel approach and evidence from cross-country data

The economic evaluation of healthcare interventions requires an assessment of whether the improvement in health outcomes they offer exceeds the improvement in health that would have been possible if the additional resources required had, instead, been made available for other healthcare activities. Therefore, some assessment of these health opportunity costs is required if the best use is to be made of the resources available for healthcare. This paper provides a framework for generating country-specific estimates of cost per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted ‘thresholds’ that reflect health opportunity costs. We apply estimated elasticities on mortality, survival, morbidity and a generic measure of health, DALYs, that take account of measures of a country’s infrastructure and changes in donor funding to country-specific data on health expenditure, epidemiology and demographics to determine the likely DALYs averted from a 1% change in expenditure on health. The resulting range of cost per DALY averted ‘threshold’ estimates for each country that represent likely health opportunity costs tend to fall below the range previously suggested by WHO of 1–3× gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The 1–3× GDP range and many other previous and existing recommendations about which interventions are cost-effective are not based on an empirical assessment of the likely health opportunity costs, and as a consequence, the health effects of changes in health expenditure have tended to be underestimated, and there is a risk that interventions regarded as cost-effective reduce rather than improve health outcomes overall.
Phytotoxic and Antibacterial Activity of Essential Oil of New Peppermint Cultivar

A new menthol cultivar of Mentha x piperita L. bred in East Slovakia was evaluated for the biological activity of its essential oils (EOs). The content and composition of the EO components changed during plant development and the different effects of samples collected each month (April - September) within the growing season were noted. EOs are considered to be an important source of potential allelochemicals. Changes in EO composition influenced phytotoxic activity. Stimulation and inhibition of seed germination and root elongation occurred with different EO concentrations. The four tested bacterial strains presented different resistance to the samples collected in different growing periods.
EFHB is a Novel Cytosolic Ca2+ Sensor That Modulates STIM1-SARAF Interaction

Background/Aims: STIM1 and Orai1 are the key components of store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE). Among the proteins involved in the regulation of SOCE, SARAF prevents spontaneous activation of SOCE and modulates STIM1 function. Methods: Cytosolic Ca2+ mobilization was estimated in fura-2-loaded cells using an epifluorescence inverted microscope. STIM1 interaction with Orai1, EFHB (EF-hand domain family member B, also known as CFAP21) and SARAF was detected by immunoprecipitation followed by Western blotting using specific antibodies. The involvement of EFHB in the translocation of NFAT to the nucleus was detected by confocal microscopy. Results: Here, we report the identification of EFHB as a new SOCE regulator. EFHB interacts with STIM1 upon store depletion and dissociates through a Ca2+-dependent mechanism. RNAi-mediated silencing as well as overexpression studies revealed that EFHB plays a relevant role in the interaction of STIM1 and Orai1 upon store depletion, the activation of SOCE and NFAT translocation from the cytosol to the nucleus. Silencing EFHB expression abolished the dissociation of SARAF from STIM1, which indicates that EFHB might play an important role in the dynamic interaction between both proteins, which is relevant for the activation of Orai1 channels upon Ca2+ store depletion and their subsequent modulation via slow Ca2+-dependent inactivation. Conclusion: Our results indicate that EFHB is a new SOCE regulator that modulates STIM1-SARAF interaction.
Identification of Affective State Change in Adults With Aphasia Using Speech Acoustics.

Purpose The current study aimed to identify objective acoustic measures related to affective state change in the speech of adults with post-stroke aphasia. Method The speech of 20 post-stroke adults with aphasia was recorded during picture description and administration of the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (Kertesz, 2006). In addition, participants completed the Self-Assessment Manikin (Bradley & Lang, 1994) and the Stress Scale (Tobii Dynavox, 1981-2016) before and after the language tasks. Speech from each participant was used to detect a change in affective state test scores between the beginning and ending speech. Results Machine learning revealed moderate success in classifying depression, minimal success in predicting depression and stress numeric scores, and minimal success in classifying changes in affective state class between the beginning and ending speech. Conclusions The results suggest the existence of objectively measurable aspects of speech that may be used to identify changes in acute affect from adults with aphasia. This work is exploratory and hypothesis-generating; more work will be needed to make conclusive claims. Further work in this area could lead to automated tools to assist clinicians with their diagnoses of stress, depression, and other forms of affect in adults with aphasia.
Influencing factors and health risk assessment of microcystins in the Yongjiang river (China) by Monte Carlo simulation

The Yongjiang river is a large, shallow, hyper-trophic, freshwater river in Guangxi, China. To investigate the presence of microcystin-RR, microcystin-LR, and microcystin-YR (MC-RR, MC-LR, and MC-YR) in the Yongjiang river and describe their correlation with environmental factors, as well as, assess health risk using Monte Carlo simulation, 90 water samples were collected at three sample points from March to December 2017. Results showed that during the monitoring period, total concentrations of MC-RR (TMC-RR), MC-YR (TMC-YR), and MC-LR (TMC-LR) varied from 0.0224 to 0.3783 μg/L, 0.0329 to 0.1433 μg/L, and 0.0341 to 0.2663 μg/L, respectively. Total phosphorus (TP) content appeared to be related to TMC-LR and the total concentrations of microcystins (TMCs), while pH and total nitrogen (TN)/TP ratio appeared to be related to TMC-RR and TMC-YR, respectively. Using the professional health risk assessment software @Risk7.5, the risks of dietary intake of microcystins (MCs), including the carcinogenic risk and non-carcinogenic risk, were evaluated. It was found that the carcinogenic risk of MC-RR from drinking water was higher than MC-LR and MC-YR, and the presence of MCs would lead to high potential health risks, especially in children. The carcinogenic risk of MC-RR to children was >1 × 10−4, the maximum allowance level recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency; as for adults, it was >5 × 10−5, the maximum allowance level recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. The non-carcinogenic hazard index (HI) of MC-RR, MC-YR, and MC-LR increased successively, indicating that MC-LR was more hazardous to human health than MC-YR and MC-RR, but its HI was <1. This suggests that MCs pose less risk to health. However, it is necessary to strengthen the protection and monitoring of drinking water source for effective control of water pollution and safeguarding of human health.
Fake science: The impact of pseudo-psychological demonstrations on people’s beliefs in psychological principles

Magicians use deception to create effects that allow us to experience the impossible. More recently, magicians have started to contextualize these tricks in psychological demonstrations. We investigated whether witnessing a magic demonstration alters people’s beliefs in these pseudo-psychological principles. In the classroom, a magician claimed to use psychological skills to read a volunteer’s thoughts. After this demonstration, participants reported higher beliefs that an individual can 1) read a person’s mind by evaluating micro expressions, psychological profiles and muscle activities, and 2) effectively prime a person’s behaviour through subtle suggestions. Whether he was presented as a magician or psychologist did not influence people’s beliefs about how the demonstration was achieved, nor did it influence their beliefs in pseudo-psychological principles. Our results demonstrate that pseudo-psychological demonstrations can have a significant impact on perpetuating false beliefs in scientific principles and raise important questions about the wider impact of scientific misinformation.