Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Childhood Cortical Porosity Is Related to Microstructural Properties of the Bone‐Muscle Junction

Childhood cortical porosity is attributable to giant asymmetrical drifting osteonal canals that arise predominantly along the primary‐secondary bone interface (PSBI). Bone from the external iliac crest cortex of 92 subjects aged 0 to 25 years was examined histomorphometrically for differences in microstructural properties between primary and secondary bone that might account for features of drifting osteonal canals. Primary compared with secondary bone showed greater numbers of osteocyte lacunae, thinner collagen lamellae, and a scaffold of elastic perforating fibers (PFs). The greater number of osteocyte lacunae compounded by known perilacunar strain amplification and the presence of elastic PFs are expected to be associated with greater bone tissue strain in primary than in secondary bone and thus with strain gradients at the PSBI. Strain gradients may lead local osteocytes to originate resorption canals and to promote transverse drift of the resorption front into lower‐strain secondary bone, thus creating giant asymmetrical drifting osteonal canals that remodel primary to secondary bone. PFs extended from muscle fibers through periosteum and primary bone to the PSBI, where they were resorbed by origination of drifting canals. Growth modeling by periosteal osteoblasts proceeds in the gaps between PFs. Through the direct connection between muscle and the PSBI via PFs, muscle forces may influence not only modeling by raising strain but also remodeling of primary to secondary bone by increasing strain gradients at the PSBI. With reduction in primary bone width after the mid‐teens, numbers of drifting canals and porosity declined. Differences in microstructural properties between primary and secondary bone are expected to generate strain gradients at the PSBI that contribute to site, transverse drift, asymmetry and large size of drifting canals, and, hence, to cortical porosity. Cortical porosity in children is a physiological feature of bone growth in width. Advisability of therapeutic intervention remains to be defined. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Patient safety culture in a district hospital in South Africa: An issue of quality

Background The Nursing Act 33 of 2005 holds nurse practitioners responsible for all acts and omissions in the delivery of quality patient care. But quality patient care is influenced by a number of factors beyond the control of nurse practitioners. Patient safety culture is one such factor and is seldom explored in hospitals in developing countries. This article describes the patient safety culture of a district hospital in South Africa. Objectives The study identified and analysed the factors that influence the patient safety culture by using the Manchester Patient Safety Framework at the National District Hospital, Bloemfontein, Free State Province. Method A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted and included the total population of permanent staff; community service health professionals; temporarily employed health professionals and volunteers. The standard Manchester Patient Safety Framework questionnaire was distributed with a response rate of 61%. Results Less than half of the respondents (42.4%; n = 61) graded their units as acceptable. Several quality dimensions were statistically significant for the employment profile: overall commitment to quality (p = 0.001); investigating patient incidents (p = 0.031); organisational learning following incidents (p < 0.001); communication around safety issues (p = 0.001); and team working around safety issues (p = 0.005). These same quality dimensions were also statistically significant for the professional profiles. Medical doctors had negative perceptions of all the safety dimensions. Conclusion The research measured and described patient safety culture (PSC) amongst the staff at the National District Hospital (NDH). This research has identified the perceived inadequacies with PSC and gives nurse managers a clear mandate to implement change to ensure a PSC that fosters quality patient care.
Novel Method to Synthesize Highly Conducting Polyaniline/ Nickel Sulfide Nanocomposite Films and the Study of Their Structural, Magnetic, and Electrical Properties

In this paper, a systematical investigation on a novel, facile, and inexpensive single-step chemical route has been used for the preparation of highly conducting polyaniline/nickel sulfide (PANI/NiS) magnetic nanocomposite films at room temperature. First, the nickel sulfide nanoparticles with particle size in the range of 45-70 nm were synthesized using nickel chloride as a precursor, and then PANI nanocomposite films were prepared by dispersing different weight percentages of NiS (0%-5%) in the monomer using nebulizing technique with nitrogen gas as a driving force for monomer atomization. These novel grown films were then characterized for their microstructure, magnetic, and conducting properties by X-ray diffraction analysis, vibrating sample magnetometer, scanning electron microscopy, and two-point probe method. This technique has successfully resulted in good quality, highly conducting, ferromagnetic, uniform, well adherent, and porous nanostructure films.
Costly information acquisition. Part I: better to toss a coin?

In a common-values election with two candidates voters receive a signal about which candidate is superior. They can acquire information that improves the precision of the signal. Electors differ in their information acquisition costs. For large electorates a non negligible fraction of voters acquires information, but the quantity of informed voters and the quality of acquired information decline so fast that information aggregation fails to obtain.
Heterotrophy in Tropical Scleractinian Corals

The dual character of corals, that they are both auto‐ and heterotrophs, was recognized early in the twentieth Century. It is generally accepted that the symbiotic association between corals and their endosymbiotic algae (called zooxanthellae) is fundamental to the development of coral reefs in oligotrophic tropical oceans because zooxanthellae transfer the major part of their photosynthates to the coral host (autotrophic nutrition). However, numerous studies have confirmed that many species of corals are also active heterotrophs, ingesting organisms ranging from bacteria to mesozooplankton. Heterotrophy accounts for between 0 and 66% of the fixed carbon incorporated into coral skeletons and can meet from 15 to 35% of daily metabolic requirements in healthy corals and up to 100% in bleached corals. Apart from this carbon input, feeding is likely to be important to most scleractinian corals, since nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients that cannot be supplied from photosynthesis by the coral’s symbiotic algae must come from zooplankton capture, particulate matter or dissolved compounds. A recent study showed that during bleaching events some coral species, by increasing their feeding rates, are able to maintain and restore energy reserves.
Does the patients age at cancer diagnosis affect microvessels density in uterine sarcoma tissues?

OBJECTIVES The objective of the study was to retrospectively evaluate the density of vessels exhibiting positive glycoprotein CD34 expression in the uterine leiomyosarcoma tissues and their correlation with the age of patients at the time of tumor diagnosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS The archival paraffin blocks with the cancer tissues collected from 50 patients suffering from uterine leiomyosarcoma were used together with their clinical and demographic data. The immunohistochemical peroxidase-de-pendent methods were used to detect microvessels with positive CD34 expression. The glycoprotein CD34 expression was evaluated as a density of microvessel showing the positive immunohistochemical reaction (MVDCD34). RESULTS The negative, statistically significant correlation between the age of patients (at the moment diagnosis) and the MVDCD34+ (R = -0.289, p = 0.042) was found. CONCLUSIONS The study's findings may suggest that the tissues of younger people constitute a permissive environment for pro-angiogenic factors.
Evidence-Based Approach for Information System Complexity Management

Complexity is a relative term. It depends on the number and the nature of interactions among the variables involved. In this paper, the evidence-based management (EBM) is considered as an approach to cope with university information system (UIS) complexity. The EBM approach permits to identify the reasons for the system existence and it deals with the "why" question. In the paper, the enterprise architecture (EA) model of university will be presented and opportunities to collect evidence for complexity management will be revealed.
Modelling the incidence of congenital rubella syndrome in developing countries.

BACKGROUND As of 1997, less than one-third of developing countries included rubella vaccine in their national immunization programme. In countries that have achieved high coverage of measles vaccine, an ideal opportunity exists to include control of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) in enhanced measles control activities. Data on the burden of congenital rubella syndrome are important to guide rubella vaccination policies. METHODS We reviewed the literature to identify studies of rubella antibody prevalence in developing countries that were conducted on populations with no major selection bias, prior to wide-scale rubella vaccination in the country. We used a simple catalytic model to describe the age-specific prevalence of susceptibility to rubella virus infection in given populations. Estimates of the incidence of infection among pregnant women were calculated using expressions for the average prevalence of susceptibility to infection and the incidence of infection during gestation. To estimate the number of cases of CRS, we assumed an overall risk of 65% after infection in the first 16 weeks of pregnancy and zero risk thereafter. These estimates were derived for each country for which data were available, then for each World Health Organization region, excluding Europe. RESULTS The estimated mean incidence of CRS per 100,000 live births was lowest in the Eastern Mediterranean region (77.4, range 0-212) and highest in the Americas (175, range 0-598). The mean of the estimates of the total number of cases of CRS in developing countries in 1996 was approximately 110,000. The range was, however, very wide, from as few as 14,000 to as many as 308,000 cases. CONCLUSIONS Congenital rubella syndrome is an under-recognized public health problem in many developing countries. There is an urgent need for collection of appropriate data to estimate the cost-effectiveness of a potential global rubella control programme.
Analyzing the Structural Change and Growth Relationship in India: State-Level Evidence

This paper examines the link between structural change and growth in India. It constructs indices of structural change, and performs a panel data analysis using data for India’s 16 major states. It finds that there is one-way positive impact from structural change to growth for the period 20002006. This finding emerges only if one assumes that the disturbances are heteroskedastic, contemporaneously cross-sectionally correlated and autocorrelated of type AR(1).
Framework-Based Teaching of IFRS: The Case of Deutsche Bank Teaching Notes

Although the case deals to a degree with differences between US GAAP and IFRS, it is more broadly applicable in the sense that many of the issues faced by Deutsche Bank will be the same issues faced by entities in other jurisdictions that are following a similar path as the one being taken in the USA. This case is timely since the IASB is currently in the process of reviewing many areas of financial reporting addressed in the case. Unsettled issues include, among others, those relating to financial instruments, consolidation accounting, and fair value measurement. Dramatic changes in the ways in which entities treat these issues can be expected as new and amended IFRS and related authoritative requirements come into play. Many (perhaps most) jurisdictions already in compliance with current IFRS will have to revisit some of the same issues as previously faced by Deutsche Bank, and assess the potential effects of proposed changes to the standards. As new standards are issued by the IASB, students can be instructed to review newlyrelevant financial reporting standards regarding consolidation accounting and financial instruments and to integrate that information into the current case context. Then, teachers Accounting Education: an international journal Vol. 20, No. 4, 387–397, August 2011
Genetic biomarkers for the risk of seizures in long QT syndrome

Objectives: The coprevalence, severity, and biomarkers for seizures and arrhythmias in long QT syndrome (LQTS) remain incompletely understood. Methods: Using the Rochester-based LQTS Registry, this study included large cohorts of LQTS1–3 participants (LQTS+, n = 965) and those without a LQTS mutation (LQTS−, n = 936). Results: Compared to LQTS− participants, there was a higher prevalence of LQTS1, LQTS2, and LQTS+ participants classified as having seizures (p < 0.001, i.e., history of seizures/epilepsy or antiseizure medication). LQTS+ participants with longer corrected QT interval (QTc) durations were more likely to have seizures. LQTS2 mutations in the KCNH2 pore domain were positive predictors for both arrhythmias and seizures. In contrast, mutations in the cyclic nucleotide binding domain (cNBD) of KCNH2 conferred a negative risk of seizures, but not arrhythmias. LQTS2, KCNH2-pore, KCNH2-cNBD, QTc duration, and sex were independent predictors of seizures. LQTS+ participants with seizures had significantly longer QTc durations, and a history of seizures was the strongest independent predictor of arrhythmias (hazard ratio 4.09, 95% confidence interval 2.63–6.36, p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study highlights potential biomarkers for neurocardiac electrical abnormalities in LQTS.
AP association in a IEEE 802.11 WLAN

Nowadays, with the abundance of IEEE 802.11 access points (APs), a mobile user has the flexibility to choose one of several APs, each using a separate channel. Rather than relying on the simplistic standardized algorithm to select the AP, it would be preferable to use optimal algorithms that reduce the user data transfer time. In this paper, the AP selection process is apprehended as an ordinal potential game, which is a class of non-cooperative games known to possess at least one pure Nash Equilibrium (PNE). We put forward a fully decentralized algorithm based on replicator dynamics to attain those PNE. Further, to assess the loss in efficiency of the proposed selfish distributed algorithm, we compare its performances against a centralized optimal approach derived by solving a mixed integer linear program.
Long-Term Changes of Subcutaneous Fat Mass in HIV-Infected Children on Antiretroviral Therapy: A Retrospective Analysis of Longitudinal Data from Two Pediatric HIV-Cohorts

Objective Longitudinal studies objectively evaluating changes in regional fat distribution of HIV-infected children assessed by whole body dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) are scarce, whilst this long-term effect of HIV and antiretroviral therapy (cART) is an important issue in infected children in need for lifelong treatment. Methods We assessed regional fat distribution over time, measured with sequential DEXA-scans in HIV-infected children on cART in cohorts from South Africa (SA) and the Netherlands (NL), and in healthy controls (SA). Limb and trunk fat Z-scores were calculated with the lambda-mu-sigma (LMS) method. Multivariable linear regression models with mixed effects were used to investigate the effect of cART compounds on body fat distribution over time. Results In total, 218 children underwent 445 DEXA assessments with a median follow-up of 3.5 years. Fat mass in all limbs was decreased in HIV-infected children compared to controls (arm fat Z-score: coefficient -0.4813; P = 0.006, leg fat Z-score: coefficient -0.4345; P = 0.013). In the HIV-infected group, stavudine treatment was associated with lower subcutaneous fat mass (arm fat Z-score: coefficient -0.5838; P = 0.001), with an additional cumulative exposure effect (arm fat Z-score: coefficient -0.0867; P = 0.003). Conclusions Our study shows that subcutaneous fat loss is still prevalent in HIV-infected children on cART, and is strongly associated with cumulative stavudine exposure. These results underline the need for early detection of subcutaneous fat loss and alternative treatment options for HIV-infected children globally.
Interpretation of Issues and Voter Decision-Making Strategies: A New Perspective on “Issue-Oriented” Election Coverage

This study investigated the relationship between ethical and societal interpretations of issues and voters' decision-making strategies within systematically varied electoral issue environments. Analysis across two issue milieus using two measures of the decision-making process found that individuals who ascribed an ethical interpretation to issues were more likely to use a noncompensatory strategy, which focuses on one or two key issues in the decision-making process, than individuals who ascribed a societal interpretation to issues. This relationship held when the number of issues considered important and the importance placed on “social-moral” issues each were controlled.
Privacy issues in location-aware browsing

Advances in positioning services and their pervasiveness, e.g., wi-fi based location services, pave the way to the development of innovative LBSs and architectures. In this paper we focus on location-aware browsing, a framework which enables websites to acquire the position of website users. In particular we discuss privacy issues related to the recent W3C proposal for a geolocation API standard. Such specification prescribes that users must give explicit consent to the disclosure of position information to websites. In this paper we argue that stronger and more flexible protection is needed: a) users should be provided with the capability of disclosing coarse regions in place of point coordinates in order to limit the disclosure of personal location data; b) location information should be protected not only against websites but also against location service providers. We discuss a possible approach to address those requirements under the assumption that the position is computed by a wi-fi based positioning service. Finally, we broaden the discussion to include a complementary legal viewpoint.
Multi-Objective Co-Optimization of FlexRay-Based Distributed Control Systems

Recently, research on control and architecture co- design has been drawing increasingly more attention. This is because these techniques integrate the design of the controllers and the architecture and explore the characteristics on both sides to achieve more efficient design of embedded control systems. However, there still exist several challenges like the large design space and inadequate trade-off opportunities for different objectives like control performance and resource utilization. In this paper, we propose a co-optimization approach for FlexRay-based distributed control systems, that synthesizes both the controllers and the task and communication schedules. This approach exploits some FlexRay protocol specific characteristics to reduce the complexity of the whole optimization problem. This is done by employing a customized control design and a nested two-layered optimization technique. Therefore, compared to existing methods, the proposed approach is more scalable. It also allows multi-objective optimization taking into account both the overall control performance and the bus resource utilization. This approach generates a Pareto front representing the trade-offs between these two, which allows the engineers to make suitable design choices.
Activation of Vanilloid Receptor 1 (VR1) by Eugenol

The structural similarity of eugenol with capsaicin suggests that these two agents may share molecular mechanisms to produce their effects. We investigated the effects of eugenol in comparison with those of capsaicin using whole-cell patch clamp and Fura-2-based calcium-imaging techniques in a heterologous expression system and with sensory neurons. In vanilloid receptor 1 (VR1)-expressing human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells and trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons, eugenol activated inward currents, whereas capsazepine, a competitive VR antagonist, and ruthenium red (RR), a functional VR antagonist, completely blocked eugenol-induced inward currents. Moreover, eugenol caused elevation of [Ca2+]i, and this was completely abolished by both capsazepine and ruthenium red in VR1-expressing HEK 293 cells and TG neurons. Our results provide strong evidence that eugenol produces its effects, at least in part, via VR1 expressed by the sensory nerve endings in the teeth.
Macroscale water fluxes 2. Water and energy supply control of their interannual variability

Controls on interannual variations in water and energy balances of large river basins (10,000 km2 and greater) are evaluated in the framework of the semiempirical relation / = [1 + (/)−ν]−1/ν in which and E, P, and R are basin mean values of annual evaporation, precipitation, and surface net radiation, respectively, expressed as equivalent evaporative water flux, overbars denote long‐term means, and ν is a parameter. Precipitation is interpolated from gauges; evaporation is taken as the difference between precipitation and runoff, with the latter determined from basin discharge measurements and a simple storage‐delay model; and radiation is based on a recent analysis in which 8 years of satellite observations were assimilated into radiative transfer models. Objective estimates of precipitation errors are considered; results suggest that past estimates of ν may have been biased by systematic errors in estimates of precipitation. Under the assumption that the semiempirical relation applies also to annual values, long‐term mean observations are sufficient to predict the sensitivity of annual runoff to fluctuations in precipitation or net radiation. Additionally, an apparent sensitivity of runoff to precipitation can be inferred from the observations by linear regression. This apparent sensitivity is generally in good agreement with the predicted sensitivity. In particular, the apparent sensitivity increases with decreasing basin /; however, slightly excessive apparent sensitivity (relative to the prediction) is found in humid basins of the middle latitudes. This finding suggests a negative correlation between precipitation and net radiation: the increase in runoff caused by a positive precipitation anomaly is amplified by an accompanying decrease in surface net radiation, possibly induced by increased cloud cover. The inferred sensitivity of radiation (water flux equivalent) to precipitation is on the order of −0.1. Such a value is supported by independent direct analysis of annual precipitation and radiation data. The fraction of interannual variance in runoff explained by the annual precipitation anomaly (including any correlative influence of net radiation) varies systematically with climatic aridity, approaching unity in humid basins and falling to 40–80% in very arid basins. We conclude that the influence of seasonality of the precipitation anomaly on annual runoff is negligible under humid conditions, though it may be significant under arid conditions.