Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Information Technology and Cancer Prevention

Information technology is rapidly advancing and making its way into many primary care settings. The technology may provide the means to increase the delivery of cancer preventive services. The aim of this systematic review is to examine the literature on information technology impacts on the delivery of cancer preventive services in primary care offices. Thirty studies met our selection criteria. Technology interventions studied to date have been limited to some type of reminder to either patients or providers. Patient reminders have been mailed before appointments, mailed unrelated to an appointment, mailed after a missed appointment, or given at the time of an appointment. Telephone call interventions have not used technology to automate the calls. Provider interventions have been primarily computer‐generated reminders at the time of an appointment. However, there has been limited use of computer‐generated audits, feedback, or report cards. The effectiveness of information technology on increasing cancer screening was modest at best. The full potential of information technology to unload the provider‐patient face‐to‐face encounter has not been examined. There is critical need to study these new technologic approaches to understand the impact and acceptance by providers and patients.
Bacillus anthracis comparative genome analysis in support of the Amerithrax investigation

Before the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, the developing field of microbial forensics relied on microbial genotyping schemes based on a small portion of a genome sequence. Amerithrax, the investigation into the anthrax letter attacks, applied high-resolution whole-genome sequencing and comparative genomics to identify key genetic features of the letters’ Bacillus anthracis Ames strain. During systematic microbiological analysis of the spore material from the letters, we identified a number of morphological variants based on phenotypic characteristics and the ability to sporulate. The genomes of these morphological variants were sequenced and compared with that of the B. anthracis Ames ancestor, the progenitor of all B. anthracis Ames strains. Through comparative genomics, we identified four distinct loci with verifiable genetic mutations. Three of the four mutations could be directly linked to sporulation pathways in B. anthracis and more specifically to the regulation of the phosphorylation state of Spo0F, a key regulatory protein in the initiation of the sporulation cascade, thus linking phenotype to genotype. None of these variant genotypes were identified in single-colony environmental B. anthracis Ames isolates associated with the investigation. These genotypes were identified only in B. anthracis morphotypes isolated from the letters, indicating that the variants were not prevalent in the environment, not even the environments associated with the investigation. This study demonstrates the forensic value of systematic microbiological analysis combined with whole-genome sequencing and comparative genomics.
Voltage Stability andFrequencySynchronization ofWeak PowerDistributionNetworkswith Inverter-Based DistributedGenerators

Inverter-based distributed generators (DGs), usually a part of microgrids, are incorporated to improve power quality and reliability when disruptions happen in main grid service. Due to multidirectional power flows caused by DGs, both voltage stability and frequency synchronization become significant issues when the network interconnections are weak. The weakness of a link usually means a significant resistive component in its impedance (lossy). In addition, a weak link has a large amount of power flowing through compared with the rated power level, so that the link is under stress. This paper derives sufficient conditions for voltage stability and frequency synchronization of a weak power distribution network coupled with inverterbased DGs. These conditions take the form of inequality constraints on network parameters, load levels and generation control commands. Simulation tests show that asymptotic voltage stability and frequency synchronization are ensured in a weak network, even after recovering from disturbances such as load changes and voltage impulses. Simulation also indicates that, strong network stability conditions, which consider no voltage control, do not apply to truly weak networks.
Long Distance Control of MHC Class II Expression by Multiple Distal Enhancers Regulated by Regulatory Factor X Complex and CIITA1

MHC class II (MHC-II) genes are regulated by an enhanceosome complex containing two gene-specific transcription factors, regulatory factor X complex (RFX) and CIITA. These factors assemble on a strictly conserved regulatory module (S-X-X2-Y) found immediately upstream of the promoters of all classical and nonclassical MHC-II genes as well as the invariant chain (Ii) gene. To identify new targets of RFX and CIITA, we developed a computational approach based on the unique and highly constrained architecture of the composite S-Y motif. We identified six novel S′-Y′ modules situated far away from the promoters of known human RFX- and CIITA-controlled genes. Four are situated at strategic positions within the MHC-II locus, and two are found within the Ii gene. These S′-Y′ modules function as transcriptional enhancers, are bona fide targets of RFX and CIITA in B cells and IFN-γ-induced cells, and induce broad domains of histone hyperacetylation. These results reveal a hitherto unexpected level of complexity involving long distance control of MHC-II expression by multiple distal regulatory elements.
Use of non-verbal construing and metaphor in psychotherapy.

This article begins by looking at the way we try to construe or make sense of the world in which we live. How in the very nature of such sense-making there is the potential for sowing the seeds of self-deception by trying to fit our (relatively simplified) bipolar constructs to a complex unitary universe. Non-verbal and verbal construing are compared. Verbal construing enables us to reach an even more sophisticated level of self-deception, via myths created by limiting metaphors--such as "man-the-machine. " The institutions which we create and the people who are invested in them tend to solidify in-group myths, often with the help of metaphor. It is argued that personal, constructivist, and eclectic approaches to psychotherapy can be envisaged as enterprises to begin the process of demythologising clients in the safety of the therapeutic setting. In therapy, clients can experiment with empowering themselves in reconstruing the problem areas of their lives and actively testing out these new constructions against personal experience. Clients can also learn to explore the meaning behind symptoms, i.e., to give cognitive form to feeling with the help of their intuitive sensitivity.
Novel Chromosomally Encoded Multidrug Efflux Transporter MdeA in Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT Antibiotic efflux is an important mechanism of resistance in pathogenic bacteria. Here we describe the identification and characterization of a novel chromosomally encoded multidrug resistance efflux protein in Staphylococcus aureus, MdeA (multidrug efflux A). MdeA was identified from screening an S. aureus open reading frame expression library for resistance to antibiotic compounds. When overexpressed, MdeA confers resistance on S. aureus to a range of quaternary ammonium compounds and antibiotics, but not fluoroquinolones. MdeA is a 52-kDa protein with 14 predicted transmembrane segments. It belongs to the major facilitator superfamily and is most closely related, among known efflux proteins, to LmrB of Bacillus subtilis and EmrB of Escherichia coli. Overexpression of mdeA in S. aureus reduced ethidium bromide uptake and enhanced its efflux, which could be inhibited by reserpine and abolished by an uncoupler. The mdeA promoter was identified by primer extension. Spontaneous mutants selected for increased resistance to an MdeA substrate had undergone mutations in the promoter for mdeA, and their mdeA transcription levels were increased by as much as 15-fold. The mdeA gene was present in the genomes of all six strains of S. aureus examined. Uncharacterized homologs of MdeA were present elsewhere in the S. aureus genome, but their overexpression did not mediate resistance to the antibacterials tested. However, MdeA homologs were identified in other bacteria, including Bacillus anthracis, some of which were shown to be functional orthologs of MdeA.
Current State of Clinical Translation of Cardioprotective Agents for Acute Myocardial Infarction

There is continued interest in the concept of limiting myocardial infarct size with adjunctive agents administered along with reperfusion injury; however, there remains considerable controversy in the literature. The purpose of this article is to review the medical literature on clinical trials performed during the past 3 years that have attempted to reduce myocardial infarct size by administration of adjunctive therapies along with reperfusion therapy. A PubMed-driven literature search revealed a host of clinical trials focusing on the following prominent types of therapies: endogenous conditioning (postconditioning and remote ischemic conditioning); rapid cooling; pharmacological therapy (cyclosporine, abciximab, clopidogrel, tirofiban, erythropoietin, thrombus aspiration, adenosine, glucose–insulin–potassium, statins, antidiabetic agents, FX06, iron chelation, and ranolazine). Although there remains some controversy, quite a few of these studies showed that adjunctive therapy further reduced myocardial infarct size when coupled with reperfusion. Antiplatelet agents are emerging as some of the newest agents that seem to have cardioprotective capabilities. Postconditioning has become a bit more controversial in the clinical literature; remote conditioning, early and rapid cooling, adenosine, and ranolazine are intriguing therapies deserving of larger studies. Certain agents and maneuvers, such as erythropoietin, protein kinase C &dgr; inhibitors, iron chelation, and intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation, perhaps should be retired. The correct adjunctive therapy administered along with reperfusion has the capability of further reducing myocardial injury during ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction.
Banking Efficiency in the Enlarged European Union: Financial Crisis and Convergence †

The aim of this study is to analyse whether the great shock occasioned by the financial crisis and the reaction from national governments have compromised the process of financial integration in the EU. This question is important because banking union is a cornerstone of the European integration process. We estimated the evolution of cost and profit efficiency in the enlarged EU during the period from 2000 to 2013 using Bayesian frontier stochastic models (SFA), and analysed the convergence among countries using the beta and sigma convergence tests. Our results show that the outbreak of the financial crisis interrupted the convergence and gave rise to a new divergence process. These results suggest that major reforms in European banking should be adopted by EU regulators in order to strengthen financial integration.
Linear Time-Invariant Anytime Codes for Control Over Noisy Channels

The problem of stabilizing an unstable plant over a noisy communication link is an increasingly important one that arises in problems of distributed control and networked control systems. Although the work of Schulman, and Sahai and Mitter over the past two decades, and their development of the notions of “tree codes” and “anytime capacity” respectively, provides the theoretical framework for studying such problems, there has been scant practical progress in this area because explicit constructions of tree codes with efficient encoding and decoding did not exist. To stabilize an unstable plant driven by bounded noise over a noisy channel one often needs real-time encoding and real-time decoding and a reliability which increases exponentially with delay, which is what tree codes guarantee. We propose an ensemble of random causal linear codes with a time invariant structure and show that they are tree codes with probability one. For erasure channels, we show that the average complexity of maximum likelihood decoding is bounded by a constant for all time if the code rate is smaller than the computational cutoff rate. For rates larger than the computational cutoff rate, we present an alternate way to perform maximum likelihood decoding with a complexity that grows linearly with time. We give novel sufficient conditions on the rate and reliability required of the tree codes to stabilize vector plants and argue that they are asymptotically tight.
Defense mechanisms development in typical children

Abstract The defense mechanisms (DMs) of 103 nonreferred children ages 47 to 102 months were assessed through dollhouse play. The authors measured the children's temperament (Temperament Assessment Battery for Children–Teacher Form [TABC]) and verbal capacities (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence or Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children). Four main findings were derived: (1) DM use decreased with age with different developmental trajectories; (2) regression, displacement, and reaction formation were more frequent in girls and denial more frequent in boys; (3) the number of DMs used was negatively associated with the TABC Adaptability score and positively with the TABC Approach/Withdrawal score; and (4) children who used rationalization and did not use identification and suppression scored better on verbal capacities.
Spillovers from household production to wage and profit formation

This essay presents a new, supplementary explanation of occupational choice and occupational wage differences. In-the-home training creates household skills that increase productivity in both the household and occupations with tasks similar to household production. A model shows that individuals with more household skills do not to enter higher education, choose household skilled jobs in the labour market that pay lower wages and work shorter hours than predicted by human capital theory. This stems from the effect that the future earnings of higher-educated employees must not only compensate for costs and foregone earnings during education, but also absorb the indirect costs of lower household production while studying and later in life. Empirical findings from industrialised countries are presented that highlight the gender-biased pattern ofhousehold production and of similar low wage occupations. Finally, I argue that household skilled jobs constitute the 'secondary labour market' in the 'dual labour market' theory. I I would like to thank Geir B. Asheirn, Rolf J. Brunstad, Steinar Holden, Grecia Marrufo, Agnar Sandmo and participants of the Labour economics workshop in Rosendal, May 1999, the ESPE Conference in Torino, June 1999 and the IAFFE Conference in Oslo, June 200 l for helpful comments.
Comparison Between Patient-Reported and Clinician-Observed Symptoms in Oncology

Background: Symptom assessment is critical to understand the effectiveness of cancer treatment. Traditionally, clinicians have provided the information about cancer patients’ symptoms. However, current research has shown that there are discrepancies on symptom assessment results reported by patients themselves and clinicians. Objective: The objective of this study was to present an integrative review on studies comparing patient-reported symptoms and clinician-observed symptoms in patients with a diagnosis of cancer. Methods: This was a review of published articles from PubMed, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Database, using the key words symptom or toxicity, and patient-reported, patient-rated, patient-assessed or patient-evaluated, which were combined with cancer, oncology, neoplasm, or tumor. Results: Clinicians have the propensity to underestimate the incidence, severity, or distress of symptoms experienced by cancer patients. These discrepancies appear to be consistently demonstrated over time and become even more apparent when symptoms are more severe and distressing to patients. In addition, patients report both symptom frequency and severity earlier than clinicians do; patients’ symptom assessments are more predictable for daily health status, whereas clinicians’ symptom measurements are more related to clinical outcomes. Conclusions: Healthcare professionals must appreciate that there can be discordance between what they perceive and what patients experience and report. Further research needs to address methodological limitations and weaknesses of existing literature. Implications for Practice: Symptoms reported by patients themselves provide the necessary and different insight into cancer and its treatment, compared with those observed by clinicians. The use of patient-reported symptoms should be incorporated into routine clinical practice and not just research studies.
Das Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) Südafrikas – eine humanvermögenstheoretische Analyse

Abstract From the Apartheid régime, South Africa inherited a very disproportional distribution of income and wealth, leading to a persistent material discrimination of the majority of its citizens. This may only be overcome by large scale measures of economic and social reform. Those are outlined by the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). The RDP is an ambitious plan on investment in human assets, promising the creation of new employment and the reshaping of distributive patterns. However, its implementation can only be financed if economic growth is sufficiently strong. Additionally, a policy pursuing investment in human assets can only be effective if certain conditions concerning its utilization in the market economy are met. This paper aims at a comprehensive theoretical analysis of current measures derived from the RDP. These are analysed by means of the process-theory of human assets.
Performance-based budgeting for continuing and lifelong education services: the Thai higher education perspective

ABSTRACT This study presents analyses of panel data from 2007 to 2011 from various authoritative sources of information on public universities in Thailand. The focus is on factors that influence the budgetary decision-making process in providing educational services to the general public under a recently implemented performance-based budgeting system. Results from fixed effect regression models show that student headcount, political influence and economic conditions are not statistically significant variables in the decision-making process, which establish budgetary expenditures for educational services. These findings seem to contradict those in existing literature that have relied on analyses of data from surveys, interviews and questionnaires. This study contributes to the literature by providing quantitative data analysis and providing accurate information that could assist university administrators in preparing their universities’ budgets.
Early effects of catecholamine therapy on mucosal integrity, intestinal blood flow, and oxygen metabolism in porcine endotoxin shock.

OBJECTIVE To determine the early effects of therapy of endotoxin (ET) shock with epinephrine, norepinephrine, or dopexamine on splanchnic circulation, oxygen metabolism, sigmoid mucosal pHi, bacterial translocation, and morphologic integrity of the ileal, colonic, and sigmoid mucosa. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA Conflicting concepts exist concerning the catecholamine therapy of septic shock, but little is known about the effects of catecholamine treatment on splanchnic circulation and mucosal integrity. METHODS ET shock was induced in pigs by ET infusion over 30 minutes, and animals were studied for 4 hours. All animals were resuscitated with fluid. To mimic the treatment of septic shock in humans, mean arterial pressure was maintained in two groups at >70 mm Hg with the administration of epinephrine or norepinephrine. A third group of animals received dopexamine at 7 microg/kg per minute. Systemic and splanchnic blood flow and oxygen metabolism were studied, sigmoid colon mucosal pHi was obtained tonometrically, and bacterial translocation was determined by culture of portal venous blood, mesenteric lymph nodes, liver, spleen, and lung specimens. Histologic sections of ileal, colonic, and sigmoid mucosa were morphometrically examined for therapy effects. RESULTS All investigated catecholamines increased cardiac output and systemic oxygen delivery, whereas intestinal blood flow and oxygen delivery remained unchanged. Sigmoid mucosal pHi decreased in all study animals, but the decrease was most pronounced in the epinephrine group. Pigs receiving epinephrine also showed >40% damage of the mucosa of the ileum and colon, whereas animals receiving ET alone, norepinephrine, or dopexamine showed only moderate lesions with signs of restitution. No animal showed bacterial translocation. CONCLUSIONS Systemic hemodynamics and oxygen metabolism data do not reflect intestinal perfusion. Norepinephrine or dopexamine administration in ET shock causes no additional impairment of intestinal integrity. Epinephrine therapy, in contrast, is associated with a significant reduction of mucosal pHi and considerable early mucosal damage. Its application in septic shock is hazardous.
Cannabinoids for treating inflammatory bowel diseases: where are we and where do we go?

ABSTRACT Introduction: Fifty years after the discovery of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as the psychoactive component of Cannabis, we are assessing the possibility of translating this herb into clinical treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). Here, a discussion on the problems associated with a potential treatment is given. From first surveys and small clinical studies in patients with IBD we have learned that Cannabis is frequently used to alleviate diarrhea, abdominal pain, and loss of appetite. Single ingredients from Cannabis, such as THC and cannabidiol, commonly described as cannabinoids, are responsible for these effects. Synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists are also termed cannabinoids, some of which, like dronabinol and nabilone, are already available with a narcotic prescription. Areas covered: Recent data on the effects of Cannabis/cannabinoids in experimental models of IBD and in clinical trials with IBD patients have been reviewed using a PubMed database search. A short background on the endocannabinoid system is also provided. Expert commentary: Cannabinoids could be helpful for certain symptoms of IBD, but there is still a lack of clinical studies to prove efficacy, tolerability and safety of cannabinoid-based medication for IBD patients, leaving medical professionals without evidence and guidelines.