Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hydrostatic weighing without head submersion: description of a method.

Hydrostatic weighing (HW) was performed at residual volume (RV) and total lung capacity without head submersion (TLCNS). Ninety-five males (25.6 +/- 4.9 yr) and 87 females (22.6 +/- 5.2 yr) were studied at two laboratory sites using identical protocols. Twenty males and 20 females were separated from the original group and randomly assigned to cross-validation groups. RVs were determined by the oxygen dilution method. Vital capacity was determined with the subject submerged in water to the shoulders. Underwater weight was determined using 10 trials at RV and 5 trials at TLCNS, with the order of methods randomly assigned. Regression analysis provided an equation to predict body density (pDb) at RV from body density (Db) at TLCNS. The equation for males was pDb (HW at RV) = 0.5829 (DbHW at TLCNS) + 0.4059, r = 0.88, SEE = 0.0067. The equation for females was pDb (HW at RV) = 0.4745 (DbHW at TLCNS) + 0.5173, r = 0.85, SEE = 0.0061. Cross-validation showed no significant differences using Db from HW at RV (males = 1.0626 g.ml-1, females = 1.0493 g.ml-1 and pDb from HW at TLCNS (males = 1.0625 g.ml-1, females = 1.0479 g.ml-1). The correlation coefficient SEE and total error for males were r = 0.95, 0.0043, and 0.0041, respectively and for females r = 0.82, 0.0084, and 0.0085, respectively. Mean percent fat for RV and TLCNS was identical for males and differed by 0.7% for females. Test-re-test data indicated the TLCNS procedure was reliable (r = 0.98). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Design and Outcome of a Certification Preparation Program for Outpatient Nurses

This article presents the design, implementation, and outcomes of a certification preparation program for nurses working in an outpatient clinic. A nurse educator designed curriculum using the Certified Breast Care Nurse test blueprint. Nurse administrators provided the resources and the staff coverage to allow all staff members to attend the sessions without disruption to patient care. This outpatient center has achieved and sustained 100% certification among eligible nurses over the past 5 years.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, physical exercise, trauma and sports: Results of a population-based pilot case-control study

Abstract Our objective was to investigate exposure to physical exercise and trauma in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared to the general population. Previous studies in this area have yielded conflicting results. Using population-based ALS registries from Italy, the UK and Ireland, newly diagnosed patients with definite, probable or possible ALS were enrolled in a case- control study with two age- and sex-matched controls for each patient. Source, intensity and duration of physical activity and history of trauma were recorded. We here present the results of a pilot investigation. We studied 61 patients and 112 controls. Forty-one per cent of cases and 17.0% of controls (p = 0.001) had blue-collar occupations; 13.1% versus 3.6% reported strenuous physical activity at work (p = 0.05). Compared with controls, ALS patients had a longer exposure to work-related (10.7 vs. 7.3 years; p = 0.02) and sport-related physical exercise (9.6 vs. 5.2 years; p = 0.005). Three patients (0 controls) reported professional sports (p = 0.04). Traumatic events were similar. Blue collar occupation (OR 4.27; 95% CI 1.68-10.88) and duration of sport-related physical exercise (OR 1.03; 95% CI 1.00-1.05) were independent variables in multivariate analysis. We concluded that ALS is associated with physical exercise but not with traumatic events.
Effects of hepatitis B virus precore and basal core promoter mutations on the expression of viral antigens: genotype B vs C

Summary. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes/mutants are known to affect natural outcomes. The virologic differences among HBV genotype, precore and basal core promoter (BCP) mutations were investigated. HBV strains were isolated from 18 hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)‐positive patients (nine genotype B and nine genotype C). All had precore and BCP wild‐type sequences. After cloning of full‐length HBV genome, the effects of viral genotype, precore and BCP mutations singly or additively on the expression of viral DNA and antigens were investigated by mutagenesis and transfection assays in Huh7 cells. Significant findings included the following: (i) expression of intracellular core protein increased when precore or BCP mutation was introduced in genotype C strains; (ii) expression of intracellular surface protein was lower in genotype C precore wild‐type strain compared with genotype B; (iii) precore mutation was associated with a lower extracellular expression level of HBV DNA; (iv) secretion of hepatitis B surface antigen in genotype C was lower than that in genotype B; and (v) secretion of HBeAg in genotype B was lower than that in genotype C. No additive effect was observed by combining precore and BCP mutations. Hence, HBV genotype and precore/BCP mutations correlate with intrahepatic expression of viral antigens in vitro.
Microbial planktonic communities of freshwater environments from Tierra del Fuego: dominant trophic strategies in lakes with contrasting features

We analysed the structure of the microbial plankton communities of different typesof freshwater environments from the southernmost region of South America (Tierradel Fuego). Water bodies were grouped in four categories: humic lakes, clear oligo-trophic lakes, beaver ponds and steppe shallow lakes, which differed in their nutrientand dissolved organic carbon (DOC) contents. We tested if microbial planktoniccommunities were different among lakes with dissimilar nutrient and DOC concen-trations, analysing to what extent the known large-scale patterns of lake trophicstructure applies to a diverse but localized set of lakes. We found that mixotrophsdominated over strict autotrophs in both humic and clear oligotrophic systems,whereas in eutrophic lakes autotrophy was a successful strategy. The functionalphytoplankton approach also allowed the separation between oligotrophic (clear andhumic) and eutrophic systems, with different functional groups. The lowest abun-dances of picoplankton were found in oligotrophic lakes, picoeukaryotes being moreabundant than picocyanobacteria in beaver ponds and humic lakes. Our resultsshow that in low nutrient environments, mixotrophic strategies thrive over strictautotrophs suggesting the paramount importance of the microbial loop when com-pared with high trophic status systems where the prevalence of autotrophy indicatesthat the energy ﬂux depends on phytoplankton.
Improvement of the Efficacy of Linear Undecapeptides against Plant-Pathogenic Bacteria by Incorporation of d-Amino Acids

ABSTRACT A set of 31 undecapeptides, incorporating 1 to 11 d-amino acids and derived from the antimicrobial peptide BP100 (KKLFKKILKYL-NH2), was designed and synthesized. This set was evaluated for inhibition of growth of the plant-pathogenic bacteria Erwinia amylovora, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae, and Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vesicatoria, hemolysis, and protease degradation. Two derivatives were as active as BP100, and 10 peptides displayed improved activity, with the all-d isomer being the most active. Twenty-six peptides were less hemolytic than BP100, and all peptides were more stable against protease degradation. Plant extracts inhibited the activity of BP100 as well as that of the d-isomers. Ten derivatives incorporating one d-amino acid each were tested in an infectivity inhibition assay with the three plant-pathogenic bacteria by using detached pear and pepper leaves and pear fruits. All 10 peptides studied were active against E. amylovora, 6 displayed activity against P. syringae pv. syringae, and 2 displayed activity against X. axonopodis pv. vesicatoria. Peptides BP143 (KKLFKKILKYL-NH2) and BP145 (KKLFKKILKYL-NH2), containing one d-amino acid at positions 4 and 2 (underlined), respectively, were evaluated in whole-plant assays for the control of bacterial blight of pepper and pear and fire blight of pear. Peptide BP143 was as effective as streptomycin in the three pathosystems, was more effective than BP100 against bacterial blight of pepper and pear, and equally effective against fire blight of pear.
An Exact Series Representation for the EM Field From a Circular Loop Antenna on a Lossy Half-Space

This letter introduces an analytical approach for the evaluation of the complete integral expressions for the time-harmonic electromagnetic (EM) field components generated by an arbitrarily large thin-wire circular loop antenna lying on the surface of a flat and homogeneous half-space. The method consists of casting the integrands of the field integrals into forms in which the square-root terms, originating branch cuts, are replaced with their rational function representations via Newton's method. Explicit expressions for the fields are then derived by applying the residue theorem. The proposed procedure is exact since previous authors have shown that the sequence of rational functions generated by Newton's method converges quadratically to the square root, even if the independent variable is a complex number. Numerical simulations are performed to confirm the validity of the developed formulation.
Design of Fuzzy Controller of the Cycle-to-Cycle Control for Swing Phase of Hemiplegic Gait Induced by FES

The goal of this study was to design a practical fuzzy controller of the cycle-to-cycle control for multi-joint movements of swing phase of functional electrical stimulation (FES) induced gait. First, we designed three fuzzy controllers (a fixed fuzzy controller, a fuzzy controller with parameter adjustment based on the gradient descent method, and a fuzzy controller with parameter adjustment based on a fuzzy model) and two PID controllers (a fixed PID and an adaptive PID controllers) for controlling two-joint (knee and ankle) movements. Control capabilities of the designed controllers were tested in automatic generation of stimulation burst duration and in compensation of muscle fatigue through computer simulations using a musculo-skeletal model. The fuzzy controllers showed better responses than the PID controllers in the both control capabilities. The parameter adjustment based on the fuzzy model was shown to be effective when oscillating response was caused due to the inter-subject variability. Based on these results, we designed the fuzzy controller with the parameter adjustment realized using the fuzzy model for controlling three-joint (hip, knee, and ankle) movements. The controlled gait pattern obtained by computer simulation was not significantly different from the normal gait pattern and it could be qualitatively accepted in clinical FES gait control. The fuzzy controller designed for the cycle-to-cycle control for multi-joint movements during the swing phase of the FES gait was expected to be examined clinically.
Value of Heart Rate Variability to Predict Ventricular Arrhythmias in Recipients of Prophylactic Defibrillators with Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy

GRIMM, W. , et al.: Value of Heart Rate Variability to Predict Ventricular Arrhythmias in Recipients of Prophylactic Defibrillators with Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy. This study investigated the relation between heart rate variability (HRV) measured as standard deviation of normal to normal RR intervals (SDNN) on baseline 24‐hour ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) and subsequent appropriate implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) interventions in 70 patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC) in whom ICDs were implanted prophylactically in the presence of a low left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). During 43 ± 26 months of follow‐up, 26 of 70 (37%) study patients with IDC received one or more appropriate ICD interventions for sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) documented by electrograms stored in the ICD. Mean SDNN at ICD implant was 94 ± 33 ms . No difference was found between patients with (90 ± 25 ms) versus without (96 ± 37 ms) appropriate ICD interventions for VT or VF during follow‐up. Multivariate Cox regression analysis of baseline clinical characteristics including age, gender, LVEF, NYHA functional class, nonsustained VT on Holter, history of syncope, left bundle branch block, baseline medication and HRV revealed LVEF as the only significant predictor of arrhythmia. These findings do not support the use of HRV measured as SDNN on 24‐hour ambulatory ECG to select patients with IDC for prophylactic ICD therapy. (PACE 2003; 26[Pt. II]:411–415)
The Relation Between Line Emission and Brightest Cluster Galaxies in Three Exceptional Clusters: Evidence for Gas Cooling from the ICM

There is a strong spatial correlation between brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and the peak density and cooling rate of the intra-cluster medium (ICM). In this paper we combine integral field spectroscopy, CO observations and X-ray data to study three exceptional clusters (Abell 1991, Abell 3444 and Ophiuchus) where there is a physical and dynamical offset between the BCG and the cooling peak to investigate the connection between the cooling of the intracluster medium, the cold gas being deposited and the central galaxy. We find the majority of the optical line emission is spatially coincident with the peak in the soft X-rays. In the case of A1991 we make separate detections of CO(2-1) emission on the BCG and on the peak of the soft X-ray emission suggesting that cooling continues to occur in the core despite being offset from the BCG. We conclude that there is a causal link between the lowest temperature (<2keV) ICM gas and the molecular gas(�30K). This link is only apparent in systems where a transitory event has decoupled the BCG from the soft X-ray peak. We discuss the prospects for identifying more examples of this rare configuration.
Preoperative risk stratification of critically ill patients.

STUDY OBJECTIVE Risk assessment historically emphasized cardiac morbidity and mortality in elective, outpatient, non-cardiac surgery. However, critically ill patients increasingly present for therapeutic interventions. Our study investigated the relationship of American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class, revised cardiac risk index (RCRI), and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score with survival to discharge in critically ill patients with respiratory failure. DESIGN Retrospective cohort analysis over a 21-month period. SETTING Five adult intensive care units (ICUs) at a single tertiary medical center. PATIENTS Three hundred fifty ICU patients in respiratory failure, who underwent 501 procedures with general anesthesia. MEASUREMENTS Demographic, clinical, and surgical variables were collected from the pre-anesthesia evaluation forms and preoperative ICU charts. The primary outcome was survival to discharge. MAIN RESULTS Ninety-six patients (27%) did not survive to discharge. There were significant differences between survivors and non-survivors for ASA (3.7 vs. 3.9, p=0.001), RCRI (1.6 vs. 2.0, p=0.003), and SOFA score (8.1 vs. 11.2, p<0.001). Based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for these relationships, there was only modest discrimination between the groups, ranging from the most useful SOFA (0.68) to less useful RCRI (0.60) and ASA (0.59). CONCLUSIONS This single center retrospective study quantified a high perioperative risk for critically ill patients with advanced airways: one in four did not survive to discharge. Preoperative ASA score, RCRI, and SOFA score only partially delineated survivors and non-survivors. Given the existing limitations, future research may identify assessment tools more relevant to discriminating survival outcomes for critically ill patients in the perioperative environment.
Gambling: A Social Hazard

Gambling needs to be reframed as a social hazard rather than a harmless leisure pursuit. Maori are at particular risk of the adverse effects of gambling, and the government’s obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi should be the basis for gaming legislation that recognises gambling as a social hazard. Such legislation should be modelled on the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, which is aimed at the protection of people and communities through appropriate management of chemical and biological hazards.
Enhanced algorithm performance for land cover classification from remotely sensed data using bagging and boosting

Two ensemble methods, bagging and boosting, were investigated for improving algorithm performance. The authors' results confirmed the theoretical explanation of L. Breiman (1996) that bagging improves unstable, but not stable, learning algorithms. While boosting enhanced accuracy of a weak learner, its behavior is subject to the characteristics of each learning algorithm.
Assessing Space Heating Demandon a Regional Level: Evaluation of a Bottom‐Up Model in the Scope of a Case Study

The residential sector constitutes a major energy consumer, particularly on account of its needs for space heating. Offering a high leverage potential, this sector is a suitable starting point for greenhouse gas mitigation policies. By providing predictions of the energy demand of building stocks, bottom‐up building energy models represent a first step toward deriving strategies for abatement of detrimental effects related to housing energy use.
From Rational to Spiritual in the Economic Thought

Abstract The paper examines the evolution in the patterns of human economic behavior across the history of economic thought. The author considers the development of the Homo Economicus concept in the view of the scarcity problem in economics and the Homo Socialis concept, with its extreme manifestation - Homo Sovieticus, attested in the former socialist countries of the world. In this context, the author examines the phenomenon of societal constraint on personality. Another prototype of economic behavior - Homo Informaticus and, its boundary manifestation - Homo Interneticus are discussed in the view of the informational constraint phenomenon. The author introduces the Homo Creativus ‘character’, whose behavior is characterized by the attempt to overcome the rational mind constraint. The paper considers the need to adopt the Homo Spiritualis paradigm within the frame of economic thought - a need already highlighted by notorious scholars. According to the writer the urge to develop this paradigm is implicitly determined by the spreading of the underground economy, the globalization and virtualization of the human activity, their impact on human personality. In her approach of the Homo Spiritualis concept the author supports the view that spirituality should not be confused with religion, although the two are related. In practical terms the issue of incorporating spirituality into economics and business courses is approached.
Earthquake preparedness of households in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: a perceptual study

ABSTRACT This is a pioneering perceptual study on earthquake preparedness of households in the context of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It measures the level of preparedness as well as some perceptual issues like outcome instrumentality, risk perception, and causal attribution related to the preparation for earthquake. An attempt is also made to explore the effect of gender, age, education and home ownership on respondents’ perceptions and preparation. The study used data from 555 respondents collected through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics as well as independent sample T-test and Estimated logistic model were used to analyze the data. Overall, the residents of Jeddah perceive low risk of earthquake and hence are not well prepared for it. Their perception is somewhat influenced by their religious and cultural upbringing. However, they are not observed to be fanatic; rather, they maintain a sense of pragmatism in their belief and attitude toward earthquake. Thus, it shows a fertile ground for nurturing a community-based approach for hazard mitigation. Education also plays a positive role in preparing for earthquake.
The symptomatology of the climacteric in relation to hormonal and cytological factors

Summary. Climacteric symptomatology was investigated in a group of non‐selected women aged between 54 and 56 years of age, Vasomotor complaints and dyspareunia, in particular, were noted and related to plasma hormone levels and vaginal cytology. Only 33% of those women who were within 5 years of the menopause had symptoms of a magnitude that might require hormone replacement therapy. Neither the vasomotor complaints nor dyspareunia correlated with the hormone levels or cytology findings to such an extent as to be helpful in planning treatment. Aarently only a minority of women in their middle 50s demonstrate a symptomatic need for hormone replacement therapy and laboratory investigations are of little use in their identification.
Artificial nutrition after major abdominal surgery: impact of route of administration and composition of the diet.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of the route of administration of artificial nutrition and the composition of the diet on outcome. DESIGN Prospective, randomized, clinical trial. SETTING Department of surgery, university hospital. PATIENTS One hundred sixty-six consecutive patients undergoing curative surgery for gastric or pancreatic cancer. INTERVENTIONS At operation, the patients were randomized into three groups to receive: a) a standard enteral formula (control group; n = 55); b) the same enteral formula enriched with arginine, RNA, and omega-3 fatty acids (enriched group; n = 55); and c) total parenteral nutrition (TPN group; n = 56). The three regimens were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. Enteral nutrition was started within 12 hrs following surgery. The infusion rate was progressively increased to reach the nutritional goal (25 kcal/kg/day) on postoperative day 4. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Tolerance of enteral feeding, rate and severity of postoperative complications, and length of hospital stay were recorded. Early enteral infusion was well tolerated. Side effects were recorded in 22.7% of the patients, but only 6.3% did not reach the nutritional goal. The enriched group had a lower severity of infection than the parenteral group (4.0 vs. 8.6; p < .05). In subgroups of malnourished (n = 78) and homologous transfused patients (n = 42), the administration of the enriched formula significantly reduced both severity of infection and length of stay compared with the parenteral group (p < .05). Moreover, in transfused patients, the rate of septic complications was 20.0% in the enriched group, 38.4% in the control group, and 42.8% in the TPN group. CONCLUSIONS Early enteral feeding is a suitable alternative to TPN after major abdominal surgery. The use of the enriched diet appears to be more beneficial in malnourished and transfused patients.