Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adjunctive antipsychotic treatment of adolescents with bipolar psychosis.

BACKGROUND A combination of an antipsychotic medication and a mood stabilizer is often used for initial treatment of acute psychotic mania. However, the optimal duration of this adjunctive antipsychotic medication is unknown. METHOD As part of a lithium efficacy study, acutely manic adolescents with psychotic features were given open combination treatment with lithium and an adjunctive antipsychotic medication. If the psychosis resolved, the antipsychotic medication dose was gradually tapered and discontinued after 4 weeks of therapeutic lithium levels. The subject was then given a trial of maintenance lithium monotherapy for up to 4 weeks. RESULTS Significant improvement was seen in 64% of the sample with psychotic features after 4 weeks of combination treatment. However, few maintained their response after discontinuation of the antipsychotic medication. Successful discontinuation of antipsychotic medication in this sample was associated with first episode, shorter duration of psychosis, and the presence of thought disorder at baseline. CONCLUSIONS Adjunctive antipsychotic medication needs to be maintained for longer than 4 weeks in the vast majority of adolescents with psychotic mania, even though the manic and psychotic symptoms have resolved and lithium treatment is maintained. Future studies to determine the optimal duration of adjunctive antipsychotic medication treatment are warranted.
The sites of origin of dopaminergic afferent fibers to the lateral habenular nucleus in the rat

The lateral habenular nucleus of the rat contains a dense plexus of dopaminergic fibers, which are more marked in the medial part of the lateral habenular nucleus than in its lateral counterpart. Employing a combination of fluorescent retrograde axonal tracing with fluorogold and tyrosine hydroxylase immunofluorescence histochemistry, we investigated the distribution of cells of origin of the dopaminergic afferent fibers to the lateral habenular nucleus in the rat. The cells double‐labeled with both fluorogold injected into the lateral habenular nucleus and tyrosine hydroxylase antisera were seen in a variety of fore‐ and midbrain regions, including the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, medial preoptic area, periventricular, ventromedial, and dorsomedial hypothalamic nuclei, ventral tegmental area, interfascicular nucleus, substantia nigra pars compacta, ventrolateral division of the midbrain periaqueductal gray, and dorsal raphe nucleus. The double‐labeled cells were located bilaterally with an ipsilateral predominance, and constituted approximately 10% of the total fluorogold‐positive cell population. We have further observed by anterograde axonal tracing with Phaseolus vulgaris–leucoagglutinin that projection fibers arising from the sites of origin of the dopaminergic afferent fibers to the lateral habenular nucleus terminate mainly in the medial part of the lateral habenular nucleus, and to a lesser extent in its lateral conterpart.
Rethinking the Concept of User Involvement

Within the field of information systems, user involvement generally refers to participation in the systems development process by potential users of their representatives and is measured as a set of behaviors or activities that such individuals perform. This article argues for a separation of the constructs of user participation (a set of behaviors or activities performed by users in the system development process) and user involvement (a subjective psychological state reflecting the importance and personal relevance of a system to the user). Such a distinction is not only more consistent with conceptualizations of involvement found in other disciplines, but it also leads to a number of new and interesting hypotheses. These hypotheses promise a richer theoretical network that describes the role and importance of participation and involvement in the implementation process.
Finger force computation for manipulation of an object by a multifingered robot hand

The authors present an efficient computational procedure to determine the finger force of a three-fingered robot hand in object manipulation. They first define initial grasping force as the force needed to hold a massless object. Then grasping force and contact normal during manipulation are determined from initial grasping force and initial contact normal by tracking the object displacement. Manipulation force, the finger force required to manipulate an object and to compensate for object weight, is computed by the generalized matrix inverse method. Optimal internal force, when necessary, is determined from the grasping force during manipulation without explicitly solving the optimization problem. The computational burden for determining finger force is less than that of previous methods. <<ETX>>
Doing Systems Development – A Pragmatist Take on the Learning of Engineers

Systems development of wind turbine control is competitive with respect to innovation, time and cost. So how can learning possibly occur under such circumstances? Dewey’s pragmatist approach to learning is adopted, emphasising reciprocity between the systems developer’s individual experience and the sociotechnical practice. The framework involves the concepts of sociotechnical practice, anchoring of indeterminate situation, and strip of doings towards determinate situation. An ethnographic study was made of four cases of systems development and learning do occur in the cases, enabled by converging anchoring of the indeterminate situation and the systems developers different experience. However, an extreme case reveals initiated learning processes and that the interchanges between materiality of the artefacts and systems developers block the learning processes due to a customer with imprecise demands and unclear system specifications. The specific contribution of the paper is the understanding of the individual systems developer’s learning, complemented with the possibility for collective learning and the mechanisms of blocked or derailed learning processes. The practical implications are that managers of systems development should ensure that constitutive means are present, and specifications, are sufficiently obdurate. Too ductile means, such as customers with unclear demands, can block or derail learning processes
Long-term survival and outcome of patients originally given Mycobacterium vaccae for metastatic malignant melanoma

Background: The long-term prognosis of patients with stage IV AJCC melanoma is extremely poor. We have previously published short-term clinical outcome and immunological responses to a heat killed Mycobacterium vaccae-based vaccine. Results: In this study we report on a better than expected long-term survival (3-y DSS 29·6%, 5-y, and 7-y DSS both 23·9%) relative to historical controls in the patients who received the vaccine in these trials, published in 1999 and 2003. Although the complete or partial response was only 10%, it was the remarkable response to other interventions upon relapse, such as surgery and radiotherapy followed by stable disease that was previously unexpected. Methods: We reviewed the outcome of 72 patients who were treated with M. vaccae for metastatic melanoma between January 1996 and July 2004. Conclusion: Given this remarkable outcome in stage IV metastatic melanoma and its lack of toxicity we propose that this would make a promising candidate for randomized trials for stage III fully resected melanoma.
Birth Environments: A Woman's Choice in the 21st Century

A woman has many important decisions to make once discovering a pregnancy. One of those decisions with significant implications is where the birth will take place. The primary consideration for the majority of pregnant women when making a decision about birth environment is safety. However, other factors such as attitudes of family and friends, religious reasons, and confidence in the body's ability to give birth play a factor in the choice of birth environment. It is recommended that birth attendants use the process of shared decision making to assist pregnant women in making choices related to the birth environment. This process empowers the pregnant woman and provides a woman-centered and evidence-based approach to choices related to obstetrical care.
Hosting Sponsor for iWON ’ 13

A flexible optical node architecture employing software-defined modulation-flexible universal transceivers is presented for beyond 100G flexible grid optical networks. Hitless spectrum defragmentation using synchronous bandwidth-variable WSS control is supported for inservice resource optimization. 1. Flexible optical node architecture employing modulation-flexible shared universal transceivers In flexible grid optical networks [1], the optical frequency spectrum is flexibly allocated in integer multiples of the minimum spectrum granularity (slot size) to satisfy heterogeneous spectrum requirement due to mixed-rate (e.g. 100G, 400G and beyond), multi-level modulation (e.g. QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM etc.) signals. In these networks, the optical nodes can make flexible software-controlled adjustments to the transmission schemes based on both client bandwidth requirements and network conditions. An illustrative example is shown in Fig. 1: to accommodate longhaul signals, the transceiver can be configured to a relatively wide-band transmission scheme employing a highly noise-tolerant modulation scheme that is suitable for long-haul transmissions (e.g. QPSK). For short-haul signals, the transceiver can be configured to a transmission scheme that is suitable for short-haul transmissions and features high frequency utilization efficiency, but is not very noise tolerant (e.g. 16QAM). A flexible optical node architecture supporting such flexible-rate, distance-adaptive transport is shown in Fig. 2. Universal transceivers are consolidated into a transceiver pool for efficient resource utilization. A crossconnect switch fabric is located between client cards and the transceiver pool. Using this architecture, a client card can flexibly select a software-defined universal transceivers configuration that is most suitable for the client signal’s rate and reach. The optical signals from/to universal transceivers are multiplexed/demultiplexed and switched from/to proper input/output optical fibers through a color-less, direction-less, contention-less and grid-less (CDCG) ROADM. One major advantage of this node architecture is the efficient utilization of universal transceivers through sharing. Under dynamic traffic, it can achieve about 20% improvement in transceiver utilization efficiency [2] compared to a conventional node architecture without a transceiver pool. Flexible grid WDM optical network Flexible optical switch node Short-haul A few 100 km Long-haul Greater than 1000 km Universal optical transceiver Universal optical transceiver Universal optical transceiver Software-side adjustment of transmission routes and wavelength slot on an optical switch node 16QAM QPSK Reconfiguration by Software
Control Design in Mechatronic Systems Using Dynamic Emulation of Mechanical Loads

The paper presents and analyses rapid prototyping methods for the dynamic emulation of mechanical loads. Actual system (prototype) is replaced by the torque controlled electromechanical load, for which the required torque is calculated through the closed-loop nonlinear control algorithm. The load is connected mechanically to the drive shaft, using the clutch. Two methods are presented and compared. Also possible applications in the control design for variable speed and torque drives are described.
Systemic effects of surgical intervention on disease activity, daily function, and medication in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Objectives: Although tight control of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been achieved through the development of effective medication, surgical intervention is still required for a certain subpopulation of patients. To examine the systemic effects of orthopaedic surgery, we evaluated improvements in disease activity, daily function, and medication after surgery. Method: A prospective cohort study was conducted in 196 cases of elective orthopaedic surgery in 150 patients with RA from January 2011 to March 2014 in our institution. The 28-joint count Disease Activity Score based on erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR) and modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (mHAQ) scores just before surgery and at 6 and 12 months after surgery were examined prospectively. Concomitant medications were also investigated. Results: Significant improvement was seen in the DAS28-ESR and mHAQ scores for replacement surgery in both the upper and lower extremities, and for arthroplasty/arthrodesis in the upper extremities at the 12-month follow-up. Partial mHAQ scores for the lower extremities were significantly reduced in lower replacement surgery, and partial mHAQ scores for the upper extremities were significantly reduced in upper arthroplasty/arthrodesis surgery. Although the use of conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) did not decrease after surgery, the dose of prednisolone (PSL) decreased significantly at 12 months after surgery, especially in the well-controlled group and in surgical procedures in the lower extremities. Conclusions: Elective orthopaedic surgery improves both systemic disease activity and general functional impairment. Orthopaedic surgery is effective in reducing the amount of medication required postoperatively.
Forthcoming : Journal of Applied Corporate Finance WHICH CAPITALISM ? LESSONS FROM THE EAST ASIAN CRISIS

As a result of the Asian crisis, relationship-based systems are now under attack for being inefficient and corrupt. Yet, till recently, they were proposed as an alternative form of capitalism to the arm’s length Anglo-Saxon system. What went wrong? This paper suggests that relationship-based systems work well when contracts are poorly enforced and capital scarce. Power relationships substitute for contracts, and can achieve better outcomes than a primitive contractual system. But a relationship-based system suppresses the price system and the signals it provides. As a result, relationship-based systems can misallocate capital when presented with large external capital inflows. Since the external capital comes from arm’s length investors who typically have little contractual rights or power in a relationship system, and since these investors are rationally aware of the potential for misallocation, they keep their powder dry by keeping their claims short term. Thus, the contact between the two systems creates a fragile hybrid, which while mutually beneficial to relationship borrowers and arm’s length investors in normal times, is excessively prone to shocks. The paper suggests that while there may be some short term benefits for these economies to revert to the pure relationship-based system, in the long run they will be held back unless they have the greater disclosure, contract enforcement, and competition of the arm’s length system. The current Asian crisis may be the most opportune moment for these economies to effect the transition between systems.
Bronchial hyper‐responsiveness and atopy in urban, peri‐urban and rural South African children

Twenty years ago, the prevalence of atopic sensitization and bronchial hyper‐responsiveness (BHR) in Xhosa children in a rural location in South Africa was very low. The aim of this study was to document the current prevalence of these two indices by comparing traditional rural Xhosa children, recently urbanized Xhosa children and established city white children, and to consider factors that may account for the observed increase in all of these groups. One thousand four hundred and fifty‐seven school children aged 10–14 years from the rural Transkei, from a recently urbanized peri‐urban area and from urban Cape Town areas were studied using a questionnaire. Four hundred and eighteen children had histamine challenges, and 492 tests for atopy were also conducted. As determined by bronchial challenge with histamine, 17% of rural and 34.4% of recently urbanized Xhosa children had increased BHR, a marked increase from the 0.03% and 3.17% prevalence of increased BHR previously found using the exercise challenge. The prevalence of increased BHR in white urban children was 33%. Sensitization to one or more aero‐allergens, as indicated by CAP RAST tests, was present in 36.6% of the rural Xhosa children with normal BHR and in 62.5% of those with increased BHR, a striking increase from that of previous studies. Atopic sensitization to one or more aero‐allergens, as indicated by a skin prick test (SPT), was found in 42.3% of the recently urbanized Xhosa children and 45% of urbanized white children. We have also documented sensitization to house dust mites in the rural Xhosa children for the first time. Passive cigarette smoking was not identified as a risk factor for increased BHR or atopy. Wood smoke in the indoor environment did not play a role in the rural Xhosa children's BHR. Ascaris infection does not appear to play any modifying role in the development of increased BHR in the rural or urban children. We have found that increases in BHR in the rural and recently urbanized Xhosa children develop independently of increases in atopy. Our results challenge the ‘hygiene’ hypothesis as a complete explanation for the recent dramatic worldwide increases in allergic diseases.
21 Influence of Fungicide Residues in Wine Quality

The cultivation of grapes may be regarded as the oldest and most relevant food sector of the world from 6000 years ago as well as the enology. During the 70s, the world's wine production was growing reaching 10.2 million Ha. Since the 80s, the planted area has decreased due to the excess of wine in the world market and the consequent eradication of vineyards has happened (-21%) reaching a total area of 7.92 million Ha in 2001 and keeping constant, though with small fluctuations in recent years (OIV, 2006). An estimated 57% of grape world production is used for winemaking, considering an average annual consumption of about 40 l of wine per person. The vast acreage used by vineyards and climatic conditions have led to a suitable habitat for the development of large number of pests, not only responsible for the decrease in crop yield but even for the total loss itself. Control of pests and diseases of the vine is one of the pillars that must underpin profitable wine production. It should be firstly pointed out Lepidoptera (Lobesia botrana and Clysia ambigüella) and secondly the cryptogamic ones, especially powdery and mildew, and finally rot, especially the acidic and noble ones, among the major pests (insects, mites and nematodes) and diseases (fungi) affecting the cultivation of the vine (Coscollá, 1992; MAPA, 1992; Carrero, 1996). The defense of the wine producer against this situation sometimes results in abuses which produce the presence of pesticide residues in grapes as consequence and eventually in must and wine, though the type of wine-making and its stages may influence on their disappearance. In modern agriculture, considering that organic farming is in continuous expansion, one can hardly do without the use of synthetic plant protection products to ensure a regular and substantial production of quality.
Word-of-Mouth on Microblogs : A Cross-cultural Content Analysis of Twitter and Weibo

This research studies microblogging as word-of-mouth communication from a cross-cultural perspective. It compares microblogging contents on Twitter in the US and Weibo in China. After coding microblogs on four smart-phone brands in a month period for their content categories, the author computed the relation between the proportional occurrence of each category and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The results indicate, across cultures, consumers mostly use microblogs to share brandcentral information and entertaining messages. However, cultural values, in significant ways, moderate specific types of contents consumers share on microblogs. Implications for application of microblogging in marketing communication and future research into eWOM content are discussed.
Effects of Different Accentuated Eccentric Loads on Acute Neuromuscular, Growth Hormone, and Blood Lactate Responses During a Hypertrophic Protocol

Ojasto, T and Häkkinen, K. Effects of different accentuated eccentric loads on acute neuromuscular, growth hormone, and blood lactate responses during a hypertrophic protocol. J Strength Cond Res 23(3): 946-953, 2009-This study monitored acute neuromuscular responses and growth hormone (GH) and blood lactate (La) concentrations in the eccentric-concentric (ECC-CON) hypertrophic protocol by using various dynamic accentuated external resistance (DAER) loads in the bench press exercise. Male subjects (age = 32 ± 4 years; n = 11) performed 4 sets of 10 repetitions with 2 minutes of recovery between the sets. The loads were 70, 80, 90, and 100% of 1 repetition maximum (RM) for the ECC phase, whereas 70% RM was constantly used for the CON phase. Electromyographic activity (EMG), ECC, CON, and isometric (ISOM) forces, serum GH and blood La, were measured at pre- and postloading. Significant reductions occurred in ISOM and CON pre- to postforces in all loading conditions (p < 0.01 − 0.001). Pre- to postchange in blood La in the 90/70% condition (9.5 ± 2.3 mmol·L−1) was greater (p < 0.05) than in the control 70/70% condition (7.7 ± 1.1 mmol·L−1). The highest individual pre- to postchange in blood La was larger after the 90/70% (p < 0.001) condition compared with the 70/70% condition. The post-GH concentration in the 90/70% loading was 8.7 ± 1.9 μg·L−1 and−1 in the abstract. --> 3.5 ± 1.5 μg·L−1 in the control condition, but the difference did not reach statistical significance. ECC EMG of the agonists increased with the increase in load but significantly only in the deltoid anterior (p < 0.01). A significant relationship was observed between the “optimal” ECC load and 1RM per body mass (BM)-ratio (r = 0.85; p < 0.05). The findings suggest that the acute metabolic and GH responses in the 90/70% condition were more favourable compared with the 70/70% condition, and a significant correlation between the optimal ECC load and 1RM per BM-ratio was observed. The findings can be applied into practice in designing exercise protocols in training for muscle hypertrophy and suggest the importance of individualized load selection for DAER exercises.