Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Correlating students' educational background, study habits, and resource usage with learning success in medical histology

Histology is a traditional core basic science component of most medical and dental education programs and presents a didactic challenge for many students. Identifying students that are likely to struggle with histology would allow for early intervention to support and encourage their learning success. To identify student characteristics that are associated with learning success in histology, three first‐year medical school classes at the University of Michigan (>440 students) were surveyed about their educational background, attitudes toward learning histology, and their use of histology learning strategies and resources. These characteristics were linked with the students' quiz and examination results in histology. Students who reported previous experience in histology or pathology and hold science or biomedical science college degrees usually did well in histology. Learning success in histology was also positively associated with students' perception that histology is important for their professional career. Other positive indicators were in‐person participation in teacher‐guided learning experiences, specifically lecture and laboratory sessions. In contrast, students who relied on watching histology lectures by video rather than going to lectures in‐person performed significantly worse. These characteristics and learning strategies of students who did well in this very visual and challenging study subject should be of help for identifying and advising students early, who might be at risk of failing a histology course or component. Anat Sci Educ 8: 1–11. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.
Vitrification of Oocytes and Embryos

Currently, controlled ovarian hyperstimulation protocols commonly provide embryos in excess of those needed for fresh transfer. Therefore, techniques have been developed to store these surplus embryos in liquid nitrogen (referred to as cryopreservation) for an indefinite period of time without significant compromise of their quality. Based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2001 to 2004, about 18% of all IVF cycles in the USA used frozen embryos for transfer. In addition, data from the same registry compared live births per transfer using frozen and fresh embryos (25% versus 34% respectively) clearly showing that cryopreservation is an important adjunct to maximize the efficiency of every single patient’s oocyte retrieval. The fundamental objectives for successful cryostorage of cells in liquid nitrogen at -196°C can be summarized as follows: 1) arresting the metabolism reversibly, 2) maintaining structural and genetic integrity, 3) achieving acceptable survival rates after thawing, 4) maintain of developmental competence post thaw and, 5) the technique has to be reliable and repeatable.
Contemporary Experiences in Extension Reform: Insights from Pakistan and Mozambique

This commentary draws on the insights of two books, one on Pakistan and the other on Mozambique. Both describe contemporary experiences with privatizing extension. In Pakistan the World Bank advised the government to shift from public to private sector extension, but this strategy failed to reach small farmers. In Mozambique the World Bank in association with the Food and Agriculture Organization recommended that the public sector should fund private sector delivery of extension, but officials there have decided to study whether such a strategy will adequately build a national extension system. In considering the findings of these two country case studies, this commentary examines the policy background that led to the trend toward privatization and then reviews the more recent convergence of views on extension reform. It concludes with some general comments.
The Budget Outlook: Updates and Implications

The Congressional Budget Office now projects a 10-year deficit of $1.9 trillion. Adjusting this to reflect current policies implies a unified deficit of $5.5 trillion. In addition, the retirement trust funds face long-term substantial deficits; outside of retirement trust funds, the deficits amount to more than $8 trillion, or 5 percent of GDP, over the next decade. Applying assumptions previously used by the Bush Administration, the deterioration in the worsened fiscal outlook since January 2001 will raise interest rates by 125 basis points and reduce national income by more than 1.5 percent. The only real solution to the fiscal imbalance is to reduce spending and raise revenue. The painful choices that are necessary would be easier to enforce if policymakers reinstated budget rules. [© Brookings Institution]
Low-power design of Reed-Solomon encoders

Reed-Solomon (RS) codes are one of the most widely used block error-correcting codes in modern communication and computer systems. Multiplication is the key computation in RS encoding. Adopting the generator polynomial with symmetric coefficients, the number of multipliers in RS encoders can be reduced by half, and their power consumption may also reduce. However, in some cases, the encoder based on the generator polynomial with asymmetric coefficients have better power performance. Additionally, since more than one primitive polynomial can generate a finite field with certain order, different choices of primitive polynomial also change the complexity of multipliers. In this paper, we exploited the relationship between the power consumption of RS encoders and their different encoding parameters. A simple way to find the encoder with the lowest power consumption is also presented. Simulation results prove its effectiveness.
Cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying reading and naming: Evidence from letter-by-letter reading and optic aphasia

We report detailed analysis of language performance in a patient, RMI, a 55-year-old man who presented with a homonymous hemianopsia, optic aphasia, and alexia without agraphia (with letter-by-letter reading) acutely after stroke. MRI showed infarct in the left occipital and medial temporal lobe and hypoperfusion of the entire posterior cerebral artery territory, including the splenium. Extensive language testing revealed severely impaired picture naming and oral reading, with relatively spared tactile naming and recognition of orally spelled words, consistent with impaired access to lexical and semantic representations from vision. In addition, he had a milder deficit in accessing lexical representations for output from all input modalities. RMI’s execution of various language tasks provided considerable insight into the mechanisms that underlie oral reading. His performance indicated that both semantic access and orthographic to phonologic conversion mechanisms were partially intact. When information from these two impoverished systems was coupled (the picture of an object presented with its written name), his ability to read/name improved significantly, consistent with the hypothesis that partially accessed semantic information from vision can combine with partially accessed sublexical orthographic to phonologic conversion mechanisms to access phonological representations for output. Furthermore, his written word and picture recognition improved to normal at a time when magnetic resonance perfusion imaging demonstrated reperfusion of the splenium. We interpret these results, as well as results from previous studies in the literature, within a model of the neural regions critical for various cognitive processes underlying reading.
Kreuz und quer durch die deutsche Einkommensverteilung

Zusammenfassung: Dieser Beitrag bietet eine Übersicht über die zentralen Befunde der jüngeren Ungleichheitsforschung zu Deutschland. Nach gut vier Jahrzehnten stabiler Einkommensrelationen ist die Verteilung der Primäreinkommen seit den neunziger Jahren deutlich ungleichmäßiger geworden. Die Sekundäreinkommen gingen erst in den Jahren zwischen 1999 und 2005 stark auseinander. Im Kohorten-Vergleich zeichnet sich ein großer intergenerativer Wandel ab: Die Ungleichheit der Lebenseinkommen ist unter den Baby-Boomern fast doppelt so groß wie noch in der Generation von deren Eltern. Die Verteilungsfrage betrifft in Deutschland mithin vor allem die neuen Generationen.
Molecular Genetic Variations among Some Punjab Sheep Breeds Using RAPD Analysis

The present study was carried out on seven sheep breeds (Thalli, Lohi, Salt Range, Kajli, Sipli, Buchi and Hissradale) by Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis using 21 random decamer primers. Blood samples were collected from different numbers of animals per breed, of both sexes. After DNA extraction PCR was carried out by using 25 µL reaction mixture containing 3 mM MgCl2, 100 µM each of dATP, dCTP, dGTP, dTTP, 0.2 µM primer, 15 ng of genomic DNA, and 5 unit of Taq polymerase, through programmable thermal cycler (Crea Con, TCY, USA). Out of 21 decamer primers 16 primers yielded easily scorable bright DNA bands while other five yielded smeared and nonspecific fragments. The genetic similarities of seven sheep breeds were high, ranging from 74.42% to 94.29 %. Thalli and Latti had greatest similarity (94.29%). The lowest genetic similarity was between Lohi and Hissardale (74.42%). The unweighted pair group method of arithmetic means (UPGMA) dendrogram obtained from the cluster analysis revealed two clusters. The study confirms that the molecular genetic techniques such as RAPD-PCR can economically and efficiently be used to establish genetic distances and similarities among and within breeds as well as to find out breed specific genetic markers. The seven sheep breeds in the study could be identified by using one breed specific RAPD marker or a combination of two or more markers. Primer GLB-08 can identify Lohi breed and primer GLA-14 can identify Hissardale. Primer GLA-19 can identify both Kajli and Sipli breeds simultaneously.
PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF NERIUM OLEANDER LEAVES AND MOMORDICA CH ARANTIA LEAVES

The developing countries mostly rely on traditional medicines. The traditional medicine involves the use of differen t plant extracts or the bioactive constituents. This type of study provides the health application at affordable cost. This study such as ethnomedicine keenly represents one of the best avenues in searching new economic plants for medicine. In keeping t his view in mind the present investigation is carried out in Nerium oleander and Momordica charantia leaves. Qualitative phytochemical analysis of these two plants confirms the presence of various phytochemicals like carbohydrates, cholesterol, protein, a mino acid, alkaloid, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, and phlobatinins in their aqueous leaf extracts leaves followed by ethanol, ethyl acetate, diethyl ether and chloroform. The results suggest that the phytochemical propert ies of the leaves for curing various ailments and possess potential antioxidant properties.
Cytomegalovirus and Glioblastoma: A Review of Evidence for Their Association and Indications for Testing and Treatment

Abstract Glioblastoma is the most common and most fatal primary malignant brain tumor in adults. Despite progress in characterizing the genetic and molecular mechanisms of glioblastomas, advances in treatment that translate into substantial improvement in prognosis have yet to be realized. A role for cytomegalovirus in glioblastoma pathogenesis was proposed more than a decade ago and has generated considerable debate as a possible therapeutic target. Independent groups have had variable success in detecting cytomegalovirus infection in tumor cells; the overall consensus is that very low levels of viral proteins and nucleic acids can be observed. Although cytomegalovirus has not been found to be oncogenic in this context, a possible oncomodulatory role has been suggested. A recent clinical trial evaluating valganciclovir as an adjuvant therapy for the treatment of glioblastoma did not demonstrate a beneficial effect on tumor growth or overall survival, although retrospective analysis subsequently indicted a significant survival benefit. In light of the publicity of that report, patients and neuro-oncologists are requesting cytomegalovirus testing to justify antiviral treatment. Based on questions on the significance of cytomegalovirus infection in glioblastomas and the lack of a clear clinical benefit of valganciclovir, we reviewed this topic and conclude that, at this time, there is insufficient evidence to recommend routine testing and treatment.
Effects of Intravesicular H+ and Extracellular H+ and Zn2+ on Insulin Secretion in Pancreatic Beta Cells*

The effects of extracellular Zn2+ and pH and intravesicular pH on insulin and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) secretion from pancreatic beta cells were investigated. Insulin and 5-HT secretion from single cells was detected by amperometry as a series of current spikes corresponding to detection of multimolecular packets secreted by exocytosis. Spike width was used as a measure of the kinetics of clearance from the cell and the area of spikes as a measure of amount released. Changes in extracellular pH from 6.9 to 7.9 caused insulin spikes to become narrower with no change in area, whereas the same treatments had no effect on 5-HT secretion. Treatment of cells with Bafilomycin A1 orN-ethylmaleimide, both of which are expected to increase intravesicular pH by inhibiting V-type H+-ATPase, had no effect on 5-HT secretion but caused insulin spikes to become more narrow. These results indicate that exposure to high pH, whether intravesicular or extracellular, accelerates release of insulin during exocytosis without affecting the amount of insulin released. Increasing extracellular Zn2+ concentration from 0 to 25 μm increased the width and decreased the area of insulin spikes without affecting 5-HT secretion. Zn2+ effects were likely exerted through a common-ion effect on Zn2+-insulin dissociation. It was concluded that intravesicular storage conditions and extracellular ions can affect free insulin concentration in the vicinity of beta cells during secretion.
Health Policy Reform in the People's Republic of China

With very limited resources, China has developed perhaps the world's largest network of health care services. The health status of its peoples has risen dramatically during the past 40 years. The reasons for these achievements are complex and include an ideology of equity for all citizens, the near universal availability of adequate food, education, housing, jobs, and transport, and the universal availability of accessible and affordable treatment and preventive health services. Despite these achievements China is facing new problems. These include the aging of the population, continued growth of the population leading to ever increasing demands on all sectors of the economy including health services, urban–rural inequalities, low productivity in the health services, lack of legal safeguards for health protection, a continued burden of infectious and endemic diseases, weak infrastructure for prevention and primary health care, and an increasing burden of chronic diseases associated with tobacco smoking and atherosclerotic circulatory diseases and trauma due to traffic accidents and occupational hazards. Decentralized management, financial incentives for health workers, privatization of medical practitioners, health legislation, and changes to health insurance arrangements have been introduced as a means of addressing the issues. The outcomes have been uneven, with little or no improvements in some problems and good progress in others. Changes in the health system appear to be reflecting not only health reform measures but also general economic reforms.
A bias correction method for identification of linear dynamic errors-in-variables models

This paper considers the problem of identifying linear systems, where the input is observed in white noise but the output is observed in colored noise which also includes process disturbances. An efficient method is developed, which can perform unbiased parameter estimation without utilizing a prefilter. The developed method is characterized by attractive features: direct use of the observed data without prefiltering; no need to evaluate autocorrelation functions for the input noise; no need to identify a high-order augmented system; and provision of a direct unbiased estimate of the system parameters without parameter extraction. Computer simulations are presented to illustrate its superior performance, including its significantly reduced computational complexity.
Electric-field–induced assembly and propulsion of chiral colloidal clusters

Significance Although colloids have been used as molecular analogues for understanding how simple building blocks can assemble into functional materials, they are mostly spherical with isotropic properties. We are still far from truly accessing the diversity of structures desired for either fundamental understanding or technological application. Here, we report the electric-field–directed assembly of asymmetric colloids into clusters that exhibit a ubiquitous type of symmetry in nature: the chirality. We further demonstrate that the chirality induces unbalanced hydrodynamic flow, which causes rotational propulsion of chiral clusters that are fully dictated by their handedness. Both the assembly and propulsion mechanisms discovered can be universal and applied to other types of asymmetric particles. They are also useful in modeling active matter and making microengines. Chiral molecules with opposite handedness exhibit distinct physical, chemical, or biological properties. They pose challenges as well as opportunities in understanding the phase behavior of soft matter, designing enantioselective catalysts, and manufacturing single-handed pharmaceuticals. Microscopic particles, arranged in a chiral configuration, could also exhibit unusual optical, electric, or magnetic responses. Here we report a simple method to assemble achiral building blocks, i.e., the asymmetric colloidal dimers, into a family of chiral clusters. Under alternating current electric fields, two to four lying dimers associate closely with a central standing dimer and form both right- and left-handed clusters on a conducting substrate. The cluster configuration is primarily determined by the induced dipolar interactions between constituent dimers. Our theoretical model reveals that in-plane dipolar repulsion between petals in the cluster favors the achiral configuration, whereas out-of-plane attraction between the central dimer and surrounding petals favors a chiral arrangement. It is the competition between these two interactions that dictates the final configuration. The theoretical chirality phase diagram is found to be in excellent agreement with experimental observations. We further demonstrate that the broken symmetry in chiral clusters induces an unbalanced electrohydrodynamic flow surrounding them. As a result, they rotate in opposite directions according to their handedness. Both the assembly and propulsion mechanisms revealed here can be potentially applied to other types of asymmetric particles. Such kinds of chiral colloids will be useful for fabricating metamaterials, making model systems for both chiral molecules and active matter, or building propellers for microscale transport.
Regional estimation of baseflow index in Korea and analysis of baseflow effects according to urbanization

In this study, the baseflow indices in Nakdong river watershed and the whole country’s river were calculated by using SWAT model and PART method. The annual averaged baseflow in the Nakdong river watershed was estimated at 40% 44% of the total discharge rate, and it is found to be higher than 90% during the winter months of December and January. An analysis of the baseflow index from 317 gauge stations across the country revealed that the contribution of baseflow to the nation’s stream flow rate stood at an annual average of 40%, ranging from less than 20% to over 80% by region. Also, the impact of the decreasing baseflow due to land use changes in 1975 and 2000 was analyzed in Keumhogang river watershed under the same weather conditions. The results revealed that the number of days under the standard instream flow increased by 19-24 days as a result of the increase in the urbanization rate.
A New Dose‐Finding Design for Bivariate Outcomes

Summary. For some drugs, toxicity events lead to early termination of treatment before a therapeutic response is observed. That is, there are three possible outcomes: toxicity (therapeutic response unknown), therapeutic response without toxicity, and no response with no toxicity. The optimal dose is the dose that maximizes the probability of the joint event, response, and no toxicity. The optimal safe dose is the dose, from among the doses with toxicity rate less than the maximum tolerable level, that maximizes the probability of response and no toxicity. We present a new sequential design to maximize the number of subjects assigned in the neighborhood of the optimal safe dose in a dose‐finding trial with two outcomes.
Young women’s engagement with sport in Lusaka secondary schools, Zambia

This thesis reports on an investigation into the sport experiences and views of a sample of young women in two High Schools in Lusaka, Zambia. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of the sports played by young women, their reasons for playing the sports, the benefits they gained, and how they navigated and negotiated the barriers they faced. The study was framed by looking at the intersections and interactions of four key ideas – sport, education, gender, and development. Significantly the study was set in the context of the United Nations’ declarations of sport as a human right and the global policy position of using sport as a tool for development, gender equality and empowerment of young women. Thirty-six young females from Grades 10 and 11, identified through snowball sampling, participated in the interpretive phenomenological research. Data was collected mainly through six focus groups, thirty-six semi-structured interviews and field observations. The findings show that young women played team sports in schools’ extracurricular programmes historically and culturally dominated by men and characterized by gender issues around participation. Interestingly the same young women also took part in after school activities organized by Non-Governmental Organizations that disseminated HIV/AIDS information and addressed gender equality issue through sports. Using young women’s voices, the thesis details their personal and social reasons for playing traditionally male sports. It also details the personal, social, health-related and economic benefits they experienced, and, as active agents, how they navigated and negotiated gendered barriers associated with the notion of sport, access to playing space and resources, and regulation of their behaviour in doing sport. There was, however, no evidence from the young women to suggest that playing male sports or sport for development interventions contributed to gender equality and women’s empowerment. The thesis underlines the importance of listening to young women about what sports they want to play, the social support they need from peers, friends and family and especially males, and that sport for development interventions may have potential in facilitating young women’s participation or in reducing the gender-based barriers women face. The thesis highlights limitations of the study and suggests important directions for future research.