Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term outcomes of an abstinence-based, small-group pregnancy prevention program in New York City schools.

CONTEXT Despite drops in U.S. teenage birthrates, questions continue to arise about how best to reduce the country's adolescent birthrate. School-based programs continue to be considered one of the best ways to reach adolescents at risk of early sexual activity. METHODS A total of 312 students completed a pretest, a posttest and a follow-up one year after the posttest: 125 who had participated in a 3-4-month-long abstinence-based small-group intervention led by trained social workers, and 187 in a comparison group that received no special services. RESULTS There were few significant differences between the intervention and comparison groups at posttest. At the one-year follow-up, however, intervention students had significantly better scores on locus of control, their relationship with their parents and (among males only) their attitudes about the appropriateness of teenage sex. Measures of depression, self-esteem, intentions to have sex, attitudes toward teenage pregnancy and various behaviors did not differ significantly between groups. By the time of the one-year follow-up, there was no difference between study groups among females in the initiation of sexual intercourse. Among the males, initiation of sexual intercourse appeared to be higher in the intervention group than in the comparison group, but the difference was not statistically significant. Positive outcomes were especially limited among students who were already sexually active at the start of the study, a finding that emphasizes the difficulties of reaching adolescents who are already at high risk for pregnancy CONCLUSIONS A small-group abstinence-based intervention focusing on mental health can have some impact on adolescents' attitudes and relationships (particularly with their parents). Long-term evaluations are important for determining the effects of an intervention, as it is difficult to change adolescent risk behavior.
A passivity control strategy for VSC-HVDC connected large scale wind power

For wind farm connection VSC-HVDC transmission has obvious technical and economic advantages, but concentrated integration of large scale wind power requires stronger robustness. Based on the mathematical model of VSC-HVDC in abc frame, the Euler-Lagrange mathematical model of voltage-source-converter(VSC) in d-q rotating frame is built and the strict passivity of VSC is proved. Based on the energy dissipativity of VSC, energy storage function is established by using state error and it is used as Lyapunov function, VSC-HVDC is astringed to expected stable equilibrium point rapidly by damping addition. The passivity controller is designed according to expected equilibrium point, state variable and state error, and decoupling control for various variable is achieved. With different operation conditions, VSC-HVDC and its control system are simulated by software PSCAD/EMTDC the results show that the proposed control strategy has good performance and strong robustness either in dynamic state or steady state.
Maternal smoking during pregnancy and psychopathology in offspring followed to adulthood.

OBJECTIVE To extend findings from several independent reports of an association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, and substance abuse in the offspring. METHOD This is a 10-year longitudinal study of offspring assessed at 3 points in time into adulthood. Fifty offspring of mothers who reported smoking at least 10 cigarettes almost daily during pregnancy and 97 offspring of mothers who reported never smoking during pregnancy were studied. Psychiatric diagnosis in offspring was assessed blind to parental diagnosis. RESULTS There was a greater than 4-fold increased risk of prepubertal-onset conduct disorder in boys and a greater than 5-fold increased risk of adolescent-onset drug dependence in girls whose mothers smoked 10 or more cigarettes almost daily during pregnancy. These findings could not be explained by maternal substance abuse during pregnancy, parental psychiatric diagnosis, family risk factors, prenatal and early developmental history of offspring, postnatal maternal smoking, or smoking in the offspring. CONCLUSIONS Maternal smoking during pregnancy may have a long-term effect on specific psychopathology in offspring. The underlying pathophysiology of nicotine on the fetus requires study. The findings suggest the importance of programs aimed at smoking prevention and cessation in women during pregnancy.
Solid‐Phase synthesis of peptide nucleic acids

Peptide nucleic acids (PNA) were synthesized by a modified Merrifield method using several improvements. Activation by O‐(benzotriazol‐1‐yl)‐1,1,3,3‐tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate in combination with in situ neutralization of the resin allowed efficient coupling of all four Boc‐protected PNA monomers within 30 min. HPLC analysis of the crude product obtained from a fully automated synthesis of the model PNA oligomer H‐CGGACTAAGTCCATTGC‐Gly‐NH2, indicated an average yield per synthetic cycle of 97.1%. N1‐benzyloxycarbonyl‐N63‐methylimidazole triflate substantially outperformed acetic anhydride as a capping reagent. The resin‐bound PNAs were successfully cleaved by the ‘low–high’ trifluoromethanesulphonic acid procedure.
A novel gentamicin resistance gene in Enterococcus

Enterococcus gallinarum SF9117 is a veterinary isolate for which the MIC of gentamicin is 256 micrograms/ml. Time-kill studies with a combination of ampicillin plus gentamicin failed to show synergism against SF9117. A probe representing aac(6')-aph(2") did not hybridize to DNA from SF9117. A 3.2-kb fragment from plasmid pYN134 of SF9117 was cloned and conferred resistance to gentamicin in Escherichia coli DH5 alpha. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed the presence of a 918-bp open reading frame whose deduced amino acid sequence had a region with homology to the C-terminal domain of the bifunctional enzyme AAC(6')-APH(2"). The gene is designated aph(2")-Ic, and its observed phosphotransferase activity is provisionally designated APH(2")-Ic. An intragenic probe hybridized to the genomic DNA from an Enterococcus faecium isolate from the peritoneal fluid of one patient and to the plasmid DNA of an Enterococcus faecalis isolate from the blood of another patient. An enterococcal isolate containing this novel resistance gene might not be readily detected in clinical laboratories that use gentamicin at 500 or 2,000 micrograms/ml for screening for high-level resistance.
Quantitative Proteome Analysis of Human Plasma following in Vivo Lipopolysaccharide Administration Using 16O/18O Labeling and the Accurate Mass and Time Tag Approach*S

Identification of novel diagnostic or therapeutic biomarkers from human blood plasma would benefit significantly from quantitative measurements of the proteome constituents over a range of physiological conditions. Herein we describe an initial demonstration of proteome-wide quantitative analysis of human plasma. The approach utilizes postdigestion trypsin-catalyzed 16O/18O peptide labeling, two-dimensional LC-FTICR mass spectrometry, and the accurate mass and time (AMT) tag strategy to identify and quantify peptides/proteins from complex samples. A peptide accurate mass and LC elution time AMT tag data base was initially generated using MS/MS following extensive multidimensional LC separations to provide the basis for subsequent peptide identifications. The AMT tag data base contains >8,000 putative identified peptides, providing 938 confident plasma protein identifications. The quantitative approach was applied without depletion of high abundance proteins for comparative analyses of plasma samples from an individual prior to and 9 h after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration. Accurate quantification of changes in protein abundance was demonstrated by both 1:1 labeling of control plasma and the comparison between the plasma samples following LPS administration. A total of 429 distinct plasma proteins were quantified from the comparative analyses, and the protein abundances for 25 proteins, including several known inflammatory response mediators, were observed to change significantly following LPS administration.
A writer's guide to education scholarship: Quantitative methodologies for medical education research (part 1).

BACKGROUND Quantitative research is one of the many research methods used to help educators advance their understanding of questions in medical education. However, little research has been done on how to succeed in publishing in this area. OBJECTIVE We conducted a scoping review to identify key recommendations and reporting guidelines for quantitative educational research and scholarship. METHODS Medline, ERIC, and Google Scholar were searched for English-language articles published between 2006 and January 2016 using the search terms, "research design," "quantitative," "quantitative methods," and "medical education. " A hand search was completed for additional references during the full-text review. Titles/abstracts were reviewed by two authors (BT, PC) and included if they focused on quantitative research in medical education and outlined reporting guidelines, or provided recommendations on conducting quantitative research. One hundred articles were reviewed in parallel with the first 30 used for calibration and the subsequent 70 to calculate Cohen's kappa coefficient. Two reviewers (BT, PC) conducted a full text review and extracted recommendations and reporting guidelines. A simple thematic analysis summarized the extracted recommendations. RESULTS Sixty-one articles were reviewed in full, and 157 recommendations were extracted. The thematic analysis identified 86 items, 14 categories, and 3 themes. Fourteen quality evaluation tools and reporting guidelines were found. Discussion This paper provides guidance for junior researchers in the form of key quality markers and reporting guidelines. We hope that quantitative researchers in medical education will be informed by the results and that further work will be done to refine the list of recommendations.
Star Excursion Balance Test as a predictor of lower extremity injury in high school basketball players.

STUDY DESIGN Prospective cohort. OBJECTIVE To determine if Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) reach distance was associated with risk of lower extremity injury among high school basketball players. BACKGROUND Although balance has been proposed as a risk factor for sports-related injury, few researchers have used a dynamic balance test to examine this relationship. METHODS AND MEASURES Prior to the 2004 basketball season, the anterior, posteromedial, and posterolateral SEBT reach distances and limb lengths of 235 high school basketball players were measured bilaterally. The Athletic Health Care System Daily Injury Report was used to document time loss injuries. After normalizing for lower limb length, each reach distance, right/left reach distance difference, and composite reach distance were examined using odds ratio and logistic regression analyses. RESULTS The reliability of the SEBT components ranged from 0.82 to 0.87 (ICC3,1) and was 0.99 for the measurement of limb length. Logistic regression models indicated that players with an anterior right/left reach distance difference greater than 4 cm were 2.5 times more likely to sustain a lower extremity injury (P<.05). Girls with a composite reach distance less than 94.0% of their limb length were 6.5 times more likely to have a lower extremity injury (P<.05). CONCLUSIONS We found components of the SEBT to be reliable and predictive measures of lower extremity injury in high school basketball players. Our results suggest that the SEBT can be incorporated into preparticipation physical examinations to identify basketball players who are at increased risk for injury.
Cervical intervertebral foraminal disc extrusion in dogs: clinical presentation, MRI characteristics and outcome after medical management

The aim of the present study was to retrospectively evaluate the clinical signs, MRI characteristics, interobserver agreement and outcome after medical treatment in dogs affected by cervical intervertebral foraminal disc extrusion (CIFDE). The medical records of three referral institutions were searched for dogs diagnosed with CIFDE between 2010 and 2012. Thirteen dogs were identified with CIFDE; affected dogs often had a normal neurological examination, with cervical hyperaesthesia and lameness as the most common clinical signs. On MRI, sagittal images showed no evidence of compression of the spinal cord; CIFDE could be identified only on transverse sections in all cases. An excellent interobserver agreement was found in the localisation of the affected intervertebral disc space, and a substantial agreement was found on the detection of CIFDE versus foraminal stenosis caused by overgrowing articular processes. All but two dogs recovered completely, and they were considered free of clinical signs without analgesia within a median of 7.5 weeks (range: 2–20) after medical management was started. The remaining two dogs were surgically treated followed by complete recovery. In view of our findings, the importance of a thorough MRI investigation in dogs presenting with cervical hyperaesthesia as the sole clinical sign should be highlighted.
Towards a smooth scattered data reconstruction with sharp features

The goal of surface reconstruction is to determine a compact representation of a surface given a finite number of samples from the surface. Reconstruction problems arise in diverse scientific and engineering fields, including: 1) surfaces from range data which is produced by a laser range scanning system; 2) surfaces from contours, e.g., reconstruction of three dimensional structures from stacks of two dimensional contours; and 3) interactive surface sketching, i.e., construction of a surface representation faithful to the unordered collection of points generated by tracking the path of a stylus or mouse as the user sketches the desired shape. Many researchers worked out a number of reconstruction algorithms to solve the above problems. These algorithms generally fall into two categories: approximating and interpolating. Hugues Hoppe, Tony DeRose, Tom Duchamp, John McDonald and Werner Stuetzle[2,3] developed an algorithm to produce as output a simplicial surface (piecewise linear surface with triangular faces) that approximates the unknown surface. Brian Curless and Marc Levoy[4] employed a volumetric method to
Quantifying the centre of rotation pattern in a multi-body model of the lumbar spine

Understanding the kinematics of the spine provides paramount knowledge for many aspects of the clinical analysis of back pain. More specifically, visualisation of the instantaneous centre of rotation (ICR) enables clinicians to quantify joint laxity in the segments, avoiding a dependence on more inconclusive measurements based on the range of motion and excessive translations, which vary in every individual. Alternatively, it provides motion preserving designers with an insight into where a physiological ICR of a motion preserving prosthesis can be situated in order to restore proper load distribution across the passive and active elements of the lumbar region. Prior to the use of an unconstrained dynamic musculoskeletal model system, based on multi-body models capable of transient analysis, to estimate segmental loads, the model must be kinematically evaluated for all possible sensitivity due to ligament properties and the initial locus of intervertebral disc (IVD). A previously calibrated osseoligamentous model of lumbar spine was used to evaluate the changes in ICR under variation of the ligament stiffness and initial locus of IVD, when subjected to pure moments from 0 to 15 Nm. The ICR was quantified based on the closed solution of unit quaternion that improves accuracy and prevents coordinate singularities, which is often observed in Euler-based methods and least squares principles. The calculation of the ICR during flexion/extension revealed complexity and intrinsic nonlinearity between flexion and extension. This study revealed that, to accommodate a good agreement between in vitro data and the multi-body model predictions, in flexion more laxity is required than in extension. The results showed that the ICR location is concentrated in the posterior region of the disc, in agreement with previous experimental studies. However, the current multi-body model demonstrates a sensitivity to the initial definition of the ICR, which should be recognised as a limitation of the method. Nevertheless, the current simulations suggest that, due to the constantly evolving path of the ICR across the IVD during flexion–extension, a movable ICR is a necessary condition in multi-body modelling of the spine, in the context of whole body simulation, to accurately capture segmental kinematics and kinetics.
Kinetics and Crystallographic Analysis of Human Glutathione Reductase in Complex with a Xanthene Inhibitor (*)

We have determined the crystal structure of a complex between the noncompetitive inhibitor (K = 27 μM, K = 48 μM with respect to oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and K = 144 μM, K = 176 μM with respect to NADPH) 6-hydroxy-3-oxo-3H-xanthene-9-propionic acid (XAN) and human glutathione reductase (hGR). The structure, refined to an R-factor of 0.158 at 2.0 Å resolution, reveals XAN bound in the large cavity present at the hGR dimer interface where it does not overlap the glutathione binding site. The inhibitor binding causes extensive local structural changes that primarily involve amino acid residues from a 30-residue α-helix that lines the cavity and contributes to the active site of hGR. Despite the lack of physical overlap of XAN with the GSSG binding site, no GSSG binding is seen in soaks carried out with high XAN and GSSG concentrations, suggesting that some subtle interaction between the sites exists. An earlier crystallographic analysis on the complex between hGR and 3,7-diamino-2,8-dimethyl-5-phenyl-phenazinium chloride (safranin) showed that safranin bound at this same site. We have found that safranin also inhibits hGR in a noncompetitive fashion, but it binds about 16 times less tightly (K = 453 μM, K = 586 μM with respect to GSSG) than XAN and does not preclude the binding of GSSG in the crystal. Although in structure-based drug design competitive inhibitors are usually targetted, XAN's binding to a well defined site that is unique to glutathione reductase suggests that noncompetitive inhibitors could also serve as lead compounds for structure-based drug design, in particular as components of chimeric inhibitors.
Inorganic polyphosphates are important for cell survival and motility of human skin keratinocytes

Inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) is a simple ancient polymer of linear chains of orthophosphate residues linked by high energy phospho-anhydride bonds ubiqui-tously found in all organisms. Despite its structural simplicity, it plays diverse functional roles. polyP is involved in myriad of processes including serving as microbial phosphagens, buffer against alkalis, Ca 2+ storage, metal-chelating agents, pathogen virulence, cell viability and proliferation, structural component and chemical chaperones, and in the microbial stress response. In mammalian cells, polyP has been implicated in blood coagulation, inflammation, bone differentiation, cell bioenergetics, signal transduction, Ca 2+ -signaling, neuronal excitability, as a protein-stabilizing scaffold, and in wound healing, among others. This chapter will discuss (1) polyP metabolism and roles of polyP in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, (2) the contribution of polyP to survival, cell proliferation, and motility involved in wound healing in human skin keratinocytes, (3) the use of polyP-containing platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to promote wound healing in acute and chronic wounds, including burns, and (4) the use of polyP-containing PRP in excisional wound models to promote faster healing. While polyP shows promise as a therapeutic agent to accelerate healing for acute and chronic wounds, the molecular mechanisms as a potent modulator of the wound healing process remain to be elucidated.
Self-reported quality of life of individual cancer patients: concordance of results with disease course and medical records.

PURPOSE To investigate the applicability of a standard quality of life (QL) questionnaire to individual cancer patients and to explore the potential for impact of QL information on the process of care by comparing at group level the QL results with the medical records. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred fourteen consecutive patients at the oncology clinics at St James's Hospital, Leeds, United Kingdom, completed the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ)-C30 on a touch-screen computer over a 6-month period. The QL results were compared with the corresponding medical records at individual and group level. RESULTS For individual patients, the serial measurement of QL allowed recognition of patterns over time corresponding to disease course. At group level, a higher proportion of patients reported problems on EORTC QLQ-C30 than were mentioned in the medical records (McNemar paired test, P <.01). Most often clinicians mentioned pain (22% to 39%), and at the initial visit role (66%), and social issues (77%). For the rest of the symptoms and functions, the problems were recorded in between 1% and 25% of the notes, but 20% to 76% of the patients reported QL impairment. Problems that were not recorded in the medical notes tended to be of low severity, with a significant trend observed for pain, fatigue, nausea/vomiting, dyspnea, loss of appetite, and physical function scale (chi(2) test, 11.55 to 34.42, df = 1, P <. 001). CONCLUSION The QL data on individual patients was consistent with the clinical records, thus providing evidence for the validity of these measures in assessment of the individual. The QL profiles had more information on symptoms and particularly on functional issues, such as emotional distress and physical performance.
Robust Control for Power Sharing in Microgrids With Low-Inertia Wind and PV Generators

This paper presents a robust control design scheme for a multidistributed energy resource (DER) microgrid for power sharing in both interconnected and islanded modes. The scheme is proposed for micgrogrids consisting of photovoltaic (PV) units and wind turbine driven doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs). A battery is integrated with each of the wind and solar DER units. The control scheme has two levels: 1)one centralized multi-inputmulti-output robust controller for regulating the set reference active and reactive powers and 2)local real and reactive power droop controllers, one on each DER unit. The robust control scheme utilizes multivariable H∞ control to design controllers that are robust to the changes in the network and system nonlinearities. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is demonstrated through large-disturbance simulations, with complete nonlinear models, on a test microgrid. It is found that the power sharing controllers provide excellent performance against large disturbances and load variations during islanding transients and interconnected operation.
Time-optimal motion planning for n-DOF robot manipulators using a path-parametric system reformulation

Time-optimal motion planning for robotic manipulators consists of moving the robot along a path in Cartesian space as fast as possible. In contrast to time-optimal path following, small deviations from a predefined path are acceptable and can be exploited to further reduce the overall motion time. In this paper, we present a new method to compute time-optimal motions around a path. By employing an appropriate change of variables for the robot dynamics to path coordinates, geometric constraints enter the optimal control formulation in a convenient way. The reformulation of the robot dynamics and the path constraints is illustrated with numerical examples.