Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protecting the gut and the liver in the critically ill: Effects of dopexamine

ObjectiveTo measure the clinical effects of dopexamine on systemic and splanchnic perfusion in critically ill patients. DesignProspective study. SettingGeneral intensive care unit. PatientsTen patients with sepsis syndrome, acute respiratory failure, and at least one other organ system in failure. The median age of the patients was 62.5 yrs (range 29 to 78), and the median admission Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score was 24 points (range 14 to 38). InterventionsTimed infusion of dopexamine to a maximum dose of 6 μg/kg/min. Measurements and Main ResultsSystemic hemodynamics and oxygen transport variables were obtained from measurements after arterial and pulmonary artery catheterization. Gastric intramucosal pH and hepatic blood flow/ function measurements were made by tonometry and indocyanine green clearance, respectively. All measurements were made before dopexamine infusion, after 1 hr of dopexamine infusion, and again 1 hr after the infusion ended.Cardiac index increased with dopexamine from a baseline median of 4.0 L/min/m2 (range 1.2 to 5.5) to 4.8 L/min/m2 (range 1.5 to 8.03) (p < .01), and returned to its previous level 1 hr after the infusion ended (median 4.0 L/min/m2 [range 1.4 to 5.8], p < .01). During dopexamine infusion, gastric intramucosal pH improved significantly from a median baseline level of 7.21 (range 7.04 to 7.50) to 7.28 (range 7.13 to 7.46, p < .05). This improvement in gastric intramucosal pH was maintained (median 7.36 [range 7.13 to 7.46]) after the infusion ended. Indocyanine green halflife decreased but not significantly with dopexamine (medians before and during the infusion were 6.6 and 6.3 mins, respectively). Indocyanine green half-life increased significantly 1 hr after the infusion ended (median 7.4 mins [range 4.4 to 14.8], p < .05), and changes in cardiac index correlated with changes in indocyanine green half-life (R82 = 0.60, p < .001). Changes in gastric intramucosal pH were unrelated to all other measurements. ConclusionsDopexamine improves gastric intramucosal pH, and thus, splanchnic oxygenation. This improvement in gastric intramucosal pH appears to be independent of dopexamine's systemic effects. (Crit Care Med 1994; 22:789–795)
EMPOWERING NIGERIAN YOUTHS THROUGH TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENHANCING NATIONAL SECURITY

Normal 0 false false false EN-MY X-NONE X-NONE The Nigerian government had initiated several youth empowerment programmes through TVET, but a lot of these programmes lack structure and their impact not felt by the nation’s youths. This is evident in the substantial number of youth that still lack work skills-which often results to unemployment, insecurity, loss of lives and properties and chaos. The study therefore, sought to investigate, TVET empowerment skills required by youths as a means for enhancing national security. Descriptive survey research design was used and data was obtained using a structured questionnaire known as the Empowerment Skill Inventory Checklist (ESIC). Eighty five TVET lecturers in post-secondary vocational institutions took part in the study. Findings revealed that youths require vocational skills in areas such as horticulture, business, engineering and construction works. Also recommended techniques and strategies for career development that include specific skills such as business skills, financial management skills, basic computation skills, communication skills and adaptation skills.
Adaptation of skeletal muscle in limb lengthening: A light diffraction study on the sarcomere length In situ

Adaptation of skeletal muscle during limb lengthening was assessed by measurement of the length of sarcomeres in situ. An external fixator was applied to the rabbit radius and ulna to elongate the forelimb by 3.5 mm, while allowing all the joints to be free. At regular intervals after the operation, the extensor digitorum lateralis muscle of the fifth digit was exposed in situ and the length of the sarcomeres was measured by a laser diffraction technique. The sarcomeres, which had stretched to 3.51 μm immediately after elongation of the bone, became shorter with the passage of time. On postoperative day 9, the length was 3.10 μm, which was similar to the length of the unstretched muscle. These results indicated structural adaptation of the muscle to a new length and could explain why the efficiency of muscle function is maintained after limb lengthening. When these findings are combined with our previous results, it appears that stretch‐induced changes in sarcomere length are common in immobilized and nonimmobilized muscles.
Attitudes Mediate the Association Between Childhood Disciplinary History and Disciplinary Responses

According to recent estimates, childhood abuse victims are at 12 times higher risk for child abuse perpetration than those without such abusive histories. This study focused on delineation of the mechanisms by which intergenerational patterns of abuse may occur and, in particular, the role that disciplinary attitudes may play in mediating the relation between disciplinary history and risk for abusive parenting. Participants (n = 459) completed a series of questionnaires to assess childhood history, disciplinary attitudes, and disciplinary practices. Structural equation modeling indicated that the association between disciplinary history and disciplinary responses was partially mediated by attitudes, with more than half of the association between history and responses accounted for by attitudes. These findings support the need for interventions to focus on attitudinal change when attempting to reduce risk for perpetration among those with histories of abuse.
ETUDE DE LA QUALITE PHYSICOCHIMIQUE ET DE LA CONTAMINATION METALLIQUE DES EAUX DE SURFACE DU BASSIN VERSANT DE BEHT (MAROC)

The Beht watershed is located in the north-west of Morocco. It occupies the southwest part of the Sebou basin. The study was carried out to analyze the physico-chemical parameters (T °, pH, EC, nitrates and chlorides) and assessment of contamination by trace elements (Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni and Pb). Thus, water samples were taken at 15 sites in November 2013. The analysis showed an alkaline pH (between 8 and 8.8), the temperature fluctuates between 12 and 16°C and conductivity varies between 183 and 565 µs/cm. These results are within the recommended standards (WHO, 1984; MATEE, 2002). Laboratory analyzes have shown that the various parameters and heavy metals contents are weak which reflect the fact that in general the surface water in the Upper Beht has good quality. These results are almost the same as the Guigou river water (Akil & al. 2013), but lower than what is reported by Jeddi & al. (2013) for the downstream of Beht basin which contains a large industrial activity. In order to establish a link between physicochemical parameters and metal while assessing better the impact of human activity on the water quality of the Oued Beht, we conducted a statistical analysis by the CPA. This allowed to identify Pb, Fe, As, and Cu as pollution indicators. The origin of those elements is anthropogenic. It is believed that despite the weak contents of these elements, it is essential to set up a vigilance, to monitor their evolution and continuing the sampling and analysis.
Landscape of human miRNA variation and conservation using Annotative Database of miRNA Elements, ADmiRE

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are the most abundant class of non-coding RNAs that regulate expression of >60% genes and are frequently deregulated in many human diseases. Sequence variants in miRNAs are expected to have a high impact on miRNA function. However, the lack of miRNA variant annotation and prioritization guidelines has hampered this analysis from whole genome/exome sequencing (WGS/WES) studies. Through the development of an Annotative Database of miRNA Elements, ADmiRE workflow, we re-annotated the publicly available population dataset of gnomAD 15,596 WGS and 123,136 WES and describe 26,094 precursor-miRNA variants. AdmiRE annotates twice the miRNA variants predicted by existing tools which prioritize variation relative to protein coding regions. We provide the allele frequency distribution of miRNA variation which is comparable to variation in exonic regions. This distribution is similar for miRNAs located in the intragenic and intergenic genomic context. Moreover, ‘high confidence’ miRNAs (designated by miRBase) harbor less variation (the majority contributed by rare variants) compared with the remaining miRNAs. We identify 279 miRNAs highly constrained with little or no variation in gnomAD. We further describe the evolutionary conservation of miRNAs across 100 vertebrates and identify 434 highly conserved miRNAs. We demonstrate that these constraint and conservation metrics (now incorporated into the ADmiRE workflow) characterize miRNAs previously implicated in human diseases. In conclusion, through the development of ADmiRE, we comprehensively analyze the landscape of miRNA sequence variation in large human population datasets and provide miRNA vertebrate conservation scores to aid future studies of miRNA variation in human diseases.
Spike synchronization in cat primary visual cortex depends on similarity of surround‐suppression magnitude

In the primary visual cortex (V1), the spike synchronization seen in neuron pairs with non‐overlapping receptive fields can be explained by similarities in their preferred orientation (PO). However, this is not true for pairs with overlapping receptive fields, as they can still exhibit spike synchronization even if their POs are only weakly correlated. Here, we investigated the relationship between spike synchronization and suppressive modulation derived from classical receptive‐field surround (surround suppression). We found that layer 4 and layer 2/3 pairs exhibited mainly asymmetric spike synchronization that had non‐zero time‐lags and was dependent on both the similarity of the PO and the strength of surround suppression. In contrast, layer 2/3 and layer 2/3 pairs showed mainly symmetric spike synchronization that had zero time‐lag and was dependent on the similarity of the strength of surround suppression but not on the similarity in POs. From these results, we propose that in cat V1 there exists a functional network that mainly depends on the similarity in surround suppression, and that in layer 2/3 neurons the network maintains surround suppression that is primarily inherited from layer 4 neurons.
Efficacy of Nonpharmacological Antishivering Interventions: A Systematic Analysis

Objective:We performed a systematic review of the published evidence regarding nonpharmacologic antishivering interventions in various clinical settings. Data Sources:Studies through November 2014 were identified using predefined search terms in electronic databases, including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE: Excerpta Medica (Ovid), and Web of Science. Study Selection:All identified articles were critically analyzed by applying prespecified criteria. We included experimental trials with comparable baseline data investigating the antishivering efficacy of nonpharmacological interventions in subjects without underlying thermoregulatory dysfunction. Data Extraction:Sixty-five publications (3,361 subjects) were analyzed by the type of clinical setting, intervention, comparison, and study design. In addition, each study underwent a standardized study quality assessment. Data Synthesis:Nonpharmacological interventions consisted of active cutaneous warming (forced-air warming, electric heating pad/blanket, radiant heating, and water-circulating mattress), body core warming (fluid or gas warming system), passive cutaneous warming (space blankets or towels), and electroacupuncture. Identified clinical settings included perioperative settings without induced hypothermia (60 of 77 comparisons), perioperative settings with induced hypothermia (8 of 77), and induced hypothermia without anesthesia (9 of 77). Active cutaneous warming was the most commonly studied intervention, and it was associated with the highest prevalence of positive results when compared with controls in all three clinical settings. In contrast, passive cutaneous warming and body core warming showed conflicting efficacy. Comparison evaluations among different antishivering interventions were limited due to the paucity and heterogeneity of studies directly comparing different interventions against one another. Conclusion:This systematic review of the effectiveness of nonpharmacological antishivering methods delineates active cutaneous warming as the most effective nonpharmacologic antishivering intervention in the perioperative and induced hypothermia settings.
An extended VRIO model as a framework for sustainable tourism planning: a review.

The management of resources by a tourism destination is of crucial importance for sustainable tourism development. The Resource-based View, a relevant school of strategic thought, offers a conceptual model for the analysis of organizational resources. This paper proposes to extend this model to the sustainability of tourist destinations. That is, assuming the VRIO model, and recognizing its usefulness as a tool for resource analysis, we introduce the sustainability dimension. The VRIO(S) model proposed here is intended as a starting point for discussion about the management of tourism resources in the context of sustainable development and competitive advantage to be undertaken
Final report: effective assessment of social isolation

The aim of this project is to review the scientific and ‘grey’ literature on instruments used for the effective assessment of social isolation amongst clients and for the outcomes assessment of therapeutic interventions designed to reduce social isolation. From this review the best instruments used to assess social isolation are recommended, including any adaptations that might be required for these instruments (e.g. item modification, field testing, and the development of rating scale and simplified English versions). This report identifies the most promising instruments to use for the assessment and monitoring of social isolation amongst Ageing, Disability and Home Care clients. The recommendations include consideration of the best way to implement assessment and outcome evaluation measures for social isolation in routine practice. The particular target groups for this project are the elderly, young people with disabilities and their carers.
Observation of the fast response of a magnetic resonance signal to neuronal activity: a snail ganglia study

We observed the response of a magnetic resonance signal to neuronal activity in dissected snail ganglia to investigate faster responding components than the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) component. To eliminate the BOLD component completely from the magnetic resonance signal, we used dissected snail ganglia which have non-magnetic hemocyanin, other than hemoglobin, as an oxygen carrying protein. To activate the snail ganglia in synchronization with the magnetic resonance signal measurement, we applied 30 Hz electrical stimulation with a pulse width of 2 s to the ganglia just before the 90° RF pulse. The increase of neuronal activity in the snail ganglia after the electrical stimulation was confirmed with extracellular potential recording. The magnetic resonance signal intensity, measured with the volume selection pulse sequence in a 3.0 T MRI, decreased by about 2.97 ± 1.10% when the ganglia were activated by the electrical stimulation. We think that the MRI signal decrease is partly due to the magnetic field produced by the neuronal current and partly due to the Lorentz force exerted on the neurons when they were firing.
MRI detects early hindlimb muscle atrophy in Gly93Ala superoxide dismutase‐1 (G93A SOD1) transgenic mice, an animal model of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

MRI has been used to measure hindlimb muscle volume in female and male transgenic mice overexpressing the Gly93Ala (G93A) mutant human superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), a widely used model of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS), over the first 4 months of life. Significant decreases in the hindlimb muscle volume of the female G93A SOD1 mice were evident from 11 weeks of age, before other overt pathology appeared. By 15 weeks volume had decreased by 37% compared with 7 weeks, from 0.84±0.04 cm3 (mean±standard deviation, n = 6) to 0.54±0.07 cm3, (p < 0.05), despite an increase in body weight of ca. 12% (from 16.2 ± 1.4 to 18.1 ± 0.7 g). Female wild‐type volume increased by ca. 30% whilst the body weight increased by 15%. Muscle wasteage was less (0.82±0.1 to 0.65±0.02 cm3, p < 0.05, n = 6) in male G93A SOD1 mice between 8 and 16 weeks of age, against a body weight increase trend from 20.7 ± 0.4 to 21.6 ± 0.5 g, (p > 0.05). Wild‐type male muscle volume did not change significantly over this period, with an increase in body weight of 20%. Longitudinal MRI hindlimb muscle volume measurements may provide a straightforward, rapid, non‐invasive and sensitive, way of monitoring outcome of experimental ALS treatments. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A randomised, controlled, non‐inferiority trial comparing the performance of a soft silicone‐coated wound contact layer (Mepitel One) with a lipidocolloid wound contact layer (UrgoTul) in the treatment of acute wounds

Wound contact layer (WCL) dressings are intended to protect tissue during the healing process. A randomised controlled trial was undertaken to compare 2 such dressings. Outpatients with acute wounds were randomly allocated to treatment with either a soft silicone‐coated WCL (intervention group, n = 59) or a lipidocolloid‐impregnated WCL (control group, n = 62). At the first dressing removal (day 3), 89.8% of patients in the intervention group experienced non‐painful dressing removal (defined as a pain rating <30 mm on a 100 mm visual analogue scale), compared with 73.6% of patients in the control group (P = .017) (per protocol population). At day 21, wounds were considered as healed in 66.1% of patients in the intervention group compared with 43.5% in the control group (P = .012) (intention‐to‐treat population). Both dressings were well tolerated and rated highly in terms of in‐use characteristics, although the soft silicone‐coated WCL was rated significantly higher than the lipidocolloid‐impregnated WCL in terms of its ability to remain in place (P= .016). The results indicate that the soft silicone‐coated WCL is suitable for the management of acute wounds as it can minimise dressing‐associated pain and support healing.
Business Process Orientation: Gaining the E-Business Competitive Advantage

From the Publisher: Business Process Orientation: Gaining the E-Business Competitive Advantage provides the "why" and the "how" for building the "horizontal" organization - an essential component of the "e" in e-commerce and business. This book shows you how to weave your business processes into hard-to-imitate strategic capabilities that distinguish you from your competition.The book explores the impact that well-defined and carefully integrated processes have on organizational performance. Using the results of extensive research conducted among consumer, business-to-business, and services-based companies, the authors demonstrate that adopting a business process orientation (BPO) has a positive impact on the organizational culture and business performance. The resulting process oriented e-corporation is now positioned as a necessity not only to thrive but also to survive.The old ways of conducting business are out: pushing costs and compromising quality in order to achieve the lowest possible price. The emerging paradigm focuses on the core processes. The hallmarks of a great business still include high customer relevance, internally consistent decisions about scope and value chain activities performed, value capture mechanisms, a source of differentiation and strategic control, a sound operational system, and carefully designed processes. Business Process Orientation: Gaining the E-Business Competitive Advantage shows you how to balance your functional and horizontal orientation to create and maintain a healthy organization.
Seahorses take to the world stage

With basic training completed, the next step is to establish demonstration village “farms” to test the methods in a rural situation. WorldFish will continue to support the two Western Province communities with the fledgling fishery. The final manual will be produced in an easy-to-follow pictorial style sometime in early 2005. One of the aims of the current ACIAR project is to transfer the technology elsewhere in Solomon Islands and to other Pacific Island countries. Updates on the results of extension efforts will be reported in future issues of this bulletin.
Genetic study of the myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) gene in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a neuropsychiatric disorder that affects approximately 1% of the general population. The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system has been implicated in several genetic studies of SCZ. The myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) gene, which is located close to the HLA region, is considered a candidate for SCZ due to its association with white matter abnormalities and its importance in mediating the complement cascade. Four polymorphisms in the MOG gene (CA)n (TAAA)n, and two intronic polymorphisms, C1334T and C10991T, were investigated for the possibility of association with SCZ using 111 SCZ proband and their families. We examined the transmission of the alleles of each of these polymorphisms with the transmission disequilibrium test. We did not observe significant evidence for biased transmission of alleles at the (CA)n (χ2 = 2.430, 6 df, P = 0.876) (TAAA)n (χ2 = 3.550, 5 df, P = 0.616), C1334T (χ2 = 0.040, 1 df, P = 0.841) and C10991T (χ2 = 0.154, 1 df, P = 0.695) polymorphisms. Overall haplotype analysis using the TRANSMIT program was also not significant (χ2 = 7.954, 9 df, P = 0.539). Furthermore, our results comparing mean age at onset in the genotype groups using the Kruskal–Wallis Test were not significant. Our case‐control analyses (182 cases age‐, sex‐ and ethnicity‐matched with healthy controls) and combined z‐score [(CA)n: z‐score =−1.126, P = 0.130; (TAAA)n: z‐score = −0.233, P = 0.408; C1334T: z‐score = 0.703, P = 0.241; C10991T: z‐score = 0.551, P = 0.291] were also not significant. Although our data are negative, the intriguing hypothesis for MOG in SCZ may warrant further investigation of this gene.
WiFi Offloading and Socially Aware Prefetching on Augmented Home Routers

This demonstration shows the RB-HORST prototype running live on real hardware. RB-HORST offers WiFi offloading, video caching, and video prefetching based on social and overlay network predictions. RB-HORST is intended to run on home gateways/routers which are represented in the demo as low power computers. The demo will show the functionality of RB-HORST and how users can interact with the system.
Rating Agency Actions and the Pricing of Debt and Equity of European Banks: What Can We Infer About Private Sector Monitoring of Bank Soundness?

The recent consultative papers by the Basel Committee suggest an explicit role for external rating agencies in the assessment of the credit risk of banks' assets. In this context, an assessment of the information contained in credit ratings is important. We address this issue via an event study of rating change announcements by leading international rating agencies, focussing on a sample of European banks. We find no evidence of announcement effects on bond prices. We are largely able to exclude lack of liquidity as an explanation for this puzzling result and suggest some alternatives, such as 'too-big-to-fail. ' For equity prices, we find strong effects of unexpected ratings changes and confirm prior evidence that stock prices may react very differently to ratings downgrades, depending on the underlying reason. Overall, our results suggest that ratings agencies may perform a useful role in summarising and obtaining non-public information on banks, at least for stockholders. JEL Classification: G21, G14, G18