Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Randomized Trial of Routine Prenatal Ultrasound

Nine hundred fifteen of 2171 pregnant patients had no indication for ultrasound at their first prenatal visit and were randomly assigned to receive either a single routine screening ultrasound or usual prenatal care. The estimated date of confinement was altered in 24.9% of routine-ultrasound patients and in 11.6% of usual-care patients through ultrasound examinations obtained for a subsequent clinical indication. Of these, 8.3% of routine-ultrasound and 5.2% of usual-care patients had gestational age errors of 2 weeks or more. There were no differences between the groups in inductions for post-dates pregnancy (7.0 versus 7.5%; P=.87), total inductions (22.6 versus 24.9%; P=.61), or adverse perinatal outcomes (6.7 versus 8.3%; P=.63). Both sets of twins were detected in the screened group. In the usual-care group, five of seven pairs of twins (71%) were diagnosed by 24 weeks'gestation. There was no benefit found from routine ultrasound as performed in this study.
Is data privacy a fundamental right in India?

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify how the privacy policy can be framed for protection of personal data and how the latest judgement of full bench of Supreme Court of India has dealt with right to privacy in India. Design/methodology/approach The study uses the latest Supreme Court judgement on right to privacy and historical cases on right to privacy in India. This paper uses Indian Constitution as a source of Information for study along with case laws and judgements of different courts in India. Findings This paper tries to find if personal data privacy is a fundamental right in India. In addition, the paper provides recommendations to different concerned authorities on protecting personal information in online platform. Research limitations/implications This study deals with privacy issues so far as Indian citizens are concerns and does not focus on other countries. Moreover, the study tries to understand the issue of fundamental rights from Indian Constitution perspective. In addition, the recommendations provided to the policymakers and other authorities of India have wide implications for formulation of new policy and management of personal data, so that it should not go to wrong hands and the personal data and privacy is protected of the citizens. Practical implications Millions of people put their personal information in online platform. In addition, there are few government initiatives in India such as Aadhaar card where the biometric information is taken from the residents of India, and in many cases, the personal data are compromised under various circumstances. As the personal data of the citizens are in question, thus the study has direct practical implication mainly for all the citizens whose personal data are available in online platform. Social implications This study has social implication as it dealt with the “personal data” of the citizens of India. As the paper discusses the issue of protection of personal data in the context of right to privacy, thus this study has a direct social impact so far as online citizen of India is concerned. Originality/value This paper is timely, original and discusses the contemporary issue of online data privacy and fundamental right in India. This paper is a useful resource for the researchers, policymakers and online users who deal with personal data-, right to privacy and data privacy policy-related areas.
Asian American college students as model minorities: an examination of their overall competence.

Educational success among Asian Americans has led to their being labeled the "model minority. " At the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Asian American students have higher grade point averages (GPAs) than Hispanic and African American but not White students, supporting the notion that Asian Americans are more successful compared with other racial minorities. However, success in the classroom does not implicate effective functioning in life, and nonacademic criteria ought to be considered in assessing the validity of the model minority image. Given the increasing diversification of the United States, cross-racial engagement may be an additional contributor to overall competence. This was empirically tested in a group of 642 undergraduates at UCB, including 291 Asian, 197 White, 20 African American, 67 Hispanic, and 56 multiracial students. Overall competence was operationalized by sense of coherence, that is, the extent to which the world is experienced as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful (A. Antonovsky, 1979, 1987). As predicted, Asian Americans had significantly fewer numbers of cross-racial groups represented in their friendship network than did students of all other races. Lower cross-racial engagement and being Asian (as compared with White) were related to a lower sense of coherence, whereas lower GPA was not. Within the Asian American subsample, cross-racial engagement was again significantly associated with greater coherence, whereas GPA again was not. Thus, extending the definition of success to overall competence, these findings raise questions about the applicability of the model minority label to Asian Americans, despite their academic achievement. Future studies need to assess the reasons for their limited cross-racial engagement and lower sense of coherence and to examine means to assist the development of these strengths.
Single-dose Intravitreal Bevacizumab after Complete Panretinal Photocoagulation in Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy: an Effective Adjunctive Treatment

Patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) who are refractory to complete panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) have a high risk of severe vision loss. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of single-dose intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) after complete PRP in patients with refractory PDR. Patients with retinal neovascularization (NV) secondary to diabetes mellitus and refractory to complete PRP were enrolled in this study. All patients received a single dose of 1.25 mg IVB at 3 months after completing the PRP. Patients underwent complete ophthalmic evaluation and fluorescein angiography (FA) at baseline and 1 month after injection. The main outcome measure was a reduction in the areas of leakage (mm2) on FA. All patients were evaluated at baseline and on every visit at 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month after the injection. A total of 21 consecutive patients (32 eyes) with PDR completed this study. Thirteen (61.9%) patients were female. The mean ± standard deviation (SD) age was 64.1 ± 5.6 years. Complete and partial response of angiographic leakage of NV was noted in 7 (21.9%) and 18 (56.2%) of 32 eyes after a single IVB injection, respectively. No satisfactory response of retinal NV was observed in 7 eyes (21.9%) at 1 month after the injection. No significant ocular or systemic adverse events were observed. A single-dose of IVB could be associated with a satisfactory response of retinal NV, secondary to PDR, in patients who are refractory to complete PRP.
Comparison of conventional and non‐invasive techniques for the early identification of diabetic neuropathy in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes

Background: Neuropathy is an important complication and contributes to the morbidity of diabetes mellitus. The availability of simple and non‐invasive tests for screening of early diabetic neuropathy (DN) in children with diabetes may prevent further progression of this complication. The purpose of this study was to compare conventional nerve conduction studies (NCS) with non‐invasive techniques, including vibration perception thresholds (VPT) and tactile perception thresholds (TPT) for the detection of DN in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.
Quantitative Analysis of Pursuit Ocular Movements in Parkinson’s Disease by Using a Video-Based Eye Tracking System

The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy and the tolerability of a new vision-based non-intrusive eye tracker in a population composed of normal controls and in patients affected by nonadvanced Parkinson’s disease (PD). PD patients characteristically have difficulty in sustaining repetitive motor actions. Previous studies showed a progressive bradykinesia and hypokinesia of pursuit ocular movements (POM) in advanced PD. We found that the values of POM were lower in PD patients than in normal controls (p < 0.001). In PD patients, the values correlated closely with Hoehn and Yahr stage and Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale motor subscore (p < 0.001, for both). Our data suggest that deficit in POM occurs also in nonadvanced PD patients and it is closely correlated with clinical scores. Thus, this vision-based system can be considered a new method to provide, noninvasively, measures of POM dysfunctions and can be used as reliable indices of disease severity in PD patients.
HIV-1 TAR as Anchoring Site for Optimized Catalytic RNAs

Abstract Ribozymes have a great potential for developing specific gene silencing molecules. One of the main limitations to ensure the efficient application of ribozymes is to achieve effective binding to the target. Stem-loop domains support efficient formation of the kissing complex between natural antisense molecules and their target sequence. We have characterized catalytic antisense RNA hybrid molecules composed of a hammerhead ribozyme and a stemloop antisense domain. A series of artificial RNA substrates containing the TAR-RNA stem-loop and a target for the hammerhead ribozyme were constructed and challenged with a catalytic antisense RNA carrying the TAR complementary stemloop. The catalytic antisense RNA cleaves each of these substrates significantly more efficiently than the parental hammerhead ribozyme. Deletion of the TAR domain in the substrate abolishes the positive effect. These results suggest that the enhancement is due to the interaction of both complementary stemloop motifs. A similar improvement was corroborated when targeting the LTR region of HIV-1 with either hammerhead and hairpinbased catalytic antisense RNAs. Our results indicate that the TAR domain can be used as an anchoring site to facilitate the access of ribozymes to their specific target sequences within TAR-containing RNAs. Finally, we propose the addition of stable stem-loop motifs to the ribozyme domain as a rational way for constructing catalytic antisense RNAs.
Not all older adults have insight into their driving abilities: evidence from an on-road assessment and implications for policy.

PURPOSE To compare self-reported driving ability with objective measures of on-road driving performance in a large cohort of older drivers. METHODS Two hundred and seventy community-living adults aged 70-88 years recruited via the electoral roll completed a standardized assessment of on-road driving performance and questionnaires determining perceptions of their own driving ability, confidence, and driving difficulties. Retrospective self-reported crash data over the previous 5 years were recorded. RESULTS Participants reported difficulty with only selected driving situations, including driving into the sun, in unfamiliar areas, in wet conditions, and at night or dusk. The majority of participants rated their own driving as good to excellent. Of the 47 (17%) drivers who were rated as potentially unsafe to drive, 66% rated their own driving as good to excellent. Drivers who made critical errors, where the driving instructor had to take control of the vehicle, had no lower self-rating of driving ability than the rest of the group. The discrepancy in self-perceptions of driving ability and participants' safety rating on the on-road assessment was significantly associated with self-reported retrospective crash rates, where those drivers who displayed greater overconfidence in their own driving were significantly more likely to report a crash. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that older drivers with the greatest mismatch between actual and self-rated driving ability pose the greatest risk to road safety. Therefore, licensing authorities should not assume that when older individuals' driving abilities begin to decline they will necessarily be aware of these changes and adopt appropriate compensatory driving behaviors; rather, it is essential that evidence-based assessments are adopted.
Effect of dietary Quebracho tannin extract on feed intake, digestibility, excretion of urinary purine derivatives and milk production in dairy cows

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary Quebracho tannin extract (QTE) on feed intake, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD), excretion of urinary purine derivatives (PD) and milk composition and yield in dairy cows. Fifty Holstein cows were divided into two groups. To reach a similar performance of both groups, cows were divided according to their milk yield, body weight, days in milk and number of lactations at the start of the experiment averaging 33.2 ± 8.2 kg/d, 637 ± 58 kg, 114 ± 73 d and 2.3 ± 1.6 lactations, respectively. The cows were fed a basal diet as total mixed ration containing on dry matter (DM) basis 34% grass silage, 32% maize silage and 34% concentrate feeds. Three dietary treatments were tested, the control (CON, basal diet without QTE), QTE15 (basal diet with QTE at 15 g/kg DM) and QTE30 (basal diet with QTE at 30 g/kg DM). Two treatments were arranged along six periods each 21 d (13 d adaptation phase and 8 d sampling phase). The ATTD of DM and organic matter were reduced only in Diet QTE30, whereas both QTE treatments reduced ATTD of fibre and nitrogen (N), indicating that QTE impaired rumen fermentation. Nevertheless, feed intake was unaffected by QTE. In Diet CON, urinary N excretion accounted for 29.8% of N intake and decreased in treatments QTE15 and QTE30 to 27.5% and 17.9%, respectively. Daily faecal N excretion increased in treatments CON, QTE15 and QTE30 from 211 to 237 and 273 g/d, respectively, which amounted to 39.0%, 42.4% and 51.7% of the N intake, respectively. Hence, QTE shifted N excretion from urine to faeces, whereas the proportion of ingested N appearing in milk was not affected by QTE (average 30.7% of N intake). Daily PD excretion as indicator for microbial crude protein (CP) flow at the duodenum decreased in treatment QTE30 compared with Diet CON from 413 to 280 mmol/d. The ratios of total PD to creatinine suggest that urinary PD excretion was already lower when feeding Diet QTE15. While there was no effect of Diet QTE15, treatment QTE30 reduced milk yield, milk fat and protein. Both QTE treatments reduced milk urea concentration, which suggest that ruminal degradation of dietary CP was reduced. In summary, adding QTE at dosages of 15 and 30 g/kg DM to diets of lactating dairy cows to improve feed and protein use efficiency is not recommended.
Speculative Flows, Exchange Rate Volatility and Monetary Policy- the South African Experience

Long-term real exchange rate volatility raises the risks associated with investment in the tradable sector, and it is detrimental to long-term growth. Short-term volatility can however be hedged; reduces the currency’s attractiveness as a carry trade target; induces necessary caution against the build-up of liabilities denominated in foreign currency; helps maintain the scope for independent monetary policy; and, through rapid up and down movements, it can help reduce prolonged misalignment and long-run volatility.Capital flow variability affects exchange rate volatility; restrictions (e.g., as adopted in Brazil) on the level of inflows do not necessarily reduce the variability of inflows. Measures of external vulnerability have a strong association with emerging market currencies’ sensitivity to global flows. South Africa’s external financing requirement leaves its currency vulnerable, and points to unused scope for foreign exchange reserve accumulation. (Existing restrictions on outflows by residents could also vary depending on the size and direction of non-resident inflows.) Macro fundamentals matter for long-run rand behaviour. Upper variance bounds implied by fundamentals are not systematically breached at low frequencies.Speculative carry inflows can be destabilizing, and may reduce the effectiveness and scope for independent monetary policy – depending on the responsiveness of domestic credit growth to capital inflows. In South Africa, this responsiveness has been comparatively low (under QE-driven liquidity). Yields at the short end of the South African term structure of interest rates are significantly responsive to the domestic factors which affect the (domestic) monetary policy stance. Changes in long-term yields are however highly responsive to changes in global yields, but not more so than long yields in advanced economies.Low and stable inflation serves a counter-speculative role. It permits low nominal interest rates (and interest differentials), which reduces the rand’s appeal as a speculative target, without the repression of negative real interest rates. Low interest differentials are associated (cross-section) with low exchange rate volatility.
An analysis of 372 patients with anterior uveitis in a large Ibero-American cohort of spondyloarthritis: the RESPONDIA Group.

OBJECTIVES This study analysed the frequency of anterior uveitis (AU) and its correlations in a large cohort of patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA). METHODS A common protocol of investigation was prospectively applied to 2012 SpA patients in 85 centres from 10 Ibero-American countries. Clinical and demographic variables and disease indexes were investigated. Categorical variables were compared by χ2 and Fisher's exact test, and continuous variables were compared by ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test. A value of p<0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS AU was referred by 372 SpA patients (18.5%). AU was statistically associated with inflammatory low back pain (p<0.001), radiographic sacroiliitis (p<0.001), enthesopathies (p=0.004), urethritis/acute diarrhoea (p<0.001), balanitis (p=0.002), hip involvement (p=0.002), HLA-B27 (p=0.003), and higher C-reactive protein (p=0.001), whilst it was negatively associated with the number of painful (p=0.03) and swollen (p=0.005) peripheral joints, psoriatic arthritis (p<0.001), psoriasis (p<0.001), nail involvement (p<0.001), and dactilitis (p=0.062; trend). No association with gender, race, and indices (disease activity, functionality and quality of life) was observed. Logistic regression showed that ankylosing spondylitis (p=0.001) and HLA-B27 (p=0.083; trend) was significantly associated with AU, while extra-articular manifestations (predominantly psoriasis) were negatively associated (p=0.016). CONCLUSIONS Anterior uveitis is a frequent extra-articular manifestation in SpA patients, positively associated with axial involvement and HLA-B27 and negatively associated with peripheral involvement and psoriatic arthritis.
Salmonella enterica Serovar typhimurium Colonization of the Crop in the Domestic Turkey: Influence of Probiotic and Prebiotic Treatment (Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactose)

Abstract Acute colonization of the crop of the domestic turkey by Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium (ST) was examined. The influences of preharvest probiotic and prebiotic treatment with lactobaccilli and lactose on crop colonization with ST were also investigated. Prior to Salmonella challenge, poults received 2.5% lactose and Lactobacillus acidophilus (1.9 × 109 organisms/liter) in the only source of drinking water from 1 day old to termination. At 3 wk old, turkey poults were challenged with ST (1.7 × 108 colony-forming units [CFU]/ml) before their natural nocturnal fast to determine the potential effects of supplementation on crop colonization when the crop was engorged and subsequently undergoing emptying. Crop ingesta and tissue were collected at time points 30 min and 4, 8, and 24 hr postchallenge and ST levels were determined. High levels of ST were detected in the crop. For instance, for the poults not receiving lactose or lactobacilli, 30 min after ST challenge, there were 4.4 × 107 CFU in the crop ingesta and 5.3 × 105 CFU in the crop wall. Ingesta ST levels dropped dramatically to 1.0 × 106 CFU after 4 hr as the crop emptied. Crop wall ST levels were steady during the nocturnal crop evacuation. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated ST in close association with the crop epithelium. Treatment with lactose and L. acidophilus supplementation did not reduce ST colonization.
The defect in delayed‐type hypersensitivity of young adult SJL mice is due to a lack of functional antigen‐presenting cells

SJL mice exhibit a strain‐specific age‐dependent delay in the maturation of delayed‐type hypersensitivity (DTH) responsiveness. They do not attain “adult” levels of DTH responsiveness until the 10th week of age, which is 4 to 6 weeks later than the other strains of mice tested. In this report we demonstrate that spleen cells, resident peritoneal cells and thioglycollate‐elicited peritoneal exudate cells are all able to transfer DTH responsiveness from naive 12‐week‐old DTH responders to 6‐week‐old nonresponders. Transfer prior to immunization was more efficient at eliciting a response than transfer after immunization. As few as 5 ± 104 cells from 12‐week‐old SJL mice can adoptively transfer responsiveness to unresponsive 6‐week‐old animals. The active cell was found to be adherent, radiation (2000 rds) resistant, I‐A+, Thy‐1− and Mac‐l+. I‐A compatibility between the adoptively transferred population and the nonresponder mice is required. These data suggest that young adult SJL mice lack a functional population of antigen‐presenting cells specific for DTH and that the appearance of these cells is under maturational control.
MyD88 Deficiency Enhances Acquisition and Transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi by Ixodes scapularis Ticks

ABSTRACT Borrelia burgdorferi strains exhibit various degrees of infectivity and pathogenicity in mammals, which may be due to their relative ability to evade initial host immunity. Innate immune cells recognize B. burgdorferi by Toll-like receptors (TLRs) that use the intracellular molecule MyD88 to mediate effector functions. To determine whether impaired TLR signaling enhances Ixodes scapularis acquisition of B. burgdorferi, we fed nymphs on wild-type (WT) and MyD88−/− mice previously infected with two clinical isolates of B. burgdorferi, BL206, a high-virulence strain, and B348, an attenuated strain. Seventy-three percent of the nymphs that fed on BL206-infected WT mice and 40% of the nymphs that fed on B348-infected WT mice acquired B. burgdorferi, whereas 100% of the nymphs that fed on MyD88−/− mice became infected, irrespective of B. burgdorferi strain. Ticks that acquired infection after feeding on MyD88−/− mice harbored more spirochetes than those that fed on WT mice, as assessed by quantitative PCR for B. burgdorferi DNA. Vector transmission of BL206 and B348 was also enhanced when MyD88−/− mice were the blood meal hosts, with the mean pathogen burden at the skin inoculation site significantly higher than levels in WT mice. These results show that the absence of MyD88 facilitates passage of both low- and high-infectivity B. burgdorferi strains between the tick vector and the mammal and enhances the infectivity of a low-infectivity B. burgdorferi strain.