Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High Risk of Recurrent Ischemic Events Among Patients With Deferred Intracranial Angioplasty and Stent Placement for Symptomatic Intracranial Atherosclerosis

BACKGROUND:Intracranial angioplasty with or without stent placement has been performed to treat patients with recurrent cerebral ischemic events despite best medical therapy or those with high-grade stenosis. OBJECTIVE:To evaluate early recurrent stroke/transient ischemic attack rates in a cohort of patients with symptomatic >50% intracranial stenosis in whom intracranial angioplasty and stent placement was initially deferred. METHODS:All patients presenting to 2 academic hospitals with symptomatic intracranial disease between 2006 and 2008 who underwent catheter angiography were identified. Patients with complete intracranial occlusion or stenosis less than 50% stenosis were excluded (n = 14). RESULTS:Thirty-one patients met the study criteria. Sixteen (52%) patients were on antiplatelet medications at the time of the initial event, and 2 patients were also on anticoagulant medications. Six patients (19%) underwent intracranial angioplasty and/or stent placement with their initial diagnostic angiogram. Twenty-five patients (81%) had endovascular treatment deferred for best medical treatment in the interim period. Among the 25 patients who were kept on medical management, 14 (56%) were readmitted with recurrent ischemic events in the distribution of the target artery within a median of 28 days (range, 1-243 days). Recurrent events occurred within 1 week in 8 (57%) patients, between 7 days and 1 month in 4 (29%) patients, 1 to 3 months in 1 (7%) patient, and after 3 months in 1 (7%) patient. Recurrent ischemic events were observed in all 5 patients with basilar artery stenosis and in 13 of 17 patients with severity of stenosis ≥70%. CONCLUSION:A high rate of recurrent ischemic events was observed among patients in whom endovascular treatment was deferred, particularly those with basilar artery stenosis and those with high-grade stenosis. This information would be beneficial in decision making for timing of the endovascular treatment among patients with symptomatic intracranial stenosis.
The Hip Hop Generation

In examining Black male-female relationships, Bell, Bouie, and Baldwin (1990) noted that most of the research is pathologycentered. This research focuses on a worldview or cultural orientation whose center is Euro-American. It is assumed that Black heterosexual relationships are based on the same values, lifestyles, and beliefs as those of Euro-American heterosexual relationships. To support this belief, the research emphasizes Black-White comparisons that are not cross-culturally sensitive to variation (Allen, 1978). Any deviation from the Euro-American pattern is considered abnormal. Asante (1980) proposed that African American cultural orientation is distinct from that of Euro-Americans. African American cultural orientation and worldview are situated in the cultural, historical, and philosophical tradition of African people. This worldview is defined by two principles: "oneness with nature" and "survival of the group. " In this holistic perspective, each partner provides for the other's intellectual, emotional, physical, and social stimulation. Neither partner exploits the relationship (Bell et al., 1990). Other social scientists, such as Page (1997), Hutchinson (1997), and Michaels (1995), discussed the heterogeneity and variation within African American communities. For example, Michaels used a historical examination of writers such as Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Zora Neal Hurston, and W.E. B. DuBois to discuss variation among African Americans. Page also suggested that promoters
Bringing memory forward: a method for engaging teachers in reflective practice on narrative and memory

The article discusses a method of reflective practice (’bringing memory forward’) developed through a study conducted in a Canadian school during the 2002–03 school year with 18 kindergarten to Grade 12 practicing teachers. The study investigated how teachers could voluntarily recognize their constructions of ‘difference’ against their own ‘landscapes of learning. ’ The study combined monthly teacher literature circles, interviews and the writing of a literacy autobiography to link narrative with memory within a framework focused on reflective practice. The presence of these three elements created mutually supportive critical contexts in which teachers reflected on their learning against the background of their teacher practice and literary and lived experience. In the article, the author uses one teacher’s learning to show a process through which memory, narrative and constructions of ‘difference’ became intertextually linked, and how that linking became a place from which critical teacher reflection began.
Symptoms of Depression and ADHD in Relation to Stimulant Medication Misuse Among College Students

ABSTRACT Background: The misuse of stimulant medications, commonly used for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is a concern on college campuses. Objective: This study sought to examine the relations between the misuse of stimulant medications and symptoms of depression and ADHD. Method: Eight hundred and ninety students ages 18–26 from one public university took a web-based survey including rating scales measuring symptoms of depression and ADHD. Results: The prevalence rate of misuse in the past year was 23%. Symptoms of depression were significantly related to misuse; however, once symptoms of ADHD were included in the analysis, depression was no longer a significant predictor. Further, there was not a significant interaction between ADHD and depression, but symptoms of ADHD were significantly related to misuse. Conclusions/Importance: Results suggest that attention difficulties may be one of the most important factors in predicting stimulant medication misuse. Therefore, prevention efforts to reduce the misuse of stimulant medication would be most successful when targeting students with symptoms of inattention.
The Motivational Push of Games: The Interplay of Intrinsic Motivation and External Rewards in Games for Training

Games for training aim to keep interest in training activities high by making them more enjoyable, yet interest and motivation often wane over time. Games frequently employ rewards to halt waning motivation; however, research suggests that although this approach may work for less motivated players, it may backfire for players who are already enjoying a game. To explore changing motivation patterns over time, we conducted an 11-day study of a game for training executive functioning with players who were split into two groups that reflected their intrinsic motivation induced through a manipulation of identification with an in-game avatar. Although motivation waned over time, both effort and enjoyment waned more rapidly for players who identified less. After one week, when we delivered a reward (payment), the less-identified group respond positively -- increasing their effort and improving performance; however, the more identified group responded negatively -- decreasing their effort and declining in task performance.
The Relationship Between Palpation of Thoracic Paraspinal Tissues and Pressure Measured by a Digital Algometer

Segmental paraspinal tissue texture change has been proposed to be an important diagnostic sign of intervertebral somatic dysfunction. The nature and existence of these regions is speculative. The aim of this study was to examine whether deep, medial, paraspinal regions identified as having abnormal texture by palpation are confirmed as being more sensitive to pressure measured by a digital algometer. An osteopath examined the thoracic regions of 32 subjects (26 asymptomatic, six with mild thoracic symptoms) to detect an abnormal to palpation and tender (AbPT) site in each individual. Three non-tender and normal to palpation (NT) regions (immediately above, below and opposite the AbPT site) were also located. A digital pressure algometer, also known as a Palpometer, consisting of a 0.86cm force-sensing resistor (polymer film) attached to the palpating fingertip, recorded the pressure applied during palpation. Pressure pain threshold (PPT) measurements were recorded for all sites, with both researcher and subject blinded to the reading on the algometer. The AbPT regions had a lower mean PPT than the three NT regions, and a one-way ANOVA determined these differences to be significant (p < 0.01). A Tukey post-hoc analysis revealed the significant differences to be between PPT scores for the AbPT location and all NT locations, but scores for the NT locations were not significantly different from each other. This study demonstrated that medial, paraspinal sites identified as having abnormal tissue texture and tenderness by palpation were significantly more tender than sites immediately above, below, and on the opposite side to the abnormal region. Further investigation of the nature of these AbPT sites is recommended.
Memory Biases in Social Anxiety and Depression

This study investigated selective processing of emotional information in social anxiety and depression using a self-referent recall task. Depressed, socially anxious, and normal subjects completed this task to assess potential recall biases toward carefully selected trait adjectives varying along the dimensions of valence (positive vs. negative) and content (depressive, socially anxious, both depressive and socially anxious, and both depression- and social anxiety-irrelevant). Depressed subjects showed an equivalent recall of negative and positive information, whereas socially anxious and normal subjects showed a positive recall bias. Results are discussed in the light of Beck's and Williams et al.'s theories about cognitive differences between anxiety and depression.
Using Illness Narratives to Explore African American Perspectives of Racial Discrimination in Health Care

Explanations for race-based disparities in health and health care abound, yet the mechanisms through which individuals reach determinations of discrimination remains poorly understood. This study collected and analyzed first-person narratives from 12 African American adults regarding their interactions with the health care system to elucidate possible sources of racism and discrimination while seeking medical care. Our analysis revealed that participants reached conclusions of perceived discrimination and differential treatment through their comparative observations and intuitive judgments. In such instances, they found it necessary to develop strategies to overcome the perceived lack of attention they received. Additionally, many participants expressed a considerable difference in the quality of interpersonal interactions between themselves and some of their health care providers, compared to interactions their providers had with patients from groups that are not racially underrepresented. In such instances, participants were compelled to develop strategies to overcome what they perceived to be a lack of attention.
Msx2 Stimulates Chondrocyte Maturation by Controlling Ihh Expression*

Several studies indicated that a homeobox gene, Msx2, is implicated in regulation of skeletal development by controlling enchondral ossification as well as membranous ossification. However, the molecular basis by which Msx2 conducts chondrogenesis is currently unclear. In this study, we examined the role of Msx2 in chondrocyte differentiation using mouse primary chondrocytes and embryonic metatarsal explants. Treatment with BMP2 up-regulated the expression of Msx2 mRNA along with chondrocyte differentiation in murine primary chondrocytes. Overexpression of wild-type Msx2 stimulated calcification of primary chondrocytes in the presence of BMP2. We also found that constitutively active Msx2 (caMsx2) enhanced BMP2-dependent calcification more efficiently than wild-type Msx2. Consistently, caMsx2 overexpression up-regulated the expression of alkaline phosphatase and collagen type X induced by BMP2. Furthermore, organ culture experiments using mouse embryonic metatarsals indicated that caMsx2 clearly stimulated the maturation of chondrocytes into the prehypertrophic and hypertrophic stages in the presence of BMP2. In contrast, knockdown of Msx2 inhibited maturation of primary chondrocytes. The stimulatory effect of Msx2 on chondrocyte maturation was enhanced by overexpression of Smad1 and Smad4 but inhibited by Smad6, an inhibitory Smad for BMP2 signaling. These data suggest that Msx2 requires BMP2/Smad signaling for its chondrogenic action. In addition, caMsx2 overexpression induced Ihh (Indian hedgehog) expression in mouse primary chondrocytes. Importantly, treatment with cyclopamine, a specific inhibitor for hedgehogs, blocked Msx2-induced chondrogenesis. Collectively, our results indicated that Msx2 promotes the maturation of chondrocytes, at least in part, through up-regulating Ihh expression.
Can the men's movement attract young men? The men in dialogue association

One challenge facing the men's movement is how to attract a more diverse range of participants, especially in terms of age and culture. In Spain, people generally believe that the men's movement has had little impact on young people, focused as it is on issues such as doing chores or caring for children, issues that affect only a particular group of men. Seeking ways to attract more young men to the movement, the authors conducted a case study with the Men in Dialogue association (MiD). MiD has developed a new approach to masculinity by incorporating in its discourse issues that young people face in their everyday lives. The authors analysed this discourse and identified key aspects – desire, friendship and solidarity, and equality – of the MiD messages that are attractive to young heterosexual males.
Effects of polysaccharide from Physalis alkekengi var. francheti on liver injury and intestinal microflora in type-2 diabetic mice

Abstract Context: Diabetic liver injury is a serious diabetic complication. The alterations of intestinal microbiota play an important role in induction and promotion of liver injury progression. Physalis alkekengi L. var. francheti (Mast.) Makino (Solanaceae) has been used as a water decoction for treating diabetes. Objective: To study the effects of a polysaccharide (PPSB) from Physalis alkekengi var. francheti on liver injury and intestinal microflora in type-2 diabetic mice. Materials and methods: Streptozotocin (160 mg/kg) was injected i.p. for 3 days to build model. The diabetic mice were randomly divided into four groups together with control group (10 mice in each group). The doses of PPSB were 50 and 100 mg/kg, respectively. After 5 weeks administration, level of blood glucose, ALT and AST were measured. Alterations of intestinal microflora, and protein expression of TGF-β1, TNF-α and DCN were detected. Results: Level of blood glucose decreased from (25.38 ± 2.21) mmol/L to (18.01 ± 2.53) mmol/L, ALT and AST decreased to (24.67 ± 4.86) U/L and (30.84 ± 7.50) U/L in PPSB-H group. Lactobacillus, Clostridium butyricum, and Bacteroides increased remarkably with increasing concentration of PPSB, but Enterobacter was inhibited. The relative expression of TGF-β1 and TNF-α decreased to (0.70 ± 0.17) and (0.39 ± 0.06), and the expression of DCN increased to (0.65 ± 0.13). Discussion and conclusions: Probiotics have been promoted by PPSB, and protein expressions have been modulated in the progression of liver injury. PPSB could be used as a natural agent for treating diabetic liver injury and intestinal microflora imbalance.
Architecture model for approximate palindrome detection

Understanding the structure and function of DNA sequences represents an important area of research in modern biology. One of the interesting structures occurring in DNA is a palindrome. Biologists believe that palindromes play an important role in regulation of gene activity and other cell processes because they are often observed near promoters, introns and specific untranslated regions. Unfortunately, the time complexity of algorithms for palindrome detection increases when mutations in the form of character insertions, deletions or substitutions are taken into consideration. In recent years, several works have been aimed at acceleration of such algorithms using dedicated circuits capable of potentially large-scale searching. However, widespread use of such circuits is often complicated by varying user task details or the need to use a specific target platform. The objective of this work is therefore to create a model of hardware architecture for approximate palindrome detection and develop a technique for automatic mapping of this model to the target platform without intervention of an experienced designer. The proposed model and the mapping technique are implemented and evaluated on a family of chips with Virtex5 technology.
Classification of high and low achievers in a music sight-reading task

The unrehearsed performance of music, called ‘sight-reading’ (SR), is a basic skill for all musicians. It is of particular interest for musical occupations such as the piano accompanist, the conductor, or the correpetiteur. However, up until now, there is no theory of SR which considers all relevant factors such as practice-related variables (e.g. expertise), speed of information processing (e.g. mental speed), or psychomotor speed (e.g. speed of trills). Despite the merits of expertise theory, there is no comprehensive model that can classify subjects into high- and low-performance groups. In contrast to previous studies, this study uses a data mining approach instead of regression analysis and tries to classify subjects into predetermined achievement classes. It is based on an extensive experiment in which the total SR performance of 52 piano students at a German music department was measured by use of an accompanying task. Additionally, subjects completed a set of psychological tests, such as tests of mental speed, reaction time, working memory, inner hearing, etc., which were found in earlier studies to be useful predictors of SR achievement. For the first time, classification methods (cluster analysis, regression trees, classification trees, linear discriminant analysis) were applied to determine combinations of variables for classification. Results of a linear discriminant analysis revealed a two-class solution with four predictors (cross-validated error: 15%) and a three-class solution with five predictors (cross-validated error: 33%).
Constructing an OLAP cube from distributed XML data

On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) is a powerful method for analysing large data warehouse data. Typically, the data for an OLAP database is collected from a set of data repositories such as e.g. operational databases. This data set is often huge, and it may not be known in advance what data is required and when to perform the desired data analysis tasks. Sometimes it may happen that some parts of the data are only needed occasionally. Therefore, keeping the OLAP database constantly up-to-date is not only a highly demanding task but it also may be overkill in practice.This suggests that in some applications it would be more feasible to form the OLAP cubes only when they are actually needed. We present such a system. As the data sources may well be heterogeneous, we propose an XML language for data collection. Our system also has a facility, where the user may pose a query against a "universal" OLAP cube using the MDX language. The query is analysed to determine which data is required for the desired OLAP cube.
A novel endothelin antagonist, A-127722, attenuates ischemic lesion size in rats with temporary middle cerebral artery occlusion: a diffusion and perfusion MRI study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Endothelins (ETs) are potent vasoconstrictors. Plasma ET levels increase during acute brain ischemia and may worsen the ischemic damage. Diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) and perfusion imaging (PI) are powerful tools for evaluation of acute cerebral ischemia. We studied the effects of A-127722, a novel ET(A)-selective ET antagonist, on cerebral ischemic lesion size using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining postmortem, on acute ischemic lesion development with DWI, and on the cerebral circulation using PI. METHODS Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats received either 5 mg/kg of A-127722 or vehicle (n=10 per group) intravenously 30 minutes and subcutaneously 4 hours after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Whole-brain DWI and single-slice PI were done before initiation of treatment and repeated frequently thereafter up to 4 hours after MCAO. The animals were reperfused in the MRI scanner 90 minutes after the onset of MCAO. At 24 hours the animals were killed, and the brains were cut into six 2-mm-thick slices and stained with 2% TTC. Percent hemispheric lesion volume (%HLV) was calculated for each animal. RESULTS Physiological parameters, body weight, neurological scores, and premature mortality (2 versus 2) did not differ between the two groups. No hypotension, abnormal behavior, or other adverse effects were seen. TTC-derived %HLV was 25.3+/-5.6% for controls and 16.2+/-9.6% for treated animals (36% reduction, P<.02). Six animals in each group had successful reperfusion as shown by PI. Among these animals, %HLV was 23.2+/-3.1% for controls and 9.3+/-4.4% for treated animals (60% reduction, P=.0001). The beneficial effect of A-127722 was limited to animals in which successful reperfusion was demonstrated. No difference in PI-detected perfusion deficit size was observed between the groups. DWI did not demonstrate significant in vivo lesion size differences. CONCLUSIONS A-127722 significantly reduced ischemic lesion size in rats without observable adverse effects. It is not clear whether the effect was due to vasodilatation of collateral arterioles not detectable by PI or whether A-127722 has neuroprotective properties that are independent of vascular effects.
A Case Study of the Transformative Effect of Peer Injection Drug Users in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, Canada

Cette étude fut effectuée pour explorer la manière dont les pairs interviennent pour façonner les réseaux sociaux et saisir l’effet transformateur des interventions menées par des pairs dans le cadre de programmes locaux d’échange de seringues et au sein d’un établissement d’injection supervisé à Vancouver, au Canada. Des entrevues semi-structurées furent menées auprès de pairs bénévoles pendant leurs travaux routiniers. Les entrevues furent analysées de façon thématique au moyen de deux méthodes d’analyse de codage. Les résultats suggèrent que les pairs jouaient d’importants rôles en matière d’éducation et de sécurité et qu’ils pouvaient changer le comportement, l’attitude et l’intention d’utilisateurs de drogues injectables dans la région Downtown Eastside de la ville. De plus, les pairs ont pu rejoindre les personnes qui hésitaient à chercher de l’aide médicale, un logement ou des services de prévention. Les pairs servent d’agents de changement dans le Downtown Eastside permettant de distribuer des renseignements et d’offrir des outils en réduction de risque aux personnes marginalisées.