Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Requiring Multi-Steps During Minimally Invasive Surgery to Achieve Optimal Proximal Resection Margin for Siewert-Types II and III Esophagogastric Junctional Cancer

Background: Transection of the esophagus at a cancer-negative proximal surgical margin and alimentary tract reconstruction through the hiatus during minimally invasive surgery (MIS) may be complicated and difficult in some patients with Siewert type II or III esophagogastric junctional cancer (EGJC). In this study, we retrospectively determined requiring multi-steps during MIS for Siewert types II and III EGJC. Study Design: Fifty-one consecutive patients with surgically treated Siewert type II or III EGJC were reviewed from July 2006 to October 2016. Five patients were excluded, and the remaining forty-six patients were divided into four groups based on the combination of laparoscopic and thoracoscopic surgical procedures performed, according to Siewert classification and TNM-staging: one-step surgery (n = 16), twostep surgery without novel transection of the esophagus (n = 8), two-step surgery with novel transection of the esophagus (n = 13), and three-step surgery (n = 9). Results: The esophagus was transected successfully with a cancer-free proximal margin in all but one patient. However, only 16 patients (35 %) were treated successfully by laparoscopic surgery alone, and the remaining 30 patients needed one or more additional steps to complete the anastomosis after transection of the esophagus according to the extent of esophageal invasion of the tumor. Conclusion: Multi-step procedures may be needed to achieve a cancer-negative proximal margin followed by alimentary reconstruction during MIS in patients with Siewert type II or III EGJC.
Knowledge about Diabetes and Its Effect on Quality of Life among Diabetic Patients in King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah

Background: Quality of life (QOL) is an essential part in Diabetic patients since low QOL can decrease self-care which can lead to increased mortality and complications. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of diabetes on QOL in Saudi Arabia, and to assess the knowledge about diabetes among these patients in order to know if there is a relation between diabetes knowledge and patient's QOL. Methods: Cross sectional study done in king Abdul-Aziz university hospital in Jeddah. The sample was on type 2 diabetic patients (N=300), they were recruited from hospital wards and outpatient clinics during 2016. The questionnaire consisted of 3 sections: demographic and medical characteristic, knowledge of diabetes and QOL assessed by 4 dimensions. Results: The mean age of the study population was 55.6±10.1 years and 189 (63%) were female. The median duration of having diabetes was 10 years. The mean score of diabetes knowledge was 8.57±1.8 out of 12 indicating good level of knowledge. The worst score was for alcohol’s effect on blood glucose, only 21.7% answered correctly. The mean score QOL was 34.1±7.7 out of 50 which indicates average level of lifestyle. Regrading effect of the knowledge on QOL, there was positive correlation with no significant association. Conclusion: Diabetes impairs QOL of patients, and the knowledge about diabetes affects QOL. We recommend the engagement of health professionals in educational settings in order to enhance health-related knowledge. Seminars, counseling sessions and workshop should be arranged periodically for diabetic patients to increase their awareness.
An Evaluation of the Effect of Abortion Laws on the Timing of Abortion

iii DISCLOSURES . vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . vii DEDICATION . ix TABLES AND FIGURES . xiii CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION . 1 CHAPTER 2 – BACKGROUND . 8 2.1 Public Health Significance . 8 2.2 Abortion Data in the United States . 10 2.3 Epidemiology and Demography of Abortion in the United States . 13 2.4 Geographic Distribution of Abortion Providers in the United States . 20 2.5 Delayed Abortion . 30 2.6 Restrictive Abortion Laws . 36 2.7 Conceptual Frameworks . 39 CHAPTER 3 – METHODS . 43 3.1 Overview . 43 3.2 Natural-Experiment Approach . 43 3.3 New York City, 1972–1977 . 46 3.4 Texas, 2000–2007 . 49 3.5 Data . 49 3.6 Analytical Approach . 50 CHAPTER 4 – NEW YORK CITY, 1972–1977 . 55
The Relationship Between Cholecystitis and Presence of Helicobacter pylori in the Gallbladder

Background: As there is an established relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric and duodenal ulcers, there might also be a relationship between this infection and other pathologies of gastrointestinal system. Objectives: Thus in this study we decided to investigate the relationship between H. pylori infection and cholecystitis. Methods: In this case-control study, patients were divided into two groups: case group with cholecystitis or cholelithiasis and controls with normal gallbladder. In both groups, after removal of the gallbladder, the samples were sent to the pathology laboratory for further evaluation. The presence of H. pylori gene in gallbladder tissue was determined by PCR (Polymerase chain reaction), and the results were compared between the groups. Results: A total of 84 studied patients with mean age of 45.19 ± 1.78, 27 were male (32.1%) and 57 were female (67.9%). Results showed that among the studied variables, only height (P value = 0.002) and BMI (P value = 0.001) were significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions: Although correlation between the prevalence of bacteria in gallbladder with the incidence of gallstones is a controversial issue, but studies suggested that higher prevalence of H. pylori in patients with cholecystitis caused by gallstones can be a stimulating factor for the formation of gallstones.
Adenosine kinase inhibition promotes proliferation of neural stem cells after traumatic brain injury

Abstract Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major public health concern and remains a leading cause of disability and socio-economic burden. To date, there is no proven therapy that promotes brain repair following an injury to the brain. In this study, we explored the role of an isoform of adenosine kinase expressed in the cell nucleus (ADK-L) as a potential regulator of neural stem cell proliferation in the brain. The rationale for this hypothesis is based on coordinated expression changes of ADK-L during foetal and postnatal murine and human brain development indicating a role in the regulation of cell proliferation and plasticity in the brain. We first tested whether the genetic disruption of ADK-L would increase neural stem cell proliferation after TBI. Three days after TBI, modelled by a controlled cortical impact, transgenic mice, which lack ADK-L (ADKΔneuron) in the dentate gyrus (DG) showed a significant increase in neural stem cell proliferation as evidenced by significant increases in doublecortin and Ki67-positive cells, whereas animals with transgenic overexpression of ADK-L in dorsal forebrain neurons (ADK-Ltg) showed an opposite effect of attenuated neural stem cell proliferation. Next, we translated those findings into a pharmacological approach to augment neural stem cell proliferation in the injured brain. Wild-type C57BL/6 mice were treated with the small molecule adenosine kinase inhibitor 5-iodotubercidin for 3 days after the induction of TBI. We demonstrate significantly enhanced neural stem cell proliferation in the DG of 5-iodotubercidin-treated mice compared to vehicle-treated injured animals. To rule out the possibility that blockade of ADK-L has any effects in non-injured animals, we quantified baseline neural stem cell proliferation in ADKΔneuron mice, which was not altered, whereas baseline neural stem cell proliferation in ADK-Ltg mice was enhanced. Together these findings demonstrate a novel function of ADK-L involved in the regulation of neural stem cell proliferation after TBI.
Prevalence of smartphone addiction and its related factors among pre-clinical students at IIUM Kuantan Campus 2016

Background. Smartphone addiction is a phenomenon whereby a person is unable to cut down the smartphone use and it triggers physiological stress because of overuse and leads to anxiety when their smartphones are not with them. Medical students are among the population developing smartphone addiction. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of smartphone addiction and its related factors among preclinical students at IIUM Kuantan Campus. Methods. A cross-sectional study using simple random sampling involving 200 medical students of IIUM Kuantan Campus Year 1 and Year 2 of both genders. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire through an online website which is a Google Form between 13 and 18 July 2016. Study tools used was Smartphone Addiction Scale: Short Version (SAS-SV), a validated structured questionnaire with Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.966. Factors studied include gender, year of study, household income, time consumption, expenditure and purpose. Data were analyzed by using SPSS version 23.0. The percentage of each variable was calculated and the differences were tested using chi-square test. The p value was taken at p <0.05 as significant. Results. This study revealed that the prevalence of smartphone addiction among pre-clinical medical students of IIUM Kuantan is 50.0%. Year of study (p=0.004) and average number of hours spent (p=0.001) are statistically significant to become factors of associated with smartphone addiction. Second year student is found to be more addicted than the first year students to smartphone (61.6% versus 41.2%), whereas for average number of hours spent on smartphone, the percentage of smartphone addition is highest among those who spent more than 6 hours on their smartphone (72.2%). However; gender, household income, monthly expenditure and primary purpose of using smartphone were all found to be not significant to become factors related to smartphone addiction, even though the percentage are higher among those with household income of between RM 2000 to RM 2999 (65.2%), male (59.6%), spent more than RM 100 a month on their smartphone (100.0%) and among those who use smartphone for non-Social Network Services (54.5%) Conclusion. The prevalence of those who have smartphone addiction among preclinical students at IIUM Kuantan Campus is 50.0% and only year of study and average number of hours spent are statistically significant to become factors related to smartphone addiction. Thus, this shows that smartphone addiction is documented among IIUM medical students and warrants a closer look and appropriate reference for those who have the addiction. In addition, further research should be done with expanded approach to students of other kulliyyah or universities in Malaysia to determine its magnitude and severity.
Automatic Virtual Network Embedding: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach With Graph Convolutional Networks

Virtual network embedding arranges virtual network services onto substrate network components. The performance of embedding algorithms determines the effectiveness and efficiency of a virtualized network, making it a critical part of the network virtualization technology. To achieve better performance, the algorithm needs to automatically detect the network status which is complicated and changes in a time-varying manner, and to dynamically provide solutions that can best fit the current network status. However, most existing algorithms fail to provide automatic embedding solutions in an acceptable running time. In this paper, we combine deep reinforcement learning with a novel neural network structure based on graph convolutional networks, and propose a new and efficient algorithm for automatic virtual network embedding. In addition, a parallel reinforcement learning framework is used in training along with a newly-designed multi-objective reward function, which has proven beneficial to the proposed algorithm for automatic embedding of virtual networks. Extensive simulation results under different scenarios show that our algorithm achieves best performance on most metrics compared with the existing state-of-the-art solutions, with upto 39.6% and 70.6% improvement on acceptance ratio and average revenue, respectively. Moreover, the results also demonstrate that the proposed solution possesses good robustness.
Aiming at Excellence: A Comparison of the School Effectiveness Literature and Special Education Practice.

ABSTRACT In attempting to document similarities between effective school practices and the provisions of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142), this report reviews the literature on school effectiveness and relates specific recommendations for classroomand schoolwide practices to those services now mandated for special education students. The authors find that the emphasis in effective schools on academic content, a tightly coupled curriculum, and teacher-directed, individualized, and carefully monitored instruction is echoed in the requirements for individualized education programs in special education. On a schoolwide basis, common goals, high standards, clear rules of conduct, and an emphasis on basic skills are also reflected in the underlying philosophy of P.L. 94-142. The authors conclude that procedural and technical problems accompanying passage of the law have resulted in a general confusion of good content with bad implementation. A checklist for effective teaching behaviors is appended. (Author/WD)
European Reform of Statutory Audit and Market Structure: The Position of Audit Firms

The European Commission recently reformed the statutory audit market in order to improve its competitiveness. We employ resource dependence theory to understand the position of audit firms with regard to the policy options considered. By using content analysis to examine consultation responses, we show that, despite the existing market segmentation, all sizes of firm adopt similar positions, except on the topic of audit consortia. The differences in firms’ access to resources, particularly with respect to human capital, help to explain these positions, which perpetuate supply concentration in the market. La Commission europeenne a recemment mene une reforme de l’audit legal afin d’ameliorer la competitivite du marche. Nous mobilisons la theorie de la dependance vis-a-vis des ressources afin de comprendre la position des cabinets d’audit au regard des options politiques envisagees. A partir d’une analyse de contenu des reponses a une consultation, les resultats montrent qu’en depit d’une segmentation de marche existante, toutes les tailles de cabinet adoptent des positions similaires, excepte sur les consortiums d’audit. Les differences d’acces aux ressources entre types de cabinet, notamment en capital humain, permettent de comprendre ces positions qui perennisent la concentration de l’offre. La Comision Europea a realizado recientemente una reforma en materia de auditoria legal con el fin de mejorar la competencia de este mercado. Movilizamos la teoria de dependencia de recursos con el fin de entender la posicion de las firmas de auditoria en relacion a las opciones politicas consideradas. A partir de un analisis de contenido de respuestas a una consulta, los resultados muestran que, a pesar de una segmentacion de mercado existente, los distintos tamanos de firmas adoptan posiciones similares, con excepcion de la auditoria de consorcio. Las diferencias de acceso a los recursos entre las diferentes firmas, sobre todo en capital humano, permiten de entender esas posiciones que sostienen la concentracion de la oferta.
Modeling the efficiency of filovirus entry into cells in vitro: Effects of SNP mutations in the receptor molecule

Interaction between filovirus glycoprotein (GP) and the Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1) protein is essential for membrane fusion during virus entry. Some single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in two surface-exposed loops of NPC1 are known to reduce viral infectivity. However, the dependence of differences in entry efficiency on SNPs remains unclear. Using vesicular stomatitis virus pseudotyped with Ebola and Marburg virus GPs, we investigated the cell-to-cell spread of viruses in cultured cells expressing NPC1 or SNP derivatives. Eclipse and virus-producing phases were assessed by in vitro infection experiments, and we developed a mathematical model describing spatial-temporal virus spread. This mathematical model fit the plaque radius data well from day 2 to day 6. Based on the estimated parameters, we found that SNPs causing the P424A and D508N substitutions in NPC1 most effectively reduced the entry efficiency of Ebola and Marburg viruses, respectively. Our novel approach could be broadly applied to other virus plaque assays. Author Summary Ebola virus belongs to the family Filoviridae, together with Marburg virus and Cueva virus. In 2015, the World Health Organization included Ebola and Marburg viruses among the infectious diseases that should be globally prioritized because these filoviruses can cause severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates, and antiviral agents to these viruses are very limited. Filovirus particles bear the envelope glycoprotein (GP), which is the only viral surface protein and thus responsible for receptor binding and membrane fusion. Interaction between filovirus GP and the Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1) protein is essential for membrane fusion during virus entry. Some single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in two surface-exposed loops of NPC1 are known to reduce viral infectivity. However, the dependence of differences in entry efficiency on SNPs remains unclear. In this study, combining in vitro experiments and mathematical models, we evaluated on the interaction between GP and wildtype and mutant NPC1, enabling us to estimate the cellular entry efficiency during plaque formation.
Prevalence of cataract among adults above 50 years in a rural community of Villupuram, Tamil Nadu

Background: In India, overall prevalence of blindness is 1.1%, the principal cause being cataract (62.6%) affecting over 9 million people. Aim: The present study was carried out to find the prevalence, barriers and facilitating factors related to cataract health services in a rural community of Tamil Nadu. Methods: The study was carried out in four villages in sub-center Kondur, under Primary Health Centre (PHC) Kondur, Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, during November-December 2010. All adults of more than 50 years (n = 331) residing in the sub-center Kondur, were examined for lenticular opacity and visual acuity. A structured proforma was used to assess the awareness, barriers and facilitating factors related to available cataract health services. Results: The prevalence of cataract among the population studied was 62.8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 57.5-67.9%). There was a significant increase in cataract with increase in age (P < 0.001). Only 13% (95% CI: 9.6-16.3%) of the persons with cataract were operated at the time of interview. The major barriers were no one to accompany (25.5%) and absence of felt need (22.6%). Less than one-fifth (17.8%) reported the awareness of cataract as a condition affecting eye. The facilitating factors were free surgery in camps (83.7%), self-decision due to defective vision (69.7%) and quality of service provided (65.1%). More than one-half (56.7%) of subjects diagnosed for cataract during the survey were willing to be operated. Conclusion: Prevalence of cataract was high in Kondur PHC area. It is vital to increase the level of awareness regarding the need and availability of cataract health services.
Structural basis for the recognition of the 2019-nCoV by human ACE2

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) has been suggested to be the cellular receptor for the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that is causing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Like other coronaviruses such as the SARS-CoV, the 2019-nCoV uses the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the surface spike glycoprotein (S protein) to engage ACE2. We most recently determined the structure of the full-length human ACE2 in complex with a neutral amino acid transporter B0AT1. Here we report the cryo-EM structure of the full-length human ACE2 bound to the RBD of the 2019-nCoV at an overall resolution of 2.9 Å in the presence of B0AT1. The local resolution at the ACE2-RBD interface is 3.5 Å, allowing analysis of the detailed interactions between the RBD and the receptor. Similar to that for the SARS-CoV, the RBD of the 2019-nCoV is recognized by the extracellular peptidase domain (PD) of ACE2 mainly through polar residues. Pairwise comparison reveals a number of variations that may determine the different affinities between ACE2 and the RBDs from these two related viruses.
Self-stigma and fears of employment among adults with psychiatric disabilities

Introduction Although mental illness stigma has been extensively investigated, it is not known whether stigma experiences increase general fears of employment and impact on employment goals and on attaining employment. The aims of this study were to develop and trial brief measures of employment values and employment fears that could be used to further investigate any impacts of community stigma on personal employment goals. Method The psychometric properties of a new Employment Fears Scale and an Employment Values Scale were examined over a 2–4-week period, following repeated administration to 25 adult community residents with severe mental illness. Concurrent validity with respect to experiences of stigma, self-stigma, and current and previous employment were also examined. Results Employment fears and employment values can be reliably measured. Employment fears were more closely related to self-stigma than either current employment or employment over the previous year. Conclusion The Employment Fears Scale in particular appears to be useful for investigating stigma-related barriers to employment among people with psychiatric disabilities. Occupational therapists can use these tools to explore how those fears might be reduced through tailored interventions aiming to improve an individual’s employment prospects in vocational rehabilitation.