Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Advantages of an ADHD Diagnosis in Adulthood

In this article we explore the impact of a diagnosis of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on coping among diagnosed adults. We use grounded theory to examine 71 biographical narratives, self-published on the Internet by adults with ADHD. The findings illuminate a three-stage temporal continuum. During the first stage, the narrators suffered from lack of self-confidence accompanied by functional difficulties, stress, and guilt feelings. During the second stage, which began after the diagnosis, they began to believe in their ability to lead meaningful and more manageable lives. During the third stage, an additional effect of the diagnosis emerged: the narrators’ realization or belief that ADHD might affect them for the better. Some narrators stated that their traits as persons with ADHD helped them to cope better than others unaffected by this syndrome. Consequently, those who have an ADHD diagnosis seem able to defeat unnecessary negative emotions and self-blame.
Ecosystem significance of crayfishes and stonerollers in a prairie stream: functional differences between co-occurring omnivores

The ecosystem significance of crayfishes (Orconectes nais (Faxon) and O. neglectus (Faxon)) and central stoneroller minnows (Campostoma anomalum (Rafinesque)), was examined in a tallgrass prairie stream by estimating the trophic basis of production and consumption for each species. Annual ash-free dry mass production and production to biomass ratios of C. anomalum (260 mg m−2 y−1, 1.3) were lower than that of O. nais (719 mg m−2 y−1, 2.4) and O. neglectus (508 mg m−2 y−1, 2.1). Gut content analysis revealed no significant differences in the percentages of the various food items ingested by O. nais and O. neglectus, indicating they were functionally similar with respect to the types of organic matter processed in this system. We found a significant difference among seasons in the % of invertebrates in C. anomalum guts (p = 0.0001) and the % of algae in Orconectes spp. guts (p = 0.005), indicating the importance of measuring resource use throughout the growing season. Leaves contributed most to Orconectes spp. annual production (45%) followed by animal matter (30%), algae (19%), and amorphous detritus (6%). Algae contributed most to C. anomalum production (47%) followed by amorphous detritus (30%), animal matter (21%), and leaves (2%). Orconectes spp. consumed more leaf litter, filamentous green algae, and macroinvertebrates than C. anomalum, whereas C. anomalum consumed more diatoms. Crayfish and central stonerollers are both omnivores that function as important consumers and processors of algae and detritus in this tallgrass prairie stream, but each focuses on slightly different types of similar resources.
Why type streptococci? The epidemiology of group A streptococci in Oxfordshire 1976–1980

Summary The results of typing all group A streptococci isolated in one laboratory in 5 years were reviewed to see if the collected information showed epidemiological patterns. The great majority of the 5858 streptococci typed came from patients seen in general practice: 72% from throat swabs and 11 % from skin lesions. Eight types, M types 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 22 and type 28 R accounted for 65% of strains. These eight types had different patterns: types 2 and 6 caused small circumscribed outbreaks and were uncommon between epidemics; types 3, 4 and 12 caused larger, wider epidemics, whereas types 1, 22 and 28 R had a more stable pattern. Type 4 was more commonly resistant to tetracycline than most other types, a finding which affected the apparent incidence of tetracycline resistance in group A streptococci. Streptococci from superficial sites were more likely to have serum opacity factor and to lack a detectable M-antigen than strains isolated from the throat. Routine typing of streptococci helped to detect outbreaks of infection in special groups. It is concluded that regular streptococcal typing should be continued in some places.
Promoter hypermethylation analysis in myelodysplastic syndromes: diagnostic & prognostic implication.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogenous group of haematopoietic stem cell disorders that are multifactorial in their aetiology. Unique genetic alterations in combinations or in isolation account for a small fraction of MDS suggesting the epigenetic hypermethylation as a possible leading cause for MDS and its transformation to acute myelocytic leukaemia (AML). Therefore, in this study, promoter hypermethylation status of key cell cycle regulators was assessed as markers in MDS patients and association of hypermethylation with clinical progression of disease was also studied. METHODS Promoter hypermethylation analysis of five tumour associated genes namely p16, p15, MGMT, hMLH1 and E-cadherin were done for 41 MDS patient samples with its various subtype. The hypermethylation analysis was done by using semi-nested multiplex PCR. RESULTS Eighty per cent of (33/41) of the MDS samples were found to be methylated in any one of the four genes (p16, p15, MGMT and E-cadherin). The p15 methylation was found to be the most frequent 61 per cent (25/41), E-cadherin was methylated in 39 per cent (16/41) and p16 in 37 per cent (15/41) of the cases. MGMT gene showed a low 5 per cent (2/41) methylation whereas hMLH1 gene was not methylated in any one of the samples analysed. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION Differential rate of methylation of the four genes (p16, p15, MGMT and E-cadherin) was observed in MDS samples. All the samples analysed showed the absence of a methylator phenotype in MDS. The methylation frequency of all these genes increased with the clinical severity of the MDS subtypes. Therefore, hypermethylation may be used as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in ascertaining the clinical severity of MDS.
A RELAÇÃO ENTRE O AMBIENTE ORGANIZACIONAL E O COMPORTAMENTO ESTRATÉGICO NO SETOR HOTELEIRO DE FLORIANÓPOLIS – SC

O ajuste ao ambiente no qual estao inseridas as estrategia das organizacoes, tem sido cada vez mais considerado importante para a sobrevivencia organizacional. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo verificar a relacao entre a incerteza ambiental percebida pelos gestores, descrita no modelo proposto por Duncan (1972), e o comportamento estrategico, conforme proposto por Miles e Snow (1978), adotado pelos Administradores de Hoteis de Florianopolis-SC, nos ultimos 5 anos. Optou-se por abordagem quantitativa e descritiva, utilizando-se o questionario como instrumento de coleta de dados. Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que, para alguns Administradores, o ambiente e visto como Estatico-Simples e para outros como Dinâmico-Complexo. Em relacao ao comportamento estrategico adotado pelos Administradores, verificou-se que 45% deles adotaram comportamentos prospectores, 31% analistas, 19% reativos e 5% defensivos. Portanto, o comportamento estrategico predominante caracteriza-se como prospector. A partir dos dados pode-se concluir que alguns Administradores de Hoteis de Florianopolis percebem o ambiente com reduzida incerteza e para outros, o ambiente e de elevada percepcao de incertezas. Mas, independentemente da percepcao, adotam, em sua maioria, comportamentos prospectores que se caracterizam pela busca de novos mercados e introducao de novos produtos e servicos aos clientes. O relacionamento entre o comportamento estrategico e a percepcao de incerteza ambiental mostrou que os administradores que adotam estrategias prospectoras tendem a ser os mesmos que percebem mais variaveis como geradoras de incertezas ambientais.
A randomized controlled psycho-education intervention trial: Improving psychological readiness for successful HIV medication adherence and reducing depression before initiating HAART

Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate a novel psycho-educational intervention intended to increase patients’ medication preparedness and treatment adherence skills before initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Sixty-three HIV-positive patients not currently on antiretroviral therapy participated in a randomized controlled trial of a standardized, four-session psycho-educational intervention (Supportive Therapy for Adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment; STAART). Session topics included learning techniques to increase medication adherence and learning effective strategies to cope with stress and depression. Patients completed psychological questionnaires assessing psychological readiness to initiate HAART and depressed mood. They completed both measures at study baseline and at four-weeks post-baseline. After controlling for baseline medication readiness scores, intervention patients (n=30) reported significantly higher mean medication readiness following the STAART intervention (four-weeks post-baseline) (27.3±6.9) compared to controls (n=33; 24.6±9.9; p<0.05). Among depressed patients (n=27), those receiving the intervention (n=15) reported significantly lower mean depression scores at four-weeks post-baseline (22.5±12.9) compared to controls (n=12; 27±9.9; p<0.05). The STAART intervention enhanced HIV treatment readiness by better preparing patients prior to initiating HAART. It was also beneficial for reducing depressive symptoms in depressed, HIV-positive patients.
Low‐level exposures to organophosphorus esters and peripheral nerve function

This review evaluates the epidemiological and clinical evidence linking low‐level and prolonged exposures to organophosphorus esters, used as insecticides or nerve agents, to peripheral nerve dysfunction. The clinical effects of large doses of these chemicals—including the cholinergic syndrome, the intermediate syndrome, and the delayed polyneuropathy—are all well established and are summarized. Based on these clinical observations and experimental studies, dose–effect relationships indicate that peripheral neuropathy always develops after cholinergic toxicity. However, several studies have suggested that this relationship may be different after low‐level prolonged exposures, as, for instance, those experienced by Gulf War veterans and British sheep farmers, thereby leading to the development of peripheral neuropathy without preceding cholinergic toxicity. A critical assessment of these studies, involving subjects with either current or past exposures, indicates that changes in peripheral nerve function were mild, inconsistent, and unexplained and that most studies lack exposure data. Suggestions made about individual hypersusceptibility to delayed polyneuropathy lack support. It is concluded that there is no evidence of peripheral nerve dysfunction caused by low‐level prolonged exposures to organophosphate insecticides or nerve agents. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Muscle Nerve 25: 000–000, 2002
Monocytoid B‐cell lymphoma: morphological variants and relationship to low‐grade B‐cell lymphoma of the mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue

Twenty‐eight cases of monocytoid B‐cell lymphoma of lymph nodes and 16 lymph node metastases of primary gastric lymphomas, mostly low‐grade B‐cell lymphomas of mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) type were investigated morphologically and immunohistochemically. Both groups showed the same morphological and immunohistochemical features: diagnostically important sites of infiltration were the sinuses and the marginal zones, The tumour cells were either medium‐sized or small. The cytoplasm stained grey with Giemsa and was sometimes rather pale. In imprints the grey colour of the cytoplasm was a characteristic feature. The medium‐sized cell type was more frequent; in one third of the cases it was combined with a prominent lymphoplasmacytic component from the same clone, and it resembled the monocytoid B‐cells of the sinuses. The small cell type was less common, was not combined with a lymphoplasmacytic component and more closely resembled marginal zone cells. The difference was underlined by the negative reaction with the monoclonal antibody Ki‐B3 in the small cell type, which, conversely, was positive in the medium‐sized cell type and in the monocytoid B‐cell reaction of the sinuses. Both of these cell types, however, showed a granular reaction with the new monoclonal antibody Ki‐Mlp. The morphological and immunohistochemical parallels are arguments in favour of the assumption that monocytoid B‐cell lymphoma is the nodal equivalent of low‐grade B‐cell lymphoma of MALT type. This is further supported by the fact that in nine of our 28 cases of monocytoid B‐cell lymphoma, lymphomas were found simultaneously or subsequently in organs of the MALT. Monocytoid B‐cell lymphoma must be differentiated from an infiltration that occurs in the form of clusters of monocytoid B‐cells in other low‐grade B‐cell lymphomas, especially in immunocytoma with a high content of epithelioid cells.
Theodor Bibliander's Machumetis saracenorum principis eiusque successorum vitae, doctrina ac ipse alcoran (1543) as the Sixteenth-century “Encyclopedia” of Islam

The Machumetis saracenorum principis (1543, second edition 1550), compiled by the Zurich theologian Theodor Bibliander, has long been recognized as one of the most significant texts on Islam published in the Latin West in the Early Modern era. The Qur'an translation it contained (the first ever to be printed) was not superseded for over 100 years. This article explores how the work functions as a whole text in the context of Bibliander's life and theology, with particular attention paid to its paratexts (that is, its framing devices) and organization. Bibliander's compilation is discovered to be a self-contradictory, problematic text. In the sixteenth century, new information on the Turks and their religion did not replace, but rather was placed simply alongside other materials, sometimes substantiating older materials, sometimes directly contradicting them. This ambiguity opened up space for new and different readings while supporting, simultaneously, the received tradition. All of this points to the important transitional nature of the sixteenth century in Christian–Islamic engagement.
Effect of synthetic TRH on serum prolactin, TSH and milk production in the cow.

Thyrotropin—releasing hormone (TRH) was injected into four lactating cows and the effect on serum prolactin and TSH as well as on milk production was determined. Administration of 100, 500 or 1,000 μg TRH resulted in as much as an 11–fold increase in prolactin to 216.4 ng/ml after the 2 higher doses of TRH. Following TRH, TSH increased only 3–fold to 32.4 μU/ml in the group receiving 1,000 μg TRH. Injections of TRH had no significant effect on the yield or composition of milk. (Endocrinology 92: 1289, 1973)
Is Inbreeding Depression Lower in Maladapted Populations? A Quantitative Genetics Model

Despite abundant empirical evidence that inbreeding depression varies with both the environment and the genotypic context, theoretical predictions about such effects are still rare. Using a quantitative genetics model, we predict amounts of inbreeding depression for fitness emerging from Gaussian stabilizing selection on some phenotypic trait, on which, for simplicity, genetic effects are strictly additive. Given the strength of stabilizing selection, inbreeding depression then varies simply with the genetic variance for the trait under selection and the distance between the mean breeding value and the optimal phenotype. This allows us to relate the expected inbreeding depression to the degree of maladaptation of the population to its environment. We confront analytical predictions with simulations, in well-adapted populations at equilibrium, as well as in maladapted populations undergoing either a transient environmental shift, or gene swamping in heterogeneous habitats. We predict minimal inbreeding depression in situations of extreme maladaptation. Our model provides a new basis for interpreting experiments that measure inbreeding depression for the same set of genotypes in different environments, by demonstrating that the history of adaptation, in addition to environmental harshness per se, may account for differences in inbreeding depression.
SVM Classification of MRI Brain Images for Computer-Assisted Diagnosis

Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a powerful technique that helps in the diagnosis of various medical conditions. MRI Image pre-processing followed by detection of brain abnormalities, such as brain tumors, are considered in this work. These images are often corrupted by noise from various sources. The Discrete Wavelet Transforms (DWT) with details thresholding is used for efficient noise removal followed by edge detection and threshold segmentation of the denoised images. Segmented image features are then extracted using morphological operations. These features are finally used to train an improved Support Vector Machine classifier that uses a Gausssian radial basis function kernel. The performance of the classifier is evaluated and the results of the classification show that the proposed scheme accurately distinguishes normal brain images from the abnormal ones and benign lesions from malignant tumours. The accuracy of the classification is shown to be 100% which is superior to the results reported in the literature.
Molecular epidemiology of Corynebacterium diphtheriae from northwestern Russia and surrounding countries studied by using ribotyping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis

A selection of 100 Corynebacterium diphtheriae isolates from asymptomatic carriers and clinical cases from five regions in northwestern Russia were examined. Six additional isolates from patients in Finland and Estonia with epidemiological links to Russia were also examined. All isolates were characterized by biotyping, toxigenicity testing, ribotyping, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Hybridization of genomic DNA digested with BstEII revealed five ribotype patterns among the biotype gravis isolates (G1 through G5) and two patterns among the biotype mitis isolates (M1 and M2). PFGE using SfiI was not able to distinguish between ribotypes G1, G2, and G4. The predominant ribotype pattern, G1, found in cases of disease in all the areas studied, appears to be disseminating, in view of the isolates received from imported cases in Finland and Estonia. Among the 106 isolates examined, 68 produced pattern G1 and 24 produced pattern M1. Most of the M1 isolates were from the Leningrad Oblast region. Distinct ribotypes such as G2, G3, G4, G5, and M2 could represent endemic disease.
Observations of Variability on Synoptic Timescales in the East Pacific ITCZ

Abstract Data obtained in the eastern Pacific intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) during the Tropical Eastern Pacific Process Study (TEPPS) show a 3–6-day variability. The NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown collected surface meteorological observations, C-band Doppler radar volumes, atmospheric soundings, and rainfall data while on station at 7.8°N, 125°W from 8–23 August 1997. The 3–6-day variability was a prominent timescale in the meridional wind and humidity data. The maxima of the surface-to-700-mb meridional wind anomalies were 5–12 m s–1. Maxima of the moisture anomalies at the same levels were ∼1–3 g kg–1, in phase with the low-level southerlies, while upper-level moisture lagged the southerlies by less than a day. The radar indicated a close connection between precipitation in the vicinity of the ship and the meridional wind, with the precipitation occurring when the surface southerlies were strongest. The meridional and zonal wind components had a maximum of 850–450-mb wind shear during the southerly e.
Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Phosphorylated ATM Foci Induced by Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation

Abstract Suzuki, K. , Okada, H. , Yamauchi, M. , Oka, Y. , Kodama, S. and Watanabe, M. Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Phosphorylated ATM Foci Induced by Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation. Radiat. Res. 165, 499–504 (2006). We examined the formation of phosphorylated ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) foci in exponentially growing normal human diploid cells exposed to low doses of X rays. Phosphorylated ATM foci were detected immediately after irradiation, and the number of foci decreased as the time after irradiation increased. The kinetics of phosphorylated ATM foci was comparable to that of phosphorylated histone H2AX. We found that there were fewer spontaneous phosphorylated ATM foci than that phosphorylated histone H2AX foci. Notably, significant numbers of phosphorylated histone H2AX foci, but not phosphorylated ATM foci, were detected in the S-phase cells. The induction of foci showed a linear dose–response relationship with doses ranging for 10 mGy to 1 Gy, and the average number of phosphorylated ATM foci per gray was approximately 50. The average size of the foci was comparable for the cells irradiated with 20 mGy and 1 Gy, and there was no significant difference in the kinetics of disappearance of foci, indicating that DNA double-strand breaks are similarly recognized by DNA damage checkpoints and are repaired irrespective of the dose.
Quantitative and Qualitative Functional Evaluation of Upper Extremity Tendon Transfers in Spastic Hemiplegia Caused by Cerebral Palsy

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine if upper extremity function and joint positioning improved after tendon transfer surgery in patients with spastic hemiplegia caused by cerebral palsy. Methods: Thirteen patients with spastic hemiplegia underwent tendon transfer surgery at a mean age of 10.8 years (range, 7-24 years). Before surgery, all patients were evaluated with a standardized motion laboratory analysis protocol. At a mean follow-up of 3.6 years (range, 1-10 years), 13 patients returned for a repeat motion laboratory analysis using the same protocol. The motion laboratory studies were then compared quantitatively, comparing times for completion of the Jebsen-Taylor hand test, and qualitatively for elbow, forearm, wrist, finger, and thumb positions using the validated Shriner's Hospital Upper Extremity Evaluation protocol. Results: In timed testing on the Jebsen-Taylor hand function test, 5 patients improved, 5 patients remained the same, and 3 patients worsened. No statistically significant change in timed testing was noted for any of the 6 subtests. A qualitative assessment of limb position during completion of tasks showed a significant improvement in position for the elbow (P < 0.01), forearm (P < 0.02), wrist (P < 0.02), and fingers (P < 0.02). There was no significant change in thumb position (P < 0.85). Conclusions: Tendon transfers, especially for wrist extension, can be beneficial in improving upper extremity joint positioning in children with spastic hemiplegia. However, significant impairment in hand function persists.