Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The associations between sex, immigrant status, immigrant concentration and intimate partner violence: Evidence from the Canadian General Social Survey

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an important public health concern, yet little is known about the combined effects of individual- and neighbourhood-level characteristics on IPV among immigrants. The aim of this study is to examine: (1) the association between immigrant status and IPV victimisation and whether sex modifies this association, and (2) the association between the neighbourhood concentration of immigrants and IPV victimisation, and whether immigrant status modifies this association. Our sample of 10,964 males and females comes from the 2009 Canadian General Social Survey. After controlling for covariates, immigrant status was not associated with IPV, and sex significantly modified the association between immigrant status and financial and physical/sexual IPV. Compared to males, second-generation females were less likely to report financial IPV and first-generation females were more likely to report physical/sexual IPV. Immigrant status modified the association between the neighbourhood concentration of immigrants and emotional and physical/sexual IPV. Compared to third-generation males, first-generation males living in neighbourhoods with a higher concentration of immigrants were more likely to report emotional IPV, whereas second-generation males in these neighbourhoods were less likely to report physical/sexual IPV. Interventions to reduce IPV should pay equal attention to individual- and neighbourhood-level influences.
Dynamics of anemia in relation to parasitic infections, micronutrient status, and increasing age in South-Central Côte d'Ivoire.

BACKGROUND Parasitic diseases (eg, malaria and helminthiases) exert enormous burdens on public health and social well-being. Moreover, parasitic infections are important causes of anemia in tropical Africa, exacerbated by lack of a diversified diet and inflammatory and genetic diseases. There is a paucity of longitudinal studies monitoring the dynamics of anemia in relation to the aforementioned parameters. METHODS We designed a 14-month prospective longitudinal study in 3 cohorts (ie, infants aged 6-23 months, children aged 6-8 years, and women aged 15-25 years) in the Taabo health demographic surveillance system located in south-central Côte d'Ivoire. Parasitological, hematological, and micronutrient data were obtained from repeated cross-sectional surveys, utilizing standardized, quality-controlled methods. RESULTS We found that young age, Plasmodium and Schistosoma infections, cellular iron deficiency, and stunting were significantly negatively associated with hemoglobin concentration. Moreover, iron status biomarkers (ie, ferritin and soluble transferrin receptor) were significantly associated with inflammatory parameters. CONCLUSIONS Based on our results, effective prevention and control measures that target parasitic diseases and iron deficiency are needed. These measures might include the distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets, intermittent preventive treatment for malaria, regular anthelmintic drug administration, and improved intake of bioavailable iron, coupled with health and nutritional education and improved hygiene, water, and sanitation.
Preparation, characterization, and biological properties of β-glucans

β-Glucans are soluble fibers with physiological functions, such as, interference with absorption of sugars and reduction of serum lipid levels. β-glucans are found in different species, such as, Rhynchelytrum repens, Lentinus edodes, Grifola frondosa, Tremella mesenterica, Tremella aurantia, Zea may, Agaricus blazei, Phellinus baummi, Saccharomyces cerevisae (yeast), and Agaricus blazei murell (mushroom). Analysis of the fractions reveals the presence of arabinose, glucose, xylose, and traces of rhamnose and galactose. The presence of β-glucan in these fractions is confirmed by hydrolyzing the polymers with endo-β-glucanase from Bacillus subtilis, followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of the characteristic oligosaccharides produced. The 4 M KOH fractions from different tissues are subjected to gel permeation chromatography on Sepharose 4B, with separation of polysaccharides, with different degrees of polymerization, the highest molecular mass (above 2000 kDa) being found in young leaves. The molecular mass of the leaf blade polymers is similar (250 kDa) to that of the maize coleoptiles β-glucan used for comparison. The 4 M KOH fraction injected into rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes has shown hypoglycemic activity, reducing blood sugar to normal levels for approximately 24 hours. This performance is better than that obtained with pure β-glucan from barley, which decreases blood sugar levels for about four hours. These results suggest that the activity of β-glucans is responsible for the use of this plant extract as a hypoglycemic drug in folk medicine.
Genotyping coronaviruses associated with feline infectious peritonitis

Feline coronavirus (FCoV) infections are endemic among cats worldwide. The majority of infections are asymptomatic or result in only mild enteric disease. However, approximately 5 % of cases develop feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), a systemic disease that is a frequent cause of death in young cats. In this study, we report the complete coding genome sequences of six FCoVs: three from faecal samples from healthy cats and three from tissue lesion samples from cats with confirmed FIP. The six samples were obtained over a period of 8 weeks at a single-site cat rescue and rehoming centre in the UK. We found amino acid differences located at 44 positions across an alignment of the six virus translatomes and, at 21 of these positions, the differences fully or partially discriminated between the genomes derived from the faecal samples and the genomes derived from the tissue lesion samples. In this study, two amino acid differences fully discriminated the two classes of genomes: these were both located in the S2 domain of the virus surface glycoprotein gene. We also identified deletions in the 3c protein ORF of genomes from two of the FIP samples. Our results support previous studies that implicate S protein mutations in the pathogenesis of FIP.
Molecular cytogenetics in human cancer diagnosis

This report summarizes the application of fluorescence in situ hybridization for detection and diagnosis of human cancers and for detection of residual cancer cells. This approach allows individual interphase cancer cells to be stained so that aberrations such as aneusomies, translocations, deletions, and gene amplification can be seen in the light microscope. This is accomplished using probes for repeated sequences found at the chromosome centromeres, whole chromosome probes, and/or probes for specific aberrant sequences. Cancer 1992; 69:1536‐1542.
Symptom exaggeration in a PTSD inpatient population : response set or claim for compensation

This study examines the relationship between service-connection (financial compensation) and exaggeration of PTSD symptoms. Sixty inpatient Vietnam combat veterans in PTSD treatment comprised three groups: those financially compensated for PTSD, those financially compensated for physical or other mental problems, and those not financially compensated. Results indicate that those veterans who are not service-connected do not exaggerate symptoms on the MMPI F-scale more than those who are service-connected. Also, F scores reported for inpatient PTSD were higher than previously established cut-off criteria found chiefly in outpatient populations. Implications for therapists' biases concerning financial compensation and symptom claims are discussed in terms of their clinical relevance.
Effects of macromolecular crowding on protein folding and aggregation studied by density functional theory: statics.

Proteins are neither purified nor diluted inside the living cell. Thus it is indispensable to take into account various interactions between the protein of interest and other macromolecules for understanding the properties of proteins in physiological conditions. Here we focus on excluded volume interactions which are omnipresent in dense or crowded solutions of proteins and macromolecules or "crowding agents. " A protein solution with macromolecular crowding agents is modeled by means of a density functional theory. Effects of macromolecular crowding on protein aggregation and stability are investigated in particular. Phase diagrams are obtained in various parameter spaces by solving the equation of state. Two generic features are found: the addition of the crowding agent (1) enhances the aggregation of the denatured proteins, and (2) stabilizes the native protein unless the aggregation occurs. The present theory is qualitatively in good agreement with experimental observations and unifies previous theories regarding the crowding effects on protein stability and aggregation.
Pharmacokinetics of a sustained-release dexamethasone intravitreal implant in vitrectomized and nonvitrectomized eyes.

PURPOSE To evaluate dexamethasone pharmacokinetics after implantation of a sustained-release dexamethasone (DEX) intravitreal implant in nonvitrectomized and vitrectomized eyes. METHODS The right eyes of 25 rabbits underwent vitrectomy; contralateral eyes served as nonvitrectomy controls. The 0.7-mg DEX implant was injected into both eyes, and drug concentrations were determined in the vitreous humor and retina for 31 days (on days 2, 8, 15, 22, and 31). RESULTS DEX was present in nonvitrectomized and vitrectomized eyes for at least 31 days. There were no statistically significant differences in DEX concentration between nonvitrectomized and vitrectomized eyes at any time point (P > 0.05). The maximum concentration of DEX in nonvitrectomized versus vitrectomized eyes for vitreous humor was 791 ng/mL (day 22) versus 731 ng/mL (day 22), respectively, and for retina it was 4110 ng/mL (day 15) versus 3670 ng/mL (day 22), respectively. Mean absorption (AUC(0-tlast)) of dexamethasone in nonvitrectomized and vitrectomized eyes was not different for both the vitreous humor (13,600 vs. 15,000 ng/day/mL; P = 0.73) and retina (67,600 vs. 50,200 ng/day/mL; P = 0.47). CONCLUSIONS The vitreoretinal pharmacokinetic profiles were similar between nonvitrectomized and vitrectomized eyes. These observations are consistent with clinical findings of the DEX implant in patients who have undergone vitrectomy and should reduce concerns about the use of the DEX implant in eyes that have undergone vitrectomy.
Data Entry Errors and Design for Model-Based Tight Glycemic Control in Critical Care

Introduction: Tight glycemic control (TGC) has shown benefits but has been difficult to achieve consistently. Model-based methods and computerized protocols offer the opportunity to improve TGC quality but require human data entry, particularly of blood glucose (BG) values, which can be significantly prone to error. This study presents the design and optimization of data entry methods to minimize error for a computerized and model-based TGC method prior to pilot clinical trials. Method: To minimize data entry error, two tests were carried out to optimize a method with errors less than the 5%-plus reported in other studies. Four initial methods were tested on 40 subjects in random order, and the best two were tested more rigorously on 34 subjects. The tests measured entry speed and accuracy. Errors were reported as corrected and uncorrected errors, with the sum comprising a total error rate. The first set of tests used randomly selected values, while the second set used the same values for all subjects to allow comparisons across users and direct assessment of the magnitude of errors. These research tests were approved by the University of Canterbury Ethics Committee. Results: The final data entry method tested reduced errors to less than 1–2%, a 60–80% reduction from reported values. The magnitude of errors was clinically significant and was typically by 10.0 mmol/liter or an order of magnitude but only for extreme values of BG < 2.0 mmol/liter or BG > 15.0–20.0 mmol/liter, both of which could be easily corrected with automated checking of extreme values for safety. Conclusions: The data entry method selected significantly reduced data entry errors in the limited design tests presented, and is in use on a clinical pilot TGC study. The overall approach and testing methods are easily performed and generalizable to other applications and protocols.
Ontological Security and Psycho-Social Benefits from the Home: Qualitative Evidence on Issues of Tenure

It has been said that people need the confidence, continuity and trust in the world which comprise ontological security in order to lead happy and fulfilled lives, and furthermore that ontological security can be attained more through owner occupied than rented housing. Ontological security, however, can be elusive both in a real sense and in empirical research terms. As part of a study of the relationships between housing tenure and health, we explored through in-depth interviews with 43 adults the extent to which home owners and social renters in the West of Scotland obtained psycho-social benefits from their homes. It is important to acknowledge the regional context of the study, in particular the residualised state of social rented housing in the UK and the problematic, post-industrial nature of the Scottish regional economy. Interviewees felt protected by their homes when they were in a low crime area which was more likely to be in an area of owner occupied housing. For some interviewees owner occupation provided less protection than social renting from the threat of losing the home because of the risk of repossession. Inhabiting a house rather than a flat could promote autonomy over the home, as could having skills or income to carry out repairs and maintenance. Owner occupation was thought to be more prestigious than social renting, but whether being prestigious was desirable was sometimes contested. Interviewees also talked about ontological security in terms of the home being a site of constancy but this runs counter to the restless tendency to move house in order to progress in society and move up the housing ladder.
Dreams: The Royal Road to Metaphor

Metaphor, as treated here, is not a rhetorical device or strategy but the primary means by which dream and artistic images arise and give rise in turn to further narrative developments. The paper is chiefly concerned with dreams and the possibility that dream coherence--i.e., meaning, making sense--as we recognize it in the waking state may be a largely irrelevant to the organization and function of dreams that obviously have no artistic mission to be shared by others (readers, auditors) as forms of communication. I examine an experiment in dream-splicing conducted by Allan Hobson and his Harvard colleagues with a view to illustrating that bizarreness and discontinuity in dreams are not necessarily, as Hobson claims, signs of incoherence but may be the natural consequence of dreams exercising the power of association while the body is "off-line. " If dream images arise from a virtually infinite experience in world-association, it is possible that dreams couldn't perform their function--whatever it may be--by offering coherent narratives of the sort that interest waking readers. In other words, the content of dreams--coherent or otherwise from the waking standpoint--may be less important than the act of dreaming itself. Additionally, I briefly discuss two leading theories of dream function--the recorrelation of memory and the vigilance theories and suggest, briefly, how they might apply not only to dreams but to artistic works as well.
Cataracts and uveitis

Purpose of review To describe recent evidence from the literature regarding cataract surgery and lens implantation in patients with uveitis. Recent findings Most uveitic patients enjoy good vision despite potentially sight-threatening complications, including cataract development. In those patients who develop cataracts, successful surgery stems from educated patient selection, careful surgical technique, and aggressive preoperative and postoperative control of inflammation. Although commonly accepted in the adult patient population, recent investigations reflect the increased tolerance for primary intraocular lens placement in the pediatric cohort. The role of absolute control of inflammation continues with greater focus on immunomodulatory therapies. However, these agents bear their own side effect and complication profiles, including recent evidence of increased mortality. As a result, localized treatment with not only these agents but also with corticosteroids offers a potential balance. Summary Cataract extraction with intraocular lens implantation in the setting of meticulous control of inflammation can optimize visual outcome in adults and children with uveitis.
Beyond the Buzz Word: Empowerment in Community Outreach and Education

Social service practitioners are challenged by serving target populations that are increasingly diverse ethnically. The challenge is compounded by budget and program cuts that limit resources for multicultural staff and training. This case study of a perinatal outreach and education program targeting low-income women from diverse ethnic backgrounds speaks to program planners and practitioners faced with these issues. The study invites a critical assessment of how "empowerment" is conceptualized and operationalized in program objectives. The impact of the social organization of an agency-driven program on the interaction between the educator and the client is examined. An alternative approach, decentralized in the diverse target communities, is suggested for future projects. This perspective requires critical consciousness on the part of planners and change agents as mediators of an empowerment process.
Preventing history forgery with secure provenance

As increasing amounts of valuable information are produced and persist digitally, the ability to determine the origin of data becomes important. In science, medicine, commerce, and government, data provenance tracking is essential for rights protection, regulatory compliance, management of intelligence and medical data, and authentication of information as it flows through workplace tasks. While significant research has been conducted in this area, the associated security and privacy issues have not been explored, leaving provenance information vulnerable to illicit alteration as it passes through untrusted environments. In this article, we show how to provide strong integrity and confidentiality assurances for data provenance information at the kernel, file system, or application layer. We describe Sprov, our provenance-aware system prototype that implements provenance tracking of data writes at the application layer, which makes Sprov extremely easy to deploy. We present empirical results that show that, for real-life workloads, the runtime overhead of Sprov for recording provenance with confidentiality and integrity guarantees ranges from 1% to 13%, when all file modifications are recorded, and from 12% to 16%, when all file read and modifications are tracked.
Literature Survey on the Semantic Web and Search

The main idea of this survey paper is to explore current state of the Semantic Web with the major focus on search. The paper includes introductory sections on the SW and its stack, a review of several papers on semantics and ontologybased search, sections on query languages and knowledge base systems that enable Semantic Web search. The paper complements existing surveys with new entries (systems), more detailed and recent specifications for some systems.
Constitutive and induced expression of DC‐SIGN on dendritic cell and macrophage subpopulations in situ and in vitro

DC‐SIGN is a C‐type lectin, highly expressed on the surface ofimmature dendritic cells (DCs), that mediates efficient infection of Tcells in trans by its ability to bind HIV‐1, HIV‐2, and SIV. Inaddition, the ability of DC‐SIGN to bind adhesion molecules on surfacesof naïve T cells and endothelium also suggests its involvementin T‐cell activation and DC trafficking. To gain further insights intothe range of expression and potential functions of DC‐SIGN, weperformed a detailed analysis of DC‐SIGN expression in adult and fetaltissues and also analyzed its regulated expression on cultured DCs andmacrophages. First, we show that DC‐SIGN expression is restricted tosubsets of immature DCs in tissues and on specialized macrophages inthe placenta and lung. There were no overt differences between DC‐SIGNexpression in adult and fetal tissues except that DC‐SIGN expression inalveolar macrophages was only present after birth. Similarly, intissues, DC‐SIGN was observed primarily on immature (CD83‐negative)DCs. Secondly, in the peripheral blood, we found expression of DC‐SIGNon a small subset of BDCA‐2+ plasmacytoid DC precursors (pDC2),concordant with our finding of large numbers of DC‐SIGN‐positive cellsin allergic nasal polyps (previously shown to be infiltrated by DC2). Triple‐label confocal microscopy indicated that DC‐SIGN was colocalizedwith BDCA‐2 and CD123 on DCs in nasal polyp tissue. Consistent withthis finding is our observation that DC‐SIGN can be up‐regulated onmonocyte‐derived macrophages upon exposure to the Th2 cytokine, IL‐13. In summary, our data demonstrate the relevant populations of DC andmacrophages that express DC‐SIGN in vivo where it may impact theefficiency of virus infection and indicate that DC‐SIGN expression maybe involved in the Th2 axis of immunity.
Pigment epithelial-derived factor gene loaded novel COOH-PEG-PLGA-COOH nanoparticles promoted tumor suppression by systemic administration

Anti-angiogenesis has been proposed as an effective therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment. Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) is one of the most powerful endogenous anti-angiogenic reagents discovered to date and PEDF gene therapy has been recognized as a promising treatment option for various tumors. There is an urgent need to develop a safe and valid vector for its systemic delivery. Herein, a novel gene delivery system based on the newly synthesized copolymer COOH-PEG-PLGA-COOH (CPPC) was developed in this study, which was probably capable of overcoming the disadvantages of viral vectors and cationic lipids/polymers-based nonviral carriers. PEDF gene loaded CPPC nanoparticles (D-NPs) were fabricated by a modified double-emulsion water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) solvent evaporation method. D-NPs with uniform spherical shape had relatively high drug loading (~1.6%), probably because the introduced carboxyl group in poly (D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) terminal enhanced the interaction of copolymer with the PEDF gene complexes. An excellent in vitro antitumor effect was found in both C26 and A549 cells treated by D-NPs, in which PEDF levels were dramatically elevated due to the successful transfection of PEDF gene. D-NPs also showed a strong inhibitory effect on proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells in vitro and inhibited the tumor-induced angiogenesis in vivo by an alginate-encapsulated tumor cell assay. Further in vivo antitumor investigation, carried out in a C26 subcutaneous tumor model by intravenous injection, demonstrated that D-NPs could achieve a significant antitumor activity with sharply reduced microvessel density and significantly promoted tumor cell apoptosis. Additionally, the in vitro hemolysis analysis and in vivo serological and biochemical analysis revealed that D-NPs had no obvious toxicity. All the data indicated that the novel CPPC nanoparticles were ideal vectors for the systemic delivery of PEDF gene and might be widely used as systemic gene vectors.