Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Current perspectives of enteric fever: a hospital based study of 185 culture positive cases from Ahmedabad, India

Background: Enteric fever is endemic in Ahmedabad and its diagnosis and treatment is fraught with problems. The last two decades have seen a change in clinical pattern of enteric fever with emergence of multi drug resistant strains. Hence, the study was carried out with the aims to study the clinical profile, hematological features, sensitivity pattern, response to antimicrobials and outcome of culture proven enteric fever. Methods: This was a retrospective study carried out at a tertiary care teaching hospital at Ahmedabad, India from January 2014 to December 2016. Results: Out of the 185 study patients, 35.8 % were less than 5 years of age. Of the total 185 isolates, 160 (86.4%) were Salmonella typhi while 25 (13.6%) were Salmonella paratyphi A. Following sensitivity patterns were recorded: cotrimoxazole (93%), chloramphenicol (93%), ampicillin (96.2%), nalidixic acid (98.4%), cephalosporins (100%) and azithromycin (70.8%). Leukocytosis was seen in significant number of patients less than 5 years of age as compared to more than 5 years. 91.9% patients were treated by ceftriaxone as a monotherapy with defervescence time of 3.8 days and no mortality. Conclusions: Effective vaccination strategy targeting children less than 5 years can decrease the burden of this disease. Presence of fever without focus and leukocytosis in less than 5 years suggests possibility of enteric fever. Salmonella have once again become sensitive to first line antibiotics like ampicillin, cotrimoxazole and chloramphenicol. There is a good rate of sensitivity to nalidixic acid but high rate of resistance against azithromycin in this part of the country. Ceftriaxone as a monotherapy is quite effective in the treatment.
Multicenter bacteraemia among Sudanese children: Causative agents and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns

Bacteraemia is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide. Therefore, bacteraemia continues to be increasingly a serious health problem that needs an immediate attention and treatment. A retrospective hospital-based study was conducted on positive blood cultures collected from 804 children (aged less than 10 years) including both genders in a period between 2012 and 2013 in three different medical services center in Khartoum state, Sudan, out of 804 tested blood samples, among whom 226 isolates were recovered from blood cultures. The majority of the children with bacteraemia (77.4%) were found to be less than one year old (49.1% male and 50.9% female). The most frequent pathogen was found to be Staphylococcus aureus (33.6%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae. (30.5%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11.5%), Burkholderia cepacia (10.6%), Streptococcus spp. , (7%), Escherichia coli (3.5%), Acinetobacter spp. (1.7%) and coagulase negative staphylococci (1.3%). This study shows the highest susceptibility rate of S. aureus to vancomycin (97.3%), and the lowest susceptibility rate (34.7%) was recorded for erythromycin. Staphylococcus aureus was the main etiological agent of bacteraemia in children, while the most isolates demonstrating susceptibility to vancomycin. Overall, erythromycin resistance was 65.3%. This information should be considered when empirical therapy is recommended for the treatment of children with bacteraemia. Most laboratories in Sudan use a single aerobic blood culture bottle for routine blood culture. So our recommendation is using aerobic in conjugation with anaerobic bottles in order to recover significantly more organisms. Key words: Bacteraemia, children, antimicrobials, drug resistance, Sudan.
Fine Needle Aspirate and Cytology (FNAC) as Useful Tool in the Diagnosis ofSuspected Tuberculous Lymphadenitis in Rwanda, 2009

Background: The number of people infected with tuberculosis is gradually increasing in Rwanda. The diagnosis of suspected Tuberculous Lymphadenitis (TL) is still difficult to diagnose and remain expensive when applying surgical procedures. Objective: To study the usefulness of fine needle aspirates in diagnosis of TL in patients from a low income country. Methods: Triplicate smears from lymph node aspirates were prepared. Air-dried smears were stained by hot ZN staining technique for AFB examination, and Gram staining technique for exclusion of any bacterial infection and Papanicolaou staining technique was done for cytological to detect malignant cells and other pathology. Slides were examined by laboratory technologist and pathologist respectively. Results: A total number of 138 specimens from suspected TL patients were analysed, of which 14 (10.1%) were ZN positive while cytology revealed 25 (18.1%) cases of Tuberculous Lymphadenitis. From Papanicolaou stain 25 (18.1%) cases were either supportive for TB (7.2%) cases or suspicious for TB (10.9%) while 113 (81.9%) there was no features for TB. Among 25 cases which were supportive or suspicious for TB only 6 cases (4.3%) were also ZN positive and 19 (13.8%) were ZN negative. Cytology revealed also 19 (13.8%) cases of reactive nodes, 25 (18.1%) accounted for other pathologies and 33 (23.9%) were inadequate samples for analysis and interpretation. Gram stain showed 2 (2.7%) cases of Gram positive cocci. Conclusion: In low income countries, the use of FNA cytology with more training should be considered as a useful tool in diagnosis of TL instead of biopsy applying surgical procedures.
Helical and linear morphotypes of Arthrospira sp. PCC 8005 display genomic differences and respond differently to 60Co gamma irradiation

ABSTRACT Arthrospira are multicellular cyanobacteria that typically reside in alkaline lakes of (sub)tropical regions and are mass cultivated around the globe in a variety of outdoor facilities and photobioreactors for their high nutritional, pharmaceutical and clinical value. Arthrospira sp. strain PCC 8005 was selected by the European Space Agency as an oxygen producer and nutritional end-product in a bioregenerative life support system for long-haul missions. Being highly resistant to ionizing radiation, it is also an ideal candidate for other space applications such as in situ resource utilization and terraformation. During long-term strain maintenance involving continuous subculturing we noted an irreversible morphological change in PCC 8005 subcultures i.e. from only helical to only straight trichomes. These morphotypes displayed differences in growth rate, buoyancy and resistance to gamma radiation. We also found marked differences in antioxidant capacity, pigment content and trehalose concentration, while whole-genome comparison revealed a difference of 168 SNPs, 48 indels and four large insertions affecting, in total, 41 coding regions across both genomes. Although nine of these regions encoded proteins with a known function, no conclusive genotype-phenotype associations could be determined. Nonetheless, genomic changes within the gvpC gene (encoding a gas vesicle protein) and within the regulatory region of the psbD gene (encoding the D2 protein of PSII) provided some clues for the observed differences in buoyancy and growth.
Development and initial factor validation of the Violence Toward Athletes Questionnaire (VTAQ) in a sample of young athletes

This study sought to develop and validate a questionnaire about violence experienced by children in sport. A convenience sample of 1055 French-Canadian athletes between 14 and 17 years old was recruited to participate in an online study assessing their experiences of interpersonal violence in sport. The Violence Toward Athletes Questionnaire (VTAQ) includes three subscales: athlete version (VTAQ-A), coach version (VTAQ-C), and parent version (VTAQ-P). Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was used to identify latent factors underlying versions of the VTAQ. The VTAQ-Athlete includes nine items with three factors: psychological (4 items), physical (2 items), and sexual (3 items). The VTAQ-Coach includes 36 items with three factors: psychological/neglect (16 items), physical (9 items), and sexual (11 items). The VTAQ-Parent includes 25 items with two factors: psychological/neglect (17 items) and physical (8 items). The VTAQ provides initial validation of the first measure by questioning children directly about their experiences of interpersonal violence in sport.
Mass balance and area changes of glaciers in the Cordillera Real and Tres Cruces, Bolivia, between 2000 and 2016

Abstract Climate change has led to a significant shrinkage of glaciers in the Tropical Andes during the last decades. Recent multi-temporal quantifications of ice mass loss at mountain range to regional scale are missing. However, this is fundamental information for future water resource planning and glacier change projections. In this study, we measure temporally consistent glacier area changes and geodetic mass balances throughout the Bolivian Cordillera Real and Tres Cruces based on multi-sensor remote-sensing data. By analyzing multi-spectral satellite images and interferometric SAR data, a glacier recession of 81 ± 18 km2 (29%; 5.1 ± 1.1 km2 a−1), a geodetic mass balance of −403 ± 78 kg m−2 a−1 and a total ice mass loss of 1.8 ± 0.5 Gt is derived for 2000–2016. In the period 2013–2016, ice mass loss was 21% above the average rate. A retreat rate of 15 ± 5 km2 a−1 and a mass budget of −487 ± 349 kg m−2 a−1 are found in this more recent period. These higher change rates can be attributed to the strong El Niño event in 2015/16. The analyses of individual glacier changes and topographic variables confirmed the dependency of the mass budget and glacier recession on glacier aspect and median elevation.
Metagenomics workflow for hybrid assembly, differential coverage binning, metatranscriptomics and pathway analysis (MUFFIN)

Metagenomics has redefined many areas of microbiology. However, metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) are often fragmented, primarily when sequencing was performed with short reads. Recent long-read sequencing technologies promise to improve genome reconstruction. However, the integration of two different sequencing modalities makes downstream analyses complex. We, therefore, developed MUFFIN, a complete metagenomic workflow that uses short and long reads to produce high-quality bins and their annotations. The workflow is written by using Nextflow, a workflow orchestration software, to achieve high reproducibility and fast and straightforward use. This workflow also produces the taxonomic classification and KEGG pathways of the bins and can be further used for quantification and annotation by providing RNA-Seq data (optionally). We tested the workflow using twenty biogas reactor samples and assessed the capacity of MUFFIN to process and output relevant files needed to analyze the microbial community and their function. MUFFIN produces functional pathway predictions and, if provided de novo metatranscript annotations across the metagenomic sample and for each bin. MUFFIN is available on github under GNUv3 licence: https://github.com/RVanDamme/MUFFIN.
Theory of Motivated Information Management: A Meta-Analytic Review

The theory of motivated information management ([TMIM]; Afifi & Weiner, 2004) was proposed to explicate the processes through which uncertainty motivates information management. Over the past 15 years, the theory has been tested and applied to a wide range of topics and contexts. The current study meta-analyzes 33 studies from 31 articles that have empirically tested predictions from TMIM. Potential moderating effects of age, issue importance, and study design were also examined. Results, in general, provide support for bivariate associations proposed by TMIM, although these associations are heterogeneous and moderated by the average age of the sample and study design. A path model testing TMIM associations found good model fit after some modifications. Findings highlight the utility of TMIM as a theoretical framework (e.g., proposed paths operate as predicted), but also suggest changes that might better explain the range of ways in which uncertainty motivates information management.
Client Consulting Opportunities and the Reemergence of Big 4 Consulting Practices: Implications for the Audit Market

Consulting service revenues recently surpassed audit revenues as the primary income source for the largest accounting firms. Since SOX limits the provision of consulting services to audit clients, this shift in revenues implies that firms and many clients likely choose between audit and consulting relationships. We explore the implications of this by developing and validating a measure of client-level consulting needs that can likely be fulfilled by accounting firms, which we refer to as “consulting opportunities. ” As predicted, we find that consulting opportunities relate positively to auditor switches. We also find that consulting opportunities relate negatively to subsequent Big 4 auditor selection, the firms focusing most on consulting, but we fail to find evidence that consulting opportunities relate to deteriorations in audit quality. Together, our results suggest that legislation limiting firms’ ability to deliver consulting services to audit clients may have reduced audit market concentration without discernably impacting quality.
The German Communication Attitude Test for Preschool and Kindergarten Children Who Stutter (KiddyCAT-G): Reliability and First Reference Data

Objective: To investigate reliability and describe reference data of the KiddyCAT-G, an authorized German adaptation of the ‘Communication Attitude Test for preschool and kindergarten children who stutter. Method: Children (3.0-5.11 yrs) who do not stutter (CWNS; n=150) and children who stutter (CWS; n=30) completed the KiddyCAT-G. In order to determine test-retest reliability, the KiddyCAT-G was re-administered to a sub-sample of children (n=35; CWNS: n=15, CWS: n=20) one week later. Their parents completed a sociodemographic questionnaire. Results: The KiddyCAT-G had moderate to high values of internal consistency for both groups (CWNS: α=0.61; CWS: α=0.79), as well as high test-retest-reliability (r=0.983, p<0.001). Group comparisons showed significantly higher mean scores for CWS (M=3.73, SD=2.92) than for CWNS (M=1.47, SD=1.65). In both groups, younger children (3.0–4.6 yrs) scored descriptively higher than older ones, a difference that was non-significant for the CWS, but significant for CWNS. Conclusion: The internal consistency and test-retest-reliability of this assessment tool of communication attitude supports its use by SLPs for clinical and research purposes in German-speaking children. Data of 150 CWNS give first reference values.
Peer Observation as a Professional Development Intervention in EFL Pedagogy

Most research on peer observation as a professional development intervention in EFL contexts focuses either on teachers' perceptions about its usefulness or the methodical frameworks. There are a few studies which report real-time incidence of a peer observed lesson. To fill this gap, the present study arranged a peer observation for a reading lesson on top-down processing skills to reflect upon the strengths and weaknesses of the lesson as well as develop the reading literacy of the students. The peer observation method included a pre-observation stage with the teacher and the observer deciding on the modalities of observation. The second stage was the lesson which was peer observed followed by the post-lesson reflection stage. The results obtained through teachers' reflection on different aspects of the lesson and the peer observer's report revealed that most stages and activities of the lesson went as planned except for the final where issues of activity management, teacher feedback, and coherent lesson progression came up to the fore. The study has significance for EFL practitioners interested in initiating self-directed professional development through peer observation in particular and for researchers of professional development studies in general.
ABO BLOOD GROUP AND SECRETORY STATUS IN CHRONIC CHOLECYSTITIS WITH OR WITHOUT PEPTIC ULCERATION

The ainz of this study was to investigate the correlation between ABO blood groups , secretory status and chronic cholecystitis with or without peptic ulceration . This study was conducted on 30 patients ( 18 nzales and 12 fenzales ) proved by abdominal ultrasound to have chronic clzolecystitis either calcular or non- calcular. Our results slwwed that there was a signifcant correlation between blood group A with positive secretory status and chronic clzolecystitis either calcular or non-calcular . Also, chronic non-calcular cholecystitis was fi-equent in patients with blood group 0 with negative secretory status . Duodenal ulcer was significantly present in patients with blood group A with positive secretory status and blood group O with negative secretory status when compared with other blood groups. From the above results we suggest that both chronic cholecystitis and duodenal ulcer nzigllt have the same genetic predisposition .
Plastic Fuel Conversion and Characterisation: A Waste Valorization Potential for Ghana

Plastics generally play a very important role in a plethora of industries, fields and our everyday lives. In spite of their cheapness, availability and important contributions to lives, they however, pose a serious threat to the environment due to their mostly non-biodegradable nature. Recycling into useful products can reduce the amount of plastic waste. Thermal degradation (Pyrolysis) of plastics is becoming an increasingly important recycling method for the conversion of plastic materials into valuable chemicals and oil products. In this work, waste Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) water bottles were thermally converted into useful gaseous and liquid products. A simple pyrolysis reactor system has been used for the conversions with the liquid product yield of 65 % at a temperature range of 400°C to 550°C. The chemical analysis of the pyrolytic oil showed the presence of functional groups such as alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, ethers, carboxylic acids, esters, and phenyl ring substitution bands. The main constituents were 1-Tetradecene, 1-Pentadecene, Cetene, Hexadecane, 1-Heptadecene, Heptadecane, Octadecane, Nonadecane, Eicosane, Tetratetracontane, 1-Undecene, 1-Decene). The results are promising and can be maximized by additional techniques such as hydrogenation and hydrodeoxygenation to obtain value-added products.
Formal Exercise Curricula in Canadian Physiotherapy, Nursing, and Medical Schools

Purpose: This study set out to compare physiotherapy (PT), nursing (RN) and medical (MD) program curricula to determine whose students may be best prepared to prescribe exercise within primary care for the purpose of chronic disease prevention and management. Method: A questionnaire regarding current and future exercise curricula was e-mailed to PT, RN, and MD program directors across Canada. Chi Square analysis with Fisher’s Exact Test assessed the main difference in responses, while frequency analysis and t-tests compared the responses directly between PT and RN directors. Written responses were reviewed to illustrate themes that emerged from all participants. Secondly, an Ontario Rehabilitation Programs Application Services (ORPAS) document review was done to assess entering PT students’ educational backgrounds in exercise topics. Results: Findings show that PT students have extensive exercise education, before and during their masters program. All three professional programs teach students general concepts about the benefits of exercise. However, only physiotherapists are trained to prescribe, implement, and modify exercise with all individuals, including those living with chronic disease(s). Conclusions: We propose that physiotherapists ought to lead the exercise prescription movement for the purpose of chronic disease prevention and management within primary care with nurses and physicians being involved as exercise advocates.
Functionalization of Silk Fibers by PDGF and Bioceramics for Bone Tissue Regeneration

Bone regeneration is a complex, well-organized physiological process of bone formation observed during normal fracture healing and involved in continuous remodeling throughout adult life. An ideal medical device for bone regeneration requires interconnected pores within the device to allow for penetration of blood vessels and cells, enabling material biodegradation and bone ingrowth. Additional mandatory characteristics include an excellent resorption rate, a 3D structure similar to natural bone, biocompatibility, and customizability to multiple patient-specific geometries combined with adequate mechanical strength. Therefore, endless silk fibers were spun from native silk solution isolated from silkworm larvae and functionalized with osteoconductive bioceramic materials. In addition, transgenic silkworms were generated to functionalize silk proteins with human platelet-derived growth factor (hPDGF). Both, PDGF-silk and bioceramic modified silk were then assembled into 3D textile implants using an additive manufacturing approach. Textile implants were characterized in terms of porosity, compressive strength, and cyclic load. In addition, osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells was evaluated. Silk fiber-based 3D textile implants showed good cytocompatibility and stem cells cultured on bioceramic material functionalized silk implants were differentiating into bone cells. Thus, functionalized 3D interconnected porous textile scaffolds were shown to be promising biomaterials for bone regeneration.
Postgraduate students’ perceptions toward online assessment: The case of the faculty of education, Umm Al-Qura university

Abstract In the context of lifelong learning society, education experts pay more and more attention to online assessment (OLA) correlated with the concept of e-learning environment. This chapter builds upon these issues concerning the e-learning environment and the inevitable move to using OLA which is a natural outcome of the increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) assisting in enhancing flexible learning and assessment. The main purpose of this research is to (a) analyze the postgraduates’ perceptions toward OLA they had taken part in, and (b) identify if there are significant differences in these perceptions based on the variables of gender and skills of using ICTs. Subjects were postgraduate students of master third level enrolled in “Advanced seminar in Islamic Education” syllabus in Faculty of Education, Umm Al Qura University, K.S. A. The study used an e-questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to investigate postgraduate students’ attitudes and opinions about OLA. The results of the study indicated highly positive perceptions of OLA. In addition, the study concluded that gender and ICTs familiarity significantly affect postgraduate students’ responses in most of the areas studied. The study recommended the necessity of implementing OLA culture as a way to the formation of the knowledge-based society.