Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dexamethasone as Adjunctive Therapy in Bacterial Meningitis. A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials Since 1988

Objective. —To evaluate the effectiveness of dexamethasone in bacterial meningitis in the subcategories of causative organism and timing and nature of antibiotic therapy. Data Sources. —MEDLINE, HEALTHLINE, and AIDSLINE were searched with the Medical Subject Headings "dexamethasone" and "meningitis" in any language. Bibliographies, conference abstracts, and the authors of identified studies were consulted. Study Selection. —Randomized, concurrently controlled trials of dexamethasone therapy in childhood bacterial meningitis published from 1988 to November 1996 were selected. Of 16 studies identified, 5 were not eligible. Data Extraction. —Data were extracted by means of standard outcomes in a protocol sent to all principal authors. Data Synthesis. —Random-effects meta-analysis models were used to obtain summary estimates. As the incidence of severe hearing loss differed significantly by organism among control subjects, organism-specific estimates were used. InHaemophilus influenzaetype b meningitis, dexamethasone reduced severe hearing loss overall (combined odds ratio [OR], 0.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.14-0.69). Similar ORs were obtained after studies were stratified by the timing of administration of dexamethasone (before or with antibiotics vs later) or by type of antibiotic (cefuroxime vs other). In pneumococcal meningitis, only studies in which dexamethasone was given early suggested protection, which was significant for severe hearing loss (combined OR, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.0-0.71) and approached significance for any neurological or hearing deficit (combined OR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.04-1.05). For all organisms combined, the pooled OR suggested protection against neurological deficits other than hearing loss but was not significant (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.34-1.02). Outcomes were similar in studies that used 2 vs more than 2 days of dexamethasone therapy. Adverse effects were not significantly increased with dexamethasone except for secondary fever. The incidence of gastrointestinal tract bleeding increased with longer duration of dexamethasone treatment (0.5% in controls, 0.8% with 2 days of treatment, 3.0% with 4 days of treatment). Conclusions. —The available evidence on adjunctive dexamethasone therapy confirms benefit forH influenzaetype b meningitis and, if commenced with or before parenteral antibiotics, suggests benefit for pneumococcal meningitis in childhood. Limiting dexamethasone therapy to 2 days may be optimal.
Mercury-induced renal immune complex deposits in young (NZB x NZW)F1 mice: characterization of antibodies/autoantibodies

It is well demonstrated that mercury induces a systemic autoimmune disease in susceptible mouse strains. One of the major characteristics of mercury-induced autoimmune disease in mice is the development of renal immune complex deposits. We have previously shown that continual injection of mercury into young autoimmune prone (NZBXNZW)F i mice induced an increase in antibody/ autoantibody production as well as development of early renal immune complex deposits. In the present study, we characterized the isotype, the specificity and the possible pathogenicity of deposited immunoglobulins in the kidneys of mercury-injected (NZB XNZW)F i hybrids. We found that young (NZB x NZW)F i mice injected with mercuric chloride (HgC1 2 ) for 6 weeks developed intense antibody formation of all immunoglobulin isotypes (except for IgG2b) as well as high levels of granular deposits of IgM, IgG I, IgG2a and lgG3 antibodies in the renal mesangium. Increased levels of the same antibody isotypes were also found in the kidney eluate of mercury- but not saline-injected mice. The dominant antibody in the kidney eluate of mercury-injected mice was of IgG 1 isotype and found to be directed against double-stranded DNA, collagen, cardiolipin, phosphatidylethanolamine, and the hapten trinitrophenol, but not against nucleolar antigens. Further studies demonstrated that mercury-induced renal immune complex deposits in young (NZB x NZW)F 1 mice did not lead to a severe kidney injury. Thus, in response to mercury, young (NZB x NZW)F 1 mice develop renal immunoglobulin deposits with an isotype and specificity pattern correlating with that seen in the spleen and in the serum.
NurbsNet: A Nurbs approach for 3d object recognition

With the emergence of low cost 3D sensors, the focus is moving towards the recognition and scene understanding of tridimensional data. This kind of representation is really challenging in terms of computation, and it needs the development of new strategies and algorithms to be handled and interpreted.In this work, we propose NurbsNet, a novel approach for 3D object classification based on local similarities with free form surfaces modeled as Nurbs.The proposal has been tested in ModelNet10 and ModelNet40 with results that are promising with less training iterations than state-of-the-art methods and very low memory consumption.
Global systematic review of cost of illness and economic evaluation studies associated with snakebite

Background Snakebite envenoming, a high priority Neglected Tropical Disease categorized by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been considered as a poverty-related disease that requires greater global awareness and collaboration to establish strategies that effectively decrease economic burdens. This prompts the need for a comprehensive review of the global literature that summarizes the global economic burden and a description of methodology details and their variation. This study aimed to systematically identify studies on cost of illness and economic evaluation associated with snakebites, summarize study findings, and evaluate their methods to provide recommendations for future studies. Methods We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and Econlit for articles published from inception to 31 July 2019. Original articles reporting costs or full economic evaluation related with snakebites were included. The methods and reporting quality were assessed. Costs were presented in US dollars (US$) in 2018. Results Twenty-three cost of illness studies and three economic evaluation studies related to snakebites were included. Majority of studies (18/23, 78.26%) were conducted in Low- and Middle-income countries. Most cost of illness studies (82.61%) were done using hospital-based data of snakebite patients. While, four studies (17.39%) estimated costs of snakebites in communities. Five studies (21.74%) used societal perspective estimating both direct and indirect costs. Only one study (4.35%) undertook incidence-based approach to estimate lifetime costs. Only three studies (13.04%) estimated annual national economic burdens of snakebite which varied drastically from US$126 319 in Burkina Faso to US$13 802 550 in Sri Lanka. Quality of the cost of illness studies were varied and substantially under-reported. All three economic evaluation studies were cost-effectiveness analysis using decision tree model. Two of them assessed cost-effectiveness of having full access to antivenom and reported cost-effective findings. Conclusions Economic burdens of snakebite were underestimated and not extensively studied. To accurately capture the economic burdens of snakebites at both the global and local level, hospital data should be collected along with community survey and economic burdens of snakebites should be estimated both in short-term and long-term period to incorporate the lifetime costs and productivity loss due to premature death, disability, and consequences of snakebites.
Subjective Well-Being, Parental Child Care and Income—A Multidimensional Polarization Attempt

Neither market income nor consumption expenditure provide a complete picture of individual standard of living. It is non-market time use which is a further brick to a more comprehensive picture of individual well-being. In our study we focus on a prominent part of non-market services: it is parental child care which contributes not only to individual but also to societal well-being. Within a novel approach we ask for multidimensional polarization effects on parental child care where compensation of time for parental child care and income is interdependently evaluated by panel estimates of society’s subjective well-being. The new interdependent 2DGAP measure thereby provides multidimensional polarization (for the poor and the rich) intensity information and disentangles the single time and income contributions ensuring at the same time the interdependence of the polarization dimensions. Socio-economic influences on the polarization pole risk and intensity are quantified by two stage Heckman estimates. The analyses are based on the German Socio-Economic Panel and the German Time Use Surveys 1991/92 and the just released actual 2012/13. The empirical results discover the interdependent relations between parental child care and income under a common evaluation frame and contributes to the question of dimension specific targeted policies in a multidimensional polarization approach. Prominent result: compensation between parental child care time and income proved to be significant. Interdependent multidimensional polarization increased significantly over the twenty years under investigation with remarkable risk and intensity differences between the polarization poles and different disentangled time and income contributions. JEL keywords: I31, I32, J22, D10, D31
Endogenous Employment and Incomplete Markets∗

This paper explores the role of effort and human capital as mechanisms to alleviate the idiosyncratic risk faced by individuals in the presence of incomplete markets. I construct a DSGE model where effort and human capital determine the probability of being employed the next period. While effort is a flow variable that has to be exerted every period, human capital is a stock variable chosen when the agent is born. I first show how effort and assets are inverse related, and then characterize the investment in education as a function of its cost. In the stationary equilibrium individuals diversify between market and nonmarket mechanisms to reduce risk. As a result, in the long run, the median individual will hold a negative credit balance, which better approximates the real wealth distribution when compared with previous studies. The results shed light on the potential implication of combining policies of unemployment insurance and subsidies to education to improve the wealth distribution.
EFFECT OF THE SPRAY NOZZLE ON THE EFFICIENCY OF FOUR HERBICIDES ON CONTROL OF WEED COMPANIONED WITH TRITICUM AESTIVUM L

A field experiment to study the effect of the type herbicides and spray nozzle, in the control weed accompaniment for wheat, at the field trials, Department of Field Crop Science, College of Agriculture / University of Diyala during the season 2018 in the in a clay loam soil with used in the, four herbicides CLODEX 100EC + SPOTLIGHT WDG 75, Atlantis WG, Logran extra 64 WG+ Topik plus and the Chevalier 15 WG. Applications in concentrations recommended by the company in the four herbicides with the treatment comparison without herbicides. The experiment was designed according to split plot design under randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The results all the selective herbicides applied in the experiment showed high efficiency in controlling in weed control. Gave Chevalier 15 WG on the rest of the herbicides achieved the highest rate and degree of killing 61.33 and 78.11 after 20 and 40 after the control respectively. The Logran extra 64 WG+ Topik was given the highest long spikes of 11.1 cm. The use of herbicides and the type of spray nozzle to increase the percentage of control and reduce the dry weight of the weed increase the percentage of inhibition of the growth weed, which resulted increase yields rate of 6.105 ton. ha when the control while the treatment without a herbicides give less yield to 4.71 ton. ha.This study has shown the great role of herbicides control and the use of the right spray nozzle can do better yields in the space unit.
Wage Determination and the Bite of Collective Contracts in Italy and Spain: Evidence from the Metal Working Industry

In several OECD countries employer federations and unions fix skill-specific wage floors for all workers in an industry. One view of those “explicit” contracts argues that the prevailing wage structure reflects the labor market conditions back at the time when those contracts were bargained, with little space for renegotiation. An alternative view stresses that only workers close to the minima are affected by wage floors and that the wage structure reacts to current labor market conditions. We disentangle both models using a novel data set that combines more tan 1,000 signature dates and 15,000 wage floors set in the metal working industry with labor market histories of metal workers drawn from Social Security records in Italy and Spain. An increase in the contemporaneous local unemployment rate of 1 p.p. diminished contemporaneous mean wages by about 0.45 p.p. between 2005 and 2013 in both countries. Instead, a 1 p.p. higher unemployment rate back at the time of contract renewal reduced wages by 0.7 p.p., an impact driven by wages close to the negotiated wage floors. Even though the evidence for earlier periods is mixed in Italy, the results do not support the view that the wage structure reflects labor market conditions at the time of bargaining. The results support the hypothesis that (most) wages respond to local current unemployment rate, although the estimated elasticity falls short of the prediction of an off-the-shelf bargaining model.
Development and pollen production in hives of Africanized Apis mellifera L. maintained in sunflower culture.

Were housed Eight Langstroth beehives with frontal pollen trap model in an area of 5ha of sunflower crop (Hellianthus annuus L.), distributed in two treatments: energy food (inverted sugar) or protein food (fine sugar+inverted sugar+milk flour 6:3:1). The objective of this work was to evaluate the food energy or protein in the development of colonies of honeybee Apis mellifera L. , during the production of pollen in sunflower culture. Were evaluated: brood area, area of honey, pollen area and pollen production of the hives. The energetic supplement showed higher (P<0.10) final create area and higher (p<0.10) gain of honey area in relation to the protein supplement. The total pollen production was higher (p>0.10) in the energy treatment compared to protein, being 2112.48 and 716.88 grams, respectively. The energetic food was more efficient on the feeding of Africanized bees during the production of pollen in the sunflower culture, which provided good production of beekeeping pollen in hives. Key-words. Inverted sugar, create area, milk flour, beekeeping pollen, sunflower.
Privatization/Liberalization and Growth: Evidence from a Natural Experiment of European Economies in Transition

We examine the relationship between privatization/liberalization and growth using comparable pre-1991 data also. For transition countries with such data, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania or BHPR countries, a regime change to market economy increased their catching-up-to-the-US rate from 1.66% to 2.25%, while TFP’s contribution to output is almost the same in the two periods. Reforms did not impose any short run costs on these countries while the CIS countries fell-behind so sharply that they have still not recovered their 1991 relative income level. The greatly different post-1990 growth in short/long term cannot be explained by differing emphasis on external or price liberalization or privatization the emphasis was not different. While TFP is behind growth of both, physical (human) capital is the additional factor in Baltic and exCzechoslovakian (ex-Yugoslavian) countries. Negative contribution of human capital is the sole reason underlying falling-behind of the CIS countries since 1991. Based on catching-up/fallingbehind during the longest period for which we have reliable and comparable data, CIS countries have no prospect of ever equaling US or German income, BHPR countries will reach income equality with the US (Germany) in 90 (108) years; Baltic and ex-Czechoslovakia countries in 67 (91) years, and ex-Yugoslavia countries in 101 (203) years. JEL Codes: O10, O47
A SIMPLE PRE-OPERATIONAL MODEL FOR THE PORTUGUESE COAST

Abstract. A three-level nested, pre-operational model of the portuguese coastal circulation is implemented with MOHID[1]. The Mercator large-scale operational North-Atlantic ocean model[2] provides initial and one-way open boundary conditions, while the MM5 mesoscale regional atmospheric forecasting model, forced by ECMRWF data, provides surface forcing. Tide is forced by the FES2004[3] tidal atlas. The open boundary conditions are based in the Flather[4] radiation scheme (sea surface height and barotropic velocity) and in a Flow Relaxation Scheme[5] (velocity, temperature and salinity). The spin up of the model is done connecting gradually the forcing terms. The results show, on a weekly-basis, a gain in spatial variability at the finer scale. Wind driven currents elaborate over the Mercator solution, providing finer scale realistic results at the surface when compared with clear sky remote-sensing SST imagery, showing fronts formation, cold finger-like structures and upwelled jets, while characteristic low frequency features such as the MW veins and the poleward slope-current[1] are evidenced within little more than a week spin-up. Other features such as transient meddies [1, 2] are also evidenced. Some forecasts results are published weekly on a Live Access Server and are also available over OpenDAP. This operational system rises as a potential tool for predicting the fate of tracers near the Portuguese coast and for providing realistic forcing for local coastal models applied to estuaries or hydrographic basins or other client applications such as the Oil observer, also presented in this work
Combining Ability Study in Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)

The present investigation on diallel analysis was conducted to study the combining ability in tomato for fourteen characters including fruit yield and its component characters. ANOVA revealed that both additive and non-additive variances were significant for fruit yield and its related traits indicating their improvements in the expression of various traits. The magnitude of non-additive variance was higher for fruit yield and its contributing traits indicating predominant role of nonadditive gene action in the inheritance of the traits. The parents viz., NTE 1 and NTE 2 were the good general combiner for fruit yield per plant which had also the good general combining ability effects for the yield attributes. Specific combining ability revealed that top yielding hybrids viz., NTE-2 x NTE 3 and NTE 2 x NTE 4 expressed significant sca effects for fruit yield and its attributing characters involving at least one good general combiner.
Prevalence and Determinants of Exclusive Breastfeeding in Urban Slum

Background:Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 months of life is the most effective preventive measurefor saving the lives of infants and children in country like India with high burden of under -five mortality.Despite of the demonstrated benefitsof breastfeeding the duration and prevalence are still low in first six months . Various social customs and misconceptions act as barrier to EBF. Aims and objective: To estimate the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding practices among study population and to find out the factors affecting EBF. Methodology: A community based cross sectional study was conducted among mothers having at least one childinbetween 06-24 months of age. Considering the prevalence 54.9 % from NFHS4 (2015-2016) data with 95% confidence and a precision of 10.5%, 100 mothers were interviewed using pre tested semi structured questionnaire. Statistical analysis was done by using Chi-square test. Results: 55% mothers have exclusively breastfeed their children up to 6 months or more. Mothers educational status, religion, socioeconomic status, ANC visits, place of delivery, counselling during ANC period and gender of the baby were the factors found to be significantly associated with EBF. Most common reason for partially or not breastfeed their babies was insufficient milk (40.4%). Colostrum was given only by 61% and most common reason for discarding colostrum was false beliefs (74.34%). Conclusion: The study shows that EBF practices is still low and more focus should be towards female empowerment and health care delivery system.
Evaluating fungicide efficacy, plant varietal resistance and leaf morphology in developing control strategies for basil downy mildew ( Peronospora belbahrii)

OF THE THESIS Evaluating Fungicide Efficacy, Plant Varietal Resistance and Leaf Morphology in Developing Control Strategies for Basil Downy Mildew (Peronospora belbahrii) KATHRYN HOMA Thesis Director: Dr. James Simon Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is the most economically-important culinary herb in the U.S. Recently, a new disease, basil downy mildew (BDM) caused by the oomycete pathogen Peronospora belbahrii, was introduced into the U.S. and has caused significant losses in commercial basil production. BDM was first reported in October, 2007 in Florida. Since then, the pathogen has spread across the country, most likely via infested seed and weather patterns. In 2010 and 2011, biological and conventional fungicides were evaluated for the control of BDM using cv. ‘Italian Large Leaf’ basil. In each year, only K-Phite (phosphorous acid, FRAC code 33) provided the best level of disease control. In 2010 and 2011, Ocimum species and varieties including sweet, cinnamon, Thai, citrus, spice and holy basils were evaluated for susceptibility to BDM. In both years, sweet basils were determined to be the most susceptible; cinnamon, clove and Thai types were moderately susceptible; and citrus, spice and holy types were least susceptible to BDM. Stomata length and density were measured on 20 basil species and varieties in 2011. In general, basil species with higher stomatal densities had higher downy mildew incidence. High densities were mainly found in the sweet, cinnamon and clove basils.
A Correlational Model of Rape Myth Acceptance and Psychosocial Factors Among Medical School Students

A substantial body of medical literature suggests that different types of persons blame rape victim for the fate. Although rape myth acceptance can be a product of personal psychosocial factors, it is also a response to messages from social, family, media, and groups that propagate the legitimacy of such myths. We aimed to evaluate whether personal variables such as depression, drug use, being non-heteronormative, and inconsistent condom use could act as supportive factors for rape myth acceptance. This cross-sectional study used questions and validated instruments assessing sociodemographic characteristics, depression, drug use, and rape myth acceptance to perform a correlational model. A total of 269 medical students aged 18 and above, from the first through the sixth year at a medical school, were randomly selected and recruited for the study. Being male and using drugs significantly supported myth rape acceptance; in contrast, higher depression levels, being non-heteronormative, and a history of being sexually abused in childhood did not support these rape myths. What holds promise for the future, however, is that although we still live in a patriarchal society, university students can be encouraged to question their personal and sexual roles, and recreate our culture.