Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differences over time in the relationship between partnership disruptions and support in early old age in Britain.

OBJECTIVE We examined variations over time in the relationship between past partnership disruption (due to divorce, separation, and death) and present support (coresidence with, help to and from, and contact with children) in early old age in Britain. METHODS Employing data from the 2001/2 British Household Panel Survey and the 1988/9 Survey of Retirement and Retirement Plans, we investigated whether differences in support over time were due to changes in (a) the composition of the population (e.g., the percentage divorced) or (b) the strength of the covariates (e.g., the effect of divorce). RESULT Our findings showed an increase in the experience of partnership disruption in early old age. Nonetheless, the percentage of people who reported receiving and providing support increased. A comparison of the two points in time showed that there was little change in the effects of partnership disruptions on support in early old age. DISCUSSION The fact that the level of support has remained stable or increased over time among this age group despite the increasing prevalence of divorce suggests that the negative effect of partnership disruption on support in early old age may be weakening over time.
Outcomes in patients visiting hospital emergency departments in the United States because of periodontal conditions.

BACKGROUND The chances of presenting to hospital emergency departments (EDs) are significantly higher in individuals who ignore regular dental care and in those with medical conditions. Little is known about nationwide estimates of hospital-based ED visits caused by periodontal conditions in the United States. The objective of this study is to determine the incidence of ED visits caused by periodontal conditions that occurred in a 2006 nationwide sample and to identify the risk factors for hospitalization during the ED visits. METHODS The Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) for 2006 was used for this study. Patients who visited the ED with a primary diagnosis of acute gingivitis, chronic gingivitis, gingival recession, aggressive or acute periodontitis, chronic periodontitis, periodontosis, accretions, other specified periodontal disease, or unspecified gingival and periodontal disease were selected for this study. Estimates were projected to the national levels using the discharge weights. The association between patient characteristics and the odds of being hospitalized was examined using a multivariable logistic regression analysis. RESULTS A total of 85,039 visits to hospital-based EDs with a mean charge per visit of $456.31 and total charges close to $33.3 million were primarily attributed to gingival and periodontal conditions in the United States. Close to 36% and 33% of all visits occurred among the lowest income group and uninsured population, respectively. The total ED charges for those covered by Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and other insurance plans were close to $4.95 million, $9.14 million, $8.01 million, and $0.92 million, respectively. The uninsured were charged a total of $10.06 million. Inpatient admission to the same hospital was required for 1,167 visits. The total hospitalization charge for this group was $17.51 million. Patients with comorbid conditions (congestive heart failure, valvular disease, hypertension, paralysis, neurologic disorders, chronic pulmonary disease, hypothyroidism, liver disease, AIDS, coagulopathy, deficiency anemia, obesity, alcohol abuse, or drug abuse) were associated with higher odds for hospitalization during an ED visit for periodontal conditions compared to those without comorbid conditions (P <0.05). Patients who had a primary diagnosis of acute or aggressive periodontitis were associated with significantly higher odds of being hospitalized during ED visits. CONCLUSIONS Estimates from the NEDS suggest that a total of 85,039 hospital-based ED visits had a primary diagnosis for periodontal conditions. Close to $33.3 million was charged by hospitals for treating these conditions on an emergency basis. ED visits with a primary diagnosis for acute and aggressive periodontitis, covered by Medicare insurance, and comorbid conditions were more likely to result in hospitalization based on the analysis of the NEDS. However, when interpreting these conclusions, one should keep the limitations inherent to hospital discharge datasets in perspective.
Improved stabilization conditions for Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems via fuzzy integral lyapunov functions

This paper presents new results concerning the design of state feedback controllers for continuous-time Takagi Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy systems. The conditions, based on a line integral fuzzy Lyapunov function, are specially suitable for T-S fuzzy systems where no information about the time-derivatives of the membership functions is available. The controller is designed through linear matrix inequalities in a two step procedure: at the first step, a stabilizing fuzzy controller is obtained for a relaxed frozen (i.e. time-invariant) T-S fuzzy system. This control gain is then used as an input data at the second step, that provides a stabilizing control law guaranteed by the line-integral Lyapunov function. An extension to cope with H∞ guaranteed cost control of T-S fuzzy systems is also provided. Numerical examples illustrate the advantages of the proposed method when compared to other techniques available in the literature.
Genetic analysis across different spatial scales reveals multiple dispersal mechanisms for the invasive hydrozoan Cordylophora in the Great Lakes

Discerning patterns of post‐establishment spread by invasive species is critically important for the design of effective management strategies and the development of appropriate theoretical models predicting spatial expansion of introduced populations. The globally invasive colonial hydrozoan Cordylophora produces propagules both sexually and vegetatively and is associated with multiple potential dispersal mechanisms, making it a promising system to investigate complex patterns of population structure generated throughout the course of rapid range expansion. Here, we explore genetic patterns associated with the spread of this taxon within the North American Great Lakes basin. We collected intensively from eight harbours in the Chicago area in order to conduct detailed investigation of local population expansion. In addition, we collected from Lakes Michigan, Erie, and Ontario, as well as Lake Cayuga in the Finger Lakes of upstate New York in order to assess genetic structure on a regional scale. Based on data from eight highly polymorphic microsatellite loci we examined the spatial extent of clonal genotypes, assessed levels of neutral genetic diversity, and explored patterns of migration and dispersal at multiple spatial scales through assessment of population level genetic differentiation (pairwise FST and factorial correspondence analysis), Bayesian inference of population structure, and assignment tests on individual genotypes. Results of these analyses indicate that Cordylophora populations in this region spread predominantly through sexually produced propagules, and that while limited natural larval dispersal can drive expansion locally, regional expansion likely relies on anthropogenic dispersal vectors.
Prescreening versus empirical immunization for hepatitis A in patients with chronic liver disease: a prospective cost analysis

OBJECTIVES:There are few prospective studies estimating the prevalence of hepatitis A in chronic liver disease patients. Furthermore, there are minimal cost-comparative data as to whether or not screening for hepatitis A exposure before immunization is an effective fiscal strategy. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of prior hepatitis A infection and to perform a prospective cost analysis for hepatitis A immunization in patients with chronic liver disease.METHODS:This is a prospective cohort study of 100 patients with chronic liver diseases. Patients were screened for potential risk factors for hepatitis A including history of jaundice, socioeconomic status, birth origin, and ethnic background. Each patient underwent testing for evidence of prior infection using an ELISA. Seronegative patients then went on to receive an immunization series. Cost analysis of vaccination without prescreening (universal strategy) was compared to cost analysis of prescreening and selective immunization of those without prior infection (selective strategy). RESULTS:Fifty-three patients (53%) had serological evidence of prior hepatitis A infection (95% CI = 43–63%). Of the risk factors assessed, foreign birth was associated with prior hepatitis A exposure (p = 0.0002). Cost analysis revealed that prescreening for hepatitis A before vaccination was cost saving given the current prevalence.CONCLUSIONS:The seroprevalence of hepatitis A in those with chronic liver diseases was 53%. Cost analysis revealed that screening for hepatitis A before immunization is cost saving, and this strategy should be applied to follow current vaccination guidelines.
Gender Difference in Dopamine Concentration and Postischemic Neuronal Damage in Neostriatum after Unilateral Dopamine Depletion

Most neurons in the dorsal neostriatum die 1 day after 30 min of cerebral ischemia. Dopamine may play a role in the pathogenesis of neuronal injury in neostriatum following ischemia. It has been shown that the number of surviving neurons in the right neostriatum dramatically increased following ischemia after lesions were made in the right substantia nigra (SN), whereas no such protective effect was observed in the left neostriatum after left SN lesion. Using a voltammetric technique, the present study measured the dopamine concentration in neostriatum during ischemia after unilateral dopamine depletion and correlated it with the postischemic neuronal damage in neostriatum of male and female rats. In both genders, dopamine concentrations in the neostriatum of the intact side increased to 50-60 microM during ischemia while those of the lesion side were 15-30 microM. No difference in dopamine concentration was detected between animals with lesions in the left SN and those with lesions in right SN. In male rats, the number of surviving neurons in the right neostriatum (approximately 80% as control) was significantly greater than that in the left neostriatum (approximately 20%) after ipsilateral dopamine depletion, whereas in female animals, the number of surviving neurons in the right neostriatum (approximately 40%) was about the same as that in the left neostriatum (approximately 35%) after dopamine depletion. These results indicate that the asymmetry in ischemic outcome after unilateral dopamine depletion in male rats is not due to the difference in residual dopamine in neostriatum. The lateralization of D2 receptors in male rats may be responsible for the asymmetry of survivability of striatal neurons after transient forebrain ischemia.
Why Do People Consume and Provide Sharing Economy Accommodation?—A Sustainability Perspective

In the platform-based sharing economy service, the consumer using the service and the service provider providing the service form a two-sided market around the platform. In the two-sided market, service users and service providers interact across the platform, and the value of the platform increases with the size of the network. This study aims to study the virtuous circulation of consumption and production for sustainability of sharing economy. For this purpose, several hypotheses were established based on the literature and are tested with survey data of both consumer and service provider of Airbnb. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze whether the consumer acceptance intention model and the supplier acceptance intention model can be linked through the concept of network effect, which is a major characteristic of the sharing economy service platform. The research results are expected to contribute to development of a sustainable sharing economy model.
Innovation capability, network embeddedness and economic performance: profiling solar power innovators in China

This paper discusses the technological upgrading of China in photovoltaics technology. It explores the patterns of innovation and network embeddedness and their impact on economic performance at the firm level. Identifying the main innovators over 1995-2014 with patent and market share indicators, the landscape of their activities is inspected through two hierarchical cluster analyses in parallel: first, against the quantity, quality and diversity of patents, and second, against global-integration, component-size and position in technological knowledge networks. The resulting clusters are cross-related to understand their interrelations with age, size, turnover and productivity of actors. The multivariate analysis of variance shows a significant relationship between innovation-network concurrency and the age, turnover and productivity. Global-integration in small-world networks is significantly related with economic performance. Quality of innovation shows higher importance than quantity and diversity. While specialisation in high-tech fields has positive impact on turnover, production-oriented firms with low-tech focus have higher productivity.
Effects of six months of daily low-dose perchlorate exposure on thyroid function in healthy volunteers.

CONTEXT Perchlorate has been detected in U.S. drinking water supplies at levels ranging from 4 to 200 microg/liter as well as in agricultural products. Perchlorate is known to be a competitive inhibitor of iodine uptake by the thyroid through the sodium-iodide symporter. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to determine whether prolonged exposure (6 months) to low levels of perchlorate would perturb thyroid function. DESIGN This was a prospective, double-blinded, randomized trial. PARTICIPANTS The study population consisted of 13 healthy volunteers. INTERVENTION INTERVENTIONs included placebo vs. 0.5 mg or 3.0 mg potassium perchlorate daily. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Serum thyroid function tests, 24-h radioactive iodine uptake, serum thyroglobulin (Tg), urinary iodine and perchlorate, and serum perchlorate were measured. RESULTS Mean urinary perchlorate value during ingestion of 0.5 mg perchlorate daily was 332.7 +/- 66.1 microg per 24 h or 248.5 +/- 64.5 microg/g creatinine and mean values for the four subjects who received 3 mg perchlorate daily were 2079.5 +/- 430.0 microg per 24 h or 1941.7 +/- 138.5 microg/g creatinine. There was no significant change in the thyroid (123)I uptakes during perchlorate administration. There were no significant changes in serum T(3), free T(4) index, TSH, or Tg concentrations during the exposure period, compared to baseline or postexposure values. Urine iodine values for the 3-mg perchlorate group were higher, but not significantly so, at baseline than during perchlorate exposure. CONCLUSIONS We observed that a 6-month exposure to perchlorate at doses up to 3 mg/d had no effect on thyroid function, including inhibition of thyroid iodide uptake as well as serum levels of thyroid hormones, TSH, and Tg.
Snail bioaccumulation of triclocarban, triclosan, and methyltriclosan in a north texas, usa, stream affected by wastewater treatment plant runoff

Grazing by freshwater snails promotes nutrient turnover in algal communities. Grazed algal compartments may include antimicrobial agents and metabolites, such as triclocarban (TCC), triclosan (TCS), and methyltriclosan (MTCS), which are incompletely removed by wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) processing. The present study quantifies snail bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) for TCC, TCS, and MTCS at the outfall of Pecan Creek (TX, USA), the receiving stream for the city of Denton (TX, USA) WWTP. Helisoma trivolvis (Say) is ubiquitous and thrives under standard laboratory conditions, leading to its choice for this bioaccumulation study in conjunction with Cladophora spp. Along with providing substrate for epiphytic growth, Cladophora spp. provide a source of food and shelter for H. trivolvis. After being caged for two weeks, algae and snails were collected from the WWTP outfall, along with water‐column samples, and analyzed by isotope dilution gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry for TCS and MTCS and by liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry for TCC. Algal and snail samples were analyzed before exposure and found to be below practical quantitation limits for all antimicrobial agents. Triclocarban, TCS, and MTCS in water samples were at low‐ppt concentrations (40–200 ng/L). Triclocarban, TCS, and MTCS were elevated to low‐ppb concentrations (50–300 ng/g fresh wt) in caged snail samples and elevated to low‐ppb concentrations (50–400 ng/g fresh wt) in caged algal samples. Resulting snail and algal BAFs were approximately three orders of magnitude, which supports rapid bioaccumulation among algae and adult caged snails at this receiving stream outfall. The results further support TCC, TCS, and MTCS as good candidate marker compounds for evaluation of environmental distribution of trace WWTP contaminants.
Integration of ICT in teaching and learning: a review of theories

The integration of ICT in teaching and learning (IITL) brings about powerful learning environments and helps students to deal with knowledge in active, self-directed and constructive ways. Thus, all avenues to foster it should be explored. One such avenue is to isolate the factors underpinning IITL. In deriving these factors, several theories can be considered. This paper reviews six of these theories, namely, Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. The review is chronological. Though the paper may be of interest to researchers working on innovation adoption, it arose as part of a study on higher education. Keywords: ICT; Pedagogy; Innovation adoption
Does obesity influence early outcome of fixed-bearing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty?

Obesity is a known major contributing risk factor for knee osteoarthritis (OA). It is also believed that obese unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) patients tend to have poorer outcome and possible early failure. The purpose of this study is to investigate the early outcome of obese UKA patients in a single institution. Patients who underwent fixed bearing medial UKA in between year 2005 and 2010 were included in this study. They were divided into four groups based on Body Mass Index (BMI): 25 kg/m2 (Control); 25–29.9 kg/m2 (Overweight); 30–34.9 kg/m2 (Obese); >35 kg/m2 (Severely Obese). Functional outcome was assessed using Knee Society Score (KSS), Oxford Knee Score (OKS) and Short-form 36 (SF-36). One-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc test was used to compare the four groups for quantitative variables. There were 673 patients in this study, no significant difference between the four BMI groups for gender and side of operated knee (p > 0.05). The functional outcome of all four groups at 2 years were comparable (all p > 0.05). At a mean follow up of 5.4 (range 2.5, 8.5) years, 9 revision surgeries (1.3%) were identified. The mean duration from initial surgery to revision surgery was 49 months (Range 6, 90). Patients’ pre-operative BMI did not influence the early outcome of UKA patients. However, patients with higher BMI had relatively lower functional score prior to the surgery and tended to be younger. This did not translate to early failure and the functional improvement was similar among all four groups.
Developing a management framework to handle employees' experiences of workplace bullying

Workplace bullying is not a new concept for researchers or organisations today. People are generally aware that bullying occurs in the workplace, but they do not necessarily have the right management framework or guidelines to assist when bullying occurs. Researchers tend to focus on definitions of bullying, bullying acts, prevalence rates, risk factors and the outcomes of bullying behaviours. Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to explore the literature by means of a systematic review to identify possible sources that report experiences and causes of workplace bullying. Furthermore, this paper also attempted to identify experiences and causes of workplace bullying through a qualitative meta-analysis. Design/methodology/approach: This research was conducted using a qualitative literature review research design and social constructivism as an ontological viewpoint. The PRISMA Statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) was used as the methodological framework for this paper. This is an evidence-based set of items used for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses (Moher et al., 2010). A qualitative metaanalysis was followed to provide a clear summary of the findings. The thematic analysis was done by means of a manual method, which highlighted and organised main themes and phrases. Findings: The main findings reveal that experiences of workplace bullying can be categorised into five main themes, namely: threat to professional status, threat to personal standing, social exclusion/isolation, overload, and destabilisation. Further findings reveal that bullying at work is multi-causal and can not only be explained by one cause, but rather by multiple causes, which can be categorised as causes due to organisational factors, individual causes (which can be individual or perpetrator factors), and societal causes. Originality/value: This paper can assist the human resource practitioner (HRP) to identify experiences and causes of workplace bullying and to provide a basic framework to manage bullying experiences within their organisation. This paper will also inform and assist victims in labelling their experiences to make it easier to identify and explain their situation that contributes to the grievance procedure.
The Impact of Blood Component Transfusion Practices on Patient Survival After Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Surgery

Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate the blood transfusion practice in patients operated for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) with special emphasis on massive transfusion in cases with rupture. Material and methods: From a database, 504 patients operated for AAA were stratified into 2 groups; an early transfusion period (1992-1999) and a late transfusion period (2000-2008) to evaluate the changes in transfusion practices over the course of time. Results: Patients operated for nonruptured AAA (n = 330) showed a decreased mortality rate from 4% (early transfusion period) to 1% (late transfusion period) without significant changes in the transfusion practices. In patients operated for ruptured AAA (n = 174) an unexpected low mortality rate was found compared to the 30-day mortality reported in earlier studies. The transfusion practices in ruptured AAA surgery showed a significant increase in platelet use and change of fresh frozen plasma: red blood cell ratio from 0.8 to 0.9 between the early and the late transfusion period. Conclusion: The present database study shows that the operating mortality for AAA surgery has declined during the past decades. The cause of the decline in mortality in patients with ruptured AAA was interpreted as partly due to a modern blood component therapy.