Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biophysical effects of water and synthetic urine on skin.

OBJECTIVE Pressure ulcers often occur at sites subjected to pressure and wetness. Although skin wetness is a risk factor for pressure ulcers,the mechanisms and effects of wetness versus urine constituents on skin breakdown is unclear. The hypothesis that wetness reduces skin hardness and, thereby, increases vulnerability of underlying blood vessels to pressure-induced flow reductions was tested in this study. DESIGN Pads saturated with water and with a water solution mixed with the main chemical constituents of urine (synthetic urine; s-urine) were applied to forearm skin of 10 healthy subjects for 5.5 hours. Skin hardness, blood flow change caused by 60 mm Hg of pressure, erythema, and temperature were compared among dry, water, and s-urine test sites. PARTICIPANTS 10 healthy women. SETTING Research Center, Nova Southeastern University, Health Professions Division, Fort Lauderdale, FL. MAIN RESULTS S-urine and water caused significant reductions in initial hardness and caused greater initial perfusion decreases during pressure load when compared with dry sites. Skin temperature and erythema were lower at wet sites when compared with dry sites. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study are consistent with the concept that sustained skin wetness increases vulnerability to pressure-induced blood flow reduction. The effect appears to be mainly dependent on wetness, but urine constituents may exacerbate the effect. In addition, wetness-related skin cooling may play a role. In the healthy subjects studied, the blood flow decrease was not sustained due to perfusion recovery under pressure. Skin wetness would likely have more sustained effects in patients with compromised recovery mechanisms. Measures to diminish skin exposure to wetness in these patients, whatever the wetness source, are an important consideration in a multifaceted strategy to reduce the risk of pressure ulcers.
Mitral valve repair in patients with low left ventricular ejection fractions: early and late results.

STUDY OBJECTIVES This retrospective study was performed to examine the outcome of mitral valve repair (ie, mitral valvuloplasty [MVP]) in relation to preoperative low left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). DESIGN AND SETTINGS From our series of 338 consecutive patients who underwent MVP between 1983 and 2001, we compared the course of 302 patients with preoperative LVEF of > 35% (group I) to that of 36 patients with LVEF of </= 35% (group II). RESULTS Preoperatively, group II patients were more likely to be associated with ischemic heart disease (IHD) [p < 0.0002], and to have undergone emergency surgery (p < 0.02) and concomitant coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) [p < 0.02]. The perioperative mortality rate was 8% for group II and 2% for group I (p < 0.03). On multivariate analysis, predictors of increased operative mortality were emergent operation (p < 0.001) and preoperative New York Heart Association (NYHA) class IV (p < 0.02). Predictors of overall mortality (early and late) included emergency operation (p < 0.02), preoperative NYHA class IV (p < 0.002), and IHD (p < 0.0001). Postoperatively, 78% of patients from both groups were in NYHA class I/II. The 5-year rate of freedom from reoperation was 89%. The estimated overall 5-year survival rate (early and late) was 82% for group I and 54% for group II (p < 0.02), and when associated with prior CABG, prior myocardial infarction, or concomitant CABG, it was 0%, 37%, and 63%, respectively, in group II. CONCLUSIONS Good symptomatic relief and acceptable overall survival can be obtained in patients in both groups after they have undergone MVP, in the absence of serious comorbidities. Preoperative NYHA class IV and end-stage IHD increase early and late mortality, particularly in group II patients, in whom surgery may be a salvage effort only. Prognosis is dismal in group II patients who have previously undergone CABG. In chronic cases, an early referral for MVP electively before deterioration to end-stage heart disease would improve survival even in patients with low LVEF.
The Democratic Unionist Party: From Protest to Power

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland has undergone a remarkable transformation. Having been a party of opposition and protest for decades following its foundation in 1971, the DUP is now the leading party of government in the region, one which dominates unionist politics. The party moved from a religiously influenced determination to face down the ‘enemies of Ulster’ to acceptance of the need to share power with those ‘enemies’ in the form of Sinn Fein. In so agreeing, via the 2006 St Andrews Agreement, the DUP secured the sharing of power first attempted in the 1998 Belfast Agreement. It was a deal which startled many of even the most loyal followers of the DUP’s leader for decades, the Reverend Ian Paisley, but one which has stuck under his successor, Peter Robinson Yet, despite its colourful past and contemporary prominence, the DUP has rarely been the subject of detailed academic analysis. This unique book is the first to examine who are the DUP’s members and explore what they believe. Drawing upon unprecedented access given by the party, including a Leverhulme Trust-funded survey of the membership and over one hundred detailed interviews, this book analyses what makes individuals join the DUP; who those members are in terms of age, gender, and religion; what they think of the political institutions and power-sharing; attitudes to policing changes and dissident threats and what issues, constitutional or otherwise, concern them most.
The response of the seated human to sinusoidal vibration and impact.

Low back pain has been shown to occur more frequently among vehicle drivers than in representative control groups. Thus the response of the human to vibration and impact is of interest. This study investigated the response of the spine to both impact and sinusoidal excitation in either a relaxed or erect seated posture. The sinusoidal testing apparatus used was a resonating system consisting of two parallel wooden beams, simply supported, and the impact testing apparatus a bearing-guided, spring-suspended platform, struck from below. Ten subjects (5 males, 5 females) were evaluated using both methods. Transfer functions were compared at 2-4 Hz, 4-8 Hz and 8-16 Hz intervals using a sign test. Although in 24 comparisons of either test method (vibration or impact) or posture (erect or relaxed) where eleven showed differences significant at the p less than . 05 level, only 2 out of 24 comparisons were the differences distinct enough to be significant (at the p less than .01 level). Both of these latter differences were due to test method while the subjects were sitting erect. In those instances where there were no significant differences due to test method, the impact method may be a viable replacement for the vibration test method. Where the levels of significance are higher (p less than .01 or p less than .05), further study of the magnitude of the differences is indicated and may reveal further insight into the seated individual as a system.
Selective Schools and Academic Achievement

Abstract In this paper I consider the impact of attending a selective high school in the UK. Students are assigned to these schools on the basis of a test taken in primary school and, using data on these assignment test scores for a particular district, I exploit this rule to estimate the causal effects of selective schools on test scores, high school course taking and university enrollment. Despite the huge peer advantage enjoyed by selective school students, I show that four years of selective school attendance generates at best small effects on test scores. Selective schools do however have positive effects on course-taking and, more suggestively, university enrollment, evidence suggesting they may have important longer run impacts.
Practical versus impractical peer review.

Richardson presented data on the reliability of judgments of the quality of clinical care made from retrospective analyses of hospital charts. From this data, he concluded that such judgments were of no practical use in decision-making. However, this conclusion resulted from a failure to differentiate between reliability and confidence. Further analyses of his data show that such judgments are of practical use in decision-making. Decisions of "unsatisfactory" care can be reached with a high level of confidence in some cases without the exorbitant amount of clinical expert time that Richardson indicates would be necessary. The peer review process which would make most efficient use of reviewer time is described as one in which the proportion of unsatisfactory records in each sample reviewed approximates 50 per cent. It was demonstrated that the degree of agreement between repeat judgments on the same cases by the same reviewers was greater than the agreement seen between judgments of the same kind made by different reviewers if one takes account of the different degrees of agreement expected by chance in Richardson's data from the two situations.
How to determine the contributions of domestic demand and exports to economic growth

There are two methods in use to determine the contributions of expenditure categories to economic growth. In the conventional 'international method', total imports are deducted from exports, whereas in what is known as the 'Dutch method', final and intermediary imports are allocated to all expenditure categories. Although the Dutch method is a little more complex than the international method, it has the considerable advantage that the contributions of the expenditure categories to GDP growth can be better compared, producing a better understanding of the composition of GDP growth. This memorandum discloses the Dutch method and illustrates the differences in perception which the two methods produced for the years 1999 to 2004. The findings are that the international method underestimates the importance of exports for GDP growth and overestimates the importance of domestic expenditure categories, like private consumption and investments.
Cohort Analysis of Online Travel Information Search Behavior: 1995-2000

The objective of this study was to distinguish changes in online travel information search behavior among generational (baby boomer and Generation X) cohorts between 1995 and 2000. Although significant increases in travel information search behavior were found across all cohorts between the two periods, the study also found that older baby boomer cohorts reported greater increases in the likelihood of travel information search behavior than Generation Xers at large. This empirically validates the notion that boomers adopted the Internet earlier than traditionally assumed. The study provides explanatory detail using a synthesis of literature across the areas of technology adoption theory, e-commerce, and sociology. The findings provide an evolutionary perspective of online travel information search behavior among and within generational cohorts. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Two classes of deleterious recessive alleles in a natural population of zebrafish, Danio rerio

Natural populations carry deleterious recessive alleles which cause inbreeding depression. We compared mortality and growth of inbred and outbred zebrafish, Danio rerio, between 6 and 48 days of age. Grandparents of the studied fish were caught in the wild. Inbred fish were generated by brother–sister mating. Mortality was 9% in outbred fish, and 42% in inbred fish, which implies at least 3.6 lethal equivalents of deleterious recessive alleles per zygote. There was no significant inbreeding depression in the growth, perhaps because the surviving inbred fish lived under less crowded conditions. In contrast to alleles that cause embryonic and early larval mortality in the same population, alleles responsible for late larval and early juvenile mortality did not result in any gross morphological abnormalities. Thus, deleterious recessive alleles that segregate in a wild zebrafish population belong to two sharply distinct classes: early–acting, morphologically overt, unconditional lethals; and later–acting, morphologically cryptic, and presumably milder alleles.
Presence of metallo-beta-lactamases (MBL), extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) & AmpC positive non-fermenting Gram-negative bacilli among Intensive Care Unit patients with special reference to molecular detection of blaCTX-M & blaAmpC genes

Background & objectives: Non-fermenting Gram-negative bacilli (NFGNB) including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii have been implicated in a variety of infections, particularly in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs). This study was aimed to overview the burden of multidrug-resistant NFGNB causing infections in ICU and also to assess the occurrence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs), AmpC and metallo-beta-lactamases (MBLs) among these isolates. Methods: Bacterial culture, identification and antibiotic susceptibility were carried out. ESBLs and AmpC were detected both phenotypically and genotypically. MBL was detected by modified Hodge and imipenem-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid double-disc synergy test. Results: NFGNB represented 45 (37%) of total 121 Gram negative isolates. Multidrug resistance was observed in 66.9 per cent and 72.5 per cent isolates of P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii, respectively. Detection by phenotypic methods showed presence of ESBL, AmpC and MBL in 21.4, 51.1 and 21.4 per cent isolates, respectively. When detected genotypically by polymerase chain reaction, ESBL and AmpC were detected in 21.4 and 41.4 per cent of NFGNB isolates, respectively. BlaCTX-M (21.4%) was the most prevalent gene responsible for ESBL production. Interpretation & conclusions: Most of the NFGNB isolated from ICU patients were multidrug-resistant and producers of ESBL, AmpC and MBL. A regular surveillance is required to detect ESBL, AmpC and MBL producers, especially in ICU patients.
MAPK/ERK kinase (MEK) signalling is required for resumption of meiosis in cultured cumulus-enclosed pig oocytes

Resumption of meiosis of mammalian oocytes is facilitated by the maturation promoting factor (MPF) and accompanied by activation of mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPK) which are phosphorylated by the MAPK kinase (MEK). In this study we examined the effects of PD 98059, which inhibits the activity of MEK, on in vitro maturation of pig oocytes. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were cultured in the presence or absence of the drug (50 μM) for various time periods. To elucidate the influence of cumulus cells, COCs were first cultured in inhibitor-free medium, subsequently denuded, and incubated further in PD 98059 supplemented medium. Reversibility of drug action as tested following PD 98059 treatment of COCs by transferring them to drug-free medium. Culture of COCs in medium supplemented with PD 98059 prevents resumption of nuclear maturation in the majority of COCs. This inhibition was reversible and accompanied by a non-activation of both MAP and MPF. Addition of the MEK inhibitor to extracts of in vitro matured oocytes revealed that the kinase activities were not directly influenced by the inhibitor, suggesting a link between MAP and MPF kinases. Preincubation of COCs in inhibitor-free medium for 6 h followed by further culture of COCs or denuded oocytes in the presence of PD 98059 for various periods resulted in elevated MAP and MPF kinase activities, indicating an early and transient MEK signalling in the oocyte itself. These results support the idea that MAP and MPF are involved in the induction of germinal vesicle breakdown in porcine oocytes.
Successful Living Donor Liver Transplantation Between Septuagenarians

We report a case of a 76‐year‐old female who underwent living donor right hepatectomy for her 75‐year‐old husband with recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma. With her voluntary decision, full medical and psychiatric assessment was performed. The operative time was 130 min in the donor and 399 min in the recipient. Both the donor and recipient had an uneventful recovery and were discharged on days 7 and 10, respectively with normal liver function. The couple has had no complication so far and is currently doing well in good health 26 months after living donor liver transplantation.
The Diverse Geographies of Studentification: Living Alongside People Not Like Us

Recent discussions of studentification have emphasised the development of exclusive purpose-built student accommodation in city centres, shifting the focus away from Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) in established residential neighbourhoods. In this paper we explore the growth of student housing on a former social-rented (council) housing estate, and the social friction that it has created—arguing that the production of student HMO has remained prolific, and is pushing the studentification frontier into outer-city deprived communities. Drawing on empirical evidence from a former social-rented housing estate, we explore the recent emergence of a ‘student area’ where student occupation is having marked impacts on a relatively deprived local population. These findings have implications for urban policy making, given they highlight the negative outcomes of studentification in deprived communities, and reveal the challenge this poses for providing affordable housing, and engendering sustainable communities in university towns.
Working Memory Maintenance Contributes to Long-term Memory Formation: Neural and Behavioral Evidence

Theories of human memory have led to conflicting views regarding the relationship between working memory (WM) maintenance and episodic long-term memory (LTM) formation. Here, we tested the prediction that WM maintenance operates in two stages, and that processing during the initial stage of WM maintenance promotes successful LTM formation. Results from a functional magnetic resonance imaging study showed that activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and hippocampus during the initial stage of WM maintenance was predictive of subsequent LTM performance. In a behavioral experiment, we demonstrated that interfering with processing during the initial stage of WM maintenance impaired LTM formation. These results demonstrate that processing during the initial stage of WM maintenance directly contributes to successful LTM formation, and that this effect is mediated by a network that includes the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus.
A PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMEWORK FOR AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION RESEARCH

The philosophy of science is examined to define the boundaries of research in agricultural education. The philosophies underlying research, the knowledge desired to be produced, and the kinds of research to be conducted are examined. This article is framed by the interest a researcher has in the production of knowledge. Methods of providing better communication with other agricultural researchers will be considered. A challenge is provided to graduate programs preparing future researchers for agricultural education.
Privatisation of Housing in Post-Soviet Russia: A New Understanding of Home?

Abstract This article is concerned with the attitudes of the nascent Russian ‘middle class’ towards the privatisation of housing. It focuses on the questions of whether private ownership had an impact on these people's understanding of ‘home’, whether it resulted in greater satisfaction with their housing, and whether it gave them the sense of being ‘stakeholders’ in Russian society. The principal research method was a questionnaire emailed to people in Moscow, St Petersburg and three provincial cities. A history of housing in Soviet Russia is also provided, along with an overview of research on housing and the home in other industrialised countries.
Regulation of eukaryotic gene expression by transactivating proteins and cis acting DNA elements

In this review we try to examine some of the recent developments in our understanding of the mechanisms that control gene expression in eukaryotes. We discuss the nature of the positive regulation exerted by adenovirus, herpes virus or papova immediate early proteins. These proteins which can activate homologous promoters can also stimulate transcription from cellular promoters present on transfected DNA. This property of the E1a gene product of Adenovirus e.g. may be related to its immortalizing function. Transcription of cellular genes can be stimulated by viral or cellular short DNA elements named enhancers. These elements acting in cis, can be placed 5′ or 3′ to the gene and function in both orientations. Some of them show a remarkable cell specificity in their action. Enhancers affect the chromatin structure by creating a local nuclease sensitive region that may serve as an entry site for RNA polymerase II or for factors involved in the process of transcription initiation.
The Impact of Restaurant Calorie Labels on Food Choice: Results from a Field Experiment

type="main" xml:lang="en"> Using field experiment data, we compare the effectiveness of calorie labels to a “fat tax” at reducing calories ordered. Results from a structural model of consumer demand show that numeric labels did not influence food choice, but symbolic traffic light labels caused restaurant patrons to select lower-calorie menu items; thus, adding a traffic light symbol could enhance the effectiveness of the numeric calorie label (as currently proposed by the Food and Drug Administration). Additionally, our model projects that labels can both reduce intake more than a 10% tax on high-calorie items and a 10% subsidy on low-calorie items. (JEL Q18, I18)
What is the Likely Poverty Impact of the Global Financial Crisis

Estimates of the poverty impact of the current crisis are becoming numerous and varied. Global estimates of poverty impacts are based on assumptions regarding Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth deceleration and the relationship between GDP growth and poverty. We take a different approach. We ask what do we know from research on the poverty impacts of previous financial crises in developing countries? We review current global estimates on poverty and then draw evidence from nine developing countries that have experienced a crisis episode since the mid‐1990s.
Teaching Methods to Complement Competencies in Reducing the “Junkyard” Curriculum in Clinical Psychology

This article aims to identify the most efficient ways to teach and learn the professional competencies required in clinical psychology. There are a wide variety of influences on clinical psychology curricula that leads to a lack of coherence in aims and methods. When clinical psychology trainees come face‐to‐face with their first client, they are challenged to integrate their existing declarative knowledge and apply nascent procedural skills. How can clinical programmes better prepare students for these challenges? Because problem‐based learning has been widely applied in medical education it is the starting point in answering this question. Systematic literature searches and a narrative literature review were undertaken to identify teaching methods. Little published research reports randomised controlled evaluations of teaching methods in health professions. Much literature presented opinions about teaching methods. Whole‐of‐programme evaluations of problem‐based learning in medical education were retrieved and directed learning or direct instruction techniques were examined in teaching more specific knowledge. Little research was of direct relevance to clinical psychology training. More research is needed into both the efficacy of clinical psychology training and into the specific barriers that trainee clinical psychologists face. In the absence of good quality research, suggestions for teaching methods are provided.