Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Facilitators and barriers to discussing HIV prevention with adolescents: perspectives of HIV-infected parents.

OBJECTIVES We examined HIV-infected parents' conversations about HIV prevention with their uninfected children, including what facilitated or hindered communication. METHODS Parents with HIV/AIDS (n = 90) who had children aged 10 to 18 years were recruited for a mixed method study from 2009 to 2010. Interviews assessed facilitators and barriers to discussing HIV prevention. A questionnaire identified the frequency and content of conversations, parental confidence level, and perceived importance of discussing preventive topics. RESULTS Eighty-one percent of parents reported "sometimes" or "often" communicating about HIV prevention. A subset of parents found these conversations difficult; 44% indicated their desire for support. Facilitators to communication included utilizing support, focusing on the benefits of talking, and having a previous relationship with one's child. Barriers to discussions included fear of negative consequences, living in denial, and lacking a parental role model who discussed safer sex. Parents varied as to how they believed their HIV status affected communication. Those who did not disclose their HIV status to their children reported less frequent communication; self-efficacy partially mediated this relationship. CONCLUSIONS Findings highlighted the need for communication skills training that support HIV-infected parents in their efforts to discuss HIV-related information with adolescents.
Assessing Medical Students' Training in End‐of‐life Communication: A Survey of Interns at One Urban Teaching Hospital

Purpose Although interns are responsible for caring for dying patients, little is known about end-of-life education and training, including communication skills, in U.S. medical schools. This study of three consecutive cohorts of new interns assessed their perceptions of the amount and types of classroom and clinical instructional strategies used during medical school, their self-rated skill and comfort levels in different aspects of end-of-life communication, and the associations between these measures. Method A self-administered questionnaire was given to three consecutive cohorts (1996–1998) of incoming interns (n = 162). Measures were self-reported amount and type of education and clinical experience with four end-of-life communication domains (giving bad news, discussing advance directives, discussing prognosis with the patient, and discussing with the patient's family) and self-perceived comfort and skill levels in relation to different types of end-of-life communication. Results A total of 157 interns completed the questionnaire. They reported very little classroom teaching, clinical observation, or clinical experience with end-of-life communication during medical school. They lacked comfort and skill in the end-of-life communication domains that were studied. More reported clinical observation and experience with caring for and communicating with dying patients was associated with greater perceived comfort and skill, while classroom teaching was not. Conclusions These interns, mostly U.S. medical school graduates (98.7%, n = 155) reported little training and low self-perceived comfort and skill with important elements of end-of-life communication that might contribute to a lack of preparedness to address these issues during their internship. Further research that confirms and explains the underlying reasons for these findings seems warranted.
Usability Testing the “Personal Patient Profile–Prostate” in a Sample of African American and Hispanic Men

Shared treatment decision making in a cancer setting requires a patient's understanding of the potential benefits and risks of each treatment option. Graphical display of risk information is one approach to improving understanding. Little is known about how patients engage with infographics in the context of health education materials and whether interactions vary with health literacy levels. We conducted an observational study, using an eye tracker device, of how men with newly diagnosed localized prostate cancer visually engaged with an on-screen infographic depicting risk information in the Personal Patient Profile–Prostate. Health literacy was measured with the Short Assessment of Health Literacy–English. Gaze patterns on an exemplar screens containing infographics about survival were analyzed and explored with respect to sociodemographic and health literacy data. Acceptability of Personal Patient Profile–Prostate was measured with the Acceptability E-scale. Twenty-six English-speaking men participated, and eye tracking data were collected for 12 men on the exemplar page of risk information that we analyzed. We found preliminary evidence of visual scanning and of participants with lower literacy focusing sooner on infographics versus text. Acceptability for Personal Patient Profile–Prostate was high. These findings suggest that infographics may be of higher relative value to participants with low health literacy. Eye trackers may provide valuable information on how people visually engage with infographics and may inform development of health education materials, although care must be taken to minimize data loss.
Proposed amino acid sequence and the 1.63 Å X‐ray crystal structure of a plant cysteine protease, ervatamin B: Some insights into the structural basis of its stability and substrate specificity

The crystal structure of a cysteine protease ervatamin B, isolated from the medicinal plant Ervatamia coronaria, has been determined at 1.63 Å. The unknown primary structure of the enzyme could also be traced from the high‐quality electron density map. The final refined model, consisting of 215 amino acid residues, 208 water molecules, and a thiosulfate ligand molecule, has a crystallographic R‐factor of 15.9% and a free R‐factor of 18.2% for F > 2σ(F). The protein belongs to the papain superfamily of cysteine proteases and has some unique properties compared to other members of the family. Though the overall fold of the structure, comprising two domains, is similar to the others, a few natural substitutions of conserved amino acid residues at the interdomain cleft of ervatamin B are expected to increase the stability of the protein. The substitution of a lysine residue by an arginine (residue 177) in this region of the protein may be important, because Lys → Arg substitution is reported to increase the stability of proteins. Another substitution in this cleft region that helps to hold the domains together through hydrogen bonds is Ser36, replacing a conserved glycine residue in the others. There are also some substitutions in and around the active site cleft. Residues Tyr67, Pro68, Val157, and Ser205 in papain are replaced by Trp67, Met68, Gln156, and Leu208, respectively, in ervatamin B, which reduces the volume of the S2 subsite to almost one‐fourth that of papain, and this in turn alters the substrate specificity of the enzyme. Proteins 2003;51:489–497. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ultrasound in Neurology

ABSTRACTPurpose of Review: Low cost, avoidance of irradiation, and high temporal resolution are inherent advantages of ultrasound imaging that translate into multiple clinical uses in many domains of neurology. This article presents clinical uses of ultrasound examination in cerebrovascular, neurodegenerative, and peripheral nervous system diseases.Recent Findings: Modern treatment and prevention of ischemic stroke rely on prompt diagnosis. Ultrasonography has found a place as a noninvasive screening test and bedside technique that provides estimates of the degree of stenosis as well as hemodynamic and structural information about intracranial and extracranial vessels in real time. Other standard applications of neurosonology include detection of vasospasm in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage, selection of appropriate candidates for blood transfusion among patients with sickle cell anemia (primary stroke prevention), right-to-left shunt testing, emboli detection, vasomotor reactivity assessment, and noninvasive confirmation of cerebral circulatory arrest. Improvement in image quality permits novel uses of ultrasonography in neurodegenerative and peripheral nervous system disorders, providing clinically important information that is complementary to the clinical examination and electrophysiology. Transcranial parenchymal sonography may assist in the differential diagnosis of movement disorders, while peripheral nerve ultrasound using high-frequency probes may provide structural information regarding the underlying etiology of entrapment neuropathies.Summary: The indications for neurosonology are rapidly expanding, increasing its applicability outside the field of cerebrovascular diseases. Ultrasound testing is a noninvasive easily repeatable bedside investigation providing clinically relevant information on a wide spectrum of neurologic disorders.
Tumour Angiogenesis and p53 Protein Expression in Mammary Phyllodes Tumors

We examined 186 phyllodes tumors (106 benign, 51 borderline, 29 malignant) for angiogenesis by assessing stromal microvessel density by the hot spot method and assessing p53 protein expression; we correlated these factors with stromal cellularity, margin status, nuclear pleomorphism, mitosis, and stromal overgrowth. Increased degree of malignancy in phyllodes tumors is associated with increased patient age and tumor size. Microvessel density and p53 protein expression also showed a similar increase with malignancy. Using a logistic regression model, microvessel density was shown to be useful in predicting malignancy in phyllodes tumors, independent of key criteria of stromal overgrowth, nuclear pleomorphism, and mitosis. Microvessel density showed correlation with stromal cellularity and margin status, suggesting an interrelationship between these parameters. P53 protein expression showed a positive correlation with microvessel density, suggesting possible overlap in the underlying mechanism of these two factors in the pathogenesis of phyllodes tumors. The numbers of recurrences and metastases are small in our series, and no significant difference was demonstrated in microvessel density and p53 protein expression compared with the primary. We conclude that microvessel density and p53 are useful as independent criteria in evaluating malignancy in phyllodes tumors.
NOD2 plays an important role in the inflammatory responses of microglia and astrocytes to bacterial CNS pathogens

While glial cells are recognized for their roles in maintaining neuronal function, there is growing appreciation that resident central nervous system (CNS) cells initiate and/or augment inflammation following trauma or infection. We have recently demonstrated that microglia and astrocytes constitutively express nucleotide‐binding oligomerization domain‐2 (NOD2), a member of the novel nucleotide‐binding domain leucine‐rich repeat region containing a family of proteins (NLR) that functions as an intracellular receptor for a minimal motif present in all bacterial peptidoglycans. In this study, we have confirmed the functional nature of NOD2 expression in astrocytes and microglia and begun to determine the relative contribution that this NLR makes in inflammatory CNS responses to clinically relevant bacterial pathogens. We demonstrate the increased association of NOD2 with its downstream effector molecule, Rip2 kinase, in primary cultures of murine microglia and astrocytes following exposure to bacterial antigens. We show that this cytosolic receptor underlies the ability of muramyl dipeptide to augment the production of inflammatory cytokines by glia following exposure to specific ligands for disparate Toll‐like receptor homologues. In addition, we demonstrate that NOD2 is an important component in the in vitro inflammatory responses of resident glia to N. meningitidis and B. burgdorferi antigens. Finally, we have established that NOD2 is required, at least in part, for the astrogliosis, demyelination, behavioral changes, and elevated inflammatory cytokine levels observed following in vivo infection with these pathogens. As such, we have identified NOD2 as an important component in the generation of damaging CNS inflammation following bacterial infection. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
USE OF TEACHING METHODS AT HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

To facilitate the process of knowledge transmission, teachers should apply appropriate teaching methods that best suit specific objectives and level exit outcomes. In the traditional teaching-learning mode many practitioners applied teacher-centered teaching methods to impart knowledge to students comparatively student-centered methods. The subject information produced by the learners is remembered better than the same information presented to the learners by the lecturer. The present study has been attempted by the researcher to explore the teaching methods adopted by teachers in formal mode teaching processes. The methods inputs, its operation and utility have been studied with teaching specificity in the Indian context. In formal education system attendance of students in a classroom is a major task. All teacher tries to accept this challenge and work hard to maintain this task. Adunola, 2011 added quite remarkably, regular poor academic performance by the majority students is fundamentally linked to application of ineffective teaching methods by teachers to impart knowledge to learners. This study revealed that even though 20 teaching methods were to be adopted by teachers of four faculties only vert less number of teaching methods practiced. As a whole, a large majority of teacher of art faculty (96.25 percent) adopted lecture method, 78.75 percent teacher of art faculty adopt discussion method. Hand-on-teaching method adopted by science teacher and teacher educators (25.00 percent). Keyword: Teaching Method, Higher Education.
The Phylogeny of Quasars and the Ontogeny of Their Central Black Holes

The connection between multifrequency quasar observational and physical parameters related to accretion processes is still open to debate. In the last 20 year, Eigenvector 1-based approaches developed since the early papers by Boroson and Green (1992) and Sulentic et al. (2000b) have been proved to be a remarkably powerful tool to investigate this issue, and have led to the definition of a quasar “main sequence”. In this paper we perform a cladistic analysis on two samples of 215 and 85 low-z quasars (z 0.7) which were studied in several previous works and which offer a satisfactory coverage of the Eigenvector 1-derived main sequence. The data encompass accurate measurements of observational parameters which represents key aspects associated with the structural diversity of quasars. Cladistics is able to group sources radiating at higher Eddington ratios, as well as to separate radio-quiet (RQ) and radio-loud (RL) quasars. The analysis suggests a black hole mass threshold for powerful radio emission and also properly distinguishes core-dominated and lobe-dominated quasars, in accordance with the basic tenet of RL unification schemes. Considering that black hole mass provides a sort of “arrow of time” of nuclear activity, a phylogenetic interpretation becomes possible if cladistic trees are rooted on black hole mass: the ontogeny of black holes is represented by their monotonic increase in mass. More massive radio-quiet Population B sources at low-z become a more evolved counterpart of Population A i.e., wind dominated sources to which the “local” Narrow-Line Seyfert 1s belong.
Fatigue in human drivers: A study using ocular, Psychometric, physiological signals

Fatigue of human driver (operator) is a major concern as it is a significant cause of road accidents. This is not only applicable in transport industry, but also in aviation, heavy engineering industries etc. In the present work we have applied three objective methods for assessment of fatigue in human operator. These methods are based on Auditory Vigilance test (AVT) and Visual Response Test (VRT), facial image based measurement of fatigue, and Electroencephalographic (EEG) signal analysis. The present paper concludes that the human fatigue should be assessed by Meta-Analysis as it is a complex psycho-physiological phenomenon.
In vitro replication phenotype of a novel (−1G) hepatitis B virus variant associated with HIV co‐infection

The −1G mutant HBV is more prevalent in individuals co‐infected with HIV/HBV than in individuals infected with HBV alone and in some cases is the dominant virus in circulation. This mutant is created by the deletion of a dGMP (−1G) from the guanine rich homopolymer sequence located at nts 2,085–2,090 (numbering from EcoRI site as position 1) in the HBV core gene. This deletion causes a frameshift generating a premature stop codon at 64Asn in the HBV core gene (codon 93 in the precore gene), that truncates the precore protein, precursor of the secreted hepatitis B “e” antigen (HBeAg), and the core protein which forms the viral nucleocapsid. However, the replication phenotype of the −1G mutant HBV is unknown. An in vitro cell culture model in which hepatoma cells were transiently transfected with infectious cDNAs was used to show that the −1G mutant HBV is incapable of autonomous replication and, as expected, replication was restored to wild‐type (wt) levels by supplying HBV core protein in trans. Although the −1G mutation had no deleterious effect on intracellular HBV‐DNA levels, high levels of −1G mutant HBV relative to wt HBV reduced virus secretion and HBeAg secretion relative to empty vector controls. Importantly, the −1G mutant HBV also caused intracellular retention of truncated precore protein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi apparatus. Together, these effects may be contributing to the increased pathology observed in the setting of HIV/HBV co‐infection. J. Med. Virol. 84: 1166–1176, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Leaky Objects: Implicit Information, Unintentional Communication

This paper introduces the concept of leaky objects to describe this phenomenon in which shared objects unintentionally reveal implicit information about individual or collective users. This leaking of implicit information changes our individual interactions with objects to through objects, enabling expressive communication and ambiguous speculation. The aim of this paper is raise awareness of this phenomenon through an ongoing autobiographical design probe in which remote interpersonal communication through a connected object is being explored, and raise questions regarding the potential implications for designers.
Fluorescent IgG fusion proteins made in E. coli

Antibodies are among the most powerful tools in biological and biomedical research and are presently the fastest growing category of new bio-pharmaceutics. The most common format of antibody applied for therapeutic, diagnostic and analytical purposes is the IgG format. For medical applications, recombinant IgGs are made in cultured mammalian cells in a process that is too expensive to be considered for producing antibodies for diagnostic and analytical purposes. Therefore, for such purposes, mouse monoclonal antibodies or polyclonal sera from immunized animals are used. While looking for an easier and more rapid way to prepare full-length IgGs for therapeutic purposes, we recently developed and reported an expression and purification protocol for full-length IgGs, and IgG-based fusion proteins in E. coli, called “Inclonals. ” By applying the Inclonals technology, we could generate full-length IgGs that are genetically fused to toxins. The aim of the study described herein was to evaluate the possibility of applying the “Inclonals” technology for preparing IgG-fluorophore fusion proteins. We found that IgG fused to the green fluorescent proteins enhanced GFP (EGFP) while maintaining functionality in binding, lost most of its fluorescence during the refolding process. In contrast, we found that green fluorescent Superfolder GFP (SFGFP)-fused IgG and red fluorescent mCherry-fused IgG were functional in antigen binding and maintained fluorescence intensity. In addition, we found that we can link several SFGFPs in tandem to each IgG, with fluorescence intensity increasing accordingly. Fluorescent IgGs made in E. coli may become attractive alternatives to monoclonal or polyclonal fluorescent antibodies derived from animals.
Expression of Functional Gap Junctions and Regulation by Fluid Flow in Osteocyte‐Like MLO‐Y4 Cells

Osteocytes are thought to be mechanosensory cells that respond to mechanical stress by sending signals to other bone cells to initiate bone remodeling. An osteocyte‐like cell line MLO‐Y4 provides a model system to examine whether gap junctions participate in the regulation of osteocyte function and signaling by mechanical stress. In this study, we show that MLO‐Y4 cells are coupled and that gap junction channels mediate this coupling. Biochemical analyses show that connexin 43 (Cx43) is a major gap junction protein expressed in MLO‐Y4 cells and approximately 5% of Cx43 protein is phosphorylated. MLO‐Y4 cells were exposed to mechanical stress using a parallel plate flow chamber to model bone fluid flow shear stress. Fluid flow increased significantly the length of the dendritic processes, a morphological characteristic of osteocytes. A redistribution of the gap junction protein, Cx43 also was observed from a location circling the nucleus to punctate spots in the cytoplasm and in the dendritic processes. “Scrape‐loading” dye transfer analyses showed that fluid flow increased intercellular coupling and increased the number of cells coupled immediately after fluid flow treatment, in direct proportion to shear stress magnitude. Although intercellular coupling continued to increase, stimulation of Cx43 protein expression during the poststress period was found to be biphasic. Cx43 protein was elevated 30 minutes after application of stress but decreased at 24 h poststress. Pulsating fluid flow had a similar stimulatory effect as steady fluid flow on gap junctions. However, this stimulatory effect in osteocyte‐like cells was not observed in osteoblast‐like 2T3 cells. Together, these results show that fluid flow has stimulatory effects on osteocyte‐like MLO‐Y4 cells with early effects on cellular morphology, opening of gap junctions, and redistribution of Cx43 protein and delayed effects on Cx43 protein expression. The high expression of Cx43 and its location in the cytoplasm also suggest that Cx43 may have unknown functions in addition to forming gap junctions. These studies indicate that gap junctions may serve as channels for signals generated by osteocytes in response to mechanical loading.
Energy-Based Swing-Up Control for a Remotely Driven Acrobot: Theoretical and Experimental Results

This brief concerns the energy-based swing-up control for a remotely driven acrobot (RDA) which is a 2-link planar robot with the first link being underactuated and the second link being remotely driven by an actuator mounted at a fixed base through a belt. An energy-based swing-up controller is designed via the Lyapunov stability theory. A global motion analysis of the RDA under the designed controller is provided focusing on the behavior of the closed-loop solution and the stability of the closed-loop equilibrium points. The conditions on control parameters for achieving a successful swing-up control are given. Furthermore, an experimental setup is described and experimental results are given to validate the presented theoretical results. The energy-based swing-up controller for the RDA is shown to be effective both theoretically and practically.