Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Subjective Cognitive Complaints, Memory Performance, and Depressive Affect In Old Age: A Change-Oriented Approach

The question of whether and how subjective cognitive complaints are related to actual cognitive performance represents a central issue in applied cognitive aging research. Until recently, however, many studies have failed to find a strong association between subjective cognitive complaints and actual cognitive performance. In our study, we examine two alternative explanations: a) for methodological reasons, strong associations exist only when latent changes rather than differences are examined, and b) strong associations exist only between changes in depression and complaints, not between changes in cognitive performance and complaints. With 427 participants (M = 63 years) and two measurements, we examine both the relation between functioning, complaints, and depressive affect at each measurement point, and the relation between changes in functioning, changes in complaints, and changes in depressive affect between the measurement points with latent difference variables. The results indicate that there are substantial relations between changes in functioning, changes in depression, and changes in complaints.
The Effectiveness in Utilizing Chinese Media to Promote Breast Health Among Chinese Women

To increase the awareness and practice of breast health guidelines, a media-based education campaign on breast health was launched among immigrant Chinese community in San Francisco. The media campaign included airing two public service announcements (PSAs) on Chinese television and radio stations and publishing the same message in Chinese newspapers during 2000. Seven-hundred-ten face-to-face interviews were conducted with women who were recruited from various settings in the city of San Francisco to evaluate the impact of the campaign. Survey participants were asked to describe the content of the PSAs. Having viewed the PSA was significantly associated with the ability to identify all four guidelines (OR = 1.96; 95% CI: 1.35–2.85), knowing how to perform breast self-exam (BSE; OR = 2.25; 95% CI: 1.53–3.29), having performed BSE within the past month (OR = 3.12; 95% CI: 2.05–4.74), and having a clinical breast exam (CBE; OR = 2.98; 95% CI: 1.82–4.90) and mammogram (MAM; OR = 1.97; 95% CI: 1.16–3.36) in the past year. The study findings support that a media campaign utilizing PSAs is effective in improving knowledge of breast health guidelines, teaching Chinese women how to (BSEs), and increasing breast health practices.
In vitro secondary generation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in mice with mumps virus and their mumps-specific cytotoxicity among paramyxoviruses

Murine cells (L929, MC57G, and P815 mastocytoma) defectively infected with the egg-adapted vaccine strain of mumps virus were found to be susceptible to cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated lysis. In vitro secondary, but not in vivo primary, generated CTL caused cytolysis of these targets in an H-2-restricted manner. UV-inactivated-mumps virus-coated murine cells were also found to be susceptible to CTL-mediated lysis. Comparisons of murine CTL-mediated lysis by three paramyxoviruses (mumps, Sendai, and Newcastle disease viruses) indicated that no cross-reactivity occurred. The CTL response with mumps virus exhibited specific unresponsiveness patterns, as influenced by the H-2 K/D regions of the mouse strains, that were partially different from those of Sendai virus and Newcastle disease virus.
HLA-DRB1*0401/0404 genotype and rheumatoid arthritis: increased association in men, young age at onset, and disease severity.

OBJECTIVE To confirm the reported strong association between the HLA-DRB1*0401/0404 genotype and susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to investigate the influence of sex, age at disease onset, and variables of disease severity on the strength of this association. METHODS A case control design was adopted comparing the frequency of specific HLA-DRB1 genotypes between 201 Caucasian patients with RA and 139 controls. HLA typing was performed using a polymerase chain reaction based oligonucleotide approach with HLA-DR4 subtyping using an amplification refractory mutation system RFLP technique. RESULTS The risk of RA in those carrying a single shared epitope (SE) allele was 4 times, and in those carrying 2 SE alleles, 8 times that in the SE negative individuals. This increase was highest in individuals carrying 2 different SE alleles, with the risk in *0401/*0404 cases being 26 times higher. This genotype was associated with a 90-fold increased risk in men and this was more than doubled when age at disease onset was below 30. In all patients with RA, this genotype was associated with a substantially increased risk of being rheumatoid factor positive and having subcutaneous nodules and/or radiological erosion. CONCLUSION Possession of the HLA-DRB1*0401/*0404 genotype carries a substantially high risk for RA development specifically in its more severe forms. The risks are particularly increased in young men.
Mucosal mast cells and nematode infection: strain-specific differences in mast cell precursor frequency revisited

Abstract Mucosal mast cells (MMC) play an important role in the immune response against selected species of intestinal nematode. The kinetics with which different strains of inbred mice resolve infection with Trichinella spiralis correlates with their ability to mount MMC responses in the intestinal mucosa. Homologues of MMC that express and constitutively secrete abundant amounts of the granule chymase, mouse mast cell protease-1 (mMCP-1), can be generated in vitro from bone marrow cultures supplemented with interleukins-3 and -9, stem cell factor and transforming growth factor-β1. Using the enhanced growth characteristics of these MMC homologues, a novel limiting dilution assay for mast cell precursor (MCp) frequency has been developed. The assay is highly specific, in that cultures containing mast cells are identified with mMCP-1 specific antibody, and almost three-fold more sensitive than previously published systems. MCp frequencies were compared in BALB/c and C57/BL10 strains of mice that, respectively, respond rapidly and slowly to infection with T. spiralis. MCp frequency (1/378 bone marrow cells) was significantly greater (P<0.05) in BALB/c than C57/BL10 mice (frequency: 1/751). Similarly the rate of growth of MMC homologues and the production of mMCP-1 was significantly (P<0.05) greater in BALB/c than in C57/BL10 bone marrow cultures.
Quasilocal mass constructions with positive energy.

We propose a pair of new quasilocal constructions for the four-momentum and mass of the gravitational and matter fields within generic two-surfaces. We show that the momenta are future pointing when the dominant energy condition is satisfied on a spanning three-surface and the two-surface is suitably convex. The new definition gives zero in flat space and the correct results in linearized theory, at spacelike infinity and for round spheres. At null infinity at least one definition gives the Bondi mass. These definitions can be embedded in definitions of angular momentum.
Predictor-Estimator

Recently, quality estimation has been attracting increasing interest from machine translation researchers, aiming at finding a good estimator for the “quality” of machine translation output. The common approach for quality estimation is to treat the problem as a supervised regression/classification task using a quality-annotated noisy parallel corpus, called quality estimation data, as training data. However, the available size of quality estimation data remains small, due to the too-expensive cost of creating such data. In addition, most conventional quality estimation approaches rely on manually designed features to model nonlinear relationships between feature vectors and corresponding quality labels. To overcome these problems, this article proposes a novel neural network architecture for quality estimation task—called the predictor-estimator—that considers word prediction as an additional pre-task. The major component of the proposed neural architecture is a word prediction model based on a modified neural machine translation model—a probabilistic model for predicting a target word conditioned on all the other source and target contexts. The underlying assumption is that the word prediction model is highly related to quality estimation models and is therefore able to transfer useful knowledge to quality estimation tasks. Our proposed quality estimation method sequentially trains the following two types of neural models: (1) Predictor: a neural word prediction model trained from parallel corpora and (2) Estimator: a neural quality estimation model trained from quality estimation data. To transfer word a prediction task to a quality estimation task, we generate quality estimation feature vectors from the word prediction model and feed them into the quality estimation model. The experimental results on WMT15 and 16 quality estimation datasets show that our proposed method has great potential in the various sub-challenges.
Antifungal Therapy in an Athymic Murine Model of Chromoblastomycosis by Fonsecaea pedrosoi

ABSTRACT We have compared the efficacy of terbinafine (TRB) and itraconazole (ITZ), the recommended drugs for the treatment of chromoblastomycosis, with that of posaconazole (PSC) and voriconazole (VRC) in athymic mice infected with the fungus Fonsecaea pedrosoi. Three weeks after challenge, mice were treated for 4 months with PSC at 10 or 20 mg/kg of body weight/day, with VRC at 10 or 20 mg/kg/day, with ITZ at 25 or 50 mg/kg/day, or with TRB at 150 or 250 mg/kg/day. The progress of the infection was evaluated by measuring the size of the lesions, by histopathological studies, and by cultures of the excised tissue. The two doses of PSC followed by the highest doses of ITZ and TRB showed the best results while VRC did not show efficacy. PSC could be an alternative in the treatment of chromoblastomycosis.
Family Physicians' Scope of Practice and American Board of Family Medicine Recertification Examination Performance

Purpose: Previous research indicated that rural family physicians were more likely to pass the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) Maintenance of Certification for Family Physicians (MC-FP) examination. One possible explanation is that rural family physicians may have a broader scope of practice. Method: This was a cross-sectional study of family physicians taking the ABFM MC-FP examination in 2013. Examination results were linked with the Scope of Practice for Primary Care (SP4PC) scale. Linear and logistic regression models, with and without SP4PC score, determined associations between scope of practice and examination results. Results: Among 10,978 examinees, rural physicians had a higher passing rate (90.7% vs 86.8%, P < .05) and higher SP4PC score (16.1 vs 14.3 P < .05) compared with urban physicians. Regression models without SP4PC score confirmed that urban physicians were less likely to pass (OR = 0.73; 95% CI, 0.62–0.87) and scored lower, −15.6 points, compared with rural physicians. Including SP4PC score completely attenuated the relationship between practice location and passing (OR = 0.86; 95% CI, 0.73–1.02) and decreased the relationship between score and practice location (−5.8 points). Each point increase on the SP4PC score was associated with 9% higher odds of passing (OR = 1.09; 95% CI, 1.07–1.11) and 4.9 more points. Conclusion: A broader scope of practice rather than rural or urban practice location, was associated with increased likelihood of passing the MC-FP examination. If higher board scores are associated with providing higher quality of care, then maintaining a broad scope of practice may enable the delivery of higher quality primary care.
Occurrence of Aeromonas hydrophila in fish, shrimp, lobster and crab in Iran.

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence rate and antimicrobial resistance of Aeromonas hydrophila in fish, shrimp, lobster and crab caught off the south coast of Iran. A total of 541 samples including, 133 freshly caught fish of 4 different types including Otollithes ruber, Pamous argenteus, Parastromateus niger and Psettodes erumel, 240 shrimp of 4 different species including Penaeus monodon, P. semisulcatus, P. indicus, and P. merguiensis, 108 lobster (Panulirus homarus) and 60 crab (Panulirus homarus) were collected in 3 provinces along Persian Gulf in the south coast of Iran. Samples were collected at the end of each month from September 2011 to May 2012. Using conventional bacteriological techniques, 66 A. hydrophila isolates were identified in which 62 strains were confirmed by PCR assay targeting 16S rDNA gene of A. hydrophila. Using PCR assays targeting the A. hydrophila cytolytic enterotoxin gene, 57 (10.5%) isolates were positive. The highest prevalence of A. hydrophila was found in fish (19.5%), followed by shrimp (9.2%), lobster (9.3%) and crab (6.7%). The highest prevalence of A. hydrophila occurred in summer (21.3%) followed by fall (12.0%), spring (10.8%), and winter (5.6%). To our knowledge, the present study is the first report of the isolation of A. hydrophila from fish, shrimp, lobster and crab in Iran.
Prognostic significance of pathological and biological factors in hepatocellular carcinoma

Prognostic factors in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) conventionally consist of staging with the tumour node metastasis system and grading by tumour cellular differentiation. There are also other factors useful in prognostication but most of them are clinical. With new discoveries in the pathobiology of cancers and introduction of new medical technology, pathological and biological factors of HCC in relation to prognosis have been studied quite extensively. Morphological features of the tumour, both gross and histological, have been found to be significantly related to tumour recurrence and patient survival. Recently, applications of new antibodies and techniques have enabled studies on cellular proliferation using different antibodies such as those for proliferating cell nuclear antigen and Ki‐67 protein. These studies on cellular proliferation, as well as assessment of argyrophilic nucleolar organizing regions, have been shown to provide good prognostic significance. Flow cytometric studies on DNA ploidy and studies on expression of genes including the p53 gene, hormone receptors and others show less unanimous results in their prognostic significance. The influence of gender on survival is also reviewed. In conclusion, pathological and biological factors are useful and help to guide clinicians in the management of patients and in assessment of long‐term prognosis.
Economic analysis of long-term reversible contraceptives. Focus on Implanon.

OBJECTIVE To examine the economic impact of a new implantable contraceptive, Implanon, in comparison with other available contraceptive methods. DESIGN This was a modelling study using cost data derived from national published sources and effectiveness data from either controlled clinical trials (Implanon) or reports in the literature (other contraceptives). In the baseline analysis, Implanon was compared with 2 long term reversible contraceptives, Norplant and Mirena. Further analyses were then carried out comparing Implanon with Depo-Provera and with combined oral contraceptives. SETTING The study concentrated on the UK, but also made reference to several other European countries. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES AND RESULTS The baseline analysis showed that all 3 long term reversible contraceptives produce very good rates of return, with Implanon providing the best rate of return (both average and internal) of the 3 methods. The payback period for Implanon was calculated as 146 days, compared with 339 and 368 days for Norplant and Mirena, respectively. In terms of cost effectiveness, the cost per protected year for Implanon was 95 Pounds, compared with 146 Pounds and 168 Pounds for Norplant and Mirena, respectively. In comparison with Depo-Provera (an injectable contraceptive), Implanon was both less costly and more effective, the cost per protected year for Depo-Provera being 131 Pounds. The threshold beyond which Implanon delivers cost savings compared with combined oral contraceptives was at a failure rate of 4.9% for the combined pill. CONCLUSIONS Reversible long term approaches to contraception provide an effective and efficient use of healthcare resources and generate an excellent return on public investment. Implanon produces better rates of return than both Norplant and Mirena, and is also more cost effective in terms of cost per pregnancy avoided and cost per protected year than Norplant, Mirena, Depo-Provera and oral contraceptives.
Risk factors for early death in non-insulin dependent diabetes and men with known glucose tolerance status.

OBJECTIVE--To identify risk factors for all cause mortality according to glucose tolerance status. DESIGN--Cohort study with an average 15.6 years' follow up. SETTING--Paris, France. SUBJECTS--7166 working men aged 44-55 in 1968-72 in the Paris prospective study cohort, with non-insulin dependent diabetes or known result of two hour 75 g oral glucose tolerance test. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Risk factors for death from all causes. RESULTS--128 men were known to be diabetic, 180 had diabetes diagnosed, and 697 had impaired glucose tolerance diagnosed. Compared with normoglycaemic men the relative risks of death in these groups were 2.0 (95% confidence interval 1.4 to 3.0), 2.7 (2.0 to 3.6), and 1.6 (1.3 to 2.0) respectively. Obesity, smoking, high blood pressure, and high non-esterified fatty acid concentration were risk factors for death in all subjects and were unaffected by glucose tolerance. The risks for fasting and two hour insulin concentrations and mean corpuscular volume were two times higher in known diabetic men than in men not known to be diabetic. Central obesity was significant only in men not known to be diabetic (1.6 (1.4 to 1.9)). In known diabetic men a two hour glucose concentration higher than 11.1 mmol/l carried a relative risk of death of 3.8 (1.4 to 9.4). CONCLUSIONS--Diabetic men have similar risk factors for early mortality to other men but are at higher risk from hyperinsulinaemia, hyperglycaemia, and high mean corpuscular volume.
Juvenile onset Huntington's disease--clinical and research perspectives.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder. The mutation which causes the disease is an expansion in the number of repetitions of three nucleotides, C, A, and G in exon 1 of the huntingtin gene. The gene normally has 15 to 30 repeats and an expansion to 40 or more is associated with HD. HD usually has a mid-life onset, but a juvenile form, defined by onset of symptoms before the age of 21 years, is present in about 7% of HD cases. Juvenile HD is characterized by (1) transmission from an HD affected father, (2) an unusually large repeat size, usually of 60 or more units, and (3) unique clinical features, including rigidity and seizure disorder. Although juvenile onset is associated with a more severe neuropathological involvement, the neuropathological characteristics of juvenile HD are similar to those seen in the adult form in that the striatum bears the brunt of the illness. Clumps of protein, termed inclusion bodies, which stain positive for huntingtin and ubiquitin, are found primarily in the nucleus but also in the cytoplasm and axons in HD neurons. Research suggests that these inclusion bodies sequester a deleterious protein fragment and prolong cell life during the degenerative process of the disease.
Development and psychometric properties of the Malaysian elder abuse scale

Elder abuse is an emerging issue of serious concern with life-threatening consequences. This study aimed to develop and assess the validity and reliability of a new scale to assess elder abuse. A cross-sectional multistage sampling technique was used to obtain a nationally representative sample of older Malaysians. The iterative development process resulted in a 16-item, four-dimension scale. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a 10-item scale with three factors. The value of Cronbach’s alpha for total scale and its subscales indicated sufficient internal consistency. Multitrait scaling analysis also showed good convergent and discriminant validity. Furthermore, predictive validity of the proposed scale was established by demonstrating a statistically significant association between elder abuse and depression through multiple logistic regression analysis. The findings from this study demonstrate an acceptable level of validity and reliability for new scale. This scale can be used by health and social care workers to identify elder abuse cases.
Prevalence of HIV / AIDS Protective Alleles ( CCR 5-Δ 32 , CCR 2-64 I , and SDF 1-3 ’ A ) in Turkish Population Balci

Aims: Genetic variants of the genes encoding Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) chemokine receptors and their ligands may be involved in the susceptibility to HIV-1 infection and AIDS progression. The variants most frequently investigated are CCR5-Δ32, CCR2-64I, and SDF1-3’A. In this study, we investigated the frequency of the above polymorphisms within the Turkish population, evaluating their protective genetic contribution against HIV infection. Methods: A total of 205 participants were recruited among blood donors from Sinop, Turkey. Genotyping was initially performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis for the three variants examined and this allowed to analyze 32-bp deletion in CCR5 gene. CCR2 and SDF1 amplicons were further subjected to restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis for genotype determination. Results: The CCR5-Δ32 allele frequency in our population was 3.17% and no homozygous subjects were detected. Genotyping of the CCR2-64I polymorphism revealed 9 homozygous (4.39%) and 55 heterozygous (26.83%) subjects giving an allele frequency of 17.80%. Screening for the SDF1-3’A polymorphism yielded 12 homozygous (5.85%) and 87 heterozygous (42.44%) subjects with a high allele frequency of 27.07%. The frequency of the CCR5-Δ32 allele in our population seems lower when compared to other Caucasian groups, however, CCR2-64I and SDF1-3’A alleles are common. Conclusion: The interaction between HIV and the chemokine system advanced our understanding of the pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS and the investigation of resistance-conferring variants in different populations may be useful for prophylactic measures. Received date: 05/06/2017 Accepted date: 14/06/2017 Published date: 22/06/2017
Exclusive Breastfeeding in 3 Rural Localities in Mexico

The purpose of this study was to assess the factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) during the first 6 months of life. A prospective, cohort study was conducted in 291 newborn children in 3 semirural localities in Mexico. Data were collected on infant-feeding practices, anthropometry, morbidity, and maternal and household characteristics. Two-stage multivariate regression models were used for statistical analysis. Prevalence of EBF was 50% at day 5. Average duration of EBF was 2.18 months. According to the 2-stage model, maternal age, maternal work, and better socioeconomic conditions were associated with EBF at day 5. Infant nutritional status, prevalence of diarrhea, giving colostrum to the newborn, and maternal experience in breastfeeding were associated with duration of EBF. The prevalence of EBF and its duration were much shorter than recommended internationally. EBF during the early days of life and EBF duration are 2 different processes that are determined by different factors.