Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative Study on Lipid Profile of Hypertensive Patients and Non-Hypertensive Individuals in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India

Cardiovascular diseases are the highest cause of death in the industrialized world, and many of these deaths may be work related. Hypertension is the most common of the cardiovascular diseases which is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the industrial world. Stress, tension, smoking, liquors, insufficient rest, metabolic disorders, excessive consumption of tea or coffee, emotional disturbance etc. are also associated with high blood pressure. Several previous studies showed the relation between hyperlipidemia and hypertension. An excessive daily intake of saturated fats, cholesterol, and other sources of calories and subsequent disturbance of lipid profile leading to hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia are associated with obesity and, consequently, hypertension. The present study was designed to compare the serum triglyceride, cholesterol, High Density Lipo-protein (HDL) and Low Density Lipo-protein (LDL levels in hypertensive and nonhypertensive individuals. While the relation between hyperlipidemia and hypertension is clearly shown, there are only a few studies which have compared the lipid profiles of hypertensive and non-hypertensive cases. The aim and objectives of the present casecontrol study were to find out the relationship between serum lipids levels of the hypertensive patients with controls in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. This study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner and Department of General Medicine, Kothari Medical and Research Institute, Bikaner. Patients were selected randomly from the city, and the selected subjects were divided into two groups each comprising of 50 patients. Group I: untreated hypertension and served as study group; Group II: normotensive persons having normal Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (BP) and served as a control group. Patients included in both the groups were assessed for lipid profile. Overall, it could be concluded that the serum lipid profile of recently diagnosed untreated hypertensive patient was deranged specially in a middle age group (the study group) as compared to healthy subjects. Based on the results obtained from the present study, it could be further envisaged that serum cholesterol; triglyceride levels are positively correlated with hypertensive patients whereas HDL-cholesterol has no significant changes with hypertension.
Phonological acquisition and development in Arabic-English bilingual children

The main aim of this thesis is to explore the effect of cross-linguistic interaction on the phonological acquisition and development of simultaneous pre-school bilingual children. Data sample comprise of elicited single words and spontaneous speech obtained for three children acquiring English and Arabic languages and recorded by their mothers at home on a monthly basis for a period of one year. The extent of cross-linguistic interaction between the bilingual children's two language was examined through three manifestations: (a) transfer; (b) delay; and (c) acceleration (Paradis & Genesee, 1996) against consonant accuracy PCC, phonemic repertoire, and error patterns. Findings revealed evidence of cross-linguistic interaction through transfer and acceleration at variable degrees across the participants. For transfer, bi-directional transfer was observed in the production of the phoneme /r/ by two of the participants, while unidirectional transfer was more frequent and influenced the production of the following phonemes; /r/, /l/, /ɫ/ and /ŋ/. The directionality of transfer and its frequency corresponded to language exposure patterns the children were exposed to. Acceleration was observed in segmental inventories of shared and unshared sounds. One of the participants had an accelerated inventory of shared sound cross-linguistically when she was less than three years. Conversely, the other participants reported an accelerated segmental inventory in Arabic of unshared sounds over the age of three. In addition, acceleration of the PCC scores in both languages was evident in the results of one of the participants who received amble language exposure in both languages. Delay on the other hand was not found to be a manifestation of interaction and was the result of insufficient language exposure received in the participants' concerned languages. This was also the case of error pattern in which its frequency is contingent on the amount of language exposure received. Longitudinally, interaction either decreased or resolved demonstrating the boosting mechanism of interaction that could manifest at varying degrees during acquisition. The main contribution of this thesis, apart from its being the first longitudinal exploration of English/Arabic simultaneous preschool bilingual children in the UK, is the positive effect of a certain threshold of language exposure across the bilinguals' languages in promoting higher accuracy and larger segmental inventory in comparison to their age matched monolinguals.
Prospective study of the additional benefit of plexus magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy

Hypertrophy/signal hyperintensity and/or gadolinium enhancement of plexus structures on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are observed in two‐thirds of cases of typical chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). The objective of our study was to determine the additional benefit of plexus MRI in patients referred to tertiary centers with baseline clinical and electrophysiological characteristics suggestive of typical or atypical CIDP.
Dispersion of functional gradients across the lifespan

Ageing is commonly associated with changes to segregation and integration of functional brain networks, but, in isolation, current network-based approaches struggle to elucidate changes across the many axes of functional organisation. However, the advent of gradient mapping techniques to neuroimaging provides a new means of studying functional organisation in a multi-dimensional connectivity space. Here, we studied ageing and behaviourally-relevant differences in a three-dimensional connectivity space using the Cambridge Centre for Ageing Neuroscience cohort (n=643). Building on gradient mapping techniques, we developed a set of measures to quantify the dispersion within and between functional communities. We detected a strong shift of the visual network across the lifespan from an extreme to a more central position in the 3D gradient space. In contrast, the dispersion distance of transmodal communities (dorsal attention, ventral attention, frontoparietal and default mode) did not change. However, these communities were increasingly dispersed with increasing age, reflecting more dissimilar functional connectivity profiles within each community. Increasing dispersion of frontoparietal and ventral attention networks, in particular, was associated negatively with cognition, measured by fluid intelligence. By using a technique that explicitly captures the ordering of functional systems in a multi-dimensional hierarchical framework, we identified behaviorally-relevant age-related differences of within and between network organisation. We propose that the study of functional gradients across the lifespan could provide insights that may facilitate the development of new strategies to maintain cognitive ability across the lifespan in health and disease.
Current Practice of Computer and Related Health Problems: A Study of Samtse College of Education (SCE) Office Staff Based on Ergonomics

In recent years, computers have gained popularity among office staff of Samtse College of Education (SCE) for the purpose teaching and administrative activities. Some staff exhibited strain or injuries such as eye strain, backache, and neck pain as a result of incorrect positioning and repetitive movements. Therefore, cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out from August 23rd to September 5th, 2017 to examine current practice of computer and related health problems among college staff, based on ergonomics. A borrowed, content validated, and constructed questionnaire was used for data collection. A total of 44 office staff participated in this study out of 60 office staff. The office staff were then separated into two groups according to their workplace, namely as teaching staff and support staff. Current practice of computer’s usage was ergonomically improper. Prolonged usage in improper posture has created certain associated health problems. This study indicates SCE office staff are exposed to certain ergonomic hazards and associated health problems. There is a need to create awareness of computer ergonomics practice to improve the current practice of computer’s usage and to minimize health related problems among staff of SCE.
Determinants of survival pulmonary Langerhans' cell granuromatosis (histiocytosis X)

Determinants of survival in pulmonary Langerhans' cell granulomatosis (histiocytosis X). A. Delobbe, J. Durieu, A. Duhamel, B. Wallaert and the Groupe d'Etude en Pathologie Interstitielle de la Société de Pathologie Thoracique du Nord. ©ERS Journals Ltd 1996. ABSTRACT: The course of pulmonary Langerhans' cell granulomatosis (pulmonary LCG) is variable, difficult to predict and ranges from spontaneous remission to progressive respiratory insufficiency and death. To identify the determinants of survival, we performed a survival analysis on 45 patients with pulmonary LCG. The patients were aged 28±10 yrs (mean±SD) (range 12–62 yrs), 32 males and 13 females, almost exclusively current smokers (96%), and 78% presented symptoms at the time of diagnosis. Diagnosis was made by lung biopsy in 25 patients (56%) and by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) analysis in 20 patients (44%). The patients were followed for a median period of 6 yrs (range 1–29 yrs ) after the diagnosis. During the period of observation, 33 (73%) patients survived (median follow-up period = 5.8 yrs; range, 1–29 yrs) and 12 (27%) died or underwent lung transplantation (median follow-up period = 8.4 yrs; range 1.4–16.1 yrs). The median survival was approximately 13 years. A univariate analysis demonstrated that diminished survival was significantly associated with: an older age at diagnosis (p=0.0001); a lower forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) ratio at diagnosis (p=0.005); a higher residual volume/total lung volume (RV/TLC) ratio at diagnosis (p=0.02); and steroid therapy during follow-up (p=0.03). Additional predictive information on mortality was: age >26 yrs (sensitivity 83%, specificity 64%); FEV1/FVC ratio <0.66 (sensitivity 75%, specificity 86%); and a RV/TLC ratio >0.33 (sensitivity 75%, specificity 63%). In multivariate Cox analysis, the combination of factors which gave the best prognostic value was FEV1/FVC ratio and age (p<0.01). The present findings suggest that adverse prognosis factors at diagnosis in pulmonary Langerhans' cell granulomatosis include older age, lower FEV1/FVC ratio and higher RV/TLC ratio, with additional predictive information on mortality if aged >26 yrs, FEV1/FVC ratio <0.66, and RV/TLC ratio >0.33. Eur Respir J., 1996, 9, 2002–2006. *Service de Pneumologie et Immuno-allergologie, Hôpital A. Calmette, and INSERM U416 Institut Pasteur, Lille Cedex, France. **Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche en Informatique Médicale, Faculté de Médecine, Lille, France.
Investigation on thermal behaviour and optical properties of non-symmetric cholesterol-based twin liquid crystals with thioester linkages

ABSTRACT Herein, a series of novel asymmetric cholesterol-based liquid crystal compounds containing thioester linkage and an analogue containing carboxylate linking unit have been synthesised and characterised. Thermal analyses demonstrated that all desired target compounds possess broad mesophase temperature ranges (ΔT, 91–142.5°C) and high thermal stability (clearing points, 214.9–259.4°C). Due to the increasing chain length of the inner flexible spacer, clearing points and entropy changes (ΔS/R) of the COS-containing dimers showed pronounced parity effects. All dimers exhibited enantiotropic mesophase behaviour with an SmC* phase and a typical cholesteric phase (N*), which were validated by XRD and POM. The effect of structural changes of COO and COS unit in the linking group on the mesomorphic properties was analysed. Comparing C6SAR with C6OAR, it was found that the thioester-containing dimer exhibited more stable mesophase, higher phase transition temperatures (about 20°C higher) and enthalpy values (ΔH). All final products exhibited selective reflection to visible light, produced multiple colours. The higher temperatures led to the shorter pitch, which can further result in shorter reflection wavelengths, and the ‘blue shift’ occurred. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Myeloma with AL Amyloidosis: 10 Years Experience with Stem Cell Transplant.

Background: (AL) Amyloidosis is a rare and potentially fatal disease that involves deposition of light chain protein by a clonal plasma cell population. Treatment with high dose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) can improve survival and reverse organ damage, but this treatment is associated with toxicity and mortality. We reviewed the outcome of patients with amyloidosis, who received hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) at our institution. Patients and Methods: The retrospective study analyzed 32 patients with AL Amyloidosis who underwent transplant between 1997–2006. There were 17 men and 15 women, with a medium age of 53 years (range 35–73 years). All patients had diagnostic criteria for multiple myeloma (MM) and had biopsy confirmed amyloidosis of at least one organ site. Six patients had at least 1 organ involved with AL amyloidosis (3 bone marrows, 2 subcutaneous and 1 kidney), 20 patients had 2 organs involved, while 6 patients had 3 or more organs affected. All received a median of 3 cycles of chemotherapy (range 0–13) before transplant. Twenty-eight patients underwent autologous transplant, while 4 had an allogeneic transplants (2 syngeneic and 2 siblings). The preparative regimens received in 28 patients were high dose melphalan (26 autologous and 2 syngeneic), 2 patients received Busulfan and Melphalan, 2 allogeneic transplant Fludarabine and Melphalan. Results: The median Charlson Comorbidities Index (CCI) was 3 (range 0–8). The median number of CD34+ cells infused was 4.85 x 106 cells/kg (range 1.43–7.82 cells/kg). The median time to neutrophil and platelet engraftment were 11 (range 2–21days) and 14 days (range2–41), respectively. 56% of patients developed moderate to severe gastrointestinal effects. Four patients underwent allogeneic transplant and 1 had acute and chronic graft vs host disease (GVHD). Twenty-one patients (65%) achieved a partial hematological remission (PR), and 5 patients (15%) achieved complete hematological remission (CR), with a total response hematological rate of 80%. The 100 day NRM was 3.2%. The median overall survival was (OS) 41 months (range 1–108), 7 patients died (4 relapsed and 3 infections) all 7 patients had CCI greater or equal to 4. Conclusion: Selected patients with MM and amyloidosis can benefit from high dose therapy with stem cell support including allogeneic transplantation. The high mortality seen in patients with CCI >4 suggests that this index could be useful in selecting patients for high dose chemotherapy.
The dynamic interaction between memory and linguistic knowledge in children’s language development: The role of sentence recall

The role of working memory (WM) in language acquisition has been widely reported in the developmental literature, but few studies have explored the role of sentence recall in the way WM and related linguistic abilities evolve. This study seeks to explore the organization and development of the memory architecture underlying language using a longitudinal design. A total of 104 children were assessed on verbal WM, phonological short-term memory (pSTM), vocabulary, and sentence recall skills at age 6 and 1 year later at age 7. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed a robust direct predictive effect of pSTM and vocabulary on sentence recall at Time 1 and of verbal WM on sentence recall at Time 2, supporting Baddeley’s WM architecture. Additionally, pSTM and sentence recall abilities at age 6 predicted verbal WM and vocabulary at 7 years, respectively, regardless of autoregressive effects. These results support the notion of the dynamic nature of the language system and suggest a key role of specific memory abilities underlying sentence recall in language development during childhood.
Subduction initiation in the southeastern Palaeo‐Asian Ocean: Constraints from early Permian adakites in suprasubduction zone ophiolites, central Inner Mongolia, North China

Here, we investigate early Permian adakites from Inner Mongolia, North China. The adakites are found along the Hegenshan suture zone, were emplaced into the late Carboniferous Meilaotewula suprasubduction zone (SSZ) ophiolite and consist mainly of fine‐ to medium‐grained granodiorites. U–Pb zircon dating reveals that the Meilaotewula adakites crystallized at 292 Ma. The adakites belong to the low‐K tholeiitic and medium‐K calc‐alkaline series. They are characterized by high SiO2 (65.20–70.05 wt.%), Al2O3 (16.46–19.27 wt.%), and Sr (343–666 ppm); low MgO (1.26–1.95 wt.%), Yb (0.65–1.16 ppm), and Y (8.08–10.6 ppm) contents; and Na2O/K2O ratios (3.26–10.73). They are relatively enriched in large‐ion lithophile elements, such as K, Rb, and Sr, and depleted in high‐field‐strength elements, such as Nb, Ta, Zr, Ti, and P, and have low total rare‐earth element (REE) contents (27.73–49.63 ppm), with distinct REE fractionation (chondrite‐normalized La/Yb of 3.05–8.88) and no pronounced negative Eu anomalies. The rocks have relatively low initial 87Sr/86Sr values (0.70285–0.70326), high εNd(t) values (+8.8 to +10.8), and relatively high zircon εHf(t) values (11.9 to 15.9), indicating that the magma was derived from young juvenile oceanic crust derived from depleted mantle, similar to adakitic rocks formed by partial melting of subducted oceanic crust. The relatively high Mg# of the adakites indicates that the melts interacted with mantle peridotite during ascent. The adakites, together with Meilaotewula ophiolite (308 Ma), may have formed during the early stages of intra‐oceanic subduction, demonstrating that subduction initiation in the southeastern Palaeo‐Asian Ocean occurred during the late Carboniferous to early Permian.
To type or handwrite: student's experience across six eExam trials

This paper reports on student's experience of e-Exams as collected via surveys undertaken in conjunction with a series of optional live trials of an open source, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) based e-Exam system in six mid-semester undergraduate examinations during 2014 at The University of Queensland, Australia. A set of surveys were conducted prior and following each exam that covered ease of use, technical issues, comfort, confidence, time, typing versus handwriting prowess. Responses to Likert items were compared between those students who elected to type and those that handwrote their exam. Insights as to which issues proved significant for students will prove useful to institutions looking to implement computerised exams.
The Effects of Circuit Resistance Training on Inflammatory Status, Insulin Resistance and Body Composition in Overweight Adolescent Boys

Objective: The overweight-related health problems among adolescents are obvious. Resistance training is recognized as a safe and efficacious exercise modality to have health-promoting effects in overweight adolescents. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of circuit resistance training (CRT) in improving inflammatory status, insulin resistance and body composition in overweight male adolescents. Materials and Methods: Twenty overweight adolescent boys (aged: 18.5 (±1), weight: 81.1 (±4.5), body mass index: 27.7 (±0.7)) completed this study. The participants were randomly and equally divided into two groups of control (CG; n=10) and circuit resistance training (CRT; n=10). The CG did their daily routine activities and the CRT group performed its training protocol 3 days a week for 6 weeks. Body composition components and serum variables were measured a day before and after the study. Insulin resistance index was measured by HOMA-IR. Results: The subjects in the CG showed significantly increased changes compared with pre-training values. Moreover, significant changes were found fort the changes of BW ( P -value= 0.005), BMI ( P -value= 0.001) and BF% ( P -value= 0.003) between groups. Conclusion: This study suggested that although six weeks of CRT failed to induce meaningful anti-inflammatory cytokine responses, and to improve body composition and HOMA-IR in overweight adolescent boys, but had protective effects on inflammatory status, HOMA-IR and body composition and prevented them from being deteriorated
When and how java developers give up static type safety

The main goal of a static type system is to prevent certain kinds of errors from happening at run time. A type system is formulated as a set of constraints that gives any expression or term in a program a well-defined type. Besides detecting these kinds of errors, a static type system can be an invaluable maintenance tool, can be useful for documentation purposes, and can aid in generating more efficient machine code. However, there are situations when the developer has more information about the program that is too complex to explain in terms of typing constraints. To that end, programming languages often provide mechanisms that make the typing constraints less strict to permit more programs to be valid, at the expense of causing more errors at run time. These mechanisms are essentially two: Unsafe Intrinsics and Reflective Capabilities. We want to understand how and when developers give up these static constraints. This knowledge can be useful as: a) a recommendation for current and future language designers to make informed decisions, b) a reference for tool builders, e.g., by providing more precise or new refactoring analyses, c) a guide for researchers to test new language features, or to carry out controlled programming experiments, and d) a guide for developers for better practices. In this dissertation, we focus on the Unsafe API and cast operator—a subset of unsafe intrinsics and reflective capabilities respectively—in Java. We report two empirical studies to understand how these mechanisms— Unsafe API and cast operator—are used by Java developers when the static type system becomes too strict. We have devised usage patterns for both the Unsafe API and cast operator. Usage patterns are recurrent programming idioms to solve a specific issue. We believe that having usage patterns can help us to better categorize use cases and thus understand how those features are used.
Discursive framings of market-based education policy and their negotiation by students: the case of ‘value for money’ in English universities

ABSTRACT Measures that economise education are typically accompanied by discourses that prime society for change by framing the policy in individualistic and consumeristic terms. This article explores the emergence of ‘value for money’ (VfM) discourses in the English higher education sector. Using Bourdieu’s thinking tools, we explore how VfM is conceptualised by final year undergraduates paying different levels of ‘headline’ tuition fees at a Russell Group and a Post-92 university. Unsurprisingly, we find qualitative evidence of an increase in VfM negativity as fees rise. However, this does not distribute evenly across different groups of students. At both institutions, undergraduates approach VfM in complex and unexpected ways, drawing on different capitals and often pushing back against dominant discourses. A key finding is that many students report high levels of satisfaction with their institution, course and teaching, while simultaneously expressing VfM negativity because they feel tuition fees are too high.