Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Out of pocket expenses in obsessive compulsive disorder

Abstract Background Despite anecdotal evidence that the out of pocket costs of OCD can be substantial in some cases, there is no evidence on how many people they affect, or the magnitude of these costs. Aims This paper explores the type and quantity of out of pocket expenses reported by a large sample of adults with OCD. Methods Data on out of pocket expenses were collected from participants taking part in the OCTET multi-centre randomised controlled trial. Participants were aged 18+, meeting DSM-IV criteria for OCD, and scoring 16+ on the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. Individual-level resource use data including a description and estimated cost of out of pocket expenses were measured using an adapted version of the Adult Service Use Schedule (AD-SUS): a questionnaire used to collect data on resource use. Results Forty-five percent (208/465) reported out of pocket expenses due to their OCD. The mean cost of out of pocket expenses was £19.19 per week (SD £27.56 SD), range £0.06–£224.00. Conclusions Future economic evaluations involving participants with OCD should include out of pocket expenses, but careful consideration of alternative approaches to the collection and costing of this data is needed.
History and Some Aspects of the Lamb Shift

Radiation is a process common to classical and quantum systems with very different effects in each regime. In a quantum system, the interaction of a bound electron with its own radiation field leads to complex shifts in the energy levels of the electron, with the real part of the shift corresponding to a shift in the energy level and the imaginary part to the width of the energy level. The most celebrated radiative shift is the Lamb shift between the 2 s 1 / 2 and the 2 p 1 / 2 levels of the hydrogen atom. The measurement of this shift in 1947 by Willis Lamb Jr. proved that the prediction by Dirac theory that the energy levels were degenerate was incorrect. Hans Bethe’s calculation of the shift showed how to deal with the divergences plaguing the existing theories and led to the understanding that interactions with the zero-point vacuum field, the lowest energy state of the quantized electromagnetic field, have measurable effects, not just resetting the zero of energy. This understanding led to the development of modern quantum electrodynamics (QED). This historical pedagogic paper explores the history of Bethe’s calculation and its significance. It explores radiative effects in classical and quantum systems from different perspectives, with the emphasis on understanding the fundamental physical phenomena. Illustrations are drawn from systems with central forces, the H atom, and the three-dimensional harmonic oscillator. A first-order QED calculation of the complex radiative shift for a spinless electron is explored using the equations of motion and the m a s s 2 operator, describing the fundamental phenomena involved, and relating the results to Feynman diagrams.
Medicinal Plant Species Used to Treat Tonsillitis in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review

In various areas of Ethiopia, different plant species have been reported having a medicinal role for ailment tonsillitis. However, the ethnomedicinal information on those medicinal plant species that cure the ailment is not summarized in a way that gives general information and initiates further study. Therefore, the objective of this review paper was to summarize the ethnomedicinal information about medicinal plant species that used to treat tonsillitis in Ethiopia. The result of the review indicated that herbs and leaves are the most utilized growth forms and part of the plants respectively during remedy preparation for the ailment tonsillitis in Ethiopia. Similarly, fresh plant materials, and water are the most applied condition of plant parts and diluent added correspondingly. Chewing and oral route of application are the most widely used methods of remedy preparation and administration correspondingly, for the ailment in the country. Utilization of herbs and leaves can be seen as an advantage from the conservation point of view of medicinal plant species that used to treat the ailment since herbs can be cultivated when they are in short supply and are also available as compared to other growth forms. Similarly, use of leaves can reduce damage to the medicinal plant species as compared to the use of other plant parts such as roots. However, the utilization of fresh materials should be reduced as much as possible. Rhamnus prinoides L'Her. and Zingiber officinale Roscoe are the most commonly used medicinal plant species for the ailment in Ethiopia.
When economic and cultural interests align: the anti-immigration voter coalitions driving far right party success in Europe

Abstract This article contests the view that the strong positive correlation between anti-immigration attitudes and far right party success necessarily constitutes evidence in support of the cultural grievance thesis. We argue that the success of far right parties depends on their ability to mobilize a coalition of interests between their core supporters, that is voters with cultural grievances over immigration and the often larger group of voters with economic grievances over immigration. Using individual level data from eight rounds of the European Social Survey, our empirical analysis shows that while cultural concerns over immigration are a stronger predictor of far right party support, those who are concerned with the impact of immigration on the economy are important to the far right in numerical terms. Taken together, our findings suggest that economic grievances over immigration remain pivotal within the context of the transnational cleavage.
Robustness And Evolvability In Systems Biology And Plectoneme Formation In Dna Supercoiling

This thesis consists of two parts: (1) an exploration of robustness and evolvability in systems biology and how they are informed by recent developments in the study of parameter sensitivity in large multiparameter models, and (2) a study of the sudden formation of plectonemes (supercoiled structures) in DNA using an elastic rod model. Robustness and evolvability are important ideas in systems biology, representing the surprising resilience and adaptability of living organisms. The study of " sloppy models " describes the degree to which changes in parameters change the behavior of complex models, and thus has implications for how robust or evolv-able a model may be with regard to perturbations in parameters. We study these connections, finding that sloppiness provides a framework for understanding why multiparameter models often seem so robust. It also explains how robustness to external conditions can be more easily arranged than one might naively expect, and allows for diversity that could increase the evolvability of a population. When overtwisted, DNA wraps around itself (supercoils) much like a garden hose or rubber band. As a single molecule of DNA is twisted, discontinuities have recently been experimentally observed for the first time that correspond to the sudden formation of a single supercoiled structure called a plectoneme. We study the sizes of these discontinuities with an elastic rod model and a simplified phenomenological model. We use these models to make predictions about a torque jump and length dependence that have been experimentally verified. Experiments also observe thermal hopping at the transition between states with and without a plectoneme. We then investigate the dynamics of this plectoneme nucleation, using transition state theory and the elastic rod model to predict the rate of hopping. We obtain a rate about 1000 times faster than found in experiments, and attribute the discrepancy to a slow timescale introduced by the large bead used to manipulate the DNA. Finally, we review numerical methods used to implement the elastic rod model for DNA. an early age through frequent visits to the science museum, and remembers the excitement of learning to program his first computer in BASIC. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2005 with a BA in physics and minors in mathematics and computer science. An IGERT fellowship at Cornell fostered an interest in interdisciplinary science and complex models that has led to work on neuroscience, systems biology, and DNA supercoiling. He joined Jim Sethna's group …
Bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) bioactive composition and health benefits: A review

ABSTRACT Bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) has traditionally been used as a medicinal food in many developing countries. It is a tropical fruit claimed to have therapeutic effects due to its content of bioactive compounds. The present review is an attempt to highlight the bitter melon varieties, bioactive composition that is linked to its therapeutic effects, especially antidiabetic effect, in vitro and in vivo models, and understanding of the mechanisms of actions of bitter melon that are associated with epidemiological evidences. This paper also outlines a proposed processing scheme aiming to fully utilize bitter melon and add further value to this fruit.
Flavor Components Comparison between the Neck Meat of Donkey, Swine, Bovine, and Sheep

Abstract Donkey in China is well known for its draft purpose and transportation; however, donkey meat has attracted more and more consumers in recent years, yet it lacks sufficient information on its flavor components compared to other main meats. Therefore, in this study, volatile flavor compounds in neck meat of donkey, swine, bovine, and sheep were classified by electronic nose, then confirmed and quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography were used to quantify free fatty acid, amino acid, and flavor nucleotide. A total of 73 volatile compounds were identified, and aldehydes were identified as the characteristic flavor compounds in neck meat of donkey, bovine, swine and sheep in proportion of 76.39%, 46.62%, 31.64%, and 35.83%, respectively. Particularly, hexanal was the most abundant volatile flavor. Compared with other neck meat, much higher unsaturated free fatty acids were present in donkeys. Furthermore, neck meat of donkeys showed essential amino acid with highest content. Thus, special flavor and nutrition in donkey neck meat make it probably a candidate for consumers in other regions besides Asia.
Somatic embryogenesis of tulip

Because the natural propagation rate of tulip is low, modern breeding requires a rapid in vitro propagation method. The best method available at the moment, adventitious shoot formation on stem explants, has a low propagation factor and is laborious, time-consuming and hence expensive. It is the long term aim of the present study to develop a propagation method, consisting of a cell suspension phase, and a regeneration phase, during which the cell clusters regenerate through somatic embryogenesis. A system like this would enable the rapid production of large numbers of bulblets at low costs. In order to obtain friable callus for the start of a cell suspension, bulb scale and stem explants were cultured on a nutrient medium containing the auxins 2,4-D or Picloram at a concentration range from 0.5-50 μM. Undifferentiated and 'meristematic' type of callus on bulb scale explants an were induced. The meristematic type seemed the most suitable to start a liquid culture. In liquid medium the meristematic nodules divided into smaller units, which could be released from the explant by shaking. On stem explants on medium with 5 or 50 μM 2,4-D or Picloram somatic embryos were formed. Morphological and anatomical data on the development of these somatic embryos are presented. The ability to produce somatic embryos offers us the opportunity to use embryo-tissue for the production of embryogenic callus.
Effect of diet on breeders and inheritance in syngnathids: application of isotopic experimentally derived data to field studies

Syngnathids are vulnerable ovoviviparous fishes in which males undergo repeated brooding within a reproductive season. The isotopic effects of diet on both breeders (pooled sexes) and parent-egg transmission have been demonstrated in a few fish species but never in syngnathids. Quantifying isotopic changes due to diet is necessary to assess parent-newborn conversions and to estimate accurate trophic enrichment factors (TEF). We assessed the isotopic (δ13C and δ15N) effects of 3 experimental diets on TEFs in seahorse Hippocampus guttulatus breeders and isotopic inheritance. Our results suggest that H. guttulatus follows an income-capital continuum pattern for parent-egg transmission. The isotopic variability in diets for breeders and the resulting experimentally derived TEFs were compared with fixed TEFs from reviews to estimate their impact on the relative contribution of potential prey sources in syngnathids from the Cíes archipelago (Atlantic Islands National Park, NW Spain). We estimated source contributions using stable isotope mixing models (SIMMs) by combining prey sources into ecologically informative groups and incorporating informative priors. We demonstrate that (1) most frequently used TEFs from reviews might not be suitable for all fish species, particularly syngnathids, and (2) dietary source variability has a great effect on source contribution estimates. This study is also the first to provide specific TEFs for syngnathids.
Emergent social structure and collective behaviour from individual decision-making in wild birds

Emergent social structure and collective behaviour from individual decision-making in wild birds DPhil thesis by Damien R. Farine, Wolfson College, submitted Michaelmas 2013 Social behaviour is shaped by complex relationships between evolutionary and ecological processes interacting at different scales. Benefits gained from social associations can range from predator dilution to collective sensing, but little is known about how these can be influenced by social structure and phenotypic composition. In this thesis, I investigated how individual decision-making affects phenotypic social structure, and how this mediates social behaviour through emergent properties of collective group behaviour. First, using mixed-species flocks as a model system, I showed individual tits (Paridae, chapter 2) and thornbills (Acanthizae, chapter 3) varied significantly in their social positions. Within-species variation in network position was as large as between-species variation, suggesting that prescribing functional roles at the species level may not sufficiently account for potential differences in fitness operating at the individual level. Rather, this suggested that structure may be driven by phenotypic traits, underpinning network structure (chapter 4). Next, I used an extensive data set of foraging records to explore factors determining the composition, of flocks of great tits (Parus major, chapter 5). For example, assortment by dispersal phenotype (immigration status) was the result of spatial disaggregation, and I showed that this may facilitate social selection for breeding territories (chapter 6). Finally, I investigated how decision-making shaped mixed-species social structure. I found that tits used a common strategy for managing pressures of predation and starvation by shifting from exploration to exploitation at different times of the day (chapter 7). I then found that a very simple interaction rule successfully replicated mixed-species group structure (chapter 8). Strikingly, the same rule was applied to both conspecifics and heterospecifics, potentially playing an important role in the maintenance of flock structure. Through experimental manipulation of ecological conditions, I found that heightened perceived predation resulted in stronger social attraction overall, whereas increased competition led to a reduction in attraction to conspecifics (chapter 9). Simulations suggested this could be one potential mechanism underpinning fission-fusion dynamics in these species. Together, the results in this thesis form a framework linking social behaviour to individual fitness where natural selection is shaped by the social environment. This approach may prove useful for testing whether following common social rules reduces variance in benefits accrued by individuals, and how within-species variation in social behaviour can impact emergent properties of groups.
Modeling Land Suitability for Vitis vinifera in Michigan Using Advanced Geospatial Data and Methods

Michigan (MI) has a long history of diverse agricultural production. One of the most rapidly expanding and profitable agricultural crops, wine grapes (Vitis vinifera L.), has only been in cultivation across MI since the 1970s. As of 2014 more than 2100 acres of Vitis vinifera were growing statewide. With such success there is a push to rapidly develop more vinifera vineyards across the state. The industry is striving to have 10,000 acres in cultivation by 2024. This study presents a data-driven approach for guiding decision making to make this goal attainable. The study models land suitability across the state using environmental, climate, topographic and land use data to understand the most to least ideal portions of the landscape for vinifera establishment. The models are tested in 17 MI counties. The study found that land suitability for viticulture has expanded and therefore, viticulture can be extended beyond the traditional growing areas. This study suggests that warming temperatures have influenced land suitability and demonstrates the application and utility of GIS-based land suitability modeling in viticulture development. Maps produced in this study provide knowledge of the climate and environmental trends, which is critical when choosing where and what cultivar to grow. With such resources, growers can be better prepared to invest and expand this pivotal agricultural sector.
An exploration of perceived coercion into psychological assessment and treatment within a low secure forensic mental health service

Psychologists working within forensic mental health (FMH) services face challenges around supporting clients’ informed consent when engaging in psychological assessment and treatment. Given that there is little research in this area, this qualitative study interviewed ten forensic inpatients from a low secure FMH service, to determine the impact of any perceived coercion to engage with psychologists. Interviews were transcribed and subject to Thematic Analysis. Three over-arching themes emerged from the analysis: ‘Awareness of Coercive Power’, ‘Experiencing and Responding to Coercion’ and ‘Psychological Treatment is Helpful, But…’. Participants perceived coercion to engage with psychologists. Perceived coercion led to psychological distress, wanting to resist, and superficial engagement. Despite this, therapeutic alliance was established with the psychologist but the quality of the therapeutic alliance was compromised. The findings have implications for psychologists working in FMH services. Suggestions for reducing perceived coercion and future directions for research are discussed.
The tumour volume influence on tumour recurrence and progression-free survival in the case of atypical meningiomas

Objective: The objective of our study was to evaluate a possible relation between the volume of atypical meningiomas (AMs) and the risk of tumour recurrence, as well as progression-free survival (PFS). Material and methods: We evaluated 81 patients diagnosed with AMs (WHO grade II meningioma) who have undergone surgery at the "Prof. Dr. N. Oblu" Emergency Clinical Hospital Iasi between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019. The recorded data were demographic and imagistic (MRI, contrast-enhanced T1WI). We calculated the tumour volume prior to the surgery and evaluated the tumour recurrence using MRI at 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months after the surgery. Results: 50.6% of patients had meningioma volume < 26.4 cm3. Women had larger tumour volumes than men (52.6%). Patients of age ? 60 years old, had tumour volumes ? 26.4 cm3 in 58.5% of cases and meningiomas with volumes ? 26.4 cm3 recurred earlier (p=0.010). Also, patients who had tumour volumes ? 26.4 cm3, had a shorter PFS (40.976 months), compared to patients with tumour volumes < 26.4 cm3, who had better PFS (53.4 months). Conclusions: the tumour volume of AMs ? 26.4 cm3 represents a negative prognostic factor for both early tumour recurrence and reduced PFS.
Using Visual Representations to Enhance Students’ Understanding of Causal Relationships in Price

ABSTRACT This study investigates how different visual representations of price facilitate learning in upper secondary social science education. Three lessons on pricing were given to four classes (n = 94 students). Two classes had lessons based on graphs and two on a causal loop diagram. Written pre- and post-test answers were analysed phenomenographically and results arising from the two visual representations were compared. Results suggested that a causal loop diagram facilitated a more complex way of understanding the causal relationships in pricing than the graph. The traditional way of introducing price, through the use of supply/demand graphs, is thereby problematised. The study extends knowledge by identifying a synergy between phenomenography and research on visual representations and has specific implications for teaching and learning.
A Switch in Distinct IκBα Degradation Mechanisms Mediates Constitutive NF-κB Activation in Mature B Cells1

Inducible activation of cytoplasmic NF-κB/Rel transcription factors occurs via proteasome-dependent degradation of an associated inhibitor, termed IκBα. Mature B lymphocytes constitutively express nuclear NF-κB, which is important for their long-term survival. The intrinsic mechanisms by which B cells constitutively activate NF-κB are unknown. In this paper we demonstrate that maintenance of NF-κB activity in primary B cells is mediated by a novel calcium-dependent, but proteasome-independent, mechanism. Moreover, we show that differentiation of conditionally transformed pre-B cells is accompanied by a switch from proteasome-dependent to proteasome-independent degradation of IκBα. Our findings indicate that IκBα degradation mechanisms are dynamic during B cell development, and ultimately establish constitutive NF-κB activity in mature B lymphocytes.
From Genotype to Phenotype

exceed 1 h. To 200 μL citrated blood a defined amount of specific surface structured polymer particles is added. Following exactly 5 min of mechanical alteration by shaking the sample, adhesive platelets will adhere to the polymer surface. As control, to another blood sample saline is added instead of polymer particles and is treated in the same manner. Thereafter, the number of platelets in both samples is determined and from these the adhesion index AI can easily be calculated. In healthy volunteers, a mean AI of 42±10 is reached. In evaluation of this test with POCT-quality, an agedependent course was shown. Variation of platelet count between 100 and 300 Gpt/ml does not affect measuring results. Furthermore, the method is insensitive to variation of fibrinogen level and other coagulation variables. Summary: PADA is the first POCT-capable quantitative test for monitoring of current platelet adhesiveness. It is suited for diagnostics of pathologically increased adhesion of platelets in patients (AI > 60) and can also be used as monitoring method of GPIIb/IIIa receptor antagonist or thienopyridine therapy.