Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Involving users in the development of effective critical care discharge information: a focus group study.

BACKGROUND Discharge from critical care to a general care unit is a difficult period, and more effective information is needed to support patients and their families at this time. OBJECTIVES This study sought the views of patients, relatives and health care staff on (1) the most effective methods of delivering critical care discharge information, (2) the required information content of any proposed strategies, (3) the benefits and limitations of any existing strategies, and (4) potential resource implications. METHODS In this qualitative focus group study, 11 adult patients, 8 family members, and 23 health care staff in Eng-land took part in 8 focus group interviews at 2 hospitals. The computer software program NVIVO7 was used for thematic analysis of the data. RESULTS Three key themes were identified from the data: (1) considerations related to effective discharge information, (2) goals of critical care discharge information, and (3) resource implications. CONCLUSIONS This focus group study provides unique user insight into what influences successful and unsuccessful information giving. Based on real experiences, it adds to the limited international body of current evidence. Findings will be of value in designing future critical care discharge information and identifying the related resource implications.
Are There Nexus Between Public Expenditures and Economic Growth in Nigeria? - A Re-Examination

Nigeria has been witnessing, for some three decades now, a rising trend in the size of her public expenditures and questions been raised on whether this upsurge could be related to economic growth. This study deliberately sets to re-examine the nexus between public expenditures and public expenditures in Nigeria adopting the Error Correction Model (ECM) estimation technique and the Pairwise Granger Causality test with disaggregated yearly data between 1980 and 2016. The findings suggested that the capital spending of the government has an inverse relationship with economic growth and also significant influence on economic growth. The government recurrent spending has a direct relationship with economic growth but statistically insignificant effects on economic growth. There is no causal relationship, as suggests by the result of the Granger Causality test, between public capital expenditure and economic growth. While there is existence of unidirectional causalities where exchange rate caused economic growth; economic growth caused private foreign investment; and economic growth caused public recurrent expenditure. The recommendations suggest that governments should make more provision for capital expenditures in the budget and ensure implementations are being properly monitored to ensure that the funds are not diverted to other uses; while cost of governance should be moderated with a view of making less provision for recurrent expenditure.
Inhibition of the intestinal sodium-coupled glucose transporter 1 (SGLT1) by extracts and polyphenols from apple reduces postprandial blood glucose levels in mice and humans.

SCOPE There is a growing interest in food constituents that could reduce intestinal glucose absorption to prevent overshooting plasma glucose and insulin levels in patients with prediabetes and diabetes mellitus type 2. METHODS AND RESULTS We here demonstrate that an extract and individual polyphenols from apple diminish sodium-coupled glucose transporter 1 (SGLT1) mediated glucose uptake in vitro and in vivo. Inhibition of transport of sugars by SGLT1 was shown in Xenopus oocytes and in mice jejunal segments. Strongest inhibition was observed for phlorizin with IC50 values for transport inhibition of 0.46 ± 0.19 and 4.1 ± 0.6 μM in oocytes and intestinal segments, respectively. An oral glucose tolerance test performed in volunteers with prior administration of the apple extract reduced venous blood glucose and plasma insulin levels, similar to findings obtained in C57BL/6N mice. Analysis of human urine samples revealed that the extract increased modestly renal glucose loss that is most likely a result of inhibition of renal glucose reabsorption by phloretin derivatives found in plasma of the volunteers. CONCLUSION Although the apple extract substantially decreased intestinal glucose absorption in all test systems, the finding that there are systemic effects that relate to inhibition of glucose transport processes beyond the intestine addresses safety issues that need further exploitation.
Rapid transmission of multidrug-resistant Corynebacterium striatum among susceptible patients in a tertiary hospital in China.

INTRODUCTION With increasing reports about Corynebacterium striatum, its potential pathogenicity and clinical significance are drawing more attention in recent years. METHODOLOGY During a 14-month period, Corynebacterium striatum strains were routinely isolated in lower respiratory tract samples of the inpatients in a tertiary hospital in China, and the suspected isolates were identified with VITEK-2 ANC card and 16S rRNA sequencing technique, respectively. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was employed to discriminate different clones, and biofilm-producing abilities of different strains were compared. RESULTS A total of 82 strains of Corynebacterium striatum were mainly isolated from neurosurgery patients (45.1%, 37/82). Three epidemic clones (type D, F, and I) were identified, accounting for 82.9% (68/82) of strains. All 82 C. striatum strains were all sensitive to vancomycin, and resistant to ceftriaxone, imipenem, and ciprofloxacin. One week before C. striatum isolation, 89.0% (73/82) patients showed lower levels of hemoglobin, 93.9% (77/82) of patients received treatment of several kinds of antibiotics, and 41.5% (34/82) patients with glucocorticoid, and 46.3% (38/82) of patients showed disturbed consciousness at different levels. CONCLUSIONS Corynebacterium striatum strains isolated during this study were mainly multidrug resistant, and the predominant clones could rapidly transmit among susceptible inpatients. Corynebacterium striatum seems to be an important pathogen for patients with specific risk factors, especially for the ones with lower hemoglobin levels who are being treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Intra-abdominal pressure, Cardiac Index and vascular resistance during hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy: a prospective observational study.

BACKGROUND Increased intra-abdominal pressure and hemodynamic variations during hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) are expected to be comparable to pneumoperitoneum with decreased Cardiac Index (CI) and increased Systemic Vascular Resistance Index (SVRI). We hypothesized that despite comparable increased intra-abdominal pressure, hemodynamic changes during HIPEC would substantially differ from those described in laparoscopic surgery. METHODS In this prospective observational clinical study, after obtaining written informed consent, we assessed intra-abdominal pressure and hemodynamic and respiratory changes during HIPEC in 10 consecutive patients. Intra-abdominal pressure as the primary endpoint was continuously measured with a catheter placed in the abdominal cavity. Secondary endpoints were hemodynamic changes measured by pulse contour analysis and respiratory alterations. Fluid management was based on stroke volume variation. RESULTS The mean intra-abdominal pressure was constantly elevated during HIPEC at a level of 14.2 mmHg (P=0.002 compared to baseline). The mean SVRI dropped from 1716 dyn*sec/cm³/m² to 1490 dyn*sec/cm⁵/m² at the end of HIPEC (P<0.05). Mean CI increased from 3.2 to 3.45 L/m² (P<0.001) and Horovitz index decreased from 548 to 380 (P=0.001). Median fluid intake was 7000 mL. No patient developed acute kidney injury. CONCLUSIONS Increased intra-abdominal pressure during HIPEC was comparable to pneumoperitoneum. Hemodynamic changes however were opposed with a decrease in SVRI and a compensative increase in CI. Current guidelines for anesthetic management in patients undergoing HIPEC are mainly based on findings from laparoscopic surgery and should therefore be reconsidered critically.
Executive Insights: A National Export Assistance Policy for New and Growing Businesses

This article is based on a speech delivered by the author to the National Economic Council in Washington, D.C. The White House-based council is charged with strengthening the competitive performance of U.S. firms. The author highlights the need for clarity of purpose, tightness of focus, coordination of approaches, emphasis on strengths, targeting of crucial factors, and boldness of vision in shaping a new export assistance policy.
Altered interictal saccadic reaction time in migraine: a cross-sectional study

Aims: The underlying mechanisms of migraine remain poorly understood, partly because we lack objective methods for quantitative analysis of neurological function. To address this issue, we measured interictal saccadic latency in migraineurs and controls. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we compared interictal saccadic latency distributions of 12,800 saccades in 32 migraineurs with 32 age- and sex-matched controls. Results: The variability of migraineurs’ reaction time distributions was significantly smaller (σ = 1.01 vs. 1.13; p < 0.05) compared with controls. In addition, a smaller proportion of migraineurs generated ‘early’ saccades (31% vs. 56%: p < 0.05). Sensitivity/specificity analysis demonstrated the potential benefit of this technique to diagnostic discrimination. Conclusions: The migraineur’s brain behaves significantly differently from that of a control during the interictal period. By analysing whole distributions, rather than just means, data can be related directly to current neurophysiological models: specifically, the observed decrease in variability suggests a functional deficit in the noradrenergic systems influencing the cerebral cortex. From a clinical perspective, this novel method of characterising neurological function in migraine is more rapid, practicable, inexpensive, objective and quantitative than previous methods such as evoked potentials and transcranial magnetic stimulation, and has the potential both to improve current diagnostic discrimination and to help guide future research into the underlying neural mechanisms.
The prediction of focus

: We present results an how focus is marked intonatio nally in Gennan. Several speakers produced a /arge corpus of sentences. The corpus was constructed in a way that sentence modality and place of focus could only be differentiated by infona tional means. Acoustic features representing the infonational para meters pitch, duration, and intensity, were extracted manually or automatically. The relevance of these features and the effect of , several Iransfonnations were tested with statistical methods. Percep tual experiments where the listeners had to judge the naturalness and categories of the utterances were perfonned as weiL By calcula ting average values for the (appropriately transfonned) relevant features we found "normal'~ prototypical cases. We show that by Zooking at utterances where all listeners agreed on the naturalness and (intended) categories we arrived at coinciding results. At the same time we found "unusual"
Professional development of teachers at Malta’s Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School : contributions from a stake-holding think tank

This paper synthesises a group of educators’ engagement with an action research project endorsed by the Council of Europe’s Pestalozzi Programme’s Action Research Group 2013 – 2014. Educators fulfilling duties at Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School (GCHSS) collaborated within the context of a think-tank by engaging in action research on professional development for teachers at Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School (PDGCHSS). Data that emerged from the foregoing research indicate that professional development (PD) should be grounded in, and not disconnected from, the school-context, and must be relevant to the teachers’ everyday teaching. In addition, knowledge gained from PD training should not be sporadic or disconnected, but transferable to everyday practice. A highly bureaucratized system and lack of resources, such as time, financial resources and technological skills, are detrimental to teachers’ motivation for PD
The Online Islamic Media Journalism in Indonesia: The Trend Analysis of Political News

—The development of information technology through the internet network has led online media to be fast, efficient, and practical in informing the news to the public. There are online Islamic media that exist to spread facts and political opinions. The purpose of this study is to explain and describe the trends of online political news of Islamic media of eramuslim.com, islampos.com, and voice-islam.com. The analysis of this research uses Van Dijk model discourse which describes the tendency towards political news which is analyzed through six elements namely thematic, schematic, semantic, syntactic, stylistic, and rhetorical structures in the political news of online Islamic media. The results of this study shows the percentage of the online Islamic media has a tendency towards the theme of national political news of 51.91% and 48.09% of non-political news. In addition, the tendency towards national political news at eramuslim.com is 66.02%, 38.02% at islampos.com, and 57.89% at voice-islam.com. News schemes for summary are displayed without news leads, and news stories are more likely to be based on opinions rather than facts. The semantic structure is displayed through background, details, and intent of news that has a tendency to put political news as the opposition by displaying the opinion of certain political actors, whereas the syntactic structure is displayed through the form of active sentences continuously questioning the government policy of political actors without considering the 5W + 1 H aspects in the news. Moreover, the stylistic structure of the word choice tends to use active sentences and be in an oppositional stance to the government in accordance with the ideology of the news media. By displaying images as a form of political affirmation emphasis, the rhetorical structure of the political news of online Islamic media is delivered with bold headlines with large size letters.
Does Participatory Budgeting Change the Share of Public Funding to Low Income Neighborhoods?

Using a newly compiled dataset, we measure the effects of participatory budgeting on the allocation of capital funding among areas of different income levels within New York City council districts. A difference‐in‐differences design compares changes in the allocation of funding in adopting districts before and after the adoption of participatory budgeting to changes over the same period among a control group consisting of later adopters. On average, adopting districts increase funding in the next to the lowest income census tracts more than the control group, but participatory budgeting does not redirect funds to the lowest income census tracts.
The Association Between Adult Attachment Style and Delusional-Like Experiences in a Community Sample of Women

Abstract Community-based surveys have found that many otherwise well individuals endorse delusional-like experiences (DLEs). There is extensive literature that describes the demographic and psychosocial correlates of DLE; however, we know little about the association between DLE and attachment style. The association between DLEs (assessed by the Peters Delusional Inventory [PDI]) and interpersonal relationship style (as assessed by the Adult Attachment Questionnaire and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale) was examined in 3360 women. When adjusted for the presence of depressive and anxiety symptoms, high scores on the PDI (lowest versus highest quartiles) were associated with a) difficulties in adult attachment style particularly in the discomfort with closeness and preoccupation with relationships subscales and b) conflictual dyadic adjustment (adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals, 2.43 and 1.94–3.04, 2.50 and 1.99–3.14, and 2.90 and 1.38–6.06, respectively). The association between adult attachment style and DLE provides new clues into the causal pathway underpinning these common experiences.
Comparative Study of Harmonic and Interharmonic Estimation Methods for Stationary and Time-Varying Signals

Frequency is one of the most important factors for power system harmonic and interharmonic estimation. Accurate spectral analysis relies much on the correct identification of frequencies of the measured signals. In this paper, several commonly used methods for power system stationary and time-varying harmonic and interharmonic estimation are reviewed and compared according to the viewpoint of the frequency identification. It is expected to provide suitable guidelines for the future studies.
Adversarial Attacks Beyond the Image Space

Generating adversarial examples is an intriguing problem and an important way of understanding the working mechanism of deep neural networks. Most existing approaches generated perturbations in the image space, i.e., each pixel can be modified independently. However, in this paper we pay special attention to the subset of adversarial examples that correspond to meaningful changes in 3D physical properties (like rotation and translation, illumination condition, etc.). These adversaries arguably pose a more serious concern, as they demonstrate the possibility of causing neural network failure by easy perturbations of real-world 3D objects and scenes. In the contexts of object classification and visual question answering, we augment state-of-the-art deep neural networks that receive 2D input images with a rendering module (either differentiable or not) in front, so that a 3D scene (in the physical space) is rendered into a 2D image (in the image space), and then mapped to a prediction (in the output space). The adversarial perturbations can now go beyond the image space, and have clear meanings in the 3D physical world. Though image-space adversaries can be interpreted as per-pixel albedo change, we verify that they cannot be well explained along these physically meaningful dimensions, which often have a non-local effect. But it is still possible to successfully attack beyond the image space on the physical space, though this is more difficult than image-space attacks, reflected in lower success rates and heavier perturbations required.
Synaptic transmission and cell death during normal ganglionic development

1. During normal embryonic development of the chick ciliary ganglion, cell death over a 4‐day period (Stages 35–39) reduces the number of ganglion cells by half, from 6500 to 3200. Both ciliary and choroid populations are affected by approximately the same amount.
The Loss of Control Over Eating Scale: development and psychometric evaluation.

OBJECTIVE This study describes the development, content validity, and convergent validity of the Loss of Control over Eating Scale (LOCES). METHOD An initial pool of 56 items covering 13 facets of loss-of-control eating was assembled by reviewing qualitative literature, clinical descriptions, and research on binge eating. Eating disorder experts (n = 34) and eating disorder clients (n = 22) rated each proposed item's clarity and relevance to the construct of loss-of-control eating, rated 13 facets for their relevance to the construct, and provided open-ended feedback about the items and facets. Based on the experts' and clients' quantitative and qualitative feedback, scale items were clarified, 28 items were added, and 10 were deleted. University students (n = 476; 70% female, mean age = 20.4 years) completed the resulting 74-item questionnaire, rating how often they had the experience identified in the item while eating in the last 4 weeks. They also completed the measures of eating disturbance, general distress, functional impairment, and general self-control. RESULTS The resulting 24-item LOCES (Cronbach's α = .96) retained items with highest item-total correlations and coverage of the 12 construct facets that experts rated as important. The LOCES was significantly correlated with eating disturbances, general distress, functional impairment, and general self-control. Three subfactors were identified: behavioral, cognitive/dissociative, and positive/euphoric aspects of loss-of-control eating. A brief, seven-item version of the LOCES was developed and validated. DISCUSSION A thorough process of development, content validation, and psychometric evaluation in multiple samples yielded the multifaceted LOCES and its brief form. These instruments may be useful in assessing loss-of-control eating in both clinical and nonclinical settings.
THE INCREASED EFFICACY AND DECREASED NEPHROTOXICITY OF A CYCLOSPORINE LIPOSOME1,2

A potential approach to avoid the complications of systemic immunosuppression is to deliver immunosuppressive agents locally to the site of the allograft. Liposomes are phospholipid particles that allow delivery of drugs preferentially to the reticuloendothelial system. Since the liver is a primary component of the RES, we hypothesized that liposome technology could be utilized to deliver immunosuppressive agents locally to a transplanted liver, thereby avoiding the complications of systemically delivered immunosuppression.We evaluated this hypothesis with a prototypic cyclosporine liposome in a rat model. Pharmacokinetic studies of this liposome indicated earlier clearance from the systemic circulation and increased hepatic uptake relative to the standard intravenous form of
Characterization of Pax3-expressing cells from adult blood vessels

We report expression of Pax3, an important regulator of skeletal muscle stem cell behaviour, in the brachial and femoral arteries of adult mice. In these contractile arteries of the limb, but not in the elastic arteries of the trunk, bands of GFP-positive cells were observed in Pax3GFP/+ mice. Histological and biochemical examination of the vessels, together with clonal analysis after purification of Pax3–GFP-positive cells by flow cytometry, established their vascular smooth muscle identity. These blood-vessel-derived cells do not respond to inducers of other mesodermal cell types, such as bone, however, they can contribute to muscle fibre formation when co-cultured with skeletal muscle cells. This myogenic conversion depends on the expression of Pax3, but is rare and non-cell autonomous as it requires cell fusion. Myocardin, which promotes acquisition of a mature smooth muscle phenotype in these Pax3–GFP-positive cells, antagonises their potential for skeletal muscle differentiation. Genetic manipulation shows that myocardin is, however, positively regulated by Pax3, unlike genes for other myocardin-related factors, MRTFA, MRTFB or SRF. Expression of Pax3 overlaps with that reported for Msx2, which is required for smooth muscle differentiation of blood vessel-derived multipotent mesoangioblasts. These observations are discussed with respect to the origin and function of Pax3-expressing cells in blood vessels, and more general questions of cell fate determination and adult cell plasticity and reprogramming.