Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EVALUATION OF HYPERBILIRUBINAEMIA AS A NEW DIAGNOSTIC MARKER FOR ACUTE APPENDICITIS AND ITS ROLE IN THE PREDICTION OF APPENDICULAR PERFORATION

Introduction: Acute appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency and early surgical intervention improves outcomes. The diagnosis of appendicitis can be elusive, and a high index of suspicion is important in preventing serious complications from this disease. The present study was undertaken to assess relationship between hyperbilirubinemia and acute appendicitis to evaluate its credibility as a diagnostic marker for acute appendicitis. Material & methods: The case control study was carried out on 60 patients who were clinically diagnosed as having acute/perforated appendicitis and on 60 healthy volunteers from the community having no signs and symptoms of acute appendicitis. The evaluation of acute appendicitis was done by history taking ,clinical examination and investigations including CBC, Ultrasonography and confirmed by histopathological examination of appendicectomy specimen. For the final analysis various statistical methods like descriptive, crosstabs, chi-square test were applied using the SPSS (version 20.0). Results: Total serum bilirubin level was raised in 43 patients (71.7%) out of the total sample of 60 cases. Of these, 42(70%) cases were positive for appendicitis on HPE (True Positive), and 1(1.7%) was negative on HPE (false positive). Among the 17(28.3%) cases in whom serum bilirubin was not raised, in 3(5%) cases HPE was negative (True Negative), and in 14 (23.3%) cases HPE was positive (False Negative). In 60 healthy individuals mean serum bilirubin was 0.7±0.3 mg%. In 46 cases of histopathologically proved acute appendicitis (non-perforated) the mean serum bilirubin was 1.3±7mg% while in perforated group it was 2.5±1.1mg% (P value was significant i.e. <0.001). Conclusion: Serum bilirubin is an important adjunct in diagnosing the presence of gangrenous/perforated appendicitis. Our findings confirm that hyperbilirubinaemia has a high specificity for distinguishing acute appendicitis.
Pharmaco- and immunotherapeutic strategies for the topical treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis

Thermosensitive hydrogels are of a great interest due to their many biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. In this study, we synthesized a new series of random poly (methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic anhydride) (Gantrez® AN, GZ) and Pluronic® F127 (PF127) copolymers (GZ–PF127), that formed thermosensitive hydrogels whose gelation temperature and mechanical properties could be controlled by the molar ratio of GZ and PF127 polymers and the copolymer concentration in water. Gelation temperatures tended to decrease when the GZm/PF127 ratio increased. Thus, at a fixed GZm/PF127 value, sol–gel temperatures decreased at higher copolymer concentrations. Moreover, these hydrogels controlled the release of proteins such as bovine serum albumin (BSA) and recombinant recombinant kinetoplastid membrane protein of Leishmania (rKMP-11) more than the PF127 system. Toxicity studies carried out in J774.2 macrophages showed that cell viability was higher than 80%. Finally, histopathological analysis revealed that subcutaneous administration of low volumes of these hydrogels elicited a tolerable inflammatory response that could be useful to induce immune responses against the protein cargo in the development of vaccine adjuvants. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Entrepreneurial orientation, online credibility, and online performance: Evidence from SMEs in a B2B electronic market in China

ABSTRACT Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is a major strategy for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Prior studies have focused mainly on the EO-performance relationship in the traditional market. This article investigates the EO of online SMEs using a panel of secondary data for 149 SMEs from Alibaba.com over a three-month period. The results suggest that proactiveness and competitive aggressiveness have significant effects on online performance for SMEs in the business-to-business (B2B) electronic market. Online credibility plays an important role when SMEs adopt a strategy of proactiveness in the electronic market, but does not enhance the effectiveness of competitive aggressiveness. These findings offer managerial implications for online SMEs and suggestions for future research.
Weakly Supervised POS Taggers Perform Poorly on Truly Low-Resource Languages

Part-of-speech (POS) taggers for low-resource languages which are exclusively based on various forms of weak supervision – e.g., cross-lingual transfer, type-level supervision, or a combination thereof – have been reported to perform almost as well as supervised ones. However, weakly supervised POS taggers are commonly only evaluated on languages that are very different from truly low-resource languages, and the taggers use sources of information, like high-coverage and almost error-free dictionaries, which are likely not available for resource-poor languages. We train and evaluate state-of-the-art weakly supervised POS taggers for a typologically diverse set of 15 truly low-resource languages. On these languages, given a realistic amount of resources, even our best model gets only less than half of the words right. Our results highlight the need for new and different approaches to POS tagging for truly low-resource languages.
Respiratory symptoms and their determinants among adult women in an urban slum area of Delhi

Background: Globally, respiratory disorders accounted for 7.4% deaths, out of total deaths during the year 2015. Aim & Objective: - To estimate the magnitude of respiratory symptoms and their determinants in adult women of 18-59 years. Material & Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 500 women of 18-59 years in an urban slum of Delhi. Assessment of respiratory symptoms was done using questionnaire and observations on environmental conditions. Results: Overall prevalence of major respiratory symptoms was 24.8% in the study population. Dyspnea, chronic cough, chronic phlegm, wheeze was observed in 14.2%, 5.6%, 2.4% and 2.6% respectively.
Cooperative Group Work

Interest in cooperative group work gained momentum in the early 1980s with the publication of the first meta‐analysis on the effects of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures on students' achievement and productivity. The results showed that cooperation is significantly more effective than interpersonal competition and individualistic efforts, and these results were consistent across all subject areas, for all students from elementary school to college, and for all tasks involving conceptual understanding, problem solving, categorizing, and reasoning. This entry discusses the background research on cooperative group work and the factors that help to explain its success as an instructional strategy that has been shown to have a positive effect on student learning and socialization. The entry also discusses the key role teachers play in creating learning environments in their classrooms that promote cooperation and learning, and the linguistic tools that can be used to facilitate group discussion.
Cluster connectivity and inter-cluster alliance portfolio configuration in knowledge-intensive industries

This conceptual paper examines factors that shape inter-cluster alliance portfolio configuration in knowledge-intensive industries. Drawing on the resource-based view, the dynamic capabilities approach, and social network theory, we propose that the configuration of an inter-cluster alliance portfolio is determined by a cluster’s alliance capacity and needs, which are themselves shaped by its resources and capabilities, its alliance strategy, and environmental conditions. This research contributes to the growing literature examining cluster connectivity – a configuration of cluster linkages – and helps advance understanding of the conditions clusters should consider when building their cluster-level connectivity through inter-cluster alliances.
Cerebral venous thrombosis in an infant with pneumococcal meningitis: A case report and review of literature

Bacterial meningitis in childhood is a life-threatening disease leading to neurological sequelae. A 35-day-old male infant presented with pneumococcal meningitis and had a recurrence of seizures, and magnetic resonance venography revealed multiple cerebral venous thromboses. The baby was managed with anticoagulant therapy. Neurological examination and neuroimaging were normal at 3-month follow-up. A high index of suspicion and early neuroimaging led to earlier diagnosis and normal neurodevelopmental outcome.
Edge Couplers in Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits: A Review

Silicon photonics has drawn increasing attention in the past few decades and is a promising key technology for future daily applications due to its various merits including ultra-low cost, high integration density owing to the high refractive index of silicon, and compatibility with current semiconductor fabrication process. Optical interconnects is an important issue in silicon photonic integrated circuits for transmitting light, and fiber-to-chip optical interconnects is vital in application scenarios such as data centers and optical transmission systems. There are mainly two categories of fiber-to-chip optical coupling: off-plane coupling and in-plane coupling. Grating couplers work under the former category, while edge couplers function as in-plane coupling. In this paper, we mainly focus on edge couplers in silicon photonic integrated circuits. We deliver an introduction to the research background, operation mechanisms, and design principles of silicon photonic edge couplers. The state-of-the-art of edge couplers is reviewed according to the different structural configurations of the device, while identifying the performance, fabrication feasibility, and applications. In addition, a brief comparison between edge couplers and grating couplers is conducted. Packaging issues are also discussed, and several prospective techniques for further improvements of edge couplers are proposed.
Injecting Drug Use and HIV in Moscow: Results of a Survey

Russia has experienced a large increase in injecting drug use since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Injecting drug use is presently attributed with up to 90 perccent of newly acquired HIV. Peer educators of an outreach program conducted a survey of injecting drug users (IDUs) in Moscow. The survey was supplemented by qualitative field notes. Due to differences in settings and methods, the hospital and street survey results are presented separately. A total of 298 hospital and 126 street surveys were collected. Results showed that IDUs are young (average 20 years), and the majority were studying or working. Needles were rated as easy to get, although police pressure often deters carrying a syringe. Sharing needles was common; IDUs that used only heroin were significantly less likely to share (RR 0.38 to 0.56). IDUs that had spoken to a peer educator were also less likely to share (RR 0.55). Heroin users had lower rates of hepatitis. Self-assessed HIV risk was unclear for many IDUs. HIV prevalence was 3 percent.
Effectiveness of Polyacrylamide in Reducing Runoff and Soil Loss under Consecutive Rainfall Storms

The use of anionic polyacrylamide (PAM) as a soil conditioner could help prevent soil loss by water. In this study, we determined the effective granular PAM rate that best reduces runoff and soil loss from Oxisols. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the selected PAM rate was tested by applying it in a mixture with gypsum (G) or lime (L). The study was conducted in two phases: (i) Dry PAM rates of 0 (C), 20 kg ha −1 (P20), 40 kg ha −1 (P40), and 60 kg ha −1 (P60) were applied onto soil surface and run for six consecutive rainfall storms of 70 mm h −1 intensity for 1 h duration, and the effective PAM rate was selected; and (ii) G (4 t ha −1 ) or L (2 t ha −1 ) were applied alone or mixed with the selected PAM rate. The P20 was found to be effective in reducing runoff in the beginning while P40 and P60 were more effective starting from the third storm through the end of the consecutive storms, but with no statistically significant difference between P40 and P60. Hence, P40 was selected as the most suitable rate for the given test soil and rainfall pattern. On the other hand, the mixed application of P40 with G or L increased infiltration rate (IR) in the first two storms through improving soil solution viscosity. However, effectiveness of the mixtures had diminished by various degrees as rain progressed, as compared to P40 alone, which could be attributed to the rate and properties of G and L. In conclusion, the variation in effectiveness of PAM rates in reducing runoff with storm duration could indicate that the effective rates shall be selected based on the climatic region in that lower rates for the short rains or higher rates for elongated rains. Moreover, combined application of PAM with L could offer a good option to both fairly reduce soil erosion and improve land productivity especially in acidic soils like Oxisols, which requires further field verification.
A repetitive sampling plan using decision trees method

Abstract In this paper, a novel acceptance sampling strategy based on the decision trees approach is proposed to make decisions on either to accept or to reject a submitted lot. The strategy is constructed for the variable repetitive sampling plan using the process capability index. The new decision trees strategy makes decisions in a broader sense by selecting the most influential predictors along with the best splitting points from the values used in the past for inferring any decision on their class. The application of the proposed strategy along is demonstrated using some industrial examples.
Treatment-Related Burden of Illness of Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer with Bone Metastases in France

Background: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in France; 10–20% of patients with prostate cancer develop castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) within 5 years. Purpose: This analysis aimed to identify clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and burden of CRPC. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of real-world data from patients with metastatic CRPC (mCRPC) in France. Each participating physician provided data for 5–12 patients. Patients were grouped by metastatic site (bone only; bone + visceral) and first-line treatment (abiraterone; enzalutamide; docetaxel). All analyses were descriptive in nature. Results: Overall, 591 patients were included; 81% had bone only metastases, 14% had bone and visceral metastases (exact information regarding metastases unknown by physician for 5% of patients). Of the 481 patients with data available at first-line, abiraterone, docetaxel and enzalutamide was received by 55%, 33%, and 12%, respectively, at first-line, and 54%, 19%, and 20%, respectively, at second-line; 61% of patients received a single line of therapy. Abiraterone was the most common first-line treatment for patients with bone metastases only, and docetaxel for patients with bone+visceral metastases. Overall, 14% of patients experienced ≥1 symptomatic skeletal event (SSE). Pathologic fracture was experienced by 4.7%, 5.4% and 16.1% of patients receiving abiraterone, docetaxel, and enzalutamide, respectively, and 6.3%, 7.3% and 12.9% of patients receiving abiraterone, enzalutamide, and docetaxel, respectively, had bone radiotherapy. Conclusion: Abiraterone was the most common first-line treatment in mCRPC in France, followed by docetaxel; docetaxel was the most frequently-used treatment for patients with bone+visceral metastases.
Contribution to the Knowledge of Cultural Heritage via a Heritage Information System (HIS). The Case of “La Cultura del Agua” in Valverde de Burguillos, Badajoz (Spain)

Modern science is going through a period of important reflection on the role of different agents and multiple disciplines in the management and safeguarding of architectural heritage. This new focus generates a greater amount and diversity of information, so the implementation of a unifying tool in the framework of digital information models would mean a better knowledge of cultural heritage as well as aiding its safeguarding and protection. In addition, it must be taken into account that, for the correct management of information in its broadest dimension, this tool must make it possible to relate alphanumeric data about an item of heritage to its spatial location. In this sense, this article proposes a Heritage Information System (HIS)—understood as a digital knowledge tool—that consists of a relational database and a map manager with Geographic Information System (GIS) technology (a geodatabase). The methodology suggested here sets out the steps that make up the HIS, so that the system can be applied to other geographical elements or realities. For this reason, a study was made of “La Cultura del Agua” in Valverde de Burguillos (Spain), a heritage ensemble that consists of rural architecture and dispersed preindustrial elements, which are currently at risk. The HIS seeks to develop a more complete identification of these elements (individually and as a system) and a justified argument for their being given value and great visibility. This new approach encourages sustainable development in terms of efficiency and effectiveness for the analysis, diagnosis, and reactivation of cultural heritage, always placing importance on the balance of social participation with the territory in which the system is applied, and with global society.
Cultural impacts on nursing unit design: A comparative study on Chinese nursing unit typologies and their U.S. counterparts using space syntax

This study attempts to understand cultural impacts on nursing unit design through a comparative study on Chinese nursing unit typologies and their U.S. counterparts. The focus is to investigate whether seemingly westernized Chinese nursing units still retained certain characteristics of Chinese socio-cultural preferences; and how configurational differences of Chinese and American nursing unit design reflect the different work styles and organizational communication styles driven by national culture. This study’s contributions are twofold. Firstly, it demonstrates the impact of national culture on nursing unit design. The spatial configuration is a manifesto of culture and is congruent with culture. Secondly, from a methodological point of view, this study has translated abstract cultural schema, organizational constructs, and complex spatial relationships into quantitative spatial metrics. It makes the comparison of various building configurations from different cultures possible. The method and conceptual framework described here can be applied to understanding cultural differences in other building types as well.
The Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Blended Learning among Undergraduate Students in Kuala Lumpur

Blended learning resulted in improving learning and student satisfaction. A cross-sectional study was done to determine the perception and attitude of undergraduates among gender, years of study and departments. There are three domain that has been considered which is perception, the concepts of blended learning and the negative impression are explored in this study. A total of 126 students from Year 1 and Year 2 were recruited as respondents from two departments in the university in Kuala Lumpur. Students had high preferences to perception and concepts of blended learning. In terms of perception, there was a significant difference in the departments to blended learning among biomedical and nutrition students. There was a significant difference for domain negative expression and concept of blended learning between department according to the result of multivariate test.
Effects of Visualization Techniques on Understanding Inconsistencies in Automated Decision-Making

The automation of business processes and decision-making has received major interest from practice and academia. As automation allows us to execute more processes (cases), monitoring automated decision-making is currently evolving into a big data analytics problem for companies. Thus, not only monitoring insights themselves, but also an effective use of such insights become important. In this context, the speed and ability to interpret data is closely related to the visualization of metrics and data. While various approaches for quantitative insights on automated decision-making have been proposed, there is currently no evidence as to how the specific visualization of such metrics helps companies to create more value from their data. In this report, we therefore present the results of an empirical experiment analyzing the cognitive effects of different visualization techniques for quantitative insights on understanding inconsistencies in automated decision-
A School-Based Drug Education Health Promotion Research Project.

There is a present concern that the majority of children in the United States will be exposed to drug and alcohol use before they leave elementary school. It is further known that the ability of children and teenagers to avoid indiscriminate use and abuse of drugs appears to be related to a number of social, economic, physiological, and psychological factors. The purpose of this research-based design was to address drug prevention and health promotion strategies through the combination of parent education and involvement and positive peer influence. These strategies were implemented in Project KICK using a four-cornered partnership among Florida State University, an elementary school, a middle school, and a community advisory board. The expected outcomes for the research project were improved self-esteem, drug knowledge and awareness, improved parenting skills, and health promotion. Both bimonthly parent education courses and weekly peer role modeling sessions between middle and elementary school students comprised the intervention for this research. It was hypothesized that the intervention would lead to an increase among the third graders (N=34) in self-esteem, improved attitudes, increased knowledge regarding drugs, and an improvement in the quality of parent-child relationships. The results were encouraging. Increases were found in the predicted direction from the experimental group on all of the major variables. (Author/ABL) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) tki This document has been reproduced as \ received from the person or orgarnintion originating it O Minor changes We been made to improve ruproductton quality Points of %hew or opinions slated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or pOliCy A SCHOOL-BASED DRUG EDUCATION HEALTH PROMOTION RESEARCH PROJECT Stephen A. Rollin, Ed.D. Roberta Rubin, Ph.D. Brenedette Hardy-Blake, M.S. Richard Marcia, M.S. Eldrige Groomes, M.Ed. Ursula Ferrullo, B.S. Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida A School-based