Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS – A PRELIMINARY STUDY

SUMMARY The most severe effects of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are loss of physical function and chronic pain, which may have a major impact on different areas of the person’s existence. The aim of this study was to get an insight into the quality of life (QOL) in subjects with RA in connection with pain perception and functional ability. The following instruments were used: the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF), Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) and Visual Analog Scale for Pain (VAS Pain). The results indicated that there was no statistical difference in the QOL between subjects with RA and healthy population according to SF-36 Croatian norms. Also, the results showed that stronger pain experience was significantly associated with poorer social functioning assessment (SF36SF, Spearman’s rho=-0.463, p<0.05), poorer general health perception (SF36GH, Spearman’s rho=-0.432, p<0.05) and poorer physical functioning (WHOPH, Spearman’s rho=-0.688, p<0.01). Furthermore, the subjects evaluating their general functional state worse were found to have worse physical functioning (SF36PF, Spearman’s rho=-0.699 and WHOPH, Spearman’s rho=-0.769), poorer social functioning (SF36SF, Spearman’s rho=-0.580) and experienced greater pain intensity (SF36BP, Spearman’s rho=-0.652). Therefore, additional efforts should be invested to define a holistic and integrative model of treatment and rehabilitation of people with RA, focused on pain relief, improvement of functional ability, encouraging social interaction and supporting positive emotional responses.
Adolescents' Attitudes and Beliefs About Pregnancy and Parenthood: Results from a School-Based Intervention Program

ABSTRACT This paper reports on a small, randomised controlled trial involving a school-based intervention targeting adolescents' idealised beliefs about pregnancy and parenthood. An intervention group of adolescents were assessed two weeks before and two weeks after viewing and discussing a video of three adolescent mothers describing the consequences of their pregnancies and parenthood. A control group was assessed on 2 occasions 4 weeks apart. Both the intervention and control groups showed significant decreases in idealisation. Neither group membership nor gender influenced the extent of this change. Possible explanations of this unexpected finding are presented.
A Connectionist Approach to Learn Association between Sentences and Behavioral Patterns of a Robot

We present a novel connectionist model for acquiring the semantics of a simple language through the behavioral experiences of a real robot. We focus on the “compositionality” of semantics, a fundamental characteristic of human language, which is the ability to understand the meaning of a sentence as a combination of the meanings of words. We also pay much attention to the “embodiment” of a robot, which means that the robot should acquire semantics which matches its body, or sensory-motor system. The essential claim is that an embodied compositional semantic representation can be selforganized from generalized correspondences between sentences and behavioral patterns. This claim is examined and confirmed through simpie experiments in which a robot generates corresponding behaviors from unlearned sentences by analogy with the correspondences between learned sentences and behaviors.
The Longitudinal Effect of Impaired Kidney Function on Bone Mineral Density and the Association of Body Composition on Biomarkers of Kidney Function Among Afro-Caribbean Men of West African Ancestry

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a rising global health problem. African Americans bear a greater proportion of CKD burden compared to Caucasians. Little is known about the relationship of CKD with bone loss and body composition distribution with biomarkers of CKD in blacks. Objective: The prevalence of CKD among Tobago black, African American and Caucasian men, aged 40 years and older were determined and compared. The risk factors of CKD, the association of body composition with biomarkers of CKD and the effect of CKD on longitudinal bone loss were examined among Tobago black males. Methods: Tobago men were recruited from Tobago Island in 2004-2007. Counterparts from U.S were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2006. Standardized serum creatinine, cystatin C and urinary albumin were measured using Jaffe reaction, Dade Behring nephelometer and fluorescent immunoassay respectively. Longitudinal Bone Mineral Density changes in trochanter, femoral neck and total hip from 2004/2007-2012 were measured using Dual X-Ray Absorptiomertry (DXA). Body composition was measured using DXA and Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (PQCT). Covariates were assessed from questionnaires in 2004-2007. Results: The prevalence of CKD was 19.7%, 23.4% and 19.7% in Tobago black, African American and Caucasian men respectively. Age, hypertension and diabetes were significantly associated with CKD in Tobago men. Lean body mass and calf muscle area were positively associated with serum creatinine. All adiposity measures were positively associated with cystatin C, but not with calf muscle area. There was consistent greater decline in BMD across quartiles of ACR, serum creatinine and cystatin C in trochanter, femoral neck and total hip bones. The rate of bone loss in Tobago men was similar to that in Caucasian men. Public Health Significance: The biomarkers used for assessing CKD (serum creatinine and cystatin C) are influenced by body composition. Future CKD screening among blacks with high lean or muscle mass should include cystatin C assessment due to the influence of muscle mass on serum creatinine. CKD is associated with bone loss. Proper management of bone minerals and DXA screenings are necessary in order to reduce bone loss among individuals with CKD.
Marital Rape

Opinions on marital rape and rape in other victim-offender relationships are examined in this study. A survey was given to undergraduate students in which participants evaluated various hypothetical situations to determine what constitutes the crime of rape and what factors should be considered when sentencing for this crime. Among the student population surveyed, findings suggest that there are still people who believe it is acceptable to rape one's wife, with significant differences found by gender. Finally, when compared to other victim-offender relationships, rape in the marital relationship was considered to be the least serious.
An adaptive weighted median filter for speckle suppression in medical ultrasonic images

A method for reducing speckle noise in medical ultrasonic images is presented. It is called the adaptive weighted median filter (AWMF) and is based on the weighted median, which originates from the well-known median filter through the introduction of weight coefficients. By adjusting the weight coefficients and consequently the smoothing characteristics of the filter according to the local statistics around each point of the image, it is possible to suppress noise while edges and other important features are preserved. Application of the filter to several ultrasonic scans has shown that processing improves the detectability of small structures and subtle gray-scale variations without affecting the sharpness or anatomical information of the original image. Comparison with the pure median filter demonstrates the superiority of adaptive techniques over their space-invariant counterparts. Examples of processed images show that the AWMF preserves small details better than other nonlinear space-varying filters which offer equal noise reduction in uniform areas. >
Adventures in Social Research: Data Analysis Using IBM SPSS Statistics

Written by esteemed social science research authors, Adventures in Social Research: Data Analysis Using IBM SPSS Statistics, Eighth Edition encourages students to practice SPSS as they read about it and provides a practical, hands-on introduction to conceptualization, measurement, and association through active learning. This fully revised workbook will guide students through step-by-step instruction on data analysis using the latest version of SPSS and the most up to date General Social Survey data. Arranged to parallel most introductory research methods texts, this text starts with an introduction to computerized data analysis and the social research process, then walks readers step-by-step through univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analysis using SPSS Statistics. In this revised edition, active and collaborative learning will be emphasized as students engage in a series of practical investigative exercises.
An examination of the potential of secondary mathematics curriculum materials to support teacher and student learning of probabiility and statistics

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSSM) suggest many changes to secondary mathematics education including an increased focus on conceptual understanding and the inclusion of content and processes that are beyond what is currently taught to most high school students. To facilitate these changes, students will need opportunities to engage in tasks that are cognitively demanding in order to develop this conceptual understanding and to engage in such tasks over a breadth of content areas including probability and statistics. However, teachers may have a difficult time facilitating a change from traditional mathematics instruction to instruction that centers around the use of high-level tasks and a focus on conceptual understanding and that include content from the areas of probability and statistics that may go beyond their expertise and experience. Therefore, curriculum materials that promote teacher learning, as well as student learning, may be a critical element in supporting teachers’ enactment of the CCSSM. This study examines three secondary mathematics curriculum materials with the intention of determining both the opportunities they provide for students to engage in high-level tasks and the opportunities for teacher learning. Tasks in the written curriculum materials involving probability and statistics as defined by the CCSSM will be examined for evidence of these opportunities. The results of this examination suggest that one of the three secondary mathematics curriculum materials, Core-Plus Mathematics Project (CPMP), contains high-level tasks addressing many of the probability and statistics standards from the CCSSM. A second curriculum, Interactive Mathematics Program, also contains high-level tasks but has far fewer high-level tasks than CPMP. The third curriculum, Glencoe Mathematics (GM), addresses many of the probability and statistics standards from CCSSM but does so with low-level tasks. None of the three curricula provides ample opportunities for teacher learning in the areas of anticipating student thinking and providing transparency of the pedagogical decisions made by the authors when designing the materials.
CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PHARMACOLOGY & PHYSIOLOGY

Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology & Physiology was established in 1973. It enters a new phase in 1986, with two notable events. First, Michael Rand, who has carried the burden as Editor-in-Chief since the Journal began, stepped down at the end of 1985. During his time as Editor, Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology & Physiology has established a reputation as a multidisciplinary international journal of high quality. Rand’s awesome reputation as an innovative pharmacologist, his wide international contacts, and his critical capacity, ensured the success of the Journal and attracted quality papers in experimental pharmacology. His many friends will be reassured to learn that he has relinquished the Editorship because he has a heavy commitment to organize the coming IUPHAR Congress in Sydney in 1987. His talents as an Editor will not be lost to the Journal because he will remain on the Editorial Board. Success brings with it new problems. In spite of increasingly stringent criteria, the volume of good papers being received by the Journal has led to delays in publication beyond acceptable limits. After very careful consideration, the Editorial Board and the publishers agreed that from 1986 Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology & Physiology would appear monthly. An immediate result of that decision has been a dramatic shortening of the period between acceptance of a paper and the date of publication. With the decision to publish monthly a number of Editorial Board decisions were made. Perhaps the most important to readers and contributors was a reiteration of our determination to keep delays in publication to a minimum, and to aim for a period of six months between receipt of an article, in an acceptable form, and its publication. To help reduce processing time, papers can now be submitted with word processing discs, which will materially reduce preparation time for manuscripts. As a further advance, a tele-facsimile apparatus will be installed in the near future, which should further reduce communication delays. In the final analysis however, rapid publication of high quality papers depends upon the co-operation of referees in reviewing papers expeditiously and on authors dealing promptly with revisions and proofs. The title, Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology & Physiology reflects precisely the aim of the Journal, to be a broad interdisciplinary publication. We hope very much that we will retain the allegiance of our contributors in the Journal, but at the same time it is hoped that we will receive a wider variety of articles of interest to clinical scientists. The Editorial Board looks forward with considerable optimism to these new developments. We are confident that the Journal will be able to build on already wide international support and become one of the major means of communication within the scientific community.
RELATIONAL COORDINATION IN ONLINE EDUCATION

SUMMARY Online education is an alternative methodology to traditional education, overcoming schedule problems and providing flexibil ity, among other features. Relational coordination (RC) is a validated tool for measuring and analyzing communication networks and relationships, considering functional organizational boundaries. The application of ICT in higher education online systems produces higher degrees of coordination and integration of processes by improving the competitiveness and research capacity of the institutions. RC can capture coordination among lecturers (RC) and students (relational coproduction) in online education. The goal is to study the relationship between the relational coordination and the quality of online education at universities. This situation can be diagnosed through a series of questions distributed and answered by the participants (students and lecturers) of the organizations. A questionnaire was designed and applied, consisting of the following blocks: coordination, general quality and methodology, technical quality on design and ease of use, technical quality of multimedia resources. The questionnaires were distributed in two Spanish universities and one American university. Comparative factor analysis was carried out. The results show that RC is relevant to achieve better quality and efficiency in online university education.
Adenoma bronquioloalveolar asociado a bronquiolitis obliterante y leishmaniasis pulmonar en el sida

La leishmaniasis visceral no es inusual en pacientes con sindrome de inmunodeficiencia adquirida (sida), pero su afectacion pulmonar es infrecuente. La leishmaniasis pulmonary a menudo se presenta como neumonitis intersticial. Describimos un caso en el cual el hallazgo de amastigotes en la biopsia transbronquial permitio el diagnostico de leishmaniasis pulmonar. Sin embargo, los hallazgos radiologicos y del lavado broncoalveolar eran compatibles con una bronquiolitis obliterante que podria deberse al virus del sida. Ademas, la biopsia transbronquial permitio diagnosticar un adenoma bronquioloalveolar con la presencia radiologica de multiples nodulos.
Optimal Resource Allocation in Social and Critical Infrastructure Networks

We live in a networked world with a multitude of networks, such as communication networks, electric power grid, transportation networks and water distribution networks, all around us. In addition to such physical (infrastructure) networks, recent years have seen tremendous proliferation of social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ and others. These powerful social networks are not only used for harnessing revenue from the infrastructure networks, but are also increasingly being used as “non-conventional sensors” for monitoring the infrastructure networks. Accordingly, nowadays, analyses of social and infrastructure networks go hand-in-hand. This dissertation studies resource allocation problems encountered in this set of diverse, heterogeneous, and interdependent networks. Three problems studied in this dissertation are encountered in the physical network domain while the three other problems studied are encountered in the social network domain. The first problem from the infrastructure network domain relates to distributed files storage scheme with a goal of enhancing robustness of data storage by making it tolerant against large scale geographically-correlated failures. The second problem relates to placement of relay nodes in a deployment area with multiple sensor nodes with a goal of augmenting connectivity of the resulting network, while staying within the budget specifying the maximum number of relay nodes that can be deployed. The third problem studied in this dissertation relates to complex interdependencies that exist between infrastructure networks, such as power grid and communication network. The progressive recovery problem in an interdependent network is studied whose goal is to maximize system utility over the time when recovery process of failed entities takes place in a sequential manner. The three problems studied from the social network domain relate to influence propagation in adversarial environment and political sentiment assessment in various states in a country with a goal of creation of a “political heat map” of the country. In the first problem of the influence
Whither Psychiatric Day Care? A Study of Day Patients in Birmingham

A survey was made of the 647 patients attending the seven psychiatric day hospitals in Birmingham during a single census week, and of their patterns of attendance in day-care over the following 12 months. Marked differences were found between the day patients (583) attending the four large, traditional hospitals, and those (64) attending three small, relatively modern units. Patients attending the large hospitals were older, included the majority of schizophrenics, and carried a greater morbidity as measured by the frequency and duration of previous psychiatric care. At the end of the follow-up period 64% of patients attending the large hospitals were still in day care as against only 2 patients attending small hospital units. It is suggested that the results have important implications for the planning of future mental health services in that they highlight the extent to which different groups of patients have different requirements. A large proportion of the day hospital population had long-term needs which might be difficult to meet in the proposed general hospital units.
Outcome of Pregnancy with Meconium Stained Amniotic Fluid at Uthaithani Hospital.

Objective This study was conducted to determine the incidence of pregnancy with meconium stained amniotic fluid (MSAF) and its associated factors and whether meconium stained amniotic fluid affected obstetrical interventions and perinatal outcomes at Uthaithani Hospital. Material and method Retrospective medical record reviews of 213 pregnant women with MSAF during January 1,2007 to December 31,2007 were done.A control group of matched pairs was created, assigning to each patient the next woman that gave birth without MSAF. Result Prevalence of MSAF at Uthaithani Hospital was 8.69% of all live births.It was associated with increased gestational age at birth and increased fetal birthweight. MSAF increased cesarean section rate due to fetal distress and also resulted in more cases with low Apgar score at 1 minute after birth. Serious morbidity and mortality did occur in early neonatal period : meconium aspiration syndrome(MAS), which occurred in 6.54% of all MSAF-exposed infants and resulted in 28.57% mortality rate.Measures to reduce meconium concentration in amniotic fluid such as amnioinfusion ,as well as clearful oropharyngeal suctioning (plus intratracheal suctioning in non-vigorous cases) may be helpful in reducing MAS rate and its associated mortality. Conclusion Pregnancy with MSAF resulted in increased rate of cesarean delivery due to fetal distress and also increased rate of birth asphyxia. Neonatal mortality, unfortunately, did occur frequently in cases with meconium aspiration
The use of 25% human serum albumin: outcome and efficacy in raising serum albumin and systemic blood pressure in critically ill dogs and cats

Objective: To report on the use of 25% human serum albumin (25% HSA) (Plasbumin®), associated outcome, and efficacy in raising serum albumin and systemic blood pressure (BP) in critically ill dogs and cats. Design: Retrospective clinical study. Animals: Client-owned cats and dogs. Interventions: Administration of 25% HSA. Measurements and main results: The medical records of 66 animals (64 dogs, 2 cats) at the Ontario Veterinary College, which received 25% HSA (Plasbumin®) from June 1997 to December 2001 were reviewed for age, body weight, clinical problems, albumin and globulin (g/L) levels pre- and within 18-hour post-transfusion and upon discharge from hospital, total solids (TS), systolic and diastolic BP pre- and post-transfusion total volume administered, adverse reactions, blood products and synthetic colloids used, and outcome. Twenty-five percent HSA was prescribed for a range of clinical problems, which were grouped into 6 categories for analysis. The age range was 4 months–12 years and body weight range 1.4–65 kg. The maximum volume administered to any dog was 25 mL/kg, mean volume administered was 5 mL/kg, maximum volume given as a slow push or bolus was 4 mL/kg with a mean of 2 mL/kg volume. The range for a constant rate infusion (CRI) was 0.1–1.7 mL/kg/hr over 4–72 hours. Forty-seven (71%) animals survived to discharge; 11(16%) were euthanized, and 8 (12%) died. Serum albumin and TS increased significantly (P<0.0001) above pre-transfusion levels as did systolic BP (P<0.01). Conclusions: Twenty-five percent HSA can be safely administered to critically ill animals, and an increase in albumin levels and systemic BP can be expected.
Natural products for treating or preventing influenza

Natural products – including botanicals, minerals, and other substances produced by organisms – not only hold historical significance in various medical traditions, but they also form the basis of many modern-day drugs. On one hand, natural products are considered to be a form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM); as with many CAM therapies, natural products are often used for primary disease prevention and treatment – or as adjuncts to conventional therapies – despite uncertain effectiveness or safety. On the other hand, natural products have given rise to numerous conventional drugs, which are widely used in mainstream medicine and compose the primary therapeutic strategies for numerous conditions (including influenza). In this review, the available evidence on the use of select natural products for the treatment or prevention of influenza is discussed. Finally, a brief overview of an established influenza drug with botanical origins is provided.