Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A study on peripheral neuropathy in HIV infected patients: clinicoepidemiological and electrophysiological profile

Background: Peripheral neuropathy is one among the commonest HIV-associated neurologic complications. The spectrum and the frequency of this complication are changing due to the introduction of new antiretroviral drugs, aging of the HIV-infected people, etc. Hence there is need for a better understanding of these complications and their pathogenesis. This study was done with the aim of finding out the risk factors, clinical characteristics and various types and patterns of peripheral neuropathy in HIV infected patients of our region.Methods: This study was a cross sectional study conducted for about a period of one year. Patients attending the out patient department of anti retroviral therapy (ART) centre were taken for the study. Selected patients were analysed for the signs and symptoms of peripheral neuropathy and they underwent electrophysiological study.Results: Prevalence of peripheral neuropathy in HIV infected patients in our study population was 43.3%. Peripheral neuropathy was seen more in patients with advanced clinical stage and increasing age. Distal symmetric polyneuropathy was the commonest type. Common pathological pattern of neuropathy was mixed (both axonal and demyelination) neuropathy.Conclusions: As peripheral neuropathy is a common HIV-associated neurologic complication, large number of studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms leading to peripheral neuropathy in HIV infected patients, which in turn will allow for the development of effective therapies that provide adequate symptomatic relief and halt or reverse the damage to the nerves.
Treatment fidelity evidence for BE-ACTIV – a behavioral intervention for depression in nursing homes

Abstract Objectives: Evidence-based depression therapies are difficult to implement in nursing homes. We present data for BE-ACTIV, a 10-week depression treatment designed for implementation in nursing homes, to address questions of treatment fidelity (delivery, receipt, and enactment) in that context. Method: Participants were 41 patients from 13 nursing homes in the treatment arm of a clinical trial, treated by graduate student therapists. Therapists and their supervisor rated their audio-recorded sessions for adherence to treatment protocol and session quality. Results: Delivery of core program elements averaged from 80–94% across all sessions; mean quality was 5.6 (SD 0.61) out of 6 points. Delivery of core components to nursing home activities staff who collaborated in the treatment was similarly high. Patients received an average of 7.32 sessions (SD 3.39); 17 completed 10 sessions. The theoretical basis of BE-ACTIV is behavioral activation; therapist-client dyads planned new pleasant events weekly, from a mean of 3.66 (SD 1.35) after the first session to a mean of between 5 and 6 activities a week across sessions 6–9, with a similar progression in percent activities completed. Activities enactment was significantly related to the likelihood of remission at post-treatment, and of maintaining improvement at 3-month follow-up. Treatment receipt and enactment were also related to improved mood from baseline to 3 months. Conclusion: Results demonstrate delivery, receipt, and successful enactment of BE-ACTIV core components in diverse nursing homes and patients, and support the theoretical premise of the intervention. These findings support further implementation work for the BE-ACTIV intervention.
Analysts' use of earnings forecasts in predicting stock returns: Forecast horizon effects

Article history: Received January 25, 2015 Received in revised format 28 March 2015 Accepted 2 May 2015 Available online May 3 2015 This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the effects of quality of earnings forecasts in predicting stock returns on 121 selected firms traded on Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2009-2013. The study investigates the effects of three year means of earnings forecast accuracy on investors’ investment decisions in terms of volume and time horizon, i.e. short term and long term investment sentiment. Using some regression analysis, the study has determined a positive and meaningful relationship between the quality of earnings forecast and investment time horizon. However, the study did not find any meaningful relationship between earnings forecast accuracy and volume of investment. Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 5 © 201
Novel hybrid lattice Boltzmann technique with TVD characteristics for simulation of heat transfer and entropy generations of MHD and natural convection in a cavity

ABSTRACT In the present study, a novel FD_LBM hybrid numerical method with total variation diminishing (TVD) characteristics is proposed to solve the famous problems of MagnetoHydroDynamics (MHD) and natural convection in a closed cavity. Here, the momentum and energy equations are carried out via lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and FD techniques, respectively. To enhance the stability and performance of the finite difference scheme for higher Ra numbers, two renowned Superbee and Minmod flux limiter functions were used. The results for heat transfer and entropy generation features for a wide range of Rayleigh and Hartman numbers of and are presented. In addition for comparison purposes, two multiple relaxation time (MRT) and single relaxation time (SRT) algorithms presented in the open literature, were applied in the same case definitions. Not only the tests revealed an excellent agreement between the TVD method results and the published data, but they also proved that this new technique is numerically much more efficient and stable than the SRT and MRT methods, and hence one can assume the present method as a fantastic tool in the numerical solution of laminar convection problems.
An Exploration of Self-Reported Neurological-Psychological Symptoms in an OEF/OIF Veterans Administration Polytrauma Clinic Sample

Background: Traumatic Brain Injury, specifically mild (mTBI), has been labeled a “signature injury” of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and is not uncommon among Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans. Many veterans report lingering cognitive difficulties following the injury. Further, an mTBI diagnosis has also been made more challenging due to a symptom overlap with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Rationale: Little is known of the response patterns of mTBI patients on commonly used self-report measures, the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) and PTSD Checklist (PCL). Of special interest was the similarity of overlapping neurological-psychological symptoms found within these 2 measures. The current research examined whether veterans with a history of mTBI undergoing Secondary TBI Evaluations reported higher neurologicalpsychological symptoms on the NSI (a neurologically-focused measure) when compared to the PCL (a psychologically-focused questionnaire). Factors such as blast vs. other types of injuries, Neurological-Psychological Symptoms in OEF/OIF Veterans iv number of blast exposures, treatment participation, education, and marital status were also evaluated. Methods: Records of 507 recent veterans (482 males and 25 females; mean age = 31.0 years) were utilized. The 5 overlapping items on the NSI and PCL were selected for comparison. Results: Overall, self-reporting of forgetfulness, anxiety, and irritability were higher on the NSI than the PCL. Poor concentration and sleep difficulties were not found to differ. Some form of TBI treatment, types of mTBIs, number of mTBIs, marital status, and education status were also not found to be important predictors in report of symptom severity on the NSI. Conclusions: Findings suggest that following up on forgetfulness, anxiety, and irritability, conducting comprehensive TBI evaluations (including clinical diagnostic interviewing), as well as referring veterans with post-concussive symptoms for full neuropsychological assessments will further help providers to rule-out or give an accurate mTBI
Past Scents: Historical Perspectives on Smell

Introducing a 1996 translation of Alain Corbin’s now seminal work on the history of scent, The Foul and the Fragrant, Roy Porter lamented that ‘today’s history comes deodorized’. (1) As Jonathan Reinarz shows in this historical synthesis of recent work on the history of smell, Porter’s complaint has since been enthusiastically answered. In the past few years a whole series of conferences have focused on the history of the senses, including smell, and their relationship with themes such as religion, decadence and the domestic in a variety of historical periods. (2) Past Scents, arranged across an introduction, six themed chapters and a conclusion with thoughts for further research, serves to tie together some of the emerging themes in the published scholarship on this field.
The impact of the crisis on italian industrial capacity: an assessment based on the istat manufacturing survey

Traditional measures of the output gap rely on statistical filtering of trended series, results being highly sensitive to the method chosen, especially at endpoints (Oprhanides and van Norden, 2002). Following Koberl and Lein (2011) and Fessler et al. (2014), the aim of our paper is to derive ameasure of capacity utilisation gap for Italy, usually referred to in the literature asthe Non-Inflationary Rate of Capacity Utilisation (NIRCU). The NIRCU is defined as the capacity utilisation rate at which firms do not feel any pressure to adjust prices; the main advantages of the methodare (1) that it is micro-founded, being based on firm level information about capacity and prices, (2) that it is available almost in real time and (3) that it does not need any prior statistical filtering. Our NIRCU performs well as an indicator of inflationary pressures in a standard Phillips-curve framework.Results also show that the capacity gap after the crisis is in Italy at its highest in the last 25 years, remaining more than 5 percentage points above the current level of capacity utilisation, a finding with relevant implication for both monetary and fiscal policies.
Financial Constraints and Nominal Price Rigidities

This paper investigates how financial market imperfections and the frequency of price adjustment interact. Based on new firm-level evidence for Germany, we document that financially constrained firms adjust prices more often than their unconstrained counterparts, both upwards and downwards. We show that these empirical patterns are consistent with a partial equilibrium menu-cost model with a working capital constraint. We then use the model to show how the presence of financial frictions changes profits and the price distribution of firms compared to a model without financial frictions. Our results suggest that tighter financial constraints are associated with higher nominal rigidities, higher prices and lower output. Moreover, in response to aggregate shocks, aggregate price rigidity moves substantially, the response of inflation is dampened, while output reacts more in the presence of financial frictions. This means that financial frictions make the aggregate supply curve flatter for all calibrations considered in our model. We show that this differs fundamentally from models in which the extensive margin of price adjustment is absent (Rotemberg, 1982) or constant (Calvo, 1983). Hence, the interaction of financial frictions and the frequency of price adjustment potentially induces important consequences for the effectiveness of monetary policy.
Calibrating a cross-European poverty line

How should relative poverty be defined and measured in a European Union where there are substantial variations in income between countries, as well as within countries? This paper uses objective and subjective deprivation indicators to assess the appropriate balance between national and Europe-wide relativities in explaining social exclusion. The analysis suggests that Europe-wide comparisons are more important to the perception of poverty than the convention of national relative poverty lines would have led us to expect. Even relative poverty is more prevalent in the new low-income (eastern) countries than in the old high-income (western) countries. But this is as much a political as an empirical issue.
Time-Resolved Spectroscopic Study of N,N-Di(4-bromo)nitrenium Ions in Selected Solutions

Nitrenium ions are important reactive intermediates in chemistry and biology. In this work, femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption (fs-TA and ns-TA) along with nanosecond time-resolved resonance Raman (ns-TR3) experiments were employed to examine the photochemical pathways of N-(4,4′-dibromodiphenylamino)-2,4,6-trimethylpyridinium BF4− (salt (DN) from just absorption of a photon of light to the production of the important N,N-di(4-bromophenyl)nitrenium ion 2. In acetonitrile (MeCN), the formation of halogenated diarylnitrenium ion 2 was observed within 4 ps, showing the vibrational spectra with strong intensity. The nucleophilic adduct reaction of ion 2 with H2O was also examined in aqueous solutions. The direct detection of the unique ortho adduct intermediate 3 shows that there is an efficient and exclusive reaction pathway for 2 with H2O. The results shown in this paper give new characterization of 2, which can be used to design time-resolved spectroscopy investigations of covalent addition reactions of nitrenium ions with other molecules in future studies.
Interstate Variation in the Mathematics Achievement of Rural and Nonrural Students.

This study challenges our monolithic view of rural education through a systematic analysis comparing'rura! and non rural studentachievementand schooling conditions in the nation and statesparticipating in the 1992 and 1996 NAEP eighth grade mathematicsassessments. The results show that while rural andnonrural students had comparable levels of math achievement in 1992, by 1996 rural students overall had begun to outperform their nonrural counterparts. How­ ever, the achievementgaps varied considerablyfrom state to state, with rural students performing significantly better in some states and significantly poorer in others. The differences and gains appear to be explained by variance in a broad range ofschoolingfactors (instructional resources, advancedcourse offerings, progressiveinstruction, professionaltrain­ ing, safe/orderly climate, collective support). The results have important implicationsfor comprehensiveschool reform efforts as we attempt to improve educationfor all our students, particularly those in our rural schools.
Using value iteration to solve sequential decision problems in games

Solving sequential decision problems in computer games, such as non-player character (NPC) navigation, can be quite a complex task. Current games tend to rely on scripts and finite state machines (FSM) to control AI opponents. These approaches however have shortcomings; as a result academic AI techniques may be a more desirable solution to solve these types of problems. This paper describes the process of applying the value iteration algorithm to an AI engine, which can be applied to a computer game. We also introduce a new stopping criterion called game value iteration, which has been designed for use in 2D real time computer games and we discuss results from experiments conducted on the AI engine. We also outline our conclusions which state that the value iteration and the newly introduced game value iteration algorithms can be successfully applied to intelligent NPC behaviour in computer games; however there are certain problems, such as execution speed, which need to be addressed when dealing with real time games.
Studies on soil health and plant growth promoting potential of Rhizobium isolates

A comperative study of organically and conventionally managed soils under beans was conducted to ascertain the physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of these soils. Average values of physicochemical and microbiological parameters of the rhizosphere soil samples from the selected districts were compared with the bean rhizosphere soils of the organic farm of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology of Kashmir India. The results revealed that the soil of the organic farm has significantly higher content of organic carbon (1.04%), available Nitrogen, (298.7 kgha-1) phosphorus (16.72 kgha-1), potassium (296.30 kgha-1), dehydrogenase activity (68.7μg TPF/24 hr g-1 soil), total viable bacteria (78.90×106 cfu g-1 soil), fungi (48.73×103 cfu g-1 soil), actinomycete (27.20×103 cfu g-1 soil), phosphate solubilizing bacteria (18.30×105 cfu g-1 soil) and mycorrhizal spores (4.10 spores g-1 soil) followed by that of district Kupwara rhizosphere soils with organic carbon (0.97%), available Nitrogen (293.0 kg ha-1), phosphorus (15.81 kg ha-1), potassium (252.3 kg ha-1), dehydrogenase activity (62.7 μg TPF/24 hr g-1 soil), total viable bacteria (72.60×106 cfu g-1 soil), fungi (45.76×103 cfu g-1 soil), actinomycete (24.3×103 cfu g-1 soil), phosphate solubilizing bacteria (14.8×105 cfu g-1 soil) and mycorrhizal spores (3.8 spores g-1 soil). Rhizobium bacteria were also isolated from the effective nodules of the bean plants grown at different places of various districts in Kashmir valley, India. These isolates after identification were screened for the production of IAA, GA and siderophores. The isolate (Rhizobium phaseoli OF) from Organic farm was found most promising by producing 39.20 μl,162 μl, and 24 μl of IAA, GA and siderophor respectively followed by 37.5 μl, 153 μl, and 21 μl of IAA, GA and siderophor respectively from the isolate obtained from rhizosphere soils of Kupwara district. The isolate (Rhizobium phaseoli OF) was used in combination with three levels of fertilizer nitrogen (0, 20 and 40 kg ha-1) in a field experiment with beans as experimental crop and five replications by adopting RBD design to study the impact on various plant growth and yield attributing features like number of pods per plant, pod weight and number of nodules. Nitrogen uptake, apparent nitrogen recovery and percent soil nitrogen utilization was also estimated. Maximum number of pods (12 plant-1) was recorded under the treatments T5 and T6. Significantly maximum pod weight (5.96 g) and number of nodules (60.45 plant -1) was observed under the treatment T5. Treatments T5 and T6 were at par with respect to nitrogen uptake in grains (63 and 64 kg ha -1), plant biomass (84 kg ha-1) and total N uptake (147 and 148 kg ha-1) by plant. Maximum apparent nitrogen recovery (210) and percent soil nitrogen utilization (46.37) was recorded from the treatment T5.
Severe trimming and enhanced competition of laterals as a tool to delay ripening in Tempranillo vineyards under semiarid conditions

Aim: An advance in grapevine phenological stages (including ripening) is occurring worldwide due to global warming and, in the hottest seasons, already results in a lack of synchrony between sugar and phenolic ripeness, leading to unbalanced wines. In order to cope with this fact, a general effort is being made by researchers and growers aiming at delaying ripening through cultural practices, particularly under warm growing conditions, where these effects are more deleterious. The aim of this work is to evaluate to which extent severe trimming and enhanced competition of laterals can delay ripening in Tempranillo vineyards under semiarid conditions.Methods and results: The experiment took place during two consecutive seasons in Traibuenas (Navarra, Spain) in a cv. ‘Tempranillo’ vineyard trained to a vertical shoot positioned (VSP) spur-pruned bilateral cordon. Severe mechanical pruning was performed ca. 3 weeks after fruit-set in order to reduce leaf-to-fruit ratio, and in the trimmed plants, three irrigation doses were applied until harvest aiming at enhancing lateral growth, hypothesized to compete with ripening. All measurements were performed in six 10-vine replicates per treatment. Trimming significantly reduced leaf area and yield, resulting in higher water availability in trimmed plants. The whole ripening process was delayed by trimming: mid-veraison was delayed by about 5 days, and the delay in sugar accumulation and acid degradation was longer, differences being more marked in malic than in tartaric acid concentration. The use of increased irrigation levels compensated the losses in yield caused by trimming, enhanced laterals’ growth and implied an additional delay in ripening.Conclusion: trimming and increased irrigation had an additive effect in terms of delaying ripening, and they can be used jointly when that delay is needed.Significance and impact of the study: this study proves the potentiality of the joint use of trimming and increased irrigation to delay ripening, although it is necessary to analyze the implications the obtained delay has on other quality aspects. The lower anthocyanin and phenolic values observed in trimmed vines were not solely due to delayed ripening, as lower values were observed even when data were compared for a given total soluble solid content.
Factor affecting Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of rice chitinase gene in Solanum tuberosum L

Potato is a very important food crop and is adversely affected by fungus. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation can play an important role in the improvement of potato. The present study was conducted to optimize the different factors affecting Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of chitinase gene. Nodes were used as explant of potato cultivars Desiree and Sh-5. Agrobacterium tumefacien strain LBA4404 harboring a pB1333-EN4-RCG3 plasmid having chitinase gene and selectable marker hygromycin gene under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter was used. The parameters optimized for the potato transformation includes co-cultivation time, cefotaxime concentration, and days to pre-selection. The results show that the infection time (2 min) gave best mean value of transformation efficiency, that is, 2.9 and 2.1 in Desiree and Sh-5, respectively. The over growth of Agrobacterium were controlled with a concentration of 200 mg/l of cefotaxime and obtained maximum mean value of transformation efficiency of 3.38 and 3.10 in Desiree and Sh-5, respectively. The pre-selection period seven days prior to selection were considered effective for regeneration of explants and high transformation efficiency. The high mean value of regeneration (3.08 and 2.82) and transformation efficiency (3.00 and 2.60) was observed in Desiree and Sh-5, respectively. The putative transgenic plants were analyzed through PCR by using RCG-3 specific primers.