Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Breast-feeding and feeding practices of infants in a developing country: a national survey in Lebanon

Abstract Objective Breast-feeding (BF) provides the ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants. The prevalence of BF in Lebanon shows mixed results. The present study was the first large-scale, extensive survey on BF parameters in Lebanon that aimed to explore demographic, socio-economic and other fundamental issues associated with the initiation and duration of BF by Lebanese mothers. Design The survey was cross-sectional in design and administered over 10 months. Setting Information on all variables was collected from mothers at health centres. Subjects Two-stage sampling was conducted to select participants. A total of 1000 participants were randomly selected. A consent form was provided to each participant. Data were collected from 830 of these. Results Almost all mothers were Lebanese, married and had given birth in a hospital. About a third stated that breast milk was the first food introduced after birth. Although 55.9% started breast-feeding their newborns within a few hours after birth, and 18.3% within half an hour, 21.2% replied that they initiated BF a few days after birth. Only 4.6% of the mothers replied that they never breast-fed their infant. Timing of initiation of BF was associated with the type of delivery (vaginal/Caesarean section) and hospital-related factors (rooming-in, night feedings and frequency of mother–infant interaction). Of the mothers who breast-fed exclusively beyond 6 months, 86.7% had initiated BF a few hours following delivery, while only 13.3% had initiated BF a few days later. Compared with the exceptionally high proportion of BF initiation, exclusivity of BF was low, dropping to 52.4% at 1 month. Exclusivity of BF was also associated with place of residence (urban/rural) and negatively associated with educational level of the mother. Duration of BF was inversely associated with the use of pain killers during delivery and maternal education. Rural mothers and those who practised exclusive BF maintained BF for a longer duration. Conclusion Initiation rates of BF are very high in Lebanon but rates of exclusive BF are low and duration of BF is short. Future research targeting the factors associated with BF, with particular emphasis on exclusivity, is needed. For the 95.4% of mothers who initiated BF, an ecological perspective on intervention aimed at women and their social support system is required to improve duration and exclusivity.
A Review on the Effects of Soccer Small-Sided Games

A Review on the Effects of Soccer Small-Sided Games Over the last years there has been a substantial growth in research related to specific training methods in soccer with a strong emphasis on the effects of small-sided games. The increase of research in this topic is coincident with the increase of popularity obtained by specific soccer conditioning, which involves training players to deal with soccer match situations. Given the limited time available for fitness training in soccer, the effectiveness of small-sided games as a conditioning stimulus needs to be optimized to allow players to compete at the highest level. Available studies indicate that physiological responses (e.g. heart rate, blood lactate concentration and rating of perceived exertion), tactical and technical skill requirements can be modified during small-sided games by altering factors such as the number of players, the size of the pitch, the rules of the game, and coach encouragement. However, because of the lack of consistency in small-sided games design, player fitness, age, ability, level of coach encouragement, and playing rules in each of these studies, it is difficult to make accurate conclusions on the influence of each of these factors separately.
Lactic Acid Bacteria as Probiotics: Characteristics, Selection Criteria and Role in Immunomodulation of Human GI Muccosal Barrier

© 2013 Harzallah and Belhadj, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Lactic Acid Bacteria as Probiotics: Characteristics, Selection Criteria and Role in Immunomodulation of Human GI Muccosal Barrier
Ultrasonography as a New, Non-Invasive Imagistic Technique Used for the Diagnosis and Monitoring of Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that involves the skin, nails, joints and other organs, being a systemic disease. Regardless of the clinical form, sonography can be effectively used to complete the clinical diagnosis. Aim: The identification of non-invasive sonographic markers for the assessment of the severity of the disease and the efficacy of various therapies. Our study involved two research directions: (a) clinical and imagistic assessment of the skin and nail psoriasis lesions and (b) the imagistic evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy in psoriasis plaques and nail psoriasis by acquirement of sonographic images prior and after various therapies. Methods: In our prospective study, we used a multimodal evaluation of the disease, based on a non-invasive approach: clinical exam, dermoscopy, conventional and high frequency sonography, Doppler, power Doppler and elastography. Conclusions: Ultrasonography is an important tool for the non-invasive assessment of psoriatic lesions. It offers specific markers related to morphology, elasticity and blood supply of the lesions, improving the diagnosis and monitoring of the skin and nail lesions.
Coalgebraic Determinization of Alternating Automata

Coalgebra is a currently quite active field, which aims to look at generic state-based systems (most prominently automata) from a very abstract point of view, mainly using tools from category theory. One of its achievements is to give a completely generic approach of determinization, unifying in an elegant manner non-deterministic automata, probabilistic automata or non-deterministic pushdown automata in one and the same model. However, the case of alternating automata fails to easily fit in this model. The aim of this internship was therefore to tackle this problem: can alternating automata also be determinized in the coalgebraic way? Does this give semantics that coincides with the concretely defined one? In this report, we give a positive answer to both questions. The main element of our construction is a distributive law, the definition of which has been for some time an open question.
Is geography an accurate predictor of evolutionary history in the millipede family Xystodesmidae?

For the past several centuries, millipede taxonomists have used the morphology of male copulatory structures (modified legs called gonopods), which are strongly variable and suggestive of species-level differences, as a source to understand taxon relationships. Millipedes in the family Xystodesmidae are blind, dispersal-limited and have narrow habitat requirements. Therefore, geographical proximity may instead be a better predictor of evolutionary relationship than morphology, especially since gonopodal anatomy is extremely divergent and similarities may be masked by evolutionary convergence. Here we provide a phylogenetics-based test of the power of morphological versus geographical character sets for resolving phylogenetic relationships in xystodesmid millipedes. Molecular data from 90 species-group taxa in the family were included in a six-gene phylogenetic analysis to provide the basis for comparing trees generated from these alternative character sets. The molecular phylogeny was compared to topologies representing three hypotheses: (1) a prior classification formulated using morphological and geographical data, (2) hierarchical groupings derived from Euclidean geographical distance, and (3) one based solely on morphological data. Euclidean geographical distance was not found to be a better predictor of evolutionary relationship than the prior classification, the latter of which was the most similar to the molecular topology. However, all three of the alternative topologies were highly divergent (Bayes factor >10) from the molecular topology, with the tree inferred exclusively from morphology being the most divergent. The results of this analysis show that a high degree of morphological convergence from substantial gonopod shape divergence generated spurious phylogenetic relationships. These results indicate the impact that a high degree of morphological homoplasy may have had on prior treatments of the family. Using the results of our phylogenetic analysis, we make several changes to the classification of the family, including transferring the rare state-threatened species Sigmoria whiteheadi Shelley, 1986 to the genus Apheloria Chamberlin, 1921—a relationship not readily apparent based on morphology alone. We show that while gonopod differences are a premier source of taxonomic characters to diagnose species pairwise, the traits should be viewed critically as taxonomic features uniting higher levels.
Quasi-static indentation response of aramid fiber/epoxy composites containing nylon 66 electrospun nano-interlayers

In the last decade, polymer nanofibers have found promising application for improving through-thickness properties of structural composite laminates through interleaving. The main advantage of inserting nanofibers in conventional composites is making the matrix between the layers tougher. In this article, the benefits of using electrospun fibrous nano-interleaves in enhancing the quasi-static indentation response of aramid/epoxy laminated composites was investigated and the effect of variables of produced nano-interleaves including interleaf thickness (17.5, 35, and 70 µm) and stacking configuration (one-side, central, and two-side interleaving) on behavior of the nano-modified composites was investigated. The results indicate that force, displacement, absorbed energy, and stiffness of these composites are significantly affected by the presence of nano-interleaves. The optimum values were observed in the composites with 35 µm thickness of nano-interleave where three first parameters were higher than their reference values, but the stiffness value had opposite trend of other parameters. On the other hand, it can be seen that only asymmetrical (back-side indentation) stacking configuration lead to improving the composite properties. The visual inspection of the indentation damaged specimens reveals that thickness and stacking configuration of interleaves controls the size of damage.
MVEMFI: Visualizing and Extracting Maximal Frequent Itemsets

Association rule is a data mining technique that has a huge number of applications. One of the crucial steps in association rule is the extraction of frequent itemsets. This research is inspired by simple appealing visualization of itemsets frequencies in the simple well known two dimension matrix representations. This paper proposes a new procedure to extract maximal frequent itemsets called Matrix Visualization and Extraction of Maximal Frequent Itemsets. The procedure consists of two steps. The first step sets the environment to mine data while the second extracts frequent itemsets. MVEMFI procedure has been tested by three synthetic datasets and processing time has been recorded. It has been found that MVEMFI performance is not affected by the number of transactions or the density of items’ occurrences in the dataset.
Context-awareness: Control over Disclosure and Privacy in a Social Environment

Modern mobile phones in the near future will adapt their applications, services, and look-and-feel based on their usage and environment. This ability of the devices to adapt based on user's context provides new challenges in areas of context sharing, context management, and in the associated area of privacy. Inadequate relationship models make control over disclosure impossible, which manifests itself in either sharing too much information-compromising ones privacy, or sharing too little-constraining the use of context in a shared environment. In this paper, we define a new pseudo-hierarchical tag based relationship model to overcome the constraints of control over disclosure. Furthermore, we discuss some of the pitfalls of sharing context on user's privacy.
Aggregate Implications of Lumpy Investment: New Evidence and a DSGE Model

The sensitivity of U.S. aggregate investment to shocks is procyclical: the initial response increases by approximately 50% from the trough to the peak of the business cycle. This feature of the data follows naturally from a DSGE model with lumpy microeconomic capital adjustment. Beyond explaining this specific time variation, our model and evidence provide a counterexample to the claim that microeconomic investment lumpiness is inconsequential for macroeconomic analysis.
Morphological Changes Induced by Bipolar Radiofrequency Ablation in Thyroid Nodules – a Preclinical Ex Vivo Investigation

Introduction: Recently, radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been increasingly used for the treatment of thyroid nodules. However, immediate morphological changes associated with bipolar devices are poorly shown. Aims: To present the results of analysis of gross and microscopic alterations in human thyroid tissue induced by RFA delivered through the application of the original patented device. Materials and methods: In total, there were 37 surgically removed thyroid glands in females aged 32–67 at presentation: 16 nodules were follicular adenoma (labelled as ‘parenchymal’ solid benign nodules) and adenomatous colloid goitre was represented by 21 cases. The thyroid gland was routinely processed and the nodules were sliced into two parts – one was a subject for histological routine processing according to the principles that universally apply in surgical pathology, the other one was used for the RFA procedure. Results: No significant difference in size reduction between parenchymal and colloid nodules was revealed (p>0.1, t-test) straight after the treatment. In addition, RFA equally effectively induced necrosis in follicular adenoma and adenomatous colloid goitre (p>0.1, analysis of variance test). As expected, tumour size correlated with size reduction (the smaller the size of the nodule, the greater percentage of the nodule volume that was ablated): r=-0.48 (p<0.0001). Conclusion: The results make it possible to move from ex vivo experiments to clinical practice.
Nonuniform High-Gamma (60–500 Hz) Power Changes Dissociate Cognitive Task and Anatomy in Human Cortex

High-gamma-band (>60 Hz) power changes in cortical electrophysiology are a reliable indicator of focal, event-related cortical activity. Despite discoveries of oscillatory subthreshold and synchronous suprathreshold activity at the cellular level, there is an increasingly popular view that high-gamma-band amplitude changes recorded from cellular ensembles are the result of asynchronous firing activity that yields wideband and uniform power increases. Others have demonstrated independence of power changes in the low- and high-gamma bands, but to date, no studies have shown evidence of any such independence above 60 Hz. Based on nonuniformities in time-frequency analyses of electrocorticographic (ECoG) signals, we hypothesized that induced high-gamma-band (60–500 Hz) power changes are more heterogeneous than currently understood. Using single-word repetition tasks in six human subjects, we showed that functional responsiveness of different ECoG high-gamma sub-bands can discriminate cognitive task (e.g., hearing, reading, speaking) and cortical locations. Power changes in these sub-bands of the high-gamma range are consistently present within single trials and have statistically different time courses within the trial structure. Moreover, when consolidated across all subjects within three task-relevant anatomic regions (sensorimotor, Broca's area, and superior temporal gyrus), these behavior- and location-dependent power changes evidenced nonuniform trends across the population. Together, the independence and nonuniformity of power changes across a broad range of frequencies suggest that a new approach to evaluating high-gamma-band cortical activity is necessary. These findings show that in addition to time and location, frequency is another fundamental dimension of high-gamma dynamics.
Vitamin D deficiency and anemia risk in children: a review of emerging evidence

There has been renewed scientific interest in the sequelae of vitamin D deficiency, given the emerging evidence on the diverse biologic functions of vitamin D, besides its fundamental role in bone and mineral metabolism. For the past decade, the evidence in the medical literature pointing to a relationship between anemia risk and vitamin D deficiency has been accumulating. This paper critically reviews the current evidence linking vitamin D deficiency to anemia risk in children. The synthesized evidence indicates that the studies, which were preponderantly conducted among the adult population, not only reported a bidirectional relationship between vitamin D deficiency and anemia but also showed a racial effect. In studies conducted among children, similar results were reported. Although the causal association of vitamin D deficiency with anemia risk (especially iron-deficiency anemia) remains debatable, the noncalcemic actions of the vitamin and its analogs hold prospects for several novel clinical applications. There is, however, unanimity in many reports suggesting that vitamin D deficiency is directly associated with anemia of chronic disease or inflammation. Despite the advances in unraveling the role of vitamin D in iron homeostasis, further research is still required to validate causality in the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and anemia, as well as to determine its optimal dosing, the ideal recipients for therapeutic intervention, and the preferred analogs to administer.
The Virome and Its Major Component, Anellovirus, a Convoluted System Molding Human Immune Defenses and Possibly Affecting the Development of Asthma and Respiratory Diseases in Childhood

The microbiome, a thriving and complex microbial community colonizing the human body, has a broad impact on human health. Colonization is a continuous process that starts very early in life and occurs thanks to shrewd strategies microbes have evolved to tackle a convoluted array of anatomical, physiological, and functional barriers of the human body. Cumulative evidence shows that viruses are part of the microbiome. This part, called virome, has a dynamic composition that reflects what we eat, how and where we live, what we do, our genetic background, and other unpredictable variables. Thus, the virome plays a chief role in shaping innate and adaptive host immune defenses. Imbalance of normal microbial flora is thought to trigger or exacerbate many acute and chronic disorders. A compelling example can be found in the respiratory apparatus, where early-life viral infections are major determinants for the development of allergic diseases, like asthma, and other non-transmissible diseases. In this review, we focus on the virome and, particularly, on Anelloviridae, a recently discovered virus family. Anelloviruses are major components of the virome, present in most, if not all, human beings, where they are acquired early in life and replicate persistently without causing apparent disease. We will discuss how modulation of innate and adaptive immune systems by Anelloviruses can influence the development of respiratory diseases in childhood and provide evidence for the use of Anelloviruses as useful and practical molecular markers to monitor inflammatory processes and immune system competence.
Environmental scan and evaluation of best practices for online systematic review resources

Objective Online training for systematic review methodology is an attractive option due to flexibility and limited availability of in-person instruction. Librarians often direct new reviewers to these online resources, so they should be knowledgeable about the variety of available resources. The objective for this project was to conduct an environmental scan of online systematic review training resources and evaluate those identified resources. Methods The authors systematically searched for electronic learning resources pertaining to systematic review methods. After screening for inclusion, we collected data about characteristics of training resources and assigned scores in the domains of (1) content, (2) design, (3) interactivity, and (4) usability by applying a previously published evaluation rubric for online instruction modules. We described the characteristics and scores for each training resource and compared performance across the domains. Results Twenty training resources were evaluated. Average overall score of online instructional resources was 61%. Online courses (n=7) averaged 73%, web modules (n=5) 64%, and videos (n=8) 48%. The top 5 highest scoring resources were in course or web module format, featured high interactivity, and required a longer (>5hrs) time commitment from users. Conclusion This study revealed that resources include appropriate content but are less likely to adhere to principles of online training design and interactivity. Awareness of these resources will allow librarians to make informed recommendations for training based on patrons’ needs. Future online systematic review training resources should use established best practices for e-learning to provide high-quality resources, regardless of format or user time commitment.
Multiple Adaptive Bayesian Linear Regression for Scalable Bayesian Optimization with Warm Start

Bayesian optimization (BO) is a model-based approach for gradient-free black-box function optimization. Typically, BO is powered by a Gaussian process (GP), whose algorithmic complexity is cubic in the number of evaluations. Hence, GP-based BO cannot leverage large amounts of past or related function evaluations, for example, to warm start the BO procedure. We develop a multiple adaptive Bayesian linear regression model as a scalable alternative whose complexity is linear in the number of observations. The multiple Bayesian linear regression models are coupled through a shared feedforward neural network, which learns a joint representation and transfers knowledge across machine learning problems.
Feasibility of Integrating Residential Care Pharmacists into Aged Care Homes to Improve Quality Use of Medicines: Study Protocol for a Non-Randomised Controlled Pilot Trial

Older adults are particularly susceptible to iatrogenic disease and communicable diseases, such as influenza. Prescribing in the residential aged care population is complex, and requires ongoing review to prevent medication misadventure. Pharmacist-led medication review is effective in reducing medication-related problems; however, current funding arrangements specifically exclude pharmacists from routinely participating in resident care. Integrating an on-site clinical pharmacist into residential care teams is an unexplored opportunity to improve quality use of medicines in this setting. The primary objective of this pilot study is to investigate the feasibility of integrating a residential care pharmacist into the existing care team. Secondary outcomes include incidence of pharmacist-led medication review, and incidence of potential medication problems based on validated prescribing measures. This is a cross-sectional, non-randomised controlled trial with a residential care pharmacist trialled at a single facility, and a parallel control site receiving usual care and services only. The results of this hypothesis-generating pilot study will be used to identify clinical outcomes and direct future larger scale investigations into the implementation of the novel residential care pharmacist model to optimise quality use of medicines in a population at high risk of medication misadventure.