Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cost‐effectiveness of Screening for Microalbuminuria Using Immunochemical Dipstick Tests or Laboratory Assays in Diabetic Patients

To analyse the cost‐effectiveness ratio of screening for microalbuminuria in diabetic patients using either dipstick tests or laboratory assays, 506 diabetic patients were screened for microalbuminuria using both a traditional laboratory assay (strategy I) or a laboratory assay only in the case of a positive dipstick result (strategy II). Dipstick pre‐screening was considered positive if at least one of the tests performed by the two different operators showed an albumin excretion rate > 20 μg min−1. It was performed using a new dipstick, Micral‐Test®, designed to distinguish low albumin concentrations. Biological assay was the reference method. Costs were related to laboratory assays (strategy I) or to dipstick tests and laboratory assays for positive results (strategy II). The loss of effectiveness was related to false negative results of strategy II. The double dipstick pre‐screening showed a sensitivity of 90.8% and a specificity of 80.1%. Its predictive value was 97% for a negative result and 55.6% for a positive result. False positive results were associated with elevated urinary volumes. Compared with strategy I, strategy II showed a sensitivity of 90.8%, a specificity of 100%, and predictive values of 100% and 97.5%, respectively, for positive and negative results. In a fictitious cohort of 10000 patients, strategy II yielded a gain of £16 750 on the first year, which decreased to £5345 after 30 years. The loss in effectiveness was estimated at 2.38 quality adjusted life years of a diabetic patient (QALYd) initially, and decreased to 0.91 QALYd after 30 years, the annual cost‐effectiveness ratio being close to £6600 QALYd−1. Sensitivity analysis found that frequency of false negative results, prevalence, and annual incidence of microalbuminuria were the most important factors likely to influence the cost‐effectiveness ratio. These results suggest that strategy II can be especially cost‐effective: (1) for annual screening in diabetic patients with urinary excretion < 2 ml min−1 and exposed to a low risk of microalbuminuria; (2) for frequent screening in patients exposed to a high risk of microalbuminuria.
Implicit sequence learning processes after unilateral stroke

Implicit learning is durable over time, robust under psychological stress and shows specificity of transfer; characteristics that may be beneficial in stroke rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to investigate implicit sequence learning processes in unilateral stroke using an extended number of trial blocks in a serial reaction time task (SRTT). Previous research, using a SRTT, has produced equivocal results that may be associated with the small number of trial blocks used. Seven adults, at least one year after stroke, and eight controls performed 54 blocks of a modified SRTT over two weeks. Participants responded with a finger key press during acquisition and retention and with a whole arm movement during transfer. Response times in milliseconds were used to measure learning. The stroke group performed more slowly than the controls during all experimental phases. Response times for both groups decreased with practice of the repeating sequence, increased with introduction of a random sequence, and decreased when reintroduced to the repeating sequence of the SRTT. Both groups demonstrated delayed retention of knowledge of the sequence over a two-week period and exhibited specificity of transfer. These data suggest that with extended practice people with unilateral stroke are able to learn implicitly.
Early literacy interventions: Which activities to include? At what age to start? And who will implement them?

Resumen The article utilised data from two intervention studies carried out in low SES preschools in order to address issues in the realm of literacy interventions: Which components are more productive in promoting literacy skills (storybook reading or alphabetic training); at what age should these components be introduced (three or four years old); and who should implement the interventions (MA students or preschool teachers). The studies describe preplanned intensive interventions. The results demonstrated that storybook reading is productive in promoting vocabulary and that alphabetic training is productive in promoting a scope of alphabetic skills. Interestingly enough, a combined programme that encompasses both components, though to a lesser extent, bears the widest range of influence on both alphabetic and language skills. Three year old children benefit as much as or possibly even more from storybook reading and alphabetic skills training than their four year old peers. Both MA students and preschool teachers are efficient implementers. MA students promoted the children's skills more than preschool teachers. Yet, we recommend and discuss the benefits of preschool teachers as implementers.
Windows to Our Children: A Gestalt Therapy Approach to Children and Adolescents

From My WindowWindows to the WombWindows to the MindWings for Our ChildrenHidden TreasureLove Me GentlyLessons for the Watoto Book 1The Gestalt JournalCloud ClimberHelping Young Children FlourishWindow to the StarsWindows to Our ChildrenTEACH Your Children How to BehaveStained Glass AnimalsReaching Children Through Play TherapyChildren BooksParents Talk, Children ListenMindfulness Coloring Book for KidsWindowsMerchants Record and Show WindowThe World Book EncyclopediaSelf-parenting 12-step WorkbookA Child's Eye ViewTraumaProofing Your KidsIn-Home Care for Senior CitizensHidden TreasureThe Healing Path with ChildrenLove You ForeverOpening Your Child's Spiritual WindowsGroup Play TherapyWindows on LearningWindows to Our ChildrenBaby Einstein: Windows to ColorWindows to the BrainWindowframesThe Wide WindowThrough Windows of OpportunityLast Child in the WoodsThe Landscape of EnlightenmentWINDOWS TO OUR CHILDREN
Primary Care Patients' Willingness to Participate in Comprehensive Weight Loss Programs: From the WWAMI Region Practice and Research Network

Purpose: In the United States, 69% of adults are overweight or obese, as defined by a body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2. The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening all adult patients for obesity and referring obese patients to intensive, multicomponent behavioral weight loss programs comprising 12 to 26 yearly sessions. The objective of this study is to determine the degree to which overweight and obese primary care patients report willingness to participate in these intensive weight loss programs and to identify the patient factors associated with reported willingness to participate. Methods: This 2013 cross-sectional survey was offered to all adult patients seen for an office visit at 1 of 12 primary care clinics in the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WWAMI) Region Practice and Research Network (WPRN). Patients self-reported both their health information and their willingness to participate in a comprehensive weight loss program. Respondents were characterized by descriptive statistics. We compared reported rates of willingness to participate by patient factors and assessed which patient factors were independently associated with reported willingness using bivariate analysis and logistic regression, respectively. Results: Of overweight and obese respondents, 63% reported willingness to participate in comprehensive weight loss programs. Age, sex, race/ethnicity, insurance status, BMI, and reason for wanting to lose weight were all significantly and independently associated with reported willingness to participate. Conclusions: Reported willingness to participate in comprehensive weight loss programs suggests that additional resources are needed to understand strategies for disseminating and implementing effective comprehensive weight loss programs.
Corona Current Coupling in Bipolar HVDC and Hybrid HVAC/HVDC Overhead Lines

This paper investigates the corona generated ion-flow environment in bipolar HVdc and hybrid ac/dc transmission systems. The emphasis is on the dc ion current magnitude in the conductors. In dc conductors, this constitutes the corona power loss, while in ac conductors, this quantity is primarily of concern due to the risk of transformer saturation. Existing prediction methods are compared to full-scale test data from the literature and new laboratory measurements. It is shown that the bipolar HVdc and hybrid ac/dc ion-flow phenomena are similar in the sense that mutual space-charge-related surface field enhancements are a dominant factor in the determination of the total conductor ion currents. Furthermore, in a hybrid ac/dc environment, the existence of a net dc ion current stemming from the ac conductor is verified and explained. Limitations of existing prediction methods are demonstrated and recommendations for future work is given.
Improved Transient Response Capacitor-less Low Drop-out (LDO) Regulator using Current Mode Transconductance Amplifier and Slew Rate Enhancement Technique

paper presents a capacitor-less low drop-out (LDO) regulator with current mode transconductance amplifier & slew-rate enhancement circuit. The proposed current mode transconductance amplifier as error amplifier improves the slew rate & slew- rate enhancement circuit further senses the transient voltage at the output of the LDO to increase the bias current of the error amplifier for a short duration. Hence, transient response of LDO has been further improved using these techniques. The proposed LDO regulator will be designed and simulated in 180nm CMOS technology.
THE ATTENTION NETWORK TEST (ANT): INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES? AND ?COMPONENTS OF ATTENTION ACROSS THE LIFE SPAN

18 Introduction.19 Experiment 1: ANT (Fan et al., 2002) and CFQ.27 Method.28 Participants.28 Apparatus and Materials.28 Procedure and Design.29 Results and Discussion.31 Absentmindedness – CFQ.31 Attention – ANT.31 Attention Network Scores.32 Correlation Among the Networks.33 ANT and CFQ.33
Down-/up-sampling based depth coding by utilizing interview correlation

In depth-based 3D video compression, a framework that down-samples a depth map before encoding and up-samples the depth map at the decoder has shown more high coding efficiency, where the down- and up-sampling components are key to the coding performance. In this paper, a down-/up-sampling scheme for 3D video coding is developed by making good use of interview correlation. At the encoder, to obtain a uniform distribution of sampled pixels across views, an interlaced down-sampling approach is applied among different views. Then, at the decoder, a three-step up-sampling approach is proposed accordingly. First, sampled pixels in one view are warped to the to-be-up-sampled view based on their disparity vectors. Second, in order not to introduce new values, the warped pixel is further refined or updated by one of its nearest four sampled pixels. Finally, the unknown pixels left are filled with a known pixel around it. Among all the three steps, a winner-takes-all approach is employed to select a pixel with the largest weight which is determined by considering the depth similarity, texture similarity or geometric closeness. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can achieve better down-/up-sampling result and improved the coding efficiency, compared with the conventional algorithms, especially for a large sampling scale.
Comparing rule-based and data-driven approaches to Spanish-to-Basque machine translation

In this paper, we compare the rule-based and data-driven approaches in the context of Spanish-to-Basque Machine Translation. The rule-based system we consider has been developed specifically for Spanish-to-Basque machine translation, and is tuned to this language pair. On the contrary, the data-driven system we use is generic, and has not been specifically designed to deal with Basque. Spanish-to-Basque Machine Translation is a challenge for data-driven approaches for at least two reasons. First, there is lack of bilingual data on which a data-driven MT system can be trained. Second, Basque is a morphologically-rich agglutinative language and translating to Basque requires a huge generation of morphological information, a difficult task for a generic system not specifically tuned to Basque. We present the results of a series of experiments, obtained on two different corpora, one being “in-domain” and the other one “out-of-domain” with respect to the data-driven system. We show that n-gram based automatic evaluation and edit-distance-based human evaluation yield two different sets of results. According to BLEU, the data-driven system outperforms the rule-based system on the in-domain data, while according to the human evaluation, the rule-based approach achieves higher scores for both corpora.
Analysis of Phylogenetic Footprint Patterns in Large Gene Clusters

Evolutionarily conserved non-coding genomic sequences represent a potentially rich source for the discovery of gene regulatory regions. Since these elements are subject to stabilizing selection they evolve much slower than adjacent non-functional DNA. These resulting “islands” of strongly conserved segments — known as phylogenetic footprints — can be detected by comparison of the sequences surrounding orthologous genes in different species [13]. Hence it is possible to gain insights into the extent and the phylogenetic timing of major changes in the regulation of a gene by studying the phylogenetic pattern of non-coding sequence conservation. A cluster of phylogenetic footprints which is present in an outgroup clade but not in an ingroup may serve as evidence for the modification or the complete loss of a cis-regulatory element. On the other hand, a set of phylogenetic footprints that is uniquely shared by a nested clade can provide evidence for the acquisition and subsequent conservation of a cis-regulatory element. Biologically, these changes of regulatory elements account for modifications of gene expression patterns, a major mode in particular of developmental gene evolution [4].
LA EVALUACIÓN DEL CONSUMO DE DROGAS EN PERSPECTIVA

Desde que se comenzaron a realizar evaluaciones sistematicas del consumo de sustancias en Espana, hace ahora casi tres decadas, la evolucion ha ido fluctuando bastante en funcion de las epocas y de los mecanismos que se han ido poniendo en marcha para tratar el problema. Las sustancias de corte legal y que han estado mas “protegidas” socialmente, el tabaco y el alcohol han ido manteniendo un nivel de consumo homogeneo, con pequenos vaivenes, fruto probablemente, de programas de prevencion puntuales en el espacio y en el tiempo, asi como de medidas legales, sobre todo con el tabaco. De hecho en el ano 1997, la tasa de consumidores de tabaco era de un 69,7% pasando a un 68,5% en el ano 2007, dato que nos indica claramente que poco se ha podido hacer en esa decada. El alcohol, por su parte, ha descendido del ano 1997 al 2007 en casi dos puntos porcentuales, pero con picos ascendentes muy pronunciados, como fue el caso del ano 2005 (PNsD, 2007).
Sphingomyelin is important for the cellular entry and intracellular localization of Helicobacter pylori VacA

Plasma membrane sphingomyelin (SM) binds the Helicobacter pylori vacuolating toxin (VacA) to the surface of epithelial cells. To evaluate the importance of SM for VacA cellular entry, we characterized toxin uptake and trafficking within cells enriched with synthetic variants of SM, whose intracellular trafficking properties are strictly dependent on the acyl chain lengths of their sphingolipid backbones. While toxin binding to the surface of cells was independent of acyl chain length, cells enriched with 12‐ or 18‐carbon acyl chain variants of SM (e.g. C12‐SM or C18‐SM) were more sensitive to VacA, as indicated by toxin‐induced cellular vacuolation, than those enriched with shorter 2‐ or 6‐carbon variants (e.g. C2‐SM or C6‐SM). In C18‐SM‐enriched cells, VacA was taken into cells by a previously described Cdc42‐dependent pinocytic mechanism, localized initially to GPI‐enriched vesicles, and ultimately trafficked to Rab7/Lamp1 compartments. In contrast, within C2‐SM‐enriched cells, VacA was taken up at a slower rate by a Cdc42‐independent mechanism and trafficked to Rab11 compartments. VacA‐associated predominantly with detergent‐resistant membranes (DRMs) in cells enriched with C18‐SM, but predominantly with non‐DRMs in C2‐SM‐enriched cells. These results suggest that SM is required for targeting VacA to membrane rafts important for subsequent Cdc42‐dependent pinocytic cellular entry.
Maternal diet and breastfeeding duration of infants after NICU hospitalization in Greece: a cohort study

Abstract Objectives: To investigate the role of maternal diet, personal characteristics and willingness to breastfeed on breastfeeding duration of hospitalized neonates as well as to evaluate the mothers’ dietetic intake based on the national recommendations. Methods: A sample of 161 pregnant women from Athens, Greece was followed up during pregnancy, labor and the first 40 weeks of lactation. The participants attended breastfeeding classes and were interviewed regarding their nutritional habits, personal characteristics and breastfeeding intention. A multivariable logistic regression, adjusted for maternal age, smoking, weeks of gestation, body mass index, mode of delivery was conducted in order to estimate the adjusted odds ratios of breastfeeding for at least 6 months for consuming additional serves of fruit or vegetables from the recommended by the national guidelines. Results: The adjusted odds ratios for breastfeeding at 6 months was 2.15 (p = 0.05) for women consumed ≥3.5 servings of fruits/day. Moreover, the participants reported low conformity with the national dietetic guidelines. Conclusions: Mothers who consumed the recommended by the NDG fruit servings/day breast-fed their hospitalized newborns for a longer period. Despite the fact that our participants were highly motivated and willing to breast-feed, we argue that this relationship is highly unlikely to be biological.
Low ERCC1 expression correlates with prolonged survival after cisplatin plus gemcitabine chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer.

PURPOSE Overexpression of the excision repair cross-complementing 1 (ERCC1) gene, which is crucial in the repair of cisplatin (CDDP)-DNA adducts, is reported to negatively influence the effectiveness of CDDP-based therapy for gastric and ovarian cancers. Recent evidence indicates that Gemcitabine (Gem) may modulate ERCC1 nucleotide excision repair activity, and down-regulation of DNA repair activity by ERCC1 antisense RNA reportedly inhibits synergism of CDDP/Gem. We investigated whether ERCC1 mRNA expression levels were associated with clinical outcomes after treatment with a combination Gem/CDDP regimen for patients with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Response and survival were correlated with the level of ERCC1 expression in 56 patients with advanced (stage IIIb or IV) NSCLC treated as part of a multicenter randomized trial with Gem 1250 mg/m(2) days 1 and 8 plus CDDP 100 mg/m(2) on day 1 every 3 weeks. mRNA was isolated from paraffin-embedded pretreatment primary tumor specimens, and relative expression levels of ERCC1/beta-actin were measured using a quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (Taqman) system. RESULTS ERCC1 expression was detectable in all tumors. There were no significant differences in ERCC1 levels by gender, age, performance status, weight loss, or tumor stage. The overall response rate was 44.7%. There were no significant associations between ERCC1 expression and response. Median overall survival was significantly longer in patients with low ERCC1 expression tumors (61.6 weeks; 95% confidence interval, 42.4-80.7 weeks) compared to patients with high expression tumors (20.4 weeks, 95% confidence interval, 6.9-33.9 weeks). ERCC1 expression, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, and presence of weight loss were significant prognostic factors for survival in a Cox proportional hazards multivariable analysis. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that ERCC1 expression is a predictive factor for survival after CDDP/Gem therapy in advanced NSCLC. Although there was a trend toward decreased response with high ERCC1 mRNA levels, this difference failed to reach statistical significance. This result may reflect the impact of Gem and the requirement for ERCC1 expression for CDDP/Gem synergism or may be attributable to the relatively small patient sample size in this study. Prospective studies of ERCC1 as a predictive marker for activity of CDDP-based regimens in NSCLC are warranted.
GGGTGACGTGAGTAAACCTGAAC CCGTCCCGCGTGTTC AAGTGAACTCATCAAAGTGATGAATGA CGAAATGGATTCTGACTCCTCTTC TCGCCCAAAGCTAACCTGAGGAAGC GCTCCAGACGGTGCTTGTG GCCGATCACCCCAAAGTG TGTCGCAGGAGCCACCACGCT GAAAAAGACGGATGCTTCCAATCTG TCCGAAAGACCAGTGGTGATTTT CAGGTCTCCTGATTGAAC GCCACACTGCGAAAACTCA GCACAATAATCTGCACCCACTTTG ACGAGC

Rhodococcus equi is an intracellular pathogen of macrophages that causes rhodococcal pneumonia in foals and immunocompromised people. Evidence exists that neutrophils play a vital role in resistance to infection with R. equi; however, the means by which neutrophils exert their effects have not been clearly defined. In addition to directly killing bacteria, neutrophils also may exert a protective effect by linking innate and adaptive immune responses. In the present study we evaluated the cytokine expression profiles of adult equine neutrophils in response to stimulation with isogenic strains of virulent and avirulent R. equi in vitro. After 2 and 4 h incubation with virulent or avirulent R. equi, adult equine neutrophils expressed significantly (P < 0.05) greater tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFa), interleukin (IL)-12p40, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-23p19 mRNA, but not interferon gamma (IFNg) or IL-12p35 mRNA than unstimulated neutrophils. Furthermore, virulent R. equi induced significantly greater IL-23p19 mRNA than avirulent R. equi. These results demonstrate that R. equi-stimulated neutrophils are a source of many proinflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, these results suggest that IL-23 may be preferentially expressed over IL-12 in response to exposure with R. equi, and that this response may be more strongly induced by virulent R. equi than avirulent R. equi. Collectively, the data presented herein suggest a non-phagocytic role for neutrophils that may influence the type of adaptive immune response to R. equi. 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Class Diversity and Youth Volunteering in the United Kingdom

This article utilizes Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of habitus and cultural capital to offer some explanation as to why there is a lack of class diversity in formal volunteering in the United Kingdom. Recent studies have shown that participation in volunteering is heavily dependent on social class revolving around a highly committed middle-class “civic core” of volunteers. This article draws on original qualitative research to argue that the delivery of recent youth volunteering policies has unintentionally reinforced participation within this group, rather than widening access to diverse populations including working-class young people. Drawing on interviews with volunteer recruiters, it is shown that the pressure to meet targets forces workers to recruit middle-class young people whose habitus allows them to fit instantly into volunteering projects. Furthermore, workers perceive working-class young people as recalcitrant to volunteering, thereby reinforcing any inhabited resistance, and impeding access to the benefits of volunteering.
Looking Ahead to Person Resolution

There is a many-to-many relationship between person names and people. This many-to-many relationship can be decomposed into two separate relationships. There is a many-to-one relationship between person names and people in that a person may be referred to by a multitude of names that vary from each other in terms of structure, order, and/or spelling. For example, a person who is usually referred to as