Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigating gateway effects using the PATH study

Background: A recent meta-analysis of nine cohort studies in youths reported that baseline ever e-cigarette use strongly predicted cigarette smoking initiation in the next 6-18 months, with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 3.62 (95% confidence interval 2.42-5.41). A recent e-cigarette review agreed there was substantial evidence for this “gateway effect”. As the number of confounders considered in the studies was limited we investigated whether the effect might have resulted from inadequate adjustment, using Waves 1 and 2 of the US PATH study. Methods: Our main analyses considered Wave 1 never cigarette smokers who, at Wave 2, had data on smoking initiation.We constructed a propensity score for ever e-cigarette use from Wave 1 variables, using this to predict ever cigarette smoking. Sensitivity analyses accounted for other tobacco product use, linked current e-cigarette use to subsequent current smoking, or used propensity scores for ever smoking or ever tobacco product use as predictors. We also considered predictors using data from both waves, attempting to reduce residual confounding from misclassified responses. Results: Adjustment for propensity dramatically reduced the unadjusted OR of 5.70 (4.33-7.50) to 2.48 (1.85-3.31), 2.47 (1.79-3.42) or 1.85 (1.35-2.53), whether adjustment was made as quintiles, as a continuous variable or for the individual variables. Additional adjustment for other tobacco products reduced this last OR to 1.59 (1.14-2.20). Sensitivity analyses confirmed adjustment removed most of the gateway effect. Control for residual confounding also reduced the association. Conclusions: We found that confounding is a major factor, explaining most of the observed gateway effect. However, our analyses are limited by small numbers of new smokers considered and the possibility of over-adjustment if taking up e-cigarettes affects some predictor variables. Further analyses are intended using Wave 3 data to try to minimize these problems, and clarify the extent of any true gateway effect.
Patient Perception of Musculoskeletal MR: A Survey Research.

BACKGROUND When undergoing magnetic resonance (MR) exams, patients need to lie still in a noisy and enclosed environment for a long time. This condition, together with the anxiety burden related to the possible implications of the scan results, can entail a diagnostic outcome of poor quality. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to evaluate the personal perception and experience of adult patients undergoing unenhanced musculoskeletal MR. METHOD Consecutive outpatients undergoing unenhanced MR of spine, knee or shoulder were asked to respond a 10-item questionnaire at the end of the exam. RESULTS 263 patients (54% males, mean age 50.6 ±15.8 years, range 18-83 years) completed the questionnaire. Patients declared that the most disturbing elements of the exam were forced immobility and noise (30% in both cases). Females perceived significantly higher degree of anxiety than males (56% vs 21%, p<0.001). Exam duration was correctly perceived by 83% of the population. Patients' satisfaction was generally high (mean above 9 over 10). CONCLUSION Explanations and clarifications given before the exam were considered satisfactory by the patients. Despite some negative aspects such as noise, immobility and anxiety especially in females, patients' satisfaction with our service was high, as well as the willingness to return.
Perspectives of healthcare workers about the delivery and evaluation of harm reduction services for people living with HIV who use substances

Abstract Background: Harm reduction (HR) programs and services have strong empirical support in reducing the negative outcomes associated with substance use and are becoming increasingly recognized across the continuum of healthcare services. Aims: To explore frontline healthcare workers (HWs) experiences and perspectives on the benefits and challenges of providing HR programming and care to HIV-positive clients. Methods: A 20 question survey, inclusive of open-ended questions and quantitative rating scales, was completed by HWs at two HIV/AIDS dedicated facilities in Canada implementing HR services. Findings: A total of 64 HWs participated in the survey, with an average of 6.2 years (range: 0.5–18) of experience in HR programs. HWs identified healthcare system engagement and building positive client relationships as key outcomes for evaluation of HR programs. Personal and inter-team related dynamics were highlighted as challenges experienced when utilizing HR in the provision of care. The absence of clear procedures and policies were identified by HWs as barriers to effective implementation of HR programming. Conclusions: The results of this study can be utilized to inform, establish, and guide HR programs, services, and policy development to ensure the delivery of quality care.
Preliminary study on pre-treatment physical activity and quality of life in infertility

The increasing incidence of infertility and contrary the remaining levels of success rate of assisted reproductive therapies (ART) justify expanding the biomedical approach and underline the importance of psychosocial and lifestyle factors. The aim of the study was to examine the effects of pre-treatment physical activity (PA) on the quality of life (QoL) in infertile women. A cross sectional cohort study was carried out involving 50 female patients with infertility diagnosis. Standardized QoL questionnaires and pre-treatment PA patterns were administrated during December 2018 – April 2019 in a university hospital-based fertility centre in South-Hungary. 43% of the women reported regular exercise. Regarding GPAQ moderate intensity PA in work and recreation was preferred. They spent 4.2 hours with active transportation weekly, and 4.5 hours sedentary daily. 68.89% reached the 150min/week MVPA recommendation and 18.2% spent more than 4 hours with exercise Respondents were less satisfied with Physical Domain (57.7±7.5) and most with Psychological Domain (72.2±12.1) of WHOQOL-BREF. Lower QoL by Emotional (56.46±18.12) and Mind-Body (56.84±19.67), mediate by Social (62.76±17.40) and better values by Relational Subscale (76.48±19.62) were measured with FertiQoL. Significant difference between active and inactive group was described for Psychological domain (Z=-2.240, p=0.025). Positive correlation was found between MVPA vs Total MET and Emotional Subscale (p=0.014, p=0.009) and between work-related PA and Mindbody Subscale (p=0.006). Pre-treatment PA could positively affect QoL undergoing ART. However, for more impressive results, objective assessment of physical activity, increased number of participants, and further examinations are needed.
Consumer behavior of organic and functional foods in Brazil

juniorzootec@yahoo.com. br Abstract The objective of this study was to correlate the gender and behavior of consumers of organic foods enriched with functional properties. The study was carried out by investigating the profile of organic and functional food consumers through the application of a questionnaire. A total of 1230 responses (of the questionnaire) were collected from people from all Brazilian states through social networks and e-mails following the snowball technique during the months of February and March 2017. The results showed that women expressed greater interest in consuming organic foods enriched with functional properties compared to men. Men and women agree that organic food are produced in a sustainable. Their high price, difficult access, irregular supply and availability in few establishments were highlighted as the main limiting factors for not consuming organic food, while an increased motivation (of consumption) was related to the awareness that organic foods are healthier and can improve quality of life. Fruits and vegetables are the most consumed organic foods among men and women, however women consume more functional foods than men. Thus, there are few differences in behavior and eating habits of organic foods between men and
TRANSDERMAL NITROGLYCERIN VERSUS ORAL NIFEDIPINE ADMINISTRATION FOR TOCOLYSIS IN PRETERM LABOUR

OBJECTIVE: Comparison of oral nifedipine and transdermal nitroglycerin for tocolysis in preterm labour in the following effects, acute tocolytic effect, duration of prolongation of pregnancy, neonatal outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study on tocolysis in preterm labour was conducted in Government Rajaji Hospital from December 2010 to November 2011. 100 women with preterm labour randomly selected from the pregnant women attending antenatal OP and from labour ward from the department of obstetrics and gynecology. Out of which 50 women were recruited for oral nifedipine (initially 20mg, followed by 10mg till the contractions stop) and another 50 women were recruited for transdermal nitroglycerin patch (25 mg, directly applied over the skin of the abdomen). Inclusion criteria: Woman with singleton pregnancy with preterm labour from 28 – 36 weeks of gestation were selected for this study. Exclusion criteria: Pregnant women with preterm labour with premature rupture of membranes, fetal distress, major fetal congenital anomalies, chorioamnionitis antepartum hemorrhage, sensitivity or contra indication to nifedipine/nitrates, were excluded from this study. RESULTS: In both the groups time needed for tocolysis ranged from 2-12 hours. Mean time needed for tocolysis in group I was 4.55 hours and with group II, it was 6.09 hours. when acute tocolytic effect ( Prolongation of pregnancy beyond 48 hours) was considered, it was 45 women in group I and 36 women in group II. Mean duration of Prolongation of pregnancy with group I was 20.74 days and with group II, it was 13.5 days. In group I7 babies got admitted in new born ward, 16 babies in group II got admitted in new born ward. CONCLUSION: When compared with nitroglycerin, nifedipine is found to be safe and successful in achieving complete tocolysis and also effective in prolongation of pregnancy. Nifedipine has minimal maternal side effects and better neonatal outcome.
Smart meter adoption: the role of consumer experience in using smart device

To ensure sustainable development of energy efficiency, the use of smart device was considered to be a milestone in allowing household consumers to control their energy consumption record and a promising solution to deeply understand the consumer pattern of using power services provided by State power company (PLN). This study developed a model to measure the consumer preference in adopting the smart power in household sector. Data was collected by survey involving 437 samples in South East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The data was analysed by using SEM-PLS to assess the model evaluation. The findings of this study enhance the understanding of consumer perceptions and behaviour and are able to help the policy maker in considering the future policy in developing the power production and development plan. The results shows that most of variables are able to affect the intention to use smart power meter.
Profit Shifting and the Effect of Stricter Transfer Pricing Regulation on Tax Revenue

Using a 20-year-long, population-wide panel with detailed firm and group level data from Norway, we study the profitability change in companies that shift from being domestic to being multinational as well as companies that shift from being multinational to being domestic. Profitability falls when domestic companies become multinational and increases when multinational companies become domestic. The average change in profitability is about 24 %, all else equal. We attribute our findings to the profit shifting opportunities that are available for multinational companies, and we display several patterns in the data that are consistent with this interpretation. We find that the extent of profit shifting decreases after the introduction of stricter transfer pricing regulations, and an increase in transfer pricing audits, starting in 2007/2008. Our best estimate of the total corporate tax revenue lost due to profit shifting is about 6 % in the last year of the sample, 2012. We estimate that the revenue loss would have been twice as large in absence of the new regulatory framework.
Lake Water Levels and Associated Hydrologic Characteristics in the Conterminous U.S.

Establishing baseline hydrologic characteristics for lakes in the United States (U.S.) is critical to evaluate changes to lake hydrology. We used the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Lakes Assessment 2007 and 2012 surveys to assess hydrologic characteristics of a population of ~45,000 lakes in the conterminous U.S. based on probability samples of ~1,000 lakes/yr distributed across nine ecoregions. Lake hydrologic study variables include water‐level drawdown (i.e., vertical decline and horizontal littoral exposure) and two water stable isotope‐derived parameters: evaporation‐to‐inflow (E:I) and water residence time. We present (1) national and regional distributions of the study variables for both natural and man‐made lakes and (2) differences in these characteristics between 2007 and 2012. In 2007, 59% of the population of U.S. lakes had Greater than normal or Excessive drawdown relative to water levels in ecoregional reference lakes with minimal human disturbances; whereas in 2012, only 20% of lakes were significantly drawn down beyond normal ranges. Water isotope‐derived variables did not differ significantly between survey years in contrast to drawdown. Median E:I was 20% indicating that flow‐through processes dominated lake water regimes. For 75% of U.S. lakes, water residence time was less than one year and was longer in natural vs. man‐made lakes. Our study provides baseline ranges to assess local and regional lake hydrologic status and inform management decisions in changing environmental conditions.
Effects of Lidocaine Spray on Pain and Anxiety in Patients Administered a Contrast Medium during Vein Puncture

This randomized controlled study with a comparative experimental design investigated the effects of using lidocaine spray with regard to the pain and anxiety of patients administered a contrast medium during venipuncture. Data were collected from 55 patients who visited the Department of Radiology at N General Hospital, Seoul, for undergoing computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, met the subject-selection criteria, and provided consent for participating in the study during February and March 2015. The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to measure subjective pain, and the objective pain behavior checklist developed by Park was used to measure objective pain. Subjective anxiety was measured using the VAS, and the anxiety state was measured using the anxiety scale revised and supplemented by Leek. The study found that the experimental group sprayed with lidocaine during venipuncture scored significantly lower points for subjective pain (t = -2.86, p = .006), objective pain (t = -3.82, p < .001), subjective anxiety (F = 4.36, p = .042), and anxiety state (F = 5.02, p = .028) than did the control group. These findings indicate that lidocaine spraying influences pain reduction.
The Effect of External Weight Distribution on Muscle Activation Pattern during Obstacle Negotiation for Male Participants

Effects of different age groups and different external loading distribution on lower extremity muscle activation during obstacle crossing tasks were tested in this study. Four young participants and five healthy senior participants performed different walking tasks at their own speed carrying multiple different weights while their lower extremity muscle activation patterns were recorded and compared. Older adults showed significantly increased muscle activation patterns in obstacle negotiation. Furthermore, participants showed altered lower extremity muscle activation patterns with different load distribution.
Achieving Searchable Encryption Scheme With Search Pattern Hidden

Searchable Encryption (SE) enables a data owner to outsource encrypted data to an untrusted server while preserving the keyword search functionality. Typically, the server learns whether or not a query has been performed more than once, which is usually called the search pattern. However, such kind of information leakage might be leveraged to break query privacy. To further reduce such type of leakage and provide strong privacy guarantee, Wang et al. proposed a novel SE scheme based on the Paillier encryption scheme in INFOCOM’15. Unfortunately, their scheme cannot perform keyword search successfully, because the additive homomorphic property is not sufficient for their construction. In this article, we first show that why their scheme fails to return the correct search result, and then propose a new SE scheme by adopting a special additive homomorphic encryption scheme to achieve the multiplicative homomorphic property efficiently. Furthermore, we enhance the security on the user side. Specifically, we use random polynomials with an appropriate degree to guarantee that the user cannot learn anything other than the desired search result. Finally, we present a formal security analysis and implement our scheme on a real-world database, which demonstrates that our construction can achieve the desired security properties with good performance.
Multi-functional antibodies are induced by the RTS,S malaria vaccine and associated with protection in a phase I/IIa trial

Background RTS,S is the leading malaria vaccine candidate, but only confers partial efficacy against malaria in children. RTS,S is based on the major Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite surface antigen, circumsporozoite protein (CSP). The induction of anti-CSP antibodies is important for protection, however, it is unclear how protective antibodies function. Methods We quantified the induction of functional anti-CSP antibody responses in healthy malaria-naïve adults (N=45) vaccinated with RTS,S/AS01. This included the ability to mediate effector functions via the fragment crystallizable (Fc) region, such as interacting with human complement proteins and Fcγ-receptors (FcγRs) that are expressed on immune cells, which promote various immunological functions. Results Our major findings were i) RTS,S-induced antibodies mediate Fc-dependent effector functions, ii) functional antibodies were generally highest after the second vaccine dose; iii) functional antibodies targeted multiple regions of CSP, iv) participants with higher levels of functional antibodies had a reduced probability of developing parasitemia following homologous challenge (p<0.05); v) non-protected subjects had higher levels of anti-CSP IgM. Conclusions Our data suggests a role for Fc-dependent antibody effector functions in RTS,S-induced immunity. Enhancing the induction of these functional activities may be a strategy to improve the protective efficacy of RTS,S or other malaria vaccines.
Exploring Students’ Difficulties in Solving Nonhomogeneous 2nd Order Ordinary Differential Equations with Initial Value Problems

This research aims to explore students’ difficulties in resolving Nonhomogeneous 2 nd Order Ordinary Differential Equations with initial value problems. The method that can be used to solve this equation is the undetermined coefficient and the Laplace transformation. This research is used descriptive method. The subjects of this study were 73 students in the second year of the Mathematics Education. Data is collected through tests and interviews. Data were analyzed descriptive qualitative. The results of data analysis show that in undetermined coefficient method, students difficult in determining the particular solution of non-homogeneous second-order ordinary differential equations. This is due to student errors in the first step especially in determining the characteristics equation. Whereas, for the Laplace transformation method, students most difficulties are in the step of solving the subsidiary equation. This is due to the weakness of students in completing arithmetic operations in the form of fractions and partial fractions.
Teicoplanin potently blocks the cell entry of 2019-nCoV

Since December 2019, the outbreak of a new coronavirus, named 2019-nCoV, has greatly threatened the public health in China and raised great concerns worldwide. No specific treatment for this infection is currently available. We previously reported that teicoplanin, a glycopeptide antibiotic which has routinely been used in the clinic to treat bacterial infection with low toxicity, significantly inhibits the invasion of cells by Ebola virus, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, via specifically inhibiting the activity of cathepsin L. Here, we tested the efficacy of teicoplanin against 2019-nCoV virus infection and found that teicoplanin potently prevents the entrance of 2019-nCoV-Spike-pseudoviruses into the cytoplasm, with an IC50 of 1.66 μM. Although the inhibitory effect upon the replication of wildtype viruses ex vivo and in vivo remains to be determined, our preliminary result indicates that the potential antiviral activity of teicoplanin could be applied for the treatment of 2019-nCoV virus infection.
Thermoresponsive P(HEMA-co-OEGMA) copolymers: synthesis, characteristics and solution behavior

Random, thermoresponsive copolymers of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate Mn = 300 (OEGMA) were synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) in a DMSO/H2O solvent mixture. Reactivity ratios were determined by the extended Kelen–Tudos method and found to be close to 1. Studies confirmed the randomness of the obtained copolymers. The thermoresponsiveness in water and in phosphate buffer (PBS) solutions and the influence of copolymer composition and solution concentration on the cloud point temperature (Tcp) were investigated. Phase transitions in water solutions were reversible and narrow. The response of P(HEMA-co-OEGMA) to temperature could be adjusted in the range from 66.5 °C to 21.5 °C by changing the HEMA content. In PBS solutions, significant differences in the heating/cooling cycle were observed for all investigated concentrations. The presence of kosmotropic salts in PBS decreased the Tcp value and caused thermal aggregation of chains to form a macroscopic aggregate at temperatures above the Tcp.
Describing the Relationship between a Weather Event and Climate Change: A New Statistical Approach

Describing the relationship between a weather event and climate change—a science usually termedevent attribution—involves quantifying the extent to which human influence has affected the frequency or the strength of an observed event. In this study we show how event attribution can be implemented through the application of nonstationary statistics to transient simulations, typically covering the 1850–2100 period. The use of existing CMIP-style simulations has many advantages, including their availability for a large range of coupled models and the fact that they are not conditional to a given oceanic state. We develop a technique for providing a multimodel synthesis, consistent with the uncertainty analysis of long-term changes. Last, we describe how model estimates can be combined with historical observations to provide a single diagnosis accounting for both sources of information. The potential of this new method is illustrated using the 2003 European heat wave and under a Gaussian assumption. Results suggest that (i) it is feasible to perform event attribution using transient simulations and nonstationary statistics, even for a single model; (ii) the use of multimodel synthesis in event attribution is highly desirable given the spread in single-model estimates; and (iii) merging models and observations substantially reduces uncertainties in human-induced changes. Investigating transient simulations also enables us to derive insightful diagnostics of how the targeted event will be affected by climate change in the future.