Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morality, delinquent peer association, and criminogenic exposure: (How) does change predict change?

According to the Situational Action Theory, stronger morality inhibits the perception of alternatives to law-breaking action, thus lessening the probability of crime and delinquency. Research indicates that morality might be affected by delinquent peer association and in turn affect criminogenic exposure. This article studies how morality develops during late adolescence using data from the longitudinal project Malmö Individual and Neighbourhood Development Study. Using linear growth modelling, the study finds that a decrease in morality is associated with a simultaneous increase in delinquency peer association. No change in criminogenic exposure was detected. The results are discussed alongside theoretical and methodological implications.
Mathematical approaches for the clinical translation of hyperpolarised 13C imaging in oncology

Dissolution dynamic nuclear polarisation is an emerging clinical technique which enables the metabolism of hyperpolarised C-labelled molecules to be dynamically and non-invasively imaged in tissue. The first molecule to gain clinical approval is [1C]pyruvate, the conversion of which to [1-C]lactate has been shown to detect early treatment response in cancers and correlate with tumour grade. As the technique has recently been translated into humans, accurate and reliable quantitative methods are required in order to detect, analyse and compare regions of altered metabolism in patients. Furthermore, there is a requirement to understand the biological processes which govern lactate production in tumours in order to draw reliable conclusions from this data. This work begins with a comprehensive analysis of the quantitative methods which have previously been applied to hyperpolarised C data and compares these to some novel approaches. The most appropriate kinetic model to apply to hyperpolarised data is determined and some simple, robust quantitative metrics are identified which are suitable for clinical use. A means of automatically segmenting 5D hyperpolarised imaging data using a fuzzy Markov random field approach is presented in order to reliably identify regions of abnormal metabolic activity. The utility of the algorithm is demonstrated on both in silico and animal data. To gain insight into the processes driving lactate metabolism, a mathematical model is developed which is capable of simulating tumour growth and treatment response under a range of metabolic and tissue conditions, focusing on the interaction between tumour and stroma. Finally, hyperpolarised C-pyruvate imaging data from the first human subjects to be imaged in Cambridge is analysed. The ability to detect and quantify lactate production in patients is demonstrated through application of the methods derived in earlier chapters. The mathematical approaches presented in this work have the potential to inform both the analysis and interpretation of clinical hyperpolarised C imaging data and to aid in the clinical translation of this technique.
Essays on the management of appointments for chronic conditions

Treating chronic conditions is a fairly complex task, which requires well-timed appointments to control one's disease progression. In my dissertation I would like to optimize the monitoring strategies and better predict the demand-for-care of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). To do that I design a chronic disease monitoring framework which consists of forecasting, survival analysis and Markov Decision Process (MDP) models. First, I propose a forecasting model which quantifies the impact of CKD-related doctor's appointments on patient's disease progression. The model accounts for patient's comorbidities, vital signs, and important laboratory values. Second, I propose a survival analysis model, which estimates the expected life days of a patient given his or her current health status. Finally, I use the information gained from the first two models to parametrize and solve the MDP, which can suggest monitoring strategies and predict medium-term demand for CKD-patient-care in a clinic. In addition to the chronic disease monitoring framework, I examine CKD patient characteristics associated with a higher resource utilization.
Social and Emotional Learning: Introducing the Issue

Stephanie Jones is the Marie and Max Kargman Associate Professor in Human Development and Urban Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Emily J. Doolittle is team lead for social behavioral research in the National Center for Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education. Research increasingly suggests that social and emotional learning (SEL) matters a great deal for important life outcomes like success in school, college entry and completion, and later earnings. This research also tells us that SEL can be taught and nurtured in schools so that students increase their ability to integrate thinking, emotions, and behavior in ways that lead to positive school and life outcomes. Although the term social and emotional learning has been around for 20 years, we’ve recently seen a rapid surge in interest in SEL among parents, educators, and policymakers. For example, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is supporting 10 large school districts and 45 smaller ones through its Collaborating Districts Initiative as they begin to incorporate a variety of SEL programs and practices into their schools. CASEL also recently launched a Collaborating States Initiative to support states as they develop policies, standards, and guidelines for SEL in schools. All 50 states have SEL standards in place at the preschool level, and four (Illinois, Kansas, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania) have SEL standards for kindergarten through 12th grade. And the Aspen Institute recently launched a National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development to explore how schools can fully integrate SEL into policies and instruction that have traditionally emphasized academics. We also know that teachers believe SEL skills can be taught, although they may not always know the best way to do so in their classrooms.1
Impact of Pharmacist Conducted Health Education on Menstrual Hygiene Management among Adolescent Girls

Certain menstrual practices result in adolescent girls being unaware of the sanitary essential for maintaining positive reproductive health. The present study was undertaken to assess the knowledge and beliefs regarding menstruation and hygiene practices among adolescent girls and also to provide them health education. This prospective interventional study was conducted in higher secondary schools in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Girls within the age of 10–19 years who attained menarche was included into the study. Data was collected by using self-administered questionnaire. The study found that knowledge on cause of menstruation was poor among participants i.e. only 43.33% of them knew the actual process of menstruation but the knowledge was significantly increased to 94.3% after intervention. But 93% girls knew that menstruation is not a disease. Only 54.33% had the knowledge that pregnant women will not menstruate. The knowledge on duration of normal menstruation among the respondents was significantly increased from 68.66% to 96% who correctly identified it as 3-7days. Similarly, knowledge on interval between 2 menstruation cycles was significantly increased from 35.6% to 95%. Results showed that 34% prefer sanitary pad as menstrual absorbent material. From the present study it can be concluded that the knowledge regarding menstruation among school girls is not satisfactory and their knowledge have improved after the conduct of educational sessions. The results of this study is promising and encouraging to impart more knowledge through large menstrual hygiene education campaigns.
Review of Loss Distribution, Analysis, and Measurement Techniques for GaN HEMTs

In recent years, there has been a trend for improved performance in semiconductor switches, allowing power electronic systems to achieve higher efficiency and higher power density. This desired improvement has led to the adoption of wide-bandgap devices-based switches due to the fact that silicon (Si) has been reaching its material limit. Si carbide and gallium nitride (GaN) offer faster switching speeds. Therefore, they require higher level measurement technologies to analyze them. In this article, the theoretical loss breakdown of a GaN-based power electronic system is presented including an analysis of its dynamic behavior. Several methods of measurement are presented to quantify the behavior of fast switching.
Evaluating the antimicrobial and antioxidant effects of trachyspermum and lemon balm essences and their combination on salmonella enteritidis bacteria and saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast in mayonnaise sauce

Introduction: Diseases caused by the consumption of foods contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms have great importance in public health. This study evaluated the antimicrobial effects of trachyspermum and lemon balm essences and their composition against Salmonella enteritidis bacteria and Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast as corruption factor microorganisms in mayonnaise sauce. Study Method: In this study, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of trachyspermum and lemon balm essence against S. enteritidis and S. cerevisiae were determined by dilution method in Muller-Hinton tube and medium. Finally, the effect of trachyspermum essence (0, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 µg / ml) and lemon balm essence (0, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 µg / ml) and their composition on microbial growth, antioxidant activity and total phenolic content in factorial form were evaluated as a completely randomized plan (P = 0.05). Results: The results showed that different levels of trachyspermum significantly reduced the possibilityof microbial growth compared to lemon balm. S. cerevisiae yeast was more sensitive compared to S. enteritidis to treatment of essences with different concentrations. The most antioxidant activity was related to the composition of essences of trachyspermum and lemon balm at 0.75 µg / ml concentration. Also the lowest antioxidant activity was related to 0.25 µg / ml concentration of lemon balm. The total phenolic content increased significantly compared to the blank sample (lack of essence) by increasing concentration of trachyspermum and lemon balm and mixture of these two essences. Overall, sensory evaluation showed that mayonnaise with 0.50 µg / ml of trachyspermum essence had better quality for the consumer. Conclusion: Economically, it can be said that a good combination of the used concentrations of trachyspermum and lemon balm in the sauce sample, can be advantageous in terms of creating an antimicrobial environment.
A genetic evaluation of productive herd life in dairy cattle

The length of productive life is of major economic importance in dairy cattle production. Simple breeding objectives such as selection for increased production in dairy cattle have led to a significant decline in fitness traits. A multi-purpose breeding objective that includes other traits such as length of productive life should be considered. Herd life reflects the ability of a cow to avoid being culled for low production, low fertility, or illness. Herd life can be used in breeding programs if genetic parameters are known. The objectives of the study were to: (1) estimate genetic parameters for functional herd life for the South African Jersey breed using a multiple trait linear model, (2) develop a prototype breeding value for functional herd life for the South African Jersey breed, (3) estimate genetic relationships between functional herd life and conformation traits in the South African Jersey breed and (4) assess inbreeding depression for functional herd life in the South African Jersey breed based on level and rate of inbreeding. A measure of herd life called functional herd life was considered in the current study. Functional herd life refers to herd life adjusted for milk production in the first lactation. In this study functional herd life was defined as survival in each of the first three lactations. Functional herd life was denoted by a 1 if a cow survived and 0 otherwise. Analyses to estimate genetic parameters for functional herd life were carried out as follows. Data and pedigree records on purebred Jersey cows that participated in National Milk Recording and Improvement Scheme were analyzed. Data before editing comprised test-day and lactation yields on milk, fat and protein yields from 252 629 Jersey cows born between 1968 and 2005. After editing, 181 269 cow records from 636 herds recorded over 16 years were available for analysis. Estimates of genetic parameters for herd life were obtained using REML procedures fitting a multiple-trait linear animal and sire models. Heritability estimates (0.02 to 0.03) from the two models were somewhat similar for all lactations. However, heritability estimates for lactations 2 and 3 were slightly higher with the sire model compared to the animal model. The genetic correlation between lactations 1 and 2 from both the sire and animal models was higher than that between lactations 2 and 3. Genetic correlations from the sire model ranged from 0.68
Automated cell differential count in sputum is feasible and comparable to manual cell count in identifying eosinophilia

Abstract Introduction Cell differential count (CDC) of induced sputum is considered the gold standard for inflammatory phenotyping of asthma but is not implemented in routine care due to its heavy time- and staff demands. Digital Cell Morphology is a technique where digital images of cells are captured and presented preclassified as white blood cells (neutrophils, eosinophils, lymphocytes, macrophages, and unidentified) and nonwhite blood cells for review. With this study, we wanted to assess the accuracy of an automated CDC in identifying the key inflammatory cells in induced sputum. Methods Sputum from 50 patients with asthma was collected and processed using the standard processing protocol with one drop 20% albumin added to hinder cell smudging. Each slide was counted automatically using the CellaVision DM96 and manually by an experienced lab technician. Sputum was classified as eosinophilic or neutrophilic using 3% and 61% cutoffs, respectively. Results We found a good agreement using intraclass correlation for all target cells, despite significant differences in the cell count rate. The automated CDC had a sensitivity of 65%, a specificity of 93%, and a kappa-coefficient of 0.61 for identification of sputum eosinophilia. In contrast, the automated CDC had a sensitivity of 29%, a specificity of 100%, and a kappa-coefficient of 0.23 for identification of sputum neutrophilia. Conclusion Automated- and manual cell counts of sputum agree with regards to the key inflammatory cells. The automated cell count had a modest sensitivity but a high specificity for the identification of both neutrophil and eosinophil asthma.
Seed production and dispersal limit treeline advance in the Pyrenees

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Vegetation Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Association of Vegetation Science 1Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany 2Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 3Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals (CREAF), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
Is pregabalin effective in reducing pain caused by arthritis?

Perhaps. Pregabalin appears to be effective in reducing absolute pain scores associated with osteoarthritis (OA) of the hands by approximately 27% compared with placebo (SOR: C, small randomized controlled trial [RCT]). When used in combination with meloxicam, pregabalin also appears to be effective in reducing absolute pain scores associated with OA of the knees by approximately 10% to 25% compared with either treatment alone (SOR:C, small RCT). Copyright © 2020 by Family Physicians Inquiries Network, Inc. DOI 10.1097/EBP.0000000000000651
SUSTAINING INNOVATIVE INFORMAL EDUCATION THROUGH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Various technological innovations in ICT have brought about profound changes in major aspects of education, namely the content delivery or pedagogy, and the structure or management of both formal and informal education. Current technology has also offered the ease of copying or reusing new innovation without the need to acknowledge or compensate the creators. New books, and methods or techniques can easily be copied and digital resources may speedily be scanned and forwarded without much regard to the creators’ effort or investment. These actions would potentially discourage creations of new innovations that would be useful for public lifelong learning. Understanding cultural perspectives in the relationship between the intellectual property system and religious works is significant since it analyzes the intersection of belief and culture with the application of the law. This paper explored the development of creativity and innovation in an informal education setting, specifically looking at Quranic teaching offered by private enterprises in Malaysia as a case study. This paper examined (a) to what extent the Quranic teaching and learning have been innovatively developed and (b) to what extent developers of new innovation in Quranic teaching and learning deem it necessary to protect their creations under intellectual property rights protection. This study utilized qualitative research, by way of document analysis gathered from reports, brochures, journal articles, newspapers, the Internet, websites and mass media focusing on the creativity and innovation in informal religious education. It also conducted semi-structured interviews with several companies that used new innovative methods in teaching the Quran. The findings revealed that although intellectual property protection is seen as a valuable business asset which provides legal recognition and acts as quality control, intellectual property protection plays a minimal role in encouraging innovation or the spread of Quranic teaching.
Compliance With Hand-Washing Guidelines Among Visitors From the Community to Acute Care Settings: A Scoping Review

Background: Health care–associated infections are widely acknowledged to be an important public health issue. Hand hygiene guidelines for health care workers are common, but remain uncommon for visitors. Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review is to examine the methodological quality of articles indicating the adherence and efficacy of hand hygiene compliance of community visitors to the acute care setting. Data Sources: Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Medline, and PubMedß. Study Selection: A systematic literature search was conducted for articles describing hand-washing efficacy among visitors in an acute care setting using the following Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms: “clinical trial,” “evaluation studies,” “randomized controlled trial,” “cross infection/epidemiology,” “cross infection/prevention & control,” “hand disinfection/standards,” “intervention studies,” “guideline adherence/statistics & numerical data,” “risk factors,” “skin care/standards,” and “time factors. ” Primary or secondary research studies that were published in peer-reviewed journals, written in English, and involving hospital visitor hand hygiene compliance were included. The Downs and Black (D&B) checklist was used to document the methodological quality. The Cochrane Collaborative checklist was used to assess the risk of bias. Data Synthesis: Mean D&B scores were 17/27. Baseline hand hygiene compliance for visitors was 0.5% to 11% at the hospital main entrance, 9% to 35% for general and surgical units, 11% for isolation rooms, 39% in pediatric wards, 3.95% to 49.1% at bedside, and 7% to 94% for intensive care units. Posted signs, de-germer dispensers, and pandemic influenza status all increased hand hygiene compliance over baseline observations. Limitations: Studies were generally low quality and at high risk for bias. In addition, data could not be pooled. This was attributed to the unavailability of prospective controlled trials. Substantial heterogeneity was found in the number and types of dependent variable measures. Conclusions: Visitor compliance with hand hygiene guidelines is highly variable but may be amenable to public health interventions. Higher quality studies focused on health outcomes are necessary to generate best practice recommendations related to hand hygiene.
The quality of care among older adults with diabetes comorbid with other chronic conditions

The management of people with multiple chronic conditions requires understanding the extent to which concurrent chronic conditions contribute and interact to affect the patient’s health status, as well as assessing the risk and benefits of various strategies for the treatment of complex needs in patients. A single condition focus in both clinical care and research remains and limits the assessment of care for people with multiple chronic conditions. The overall aim of this project was to evaluate the quality of overall care for older adults with selected disease combinations in ambulatory care settings. The first study aimed to identify a set of evidence-based and valid quality indicators for evaluating ambulatory care for older adults with selected chronic conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, chronic ischemic heart disease, major depression and osteoarthritis. The second study aimed to critically appraise the identified quality indicators and select a set of indicators for evaluating the quality of care for older adults with diabetes with comorbid concordant and discordant chronic conditions. The third study aimed to examine the difference in the quality of care between patients with 2 vs. 1 selected concordant vs. discordant comorbid conditions, and to examine associations of quality of care and hospitalizations among older adults with selected disease combinations. The study findings suggest that older adults with diabetes are at risk of suboptimal care with additional selected comorbid conditions, especially those with discordant comorbid iii conditions. The study findings also support the importance of continuity of care for older diabetes patients with comorbid chronic conditions. The study findings suggest that the likelihood of hospitalizations increases with the number of prescribed drugs among older adults with comorbidities. There is a need for a holistic approach in education and clinical care of older adults with diabetes taking into account concomitant conditions that affect patient’s health status. Future research is needed for measuring the quality of care in the larger diabetes population and reporting by different stratifications, including age, sex, primary care models to see if there are any patterns in certain groups and target the interventions towards improving practices for specific sub groups.