Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigating the effects of the neonatal factors and therapeutic modalities on neonatal mortality in neonatal intensive care unit of Shahid Motahhari Hospital, Urmia

Background: A newborn is highly fragile whose death can be caused by embryonic, intrapartum, and postpartum factors. Identifying the causes of death is the first step to be taken in order to decrease the death rate. The present study was aimed at finding out how neonatal factors and therapeutic actions affect death of newborn babies. Materials and Methods: The is a case-control study where the case group included 250 dead neonates who were hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit during 2007-2009. The control group also included 250 newborn neonates who were hospitalized in the same unit and were discharged alive and healthy after they were treated appropriately. Researcher-designed questionnaires including demographic characteristics of mothers and infants, causes of hospitalization, treatment and its complications, and causes of death were used to collect the required data. Chi-square test, odds ratio (OR), and logistic regression were applied to analyze how the variables were related. P < 0.05 were considered significant. Statistical analyses were carried out using software SPSS 16.0. Results: The results of advanced logistic regression model showed that first-minute Apgar less than 6 (OR = 4.02), existence of birth asphyxia (OR = 6.16), hyaline membrane disease (OR = 4.08), and sepsis (OR = 6.42) increased the death rate of neonates hospitalized in the intensive care unit, and applying nasal continuous positive airway pressure and multiparity decreased the death rate of newborn babies. There was no significant correlation between variables such as low birth weight, consanguinity, blood group, pr eterm labor history, and baby's gender, and the death rate of neonates. Conclusions: The results of the study show that factors such as low Apgar score, asphyxia, hyaline membrane disease, sepsis, prematurity and congenital anomalies, and method of delivery have a positive effect on the death of neonates. They also prove that suitable management and carrying out appropriate therapeutic actions and intensive care decrease the death rate of newborn babies.
Visual-spatial processing in children and adolescents with Down's syndrome: a computerized assessment of memory skills.

BACKGROUND Several studies have identified better visual-spatial than verbal memory skills in children with Down's syndrome (DS); however, research in both typical development and DS points to a relative dissociation between visual and spatial memory processing, questioning the notion of a unitary visual-spatial memory construct. The insufficient and often contradictory results regarding the visual-spatial memory domain probably reflect the heterogeneity of memory tests employed by these studies and the different memory systems that they evaluate. METHOD We administered five visual-spatial memory tasks from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) to 25 children with DS and to 25 controls matched for mental age (MA) and basic psychomotor speed and accuracy. The memory tasks measure spatial span, visual and spatial recognition, paired associates learning and self-ordered search abilities. RESULTS The results confirm the relative sparing of the spatial short-term memory (STM) capacity in children with DS; however, as memory load increases, in recognition tasks, or when visual and spatial demands are combined, their performance is impaired compared with MA controls. The same impairment is generated by additional executive demands in the self-ordered search task, although search strategy is similar to the one presented by MA controls. CONCLUSIONS We did not find support for a visual vs. spatial dissociation in recognition memory. Performance impairment in the visual-spatial domain parallels the increase in working memory (WM) load or in the executive demands of the task. Possible neurobiological implications of the observed performance on the CANTAB tasks are also considered.
Nucleic Acid Lateral Flow Immunoassay for the Detection of Pathogenic Bacteria from Food

Nucleic acid lateral flow immunoassay (NALFIA) is a method combining molecular biological principle of detection with immunochemical principle of visualisation. Following isolation of DNA from the sample, a duplex PCR with two primer sets, of which one was labelled with biotin and the other with digoxigenin or fluorescein, respectively, was performed. The PCR solution and carbon particles conjugated with avidin are directly added to the nitrocellulose membrane with two test lines of immobilised antibodies specific for digoxigenin and fluorescein. The appearance of a black line indicates the presence of specific amplicon. We would like to present the NALFIA for the simultaneous detection of L. monocytogenes in particular and the genus Listeria in general, in food. Bacteria from the genus Listeria frequently contaminate a large variety of foods. Occurrence of Listeria strains in food may indicate errors in good hygienic and manufacturing practice, only L. monocytogenes is a significant human and animal pathogen responsible for the serious illness listeriosis. Conventional microbiological methods for L. monocytogenes detection are laborious and take several days to achieve a confirmed identification.
Pediatric Pilonidal Disease: A Method of Management

Pilonidal disease is a common problem; its many management options are testimony to the difficulty in its eradication. Its etiology is distention of midline skin orifices with ingestion of hair shafts from hirsute buttocks. Thus, the disease does not usually appear until after puberty. Nine children were treated by aspiration and incision and antibiotics, followed by curettage of the pits; they had no recurrence. Two children who had midline procedures had recurrent disease. The female-male ratio in children is 4.5:1
Increased plasma neurofilament light chain levels in patients with type-1 diabetes with impaired awareness of hypoglycemia

Introduction Impaired awareness of hypoglycemia (IAH) is a common complication in patients with type-1 diabetes (T1D). IAH is a major risk factor for severe hypoglycemic events, leading to adverse clinical consequences and cerebral damage. Non-invasive, cost-effective, and logistically efficient biomarkers for this condition have not been validated. Here, we propose plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels as a biomarker of neuroaxonal damage in patients with T1D-IAH. Research design and methods 54 patients were included into the study (18 T1D-IAH, 18 T1D with normal awareness of hypoglycemia (NAH) and 18 healthy controls). We measured plasma NfL levels and studied cerebral gray matter alterations on MRI. Results We found that NfL levels were increased in patients with T1D-IAH compared with patients with T1D-NAH and healthy controls. Importantly, increased NfL levels correlated with reduced cerebral gray matter volume and increased IAH severity in patients with T1D-IAH. Conclusion Overall, our findings identify plasma NfL levels as a potential biomarker of cerebral damage in this population, motivating further confirmatory studies with potential implications in clinical trials.
Premature ventricular contractions and reflex sympathetic activation in cats.

In 27 decerebrate cats under various experimental conditions, we studied the effects of programmed premature ventricular contractions on the impulse activity of preganglionic sympathetic fibres isolated from the third left thoracic ramus. Single extrastimuli increased the sympathetic discharge by 319(SEM 43)% [from 10.3(1.7) to 36(3.7) imp.s-1, p less than 0.05]. The neural response was significantly enhanced after bilateral vagotomy by 394(34)% [from 12(2.6) to 53.3(9.8) imp.s-1, p less than 0.05], but abolished when the stimuli were delivered during bilateral carotid artery occlusion. No sympathetic reflex response was observed in cats with chronic sino-aortic denervation. In eight cats, during occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery, the control sympathetic response was progressively and reversibly attenuated from 239(28)% to 36(14)%, at 90 s from the beginning of the occlusion. After bilateral vagotomy, this inhibitory interaction was no longer present and the sympathetic neural response to programmed stimulation was maintained throughout the occlusion period. The data indicate that the sympathetic reflex response initiated by baroreceptive deactivation could be attenuated by cardiac vagal afferent activity induced by coronary occlusion.
Slowing of relaxation during fatigue in single mouse muscle fibres.

1. In the preceding paper we analysed the force decline in fatigue of isolated mouse muscle fibres. Using the same preparation and stimulation scheme we have now examined another aspect of muscle fatigue, namely slowing of relaxation. 2. Relaxation at the end of a tetanic contraction can usually be divided into two phases, an initial nearly linear force decline, followed by an exponential phase. We have analysed the initial phase in terms of decline rate and duration. In rested fibres the decline rate after a 350 ms tetanus was not affected by a 30% reduction of tetanic tension (obtained by decreasing the stimulation frequency). 3. Relaxation became gradually slower during fatiguing stimulation with a maximum reduction at the time when tetanic tension was reduced to about 75% of the original (end of phase 2, see preceding paper). At this time the decline rate of the linear phase had fallen to 55.2 +/‐ 2.9% (mean +/‐ S.E.M., n = 25) and its duration had increased to 151.3 +/‐ 14.2% of the control (unfatigued 350 ms, 70 Hz tetanus). 4. Short rest periods (duration = 10s), given at various times during fatiguing stimulation, resulted in a clear, but partial, normalization of the relaxation parameters; at the time of maximum slowing the mean decline rate increased from 50.3 to 58.7% and the duration decreased from 167.9 to 144.0% of the control (n = 14). 5. The influence of intracellular acidosis on relaxation was studied by exposing rested fibres to 30% CO2 instead of the normal 5%. This resulted in a decline rate of 43.0 +/‐ 2.6% and a duration of 221.1 +/‐ 13.1% of the control (n = 7). 6. In amphibian muscle relaxation is known to become gradually slower during a single, prolonged tetanus. The existence of such an effect also in the present preparation was studied by giving ‘interrupted’ tetani with a total duration of about 2 s. In rested fibres the mean rate of relaxation was found to fall from 140.9 to 71.8% (n = 11) of the control (end of 350 ms stimulation) with a time constant of about 0.5 s. Thus, a marked slowing during a long tetanus occurs also in mammalian muscle. 7. A distinct slowing of relaxation during prolonged tetani was observed also in the fatigued and in the acidified state. Under these two conditions the mean rate of relaxation fell from 87.0 to 34.0% (n = 3) and from 74.0 to 23.0% (n = 5) of the control, respectively, with time constants similar to that in the rested state. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Estimating CO2 Sequestration by Forests in Oita Prefecture, Japan, by Combining LANDSAT ETM+ and ALOS Satellite Remote Sensing Data

CO2 sequestration of the forests in Oita Prefecture, Japan, was estimated using satellite remote sensing data. First, hybrid classification of the optical LANDSAT ETM+ data was performed using GIS to produce a detailed land cover map. CO2 sequestration for each forest type was calculated using the sequestration rates per unit area multiplied by the forest areas obtained from the land cover map This results in 3.57 MtCO2/yr for coniferous, 0.77 MtCO2/yr for deciduous broadleaf, and 2.25 MtCO2/yr for evergreen broadleaf, equivalent to a total of 6.60 MtCO2/yr for all the forest covers in Oita. Then, two different methodologies were used to improve these estimates by considering tree ages: the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the stem volume methods. Calculation using the NDVI method shows the limitation of this method in providing detailed estimations for trees older than 15 years, because of NDVI saturation beyond this age. In the stem volume method, tree ages were deduced from stem volume values obtained by using PALSAR backscattering data. Sequestration based on tree age forest subclasses yields 2.96 MtCO2/yr (coniferous) and 0.31 MtCO2/yr (deciduous broadleaf forests). These results show the importance of using not only detailed forest types, but also detailed tree age information for more realistic CO2 sequestration estimates. In so doing, overestimation of the sequestration capacity of forests could be avoided, and the information on the status and location of forest resources could be improved, thereby leading to sounder decision making in sustainable management of forest resources.
Self-sensing comparison of fractional slot pitch winding vs. distributed winding for FW- and FI-IPMSMs based on carrier signal injection at very low speed

This paper analyzes the effects of fractional pitch and distributed winding stators on self-sensing performance of PM machines. Three rotor configurations, an FW-IPMSM and two FI-IPMSMs, and two stator designs, distributed and concentrated windings, are presented to analyze the cross-saturation, secondary saliencies, saturation-induced saliencies and saliency ratio depending on the possible rotor and stator configurations. Finite element modeling (FEM) has been used to obtain a detailed understanding of the self-sensing performance of these machines.
On the practical implementation of retirement gains by using an upside and a downside terminal wealth constraint

We analyze an investment strategy for an investor with a savings plan for retirement consisting on constraining the terminal wealth accumulated after the savings period by setting an upper and lower bound. We carry out a simulation of the terminal wealth after a savings period of thirty years by using daily, monthly, weekly and yearly updates. We calculate the percentiles of the final wealth and the corresponding lifetime annuity that the pension saver will receive during the consumption period. We observe how that the simulated values converge to the theoretical values of the percentiles when the frequency of update increases. Finally, in the numerical example the effect of inflaction is also considered.
Exploring green skills: a study on the implementation of green skills among secondary school students

Green skills are the technical skills, knowledge, values and attitudes needed in the workforce to develop and support sustainable social, economic and environmental outcomes in business, industry and the community (as defined by the Green Skills Agreement, Australia). School teachers play a role in producing skilled labor that has green skills. The aim of this research is to explore the views of teachers regarding the instilling of green skills in students and the types of green skills applicable in schools. This research is a qualitative investigation using the method of in-depth interview to collect information from the teachers who handle the subject of Living Skill Integration in secondary schools. The respondents opine that the school can disseminate preliminary information about green skills, but the application of these skills in real life requires experienced teachers. Furthermore, these skills can be infused into various subjects so that students can have a holistic perspective of sustainability. The respondents also state that the types of skills applicable in schools are recycling or material management, which will minimize the use of electricity and water. The applications of these green skills in schools are a real challenge to teachers, but they will encourage students to commit themselves to the good cause of environment. Therefore, all parties concerned must make a concerted effort to promote green skills so that students and the public are well aware of the importance of preserving the environment.
Determinants of adoption and intensity of use of balanced nutrient management systems technologies in the northern Guinea savanna of Nigeria

As part of a major effort to address soil fertility decline in West Africa, a project on Balanced Nutrient Management Systems (BNMS) has since 2000 been implemented in the northern Guinea savanna (NGS) of Nigeria. The project has tested and promoted two major technology packages, including a combined application of inorganic fertilizer and manure (BNMS-manure) and a soybean/maize rotation practice referred to as BNMS-rotation. This study employed Tobit model to examine factors that influence the adoption and intensity of utilization of BNMS technologies in the NGS of Nigeria. Results showed that less than 10% of the sample households adopted at least one of the two components of the technology package by the end of 2002. However, by 2005 the adoption of BNMS-rotation had reached 40% while that of BNMS-manure had reached 48%. A number of factors such as access to credit, farmers’ perception of the state of land degradation, and assets ownership were found to be significant in determining farmers’ adoption decisions on BNMS-manure while off-farm income was found to be significant in determining farmers’ adoption decisions on BNMS-rotation. Extension services and farmer-to-farmer technology diffusion channels were the major means of transfer of BNMS technologies.
Tandem repeats of aggrecan gene and susceptibility of disc degeneration diseases : a case-control study and meta-analysis

Several studies have examined the association between aggrecan gene variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism and risk of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). However, the results are still controversial. We recruited 98 IDD patients and 94 controls from May 2011 to August 2015. All the subjects were genotyped using the PCR-based invader assay. The differences of allele distributions between IDD patients and controls were investigated in case-control study. A systematic search of all relevant studies was conducted. The observational studies that were related to an association between aggrecan VNTR polymorphism and IDD were identified. The association between aggrecan VNTR polymorphism and risk of IDD was assessed by meta-analysis. The case-control study showed that aggrecan VNTR polymorphism was associated with the susceptibility of IDD in a Chinese population (P < 0.05). Furthermore, other eight previously reported studies were included to perform metaanalysis. The meta-analysis showed that aggrecan VNTR polymorphism was associated with risk of IDD in Asian (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.17-1.93) but not in Caucasians (OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 0.84-2.18). The present study suggested that aggrecan VNTR polymorphism with shorter allele may be associated with the increased risk of IDD in Chinese population. The further meta-analysis provides additional evidence supporting the above result in Asian. However, such association may not be statistically significant in Caucasians.
Consolidation radiation after complete remission in Hodgkin's disease following six cycles of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine chemotherapy: is there a need?

PURPOSE Combined modality treatment using multidrug chemotherapy (CTh) and radiotherapy (RT) is currently considered the standard of care in early stage Hodgkin's disease. Its role in advanced stages, however, continues to be debated. This study was aimed at evaluating the role of consolidation radiation in patients achieving a complete remission after six cycles of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) chemotherapy using event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) as primary end points. PATIENTS AND METHODS Two hundred and fifty-one patients with Hodgkin's disease attending the lymphoma clinic at the Tata Memorial Hospital (Mumbai, India) from 1993 to 1996 received induction chemotherapy with six cycles of ABVD after initial staging evaluation. A total of 179 of 251 patients (71%) achieved a complete remission after six cycles of ABVD chemotherapy and constituted the randomized population. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either consolidation radiation or no further therapy. RESULTS With a median follow-up of 63 months, the 8-year EFS and OS in the CTh-alone arm were 76% and 89%, respectively, as compared with 88% and 100% in the CTh+RT arm (P =.01; P =.002). Addition of RT improved EFS and OS in patients with age < 15 years (P =.02; P =.04), B symptoms (P =.03; P =.006), advanced stage (P =.03; P =.006), and bulky disease (P =.04; P =.19). CONCLUSION Our study suggests that the addition of consolidation radiation helps improve the EFS and OS in patients achieving a complete remission after six cycles of ABVD chemotherapy, particularly in the younger age group and in patients with B symptoms and bulky and advanced disease.
Throughput analysis of DS/SSMA unslotted ALOHA system with fixed packet length

Throughput analysis of direct-sequence spread spectrum multiple access (DS/SSMA) unslotted ALOHA with fixed packet length is presented. As the levels of multi-user interference fluctuate during the packet transmission, we calculate the packet error probability and the throughput by considering not only the number of overlapped packets but also the amount of time overlap. On the assumption that packet generation is Poisson, the system can be thought as the queueing system M/D//spl infin/. With Gaussian approximation of multi-user interference, we obtain the throughput as the function of the number of chips in a bit, the packet length, and the offered load of the system. We also analyze the channel load sensing protocol (CLSP), and obtain the optimum threshold of CLSP.
Effects of Finasteride on Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor

Objective: Finasteride has been shown to reduce prostate bleeding in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The mechanisms behind this are not known, but it has been suggested that finasteride reduces bleeding by inhibiting angiogenesis in the prostate. Studies in animals have shown that castration rapidly induces involution of the prostate vasculature, and androgen-stimulated prostate growth may be angiogenesis dependent. The objective of this study was to explore the response to finasteride on the vasculature and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a potent regulatory factor of angiogenesis in human prostate tissue. Material and Methods: Patients with BPH were randomly assigned to 3 months of treatment either with finasteride (5 mg/day) or placebo before undergoing transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). Prostate tissue VEGF expression was quantified by Western blot and the vascular density determined in Factor VIII immunostained tissue sections. Serum concentrations of VEGF were measured with ELISA technique. Results: Patients treated with finasteride ( n = 15) showed a decrease in prostate tissue VEGF 165 expression compared with placebo ( n = 13) treated patients ( p < 0.05), but the vascular density and the serum VEGF levels were unaffected. Conclusions: This study shows that finasteride treatment decreases VEGF expression in the human prostate.