Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-care behaviour and related factors in older people with Type 2 diabetes.

AIM The present study examined the factors related to self-care behaviour in type 2 diabetic patients aged > or =65 years. In addition, this study tested the effect of the important explanatory factors on self-care behaviour. BACKGROUND Along with the development of an ageing society, diabetes occurs frequently among older people. Diabetes requires continual medical treatment, with patients responsible for self-care. Although the relationships among social support, depression and self-care have been widely studied, little is know about older diabetic patients, especially in Taiwan. DESIGN A correlational design was adopted. In total, 165 patients recruited using convenience sampling were diabetic outpatients at three hospitals in southern Taiwan from January-March 2005. METHODS The participants were interviewed using the Personal Resource Questionnaire 2000 (PRQ 2000), Diabetes Self-Care Scale and Taiwan Geriatric Depression Scale (TGDS). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. RESULT Self-care behaviour scores were significantly influenced by different gender, education level, economic status and religious beliefs of older diabetic patients. Depression and self-care behaviour were negatively correlated. Social support, education and duration of diabetes significantly affected self-care behaviour, accounting for 35.6% of total variance. CONCLUSIONS. Social support plays a vital factor in contributing to the facilitation of self-care behaviour. These analytical findings demonstrate the importance of social support, education and duration of diabetes in determining self-care behaviour for diabetic older diabetic patients and serve as references for future studies of self-care behaviour in type 2 older diabetic patients. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Implication for nurses highlights the significance of providing patients with social support that will enable them to have good support systems during their disease treatment to enhance self-care abilities and improve quality of life.
Endogenous Business Cycles in the Ramsey Growth Model

The Ramsey model is an analytical structure aimed at explaining intertemporal optimal growth. As a consequence, business cycles cannot be generated resorting to this structure, unless one introduces some source of inefficiency. Our central argument is that firms forecast future demand using a simple rule and thus they fail to perceive the full extent in which demand is capable of growing. Hence, firms will not invest as much as it is economically feasible in each moment of time, and this mechanism leads eventually to business cycles. The paper contributes to the endogenous business cycles literature with an important new feature: we do not have to consider the labour market in order to generate fluctuations – the framework just assumes consumption and investment decisions.
Identification of new sources of resistance to angular leaf spot among Uganda common bean landraces

Breeding for resistance to Angular Leaf spot (ALS), a fungal disease caused by Pseudocercospora griseola (Sacc), is faced with a challenge of the existence of a few resistance sources that are exotic and not well adapted to environmental conditions in Uganda. In addition, P. griseola is a highly variable pathogen that co-evolves with its host, therefore necessitating the continuous identification of new and stronger sources of resistance. Identification of local bean landraces/adapted bean varieties with resistance to ALS would probably quicken the progress of development of resistant cultivars, and reduce yield losses. Seventy four landraces, four commercial varieties, and two controls were screened with four P. griseola pathotypes 1:6, 17:39, 21:39, and 61:63 to determine their ALS resistance levels. One landrace, U00297, showed consistent and strong resistance to the four pathotypes. The inheritance of resistance in U00297 was established from three individual populations derived from crosses with three susceptible cultivars, K132, K131, and Kanyebwa, commercially grown in Uganda. The allelic relationships between U00297 and two existing ALS resistance sources, AND277 and G5686 were tested. Segregation ratios of F2 populations revealed that U00297 resistance to pathotype 17:39 is conferred by a single dominant gene, while digenic epistatic gene interactions were suggested for resistance to other pathotypes. The general and specific combining abilities were significant for resistance revealing the importance of additive and dominant components in the inheritance of ALS resistance. As a resistant parent, U00297 was a good combiner for resistance to pathotype 17:39, and effective resistance source to pathotypes 17:39 and 61:63. The allelic test indicated that the dominant gene in U00297 is independent of resistance genes harboured by resistance sources AND277 and G5686. The information generated is useful to breeding programs targeting developing bean cultivars carrying novel ALS resistance based on genes derived from U00297.
StegoBreaker: Audio Steganalysis using Ensemble Autonomous Multi-Agent and Genetic Algorithm

The goal of steganography is to avoid drawing suspicion to the transmission of a hidden message in multi-medium. This creates a potential problem when this technology is misused for planning criminal activities. Differentiating anomalous audio document (stego audio) from pure audio document (cover audio) is difficult and tedious. Steganalytic techniques strive to detect whether an audio contains a hidden message or not. This paper investigates the use of genetic algorithm (GA) to aid autonomous intelligent software agents capable of detecting any hidden information in audio files, automatically. This agent would make up the detection agent in an architecture comprising of several different agents that collaborate together to detect the hidden information. The basic idea is that, the various audio quality metrics (AQMs) calculated on cover audio signals and on stego-audio signals vis-a-vis their denoised versions, are statistically different. GA employs these AQMs to steganalyse the audio data. The overall agent architecture will operate as an automatic target detection (ATD) system. The architecture of ATD system is presented in this paper and it is shown how the detection agent fits into the overall system. The design of ATD based audio steganalyzer relies on the choice of these audio quality measures and the construction of a GA based rule generator, which spawns a set of rules that discriminates between the adulterated and the untouched audio samples. Experimental results show that the proposed technique provides promising detection rates
Exploring the Use of Computer Games and Virtual Reality in Exposure Therapy for Fear of Driving Following a Motor Vehicle Accident

Specific phobia, situational type-driving, induced by accident (accident phobia) occurs in 18-38% of those involved in a vehicular accident of sufficient severity to warrant referral to the emergency departments of a general hospital. The objective is to investigate, in an open study, the effectiveness of the combined use of computer generated environments involving driving games (game reality [GR]) and a virtual reality (VR) driving environment in exposure therapy for the treatment of driving phobia following a motor vehicle accident (MVA) program. Fourteen subjects who met DSM-IV criteria for Simple Phobia/Accident Phobia and were referred from the emergency department of a general hospital were exposed to a Virtual Driving Environment (Hanyang University Driving Phobia Environment) and computer driving games (London Racer/Midtown Madness/Rally Championship). Patients who experienced "immersion" (i.e., a sense of presence with heightened anxiety) in one of the driving simulations (defined as an increase in SUD ratings of 3 and/or an increase of heart rate > 15 BPM in a 1-h trial session of computer simulation driving) were exposed to a cognitive behavioral program of up to 12 1-h sessions involving graded driving simulation tasks with self-monitoring, physiological feedback, diaphragmatic breathing and cognitive reappraisal. Subjects were assessed at the beginning and end of therapy with measurements of: physiological responsivity (heart rate), subjective ratings of distress (SUD), rating scales for severity of fear of driving (FDI), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CAPS) and depression (HAM-D) and achievement of target behaviors. Of all patients 7/14 (50%) became immersed in the driving environments. This immersed group (n = 7) completed the exposure program. Pre- and post-treatment comparisons showed significant post treatment reductions on all measures SUDS (p = 0.008), FDI (p = 0.008), CAPS (p = 0.008), HR (p = 0.008), CAPS (p = 0.008), HAM-D (p = 0.031). Further analysis of the FDI showed significant reductions in all three subscales: travel distress (p = 0.008), travel avoidance (p = 0.008), and maladaptive driving strategies (p = 0.016). The findings of this study suggest that VR and GR may have a useful role in the treatment of driving phobia post-accident even when co-morbid conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression are present.
Predicting the Structure of Cyclic Lipopeptides by Bioinformatics: Structure Revision of Arthrofactin

Arthrofactin, a bioactive cyclic lipopeptide from Pseudomonas sp. MIS38, was reinvestigated for its structural and stereochemical features due to discrepancies between the genetics-based sequence prediction and the currently suggested structure. The structure of arthrofactin and its derivatives was reassigned on the basis of chiral HPLC analysis and extensive NMR and MS experiments. Furthermore, derivatives of arthrofactin were discovered.
Are SSRIs a Cost-Effective Alternative to Tricyclics?

Background Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are more expensive than tricyclics. Reports have suggested that SSRIs are cost-effective because they are better tolerated and safer in overdose. Method A systematic review of all randomised controlled trials (RCTs), meta-analyses, and cost-effectiveness studies comparing SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs). Results None of the RCTs provided an economic analysis and there were methodological problems in the majority which would preclude this approach. Meta-analyses suggest that clinical efficacy is equivalent but slightly fewer patients prescribed SSRIs drop out of RCTs. Cost-effectiveness studies have been based on crude ‘modelling’ approaches and over-estimate the difference in attrition rates and the cost of treatment failure. It appears impossible to evaluate the economic aspects of suicide because of its rarity. Conclusions There is no evidence to suggest that SSRIs are more cost-effective than TCAs. The debate will only be concluded when a prospective cost-effectiveness study is done in the setting of a large primary care based RCT.
The rhesus rotavirus outer capsid protein VP4 functions as a hemagglutinin and is antigenically conserved when expressed by a baculovirus recombinant

Rhesus rotavirus (RRV) gene 4 was cloned into lambda bacteriophage, inserted into a polyhedrin promoter shuttle plasmid, and expressed in Sf9 cells by a recombinant baculovirus. The baculovirus-expressed VP4 protein made up approximately 5% of the Spodoptera frugiperda-infected cell protein. Monoclonal antibodies that neutralize the virus bound to the expressed VP4 polypeptide, indicating that the expressed VP4 protein was antigenically indistinguishable from viral VP4. In addition, we have determined that the baculovirus-expressed VP4 protein bound to erythrocytes and functions as the RRV hemagglutinin. The endogenous hemagglutinating activity of the VP4 protein, like the virus, was inhibited by guinea pig antirotavirus hyperimmune serum and by VP4-specific neutralizing monoclonal antibodies. The human erythrocyte protein, glycophorin, also inhibited hemagglutination by RRV or the expressed VP4 protein and appears to be the rotavirus erythrocyte receptor. The baculovirus-expressed VP4 protein was conserved functionally and antigenically in the absence of other outer or inner capsid rotavirus components and represents a logical candidate for future immunological studies.
Tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase expression in human breast cancer: TIMP‐3 is associated with adjuvant endocrine therapy success

Tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMPs) may be involved in tumour growth, apoptosis, angiogenesis, invasion, and the development of metastases. This study has evaluated the association of the expression levels of the TIMP forms 1, 2, 3, and 4, measured by quantitative real‐time RT‐PCR, with classical clinicopathological characteristics, ie age, menopausal status, tumour size, histological grade, number of involved lymph nodes, and steroid hormone receptor status, and with disease progression and treatment sensitivity in 273 breast cancer patients. The mRNA levels of TIMP‐1 and TIMP‐2 were not associated with any known clinicopathological tumour feature. TIMP‐3 and TIMP‐4 levels were significantly higher in steroid hormone receptor‐positive samples, although the levels of TIMP‐4 were much lower than those of the other TIMPs. Only TIMP‐3 predicted relapse‐free survival (RFS) time differently depending on post‐surgical treatment as, in particular, the interaction of TIMP‐3 with endocrine therapy (p = 0.008, HR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.09–0.69) contributed significantly to RFS in multivariate Cox regression analysis. In subgroup analyses, the 107 patients treated with tamoxifen differed greatly in prognosis after dichotomization by the median TIMP‐3 level (p = 0.0003). Thus, high tumour levels of the matrix metalloproteinases inhibitor and pro‐apoptotic factor TIMP‐3 are associated with successful tamoxifen treatment of patients with breast cancer. Copyright © 2004 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Changes in internal mechanical cost during overground running to exhaustion.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine, during an overground supra-threshold run, whether a change in the internal mechanical cost could occur during an exhaustive run and whether this change was related to the increase in the energy cost of running (C(r)). METHODS The Cr of 14 endurance runners was measured from pulmonary gas exchange using a breath-by-breath portable gas analyzer (Cosmed K4b, Rome, Italy), at the third and the last minute of an exhaustive exercise performed at their velocity corresponding to 95% of the maximal oxygen uptake (4.88 +/- 0.38 m.s(-1)). At the same time, potential, kinetic, and internal mechanical costs (C(pe), C(ke), and C(int)) were measured with a 3D motion analysis system (ANIMAN3D). RESULTS C(int) and C(r) increased significantly within the third minute and the end of the supra-threshold exercise (respectively, 0.55 +/- 0.07 vs 0.60 +/- 0.07 J.kg(-1). m(-1) and 4.10 +/- 0.39 vs 4.32 +/- 0.42 J.kg(-1). m(-1); P < or = 0.03). However, the percentage of variation of C(int) and C(r) were not correlated (r = 0.06; P = 0.84). Contrary to C(int), C(ke) and C(pe) remained constant during the exercise (respectively, 1.33 +/- 0.33 vs 1.38 +/- 0.29 J.kg(-1). m(-1) P = 0.79 and 0.47 +/- 0.11 vs 0.48 +/- 0.10 J.kg(-1). m(-1); P = 0.67), but both parameters were significantly correlated with C(r) (r = 0.43; P = 0.03 and r = 0.40; P = 0.03). CONCLUSION During overground running to exhaustion, a significant increase in C(int) occurred, but this did not account for the increase in C(r). Moreover, the increase in C(int) has yet to be explained.
Latex agglutination test for staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome toxin 1

A reversed passive latex agglutination method, in which latex particles were sensitized with specific anti-toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) immunoglobulin, was found to be a simple and sensitive method for the detection of TSST-1 production by Staphylococcus aureus strains. The minimum amount of TSST-1 detectable was approximately 1.0 ng/ml. Of 41 S. aureus isolates from toxic shock syndrome patients and controls, 23 were positive for TSST-1 production, whereas only 20 strains were positive for TSST-1 production by an Ouchterlony immunodiffusion method. The reversed passive latex agglutination method was used to examine S. aureus strains isolated in Japan from staphylococcal infections, feces from healthy individuals, food from poisoning outbreaks, and market food.
An overview of cotton leaf curl virus disease (CLCuD) a serious threat to cotton productivity.

Cotton Leaf Curl Disease is among the most devastating natural calamity that inflicted huge losses to cotton crop productivity especially in Pakistan during the last 20 years. The dilemma of CLCuD is still under discussion among the researchers since its appearance in 1967. In 1992-93, CLCuD appeared in epidemic form which caused a decline in yield down to 9.05 million bales and during 1993-94, to 8.04 million bales in Pakistan. For screening against CLCuV to develop virus resistant cultivars disease was induced through grafting, delayed sowing and whitefly mediated transfer. The disease epidemiology is changed by abiotic factors especially temperature and plant age. Cotton leaf curl virus disease not only affect yield but also deteriorate fiber quality traits like Ginning out turn percentage, staple length, fiber uniformity index, fiber fineness, fiber bundle strength, maturity ratio because of change in composition of major fiber components including cellulose, protein, wax and pectin. The uncertainty of inheritance of CLCuD also prevails whether it is under the control of dominant or recessive genes which may be monogenic or polygenic whereas, extrachrmosomal inheritance is also under discussion. The resistance breakdown depends upon the evolutionary potential of the pathogen and the possibility of recombinations, by which new variants of viruses evolved. The resistance gained for Multan-CLCuV became susceptible to Burewala-CLCuV due to virus mutation and lack of durable resistance. Management of CLCuD is the only option that can command the disease in various ways inclusive of change in sowing dates, crop nutrition, cultural practices, vector control, buffer crops and systemic poisoning of cotton seed by seed treatment will make the cotton crop safe in initial 40-50days after sowing. Biotechnology can also aid in controlling this disease through transcriptional gene silencing. By using biotechnological tools broad spectrum resistance can be introduced against all viruses present in the field.
A surface epitope undergoing high-frequency phase variation is shared by Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma bovis

We have recently reported that three distinct size- and phase-variable surface lipoproteins (Vsps) of the bovine pathogen Mycoplasma bovis possess a common epitope recognized by monoclonal antibody 1E5. In the present study, we show that this epitope is also present on a size-variant protein (PvpA) of the avian pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum. Application of monoclonal antibody 1E5 in Western immunoblot analysis of Triton X-114 phase-fractionated proteins and in colony immunoblots, as well as in trypsin and carboxypeptidase digestion experiments, has demonstrated that (i) PvpA is an integral membrane protein with a free C terminus, (ii) the shared epitope is surface exposed, and (iii) PvpA is subjected to high-frequency phase variation in expression. By using serum antibodies from M. gallisepticum-infected chickens, we were able to demonstrate the immunogenic nature of PvpA and identify three additional highly immunogenic Triton X-114 phase proteins (p67, p72, and p75) also undergoing high-frequency phase variation spontaneously and independently. Metabolic labeling experiments with [14C]palmitate and [14C]oleate revealed that PvpA, in contrast to p67, p72, and p75, is not lipid modified. Southern blot hybridization with restriction fragments carrying the pvpA gene of M. gallisepticum or the vspA gene of M. bovis against digested genomic DNA of the two Mycoplasma species indicated the absence of genetic relatedness between the pvpA and vspA genes. The apparent complexity of the antigenic variation phenomenon in M. gallisepticum is discussed.
Power‐aware routing in networks with quality of services constraints

Current network infrastructures are over‐provisioned and thus exhibit poor power efficiency at low traffic load. We consider networks consisting of bundled links, whereby each link has one or more physical cables that can be switched off independently. The problem at hand is to switch off redundant nodes and cables during off‐peak periods, while retaining the quality of services provided to existing traffic demands. Unfortunately, the problem to maximally shutdown redundant nodes and cables is Non‐deterministic Polynomial‐time (NP)‐complete. Henceforth, we design a fast heuristic, called Multiple Paths by Shortest Path First (MSPF), that aims to maximise the number of switched‐off nodes and cables subject to satisfying maximum link utilisation (MLU) and path length (PL) constraints. We have extensively evaluated the performance of MSPF on both real and synthetic topologies and traffic demands. Further, we have compared its performance against two state‐of‐the‐art techniques: GreenTE, usable when each link has one cable, and Fast Greedy Heuristic (FGH), which supports bundled links but only for networks without MLU and PL constraints. On the Sprint network, MSPF can save on average 5% more power as compared to GreenTE while incurring only 1% of GreenTE's running time. While yielding equivalent power savings, MSPF requires only 0.35% of FGH's running time. Finally, setting MLU to at most 50% and PL to no longer than the network diameter, MSPF reduces the power usage of the GÉANT topology by up to 91% for links consisting of 10 cables. For experiments on synthetic topologies with bundle size of 30, MSPF yields a power saving of 89.81%. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Labeling Semantically Motivated Clusters of Verbal Relations

Document clustering is a popular research eld in Natural Language Processing, Data Mining and Information Retrieval. The problem of lexical unit (LU) clustering has been less addressed, and even less so the problem of labeling LU clusters. However, in our application that deals with the distillation of relational tuples from patent claims as input to block diagram or a concept map drawing pro- grams, this problem is central. The assessment of various document cluster labeling techniques lets us assume that despite some signicant dierences
Review of the Reliability and Validity of Myometry with Children

Pediatric occupational therapists and physical therapists often measure muscle strength, and muscle strength frequently is cited as an indicator of function in clinical practice and in research. A reliable measure to quantify strength is necessary to accurately assess muscle strength so the values can be used for comparison, study, and indication of change. The hand-held myometer provides an alternative to traditional methods of manual muscle testing, and its reliability and validity have been examined in adults. The purpose of this review is to summarize the available literature relating to the reliability and validity of the hand-held myometer when used with children and to identify directions for future study in the use of myometers with children.