Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epidemiological studies on cutaneous leishmaniasis in Ad- Dawadimi District, Saudi Arabia

Purpose: To assess the prevalence of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Ad-Dawadimi region of Saudi Arabia. Methods: Data from the patients included in this retrospective study were collected from the Leishmaniasis Control Center of Ad-Dawadimi District of Saudi Arabia. A total of 370 patients with CL were recorded from January 2009 to December 2013. The data focused on details of sociodemographics, i.e., age, gender, date of diagnosis, residence and close family members with CL. Results: Out of 370 patients with verified lesions, 280 (75.6 %) were males with a mean age of 18.26 ± 13.41 years, while 90 (24.3 %) were females with a mean age of 19.25 ± 16.10 years. The highest proportion (18.3 %) occurred in the 15 - 20 years age group. Annual distribution of CL showed that the highest rate was in 2010 with 168 cases while the lowest rate was in 2012 with 42 cases. There were no significant differences in the mean ages of the CL cases with respect to gender. Conclusion: Most of the reported cases had with single facial lesions. Although all age groups are affected by CL, a majority of the cases are aged 15 to 30 years. Keywords: Cutaneous leishmania, Epidemiology, Facial lesion, Age-related
Study on Social Capital in Female Students of Arak University of Medical Sciences, Central Iran

Introduction: Social capital refers to the norms and social organization that makes people to cooperate for gaining reciprocal advantages. Focusing of its importance on health, the aim of this study was to evaluate social capital in the female students of Arak University of Medical Sciences, central Iran. Method: A cross-sectional study was done on 359 female students of Arak University of Medical Sciences in the fields of medicine, public health, nursing, laboratory sciences, anesthesia and operation room using simple random sampling in 2018. Bullen Social capital questionnaire was used for data collection. Data analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA, t-test and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results The results showed that among all the social capital issues, the highest average (57.18±91.81) is professional communication and the lowest average (33.19±93.49) is participation in social activities. Also social capital showed a significant association with variables such as educational level (p=0.01), marital status (p=0.03), first (mother) language (p=0.01), and family size (p=0.03). Conclusion: Considering that social capital has a significant association with variables such educational and demographic, interventions by stakeholders may increase the social capital.
Anti-platelet Effect of Black Tea ExtractviaInhibition of TXA2in Rat

The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of black tea extract (BTE) on collagen -induced platelet aggregation. In this study, BTE (10 ~ 500 μ g/mL) was shown to inhibit platelet aggregation via thromboxane A 2 (TXA 2 ) down-regulation by blocking cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) activity. Also, BTE decreased intracellular Ca 2+ mobilization ([Ca 2+ ] i ). Additionally, BTE enhanced the levels of both cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), which are aggregation-inhibiting molecules. BTE inhibited the phosphorylation of phospholipase C (PLC) γ 2 and syk activated by collagen. BTE regulated platelet aggregation via cAMP-dependent phosphorylation of vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) Ser 157 . The anti-platelet effects of BTE in high fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats were evaluated. After eight weeks of BTE treatment (300 and 600 mg/kg), the platelet aggregation rate in the treated groups was significantly less than that in the HFD-fed control group. Also, BTE exhibited a hepatoprotective effect and did not exert hepatotoxicity. Therefore, these data suggest that BTE has anti-platelet effects on collagen-stimulated platelet aggregation and may have therapeutic potential for the prevention of platelet-mediated thrombotic diseases.
The Comparison Study of Liquidity Measurements on the Chinese Stock Markets

ABSTRACT The measurement of liquidity is the basis of research in market microstructure studies. Based on the intraday tick trading data on Chinese stock markets from 2009 to 2016, we run horseraces of monthly estimates of newly and widely employed low-frequency liquidity proxies in the literature against three types of bid-ask spread high-frequency benchmarks. The empirical results reveal that the closing percent quoted spread estimator has the smallest estimation error, and the FHT estimator has the highest correlation. Moreover, these two estimators win the majority of horseraces in terms of estimation error and correlation comparison with the high-frequency benchmarks. Meanwhile, we find that most liquidity estimators based on Roll’s model do not perform well. Because the performance metrics of estimation precision or correlation performance on related liquidity issues differ depending on the type of research, our study offers appropriate liquidity measures for different research purposes.
Empirical evidence on international capital immobility: a consumption-based approach

ABSTRACT Based on consumption patterns and consumption-income correlation, a measure of capital mobility is proposed and used to demonstrate that capital mobility is low and that it is lower for low-income than high-income countries. While this result can be dismissed as being based on an unreliable measure of capital mobility or accepted as constituting a puzzle, it can be rationalised intuitively. While capital mobility provides benefits, it can be detrimental to the recipient country, which encourages the imposition of capital controls. Capital mobility can be impeded by home bias and failure of the benefits of international diversification to materialise.
Linear modes in a planar turbulent jet

A planar jet issuing from a fully developed two-dimensional turbulent channel flow is studied, with a focus on the transverse flapping of the jet core. The streamwise and transverse velocities were measured with hot-wire anemometry using an X-type probe. The mean velocity field and the velocity covariances were first characterised to assess the undisturbed flow field. Periodic excitations were introduced from a slot mounted at the channel exit and the coherent fluctuating part of the signal was obtained by using a phase-locked averaging technique, where the periodic initial forcing was used as trigger. This enabled the eduction of the coherent structure associated with the introduced perturbation. Its amplitude was found to be directly proportional to the intensity of the initial forcing and, within a certain range of the initial forcing amplitude, the growth curves were identical as well as the spatial distribution of the extracted fluctuations. Parallel and non-parallel linear stability theory captures qualitatively and quantitatively the features of the educed coherent structure. The existence of the linear mode in the turbulent jet implies that the large-scale perturbations observed in natural (unforced) jets can be regarded as an incoherent set of linear modes.
Electromagnetic Vibration Analysis of High-Speed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines With Amorphous Metal Stator Cores Considering Current Harmonics

This article investigates the electromagnetic vibration characteristics of high-speed (HS) permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) with amorphous metal stator cores (AMSCs) considering current harmonics. First, an analytical model of radial forces in PMSMs considering current harmonics due to both nonsinusoidal back electromotive force and pulsewidth modulation effects is developed. The cross influences of the two types of current harmonics on vibrations of HS PMSMs in different frequency bands are discussed. Second, the equivalent elasticity modulus parameters of laminated AMSCs are identified by utilizing modal experiment. Third, the influences of slot and pole number combinations on magnetic field harmonic contents and radial force orders for HS PMSMs are investigated by the analytical model. Then, the radial forces of a 15-kW HS PMSM fed by ideal sinusoidal current and experimental current are calculated under different rotational speeds by finite-element method. Finally, the vibrations of the prototype under rated torque and different rotational speeds are tested to verify the theoretical analysis.
Novel Representation of Leaf Phenology Improves Simulation of Amazonian Evergreen Forest Photosynthesis in a Land Surface Model

Leaf phenology in the humid tropics largely regulates the seasonality of forest carbon and water exchange. However, it is inadequately represented in most global land surface models due to limited understanding of its controls. Based on intensive field studies at four Amazonian evergreen forests, we propose a novel, quantitative representation of tropical forest leaf phenology, which links multiple environmental variables with the seasonality of new leaf production and old leaf litterfall. The new phenology simulates higher rates of leaf turnover (new leaves replacing old leaves) in dry seasons with more sunlight, which is then implemented in ORCHIDEE, together with recent findings of ontogeny‐associated photosynthetic capacity, and is evaluated against ground‐based measurements of leaf phenology (canopy leaf area index and litterfall), eddy covariance fluxes (photosynthesis and latent heat), and carbon allocations from field observations. Results show the periodical cycles of solar radiation and vapor pressure deficit are the two most important environmental variables that are empirically related to new leaf production and old leaf abscission in tropical evergreen forests. The model with new representation of leaf phenology captures the seasonality of canopy photosynthesis at three out of four sites, as well as the seasonality of litterfall, latent heat, and light use efficiency of photosynthesis at all tested sites, and improves the seasonality of carbon allocations to leaves, roots, and sapwoods. This study advances understanding of the environmental controls on tropical leaf phenology and offers an improved modeling tool for gridded simulations of interannual CO2 and water fluxes in the tropics.
Sovereign wealth funds and cross-border investment bias: the case of Arab countries

ABSTRACT Assets managed by sovereign wealth funds (SWF) have grown nine-fold since 2002, reaching USD 8 trillion in 2018. Around 80% of these investments correspond to cross-border investments. SWFs of Arab countries, mainly oil-rich GCC economies, hold a sizable fraction of these funds (40%). Asset allocation, nevertheless, presents a significant anomaly: despite the presence of highly endowed Arab-owned SWFs, cross-border investment in Arab economies is negligible in terms of transactions as well as of value. We study the allocation decisions of SWFs, both in terms of the probability of investing abroad (extensive margin) as well as the level of investment (intensive margin). In particular, we ask whether SWF investment decisions, at both margins, are largely determined by economic factors – e.g. profitability and risk – or are also influenced by strategic considerations, such as geopolitical interests. Our findings show that, while foreign investors have a positive bias for the Arab destination countries at the extensive margin level, there is a negative bias against them at the intensive one. At the sectoral level, results are highly heterogeneous as some sectors are sensitive to institutions (e.g. industry and consumer discretionary), while others are insensitive, such as energy.
Impact of economic policy uncertainty on cash holdings: firm-level evidence from an emerging market

ABSTRACT We examine how economic policy uncertainty (EPU) affects firms’ cash holdings and how such changes in cash holdings affect firm value and capital investment in China. Our findings suggest that firms that increase their cash holdings during high EPU have higher firm values and are less negatively impacted by the underinvestment problem. When a firm is non-state-owned, financially constrained, or is located in a province with low marketization, the impact of EPU on cash holdings is amplified. Furthermore, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are less likely to increase cash holdings during elevated EPU, and consequently tend to have lower firm values.
Biocultural learning – beyond ecological knowledge transfer

Education sciences research has showed that learning is a complex interaction between individuals and their surrounding world. The simplification of learning complexity has been commonly assumed in local and traditional ecological knowledge (LEK/TEK) research. Based on a modern learning theory, this article describes learning complexity behind the LEK/TEK held by fishers and farmers in Sweden. It leads to the introduction of the concept of biocultural learning that contributes to this field by giving details to this complexity. From a biographic approach, this research combines case studies, in-depth biographical narrative interviews, participant observations and the analysis of personal blogs and family pictures as data collection methods. This combination reveals the interconnection between professional knowledge about nature, identity construction and emotional bonds to nature. This article highlights the value of giving professional status to LEK/TEK and discusses the need to promote and strengthen biocultural learning in different society sectors.
Gender and the Legal Academy in the UK: A Product of Proxies and Hiring and Promotion Practices

In this chapter we examine the differential numbers of men and women in each of the seniority levels of the legal academy with reference to qualitative studies on gender and the legal academy in the literature, and our initial analysis of the UK Higher Education Statistical Agency’s systematically collected data derived from all higher education institutions in the United Kingdom. We then apply the human resource management research literature to these data to seek to understand how decision-making in the academy may explain ongoing inequalities. Our research suggests that the continued disparity in male-female promotion trajectories is, at least in part, a function of the way in which talent, merit, or excellence is understood and operationalised in the academy more widely. We posit that the disparity in the numbers of men and women at the higher levels of the legal academy will only be successfully countered once we adopt a more sophisticated approach to analysing what makes an excellent law teacher/researcher/administrator and then develop and promote people on that basis.
Nesting biology of the Spotted Nightingale-Thrush (Catharus dryas) and comparison of life histories in the genus Catharus

ABSTRACT Elucidating new reproductive traits and evaluating how they vary within and among species in a geographic context, is relevant to understanding the evolutionary processes underlying diversity in life-history strategies. In this study we describe the breeding biology of Catharus dryas in a Peruvian population, and compare life history traits with a subtropical population and other temperate Catharus thrushes to better understand intra and interspecific variations in nesting traits. We monitored 35 nests of C. dryas between 2008 and 2013 in an Andean cloud forest of the Manu National Park in Peru and conducted a literature review of the nesting biology of Catharus species. We provide new information on nest architecture, nestling growth rate, incubation behaviour, reproductive phenology and egg temperature. The intraspecific comparison with an Argentinian population showed that despite the 13° latitudinal differences, nesting characters were highly conserved. These include a clutch size of two eggs, and an incubation and nestling period of 14 days. Nest attendance differed slightly (60 and 67% in Peru and Argentina, respectively). The interspecific comparisons showed that tropical and temperate species followed respectively slow and fast reproductive strategies in most of the traits according to the life-history theory, but other such as average incubation time, nestling feeding rate, and some dimensions in the nest architecture were similar between C. dryas and the temperate species. Although detailed descriptions are needed for Catharus species, especially tropical species to conduct more robust comparisons, our results exemplify how intra and interspecific comparison based on natural history data can help to understand life-history evolution in a biogeographic context.
Pre-Hospital Ultrasound: Current Indications and Future Perspectives

C l i n M e d International Library Citation: Zanatta M, Benato P, Cianci V (2016) Pre-Hospital Ultrasound: Current Indications and Future Perspectives. Int J Crit Care Emerg Med 2:019 Received: January 25, 2016: Accepted: July 18, 2016: Published: July 20, 2016 Copyright: © 2016 Zanatta M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Zanatta et al. Int J Crit Care Emerg Med 2016, 2:019
Generation and Utilization of In Vitro Models of Dendritic Cells for the Study of Dendritic Cell Biology

Droits d’auteur L'Université de Lausanne attire expressément l'attention des utilisateurs sur le fait que tous les documents publiés dans l'Archive SERVAL sont protégés par le droit d'auteur, conformément à la loi fédérale sur le droit d'auteur et les droits voisins (LDA). A ce titre, il est indispensable d'obtenir le consentement préalable de l'auteur et/ou de l’éditeur avant toute utilisation d'une oeuvre ou d'une partie d'une oeuvre ne relevant pas d'une utilisation à des fins personnelles au sens de la LDA (art. 19, al. 1 lettre a). A défaut, tout contrevenant s'expose aux sanctions prévues par cette loi. Nous déclinons toute responsabilité en la matière.
Description and Results of a Fully Arthroscopic Anatomic Broström Repair and Gould Modification

Ankle instability is a common sequelae of a lateral ankle sprain. Surgery for this condition must address any intra-articular pathology as well as repairing the ligaments. The former is generally done arthroscopically and the advantages of this approach are well documented. However, once this is competed the second stage of ligament repair is traditionally done in an open manner. There is increasing interest in the role of arthroscopic ligament repair though to date most techniques have repaired only the anterior talofibular ligament and then performed a percutaneous retinacular advancement. The only technique that addresses the calcaneofibular ligament (CFL) does so from an accessory portal just anterior to the tip of the fibula though in practice it can be difficult to see the CFL from this portal. We have developed the technique of lateral ankle endoscopy, performed through the bed of the peroneus brevis tendon. This technique gives direct and clear visualization of the CFL, anterior talofibular ligament, and also the extensor retinaculum, which then allows direct, anatomic tightening. The stabilization is performed with bone anchors onto the fibula. We present the results in 15 consecutive cases performed with this entirely arthroscopic technique. We believe that this technique gives better visualization of the structures than an open technique and that as a result a more anatomic reconstruction can be performed. Level of Evidence: Diagnostic Level 5. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Birth Outcome after Caesarean Section among Mothers who Delivered by Caesarean Section under General and Spinal Anesthesia at Gondar University Teaching Hospital North-West Ethiopia

Introduction: Intrapartum death is the leading cause of child mortality in the world. In Africa, 62 new borns die out of 1000 live births. Anesthesia is responsible for 89 intrapartum deaths per 1000 live births and 3-12% maternal deaths; which are almost associated with the use of general anesthesia. The objective of this study was to assess neonatal outcomes using APGAR score among mothers delivered by caesarean section at Gondar University Hospital, North west Ethiopia. Methods: An institution based cross sectional study was used to assess neonatal outcomes after caesarean sectionamong mothers delivered by caesarean section under anesthesia. All mothers that came for caesarean section from January1, to April 30, 2012 were included in this study Data were collected using structured questionnaires. All pre delivery questionnaires were filled during pre operative preparation after taking informed consent and other intra operative events were recorded intra operatively in the operation room. Data entry and analysis was done using SPSS version 16, each variable was entered to bivariate analysis, variables with P value <0.2 were taken to multivariate analysis using logistic regression. Results: The use of general anesthesia for caesarean section in this particular study was more frequent when compared with spinal anesthesia (65%). The risk of Low APGAR score 5 was increased in babies born under general anesthesia as compared with babies born under Spinal anesthesia (AOR=3.19,95% C.I.(1.73, 5.90)). Low Fetal weight was associated with low APGAR score of new borns (AOR=1.38 with 95% C.I. (1.10, 1.70)). Pre anesthetic fetal heart rate and uterine incision to delivery time were also found to be associated with APGAR score 5 of neonates (AOR=2.12, (95% CI, 1.20; 3.60) and 2.57, (95% CI, 1.20, 3.50)) respectively. Conclusion: Neonates born under Spinal anesthesia had better physiologic profile as evidenced by APGAR score 5. The use of general anesthesia should be reduced and reserved for special indications that are contra indicated to spinal anesthesia only. Low birth weight, prolonged uterine incision to delivery of the baby and pre anesthetic fetal heart beat has affected APGAR score 5 of newborns.
Seeking the Recipe for Success in Distance Education: Lessons from a Nutrition Course

There is much debate as to how best to exploit the potential of the internet when designing distance education (DE) courses; the “formula for success” is still to be determined. In this Darwinian struggle for “market share” Athabasca University (AU) has established itself as the leading DE university in Canada. Courses at AU include four in nutrition. Enrollment growth has been rapid in recent years. We investigated factors that may be responsible for this success. We garnered the opinions of former nutrition students using a mailed questionnaire (response rate: 57.1%; 176 returned). We investigated the following factors with respect to the highest enrollment nutrition course: (1) reasons for students to take the course at AU (rather than a similar course at another university); (2) student’s opinions of the course; (3) student’s preferences for receiving course materials in a printed format or via a computer; and (4) student’s opinions of AU. The results show that the main reason for taking the nutrition course by DE is due to the flexibility of the DE itself that allows learning while working and managing the family commitment. The preferred learning materials format sent to them for the course are print based and this appears to be important as only 4% of students prefer to receiving their learning materials via a computer. The results also revealed that AU is well respected institution by the students. This is evident as only 11% of the respondents feel that AU courses are of lower academic credibility than similar courses at other Canadian universities. Abstrak