Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social transfers and poverty in middle- and high-income countries – A global perspective

This study investigates an old question that has re-emerged in social policymaking and in analyses of global social development: to what extent does targeting and size of social transfers matter for poverty? Using multilevel logistic regression and Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg (LIS) income data for 40 middle- and high-income countries, we show that the size of transfer income has greater explanatory value for cross-country differences in poverty than the degree of targeting of transfer income. The results are remarkably robust in terms of estimated individual-level and country-level compositional and confounding factors.
The Cultural Impact on Ethics : Robotic Agency in Socio-Technical Systems

Robotic technologies gain increasing impact on the human lifeworld. Usage of robotic agents in fields such as healthcare, medical service or military provokes farreaching ethical issues. In particular, the question of responsibility asks for a thorough ethical assessment of robotic technologies. However, facing this challenge standard ethical approaches provoke a conflict. On the one hand, they conceive robots as individual agents and seek to ascribe moral agency comparably to human agents. In this view, an agent gains ethical impact by moral agency. On the other hand, it can be shown by an analysis of cognitive architectures underlying robotic behavior that moral status ascription does not work for robots so that they cannot be regarded as moral agents. In the consequence, the ethical impact of robots can hardly be recognized within standard ethical approaches. At the same time, robotic architectures show that robots develop their agency in interaction with humans. In this view, cultural contexts of robotic usage imply a shift from an individualistic to a relational perspective according to which robots gain ethical rele-vance as parts of socio-technical systems. The implied cultural impact on ethics is exemplified by presenting the seal robot Paro, a healthcare and therapeutic robot which is used in Japan and Germany. By linking cognitive analysis of robotic architectures with the concept of socio-technical systems and its reference to cultural contexts, the relational approach explains why robots do matter ethically.
Glutamate and aspartate binding sites are enriched in synaptic junctions isolated from rat brain

The binding of the putative excitatory transmitters glutamate (Glu) and aspartate (Asp) was measured in various subcellular fractions in order to assess their degree of localization in synaptic junctions (SJs). For both ligands, specific binding levels increased in the order, whole particulate membranes--crude mitochondrial pellet membranes (P2)-- synaptic plasma membranes (SPM), and were highly enriched in SJs, with values approximately 9 times greater than the values in whole particulate membranes. The recovery of binding sites in SJs suggested that the majority of sites in SPMs were junctional in nature. Specific binding sites were found also in other subcellular fractions, such as microsomal membranes, “light” SPMs, and mitochondrial membranes. Sodium ions were able to stimulate the specific binding of both ligands (Asp greater than Glu), the magnitude of the effect between subcellular fractions being in the order, whole particulate membranes greater than P2 greater than SPM. This effect was absent in SJs. Calcium and magnesium ions also enhanced the binding (Glu greater than Asp) in the order, whole particulate membranes greater than or equal to P2 greater than or equal to SPM greater than SJ. The results indicate that Glu and Asp binding sites have a specific synaptic localization and support a role for Glu and Asp receptors in synaptic transmission.
Client-centered therapy vs exercise therapy for chronic low back pain: a pilot randomized controlled trial in Brazil.

BACKGROUND Psychological interventions targeting maladaptive pain behaviors and depressive symptoms are commonly used in the management of chronic pain. OBJECTIVE To compare the effectiveness of psychotherapy, based on client-centered therapy, and exercise for patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain (LBP). SETTING Outpatient physiotherapy and psychotherapy departments within a Brazilian academic institution. DESIGN Thirty-three patients with chronic nonspecific LBP were recruited and randomized to receive client-centered therapy (N = 16) or exercise (N = 17) for 9 weeks. OUTCOME MEASURES AND DATA ANALYSIS: Pain and disability were measured at baseline, 9 weeks, and 6 months by a 10-cm visual analog scale and by the Brazilian Roland-Morris Questionnaire, respectively. Depression was measured at baseline and 9 weeks by the Beck Depression Inventory. Multiple regression analyses with baseline scores as covariates were used to determine the effects of treatment on outcomes. RESULTS For all outcomes at each time point, the exercise group showed greater improvements than psychotherapy. The difference between groups was statistically and clinically significant for disability at 9 weeks (-4.9 points, 95% CI -9.08 to -0.72). CONCLUSIONS This was the first study to investigate the effects of client-centered therapy and exercise for patients with chronic LBP. Our results showed that client-centered therapy is less effective than exercise in reducing disability at short term.
The Privatization and Marketization of Pensions in Europe: A Double Transformation Facing the Crisis

In response to the demographic challenges and fiscal constraints, many European welfare states have moved toward the privatization and marketization of pensions in order to improve their financial sustainability. The privatization of retirement income responsibility has led to a shift from dominantly public pensions to a multi-pillar architecture with growing private pillars composed of personal, firm-based, or collectively negotiated pension arrangements. At the same time, marketization has led to the introduction and expansion of prefunded pension savings based on financial investments as well as stronger reliance of market-logic principles in the remaining public pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pensions. However, there are also important cross-national variations in the speed, scope, and structural outcome of the privatization and marketization of European pension systems. Liberal market economies, but also some coordinated market economies (the Netherlands and Switzerland) as well as the Nordic countries have embraced multi-pillar strategies earlier and more widely, while the Bismarckian pensions systems and the post-socialist transition countries of Eastern Europe have been belated converts. The recent financial market and economic crisis, however, indicates that the double transformation may entail short-term problems and long-term uncertainties about the social and political sustainability of these privatized and marketized multi-pillar strategies.
Tuberculosis and multidrug resistance in Zambian prisons, 2000-2001.

BACKGROUND Data on prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Zambian prisons are lacking. METHODS Between January 2000 and July 2001, a case-finding study was performed in 13 Zambian prisons for pulmonary TB. Prisoners were administered a questionnaire to obtain demographic information. Information regarding housing density and diet was also collected. Three consecutive first morning sputum specimens were cultured for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Antimicrobial resistance testing was performed by the resistance ratio method. RESULTS A total of 1080 prisoners were recruited: 1055 were males and 25 females. Sputum from 245 (22.7%) prisoners yielded M. tuberculosis, including 168 (15.6%) with smear-positive disease. Based on a total prison population of 6118, the minimal prevalence of TB was 4.0%. There was a linear relationship between the proportion of prisoners evaluated and the prevalence of TB (R(2) = 0.9366) across facilities, suggesting that the true prevalence of TB may approach 15-20%. Resistance to at least one anti-tuberculosis drug was detected for 40 (23.8%) isolates, while MDR-TB was identified for 16 (9.5%) isolates. CONCLUSION There is a high rate of pulmonary TB in Zambian prisons, with significant rates of drug resistance and MDR-TB, highlighting the need for active surveillance and treatment programs.
The intestinal microbiome of infants and the use of probiotics

Purpose of review The increasing use of probiotics in neonates deserves scrutiny of the therapeutic as well as potentially harmful effects of these bacteria. In this review we describe the possible application of probiotics in the more common diseases in the neonatal period. Recent findings Recent advances in our capability to identify microbes and their function in the gastrointestinal tract offer exciting opportunities to discover the pathophysiology of enigmatic diseases such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and late-onset sepsis (LOS) in the neonate. The relationship of the resident intestinal microbes to neural and muscular processes such as intestinal motility and neurodevelopment are also being evaluated. Summary We focus on the possibility of the application of probiotics for disorders of motility in the infant, NEC and LOS. Here we will summarize some of the recent advances in these areas as they relate to clinical practice and discuss areas where additional research is needed.
Spatial and seasonal variation in growth rate and secondary production of Yoldia notabilis in Otsuchi Bay, Japan, with reference to the influence of food supply from the water column

A 1 yr field study of a long-llved protobranch bivalve, Yoldia notahiljs Yokoyama, in Otsuchi Bay, northeastern Japan, revealed that there was a large seasonal and spatial variation in growth rate and secondary production, and that primary production in the water column and following organlc supply to the bottom were responsible for the vanation. Both shell and soft tissue growth of each of 9 year-classes were rapid in spring, and slow or even negative in other seasons. The rapid growth coincided well with the occurrence of spring phytoplankton bloom in the water column and the peak of organic flux to the bottom. Mean shell length and mean soft tissue weight of each year-class were larger, and the growth rates of shell and soft tissue as well as the secondary production were higher at the shallower station (10 m deep) than at the deeper station (14 m). The differences in slze, growth rate and production between the 2 stations were consistent with the local difference in food supply from the water column to the bottom, but not related to other environmental factors such as temperature, salinity, organic content in the sediment and density of Y. notabilis. Annual production was 1.38 and 0.89 g ash-free dry wt 0.1 m-'yr-', giving P/B ratios of 0.76 and 0.41 for the shallow and deep station respectively. Food intake by Y. notabilis between February and April 1991 was estimated to be 26.4 and 13.9 g C m-2 (shallow and deep respectively), which amounted to ca 10 % of the primary production and 30 to 40 % of the organic supply to the bottom. These estimates suggested that the Y. notabilis population plays an important role in the energy flow from pelagic to benthic communities.
Politics and patriarchy: Barriers to health screening for socially disadvantaged women

Abstract Health screening and early detection of cancer results in significantly better health outcomes and lower mortality. However barriers to such screening are multiple and complex. This paper specifically addresses barriers to womeny’s health screening for socially disadvantaged women in an economically and service disadvantaged area. In this qualitative study, women’s healthcare workers and consumers of women’s health screening were interviewed and data related to issues for women who had special needs were analysed. Findings indicate there is a lack of access to appropriate services for socially disadvantaged women which affects their screening uptake rates. This study also highlights the difficulties socially disadvantaged women encountered when they were able to access these services which also influenced their decisions regarding subsequent health screening. Implications for nurses and other healthcare professionals are manifold and include advocating for greater access to services and more sensitive care in the delivery of health screening services for socially disadvantaged women.
Performance Evaluation of Deep Learning Tools in Docker Containers

With the success of deep learning techniques in a broad range of application domains, many deep learning software frameworks have been developed and are being updated frequently to adapt to new hardware features and software libraries, which bring a big challenge for end users and system administrators. To address this problem, container techniques are widely used to simplify the deployment and management of deep learning software. However, it remains unknown whether container techniques bring any performance penalty to deep learning applications. The purpose of this work is to systematically evaluate the impact of docker container on the performance of deep learning applications. We first benchmark the performance of system components (IO, CPU and GPU) in a docker container and the host system and compare the results to see if there's any difference. According to our results, we find that computational intensive jobs, either running on CPU or GPU, have small overhead indicating docker containers can be applied to deep learning programs. Then we evaluate the performance of some popular deep learning tools deployed in a docker container and the host system. It turns out that the docker container will not cause noticeable drawbacks while running those deep learning tools. So encapsulating deep learning tool in a container is a feasible solution.
The child's perceptions of familial relationships: convergence between two assessment techniques.

Children's (N = 28) perceptions of familial relationships were investigated with the Family Environment Scale (FES) and the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI). The FES assesses overall impressions of the family, and the NRI measures perceptions of individual relationships. Because current family systems theory indicates that positive individual relationships within a dyad (e.g., child-mother) should be related to an overall favorable impression of the family system, we hypothesized that these two instruments should demonstrate convergence on selected dimensions. Results indicated that positive or negative relationships with an individual family member were related to how the child perceived the overall family system, supporting our hypothesis.
Optimizing the Extinction Ratio and Error Bit Penalty of the On-Off-Keying Pulse Data With Gain-Constrictive SOA

On/off extinction ratio and receiving power penalties of a 10-Gb/s all-optical on-off-keying pulse data generated from a multiwavelength dark-optical-comb injected semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is analyzed. Such an SOA with a temporally constricted gain window is employed to offer an on-off-keying (OOK)-generated data stream with on/off extinction ratio of 17 dB and bit error rate (BER) of 10-13 at a receiving optical power of -18 dBm. With an input nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) power as low as - 15 dBm and an injected dark-optical-comb power of 16.5 dBm, the generated OOK pulse data reaches a BER 10-13 at receiving power as low as -18.5 dBm. The OOK operation in the SOA also exhibits a decision-gate function with improved negative power penalty of 1.5 dB as compared with the back-to-back NRZ transmission condition. The injection via a multiwavelength dark-optical-comb source further benefits from a lower noise level as compared with single-wavelength laser or broadband spontaneous emission source. Such a system exhibits a tolerance for detuning timing of > 65% period with power penalties on the on/off extinction ratio and the receiving power of 3 and 1 dB, respectively. Even after 25-km propagation in a single-mode fiber spool, there is only a power penalty of 0.5 dB at a BER of 10-13 obtained for the generated pulse data stream.
Hepatoprotective effects of sesamol loaded solid lipid nanoparticles in carbon tetrachloride induced sub‐chronic hepatotoxicity in rats

Sesamol is a phenolic component of sesame seed oil, which has been established as an antioxidant and also possesses potential for hepatoprotection. However, its protective role in carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced sub‐chronic hepatotoxicity has not been studied. Limited oral bioavailability (BA) and rapid elimination (as conjugates) in rats is reported for sesamol. Considering its significant antioxidant potential and compromised BA, we packaged sesamol into solid lipid nanoparticles (S‐SLNs) to enhance its hepatoprotective bioactivity. S‐SLNs prepared by microemulsification method were nearly spherical in shape with an average particle size of 120.30 nm and their oral administration at 8 mg/kg body weight (BW) showed significantly (p < 0.001) better hepatoprotection than free sesamol (FS) and a well established hepatoprotective antioxidant silymarin [SILY (25 mg/kg BW); p < 0.05) in CCl4 induced sub‐chronic liver injury in rats. Evaluations were done in terms of histological changes in the liver tissue, liver injury markers (serum alanine aminotransferase, serum aspartate aminotransferase, and serum lactate dehydrogenase); oxidative stress markers (lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase, and reduced glutathione) and proinflammatory response marker (tumor necrosis factor‐alpha). © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 31: 520–532, 2016.
Auditory systems of Heteromyidae: Functional morphology and evolution of the middle ear

Middle ears (515) from 26 species of the rodent family Heteromyidae — genera Dipodomys, Microdipodops, Perognathus, and Liomys —were studied both grossly and histologically, for qualitative and quantitative comparisons. Middle ear modifications characteristic of each genus are qualitatively described. Quantitative comparisons are made among the 26 species in the study. Some correlations between middle ear size and other measurements are discussed.
Hair loss in children in South‐East Nigeria: common and uncommon cases

Background The cosmetic importance of hair as a unique structure of the scalp is immense, such that once the loss of hair becomes an issue for a child, parents, in most cases, project their own concerns, often expressed as guilt. The clinical presentation of hair loss and scalp disorders in children varies widely, often ranging from subtle to disfiguring forms, and may be acquired or congenital. This variable pattern of hair loss is seen in all regions, possibly based on the ethnic origin of hair types.
Health-Related Quality of Life Improvements in Patients Undergoing Lumbar Spinal Fusion as a Revision Surgery

Study Design. Retrospective cohort analysis. Objective. To investigate health-related quality of life improvements in patients undergoing lumbar fusion to revise a previous lumbar spine surgery. Summary of Background Data. Spinal fusion is often used as a surgical intervention in patients who have previously undergone lumbar surgery. Prior studies suggest results that are inferiorto primary fusions. However, most of these studies are based on subjective surgeon evaluations, lack patient-reported outcomes, and include various diagnoses such as prior discectomy, adjacent level degeneration, and nonunion. Methods. From a single-center database, we identified 171 patients who underwent lumbar fusion to revise a previous lumbar spine surgery. All had prospectively collected outcome measures at a minimum 2-year follow-up. The study group included 91 patients who had previous discectomy or laminectomy, 42 patients undergoing revision for adjacent segment degeneration (ASD) and 38 patients undergoing revision for nonunion. All patients completed the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), MOS Short Form 36 (SF-36), and back and leg pain numerical rating scores before surgery and at 1 and 2 years after surgery. We compared mean changes in outcome measures and percentage of patients reaching the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) threshold in the 3 groups. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify preoperative factors which could predict significant improvement. Results. Statistically significant improvements were noted in back pain, leg pain, and ODI in all 3 groups. Postdecompression and ASD patients demonstrated significant improvements in SF-36 PCS at 2 years, while nonunion patients did not. A total of 49% of postdecompression patients, 38% of ASD patients, and 29% of nonunion patients reached the MCID for ODI. About 46% of postdecompression patients, 40% of ASD patients, and 24% of nonunion patients reached the MCID for SF-36 PCS. Significant improvement from index surgery was the only factor which able to predict reaching the MCID for ODI, while worker's compensation and narcotic use predicted failure to reach the MCID for SF-36 PCS. Conclusion. The current study demonstrates that patients undergoing lumbar fusion as a revision of a prior lumbar surgery can expect only modest improvements in health-related quality of life. Postdecompression patients achieved moderate improvements in clinical outcome measures, whereas ASD and nonunion patients showed only modest improvements. Further investigation is needed to identify preoperative predictors that will assist the selection of patients who will benefit from revision lumbar fusion.
Does sensitization occur to prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex effects of repeated apomorphine treatments in rats?

There are conflicting reports as to whether or not the effects of dopamine agonist effects at reducing prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex develop sensitization with repeated treatments. In this experiment, rats (12 per each dose group) were treated for 10 days prior to startle-testing on each day with 0 (vehicle), 50, 200 or 800 mg/kg of apomorphine. Startle testing was conducted with each rat receiving no stimulus trials (null trials), startle pulse only trials (40 ms 105 dB white noise), prepulse only trials (20 ms 72 dB 5 kHz tone) and prepulse+pulse trials with a 100 ms stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA, i.e. the lead time from onset of prepulse to onset of pulse). The rats were then challenged after 57 days of withdrawal from the treatment regimen with a vehicle and apomorphine (200 mg/kg) injection with the order of injection counterbalanced. A range of SOAs and two different prepulse intensities (68 and 70 dB) were presented to every rat on the challenge tests. Sensitization developed during treatment to the increase in motor activity produced by the two higher doses, and to the increase in an orienting response produced by the prepulse stimulus in the highest dose group, but not to the prepulse inhibition effect of the drugs.The 50 mg/kg inhibitory autoreceptor selective dose decreased responses on the first of three blocks of both null trials and prepulse only trials. The two higher doses dose-dependently increased startle reflex amplitudes on the prepulse+pulse trials (reduced prepulse inhibition), but this effect did not exhibit sensitization during treatment.The lowest dose significantly increased prepulse inhibition relative to the vehicle-treated group on the first block of trials over days. After apomorphine challenge, sensitization to the effects of apomorphine on reducing prepulse inhibition was apparent for some dose groups at some SOAs. Sensitization to the effects of apomorphine on prepulse inhibition can be demonstrated upon a subsequent drug challenge if pretreatments are associated exclusively with the startle testing environment.