Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contraceptive challenges experienced by women who requested termination of pregnancy services in the Mpumalanga Province

Although contraceptives are available free of charge throughout South Africa, the number of requests for termination of pregnancy (TOP) services continues to increase. This research investigated challenges preventing women from using contraceptives effectively. Structured interviews were conducted with 55 women who requested TOP services. As many as 85.5% of these women had used contraceptives. They discontinued using contraceptives when sideeffects occurred, necessitating them to request TOP services. Knowledge about, access to and the actual use of contraceptives did not enable these women to prevent unwanted pregnancies. More effective counseling about contraceptives’ side-effects and enhanced accessibility of contraceptives over weekends and during lunch breaks could enable more women to prevent unwanted pregnancies, reducing the number of requests for TOP services.
Sheaves and Boolean valued model theory

In recent years model theorists have been studying various sheaf-theoretic notions as they apply to model theory. For quite a while however, a sheaf of structures was considered to be just a local homeomorphism between topological spaces such that each stalk Sx = p−1(x) is a model-theoretic structure and such that certain maps are continuous. Some of the model-theoretic work done with this notion of a sheaf of structures are the papers by Carson [2] and Macintyre [7]. Soon came the idea of considering a sheaf of structures not just as a collection of structures glued together in some continuous way, but rather as some sort of generalized structure. A significant model-theoretic study of sheaves in this new sense became possible only after the development of the theory of topoi. As F.W. Lawvere pointed out in [6], this represents the advance of mathematics (in our case the advance of model theory) from metaphysics to dialectics. A topos is the rather ingenious evolution of the notion of a Grothendieck topos [13]. It provides us with the idea that an object of a topos (e.g. the topos of sheaves over a topological space) may be thought of as a generalized set. Furthermore, all first-order logical operations have an interpretation in a topos, hence we may talk about generalized structures. Angus Macintyre suggested that some of his model-theoretic results about sheaves of structures may be understood better and perhaps simplified by doing model theory inside a topos of sheaves.
Optimal efficiency control strategy for interior permanent-magnet synchronous motor drives

In this paper, the problem of efficiency optimization in vector-controlled interior permanent-magnet (PM) synchronous motor drives is investigated. A loss model controller is introduced that determines the optimal d-axis component of the stator current that minimizes power losses. For the implementation of the suggested controller, the knowledge of the loss model is not required since an experimental procedure is followed to determine its parameters. Furthermore, it is shown that the loss model of the interior PM motor can be used as a basis for deriving loss minimization conditions for surface PM synchronous motors and synchronous reluctance motors as well. Experimental results of an interior PM motor are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method and demonstrate the operational improvements.
Executive Functions in Youth With Spastic Cerebral Palsy

Dependent on criteria used, between 35% and 53% of the participants with cerebral palsy fulfilled the criteria of clinically relevant executive function problems as defined by Conners’ (1994) Continuous Performance Test. Executive function problems were noticed mainly in participants with bilateral brain lesions and who had been born preterm. Findings highlight the need to check for attention problems in children with cerebral palsy.
Comparison of serum thyroid microsomal and thyroid peroxidase autoantibodies in thyroid diseases.

Recent evidence indicates that human thyroid peroxidase (TPO) has most of the characteristics of the thyroid microsomal antigen. The question of whether TPO accounts for part or all of the antigenic activity recognized by circulating anti-microsomal antigen autoantibody (anti-M Ab) remains to be determined. The availability of an anti-TPO monoclonal antibody and of a highly purified TPO preparation allowed the development of specific and sensitive radioassays for anti-TPO autoantibody (anti-TPO Ab). In this study we compared anti-M Ab and anti-TPO Ab levels in serum from 128 subjects, including patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (n = 31), idiopathic myxedema (n = 11), hyperthyroid Graves' disease (n = 45), miscellaneous nonautoimmune thyroid disorders (n = 9), and normal subjects (n = 32). Anti-M Ab and anti-TPO Ab were measured by radioimmunological methods employing two different assay designs: 1) competitive radioassay (CR), based on the inhibition of radioiodinated antibody binding to human thyroid microsomes coated on microtiter wells, using a) [125I]immunoglobulin G (IgG) containing a high anti-M Ab titer (for anti-M Ab determinations), or b) [125I]anti-TPO monoclonal antibody (for anti-TPO Ab); and 2) sandwich immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) using microtiter wells coated with thyroid microsomes (for anti-M Ab determinations) or immunoaffinity-purified TPO (for anti-TPO Ab determinations) and [125I]anti-human IgG antibody. Anti-M Ab also was measured by passive hemagglutination. Anti-M Ab titers by PH closely correlated with anti-TPO Ab levels whether assayed by IRMA (r = 0.905; P less than 0.00001) or CR (r = 0.922; P less than 0.00001). Even closer correlations were found when anti-M Ab and anti-TPO Ab both were measured by the same type of radioassay procedure (IRMA, r = 0.945 and P less than 0.00001; CR, r = 0.957 and P less than 0.00001). No differences in the correlation between anti-M Ab and anti-TPO Ab results were found when the data in patients with different autoimmune thyroid disorders were analyzed separately. Further and more direct evidence for the identity of anti-M Ab and anti-TPO Ab was provided by the ability of purified TPO to completely inhibit the binding to thyroid microsomes of radioiodinated IgG preparations containing high anti-M Ab titers. In conclusion, our results provide strong support for the concept that TPO accounts for virtually all of the antigenic determinants reacting with the autoantibodies commonly termed anti-M antibodies. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
True imitation in marmosets

Marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, observed a demonstrator removing the lids from a series of plastic canisters to obtain a mealworm. When subsequently allowed access to the canisters, marmosets that observed a demonstrator using its hands to remove the lids used only their hands. In contrast, marmosets that observed a demonstrator using its mouth also used their mouth to remove the lids. Since hand and mouth demonstrators brought about identical changes in the canisters, the differential test behaviour of the observer groups suggests that they learned about the demonstrator's behaviour. Furthermore, marmosets that had not been given the opportunity to observe a demonstrator prior to testing had a low probability of mouth opening, even if the canisters were previously opened by a mouth-opening demonstrator in an olfactory control experiment. Corroborating Bugnyar & Huber's (1997, Animal Behaviour, 54, 817-831) earlier findings, our results provide further evidence that marmosets can imitate. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
GALACTURONOSYLTRANSFERASE-LIKE 5 Is Involved in the Production of Arabidopsis Seed Coat Mucilage 1 [ W ] [ OPEN ]

Complex Carbohydrate Research Center (Y.K., M.A.A., D.M., M.G.H.), Department of Plant Biology (B.R., M.G.H.), and Department of Food Science and Technology (J.J., L.W.), University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602–4712; Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, People’s Republic of China (G.Z.); Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal QC H3A 1B1, Canada (A.A.A., T.W.); and McGill University, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montreal QC H3G 1A4, Canada (J.S.)
Patterns of Persistent Otitis Media in the First Year of Life in Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Infants

Australian Aboriginal infants experience very early otitis media (OM). A previous study reported that OM with effusion (OME) or acute OM (AOM) was observed in the first 8 weeks of life in 95% of 22 Aboriginal infants, but that OME was seen in only 30% of 10 non-Aboriginal infants. Tympanic membrane perforation was reported for 1 Aboriginal subject at 8 weeks of age. This requires further investigation, because early OM onset has been demonstrated in non-Aboriginal groups to increase the risk of chronic and persistent ear disease in later childhood. This prospective study used otoscopy and tympanometry to describe the course of OM in infants examined repeatedly from soon after birth. Disease course was described in two ways, based upon earlier findings from other studies of Aboriginal schoolchildren. First, patterns of disease in the first year were identified; non-Aboriginal infants had occasional episodes of OME or AOM from which they recovered spontaneously, usually within 1 month; Aboriginal infants had persistent AOM, OME, or tympanic membrane perforation with discharge that rarely, if ever, resolved to normal. Second, conditional probabilities were calculated for ear state transitions at consecutive ear examinations, and a model of the course of OM was proposed for the Aboriginal infants. Results also suggested that binaural patterns of chronic OM described previously in Aboriginal schoolchildren may already be established in the first year of life. These findings will help service providers determine when to intervene to avoid the chronic consequences of early OM.
Maternal, Fetal and Amniotic Fluid Levels of Glucose, Insulin and Growth Hormone

Measurements of blood glucose, insulin, and growth hormone (HGH) were made in mater nut venous blood, umbilical artery and vein blood and amniotic Iluid sum pies from 270 pregnant women. It was demonstrated that umbilical vein (UV) glucose levels depend on maternal vein concern rat ions and are higher than values obtained from the umbilical artery (UA) (MV > UV > UA). There are low level's of insulin in the umbilical vessels compared to the maternal plasma. There is a significantly higher umbilical vein insulin level iu infants weighing more than 4000 g than in those weighing less than 2500 g. The mean umbilical blood HGH level is almost 4× higher than the maternal level and is unrelated to infant birth weight or placental weight. Amniotic fluid (AF) glucose concentration decreases with gestational age and is positively correlated with maternal blood glucose concentration. The level of glucose in the AF from women with diabetes mellitus is significantly higher than that from women with normal pregnancies. Amniotic fluid insulin content increases with gestational age and is significantly and positively related to infant birth weight
Meta-analysis of effects of gender in combination with carcass weight and breed on pork quality1

Meta-analysis was performed to quantify the effects of gender in combination with carcass weight and breed on pork quality. Altogether published results from 43 references were used. The traits analyzed were pH at 45 min (pH45min) and pH at 24 h (pH24hr) postmortem, objective color attributes lightness (L*), redness (a*), and yellowness (b*; CIE color system), color and marbling scores, drip loss, intramuscular fat content (IMF), and backfat thickness (P2), as well as sensory scores of juiciness and tenderness. Data for 2 muscle types, LM and Musculus semimembranosus (SMM), were used for the analysis. Swine genders were defi ned as intact/entire male (EM), surgically castrated male (SM), immunocastrated male (IM), and entire female (EF). After standardization of scaled traits (color, marbling scores, juiciness, tenderness) and accounting for cold carcass weight (CW), statistical analysis was performed using mixed models where breed was included as random effect. The analysis found a general effect of gender on each trait and multiple comparisons identifi ed signifi cant differences among the individual genders for L* (lightness), marbling scores, IMF, P2 in LM, and pH24hr in SMM. For these traits, when genders were grouped into gender categories as “castrates” (IM, SM) and “natural genders” (EM, EF), signifi cant differences were found among estimates related to these categories. Furthermore, signifi cant differences were found between castrates and individual gender types, indicating that castrated animals statistically segregated regarding their pork quality and regardless of type of castration. Pork of SM/EM animals has been found to be the fattest/leanest and there is indication that IM pork has the lightest meat color. Carcass weight dependence was found to be nonlinear (quadratic) for a*, P2, and marbling scores, and linear for b* and color scores in LM and pH24hr in SMM. The analysis identifi ed signifi cant breed effects for all traits, with large variation in the actual magnitudes (~10 to 100%) of breed effects among individual traits. The established CW dependencies of pork quality traits in combination with the other infl uencing factors investigated here provides pork producers with the opportunity to achieve desired pork quality targets for a wide range of CW (~30 to 150 kg) under standard indoor-rearing conditions.
Video-Based Vehicle Detection And Classification In Challenging Scenarios

abstract In intelligent transportation system, research on vehicle detection and classification has high theory significance and application value. According to the traditional methods of vehicle detection which can’t be well applied in challenging scenario, this paper proposes a novel Bayesian fusion algorithm based on Gaussian mixture model. We extract the features of vehicle from images, including shape features, texture features, and the gradient direction histogram features after dimension reduction. In vehicle classification part, we adopt fuzzy support vector machine, and design a novel vehicle classifier based on nested one-vs-one algorithm. Finally, experimental tests show excellent results of our methods in both vehicle detection and classification.
Decision Making in Adults With ADHD

Objectives: This study examined decision-making competence in ADHD by using multiple decision tasks with varying demands on analytic versus affective processes. Methods: Adults with ADHD and healthy controls completed two tasks of analytic decision making, as measured by the Adult Decision-Making Competence (A-DMC) battery, and two affective decision tasks (the Balloon Analog Risk Task and the lowa Gambling Task). Results: Although a majority of the ADHD participants were tested under medication, they showed impairments in both types of task. However, logistic regression analysis showed that the applying-decision-rules task of the A-DMC battery was the only significant predictor of ADHD status. Conclusions: These findings suggested that ADHD is associated with impaired decision making in tasks involving a significant degree of cognitive control. Although both deliberative and affective neurocognitive systems probably contributed to ADHD-related problems in decision making, the findings underlined the involvement of prefrontally mediated executive functions.
Herpes simplex encephalitis relapses in children

Relapses of herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) occurring after the completion of antiviral treatment have been reported repeatedly in children. The authors report data on six children who had at least one relapse of HSE. Two different mechanisms may account for these relapses, including viral replication or an immuno-inflammatory process, with different therapeutic attitudes. Relapses with viral replication may reveal host susceptibility to herpes simplex virus infection.
Pulse Width Modulation for Fronthaul in a Broadband-Seeded RSOA WDM PON

Pulse width modulation (PWM) can support centralized radio access networks in analog optical fronthaul, avoiding the bandwidth expansion of the digital fronthaul. The PWM encodes the analog samples at the transmitter onto the duration of the on-off-keyed optical signal, splitting the sampling and quantization of the radio signal between remote radio units (RRUs) and baseband units (BBU). In-between the PWM encoded signal is transmitted over a novel wavelength-division-multiplexed passive optical network (WDM PON) architecture, exploiting broadband-seeded reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers in a polarization retracing circuit, which is resilient to Rayleigh scattering impairments. Multiple RRU-to-BBU links are supported through virtual point-to-point connections based on the wavelength resource. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed PWM-based colorless self-tuning WDM PON supporting the fronthaul of 100-MHz RF signals up to 20-km transmission over standard single mode fiber for 30 WDM channels.
Fibroblast growth factor 23 in acute kidney injury

Purpose of reviewTo review the emerging literature on changes in fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) levels in the setting of acute kidney injury (AKI). Recent findingsStudies suggest that FGF23 levels are elevated in patients with AKI and correlate with increased risk of death or need for dialysis in adults, or prolonged ventilation time and higher fluid gain in children. Animal studies have shown that the cause behind this FGF23 increase is multifactorial and includes increased production in bone and decreased clearance, but not vitamin D or parathyroid hormone (PTH) activated pathways. Interestingly, FGF23 levels are found to be mildly elevated even in hospitalized patients without kidney injury, although this observation may be limited to only c-terminal FGF23 fragments. The prognostic implications of an elevated FGF23 value in patients with AKI need to be confirmed in larger cohorts and evaluated for long-term outcomes such as the development of new chronic kidney disease (CKD) or CKD progression, as well as cardiovascular disease, similar to the studies of FGF23 in the prevalent CKD population. SummaryFGF23 levels are elevated in patients with AKI and are associated with morbidity and mortality in small human studies. Mechanistic work in animals suggests that the elevation is independent of PTH or vitamin D signaling pathways. Much work remains to understand the physiology behind FGF23 elevation and the long-term effects of FGF23 in AKI.
The Algorithms for FPGA Implementation of Sparse Matrices Multiplication

In comparison to dense matrices multiplication, sparse matrices multiplication real performance for CPU is roughly 5--100 times lower when expressed in GFLOPs. For sparse matrices, microprocessors spend most of the time on comparing matrices indices rather than performing floating-point multiply and add operations. For 16-bit integer operations, like indices comparisons, computational power of the FPGA significantly surpasses that of CPU. Consequently, this paper presents a novel theoretical study how matrices sparsity factor influences the indices comparison to floating-point operation workload ratio. As a result, a novel FPGAs architecture for sparse matrix-matrix multiplication is presented for which indices comparison and floating-point operations are separated. We also verified our idea in practice, and the initial implementations results are very promising. To further decrease hardware resources required by the floating-point multiplier, a reduced width multiplication is proposed in the case when IEEE-754 standard compliance is not required.
Effects of acute and subacute garlic supplement administration on serum total antioxidant capacity and lipid parameters in healthy volunteers

Garlic has long been used for medicinal purposes. It has been shown that different forms of garlic have significant antioxidant effects. The strong flavor, odor and unwanted gastrointestinal side effects of fresh garlic has rendered the use of commercial garlic supplements as a preferable option. To investigate the effects of garlic supplementation on serum total antioxidant capacity and lipid parameters, 17 healthy volunteers were administered four standardized commercial garlic tablets every day for 30 days. Blood samples were taken at day 1 (before the first administration of tablets [control] and at 3 h after the administration of tablets), 15 and 30 days, respectively. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL cholesterol), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) and triglyceride (TG) were measured in sera. Serum TAC was increased significantly at 30 days compared with 15 days, 3 h and control. There was also a significant increase in serum TAC at 15 days compared with 3 h and control. Total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and TG were not found to be significantly different between control, 3 h, 15 and 30 days. These data suggest that garlic, used as a dietary supplementation, may be beneficial in increasing the antioxidant capacity of the body. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Malignant Gastrointestinal Neuroectodermal Tumor: Clinicopathologic, Immunohistochemical, Ultrastructural, and Molecular Analysis of 16 Cases With a Reappraisal of Clear Cell Sarcoma-like Tumors of the Gastrointestinal Tract

The clinical, histologic, immunophenotypic, ultrastructural, and molecular features of a distinctive gastrointestinal tumor are described. Sixteen patients, 8 women and 8 men aged 17 to 77 years (mean age, 42 y; 63% less than 40 y) presented with abdominal pain, intestinal obstruction, and an abdominal mass. Mean tumor size was 5.2 cm (range, 2.4 to 15.0 cm). The tumors arose in the small bowel (10), stomach (4), and colon (2) and were histologically characterized by a sheet-like or nested population of epithelioid or oval-to-spindle cells with small nucleoli and scattered mitoses. Five cases showed focal clearing of the cytoplasm. Scattered osteoclast-type multinucleated giant cells were present in 8 cases. The tumor cells were positive for S-100 protein, SOX10, and vimentin in 100% of cases, for CD56 in 70%, for synaptophysin in 56%, for NB84 in 50%, for NSE in 45%, and for neurofilament protein in 14% of cases. All cases tested were negative for specific melanocytic, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, epithelial, and myoid markers. Ultrastructural examination of 5 cases showed features of primitive neuroectodermal cells with clear secretory vesicles, dense-core granules, occasional gap junctions, and no evidence of melanogenesis. EWSR1 gene rearrangement was assessed by fluorescence in situ hybridization in 14 cases. Twelve cases (86%) showed split EWSR1 signal consistent with a chromosomal translocation involving EWSR1. One case showed extra intact signals, indicating that the nuclei possessed either extra copies of the EWSR1 gene or chromosome 22 polysomy. Only 1 case showed no involvement of the EWSR1 gene. Six cases demonstrated rearrangement of the partner fusion gene ATF1 (46%), and 3 showed rearrangement of CREB1 (23%); 2 cases lacked rearrangement of either partner gene. Clinical follow-up was available in 12 patients and ranged from 1.5 to 106 months. Six patients died of their tumors (mean survival, 32 mo; 83% less than 24 mo). At last follow-up, 4 patients were alive with regional, lymph node, and liver metastases, and 2 patients were alive with no evidence of disease. The tumor described here is an aggressive form of neuroectodermal tumor that should be separated from other primitive epithelioid and spindle cell tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. The distinctive ultrastructural features and absence of melanocytic differentiation serve to separate them from soft tissue clear cell sarcomas involving the gastrointestinal tract. The designation “malignant gastrointestinal neuroectodermal tumor” is proposed for this tumor type.