Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Student participation in assessment: A strategy for improving learning

Background: It is well known that framing of questions can be a valuable learning exercise. The designing of questions requires knowledge and understanding of the subjects being taught. We designed a study to improve the student understanding of the basic human functions, in the physiology class, whereby 1st-year medical students were asked to create multiple true-false (MTF) questions, based on their learning objectives. Aim: The present study was undertaken to find the effectiveness of question construction as a strategy for learning. Methods: The current study was conducted on 1st-year medical students (n = 222) of Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India. The study was conducted in one of the muscle physiology revision classes, where students were asked to prepare a set of MTF questions. Following the activity, the questions prepared by the students were collected and analyzed by the subject experts. A questionnaire with ten questions, on a 4-point Likert scale was administered to the student groups to understand perceptions of this activity. The pre- and postclass tests were conducted and scores were computed and analyzed. The comparison of scores was done using Student's t-test. Results: The MTF questions prepared by students showed that the majority of the MTF questions tested knowledge (23.5%) and comprehension (45%). However, 20% of the MTF questions were in the application level and 11.5% of the questions produced had ability of testing higher-order cognitive skills. The student feedback regarding the construction of MTF questions revealed that activity helped them in better understanding of muscle physiology (70%), increased their critical thinking skills (62.5%), and helped them to revise the muscle physiology in a short duration of time (85%). There was no statistical significance between the pre- and postclass test scores. However, 115 (52%) students scored better in posttest than pretest. Conclusion: Our current study results revealed that the interest and active participation of 1st-year medical students in question setting was proved to be an activity which encouraged active learning. This student learning activity is adaptable to all systems in physiology and to other subject specialties.
Isokinetic performance of knee flexor and extensor muscles in community-dwelling elderly women

Introduction The isokinetic dynamometer enables accurate assessment of muscle function. In Brazil, few studies have assessed the isokinetic muscle performance in older adults making interpretation and comparison of results with other studies.Objectives To conduct a descriptive analysis of the performance of the muscle flexor and extensor muscles of the knee joint in elderly community and compare the performance between the age groups 65-74 years and 75 years or more.Methods This is a cross sectional observational study with a convenience sample of 229 elderly community. For the analysis of muscle performance was used isokinetic dynamometer (Biodex System 3 Pro™) in the angular velocities of 60 °/s and 180 °/s. The variables evaluated were peak torque, peak torque normalized by body weight, total work normalized by body mass, total work, average power and agonist/antagonist ratio. Descriptive analysis was used to characterize the sample. For comparison between age groups was used Student's t-test with α = 0.05. Results The elderly women with older age showed a statistically significant decrease in most of the variables (p < 0.05) except for the agonist and antagonist knee (p = 0.398). Conclusions The isokinetic was a sensitive tool to characterize the modifications caused by aging on muscle function. Elderly with results below the lower limits of the confidence intervals for all variables certainly has a decreased strength for the age group evaluated and must be addressed therapeutically. The results can be used as a benchmark in clinical practice and future research.
Modeling of Brain-Like Concept Coding with Adulthood Neurogenesis in the Dentate Gyrus

Mammalian brains respond to new concepts via a type of neural coding termed “concept coding. ” During concept coding, the dentate gyrus (DG) plays a vital role in pattern separation and pattern integration of concepts because it is a brain region with substantial neurogenesis in adult mammals. Although concept coding properties of the brain have been extensively studied by experimental work, modeling of the process to guide both further experimental studies and applications such as natural language processing is scarce. To model brain-like concept coding, we built a spiking neural network inspired by adulthood neurogenesis in the DG. Our model suggests that neurogenesis may facilitate integration of closely related concepts and separation of less relevant concepts. Such pattern agrees with the previous experimental observations in classification tasks and place cells in the hippocampus. Therefore, our simulation provides insight for future experimental studies on the neural coding difference between perception and cognition. By presenting 14 contexts each containing 4 concepts to the network, we found that neural responses of the DG changed dynamically as the context repetition time increased and were eventually consistent with the category organization of humans. Thus, our work provides a new framework of word representation for the construction of brain-like knowledge map.
Clinical and Chemical Studies in Human Lactation.—I, II, and III

The greatest single difficulty in -the study of human lactation has always been the collection of milk, and if the study is to be of practical physiological significance the milk collected for analysis must be at least all that the infant would iRave taken by suckling both in quantity and in composition. Further-and this will be demonstrated in later papers-a true estimate of the quality of lactation at any stage must be based on an analysis of milk representing the whole of every feeding for 24 hours. To satisfy these conditions the infant must be replaced at each feeding by some mechanism which will remove milk without disturbing the course of lactation. It can probably never be known to what extent this is possible, because the suckling of a baby has, for the mother, emotional overtones beyond the mere local stimulation of the nipple and areola. ; and the mechanical replacement of this local stimulus, however ingenious, cannot hope to be an entirely effective substitute for the baby. The shortcomings of artificial milking methods have been controlled in the past, so far as may be, firstly, by the use of methods which are reputed to be effective and to cause little or no discomfort; and, secondly, by the choice of subjects who are interested and willing to take part in the study. The advantages of having co-operative subjects are obvious, but restriction of a study to volunteers tends to select those with higher milk yields, as, for example, those donating a surplus to a milk bank.
Methods and Challenges Using Multispectral and Hyperspectral Images for Practical Change Detection Applications

Multispectral (MS) and hyperspectral (HS) images have been successfully and widely used in remote sensing applications such as target detection, change detection, and anomaly detection. In this paper, we aim at reviewing recent change detection papers and raising some challenges and opportunities in the field from a practitioner’s viewpoint using MS and HS images. For example, can we perform change detection using synthetic hyperspectral images? Can we use temporally-fused images to perform change detection? Some of these areas are ongoing and will require more research attention in the coming years. Moreover, in order to understand the context of our paper, some recent and representative algorithms in change detection using MS and HS images are included, and their advantages and disadvantages will be highlighted.
Training and financial intervention for encouraging maternal health service utilization

Abstract Background: The rising maternal and child healthcare costs and the lack of training and educational resources for healthcare workers have reduced service quality in primary health centers of China. We sought to compare strategies promoting healthcare service utilization in rural western China. Method: A randomized community trial was carried out in Zhen’an country between 2007 and 2009. Two cross-sectional surveys were conducted to compare the outcomes of financial subsidy for pregnant women seeking antenatal care and clinical training provided to healthcare workers by difference-in-difference estimation. Results: In all, 1113 women completed the questionnaires. The proportion of postnatal visits increased three times in the training group, reaching 35.7%. The number of women who received advice from their doctors regarding nutrition and warning signs necessitating immediate medical attention also improved significantly (5.8% and 8.2%, respectively). Furthermore, the percentage of women who underwent blood tests increased significantly to 19.5% in the training group. Compared to the financial group, the training group had more women who breastfed for longer than 4 months (15.8%) and provided timely complementary feeding (8.9%). Conclusion: The training intervention appeared to have improved prenatal care utilization. Essential obstetric training helped enhance knowledge and self-efficacy among healthcare workers.
Promotional Design for Small Businesses: The Operational Value of Online Deals

Among the limited ways for small service providers to balance demand and supply, launching temporary consumer offer may be attractive. However, relatively little work has empirically examined whether and how such offers pay off service providers. In this paper, using a comprehensive dataset from two leading deal platforms in China, we empirically study a new business model: the online deal. Service providers, who face predictable demand swings and capacity constraints, launch online deals for customers to prepay online and redeem later in store. Using a structural model, we show that online deals effectively facilitate demandsupply coordination through two levers, the discount and, more interestingly, the advance sales period. To our knowledge, using the advance sales period as revenue management tool has not been studied in the literature. Tailored to demand fluctuations and the service provider’s operating margin, the advance sales period and the discount serve two operational roles to achieve profit maximization – smoothing demand mean and reducing variance-related costs. Furthermore, our model estimates enable us to quantify the operational value of the online deal. Via counterfactual analyses, we show that by using these two levers instead of solely a discount, 82.1% service providers see a mean profit improvement of 23.6%. The additional lever, advance sales period, helping to mitigate the extreme discounts is likely where the profit boosts come from.
Plantar and digital dermatoglyphic patterns in Malawian patients with diabetes, hypertension and diabetes with hypertension

In this study we examined the dermatoglyphic features of 99 Malawian patients with diabetes, hypertension and diabetes with hypertension, attending the outpatient clinic at Lilongwe and Queen Elizabeth Central Hospitals. Plantar and digital pattern types were determined and their variability was calculated using Dankmeijer’s (DI) and pattern intensity (PII) indices. The results showed that the soles of all patients had more loops than arches and more arches than whorls, which were restricted to the distal zones. In hypertension, whorls were found in zones I, II and III whereas in patients with diabetes and hypertension, the whorls were seen in zones I, III and IV. In digits the most predominant ridge pattern were arches in all patients, followed by loops and whorls were absent. In the first digit, diabetic patients had no arches but women hypertensives showed arches. In patients with diabetes and hypertension, arches were present in both sexes but in men it was confined to the right foot. Loops were only found in the first digit in all patients. The frequency of loops was highest in diabetic patients, high in diabetics with hypertension and least in patients with hypertension alone. Using PII and DI indices, there were significant differences between patients and healthy Malawian subjects (P 0.5) in hypertensives. Diabetic patients had the lowest mean DI when compared to the other groups. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated plantar and digital dermatoglyphic differences between patients and healthy Malawians, differences that were exhibited more in digital than in plantar ridge patterns. The disease conditions were indicated better by whorls in topographical zones IV of the sole and by the presence and frequency of loops in the first digit.
Diagnostic Approach to Traumatic Axonal Injury of the Spinothalamic Tract in Individual Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Objectives: We investigated an approach for the diagnosis of traumatic axonal injury (TAI) of the spinothalamic tract (STT) that was based on diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) results and a statistical comparison of individual patients who showed central pain following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) with the control group. Methods: Five right-handed female patients in their forties and with central pain following mTBI and 12 age-, sex-, and handedness-matched healthy control subjects were recruited. After DTT reconstruction of the STT, we analyzed the STT in terms of three DTT parameters (fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), and fiber number (FN)) and its configuration (narrowing and tearing). To assess narrowing, we determined the area of the STT on an axial slice of the subcortical white matter. Results: the FN values were significantly lower in at least one hemisphere of each patient when compared to those of the control subjects (p < 0.05). Significant decrements from the STT area in the control group were observed in at least one hemisphere of each patient (p < 0.05). Regarding configurational analysis, the STT showed narrowing and/or partial tearing in at least one hemisphere of each of the five patients. Conclusions: Herein, we demonstrate a DTT-based approach for the diagnosis of TAI of the STT. The approach involves a statistical comparison between DTT parameters of individual patients who show central pain following mTBI and those of an age-, gender-, and handedness-matched control group. We think that the method described in this study can be useful in the diagnosis of TAI of the STT in individual mTBI patients.
Preparation and Evaluation of the ZnO NP–Ampicillin/Sulbactam Nanoantibiotic: Optimization of Formulation Variables Using RSM Coupled GA Method and Antibacterial Activities

Nanoparticles (NPs) possessing antibacterial activity represent an effective way of overcoming bacterial resistance. In the present work, we report a novel formulation of a nanoantibiotic formed using Ampicillin/sulbactam (Ams) and a zinc oxide nanoparticle (ZnO NP). ‘ZnO NP–Ams’ nanoantibiotic formulation is optimized using response surface methodology coupled genetic algorithm approach. The optimized formulation of nanoantibiotic (ZnO NP: 49.9 μg/mL; Ams: 33.6 μg/mL; incubation time: 27 h) demonstrated 15% enhanced activity compared to the unoptimized formulation against K. pneumoniae. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was directly proportional to the interaction time of nanoantibiotic and K. pneumoniae after the initial lag phase of ~18 h as evident from 2s’-7’-Dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate assay. A low minimum inhibitory concentration (6.25 μg/mL) of nanoantibiotic formulation reveals that even a low concentration of nanoantibiotic can prove to be effective against K. pneumoniae. The importance of nanoantibiotic formulation is also evident by the fact that the 100 μg/mL of Ams and 25 µg of ZnO NP was required individually to inhibit the growth of K. pneumonia, whereas only 6.25 μg/mL of optimized nanoantibiotic formulation (ZnO NP and Ams in the ratio of 49.9: 33.6 in μg/mL and conjugation time of 27 h) was needed for the same.
Dietary Patterns and the Double Burden of Malnutrition in Mexican Adolescents: Results from ENSANUT-2006

Mexico is facing the double burden of malnutrition, and adolescents are not an exception. Diet plays an important role, both in causing overweight and undernutrition. This study aimed to describe the dietary patterns (DPs) of Mexican adolescents and to examine its association with nutritional status using data from adolescents aged 12–19 years (n = 7380) from the National Survey of Health and Nutrition (ENSANUT-2006). Principal component analysis was used to derivate the DPs. Associations between DP and nutritional status were determined by prevalence ratio (PR). Four DPs were identified: nontraditional and breakfast-type, Western, plant-based, and protein-rich. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in adolescents who scored high on the Western pattern (PR: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.08–1.21) or on the plant-based pattern (PR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.03–1.17). The Western pattern was positively associated with anemia in girls (PR: 1.18, 95% CI: 1.03–1.35), while the nontraditional and breakfast-type pattern was inversely associated with anemia in adolescents aged 12–15 years (PR: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.76–0.99) and in girls (PR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.75–0.97). The Western and plant-based patterns were simultaneously associated with overweight–obesity and at least one indicator of undernutrition. In the context of the double burden of malnutrition, dietary advice must consider malnutrition in all its forms.
Safety perception and knowledge of commonly used complementary and alternative medicine among physicians in Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Sokoto, North-Western Nigeria

Background: Knowledge and safety perception of physicians concerning commonly used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) may have influence on decisions of treatment and life of patients. This study determined the knowledge and safety perception of CAM among physicians in an Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), a tertiary institution in Sokoto, North-Western Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A survey based on an anonymous questionnaire was performed among 221 doctors of UDUTH Sokoto, North-Western Nigeria using a 30-item validated questionnaire to examine their level of awareness and safety perception on CAM. Results: The lifetime prevalence of CAM use among doctors was 69.3% while current CAM use was about 12%. About half (47.5%) of the doctors think CAM use is unsafe. About 84.6%, 86.4%, and 64.3% of doctors think CAM use can cause adverse reactions/side effects, drug interactions, and noncompliance, respectively. Residents/consultants (84.5%) were more likely to correctly identify the standard definitions of CAM compared with house officers/medical officers (77.3%) (P = 0.02). A significantly higher percentage of consultants/residents were found to associate the use of CAM with poor adherence to conventional drugs compared with HO/MO (P = 0.02). Conclusion: This study demonstrates high degree of concern about the safety of CAM as it relates to adverse reactions/side effects, drug interactions, and noncompliance to orthodox medicine among physicians in UDUTH. There was an acceptable level of knowledge of CAM.
Extreme bradycardia and tachycardia in the world’s largest animal

Significance We present a major advancement in our ability to bring the physiological laboratory to the open ocean through the noninvasive use of a suction cup-attached tag equipped with surface electrodes. Our study provides heart rate data of a large, free-diving whale (blue whale) without prior capture or restraint. We recorded a wide range of heart rates from the tag, reaching only several beats per minute during deep foraging dives (bradycardia) and nearly 40 beats per minute at the sea surface (tachycardia) as the whale recovered from its oxygen debt. The latter likely represents maximal heart rate given the measured duration of the heart beat itself, thereby demonstrating the greatest dynamic range in cardiac activity at this scale. The biology of the blue whale has long fascinated physiologists because of the animal’s extreme size. Despite high energetic demands from a large body, low mass-specific metabolic rates are likely powered by low heart rates. Diving bradycardia should slow blood oxygen depletion and enhance dive time available for foraging at depth. However, blue whales exhibit a high-cost feeding mechanism, lunge feeding, whereby large volumes of prey-laden water are intermittently engulfed and filtered during dives. This paradox of such a large, slowly beating heart and the high cost of lunge feeding represents a unique test of our understanding of cardiac function, hemodynamics, and physiological limits to body size. Here, we used an electrocardiogram (ECG)-depth recorder tag to measure blue whale heart rates during foraging dives as deep as 184 m and as long as 16.5 min. Heart rates during dives were typically 4 to 8 beats min−1 (bpm) and as low as 2 bpm, while after-dive surface heart rates were 25 to 37 bpm, near the estimated maximum heart rate possible. Despite extreme bradycardia, we recorded a 2.5-fold increase above diving heart rate minima during the powered ascent phase of feeding lunges followed by a gradual decrease of heart rate during the prolonged glide as engulfed water is filtered. These heart rate dynamics explain the unique hemodynamic design in rorqual whales consisting of a large-diameter, highly compliant, elastic aortic arch that allows the aorta to accommodate blood ejected by the heart and maintain blood flow during the long and variable pauses between heartbeats.
Masticatory Capacity and Mortality: The Preventive and Clinical Investigation Center (IPC) Cohort Study

Poor oral health (OH) has been associated with mortality, but the association between OH components and mortality remains imprecise. The present observational study aimed to investigate if there is an association between oral masticatory efficiency and cardiovascular (CV) mortality in a large French subject cohort. The study was based on a cohort of 85,830 subjects aged between 16 and 94 y at recruitment. The follow-up extended from 2001 to 2014 and the mean follow-up was 8.06 ± 2.73 y. The number of deaths totaled 1,670. Full-mouth examinations were performed. Dental plaque, dental calculus, gingival inflammation, missing teeth, and masticatory units were recorded. Masticatory units represent the number of natural or prosthetic opposing premolars and molar pairs and can be considered an accurate indicator for masticatory efficiency. Causes of death were ascertained from death certificates. Cox regression analyses were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs). In the fully adjusted model, the number of masticatory units <5 is associated with an HR of 1.72 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.54 to 1.91) for all-cause mortality, HR of 1.41 (95% CI, 1.01 to 1.99) for CV mortality, HR of 1.76 (95% CI, 1.44 to 2.15) for cancer mortality, and HR of 1.85 (95% CI, 1.55 to 2.20) for non-CV and noncancer mortality. Significant statistical associations with the other oral variables were also found for all-cause mortality, cancer mortality, and non-CV and noncancer mortality in the adjusted models. Our study indicates that after full adjustment, all oral parameters are associated with all-cause, cancer, and non-CV and noncancer mortality. However, the low number of masticatory units is associated with an increased risk of CV mortality. We highlight the association of masticatory units and CV mortality.