Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Common ground: an investigation of environmental management alcohol prevention initiatives in a college community.

OBJECTIVE This article presents an evaluation of Common Ground, a media campaign-supported prevention program featuring increased enforcement, decreased alcohol access, and other environmental management initiatives targeting college student drinking. METHOD Phase 1 of the media campaign addressed student resistance to environmentally focused prevention by reporting majority student support for alcohol policy and enforcement initiatives. Phase 2 informed students about state laws, university policies, and environmental initiatives. We conducted student telephone surveys, with samples stratified by gender and year in school, for 4 consecutive years at the intervention campus and 3 years at a comparison campus. We did a series of one-way between-subjects analyses of variance and analyses of covariance, followed by tests of linear trend and planned comparisons. Targeted outcomes included perceptions of enforcement and alcohol availability, alcohol use, and alcohol-impaired driving. We examined archived police reports for student incidents, primarily those resulting from loud parties. RESULTS There were increases at the intervention campus in students' awareness of formal alcohol-control efforts and perceptions of the alcohol environment, likelihood of apprehension for underage drinking, consequences for alcohol-impaired driving, and responsible alcohol service practices. There were decreases in the perceived likelihood of other students' negative behavior at off-campus parties. Police-reported incidents decreased over time; however, perceived consequences for off-campus parties decreased. No changes were observed for difficulty finding an off-campus party, self-reported alcohol use, or alcohol-impaired driving. CONCLUSIONS The intervention successfully altered perceptions of alcohol enforcement, alcohol access, and the local alcohol environment. This study provides important preliminary information to researchers and practitioners engaged in collaborative prevention efforts in campus communities.
Previous donor pregnancy as a risk factor for acute graft‐versus‐host disease in patients with aplastic anaemia treated by allogeneic marrow transplantation

To determine if previous donor pregnancies influence the development of acute graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD) we evaluated data from 136 patients with aplastic anaemia greater than 15 years of age and given marrow grafts from HLA‐identical sibling donors. Of the 136 marrow donors, 30 were parous females (previous history of pregnancy), 30 were nulliparous females (no history of pregnancy or abortions), and 76 were males. The cumulative incidence of grade II‐IV GVHD was 57%, 21% and 46% for patients with parous, nulliparous and male donors, respectively. A multivariate analysis of the data confirmed that the risk of grade II‐IV acute GVHD was significantly increased among patients receiving marrow from parous females as compared to those from nulliparous females (relative risk = 2·5, P= 0·02). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of acute GVHD, however, between patients with parous donors and male donors (relative risk = 1·3, P= 0·26). Male patients given grafts from parous donors showed a higher incidence of acute GVHD (63%) than female patients (45%), though this difference was not statistically significant. The 5‐year probability of survival was 47% for patients with parous donors, 68% for patients with nulliparous donors and 70% for those with male donors. We confirm that prior donor pregnancy represents an important factor in selecting marrow donors or designing clinical protocols for GVHD prophylaxis.
Nonlinear and asymmetric pricing behaviour in the Spanish gasoline market

Abstract Over the last decades a transition from a state-own monopoly to a private business took place in the Spanish fuel sector. To figure out whether downstream prices react differently to upstream price increases than to price decreases, alternative dynamic nonlinear and asymmetric error correction models are applied to weekly price data. This paper analyse the existence of price asymmetries in the fuel market in Spain during the 2011–2016 period. In comparison with traditional asymmetric price theory literature, this paper introduces a new double threshold error correction (ECM) model (DT-ECM) and new double logistic ECM models and compares them with more common linear ECM, time varying parameter models (TV-ECM), threshold autoregressive models (T-ECM), smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) models and nonlinear error correction (Logistic-ECM) and double threshold Logistic (DT-Logistic ECM). The asymmetric results found in Spain in the oil sector, show that sophisticated bivariate short-run nonlinearities are present in the gasoline market prices and that those price reactions depend on two main aspects; whether the oil price increases or decreases and on the stage (above of below) of the prices of gasoline relative to their long-run expected crude oil prices (error correction term). Those empirical results are consistent with the economic explanations based on market power-collusion and/or with consumer having search costs.
SERIES 0NONINVASIVE VENTILATION IN ACUTE AND CHRONIC RESPIRATORY FAILURE0

Noninvasive ventilation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis. J.A. Wedzicha, J-F. Muir. #ERS Journals Ltd 2002. ABSTRACT: Although long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) improves survival, it has little effect on hypoventilation and other outcomes in patients with hypercapnic respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Recent studies have shown that the use of noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation, when used in combination with LTOT in selected stable COPD patients, controls hypoventilation and improves daytime arterial blood gases, sleep quality, health status and may have a benefit in reducing exacerbation frequency and severity. Patients who show the greatest reduction in overnight carbon dioxide tension in arterial blood with ventilation are most likely to benefit from long-term ventilatory support. Some benefits have also been shown in patients with chronic respiratory failure due to bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis, though survival is inferior in this patient group. As most studies of noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have been relatively short term, large multicentre studies with survival, exacerbations and hospital admissions as the primary end points are required to evaluate longer term effects. Eur Respir J 2002; 20: 777–784. *St Bartholomew9s Hospital, London, UK. University Hospital, Rouen, France.
Altered intrathymic T‐cell repertoire in human myasthenia gravis

In myasthenia gravis, the thymus is thought to be the primary site of autosensitization. We investigated the Vβ T‐cell repertoire at different intrathymic differentiation stages in 17 patients with myasthenia gravis and 8 age‐matched control subjects by tricolor immunofluorescence, using a panel of six anti‐Vβ antibodies. We observed an increased expression of Vβ5. 1 and Vβ8 subfamilies in the patients compared to the control subjects. These increases were observed not only in mature cells but also in the latest thymic precursors of mature cells (double‐positive CD3 high), while there was no change in intermediate precursors (double‐positive CD3 low), pointing to biased selection during intrathymic differentiation. In addition, there was a strong correlation between the percentage of Vβ5. 1+ and Vβ8+ cells among both the CD4 and CD8 subsets in the patients, but not in control subjects, suggesting that thymic events relevant to the disease lead to these selected populations. Finally, location studies of Vβ5. 1+ cells on thymic sections indicated that these cells were overrepresented both in the core of germinal centers and in perifollicular areas of hyperplastic thymuses, suggesting a role in the autoimmune response. Taken together, these findings are compatible with the hypothesis of a biased intrathymic selection in myasthenia gravis.
Online Appendix: Bond Market Asymmetries Across Recessions and Expansions: New Evidence on Risk Premia

This paper provides new evidence on bond risk premia by conditioning the classic Campbell-Shiller regressions on the business cycle. In expansions, we find mostly positive intercepts and negative slopes, but the results are completely reversed in recessions with negative intercepts and positive slopes. The pattern in these coefficients is explained by a term structure model with business cycle dependent loadings in the market price of risk. This model also predicts realized excess returns with the right sign during expansions and recessions, whereas the Gaussian ATSM is unable to explain realized excess returns on medium- and long-term bonds during recessions.Robustness checks and all model derivations are provided in this Online Appendix.The paper is available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2834898.
Nurses' working time use - how value adding it is?

AIM To investigate registered nurses' (RN) and licensed practical nurses' (LPN) working time use in adult inpatient units. BACKGROUND There is only scarce information about value-adding patient care. Nursing care can be divided into three major categories: value-adding care (direct care, indirect care, patient documentation), necessary activities (indirect work, unit-related work) and non-value-adding work (personal time, miscellaneous work). METHOD A cross-sectional quantitative work sampling study. Total of 11,029 nursing activities were collected from two Finnish tertiary hospitals using registered nurses' (n = 66) and licensed practical nurses' (n = 12) self-reporting. RESULTS Nearly three-quarters of nurses' work was value-adding care (71%). The working time division was almost identical for necessary activities and non-value-adding work. Registered nurses spent more time carrying out unit-related work, while licensed practical nurses' spent more time on direct care. Nurses' working time use was divided nearly identically in somatic units but there were differences when compared with psychiatric units. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT Nurses' work seemed to concentrate on value-adding care. The results of working time use studies can be used when developing nursing work for more value-adding care for the patients.
Is an internal comparison better than using national data when estimating mortality in longitudinal studies?

Background: Discrepancies between the results of different studies looking at mortality in similar disease cohorts led us to consider the impact of methodology upon outcome. Methods: Cohort studies were carried out using age, sex, practice, and calendar time matched control groups in the general practice research database. Data were used on all subjects with inflammatory bowel disease, coeliac disease, or Barrett’s oesophagus. Mortality data for the population of England and Wales were obtained from the UK Office for National Statistics. The study compared hazard ratios (HR) for mortality using the matched controls to those found when an indirect standardisation to the mortality experience of England and Wales was carried out. Results: For all three conditions the mortality risk was slightly lower when the national population data were used compared with the internal comparison group (coeliac disease HR 1.33 v standardised mortality ratios (SMR) 1.25, Barrett’s oesophagus HR 1.32 v SMR 1.32, inflammatory bowel disease HR 1.50 v SMR 1.34). Conclusions: A bias was found towards underestimating mortality risk when cohort studies use national population death rates as a comparator. Estimates obtained when an internal comparison group has been used are probably more appropriate.
Comparison of the Activities and Some Properties of Pyrophosphate and ATP Dependent Fructose-6-Phosphate 1-Phosphotransferases of Phaseolus vulgaris Seeds.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF PYROPHOSPHATE: fructose 6-phosphate phosphotransferase (PFP) and ATP: fructose-6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase (PFK) was studied in germinating bean (Phaseolus vulgaris cv Top Crop) seeds. In the cotyledons the PFP activity was comparable with that of PFK. However, in the plumule and radicle plus hypocotyl, PFP activity exceeds that of PFK. Approximately 70 to 90%, depending on the stage of germination, of the total PFP and PFK activities were present in the cotyledons. Highest specific activity of both enzymes, however, occurred in the radicle plus hypocotyl (64-90 nanomoles.min.milligram protein). Fractionation studies indicate that 40% of the total PFK activity was associated with the plastids while PFP is apparently confined to the cytoplasm. The cytosolic isozyme of PFK exhibits hyperbolic kinetics with respect to fructose 6-P and ATP with K(m) values of 320 and 46 micromolar, respectively. PFP also exhibits hyperbolic kinetics both in the presence and absence of the activator fructose-2,6-P(2). The activation is caused by lowering the K(m) for fructose 6-P from 18 to 1.1 millimolar and that for pyrophosphate (PPi) from 40 to 25 micromolar, respectively. Levels of fructose 2,6-P(2) and PPi in the seeds are sufficient to activate PFP and thereby enable a glycolytic role for PFP during germination. However, the fructose 6-P content appears to be well below the K(m) of PFP for this compound and would therefore preferentially bind to the catalytic site of PFK, which has a lower K(m) for fructose 6-P. The ATP content appears to be at saturating levels for PFK.
Short- and long-term results with implantable transcutaneous and percutaneous bone-conduction devices.

OBJECTIVES To compare the percutaneous bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA; type NBC-HC-200, Nobel Biocare, Gothenburg, Sweden) and the transcutaneous temporal bone stimulator (TBS; Xomed-Treace, Jacksonville, Fla) with conventional hearing aids and to evaluate long-term results. DESIGN In a prospective clinical study, the new implantable bone-conduction devices were compared with the patients' previous conventional hearing aids. Speech perception in quiet and in noise were studied, and a questionnaire concerning the actual use of the device and speech recognition was administered. During follow-up that exceeded 4 1/2 years, relevant technical and medical problems were documented. PATIENTS Forty-one successive subjects who were fitted with a BAHA and 17 subjects who were fitted with a TBS. RESULTS In most subjects who had previously used a bone-conduction device, the new BAHA and TBS devices led to improved or comparable results on speech recognition tests and the questionnaire. However, among the subjects who had previously used air-conduction hearing aids, the results were ambiguous. In the long-term, the percentage of nonusers in the BAHA group was 5% (2/39); in the TBS group, 65% (13/20). The main reasons for not using the TBS were insufficient gain and medical and technical problems. The vulnerability of the percutaneous coupling of the BAHA to trauma or inflammation was not a major issue; only 4 implants were lost during the total follow-up of more than 250 years. CONCLUSION Results indicate that the BAHA is the better choice.
TGFβ1 genetic variants are associated with an increased risk of acute brucellosis

Abstract Objective: Cytokines play a critical role in the regulation of the immune response against brucellosis infection, and mediate production of many pro- and anti-inflammatory signals. Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGFβ1), a powerful suppressive cytokine, inhibits macrophage activation and modulates T-cell function, and plays crucial roles in regulation of microbial replication and host responses to brucella. Methods: The association of three polymorphisms in the TGFβ1 gene (–509 C/T [rs1800469], + 868 C/T [rs1800470], and + 913 G/C [rs1800471]) in promoter, codons 10 and 25, respectively, with brucellosis infection was evaluated. This case-control study was performed on a total of 281 Iranian subjects including 153 patients with active brucellosis and 128 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals as controls. Genotyping for the TGFβ1 –509 C/T and + 868 C/T variants was performed using tetra amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (T-ARMS-PCR). Also, the + 913 G/C polymorphism was genotyped using an allele-specific PCR. Results: The results demonstrated that the TGFβ1 + 868 C/T mutant homozygote genotype (TT vs CC), was a risk factor for developing brucellosis in the co-dominant and recessive models (odds ratio (OR) = 2.60, p = 0.023; OR = 2.602, p = 0.014, respectively). Additionally, the diplotype analyses revealed that TGFβ1 codon 10 and 25 diplotype, TT/GG, was associated with an increased risk of brucellosis (OR = 2.49, p = 0.038). Other TGFβ1 variants did not increase the risk of brucellosis infection. Conclusions: Our findings propose that TGFβ1 + 868 TT genotype and TT/GG diplotype may confer increased risk of brucellosis in the examined population.
Effects of Inhaled Nonimmobilizer, Proconvulsant Compounds on Desflurane Minimum Alveolar Anesthetic Concentration in Rats

Anesthetics depress the central nervous system, whereas nonimmobilizers (previously called nonanesthetics) and transitional compounds having the same physical properties (e.g., solubility in lipid) do not produce anesthesia (nonimmobilizers) or are less potent anesthetics than might be predicted from their lipophilicity (transitional compounds). Potential explanations for the absent or decreased anesthetic effect of nonimmobilizer and transitional compounds include the theories that the nonimmobilizers are devoid of anesthetic effect and that transitional compounds have a decreased capacity to produce anesthesia; that the effects of these compounds are not apparent because the concentrations examined are too low; or that anesthesia, or lack thereof, results from a balance between depression and excitation (all nonimmobilizer and transitional compounds produce convulsions). To examine these issues further, we tested the effect of various multiples of the convulsive 50% effective dose (ED50) of three nonimmobilizers and one transitional compound on the minimum alveolar anesthetic concentration (MAC) of desflurane in rats. The nonimmobilizer 2,3-dichlorooctafluorobutane (NI-1), from 0.7 to 1.1 times its convulsive ED50, increased the MAC of desflurane by 14%-27%, but at 1.6 times its convulsive ED50 caused no change in MAC; the nonimmobilizer 1,2-dichlorohexafluorocyclobutane (NI-2) did not change MAC at concentrations up to its convulsant ED50, but it increased MAC by 25% and 36% at 1.3 and 1.7 times its convulsant ED50, respectively. The nonimmobilizer flurothyl (NI-3) decreased the MAC of desflurane by 20% +/- 6% (mean +/- SD) at 0.5 times its convulsant ED50, but it caused no change at higher partial pressures (up to 7.8 times its convulsant ED50), and the transitional compound CF3 CCl2-O-CF2 Cl (T-1) significantly decreased MAC by 16% +/- 7% at 0.8 times its convulsant ED50, but the 6%-8% decreases in MAC at 0.4 and 1.6 times its convulsant ED (50) were not significant. Thus, neither nonimmobilizer nor transitional compounds produced a consistent dose-related effect on the MAC of desflurane, and any changes were small. These results suggest that the excitation produced by transitional compounds or nonimmobilizers does not explain their limited ability or inability to produce anesthesia. The data are consistent with a decreased anesthetic efficacy of transitional compounds and the lack of efficacy of nonimmobilizers. Implications: Inhaled compounds that do not cause anesthesia (nonimmobilizers) are used to test theories of anesthetic action. Their use presumes that a trivial explanation, such as cancelling stimulatory and depressant effects, does not explain the absence of anesthesia. The present results argue against such an explanation. (Anesth Analg 1997;85:1149-53)
Two types of social buffering differentially mitigate conditioned fear responses

In a phenomenon known as ‘social buffering’ in various species, signals from a conspecific animal can mitigate stress responses. This buffering can be achieved either by ‘pair‐housing’ after a stressful event or by ‘pair‐exposure’ to an acute stressor with a conspecific animal. In this study, we compared the impacts of these two types of social buffering on auditory conditioned fear responses in male rats. When subjects were exposed to an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS) that had been paired with foot shocks on the previous day, they clearly exhibited behavioral (freezing), autonomic (aggravated stress‐induced hyperthermia) and neural (Fos expression) responses. Pair‐housing for 24 h with an unfamiliar rat following fear conditioning resulted in a suppressed autonomic, but not behavioral, response, with Fos expression in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala and ventrolateral periaqueductal gray. On the other hand, pair‐exposure to the CS with an unfamiliar rat eliminated the behavioral, but not the autonomic, response, with Fos expression in the basal nucleus of the amygdala and infralimbic region of the prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, subjects that had been pair‐housed and then pair‐exposed showed no behavioral, autonomic or neural responses, suggesting that the combination of the two procedures can completely block the fear conditioning sequence. These results demonstrate that two types of social buffering differentially relieve conditioned fear responses, by influencing different neural pathways in the amygdala.
Determinants of Fast‐ and Slow‐Pathway Conduction in Patients with Dual Atrioventricular Nodal Pathways

Electrophysiological studies were performed in two patients with documented paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia and dual atrioventricular (AV) nodal pathways as defined by the atrial extra-stimulus technique. Both patients manifested two ranges of A-H intervals (AV nodal conduction times) at critical cycle lengths, reflecting fast- and slow-pathway conduction. The occurrence of fast- and slow-pathway conduction at the same cycle length depended on a long fast-pathway effective refractory period relative to the spontaneous or driven cycle length. At critical cycle lengths with fast-pathway conduction, a shift to slow-pathway conduction could be induced by a premature atrial impulse falling within the effective refractory period of the fast pathway. Repetitive retrograde concealed conduction to the fast pathway then maintained antegrade slow-pathway conduction. Resumption of fast-pathway conduction was induced with premature atrial impulses falling within the effective refractory periods of both the fast and the slow pathways, allowing recovery of the fast pathway for antegrade conduction. Atrial echoes and AV nodal reentrant paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia occurred when sufficient slow-pathway delay was achieved to allow recovery of the fast pathway for retrograde conduction.